Norwegian's Poor Customer Service

[joannmarie53]

Before you decide to book a cruise with NORWEGIAN, read this ….

 

We paid Norwegian for a one week cruise in Hawaii departing in August.  Unfortunately, hurricane Lane arrived and we were scheduled to fly into Hawaii at the height of the storm.  Lane was a category five, a state of emergency had been declared by the governor of Hawaii, a federal disaster declaration issued, and the Honolulu harbor was closed.  With the harbor being closed, Norwegian decided that our cruise was going to be delayed 2 days and we received a notice from Norwegian stating that we will receive a refund for the value of two days of the cruise fare.

 

Because of the seriousness of the storm, our airline offered us a waiver to reschedule up to one year from the booking date, so we decided to accept the United Airlines offer and felt relieved that at least we had Norwegian's 2-day refund.

 

After a couple weeks of not receiving the refund, we were told that we will not be receiving it because we were unable to arrive in a hurricane for the delayed sailing date determined by Norwegian.  In other words, we supposedly canceled.  We did not ever cancel, we were unable to arrive in a hurricane!  After several appeals to Norwegian they refuse to follow through with their written promise to refund the 2 days of cruise fare that we paid for when Norwegian was unable to sail.

 

Norwegian claims that "the safety and comfort of our guests and crew is always our number one priority. "  Apparently not when it affects their bottom line.

 

SO BOOK YOUR CRUISE WITH ANY OTHER CRUISE LINE THAT HAS BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICE!  THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS!

[shof515]

This is why you need travel insurance!!!!

[TexasCruiser84]

I second travel insurance.  We were scheduled to be in Hawaii that week as well (not for a cruise but a stay with Westin Vacation Club).  Given the seriousness of the hurricane, we opted to cancel our trip entirely.  Because flights were never technically cancelled (American Airlines still landed despite the hurricane), AA would not fully refund us.  The best they could do was let us push our trip out a week (hotel had no availability the next week).  So, American charged us $400 for two plane change fees for us to fly somewhere else, as well as $175 to get our used miles back.   West Vacation Club wouldn't refund our $700 non-refundable deposit.   While you would hope companies would bend certain refund policies in the face of a very serious hurricane, some just won't.  Fortunately, our credit card travel insurance picked up the tab and we weren't out any money.

 

If you don't have a travel insurance policy on the trip, check with your credit card company (if you used one to book) to see what kind of travel protection benefits you might have.  

[mjkacmom]

Um, you’d have the same situation with any other cruise line. When you were a no show, you canceled. The cruise was still on, it sailed, you chose not to go on it. I’m sorry you did not understand how cruises work, maybe you should’ve contacted NCL before just not showing up, they would’ve explained that you would lose your full fare. In the cruise contract, it states that the cruise can be altered with fewer or more days, and different ports.

[fshagan]

I suspect the refund wasn't due to the cruise being delayed by two days but because it was shortened by two days. You would have had a five day cruise, so they were pro-rating and refunding the two days you didn't get.

 

Cruise lines have horrible policies in this regard. If they can keep your money on a technicality, they will. So will travel insurance, and I'm not sure it would have covered you for this situation unless you had cancel for any reason, because the cruise still happened. In most cases, you have to attempt to join the cruise in progress in order to collect on the insurance. Insurance companies, like cruise companies, will try to keep your money if they can. So you may have been just as screwed with insurance.

 

But, without a doubt, if I were king of NCL, I would extend some kind of offer to you. Either the two day refund, or a greater amount as a credit against a future cruise. Unfortunately, cruise companies are jerks when it comes to these kinds of things. Sometimes they do give in when they see social media posts like yours, but how much better would it be if they instead had stories posted about how helpful they had been?

[StolidCruiser]

Poor customer service for you not getting a refund for a cruise you didn’t take because weather prevented you from getting there?

 

Think again.  If you took the delayed cruise, you would have received their partial refund offer for the delayed departure.

 

Since you opted not to show up at all, you effectively cancelled when the penalty for doing so was 100% forfeiture of your fare.

 

Perceiving this a poor customer service is just another reason to protect yourself with travel insurance and think about all the ramifications of ALL travel rescheduling before making decision that will end up costing you dearly.  

 

Hopefully you learned a valuable lesson.  Safe future travels.

 

 

[Outerdog]

Travel insurance.

 

Enough said.

 

[Phaedrus78]

Hey look, another "we didn't book travel insurance but demand the benefits of travel insurance" thread.  

[mjkacmom]

6 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

Travel insurance.

 

Enough said.

 

I believe insurance would have paid if they were not able to reschedule flights to make the delayed cruise. It’s not clear that this is the case from the OP, it looks like they chose to except the one year credit for the flights, in which case they were choosing not to take the cruise. However, if new flights weren’t possible, then insurance should kick in.

Edited December 17, 2018 by mjkacmom

[joannmarie53]

We are well aware we may have had the same situation with another cruise line, but that doesn't make this right.  We also had trip insurance, but if you check the policy it does not cover this situation.  We understood that having read the policy.

 

The whole point is that Norwegian sent us a notice that they will reimburse us for 2 of the 7 days of cruise fare because they were unable to provide the service for those 2 days.  They did not state in their letter any requirements to receive the refund, such as having to arrive in a hurricane and several days later.

[tallnthensome]

1 hour ago, Phaedrus78 said:

Hey look, another "we didn't book travel insurance but demand the benefits of travel insurance" thread.  

.

Edited December 17, 2018 by tallnthensome

[Phaedrus78]

Since it's dead at work today with the holidays looming, I thought I'd do a little research into what actually happened around Hurricane Lane.  

 

It looks as though the Pride of America was out to sea, and changed itineraries to avoid the storm.  This means that the following cruise, originally scheduled for Saturday 8/25, was rescheduled for Monday 8/27.  

 

https://cruiseradio.net/how-hurricane-lane-will-impact-hawaii-cruises/

 

According to the United Airlines Twitter feed, they cancelled all flights into and out of OGG (Maui) on Friday 8/24.  A second update shows that they were back to running a full schedule on Saturday 8/25.  One assumes that the OP was originally scheduled to fly in on 8/24 for an 8/25 cruise departure, but that's just an assumption.

 

https://twitter.com/united/status/1032746636122972160?lang=en

 

So from what I can understand, flights were available to get the OP to Hawaii in time for the newly scheduled departure.  The airlines considered it safe, NCL considered it safe.  That would probably explain why the cruise insurance didn't cover the issue, and I don't see why NCL should be expected to do anything either.

[Arzeena]

32 minutes ago, joannmarie53 said:

We are well aware we may have had the same situation with another cruise line, but that doesn't make this right.  We also had trip insurance, but if you check the policy it does not cover this situation.  We understood that having read the policy.

 

The whole point is that Norwegian sent us a notice that they will reimburse us for 2 of the 7 days of cruise fare because they were unable to provide the service for those 2 days.  They did not state in their letter any requirements to receive the refund, such as having to arrive in a hurricane and several days later.

This is a joke! Why would you expect a 2 days refund for a cruise you did not take! The whole point is that you did not take the cruise!!!!

THAT was the obvious common sense requirement......you HAD to take the cruise to be able to get the 2 days refund back.

Perhaps your insurance will step up.

 

Why do I think I am feeding the troll?

[Georgia_Peaches]

deleted

Edited December 17, 2018 by Georgia_Peaches

[Georgia_Peaches]

duplicate..sorry

Edited December 17, 2018 by Georgia_Peaches

[Trimone]

But surely the poster had rights,  because the cruise dynamics had changed, for example if we had flights from the U.K. booked, and the cruise was adjusted to five nights, would it be worth the travel? The poster is not receiving what they have paid for seven nights, I realise in the small print NCL lawyers, have probably put they can adjust schedules etc, but please some humanity 

[Outerdog]

11 minutes ago, Trimone said:

But surely the poster had rights

 

Surely they did. Their rights are clearly outlined in the passenger contract and their travel insurance policy. 

[mjkacmom]

23 minutes ago, Trimone said:

But surely the poster had rights,  because the cruise dynamics had changed, for example if we had flights from the U.K. booked, and the cruise was adjusted to five nights, would it be worth the travel? The poster is not receiving what they have paid for seven nights, I realise in the small print NCL lawyers, have probably put they can adjust schedules etc, but please some humanity 

Because you are in the UK, you have different travel laws, I’m guessing you might’ve received a full refund. We have different laws here, cruises change itineraries and days all of the time, their contracts are set up for this. I’m not even sure NCL was obligated to refund anything except port fees for missing ports.

[crazycatlady82]

I don’t get it why OP is so upset. I live in the upper Midwest with blizzards. I wouldn’t expect NCL to refund anything if I couldn’t make it to the port. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

10 minutes ago, crazycatlady82 said:

I don’t get it why OP is so upset. I live in the upper Midwest with blizzards. I wouldn’t expect NCL to refund anything if I couldn’t make it to the port. 

The OP is upset because NCL said they would compensate for 2 days since the trip was shortened from 7 nights to 5 nights.  What the OP didn't realize is that by not showing up at all, it is viewed as a cancellation, and therefore not recognized by NCL as appropriate to make the 2 day adjustment.  In the eyes of NCL, those who just didn't show up saved them a 2-day adjustment cost.  I'm sure there were others who didn't or couldn't make it for the trip.

[FLAHAM]

I think OP has a point.  If the cruise was shortened by two days and a refund for those days offered, OP should have received the refund whether or not actually taking the shortened cruise.  NCL should not profit from the "cancellation" beyond the five-day cruise that it actually provided.

 

However, this won't stop me from taking the four NCL cruises I have scheduled.

Edited December 17, 2018 by FLAHAM

[kmurph22]

2 hours ago, joannmarie53 said:

We are well aware we may have had the same situation with another cruise line, but that doesn't make this right.  We also had trip insurance, but if you check the policy it does not cover this situation.  We understood that having read the policy.

 

The whole point is that Norwegian sent us a notice that they will reimburse us for 2 of the 7 days of cruise fare because they were unable to provide the service for those 2 days.  They did not state in their letter any requirements to receive the refund, such as having to arrive in a hurricane and several days later.

I buy insurance for every trip, but wow folks sure love to jump on the  “should’ve bought insurance” train. 

 

 I agree with Flaham -  OP has a point,  as it relates to the 2 day refund, if as noted above the offer of the 2 day refund did not clearly state that it was contingent on taking the 5 day cruise.   OP seems to understand that by not showing up, they would lose the 5 days ... they just want the 2 day refund, and may have factored that into their decision not to fly. 

Edited December 17, 2018 by kmurph22

[BirdTravels]

2 hours ago, joannmarie53 said:

We are well aware we may have had the same situation with another cruise line, but that doesn't make this right.  We also had trip insurance, but if you check the policy it does not cover this situation.  We understood that having read the policy.

 

The whole point is that Norwegian sent us a notice that they will reimburse us for 2 of the 7 days of cruise fare because they were unable to provide the service for those 2 days.  They did not state in their letter any requirements to receive the refund, such as having to arrive in a hurricane and several days later.

So you read and understood the contract with NCL you signed

 

You read and understood the travel insuramce you purchased. 

 

You understood that that you booked a cruise at the peak of hurricane season. 

 

You intentionally now showed on tour cruise. 

 

And you you are dissatisfied with the outcome. 

 

Pay the for the “cancel for any reason” insurance next time. 

[KweezyCruiser]

Taking sides here is pointless speculation since we haven’t seen the actual language in NCL’s offer. Common sense says that they reduced the cruise fare commensurate with the shortened cruise length so that people weren’t paying a 7 day fare for their 5 day cruise. Without seeing the actual language, I can’t conclude that this could also be treated as a 2 day refund for no shows. 

[packer99]

3 hours ago, joannmarie53 said:

We are well aware we may have had the same situation with another cruise line, but that doesn't make this right.  We also had trip insurance, but if you check the policy it does not cover this situation.  We understood that having read the policy.

 

The whole point is that Norwegian sent us a notice that they will reimburse us for 2 of the 7 days of cruise fare because they were unable to provide the service for those 2 days.  They did not state in their letter any requirements to receive the refund, such as having to arrive in a hurricane and several days later.

 

 

No but instead of just being a NO -Show you should have called them to say you weren't coming at all.