Norwegian Cruise Line has begun notifying booked guests that its upcoming ship, Norwegian Viva, will not be able to make her initial sailings as planned in July and August, 2023, due to global supply chain constraints.
Because of this, the ship’s cruises from July 3 through the planned August 17 departure are now canceled.
Norwegian Viva Delayed Again
The much-anticipated Norwegian Viva will not be debuting in early July 2023 as planned. Emails sent to booked passengers and the cruise line’s travel partners on August 17, 2022 have announced the delay.
“Given the global supply chain constraints impacting industries worldwide, including the maritime industry, we must cancel Norwegian Viva’s sailings from July 3, 2023 through and including August 17, 2023,” the email read.
While Norwegian Viva was floated out at the Fincantieri shipyard in Italy as planned on August 2, 2022this only indicates the ship’s exterior construction is complete.
Internal construction and outfitting the ship will take months to complete, and with further supply chain delays, the ship will not be able to join the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet on time.
Photo Copyright: Camilla Bach / Fincantieri
This is the second delay for the second Prima-class ship. Norwegian Viva was previously scheduled to debut in mid-June, 2023, but her initial sailings were canceled earlier this summer.
Global supply chain constraints were also cited as part of the reason for that initial delay, which canceled two sailings for the vessel. Now, six additional sailings have been canceled, bringing the total of canceled cruises to eight.
Compensation Offered
Impacted guests have two options in lieu of their now-canceled Norwegian Viva cruises.
The default option is that all bookings are to be moved to comparable sailings aboard the Breakaway-class Norwegian Getaway, preserving stateroom categories and booked promotions, with a 20% discount on the cruise fare. Details for this option, including the itinerary and final invoice, will be available to guests by September 13, 2022.
No action is necessary for guests who accept this default option.
Photo Credit: Wojciech Wrzesien / Shutterstock.com
Guests who prefer to cancel their cruise entirely must contact Norwegian Cruise Line no later than September 2, 2022. Full refunds will automatically be returned to the original form of payment. If the cruise was booked with a future cruise credit (FCC), 100% of that credit will be returned to the guest’s Latitudes account.
As further compensation for the inconvenience and disappointment, Norwegian Cruise Line is also offering all guests, regardless of the option they choose, an additional discount.
“We want to do the very best for our guests, so in addition to the above, all impacted guests will receive a 10% discount on their next cruise,” the email explains.
That further discount is combinable with all current promotional offers when the new booking is made, and can be applied to any sailing from August 28, 2023 through December 31, 2024. The discounts will be added to guests’ Latitudes accounts by August 22, 2022 .
“We apologize for this inconvenience and cannot wait to welcome you aboard in the near future,” the email concludes.
New Inaugural Date
With the cancellation of these additional sailings, Norwegian Viva’s new inaugural voyage is planned to set sail August 26, 2023. This is a one-way, 9-night trip from Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy, to Trieste, Italy, with ports of call in Italy, Greece, Croatia, and Slovenia along the way.
Rendering Courtesy: Norwegian Cruise Line
The new ship will spend several weeks sailing a variety of Mediterranean itineraries before repositioning to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in December 2023 for the winter season in the Caribbean. Norwegian Viva will return to the Mediterranean in spring 2024.
