Ship Alteration and cabin downgrade - Japan cruise now Spirit instead of Sun (10-23-2024)

[junglejane]

We were booked on the NCL Sun for the 10-23-2024 12 night Japan cruise. We were booked in a Club Balcony Suite (MA). We received a notice that the ship will now be the Spirit. We've been reassigned to a balcony cabin (BA), which is considerably smaller. Spirit doesn't appear to have any cabin category in between the BA balcony and the full suites. Has anyone experienced this type of cabin downgrade before? What can we expect? I assume NCL will adjust our fare, since this cabin category is selling for significantly less than we had booked for our Club Balcony Suite. My brother and SIL are traveling with us and are in a similar situation, because they were booked in a Family Balcony which also doesn't exist on the Spirit. We're rethinking the whole cruise now and looking at other options. Anyone else have this experience?

[bluesea777]

The balcony cabin bathrooms are better than the Sun’s! 

 

Spirit went thru $100m dry dock refit in Jan 2020 and the ship is so lovely and new. If the cruise is a port intensive one you don’t really need Club Balcony cabin. We were on Spirit for 14 days Alaska B2B and were in deck 8 ocean view cabin - loved the cabin and location. 
 

In our honest opinion we like the Spirit a lot better than the Sun, so you should be fine, if not better, with the switch!

 

Spirit has the best aft Spice H2O and forward Observation/Spinnaker lounge of the fleet … here are the pictures ….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would advise you to stick with balcony on the Spirit. 
 

 

 

[bluesea777]

BTW, the family balcony cabins are the same as the regular balcony cabins, only difference is the former has one or two more berths than the latter. 
 

 

[retired714]

Wow! Do you have a travel agent? You might talk to them. If you went through NCL to set your cruise up, you should call. The balcony cabin on the Spirit is about half the size of the club balcony on the Sun, so in our family that would definitely make a difference in the quality of the cruise. The email you received didn’t say anything about compensation or credits? I know you haven’t had much time to process this, but is your schedule flexible enough to change to a different cruise on a different ship?

Edited July 13, 2023 by retired714
Spelling

[RB9643]

 

There is no doubt that Spirit is a far superior ship to Sun, but yeah, you're giving up a shipload of space in your cabin.  I would urge you to work it out as best you can, space and pricewise.

 

Personally, I'd give up the space for the better ship.  At a fair price, of course.

 

[GORDONCHICK]

I would agree that the Spirit is a much better ship/better layout than the Sun.  The Sun has been our least favorite NCL ship.

[junglejane]

I just saw this concerning the Spirit: https://www.cruisehive.com/norwegian-cruise-ship-deployment-change-announced/106309

[junglejane]

As an update on this, the email from NCL about the ship alteration (dated 7/5) said we would get an updated confirmation by 7/14 but nothing so far. For a short while last week, the new cruise on Spirit showed up on Expedia and the NCL website, but then it disappeared and now they don't show any cruises on Spirit for Fall 2024. I've reached out to my travel agent and hope to hear something on Monday. I'm okay with the BA cabin but only at a fair price, not the price I booked for the Club Balcony Suite.

[Aquarius_traveler129]

This is so interesting to me. There seems to be a lot of re-deployment and changes in itineraries 

[RB9643]

1 hour ago, junglejane said:

I'm okay with the BA cabin but only at a fair price, not the price I booked for the Club Balcony Suite.

 

I agree. But I would struggle to decide what is fair. You are getting such an upgrade in ship in every conceivable way, other than cabin size.  Tough call.

 

 

[FastShip24]

You are 14 15 months out.  Take it easy 

[junglejane]

2 hours ago, RB9643 said:

 

I agree. But I would struggle to decide what is fair. You are getting such an upgrade in ship in every conceivable way, other than cabin size.  Tough call.

 

 

As mentioned in my original post, my brother and SIL were booked in a B4 family balcony on the Sun while we were in a MA Club Balcony Suite. Because of the cabin difference, we were paying $1400 pp more than they were. Now we're both in the exact same class of cabin on the Spirit (BA) just a few doors apart. Yesterday my brother and SIL received an updated confirmation for the Spirit, and NCL is honoring the fare they had on the Sun. Considering that we're now in the same class of cabin on the Spirit, I think that a "fair" fare for us would be the same fare he's paying. Hopefully that's what will happen, but since I booked through a TA, I'll have to wait until at least Monday to find out. In the meantime, the NCL website is still not showing any Spirit cruises for Fall 2024 so I can't see what the currently offered pricing is.

 

It's reassuring to hear everyone agree that the Spirit is a superior ship to the Sun. I've only been on one other NCL cruise, which was on the Pearl. We picked this cruise for its Japan itinerary. Our other options are the Celebrity Millenium and HAL Noordam, but we liked this itinerary the best.

[dexddd]

We ended up on Sun under a similar situation.  Had Jewel booked in aft balcony for four.  They changed it to Sun.  No such equal room on Sun.  They did move us to an aft mini now club on Sun.  Those clubs are best in fleet except maybe the newest ships which we have not been in that category.

 

The Sun's clubs are big, have a walk in closet and big bath.

 

Spirit is a better ship though all around.

 

 

[junglejane]

My TA talked to NCL this moring. They have adjusted down our fare but they are also apparently still making changes to the itinerary. So we'll just have to wait until the dust settles and see what happens with the itinerary. Any tips on balcony cabin location on the Spirit? Right now they have me on Deck 11 and it looks like I'm under the Waves Pool Bar.

[bluesea777]

1 hour ago, junglejane said:

My TA talked to NCL this moring. They have adjusted down our fare but they are also apparently still making changes to the itinerary. So we'll just have to wait until the dust settles and see what happens with the itinerary. Any tips on balcony cabin location on the Spirit? Right now they have me on Deck 11 and it looks like I'm under the Waves Pool Bar.

 

If you can, ask to move to deck 10 mid to aft starboard side, so it's an easy walk to aft Spice H2O.

 

 

[junglejane]

On 7/17/2023 at 12:15 PM, bluesea777 said:

 

If you can, ask to move to deck 10 mid to aft starboard side, so it's an easy walk to aft Spice H2O.

 

 

I did exactly as you recommended and am now on Deck 10, starboard side, about halfway between the midship and aft stairways.

[bluesea777]

Before I forget, there's a link to my live review to the New Spirit in my signature (Feb 2020).

 

 

[junglejane]

@bluesea777 I don't see the link. How do I find your signature and the link?

[mjkacmom]

On 7/12/2023 at 6:47 PM, bluesea777 said:

BTW, the family balcony cabins are the same as the regular balcony cabins, only difference is the former has one or two more berths than the latter. 
 

 

And sometimes they are closer to the kids club, but otherwise exactly the same size as a regular balcony.

[bluesea777]

25 minutes ago, junglejane said:

@bluesea777 I don't see the link. How do I find your signature and the link?

 Okay, here's the link :

 

 

 

Enjoy the photos! Remember I was the first to post the first photos of the new Spirit that had just  undergone the $100m dry-dock/refurbishment and ppl on CC were anxious to see the pictures of the new Spirit. We had been on her previously in 2018 - the old one, and I need to say the after is so much better.