NCL we had to leave you

[gardiner41]

For anyone still looking for late 2014 cruises

Pearl is sailing out of Miami in Dec for 3 good itineraries one is a combo of the 2 ..technically a B2B but being sold as one long cruise

 

10 Day Eastern: Not your same old boring eastern Ports

Tortola,

Antigua

Martinique

St Kitts

St Thomas /St John

4 sea days (2 down and 2 back)

 

11 day Southern

St Thomas

St Kitts

St Lucia

Curacao

Aruba

5 sea days 2 down 2 back and one in the middle

 

21 Day

Combo of the 2 above itineraries (only St THom and St Kitts are repeated)

 

The 21 day is Dec 1-22

 

10 Day East Dec 1-11

 

11 Day South Dec 11-22

 

We are booked for the 21 Day

 

 

Having said that we are also booked on Celbrity in January for 11 days for their "Ultimate Caribbena" which is actually like a South American West Caribben combo.

Leaves from FLL

Grand Cayman

Colombia

PANAMA (the ship does not do the canal but one of the excursions it to take a Ferry boat down the canal from all reviews a great way to do it because you are in the locks instead of on top of them.)

Costa Rica

Belize

Cozumel

We are taking this cruise with friends we met on the Epic last year..on the Boring St THom St MArten Nassau itinerary. Not my fav ship or ports...but we were on holiday so all was not lost.

 

 

I am researching Mediterranean Itineraries now for 2015 We want a Grand voyage 20 days or longer . I am looking at HAL PRINCESS CELEBRITY as top contenders, unfortunately NCL only has one itinerary that even comes close. I have to do a port by port comparison and see who comes out on top, for ports, time in port and dates offered. We don't want to sail in the summer.

[Cruzn Bills Fan]

Unfortunately NCL has not added any new routes even though it's adding new ships.

 

We are Platinum loyal NCL'ers, who had to leave our favorite cruise line, and go with one that sails other places we want to visit!

 

Sailing Australia and New Zealand in 2015 on Celebrity. Will miss our NCL bennies and freestyle! :(

 

We have made the same decision after our Getaway in NOV. NCL needs to hit some new places. Maybe put a ship in San Juan to open up the Southern Caribbean route.

[gardiner41]

Like everyone else we have several places we want to see that NCL is currently not sailing. For us as much as we do enjoy freestyle, we also enjoy what the other lines have to offer, and ultimately it is Itinerary first.

 

As far as all the lines getting in ruts with their itineraries...if you sail more than one line you never run out of itineraries to sail and can get pretty much wherever you want. Add to that Land travel (escorted tours and independent travel and the doors open even wider.

 

we are dong a 15 Day Tour of one of our bucket list places in the Summer. Ireland. We researched cruises, doing it on our own and finally decided for what we want to get out of this trip the Escorted tour was the best route for us. The one we are on is very laidback, and has lots of free time to explore as well as tours of the highlights of each of our stops.

 

Just a thought....

Perhaps It is not the cruise lines that are in a rut, rather those that sail them.

 

IMHO The reward perks are not THAT fabulous on any line. Certainly not enough to limit myself to what they offer for itineraries.

 

On the flip side, if one enjoys the perks and style of a certain line so much, they sail with them exclusively, they really can't complain about itineraries limited to that line.

 

There is limitless choice of itineraries and travel out there, it is we the travelers who limit ourselves

[lordchaos]

Feel the same way about Nassau!

 

agreed. I have grown so tired of Nassau, AND St. Thomas.

[Twiz]

agreed. I have grown so tired of Nassau, AND St. Thomas.

 

Agree about Nassau but I am OK with St Thomas, we enjoy just going to the beach at that stop.

[srlafleur]

agreed. I have grown so tired of Nassau, AND St. Thomas.

 

I avoid those ports like the plague, at this point. So many other places in the world to see! (Not that I haven't enjoyed them, but enough is enough)

I just booked what I think is a new-to-NCL itinerary for December 2015 - Panama Canal partial transit 11-night on the Pearl, Miami R/T. I've been looking for PC on NCL (gotta use that FCC), but it seemed all they had was full transit, which is all well and good, but a bit too long for me at this point. There appear to be only a handful of NCL sailings with that shorter itinerary.

 

Going to Norway on RCCL in a couple of weeks, and Caribbean repositioning in November on CCL - only visiting one port we've been to before (aside from San Juan departure)!

For us, it's all about seeing new places!

Edited April 25, 2014 by srlafleur

[Twiz]

I'm sorry - they leave from Miami, not Tampa.

 

http://www.ncl.com/vacations/caribbean-cruises-9-14-days-2-guests?duration=8053&destinations=4294934559&cruise=1&cruiseTour=1&numberOfGuests=4294915774&pageSize=5&currentPage=1&sortBy=Featured&autoPopulate=f&from=resultPage

 

Saw those cruises but we like February, it break up the winter and Dh can get extended time from work....

[Twiz]

For anyone still looking for late 2014 cruises

Pearl is sailing out of Miami in Dec for 3 good itineraries one is a combo of the 2 ..technically a B2B but being sold as one long cruise

 

10 Day Eastern: Not your same old boring eastern Ports

Tortola,

Antigua

Martinique

St Kitts

St Thomas /St John

4 sea days (2 down and 2 back)

 

11 day Southern

St Thomas

St Kitts

St Lucia

Curacao

Aruba

5 sea days 2 down 2 back and one in the middle

 

21 Day

Combo of the 2 above itineraries (only St THom and St Kitts are repeated)

 

The 21 day is Dec 1-22

 

10 Day East Dec 1-11

 

11 Day South Dec 11-22

 

We are booked for the 21 Day

 

 

Having said that we are also booked on Celbrity in January for 11 days for their "Ultimate Caribbena" which is actually like a South American West Caribben combo.

Leaves from FLL

Grand Cayman

Colombia

PANAMA (the ship does not do the canal but one of the excursions it to take a Ferry boat down the canal from all reviews a great way to do it because you are in the locks instead of on top of them.)

Costa Rica

Belize

Cozumel

We are taking this cruise with friends we met on the Epic last year..on the Boring St THom St MArten Nassau itinerary. Not my fav ship or ports...but we were on holiday so all was not lost.

 

 

I am researching Mediterranean Itineraries now for 2015 We want a Grand voyage 20 days or longer . I am looking at HAL PRINCESS CELEBRITY as top contenders, unfortunately NCL only has one itinerary that even comes close. I have to do a port by port comparison and see who comes out on top, for ports, time in port and dates offered. We don't want to sail in the summer.

 

Would love this but not in December, too close to the Christmas Holiday...I wonder the reasoning for so long in December

[gardiner41]

Would love this but not in December, too close to the Christmas Holiday...I wonder the reasoning for so long in December

 

I think there are a few reasons for this

A lot of people travel for Christmas with their families. It becomes the "gift" in many instances.

My DH and I do not buy each other a lot of gifts for any holiday, birthday or anniversary. We are at the place in our lives where we don't need a lot and if we want something we just get it...but we do travel to celebrate each occasion.

 

Second big reason is a lot of us who live in very long cold winter climates take a few trips over the winter to escape the snow. Instead of heading to Florida for the entire winter like the "snowbirds" do

 

We typically took 1-2 weeks in Dec. Another 2 weeks in January.

 

This year we are doing 3 week cruise in Dec then an 11 day cruise plus a few extra days in Orlando in January and another cruise or an All inclusive Holiday in February.

 

I know of one couple who is sailing on the Pearl the entire month of Dec. They are doing the 21 day then another 11 day B2B over Christmas, when their Daughter and Son in law will join them for the Holidays.

[CruisinMaterial]

Unfortunately NCL has not added any new routes even though it's adding new ships.

 

We are Platinum loyal NCL'ers, who had to leave our favorite cruise line, and go with one that sails other places we want to visit!

 

Sailing Australia and New Zealand in 2015 on Celebrity. Will miss our NCL bennies and freestyle! :(

 

Celebrity is a great stand-in cruise line. I used them to go to Asia when NCL failed to deploy a ship there. I'm surprised they're announcing a return to South America instead of an Asian deployment yet half their ownership is in the Orient! (Genting Hong Kong!!!) Oh well... cruise lines will learn when they start to lose business to each other. :cool:

 

Enjoy your trip - especially if it's on a Solstice-class ship!

[dalgirl]

DH and I are trying Celebrity for the first time on our 17 day Asian cruise in April 2015 - the ship is not hitting high marks, but I think most of the cruiselines save their very best ships for the US. We expect to have a grand time.

 

Here is a great 12 day itinerary on the Star (our first time on this NCL ship) being offered for one sailing only in Sept. 2015 - it departs Copenhagen and ends in Dover (London). Although we have already cruised out of Copenhagen (the NCL Baltic cruise) and have toured London twice on land vacations, it will be new for my mother and sons traveling with us - and our first trip to Ireland and Scotland - New (different) ship and new (mostly) itinerary - thank you NCL:

 

Copenhagen

Rotterdam (wish it was Amsterdam, but of well)

Portland England

Falmouth, BG

Cork

Dublin

Belfast

At sea

Invergordon, GB

Edinburgh

at Sea

Dover (London)

 

2015 is going to be a big year cruising and seeing the world for DH and myself:D

[barnacle_boy]

Celebrity is a great stand-in cruise line. I used them to go to Asia when NCL failed to deploy a ship there. I'm surprised they're announcing a return to South America instead of an Asian deployment yet half their ownership is in the Orient! (Genting Hong Kong!!!) Oh well... cruise lines will learn when they start to lose business to each other. :cool:

 

Historically it's largely been due to Genting's ownership of NCL that has kept them from deploying ships in Asia. Genting currently owns slightly less than 1/3 of NCL and has announced plans to sell the rest in the coming years. I'm assuming that a reshuffling of NCL's board will be in order once this has been accomplished. It seems that Genting is pivoting back to their core Star Cruises brand with the impending cruise boom in Asia, so it's more likely that we'll see NCL deployments in that region. There's so much overlap between the NCL and Star products (similar ships with freestyle concepts) that deploying them both in the same market would have undoubtedly led to significant cannibalization.

 

Beyond Genting's ownership, NCL also has to be more conventional with their itineraries due their relatively small fleet size. Even RCI, which has a fleet nearly twice the size of NCL, only offers seasonal cruises on two ships in China. That will all change once Quantum is there year round, but RCI's sudden decision to move her seems to have more to do with Bermuda's inability to meet dredging obligations than an interest in offering more eclectic itineraries for their passengers. Additionally, it's been very clear for a long time that NCL wants to dominate the domestic market, and their itinerary options reflect that. Their US targeted approach, an evolution of their "Homeland Cruising" scheme developed post-9/11, typically precludes large scale deployments overseas. Even NCL's handful of ships in Europe (soon to be reduced to just one) usually carry a majority of US citizens.

[jmele999]

As have I...

 

I mentioned the impossibility of reaching southern caribbean ports on weeklong Miami itineraries because most people here seem to want to see those ports, but NCL is forced to stick with shorter weeklong itineraries because they are much more accessible to the markets they are trying to reach.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

However, I think that NCL can add more southern itineraries. Why not do two 10 days southern every month and do 5 day cruises between the 10 day cruises. If NCL is able to start the 10 day cruises or a Friday then I think that more people will book because it only requires them to take a week off from work (or maybe 6 working days.)

 

The bottom line is that NCL benefits more from having four 7 days cruises per month than having multiple longer cruises.

[barnacle_boy]

However, I think that NCL can add more southern itineraries. Why not do two 10 days southern every month and do 5 day cruises between the 10 day cruises. If NCL is able to start the 10 day cruises or a Friday then I think that more people will book because it only requires them to take a week off from work (or maybe 6 working days.)

 

The bottom line is that NCL benefits more from having four 7 days cruises per month than having multiple longer cruises.

 

Let's think this through, shall we?

 

First, in order to do alternating 10-day southern cruises they would need to have 4-day (not 5-day) cruises between them. 4x7-days = 28 days = 2x10-days + 2x4-days.

 

Second, 10-day cruises leaving on a Friday would still require taking 7 days off from work. The ship departs before the end of the Friday workday, and the disembarkation process finishes after the start of the Monday workday. Certainly there are those that can finagle missing multiple 1/2 days in a row without any repercussions, but they are few and far between. Also, this is assuming that all the passengers live in close proximity to Miami and can simply make it from work to the ship at the drop of a hat. Those traveling long distance haven't a chance.

[SFO-F/A]

I am still waiting for a South Pacific cruise with NCL. Was hoping for it in 2015 but it seems its a no go. We have done enough of the Caribbean and we have done Europe. Guess we may be looking at another cruiseline for the South Pacific or Australia. We love NCL but need some new destinations.

 

 

Catlady, that's exactly what we were hoping for with NCL. Sad to say....

they aren't listening to us!

 

Been to Caribbean and Europe and Hawaii and Alaska and Panama Canal!

 

It's time to go somewhere else too. Been waiting for an Australia and New Zealand cruise and finally will go with Celebrity for 2015.

 

Hope to hop on an NCL cruise for South America in 2016, if they ever open it up for us to plan!!!!

Edited April 25, 2014 by SFO-F/A

[cliffd64]

Would anybody miss the 3 and 4 day Bahamas trips out of Miami on the Sky?

 

My suggestion would be to send the NCL Sky back to San Juan, PR where it used to sail from and do alternating Southern and Exotic Southern itineraries like it did prior to becoming the Pride of Hawaii (debacle)... If it was possible to do 7 days in the Southern Caribbean from San Juan back then, it shouldn't be an issue now!

 

 

Enough with the cheap trips to Nassau!

[Cruzn Bills Fan]

Would love this but not in December, too close to the Christmas Holiday...I wonder the reasoning for so long in December

 

The other thing that's scary about this is that it's on Pearl, NCL's go to ship for special events. How horrible would it be to book your Christmas/New Years cruise with family coming in from all over the country or other countries and have them rent out the ship from under you.

[Philandjulie]

We have done 2 NCL cruises, and are doing another 3 B2B next month. We love the freestyle cruising and want to be dedicated NCL cruisers. But living in Australia makes it difficult to do that with the cost and time to fly to either USA or Europe. Hoping they will send a ship downunder soon so we can cruise more often. After these next cruises, we will be looking at Princess maybe to try a Transpacific cruise or one of their South American ones. Have tried P&O and Carnival but they just didn't suit us at all.

[peg013]

We have done 2 NCL cruises, and are doing another 3 B2B next month. We love the freestyle cruising and want to be dedicated NCL cruisers. But living in Australia makes it difficult to do that with the cost and time to fly to either USA or Europe. Hoping they will send a ship downunder soon so we can cruise more often. After these next cruises, we will be looking at Princess maybe to try a Transpacific cruise or one of their South American ones. Have tried P&O and Carnival but they just didn't suit us at all.

 

Did you see that from November 2015 to April 2016 the Norwegian Sun will be doing 14 day South American cruises between Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina? They are getting closer to you at least. :)

[klingoncruiser]

Oh do I hear you! NCL really does need a major overhaul when it comes to itineraries. NOLA and Houston both have the same itinerary..............the well worn Cozumel, Roatan, Costa Maya and Belize. We have considered Miami and there is little difference. Cozumel is fine but not times 5.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruise!

 

I really like that route! Belize may be getting ready to change. They are trying to build a private island there. I hope the manage to do that.

[Philandjulie]

We have read about the new South American itineries and wish they would put them up to see. Pretty sure we are going to do the TA on the Escape and hoping to do the SA as well. Just waiting to buy onboard credit next week and use that towards deposit.