Sun cancellations....in 2023?!

[ChiefMateJRK]

"Dear Valued Guests and Travel Partners:

On behalf of Norwegian Cruise Line, thank you very much for your loyalty and for making us your vacation of choice. We have important information regarding your upcoming sailing onboard Norwegian Sun.

As a result of ship redeployment, all sailings on Norwegian Sun from May 11, 2023 through and including October 5, 2023 have been canceled. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has caused"

 

Maybe this is just business as usual.  In the past I haven't booked out this far in advance, but with prices at a low and promos at a high early this year, I filled up the calendar.  😎  Oddly enough, when I accessed their website to book a replacement, my cancelled cruise is still available for booking (I went through room selection to ensure that it was "real").  Price was identical.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I posted that I also received the cancel notice in the thread about the Bliss 2023 cancellations.  I also checked the NCL consumer and agent sites and the sailing still shows active as does my reservation in the myncl homepage.  So either the notices are being sent in error or they have gone out before ops can cancel the sailings in the system.

 

I was booked on the 9 day at the end of August and I'm hopeful that another ship will be swapped in for this itinerary in 2023.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

We too, are cancelled on a nine day Sun cruise, due to redeployment.

ironically last weekend DH and I were discussing cancelling this cruise as we’ve just booked a European river cruise and would transfer those Alaskan dollars to Europe.  If the gods are going to be this kind to me, I think we should have wine on the patio this evening and talk about winning the lottery.

 

I suspect as the return to cruising continues to roll out, the pot holes will require more restructuring over time .  Thank goodness this was with great advance notice so no air had been booked, etc.

[ChiefMateJRK]

41 minutes ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

I was booked on the 9 day at the end of August and I'm hopeful that another ship will be swapped in for this itinerary in 2023.

Same here.  The main reason we booked this one was the extended itinerary.  Hopefully we'll get a good replacement option.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

1 minute ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Same here.  The main reason we booked this one was the extended itinerary.  Hopefully we'll get a good replacement option.

If it is any of the Jewel class or the Spirit I'd be interested.  If it's Star/Dawn I'm not.  With the unpredictability of weather in AK a forward facing observation lounge is a must and those two ships had theirs removed to stuff in more cabins, so are a no-go in my book.

[ChiefMateJRK]

Just now, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

If it is any of the Jewel class or the Spirit I'd be interested.  If it's Star/Dawn I'm not.  With the unpredictability of weather in AK a forward facing observation lounge is a must and those two ships had theirs removed to stuff in more cabins, so are a no-go in my book.

That's a good point.  I wouldn't want an AK cruise on a ship without a nice observation lounge.

[ChiefMateJRK]

I probably should have included this as well:

 

"New Alaska cruise itineraries will be available to book as of September 30, 2021. "

[AtlantaCruiser72]

40 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I probably should have included this as well:

 

"New Alaska cruise itineraries will be available to book as of September 30, 2021. "

I'm hoping that maybe, just maybe, they’ll switch to 10 & 11 day sailings or 9 & 12 day sailings, eliminating the silly 5 day sailings.  Maybe even a true 14 day cruise or two.  Would love a range of longer sailing options!

Edited September 8, 2021 by AtlantaCruiser72

[Shellbelle28]

I thought it was a mistake to eliminate having a Jewel class ship on the Alaska itinerary. Maybe they figured that out. 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

@Shellbelle28 The Breakway+ vessels ( 2 of either Joy, Bliss, Encore depending on the year) have replaced the Jewel Class ships on the 7 day round trip sailings from Seattle.  That is unlikely to change.  
 

The Sun in 2023 (and Spirit for 2022) represent additional capacity growth with a mix of mostly 5 & 9 day sailings (in the case of the Sun) with only a handful of 7 day sailings at the very beginning/end of the season. Either A) they are changing the Sun’s sailing patterns for 2023, or B) replacing her with a different ship to increase capacity as the Sun has the lowest double occupancy capacity in the fleet, or C) its both A & B combined. 

Edited September 8, 2021 by AtlantaCruiser72

[brad0576]

So May 11th is the disembark date for the Transpacific in Seattle as the Sun is in Asia during the Winter of 2022/23 - so I am wondering if they will leave the ship in Asia - although the did not cancel the 16-day repositioning cruise - or if maybe it will return to doing summers in Port Canaveral like it did the past few summers prior to COVID when it was going Cuba and Key West / Bahamas cruises.

 

With Bliss being cancelled for the same dates (ish) I could see them placing the large ship in Alaska to fulfill the pent-up demand for that market... I guess we will see towards the end of this month.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

5 minutes ago, brad0576 said:

So May 11th is the disembark date for the Transpacific in Seattle as the Sun is in Asia during the Winter of 2022/23 - so I am wondering if they will leave the ship in Asia - although the did not cancel the 16-day repositioning cruise - or if maybe it will return to doing summers in Port Canaveral like it did the past few summers prior to COVID when it was going Cuba and Key West / Bahamas cruises.

 

With Bliss being cancelled for the same dates (ish) I could see them placing the large ship in Alaska to fulfill the pent-up demand for that market... I guess we will see towards the end of this month.

I think it’s more likely they are changing her itineraries/sailing lengths for Alaska to something other than the 5/9 rotation originally planned. Until new itineraries are announced at the end of the month we won’t know for certain. 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

So when the Sun and Joy cancellations were announced it was stated in the email that new Alaska sailings would be available to book on 9/30 - which was today -and surprise, surprise - NADA ......  so here I sit watching and waiting to see what if anything they replace the Suns 9 day cruises with 😞

Edited October 1, 2021 by AtlantaCruiser72

[ChiefMateJRK]

Update:  There are some new Sun 2023 AK sailings now posted.  My original, which was cancelled by NCL, was a 9 day in May.  There are now two 11 days in May.  Slight per day price increase, but I'll gladly take the new 11 day itinerary.