littlelulu01

A 2012 post can be found here.

Thanks. I read that informative post and it sounded like a good deal 4 years ago. Prices today are unchanged. I went ahead and purchased. We aren't in a suite and a few extra goodies sounds fun. Was wondering if anyone has purchased recently and what they thought.

Has anyone ordered this recently and if so what did you think? Cost looks like it hasn't changed in a few years and with all the cruise industry cost increases that's surprising. It looks to me like a good deal if not in a suite. $269 tax included for:

Sparkling wine and chocolate-covered strawberries in your stateroom upon embarkation

Canapés delivered to your stateroom one evening

Classic Dozen Red Roses

Breakfast in bed on one day of your choice

Romantic Dinner for two in Le Bistro

Two 25-minute half-body Swedish Massages

Tea service in your stateroom on the afternoon of your choice

One 8x10 Professional Portrait

Questions: tea service just a pot of tea or tea service with some goodies?

Breakfast in bed - is it order off the $7.95 menu or order off the suite menu/a menu different from that regularly available?

Professional portrait- a sitting with a picture included or one free picture from what's taken ie boarding picture.

Since its pay in full at time of purchase I assume they are not going to tack on 18% fee for massages, strawberries and dinner.

I just looked up our cruise on the NCL website - and the 14 day cruises are gone. It's just available to book as two 7-day cruises. Both listing Santorini.

 

If I booked through a TA - will they notify me directly or go through my TA? I know they won't talk to me if I call. I e-mailed my TA last night and she hadn't heard anything "official" about our cruise yet - other than the general announcement posted here. Figures - that was the one port I'd already picked an excursion for. :rolleyes: I know we'll have a great time either way.

Your ncl booking number should allow you to login to your ncl account regardless of who you booked with. When I login to NCL account and look at my cruise summary it still lists kusadasi and is billed as 14 night Greece, Adriatic and Turkey. If I look at the day to day schedule it shows the updated itinerary omitting Turkey and replaced with Santorini 8am - 5pm. its still showing i have the 14 night cruise booked as one cruise. I assume they just aren't selling as a 14 night anymore because not too many would be interested in two stops in Santorini. Or ask your TA to call ncl and get an updated itinerary emailed to you.

Since they've discontinued future 14 night bookings I sure hope they don't end up canceling those of us who have already booked. Upsells are probably not going to be an option now. I was really hoping for a last min up sell but how does that work on a sailing that isn't for sale?

NCL Jade has a two week cruise and they replaced Kusadasi with Santorini. This means the cruise will have two port days in Santorini! Very strange replacement. Between that and the fact that I've had several NCL cruises for 2016 canceled now it's getting harder to decide what to do. We have a backup booked on the silhouette same dates out of Rome but I can certainly see some changes to that itinerary occurring as well. My hope is that we will end up with a decent itinerary. At least the Jade didn't substitute for a sea day. There's only so many things you can do in Santorini though. With all the cancellations I wonder how many will be canceling cruises for Mediterranean this summer. I would think celebrity won't be too far behind in making some changes to their 2016 med itineraries and follow suit in dropping Turkey.

I hadn't called yet, but when I logged into MyNcl - Vacation Summary shows Kusadasi, but when I look at "Things to do on a Wednesday" to see excursions - it's changed to Santorini. I was hoping for a different port we weren't visiting the next week - I guess any day on a cruise is better than a day at work!!:)

Yes. Will be interesting to see what this summers reviews have to say about Santorini twice. I don't know how many people book only one week of the sailing vs as a two week sailing. I'm guessing many more book only one half otherwise they wouldn't offer Santorini twice on one sailing.

If that's the case it will make for a nice day to relax onboard a relatively empty ship in a beautiful caldera. I was also thinking that there was a few things to do right when you get off the tenders without having to pay for the ride up to crowded Fira.

Since it will be running all summer with two port stops in Santorini prior to our September sailing I will have time to see how it plays out.

We had to cancel our Jade BtB 14 day out of Venice on 1 Oct because the second half one starting on 8 Oct was cancelled for the aborted drydock. That second week would have taken us to Kotor and was the main reason for our original reason for booking those dates. We moved forward a week to 24 Sep to keep our booking perks so it would be fantastic if they switched us to Kotor instead of Kusadasi. Kotor is a superb sail-in and out because it is at the far end of the most southerly fjord in Europe. At least that would go some way to compensate us for yet another change.

Isn't the new - old October sailing going to Kotor? Too late for me to change airfare but if I could I would. Much better than Santorini twice on one cruise.

I just got off the phone with NCL and got the company line "we will notify booked passengers blah blah blah". I pointed out that the press release indicated notification today and that it was already 4:38 and her response was "we're here until 12:00". And the website still shows the old ports for mock bookings. Very sketchy NCL, very sketchy. Deep cleansing breaths, it will be a good vacation (just not what I had hoped for :()

I called NCL and they emailed me my new itinerary showing the port change. If you are on the two week Jade my itinerary is showing first week Santorini 8am- 5pm. Second week Santorini 2pm - 10pm.

We have a private excursion already booked hitting the highlights with Oia, winery, beach, dinner, Fira. Not up for hiking a volcano or the other excursions. Seems like such an odd port substitute for the two week cruise. I mean I can see Venice as a repeat port but Santorini twice in one cruise? Perhaps they'll let us jump off the ship for a swim the second time around vs tender and then make our way up to Fira all over again. I guess it's better than a sea day but I was really hoping for Kotor or really any non repeating port.

For the two week Jade sailings they are showing Santorini twice. Seems a little odd they are giving us two repeat days there.

Celebrity cancelled all Istanbul port stops some months ago. Istanbul cruises that start or end there will certainly not be changed unless things get very ugly. Would cost millions to change the starting or ending city for thousands of passengers. It is also partially as Istanbul now has only a place for two ships to dock instead of 4 due to construction that family saw there last month.

 

The other port cities are still on some itineraries and IMO perfectly safe but you never know what will happen in the future.

NCL Spirit was scheduled to embark and debark in Istanbul in November. That has been changed so they did change embarkation/debarkation ports in addition to canceling all Turkey stops.

Disney canceled Kusadasi over a month ago now for 2016. They didn't cite safety as a reason though. We were there last year and I felt much safer there than in Venice.

Curious about Israel ports as well. It was touch and go last year. Seems like it would be less expensive to make these changes now vs. last minute and be easier on passengers who have private excursions booked, airfare etc. Celebrity may be banking on world peace for the 2016 cruise season.

Disney Magic canceled Kusadasi a month or so ago for the 2016 season. They didn't say specifically why but they did give anyone booked the chance to cancel or over $1000 obc if they chose to keep the sailing. Pretty good bonus! Granted 1k is an awful lot extra obc for most who already had substantial obc from ta but it sure was a nice good will gesture.

Certainly not expecting a good will gesture like Disney's but am hoping for good alternative port and not an extra sea day.

Lets see.. NCL first cancels the Epic med sailings in Europe and a few Jade sailings in Med. Now the Jade is back on and the Spirit has changed embarkation and debarkation ports, Jade and Spirit have changed itineraries, Jade dry dock is now canceled for a later date in 2017. I know much of this is out of NCL's hands. Their original good will gesture for the mass cancelation? it was $50/$100 obc and in most cases loss of current perks and price.

Booking cruises has become quite a lesson in flexibility. Purchasing good, independent, cruise insurance has become almost a necessity for these med sailings on NCL.

I am thankful that they haven't decided to move the Jade dry dock up and cancel another one of my cruises booked with them. One could feasibly be canceled three times already since August with all the changes. I was worried that a Jade move up in dry dock could make it four.

Waiting on a refreshed Jade is ok in my book vs. having another cruise canceled. I'm just crossing my fingers that they will try to keep the sail dates in tact from here forward and replace Turkey with some good alternatives.

We have airfare purchased used miles for first class. Those tickets are not going to be available should I need to change dates. Part of the allure of our 2016 med trip was to do it right by planning ahead.

It might be a good idea to put down a couple of deposits on a couple of lines with dates within range. We have deposits down on Celebrity and HAL just in case and are hoping one of the three comes through with an end itinerary that will work with our dates. HAL and Celebrity med cruises have come way down recently for our dates. Celebrity is offering a $25 booking fee which makes alternative booking options painless. Jade still has the best itinerary for us but is considerably higher priced than HAL and Celebrity.

I'm glad NCL is taking the initiative to try and get their schedules reworked now vs. last minute. I know NCL has no ability to predict or keep world peace. It's nice that they are anticipating and reworking now vs. waiting till last minute like Celebrity did last year.

I'm pretty sure all airlines made profits last year and attribute the profits to low fuel costs. Even United Airlines made a profit last year despite terrible mismanagement and that they hedged oil prices rising.

if the worst rated and poorest managed mainstream airline in the country can post profits because of low fuel costs, it would be easy to assume the cruise lines profits last year are due to similar reasons.

cruise and flight prices will be what the market bears. They're going to make hay when the sun shines. United's CEO had a heart transplant and the absence of his management and cumulative issues with the line has caused talk of the line in dire need of some changes in order to survive.

Should a cruise line reputation deteriorate and people start choosing another line then it won't matter how low fuel costs are, at some point they will be affected.

United's reputation went down, they lost much of their lucrative business travel contracts and analysts are saying it will be hard to turn the line around.

ncl must be selling their staterooms at these new higher prices. I've been tracking med prices and have two deposits down. One on celebrity and one on the Jade 14 night September. Just checked and current all in price for two including taxes and port fees for Ncl Jade September 24th balcony is $7237. This price includes gratuity on the beverage package. Celebrity sailing on exact dates all in cost including taxes and port fees for two is $4108. The celebrity cruise includes perks of two choices: unlimited internet for entire cruise vs Ncl 250 Internet, daily service fees (not a choice on Ncl), beverage package that includes specially coffees, canned soda, bottles of water and smoothies vs Ncl which includes alcohol and fountain sodas or an additional $300 obc. Given the extra perk, Ncl is about double the price for exact same dates.

We are not big drinkers and that seems to be the perk they are baking into the price above all. I think those that don't drink or drink very little would like a different option to choose, pick a perk and if you want cash it in for half it's value towards your cruise. So if the value of the UBP is $1000 you could choose to cash that in for a $500 discount on your cruise fare and you would not have the UBP. That seems to be a fair compromise that still holds on to some of the way it used to be.

Couldn't agree more. If the plan included items like soda cans, water bottles, specialty coffees it would be much different .

I am seeing these being added now too. The picture says image coming soon. So I guess they are scrapping refurbishment or with my luck they will push it back and scrap my cruise (again).

Lets hope not. I know there was an article a while back about how NCL planned to refurb their fleet. Not sure if that's still in the making or not. Regarding just the dry dock, they don't necessarily need to refurb the ship during a dry dock. I think dry docks are required every so many years, perhaps 5? and often those don't really entail any major refurb. So in theory the Jade would not need a refurb. She could just be getting a required dry dock. I think people just assume she was going to get the treatment that the Gem received given the recent statement from NCL.

Obviously things have changed again regarding the Jade. After the last crazy roller coaster with redeployment, dry docks and mass reworking of the schedules in August..., I made sure and rebooked for a date where there were alternative options in case Ncl decided to change it up again. $50/$100 obc doesn't really cut it if they cancel at the last minute or at any time now forward now that my airfare is purchased and time off work is set.

I know it's still a long ways out but I hope your cruise goes as scheduled and that NCL has just decided to hold off on the dry dock for a future date outside of a current booking window.

I think the Jade is due for a dry dock and will need the mandatory one around that time frame even if they decided to scrap the major refurb that Gem received. Some sailing will be cancelled as a result. I'm just crossing fingers it's not mine again. Perhaps they are rescheduling after the ta.

What date is the TA? In addition to the two new cruises you mention I also see a 7 night med starting on October 23rd. I thought the ta was scheduled for the 23rd.

We're currently booked for two weeks on the Jade September 24-October 8th and we were also caught up in the mass reworked scheduling/ cancellations a while back.

Jade was scheduled for a dry dock starting on October 8th, immediately following our cruise.

Ta for both epic and jade are scheduled for 10/30/16.

It's a stretch at best to call dining plan changes and free vs fee dining option changes bait and switch. Technically you can still eat all the meals aboard for the included cruise fare and not pay extra. The mdr and included fare isn't just bread and water. If they sold you an inclusive cruise and then told you any food or liquid would cost extra then that's bait and switch.

Selling someone a cruise one day, taking their $, and the very next day telling them they switched the ship and itinerary so if you still want to sail on those dates you're now going to pay double? Well that's bait and switch. They did it with Epic sailings. Ironically the replacement ship, the Spirit, just had the embarkation and debarkation ports changed to a different country on sailings where airfare is available for purchase. Cruise insurance is a necessity for this type of stuff because NCL can basically do whatever whenever according to their contracts. It's not like buying an airfare. The consumer has no rights and is baffled (myself included) when the cruise line flexes their contract stipulations.

Instead of the ta reading the cancellation rules to you when a cruise is booked they really should be telling the consumer that Cruise lines can and do change terms and conditions including when and if you will ever sail for the price paid. I encourage everyone to read their cruise contract. It's an eye opener for sure.

If you don't think this change was made for security reasons....um....well what can I say? Bridge for sale perhaps?

 

The port construction is just an easy excuse

 

 

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Your theory holds no water. Many lines, including NCL, are still stopping in Istanbul. The other lines are also replacing ports with alternatives such as Haifa and Ashdod. Do you honestly think the other lines, including NCL would deem it safe for a day stop but not overnight? Celebrity still has an overnight because they got the berth. Granted anything can happen but this port construction is not new. It's an ongoing issue and has been problematic for over a year now.

Back in August when NCL did the mass cancelations and redeployments I was simply shocked that NCL announced their new and exciting itineraries including the Spirit with embarkation/debarkation in Istanbul given all the trouble with construction that everyone else had. not to mention potential problems with safety. All that mass cancelation and reworking the schedules. All the upset customers who had their cruises canceled on the Epic. And now it's announced that Istanbul in November and December are not going to be the embarkation and debarkation. Who handles this kind of stuff for Ncl?

If I, a simple consumer, wouldn't book Istanbul as an embarkation port on this new itinerary due to all the issues with construction, I assume someone at NCL in charge of this stuff might have thought about that as well prior to the mass changes they did late August. After what happened with the mass NCL cancelation/redeployment, I wouldn't trust any line to stick to the itineraries they sell. I will only book dates where I have at least three options on three lines. Filling these ships without mass price dumping will be interesting to monitor, especially now with NCL's track record of how they help out discarded customers.

I know. I saw the press release in August about how exciting it was to be offering Turkey as an embarkation/debarkation city and that they hadn't done it in years. It truly was the perfect itinerary for us.. and now they've lost our business. I am sad to see the UDP and SDP that we had booked go bye bye... but it's not worth the money they want for a much less exciting itinerary. We would have considered staying if they had just returned to Venice and left the rest in place. Oh well, we've started looking at other things and I think we're doing a land vacation instead to Israel/Jordan/Turkey.

Sorry about the hassle. After NCL canceled my Epic sailing the day after I purchased it and then offered me no price protection to sail on the new Spirit replacement sailing I realized that cruise lines have every right, according to their contracts, to pretty much do anything they want at any time including canceling sailings, embarkation/debarkation, taking away the price, perks.... NCL really takes the cake on the industry leader in this practice.

I have tried to insulate myself to some degree by booking my next med sailings on dates with three other alternatives if one line changes or cancels on me. Early Spring and Fall/winter cruises don't fit that bill so I've rebooked in September. There is a Celebrity, HAL, NCL and RCL sailings that will fit into my flight booking window. At this point for me its more about being able to get on a ship in the port and dates I need and take some semblance of the trip I want. After the NCL mass redeployment debacle in August and how terribly they treated most of the passengers I don't trust them or any of the lines any more. I put down three deposits on three lines and purchased cruise insurance with an independent company. Crazy that is what cruising has come down to for med sailings... especially with NCL.

NCL just cancelled Istanbul on our cruise and that was where the cruise was supposed to end. The cruise had probably the best itinerary we've seen in a long time and now they've butchered it so I have a feeling we'll be cancelling and looking for something else.

What is perplexing about this is the fact that NCL didn't create these new Spirit itineraries until late August, 2015. The Epic was originally scheduled to sail the Med and embark/debark in Barcelona or Rome. When they did the mass cancelation and replaced the Epic with the Spirit the port construction and berth problems were already an ongoing issue in Istanbul yet they created a new cruise with Istanbul as an embarkation/debarkation and overnight. Whoever planned that was either purposefully creating a schedule that would not come to fruition or had no knowledge of the huge and ongoing port construction issues in Istanbul.

What a waste to mess with all those thousands of booked passengers in order to create these itineraries only to turn right around and alter them. In the case of the November, 2016 Spirit sailing, the embarkation and debarkation ports were changed after airfare available for purchase. NCL gave a whopping $50/$100 obc to rebook those original epic sailings if you wanted the same dates on the much higher priced Spirit replacement sailings. It all seems so odd to go about all that creation of dissatisfied jilted passengers when in the end the new product you want to deliver is nothing like it was originally sold as. I did not book the Istanbul embarkation and debarkation port sailings due to all the issues I've seen in the past year with the construction. I'm sure im not alone in that and bookings for this sailing were probably not as brisk as the dream team who went about scheduling them.

I don't know what your cruise cost, but I guess that doesn't cover for cancel for any reason..we don't take that...but the medical evacuation , missed connections, etc is what is important to us. Also the medical evacuation we do not have to pay and then be reimbursed. We have only purchased travel insurance 1 other time in 40 cruises. It was in Vietnam. This upcoming is South America and as I said all we are concerned about if the medical and missed connections.

It doesn't cover cancel for any reason. It was considerably more for that add on. Their website has a comparison tool that explains the different plans. I figured it best to start with the standard gold travel guard plan and then can add more later. I think that things like gratuity on packages, dining plans... DSC are also refundable if you cancel at the last minute so I didn't add those into insured costs. They're probably not refundable once the cruise has commenced so not sure if I was right in excluding them. I've read about nightmare cases where people were denied claims because they were off by $10 on the cruise fare so I intend to make sure I have an exact and correct amount insured before we depart.

My college kid is traveling to Berlin and Amsterdam at spring break[emoji79]and I told her the other day I was paying for an insurance policy for her for the week. She prepaid airfare so I will cover that amount in the policy. They haven't booked hotels or rail fare yet but I'll add in the cost of the rail tix and 1 night hotel deposits. I'm getting a policy that is Covering a grand total of approx $1000 in non refundable costs. The trip of course is on her dime but I am paying for the insurance approx $75

 

It's not the airfare I'm worried about....its medical and theft/loss and emergencies delays etc that I'm concerned about.

You might want to look into her university plans with the study abroad office. I know they just cover medical but it can be really inexpensive. They don't necessarily need to be a study abroad student to purchase into the school plan. Since the university may have campuses in various countries they also carry group plans that cost a fraction of what I would pay.

With plans like travel guard gold, pretty much their standard plan, they cover up to 25k per person medical, 50k emergency evacuation pp.... You can google the plans to see what else they cover. if you want more coverage you can add options like cancel for any reason, hospital of choice, increased pp amounts... And pay more for the policy. For anything like theft, trip interrupt, missed flights, we had to pay upfront and then apply for refund. So even though they give $300 per person for delay bags, 1k for lost bag.... I had to pay upfront so didn't go on some spending spree just in case insurance denied claim. Not sure how the medical works and if I would have to pay upfront if needed. I think in those cases the travel guard people negotiate for you. But I've read of people who needed to pay upfront for ships dr service and then get reimbursed. Can't imagine they'll expect pay upfront prior to an ambulance ride though if you have a policy and card. Rick Steves does a good job explaining the basics on his website.

I wanted a standard insurance plan for medical because that's where I feel I could lose the most if something happened abroad. The $150 airline change fees, perhaps a lost first night hotel room fee if no show are not worth insuring to me but may be to someone else. My kids have received excellent medical care in Italy in the past so I don't feel that evacuation to hospital of choice is worth the extra to me but may be worth it to someone else.

Mileage airfares can't even be added to coverage because it would be too hard for them to value the miles. Nothing refundable can be added to coverage.

If we do get stranded and need to purchase last min airfare, the travel guard people will arrange for a ticket at a negotiated price. i booked a low cost cruise fare for my next med sailing knowing that I very may upgrade and then need to pay more for the policy.

The pre existing condition thing is included if purchase fifteen days of putting down deposit. That is also confusing. I thought it wasn't necessary because we don't have anything like high blood pressure or illness but after reading more about it I felt it was worth having even for a healthy person.

I assume that was not trip cancellation in that price.

It was $148 for two adults for the gold plan. Purchased the day after I put deposit down so it also includes pre existing conditions and a couple other things. No special pricing- booked directly with travel guard. The way I understand is that I need to insure all non refundable costs. Used miles for airfare so that's not insurable. Hotels are refundable. So are taxes and port fees and so I only had to include the cruise fare. If I needed to cancel at the last minute, past final payment and for a covered reason,I will be refunded the cruise fare and only be out the redeposit fee for Avios. I also put a deposit down on a couple other lines just in case something happens with this booking. The same policy will cover if I switch to celebrity or HAL sailings for same dates. I will need to let travel guard know of the new price if I switch. The gold plan I currently have coverage is up to a certain amount for cruise fare. Should I upgrade cabin closer to sailing and cost bumps me up to next level I pay the difference. Purchased policy almost a year in advance. A lot can happen with ships itinerary which is why I chose a sailing that had a few different options with other lines. The insurance plan covers from the time we leave until we return home so also cover land portion of our trip.

When we went this year it was $238 total for three for the same plan. Supposedly big box ta has special pricing with travel guard and I purchased through them. We were gone almost a month with the two week cruise so cost was huger even though my kids are much younger and I assume less expensive to insure than husband who I'm traveling with next year.

I purchased a travel guard policy for our two week med cruise this year and it paid off in ways I hadn't thought of. Our luggage didn't arrive in Pisa. We lucked out and got it back the night before the cruise departure from Venice but had a few days with no luggage. We were able to purchase clothes and personal supplies in Florence. I submitted the receipts upon returning and they reimbursed me. I had my iPhone 6 stolen in Doges Palace. They also covered that cost. The concierge service was excellent. Mine checked the status of bag return and arranged the return. I had her email me daily status reports. When my luggage finally arrived at the airport they weren't going to deliver it to my hotel in Florence due to a holiday but travel guard argued for me and made it happen. Just those two very common occurrences more than paid for the policy.

A few passengers had falls in Turkey and had to be transferred via ambulance. There's stupid things your kids do too like walking through ruins while texting. One of mine did that and took a nasty spill. Luckily just scraped up but could easily have been worse. Then there's Greece. When we were there the hospitals were closed due to a strike. A passenger needed medical care in Corfu and had to pay 6k cash to a private doctor.

Americans are easy targets in Europe. Add some jet lag and make a mistake of setting a phone or camera or bag down and it will be taken. Dd had studied abroad the entire year and was never a victim of petty crime but she didn't stick out like I did. There were a few kids at her university in Florence that were mugged though. In most instances it was late at night after drinking and all victims were boys. I'm pretty sure my US medical insurance didn't cover for abroad. We had to purchase a plan for dd in order to get her visa. I was still glad I purchased cruise insurance on top of it though.

My next two week med cruise insurance costs was $148. Small price to pay.

Who are you doing your booking thru - NCL a TA or other source ?

 

NCL is not so good at maintaining all the promos benefits and perks of the

original booking. At least with a TA (Travel Agent) especially one that you

frequently use these promos benefits (OBC) and perks will not be randomly

discarded simply because the booking was changed with an 'i' dotted; a 't'

crossed or period comma semicolon misplaced.

As long as you are going on the originally booked cruise and the date remains

unchanged - nothing should be lost here.

You are not starting over with a NEW booking merely amending and/or adding to it.

Upgrading your stateroom should not result in loss of perks but may result

in gaining even more i.e. Balcony to a Suite getting the 4 promos instead of just 1 or 2.

Of course NCL can change the conditions of the contract for carriage any ole

time they want but do it with a seasoned Latitudes member or one who travels

often and bad publicity follows henceforth.

This time around I'm booked directly with NCL. I lost the 9+ Month extra points on my last b2b because the prices beginning of this year went down and they had some very good perk offers. I cancelled the b2b booked as one and rebooked as two separate cruises so it was a new booking with new booking numbers and no longer qualified for extra latitude point.

I know some people report no more up sell but others are still reporting success with last minute upsell booked direct. If with a ta it sounds like the upsell will be limited to what the advertised prices are. Since we are currently booked in an inside I'm hopeful we can upsell close to sailing date. The extra ta obc for my booking was very minimal. NCL gave me a little obc for a rebook from cancelled sailing so it was a wash booking with NCL vs ta.

I know they can change the terms and conditions and even the sailing at any time. I've tried insulating myself this time around with three different deposits on three different lines. Med itineraries have been experiencing quite a few changes. I'm hoping that by having three different options this time that we will be safe with one following through with original cruise date and departure ports. The extra latitude points and move up to next tier will be a nice extra but not the end of the world if it doesn't happen.