Prima Cruise Booked -- Listed as Charter Cruise

[Greenpea2]

It was recently pointed out to me that the March 5-12, 2023 Prima Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral is listed as a charter cruise on a charter cruise website called Atlantis. Which it is, because I checked. Aren't charter cruises usually full ship cruises? I am now very worried (and upset in advance, although doing my best not to be) that we may end up being bumped! Any info on what we might expect would be greatly appreciated...I am going to contact my PCC, who I have worked with for years, but I'm not sure how much she will know about this since it is a year away. 

[Krazy Kat]

FWIW, the website below (showing full charter cruises) does not list your cruise.

 

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/full-cruise-ship-charters.html

[coastcat]

13 minutes ago, Greenpea2 said:

It was recently pointed out to me that the March 5-12, 2023 Prima Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral is listed as a charter cruise on a charter cruise website called Atlantis. Which it is, because I checked. Aren't charter cruises usually full ship cruises? I am now very worried (and upset in advance, although doing my best not to be) that we may end up being bumped! Any info on what we might expect would be greatly appreciated...I am going to contact my PCC, who I have worked with for years, but I'm not sure how much she will know about this since it is a year away. 

I just looked at the Atlantis website and don't see that Prima cruise listed.

 

I'm on the March 5 sailing too, so I'll check with my TA. 

[RocketMan275]

39 minutes ago, Greenpea2 said:

It was recently pointed out to me that the March 5-12, 2023 Prima Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral is listed as a charter cruise on a charter cruise website called Atlantis. Which it is, because I checked. Aren't charter cruises usually full ship cruises? 

Not all charter cruises are for a full ship.  

Also, a company may have a 'provisional charter' where they have contracted with the cruise line for a full ship charter.  If the company gets enough bookings then they will convert the provisional charter to a real charter.  If you do get 'bumped' you can expect a modest compensation, maybe $100 OBC.  

 

BTW, I'm also booked on that cruise and I can assure you I would not qualify for an Atlantis cruise.

[ColeThornton]

2 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

BTW, I'm also booked on that cruise and I can assure you I would not qualify for an Atlantis cruise.

 

 

Seriously laughing out loud.   People are now Googling "Atlantis Charter Cruises".  

[GeezerCouple]

8 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

 

Seriously laughing out loud.   People are now Googling "Atlantis Charter Cruises".  

Guilty as charged. 😉

I probably wouldn't have bothered to Google it, had you not made that comment.

I was sort of expecting to find something like a "clothing optional" cruise.

 

GC

[RocketMan275]

3 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

It was recently pointed out to me that the March 5-12, 2023 Prima Caribbean cruise out of Port Canaveral is listed as a charter cruise on a charter cruise website called Atlantis. Which it is, because I checked. Aren't charter cruises usually full ship cruises? I am now very worried (and upset in advance, although doing my best not to be) that we may end up being bumped! Any info on what we might expect would be greatly appreciated...I am going to contact my PCC, who I have worked with for years, but I'm not sure how much she will know about this since it is a year away. 

i'm not finding that cruise on that website.

I did find it on nighttours.com

Can you provide a link to the atlantis website showing with the prima cruise.

Looks like I'll need to contact my ta.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

The cruise is not posted on the Atlantis cruises website, they currently are only displaying 2022 sailings as available to book.  It is possible they are offering pre-bookings to past guests while they firm up details of the charter with NCL.  Until the charter is finalized and bookings go on sale via Atlantis to the general public the sailing will remain bookable on the NCL website as the charter could always fall-through for one reason or another.  The same would be true for any charter on any cruise line.

 

Sit tight, but have a backup plan in place if you are concerned about sailing that specific week or on that specific ship.

[RocketMan275]

27 minutes ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

Sit tight, but have a backup plan in place if you are concerned about sailing that specific week or on that specific ship.

I have a 'back up' plan.  I'm cancelling and rebooking on another date.  There are very few acceptable options, ie, port, cabin type, etc., and if I wait too long, there won't be any acceptable options left.

[Greenpea2]

It's here--but that's the only place I could find it: https://www.nighttours.com/orlando/gayguide/atlantis-gay-cruise-on-ncl-prima.html

[Greenpea2]

4 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

i'm not finding that cruise on that website.

I did find it on nighttours.com

Can you provide a link to the atlantis website showing with the prima cruise.

Looks like I'll need to contact my ta.

Sorry, it was not atlantis. 

 

[Greenpea2]

My problem with this is if they do a full charter, the prices have gone way up since I booked our cabin last year. Plus, I want the specific cabin I booked -- or one of the 3 others like it. I guess all I can do is wait and pray.

 

[Yinster]

Our very first cruise had some sort of conference on with half of the passengers involved on that. This meant during the cruise we couldn't get certain times in dining as they all ate at the same time and some venues were closed due to holding their events. Being our first cruise we didn't know much except huge group of crowd movement whenever they were going from location to location. But it would be different now as we know what we expect on board.

 

You have two choice. Cancel and rebook your back up now or hold off and hope you won't get bumped 

 

With cruising returning back to normal and this is still a year away what will you do?  

[RocketMan275]

15 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

My problem with this is if they do a full charter, the prices have gone way up since I booked our cabin last year. Plus, I want the specific cabin I booked -- or one of the 3 others like it. I guess all I can do is wait and pray.

 

We also want a specific cabin.  We could wait for several months.  Then if the charter goes through then we may not be able to get that cabin on a different itinerary which would mean no cruise.

[MeHeartCruising]

I will add that I don't think Atlantis ever does partial ship charters.  They take over the entire ship and usually sell out in a very short time (hours or days).   I looked through the Gay & Lesbian Cruisers forum here on CruiseCritic and don't find any hint of that sailing mentioned.  Usually there is someone who refers to the "pre-booking period for those who have cruised Atlantis in the past", but I don't see anything.  I hope you figure out something that works for you.

[kdmbluerzr]

Oh no......  I am also booked on this cruise and definitely not an Atlantis cruiser.  NCL has started to expand who can charter their fleet in recent years. It seemed they used to work pretty much with Sixthman.  I too, will be keeping a close eye on this issue over the next few weeks.  The Prima trip was the second leg of a somewhat B2B for me out of Port Canaveral.  😐 

[kdmbluerzr]

A quick follow up note......   I just went on the Roll Call thread for this cruise, another CC member had learned of the probable charter and shared some good info.  Take a look at it. 

[RocketMan275]

I cancelled my Prima cruise of 5 March and rebooked on Breakaway out of NOLA.

[Oceansaway17]

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

I cancelled my Prima cruise of 5 March and rebooked on Breakaway out of NOLA.

you should consider Prima next year in August out of Iceland that ends in London.

Great itinerary and I am on it too.

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, Oceansaway17 said:

you should consider Prima next year in August out of Iceland that ends in London.

Great itinerary and I am on it too.

I appreciate the advice but we're no longer wish to fly.  

Plus, that would require placing the dogs in a kennel longer than we prefer.

I've already booked a Prima cruise out of Galveston for March 2024.

[ontheweb]

14 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

you should consider Prima next year in August out of Iceland that ends in London.

Great itinerary and I am on it too.

We are on the Prima in August 2023, but going the opposite way. Will have our wedding anniversary on the ship, which is why we picked that way. And it is a super great itinerary!

[Oceansaway17]

9 hours ago, ontheweb said:

We are on the Prima in August 2023, but going the opposite way. Will have our wedding anniversary on the ship, which is why we picked that way. And it is a super great itinerary!

very nice to hear so I am guessing your trip is before mine.

It will be the first time I have started in one port and ended in another.  Not looking forward to the airfare being two 1 ways.  but I like the itinerary.   Was supposed to do one on the STAR that just started and ended in Iceland and doing a lot of Greenland, but I did cancel for this year.  

[Oceansaway17]

22 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

I appreciate the advice but we're no longer wish to fly.  

Plus, that would require placing the dogs in a kennel longer than we prefer.

I've already booked a Prima cruise out of Galveston for March 2024.

ok no problem.  Just wanted to suggest the wonderful itinerary.  I understand your needs and dogs.

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

ok no problem.  Just wanted to suggest the wonderful itinerary.  I understand your needs and dogs.

There are so many wonderful itinerary but I'm pushing the envelope to get the wife to agree to any cruise.  She doesn't wish to fly and she won't agree to keeping the dogs in the kennel more than a week or so.

[Greenpea2]

On 3/20/2022 at 5:16 AM, Yinster said:

Our very first cruise had some sort of conference on with half of the passengers involved on that. This meant during the cruise we couldn't get certain times in dining as they all ate at the same time and some venues were closed due to holding their events. Being our first cruise we didn't know much except huge group of crowd movement whenever they were going from location to location. But it would be different now as we know what we expect on board.

 

You have two choice. Cancel and rebook your back up now or hold off and hope you won't get bumped 

 

With cruising returning back to normal and this is still a year away what will you do?  

Well, right now what I will do is wait. If it's a partial charter I would be ok with that, especially because we are booked in the Haven so unless they took over the Haven, it would not affect me that much. If it comes to be that they get the whole ship, then I guess we get bumped. I'm not paying several more thousand $ for the same cabin on a different cruise, it's already pretty darn expensive! Just kind of sad that I even have to be concerned as for the past year, the cruise in '23 has brought me much joy and anticipation.