I've been on only 3 previous cruises and none of them had itinerary changes. Today I received an email from NCL that our 12 day cruise from Baltimore to Quebec City, this Sept, will make 2 big changes. Instead of stopping at Bar Harbor they will substitute Portland, ME (yuck). And the next day they are cancelling the stop at Shelburne, N.S. and it will be an "at sea" day. Really disappointed. Now we have 3 "at sea" days instead of 2. So why do you think they made these 2 changes? Yes, we can still cancel with no penalty until May.

Could be many reasons, but some possible ones that I can think of:

Bar Harbor could've come in and said "we've got too many other ships in port that day, you lose"

Mechanical issues/fuel issues saying they need to go slower, hence the sea day.

Recalculation of tides meaning an issue with original port times and can't change times due to other issues so just lose the port.

When they can they do try and substitute ports (like happened with Portland for Bar Harbor) so it's possible there wasn't another viable port for Shelbourn, N.S.



I've had itinerary changes in advance and others mid-cruise. If the changes will really affect your enjoyment of the cruise, then I would recommend cancelling. But if you can look at it as an adventure and an opportunity to do something else, you can still really enjoy yourself.

Thanks for the reply. Some of your reasons don't make sense when we're still 7 months out. But, I guess it doesn't matter what the reasons are b/c they have made their decisions. We'll probably still go on this cruise.

Bar Harbor is one of the cruise ports (like Key West) that voted to limit cruise passengers. They voted last year to limit only 1000 total passengers to disembark per day. That's probably the reason it was changed.

Thanks. Luckily we visited the area a few years by car. It is a pretty small town so not surprised. Will have to get our lobster rolls in Portland.

We'll have to see how quickly the lawsuit is resolved.

According to this article, it does not affect 2023 cruises booked before spring 2022 (booked by the cruise lines, not by passengers). And this article claims the cutoff was 18 July 2021.

An update on litigation against the town by local businesses: https://www.cruisehive.com/bar-harbor-cruise-limits-to-face-legal-challenges/91973

If NCL doesn't reinstate the Bar Harbor stop I'm guessing a lot of passengers will be canceling their cruise.

Itinerary changes happen, I went from a Canada cruise to a Bermuda cruise (Hurricane Arthur) announced in the terminal as everyone was filling out Canadian customs forms. People actually complained they didn't have the clothes for it.

Was anyone complaining they didn't get to sail through the hurricane? *grins*

On a transtlantic cruise that was schedule to stop in St. Johns Newfoundland, as we were leaving Reykjavik the Captain announced that we would be rerouting south to avoid a massive arctic storm and so would miss St. Johns. I was at guest relations when he made the announcement and the phones started ringing off the hook with people cussing out guest relations because of the change. At the Captain's talk the next day, they showed a map of the storm we were avoiding (1,000 miles wide, massive winds, heavy rains/snow/ice) and people still questioned why we couldn't go to St. John's.

Of course, we also had people that wanted us to miss our other ports too and go into Boston a day early because they had booked their flights home too early on the day we were supposed to arrive.

Don't get married in September, cruise honeymoon, and then anniversary cruises or you tend to get itinerary changes. That honeymoon cruise was a week after Hurricane Marylyn (which we flew over on the way to Puerto Rico and the hotel had just reopened when we arrived). The first port was changed to Trinidad and that was the first time that line had ever called there we also had two other ports of call canceled or changed.

Hurricane Sandy, Bermuda five day cruise left Brooklyn Pier and went north sailing for one day. Tied up in Boston with 23 lines and 2 tug boats holding us to the pier as the hurricane passed. 6 Days later returned to Manhattan Cruise Terminal, where the building was closed, to disembark.

I have a few more itinerary changed cruises too. Really don't mind, the day on a cruise is better than a day not on a cruise.

We've missed ports due to weather (Newport RI on one cruise and one Iceland port on another) and inadequate facilities (Sitka after the port was damaged and one port in New Celedonia due to lack of health facilities), and cruises canceled for ship delivery delays (Cunard Queen Anne) and political reasons (a Russian port call), not to mention all the COVID cancellations. It's all part of cruising.

My sister was on Grandeur of the Seas in 2013 when the ship had a major fire caused by a careless smoker. Thanks to the crew no one was hurt but they had to evacuate the ship. She said the cruise line was terrific, they transported everyone home, paid expenses, and gave everyone a free cruise. Inconvenient yes. But she was happy with how she was treated.

On our TA last November, the last stop before reaching NY was supposed to be Bermuda. Unfortunately, it would have been a logistical nightmare for the cruise line, given how long we were going to be traveling prior to reaching Bermuda (at the time, Bermuda required Covid tests within a certain number of days of arrival, and the timing just did not work out on this long cruise, unless the ship's medical department administered the tests for all the passengers). Thus, we were advised, a couple of weeks before embarkation, that our stop in Bermuda was cancelled. A second stop in the Azores was added.

A lot to be said for cruising for the journey rather than for any specific stop. Was on a TPAC a few years ago and the Dutch Harbor stop was cancelled due to dock works with Sitka substituted; Weather was miserable as the ship sailed past Dutch Harbor so no great loss.