NCL Refused Meaningful Extension of CruiseNext Certificates

[Richie from Atlanta]

NCL should be ashamed for not extending the Cruise Next certificate program for at least two years due to COVID. I am embarrassed to say that as a travel agent we lost over $2,000 in certificates due to the two-year delay caused by COVID. Our certificates expired the end of November 2021 and NCL thinks it was generous in extending them one month - but we were required to sail before the end of 2022. Well as many cruises as I have been on, I still wasn't prepared to take six 7-night cruises in 2022. Certainly not at my age.

 

I would never recommend the purchase of NCL's Cruise Next certificates. Unlike Princess cruise - which refunds the money if not used - NCL just keeps the money. As bad a deal as that is they also took action to make the Cruise Next certificates useless by introducing the Next Cruise program which allowed you to take advantage of the same deal when you are ready to book - before you make your reservation.

 

NCL's handling of the Cruise Next and Next Cruise programs has really soured me on NCL. It will take years for me to get over that.

 

And one more thing, have you noticed how much the prices have jumped? All five for FREE! That is a joke. The people who took the 125% FCC are now  paying a $1,000 or more -  more than the original cruise even after getting the 125% FCC.

 

There were some cruise lines that handled the response to COVID in a manner designed to keep customers long-term. NCL was one of the cruise lines that didn't. Fortunately, they have a lot of great competition to choose from. It will be some time before I take another NCL cruise or recommend NCL - maybe never again.

[Lionkingrichard]

5 minutes ago, Richie from Atlanta said:

NCL should be ashamed for not extending the Cruise Next certificate program for at least two years due to COVID. I am embarrassed to say that as a travel agent we lost over $2,000 in certificates due to the two-year delay caused by COVID. Our certificates expired the end of November 2021 and NCL thinks it was generous in extending them one month - but we were required to sail before the end of 2022. Well as many cruises as I have been on, I still wasn't prepared to take six 7-night cruises in 2022. Certainly not at my age.

 

I would never recommend the purchase of NCL's Cruise Next certificates. Unlike Princess cruise - which refunds the money if not used - NCL just keeps the money. As bad a deal as that is they also took action to make the Cruise Next certificates useless by introducing the Next Cruise program which allowed you to take advantage of the same deal when you are ready to book - before you make your reservation.

 

NCL's handling of the Cruise Next and Next Cruise programs has really soured me on NCL. It will take years for me to get over that.

 

And one more thing, have you noticed how much the prices have jumped? All five for FREE! That is a joke. The people who took the 125% FCC are now  paying a $1,000 or more -  more than the original cruise even after getting the 125% FCC.

 

There were some cruise lines that handled the response to COVID in a manner designed to keep customers long-term. NCL was one of the cruise lines that didn't. Fortunately, they have a lot of great competition to choose from. It will be some time before I take another NCL cruise or recommend NCL - maybe never again.

You bought 12 certificates 4 years ago on the same cruise?

[vadersprincess12]

47 minutes ago, Richie from Atlanta said:

NCL should be ashamed for not extending the Cruise Next certificate program for at least two years due to COVID. I am embarrassed to say that as a travel agent we lost over $2,000 in certificates due to the two-year delay caused by COVID. Our certificates expired the end of November 2021 and NCL thinks it was generous in extending them one month - but we were required to sail before the end of 2022. Well as many cruises as I have been on, I still wasn't prepared to take six 7-night cruises in 2022. Certainly not at my age.

 

I would never recommend the purchase of NCL's Cruise Next certificates. Unlike Princess cruise - which refunds the money if not used - NCL just keeps the money. As bad a deal as that is they also took action to make the Cruise Next certificates useless by introducing the Next Cruise program which allowed you to take advantage of the same deal when you are ready to book - before you make your reservation.

 

NCL's handling of the Cruise Next and Next Cruise programs has really soured me on NCL. It will take years for me to get over that.

 

And one more thing, have you noticed how much the prices have jumped? All five for FREE! That is a joke. The people who took the 125% FCC are now  paying a $1,000 or more -  more than the original cruise even after getting the 125% FCC.

 

There were some cruise lines that handled the response to COVID in a manner designed to keep customers long-term. NCL was one of the cruise lines that didn't. Fortunately, they have a lot of great competition to choose from. It will be some time before I take another NCL cruise or recommend NCL - maybe never again.

We didn't have to deal with Cruise Next but had a hell of a time getting FCCs put back into our accounts.  Totally kept getting the run around and different answers from different supervisors.  I'll tell my story to anyone who will listen because after our cruise in March (so as to not lose our money) we'll never sail with NCL again.  Wrote a letter to the CEO and did get an answer but it was the day after the credits finally appeared and it was a typical b/s answer.

 

When I did rebook, the same cruise was over $700 more even using the 25% FCC that we got for the original cancellation by NCL.  That is highway robbery.  I booked a different itinerary because we are not putting out any more money and you'd better believe we'll spend every cent of FCC on excursions, etc. so that there is nothing left in the accounts.  THEN, I'm cancelling our Latitudes accounts.

[BermudaBound2014]

I think the point is that other cruise lines made the transaction easier. Celebrity cancelled a sailing I had booked  with a nextcruise and they refunded the entire amount I paid to the credit card on file without me even asking. Out of the blue I had a refund on my CC. The process hasn't been nearly as smooth with my NCL nextcruise certificates. 

[FlGoodShips]

2 hours ago, Richie from Atlanta said:

NCL should be ashamed for not extending the Cruise Next certificate program for at least two years due to COVID. I am embarrassed to say that as a travel agent we lost over $2,000 in certificates due to the two-year delay caused by COVID. Our certificates expired the end of November 2021 and NCL thinks it was generous in extending them one month - but we were required to sail before the end of 2022. Well as many cruises as I have been on, I still wasn't prepared to take six 7-night cruises in 2022. Certainly not at my age.

 

I would never recommend the purchase of NCL's Cruise Next certificates. Unlike Princess cruise - which refunds the money if not used - NCL just keeps the money. As bad a deal as that is they also took action to make the Cruise Next certificates useless by introducing the Next Cruise program which allowed you to take advantage of the same deal when you are ready to book - before you make your reservation.

 

NCL's handling of the Cruise Next and Next Cruise programs has really soured me on NCL. It will take years for me to get over that.

 

And one more thing, have you noticed how much the prices have jumped? All five for FREE! That is a joke. The people who took the 125% FCC are now  paying a $1,000 or more -  more than the original cruise even after getting the 125% FCC.

 

There were some cruise lines that handled the response to COVID in a manner designed to keep customers long-term. NCL was one of the cruise lines that didn't. Fortunately, they have a lot of great competition to choose from. It will be some time before I take another NCL cruise or recommend NCL - maybe never again.

You had 4 years to use them. Just because you don't want to cruise in 2022, thats not NCL's fault.

So....either use them, give them to someone or sell them. Sorry

[itsnotjustme]

My Cruise Next certificates were extended to Sep 2025.  We purchased them in Sep 2019 on our last cruise.

 

We have applied them to three different cruises, two cancelled by NCL, and one that we had to cancel due to a positive covid diagnosis days before sail date.

[WYB!]

I’m very happy with the NCL’s cruise next certificates program.

 

Recently All of my cruise next certificates have also been extended by 2 years but I also typically only buy 2 or 3 at a time.

 

stay positive and safe travels,

 

- WYB

Edited February 13, 2022 by WYB!

[sullyd]

4 hours ago, Richie from Atlanta said:

NCL should be ashamed for not extending the Cruise Next certificate program for at least two years due to COVID. I am embarrassed to say that as a travel agent we lost over $2,000 in certificates due to the two-year delay caused by COVID. Our certificates expired the end of November 2021 and NCL thinks it was generous in extending them one month - but we were required to sail before the end of 2022. Well as many cruises as I have been on, I still wasn't prepared to take six 7-night cruises in 2022. Certainly not at my age.

 

I would never recommend the purchase of NCL's Cruise Next certificates. Unlike Princess cruise - which refunds the money if not used - NCL just keeps the money. As bad a deal as that is they also took action to make the Cruise Next certificates useless by introducing the Next Cruise program which allowed you to take advantage of the same deal when you are ready to book - before you make your reservation.

 

NCL's handling of the Cruise Next and Next Cruise programs has really soured me on NCL. It will take years for me to get over that.

 

And one more thing, have you noticed how much the prices have jumped? All five for FREE! That is a joke. The people who took the 125% FCC are now  paying a $1,000 or more -  more than the original cruise even after getting the 125% FCC.

 

There were some cruise lines that handled the response to COVID in a manner designed to keep customers long-term. NCL was one of the cruise lines that didn't. Fortunately, they have a lot of great competition to choose from. It will be some time before I take another NCL cruise or recommend NCL - maybe never again.

They extended mine for 2 more years?

[hallux]

I just checked - mine were also extended, purchased in November, 2019...

 

Extended to 2025, and I didn't need to ask for it.

Edited February 13, 2022 by hallux

[dhanakorn]

16 minutes ago, WYB! said:

I’m very happy with the NCL’s cruise next certificates program.

 

Recently All of my cruise next certificates have also been extended by 2 years but I also typically only buy 2 or 3 at a time.

 

stay positive and safe travels,

 

- WYB

I just went to check my Cruise Next certificate on my NCL account. I had one that I bought in early 2020 (before the Covid outbreak) -- the expiration date was surprisingly extended by 2 more years (from 2024 expiration date to 2026)!!!! The ones that I just bought last December still have the same original expiration date of 2025. NCL doesn't have to extend my CN that will expire in 2024 since it's still far out but they did it automatically.

 

I agree that NCL price has gone up significantly. So this year I kind of jump the ship to Princess after having cruised with NCL exclusively. I hope in a couple years NCL price should stabilize (they have to in order to compete with other cruise lines).

 

 

[jonbgd]

 I have 2 certificates that were to expire Nov 2022

I called NCL in January and was told my certificate had to be attached to a cruise prior to expiration date or they will be lost

I have been  looking at cruises, more than 6 months out, so i could use them both

 

Well i just checked and they have been extended for 2 more years

 

SO THANK YOU FOR CRUISECRITIC

 

[FlGoodShips]

5 hours ago, Richie from Atlanta said:

NCL should be ashamed for not extending the Cruise Next certificate program for at least two years due to COVID. I am embarrassed to say that as a travel agent we lost over $2,000 in certificates due to the two-year delay caused by COVID. Our certificates expired the end of November 2021 and NCL thinks it was generous in extending them one month - but we were required to sail before the end of 2022. Well as many cruises as I have been on, I still wasn't prepared to take six 7-night cruises in 2022. Certainly not at my age.

 

I would never recommend the purchase of NCL's Cruise Next certificates. Unlike Princess cruise - which refunds the money if not used - NCL just keeps the money. As bad a deal as that is they also took action to make the Cruise Next certificates useless by introducing the Next Cruise program which allowed you to take advantage of the same deal when you are ready to book - before you make your reservation.

 

NCL's handling of the Cruise Next and Next Cruise programs has really soured me on NCL. It will take years for me to get over that.

 

And one more thing, have you noticed how much the prices have jumped? All five for FREE! That is a joke. The people who took the 125% FCC are now  paying a $1,000 or more -  more than the original cruise even after getting the 125% FCC.

 

There were some cruise lines that handled the response to COVID in a manner designed to keep customers long-term. NCL was one of the cruise lines that didn't. Fortunately, they have a lot of great competition to choose from. It will be some time before I take another NCL cruise or recommend NCL - maybe never again.

I guess "Richie from Atlanta" isn't proactive.

Everyone else have had their certificates extended. Maybe you need to call NCL or just sell, give the rest away.

Again....Not NCL's fault!

[billslowsky]

7 hours ago, julig22 said:

Obviously you haven't been shopping recently - you apparently haven't noticed how much prices have jumped everywhere.

 

I'm assuming that your certificates were Haven certificates, otherwise the rest of your facts don't add up.  Have you asked for an extension - typically that's 1 year but you do have to ask. Since they recently extended all certificates bought in 2018-2020 it might be worthwhile to call and ask.

Although possibly too late now, there is a group on social media that is specifically set up to buy/sell certificates.

 

"As a token of our appreciation and in recognition of time lost due to our suspension of voyages, any CruiseNext deposit that was purchased between January 1, 2018 and March of 2020 has now been granted a final extension of two additional years from the original book by and sail by date. The new expiration date will be reflected in the ‘effective to’ and ‘sails to’ fields of the deposit."

 

Is there someplace online where we can verify the extension?  Mine (just $250) was purchased in 7/2019, would be relieved to see confirmation, thanks.

[julig22]

3 minutes ago, billslowsky said:

 

Is there someplace online where we can verify the extension?  Mine (just $250) was purchased in 7/2019, would be relieved to see confirmation, thanks.

Somebody (a TA I think) posted it on another site.  But from other posts, it looks like it's already been done - check the expiration date on your MyNCL account.

[hallux]

6 hours ago, julig22 said:

Somebody (a TA I think) posted it on another site.  But from other posts, it looks like it's already been done - check the expiration date on your MyNCL account.

Correct.

 

6 hours ago, billslowsky said:

 

Is there someplace online where we can verify the extension?  Mine (just $250) was purchased in 7/2019, would be relieved to see confirmation, thanks.

Log in to your MyNCL account, look in the View Account section, it should be right there.  Count 6 years from when you bought them, that should be the date reflected now...

[dexddd]

15 hours ago, julig22 said:

Obviously you haven't been shopping recently - you apparently haven't noticed how much prices have jumped everywhere.

 

I'm assuming that your certificates were Haven certificates, otherwise the rest of your facts don't add up.  Have you asked for an extension - typically that's 1 year but you do have to ask. Since they recently extended all certificates bought in 2018-2020 it might be worthwhile to call and ask.

Although possibly too late now, there is a group on social media that is specifically set up to buy/sell certificates.

 

"As a token of our appreciation and in recognition of time lost due to our suspension of voyages, any CruiseNext deposit that was purchased between January 1, 2018 and March of 2020 has now been granted a final extension of two additional years from the original book by and sail by date. The new expiration date will be reflected in the ‘effective to’ and ‘sails to’ fields of the deposit."

Recently, really?  NCL must have started the inflation then two years ago when they raised prices more than the extra 25%.

[bigrednole]

I can understand the frustration, but I disagree other cruise lines were better. We were booked for our first cruise when covid hurry on RCL. Because I watched prices skyrocket with each cancellation and my limited time to cruise, we chose to cancel and move out deposit to a cruise that was affordable. Once RCL cancelled our original cruise, the one we moved to went from $3200 to $6500. If I would have waited, we would not have been able to cruise. It happened far too often. We chose to move to another line.  Moral is, the grass is not greener on the other side.

[Lionkingrichard]

21 hours ago, vadersprincess12 said:

We didn't have to deal with Cruise Next but had a hell of a time getting FCCs put back into our accounts.  Totally kept getting the run around and different answers from different supervisors.  I'll tell my story to anyone who will listen because after our cruise in March (so as to not lose our money) we'll never sail with NCL again.  Wrote a letter to the CEO and did get an answer but it was the day after the credits finally appeared and it was a typical b/s answer.

 

When I did rebook, the same cruise was over $700 more even using the 25% FCC that we got for the original cancellation by NCL.  That is highway robbery.  I booked a different itinerary because we are not putting out any more money and you'd better believe we'll spend every cent of FCC on excursions, etc. so that there is nothing left in the accounts.  THEN, I'm cancelling our Latitudes accounts.

Wait what? You said your cruise is $700 more after FCC and yet you have extra FCC to spend on excursions??

 

I can tell everyone that this is the cheapest 7 night Presidents week cruise yet for my family!

 

First cruise 2 freebee's, 2nd 3, 3rd got all 4 and daughter cruised free and now 4 on this one.

 

Re-booked when price went down $600, but gave up 1 meal(2). Seems like a good trade?

 

Keep watching prices and re-book!

[vadersprincess12]

7 hours ago, Lionkingrichard said:

Wait what? You said your cruise is $700 more after FCC and yet you have extra FCC to spend on excursions??

 

I can tell everyone that this is the cheapest 7 night Presidents week cruise yet for my family!

 

First cruise 2 freebee's, 2nd 3, 3rd got all 4 and daughter cruised free and now 4 on this one.

 

Re-booked when price went down $600, but gave up 1 meal(2). Seems like a good trade?

 

Keep watching prices and re-book!

What I said was re-booking it was $700 more so instead I booked a different itinerary because I wasn't going to put out more money to NCL.  So after booking the new itinerary there is a bit of FCC left over that we will use for excursions.  Plus, they changed their offerings so we went from 2 specialty dinners to one, and less wifi minutes.  Given all the cancellations because of Covid you'd think they would stop making so many changes ~ it just adds to all of the confusion.

 

 

[FlGoodShips]

1 hour ago, vadersprincess12 said:

What I said was re-booking it was $700 more so instead I booked a different itinerary because I wasn't going to put out more money to NCL.  So after booking the new itinerary there is a bit of FCC left over that we will use for excursions.  Plus, they changed their offerings so we went from 2 specialty dinners to one, and less wifi minutes.  Given all the cancellations because of Covid you'd think they would stop making so many changes ~ it just adds to all of the confusion.

 

 

It's always 2 specialty restaurants.

The offer has not changed.

[All-ready2cruise]

Yep, I just checked my Cruise next expiration dates and they have rolled over  to 10/25 from 10/23. Good deal.  I'm happy with that. 

[FlGoodShips]

1 hour ago, vadersprincess12 said:

What I said was re-booking it was $700 more so instead I booked a different itinerary because I wasn't going to put out more money to NCL.  So after booking the new itinerary there is a bit of FCC left over that we will use for excursions.  Plus, they changed their offerings so we went from 2 specialty dinners to one, and less wifi minutes.  Given all the cancellations because of Covid you'd think they would stop making so many changes ~ it just adds to all of the confusion.

 

 

The offers have not changed in like 6 months. They are all the same.

What are you looking at??

[ChiefMateJRK]

17 minutes ago, FlGoodShips said:

It's always 2 specialty restaurants.

The offer has not changed.

It has changed for some itineraries for cabins below balcony.

[FlGoodShips]

16 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

It has changed for some itineraries for cabins below balcony.

Sorry. Did not know that.

We always book balcony. It's 2 dinners with balcony.

Thank you.

[mscloyd]

Specialty dining promo was 3 meals back in 2019-2020 for balcony cabins. We booked ours in November 2019 for a January 2020 cruise.  Then booked our next cruise in February 2020 for March 2021 and it was still 3 meals.  Sometime after that the promo was changed to a 2-meal plan. And yes, the prices have continued to go up with each time I cancelled and rebooked (we are on #4 now and keeping fingers crossed for 2023!)