Huge penalty for cancelling one person in final week

NCL is not the only cruise line to do this. HAL also does it for sure. My sister-in-law and a friend had an Alaskan cruise on HAL booked (with insurance). The friend had a medical emergency a week before the cruise and doctor said no travel. My sister-in-law was still going to go, until HAL told her she would have to come up with $$$$ single supplement. Ended up they both cancelled and filed with insurance for reimbursement of funds.

I also had a cruise booked with HAL, wanted to change staterooms. Was told it would be a cancellation of the existing reservation, then re-booking new reservation at present price (which was more than I had paid). I did not make the change.

Cruiselines are pretty much an entity unto themselves, they can/do most anything they want to do. As passengers, we accept that fact, or don't cruise!

My sister-in-law and a friend had an Alaskan cruise on HAL booked (with insurance). The friend had a medical emergency a week before the cruise and doctor said no travel. My sister-in-law was still going to go, until HAL told her she would have to come up with $$$$ single supplement. Ended up they both cancelled and filed with insurance for reimbursement of funds.

Interesting... The only trip insurance policy I've used specifically states that if one person cancels for a covered reason (such as a medical emergency), the insurance will pay any supplement that the other person incurs by becoming a single. Sounds like either your SIL's policy didn't have that provision or she got spooked by HAL and didn't check the policy. But at least their insurance (hopefully) covered their both canceling.

I see hawkeyetlse's point that if NCL didn't keep the second passenger's money *and* assess the first passenger a new single supplement, it would be possible to game the system. I can only hope that NCL deals with these situations case by case and tries to discern between scammers and people with a genuine emergency. I've had relatively good luck getting concessions from large corporations by being polite but persistent, with a tone of voice that indicated I was sure we could arrive at a win-win solution but didn't feel entitled to the world on a platter. (OT: On a Disney forum, I saw a photo of people lined up at a Guest Relations window with the caption "These are the folks who got a dry hamburger and are demanding an upgrade from their Value resort to a suite at the Grand Floridian.")

I almost had to cancel my last cruise I was taking with my SIL and niece. I booked it with a casino cert. when I called a week before the cruise to find out what my options were....there were NONE. My SIL and niece would have to pay more because I was the one with the certificate not them and yes there was a penalty fee amount I don't remember what it was because I was hysterical it's all a fog right now but I remember I wasn't a happy camper. Needless to say it all worked out and I went on the cruise but it was a scary 24 hours.

You booking with a casino certificate is completely different and very reasonable for them to want more money if you weren't going to travel. You are the gambler and the certificate was issued to you. If they allowed a situation like this, they could potentially have gamblers selling their certificates to random people. The "penalty" fee was probably whatever the cruise fare would be for 2 people booking the stateroom without a certificate. When I call to see what kind of offers CAS will give me, they always ask who I will be travelling with. If I can travel with my father & if I will share a cabin with him, we can get a free suite. If I'm travelling with my sister, we can get a free balcony. If I'm travelling alone, I'm probably only eligible for an inside or 20% off. And that is fine as I wouldn't expect to get their benefits without them.

This is a very basic thing a TA should know. Now, asking advice on things on the ship or other more obscure experiences I think is okay. A TA can't have personally gone on every single ship or seen every show, dined at every restaurant. But a TA that doesn't know to just no show the second guest doesn't seem like a TA anyone should use.

There may be a specific rule on the fare that they purchased with a specific purchasing clause, etc. You never know.

Either way, the TA should go straight to the line & ask for info.

Or... Perhaps they already did & were just asking if anyone ever heard of this before?

Curious to see how this ends up.

By the way... You know I saved over45% when switching to GEICO. No joke! L!!

He should take her sister

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There may be a specific rule on the fare that they purchased with a specific purchasing clause,.....

I'm thinking this way too, like I said in a previous post, my friend cancelled one week out and I did not have to pay another cent. NCL refunded the port fees to my friend. I mentioned this was in 2010 but was mistaken, it was in 2012. Neither of us had insurance coverage with NCL.

...Unless they changed their terms since then......:confused:.

I do hope OP gets specific info from NCL and comes back to let us know

I am also a TA and have been for over 10 years. I have worked for the biggest agencies in the US and I can say that I just recently heard of this same scenario recently. My manager had a client unexpectedly pass away and his traveling companion would have been charged a similar amount (on a different cruise line). He has worked in the business for over 35 years and is highly successful and is well known in the travel industry. He was blown away at this same situation. There is not a single cruise line that will tell you, "just have your clients no-show!". Can you find this info out? Sure, CC offers valuable information. However, if this is not a situation you have come across how will you know to research it? Typically if someone cancels in a cabin there is usually either someone to take their place or the cabin cancels all together. Thankfully this is not something I have run into and hopefully never do because it's a situation that will be incredibly hard to prepare the client for.

Take it easy on the TA. In the ever changing world of travel, we are ALWAYS learning something new whether it's good or bad.