Compensation for Riviera Nurovirus Cruise

[tommiroke]

We don't really know if Oceania found a legal way to avoid paying or they just say they did. Don't know if this was ever litigated in court or not. Could be that someone will try and then we will see if this is really legal.

 

Unfortunately this common issue is a systemic problem with Oceania and Regent exacerbated this year by the $50M bonus for savings this year from the purchase of PCH by NCLH that will put significant dollars in many of the current executives at the expense of the paying passengers.

 

PCH for years has used excuses like the excursion was "free" to negate any remunerations for horrible excursion issues and in this case by including Port Fees in the cruise price after agreeing in writing to refund missed port fees only with the caveat that the fees be separately spelled out on the invoice.

 

Several years ago on a post cruise "free" excursion that the entire ship attended, we ended up stuck on a bus for about 9 hours due to poor planning by Regent and once we finally reached the "free" hotel after midnight were met with absolutely no remorse by any of the staff. And after many of us tried to get some relief for the almost completely wasted day and which some of us put payments in disputes with our credit cards were met with the reason for not providing any compensation that they could not as the excursion was "free" and they had no way to calculate the amount of compensation.

 

In the future anyone having issues on these ships should resign themselves no not have any hopes of good will for problems either brought on by the cruise line or others.

[RJB]

Unfortunately this common issue is a systemic problem with Oceania and Regent exacerbated this year by the $50M bonus for savings this year from the purchase of PCH by NCLH that will put significant dollars in many of the current executives at the expense of the paying passengers.

 

PCH for years has used excuses like the excursion was "free" to negate any remunerations for horrible excursion issues and in this case by including Port Fees in the cruise price after agreeing in writing to refund missed port fees only with the caveat that the fees be separately spelled out on the invoice.

 

Several years ago on a post cruise "free" excursion that the entire ship attended, we ended up stuck on a bus for about 9 hours due to poor planning by Regent and once we finally reached the "free" hotel after midnight were met with absolutely no remorse by any of the staff. And after many of us tried to get some relief for the almost completely wasted day and which some of us put payments in disputes with our credit cards were met with the reason for not providing any compensation that they could not as the excursion was "free" and they had no way to calculate the amount of compensation.

 

In the future anyone having issues on these ships should resign themselves no not have any hopes of good will for problems either brought on by the cruise line or others.

 

Pretty sad, as most of what Oceania does is pretty terrific. It's like they are shooting themselves in the foot for almost no reason. The amount of money probably is really pretty small for the bad will something like this causes.

[TERRIER1]

 

PCH for years has used excuses like the excursion was "free" to negate any remunerations for horrible excursion issues and in this case by including Port Fees in the cruise price after agreeing in writing to refund missed port fees only with the caveat that the fees be separately spelled out on the invoice.

 

 

I use a TA and the Oceania port fees have always been on a separate line on my invoice. The TA must get these from Oceania so How does Oceania get around renumeration from missed ports? Thanks.

[LHT28]

I use a TA and the Oceania port fees have always been on a separate line on my invoice. The TA must get these from Oceania

Maybe they make them up??

I just booked a cruise no separate port fees listed

 

If people are aware of no refunds for ports missed why continue to sail with Oceania if it makes you so unhappy :rolleyes:

 

The only time we got port fees refunded when we had to cancel the cruise last minute

 

Right or wrong that is how they do it accept it or sue them I am sure there is one cruise chaser willing to take the case

[Travelcat2]

Unfortunately this common issue is a systemic problem with Oceania and Regent exacerbated this year by the $50M bonus for savings this year from the purchase of PCH by NCLH that will put significant dollars in many of the current executives at the expense of the paying passengers.

 

PCH for years has used excuses like the excursion was "free" to negate any remunerations for horrible excursion issues and in this case by including Port Fees in the cruise price after agreeing in writing to refund missed port fees only with the caveat that the fees be separately spelled out on the invoice.

 

Several years ago on a post cruise "free" excursion that the entire ship attended, we ended up stuck on a bus for about 9 hours due to poor planning by Regent and once we finally reached the "free" hotel after midnight were met with absolutely no remorse by any of the staff. And after many of us tried to get some relief for the almost completely wasted day and which some of us put payments in disputes with our credit cards were met with the reason for not providing any compensation that they could not as the excursion was "free" and they had no way to calculate the amount of compensation.

 

In the future anyone having issues on these ships should resign themselves no not have any hopes of good will for problems either brought on by the cruise line or others.

 

Do you really think that norovirus should be blamed on NCHL, PCH, Oceania, Regent and the executives??? Really?

 

In terms of compensation for "noro", I have not heard of passengers getting compensation on any cruise line. What the passengers went through in terms of missing a port or two is common. The Nautica was stuck in a port in South Africa due to rough seas a couple of days ago. Regent's Mariner could not enter the port for the same reason (we are currently onboard the Mariner). There are disappointed people but we do not expect compensation. This is the reality of cruising.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Travelcat2

[tommiroke]

I use a TA and the Oceania port fees have always been on a separate line on my invoice. The TA must get these from Oceania so How does Oceania get around renumeration from missed ports? Thanks.

 

Am guessing that may be on your TA invoice and not on the Oceania invoice as there are no commissions on the port taxes.

 

Have been looking for and finally found the Regent settlement which have to assume is identical to the Oceania settlement and here it is: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.n...CruisesAVC.pdf

Based on reading the above document, it is a bit different than what I originally said so here is what it is. The cruise lines agreed that any money collected specifically for Port Fees and Taxes would only be given to the Government entity. This means that money collected for Port Fees and taxes could not be retained by the cruise line and thus if not paid to the Government entity had to be refunded. Perhaps a sharp lawyer could get the money back for the passengers, not sure but, the fair thing to do is for the money to be refunded when they don't make any stops.

 

Enjoy reading the document linked above and you will see the agreement.

Edited November 30, 2015 by tommiroke

[rockdoctor]

The Cruise Contract spells it out. You agree to settle through Arbitration out of court. Best to get over it.

[Leejnd4]

On the Riviera and I can tell you that there was nothing offered for the missed port, not even a glass of champagne (aka sparkling wine) for the missed port.

 

Port charges are not refunded to the passengers.

 

Since nothing has happened up until now, I suspect nothing will.

 

It's the O way.

 

Um...no...this is not the "O" way. This is the "cruise industry" way.

 

I have never heard of any cruise line offering compensation for a cruise hit with noro at this relatively low percentage, mid-cruise for only a portion of the cruise, especially when only one port stop was missed.

 

There are some rare examples of passengers receiving compensation when a much larger percentage became ill and the entire cruise itinerary was skipped, but cruise ships skip ports all the time, and have noro outbreaks, and they do not as a rule offer compensation.

 

Do you really think that norovirus should be blamed on NCHL, PCH, Oceania, Regent and the executives??? Really?

 

In terms of compensation for "noro", I have not heard of passengers getting compensation on any cruise line. What the passengers went through in terms of missing a port or two is common. The Nautica was stuck in a port in South Africa due to rough seas a couple of days ago. Regent's Mariner could not enter the port for the same reason (we are currently onboard the Mariner). There are disappointed people but we do not expect compensation. This is the reality of cruising.

 

Exactly, and thanks for injecting some reality here, TravelCat.

 

I get really tired of seeing the cruise lines blamed for illnesses that are almost assuredly brought onboard by passengers themselves. And then to expect the cruise line to reimburse everyone? Please. :rolleyes:

 

As for missed ports, every single cruise line specifies clearly in its contract of carriage that port stops can be, and often are, missed, and no compensation will be offered. That's the way cruising works. Ports are skipped all the time, for a wide variety of reasons - weather, sea conditions, civil unrest, problems at the dock, etc.

 

As for the steps taken to reduce the spread of noro -- no matter WHAT they do someone is going to complain. If they do too much, people will complain that they aren't getting the cruise they paid for. If they don't do enough, people will complain they're not working hard enough to control it. Can't win for losing. It's a balancing act, and it sounds to me like the ship worked pretty hard. Don't want to touch the salt shakers? Don't use them. But I guarantee if they removed them somebody would complain.

 

Experienced cruisers should always remember:

 

1) Noro is a risk on a cruise ship, and they should take their OWN precautions (wash wash wash...don't put fingers in mouth or eyes...be careful what you touch), and if you get sick, go to medical and quarantine yourself.

 

2) Ports are never guaranteed, and there will be no reimbursement if you miss one.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Leejnd4

[truck driver]

I did t/a last year on Crystal last year we had to move the clocks up one hour 5 times

[TERRIER1]

Maybe they make them up??

I just booked a cruise no separate port fees listed

 

If people are aware of no refunds for ports missed why continue to sail with Oceania if it makes you so unhappy :rolleyes:

 

The only time we got port fees refunded when we had to cancel the cruise last minute

 

Right or wrong that is how they do it accept it or sue them I am sure there is one cruise chaser willing to take the case

 

I don't think they make them up. The point I was trying to make is that they are a separate line item on my invoice. Not getting a refund on missed ports doesn't bother me at all. Again, the only point I was trying to make is on my invoice they are separated out.

[Mura]

I did t/a last year on Crystal last year we had to move the clocks up one hour 5 times

 

Isn't that pretty standard? In the opposite direction your set them back pretty often. This I would not complain about!

 

It's a lot better than flying over from here to there and arriving at 7am, the hotel won't be available (usually) until the early afternoon and YOU ARE EXHAUSTED!

 

I'm not sure which post you were responding to so I guess I will back track to see if I completely missed your point!

 

Mura

[ChatKat in Ca.]

Well on a back to back and you continue on being contagious having Noro does impact the next cruise. Or being crew with Noro keeps the virus going on to the next sailing.

 

Being the host for a communicable disease and following all the guidelines set forth is doing the best you can at a minimum. Being a host to 90% of the passengers when you are in business to provide them with a standard of service is another.

 

We sailed out of NY on the cruise after the Noro outbreak in May. There were some sick people - but it was supposedly clear mid cruise. Not enough for reporting. The cruise after ours was again afflicted. We were originally booked on that 2nd cruise but canceled. For the first days of our cruise, there was some limitation in service. We were blasted constantly to use hand sanitizers, wash, no handshaking. I do think you have to be responsible for yourself to make sure you do all you can to stay healthy and understand the risk. No different than flying in a germ laden airplane.

[hypercafe]

I have been on trips that missed ports and the port taxes were refunded on my account the next day. After all it is money that the line collected to pay the port fees. If no port, no tax. Why is this such a foreign concept? The cruise gets screwed up due to a bad noro outbrake and misses a overnight in a very popular port so the Captain has open bar one night as a good will act for a hour or so, why is this so horrible?

 

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[Leejnd4]

I have been on trips that missed ports and the port taxes were refunded on my account the next day. After all it is money that the line collected to pay the port fees. If no port, no tax. Why is this such a foreign concept? The cruise gets screwed up due to a bad noro outbrake and misses a overnight in a very popular port so the Captain has open bar one night as a good will act for a hour or so, why is this so horrible?

 

I don't know why they can't refund port fees, as I'm not an expert in this, but I can only tell you that it's VERY common for cruises to miss ports, for a wide variety of reasons, and there is no reimbursement.

 

I personally don't disagree that opening the bar one night would have been an appropriate gesture. But OP of this thread is actually asking for "compensation", and some posters are asking for "reimbursement".

 

An open bar is a nice customer service gesture...it is neither compensation nor reimbursement.

[cbb]

just out of curiosity.. how much $, per person, are we discussing for port fees refund in this particular case?

[Caroldoll]

because of a mechanical problem and they refunded the port fees. I think it was only in the $20 range each of us. It is not worth all of the effort, really.

[sail7seas]

I don't think any cruise line has to compensate (one of my least favorite words) anyone because there is a viral outbreak.

 

[RJB]

I have been on trips that missed ports and the port taxes were refunded on my account the next day. After all it is money that the line collected to pay the port fees. If no port, no tax. Why is this such a foreign concept? The cruise gets screwed up due to a bad noro outbrake and misses a overnight in a very popular port so the Captain has open bar one night as a good will act for a hour or so, why is this so horrible?

 

Sent from my SM-T320 using Forums mobile app

 

Just the right thing to do. Makes a lot of good will for the ship !!

[orchestrapal]

I don't think any cruise line has to compensate (one of my least favorite words) anyone because there is a viral outbreak.

 

 

+1 ditto

[durante]

I also agree.

[pinotlover]

Again; I disagree. I don't believe that O owes any comp to those getting off the ship today. However, if O embark and sails a new cruise, with that ship, and they have a new outbreak of the virus on that ship, then O has been negligent, imo, and does owe compensation for those travelers. O has a problem, they know they have a problem, and they need to ensure the problem is resolved, imo.

[Emperor Norton]

Is Oceania offering to do anything for the passengers on Riviera? Seems to me they should offer something for missed ports and all the areas of the ship that are closed. Sounds like they have not even offered anyone a drink. Pretty cheap on their part. Not the cruise that all have paid for. Let's see if Oceania steps up and does the right thing.

 

Aren't they legally obligated to refund port fees/taxes for missed ports?

[hypercafe]

I do not think a line is required to refund money for a screwed up vacation for a nuro outbreak. Some lines will do things in the name of good will. I do not think NCLH will give anybody anything. If you are boarding today and get sick you will be lucky if they give free medical care. That's just the O way.

[rallydave]

Aren't they legally obligated to refund port fees/taxes for missed ports?

 

You hit the nail square on the head Emperor Norton. Believe the title of this thread is masking what many of us are saying. While Oceania has difficulty in providing compensation when it is due (it is not due in this case), the port fees and associated taxes most certainly need to be returned as by keeping them O is reaping unearned profits for money that would have been spent in docking and is included in the fares all passengers paid.

[hypercafe]

Aren't they legally obligated to refund port fees/taxes for missed ports?

 

No, they found a nifty way around it, they do not list port fees, taxes as a line item on the invoice. The O way.