12/9/23 Nieuw Amsterdam Sailing Was There This Morning, Now Gone

[tlund]

Yesterday I was rallying the troops to sail on the Nieuw Amsterdam sailing on December 9, 2023.  Price was good.  Liked the itinerary.  Was double checking prices, etc. this morning to try and get more people to join (if we booked).  This evening, the cruise is listed on the website but when you check on it, it says something is wrong. That doesn't happen on other dates.  I contacted a travel agent and they said that sailing is not listed on the travel agent portal, nor is the week before.  Anyone have any information on what happened to those 2 sailings (Dec. 2 & 9).  Doesn't seem plausible that the ship needed to go into dry dock considering the refurb last year.  If it was some kind of repair that needed to be done, you would think they would do it now instead of waiting 8 months from now.  Possibly a charter, but seems odd for 2 weeks and only 8 months out, when charters are typically planned well in advance so they can be marketed for a full ship. Would like to know if we need to look at another cruise or if it is just a glitch.

[Radbooks]

There were comments on FB today that their cruises on the ship had been canceled. Maybe a charter??

[CruiserBruce]

I would give it a few days or a week. If it's still MIA, then we can discuss the possibilities. 

[VMax1700]

Although it was offered as a 14 day cruise, it was also offered as 2 x 7 day cruises.  December 9th - 16th and December 16th - 23rd.

Although it is not possible to book the December 9th - 16th segment nor can you book the 14 day cruise, it is possible to book the December 16th - 23rd segment.

My money is on a charter December 9th - 16th, so they had to pull the 14 day cruise.

[campbean41]

Looks available - but “something went wrong” shows up. 

Edited April 19, 2023 by campbean41
More info discovered

[Safetyal]

We were on this cruise.  We received an email

that it has been cancelled and were offered alternatives.

Edited April 19, 2023 by Safetyal
spelling

[igar39]

We booked this cruise yesterday with the $1 deposit using a cruise agency . Have not heard from her yet.   What were the offered alternatives  you got??

 

[Safetyal]

From the email:

 

We invite you to make a booking on either one of the following voyages:

 

Nieuw Statendam J379

7-Day Eastern Caribbean– Roundtrip Fort Lauderdale

December 10, 2023

 

Rotterdam Y380

7-Day Eastern Caribbean– Roundtrip Fort Lauderdale

December 15, 2023

 

Nieuw Amsterdam I389

7-Day Eastern Caribbean– Roundtrip Fort Lauderdale

December 16, 2023

 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

I tried to search for charters, but when I entered the date and the ship name, I mostly got links to this thread or to online travel agencies, but nothing for a specific charter. 

 

It seems like an odd time for a group to charter a ship, between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And I agree with @tlund, it seems short notice for a charter. But HAL does have a history of accepting a charter and cancelling reservations. That's why I avoid 7-day cruises or B2B cruises made up of 7-day cruises. I don't trust HAL for those short cruises.

 

I'm sorry for people's disappointment. Some people may already have done their travel arrangements to get to the ship, which adds to the trouble.

[friendswithdave]

Thanks for sharing this news!

 

I was on this same ship during the same week in 2022. We regularly cruise that week because we always get a great deal and it works with our schedule. The ship was about 70% full on our December sailing.

 

We are planning to cruise that week again this year with this ship as one of three options. We haven't booked yet because we are waiting for prices to drop. I am guessing since they have three ships doing the same itinerary around the same time that they offered a GREAT deal to some charter company to take the ship for the full week. This will reduce their inventory during a slow time of year, allowing them to raise prices on the other two ships they have sailing the same itinerary at the same time. I expect we'll be on one of these two ships in mid-December.

[tlund]

Thanks to those that were booked on this sailing for the cancellation information.  Odd that the December 2nd sailing also went missing.  Must be a 14 day charter or 2 separate 7 day charter.  How unlucky that the 2 I was looking at just went under a charter. Darn!!

[ChrisCruiser1974]

Hi all, I was on this cruise as well and received the following last Friday: 

We apologize for your canceled cruise. The change was made due to a change in Nieuw Amsterdam’s scheduled drydock maintenance period. We do hope you fine an equally exciting replacement cruise and look forward to welcoming you on board.

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, ChrisCruiser1974 said:

Hi all, I was on this cruise as well and received the following last Friday: 

We apologize for your canceled cruise. The change was made due to a change in Nieuw Amsterdam’s scheduled drydock maintenance period. We do hope you fine an equally exciting replacement cruise and look forward to welcoming you on board.

Thanks for the info.  I had Nieuw Amsterdam 'pencilled in' for dry dock in October 2024, so I obviously got that one wrong.  

[metairiegal]

So glad I found this thread!  I had seen it listed and we were very interested, but when I went back to find it, it was gone.  I have been trying to figure out what happened to it, and then I came across this thread.  Thought I was going crazy!