Entire Cruise Itinerary Changed, Any Recourse?

[luvtheships]

Wow, now that is a lot of changes. Kudos to you for rolling with the punches.

 

 

Yes they decided to spend several $$$$ more to "roll with the punches"

 

If a pax chose not to spend the extra and tell Ncl no thanks I'll spend my $$$$ elsewhere....

 

Kudos to them too I say [emoji16][emoji106]

 

 

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Edited January 16, 2017 by luvtheships

[luvtheships]

We actually spent most of today looking at that option, checking out train schedules and considering potential destinations. I think we're going to end up doing a combination of a shorter, 7 night cruise and an extended land trip pre and post cruise, rather than rebook the more expensive 10 night itinerary. I can definitely see the appeal of going totally land-based though.

 

 

We are actually so much more relaxed that we are doing land based

 

No upfront payment other than air

 

Plus I booked a great luxury hotel in sorrento with a serenity pool for 4 nights at the end so no jockeying for pool space lol

 

 

Got incredible airfare

 

We will now be able to eat at great Italian and I guess French restaurants (last time in Paris was 1974 lol) with a great exchange rate and drink incredible priced house wines...I've done Italy many times before so I know from where I speak. Lol

 

We decided to skip a cruise early on but my thoughts are perhaps the savings to us will be around $1500 in total....not a deal breaker to us if we really wanted a cruise though

 

My 16yo has had to pass on the last few cruises (January college break cruises) we took due to school (January is hs mid term exams and nope she won't miss them or the reviews for them) but I'm planning on doing some significant travel with her in the next few years....not that she isn't already very well traveled since age 3. Lol

 

 

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[pieshops]

We are actually so much more relaxed that we are doing land based

 

No upfront payment other than air

 

Plus I booked a great luxury hotel in sorrento with a serenity pool for 4 nights at the end so no jockeying for pool space lol

 

 

Got incredible airfare

 

We will now be able to eat at great Italian and I guess French restaurants (last time in Paris was 1974 lol) with a great exchange rate and drink incredible priced house wines...I've done Italy many times before so I know from where I speak. Lol

 

We decided to skip a cruise early on but my thoughts are perhaps the savings to us will be around $1500 in total....not a deal breaker to us if we really wanted a cruise though

 

My 16yo has had to pass on the last few cruises (January college break cruises) we took due to school (January is hs mid term exams and nope she won't miss them or the reviews for them) but I'm planning on doing some significant travel with her in the next few years....not that she isn't already very well traveled since age 3. Lol

 

 

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this is exactly how we felt after deciding not to go on the Star sailing a few weeks ago, we got to every place we wanted to see with more port time then we would have had and also got to Sapa and Ankor Wat aditionally. Saved about 1000 dollars in the process even with all the last minute air fare we had to buy

[PaulInPGH]

We are actually so much more relaxed that we are doing land based

 

No upfront payment other than air

 

Plus I booked a great luxury hotel in sorrento with a serenity pool for 4 nights at the end so no jockeying for pool space lol

 

 

Got incredible airfare

 

We will now be able to eat at great Italian and I guess French restaurants (last time in Paris was 1974 lol) with a great exchange rate and drink incredible priced house wines...I've done Italy many times before so I know from where I speak. Lol

 

We decided to skip a cruise early on but my thoughts are perhaps the savings to us will be around $1500 in total....not a deal breaker to us if we really wanted a cruise though

 

My 16yo has had to pass on the last few cruises (January college break cruises) we took due to school (January is hs mid term exams and nope she won't miss them or the reviews for them) but I'm planning on doing some significant travel with her in the next few years....not that she isn't already very well traveled since age 3. Lol

 

 

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Sounds like an excellent trip!

 

Well, we went zero to sixty today, booking our flights and making hotel reservations and everything. We decided to do the shorter 7-day itinerary on the Epic out of Rome. We used a TA with an excellent group rate, saving $1200 from what we would have paid for the cruise on Spirit. We added some days before the cruise in Paris and Rome, plus a night in Rome and two nights in Venice after the cruise. Plus, the cool thing is flying to Paris and then flying home from Venice is almost $900 less than it was going to be to fly round trip to Rome. So, all things considered, we're even more excited about our more wide-ranging trip now, so the itinerary change turned out to be a bit of a blessing.

[luvtheships]

Sounds like an excellent trip!

 

 

 

Well, we went zero to sixty today, booking our flights and making hotel reservations and everything. We decided to do the shorter 7-day itinerary on the Epic out of Rome. We used a TA with an excellent group rate, saving $1200 from what we would have paid for the cruise on Spirit. We added some days before the cruise in Paris and Rome, plus a night in Rome and two nights in Venice after the cruise. Plus, the cool thing is flying to Paris and then flying home from Venice is almost $900 less than it was going to be to fly round trip to Rome. So, all things considered, we're even more excited about our more wide-ranging trip now, so the itinerary change turned out to be a bit of a blessing.

 

 

Now that is my kind of trip!!!

 

Trust me I would have loved to add a cruise to mine but it was too stressful with getting dates of vacay to coincide etc so for us the land based trip makes lots of sense and as I said so much less stress

 

 

I see you found out about the little airfare tricks of the trade. Lol

 

I saved $1000 per tix on my roundtrip fare by tweaking it a bit AND booking my outbound pond hopper and my 4 days later puddle jumper flights separate from each other.

 

Plus the puddle jumper from Paris to Rome came with free checked luggage which is not easy to find on intraeuropean flights

 

 

 

 

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Edited January 17, 2017 by luvtheships

[DMH15]

Yes they decided to spend several $$$$ more to "roll with the punches"

 

If a pax chose not to spend the extra and tell Ncl no thanks I'll spend my $$$$ elsewhere....

 

Kudos to them too I say [emoji16][emoji106]

 

 

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We took everything under consideration. Might have gone the other way. Kudos to everyone.

 

 

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[Sissaaaaaa]

Sounds like an excellent trip!

 

Well, we went zero to sixty today, booking our flights and making hotel reservations and everything. We decided to do the shorter 7-day itinerary on the Epic out of Rome. We used a TA with an excellent group rate, saving $1200 from what we would have paid for the cruise on Spirit. We added some days before the cruise in Paris and Rome, plus a night in Rome and two nights in Venice after the cruise. Plus, the cool thing is flying to Paris and then flying home from Venice is almost $900 less than it was going to be to fly round trip to Rome. So, all things considered, we're even more excited about our more wide-ranging trip now, so the itinerary change turned out to be a bit of a blessing.

 

I'm really glad it all worked out for you. It is not right at all what NCL did. despite the "holier than thou'" on this board, to change an entire Mediterranean itinerary is not even remotely ok.

[luvtheships]

I'm really glad it all worked out for you. It is not right at all what NCL did. despite the "holier than thou'" on this board, to change an entire Mediterranean itinerary is not even remotely ok.

 

 

Ncl did stuff like this in 2016 and 2015 too I recall.

 

Cancelling cruises outright etc

 

We took all that into consideration before deciding to do land only in 2017

 

Of course if Ncl has outstanding ships and itins in the med for 2017 (which I don't think they have at this point) we may have not gone land only so quickly

 

As it was....it took about 10 minutes for us to scrap the cruise idea in 2017

 

 

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[PaulInPGH]

Ncl did stuff like this in 2016 and 2015 too I recall.

 

Cancelling cruises outright etc

 

We took all that into consideration before deciding to do land only in 2017

 

Of course if Ncl has outstanding ships and itins in the med for 2017 (which I don't think they have at this point) we may have not gone land only so quickly

 

As it was....it took about 10 minutes for us to scrap the cruise idea in 2017

 

 

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The especially funny part is we were all set to do an entirely land-based vacation in England/Ireland in 2017. Then we took our cruise on the Dawn in December and absolutely loved it, and while we were on the ship we totally changed course and decided to do another cruise rather than the trip to the U.K. So even when NCL or other cruise companies do something annoying, the experience of cruising just keeps us coming back for more and more.

[luvtheships]

The especially funny part is we were all set to do an entirely land-based vacation in England/Ireland in 2017. Then we took our cruise on the Dawn in December and absolutely loved it, and while we were on the ship we totally changed course and decided to do another cruise rather than the trip to the U.K. So even when NCL or other cruise companies do something annoying, the experience of cruising just keeps us coming back for more and more.

 

 

We are actually ready to take a break from cruising in general after several Ncl cruises in a short timeframe

 

My guess is if the 16yo schedule can coincide with the older kids schedule that we might be able to get all of us on a cruise in 2018/19

 

Have 2 certs to use by Jan 2020

 

 

 

 

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Edited January 18, 2017 by luvtheships

[kitkat343]

I'm glad it all worked out for you. I think there is a big difference between changing one or maybe 2 ports than the entire itinerary. I do understand this could have happened on a lot of different cruise lines, but it still is sad. I hope you have a great vacation!

[welove2cruise*]

We have been on around 40 cruises so far. This past fall we decided to spend two weeks in Italy between the Tuscany area and the Amalfi Coast area. It was the best vacation we have ever taken. We rented a villa for a week in Lucca and then spent 6 nights at a hotel in Sorrento. I realized a few things..1) Staying in one place for several days alleviates the packing and unpacking issue which is something I always liked about cruising. 2) We had a private terrace in Lucca and a balcony in Sorrento which made all the difference to me as I enjoy being outside. 3) We took the train or ferry for day trips and had a private driver for a tour of the Amalfi coast. It was so nice to not worry about "being back in time" for the ship and we explored as long or as little as we liked. I won't even mention the food and the vino! Perfetto!

 

I think this trip came about because we had done the other cruise itineraries in Europe that we could do up to this point (we have to wait to retire to take more than two weeks at a time) I am so happy we tried it. We are already planning to go back again in a few years.

 

I just post this in case anyone else is hesitant to try something different. For us it was a great decision.

 

 

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[KeithJenner]

I would hate for cruising to be my only form of holiday. It is certainly very convenient in many ways, but it can also be very restrictive.

 

My favourite is to combine a cruise with a land based holiday as well. That is what we tend to do when we go to the US, and it works really well.

 

I would agree that it is worth investigating all options.

[PaulInPGH]

We have been on around 40 cruises so far. This past fall we decided to spend two weeks in Italy between the Tuscany area and the Amalfi Coast area. It was the best vacation we have ever taken. We rented a villa for a week in Lucca and then spent 6 nights at a hotel in Sorrento. I realized a few things..1) Staying in one place for several days alleviates the packing and unpacking issue which is something I always liked about cruising. 2) We had a private terrace in Lucca and a balcony in Sorrento which made all the difference to me as I enjoy being outside. 3) We took the train or ferry for day trips and had a private driver for a tour of the Amalfi coast. It was so nice to not worry about "being back in time" for the ship and we explored as long or as little as we liked. I won't even mention the food and the vino! Perfetto!

 

I think this trip came about because we had done the other cruise itineraries in Europe that we could do up to this point (we have to wait to retire to take more than two weeks at a time) I am so happy we tried it. We are already planning to go back again in a few years.

 

I just post this in case anyone else is hesitant to try something different. For us it was a great decision.

 

 

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Now that sounds like an amazing trip!

 

I think we're packing so many places in to this vacation in order to come up with ideas on where we might like to spend a longer vacation in future. Having never been anywhere in Europe other than England, this will be a bit of a learning experience for us. A very delicious, fun learning experience, to be sure.

[kimandtim]

I feel your pain (though not as bad). Our July Star cruise has been completely changed. I was most looking forward to Santorini and it got dropped. Kotor and Olympia were added. Need to start doing research on what to do in those ports. I'm disappointed but will make the best of it as our airfare is already booked.

[riclop]

Greetings, CC friends,

 

We recently put down a deposit for a 10-night Med cruise on Spirit out of Rome for this October. Unfortunately, I got an email from my TA this afternoon letting me know that NCL has changed the entire itinerary of the cruise from a Western Med cruise to an Eastern/Greek cruise.

 

The original itinerary we booked is available in September, but since prices have gone up since we booked, it will cost us about $700 more to take that cruise. This is annoying, to say the least.

 

I'm sure there's no recourse for this, as I assume NCL can change whatever it wants prior to sailing. But I am curious if this happens often. This never happened on any of my Caribbean cruises.

Just cancel.

[Cat4158]

I feel your pain (though not as bad). Our July Star cruise has been completely changed. I was most looking forward to Santorini and it got dropped. Kotor and Olympia were added. Need to start doing research on what to do in those ports. I'm disappointed but will make the best of it as our airfare is already booked.

 

Hi. Our cruise on Epic has been completely changed too. However, if it's any solace, to you Kotor is an amazing port of call. The sail in through a 17 mile inlet is beautiful. It's different to Santorini but just as spectacular. Hope it goes well.

Edited January 19, 2017 by Cat4158