On July 8, 2025, Norwegian Cruise Line notified booked guests more than seven months ahead of their cruise of some important itinerary changes.
The letter, noting all the changes, was sent to passengers booked on Norwegian Prima’s 7-night sailing departing from Port Canaveral on March 1, 2026.
“Every now and then, unexpected changes pop up, like port availability, that can shake up even the best-laid plans,” the letter explained.
“Sometimes we are informed that space is no longer available for that the vessel cannot be accommodated due to its size and the number of other ships scheduled to be in port that day,” it continues.
Norwegian Prima is Norwegian Cruise Line’s seventh-largest vessel, sitting at 143,535-gross-tons with a maximum passenger capacity of 3,950 — meaning that berthing issues could impact this vessel.
While the cruise line tried its best to ensure that the itinerary guests booked was the one that happened, updated port availability warranted multiple changes to this particular sailing.
The first change made was the departure time from Port Canaveral, which was originally set for 6 p.m. but will now be at 4 p.m. local time.
Then, the stop in Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas on day two, as well as the stop in Montego Bay in Jamaica on day four, were both cancelled.
Other stops that have not been cancelled include George Town in the Cayman Islands, as well as the stop in Cozumel in Mexico.
However, parts of the itinerary have been shifted to accommodate the replacements made for the cancelled ports.
Originally, day two was scheduled for the stop in the Bahamas, but it will now be a day at sea.
Then, Cozumel was moved from day six to day three, with the port time shifting from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. to now being 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Next, the stop in George Town was moved from day five to day four, replacing the stop in Jamaica that was cancelled. The port time was also updated from being 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. to now being 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
One new port of call was added on day five, with the vessel now stopping in Falmouth, Jamaica, from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
The last change to the itinerary was the swap from the visit in Cozumel on day 6 to now being an additional day at sea.
Some booked guests are not thrilled by these changes, as there are now two cancelled ports, with only one new stop being added in Jamaica.
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The good news is that Norwegian Cruise Line allows passengers to cancel without penalty up until the final payment is due for their cruise, which falls 120 days prior to embarkation.
That means that any guest wishing to now cancel this cruise due to the itinerary changes can do so by November 1, 2025, if they want a full refund.
While the itinerary changes may not be ideal, the guests booked on this cruise might want to be grateful that it was not fully cancelled.
Norwegian Cruise Line Cancels 41 Sailings
Just this past week, Norwegian Cruise Line announced the sudden cancellation of 41 of its sailings between November 2026 and March 2027.
This included 21 voyages on Norwegian Breakaway, as well as 20 on none other than Norwegian Prima.
Both ships are set to be redeployed to new homeports, but the cruise line has yet to provide further information about where either vessel will end up.
For now, most sailings have been cancelled from late 2026 into early 2027, and booked guests will receive a full refund along with a 10 percent discount as a Future Cruise Credit (FCC).
While cancellations might be worse than itinerary changes, in both circumstances, Norwegian Cruise Line is at least trying to communicate as early as possible with booked guests to allow them the time to rebook if need be.
