Cancelled Norwegian cruise refund

[grammyandahhpoo]

We just found out that our Norwegian Cruise has been cancelled; it was to start May 1st.   We do not want to take advantage of their offer to get a 125% refund in the way of a future cruise thru 2021 because the cruise we were to go on is not offered again AND we have already taken cruises with Norwegian to places that are on their future cruise list.  We want to get a refund via original payment but Norwegian says we "would get less than there 125% offer towards another cruise"    Has anyone else experienced this type of situation with Norwegian or any other cruise line?   How much do you actually get back?   We WANT our complete monetary refund.   Thank for your help!!

 

 

Edited April 2, 2020 by Host Kat
Thread moved to a more correct forum.

[CruiserBruce]

Check on the NCL board for experiences. Each cruise line is doing different things, so experiences on other cruise lines probably aren't relevant. 

[Flatbush Flyer]

30 minutes ago, grammyandahhpoo said:

We just found out that our Norwegian Cruise has been cancelled; it was to start May 1st.   We do not want to take advantage of their offer to get a 125% refund in the way of a future cruise thru 2021 because the cruise we were to go on is not offered again AND we have already taken cruises with Norwegian to places that are on their future cruise list.  We want to get a refund via original payment but Norwegian says we "would get less than there 125% offer towards another cruise"    Has anyone else experienced this type of situation with Norwegian or any other cruise line?   How much do you actually get back?   We WANT our complete monetary refund.   Thank for your help!!

Your "complete" REFUND would be 100% of the cruise fare PAID. The 125% FCC is an incentive deal that allows a cruise line to keep its cash and give you a bit more value in return albeit with the condition that you postpone your trip to a date within the time span specified. 

In reality, this is not an uncommon practice in the cruise industry.

 

Earlier (e.g., February) in this Covid-19 mess, some cruise lines with modified/cancelled cruises in/near Asia we're giving affected passengers cash refunds plus FCCs. (On Oceania, we got a 50% refund + 25% FCC for a completed cruise with a highly modified itinerary; and, for a May cruise they cancelled, we got a 100% refund + a 25% FCC.

 

But, that was then and this is now. What was hoped to be a few cancellations is now all cancellations. And you should read NCL's T&Cs which will probably say that all they have agreed to provide you when they cancel is 100% of the cruise fare paid.

Edited April 1, 2020 by Flatbush Flyer

[grammyandahhpoo]

59 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Check on the NCL board for experiences. Each cruise line is doing different things, so experiences on other cruise lines probably aren't relevant. 

I wasn't able to find anything on the NCL board about this yet, but will keep an eye out on that board.   Thanks for your response.  

[njhorseman]

3 minutes ago, grammyandahhpoo said:

I wasn't able to find anything on the NCL board about this yet, but will keep an eye out on that board.   Thanks for your response.  

There's an explanation right on the NCL website. If you looked at the banner right on the top of the ncl.com homepage and clicked on it you would be shown where to find the information:

 

https://www.ncl.com/why-cruise-norwegian/book-with-confidence#suspendedsailings

 

Information onSUSPENDED SAILINGS

Updated 03/30/2020    Your safety is our #1 priority—both on and off our ships. Due to the current global environment, we are extending the suspension of all sailings across our fleet through May 10, 2020 and plan to relaunch cruise operations with embarkations beginning May 11, 2020. We are thinking of each and every one of you, and together we will return to our favorite place — the ocean, stronger than ever.

Guests who were booked on suspended cruises will automatically receive a 125% or 150% refund of their cruise fare in the form of a Future Cruise Credit which can be applied towards any Norwegian Cruise Line voyage through December 31, 2022. Future Cruise Credits will be applied to your account by April 1, 2020.

EMBARKATION DATES	FUTURE CRUISE CREDIT
March 13 to March 17, 2020	150% of cruise fare
March 18 to May 10, 2020	125% of cruise fare

We’re also giving an additional 20% discount when you book by April 14, 2020 using your Future Cruise Credit on cruises embarking July 1, 2020 - December 31, 2022! This discount will be automatically applied when you book online.

Guests who prefer to not take advantage of a future cruise credit can elect to receive a lesser refund to the original form of payment 90 days after submitting the Refund Form below. Refund requests must be submitted by April 27, 2020 for all suspended sailings.

Please note that if your suspended sailing was scheduled to embark between April 12 - May 10, 2020, you will be able to request your refund through this form starting April 13, 2020.

Refund Form

 

[grammyandahhpoo]

njhorseman;  thanks for that link unfortunately it still doesn't tell me if we will get back 100% of our paid in full payment, it only says we "receive a lesser refund to the original FORM of payment..."     I will continue to research this.  

[njhorseman]

8 minutes ago, grammyandahhpoo said:

njhorseman;  thanks for that link unfortunately it still doesn't tell me if we will get back 100% of our paid in full payment, it only says we "receive a lesser refund to the original FORM of payment..."     I will continue to research this.  

"Lesser refund" means 100% of what you paid. By law if the cruise is cancelled you're entitled to a 100% refund.

 

Their "lesser refund" wording is a way to try to convince you to take the FCC instead. Obviously the cruise lines are bleeding cash and they'd rather have you take the FCC with a 25% "bonus" over the fare you paid.

Edited April 1, 2020 by njhorseman

[leaveitallbehind]

1 hour ago, grammyandahhpoo said:

njhorseman;  thanks for that link unfortunately it still doesn't tell me if we will get back 100% of our paid in full payment, it only says we "receive a lesser refund to the original FORM of payment..."     I will continue to research this.  

 

If you booked through a travel agent, contact them and they will handle this for you with the cruise line.  If you booked direct, then CALL the cruise line and discuss with a representative there for clarification.  Don't rely only on the website and emails or texts.

 

What they mean by a refund to the original form of payment is that it is credited back to the credit card used to pay for it.

 

If they are offering a choice of either the 125% future cruise credit -or- a 100% refund, then you will either get 100% of what you paid credited back to your credit card -or- the 125% FCC.  Since you don't want the FCC tell your agent or the cruise line rep that you want the refund instead and it will be issued.

 

Understand that most of the cruise lines will take several weeks to actually process the refund - some longer.  And given the current level of cancellation and rescheduling activity taking place whatever their normal refund policy time frame is may be extended.

[njhorseman]

4 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

 

If you booked through a travel agent, contact them and they will handle this for you with the cruise line.  If you booked direct, then CALL the cruise line and discuss with a representative there for clarification.  Don't rely only on the website and emails or texts.

 

What they mean by a refund to the original form of payment is that it is credited back to the credit card used to pay for it.

 

If they are offering a choice of either the 125% future cruise credit -or- a 100% refund, then you will either get 100% of what you paid credited back to your credit card -or- the 125% FCC.  Since you don't want the FCC tell your agent or the cruise line rep that you want the refund instead and it will be issued.

 

Understand that most of the cruise lines will take several weeks to actually process the refund - some longer.  And given the current level of cancellation and rescheduling activity taking place whatever their normal refund policy time frame is may be extended.

For NCL there's a form on the website that the passenger has to complete in order to get the cash refund. There's a link to it at the bottom of the NCL website material I provided in post#5 of this thread (my first post on the thread).

 

You submit the filled in form directly to NCL . The last thing you need or want to do is to sit on hold forever waiting to talk to an already overburdened travel agent or cruise line rep. the cruise line has provided a simple automated way to do it.

[grammyandahhpoo]

njhorseman we definitely don’t want to have to wait around too long for our money back.  The email NCL sent us Monday night said the form wouldn’t be available until April 13th and when I looked on that link you posted I I didn’t see it BUT I will look again.  Thanks again for your help.     B.    

[njhorseman]

2 minutes ago, grammyandahhpoo said:

njhorseman we definitely don’t want to have to wait around too long for our money back.  The email NCL sent us Monday night said the form wouldn’t be available until April 13th and when I looked on that link you posted I I didn’t see it BUT I will look again.  Thanks again for your help.     B.    

The form itself doesn't say that because it's the same form they've been using for earlier cruises that were cancelled. But the instructions right about the link to the form that I gave in my first post say:

Please note that if your suspended sailing was scheduled to embark between April 12 - May 10, 2020, you will be able to request your refund through this form starting April 13, 2020.

[grammyandahhpoo]

Yep, just saw that😡.  

[leaveitallbehind]

2 hours ago, njhorseman said:

For NCL there's a form on the website that the passenger has to complete in order to get the cash refund. There's a link to it at the bottom of the NCL website material I provided in post#5 of this thread (my first post on the thread).

 

You submit the filled in form directly to NCL . The last thing you need or want to do is to sit on hold forever waiting to talk to an already overburdened travel agent or cruise line rep. the cruise line has provided a simple automated way to do it.

 

Good update and sorry if I missed that previously. Also good advice.  I was just trying to offer an alternative in dealing with a human if other methods were not working.

 

It may still take time, however, for the refund to actually be posted to the credit card.  

 

Thanks again for clarifying.

Edited April 1, 2020 by leaveitallbehind