AliciaandMark

We sailed on the Spirit in December and LOVED the Upgrade band. In fact we have rebooked on her in April just to see them again. Agree that the others were less than average. 

Now the waiting game for us still booked on the 27th sailing..I anticipate changes to itinerary and possibly even embarkation port but don’t expect they’ll cancel. 

44 minutes ago, Atgatsea said:

I sent an email to NCL’s CEO Harry Sommer this morning.  Remarkably, he “responded” rather quickly at 4:52am with the email below.  Notice the hubris - the media is creating a stir, Vietnam is unreasonable...  This tells me the emperor definitely has no clothes!  See below:

 

Thank you for writing in.  Our concerns about the virus for the Spirit voyages revolve around consumer expectations about the virus and not the virus itself.  We recognize that the media has created quite a stir around this and the demand for travel to Asia was fallen as a result.   We believe we have taken great precautions for the upcoming Jade voyages and are avoiding all contact with areas where the virus in rampant - noting that Mainland China has reported around 99% of all reported worldwide case, a country we are avoiding on all of our ships.

We truly hope that you can join us.  If you would like a list of all processes we have in plan to ensure guest safety, Katty will be happy to provide.  Just let her know.

All the best,
Harry

Glad to see a more targeted response to the concerns that at least attempts to address the issue of inconsistencies in the cancelling of Spirit but not the Jade. I’ll take this as NCL having made their decision to proceed with the sailings moving forward. The hardest part has been not knowing what the next action will be. Knowing that it’s going ahead I will accept that, try and park my worries and get into the positive mode of anticipating a great, safe and comfortable cruise for everyone. Please don’t let us down NCL. 

1 minute ago, Lou33 said:

Statement from Princess:

 

Although there are no known issues regarding coronavirus on board Sapphire Princess, we have made this decision out of an abundance of caution.

 

So if they make decisions out of an abundance of caution.  Logic would tell you that NCL does not use an abundance of caution.

This really is absolutely ludicrous. My money is on NCL following suit but the damage they are doing by delaying this decision and not communicating with their passengers will be hard to come back from. Radio silence from NCL with every other cruise line making frank and fearless decisions in favour in their guests. NCL hoping we pull out and cancel before they do to avoid compensation arrangements maybe?! 

38 minutes ago, elwood_98034 said:

It is already 4.15am on the 13th in Singapore. Talk about leaving it to the last minute. I would hate to get off that 20 hour flight and have this message pop up on my email.

Surely NCL has the same intelligence on the current situation as Princess, RCI, Celebrity and Cunard. If each of them have cancelled sailing from Singapore this week how in the world could one company make a call to continue on? Why are they leaving it so late to announce what they are doing knowing that people are boarding flights each day and anxiety is peaking for all involved?! Come on NCL call it!! 

I have just heard that there are current discussions occurring at the NCL head office and a decision pending. Good news is that they appear to be 'considering' things. All we can do now is hope that a reasonable and logical outcome is reached. Given every other cruise-line has taken precautionary action I cannot see how NCL can continue to bed down against the majority and proceed, but we will have to wait and see. One way or another I expect some communication from NCL in the near future. Let's hope it isn't the usual statement without amendment!

We are on the 27th Feb sailing so leave Australia on 22 Feb to head to Singapore. Still watching at this stage and will make our decision at last minute. Last year I was booked in the Mediterranean cruise with NCL that was cancelled 48 hours prior to sailing (I was already in Europe when they cancelled!). I would hate to travel again all the way to Singapore and have the same thing happen to me. Such a hard decision. 

It seems as though each time there is a media update about the escalating situation (eg doubling of confirmed cases on Diamond Princess, Cunard diverting their ship from Singapore to Australia) NCL respond by sending out their same duplicated communication script telling us nothing new?! I’m not sure what they are trying to achieve through this strategy? I’m legitimately confused by their approach?! 

1 hour ago, Starry Eyes said:

Do you have “cancel for any reason coverage” or standard cancellation coverage?  I would hope those with “cancel for any reason coverage” would able to read their policies and come up with the appropriate way to cancel (even that means saying something like “I need to visit Grandma” instead of “I’m worried about Coronavirus”).  Or are even those with “cancel for any reason” coverage having difficulty?  

 

 

Cancel for any reason insurance is something I’d never heard of until this thread started a few days ago. In Australia we have ‘medical Only’ or ‘full comprehensive’ travel insurance. I always pay extra to ensure I have “unlimited” cancellation within the policy but that simply means I’ll be reimbursed the entire amount I’ve invested rather than be capped at say $2000, $5000 ect. I just googled ‘cancel for any reason‘ travel insurance and it does appear that one insurer introduced it in Australia about 18 months ago so it looks like it may now be an option. I’ve definitely learnt something new from this experience and will absolutely be switching insurers and looking at purchasing that next time if it’s still available here. Seems to be a very new concept here in Australia. My husband and I did joke about one of us breaking our leg in the next two weeks to claim on our cover (it was only a joke!) but our minds had turned that way hahaha. 

The sad part is that I would never travel without full comprehensive travel insurance. I’m a stickler for that and fully subscribe to the sole responsibility of being covered for the slight chance something goes wrong. The problem here is there is no insurance company that I’m aware of that has epidemics covered in their policy. So even with the full comprehensive cover we have, we aren’t covered. This was unforeseen for everyone. NCL referring us back to our insurances knowing that, says a lot about how much they care. I understand they don’t “have to” care nor offer us a FCC (which is all we want, I’m not asking for a refund). I’m just asking to be treated fairly and recognised for the faith (and dollars) I’ve put in their company to do the right thing, as they have for the Spirit passengers. I’m willing to take a hit on the flights, hotel accomodation and all the other on-costs but to lose $7,000+ we’ve invested in this cruise ON TOP of all that is heartbreaking at best.
 

My dilemma remains - cancel and loose it all ($10,000+) but have piece of mind; or travel and risk getting caught up in the crisis of the virus including the possibility of extended quarantine issues and the slim but real chance that if I were to get sick I’d potentially be out of pocket tens of thousands of dollars (being conservative here) in international medical costs and new flights home! It’s a no win scenario at this stage of the game. Also have to consider the impact of both those choices on my family (we have kids at home not travelling with us on this occasion).

NCL, I accept this isn’t your dilemma it’s mine, but what harm could have come to your multi-million dollar empire by simply offering to transfer our already paid cruise fare to a future cruise?! 

The NCL inconsistencies are completely baffling. Such a great response to all those booked on the Spirit cruises with what I would call very generous compensation and arrangements several weeks and months in advance of those sailings. No doubt all those passengers are grateful for the early heads up and the client centred response to the changes.
 

Why or why then do they remain so recalcitrant and headstrong on the current Jade sailings and treating their guests who are extremely stressed about their health and well-being as though they simply don’t matter at all. Their current communication to those guests includes advice that temperature checks will be undertaken on embarkation and every time they leave the ship and re-enter and in the event someone spikes a fever they will be disembarked and told to “open an insurance claim” no offer of refunds or FCC. NCL are well aware that there are no current insurance policies that cover this epidemic! So effectively what they are saying is sail at your own risk in a very high risk scenario knowing if it goes south you’re on your own! Of course this is anxiety provoking for their paid guests and such poor customer service!

It seems it’s been a luck of the draw approach to how NCL manage things and those sailing on the Spirit hit the jackpot whilst those sailing on the Jade got the boobie prize! 

NCL, that approved media communication script is now becoming very condescending to your passengers who have genuine concerns about boarding the ship in the next few weeks in Asia.  I’d suggest not replying at all instead of cut and pasting such an unhelpful and clearly disingenuous statement. It only serves to further embed the concerns that your passengers have that NCL are not listening to them and do not care about anything but the $$$ bottom line. Which by the way, I understand given you are a for-profit business, but be honest about why you are continuing to sail in these areas at this time despite cancelling sailings from April, and why you allowed passengers to embark the Jade knowing they had transited through Hong Kong only days prior to boarding but now have decided to disembark them without “real” explanation. They’ve already been socialising with the larger group so it has nothing to do with their safety or that of the other passengers? Just be real with your paying guests NCL. Many people have saved for months (some years!) in advance to afford these holidays and entrusted you as a business to invest that hard earned cash in! We deserve honesty and to be treated with a little more respect in the communication responses than we are currently getting. If you’re unsure on how to do this head over to have a read of some of the Princess media releases or even the amazing video messages they are putting out frequently and frankly to their guests. That’s how it’s done! 

21 minutes ago, ppcox said:

I believe that the Feb 6th sailing was Singapore to Hong Kong as we are on the 17 th.  sailing from originally Hongkong. Both cruises were changed to roundtrip to and from Singapore.

What strikes me is these passengers that transited through Hongkong  have been free to cruise  for 3 days. The person updating has been sharing a cabin with someone in this position and has been told he can disembark with his friend and have no refund or carry alone.

Doies that mean these people are not been quarantined and are free to travel home. This is outrageous if true. Moral and ethic behaviour v profit WHERE IS NCL’s LINE.

Yes that’s how I see it as well! Very little (if any regard) for the passengers involved. What a shambles! I’m really nervous now about my upcoming sailing for 20 nights leaving on the 27th Feb! If we make it through without issue I think it’ll be through luck not good management. 

I’m now really confused with NCLs position on this. So if I understand correctly NCL and RCCL have just increased protective measures to prevent outbreaks on their ships?! These include denying travel to anyone who has visited or transited Hong Kong (amongst other places) in the last 15 days?! As a result some passengers currently onboard the Jade are being disembarked early tomorrow due to having recently transited through Hong Kong (where their cruise was initially sailing from before last minute changes). In addition the advice indicates that those people who have had contact (been within one metre) of those that have travelled or transited through Hong Kong should also be excluded. Wouldn’t that then be the vast majority of those currently sailing on the Jade where the passengers who embarked on the 6th Feb have been mingling for a few days?! So disembarking the passengers who transited for an hour or two in Hong Kong but have been sitting in theatres and restaurants and bars with 100’s of other cruise passengers seems really odd to me? Potentially half the cruise ship fits the latter exclusion clause of having been in close contact with all those people. Why did they let them board to start with? Only to disembark them two days later?! Is  NCL’s greater concern that ports will not allow them to enter if passengers on board have been to HK in the last 15 days and so now they need to offload those passengers to meet the port requirements?? It all seems a little contradictory and confusing. 

8 minutes ago, blcruising said:

That's well said. And ultimately it is the right answer. Call it what you want but at the end of the day we have the free choice to support or not support this business. This is the kind of stuff that separates solid companies from average companies. And I can't imagine a company being worse than NCL at customer service....maybe equally as bad (maybe IRS?)...but how could they be worse?

 

They've continued to state their concern, for safety and well-being via posts here on cruisecritic (does any other cruiselines do that?), but most fair minded people observe their actions which are in direct contradiction as evidenced by the negative reaction in this forum.

 

They clearly know they are operating in a high risk geographic area. But they apparently have no problem incurring the risk of sailing a ship with their crew and officers into these areas. They have no problem asking customers to travel through and around these areas. They apparently have no concern about infecting people in the ports of call to which they sail. They have no concern about a possible quarantine situation such as Diamond Princess or a stranded at sea situation such as Westerdam.

 

The best thing that could happen right now for passengers booked on the Feb 17 departure would be for governments to continue to close ports. This is the only opportunity that I see to curb this greedy, reckless and careless cruise lines behavior.

So true. The best indicator of a companies true integrity is how they respond in a crisis. NCL have had ample opportunity to take a proactive and considered response to the current circumstances just like their competitors but instead we are now reliant on government intervention and the “rug being pulled directly out from underneath them” as our only hope for a sensible outcome. We saw this with the cancellation of Hong Kong port (NCL only responded to this out of necessity) unfortunately there’s no doubt this will be the only way they’ll shift on the next two Jade sailings as well. I’ve been very impressed with Princess and how they’ve managed their circumstances absolutely putting their crew and staff first and communicating honestly and frequently with the guests and community in general. Great work Princess maybe your CEO and marketing manager could mentor NCL staff on good PR processes and customer focused relations. 

NCL’s formal response as listed above has some significant flaws and therefore feels disingenuous! Cancelling cruises in Asia from April due to risks associated directly with the Coronavirus as outlined in their written advice to passengers yesterday, yet for some reason feeling as though the Jade sailings happening right now in the midst of the epidemic don’t hold the same risks or consideration. Knowing that the majority of people travelling will not be covered by their insurance policies which largely  exclude epidemics in the event of illness or disruption to the current sailings and yet still not being willing to offer FCC (I’m not even advocating for refund!) in good faith and in return for loyalty to the brand. So many other cruise lines have demonstrated what it looks like to REALLY put their crew and passengers first, I for one will be choosing future cruises with those lines. NCL has lost my business and no doubt that of many others caught up in this epidemic. NCL communication and response to this issue has been appalling in my opinion. 

1 hour ago, MazzyKn said:

So why are they still operating Cruises on the Jade in Asia? We are due in Singapore on 25th Feb for the 27 Feb cruise to Dubai. They cancelled the Hong Kong to Singapore part of the cruise, due to the port closure in Hong Kong, but despite Singapore now being on orange alert for Corona Virus, they still intend to operate this cruise.

 

Agreed. Cancelling a cruise months in advance which I support, but why continue cruising there in the peak of the epidemic?! I’m on that cruise as well and very nervous about heading into the area. Our full comprehensive travel insurance excludes any illness or disruption to do with an “epidemic” so effectively we’d be travelling without insurance on top of it all?! 

So they will cancel upcoming cruises citing the virus as far away as April but continue to soldier on with current itineraries in the peak of the epidemic through Asia currently. I don’t understand? 

3 hours ago, ollienbertsmum said:

That must be such a gutting experience.  I spend so much time working out what we are going to do, I cannot imagine how a Refund as to just the cruise cost, would work out. 

It was very disappointing to have the cruise cancelled but in terms of refund we got 100% of what we paid back (which included gratuities and upgrade bids). We however got only the base cruise fare on our future cruise credit so that did not include what we’d spent on gratuities and Upgrade bid or the taxes and fees.  Hope that makes sense. We were very grateful for the cruise credit on top of our refund so really can’t complain. 😀

1 hour ago, Bitten10 said:

Question for the experts here...

 

Supposing you are "lucky" enough to be on a cruise where something goes wrong and NCL "refunds" your cruise fare as credit towards a future cruise.  When you go to redeem this credit, would you receive credit for the upgrade fee?  Technically it isn't a part of your cruise fare, but through no fault of your own, NCL still owes you the money back.  Right?

 

I was "lucky" enough to be on a cruise under these circumstances last year, but I didn't have an upgrade, so I couldn't tell you.  But I'm curious because it's always possible it could happen again.

We were on a cruise last year that was cancelled by NCL due to mechanical issues 48 hours before sailing. Got all our money refunded including our upgrade costs (we’d successfully won a balcony upgrade). We also got a 100% future cruise credit however this credit covers what you paid in base cruise fare only not inclusive of gratuities or upgrade costs ect. 

Hi there. I too was on the cancelled cruise following yours due to set sail from

Rome on July 5. We only received the remaining parts of our refunds this week. Like the other poster stated our issue was also that one of the cards used at the time of payment had since expired. They refund to the exact payment method used to pay the original payment in the same instalments. Hence we got about 1/3 back and then nothing until I contacted regarding the new card details. They did not contact me and I had to work out what the issue was and make contact with them regarding the missing payment.  We have also received our future cruise credit which is 100% of the cruise fare only against each traveller. The future cruise credit does not include the money spent on taxes, gratuities, upgrade payments ect ect. I am still impressed however with this as a compensation and we have made good use of that on an upcoming cruise next Feb. Hope you can get to the bottom of where your remaining refund is. Of note is that I ended up getting an NCL agent to chase mine for me. When they cancelled our cruise I was contacted by a personal cruise consultant and this is the person I’ve communicated with all the way through. It’s been very helpful. 

Our bidding isn’t open yet but I’m hoping to be offered the opportunity to bid on an upcoming cruise in Asia in Feb. we’ve just booked a guarantee inside cabin. Does booking a guarantee cabin impact on upgrade offers and opportunities? Never done it this way before. 

I have just received confirmation of our upgrade from Inside cabin to midship balcony on the Pearl for the 5th July sailing to Greek Isles and Italy. 52 days out from sailing. So happy. Bid was $200AUD.