Itinerary Changed with No Compensation Offered

[mugtech]

More of the same.

[beerman2]

1 hour ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Was your plan to stay very late in Stockholm and take the train or bus back to Nynäshamn in the middle of the night? Or was your plan to book a hotel in Stockholm for the overnight?

 

If your plan was to book a hotel you might still be able to do that and take the ferry from Nynäshamn to Visby or a plane from Arlanda to Visby the next day.

 

Do you know if the ship still will dock in Nynäshamn or is it changed to Stockholm?

An educated response and common sense approach showing a solution to the situation. Once frustration sets in many times people can't think/see outside the box.

[beerman2]

1 hour ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Was your plan to stay very late in Stockholm and take the train or bus back to Nynäshamn in the middle of the night? Or was your plan to book a hotel in Stockholm for the overnight?

 

If your plan was to book a hotel you might still be able to do that and take the ferry from Nynäshamn to Visby or a plane from Arlanda to Visby the next day.

 

Do you know if the ship still will dock in Nynäshamn or is it changed to Stockholm?

Edited April 24, 2019 by beerman2

[HokiePoq]

13 hours ago, MaryZ said:

I'm well aware. 
But that's been our experience.   In over 50 cruises, so far only NCL is the winner of changing itineraries at the drop of a hat.  Our next is the Encore.  For which we did get compensation. 

Have you sailed Celebrity?   We booked an Australian/NZ cruise some years ago and long after final payment they switched our Tasmania port to Newcastle.  No comparison in ports and the Aussies onboard were not happy either.  I'm sure they saved a bundle not going to Tasmania.   We got no compensation.  X also took our one of a kind Asian cruise for a charter and only offered $200 OBC if and only if you booked one of the "replacement" cruises that were in no way like they one they took.  We had a land tour attached and had to rebook on one of their cruises that was not on the list at a cost of about 5K more.  Only time it's happened to us on NCL was the hurricane itinerary of two years ago.    Some ships got the remainder of our very nice itinerary and our ship got one that had NO ports we'd paid for.  Again no compensation and changes announced immediately after final payment.  

Now we're holding our breath and hoping O can continue to go to Cuba.   Have bought air and can't cancel without a loss so we will see what happens.   The latter two instances are situations not caused by the cruise line so we shall see what happens.

[PTC DAWG]

Stuff happens, I don't see this as the end of the world.  

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, Homosassa said:

Here is advice for any cruiser to remember:

 

NEVER book  a cruise because one absolutely must be in a port on a certain day at a certain time or if one will suffer lifelong trauma due to a itinerary change. Ship happens and itineraries are changed for a variety of valid reasons.

 

  

Best advice I've seen on here in a while.  

[Fynn_Dehaven]

5 hours ago, Homosassa said:

Here is advice for any cruiser to remember:

 

NEVER book  a cruise because one absolutely must be in a port on a certain day at a certain time or if one will suffer lifelong trauma due to a itinerary change. Ship happens and itineraries are changed for a variety of valid reasons.

 

  

Never sell a product that is so specific knowing there is a possibility you will not be able to provide it without suffering permanent damage in loss of customers and future revenue. I get it, weather happens, civil unrest happens, sometimes changes while at sea are necessary. But resistance to refund or credit a product so specific you know you can't provide, holding customers hostage because of financial impact to them, with months or even a year plus in advance is completely taking advantage for the business benefit with zero regard to customer satisfaction. I even understand if the sail date is less than 30/60/90 days out, but when some of these cruises are 12+ months away they should at least let you change your itinerary penalty free. 

[Stealthdog]

If you are 12+ months, can't you just cancel and get your deposit back? 

[Fynn_Dehaven]

26 minutes ago, Stealthdog said:

If you are 12+ months, can't you just cancel and get your deposit back? 

 

I paid  approx $8xx of $15xxx for a single occupancy. I did purchase Carnival Vacay Protection. My deposit was $50 for early saver and my cancellation is $300. 

[RaiderDuck]

20 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

They changed our itinerary from Puerto Vallarta to Acapulco (one of the top murder capitals in the world).

Needless to say, we weren't happy, either.

On our honeymoon cruise in late 2017, one of our stops was Acapulco. You'll be perfectly safe, as the bus only stops at approved tourist destinations far away from the actual populace (it does NOT let you off in downtown or anywhere near it). The cliff divers, BTW, are really something to behold.

 

It was kind of amusing to hear the bus drivers talk about all the famous movie stars who vacationed in Acalpulco, as the most recent one they mentioned was John Wayne, who's been dead over 40 years.

[TravelerThom]

6 hours ago, Homosassa said:

Ship happens and itineraries are changed for a variety of valid reasons.

I accept weather, mechanical failures etc as valid reasons. 

NCL and others often change itineraries for THEIR convenience and profit, which while they may be legal within the scope of the contract they wrote, are NOT valid reasons in my eyes as a consumer. 

[beerman2]

3 hours ago, Fynn_Dehaven said:

 

I paid  approx $8xx of $15xxx for a single occupancy. I did purchase Carnival Vacay Protection. My deposit was $50 for early saver and my cancellation is $300. 

Just curious, this is a thread about NCL, not sure how it's relevant to you posting about Carnival.

[Freshycat]

I'm on a Baltics cruise in August and NCL cancelled the Nynashamn/Stockholm port altogether and replaced it with Gdynia/Gdansk. I wonder if they're having some issues with porting in Stockholm. 

 

The itinerary change doesn't bother me too much because Gdansk will also be interesting and I think the decision caused the 25% price drop, which we were able to take advantage of. Also, the main attraction on our cruise is a 2-day visit to St. Petersburg and that appears to be intact. (If they changed that for reasons other than mechanical breakdown or weather emergency, I would be extremely annoyed, however.) 

 

If you can't feel fairly secure about the promised ports, then to me as a cruise ship newbie that indicates that cruising isn't a good way to see desired cities, it's mainly about the cruise ship experience with ports as just a bit of bonus/distraction. If you really want to visit a city, you better just do a land-based vacation there.

 

 

[rtkenmore]

Something is going on with Getaway in Europe this year and next...  NCL has now canceled the November 22nd and 29th sailings from Rome next year as of about an hour ago (per my email).  The only compensation offered was 15% off a future cruise but you MUST book in the next 15 days and up to $300 toward airline change fees (which no one is going to have since it's a year and a half away)...

I'm a little pissed because I booked this cruise when they were offering Take All Four along with reduced airfare...  There isn't a comparable replacement cruise either during the same time frame.  😕

[Lizabu]

12 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Was your plan to stay very late in Stockholm and take the train or bus back to Nynäshamn in the middle of the night? Or was your plan to book a hotel in Stockholm for the overnight?

 

If your plan was to book a hotel you might still be able to do that and take the ferry from Nynäshamn to Visby or a plane from Arlanda to Visby the next day.

 

Do you know if the ship still will dock in Nynäshamn or is it changed to Stockholm?

This is a really good suggestion. I’ve heard of people doing this on Mediterranean cruises when they want to spend more time in Rome for example and aren’t that thrilled about the next port. Just get a hotel and catch up with the ship the next day. Be sure you know what you’re doing though. I took a train in Sweden before and I found it confusing. All the announcements are in Swedish. And the signs. And the tickets. The tickets had car numbers and seat numbers on them and my nephew knew how to read the tickets and showed us our seats. Also the trains are electric. And there was an issue with the line and they canceled all the trains the one day. Some people said it happens all the time. We were just standing on a platform with like 600 people. And there was an announcement in Swedish and everyone left. So we were like !?! Lol

[MaryZ]

10 hours ago, HokiePoq said:

Have you sailed Celebrity?   We booked an Australian/NZ cruise some years ago and long after final payment they switched our Tasmania port to Newcastle.  No comparison in ports and the Aussies onboard were not happy either.  I'm sure they saved a bundle not going to Tasmania.   We got no compensation.  X also took our one of a kind Asian cruise for a charter and only offered $200 OBC if and only if you booked one of the "replacement" cruises that were in no way like they one they took.  We had a land tour attached and had to rebook on one of their cruises that was not on the list at a cost of about 5K more.  Only time it's happened to us on NCL was the hurricane itinerary of two years ago.    Some ships got the remainder of our very nice itinerary and our ship got one that had NO ports we'd paid for.  Again no compensation and changes announced immediately after final payment.  

Now we're holding our breath and hoping O can continue to go to Cuba.   Have bought air and can't cancel without a loss so we will see what happens.   The latter two instances are situations not caused by the cruise line so we shall see what happens.

Yes we enjoy Celebrity.    I hope you get to Cuba. 

[newmexicoNita]

22 hours ago, PelicanBill said:

The reason for these changes is often related to the Port Schedule, or a Ship speed concern.  The port may have wanted the second day for another ship (or maybe NCL did).  They may have re-evaluated the sailing leg after Stockholm and decided they need to shorten the distance and moving the ship to the second port helps.  They may be hedging the itinerary to give more flexibility for weather based delays which plagued the last season's itineraries.

 

And NCL does do this more often than others and offers no sweetener.  We've been on 2 cruises that went to completely different itineraries after final booking - ports that were far less desirable and many people would not have booked if they had been the plan - but we got nothing.

It must be the luck of the draw: we have cruised over 40 times, 24 about on NCL and only had it happen to us once. BTW it was not NCL. we have had ports skipped due to weather but never total itinerary changes. I was a travel agent for about 10 years and it rarely happened to my clients. No more on NCL than on any other line, no less either. 

[HokiePoq]

8 hours ago, MaryZ said:

Yes we enjoy Celebrity.    I hope you get to Cuba. 

Thanks!   Did recall another time NCL changed itinerary.   We'd booked a Med cruise because it went to Tunisia.  We wanted to see Carthage and weren't happy that was canceled due to a diplomatic incident on the cruise prior to ours.   Not long after we returned home  the horrible terror attack killed cruise passengers on tour there.    I complained no more about that one.  

Glad the itinerary has changed for the Getaway folks but do understand their frustration and don't understand why NCL did this without offering full compensation upfront.  Makes me wonder what on earth is so wrong with the ship that they need to create this PR nightmare and lose customers over it.   Have been on a NCL TA where a lot of work was going on.   We had to move cabins due to work being done above us....only time we've ever gotten a big upgrade.   Also wonder if there has been a complete change of management in contrasting how this was handled compared to everyone on the Star being offered the right to cancel with full refund due to Noro several years ago on our Panama Canal cruise.

[mugtech]

11 hours ago, rtkenmore said:

Something is going on with Getaway in Europe this year and next...  NCL has now canceled the November 22nd and 29th sailings from Rome next year as of about an hour ago (per my email).  The only compensation offered was 15% off a future cruise but you MUST book in the next 15 days and up to $300 toward airline change fees (which no one is going to have since it's a year and a half away)...

I'm a little pissed because I booked this cruise when they were offering Take All Four along with reduced airfare...  There isn't a comparable replacement cruise either during the same time frame.  😕

More of the same.

[littlelulu01]

The smaller ships have better chance for docking in Stockholm and the bigger ships are more likely to dock in Nynanshamn, which in itself is a logistical issue for an overnight in a port so far away from Stockholm. Being a big ship, I can see this itinerary change being advantageous for the majority of passengers. 

 

If itinerary is first priority and any changes would cause your vacation to be ruined, taking a cruise is not the best solution because there’s certainly a chance you might end up skipping even the one day Stockholm due to weather. 

 

From my experience, NCL has far superior port times and itineraries for Europe in comparison to other lines. 

 

A couple years ago we were excited to visit Turkey.  Some valid issues with travel warnings arose. Ncl and Disney were the only two lines to change their itineraries  early on, resulting in decent alternatives with itinerary. The other lines waited till the last minute to cancel and ended up with mostly sea days.   

 

 

 

 

[Cafedumonde]

On 4/23/2019 at 6:31 PM, blulou said:

I just received an email from my travel agent that NCL changed the itinerary for the Norwegian Getaway cruise of the Baltics that departs on July 31st, 2019.  Originally, we were supposed to dock in Stockholm (Nynashamn) at 8:00AM, stay there overnight and then depart at 5:00PM the next day.  This was a compelling feature for us since we would be able to experience the nightlife in Stockholm, have enough time to explore the city adequately, and get together with some friends that live in Goteburg. 

 

Now, in their words...To enhance the guest experience, Norwegian Getaway will now call on Stockholm, Sweden from 8:15 a.m. to 4:40 p.m. on August 6, 2019 and Visby, Sweden from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on August 7, 2019.  What does "enhance the guest experience" even mean?  It is just flowery language that means nothing.  I called my travel agency and they sat on hold with NCL for over 30 to ask for the real reason and to also request compensation of some sort.  NCL had no answer and would not offer any compensation.  I then called NCL directly and got the same response from them.

 

I understand that my ticket says that they can change the itinerary for any reason, so they are within their legal rights, but what about customer service?  If I cancel now, there would be a $4,600 penalty, plus the $700 I paid for trip insurance and fees to the travel site.  I refuse to take this sitting down.

 

NCL - I hope you have someone reading these boards.  I have choices how I spend my cruise dollars.  Do you want me to be unhappy and never cruise with you again?  Do you want me to post bad reviews here and elsewhere?  Do you not want me enjoy my cruise because I feel that I have been baited and switched?  This is some of the worst customer service that I have experienced.  I hope that somebody at NCL cares about me and all of the other passengers on this cruise.  You can keep a customer for life with superior customer service, but you can also lose a customer for life (and get bad mouthed by everyone they talk to) with inferior customer service.

 

 

They did this to us and we cancelled.  We were really disgusted too.  I guess we were just lucky it was outside of the penalty zone. 

[sverigecruiser]

22 minutes ago, Cafedumonde said:

They did this to us and we cancelled.  We were really disgusted too.  I guess we were just lucky it was outside of the penalty zone. 

 

May I ask why you thought that the old itinerary was better?

 

As I see it they will get one extra port, which in my opinion is a very nice port. I also think that they will dock in Stockholm instead of Nynäshamn and that's also much better.

[FLcruisergrl]

Your are still on the ship and receiving service for the same number of nights. Unless the port fees have been reduced because of the change, why would you expect compensation? Does it suck? Yes. Our whole itinerary changed from eastern Caribbean to western Caribbean in 2017 and we didn’t see (or expect) a dime in compensation.

[tlc1972]

I've only had this happen to me once, many years ago...but it was on an NCL ship that was scheduled to head down to Acapulco. Due to an engine issue, we were only going to make it as far south as Manzanillo. However, NCL offered a $200 OBC for all guests to make up for the itinerary change. It wasn't much, but helped a lot of people get over their disappointment.

 

And, as it turns out, Manzanillo ended up being a pretty decent trade-off and remember enjoying a fantastic tour and lunch that my family still talks about today. 

[Freshycat]

7 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

May I ask why you thought that the old itinerary was better?

 

As I see it they will get one extra port, which in my opinion is a very nice port. I also think that they will dock in Stockholm instead of Nynäshamn and that's also much better.

 

You might say objectively the ports have the same value, but that doesn't help if somebody chose a particular cruise over another because they were looking for an overnight in Stockholm. 

 

On our 9-day Baltics cruise in August 2019, NCL changed the originally scheduled port of Stockholm to Gdansk. This was long before final payments so I think tons of people must have switched cruises because the prices fell by about 25%.  We couldn't switch because we are travelling with extended family and couldn't reschedule so we got the benefit of the price drop. But if it happens after final payments, it doesn't seem fair. 

 

I know the contract specifies they can change whatever, and I completely understand changing for emergencies and weather, but changing willy-nilly for no apparent reason other than poor planning becomes unfair and disrespectful to customers.

 

It's a question of trust and goodwill. This will be our first cruise ever, and if we keep cruising after that, I have decided based on this thread and my own experience that we will not book on NCL again. A company that does not respect its customers is simply too risky. The money is the least of it. My time and plans are precious too.