NCL - NEVER AGAIN!!!

[Bigcatmd]

I had booked what would have been my third NCL cruise for 4/8/2020 on the Pearl going to the Panama Canal over five months ago.

Of course it was cancelled, I certainly understand that. I appreciated their offer of future cruise credits with the 25% plus 20% deal.  After looking at the Panama Canal

trip scheduled in November it would have been $100s more! Not a bargain. 

I decided I wanted my original money back.

Had to wait till today to fill out the form.

The website said it will take them 90 days to return my money. Why? They have had it for over 5 months. I want it back now. 

I called their customer service line this morning and was on hold for 25 minutes before I hung up. Called back and said I wanted to book a new cruise, got a representative immediately. I explained that I wanted my money back sooner than 90 days and she hung up.

NEVER AGAIN WILL I USE NCL FOR ANYTHING!!!

[mjkacmom]

Hmm, I wonder why it will take so long, it’s not like there is disaster going on in our world right now, I mean, they must be used to cancelling all of their cruises and refunding tens of thousands of customers at once.

[G-DawgMN]

34 minutes ago, Bigcatmd said:

I had booked what would have been my third NCL cruise for 4/8/2020 on the Pearl going to the Panama Canal over five months ago.

Of course it was cancelled, I certainly understand that. I appreciated their offer of future cruise credits with the 25% plus 20% deal.  After looking at the Panama Canal

trip scheduled in November it would have been $100s more! Not a bargain. 

I decided I wanted my original money back.

Had to wait till today to fill out the form.

The website said it will take them 90 days to return my money. Why? They have had it for over 5 months. I want it back now. 

I called their customer service line this morning and was on hold for 25 minutes before I hung up. Called back and said I wanted to book a new cruise, got a representative immediately. I explained that I wanted my money back sooner than 90 days and she hung up.

NEVER AGAIN WILL I USE NCL FOR ANYTHING!!!

 

  Since you're never going to use NCL again why not dispute the charge with your credit card? NCL might ban you, but why would you care.

  NCL has cancelled cruises for thousands of people, the process of getting everyone refunds is very labor intensive, plus it's crunching their cash flow....so if people push, it could drive NCL into bankruptcy and you'll never get your money back.

 

 

[fshagan]

In normal times it takes about six weeks for a refund to wind it's way through the NCL system, so I'm not surprised that in these tumultuous times they are padding the time required. I think you can search this forum to see people who wait for four or five months for their refunds that fall into the "unusual" category, even in the past before the government shut them down. There was compensation for the Pride of America not being ready after her drydock that, if I recall, took NCL something like 8 months.

 

Refunds after five months may have to be by a check, rather than back to the credit card. That depends on your card issuer, not NCL. They would much rather refund back to the credit card as that is always easier than cutting a physical check. I think most card issuers have a six month limit.

 

I understand your frustration, and anger. You probably won't be successful at shortening that three month time frame because there's a lot of you out there dealing with this same issue.

[FranknBeans]

42 minutes ago, Bigcatmd said:

I had booked what would have been my third NCL cruise for 4/8/2020 on the Pearl going to the Panama Canal over five months ago.

Of course it was cancelled, I certainly understand that. I appreciated their offer of future cruise credits with the 25% plus 20% deal.  After looking at the Panama Canal

trip scheduled in November it would have been $100s more! Not a bargain. 

I decided I wanted my original money back.

Had to wait till today to fill out the form.

The website said it will take them 90 days to return my money. Why? They have had it for over 5 months. I want it back now. 

I called their customer service line this morning and was on hold for 25 minutes before I hung up. Called back and said I wanted to book a new cruise, got a representative immediately. I explained that I wanted my money back sooner than 90 days and she hung up.

NEVER AGAIN WILL I USE NCL FOR ANYTHING!!!

 

Sounds likes you should not have credit cards if that desperate for your money. Most here are ok with the process. Also the money your lossing in interest is gonna even get you a coffee at Mc.

[NLH Arizona]

I certainly hope you told them you would never cruise with them again, so they can put your refund request at the top of the pile.

[ColeThornton]

Seems like everyone wants everything right now like there isn't another million people with cruises booked who are trying to get their issue resolved.

 

I'm waiting to get a refund from an online TA/American Airlines and was told to wait at least thirty days (if I'm lucky).   Do people not realize the enormity of what is going on right now?

 

SMH.

[mnsweeps]

2 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

Seems like everyone wants everything right now like there isn't another million people with cruises booked who are trying to get their issue resolved.

 

I'm waiting to get a refund from an online TA/American Airlines and was told to wait at least thirty days (if I'm lucky).   Do people not realize the enormity of what is going on right now?

 

SMH.

 

 

If NCL website can book 1000s of cruise booking every single day, then they should be able to process refunds in 1000s everyday. I work for a travel company myself and I know what I am talking about.

Edited March 23, 2020 by mnsweeps

[JimR24]

1 minute ago, ColeThornton said:

Seems like everyone wants everything right now like there isn't another million people with cruises booked who are trying to get their issue resolved.

 

I'm waiting to get a refund from an online TA/American Airlines and was told to wait at least thirty days (if I'm lucky).   Do people not realize the enormity of what is going on right now?

 

SMH.

They may but I don't think they care.  

[beerman2]

9 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

Seems like everyone wants everything right now like there isn't another million people with cruises booked who are trying to get their issue resolved.

 

I'm waiting to get a refund from an online TA/American Airlines and was told to wait at least thirty days (if I'm lucky).   Do people not realize the enormity of what is going on right now?

 

SMH.

Nope, it's the me first mentality, patience has taken a hike!

[ColeThornton]

7 minutes ago, mnsweeps said:

 

 

 I work for a travel company myself and I know what I am talking about.

 

 

Then you as a travel professional should know that the current global emergency is unprecedented in modern times and things have no other course than to play out as it may.

 

 

[brookie848]

We had to cancel our last cruise (for a reason unrelated to the current situation). Our flights were booked on Southwest and when we explained the situation to them, they refunded our money rather than give us a credit. We DID NOT receive the refund immediately. It took about 4-6 weeks for it to appear on our credit card statement.

[mnsweeps]

16 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

 

Then you as a travel professional should know that the current global emergency is unprecedented in modern times and things have no other course than to play out as it may.

 

 

Yes. But crediting back to credit card has nothing to do with it. Its automated and is processed by backend. Pandemic or not, the credit back transactions are not done manually and shouldn't be.

[njhorseman]

13 minutes ago, mnsweeps said:

Yes. But crediting back to credit card has nothing to do with it. Its automated and is processed by backend. Pandemic or not, the credit back transactions are not done manually and shouldn't be.

You're wrong. It's not automatic. In this situation a form has to be completed in order to process the refund and all those forms will require manual input into their system: https://www.ncl.com/case-submission/peace-of-mind . 

 

There are two different types of refunds possible for these cancellations...future cruise credit or cash . Future cruise credits are being done automatically. Cash refunds require manual input.

 

[schmoopie17]

59 minutes ago, Bigcatmd said:

 

Thank you for your advice about disputing the charges with my credit card.

I just did that and my account will be credited within the next 7 days. 

 

 

Just wondering...what was your dispute based on that would prompt the credit card company to suddenly get you a refund?

Do you just call them and say NCL is bad and I want my money back?

 

In my case, our cruise was charged on my NCL credit card, so somehow I doubt they will accommodate my request.

[Liljo22]

1 minute ago, njhorseman said:

Really?

How would they be able to distinguish which bookings were to receive the cash refund and which the FCC if the reservation holder did not tell them... and that has to be in writing in order to prevent anyone from disputing what the cruise line did with their reservation. And obviously someone has to input that decision into the system...a simple but totally manual process.

 

I have no idea what the background you claim to have in the travel industry is, but I owned a travel agency for a number of years, and in my corporate days I spent a couple of years on management rotation in charge of a major computer system at an insurance industry giant, so I think I have a pretty good idea of what's going on.

 

Agreed.  Anyone can fill out the refund form so it can not be automatic.  They are going to have to confirm the refund is valid before its processed.  It also says within 90 days for the refund which mean the majority people people will see the refund a lot sooner.  Carnival is also saying 90 days.  Royal says 30 days which means its also a manual process and not automatic as the PP suggests.  

[deliver42]

You called and hung up after 25 minutes, and you blame NCL? Do you have any idea of how many calls are being handled by everyone in the travel industry? Wake up and smell the roses, OP. You are not special.

[Ptroxx]

1 hour ago, schmoopie17 said:

 

 

In my case, our cruise was charged on my NCL credit card, so somehow I doubt they will accommodate my request.

why wouldn’t NCl credit card that is a Bank of America account not grant a charge back?   
It’s not like BOA is run by NCL.   ??  

Edited March 23, 2020 by Ptroxx

[julig22]

3 hours ago, KSSS2013 said:

 

  Since you're never going to use NCL again why not dispute the charge with your credit card? NCL might ban you, but why would you care.

  NCL has cancelled cruises for thousands of people, the process of getting everyone refunds is very labor intensive, plus it's crunching their cash flow....so if people push, it could drive NCL into bankruptcy and you'll never get your money back.

 

 

Great advice.  The more people who try to circumvent the system by requesting a chargeback the longer the process will take.  Don't you think that part of the process is to verify the validity of each and every claim - so a chargback will probably put your claim to the bottom of the pile.  Plus surprise! a month from now that credit will disappear from your CC account and you will have to pay it back if you've spent it.

 

I believe NCL is savy enough to know that a certain % will take this approach.  Fraudulent claims can void your claim for a cash refund.  And since NCL has the option of banning anyone who makes such a claim, any FCC that the person might have is unusable.  It's something called friendly fraud and NCL could be the big winner.

 

https://chargebacks911.com/filing-false-credit-card-dispute/

 

[ellasmomanddad]

The enormity of the situation is nothing compared to the massive amount of refunds a retailer gives an hour never mind daily. You get credited within a couple days if not hours. Big businesses use the same systems as your local flower shop just with a higher capacity.  Everything with the cruise lines is digital and modern they could issue the refund  instantly if they wanted too. The reason they don’t is because of the interest there collecting,  not cash flow they would pay out. In 1 day the amount of interest they collect covers all expenses most assume there losing.  It’s greed and  it’s business. It’s also not about filling out forms that’s just a delay tactic. If you just think about the process of booking especially if your a millennial you turn on your computer or phone you check a couple boxes fill out a few forms and within minutes you get confirmation. The reverse process is just as easy. Airlines, Hotels, and amusement parks figure it out and have this stuff figured out and streamlined it thru there websites. Cruise lines build ships with rollercoasters, go karts, and everything else you could imagine including some of the most advanced computer technology that drives itself if needed but can’t figure out how to return money in a reasonable manner? 

[Ptroxx]

2 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Great advice.  The more people who try to circumvent the system by requesting a chargeback the longer the process will take.  Don't you think that part of the process is to verify the validity of each and every claim - so a chargback will probably put your claim to the bottom of the pile.  Plus surprise! a month from now that credit will disappear from your CC account and you will have to pay it back if you've spent it.

 

I believe NCL is savy enough to know that a certain % will take this approach.  Fraudulent claims can void your claim for a cash refund.  And since NCL has the option of banning anyone who makes such a claim, any FCC that the person might have is unusable.  It's something called friendly fraud and NCL could be the big winner.

 

https://chargebacks911.com/filing-false-credit-card-dispute/

 

It wouldn’t be a fraudulent claim.  You didn’t receive a service or product??    

[ellasmomanddad]

We’re cruising with 11 people over 4th of July. I can afford to wait the timeline they give my sister can’t. That timeline means if this clears up her kids still don’t get a vacation this year. That’s the problem others don’t understand.

[julig22]

Just now, Ptroxx said:

It wouldn’t be a fraudulent claim.  You didn’t receive a service or product??    

It is fraudulent because you are circumventing the refund process.  NCL has offered you the option of a refund or FCC for cruises they cancelled.

[ellasmomanddad]

But there options cost you between 16% and 22%  Interest on your cc payment a month until you get your refund so not fraud consumer protection.

[mnsweeps]

13 minutes ago, Ptroxx said:

It wouldn’t be a fraudulent claim.  You didn’t receive a service or product??    

Right. A service was to be provided but NCL did not. I already confirmed this with AMEX and Chase Visa and they encouraged me to file disputes which I did.