Last December I called my Personal Cruise Planner (PCP) at NCL to cancel a cruise I had booked months earlier on NCL's Epic sailing from Barcelona to Morocco, the Canary Islands, Madeira, and a port or two in Spain (One was Granada-so I could finally see the Alhambra), and finally back to Barcelona. I was cancelling because my husband had suffered a foot injury months earlier, and had not been working while nursing said injury, and there was a possibility of major surgery in his future. While, empathic to why I was cancelling, the PCP seemed loathed to let a booking disappear, and begged me to choose another, later cruise to transfer my booking to.
I had to admit I had become intrigued by reports of NCL's newest ship, that had just launched a month earlier, the Escape. I had heard the downsides of NCL; the ships were too big, with too many people, and way to many kids. So if I was going to book a cabin it would have to be a Haven Suite. Booking a Haven Suite gives one many perks. The first is a private area with pool just for Haven guests. Also their own restaurant, a butler to tend to your every whim, priority for dinner and show reservations, and in our case, because of the promo being run at the time; Unlimited Drink Package, Unlimited Specialty Dining, Pre-Paid Gratuities, and $300 On Board Credit. It appeared to be a good deal, and I thought this would be an "Extravaganza" sailing on two different ships, two different lines, but in both cases suites, so I could make a fairly good apples to apples comparison. So I transferred my booking to the week of December 10, 2016, giving us two weeks in the Caribbean, instead of one.
However, as the year went on I fretted about this decision. Marty wasn't thrilled about being away from work for two weeks, I hated leaving our five fur-babies for that long, The cost for a Haven Suite was not cheap, $6000+ for the two of us. I still had to pay the majority of our Carnival Cruise, which wasn't exactly loose change, and with the popularity of the Cabana Cabins I knew this could very well be our only chance to sail in a Havana Cabana cabin (As I write this they are booked solid until April 2018, with people checking daily to see when bookings for the sister ship to the Vista, the Horizon, opens so they can snatch one up on that ship).
Then during the summer I started reading reports on the web site Cruise Critic that had to do with new policies that had been implemented by the new CEO of NCL that quite frankly I thought deplorable. Granted, few affected me, but they did seem to have a negative impact on others that could only vent about them on the NCL Boards. After thinking about it for a week or so I came to the conclusion I didn't want to give my money to NCL, and I didn't think I would get $6000 worth of value for my $6000. I decided to cancel the NCL leg of the trip. That proved easier said than done. If you book with a PCP, you must cancel with that PCP. He was never available, and my messages went unanswered for weeks, until I finally got hold of him. At first he tried to talk me out of cancelling, I explained my position, he got snarky, I held firm, and finally he agreed to cancel my booking.
I got my deposit back a couple of weeks later, just in time to book a one week cruise Athens to Rome leaving in a month. I got a great deal, $699 for a deluxe balcony cabin (pp), and I definitely got my money's worth on that trip (That is a story to be told at a later date).
So Just one week instead of two, but it will be memorable.....I hope.
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