Refused refund due to medical heart condition

[helen haywood]

Correct, that’s what I meant.  I would have thought good medical care could have been sought further south than Boston.  I hope the man is doing better.

[trivimp]

If Tortola was the last port stop, and the medical event happened when they were already underway for home, there's not a lot between BVI & Boston... maybe they could have stopped at Bermuda, but running hard for Boston was probably deemed to be his best chance.  

[js]

On 11/9/2019 at 11:26 AM, stargard1 said:

I arranged for a 3 week for me and my wife on Norwegian cruise lines out of LAX. (3.5K USD trip). We had saved an planned this trip for almost 2 years.

One month prior to travel I found that I had a blockage on one of major arteries. The doctor recommended That I do not travel until the heart procedure is completed. The condition was serious enough that the medical procedure was scheduled within 3 weeks of the initial diagnosis which would have been right in the middle of my cruise trip.

 

contact American airlines, Airbnb and told them of the situation and provided them with the proper documentation, they graciously gave me a emergency medical reprieve and refunded me my ticket and booking fees. I suppose neither one them wanted me to die on the trip, I appreciated that.

 

Norwegian Cruise lines however flatly refused any refund, even after I showed all the medical documentation. I was shocked. They said there is no reason that they would provide a refund, I suppose they expected me to make the trip and maybe die on the trip just for kicks….. soulless company

I even asked them to keep the cruise ticket refund in my account, so I could use it in a later date, they refused.

They were required to provide with a partial refund, because I cancelled early. They said” you should have travel insurance with your credit card, we suggest you claim it there”. I did not travel insurance with my credit card company, so at the end, I have not got the partial refund and or a medical reprieve refund. They even stopped answering my emails.

 

Norwegian is a soulless company that simply does not care about you. If there is a lesson here that I would advise anyone looking for a cruise, avoid vacationing with Norwegian, they are a company that has simply no character, loyalty or care for their customers.

 

I'm so sorry this happened to you but you choose not to get insurance.

My dd and her boyfriend are both attorneys with very demanding schedules and I had them take out Cancel For Any Reason Insurance in case a case comes up and they cannot go, which was about another $800 on top of their cruise fare.  It sure would have been a nice thing to do if you could prove your illness and they give you back your money, but then why would anyone bother to get insurance.  Hope you are on the mend or getting there shortly.

 

[sanger727]

On ‎11‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 2:44 PM, Homosassa said:

As we are not fools, we have talked directly to the companies from which we have bought our travel insurance and we have specifically asked about "cancel for any reason"  and pre-existing conditions for any policy we have purchased.

 

For any of the policies that we have purchased, there is fine print for the "cancel for any reason" and preexisting conditions in the fine print for the cancel for any reason. We have also never found a policy that waives pre-exisiting conditions with the cancel for any reason clause when we purchase at the time of booking that is not way more expensive when the pre-exisiting condition criteria are not met at the time of booking.

 

So, in our case, your post does not apply to our situations.

 

In any case, my post was just intended to give the OP the head's up about what could be in the insurance policy.

 

I'm confused. Doesn't a "cancel for any reason" policy mean that you can cancel for ANY reason. So, your dog has a cough the morning you leave and you'd rather take him to the vet or you see a expensive bag you'd like to purchase and would rather cancel the cruise and get 75% back to buy the bag. Why even mention a medical condition or pre-existing condition at that point. Just cancel cause you can and be on your way.

Edited November 13, 2019 by sanger727

[stargard1]

I did get a reply from NCL last year.

 

"We sincerely regret to learn of the circumstances that resulted in the cancellation of your intended voyage aboard the Norwegian Bliss and hope that you are in better health.
 
As I am sure you know, our cancellation guidelines are quite strict, as is standard for the cruise industry. For this reason, we strongly recommend that our guests obtain travel protection, to cover unforeseen circumstances such as you experienced.  As a convenience to our guests, we do offer a "Travel Protection Plan" plan through Aon; and most of our travel partners also sell plans to cover cancellations.
 
While we truly sympathize with your situation, we are unable to offer a credit for the cancellation fees assessed to your reservation. We hope you understand it would be inconsistent for us to make exceptions when other passengers with similar situations have cancelled and accepted these terms."

 

So at the end, we did not get our refund, nor did we have any insurance. (The travel agent never offered us one) and the credit card company does not refund cruises.

 

Interestingly "what goes around, come around"

In a span for 5 months, the company went from full arrogance to almost bankruptcy....... 

You can hide in a Caribbean country so that you cannot be sued but a the end, you could not get a bailout either

 

Hopefully one day, they will learn to be more human like the hotel or airlines industry, empathy goes a long way in building trust with your customers.

 

Karma is a *****......

[mugtech]

6 hours ago, stargard1 said:

I did get a reply from NCL last year.

 

"We sincerely regret to learn of the circumstances that resulted in the cancellation of your intended voyage aboard the Norwegian Bliss and hope that you are in better health.
 
As I am sure you know, our cancellation guidelines are quite strict, as is standard for the cruise industry. For this reason, we strongly recommend that our guests obtain travel protection, to cover unforeseen circumstances such as you experienced.  As a convenience to our guests, we do offer a "Travel Protection Plan" plan through Aon; and most of our travel partners also sell plans to cover cancellations.
 
While we truly sympathize with your situation, we are unable to offer a credit for the cancellation fees assessed to your reservation. We hope you understand it would be inconsistent for us to make exceptions when other passengers with similar situations have cancelled and accepted these terms."

 

So at the end, we did not get our refund, nor did we have any insurance. (The travel agent never offered us one) and the credit card company does not refund cruises.

 

Interestingly "what goes around, come around"

In a span for 5 months, the company went from full arrogance to almost bankruptcy....... 

You can hide in a Caribbean country so that you cannot be sued but a the end, you could not get a bailout either

 

Hopefully one day, they will learn to be more human like the hotel or airlines industry, empathy goes a long way in building trust with your customers.

 

Karma is a *****......

Glad to hear you are still alive and well, still alive and well.  Every now and then I know it's kinda hard to tell.  Still alive and well.  Your karma curse about Bankruptcy is not accurate, NCL will be around for a while, as well all the other cruise lines who would have treated you the exact same way.

[G-DawgMN]

9 hours ago, stargard1 said:

I did get a reply from NCL last year.

 

"We sincerely regret to learn of the circumstances that resulted in the cancellation of your intended voyage aboard the Norwegian Bliss and hope that you are in better health.
 
As I am sure you know, our cancellation guidelines are quite strict, as is standard for the cruise industry. For this reason, we strongly recommend that our guests obtain travel protection, to cover unforeseen circumstances such as you experienced.  As a convenience to our guests, we do offer a "Travel Protection Plan" plan through Aon; and most of our travel partners also sell plans to cover cancellations.
 
While we truly sympathize with your situation, we are unable to offer a credit for the cancellation fees assessed to your reservation. We hope you understand it would be inconsistent for us to make exceptions when other passengers with similar situations have cancelled and accepted these terms."

 

So at the end, we did not get our refund, nor did we have any insurance. (The travel agent never offered us one) and the credit card company does not refund cruises.

 

Interestingly "what goes around, come around"

In a span for 5 months, the company went from full arrogance to almost bankruptcy....... 

You can hide in a Caribbean country so that you cannot be sued but a the end, you could not get a bailout either

 

Hopefully one day, they will learn to be more human like the hotel or airlines industry, empathy goes a long way in building trust with your customers.

 

Karma is a *****......

 

 The company is doing fine. I'm hoping that your recovery goes well.....and if you decide to cruise in the future you will purchase insurance. All cruise lines have the same policies so you will get pretty much the same experience anywhere. Not to mention, imagine what could have happened if you had a medical issue in a remote country with no insurance.

 

 

[Diver2014]

so the OP is still beating the dead horse........

[ray98]

Yup....all this happened because of you.🙄

[tonit964]

15 hours ago, stargard1 said:

I did get a reply from NCL last year.

 

"We sincerely regret to learn of the circumstances that resulted in the cancellation of your intended voyage aboard the Norwegian Bliss and hope that you are in better health.
 
As I am sure you know, our cancellation guidelines are quite strict, as is standard for the cruise industry. For this reason, we strongly recommend that our guests obtain travel protection, to cover unforeseen circumstances such as you experienced.  As a convenience to our guests, we do offer a "Travel Protection Plan" plan through Aon; and most of our travel partners also sell plans to cover cancellations.
 
While we truly sympathize with your situation, we are unable to offer a credit for the cancellation fees assessed to your reservation. We hope you understand it would be inconsistent for us to make exceptions when other passengers with similar situations have cancelled and accepted these terms."

 

So at the end, we did not get our refund, nor did we have any insurance. (The travel agent never offered us one) and the credit card company does not refund cruises.

 

Interestingly "what goes around, come around"

In a span for 5 months, the company went from full arrogance to almost bankruptcy....... 

You can hide in a Caribbean country so that you cannot be sued but a the end, you could not get a bailout either

 

Hopefully one day, they will learn to be more human like the hotel or airlines industry, empathy goes a long way in building trust with your customers.

 

Karma is a *****......

You obviously don't "get it".

[graphicguy]

5 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

You obviously don't "get it".

Was thinking the exact same thing.  Not dismissing the OP's medical condition, as I had stents in an emergency situation.  They didn't wait three weeks, they didn't wait 3 days, they didn't even wait 3 hours.  If it's an emergency situation, they schedule the procedure as soon as possible.

 

That said, I don't think there's any "karma" involved here. All the cruislines will recover.  To wish them ill will is kind of a sucker punch, given how many people who work in the industry and have lost their employment.  I wouldn't feel particularly gleeful about the current situation.

[seaman11]

if its cancelled within 30 days i dont think you are entitled to any  refund (precovid)  no insurance on a nearly 4k trip?  not a good idea.  

[yankees111]

42 minutes ago, seaman11 said:

if its cancelled within 30 days i dont think you are entitled to any  refund (precovid)  no insurance on a nearly 4k trip?  not a good idea.  

First post of yours I agree with you 100 percent!