Thinking of NCL? Look elsewhere!

[Georgia_Peaches]

2 hours ago, kaprin02 said:

 

This is it exactly.  This is why OP's trip is not covered - they simply did not have trip cancellation coverage.  The Essentials coverage very clearly says nothing about trip cancellation (or interruption).

But if I’m reading correctly, NCL did the cancelling, not the OP. Can they just cancel a booking and not offer an alternative?

[Georgia_Peaches]

9 hours ago, www3traveler said:

There is NO ONE to blame for an extreme act of nature.

Agree. But the OP isn’t blaming NCL or Delta for the weather. As I understand it, op wants to be made whole on the money he’s out. I’m still not understanding why a new cruise couldn’t be booked for a different time. 

[SeaShark]

2 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

What a nightmare and so very disappointing. The thing I’m not understanding is why they wouldn’t rebook you on a future cruise. You paid the money and got nothing for it. I think I read that they cancelled your booking due to weather and simply kept your money?  I’m just not understanding how that works. I hope you get it sorted. 

 

No...the booking was not cancelled, the ship sailed as scheduled.

 

What happened was that the OP took the Free @ Sea air...without requesting a deviation for an early arrival. NCL booked them tickets through Delta airlines with a day-of-cruise scheduled arrival. At this point, the OP asked about arriving earlier, but they were informed that it was too late for a deviation to be applied.

 

Due to weather, Delta airlines ended up cancelling the flight and Delta airlines was not able to get the OP to the embarkation port, and as a result, the OP missed the sailing.

 

The OP had NCL's insurance on the cruise, but no insurance to cover the airfare.

[Georgia_Peaches]

9 hours ago, detroitlions said:

You can not blame the airline or  NCL for a storm that would be dangerous to fly though.

Also I would never agree to fly and cruise on the same day never ever no way. 

 

 

Op didn’t blame anyone for the storm. 

[Georgia_Peaches]

7 hours ago, farmecologist said:

One thing I would recommend is to get yourself a top tier travel credit card like Chase Sapphire, etc....and use that to pay for your trips.  As for Chase Sapphire, their travel insurance is great...and they do advocate for you.    

Is the travel insurance automatic when booking travel with this card or do you call to add it?

[Georgia_Peaches]

6 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

No...the booking was not cancelled, the ship sailed as scheduled.

 

What happened was that the OP took the Free @ Sea air...without requesting a deviation for an early arrival. NCL booked them tickets through Delta airlines with a day-of-cruise scheduled arrival. At this point, the OP asked about arriving earlier, but they were informed that it was too late for a deviation to be applied.

 

Due to weather, Delta airlines ended up cancelling the flight and Delta airlines was not able to get the OP to the embarkation port, and as a result, the OP missed the sailing.

 

The OP had NCL's insurance on the cruise, but no insurance to cover the airfare.

Thank you for that. Now I understand. I knew I must have been missing a big piece of the puzzle. 

[ClarkBHM]

In this case, you get what you pay for. The "insurance" that NCL offered was practically worthless. A third party trip insurance provider will be able to give you something you can use. But, the greater the benefit that you want to insure, the more you will have to pay.

 

We just booked a $13k cruise on the Joy for this summer. We bought "cancel for any reason" insurance which is certainly expensive ($800 for the four of us) but when we factor it into the overall cost of the vacation, it's well worth the peace of mind. We know it works too--we had to utilize it to cover an April 2020 vacation as covid shut everything down. 

 

Anyway, really sorry for the OP because it's a sucky situation. I would hope that NCL would accommodate you on a future cruise. In the meantime, the rest of us can try to learn from this misfortune.

[BirdTravels]

28 minutes ago, ClarkBHM said:

In this case, you get what you pay for. The "insurance" that NCL offered was practically worthless. A third party trip insurance provider will be able to give you something you can use. But, the greater the benefit that you want to insure, the more you will have to pay.

NCL insurance is third part insurance, and if used, provides coverage backed by NCL with a 75% or 95% FCC if the claim is denied (essentially a cancel for any reason, for free). And is is much cheaper than $200pp.

 

For the OP (who created a CC account, made one post and has never been back), their description indicates that they never filed a insurance claim and complained that they are out $20K. 

[julig22]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

NCL insurance is third part insurance, and if used, provides coverage backed by NCL with a 75% or 95% FCC if the claim is denied (essentially a cancel for any reason, for free). And is is much cheaper than $200pp.

 

For the OP (who created a CC account, made one post and has never been back), their description indicates that they never filed a insurance claim and complained that they are out $20K. 

It appears the story the OP is spinning omits a few details, like they did not buy the insurance that gives FCC, based on the timeline.

One and only 1 post - I smell a troll making up stories...

[lfreda]

Most airlines including Delta had travel waivers the week of Christmas so OP likely could have changed flights for free and left early to beat the storm.

[RocketMan275]

10 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Is the travel insurance automatic when booking travel with this card or do you call to add it?

It's included if you pay for the cruise using the Chase card.

[Cruise5life]

39 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

It's included if you pay for the cruise using the Chase card.

Yeah.  What’s the yearly fee for the card ?  

[RocketMan275]

15 minutes ago, Cruise5life said:

Yeah.  What’s the yearly fee for the card ?  

IIRC, it's $550.  However, I've found the card pays for itself with the very good perks.  For example, the Trip insurance Store is quoting over $1000 to insure our next cruise.   You also get a $300 rebate on travel each year.  The card pays for both our Global Entries.   Points are good too.  

 

https://www.valuepenguin.com/chase-sapphire-reserve-credit-card

[SeaShark]

One aspect of this that those who are recommending the use of certain credits cards might want to consider.

 

The guest would be incurring one charge (for everything) on the recommended card through NCL.

 

NCL is the party who actually pays the airline for the ticket. NCL is not using the guest's card for the ticket purchase.

 

The card issuer only sees the one payment to NCL...not a breakdown of what covers the fare, taxes, DSC, airfare, drink packages, etc...just one lump vacation purchase.

 

So, when the airline cancels the flight, that won't be covered by the card. In fact, if the airline has to do a refund because of the cancelled flight, that refund goes to NCL, not to the guest.

[Lionkingrichard]

6 hours ago, julig22 said:

It appears the story the OP is spinning omits a few details, like they did not buy the insurance that gives FCC, based on the timeline.

One and only 1 post - I smell a troll making up stories...

20k for Hawaii cruise didn't give it away?

[Cruise5life]

38 minutes ago, Lionkingrichard said:

20k for Hawaii cruise didn't give it away?

For a haven suite for the family can sure cost you upwards of 20k for sure.    Just sayin.  Troll or not.   
 

[Rob-Bob]

On 1/25/2023 at 10:18 AM, Liljo22 said:

Wait.  Are they complaining about restaurants and entertainment on a cruise they never took?  That's a new one.  

"Next, the package we purchased included beverages and specialty dining. However, when we went to book reservations at the specialty restaurants, we found that all but 2 were closed; not full from reservations - but temporarily closed! We were not told this prior to booking. Shameful NCL.

Then, we noticed the entertainment was incredibly scaled back -- virtually non-existent. Sure, there were a couple crew-based tribute shows but nothing notable; scaled way back. As others have posted, NCL has cut back entertainment staff and overall staffing is clearly an issue."

 

I agree that complaining about things that they never experienced (for sure) may be a little over the top.  Things may have worked out different onboard.

[awinte2]

Not only NCL,  things happen with all the cruiselines.  Only once did I book air with a cruiseline and realized that you do not have total control of the booking . Would never do it again.   Would not stop me from cruising  with that cruiseline again  as most of the air from cruiselines is a seperate identity  within the company.

Other people have had good luck using travel agents and putting their travel plans in the hands of others   and lettlng them do all the work for you and when things go wrong you sometimes wonder what I could have done to avoid this.  You will certainly be a little more cautious on your next cruise.

[fastpitchdad]

6 hours ago, lfreda said:

Most airlines including Delta had travel waivers the week of Christmas so OP likely could have changed flights for free and left early to beat the storm.

 

Are you sure this applies to a ticket purchased by NCL? Third party booked tix are exceedingly difficult to change through the airline. 

[Envelope21]

First rule of Cruise Critic . . . always blame the OP.

 

[Heronymous]

On 1/25/2023 at 6:38 AM, Cruise5life said:

Looks like someone didn’t do there homework.   I would never let a cruise line set up flights for me.   And during pandemic a lot of things changed because of staffing 

and now your gonna go to legal action.   
 

I just came off of a NCL 15 day.   I booked my own flights.   And had an amazing time.   I wouldn’t hesitate to cruise with them again and again.   

You shouldn't have to do "homework", you should be able to trust what you are sold and unfortunately you can't trust NCL. Just because other cruise lines "do the same thing" doesn't make it right, and you shouldn't have to search every piece of minutia to fact check and verify it's being accurately represented and delivered. Will doing so help prevent issues from occurring? Absolutely. Shoukd you have to do it let alone blame the victim? Absolutely not. I'm so tired of hearing the cruise snobs on here victim blame.

[Heronymous]

On 1/25/2023 at 2:59 AM, J_RAD said:

We used to be a huge fans of NCL, we've sailed with them at least a half dozen other times and wrote glowing reviews. No more and I strongly recommend avoiding travel with NCL! They are a shell of their former selves.

 

We booked a cruise to Hawaii in late Dec 2022.  Our cruise was selected based on sail dates and itinerary. The entire trip, including airfare was booked through NCL; never again.  We began noticing some small issues with NCL shortly after booking in Sept. – it was merely a precursor of things to come. 

 

First, when booking through the cruise line, you must understand they select flights for you - they select provider, time, etc. This may seem like an "easy button" but it's not. Don't do it. You have no real say in the flight selection (airline, schedule, etc.) and are not notified of the details until approximately 60 days prior to sailing. We attempted to add an extra day with hotel to the front-end and tail-end of our itinerary, but NCL told us there was no availability for arrival on the front-end. Well, this is the date that really matters...and a cruise line should know this as well. We always arrive a day prior to our cruise in an attempt to mitigate any potential flight delays (this turned out to be critical in our case). Adding days to the tail-end of a cruise is mostly moot. So, we were stuck with what the cruise line selected -- and what they selected was arrival on the sail date.

 

Next, the package we purchased included beverages and specialty dining. However, when we went to book reservations at the specialty restaurants, we found that all but 2 were closed; not full from reservations - but temporarily closed! We were not told this prior to booking. Shameful NCL.

Then, we noticed the entertainment was incredibly scaled back -- virtually non-existent. Sure, there were a couple crew-based tribute shows but nothing notable; scaled way back. As others have posted, NCL has cut back entertainment staff and overall staffing is clearly an issue.

 

Finally, we went to book excursions, only to find these too were scaled way back. Fine, we're going to "paradise" we'll find other stuff to do. It was around this time we added travel protection through NCL to our trip.

 

Well, turns out we weren't going to paradise at all. ~12 hours prior to flight departure, we received notice from Delta Airlines, the carrier selected by NCL, that our initial departing flight was cancelled due to weather. We immediately contacted both NCL and Delta. Both providers pointed fingers back to the other for resolution while we spent HOURS looking for alternate flights. Unfortunately, due to weather issues across the country, absolutely no flights were available -- including options for connecting through other cities and arriving to alternate ports even several days later. As a result, and again through no fault of own, NCL was not able to fulfill their commitment to get us to our cruise, which departed 12/24 and the booking was cancelled.

 

Now weather issues happen, that's not a fault of Delta or NCL. How they deal with it, however, is absolutely their issue.

As mentioned, travel protection was purchased through NCL who was responsible for all bookings. We asked the full trip, with airfare and all offers purchased, be rebooked at no additional charge to another Hawaii sailing this year or for NCL to refund the full amount of the trip. They’ve declined to do either. Their travel protection is indicating their coverage doesn't begin until guests are on the ship (not stated anywhere).

 

We will not just be walking away from nearly $20K and are taking up formal legal action against the cruise line for non-performance.  Moreover, NCL lost a loyal customer and we will do our best to warn whomever we can away from NCL going forward.

 

There's what's legally required and there's doing the right thing for your guests. NCL is doing neither.

So sorry to hear about your issues. We too for different reasons are done with NCL as well. I used to be a proponent for them, but recent experiences have us testing the waters with other cruise lines going forward. NCL reeks of death based on all of the current changes. They're offering a diluted version of their cruises for an increased price, and while onboard where I am right now they pretend to care and want to listen to feedback, it's just a ruse and nothing comes of it including a promised call back to discuss the concerns. There might as well be a paper shredder underneath the feedback box at guest relations.

[hallux]

29 minutes ago, Heronymous said:

You shouldn't have to do "homework", you should be able to trust what you are sold and unfortunately you can't trust NCL.

So, you're telling us that you don't research any customer reviews of a product before purchasing it?  You just walk into a car dealer or appliance store, point at the shiny object you want and say you want to buy it?

 

Part of being an informed consumer is doing a little 'leg work' to research the terms of the product they're buying, this is 'homework'.  It's not like the cruise line makes the terms and conditions of free-at-sea (the terms for the airline promo are lumped into that, which would have helped the OP understand the time frame for requesting a deviation of a couple days for the flights) hard to find.

 

Requiring the cruise line to explain to each customer individually what their terms are would be like listening to those pharmaceutical commercials detail possible side-effects.  NCL provides people the links to the information about what they're purchasing, reading those links is important.

[RocketMan275]

8 hours ago, SeaShark said:

One aspect of this that those who are recommending the use of certain credits cards might want to consider.

 

The guest would be incurring one charge (for everything) on the recommended card through NCL.

 

NCL is the party who actually pays the airline for the ticket. NCL is not using the guest's card for the ticket purchase.

 

The card issuer only sees the one payment to NCL...not a breakdown of what covers the fare, taxes, DSC, airfare, drink packages, etc...just one lump vacation purchase.

 

So, when the airline cancels the flight, that won't be covered by the card. In fact, if the airline has to do a refund because of the cancelled flight, that refund goes to NCL, not to the guest.

Have you read the coverage for the Chase Saphire Reserve?

 

If your trip is cancelled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels.

[nferr]

4 hours ago, Envelope21 said:

First rule of Cruise Critic . . . always blame the OP.

 

Well in this case the OP didn't request a travel deviation to fly earlier so yeah - the unfortunate airline disaster is on the OP.  Same with only taking the Essentials insurance which only covers you ONCE the cruise has started (if that's the insurance they took).  The other stuff, specialty restaurants etc., I do agree with the OP that NCL should make that clear. Of course none of that really matters if you miss the cruise anyway.