NCL Suspended Sailinigs?

[ECCruise]

2 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

Any mentions about getting the crew vaccinated? This may be the reason?

 

I've been saying for months that this would be the problem with a lot of the early sailings.  The bulk of the available vaccines are in the US.  The potential crew are in India, Philippines and other places in Asia.  The ships are largely in the Med.

 

My guess is that they will bring the affected ships (e.g. Dawn and Star) to the US with only necessary crew (navigation, maintenance, basic kitchen as they have been doing for months) and get the crew to the US where they can be vaccinated.  Then start sailings from the US in early 2022.

[JamieLogical]

1 minute ago, CruisinCorey2525 said:

So the thought that they "don't have a crew" on Joy is weird due to the fact the Joy IS docked in Puerto Rico and the crew WERE getting vaccinated. Now, they could have had a reduced crew, but I also saw a youtube video uploaded by a Pilipino man celebrating their independence day on the Joy and there were lots of crew on board. I think it's due to something else. 

 

Ah, but the crew currently onboard the Joy is getting moved to the Encore. That was the original reason given for cancelling the Joy sailings out of Montego Bay that were supposed to be NCL's return to sailing. Once they announced Alaska sailings on much shorter notice, they had to steal the crew from the Joy to make those sailings happen.

[G-DawgMN]

 I see that the Sky now has zero bookings open this year....we are booked in November for a Panama Canal cruise. I didn't think it was going to happen and it looks like I may be right...:( :( :(

 

[CruisinCorey2525]

 

2 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Ah, but the crew currently onboard the Joy is getting moved to the Encore. That was the original reason given for cancelling the Joy sailings out of Montego Bay that were supposed to be NCL's return to sailing. Once they announced Alaska sailings on much shorter notice, they had to steal the crew from the Joy to make those sailings happen.

WTH!!!!

[RaftingJeremy]

12 hours ago, Captain_Cruising said:

Before panic sets in, check out this post which describes a Miami Herald story of cruise cancellations.  Cruiser GA Dave posted an article which indicates it was posted 14 hours ago.  However, bottom of page indicates copyright 2020.  The days of the week don't jive.

 

Gives new meaning to the term fake news.

 

 

Well it wouldn’t be fake news.  It’s just old news.    The “fake news” thing is tired.  Can you guys get a new slogan now?

[JamieLogical]

5 minutes ago, CruisinCorey2525 said:

 

WTH!!!!

 

From the announcement when the Joy sailings were canceled:

 

"Due to the previously disclosed lead time needed to relaunch a vessel and in order to maximize the short Alaska cruise season, the cruise line has made the decision to transfer crew from Norwegian Joy to Alaska and has canceled itineraries aboard Norwegian Joy from Montego Bay, Jamaica from August 7 through October 9, 2021."

[GA Dave]

Interesting that NCL continues to cancel/suspend cruises and reasons such as lack of crew come out, yet RCCL is already successfully sailing out of Nassau on the Adventure, and is currently running a CDC test cruise out of Miami on another ship, with crew as the "test passengers".

[ECCruise]

2 minutes ago, GA Dave said:

Interesting that NCL continues to cancel/suspend cruises and reasons such as lack of crew come out, yet RCCL is already successfully sailing out of Nassau on the Adventure, and is currently running a CDC test cruise out of Miami on another ship, with crew as the "test passengers".

That is only a couple of ships.  

Royal is also slow to pull the trigger on cancellations.  They have dozens and dozens of sailings that are "bookable" and will never go.

[graphicguy]

1 minute ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Ah, but the crew currently onboard the Joy is getting moved to the Encore. That was the original reason given for cancelling the Joy sailings out of Montego Bay that were supposed to be NCL's return to sailing. Once they announced Alaska sailings on much shorter notice, they had to steal the crew from the Joy to make those sailings happen.

Yeah....it's pretty convoluted.  I'm not buying the whole "we can't get crew" thing.  Most of the cruise lines' crews have been sidelined for over a year.  I think they'd have long lines to get their crew back.

 

On Royal, there have actually been some vloggers talking about how they were called back and were on boarded, complete with vaccines and quarantines a while ago.

 

Either NCL is incompetent in staffing up, or they don't have enough money to bring in crews.

 

Just to be upfront, after all the cancellations by NCL and the huge ballyhoo they made for the "we're back" cruises, I used my FCCs (including my 25% bonus) and 10% cruise discount to book the Joy out of Jamaica.  NCL pulled the old "not enough crew to sail" routine and cancelled that cruise, allegedly to send crew to the Alaska sailings on first, the Bliss (which I was originally scheduled to cruise on), and is now the Encore sailing to Alaska.

 

To hear the rest of this just seems disingenuous on NCL's part.

 

Oh....it's been over a month and I'm still waiting for my refund from all the cruises I scheduled, pre-COVID, during COVID, and RESTART, given NCL has yet to keep a promise made to me in a very long time.  I wish I was more confident in my fare being refunded as NCL promised, but I'm not even remotely confident they can start back up, let alone have the staff to process my long awaited refund.

[ECCruise]

I think it is both sourcing crew and vaccinating crew.

 

These men and women have been home for over a year and there have to be some that are saying, "yes, I am making less money than I did on cruises, but I am home with my wife (husband) and children.  And that is worth a lot."  Maybe not a big percentage, but for sure, some.

 

And vaccinations are running very slowly in India (less than 4% vaxxed) and the Philippines (2%).  Like everywhere else in the world, they are concentrating on getting the most vulnerable vaxxed first.

[Gen X Life]

9 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

 

 

I know I don't have to say this however, I hate the process of canceling, rebooking and handling all the other details on these multiple cruise cancelations.  I truly hope all this can be fixed and cleaned up soon.  Enough with the disappointment.  Really, enough.  Sorry for the rant, it is not like me.

We all know exactly how you feel.. been there done that,, How many times now?!?!? Sorry for your family's disappointment.

 

It's like PTCD - Post Traumatic CRUISE Disorder.  It is like some sick perverse torture at this point: book your dream vacation; plan and organize= hope and pray , only to have it snatched away from you without warning - Rinse and Repeat.  I mean seriously; even the most optimistic of us are losing heart, you my friend are not alone.

[Gen X Life]

9 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

 

 

I know I don't have to say this however, I hate the process of canceling, rebooking and handling all the other details on these multiple cruise cancelations.  I truly hope all this can be fixed and cleaned up soon.  Enough with the disappointment.  Really, enough.  Sorry for the rant, it is not like me.

Sorry duplicate post!!

Edited June 22, 2021 by Gen X Life

[Hadacareer]

1 minute ago, Gen X Life said:

We all know exactly how you feel.. been there done that,, How many times now?!?!? Sorry for your family's disappointment.

 

It's like PTCD - Post Traumatic CRUISE Disorder.  It is like some sick perverse torture at this point: book your dream vacation; plan and organize= hope and pray , only to have it snatched away from you without warning - Rinse and Repeat.  I mean seriously; even the most optimistic of us are losing heart, you my friend are not alone.

Love that term!

[JamieLogical]

19 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

And vaccinations are running very slowly in India (less than 4% vaxxed) and the Philippines (2%).  Like everywhere else in the world, they are concentrating on getting the most vulnerable vaxxed first.

 

Vaccinating crew for sailings out of the US is not/should not be an issue since MANY US ports are vaccinating cruise ship crew in port. That is how many lines have gotten crew vaccinated so far and I assume it is what they are doing now in PR with the crew on the Joy. In fact, when Odyssey of the Seas had their "outbreak" of 8 crew members testing positive, they were in the process of being vaccinated in FL.

[ECCruise]

3 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Vaccinating crew for sailings out of the US is not/should not be an issue since MANY US ports are vaccinating cruise ship crew in port. That is how many lines have gotten crew vaccinated so far and I assume it is what they are doing now in PR with the crew on the Joy. In fact, when Odyssey of the Seas had their "outbreak" of 8 crew members testing positive, they were in the process of being vaccinated in FL.

But virtually all of the new "suspended" cruises are nowhere near the US.  They are in the Med. And both the Star and the Dawn itineraries stayed there all fall until the crossings in November.

Edited June 22, 2021 by ECCruise

[graphicguy]

Again, this is from the Royal Vloggers, but as they have staffed up for a while now, they were sending crew to the U.S. for vaccinations, and then sending those employees to their different ships (which, to my knowledge, were not docked in U.S. ports).

[ECCruise]

1 minute ago, graphicguy said:

Again, this is from the Royal Vloggers, but as they have staffed up for a while now, they were sending crew to the U.S. for vaccinations, and then sending those employees to their different ships (which, to my knowledge, were not docked in U.S. ports).

But how many?  Only a handful of ships worldwide are fully staffed.  The vast majority are running with 100-200 staff on board.  It is one thing to fly 1000 staff to the US (to staff 5-10 ships) and a another thing completely to fly 10,000 to 15,000.  On very limited flight schedules.

[lux4me]

One of the main staffing issues is what happened last year at the beginning of covid...at the time of suspended operations. Many crew members were stuck on the ships for weeks or months  before they could get home.   Many just don't wish to come back to a situation that could repeat itself.  Many were not paid for that period of time.   

[Hadacareer]

[graphicguy]

56 minutes ago, ECCruise said:

But how many?  Only a handful of ships worldwide are fully staffed.  The vast majority are running with 100-200 staff on board.  It is one thing to fly 1000 staff to the US (to staff 5-10 ships) and a another thing completely to fly 10,000 to 15,000.  On very limited flight schedules.

Agree.  I don't even think NCL will have 10 ships going out in the foreseeable future.  Did they announce starting back up with no plan to actually do so?  Again, I don't think it's a staffing issue.

 

Those of us who are (or, in my case WERE) NCL's most loyal customers have been jacked around so much by this start up, it's just very hard to believe anything they're stating at this point.

 

Either they are shockingly incompetent, or shockingly broke and can't afford their startup, maybe both.  Either way, it's not a good sign for those of us who paid several thousands of dollars that NCL has kept for over a year under the guise of giving us some sort of "deal" to stick with them.  And then, totally mishandling all of us as we came back to cruise with them when they told us their "plan". 

[robcolem]

Where are you all seeing the cancellation announcement?  

[Hadacareer]

2 minutes ago, robcolem said:

Where are you all seeing the cancellation announcement?  

On a fb group forum, someone took a screenshot of the msg from their (booked but now cancelled cruise) I believe

[ECCruise]

4 minutes ago, robcolem said:

Where are you all seeing the cancellation announcement?  

There is no definitive announcement yet. 

[cliffd64]

Our NCL SKY cruise for 9/12 - 9/19 was moved from the Sky to the GEM same date and leaving from Miami.  They appeared to have moved the entire passenger list over matching categories.  Feeling a bit more confident about going now...  GEM will supposedly have been sailing for almost 30 days when we board.  Keeping fingers and toes crossed.... 86 days ....

 

 

 

[DCGuy64]

11 minutes ago, cliffd64 said:

Our NCL SKY cruise for 9/12 - 9/19 was moved from the Sky to the GEM same date and leaving from Miami.  They appeared to have moved the entire passenger list over matching categories.  Feeling a bit more confident about going now...  GEM will supposedly have been sailing for almost 30 days when we board.  Keeping fingers and toes crossed.... 86 days ....

 

 

 

We're on the same ship one week after you, also keeping everything crossed (fingers, toes, T's, eyes, etc...) 😆