Getaway 4/27/19 Transatlantic Shortened by Two Days

[JerseyCruisers2019]

NCL'S latest attempt to cover their asses just might have blown up in their face.  The fact that they're sending out backdated messages informing of the itinerary change is clear proof of INTENT.  I put my deposit down on September 30th, and I just received a message dated September 30th about the itinerary change.  If that message were truly sent to me on 9/30, I would have immediately canceled and asked for my deposit back.  I am currently looking into filing a complaint with the NJ State Attorney General's office.  This is clearly a case of bait and switch. 

[texmex.ferr]

20 minutes ago, BDAN8V said:

So now, on ncl.com, when I logged in, there is a message post dated Feb 28th, the day we BOOKED the trip.

 

IF this was the case the day we BOOKED the trip, then why the hell would we have booked excursions in France and Belgium, knowing the stops were cancelled?

***** is going on with this?

I've just logged onto our account, and we only booked this on April 5, and there has been nothing there since we opened our account with them, but low and behold tonight there is an email dated April 5!!!!  

[nwcruiselover]

Just now, texmex.ferr said:

I've just logged onto our account, and we only booked this on April 5, and there has been nothing there since we opened our account with them, but low and behold tonight there is an email dated April 5!!!!  

I just logged in and got the same message, dated June 22, 2018.  Do they think we won’t notice the date?

[km202]

The date of the message may be an error on their end, but they knew about this change since at least Thursday, as we got a heads up on this from a CC member in the roll call. Obviously, NCL has known about this for a while, the question is when. It matters because if they knew they weren't stopping at these ports for a long time and sold the cruises as if they were anyway, then that's a significant bait and switch and would be harder for them to defend in a class action lawsuit. I'm still hoping that someone in the media picks up on this story to get a more immediate counter offer from NCL, but if that doesn't work, then I'm open to joining anyone who files a lawsuit against them. These types of practices are outrageous and likely illegal and it must stop. Though I'm never sailing with NCL again after this, despite patronage with them for twelve years prior, I'm not willing to let this go. If it can happen to us, it can happen to anyone. It must stop and they must feel the financial consequences for leaving us out on a lurch the way that they have just to get a few extra days to refurbish a ship. Let's also remember that they may still try to do some of the work on our sailing so it's possible that this isn't the end of our problems. Watch out for this as well. 

[lefty2450]

I'm not on this sailing, and i'm sorry for all that are, but i'm following very closely NCL!!!!! hope you are aswell!

[gogators!]

•  



NCL has offered a "generous" 25% refund.  Not so fast.

 

Let's do the math:

 

2 nights of a 12 night cruise is 16.7 %  That's a whopping 8.3% extra that NCL is ponying up for ruining our

cruise for their selfish convenience.

 

It gets worse: 

 

Gov Tax/Port Exp/Fees were $174.28  per person

 

Let's divide by 2 for the two ports they stole from us, (though we know Paris and Belgium are most likely

the priciest) thus it's $87.14 that NCL is saving.  They have not offered to refund the port fees and taxes. 

Taxation without benefit.  Illegal.

 

By the way, NCL refused to provide a fee breakdown today.  How can they charge fees they cannot substantiate?

 

On a reasonably priced cruise fare, at 25%, we actually lose money or gain very slightly!

 

In addition, we're stranded for 2 days having to provide meals that would have been otherwise provided.

 

They pretend that the average airline change fee is $250, but fail to understand that you must pay the difference

for the current fare on most airlines, which can be substantial, and who want's to come home early from a cruise?

 

For fairness, or lack thereof, NCL offered some passengers to change their reservation to the Pearl (free of charge).

Of course that filled up and those of us not privileged can't change to any other vessel. 

 

Looking into cancellation for a 75% credit (crappy cruise insurance). 

 

 

[mainelycruising]

Time to fire up the Internet Wayback Machine, and see the real timeline of notices from NCL.  One thing they cannot do is rewrite what was posted.  

[ravedac]

Same here! My ncl inbox just got updated with change of itenary dated 04/06/2019. I booked this trip with shore excursion  on 04/06/2019 that was schedule for 12days/all ports. If I receive this notification on 4/6 I would never book the cruise with only one port stop!!

I received first change of itenary email from ncl on Friday. Not 4/6!!!

[Zippeedee]

All messages update using the booking date. They changed the drink plan message but it still has the date I booked even though it is clearly a new message. I'm not saying it is right, but it is done for every message, not just this announcement.

[erdoran]

21 minutes ago, gogators! said:

•  



NCL has offered a "generous" 25% refund.  Not so fast.

 

Let's do the math:

 

2 nights of a 12 night cruise is 16.7 %  That's a whopping 8.3% extra that NCL is ponying up for ruining our

cruise for their selfish convenience.

 

It gets worse: 

 

Gov Tax/Port Exp/Fees were $174.28  per person

 

Let's divide by 2 for the two ports they stole from us, (though we know Paris and Belgium are most likely

the priciest) thus it's $87.14 that NCL is saving.  They have not offered to refund the port fees and taxes. 

Taxation without benefit.  Illegal.

 

By the way, NCL refused to provide a fee breakdown today.  How can they charge fees they cannot substantiate?

 

On a reasonably priced cruise fare, at 25%, we actually lose money or gain very slightly!

 

In addition, we're stranded for 2 days having to provide meals that would have been otherwise provided.

 

They pretend that the average airline change fee is $250, but fail to understand that you must pay the difference

for the current fare on most airlines, which can be substantial, and who want's to come home early from a cruise?

 

For fairness, or lack thereof, NCL offered some passengers to change their reservation to the Pearl (free of charge).

Of course that filled up and those of us not privileged can't change to any other vessel. 

 

Looking into cancellation for a 75% credit (crappy cruise insurance). 

 

 

Don’t forget two days DSC and auto grats on ubp plus sdp meals that won’t be used if reservations aren’t available because of shorter cruise. And cruise insurance is based on cruise price which is now 25% lower. Bet they aren’t refunding that extra either.  And those who upgrade to unlimited WiFi will they charge for 10 days or 12?

[shof515]

For all of those posting about the date on the messages, that your booking date not the actual date they sent out the message. This is a bug/glitch that was never fixed on the website. i had similar issues on past cruises with incorrect dates. the email you receive has the correct date

[gogators!]

• It will cost me about 1400 to cancel the cruise and airfare, but I'll be damned if I'm going reward this careless and negligent behavior
  
  

 

 

[NLH Arizona]

5 hours ago, smplybcause said:

I would be cautious of filing a credit card dispute. I'd be surprised if you won it given the cruise contract NCL has against you. And I also recall an article I've seen on an advocacy site where a cruiser wasn't happy with the future cruise credit offered for problems on the cruise so they filed a credit card disput and then after it was denied she was sent an letter detailing their lifetime ban from the cruise line. I can't recall which cruiseline it was at the time. 

I remember some that were on the Breakaway's bomb cyclone cruise said they tried disputing their charge and it was denied because the credit card company said they used the services.  Might be different, because days were deleted on this cruise.

[Nametag]

3 hours ago, texmex.ferr said:

I've just logged onto our account, and we only booked this on April 5, and there has been nothing there since we opened our account with them, but low and behold tonight there is an email dated April 5!!!!  

I also checked NCL account and there is now a message that wasn't there before.  Mine is dated Feb 3 same as when I booked.   That message wasn't there yesterday.

[Nametag]

3 hours ago, nwcruiselover said:

I just logged in and got the same message, dated June 22, 2018.  Do they think we won’t notice the date?

I booked mine on Feb 3 2019, it was labeled as a 12 day cruise with  all the port stops.  So if they truly knew back in June 22 2018, then I should not have been able to book a 12 day 4 port cruise for full price.   THIS IS FRAUD!!!!!

[gogators!]

3 hours ago, erdoran said:

Don’t forget two days DSC and auto grats on ubp plus sdp meals that won’t be used if reservations aren’t available because of shorter cruise. And cruise insurance is based on cruise price which is now 25% lower. Bet they aren’t refunding that extra either.  And those who upgrade to unlimited WiFi will they charge for 10 days or 12?

Again, let's get this right.  This was a VOLUNTAY act of convince by the cruise line.  No storms, no ship malfunctions, no acts of God.  No, a selfish cruise line decided to ruin everyone's cruise.  I ask only one question of each passenger:  Would I have booked a cruise with this itinerary?  That's the simple measure.  I cannot answer that question affirmatively, thus, I'm cancelling.  Their ambivalence to our predicament is appalling.   Airfares and cruise cancellation be dammed, I'm taking the high road not to condone this negligent behavior.  

 

I hope this is a single incident with a cruise line that I have loved.

 

Happy sailing to those that cruise. Keep us posted.  Torches and pitchforks predicted.  Hope it's not.  Don't take it out on the crew.  It's the seven figure idiots that made this call.

[supermax]

I booked this cruise for my mom. I had her on the April Fools day with "news" that the cruise itinerary has changed and they would be skipping the European ports and disembarking in Libya or Egypt. Well, the joke is on me! Trying to change her London schedule...

[BestVacationYet]

10 hours ago, Atlanta_Cruiser said:

I am looking for information regarding the reimbursement of excursion(s) at the cancelled ports.  Can any of the NCL credit card holders provide the dates that they were reimbursed?  I would really appreciate your time in doing so.   

coryjocruiser@gmail.com or you can post here.  Thank you

I am an NCL credit card holder and I have not been reimbursed for my excursions. They told me nothing would be reimbursed until after the cruise, which I told them was ridiculous since I was going to be out additional money to purchase hotels, food and transportation for the two days. They acted like it was my problem and not theirs.

[peacefulOR]

6 hours ago, lefty2450 said:

I'm not on this sailing, and i'm sorry for all that are, but i'm following very closely NCL!!!!! hope you are aswell!

 

Thanks for your support. Most of this group are experienced sailers and have never experienced quite this mess before. Remember if you purchase trip insurance that it has to be the "covers everything but the sink". Ours does not because NCL "has the right to change whenever they want....no compensation".Guess I'll either skip it next time or sail another line with the extra expense. May all your cruises be awesome!

Rainey

[peacefulOR]

5 hours ago, shof515 said:

For all of those posting about the date on the messages, that your booking date not the actual date they sent out the message. This is a bug/glitch that was never fixed on the website. i had similar issues on past cruises with incorrect dates. the email you receive has the correct date

 

Where's the email....? Not here and we leave in 3 days for NYC.

 

 

 

[peacefulOR]

41 minutes ago, BestVacationYet said:

I am an NCL credit card holder and I have not been reimbursed for my excursions. They told me nothing would be reimbursed until after the cruise, which I told them was ridiculous since I was going to be out additional money to purchase hotels, food and transportation for the two days. They acted like it was my problem and not theirs.

 

This afternoon I canceled a $480 excursion to Paris. The agent honestly seemed unaware of the problems. Hmmm. Refund estimate was 5 to 7 days. Now to check if it really was processed, lol. Try it now and see if it works.

Rainey

[molole]

Damn this is why even though there are quite a few good looking itineraries on Norwegian site I am not eager to book. In addition to the normal weather, sea condition problems they seem to have a very casual approach to itinerary changes. I was thinking to book last minute might be better but now I can see even 7 days out is too early.

This is not a cruise line suitable for those who book for itineraries.

[sverigecruiser]

12 hours ago, Anniebobby1018 said:

 25% is not even close to how much this will cost me.

 

I looked at hotels in Southampton and there are lots of hotels available for $200-300.

 

I assume you got a great deal on the cruise.

[RWKBRO1]

It may be worthwhile to try contacting whoever runs the drydock to find out when they knew the ship would be arriving.

If the docks are unionized, a little research might get affected passengers a contact person at the union that would probably be very cooperative answering any questions about the ships scheduled arrival. They usually need a heads up to make sure the dock is properly staffed for incoming vessels.

[njkate]

I had looked at this cruise, but for the chance to visit Normandy the itinerary didn't wow me, so instead I booked the Jade TA on 04/28 now leaving from Brooklyn, we were bumped from NYC. 

 

I think it's appalling what NCL has done and the measly comp they offered for all the scrambling of either changing flights or finding a hotel for two nights in addition to scraping the two ports most booked for, I'd be livid. They won't allow those desiring to cancel, they have you and your money hostage.

 

I hope you all can somehow make the best of it and also for NCL to up their game as far as compensation.

This as well as other shady things done by NCL now has me looking at RCCL for a Greek Isle cruise next spring.