Pride of Aloha SF-HNL 5/17 Refund Thread-post your refund experience

spec411 · May 21, 2006

Everyone knows by now the 5/17 Pride of Aloha repositioning from SF=Hawaii was canceled, and most were offered refunds, alternate cruises, reimbursement for airfare change fees, etc.

This thread is to share and detail exactly when NCL issues the refunds, procedure for getting airfare reimbursement , etc.

I will update this with my experiences.

So far, I have NOT received a cruise refund. I have asked my TA what the process is for the airfare change fees. Mine are over $150 per person, but I have heard that NCL will not reimburse more than $150, and I still dont even know the procedure to claim the refund.

Please lets keep the commentary from those not on this sailing to a minimum, I would like people who were actually on this sailing to share your experiences getting your refunds.

lambs2 · May 21, 2006

Here is our experience so far for this our 33rd wedding anniversary cruise to Hawaii:

Our TA contacted us the morning of May 11 with the PoA cancellation news on our telephone answering machine (as we were out). After we got home and listened to the message, and passed the initial shock stage :eek:, we got busy researching and were right on the telephone to her asking for one of the alternative sailings. The PoH (choice #1) was already not an option because it was completely booked by the time our TA finally got through to NCL. Our second choice was the PoAM on June 3 and we were confirmed for that sailing :). However, our TA said she was on the phone a full 5 hours before she finally got through to the correct NCL booking people. Of course I can not know this, for sure, but that is what we were told and she has always been straight with us. We got our confirmation call and then an email from her at about 6 pm that evening. I had called her a couple times during that "hell-a-cious" day and each time she told me she had to put her call to NCL on hold to get my call, so I kept it very short!!

At that point we had to try and rebook airfare and rearrange some other pre-booked excursions and car rentals.We did not book our airfare with NCL, but directly through Delta's website. That was our real nightmare because Delta's customer service number appears to be in some other country where everyone we spoke to has an accent ---oriental, I think--- and we had a terrible connection that was disconnected twice!! When we finally got through on the call-backs we could never find the representatives we had been talking to before the phone went dead!! So..we started all over!! Needless to say, rebooking the flight we needed was a nightmare!!! We kept watching the price go up with each refresh of the computer screen and when we tried to book over the phone the price went up several more hundred dollars even tough we had the price right there on the screen from Delta.com! Somehow the online reservations would not work for us, I guess because we kept trying to use our Delta credit from the cancelled flight. We did lose $50. per ticket when we cancelled the reservations and have faxed that to NCL on the appropriate form for reimbusement. Actually, we ended up booking our flight through Hotwire.com (I had tried EVERYWHERE!) because their price was the lowest. I took a gamble because they do not give you the EXACT flight times until after you commit...but I gambled and WON! The times are very good. Seats..that's another story. DH and I are apart on several legs. I planned our seats in such a way that I am hoping someone will switch with us on a couple of legs! We ended up paying $430. more for our two airline tickets than we had paid for the first set. Originally we booked these months in advance and they were from Orlando, Florida to San Francisco/ return Maui to Orlando, FL. Our new tickets are roundtrip Jacksonville, FL / Oahu. Florida. However, this is offset by the fact that our cruise is now goung to be FREE (except for $45. government taxes for each ticket), PLUS two days ago we got upgraded from an N inside cabin to a balcony BE on the port side for great viewing of the big island Volcano and Kauai's Napali coast!!! :D A very nice upgrade INDEED!!! We have also added two days pre-cruise at a hotel in Waikiki to make our vacation the same ength as the previously booked cruise, and we managed to switch all our advance reservations to the new dates and times! We are very much in the process of turning the lemons into lemonade!!!! I do see that some people would really be hurting if they have to pay for both those sets of tickets at once like we did. Folks that had the insurance would not be in such a bind. Something to think about..... As soon as we get that cruise refund we will be in HOG HEAVEN :D ... and ready to plan that NEXT CRUISE this fall!!! KEEP UP THOSE POSITIVE THOUGHTS!!!!

NCL told us when we called their special line set up specially to handle this cancellation that we will be receiving a full refund for our original cruise plus the $100. flight change fee Delta charged us for cancelling the two tickets. We were told that it should be posted to our credit card on May 28. I will update WHEN we get it! We have our fingers crossed! With Delta, we now have $800.+ credit that we will need to use before next April We are already thinking of booking a Mediterreanean cruise next fall and using our credit for those flights. Hope Delta stays in business until we can use that credit!!

I know that others are not as pleased as we are with how this all appears to be shaping up. If everything works the way NCL assures us it will we will end up with a FREE Hawaiian cruise :D AND plans for our next cruise...to the Mediterranean!! My advise: Keep the communication going and KEEP UP THOSE POSITIVE THOUGHTS!!!!

Host CMLA · May 21, 2006

Please lets keep the commentary from those not on this sailing to a minimum, I would like people who were actually on this sailing to share your experiences getting your refunds.

If you only want to talk to people that were supposed to be on that sailing, perhaps your roll call would be a better place. I can move this thread to your roll call if you'd like. If not, any member can respond.

spec411 · May 21, 2006

Ok, lets keep it here for the wider oaudience...maybe prior NCL cruisers who had to deal with refunds /reimbursements from NCL can add experiences to help us too.

Oppgaard · May 21, 2006

So far, my credit card has not shown the refund for the cruise but what I cancelled on Alaska Air to San Francisco has already been refunded by them.

We rebooked on the June 10 sailing. We will be flying American since I am retired from them.

spec411 · May 21, 2006

Was the Alaska Air booked through NCL, or did you booked air on your own Oppgaard?

Did you have to submit receipts? Where did you send/fax them to? I cant seem to get anyone from NCL who knows the procedure...what was the refund amount for your air?

KeystoneCruiser · May 21, 2006

Although not this sailing, we too got a refund for NCL for a POA trip. Back during the summer of 2004 and the problematic start up of the Pride of Aloha, NCL decided to refund the Service charge to all those who sailed on her during those early cruises. Our sailing was in July, we got our refund in January!

Oppgaard · May 21, 2006

I had booked directly with Alaska Air and had a first class ticket which was totally refundable and it was done very quickly.

lambs2 · May 21, 2006

Here if the 800 number to reach NCL. 1-800-436-5701 - then ask for the desk in charge of the Pride of Aloha cancelled May 17 cruise and they will reirect your call. I used to have a fax number where I sent the documentation for the airline change fees, but I can't find it! I got the fax number through the rep I spoke to at NCL and I sent my proof of the airline change fees on May 16. Hope this helps!

WEPunkin · May 22, 2006

My husband and I were to be on the 5-17-06 Pride of Aloha cruise for the 11 days. What a disappointment. And to top it off NCL NEVER called us, we found out through this message board. Thanks to all of you.

We are STILL trying to get our refund and get another cruise booked. The lady told us the first cruise she could book us on would be June 25, with the same cabin cat. as what we had (Penthouse) on a deck lower than what we had. This was on 5-13 (Saturday) after NCL knew about this on 5-11 (Thursday) before we finally got to talk to someone from NCL.

Plus she also told us we would lose our airfare and taxes on the cancelled cruise. We were not happy campers!! We spent hours on the phone and alot of emails to NCL. Like everyone else, you couldn't get through to NCL.

Then I got on the internet last Tuesday (5-16) and found out the same cabin we had on the 5-17-06 cruise was available on June 4, now why didn't the NCL sales person find this for us. She DID NOT know what she was talking about. She made us think we HAD to take what ever NCL offered us. We feel like we have talked to most of the NCL people and just been given the run around.

This is Monday (5-22) and we are still trying to get our cruise arranged for 6-4-06. First we get an email saying we have your cruise and 3 pre day hotel arranged, then we get another email saying we need to get your flight arrangements. Then we got emails with our air flights and NCL documents all for 6-4-06. Wrong date.

Now if we are getting on the ship 6-4-06, and we are doing a 3 day pre cruise, don't you think we should be flying from our home town on 6-1-06??? We are still on HOLD and waiting for this problem to be resolved. I have to keep bugging NCL by emailing and phone calls to get any answers.

We do have other things in our lives to make plans for and we do have families to think of. This whole thing (cancelled cruise) has caused us to rearrange our lives and we haven't even left for vacation yet.

We appreciate hearing from others on what happen to their cancelled cruise and how this changed things for them.

When can we expect the cancelled cruise refund be put back on our credit card? I was told 10 - 15 days???

Haven't seen it yet But you know what our new airfare and gov. fees have already been put on our card, it sure doesn't take no time to put the charges on, but along time to take the charges off.

Wanda

cmh · May 29, 2006

I booked my daughter and her boyfriend on this cruise and as of today, May 28th, my credit card has not been credited. The did book another Hawaiian cruise in July which is free, but they had to pay for their airfare which was charged to my credit card already. My TA said the credits should be posted next week, but I will believe it when I see it. Please advise when you get your credits so I can check with my credit card company.

lambs2 · May 29, 2006

Today (5/28) was the day that the representative from NCL told me that the credit would be posted to our account for the reund for our cancelled May 17 POA cruise.. However, she did add that it might take a couple more days for it to show up in my bank account. Today is a National Holiday so I'll bet nothing happens at all until tomorrow at the earliest.

Oppgaard · May 29, 2006

I was just getting ready to pay off my credit card in full but the refund hasn't shown as of yet so guess I will wait a few more days and see what happens before I do anything.

Like everyone else said, the new charges were immediately put on but it takes them longer to take them off.

Please post if anyone receives their refund this week.

lambs2 · May 30, 2006

Ok. We're not panicking yet, just waiting until 9 am eastern time for the

NCL offices in Miami to open. This morning there IS a credit from NCL

showing on our credit card account balance. However, it is only for

$183.26. We are guessing this must be for the airlline change fees (I

hope!) but that figure makes no sense to us as when we faxed them our

airline change information we were only expecting the $50. per ticket

amount. How they figured this amount is a mystery....

Obviously this is not the amount we paid for a cruise for two on the

Pride of Aloha for May 17! My husband is a number cruncher and he can

make no sense out of that number figure for the refund posted today.

So.........................we are waiting to call and will report back here when

we get more concrete facts from NCL. Anybody else?

lambs2 · May 30, 2006

Called the special NCL hotline - 800-625-5672 - set up for handling this May 17 cancelled Pride of Aloha trip. The representative had all our records. He told us that the $183.26 refund to our charge card posted this morning was just the FIRST installment. He had no idea why NCL was doing it this way, but then told me the amount of the second refund (due to be posted this afternoon) and the two amounts totaled the amount we paid for the cancelled cruise.

He said that the airline change fees will be given at a later time and he had no further information about when.

At least SOMETHING is happening. Can't understand why NCL is doing this small refund first and then the larger part....anybody have a clue? Why do they want to get flooded with the phone calls they are sure to get today. We had to wait on the line almost 15 minutes before we got through at 9:30. The rep certainly didn't know or wasn't telling. We leave for our pre-cruise days in Honolulu day after tiomorrow, so are HOPING that we will see that second refund amount before we leave.

sunshine 229 · May 30, 2006

Sorry about your cancelled cruise.

I've looked back several pages but can't find any other threads dealing with this cancellation and I was wondering if anyone can tell me why NCL cancelled the cruise? Was it due to mechanical difficulties or what?

I'm asking because I noticed a couple of you have mentioned getting a refund and another cruise

However, this is offset by the fact that our cruise is now goung to be FREE (except for $45. government taxes for each ticket),

and that seems to me to be unusually generous behaviour from NCL. From what I've heard and experienced in the past cancelled cruises usually result in a refund and maybe a small credit (20%?) on a future cruise.

Good luck to all of you in getting everything settled. Dealing with NCL can be very frustrating at times like this but I hope you all get everything worked out to your satisfaction.

lambs2 · May 30, 2006

Here is the link from the NCL site about the cruise which was cancelled 6 days scheduled embarkation:

http://www.ncl.com/news/pr/pr051106.htm

Oppgaard · June 1, 2006

I just checked and both my credit cards which were used for payment on the 5/17 cruise have been refunded in full.

Considering all the adjustments NCL had to make due to the cancellation, I think they did a pretty good job.

electricron · June 1, 2006

Look at all the problems NCL has had to work through for just one cancelled cruise for the Pride of Aloha, and either two or three cancelled cruises for the Norwegian Star. Does everyone remember last year's Dream problems, with some suggesting NCL drydocking her until the diesel was repaired while continuing operations at a much slower speed, which took several months.Can you imagine the paperwork problems caused by months of cancelled cruises?

Magilla from Australia · June 2, 2006

Im Magilla from Australia. My wife and I were due to travel on POA on 17 May 06. We left Australia on the 4th of May and found out about the cancellation of the cruise after checking our email on 10 May 2006.:mad: Our Agent sent the email to us. We were on another 5 day cruise (Vision of the Seas) that finished in Vancouver on the 11th of May. So our last night on that cruise was spoilt by the news of the cancellation.

I have read some of the stories on this site about other peoples experience with NCL and could not resist the urge to tell you our story. I must say I have never come across an organisation that treated its customers with little or no compassion. Their handling of the situation bordered on incompetence.

My version of events is lengthy but a worthwhile read if you want to know about NCL's incompetence:

2 to 3 hours of our time in Vancouver on the 11th of May spent on the internet trying to rarrange plans and waiting on the phone (45 mins) to get through to NCL - no luck.

On the 2nd day in Vancouver we approached an NCL employee at the Port and asked him for NCL's phone number so we could call someone re the cancellation (we weren't sure whether we were calling the right number the day before). He refused to assist us and simply told us to call head office - great service so far!!!

On day 3 we spent another 4 hours on the internet trying to rearrange our plans but no luck. We spent nother 45 minutes on hold and still didn't speak to a real person - the Vancouver internet cafe wasn't really part of out itinerary!!

On day 4 after 30 minutes on hold we finally got through. Spoke to a lady in Miami. She told us NCL would give us a full refund and pay up to $150US per person airline change fee. I explained that we did not incur any change fee as we were using POA to take us to Hawaii where we would connect with our flight home. We asked NCL to pay for 2 one way tickets to Hawaii at a cost of $186US each (an extra $36 US each). She refused. I asked to speak to her supervisor.

I spoke to V (a male). In short he has the audacity to refer me to the contract and said that NCL could cancel at any time? He also had the nerve to suggest that things could have been different had we chosen to fly with their prefered airline carrier - what a load of :eek: ...t. I explained we lived in a free society and we had the right to fly with whomever we wanted. V refused to negotiate and refused to buy 2 air tickets for us from San Fran so we could connect with our flight home - small minded, pig headedness in my humble view. V refused to put me through to NCL's CEO but he did give me his name. Finally V said he didn't care if my wife and I ever chose to travel NCL again - I said if all NCL staff had an attitude like his then I wouldn't want to;

At no stage did the lady of V mention the free cruise option nor the 50% dicount on a future cruise and he was supposed to be a supervisor.

On 16 May we flew to San Fran as planned.

On 17 May we went to the Port in San Fran to confront NCL face to face. We wanted to know what was going on. The Agent at the Port was wonderful (Mr P). Mr P called NCL and spoke to a supervisor Ms A. Mr P was the first person to tell us about our options. We agreed to accept a refund and a discount on a future cruise. Mr P sorted out a couple of things for us and we left with a satisfied feeling - boy was that short lived (by the way another 6 or so couples turned up at the Port with their bags - felt sorry for them as they didn't know about cancellation).

The events in San Fran over the next 2 days were laughable. I have never come across such incompetence. We were staying with friends and NCL had their number. Ms A was going to call us on the afternoon of the 17th to discuss a hotel booking for us in Hawaii and to discuss our acceptance of NCL's offer. She called while we were out and left an after hours number we could call to find out about our Hotel etc.

At 5pm (San Farn time) I called the after hours number and spoke to Ms K. Told her Ms A told us to call. Ms K could find nothing on the system and proceeded to tell me that Ms A (who is a supervisor) should know better and should have put a note in the computer - what a waste of time calling.

On 18 May I called Ms A but her voicemail was on so I left a message. One hour later Mr A from NCL called us. He wanted to know what option we had decided to accept. I asked him if he knew Ms A. He did. I said this was appalling and I told Mr A that the left hand at NCL didn't know what the right hand was doing. I told him an agreement was already in place with Ms A and suggested that he should hang up the phone and go and speak to Ms A and when they both knew what was going on then one of them should call me back.

An hour later I had to call them back as we had to make some decisions about the rest of our trip. Ms A's voicemail was still on.

Mr A finally called back. While he was on the phone another call came in. It was now a Mr M from NCL who was ringing on behalf of Ms A. Mr M didn't know why he was calling me because the message he got from Ms A was jumbled and he didn't understand it. At this stage I should have been laughing if I wasn't livid - our American friends were certainly laughing in the background listening to all of this. I asked Mr M if he knew Mr A who I had on hold on the phone. He did because they were both supervisors working in different areas of NCL. Once again I suggested that Mr A, Ms A and now Mr M should all sit down, have a chat, a cup of coffee, get to know each other better, sort out this whole mess and call me back when they were all on the same page.

Some 2 hours passed when Mr M called me back. What a waste of time. NCL had decided that they would not fund our airfare from San Fran to Hawaii so we could connect with our flight home because it was not a "change fee". I tried to reason with Mr M and explained that we were not incurring a change fee but the offer being made to other passengers would cost them the same as 2 tickets from San Fran to Hawaii so we could eventually get home. I said that it would be more costly for us to incur a change fee by trying to fly from San Fran to Sydney as opposed to flying from San Fran to Hawaii and retaing our flight home from there.

Needless to say Mr M refused to assist. We argued for 30 minutes to no avail.

Finally we retunred home 2 days ago and yes you guessed it, no refund in the bank account. NCL's staff ruined our holiday and have left a sour taste in my mouth.

We generally travel every year but I won't be travelling NCL in the future.

Magilla (the normally nice Aussie but very angry at present)

Magilla from Australia · June 2, 2006