%3Amax_bytes(150000)%3Astrip_icc()%2FTAL-cruise-ship-CRUISECANCLD0725-93dd8213fed1431b883c0c097625d7ea.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
This Cruise Line Just Canceled 41 Sailings—What Travelers Should Know
Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) recently advised customers it would be canceling dozens of sailings in 2026 and 2027.
As many as 41 different cruises were canceled, as Norwegian modified its schedules for a "fleet redeployment," according to customer letters viewed by Travel + Leisure. The affected cruises are the Norwegian Prima , which was expected to leave out of New Orleans between Nov. 15, 2026 and March 28, 2027, and the Norwegian Breakaway, which was set to to depart from San Juan from Nov. 8, 2026 through March 28, 2027.
On social media, cruise passengers expressed frustration with the itinerary changes. In one post on Reddit, a person who was celebrating their partner's military retirement after 25 years would be changed due to the new itinerary. 'This trip is extra special for my family, and I want it to be a great time for everyone,' the user claims.
Dozens of travelers also shared their experience of the NCL route adjustments and cancelations in a Cruise Critic message board, with one passenger sharing they are "disappointed" with the change. "I understand these things happen, but we are sort of bummed because we used a 20% off coupon my husband had on his account that we can no longer use," another person shared. "Oh well."
Despite the cruises being canceled and refunded, passengers will be able to re-book on similar itineraries after Aug. 8, 2025, according to letters sent to guests and travel partners.
'As passionate cruisers ourselves, we know this wasn't part of your plan, and we truly apologize for any disruption or disappointment this has caused,' Norwegian said in the letters. 'We want to assure you that we're here to make this process as smooth as possible.'
This is not the first time that reports have surfaced of cruise cancelations. NCL canceled cruises for 2025, a spokesperson for the cruise line previously confirmed to T+L in April 2024. That time, the cruise line advised passengers to reach out to the customer service team and provided a 10 percent discount on future bookings to help with the challenges of the cancelation.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
6 hours ago
- Wall Street Journal
Equinor Launches $1.265 Billion Buyback; Earnings Boosted by U.S. Gas Prices
Equinor EQNR -0.23%decrease; red down pointing triangle said it would buy back up to $1.265 billion in shares after its second-quarter results were boosted by increased U.S onshore gas production and higher prices. The Norwegian energy major on Wednesday launched the third tranche of its buyback and said it would deliver a quarterly dividend of $0.37 a share. It didn't propose an extraordinary dividend. A year earlier, Equinor proposed a quarterly dividend of $0.35 and an extraordinary dividend of $0.35.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
How a mountaintop Chilean winery is harnessing the earth's energy to disrupt the global wine market
The origin story of Stonevik—the latest introduction from VIK Winery, a pioneering winery neighbored by its sister hotel in central Chile—is rooted some 3,000 feet above sea level, in a mountaintop forest between the Andes and the Pacific, amidst a circle of century-old oak trees. Here, in amphorae handcrafted from clay sourced from the Vik estate and half-buried in the earth, the wine ages, untouched by human hands—culminating in a literally groundbreaking blend Vik bills as 'the ultimate natural wine, crafted by nature, in nature.' Stonevik marks a new milestone in Vik's quest to become one of the world's most renowned wineries—a passion project that began in 2004 when its owners, Norwegian investor and entrepreneur Alexander Vik and his wife, Carrie, embarked on a wildly ambitious mission. 'We put together a scientific team with the objective of finding one of the best terroirs in the world, to make some of the best Bordeaux-style red wines in the world,' says Alexander Vik. That epic two-year search ultimately led to the Millahue Valley, nestled in the foothills of the Andes within the greater Cachapoal Valley, a hundred miles south of Santiago. In 2006, the Viks purchased an 11,000-acre swath of virgin wilderness there called Lugar de Oro ('Golden Place') by the area's indigenous Mapuche people—perhaps a reference to how the rose-hued horizon shimmers just above the surrounding hills at dusk. More than two decades since the seeds of the Viks' idea were first sown, this enchanting hinterland has steadily evolved into an oenophile's Xanadu, seemingly worlds away from civilization, where winemaking, art, and architecture converge with exuberant nature. The addition of Stonevik to Vik's award-winning lineup gives wine lovers another reason to visit. Vik's terroir encompasses a pristine landscape composed of 12 valleys, each with its own microclimate and distinct exposures, and all cooled by Pacific coastal breezes and winds from high in the Andes. With the expert guidance of chief winemaker Cristián Vallejo, whom the Viks hired to oversee Vik's viticulture and viniculture, a thousand acres of Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot were planted. 'We knew that this terroir was truly exceptional,' Alexander Vik continues, 'and that if we did things correctly, we could produce wines that would enter the pantheon of the world's great wines.' The next order of business was to build a winery. In 2007, the Viks launched a global competition to tap the brightest minds in the business; renowned Chilean architect, Smiljan Radic, won with an avant-garde design that minimizes impact on the landscape and champions sustainability. The white stretched-fabric roof resembles a wing, whose translucence eschews the need for artificial light in the daytime. A sloping plaza fronts the entrance, where running water trickles toward the glass-walled building beneath a striking river rock installation, naturally cooling the cellar below. Walkways crosshatch the sprawling space, immersing visitors in a stunning tableau that is both organic and otherworldly. Inside, most of the building lies underground to maximize natural insulation and conserve energy. Rows of amber-lit barrels stacked three high flank an aisle leading to the tasting room, where an accent wall displays a mélange of gold-toned metal shards that appear to hover in midair like a grand mobile, an arresting homage to the Mapuche's moniker for the region's natural grandeur. The winery's light footprint dovetails with Vik's holistic winemaking philosophy. Guided by a steadfast commitment to environmental stewardship, Vik embraced a virtually no-intervention approach from the outset, using only native yeasts and no additives or filtration. All grapes are harvested at night, when they're at their lowest temperature, to preserve their quality and acidity. These measures (and many others) ensure the purest expression of Vik's terroir. In 2014—a year before Vik's first commercial wine, a 2010 vintage of its eponymous flagship blend, entered the market—VIK Chile opened its doors, completing Vik's metamorphosis into a world-class escape. (The Viks opened their first hotel, Estancia Vik, in Uruguay in 2009; the Vik Retreats portfolio now includes two other Uruguayan outposts and a hotel in Milan.) Perched on a hill with panoramic views of the winery, the vineyards, and the valley beyond, the luxury hotel—whose free-form bronzed titanium roof seems to undulate in the unrelenting sun—is arguably the country's most iconic getaway, and a dazzling complement to the winery. Contemporary art, the Viks' other prevailing passion, informs every inch of the hotel. The couple recruited a slew of artists to design the 22 themed suites, whose floor-to-ceiling windows frame Millahue's jaw-dropping vistas. 'Vicky Money' features a bathroom adorned with 50,000 one-euro-cent coins, while a replica of Dali's iconic Mae West 'Lips' sofa commands attention in 'Valenzuela,' a riot of color with a Mondrian-inspired floor. A central courtyard—where a Zen garden presides over a border of vibrant blooms—celebrates the natural world, and common spaces showcase unique works by artists including German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer and Chilean painter Roberto Matta. Puro Vik, a collection of seven stand-alone glass bungalows with themes ranging from holographic art to 18th-century France, and with bathrooms that each feature a different marble, comprise the newest accommodations. Vik's vintages join forces with elevated cuisine at Milla Milla, the hotel's glass-walled signature restaurant, where dishes like grilled red octopus with potato foam and duck magret with blueberry sauce earn raves. La Huerta, an alfresco eatery in the property's two-acre organic garden, makes an idyllic lunch spot, thanks to plates beautifully composed of 250 varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and eggs, topped with edible flowers. Activities like horseback rides through the vineyards and birdwatching walks along mountain trails can be easily arranged for guests—a well-heeled, international mix of couples, families, and wine enthusiasts—while winery tours and tastings loom large in the Vik experience. Since Vik's founding, the endlessly complex, ever-evolving relationship between wine and nature has fueled its winemaking—an ongoing journey most recently manifested in Stonevik. In 2018, Vik became an entirely circular winery, meaning every element used in its production comes from the property—including its barrels, which were previously sourced from France. Winemaker Vallejo began crafting Vik's own barrels with French oak staves, toasting them with 300-year-old Chilean oak that had fallen within the reserve to integrate the terroir directly into the wood—a process he dubbed 'barroir.' In 2023, he approached the Viks with an idea to take the circular concept a step further. 'Circular wine normally means growing and harvesting grapes on your land and aging the wine in your winery, but no one had yet returned to nature to close the circle,' he recalls. 'I suggested we create a wine and take it in amphorae up to the forest, to let it be their guardian and help us age it.' Intrigued, the Viks agreed. When Vallejo happened upon the ring of oak trees—a relative anomaly in nature—during his search for the perfect location for this new venture, he felt an energy he couldn't identify. He summoned a geologist to investigate what, if anything, was happening below ground; the geologist subsequently determined that a fault line intersected with a water vein in the circle's center. That nexus created a natural electromagnetic field that generates a kind of circular pulse, which Vallejo says explains the trees' unusual growth. He then consulted a machi (a traditional healer in Mapuche culture), who identified the energy point's exact location with no knowledge of the geologist's findings; and an astronomer, who advised how best to arrange the amphorae within the circle to optimally align with the sun, moon, and stars. After a month in Vik's 'barroir' barrels, the wine—a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Carménère—rests in seven amphorae in the forest enclave until December 21, the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, when it is bottled and ready for sale. Annual production is limited to 800 cases, given the small capacity of its unique aging process. Stonevik joins three other flagship wines—Vik (its premier blend), Milla Cala, and La Piu Belle—in Vik's production. Its 2023 and 2024 vintages each earned 98 points from leading wine critic James Suckling—a notable achievement for a wine aged less than one year with no intervention. As for the future, Alexander Vik is optimistic. 'We're way ahead of our expected timeline for the vineyard and the winemaking,' he says. 'Each vintage is better than the prior one, as the vines become more established and more capable.' Vallejo's take befits an unlikely tale that began in an untouched, aureate wilderness, and that continues to unfold. 'I think of our wines as a book: Every glass is a chapter, every sip is a page,' he says. 'They really tell the story of this terroir. When you connect with our wines, you can follow this story, and in every glass—every sip—you feel something different.' This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
New York Post
a day ago
- New York Post
Babbel might be the reason a French barista falls in love with you
Discover startups, services, products and more from our partner StackCommerce. New York Post edits this content, and may be compensated and/or receive an affiliate commission if you buy through our links. TL;DR: Use code LEARN at checkout to get a Babbel lifetime subscription for $159 through July 24 (reg. $599). Learning a language used to take years. Babbel just made it feel like the easiest part of your day, and the most fun way to flirt while traveling. Right now, you can save $90 on a lifetime subscription with code LEARN at checkout—but don't wait, this deal vanishes in just a few days. Babbel's quick, 10-15 minute lessons fit seamlessly into your day, so you can learn wherever and whenever—from coffee breaks to commutes. Whether you want to master Spanish for your next trip to Barcelona or tackle Norwegian just because it sounds cool, Babbel has your back. Plus, its speech-recognition technology helps with pronunciation and makes sure you sound like a local, not a lost tourist. This isn't just about vocab drills. Babbel covers real-life topics like ordering at restaurants, navigating cities, and meeting new people—all things you'll actually use when you travel. And because life doesn't always come with Wi-Fi, Babbel lets you download lessons for offline learning. So go ahead, give your brain a workout, impress your friends, and maybe even charm a local or two. Who knew learning a language could be this much fun? Until July 24 at 11:59 p.m. PT, this Babbel lifetime deal is just $159 with promo code LEARN—a steal compared to recurring subscriptions. StackSocial prices subject to change.
