Are NCL selling cruises to ports they have no intention of going to.

[omahabob]

It's still Nationwide. They own Insure My Trip. They have different plans with different coverage. But they aren't very forthcoming about exact coverage and the difference between plans.

[v3cruiser]

On 3/2/2023 at 10:26 AM, mistertomatoe said:

My first cruise with NCL in December they switched a port to what I viewed as worse. Second cruise in Jan, they skipped Bermuda due to weather but no refund of port fees. We started the cruise with three sea days. Along with other reasons, I’m trying to get away from NCL. I unfortunately already paid for two upcoming cruises but after those I’m done with NCL. Seven cruises with Royal, Celebrity, and Carnival, no port issues. All cruises have been after the restart.

I'm in same boat. I've been hearing so many good things of other brands I'm no longer expecting to book with ncl after our cruises are done in 2025. It's not what it used to be and I do not blame the staff at all....the workers on the ship are great, leadership and direction at ncl are not great and quality was so much better when it wasn't free everywhere. 

[RocketMan275]

15 hours ago, v3cruiser said:

I'm in same boat. I've been hearing so many good things of other brands I'm no longer expecting to book with ncl after our cruises are done in 2025. It's not what it used to be and I do not blame the staff at all....the workers on the ship are great, leadership and direction at ncl are not great and quality was so much better when it wasn't free everywhere. 

If you stick around, you will hear exactly the same complaints about the 'other brands.'  

Go visit the forums on CC for those 'other brands'.   See if that's not true.

[D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL]

On 7/7/2023 at 12:14 PM, graphicguy said:

Admittedly, I have not read through the entire thread, but unless someone knows better, I’d say their ships have to file some sort of itinerary well in advance of sailing. If for one reason or another, they need to change that itinerary, I would imagine they have to file the change of plans.  So, to answer the question, I don’t think they post itineraries Willy-Nilly!   Those itineraries can and do change, for a variety of reasons.

 

If they were doing the itineraries which would get more bookings, just say every cruise is going to Tahiti  and then change the destinations after the bookings have filled?

The Prima did have our itinerary posted well in advance. They showed Geiranger, Norway and Isafjordur, Iceland as tender ports but the Prima does not tender ???

We were fortunate in Geiranger we were the only ship in port and got to use the sea pier. Not as fortunate in Isafjordur as the dredging on the extended dock was not done and we basically had a sea day as we arrived in Akureyri @ 6pm instead of next morning @ 7am.

 

A little misleading on NCL’s part if the Prima does not tender and they show it as a tender port.

. 

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL said:

The Prima did have our itinerary posted well in advance. They showed Geiranger, Norway and Isafjordur, Iceland as tender ports but the Prima does not tender ???

We were fortunate in Geiranger we were the only ship in port and got to use the sea pier. Not as fortunate in Isafjordur as the dredging on the extended dock was not done and we basically had a sea day as we arrived in Akureyri @ 6pm instead of next morning @ 7am.

 

A little misleading on NCL’s part if the Prima does not tender and they show it as a tender port.

. 

Actually, they do not show Isafjordur as a tender port; they do show Geiranger as a tender port.

[chillyw]

Looks like NCL isn't the only ones facing problems with Isafjordur:

 

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/2023/07/disney-dream-skipping-isafjordur-iceland-on-july-27th-due-to-an-unfinished-channel-and-dock-area-work/

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, chillyw said:

Looks like NCL isn't the only ones facing problems with Isafjordur:

 

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/2023/07/disney-dream-skipping-isafjordur-iceland-on-july-27th-due-to-an-unfinished-channel-and-dock-area-work/

That does not make our situation on the Prima any better. 😢

[chillyw]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

That does not make our situation on the Prima any better. 😢

 

I agree - I just look at it as giving some more context to NCL's decisions, especially with Disney cancelling shortly before their cruise. 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, chillyw said:

 

I agree - I just look at it as giving some more context to NCL's decisions, especially with Disney cancelling shortly before their cruise. 

Understood. My understanding is that so far when boarding, passengers then find out Isafjordur is cancelled, not anytime earlier.

[DMP609]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Understood. My understanding is that so far when boarding, passengers then find out Isafjordur is cancelled, not anytime earlier.

We were on the Prima 6/25 sailing and found out when we boarded. But someone posted while I was on that cruise that they were emailed regarding the next cruise (7/6) letting them know it was cancelled. So I'm guessing if they have solid confirmation that it won't be available, they are letting people know. It might depend how far in advance they find out.

[jlowe420]

I was on the 5/25 Prima sailing and we were told when we boarded.  Maybe they have altered course?

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, DMP609 said:

We were on the Prima 6/25 sailing and found out when we boarded. But someone posted while I was on that cruise that they were emailed regarding the next cruise (7/6) letting them know it was cancelled. So I'm guessing if they have solid confirmation that it won't be available, they are letting people know. It might depend how far in advance they find out.

We are on the 8/6 cruise and have received an e-mail that the Belgium port stop is cancelled due to low tides. Nothing yet on Isafjordur, but I am dreading finding out. And guess which two port we had made our most definite plans for. 😢

[golden6911]

Huh, makes me think that I will miss both Isa and Belgium on mt 8/17 cruise.  Two more sea days to plan for I guess. 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, golden6911 said:

Huh, makes me think that I will miss both Isa and Belgium on mt 8/17 cruise.  Two more sea days to plan for I guess. 

Not sea days. On our cruise the Belgium day becomes an overnight in Amsterdam, though not docking until 3 PM. Going by the previous cruises that missed Isfjordur, they overnight in Akureyi (I think I spelled that incorrectly. )

[schmoopie17]

Booked a December Caribbean cruise on the Pearl last week. A couple days later we received an itinerary change dropping San Juan (one of the ports we were looking forward to, since we have friends who live there and were looking forward to showing us around). 

 

Disappointing, to be sure. While we're not going to cancel, it's just frustrating that the itinerary change came so quickly...especially since we had been eyeing this cruise/itinerary for several months...almost like they never really intended to go there in the first place. 

Edited July 26, 2023 by schmoopie17

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, golden6911 said:

Huh, makes me think that I will miss both Isa and Belgium on mt 8/17 cruise.  Two more sea days to plan for I guess. 

Actually you may be 3/4 right. As I posted previously, they stayed overnight in the other Icelandic port, but I just got an e-mail from NCL that the what was the Isafjordur port stop is now a sea day.😒

 

And as I wrote previously, we do not get to Amsterdam on what was supposed to be the Belgium stop until 3 PM.

[golden6911]

Yeah we just got an updated itinerary change for the Aug 7th cruise and its an overnight in Akureyei arriving at 1pm that day.  No changes on the Belgium port for now. 

[DCGuy64]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Akureyi (I think I spelled that incorrectly. )

Yes, but only barely. It's Akureyri. You did better than I would've done! 👏👏

[chillyw]

6 hours ago, golden6911 said:

Huh, makes me think that I will miss both Isa and Belgium on mt 8/17 cruise.  Two more sea days to plan for I guess. 

 

I'm also on the 8/17 cruise.  Just got the email from NCL for itinerary change with Isa.

 

From what I've read on Belgum, the issue is you have to time the tides right, and the cruise before ours (that @ontheweb is on) is showing the tide forecast to not match up with feasible port times, while ours looks good.  Hopefully that's true for us, and I wish the tides would change for @ontheweb too!

Edited July 26, 2023 by chillyw

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, chillyw said:

 

I'm also on the 8/17 cruise.  Just got the email from NCL for itinerary change with Isa.

 

From what I've read on Belgum, the issue is you have to time the tides right, and the cruise before ours (that @ontheweb is on) is showing the tide forecast to not match up with feasible port times, while ours looks good.  Hopefully that's true for us, and I wish the tides would change for @ontheweb too!

Thanks, but that ship has sailed (pun intended). We were really looking forward to Brugge as we have never been there. It is the second time cancelled for us as we had a river cruise that would have went there that was chartered out after we made final payment. Amsterdam is a great city, but we have been there twice previously on land trips.

[chillyw]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Thanks, but that ship has sailed (pun intended). We were really looking forward to Brugge as we have never been there. It is the second time cancelled for us as we had a river cruise that would have went there that was chartered out after we made final payment. Amsterdam is a great city, but we have been there twice previously on land trips.

 

That's bad luck 😞 Hopefully it balances out with a casino jackpot win or something!

[latebuyer]

I'd just like to echo others that say other cruise lines are doing the same thing. There is a thread on princess that complains princess is still advertising they go to the inside passage on the way there and back but they no longer go on the way back (from alaska). They are being deceptive in their advertising. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal but this person was really upset 

[dexddd]

6 hours ago, latebuyer said:

I'd just like to echo others that say other cruise lines are doing the same thing. There is a thread on princess that complains princess is still advertising they go to the inside passage on the way there and back but they no longer go on the way back (from alaska). They are being deceptive in their advertising. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal but this person was really upset 

NCL has been doing that Alaska thing for around 15 years on and off, at least on the way up.

[quack2]

My impression is that Norwegian is very quick to cancel ports or other visits if there is ANYTHING that poses a challenge.  Example #1:  on my recent Alaska cruise, Norwegian blew off Hubbard Glacier due to fog.  The two ships behind us that day sailed in and had a nice day at the glacier.  Example #2:  Norwegian cruises into or out of Vancouver sail up the less scenic, more weather exposed, west side of Vancouver Island.  I understand that the east side sailing poses some timing challenges with respect to tides.  Other cruise lines have figured it out.  Norwegian apparently hasn't.

[Cruising Lynne]

Missed ports are disappointing, but I would rather be kept safe than sail where you could be affected by tides, or dense fog. I have been on a ship with dense fog. It is scary when you can't see anything, and the constant fog horn can be a little annoying. 

 

I just finished watching some vlogs of a Baltic cruise on Princess that had at least two missed ports. It happens.