Itinerary can be a key factor in choosing a particular cruise vacation, whether it is for a specific sailing region or one special port of call. Guests onboard Norwegian Star‘s November 13, 2027 cruise, however, are shocked that not only is their embarkation port changing to a different country, but five ports of call are now removed and the sailing is very different than originally planned.
Norwegian Cruise Line has reached out to booked guests to alert them to the itinerary change and what to expect for the 9-night cruise.
The 91,740-gross-ton ship was to have sailed from Lisbon to Barcelona, calling on destinations in Portugal, the Canary Islands, Morocco, and Spain along the way.
Now the cruise will instead embark in Tarragona, Spain, a change attributed to “port availability” in Lisbon. This is not the first cruise to have made such a change, and Cruise Hive has already reported on Norwegian Dawn making a similar switch for an October 2026 sailing.
The departure time from the homeport has also shifted slightly. Norwegian Dawn was to have departed Lisbon at 4 p.m., but will not leave Tarragona until 5 p.m.
Entire Norwegian Star Itinerary Changed
What is even more dramatic for Norwegian Star, however, is that the entire tenor of the sailing has shifted and the cruise will now visit Mediterranean destinations.
“As part of this change, our visits to Funchal, Portugal, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Arrecife (Lanzarote), Spain, and Agadir and Casablanca, Morocco, have been removed from the itinerary,” the email notification confirmed.
“In their place the journey has evolved into a Mediterranean-focused itinerary, now featuring visits to Marseille, France; La Spezia, Livorno, Civitavecchia, and Salerno, Italy; and Valletta, Malta.”
These new destinations are more than 1,800 miles from the original destinations on the schedule, with completely different cultures, histories, and attractions.
The first full day of the cruise was to have been a day at sea, but that will now be the ship’s visit to Marseille. Only the last two days of the itinerary are unchanged from the original schedule.
Saturday, November 20, 2027 will still be a day at sea, while the visit to Palma de Mallorca, Spain will be on Sunday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Norwegian Dawn will arrive in Barcelona on Monday, November 22 for debarkation at 7 a.m., which is also unchanged from the initial itinerary.
Guests Have Mixed Reactions to Dramatic Shift
Because the impacted sailing is still 17 months away, the ship’s up to 2,298 guests have different reactions to the switched itinerary.
For those who were interested in the original ports of call, cancelling and rebooking on a different voyage may be the best alternative, as there is still plenty of time to do so with only minimal problems.
Others are upset just at the dramatic nature of the overhaul.
“That’s not even close to the cruise you booked,” one guest noted. “I can understand a port or even [two] changing, things happen, but this a complete rewrite.”
“Definitely an entirely different cruise, but thankfully you have plenty of time to change,” another noted.
Many experienced cruisers also note that the cruise is so far in the future that it is unlikely booked guests have already reserved airfare or made significant other plans, so there is flexibility to arrange a different cruise if preferred.
