Cancelled NCL Sky Cruises

Just got this from Norwegian informing us that our Valentines 4 Day Bahamas Cruise was cancelled:

IMPORTANT ITINERARY CHANGE INFORMATION

Dear Valued Guests and Travel Partners,

Norwegian Cruise Line has important information for you regarding your Norwegian Sky 4-Day Bahamas sailing from Miami, Florida. All guests booked on this sailing need to be aware of this change and travel professionals are asked to forward this information to their clients.

Because of a scheduling change the 4-Day Bahamas sailings departing from December 24, 2018 to April 29, 2019 are no longer available. All reservations will be automatically cancelled and all payments refunded.

If you rebook any available Norwegian Sky sailing at the current published fare within the next 60 days, you will receive a 10% discount off the new cruise fare. Please make sure to reference your Latitudes number or cancelled reservation number when calling to make the new reservation to receive the discount.

Norwegian will cover up to $300 maximum per person in air change fees.

Please note, if you would like to book one of the new, longer Norwegian Sky sailings, they will be available beginning Friday, June 15, 2018.

We thank you for choosing Norwegian Cruise Line and look forward to welcoming you onboard for your next cruise.

Sincerely,

Vivian Ewart

Senior Vice President, Passenger Services

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I hope they aren’t going to flip Sky and Sun for South America.

That sucks

Wonder what is happening those months

I am betting on Cuba.

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it references “new, longer sailings,” so it sounds like they are just changing length of those cruises, not home port...

That sucks

Wonder what is happening those months

The letter says they are tuning the cruises into longer ones. Someone in another thread asked about Cuba in 2019, and this seems to answer their question.

Exactly what they did with the sun. Not enough interest in short cruises. Also gets rid of the cost of the open bar for all.

I would agree about the "Open Bar" costs. I bet NCL was making a heck of a loss on those short cruises.

it references “new, longer sailings,” so it sounds like they are just changing length of those cruises, not home port...

could be that, sounds very much like something that probably makes good sense. I know a lot of people do not like the idea of only a 4 day cruise, especially when you think of the transportation costs, the visa, etc. If you are going to do it, do it right.

When the SUN started offering 7 day cruises that include Cuba we snapped up one - we have preference for the 7 day over the 4 day ones for reasons including: platinum plus perks, air travel, costly hotels pre- and post-cruise, etc that would be infeasible for short cruises.

Also, there are teetotaler cruisers that could benefit from choosing other promos when taking the week long cruises to visit Cuba, instead of having to pay higher rates for the 4 day all-inclusive cruises that include booze they won't drink.

SUN is heading back to South America for the winter, so it makes sense for the SKY to offer 7-dayers through the winter until the Sun returns.

SKY is still on our very short list of the NCL ships we have yet to cruise on :cool:

I would agree about the "Open Bar" costs. I bet NCL was making a heck of a loss on those short cruises.

That, plus the teetotalers have to pay higher prices as those cruises are all-inclusive that include booze they won't drink. Also the DSC are higher.

I am not sure the all inclusive alcohol had anything to do with this decision. If you remember a few years ago NCL announced this on Sky as an experimental program. Once that period was over, the program continued for years now. If NCL saw any decline in revenue from this all inclusive ship, they would not have kept it going as long as they have. They had to increase the initial costs for the cruise. The short 3 day cruises suddenly were not so cheap anymore.

I see this as just a chance to increase revenue on longer cruises. The Sky was the busiest ship in the bizz with doing 2 cruises every week.

I would agree about the "Open Bar" costs. I bet NCL was making a heck of a loss on those short cruises.

NCL is not taking any loss because of the cost of the liquor. They may not be making an profit, but the wholesale cost of liquor is more than covered in the extra DSC, that is charged on those trips.

 

Norwegian will cover up to $300 maximum per person in air change fees.

 

I understand that it's in the fine prints but I still think that it's bad that a cruise line can just decide to cancel a cruise and only cover $300 for air change fees.

We took the inaugural Havana 4 day last May, it was an overnight in Havana. It was a boozy cruise with the required AI, never been around that many drunk people. We saw two people fall down just going to the drill, only been on board a couple of hours.

The new 7 day itinerary is arrive 10am leave at midnight, we are booked for October. We really enjoyed the 2 days in Havana, this new cruise seems like a lot of added beach days. Not really enthused about shore excursions in Belize or Costa Maya, maybe just take the snorkel boat.

I took the new one because it was a free inside cabin, just paid for the OV upgrade. I got it from a casino affinity card program.

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I understand that it's in the fine prints but I still think that it's bad that a cruise line can just decide to cancel a cruise and only cover $300 for air change fees.

There probably aren’t many people who are flying in to Florida and spending over $300 in airfare just to take a short 3 day cruise. Most of these short cruises are filled with people within driving distance to the ports. People tend to fly when cruising on the longer cruises.

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There probably aren’t many people who are flying in to Florida and spending over $300 in airfare just to take a short 3 day cruise. Most of these short cruises are filled with people within driving distance to the ports. People tend to fly when cruising on the longer cruises.

 

 

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I agree with you but isn't the $300 some kind of standard coverage even for longer cruises? I think that I have seen that amount even when longer cruises have been cancelled.

There probably aren’t many people who are flying in to Florida and spending over $300 in airfare just to take a short 3 day cruise. Most of these short cruises are filled with people within driving distance to the ports. People tend to fly when cruising on the longer cruises.

 

 

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It's not worth it to fly here for a 3 day, unless you are extending the trip and including other destinations before and after.

My recent 3-day Sun cruise, if I were to guess, was probably comprised of 75% Floridians, if not more. Most of whom booked last minute when the cost per person started to plummet to under $300. I can't imagine these cruises are turning the profit they were hoping for.

I imagine the situation on Sky is similar.

Info from pcc stated 5 day cruises nothing about 7 day.

I really don't think the length of the cruise has anything to do with the cancellation. Our 10 DAY cruise on the SUN to the S Caribbean just got cancelled. It was going to sail Nov 30 2018.

I understand that it's in the fine prints but I still think that it's bad that a cruise line can just decide to cancel a cruise and only cover $300 for air change fees.

You may not like it, but all lines do things like this from time to time. There usually is a good reason behind it. I have to say, we have always been lucky, it has never happened to us. What did happen once was we got to Spain, on a land trip and our reserved and paid for room was not available. To add insult to injury the city was almost sold out. It wasn't fun, but we made the best of it. We did find a place to stay. It also happened to us going to London once. That was easier than going to a small resort in Spain and having no availability.

Are there Airlines that charge more than 300 to change the dates on a flight?

The reason for the $300 change allowance is because that is usually the standard change fee charged by airlines for two people. $150 per ticket.

The reason for the $300 change allowance is because that is usually the standard change fee charged by airlines for two people. $150 per ticket.

Incorrect. It is $300 PER PERSON which is a normal international change fee. You could provide a receipt if the fee was more than $300 PER PERSON and NCL usually will reimburse it.

Refunds just went through today...I guess it really is a no go...sad, but we did find our replacement cruise & we are super excited!!!

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