Due to COVID concerns, the cruise line made the decision to cancel a cruise mid-voyage. The cruise scheduled to return to port in four days is still on course to make that date, regardless of cancellation.
Mid-Voyage Cancellation
Christine Da Silva spoke with USA Today as senior vice president of Branding for Norwegian Cruise Line. “As we continue to navigate the fluid public health environment while focusing on delivering a safe experience for all on board, today, we made the difficult decision to cancel Norwegian Gem’s current Caribbean sailing due to COVID-related circumstances.”
The Gem wasn’t the only cancellation, as Norwegian canceled sailings on multiple ships the last two weeks. With the Gem’s canceled sailing, Norwegian has canceled sailings on 12 boats due to the current COVID surge. That means the majority of ships in Norwegian’s fleet have faced cancellations. Norwegian isn’t the only cruise line to face cancellations. Royal Caribbean also faced many cancellations to avoid COVID risks.
All passengers on the Norwegian Gem received a full refund or cruise credit and an additional cruise credit equivalent to 50 percent of the current trip fare to be applied to a future cruise by May 2023.
Passenger Feedback
As you can imagine, some of the passengers were not pleased with the mid-voyage cancellation. Aimee Focaraccio, a passenger on the Gem, expressed her disappointment. “Without the islands and ports to break up the sea days, this is turning into a nightmare. I really can’t imagine four more sea days back to back without much to do.”
Anthony Bivona, a frequent customer of Norwegian, praised the line. “They did NOT fail to meet my expectations at all,” he said in an email. “We all knew when we booked during such difficult times due to COVID that there would most likely be changes to our itinerary.” “It was not the exact itinerary we signed up for but has still been an absolutely amazing cruise.”
