Mightyjoey1

19 minutes ago, Travelicious said:

Are they just deleted from the booking search, or are you unable to see them as booked cruises when you log into your account?

If you go to NCL's main website, you are not able to book any cruise for the month of August on any ship.  It could be that NCL is at capacity on all their ships that are sailing for the month of August; then again, this gives me nasty flashbacks as to their past cancellations, where it seems their Customer service persons were the last to know.  That's the reason behind the post....they are still asking me if I want to upgrade on August 29 on the Gem, but it is not showing as available to be booked....very odd.

Anybody heard anything about all the August cruises not showing as available across the NCL fleet?  Bump

4 minutes ago, shof515 said:

all ships is sailing with reduce capacity. the ship might of reached capacity and now there is no new bookings

I LOVE that answer 🙂

My wife and I are scheduled go out on the Gem August 29, and I was just checking and it seems as though there are no August sailings available per there website.  Please tell me that's just a glitch on my end...I would love to be wrong about my worst fears

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Just now, esm54687 said:

 

But for the love of all things sacred....... stop freaking whining because you (not you specifically) didn't get 25% when Paul and Diane and Tony did. 

Totally not whining about that at all....haven't even mentioned it.  Technically my cruise is still on, though I doubt it will ever actually sail.  My complaint has been, and would continue to be, about (1) trying to limit how you use a FCC that you already paid for...if they are holding the money for it, you should be able to apply it as well; (2) the fact they literally went in and jacked up rates on Friday night, in order to devalue the amount of the FCC they are offering and (3) seeming to word all this like a cable contract rather than something a whole lot simpler.  Example....Viking went ahead and offered pretty much what NCL did just a couple days later; over 90% took the FCC.  Why, especially since people shelled out a whole lot more money for a Viking cruise than what most people do on NCL?  Because NCL has this insidiously stupid tendency to legalize even the simplest things, wait until the last possible moment to do the right thing, to the point where doing the right thing comes off looking bad.

Just now, esm54687 said:

Not at all and it sucks what is happening to those who got 100% FCC....... what is adorable is everyone thinking NCL is conspiring against you and your fellow cruisers.

Actually I don't think that the poor souls manning the phones have any conspiracy against angry customers, but I most definitely believe that FDR and the corporate types are trying to craft a policy that gives the bare minimum to customers, and provide the biggest possible return for their shareholders.  I am guessing you must hold more shares than the rest of us, but I kinda empathize with customers at this point.

20 minutes ago, esm54687 said:

I called and was told the FCC can be applied to the amount of your final payment...... not just base cruise fare.  Were you told differently? 

Yes...my TA said that NCL informed him that it would only be able to be applied to the base fare, and not any of the other fees/gratuities associated with the cruise; hopefully you are right and he is wrong

2 hours ago, fanotravel said:

You will always have the port charges to pay.  The FCC credit is for the base cruise fare.  The port charges, taxes and service charges  will be refunded in full.   Our base cruise fare on the March 16 cruise was $2406 total for the two of us.  We will receive $3609.00 as an FCC.  That will be applied to the next cruise we take.  If the next cruise is more we pay the difference.  If less we will have the difference as an FCC until December 31, 2022.  In our case it will all be used by then.  If you feel that NCL will no longer exist when you are ready for your next cruise then you certainly should take your refund now.   I will take my chances that they will be in business and I like my odds.

To my simple mind, it is very simple; if they convert the money that you paid for any purpose to a FCC, you should be allowed to then apply your FCC to pay that expense on your future cruise.  I am having an extremely hard time understanding how they can take your prepaid gratuities (daily, and for the perk(s) you selected), then decide that your FCC is only allowed to be applied to the base fare.  Those gratuities were never intended to benefit NCL; they were meant to go to the staff that was going to be there to serve you.  Re-designating that money into their pocket is unethical on the best of days, and skirts legality on the worst.  And please spare me where it is might be written in small language on page 4 of a cruise contract; there are more than a few court cases out there where taking someone's money and deciding arbitrarily to use it for a random purpose can't be made legal just by hiding language in a contract.  In short, if they are deciding to keep your your money for FCC, then you should be able to apply that FCC to those very same expenses on your next cruise.

I work in the title insurance industry, and I have been licensed for over 16 years.  During the financial crisis I knew several of my colleagues that "repurposed" money for things other than where it was intended, and they did not have favorable legal results in the end.  Prepaid gratuities is money that is intended to go to people who provide services for you, and is not intended for NCL....and if they end up pocketing that money just because you didn't use it the way they wanted you to....just saying I am questioning whether there is a line being crossed.  Again, just saying.....

3 minutes ago, MsTabbyKats said:

I get it....I re-read the post.  Things will be ironed out but the cruiselines are all in the dark right now.  You just need patience.  The TA is telling you what he thinks....he doesn't know anything as a fact at this point.

Of course that is true...except for the fact that NCL just gave him some snazzy award saying how good he is.  Now we all know the value of awards, but that said, I am inclined to believe him, unless someone else has been told something else that negates that and that I can point to once the FCC finally posts.

To illustrate...let's say you booked a 7 day cruise with a fare of $1000....you select the drink package, which goes ahead and charges you 1 $140 pp and you decided to prepay your daily gratuities $15/day, for an additional $105.00.  The total amount you have paid is $1,245.00.  HOWEVER, according to my TA, that $1,245.00 has to be applied to the fare of a new cruise and can't be applied for either the drink gratuities or the future daily gratuities.  Thus, if your next cruise is that same theoretical price ($1000), you now have to come OOP for that additional $245.00, and they will want you to book a second cruise to absorb that leftover FCC, or upgrade your booking on the new cruise.  Hope I am being clear...numbers can get complicated.

1 minute ago, MsTabbyKats said:

Your FCC would have to be more than your fare.  Why would you want to pay the fare and hold on to the FCC?

I agree....but according to my TA, he was saying because I prepaid my gratuities (not to mention the charge for drink and dining packages) if I book a new cruise, I can apply my FCC to the fare only....select new perks, you will have to pay OOP for the 20% drinks gratuities for that new cruise....same with the dining package.  That is the part that I am a bit steamed about

I was speaking with my TA and with how to deal with my upcoming FCC; according to him, NCL is going to take our prepaid gratuities and shore excursions and apply them for a FCC.  HOWEVER, when you go to book your next cruise, they are NOT going to allow the FCC to apply to anything but the future cruise fare, and that everyone would have to come out of pocket for that cruise's gratuities and excursions.  Now, before I allow my blood pressure to rise, (1) has anyone else heard this to be true, (2) can it be confirmed with NCL and (3) if by some remote chance it is, how/why should they be able to get away with that?  If by any chance it is, I'm just wondering if there would ever be a legitimate reason to ever prepay gratuities or shore excursions in the future....there are many smart minds out here in this forum, so possibly my TA is (hopefully) mistaken.

2 minutes ago, bmwman said:

I think it will be puled for smaller vessels and I can see the industry  going back to the days to the Jewel class ships....Costs are more mangeable in troubled times,

 

 

 

 

Personally I prefer their Jewel class ships to anything else they have in their fleet; they seem so focused on piling on add-ons they can charge for, they are totally missing the concept of just having a decent lido deck with a decent sized atrium.  Given the current long-term planning seemingly employed by FDR, they will sell all the Jewel-class ships to build a ones that have no pool but offer 1000 Vibe passes and an Indy-car track 😛

1 hour ago, Caligirl20 said:

Did anyone notice on the terms & conditions for the current promotion it says “Booking Window: February 12, 2020 - March 17, 2020 11:59 pm EST” will they put the same promo out again after the 17th? Take it away? 

As soon as NCL had sent out their "Peace of Mind" memo a week ago before yesterday, I looked into cancelling our Bermuda cruise out of Boston and leave on a more local cruise out of Miami.  On that night, the Breakaway had a balcony cabin that they were offering on May 10 for just under $1000....the next day the cost jumped to over $1500.  Just saying that it was a very NCL thing to do, and if I were you, I would make NCL sweat just a bit and lower prices before I would book again with them...after all, they will have to work and compete for new customers at some point, and let the market place work in your favor.

Look, if this gets people to stop touching all the bread rolls at the buffet, this will be one big win for the future of cruising.  Dr Sanjay Gupta made an excellent point during an interview; for the vast majority of people walking around, the risks of COVID-19 is on par, or less, than the flu is....but for a significant population of older people, or those with certain underlying symptoms, it can be very serious and very deadly.  The good practices we adopt now and going forward will hopefully protect those around us who can't fight for themselves...and if we stop and start thinking of others just a bit, it might be a step in the right direction.  Kudos to you 2+2, and that you are in a position to take that extra step.  For those who can't, maybe consider just laying low for a little while until this gets under wraps...we are talking about vacation, after all.

2 hours ago, Newleno said:

You mean like the cruise ships do?  You dont have to repeal every aspect of the Law,  just improve the current law.

I assume by "improving" the law, you mean extending basic workplace violations (by American standards) that have become "standard" practices on virtually all cruise ships (excepting the Pride of America, which somehow manages to stay afloat)...ones that treat workers on these ships like 2nd class citizens.  Look, I am guilty of enjoying the lower fares as much as the next guy, but "improving" that law means gutting it...and possibly impacting cargo ships throughout this country.  I, for one, would be in favor of seeking to improve crew conditions...after all, it is those conditions that led to most of the issues on those Princess ships in the first place.

1 minute ago, YVRBassElectric said:

Needs to have customs officials or the ship hasn't entered Canada. If Alaska wants to take the risk, hopefully US can adjust their laws, Canada won't be letting ships in before July 1 - our Public Health officials are powerful & respected

Didn't take into account customs...good and valid point.  Just don't want to see either Public Health or Labor laws violated for the sake of a vacation

3 minutes ago, YVRBassElectric said:

 

I assume you mean Victoria, BC - this is on Vancouver Island and is the seat of our Provincial Government. We can't risk crippling our government or local Hospitals.

 

Italy went from 1 official case Mid February to Lock down Mid March and there hospitals are having to decide who gets care and who get to die.

USA is in for a rough time.

I hope our biggest concern is a cancelled cruise soon (I am supposed to be on the Joy docking in Vancouver on April 25)

No, not Victoria...if I had meant Victoria I would have said Victoria.  I'm saying a small island that is uninhabited (I'm sure there are a few between Seattle and Alaska) that you can run a tender to, say you did it, and then leave.  Yep, a technicality to be sure, but whose going to object at this point.  Again, it makes way too much sense, so it won't happen, but don't overturn century-old labor protections just to preserve vacations for a couple months.

22 minutes ago, bmwman said:

I wonder if  NCL is about to shelve the Leonardo project!

Not cancel it....just readjust the roll-out schedule, due to unforeseen circumstances 🙂

19 hours ago, kollegekreed said:

Do people truly think there’s a chance of bankruotcy here? Seems like these companies are too big to fail...it’s not like JC Penney where there were more employees in the store than customers...

In order to fail, a company that loaned NCL money would have to call the loan in for default, mainly for a problem that is short-termed.  Now, if you cause them to default and file for BK, what assets do you have to sell off....oh yeah, the ships.  Whose can make the most money off of a cruise ship; the company that already owns and maintains it, or somebody who just up and decides to buy a cruise ship?  I get where you are going, but other than ship builds and refits, where are any of these companies bleeding money, especially now when they are sitting (relatively speaking, of course).  This isn't like the banks, where they got caught playing with other people's money; they will get the loan extensions they need with interest rates as low as they are, and just ride it out....and they would be totally idiotic to take a government handout and let Washington tell them how to run their business

2 hours ago, SouthLyonCruiser said:

Another moronic law that should be repealed. Having to stop in a port for four hours that no one wants to go to is moronic. If that law was repealed U.S. ports would enjoy more people spending more money in the U.S..

Umm...err...no, it is meant to protect American shipyard workers and crew.  Repeal that law, and you will find freighters undercutting unions and wage protections here in the states.  Yeah, it sucks to have cruises cancelled; why Canada can't allow access to an island off-shore that can be accessed by tender (technically) is more the possible answer than undercutting American workers.

IMHO, there are two lines of concern...(1) getting sick with the virus and (2) All the peripheral that is going along right now.  As far as getting sick, the Surgeon General the other day noted that the regular flu is a much bigger threat to kids right now than Corona virus...for reasons they can't quite figure out at this point, this virus seems to mainly target old and sick people (I believe they said the median age for deaths right now is around 80).  Your greatest risk of getting sick is honestly the airplane ride there; screenings by airports is far less intense than it is by the airlines.  If it were me, and given the "freeish" nature of your cruise, I would go, assuming one big caveat....how financially devastating would it be if you end up getting stuck on the ship for a quarantine.  I suspect NYC would be a port that would tend to go overboard with regards to any crew member with a temperature of 100 degrees, and my bigger fears at this point is the uncertainty that goes with flying and just the current flu season.  As far as the stigma, I would stand up to any school system that tried to keep my kids out, especially if they are showing absolutely no symptoms of illness.  Tough call, especially with the normal nature of allergies and regular flu that is out and about.  If you do go....happy cruising!

I have no doubts that cash position is playing a significant role in these decisions; one of the articles noting the decline in stock prices indicated a secondary reason all the cruise line stock is going down in price is the potential of not meeting financial requirements to maintain the most favorable financing terms on the considerable debt all of these cruise lines carry in order to build all these ships.  Wall Street tends to be short-sighted, but they know as well as anyone that cruising will recover once this health scare passes; it's the cascading effects all cruise lines face if they have to deal with a "run" on their available cash (think banks in the Great Depression).  As far as NCL just going nuts and raising prices next year, remember (1) they will have to fill ships next year as well and (2) Carnival and RCL aren't going anywhere.  What will be the true canary in the coalmine will be MSC, given the amount of debt they possess and the fact they are privately owned, and based out of Italy.

17 hours ago, joreey85 said:

Is anyone else having this problem?  I called NCL to cancel my cruise after reading on USA Today that they changed their final payment policy for June/July cruises to due 90 days out.  I am currently 93 days out and just tried to cancel my June cruise sailing out of Rome.  The "supervisor" told me that there was a freeze on cancellations and there was nothing she could do for me, and to call back on Tuesday... this puts me at 89 days out from the cruise.  So basically, they are holding my money and will not cancel my cruise before the 90 days because they want to keep part of my money since they're telling me they will not cancel my cruise at all until 89 days out.  This is ridiculous!  I should be able to cancel my cruise any time I want... refunds aside.  I was going to rebook this cruise in a year or two, but now... there is ZERO chance of me EVER using NCL again.  

It's really kinda simple....NCL had a policy where final payment was due at 120 days, with penalties for cancelling afterward.  Due to the health "crisis", they modified that to 90 days, which it appears you are hung up on.  The 2nd paragraph of their recently issued policy is that this supersedes all prior changes, including the one that modified changes to 90 days.  The new policy is much more forgiving and gives you the ability to change up to 48 hours ahead of time with FCC (sorry folks, no money back....show me the cruise line giving you your money back after the final payment date, 'cause I ain't seen it), but they are going to need until Tuesday to adequately change their systems (systems are probably being revised as we speak, which explains why they can't process your cancellation) and train everyone to handle what I am sure will be a tsunami of calls starting that day.  You will get a future cruise credit that you will be able to use that will be good for cruises through December 31, 2021, which is more generous than I am seeing any other cruise lines making at the moment.  I would seriously rethink your "ZERO" chance remark since it would just be throwing money away.....live, love, cruise!!!