erdoran

My pleasure, @schmoopie17.  I saw this yesterday on CC but waited till today because I also thought I had to go thru my TA.  Glad to share the wealth - CC has been an outstanding resource!

24 minutes ago, karinski said:

Hi.

Im wondering if insurance would pay if you cancel prior? With a dr note possibly?

Call your insurance company and ask.  That's the only way to know for sure.

5 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

 

I also booked this through a TA. When I called the number the recording says, "If you are working with a TA, please press 1."

I hung up because I figure once I get through they'll tell me to call my TA.

No, ignore that and just go to the prompt for "existing reservations"-all depends on how badly you want that refund.  Honestly, they didn't hassle me at all about the TA thing.  

Chase Sapphire Card language excerpts - I'm not a lawyer, read your OWN policy and call if you have questions.  No guarantee YOUR policy will be the same:

For Trip Interruption (covered): Coverage begins on Your Scheduled Departure Date and ends on Your Scheduled Return Date. In the event the Scheduled Departure Date and/or the Scheduled Return Date are delayed, or the point and time of departure and/or point and time of return are changed because of circumstances over which neither the Travel Supplier nor You have control, the term of coverage shall be automatically adjusted in accordance with Your or the Travel Supplier’s notice to Us of the delay or change.

• Quarantine of You or Your Traveling Companion imposed by a Physician or by a competent governmental authority having jurisdiction, due to health reasons

====

not covered;

•  Default of the Common Carrier resulting from Financial Insolvency or Financial Insolvency of a Travel Agency, Tour Operator, or Travel Supplier
• Travel arrangements canceled or changed by a Travel Supplier unless the cancellation is the result of Severe Weather or an organized strike affecting public transportation, or unless specifically covered herein

6 minutes ago, blcruising said:

Right. Its more of my own restrictions based on my booking practices. I'm a last minute deal person. So realistically I have one year from cancelling to book and sail. I would never book an NCL cruise in 2021 for a cruise that departs in 2022. Their prices are too high that far in advance.

So you are in great shape for a last minute sailing, right?

5 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

 

Which number did you call...the "special Peace of Mind number" 800-327-7030 or the "regular" Customer Service number? I'd rather not wait on hold for an hour only to find I called the wrong number.

The regular customer service number, and I think prompt 6 "existing cruise" even though I am working with a TA.  She told me I had to call NCL directly.  I had my reservation # handy, and they didn't make an issue of the fact that it is a "through TA" reservation.

4 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

The contract you signed, Paragraph 6 Vessel and Voyage, subparahraph (e) states

 

(e) Compliance with Government Orders: The Carrier shall have the absolute right, without liability for compensation to the Guest of any kind, to comply with governmental orders, recommendations or directions, including but not limited to those pertaining to health, security, immigration, customs or safety. In the case of quarantine, the Guest agrees to bear all risks, losses and expenses caused thereby and will be charged for maintenance, payable day-by-day, if maintained on board the vessel for such period of quarantine. The Guest assumes all risks and losses occasioned by delay or detention howsoever arising. Costs connected with embarkation or debarkation of Guests and/or baggage and costs of transfer between vessel and shore as a result of the circumstances enumerated in this paragraph must be borne by the Guest.

Personally, if I'm on the fence about go/no go, the information about what my potential financial exposure could be would be essential in helping me make an informed decision, don't you think?  The language above is agreeing to a blank check.  Also consider that at a minimum, I would expect there to be additional DSC and/or increased tipping to compensate crew appropriately, separate from the above.

Does anyone know if this is the type of thing, in general, that would be covered by trip insurance (that was taken out pre-coronavirus, of course)?  And is it a trip delay claim or something else?

27 minutes ago, blcruising said:

Therein lies the inherent risk of the Peace of Mind policy. Once you get your future cruise credit, you got 1 year to book a cruise at whatever pricing level NCL decides to set its rates.

So you have a year to watch prices rise & fall before you HAVE to book something.

2 minutes ago, GA Dave said:

Per another coronavirus thread on here:

Just be aware that NCL has in their terms and agreements that passengers are responsible for costs during a quarantine.  In cases of quarantine of the ship involving detention of guests, each Guest must bear all risk and expense thereby caused and will be charged for food and accommodation during the period of detention, payable day by day,  From their terms and agreement: if maintained on board the ship, and for all other quarantine fees and expenses assessed or incurred in respect of the Guest. https://www.ncl.com/de/en/about-us/terms-conditions

This is the type of open-ended item that IMHO calls for escalation to a supervisor or a written response.

@CarolinaMama from what I’ve read here you can (at least today) get a refund for your prepaid items:  DSC, UBP, premium plus upgrade, SDP, etc, etc.  I was told it was 25% penalty to cancel my booking (June 14 sail date) but I got full refunds for my DSC, UBP, and SDP.  If you have any doubts about taking the cruise, get those items refunded that you can get refunded - today - because from what’s been said here, tomorrow it will be FCC.  This way you have cut your losses, and will have that cash in hand,  Then if you end up sailing, add them right back on.  Not sure the deadline for doing that, but I know for at least DSC & Prem Plus you can add those at any point; I don’t know about UBP/SDP, maybe 48 hrs in advance?

3 minutes ago, fallonboy said:

Help me please. I am 70+ had flu like symptoms several times. When I go to the doctor I was never tested to see what I had / have. The doctors send me home and treat the symptoms.  

Question: how often are flu like symptoms tested now a days?

 

Depends on your specific symptoms, where you live, and your doctor.  Google for “Coronavirus symptoms” or “Coronavirus course” and only take info from authoritative sites like WHO (world health org) or CDC (Ctr for disease control).  If your symptoms fit that profile AND if you can cite a specific exposure (optional but helpful if true—I think they list some of the exposures) then give your doctor all that info and ask if he/she thinks you need testing. If you feel THAT strongly, call your state health dept, but do talk to your doctor first.  And absolutely no harm in self-quarantining while you sort it out with your doctor.  Don’t go to their office, just CALL them.

“Flu-like” encompasses a whole ton of symptoms, some of which may be in scope, some not.  And plus the pattern of symptoms, and whether or not some can be from anxiety - that happens to me and I have to be really cognizant of what’s real and what’s a reaction to stress.

13 minutes ago, poffles said:

 

Thank you ...

 

I still find it an odd reference to call what is charged on Beverage and Dining perk a 'PrePaid Service Charge' since it's not optional.  They definitely call it a Srv Charge on my statement but I not thinking of it as prepaid 'optional' thing since similar to the Daily Service Charge where you can choose to pay onboard.  Guess what you are saying is I could remove the packages entirely which ultimately removes the applicable Srv Charge for them.

 

My charges add up to closer to $500 US so debating.

Don’t get me going on bogus charges that I am not convinced go to crew.  But let’s not start THAT debate.  

But no matter what you call those charges, at least today I was able to get them refunded in cash.  You just have to know the words to use with NCL to make that happen if that’s what you want to do.  And yes, you remove the UBP, SDP and prepaid DSC from your reservation and request a refund to your credit card for the prepaid grats associated with them.  Remember, you can always add them back if you end up going on the cruise after all.

Mine were $1.1k because it was a 2-wk Haven cruise - we had 5 meal SDP, 2 x 14 days UBP X $20/day/person, and the higher (I think $18/day/person) DSC.  

Just now, poffles said:

So what you list #2 and # 3 were the taxes you paid on the 'included' perk and not you choosing to fully add those things?

Neither these are taxes.  They are prepaid grats (think DSC for drinks and specialty dining).  If you call NCL and say “I want to remove my ultimate beverage pkg, specialty dining pkg and prepaid DSC, and get a cash refund” you should be able to get the $$ credited back to your credit card - at least NCL told me that was this case around 10 am today.  

As I said, there is almost zero downside to doing this, unless NCL does a price increases on any of these items - in which case, if you decide to sail, you’ll pay the higher price.  For me it’s worth the risk.

Do it today if you are going to go for FCC, or even think you are, because according to these boards, as of tomorrow the $$ from these will go to FCC.  In my case it was $1.1k more or less.  

1 hour ago, poffles said:

Welcome!

 

The only thing I added was prepaid the Service Charge, the only other thing was the taxes on the 'free included' Beverage and Dining packages so don't think any of those things can be canceled. 

Poffles, those are the precise things you can cancel for cash refund.  I was told by NCL I would be refunded to my credit card for:

1.  Prepaid daily service charge

2.  Prepaid grats on ultimate beverage pkg

3.  Prepaid grats on specialty dining pkg

If you change your mind about cancelling you can add them right back to your reservation, so your only downside is possibly the additional 50c/day on the DSC, and I’ll gladly take that hit if we end up sailing.

OK, I have solid  info.  I booked thru a TA.  I asked about cancelling for a refund based on the 90 days cancellation (I was told last Thursday I had until 3/15 to get my cash refund) and was told if I cancel for a refund today there is a 25% penalty, things are changing daily.  I asked about removing DSC, UBP, SDP for a cash refund, and she said for that I had to call NCL directly—about 5 mins hold time about 30 mins ago; rep had to get supervisor, all 3 removed and stated will be credited back to my card, total call time maybe 20 mins (a bit of a wait for supervisor).

35 minutes ago, brovol said:

My speculation is that there will not be a mass exodus; at least not right away.  If the NCL gave everyone three days to decide, and after that the offer is gone I think there would be mass cancellations.  I bet most will wait for now.  There is no penalty no to wait.  If I was NCL I would have put a deadline to cancel of ten or fourteen days before sailing, so that they still have enough time to refill the cabins.

Not to be a Debbie Downer but....last Thursday NCL changed final payment to 90 days out, by Saturday that offer had disappeared.  I had an email from my TA Thursday or Friday about that stating I had until 3/15 to cancel for full refund; today she tells me “things are changing by the day, today it is 25% penalty for us to cancel” for a June 14 cruise.  What assurance is there that the FCC offer will be good indefinitely?  Just wondering....

I just called NCL (am booked thru TA, but she said I had to do this directly with NCL) and removed UBP, SDP and prepaid DSC and got a refund to my credit card.  If we decide to sail I’ll add them back, but for now at least we have this cash back in our pockets.  

Let’s also not forget the CDC link

3 minutes ago, Fartlek said:

With this I would think the insurance companies have an out if anyone submitted a claim that didn’t take the advice.  

So if your doctor recommends in writing that you cancel because of an underlying (covered) medical condition, I wonder if the cancellation insurance would kick in?  Although I guess FCC makes it “not a loss”.

3 minutes ago, kessdarln said:

If we cancel, will we get the same perks when we rebook? 

No, you get whatever deal and perks are available with your new booking.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/travelers-with-special-considerations/cruise-ship-passengers.html?fbclid=IwAR23mRlu4-382HLuSM8i0KWQBSaZ4heDniggmxR3kBR6e2EgWiKr6B0EseM

CDC link

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/covid-19-cruise-ship

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

The 90 day payment due date was only in effect for a couple of days, so unless you actually booked your cruise on one of those days, your final payment was still due at 120 days.  It sounds like you are in the 25% penalty phase but it appears NCL isn't allowing any cancellations until March 10 - and it is anybody's guess what will happen with people who would rather take the penalty than get the FCC.  I can't see how they can retroactively change a policy, but all my legal knowledge comes from watching Judge Judy and People's Court so I could be missing something, like fine print that says otherwise.

Actually, my cruise was booked last summer and my final payment date was mid-February (Haven), and I made final payment.  I checked with my TA Friday and her email said 

“Per Norwegian’s agent 

If you cancel Before 3/16/2020 full refund will apply.

You can call our office on the 15^th if you don’t want to wait until last minute and cancel with someone else.”

Having said that, someone on my roll call did just call to cancel and was only offered FCC and no refund.  He spoke with a supervisor who said that if he had asked for the cash refund Friday  that would have been honored, but now the FCC is in place instead.

My personal guess is there were so many refund requests that they were getting killed with negative cash flow and they had to do something to preserve cash.

So I have a question - I had understood that final payment is now 90 days out.  I have a cruise booked departing June 14, so the new final payment date is about March 14 (although we had already made final payment in February, so in our case we should be able to get a refund through March 14).  Are you saying that if I cancel/request refund before March 14, that is no longer an option?

For people talking about mortality rates by country—there are too many variables to properly understand it.  What’s key is by AGE.  Source of data below is world-o-meter but I ran across similar data yesterday on a more official site; I forget whether it was a scientific publication or WHO/CDC, but this is valid data:

0-9 years old         no fatalities 

You could further break this down by country, although I haven’t seen data (haven’t looked though) because there should be country to country differences based on lifestyle and healthcare availability - e.g. China was stated as having higher mortality rate for men, and it was noted that a large percentage of men smoke, so that makes sense.

Hubs and I are debating cancelling our Norway Midnight Sun trip in mid-June - Southampton to various Norway stops.  Our concerns are primarily the potential for quarantine and of course, getting the virus.  We’re both 66 so in the 3.6% range.  We can cancel with full refund through next weekend, and our airfare was points, so the redeposit fee isn’t terrible—but I suspect we’ll wait it out because we can get the FCC, and who knows if the airlines might be a bit more generous with mileage redeposit fees if things spiral worse.

My personal opinion is that the media is going crazy with this because it sells clicks & papers - but the governmental quarantines absolutely speak volumes.

Thanks. Figured it wouldn’t work but had to try. 

I’ve got two upcoming cruises booked, both before final payment, and both of which the cost has gone up since I booked.  There’s a strong possibility we are going to need to cancel.  I know someone else who would like our reservations.  Is there a way to transfer them to her?  I was thinking:

1.  Remove hubby from reservation, add her as person 2

2.  I’m pax 1, so switch pax 1 from me to her

3.  I cancel, leaving it a single reservation for her, at which point she can do what she wants.

I’m betting no, I can do the hubby/new person switch I’m sure, but not sure I can make her #1?  But I think I have read about maximizing booze pkg and switching around pax 1 & 2, so wondering if the same approach can be used to preserve a good booking?  Tia