Norwegian Cruise Line cancels over 7 months of 2025 cruises

Table Of Content

• Royal Princess Cruises Departing from Vancouver through April 25, 2022
• What passengers can expect from the cruise line if they are canceled or bumped
• November 20, 2021 Caribbean Cruise on Caribbean Princess
• Hawaii Cruises Departing through December 2021
• Select Cruises in Australia, New Zealand, & the South Pacific on the Following Ships:
• Construction on Second Chinese-Built Cruise Ship Well Underway

But cruise company Life at Sea recently told customers who bought passage on a three-year voyage that rather than visiting 140 countries, their trip was called off. The line scrapped the vessel’s planned itineraries from March 28 through and including Nov. 3, 2025, because of “a fleet redeployment,” Norwegian said in a letter to guests and travel partners Tuesday, which it shared with USA TODAY. Johnson said calls to the company "resulted in us being told that refunds were no longer an option." Johnson said her group doesn't want to switch their cruise to next year. At a number of smaller lines such as Crystal Cruises, Silversea and Oceania Cruises, refunds are taking up to 90 days to process. Norwegian Cruise Line says refunds are being processed 90 days after a request is made.

Royal Princess Cruises Departing from Vancouver through April 25, 2022

The result is that every one of the more than 1 million Carnival customers who had a cruise canceled are receiving some sort of refund that needs to be processed. Cruise lines may cancel sailings for a variety of reasons, forcing passengers to change their travel plans, sometimes with little notice. The company also postponed its Vision of the Seas trip until March 7, 2022, and later added its Independence of the Seas sailing, which was due to depart on January 22, 2022, to its growing list of canceled cruises. Fleet changes generally involve offers to move your reservation to a different ship sailing a similar itinerary, the ship you booked on different dates, or a different ship and itinerary altogether.

What passengers can expect from the cruise line if they are canceled or bumped

Carnival has canceled nearly all its cruises through September, with the exception of August sailings on eight of the line's 27 ships that remain on the schedule for now. Some cruise lines are posting the number of days it will take to receive a refund on their websites. Many cruise lines report unprecedented call volume and have been asking customers for patience as they work through requests.

November 20, 2021 Caribbean Cruise on Caribbean Princess

The line began sailing as American Queen Steamboat Company in 2011 and was rebranded as American Queen Voyages in 2021 after merging with Victory Cruise Lines. Additionally, Royal Caribbean has postponed the return to cruising for its Vision of the Seas ship until March 7. If you want to cancel, you aren’t likely to find a simple button in your online cruise account that lets you cancel.

Does travel insurance help with cruise cancellations or bumps?

The three affected ships are expected to return to sailing on April 26, Jan. 29, and Feb. 20, respectively. The good news is in general prepaid items are refunded, just like port fees and taxes. So if you’ve prepaid gratuities, or bought the drink package, that money will normally be returned to you. If you’re worried about these extras, you can often go in and cancel them individually for a refund before and then later cancel the cruise.

What happens if your cruise is canceled, or you get bumped?

Again, refunds are the cruise line's least favorite choice, so you should expect bonus credit if you opt to either move your reservation or accept credit for an alternative cruise. Because this kind of bump usually comes with advance notice, the offer you get might not include huge bonuses. Cruise ships often sail with empty rooms, and most lines use upgrade options to eke out a few extra dollars from unsold rooms at the last minute.

Hawaii Cruises Departing through December 2021

"Royal Caribbean noted that cancelations were "a result of the ongoing COVID-related circumstances around the world, and in an abundance of caution." Adam Peakes, president of the line's owner Hornblower Group, said it plans to "sell the company, or, if a sale cannot be achieved, its operations will be wound down." Cruise lines employ some of the same approaches to inventory management as their airline counterparts, resulting in the ever-dreaded bumps. Plus, ship upgrade initiatives or mechanical repairs can cause changes to itineraries departing within weeks, months or even years. As the name implies, with this sort of policy, you’re covered no matter why you decide to cancel.

GTY Cabin passenger's cruise cancelled day of sailing - Royal Caribbean Blog

GTY Cabin passenger's cruise cancelled day of sailing.

Posted: Tue, 28 Nov 2023 08:00:00 GMT [source]

But the important factor is that cruisers spend hundreds (if not thousands) on things like drink packages, spa services, port excursions and specialty dining. Empty cabins don't generate that additional money, so cruise lines oversell popular sailings as airlines do with flights. Behind-the-scenes cruise line maneuvers can cause bumps that rarely make the mainstream news.

Construction on Second Chinese-Built Cruise Ship Well Underway

At cruise giant Royal Caribbean and sister line Celebrity Cruises, for instance, the staff that handles refund requests is trying to get them processed in 30 business days (which works out to about 45 days). The 140,600-gross ton Celebrity Xcel will initially homeport at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, operating 7-night Eastern Caribbean and Western Caribbean cruises. Tests of onboard features are also done, including the FlowRider surf simulator and the Oculus Fall thrill ride in the ship’s AquaDome. Final touches are now underway onboard the ship, including to the carousel in the Surfside neighborhood. Cruise directors play crucial roles on all ships, since they engage and interact with virtually all guests and help to set the line’s Fun Ship atmosphere.

The cruise line wants to keep you as a valued customer and knows it has inconvenienced you. Having travel insurance that covers cancellation of the full amount of your travel, including airline tickets and hotel reservations, is always the safest choice on any cruise. Insurance coverage can be tricky, so read all policy details carefully before you choose. Because cruise lines and their passengers have far less flexibility than airlines and flyers, every effort is made to avoid bumping guests that have confirmed cruise bookings — but there are several reasons it can happen. Royal Caribbean has canceled sailings on four of its ships, becoming the latest cruise line to scrap voyages amid the spread of the omicron variant. In addition to your cruise fare and taxes/fees, you might have spent other money on your trip.

The first thing to know is you cannot be reimbursed for your cruise fare from travel insurance if you accept a refund, alternative cruise or future cruise credit from the cruise line. Where it can come in handy is if you had already paid for nonrefundable flights, hotel stays or tours before your cruise was canceled or changed. You'd think dry docks are planned well before a ship's future itineraries are announced, but don't be surprised if dry docks for upgrades or maintenance are scheduled after cruises start booking. That happened in 2023 with Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas, causing cancellations of cruises in December 2024 and January 2025. Probably the most common reason for a cruise bump is maintenance and/or safety.

The refund came with no explanation, but TPG had mentioned Ballard's case specifically when inquiring about Grand Circle's policy. But within 24 hours of this story originally posting, she said the company called to promise her entire group a full refund. "Grand Circle emailed us saying that we had been rebooked on the same cruise next year, with no mention of the refund," Johnson told TPG. "We had a new reservation number and were supposed to go online to accept the terms and conditions." The situation "dwarfs any disruption we've experienced in even the worst hurricane season," Carnival said in a statement. "We can confirm that refunds are being issued to those guests that requested one."

The company said that anyone requesting a refund will get one, and that it will reimburse travel expenses related to the cruise. Warning flags went up earlier this year, when the company changed course from its initial plan to refit one of its ships, the MV Gemini. For the lengthy worldwide voyage, it planned to deploy the larger "MV Lara" — a ship that never materialized. When the cruise missed its planned departure date, the company promised to resolve lingering issues. They would spend roughly 300 days at sea, 795 days at port and have 413 overnight port stays, Chief Operating Officer Ethem Bayramoglu of Miray Cruises, the Turkish parent company of Life at Sea, said in that online session.

The cancelled cruises all are Mexican Riviera sailings operating roundtrip from Long Beach, California, with departures set for November 11, 18, and 26, and December 2, 2023. Earlier this week, NCL announced it had cancelled sailings on eight of its ships due to "ongoing travel restrictions". Unlike theme parks, casinos, airlines and every other form of leisure travel, cruise ships implemented the strictest health protocols possible, including requiring vaccinations, mask wearing, pre-cruise tests for all and more. "This was an extremely difficult decision but a prudent one given the current business environment and recent developments with our parent company, Genting Hong Kong," president of Crystal Cruises Jack Anderson said in the statement.

If you cancel anywhere close to the cruise date, then you should expect that you will receive a penalty for the cancelation. So you don’t have to shell out more money, you will just get back less than you paid. At this time, there are no alternate Africa-oriented sailings planned for Anthem of the Seas. Instead, it is most likely that the ship will sail from Southampton to Dubai (or Singapore, if the cruise line opts to also cancel the Dubai-to-Singapore sailing on November 7) without passengers aboard. On Sunday, Miray Cruises issued a statement in Turkish, denying that the cruise is canceled. Instead, the company said the voyage is postponed — and it blamed a lack of enough passenger bookings, rather than problems finding an appropriate ship.