Norwegian Unresponsive to the Coronavirus in Asia

[Snowball]

I agree that NCL is doing a horrible job of handling issues related to the coronavirus outbreak.  I hope you are able to get the answers you seek and things work out in your favor. 
 

Here is a new story about a couple that is scheduled to be married on an NCL ship in just 3 weeks that had the rug pulled out when the policy for non-sailing wedding guests was changed to require they have passports. It is understandable that they need to protect their guests, but to refuse a full refund for the wedding is outrageous.  One of the brides is like a daughter to me and to see them work so hard to save for the wedding then be stuck with no venue and a partial refund is heartbreaking. 
 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/6abc.com/amp/5928770

[Fartlek]

I understand the frustration and feel sorry for those that were impacted.  Glad it was not me.  However my guess is there are probably only a few that will hold a grudge.  If you don’t want to cruise with NCL in the future that’s your choice.  For me and since I was not impacted I will continue to support Ncl as like their ships and I’ve never had a bad experience.  I’ve moved on from RCL and others and as of today I will continue to cruise with NCL.  Again I feel sorry for those that were impacted with Jade but i do believe this is a one off and very unusual circumstances.  Time to move on 

[debshomespun]

Very well said AstoriaPreppy.

 

We are on the 2/27 sailing and in "my NCL" our itinerary of 20 days says 'sea day' including our embarkment and debarking ports.  Upon calling NCL, were told it was a computer glitch.  How convenient.  NCL is scrambling to see what ports will accept the Jade on the repo cruise.  How long will they have a computer glitch??

 

IMHO, the Jade has been exposed over the last sailing by allowing guests that had been in Hong Kong to board on 2/6, then kicking them off 4 days later in Bangkok (105 of them) so they would be allowed entry to Vietnam.  They were still denied entry.  

 

NCL only cancelled the 2/17 sailing because there were not any ports that would accept them.

 

Guess they better hope Singapore will allow them to port on 2/17 so they can get all their passengers off and figure out what they can do for the 2/27 sailing.

 

In the meantime, we play the waiting game to see if the 2/27 cruise will sail and if so, with what port stops??

 

Most all the other cruise lines have cancelled Sailings in Asia for the next few weeks!

[Oceanexplorer47]

We are booked on the February 27 sailing of the Jade. For all the reasons previously mentioned regarding the cancellation of the February 17 sailing we are asking Norwegian to please cancel the February 27th sailing sooner rather than later. The situation in Singapore grows worse by the day and it’s hard to imagine what the situation will be 10 days from now. Certainly from what the Singapore government is saying there will be confirmed deaths and more widespread infections by that time. It’s hard to imagine Norwegian would expect anyone to travel to Singapore to go on this cruise in this situation and why it hasn’t been canceled st this time can only be due to lack of concern over people and desire for profits.

We’re both platinum guests on Norwegian as well as elite with several other lines  but are seriously considering not traveling with Norwegian in the future because they seem to be about the last cruise line to be canceling trips out if Singapore. These are unbelievable and unexpected circumstances made worse by Norwegians equally unbelievable response to the crisis.

[luv2kroooz]

Customer service/guest relations has never been a strong point for NCL. They've demonstrated that on numerous prior occassions and again in this most recent situation. Despite NCLs characterization of Vietnam being unreasonable, I am very thankful it closed up shop in the interest of public safety, and forced NCL to curtail its reckless behavior.

[luv2kroooz]

1 hour ago, MadManOfBethesda said:

 

Yeah, I posted about that earlier today on our roll call thread, as well as the response I received from NCL, which was basically that they knew nothing about it and it was probably an IT glitch (yeah, right).  

Wow, gives new perspective to the phrase "cruise to nowhere"!!

 

Probably seeing what they can cobble together so they don't have to issue any more refunds...maybe a Dubai roundtrip?

Edited February 14, 2020 by blcruising

[Isabella Benjamin]

Part of me feels like Norwegian didn't save for a rainy day the way other cruise lines did.  

[4774Papa]

Very sorry for this travel disaster.   Clearly NCL handled this poorly.  We have had cruises cancelled with Celebrity twice, both times before we booked airfare (like 9 months before the cruises).  They gave us options to transfer to 4-5 other cruises or get a full refund.   The cruises that we picked for the two cruises cancelled  (on two separate dates) were cheaper than the two we picked, but we didn't have to pay more for the same grade of cabin.  Wow, we even saved a few hundred dollars on both.  

 

Those two cruises were well ahead of the cruise, before air was booked.  Easier to handle, however, we had a Royal Caribbean cruise out of Sydney to New Zealand and were informed three days before the cruise that it was cancelled do to mechanical failure of an azerpod.   We got a full refund AND a credit equal to the refund to use on any cruise within a year.   The cruise we wanted was 15 months after, but they even allowed us to book that one.   We were very happy with the result.

 

I realize that with the coronavirus that things were a bit more complicated, but NCL should have handled it far more differently.  Changing the origin of the cruise from HK to Singapore was ridiculous.  

[Newfun4me]

That really does suck.  I'm sorry this has happened and can tell you that the way they are handling this has tarnished the image for me.  I can't say I won't cruise them again, but I'm definitely exploring other options for the future.  I hope they do the right thing and you aren't left holding a really expensive bag.  

[Da-Painter]

Sorry to hear of your experience. NCL has not handled this well, they are waiting til the last minute to make a decision, and leaving everyone in the dark, with unrealistic responses.

They are another big large corporation looking out for their own best interest financially, the days of corporations caring about their customers are long gone, too many examples of this.

Good luck.

[herdingdogmom]

To OP - We have been through the 100% refund process before with NCL.  Re: your questions:

1. Flight change/cancellation reimbursements are only done by submitting your receipts via their online form and creating a case number.  Also include both of your notice letters since one is for "reasonable" expenses for the change to Singapore and the other is the up to $300 for the cancellation of the cruise. This process can take a couple of months.  Harping on them will delay the process further.  NCL assigns one or two low level employees to this task.

2.  Refunds are in a week or maybe two, but are not lump sum.  It will be in the amounts of each payment made and will go back to the form of payment.  If you paid final payment to your travel agent, it could take longer as it goes to the travel agent first.

3.  The cruise next certificates will be credited back to your NCL account.  Once they are in your NCL account, you will need to sell them on ebay or the like to recoup any cash value.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14, 2020 by herdingdogmom

[littlelulu01]

Ncl seems to have some issues with communication and sometimes you wonder who If anyone is running the PR department but for the record, they seem to have been ahead of things safety wise in the past.  A few years ago things didn’t look good for Americans traveling in Turkey.  Ncl and dcl were the first two lines to pull out.  Ncl got some excellent replacement ports and port times.  Some lines ended up floating around in the med with a bunch of sea days.  I think Hal and ccl had to change Embarkation and debarkation ports last minute.  Pretty big uproar.  So it’s not always ncl.  So sorry for all the hassles with your cruise cancellation. 

[Cyberburn]

I just wanted to post a summary of my thoughts about NCL, and the complete debacle over the canceled 17th February 2020 Hong Kong to Singapore Jade sailing.
 
As a guest on this voyage, I can say that without a doubt, NCL handled this terribly. Not just bad, but "how do you continue to function as a brand?" bad.  
.
 
Let this be a warning to everyone considering an NCL cruise at this point, or at any point in the future: NCL did this to me, and they can do it to you too. You may not know when, and you may not know how, but as a corporate organization, they are actually, demonstrably bad people, who seem incapable of mustering up even a basic human level of compassion of understanding for their guests or passengers.
 
All I really wanted during this entire debacle was someone, anyone at NCL to say “you know, this really stinks, but we’re working on it because we appreciate you spending your time and money with us.”
 
Sadly, that’s not what we got.

WOW!! I’ve just had family go on NCL for the first time this past year and they had such a good experience that I’ve been considering trying it out. This completely changes everything.

This virus hasn’t put me off cruising at all; it has given me the opportunity to watch to see how the cruise lines react. I know that this is all very costly, but it’s just inexcusable what they put you and others through.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CazV]

6 hours ago, MadManOfBethesda said:

 

Yeah, I posted about that earlier today on our roll call thread, as well as the response I received from NCL, which was basically that they knew nothing about it and it was probably an IT glitch (yeah, right).  

There were other unrelated cruises showing the same thing yesterday. One I saw was an Encore sailing from NYC to Bermuda that said At Sea for the full itinerary, so I'd not read too much into it. 

 

Their IT sucks! 

[hamrag]

13 hours ago, Atgatsea said:

Thanks to everyone for standing up for their values and for what is right.  This never would have happened had we all not spoken up together but we forced them to acknowledge us and they blinked.  

 

Did you actually read the letter? Following extract is the reason it happened, nothing to do with you or 'everyone' standing up etc. 😉

Due to growing concerns regarding coronavirus in Asia, the ports we planned to visit in Vietnam are no longer open to accepting cruise ships. As omitting Vietnam would substantially change the planned itinerary with no viable replacement, we are forced to cancel the Norwegian Jade sailing

 

[Atgatsea]

1 hour ago, hamrag said:

 

Did you actually read the letter? Following extract is the reason it happened, nothing to do with you or 'everyone' standing up etc. 😉

Due to growing concerns regarding coronavirus in Asia, the ports we planned to visit in Vietnam are no longer open to accepting cruise ships. As omitting Vietnam would substantially change the planned itinerary with no viable replacement, we are forced to cancel the Norwegian Jade sailing

I did read it...with both eyes open.  I noticed how they cite the closure of Vietnam as a significant change.  That’s it?  Their statement says a lot but what it says much more in what is not said. Why would 1 change necessitate a cancellation?  Oh...that’s right...this was the second major change already.  The letter doesn’t mention having already altered the itinerary when changed the embarkation port from Hong Kong to Singapore.  The letter doesn’t mention the social media backlash they are receiving outside of Cruise Critic which includes numerous bad news stories.   It also doesn’t mention the current condition of the ship and people currently sailing on it or whether the ship will be able to sail on the 17th.  Did they say anything about why the ship was refused by Vietnam other than they are being unreasonable?  Blame others and divert.  They know their actions are being scrutinized by cruisers and media outlets and their lawyers are telling them to say as little as possible.  You trust their assessment of Vietnam being unreasonable?  Plus, the Jade has not come back to port yet and when it does, expect some not-so-glowing stories.  This letter is fluff and a weak attempt to control the narrative before the Jade docks, social media goes wild, and NCL is no longer able to control the narrative.  I saw a lot more going on than the four corners of the letter when I read it with both eyes open 😃, not just one. 😉

Edited February 14, 2020 by Atgatsea

[Portybelly]

Yeah, Cheers NCL! Thanks for cancelling the cruise completely, rather than just giving the 'cancel free of charge' option allowing all the worriers to get their cash back and let the rest of us with a sense of perspective who accept the small risks, head to Thailand or wherever and enjoy the ship and whatever exotic places we end up🤦😤. Thanks for giving in to the pitchforks and torches brigade...

[mugtech]

13 minutes ago, Portybelly said:

Yeah, Cheers NCL! Thanks for cancelling the cruise completely, rather than just giving the 'cancel free of charge' option allowing all the worriers to get their cash back and let the rest of us with a sense of perspective who accept the small risks, head to Thailand or wherever and enjoy the ship and whatever exotic places we end up🤦😤. Thanks for giving in to the pitchforks and torches brigade...

Too bad, could have spent a 10 day cruise all in Thailand, a once in a lifetime chance ruined.

[MadManOfBethesda]

3 hours ago, Portybelly said:

Yeah, Cheers NCL! Thanks for cancelling the cruise completely, rather than just giving the 'cancel free of charge' option allowing all the worriers to get their cash back and let the rest of us with a sense of perspective who accept the small risks, head to Thailand or wherever and enjoy the ship and whatever exotic places we end up🤦😤. Thanks for giving in to the pitchforks and torches brigade...

There's several problems with your "solution."

 

1. There's no guarantee that Singapore will continue to accept cruise ships given that more coronavirus cases are turning up there and the fact that other countries have now decided against accepting cruise ship passengers.

 

2. There's no guarantee that Thailand will continue to accept cruise ship passengers.

 

3. More importantly, people on the Feb. 17th cruise didn't sign up and pay for a 10-day cruise of Thailand. As you know, they and you originally signed up for a cruise of several countries embarking from Hong Kong and ending in Singapore.  That was subsequently changed to a r/t cruise to Thailand and Vietnam from Singapore before finally having to be cancelled when Vietnam denied entry.

 

4. The current Feb. 6th cruise is now doing your 10-day cruise of Thailand. Unfortunately, that is actually 7 sea days and two port days in Thailand before returning to Singapore and they are up in arms about that fact.  And I don't blame them one bit.  Do you?

 

5. Finally, do you really believe that if NCL announced that the Feb 17th cruise was now going to consist of 7 sea days and 2 port days in Thailand, and that passengers had a choice of canceling for a full refund or continuing with that cruise as you would like to do, that they'd have many passengers who agree with you and would continue on with the cruise?  I surely don't. Maybe there'd be some people who had scheduled B2B cruises and had 10 days to kill, but that would be about it. It would cost NCL more money to operate such a cruise than they'd receive in revenue from the limited number of passengers on board.

[robsmom]

12 hours ago, Snowball said:

I agree that NCL is doing a horrible job of handling issues related to the coronavirus outbreak.  I hope you are able to get the answers you seek and things work out in your favor. 
 

Here is a new story about a couple that is scheduled to be married on an NCL ship in just 3 weeks that had the rug pulled out when the policy for non-sailing wedding guests was changed to require they have passports. It is understandable that they need to protect their guests, but to refuse a full refund for the wedding is outrageous.  One of the brides is like a daughter to me and to see them work so hard to save for the wedding then be stuck with no venue and a partial refund is heartbreaking. 
 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/6abc.com/amp/5928770

What makes no sense is that I do not see where NCL says all passengers cruising need a passport.   Are we about to hear more stories as people get turned away from their cruises.  We have passports, and yes I know it is “best” to have one.    As of now, however, don’t the rules still allow Caribbean cruises without one? 

[MoniMommy]

9 minutes ago, robsmom said:

What makes no sense is that I do not see where NCL says all passengers cruising need a passport.   Are we about to hear more stories as people get turned away from their cruises.  We have passports, and yes I know it is “best” to have one.    As of now, however, don’t the rules still allow Caribbean cruises without one? 

NCL's greed has no end. Seems like they will announce a new policy that passports are required for closed loop cruises. Many people near their sailing date will have to get an expedited passport which is costly or loose their money. Even with insurance, not having a passport will not be covered.

[Snowball]

18 minutes ago, robsmom said:

What makes no sense is that I do not see where NCL says all passengers cruising need a passport.   Are we about to hear more stories as people get turned away from their cruises.  We have passports, and yes I know it is “best” to have one.    As of now, however, don’t the rules still allow Caribbean cruises without one? 

 

So far, NCL is not requiring sailing guests to have a passport.  What they changed is to require non-sailing guests (guests who were coming onboard an NCL ship [the NCL Gem out of NY in those case] just for the wedding and leaving before the ship sails) to have a passport.  To require passports for non-sailing guests but not require it for sailing guests makes absolutely no sense to me.  

 

I understand the desire to protect guests.  What I don't understand is why NCL is refusing to provide a full refund for the wedding charges, since their change in policy is what has made having the wedding onboard the ship untenable given the fact that most of the non-sailing guests do not have a passport.  I guess NCL wants them to tell grandma that it's her own fault that she can't come to the wedding.  

[PhilBenz]

Wait, I don't understand. How can you hope to travel to any foreign country without a passport? Seems like a must-have item to me. Guests who are just boarding for the day to attend a wedding are a different story. If NCL is springing a last-minute regulation like that without prior notice, that's another strike against them, IMHO.

 

Thanks again to everyone here for supporting our struggle against irresponsible NCL decisions regarding the 17 Feb sailing. I hope those on the 27 Feb sailing get a similar offer.

 

FWIW, the Miami Sun-Sentinel posted this article after I spoke to a journalist there.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-bz-coronavirus-spawns-dilemma-for-planned-asia-cruisers-20200213-oh4medemiva2hjsn74homcr4vq-story.html

 

Sadly, I can't read it because their websites detects my location in France. Perhaps someone could check if they got the story right.

[JCopp]

20 minutes ago, PhilBenz said:

Wait, I don't understand. How can you hope to travel to any foreign country without a passport? Seems like a must-have item to me. Guests who are just boarding for the day to attend a wedding are a different story. If NCL is springing a last-minute regulation like that without prior notice, that's another strike against them, IMHO.

 

Thanks again to everyone here for supporting our struggle against irresponsible NCL decisions regarding the 17 Feb sailing. I hope those on the 27 Feb sailing get a similar offer.

 

FWIW, the Miami Sun-Sentinel posted this article after I spoke to a journalist there.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/business/fl-bz-coronavirus-spawns-dilemma-for-planned-asia-cruisers-20200213-oh4medemiva2hjsn74homcr4vq-story.html

 

Sadly, I can't read it because their websites detects my location in France. Perhaps someone could check if they got the story right.

[Atgatsea]

7 hours ago, hamrag said:

 

Did you actually read the letter? Following extract is the reason it happened, nothing to do with you or 'everyone' standing up etc. 😉

Due to growing concerns regarding coronavirus in Asia, the ports we planned to visit in Vietnam are no longer open to accepting cruise ships. As omitting Vietnam would substantially change the planned itinerary with no viable replacement, we are forced to cancel the Norwegian Jade sailing

 

Did you read the article? 😉