The Sun Going to Hawaii

[gso]

I received the 2007-2008 NCL brochure in the mail yesterday. It shows the Sun will be going to HAwaii in Sept. 07. There will be 4 ships in Hawaii. The Sun will be going 10 and 11 night cruises. We will be going on the Sun in a few weeks! I would love to do Hawaii in the future.

[KeystoneCruiser]

NCL has changed their minds about that. The Sun is NOT going to Hawaii, except for a repositioning cruise. The Sun is going to go to Miami now.

 

The Sun was supposed to replace the Wind in Hawaii, doing the 10 and 11 day Fanning Island Cruises, but those ideas were scrapped. The Wind is being sold to Star Cruises and the Sun will reposition to Miami for the winter.

 

NCL will still have their three Pride ships in Hawaii, with the POAm & POH doing the 7 day interisland cruises and the Pride of Aloha (POA) alternating between 7 day cruises and the 10 & 11 day Fanning Island trips.

[Don Haynes]

Yes, the Sun after its repositioning cruise will be based out of Miami. NCL is running a bit of red ink in Hawaii, therefore they reduced the number of ships from four to three.

 

The Pride of America and Pride of Hawaii will continue to do seven day cruises, whereas the Pride of Aloha will start 10 and 11 day itineraries. One week in four the Aloha will do a Fanning Island itinerary, the other three weeks the Aloha will do a longer itinerary with a few sea days included to allow passengers to rest up a bit.

[Globaliser]

I received the 2007-2008 NCL brochure in the mail yesterday. It shows the Sun will be going to HAwaii in Sept. 07. There will be 4 ships in Hawaii. The Sun will be going 10 and 11 night cruises.

It's a bit of a concern if NCL is still sending out brochures with information that's now been incorrect for several months. IIRC, the redeployment of the Sun to Miami (instead of Hawaii) was announced in mid-December.

[cruizinwithkids]

I received the 2007-2008 NCL brochure in the mail yesterday. It shows the Sun will be going to HAwaii in Sept. 07. There will be 4 ships in Hawaii. The Sun will be going 10 and 11 night cruises. We will be going on the Sun in a few weeks! I would love to do Hawaii in the future.

 

I'm GUESSING that this is the standard brochure with the chart in the back, rather than a "Hawaii" brochure.

[gso]

Yes it was just the standard brochure book, not one specific for Hawaii. While I was on NCL's website a couple weeks ago, it has the question somewhere "would you like a brochure ", I filled out the info requested and got the brochures in the mail. It included a large booklet called "Introducing Norgwegian Gem 2007-2008".

 

Thanks to everyone on CC for the correct info.:)

[Don Haynes]

There was a story in Seatrader last month in which NCL's CEO said they made the change of the Sun's itinerary because of the large loss in the fourth quarter. NCLA needs to earn enough in Hawaii to pay the American salaries.

 

When there is too much supply for the demand, priices drop significantly. NCLA did much better financially with three ships than they did with four ships. A simple answer is to drop the number of ships to increase fares, and hopefully more profit.

 

With the next year's itineraries being posted and broucheres being printed soon afterwards, up to two years worth, NCL's promotional literature can be close to two years old. Two years is a lot of time, business decisions can be changed in that time, and usually are.

[jerhardt]

The Hawaii brochure still shows the Sun sailing there until April 2008.

 

You would think that they could have sent an amendment to the brochure (as an insert or something) to curb the confusion.

[Don Haynes]

That brouchere that ended in April 2008 is last year's brouchere, printed last July, the new brouchere being printed this July will end in April 2009 will most likely have the new itineraries from Miami. NCL posted the new itineraries back before the start of this year, the old itineraries have been removed from the booking computers. Businesses make changes all of the time, broucheres printed to last two years may be outdated within a year.

 

I know that in the past NCL has changed itineraries within the two year period. For example, the Norway ceased operations after the boiler explosion, the Pride of Aloha replaced the Pride of America, the Sky's itineraries ended 6 months early while the Spirit was transfered within a few months to replace the Sky's iAlaskan itinerary, Bermuda was added to the Dawn's and Spirit's itineraries, the Playa del Carment tender stop was eliminated for the Dream, the list is long.

 

The good thing is that there will be a new brouchere out before the Sun repositions to Miami later this year. While I am no expert, I would say more than half of a ship is booked within the last 3-4 months.

[newmexicoNita]

It's a bit of a concern if NCL is still sending out brochures with information that's now been incorrect for several months. IIRC, the redeployment of the Sun to Miami (instead of Hawaii) was announced in mid-December.

Being the old, full sized brochure, I am sure they were printed many moons ago. I have some in my office I received about 4 months ago showing, what we thought would be the itinerary for the Sun. It wouldn't be very cost effective to throw away all printed material and start over. NMnita

[mikedw]

Last month I ordered a box of Carnival Brochures for the office and when I received them, they were the old ones. All the cruise lines probably tell there people to get rid of as many of the old ones as you can.

 

Michael

[Globaliser]

That brouchere that ended in April 2008 is last year's brouchere, printed last July, the new brouchere being printed this July will end in April 2009 will most likely have the new itineraries from Miami. NCL posted the new itineraries back before the start of this year, the old itineraries have been removed from the booking computers. Businesses make changes all of the time, broucheres printed to last two years may be outdated within a year.

Being the old, full sized brochure, I am sure they were printed many moons ago. I have some in my office I received about 4 months ago showing, what we thought would be the itinerary for the Sun. It wouldn't be very cost effective to throw away all printed material and start over. NMnita

The UK brochure that I have showing the Sun in Hawaii is clearly marked "1st edition". Although I haven't yet seen any subsequent editions, it is clear from both NCL and other cruise lines' practice that brochures do get updated (sometimes substantially) during the selling cycles covered by the brochure, by the release of further editions.

 

If ever there was a reason for junking the "1st edition" brochures and re-designing and re-printing them with the new itineraries, the radical re-structuring of the Hawaiian operations was it.

 

The fact that NCL has not done that betrays either a lack of clear thinking in the marketing department, or an urgent need to conserve cash by not taking the expensive step of junking the brochures. But even then, as jerhardt says:-

You would think that they could have sent an amendment to the brochure (as an insert or something) to curb the confusion.

If NCL has not even gone that far, I would put my money on something amiss inside marketing.

[newmexicoNita]

The UK brochure that I have showing the Sun in Hawaii is clearly marked "1st edition". Although I haven't yet seen any subsequent editions, it is clear from both NCL and other cruise lines' practice that brochures do get updated (sometimes substantially) during the selling cycles covered by the brochure, by the release of further editions.

 

If ever there was a reason for junking the "1st edition" brochures and re-designing and re-printing them with the new itineraries, the radical re-structuring of the Hawaiian operations was it.

 

The fact that NCL has not done that betrays either a lack of clear thinking in the marketing department, or an urgent need to conserve cash by not taking the expensive step of junking the brochures. But even then, as jerhardt says:-If NCL has not even gone that far, I would put my money on something amiss inside marketing.

 

 

yes, they do update the brochures periodically but it still takes a little time and they won't re-print for one change. New ones will be out, if they are not already showing the changes. I haven't gotten a new supply lately so I don't know when the changes will be in writing. NMnita

[Don Haynes]

I know that back in 2004, NCL did print a additional Caribbean brouchere just for the Spirit. But the Alaskan brouchere was not updated, the Spirit basically replaced the Sky's itineraries. She was transferred from Hong Kong to Seattle directlly, as I recall, with the Sky finishing her Panama Canal repositioning cruise. The Sky went into drydock in May and started her Hawaiian cruises as the Pride of Aloha in either late June or early July. At the desk in the atrium, the year old Alaskan broucheres with the Sky were on the Spirit..... Confusing, yes.

 

If you are upset with NCL, Carnival recently changed the itinerary of the Triumph this fall/winter season from New Orleans to Fort Lauderdale, I beleive. Their website's booking engine shows the change, but so far no new broucheres have been posted. Carnival made its changes last month, NCL made its changes a bit more than two months ago. While it is easy to make a little brouchere for the new itinerary for one ship, I do not know how to erase printed promotional material of the previous itinerary.

 

I recall two years ago NCL printed the brouchere of the Pride of America's repositioning cruise to Cabo San Lucas. There were many complaints they did not visit this port. Up to departure NCL did not fix. It was a mental mistake NCL didn't fix, as the Jones Act exemption clearly states that the Pride of America cannot sail to Alaska, Mexico, the Caribbean, or from any Gulf US port. Cabo is in Mexico.... I belileve NCL gave a $50 OBC for each cabin for missing Cabo. Details, details, details.

[Globaliser]

yes, they do update the brochures periodically but it still takes a little time and they won't re-print for one change. New ones will be out, if they are not already showing the changes. I haven't gotten a new supply lately so I don't know when the changes will be in writing. NMnita

But it wasn't just one change.

 

The reshuffle involved cancelling all the Sun's Hawaii round-trips, leaving only the original ex-Alaska repo. There was a new repo to Miami, and then the new ex-Miami schedule.

 

The Aloha's previous Hawaii schedules were also fundamentally cancelled. Nor did she just take over the Sun's previously-planned schedule, as the Aloha is now going to do a mix of 10 and 11 night intra-Hawaii cruises and 11 night Fanning Island trips.

 

That seems to me to be worth doing a second edition for. And while it takes time, it's been almost three months since the announcement.

 

Another sign that NCL is not on top of the game on this. The UK site has PDF itineraries and price lists that you can normally download - see this page, and this example for the Dawn.

 

What is there for the Sun? A generic "Please call us" page. Still.