Popular Cruise Line Cancels Sailings from New Orleans

(KMDL-FM) One of the greatest "sail aways" in all of cruising happens from the Port of New Orleans in southeastern Louisiana. What makes sailing from New Orleans unique is a combination of several unique things. Much like a good Louisiana gumbo, a sail away from the Big Easy involves a lot of ingredients you can't find anywhere else.

However, like a roux in a gumbo, it's one of the key ingredients; you can't have much of a sail away without the cruise equivalent of roux, in this case, that would be a ship. Yeah, one of the more popular cruise lines to serve the port of New Orleans has pulled a ship from that port that I was very excited for you guys to experience.

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We reported last year that the Norwegian Prima, one of NCL's newest and most incredible vessels, was going to be homeported in New Orleans for winter sailings to the Western Caribbean from November of 2026 to March of 2027. NCL has now cancelled all of those bookings aboard the Prima.

The cruise line has also cancelled sailings on the Norwegian Breakaway, which was supposed to offer itineraries out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, during a similar time frame. Those sailings from November 8, 2026, to March 28, 2027 have also been cancelled.

Oddly enough, if you still wanted to sail during those times from either New Orleans or San Juan, you could still do so onboard a Norwegian ship, that's because the Prima and the Breakaway are basically flip-flopping on their homeports. So, NOLA sailings will be aboard the Breakaway and San Juan sailings will take place onboard the Prima. 

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What Do I Do If My Cruise Was Cancelled?

That information from NCL was just announced. So, if you booked passage on NCL and were just notified that your cruise was cancelled, there is some good news. You can still go on that cruise in the same time frame as your original plans.

You'll just have to rebook after you've gotten your full monetary refund. And you're going to get a 10% discount on future bookings from NCL for the inconvenience. 

If you have questions, call your travel agent or your cruise line representative; they can explain all the changes to you. A word of advice, if you play your cards right, you can probably talk them into an upgrade or free wi-fi or a drink package if you let them know how "upset all of this made you". Just one of the little travel hacks I have learned through almost three decades of cruising. Here are a few more.