beachbumsns

We were on the Amadaggio back in 2012, Lyon to Arles, with 3 days in Paris, then 3 days in Barcelona. Loved it, ship, crew and staff were all excellent. Cant believe we havent managed another one yet, but we're booked on the Serena from Budapest to Amsterdam for next Christmas and New Year, really looking forward to it

I agree, I like to be well prepared and there is limited info from previous river cruisers available.

Thanks for all the info, my teenage boys will appreciate the snacks between meals :)

With ocean cruising I picked my shore excursions months in advance, how does it work with Ama? We cruise in July on the Rhine and our final payment is due in April. Will I get all my info after final payment is in and that is when I pick my excursions or do you just decide once on the ship?

Much appreciated.

Maureen, Calgary, Alberta Canada

I agree, I like to be well prepared and there is limited info from previous river cruisers available.

Thanks for all the info, my teenage boys will appreciate the snacks between meals :)

With ocean cruising I picked my shore excursions months in advance, how does it work with Ama? We cruise in July on the Rhine and our final payment is due in April. Will I get all my info after final payment is in and that is when I pick my excursions or do you just decide once on the ship?

Much appreciated.

Maureen, Calgary, Alberta Canada

Maureen, you will be pleasantly surprised at the information you will get from AMA. Probably at least a month or more before you cruise. You can go in on the AMA website where you put in all your online information and there is quite a bit of information on the tours they offer. They have the gentle walk/tour or the regular one or the biking usually for every port of call. When you receive your package from AMA it comes in a lovely zippered wallet type holder and there is a nice book of maps and information plus a book that has all the information on your excursions for you to read and check out. It is a good review of what to expect but when you being your trip, they will have an information session on the ship, and show a slide show of each excursion. They give you a paper to fill out and submit when you do your final decision on which excursion you want to do. We thought we had ours picked until we watched the presentation and then made a few changes. Very professional and well done. If you decide at last minute you don't want to do an excursion but want to explore on your own, its no problem. We did that two times when in smaller towns as we wanted to relax and take some time to explore ourselves. River cruising is a wonderful new adventure for us and we enjoyed it so much. We cruise in May on the Rhine. I don't mind asking any questions you might have at all if you think of anything else.

Does anyone in this roll call know if AMA, specifically AmaKristina has binoculars on board? Doing Captivating Rhine July 23-30 as a family of four (two boys 16 and 19) and wondering if we need to bring our own as I imagine there is plenty to look at along the shore. Also hoping that since it is summer there may be a few younger passengers on board. Also, does anyone know if it is hard to get the bikes in the ports? We are fairly active so can see us using them in a few ports. Thanks everyone.

I don't recall binoculars on board our AMA ship but everything else was there. Staterooms were well equipped. Umbrellas in room, hopefully you won't need them. Shoe horn in closet. Lots of storage especially for luggage under the bed. Amenities in bathroom are quite good quality. I believe each ship has its own bikes onboard that you can reserve. Hope this helps.

We are doing a 14 day cruise out of AMS in June!!! Any tips from former Ama sailers? This is our first river boat cruise!!!

We sailed the AMA Serena last April. First river cruise after many ocean cruises and we were hooked. Loved everything about the river cruise and AMA Waterways. Be prepared to be somewhat busy if you want to be. We are quite active and took a tour most days. We thought we had picked out our excursions, but realized that when we were sailing and the cruise director was going over the excursions that we had more options to pick from and changed our original choice. From the moment you board your ship, the crew will be there smiling and helping you enjoy your trip. The food was excellent. After many years of ocean cruising, it was nice to have the intimacy of the smaller group and each night you could move to a different table and meet your fellow cruisers. The bonus of having local beers or wines served at meals was a great option. This year, 2018, there is an added cocktail hour each afternoon. You will not go hungry. Food stations are put out mid morning and mid afternoon. There are several options if you do not wish to go to diningroom for your breakfast - they have a late risers breakfast available in the lounge. Coffee/tea/ other drinks are available 24/7 for you to help your self. Afternoon tea time with sweets and sandwiches even if no one is on board. If you decide you do not want to go on a tour you signed up for, you can opt out. We explored several towns on our own getting a later start on days that we just felt we wanted some down time. I cannot say enough about how much we enjoy river cruising and wish there were more threads on Cruise Critic to help newbies like ourselves find out more information before we travel. We are booked for our second river cruise with AMA in May. If you have any questions that I can answer for you, please reply. :)

Last year we were lucky enough to take our first river cruise with Ama Waterways. Before we left there was very little information to review about river cruising on the threads. Since river cruising is becoming more and more popular, it would be great to have more reviews and more information shared. For instance, we are going on another river cruise in May. Would love to see information on cities that we might want to visit before or after the cruise. Lucerne, Switzerland will be our first stop and although we have a few things in mind that we want to do while there, would love recommendations from other cruise critic members on what they would suggest. Interlaken is another city we want to visit as well as the port we will sail from which is Basel. Our cruise is called Medieval Treasures and is a new itinerary that AMA Waterways has put out for 2018. If you have sailed from Basel to Nuremberg on a river cruise and have any suggestions for things to do along the way, would love to hear from you.

We sailed on the NCL Spirit September 30 to October 12 so here is our review of Rome in Limo.

Other members of our roll call on Cruise Critic were booking tours with RIL so I checked this company out on Trip Advisor. Seeing the good ratings RIL had, I contacted them via their website and arranged a tour for 8 people under the shared tour portion of their website. Since I had connected with other cruise critic members, I posted a message on the site to see if 4 other people wanted to join our tour in Florence and Pisa. It didn't take long to find 4 other guests and due to the fact there were 8 of us on the tour, it took the cost down significantly. You do not have to share RIL tours but it helps with the price if you are interested in a private tour and you don't mind sharing the tour. You do not have to be on a cruise to book a shared tour, you can leave your options open and let others join you or not. We were assigned a great English speaking guide, MariaClara. MariaClara was on time driving a lovely high end van, I believe was a Mercedes. There was plenty of room for the 8 of us. And easy access to the back seats. MariaClara had a cooler filled with bottled water which was great as it was a hot day. MariaClara picked us up at the Livorno cruise ship pier and because it rained in the AM, she cleaned her windows in the van for better viewing. We left the terminal and proceeded to the Tuscan countryside. She was great at explaining where we were going and answering any questions we may have had. As a side note, RIL vans have free wifi so you can check your emails, etc while you are travelling. Because it had rained early in the AM, there was some fog in the hills so we proceeded directly to Florence. We would stop in Tuscany on the way back. MariaClara took us to the top of a hill overlooking the City of Florence for photo ops and beautiful views. We always had plenty of time to take pictures when ever we stopped. Because there were only 8 of us, it was great to not have to wait on a bus load of people especially when washrooms were involved. After we left the viewing area, we proceeded down to the City of Florence and due to the nature of the size of the vehicle, MariaClara was able to go through smaller alleyways and roads that the large busses could not get to. We were able to get dropped off in a wonderful location right in Florence where we were able to purchase gelato and coffees and use washroom facilities. After this we proceeded to another location where we were dropped off to explore on our own. We had booked this type of trip but we were amazed at how much more we got to see how much knowledge MariaClara had left us with. I believe we had several hours in Florence. Since my husband and I had been here before, we roughly knew where we wanted to go. MariaClara also warned us about purchasing gelato as a tourist. You should specify the price point you want to pay for your gelato. One of our passengers didn't hear this warning and she ordered a gelato only to get the bill that it was $9 Euros. She couldn't eat half of it so much of the cone/gelato ended up in the garbage. A good warning to know. Normally $2 Euros would be sufficient size. We had time to explore the area, and also have lunch in a lovely little restaurant. We all met up in the area where MariaClara was to pick us up and we proceeded through the Tuscan countryside. We stopped at a beautiful winery on a hill in the Tuscan region where we got to sample the grapes and olives. All the time MariaClara was explaining everything about her country and this region. RIL had advised us to book our tickets to climb the Tower of Pisa for 3:30 so MariaClara made sure that we got there in time to do so. If you prebook your tickets, you still have to go and pick up your actual tickets,and also to put your handbags,etc in a locker, so leave yourself plenty of time to do this. We were running to get in the line for our 3:30 climb - if you are late, you cannot climb the tower and you do not get a refund. Only four of our group did the tower climb and even though its a hard climb and we were out of breath, it was well worth it for the views and the experience. Once we finished the climb we had a short period to do a little shopping and visit the rest of the buildings and Basilica at Pisa. Its a beautiful, scenic area. We met up with MariaClara and our group, took a picture and it was time to head back to the ship. MariaClara was an excellent driver. Traffic is very heavy here, and not once was I nervous that we wouldn't get back to the ship on time. We got back in plenty of time. Our tour group was very happy with the day, we made some new friends, and highly recommend using Rome In Limo for anyone that wants a great private tour company. Vehicles are well maintained and comfortable. Driver spoke very good English, was friendly, but very professional. If you are lucky enough to be in Florence or the area, check out Rome In Limo and if you are really lucky, you will get MariaClara as your driver, although I'm sure the other drivers are equally as qualified.

Does anyone know what current prices and list might be?

Try this link and if it doesn't work, do a google search for Fleet wide wine list, Norwegian Cruise Lines.

https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/WineList_Fleetwide_07092015.pdf

Hi all, we will be flying into Seattle 2 days before our cruise so we will have 1 day to spend in Seattle. We are staying at the Grand Hyatt downtown. I have mobility limitations due to a recent surgery and can't walk long distances or climb hills, etc. I was wondering from local folks and people familiar with downtown Seattle, what would be the best use of our time. What would you recommend seeing and doing (and in what order) and how would you go about getting from place to place? My husband has mentioned the Space Needle and I would like to try the chowder at Pike's Place Market. We don't have a rental car.

We really enjoyed the Hop on Hop off trolley here in Seattle and it was fairly close to the monorail near the Space Needle. The Chihuly Glass display next to the Space Needle is fantastic. If you could get a taxi to the Space Needle, there isn't too much walking up top for the views of Seattle and right next door is the Glass museum. Enjoy your stay, we were there last August for 4 days prior to our Alaska cruise and its one city I would love to explore more. Great meal at Red Robin on the waterfront.

After lunch we went shopping. I guess I had a different idea of what the Plaka was. I envisioned something along the lines of the Grand Bazaar on a small scale and it wasn’t anything like that. It was restaurants and lots of cheesy souvenir shops. While walking along the main road we noticed we were right next to the Agora and DS21 really really wanted to go inside and see the Temple of Hephaestus. So we split up from DH and DS19 and the two of us went into the Agora. Wow. After the chaos of the Acropolis the Agora was an oasis of calm with some really spectacular statues and buildings. The Temple is fairly intact and gives you a really good idea of what the Parthenon looked like. I really wish we had had more time there! We didn’t even have time to check out the museum. (sadly all my pictures of the temple are on the memory chip I'm having issues uploading!)

 

We met back up with the bus and headed to the New Acropolis Museum. I had mistakenly thought we were going to the Archaeological Museum and downloaded that Rick Steves audio guide and just could not figure out what he was talking about! The museum was just O.K. to me. The best part was seeing the original Cariatides from one of the temples on the Acropolis.

 

 

We weren’t able to go up the Hill of Lycabettus because of traffic so it was time to start heading back towards the ship with the stop for-you guessed it GELATO! Tolis took us to a bakery/gelato place and it was yummy. DH bought some baklava and the boys and I got gelato. Then it was time to get back to the ship. I noticed once we were back in our cabin that we could see the Acropolis from our balcony now that we knew what to look for!

 

Dinner that night was finally in Le Bistro. I had been dreaming of those mussels since the Getaway! Unfortunately service was AWFUL that night. Our reservation was for 6:45 and we were seated after about a 5 minutes wait. By 7:10 we still didn’t have any drinks and hadn’t placed our orders yet. That finally happened but there was a huge lag between every course. We all had 2 appetizers. DS21 and I both had the mussels (good but they’ve changed the recipe a little bit), DS19 and I both had the cornets (the Duck confit one was outstanding, the others were just O.K.), DH had the 4 mushroom soup and said it was delicious and DS19 had the French Onion soup and said it was really good. I ordered the Fruits de la Mer and it was tasty but not enough food (probably a good thing!), DS19 had the filet and said it was wonderful; DH had the lobster and said the sauce was weird, and DS21 had the duck and loved it. For dessert I ordered the chocolate fondue with fruit (YUM!) and the others ordered crème brulee. The food was good but it took forever. You could tell something wasn’t working right in the kitchen and when some of the ships officers came by and asked how things were we told them all about it. We noticed when we went back a few nights later that the hostess was working a little harder and actually expediting things and that night’s service was much better.

 

 

 

This was the night that they had an aerial show in the Stardust Theater so I convinced the boys to go with me but DH couldn’t be persuaded. The show was O.K. If you’ve seen a Cirque DuSoleil show it was a bit of a let down from that but the strength the man showed and the flexibility (and strength) the woman showed was incredible. There were definitely some WOW moments. After the show the boys went downstairs to get wings and I went up to bed.

We really enjoyed reading your review and picked up some good information regarding tours. Can you tell me please if many people participated in the formal nights? If so, where there lots of tuxedos or suits? We are taking a 20 day trip, so our luggage space will be limited. Just wondering what many of the men wore on formal nights. Realzing that we do not have to participate if we don't want to. Thanks for the information.

Leaving out of San Juan next week on Adventure of the Seas. Can we take a case of water bottles with us? If so, do we have to carry it on with us, or is there some way we can check it with our luggage? Do they sell cases of water bottles on the ship? I know that several years ago on a Disney ship, we were able to buy a case on the first day at a great discount.

I always take on a case of water, usually two cases, as I am a big water drinker. I pack a strong grocery bag with handles and put my water in it, and put a luggage tag on it. Do not tie the handles together with the luggage tag, as it may break when picked up, just leave the top of the bag open and put the luggage tag on one of the handles. I've done this from most ports including Fort Lauderdale on Royal Caribbean. Never had a problem and the water has been delivered to my room with my luggage and it usually has a security tag on it that says it was checked. Hope this helps. I've also included some cans/bottles of pop at times.

My Pleasure. Yes Rita's is still open on Serenade. I had dinner there one night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pictures look great. We were interested in trying this place, and I was disappointed to hear it was closed, happy to find out its open as we like to decide on our own if we like something or not. Love seeing your pictures. Sounds like you had a nice cruise. Thanks for posting all the information.

Just returned from a wonderful 11 night Southern Caribbean cruise on Serenade. Thought I'd share some photos, tour suggestions as well as the cruise compasses

 

 

 

Erik, was Rita's Cantina still available on the Serenade, and if so, did you try it? I was told they closed these down but I saw in your posts of the Compass, that it mentioned Rita's Cantina. Thanks a bunch.

Thanks for posting the dailies. I notice on one of the days it mentions Rita's Cantina. I was told that Rita's wasn't on this ship anymore. Do you know if it was open when you were on the Serenade? Thanks for your help. Really enjoy reading these as I like to be up to date prior to cruising so we can plan our trip a little better. These dailies really help.

I did post half of Venice but still need to wrap it up. There was Gelato, gondola races and a trip to the palace.

Really enjoyed the review posted of our cruise by nolatravelgirl. I have picked out the information that pertains to what we like to do and got some great tips. Thanks for posting, you did a great job and I can see have the same love of travel we do. Taking this cruise in September/October, 2016.

Thanks for the information. Happy cruising.

Loved your pictures. We sail on the Soltice on the 28th of August. Looking forward to it. Was wondering if you recall, does the Soltice still have the amenities in the bathrooms, like shampoo, cream rinse, etc. Trying to keep the weight down in the luggage. I recall they had a pretty good product in the balcony staterooms. How was your weather in July in Alaska? We were there in 2006 and it was wonderful. Doesn't look like the ship was really busy when you checked in. We too got the message not to go to the terminal until around 2 pm. That is pretty crazy, we are always on the ships by 11:30 or so. Thanks for the information and your pictures were awesome.

Thank you for the updates. I have only been reimbursed by my trip insurance for the first leg of airline tickets to Los Angeles. The company always asks for additional information no matter what I send in. Frustrating.

 

I think my real problem is with NCL. I never got a letter or anything directly from them regarding the canceled cruise. I cannot believe how differently I am treated from NCL since I used a Travel Agent to book the trip...

 

i haven't even asked what the offer would be from NCL for the 38 day trip I booked from LA to Copenhagen for the five of us. I know it is supposed to be 50% of the payment of that trip on a new cruise.

 

Does anyone have any success stories of what future cruise credit you received?

We booked our Panama Canal Cruise with a certificate we purchased through our timeshare company, RCI. We had quite a bit of difficulty booking another cruise but we had a very persistent travel agent that helped us. It actually worked out in our favour since we had purchased insurance for the certificate we purchased. Its a little confusing, but they refunded our insurance (not sure why) and we rebooked on a Europe/Mediterean cruise for next September and the timeshare company actually gave us a refund. We were able to get a 12 day cruise from Barcelona to Venice which includes some stops in the Greek Isles. And a refund re the original package we purchase. Like I said, not sure why they gave us a refund but since we had so much frustration, we took it for sure. The new cruise has the drink package included as well. It is with NCL. Hoping our next experience with NCL will be better than our first. I did have trip insurance with a separate company and my claim is still in the works. My airfare expires July 2, so I don't really expect to receive any payment until after that date since we would have no proof that we didn't use the tickets until after that date expires. Hope that you get some satisfaction soon. I felt much better after I received my two cheques from the timeshare company and the cruise line. Now just waiting for one more from the travel insurance company. Please keep us updated on your experience and I will update if I hear back from NCL once they receive my letter re the service that we all experienced.

Hi Beach Bums NS

 

Good to hear you have been reimbursed. I received the first check for airline changes Tuesday of this week, which is 2 months and a week from the time of the cancelled trip reimbursement request. I received an email saying I will receive a second check for the 2 nights in a hotel next week. At that point I guess all will be over. Happy to get it all behind me and to move on. Good luck with all future trips BeachBums, nice chatting with you throughout the process!

 

Gary

Yes, Gary, good luck to you too. Put a bad experience behind us. I did take the time to write about our frustration to NCL, it will be interesting to see if I get a reply. Next cruise, August to Alaska, happy travels.

Just an update for anyone who is still following this post. We finally received our reimbursement from NCL yesterday. $150 x 4 = $600 towards the cost of our flight cancellation fees. $151 to pay for the one night in a hotel I had to pay for being a no-show. $751 total from NCL. I started my paperwork around April 20th. After many phone calls back and forth and emails and resending documents, my cheques were issued June 2 in Miami and I received them June 17th in Nova Scotia, Canada. I noticed they were not mailed until June 10th though. Anyway, that part of our case has been settled. Waiting now on the travel insurance to cover the balance of the airfare costs. Hope anyone else that is waiting has received their funds.

They had a dispenser in the shower with shampoo and body wash, but no conditioner. Dh used both of them but I brought my own travel sized salon shampoo and conditioner and my moisturizing body wash. I'm picky, Dh is not!

Thanks for that, I'm picky too about my shampoo/conditioner but some cruise lines have very nice products, so thought I would ask.

Quess my travel size bottles will be coming along. One less pair of shoes to make up the weight.

Carolyn, really loved your review. You highlighted all the necessary items and your pictures were awesome. I have made a lot of notes as we have this cruise booked on the Spirit for September 2016. It sounds like you had a wonderful time. We have been to several ports of call that this cruise takes in, but it will be nice to go back and do some different excursions. I had a question if you don't mind. Does NCL have shampoo, conditioner, etc in the rooms. Flying now you have to save every ounce of space in your luggage due to weight restrictions. Thanks again for the wonderful review. I know a lot of folks that are reading it from future upcoming cruises. Great job.

We did insure our trip separately from the TA and NCL. We ended up getting a policy that gave us extra health coverage and money if we needed to be flown off the ship. We are older parents with younger kids and that was just a concern we had about being gone 38 days. The rest was fairly standard.

 

We did contact the insurance company before we left. Since NCL promised to reimburse the total cruise cost, we didn't worry about that portion (but should have). We wanted reimbursement for the airline tickets to LA and from Copenhagen back home. (about $5,500 for the five of us). I filed a claim with copies of all tickets and sent it all off before we left on the original travel date of 4/11/2015 for a new trip.

 

I was able to cancel most of the shore excursions or hotel in San Pedro, but want to be reimbursed for 5 tickets on the London Eye, and we pre-booked 5 tickets for Anne Fran Huis in Amsterdam.

 

Trip Mate travel insurance is balking at paying anything without proof that I didn't fly (tickets non-transferable/non-refundable) and that I didn't use or sell my non-refundable/non-transferable tickets for London Eye and Anne Frank Huis. They say I have furnish proof from everyone that the tickets were unused.

 

We will somehow plow through this. I just wanted a bit of encouragement that others were successful.

 

My TA has been kind to furnish documentation, though I didn't buy his travel insurance. I hope the commission he made up front will last him through helping me untie the knot until the end.

 

Thanks to all who reply or replied.:)[/quote

 

And thank you for the followup, makes it all a lot clearer. Good luck.

Curious as to how this insurance company is going to believe a person didn't use the tickets. How does one prove that? Crazy rules. Our airline tickets expire on July 2. We haven't received any monies from NCL yet for the $150 per airline ticket cancellation fee. We have claimed $600 for the cancellation fees, and $152 for a no show at the hotel in LA. I have opened a claim with my travel insurance which I buy separately. I'm pretty sure they won't pay me anything until after the date that the tickets expire to ensure I don't use the airline tickets, but I'm putting the claim through anyway. Everything else has been paid for. It is taking weeks though for NCL to actually write a cheque to cover these costs which has been very frustrating. Hope that you have good luck with your insurance so that you can get reimbursed for these tickets.

Hi there,

 

Just a quick reply to your post. I agree that NCL's response to the cancellation and re-payment is slow. (Other then our cruise ticket being refunded within a couple of weeks, we have yet to receive our flight change fee's, it's now May 27th)

 

A few representatives that I spoke to told me that they were not used to problems of this size and it was a learning curve. However I see that they have had other problems with ships and to me should have had everything in place to handle this. Its not that hard to inquire what the other more experienced cruise lines do when faced with a similar situation and learn from them?

 

In retrospect now that everything is over (we took a much shorter replacement cruise, and I am grateful we got away, and met some wonderful people) but it did not come close to compensate fully the enormous disappointment from a cruise that we had planned for over a year, was cancelled less than a week before sailing, that was much larger then a simple week vacation, and that we may never get the opportunity to experience in the future.)

 

I feel they did not do enough to correct the cancellations with their loyal customers. In short, we should have been given the choice for a replacement cruise of the same destination and duration. Even if it was a year later. At least given the choice. I had booked a year in advance for this cancelled Panama cruise and now the prices are much higher.

 

We were unable to rebook flights back to Montreal at the same original price, and booking last minute flights were 5 to 6 hundred dollars more, so we stayed in Miami 2 days to take our original flights home. The first representative told me they would help us with the Hotels since they were not paying for a return flight change. Then I received an email saying they would not help us with the hotels. Then after 3 more phone calls, enormous frustration, they said "send in the receipts and we will see what we can do." I am sending them in tomorrow.

 

As far as staying with Norwegian, like you, we have another cruise booked with them (booked before the cancellation) I don't believe in cutting off my nose to spite my face, as they say, however for the first time since cruising with Norwegian I am now looking at other cruse lines. Which I am sure would not have happened had this not occurred or we had been better compensated.

 

When you have been burned (The aftermath communications with the company) you cant help but be concerned as well that the next cruise with NCL could be cancelled, and so my pre-cruise behavior has changed. I'll keep my excitement in check, and probably not log into my "My NCL" as often or pre-book anything like excursions or restaurants.

 

We will take this upcoming cruise next year and then look forward to checking out the other cruise lines. I am sure NCL is not concerned with the ones that leave.

 

Gary

Gary, thanks for the reply. I'm so frustrated now, I just needed to talk to someone who is going through the same thing. I must say our refunds for the cruise and any pre cruise purchases came back quickly. We lost a bit in the exchange, but made up a bit on things we paid for a year ago in January before our exchange rate got so bad. I have been talking to the representative dealing with my case today, and it appears now, by the time they take their 15 business days to process the cheque request and another so many days to process it in accounting, I do not expect to see a refund until end of June, early July, which is crazy due to the fact the cruise was due to sail on the 12th of April and I first filed my documents with NCL on the 21st of April. This is holding up my claim with the travel insurance company as well as I need proof of payment from NCL. I see you were a loyal NCL cruiser. This was to be our first cruise on NCL, and we were looking forward to trying a new line. Our first choice is Celebrity Soltice class and then Royal Caribbean Radiance Class of ships. We ended up booking another NCL cruise to take advantage of the 50% off but its not until September 2016 and its to Europe. Getting it booked to take advantage of the 50% off a future cruise was also a nightmare and we spent hours on the phone as well. The price we paid at the time of booking a year ago, April 2014 was a great price for the Panama Canal. Who knew this would happen. I think from now on before I book anything, I will be checking to see when and if the ship is scheduled for Dry Dock before we cruise. Anyway, its been a nightmare and a lot of wasted days and hours on hold and explaining the situation over and over again to a different rep each time who gives you a different answer. I only hope that someone from NCL reads these posts and sees how frustrating it is for their customers so perhaps down the road they would put some better type of system inplace. It appears that these cruise lines have a ton of staff when they want to sell you something. We shall see how this all works out. We too were lucky we could jump on a one week vacation but it definitely didn't do the trick when you are so looking forward to 3 weeks away. Best of luck with your hotels being paid. Hope things work out for you.

Not sure if anyone is still subscribing to this thread, but wanted to share my disappointment in the service with NCL getting the refunds for the cancelled airfare and was wondering if others are having similar issues. I have been approved for $600 ($150 for each flight booked) as well as one hotel day in the amount of $152. I filed my paperwork mid April. I called NCL mid May after waiting the 15 business days for processing had past. Was told my documents which I did attach to the form that I sent to NCL did not get to NCL. No one told me that my documents did not arrive. I feel I wouldn't have been told unless I called them to follow up. I finally reached someone in their Guest Co-Ordinator service and was able to send my documents to her showing my cancelled airfare. I checked again today, another 15 days later and still no cheque has been processed. I'm pretty ticked about this poor service. NCL has not refunded our full airfare and we cannot use it by the time it expires as we booked it in July last year. Our flights were with Air Canada and they charge a $200 change fee, not a $150 change fee. I do have travel insurance and will now have to go through the process of claiming the unpaid balance for the airfare. Anyway, just feel that NCL has left a lot of us hanging with monies they owe to us and since this cruise has long past, they aren't in a hurry to refund us the other money. Our travelling buddies are having a similar problem, although they have been told they are only getting $100 per flight cancellation refunded which is not correct at all as NCL agreed to the $150 per cancelled flight. Feeling pretty miffed about this whole situation and the poor service with NCL. Scares me a little bit as we booked another cruise with them to replace our cancelled cruise. So curious to see if anyone else is having similar issues.