Deposit confusion

My relative and his wife booked a NCL 7 day cruise in Jan 17, for Sept 16th 2017.

Final payment date was set for June 18th.

For whatever reason there was some confusion and they called in on the 19th to be told they had lost their deposit if they didn't make final payment that day. At that point they asked the Customer Assistant if there was any way to delay final payment date as they were waiting to hear of a job offer, which if it materialized would mean they could not cruise on that date. She told them that the deposit would be sent to Finance, who would call them in 4-6 weeks to see if they were still interested in taking the cruise. Of course they could make final payment or cancel in the interim. That sounded OK to them. On the 22nd they noticed their reservation had been canceled by NCL.

So today they called in and asked what happened to the previous offer? No record of that call was found. They hadn't saved the name, but had the time and date and exact duration of the call.

So, my question is- does this ever happen, that a deposit is put in limbo for several weeks or is everyone confused here? Is there anything they can do? I think they have lost it, but never hurts to ask,eh?

thanks

Final payment date was set for June 18th.

For whatever reason there was some confusion and they called in on the 19th...

My first question would be "Why wait until June 19th to call when the payment was due on June 18th?"

If the couple had called earlier (weeks or even days), something could have been done and put into writing.

She told them that the deposit would be sent to Finance, who would call them in 4-6 weeks to see if they were still interested in taking the cruise. Of course they could make final payment or cancel in the interim. That sounded OK to them. On the 22nd they noticed their reservation had been canceled by NCL.

I would side with NCL on this one.

If the couple decided 6 weeks later to cancel, NCL would only have a limited amount of time (6 weeks?) to book the now empty stateroom.

So, my question is- does this ever happen, that a deposit is put in limbo for several weeks or is everyone confused here? Is there anything they can do? I think they have lost it, but never hurts to ask,eh?

thanks

I think that there is much confusion. It's possible that the phone call mentioning 4-6 weeks was a cancellation and the deposit might (luckily?) be returned in 4-6 weeks.

I admit, this is a new one. Sorry that I couldn't help.

I've never heard of a cruise line giving someone a 4-6 week window to decide whether to make a final payment or cancel. I really think your friends misunderstood. A few days to a week maybe. But 6 weeks doesn't sound reasonable. Now offering them to cancel and it taking 4-6 week for their deposit to be refunded does. Maybe NCL offered to cancel the reservation and let them rebook when they had their finances figured out.

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People get through life seemingly just fine and all of a sudden turn up dumb when situations like this present themselves. "For whatever reason" there was "confusion"?? C'mon man! The final payment date and the cancellation policy are pretty well understood. NCL sends notices days and weeks prior to final payment with reminders of the amount due and the cancellation policy. The friends should have called on final payment date and either paid the thing or cancelled. Sorry, but dealing with a cruise reservation is simple compared to purchasing a car or home, and people seem to get along doing that just fine without blaming anybody.

A couple of days after final payment is past due, NCL might start calling encouraging you to make final payment and take the cruise. But after that, they cancel the reservation and refund the deposit. I agree with above, 4 to 6 weeks is not at all reasonable.

At final payment date, you have two choices.

A) You totally cancel and get your deposit back. Done.

or

B) You keep your cruise and pay in full.

If you take option A, you can then rebook at a future date at the rate current on THAT DAY and promotions current on THAT DATE.

Bottom line - you pay or get off the pot on the final date to cancel. Pretty simple actually.

People get through life seemingly just fine and all of a sudden turn up dumb when situations like this present themselves. "For whatever reason" there was "confusion"?? C'mon man! The final payment date and the cancellation policy are pretty well understood. NCL sends notices days and weeks prior to final payment with reminders of the amount due and the cancellation policy. The friends should have called on final payment date and either paid the thing or cancelled. Sorry, but dealing with a cruise reservation is simple compared to purchasing a car or home, and people seem to get along doing that just fine without blaming anybody.

 

A couple of days after final payment is past due, NCL might start calling encouraging you to make final payment and take the cruise. But after that, they cancel the reservation and refund the deposit. I agree with above, 4 to 6 weeks is not at all reasonable.

Yes, I get it, but am just trying to help, not judge.

Since none of us have ever sailed or booked direct with NCL before, I thought I would ask those of you who have, if this delay was something you had heard of. It was news to me.... The only thing that occurred to me was maybe the cruise wasn't selling well and they were just trying to steer them back to completing the transaction after a while, but I understand why that would not be the norm.

At final payment date, you have two choices.

 

A) You totally cancel and get your deposit back. Done.

 

or

 

B) You keep your cruise and pay in full.

 

If you take option A, you can then rebook at a future date at the rate current on THAT DAY and promotions current on THAT DATE.

 

 

Bottom line - you pay or get off the pot on the final date to cancel. Pretty simple actually.

Yes,that's the way I see it too. However, the NCL rep suggested an alternative, which I had not heard of before. Who knew?

If they were uncertain if they could take the cruise, then they could have called BEFORE the final payment date (not after) and cancelled. Rebook later if they decided to go on the cruise.

There is some missing data from this story. Can't play the victim if you intentionally missed final payment.

There is some missing data from this story.

The missing bits live in this part: "For whatever reason there was some confusion"

.... She told them that the deposit would be sent to Finance,

 

who would call them in 4-6 weeks to see if they were still interested in taking the cruise...

Okay, somewhat of a true statement.

1 -The deposit went to finance and it now belongs to NCL.

2 - Who (someone) would call in 4-6 weeks to see if they were still interested in taking the cruise.

As to #1 - true. Money went to NCL Finance.

As to #2 - true,sort of. Yes, someone will call to see if you want to cruise. Nowhere did it say they would apply the previous deposit. They would just call to see if you want to cruise on this date, or any other.