My pre purchased OBC was cancelled by NCL

[Onip69]

Hello All

 

Like many fellow Canadians I have taken advantage of booking OBC at $111.11 CAD exchange rate and I'm a few days away from sailing. Over the past few months I have purchased a few thousand dollars worth of OBC only to find out that NCL has cancelled and refunded all my purchases without any notification even though I haven't seen the refund posted on my cc . The only reason I found out was because I called to get a emailed confirmation of my purchases to have written confirmation once on board just in case something went wrong. I don't like travelling with a lot cash so I was hoping to use my credit for booking excursions, gambling, spa services, tips plus whatever else may pop up. Now without any OBC my spending will drop. Basically this has ruined and left a sour taste for my family holiday trip even before we set sail.

 

I was told today that they would allow a maximum of $1000 per cabin to be purchased even though they cancelled all of mine. If I want more they said to purchase it on board.

 

I recommend all Canadians who purchased OBC contact NCL and make sure the same thing hasn't happened to you.

 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Edited December 24, 2015 by Onip69

[willise]

I just purchased $1000 OBC at par on my April reservation. MyNCL page shows "all prices in CDN funds". In the past, I've always gotten OBC in USD, so I hope they don't give me $1000 CDN OBC this time :):D

[bfamily4]

Hello All

 

Like many fellow Canadians I have taken advantage of booking OBC at $111.11 CAD exchange rate and I'm a few days away from sailing. Over the past few months I have purchased a few thousand dollars worth of OBC only to find out that NCL has cancelled and refunded all my purchases without any notification even though I haven't seen the refund posted on my cc . The only reason I found out was because I called to get a emailed confirmation of my purchases to have written confirmation once on board just in case something went wrong. I don't like travelling with a lot cash so I was hoping to use my credit for booking excursions, gambling, spa services, tips plus whatever else may pop up. Now without any OBC my spending will drop. Basically this has ruined and left a sour taste for my family holiday trip even before we set sail.

 

I was told today that they would allow a maximum of $1000 per cabin to be purchased even though they cancelled all of mine. If I want more they said to purchase it on board.

 

I recommend all Canadians who purchased OBC contact NCL and make sure the same thing hasn't happened to you.

 

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

 

this would be enough to ruin my cruise. i can't believe NCL is doing this. i understand that our dollar is low and they're probably "catching on". in this case though they should raise the max that you can purchase depending on how many people in the cabin. $1000 is not enough for 4 people since a good chunk of that will go to the dsc. oue upcoming getaway cruise is our first non dcl cruise and my family was apprehensive to begin with. now with this news i feel like we should have stuck to what we know. there's been so many changes since we booked in feb and we were fine with the changes. but the obc i am not happy with. with all the extra charges on board we'll probably end up spending as much as a disney cruise! and we decided to try NCL in the hopes of saving $$$

[Onip69]

I just purchased $1000 OBC at par on my April reservation. MyNCL page shows "all prices in CDN funds". In the past, I've always gotten OBC in USD, so I hope they don't give me $1000 CDN OBC this time :):D

 

Your OBC will be in USD if they don't cancel it.

 

In my situation I purchased my $1000 USD OBC for $1111.11 CAD in a few different transactions over the last 2 months totalling $3000 and even though I had confirmation at the times of purchase all my OBC was cancelled. Apparently there is a $1000 limit now in place and NCL is not honoring previous purchases.

[LMaxwell]

I just purchased $1000 OBC at par on my April reservation. MyNCL page shows "all prices in CDN funds". In the past, I've always gotten OBC in USD, so I hope they don't give me $1000 CDN OBC this time :):D

 

Stop hoping and get something in writing. Once they have your money they can set whatever rate they want really. Then what??

[willise]

Stop hoping and get something in writing. Once they have your money they can set whatever rate they want really. Then what??

 

I do have a confirmation that I have bought 10 $100 OBC gift certificates, so that should be good enough along with the credit card invoice.

[RDC1]

this would be enough to ruin my cruise. i can't believe NCL is doing this. i understand that our dollar is low and they're probably "catching on". in this case though they should raise the max that you can purchase depending on how many people in the cabin. $1000 is not enough for 4 people since a good chunk of that will go to the dsc. oue upcoming getaway cruise is our first non dcl cruise and my family was apprehensive to begin with. now with this news i feel like we should have stuck to what we know. there's been so many changes since we booked in feb and we were fine with the changes. but the obc i am not happy with. with all the extra charges on board we'll probably end up spending as much as a disney cruise! and we decided to try NCL in the hopes of saving $$$

 

I think what you are seeing is the result of people buying large amounts of OBC and then cashing it out to take advantage of the exchange rate. Not surprised that they have started limiting the amounts. The only other thing they could do is to prevent it from being cashed out in USD.

[casofilia]

It looks as if NCL is trying to drive Canadians and others with Canadian funds to other cruise lines. This would probably be the last straw for many.

 

Mike

[ref9]

Be happy if you can get $1000.00 at exchange rate 1.11 on the dollar per person.

The cruise line that I am going on is 1.24 on the dollar.

 

Blaine

[calgaryhhr]

This really sucks for you and any other Canadian passengers that might get their OBC purchases refunded pre-cruise.

 

I'm glad we managed to get our cruise in before any of these changes.

 

I wonder if they are only limiting OBC purchases for Canadian passengers? Can an American passenger still purchase more than $1000?

[Wavesprite]

Your OBC will be in USD if they don't cancel it.

 

In my situation I purchased my $1000 USD OBC for $1111.11 CAD in a few different transactions over the last 2 months totalling $3000 and even though I had confirmation at the times of purchase all my OBC was cancelled. Apparently there is a $1000 limit now in place and NCL is not honoring previous purchases.

 

I want to cruise with you if you plan on spending $3000 on board on a cruise! WOWWEEEEEEE

[Demonyte]

I want to cruise with you if you plan on spending $3000 on board on a cruise! WOWWEEEEEEE

 

 

Actually one can easily spend that much having for example a family of four doing mostly or exclusively cruise line sponsored excursions. Regular spending for four persons can be easily $1000 per week (we manage to do that between two of us) and any average excursion can be up to $500 per excursion and there are easily 3-4 of those.

[Shawnino]

Changing the rules after the purchase is complete.

Smells like fraud by NCL.

[casofilia]

Changing the rules after the purchase is complete. Smells like fraud by NCL.

 

I agree Shawnino. If they have taken the money, charged the credit card and issued a receipt then there is a binding contract. Well that would be case in NZ.

 

Be careful; they might ask for your food back after you have eaten it!!

 

Mike

[Wavesprite]

Actually one can easily spend that much having for example a family of four doing mostly or exclusively cruise line sponsored excursions. Regular spending for four persons can be easily $1000 per week (we manage to do that between two of us) and any average excursion can be up to $500 per excursion and there are easily 3-4 of those.

 

I have been on more then a dozen cruises, closer to 20, some as short as 3 nights, some as long as 14, and never, not once, have I even come close to spending even $1000. I travel with my family, we are four people. The only thing is I do not ever book cruiseline excursions, we usually do our own thing, so maybe that's the biggest difference?

[zqvol]

It looks as if NCL is trying to drive Canadians and others with Canadian funds to other cruise lines. This would probably be the last straw for many.

 

Mike

 

 

It looks to me like NCL is trying to minimize their loss. They should not be giving a better rate than the banks anyway.

[RDC1]

Changing the rules after the purchase is complete.

Smells like fraud by NCL.

 

Not really. As long as they provided a full refund prior to the cruise it is not fraud.

 

A different story if they were to change the rate and not provide a refund.

[Onip69]

I want to cruise with you if you plan on spending $3000 on board on a cruise! WOWWEEEEEEE

 

I was planning on a few massages for my wife and I , probably $500, a few excursions which is another $1000 for my family, gambling (I figure about $150 a day ) a few drinks , Special dinners , tips and $3000 is gone pretty quick.

 

 

Now we will probably skip the massages, do our own site seeing and probably wont gamble so the money we were planning on spending will be used elsewhere.

 

Whether the rates are good or not once the payment has been accepted they should honor it as they are the ones who set the rate at time of booking. Cancelling now just leaves a sour taste.

Edited December 24, 2015 by Onip69

[zqvol]

Changing the rules after the purchase is complete.

Smells like fraud by NCL.

 

 

That isn't fraud at all. Smells like smart business.

[sparks1093]

That isn't fraud at all. Smells like smart business.

 

May not be fraud but it is far from smart business. But of course NCL is gaining quite the reputation for changing the rules in mid stream.

[MsTabbyKats]

I can understand why they changed the rule....but they should honor your purchase.

 

However....don't let this dampen your cruise. Get those massages, excursions, trips to the casino etc anyway. It's your vacation....enjoy!

[ncklhaus]

Are they only canceling Canadian OBC purchases? I have over $2500 in OBC purchased for our April cruise and I was planning on buying more.

[hamrag]

I was planning on a few massages for my wife and I , probably $500, a few excursions which is another $1000 for my family, gambling (I figure about $150 a day ) a few drinks , Special dinners , tips and $3000 is gone pretty quick.

 

 

Now we will probably skip the massages, do our own site seeing and probably wont gamble so the money we were planning on spending will be used elsewhere.

 

Whether the rates are good or not once the payment has been accepted they should honor it as they are the ones who set the rate at time of booking. Cancelling now just leaves a sour taste.

 

If you have a favaourable exchange rate e.g. 1.11 or 1.19, as many have reported, that rate should be applied to everything on your "MyNCL" account. You can pre-purchase excursions, SDP and (I think) spa vouchers at that rate and still be able to purchase the $1000pp OBC. That would help alleviate the fact that OBC is now limited.

 

We have 3 cruises purchased in CAD, at the favourable rates and stood to gain along with our Canadian cousins but I really cannot blame NCL for finally realising this particular "quirk" is costing them money. Their decision seems fair to me, especially when you can pre-purchase many things and still purchase OBC.

[Demonyte]

May not be fraud but it is far from smart business.

 

 

Sure it is smart business, giving free money to Canadians simply is not.

 

This the same as the introduction of the 3% convenience fee for casino withdrawals from onboard account couple of years ago - everything was fine until the word was out and enough people were working the system to their advantage, at which point the cruise line had to do something to cut their losses.

[sparks1093]

Sure it is smart business, giving free money to Canadians simply is not.

 

This the same as the introduction of the 3% convenience fee for casino withdrawals from onboard account couple of years ago - everything was fine until the word was out and enough people were working the system to their advantage, at which point the cruise line had to do something to cut their losses.

 

The not smart part is taking the customer's money and then changing the rules and refunding the money without notice to the customer. Also it's not smart to have separate rules for one set of customers and everyone else regarding the amount of OBC one may purchase (not sure that's what is going on but there is on poster that says they have $2500 in OBC purchased). It's like if I ordered something online to pick up at a store and paid for it online, then when I showed up in the store being told "sorry, we cancelled your order because we raised the price on our product". This is NCL once again changing rules midstream without notice (which I notice you deleted from my quote and it's that as much as anything that makes the whole thing dumb on NCL's part). If they don't want to give Canadians such a good exchange rate that's fine, but give them notice ahead of time, not after they've put their money on the table.