Can a cruise line just cancel your destination plan after you’ve already booked passage? Even if it’s to the least visited continent on Earth?
The answer seems to be yes according to one upset passenger. A woman who booked a cruise with Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) is accusing the company of changing the trip’s supposed Antarctic destination—after she had already boarded.
The woman was so outraged, she started a TikTok account to voice her disappointment. Identifying herself as simply “ruinedvacation” (@ruinedvacation) the frustrated traveler has posted two videos describing her supposedly canceled trip.
The first video, posted two days ago, currently has over 2.6 million views and counting as of
Monday.
“Our ship is not going to Antarctica,” the passenger tells her viewers at the beginning of the video. She says NCL “changed the name of the cruise yesterday, on the app from South America and Antarctica to a round trip South America [cruise].”
She goes on to say that the decision was made from the line’s corporate office for “operational reasons.”
“They refuse to explain what those operational reasons are. We know it’s not weather,” she insists to her audience.
She went on to assemble a makeshift protest meeting of passengers at the ship’s help desk. However, she claims the desk staff “refused to acknowledge us.”
“We just refused to be told, ‘Sorry, we’re not going and we’re not going to give you reasons,’” she continues. “Everyone on this ship has paid a lot of money to cruise to Antarctica, not to do a round trip to South America.”
“We are being dismissed, ignored, refused answers. They are telling us we just have to accept it,” she continues. “We’re angry, we want to be heard, we want answers, we want transparency, we want clarity.”
“I’ll tell you one thing,” she concludes, “don’t ever take a Norwegian Cruise.”
@ruinedvacation @Norwegian Cruise Line we need answers #cruise #cruisetok #help #southamerica #antarctica #vacation #cruiseship #fyp #fypシ ♬ original sound – ruinedvacation
In a follow-up video, the passenger states that the crowd was eventually met by several crew members who talked to them at length. She says that the decision to cancel the Antarctic portion of the cruise was strictly a corporate decision made in Miami.
She says, “What we heard last night was that the operational decision made by Miami head office and forced upon this ship is that this ship, The Norwegian Star, has a ‘go-slow order.’”
“They are not allowed to travel as fast as they normally would. That’s all we know,” she continues. “There is no explanation of why the go-slow order is in place.”
She further states that the decision was not made due to any known weather or emergency reasons.
The Daily Dot reached out to NCL for comment and received the following statement:
“We are committed to providing exceptional vacation experiences, both aboard our ships and by taking our guests to some of the most sought-out destinations around the world. While we try to maintain original itineraries as much as possible, at times modifications are made to optimize the itinerary or to accommodate certain circumstances. To enhance the guest experience, the ship’s current itinerary was revised to allow more time for guests to explore Stanley, Falkland Islands. As such, the cruise by Paradise Bay, Antarctica was replaced with a cruise by Admiralty Bay, Antarctica. In addition, due to a recent regulatory requirement in the area, the ship is operating at a reduced speed, also impacting its original itinerary.”
“Every video about cruises convinces me I’ll never do a cruise,” Francis (@daboiblue) wrote in the video’s comment section.
“Cruises to Antarctica are super $$$ vs any other cruise and very specific. I’d be mad too. It’s not like skipping the Bahamas…” another viewer added.
Another viewer wrote concerning the decision, “Lots of comments saying that the contract allows them to do this, especially due to weather, but they owe you an explanation.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @ruinedvacation via TikTok messenger for further comment.
