This was posted on one of my Norwegian Cruise Lines Facebook Pages.
"The port of Portsmouth uk, has just announced that NCL has cancelled all its sailing from this port. The news was reported in the local paper yesterday. I wander why NCL are making all these changes. "
Does anyone have any further information?
The news reported yesterday that Norwegian was making sweeping changes across its system cancelling about 16 sailings. The official line was it was repositioning their fleet and due to some whole ship charters. No specific information on Portsmouth.
I find this sort of action troublesome. The idea that one can have confirmed reservations, and even have paid for their cruise, only to have the cruise line state, "we are cancelling on you because someone else has now chartered the entire ship" a bit short on the level of integrity I expect. Many people purchase flights, etc far in advance.
The ship is so huge. Maybe they didn’t want so many passengers arriving at one time?
@ Suki, this was not done at the request of Portsmouth, it was done by the cruise line itself to change where the ships were going. I have yet to hear of a cruise line that is too worried about how many people may be in port at any given moment........
I see where NCL cruises out of Portsmouth are being cancelled for 7 months in 2025. The ship may be part of a "fleet redeployment" to their worldwide schedules.
One may assume that NCL might be tired of labor strikes at the port that happened in 2023. Such port closures for strikes also affect the availability of food and other supplies needed weekly.
They may also need to do maintenance on some of their ships. It's just hard to say what's going on right now.
We had the experience Carol describes on two back-to-back NCL cruises in 2018, one transatlantic and then one within Europe. Apparently they chartered the ship to someone who must have made "an offer they couldn't refuse." We had to scramble to reschedule and ended up on a different cruise line. It left us with a sour taste about NCL, though I doubt if this practice is limited to that line.
From the news accounts I read yesterday, it's much as Carol now reired said. Full ship charters, redeployment, and I believe at least one ship needing dry dock. And now there will be a ripple effect across most of the line to accommodate the affected cruisers. I'm sure there is much more information available on the NCL forum on Cruise Critic.
I am aware that Norwegian charters their ships to other businesses and often cancels passengers who had booked a Norwegian cruise. If is very often inconvenient for the passengers who have already booked.
Norwegian usually gives those passengers something like 20% off of future cruises or even sometimes cash because of having to cancel or change flights. Sometimes it is really worth what Norwegian gives you and other times not so.
I am on a few Norwegian Cruiose lines Facebook pages and I read of this happening. I do not knw if it is a lot but it seems to be often.
Norwegian does not seem fully recovered from COVID and many other factors like supply chain shortages and staffing issues.
Hi Dick from Washington
Did you ever sail Norwegian again?
Did Norwegian compensate you for the inconvenience?
I found this on Cruise Hive. I did not find any news of NCL cancellations on Cruise Critic
https://www.cruisehive.com/norwegian-cruise-line-cancels-select-sailings-across-seven-ships/127268
All the cancellations mentioned in Cruise Hive were for 2025 which gives booked passengers plenty of time to avoid inconvenience. And passengers were given a choice of an alternative booking or a future one with the latter giving them 10% off. I think that I was once offered 20% off. a future cruise.
The thread on the cancellations has been consolidated on CC here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3000328-many-cancellations-next-year/#comment-67161095
The cancellations aren't limited to those out of Portsmouth. And for some, the notice didn't come early enough, since switching to one of the recommended alternatives is already costing more, even with the paltry 10% off.
One may assume that NCL might be tired of labor strikes at the port that happened in 2023. Such port closures for strikes also affect the availability of food and other supplies needed weekly.
What strikes are those? I live in the UK and haven't heard of them. The bread and butter of Portsmouth port's civil traffic (as opposed to military) is ferry traffic- which is why cruises use the ferry port as their terminal.
How many days were there strikes which closed the port? Did any of those affect NCL?
If ferry traffic had been disrupted like that, or indeed the cruise traffic, you would have thought it would have been widespread news. There has been some, I believe, limited disruption due to strikes at the French ports served from Portsmouth.
There are 78 cruise calls there this year- which does not suggest that other lines see a labour issue. That may sound a small number compared to Southampton, but historically is a very healthy number.
This is far more likely to be about wider fleet deployments.
