skywonder

45 minutes ago, spartancruisers said:

In early January 2020, my wife and I scheduled the Encore for April 12 to 19 2020.  Obviously very soon thereafter, COVID was an oncoming train at that point.  I told my wife no way we're getting on that boat.  Because the cruise lines were so slow to react and provide options to travelers, I tried to cancel immediately.  In late February 2020, NCL told us we could cancel but would have to forfeit 75% of our money if we did, so we did not.  A week later I heard the cruise lines wised up and they were offering credit.  I jumped at the chance since it represented at least 100% of the money and our cruise was happening soon!  No longer than a week after that, NCL decided to change their policy again to offer FCC or refunds.  Now I'm being told that because I took the credit, even though their policy changed a week later and I did not have the refund option at the time, I can't get a refund?  The numbers of people that told me there was "no way" to return money to a customer was ridiculous.  Their employees want me to believe their internal system prevents them from returning customers' money.  Laughable.

 

Regardless of the specific timing of certain company policies, etc etc, it seems like a really bad idea for their approach to be to hang onto a few thousand dollars of my money at the risk of many times that money if they just did the right thing.  Because even if they open back up and we take a cruise in 2022, there's no damn way I'm using these guys again.  Who knows what happens to the entire industry, but they better hope its not what they deserve.

NCL should have done better by its customers in this situation and back dated the offer. Some cruise lines like Disney did back date the offer. Vote with your wallet and take your business to another line next time, one with better customer service. that is what many will do.

3 hours ago, The Critical Cruiser said:

When I cancelled our trip (scheduled for May 23rd) on April 1st, the only thing I got from Carnival was a "Shore Excursion Cancellation Notification", nothing for the cruise itself.  It has been 34 days and counting, no refund of any kind as of yet...

OK, thanks for responding, I was very curious about this. I hope you get your refund soon.

We have been on Freedom and loved it, but if I had to choose right now, I would go with Oasis or any in that class. Those ships look amazing. I can not wait to get on it some day myself. Freedom is still an awesome ship with plenty to do and we had a great time, you will have fun either way.

I thought I read on here a while ago that when people cancel their Carnival cruise, they are not getting a confirmation number, email, nothing of any kind, Is this true? Is this with online cancellations through their website or just on the phone with a PVP? I'm just wondering which way is the safest way to cancel, if there is one.

7 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

There isn't enough alcohol on the ship for me to survive being quarantined in an inside cabin.

 

That would be horrible lol.

8 hours ago, mek said:

I can see it now - people putting on the same mask  over and over again for a week or more. Even if a new one is provided each day I see people taking it off to eat or drink and laying it down on a table or bar. People touching dirty masks and then touching other things.  It's laughable to think this will help on a cruise ship.  Sounds like fun to me.

I agree, I do not see that working out to well. I'll just wait it out.

On 4/8/2020 at 2:12 PM, sparks1093 said:

I know from perusing other cruise line boards that Carnival isn't the only one in this situation. 

Yeah this is so true, it is all over the Cruise Critics boards. I did get my refund from Royal but that was just a down payment. It took almost a month.

I thought the chicken parm was really good too, we enjoyed it. I should have stood away from this post now I'm getting hungry for cruise food lol.

We do for the most part.

1 minute ago, pcakes122 said:

It's really concerning me how NCL has been handling this pandemic overall - and I have always been a huge NCL supporter.

 

First we had the situation where the marketing/sales team was told basically to lie to customers about the seriousness of the pandemic. Next are all the issues with refunds and credits. Now we're looking at the NCL team possibly/allegedly trying to downplay or hide Covid-19 related deaths and illnesses among the crew.

 

I have posted before that I contracted Covid-19 on the NCL Bliss March 8th sailing. I did not and do not blame NCL in any way for my illness because I knew when I boarded the ship that there was a possibility I could contract the virus. However, I thought it was interesting that after NCL notified me via email that someone on the prior sailing had tested positive for Covid-19, they did not encourage me to get tested and/or report any test results back to them. They really didn't want to know, because if they did they would have had to report it to the CDC. This occurred to me after seeing news reports that NCL only had "three" reported Covid-19 cases as compared to the other cruise lines - but I knew from personal experience that number was underestimated since they were not tracking people like me who tested positive upon returning home.

 

Anyway, it seems similar to what this article is stating. If you don't test people, then you don't have to report them as positive cases. If that is what NCL is doing, it is truly sad and disappointing. 🙁

Sadly NCL is coming off as very shady. I use to love this cruise line but over the past few years things have not changed for the better. They just keep getting worse.

That is so sad to hear, my prayers are with his family.

13 hours ago, Newleno said:

Senator, I cruised on Disney. I know Disney. Disney is a friend of mine. NCL, you're no Disney.

Lol!

13 hours ago, poffles said:

 

Oh didn't realize that.  Disney does not surprise me.  Edit to add that NCL NOT back dating does not surprise me either.

Same here I agree.

On 4/29/2020 at 6:46 AM, poffles said:

I am LITERALLY in the same situation as you.  I cancelled under Peace of Mind on March 10th, cruise that was to sail on March 15th just like you .. and we all know how that went.  I would have loved the extra FCC (or get ALL my money back)  but I totally understand NCL's position.

 

GET OVER IT (or not)... buyers 'refund' remorse is not going to win this one.  I agree that NCL could have backdated a bit for good faith but they have no obligation as WE chose to do the refund cancellation.  Think this out even further, NCL did not have to even offer Peace of Mind but I am guessing that like me, you were very happy to have that option and jumped on it as quick as possible.  I was elated to be getting anything back since I didn't get insurance so FCC is better than nothing.  

 

Oh and NCL is not the only cruise line with this stance, RCL is same.  I actually have a friend in the same situation with Royal Cruise, cancelled before it was suspended, her cruise was sailing March 22, and she was pissed but that changed nothing as she only got the 100% FCC with some stuff like taxes refunded to her credit card.

 

I think the only cruise line that DID back date a bit was Carnival (Princess) and they had (have) a different image to fix with COVID.

Actually Disney as well as a few other lines did back date.

On 4/24/2020 at 4:59 AM, SummmerInKefalonia said:

In just a few days I think NCL will release them. The itineraries for the 2022 season have already leaked in some major TA sites.

I hope so that would nice.

18 hours ago, pghflyer said:

All the NCL cruise prices are very inflated right now, higher than they were in December which is ludicrous if you think of what has transpired since then.

I agree, I wish they would stop playing this game and give us some half decent prices. I have been looking at Royal and Carnival and their prices have not increased to the extremes that NCL has increased. I mean we paid for our cruises and they got cancelled at no fault of our own, now they want shove these extreme prices on everyone. Most of the new pricing has gone up way over the 25 percent many were given in FCC.

12 hours ago, logan25 said:

And hypothetically, when cruises do not commence in 2020, the life of said FCCs has been “shortened” by 8-9 months.

Bingo!

12 hours ago, logan25 said:

I will be interested to see whether NCL extends the “life” of all the Operational Pause FCCs.  The six currently in my account expire one year from date issued, so March and April 2021.  The latest FAQ indicate the FCCs can be applied on cruises until December 31, 2022.  But mine will have expired long before that.  As of now, they are essentially useless on bookings through June 2020.  Don’t even get me started on when a viable NCL cruise (that actually sails) will happen.

 

Royal Caribbean has extended and aligned the expiration of all Pause FCCs, no matter when they were issued.

This a really great point. I also hope they come out with those 2022 dates soon, so we can actually schedule and apply the FCC to those 2022 cruises before our FCC's expire.

On 4/16/2020 at 11:12 PM, ARandomTraveler said:

That sounds similar to what I was told. My refund was “processed” but not sent back yet. 

Almost the same garbage story I was given. The first rep we called told us it was processed but the credit card has to release it.  The second rep said it was showing processed but was waiting for release by RCCL. They said it would be a day or two. That was over a week and a half ago. They are flat out lying!!!

1 hour ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

Ninety days to refund is completely unacceptable and does not bode well for the future of the cruise line, IMO.

I agree 100 percent, it is ridiculous. NCL seems to not care about its customers. Look at the people that took the March 10th peace of mind offer, NCL basically left them hanging. Disney cruise line as well as other cruise lines reversed their policy. They gave their customers the refund or the choice for better credit, even to those that cancelled in early March, but not NCL. It makes no sense to leave so many possible future passengers unhappy.

On 4/11/2020 at 11:14 AM, caribsun said:

I cancelled our July 15th cruise with our TA on April 9th just before final payment of 3K was due. We lost our deposit of $150 but  did not want want to take a chance of risking the 3K. 

You did the smart thing, better safer then sorry.

On 4/11/2020 at 5:21 AM, Biker19 said:

Welcome to CC.

Thank you! 😊

On 4/11/2020 at 10:36 AM, ALWAYS CRUZIN said:

No Disney cruises for some time now as the CDC has indicated 100 days.

In today's news paper.

the 100 days will start from the time the new order is published in the federal reserve.

I read the same thing, very sad but true.

The terminal at Port Canaveral is kind of special but I would not base it on that. The Magic is a really great ship we had a great time, I liked it better then Dream but that's just me. Dream does have all those cool extra magical perks. Either ship will be great fun. I would take the 4 day over a 3 day any time, that extra sea day will give you time to really enjoy the ship. Good luck with your choice.

Love the Wonder it was our first Disney cruise.