While the cruise may be almost a year away, guests booked aboard the January 17, 2024 sailing of Norwegian Getaway are being informed of several itinerary changes for their cruise.
One port is being swapped for an alternate, the day of the ship’s visit is being changed for another port, and a third port will have a slightly longer visit time than originally planned.
Norwegian Getaway Itinerary Change
The impacted cruise is a 10-night, roundtrip sailing from New York, departing on Wednesday, January 17, 2024. During the cruise, Norwegian Getaway was to have visited five different ports of call: Bermuda, St. Maarten, St. Thomas, the Dominican Republic, and Grand Turk.
Now, only the calls to St. Maarten and St. Thomas are unchanged.
The first port of call, Bermuda, is only slightly altered with later projected arrival time – 9 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. While this change is only one hour, it can impact some shore tours, and times for excursions booked through Norwegian Cruise Line will be automatically adjusted. Guests with independent arrangements will need to contact their tour operators for adjustments, if possible.
The call that was to have been to Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday, January 23, will now be visiting San Juan, Puerto Rico, instead, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day.
Meanwhile, the call to Puerto Plata has been moved to the next day, Wednesday, January 24, with the time adjusted to be 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. instead of the original 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. This is the same amount of time in port, but again, pre-booked cruise line shore tours will be adjusted as needed.
Finally, the last port of call that was to have been Grand Turk from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, January 24, has been cancelled altogether. That is the day the ship will be in Puerto Plata instead.
The four sea days onboard Norwegian Getaway are unchanged, and guests will have plenty of time to enjoy the Breakaway-class vessel with its 26 dining venues, 22 bars and lounges, aqua park, three-story sports complex, art gallery, video arcade, ropes course, extensive spa, and much more.
Norwegian Getaway weighs in at 145,655 gross tons, and can welcome 3,963 guests aboard at double occupancy with 1,600 international crew members to provide excellent service. The ship joined the Norwegian fleet in 2014.
Why So Many Changes?
It is not unusual for cruise lines to continue refining itineraries even after cruises are initially opened for sale, particularly for voyages that are many months away. While the lines do strive to maintain original schedules, operational changes, ship deployment changes, port construction or maintenance, and other factors can all make adjustments necessary.
Ultimately, the goal of the cruise line is to provide guests with the best possible experience in each port of call, including adequate time to enjoy what the port has to offer, while still maintaining a safe and reasonable sailing schedule.
Cruise lines are not obligated to provide booked guests with any compensation for such changes. In fact, section 7(c) of Norwegian Cruise Line’s Guest Ticket Contract – which all passengers accept when booking a cruise – explicitly states that the cruise line has the right to “deviate from the purchased voyage or the normal course for any purpose.”
This authority is applicable “at any time before, during or after sailing of the vessel.”
By providing guests notice so far ahead of their cruise, travelers still have options to cancel or change their cruise plans if the itinerary changes have a significant impact for what they’d hoped to enjoy during their vacation.