Open Letter To Norwegian Cruise Lines

[FormulaRacer]

Open Letter to Norwegian Cruise Lines NCL

 

Frank Del Rio - Chief Executive Officer

Andy Stuart - President

NCL Board of Directors

 

July 8th, 2016

 

We are a couple who travels frequently and spends most of our travels on cruise ships, sailing all over the world. We are highly experienced cruisers/passengers within the cruise industry. This open letter to Norwegian Cruise Lines shows the disrespect and disregard for their passengers, and NCL’s only concern is bottom line revenues and profits.

We are both NCL Platinum level passengers with over 25 cruises recorded in the NCL Latitudes program. With these 25 cruises recorded, we have spent over $80,000 with NCL. We average 2 to 4 cruises per year on Norwegian Cruise Lines. We have 3 more cruises booked for future cruises and may very well be our last on Norwegian Cruise Lines.

On the date of March 15, 2016 we were passengers on the NCL Pride of America ship, disembarking after the NCL dry dock in the port of San Francisco sailing to the Hawaiian Islands. The ship’s departure from the Port of San Francisco was delayed due to the unfinished dry dock. Passengers were advised by NCL 24 hours in advance that the ships departure would be delayed. Many passengers were already in travel to San Francisco. Many had to secure additional hotel accommodations, meals and local transportation from local hotels to the ships Pier 27, because of the unexpected delay. The Pride of America departed from Pier 27 a day late to the Hawaiian Islands. The departure (due to a fixed time schedule) in San Francisco left the port with much of the dry dock work and refurbishing unfinished and still a “work in progress”. Over the 10 day cruise, passengers were subjected to broken sewer lines and outside decks in terrible conditions.

Norwegian Cruise Line Ships Executive Management located on ship, Guest Services on ship, and NCL Corporate Executives made promises to all passengers that a reimbursement plan had been approved by Senior Management of NCL. The reimbursement plan that was approved, disseminated to the passengers on -board, and detailed and outlined the proper protocol to receive the reimbursements due to passengers for additional expenses incurred due to the dry dock delays. The plan was clearly outlined. On April 1st, 2016 upon arrival back to our residence in New Mexico, we quickly submitted all claim forms, and submitted all documented receipts to NCL. Over the last 3 months, we have contacted NCL Guest Services numerous times reference the reimbursement. We have been pushed to the side, given numerous excuses for the delay in payment of the reimbursement. The vast majority of the passengers on the POA are still waiting for reimbursement. We have been told that our check was sent, and have never received reimbursement. I have personally sent emails direct to Frank Del Rio, NCL’s CEO, Andy Stuart, NCL’s President without any response.

The treatment received by Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) as loyal passengers and customers has been terrible. NCL shows a real “lack” of consumer concern, and has plenty of excuses for the delay in payment. 3 months have now passed and NCL still fails to respond to emails or telephone requests when calls are made to NCL’s Guest Services Department in Miami, Florida. NCL has always been quick to collect deposits, payments, final cruise payments, gratuity payments from the passengers, but cannot meet the responsibility of reimbursing guests for this particular delay. While we have spent over $80,000 with NCL, NCL fails to reimburse us a mere $317.08 the total of our claims.

Since the change in Senior Executive Corporate Management and particularly from Kevin Sheehan to Frank Del Rio, the makeup and culture of NCL has changed dramatically at Norwegian Cruise Lines. Past passengers have spoken and most feel that NCL has “nickeled and dimed” passengers and changes in areas of revenue enhancements have created a disrespect and disregard for passengers with the focus on bottom line revenues and profit since becoming a “publicly” traded company in the US financial markets.

We find it very difficult to determine why Norwegian Cruises Lines would continue the delays in the reimbursement to the passengers of the scheduled Pride of America sailing on March 15th, 2016. While Frank Del Rio boasts about NCL’s increase in Revenues and Net Income, NCL fails to honor their commitment to the passenger of the Pride of America.

It is my sincere hope that NCL Executive Management in Miami sees this post, and responds back in an Open Letter to all Passengers of this specific sailing. Most of all we hope that NCL understands that future loss of revenue from loyal NCL passengers is far greater than paying out a check of $317.08 that is due to loyal customers that have supported NCL over many years.

[casofilia]

Have you actually sent this to the people concerned or just to CC? I suggest you send it, "signature required", to each individual, that you can find an address for, in the senior management positions in NCL. However before you do I suggest that you have it proofed.

 

Then send a copy, with the names of those you have sent it to, to all the newspapers and radio/TV stations in your local area. Leave that till a month after you have sent to NCL and inform the press that you sent the originals a month previously.

 

Good luck; remember that writing on CC may get you 94343 views and 1631 replies like the thread on the water issue did but it may not!! I might be the only viewer.

 

You have to be proactive.

Edited July 8, 2016 by casofilia
some grammatical correction

[Diane123boys]

Not sure I understand why you wrote an "open" letter to NCL here on CC but that aside it certainly begs the question why not just make it right NCl. Did you ever get anything in writing that you would be compensated ? I hope so! best of luck !

[NMLady]

If you want someone at NCL to read the letter I'd suggest shortening it and using paragraph spacing. Using bullet points would be even better.

[dexddd]

NCL - What he/she said!! We have pretty much the same background but not quite as many trips on NCL and are Platinum.

 

We had 2 payments due us from this trip. One took around 8 weeks. 2nd is now over 3 months waiting after getting notice May 24 that the 2nd payment had been approved and sent to "Accounting" for payment.

 

My guess is NCL is holding cash for the quarter just ended for their benefit but pixxing people off.

[bluesea777]

NCL - What he/she said!! We have pretty much the same background but not quite as many trips on NCL and are Platinum.

 

We had 2 payments due us from this trip. One took around 8 weeks. 2nd is now over 3 months waiting after getting notice May 24 that the 2nd payment had been approved and sent to "Accounting" for payment.

 

My guess is NCL is holding cash for the quarter just ended for their benefit but pixxing people off.

 

-- DITTO --

 

First was about a month and we applied it toward our next cruise, and we're still waiting for the SFO hotel reimbursement after getting approval notice on May 26th.

[bluesea777]

Not sure I understand why you wrote an "open" letter to NCL here on CC but that aside it certainly begs the question why not just make it right NCl. Did you ever get anything in writing that you would be compensated ? I hope so! best of luck !

 

Well, you weren't on the SFO-Hawaii post-drydock cruise, were you?

 

We got letter from NCL promising us 50% credit for future cruise AND costs for accommodation for the one night, after they delayed our departure from SFO by one day. The cruise happened in the latter half of March 2016, and now it's almost 4 months later and many of us are still waiting for the hotel reimbursement.

 

Our roll-call is still active!!! ;)

[Cruisercl]

I encourage you to send all of your information on your problems with NCL to the State Attorney General, in this case CA because this is where you were a customer of NCL.

 

Encourage all of the others on your RC to do the same. Keeping owed money to people is considered theft. Good luck.

[mking8288]

Thank you for sharing this.

 

NCL, shame on you :mad: This couldn't possibly be a cash-flow problem, can it ? On the other hands, it makes you wonder about their accounts payable and vendor payments if accounting cannot - 3 months later - even release simple reimbursement pledged and promised to its passengers after the cruise.

 

Imagine if this is the other way around, you still - somehow - owed NCL money after your cruise and refused to pay up. If one can report to the credit agencies ... like those upbeat Wall Street firms about the state of their financials.

 

It's more than a matter of waiving the pom poms, nothing to defend for NCL, in our books - simply no excuse. Think for a moment before speaking for them - silence is gold, for NCL in this case.

 

It's more than just trust and acting in good faith.

 

(Go ahead & flame on - the "Ignore List" has grown lately for me)

[punkincc]

I was on this cruise as well. On July 1, I CC'd a letter addressed to Guest Services to Vivian Ewart, VP of passenger services outlining my frustrations with the reimbursement handling. She was the one who signed our letters concerning reimbursement received on the ship. As of today, I have only received a robo email of receipt. Others on our roll call have attempted to go up the chain to various others with no result.

 

After submitting my letter and receipts on 4-08 for 1 days hotel and 1 meal, waiting 3 or 4 weeks and having no response or even confirmation of receipt, I called. And let's just say, waits of 1 hour or more for a phone pick up were routine. After a lengthy hold, she stated they could not locate my letter. I asked if they were logged in as received. No. I verified the address I'd used. She then said it could possibly be in "that big pile of mail" and if I'd hold, she'd look. It wasn't. She said I'd have to resubmit, which I did, again, on 4-28.

 

Fast forward to Wednesday June 8th when I called again, still having heard nothing from my second submission on 4-28. This time they had my letter, letters actually, the first having miraculously turned up. She said it was on the Coordinator's desk and she did not know if she'd get to it today, but since she only processed these once a week on Wednesdays only, ( seriously? ) she'd speak to the coordinator to see if she would look at it now. After returning to the phone, she stated it was reviewed and approved, $xxx for hotel, and $xx for meal and I would be getting a confirmation email.

 

Imagine my surprise on getting the email, to see that my hotel on what was to have been our departure day was approved, but that they could not approve a meal. Their reasoning? "Since all guests were refunded 1 days cruise fare and service charges, no meal reimbursement can be approved". So, they admit that due to the last minute delay they owe us a hotel room, rather than make us homeless for the night, but apparently they do not expect us to require even a single meal on that day when, if not for their delay, we would have been residing, and eating, on the ship.

 

I emailed a response to this person at Guest Services, pointing out that the 1 days cruise fare which was given back to us on the POA in the form of an OBC (unless you specified you wanted a check mailed to you instead ) was actually simply a refund of the cruise fare we had paid for a day we did not get, having paid for an 11 day cruise, and getting a 10 day one instead. And incidentally, there was no refund of DSC unless you had pre paid it. I also pointed out that they were not being consistent in their handling concerning meals, as all of us on the Roll Call were sharing information and were aware that some of us DID get meal reimbursement, some as many as 3 meals reimbursed! I asked that they reconsider these meal charges. I CC'd a copy of this letter to V. Ewart.

 

It's only @ $40, but it is the principal of the thing. We were literally scrambling last minute to find a hotel, in San Francisco of all places. Great that they are reimbursing for the hotel, ridiculous that they feel they owe us nothing for food. We could have tried to soak them for lunch, dinner somewhere and a breakfast the next day, but since we got free drinks and appys that evening and a free breakfast the next day, we only requested lunch after coming straight from the airport. And 30 days later, I am still waiting for that hotel check which was supposed to go to accounting on Friday 6-10.

[jingle5616]

Welcome to the New Norwegian Cruise Line! Stellar customer service!:rolleyes:

[boatseller]

Imagine my surprise on getting the email, to see that my hotel on what was to have been our departure day was approved, but that they could not approve a meal. Their reasoning? "Since all guests were refunded 1 days cruise fare and service charges, no meal reimbursement can be approved".

 

This is not at all unreasonable. The airlines work on a similar policy. If you receive compensation for denied boarding, you don't get meal vouchers.

 

Yes, they are handling this very poorly. Carnival seems to be able to process things like this instantly, but, well, they've had lots of practice.

[Linda the Book Lover]

These are sad and disappointing stories of delays and run arounds. I hope all of you receive your compensation soon.

[punkincc]

This is not at all unreasonable. The airlines work on a similar policy. If you receive compensation for denied boarding, you don't get meal vouchers.

 

Yes, they are handling this very poorly. Carnival seems to be able to process things like this instantly, but, well, they've had lots of practice.

 

 

If they are going to deny compensation for food, then they should make that denial across the board, not deny a meal for this person, but fully reimburse three meals for another. Do they not all work in the same department, under the same guidelines? If they had done that, I would have had no complaint, except for the very poor customer service and excessive delays in handling.

 

When you have people literally getting off a plane and showing up at the pier only to be told that "Uhhh, we sail tomorrow", I don't care what your general policies are, it's time to do some damage control. The smart thing to do is to generate a little goodwill and cover our unexpected expenses of hotel and food.

 

Any warm fuzzies generated by the generous partial refund of cruise fare as a future cruise credit has been pretty much erased by this poor customer service experience.

Edited July 8, 2016 by punkincc

[Bird in Jersey]

Thank you for sharing your letter. I had a refund due to me from NCL from charges that appeared on my account in May after adding a 3rd passenger and making reservations on the dining package. I was very familiar with getting refunds from NCL, because I booked a group for my upcoming cruise and secured the fare with deposits on 10 cabins(only 1 out of 9 refunds was delayed).

 

The refund that I was owed in May after looking closely at my bill was $129.56(first call a week after noticing charge), well I called a second time about 3 weeks later to inquire how long it would take for my refund. Told me about 10-14 days and was told to call back if I didn't see anything in a few days. I waited, and called as instructed.Phone tag occurred.

During my wait, I got a credit for booking my group(quite happy). I almost did not call my PCC back- I was happy with the credit, but I had other questions and unless I asked, I would not have known.

 

I called earlier this week(July 5), just to confirm if the credit that I received for booking the group included the $129.56. He did not think so, neither did I. PCC showed that it was paid out in May(refund). I assured him that was the day I called and he "corrected" the charge, but I did not receive it(same credit card).

I finally got an e-mail yesterday that the refund was locked in their system with an apology from my pcc. ????LMAO. Locked?? How about never properly processed. I should get my refund from Mid May now in July. I am very patient, but do not play with my money that is owed to me. I would have called back every week if I had to and then fired off a letter, after speaking to a supervisor. Most people would have given up. We share so that others will not have to go through any unfortunate situations. I think NCL accounting needs a serious audit!!

[OceanDreaming2]

If they are going to deny compensation for food, then they should make that denial across the board, not deny a meal for this person, but fully reimburse three meals for another. Do they not all work in the same department, under the same guidelines? If they had done that, I would have had no complaint, except for the very poor customer service and excessive delays in handling.

 

When you have people literally getting off a plane and showing up at the pier only to be told that "Uhhh, we sail tomorrow", I don't care what your general policies are, it's time to do some damage control. The smart thing to do is to generate a little goodwill and cover our unexpected expenses of hotel and food.

 

Any warm fuzzies generated by the generous partial refund of cruise fare as a future cruise credit has been pretty much erased by this poor customer service experience.

 

I totally agree with you. We didn't claim much for our meals but NCL denied them saying meals were not included in the reimbursement. However, others on our rollcall state they, indeed receive meal compensation; they charged meals to their room. Ugh. Just send the check, NCL. My patience is wearing very, very thin!

Edited July 8, 2016 by OceanDreaming2

[FormulaRacer]

Have you actually sent this to the people concerned or just to CC? I suggest you send it, "signature required", to each individual, that you can find an address for, in the senior management positions in NCL. However before you do I suggest that you have it proofed.

 

Then send a copy, with the names of those you have sent it to, to all the newspapers and radio/TV stations in your local area. Leave that till a month after you have sent to NCL and inform the press that you sent the originals a month previously.

 

Good luck; remember that writing on CC may get you 94343 views and 1631 replies like the thread on the water issue did but it may not!! I might be the only viewer.

 

You have to be proactive.

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

I have sent emails direct to Frank Del Rio-CEO, Andy Stuart- President and Wendy Beck-CFO, at the corporate offices in Miami, Fl.

 

NCL reads the Cruise Critic message boards. On every NCL voyage ( 25 in total) we always had a CC Meet and Greet and the Executive Officers on the ship are quite aware of the power of Cruise Critic.

[casofilia]

I totally agree with you. We didn't claim much for our meals but NCL denied them saying meals were not included in the reimbursement. However, others on our rollcall state they, indeed receive meal compensation; they charged meals to their room. Ugh. Just send the check, NCL. My patience is wearing very, very thin!

 

That is well worth remembering. It may help others in the future.

 

Mike

[FormulaRacer]

Not sure I understand why you wrote an "open" letter to NCL here on CC but that aside it certainly begs the question why not just make it right NCl. Did you ever get anything in writing that you would be compensated ? I hope so! best of luck !

 

Yes, all passengers on this NCL Voyage were given letters delivered to the staterooms about half way through the cruise from San Francisco to Honolulu.

 

It was very clear how NCL would handle the reimbursement. Problem is, many have not been reimbursed. The service from Guest Services has been lackluster.

 

Each passenger onboard the POA were advised on how to file claims either direct via USPS or online. Our claim was submitted on-line and acknowledged by NCL in Miami. A case number was provided.

[punkincc]

I totally agree with you. We didn't claim much for our meals but NCL denied them saying meals were not included in the reimbursement. However, others on our rollcall state they, indeed receive meal compensation; they charged meals to their room. Ugh. Just send the check, NCL. My patience is wearing very, very thin!

 

That is well worth remembering. It may help others in the future.

 

Mike

 

Not all of those who received meal compensation charged the meals to their room. I asked, and in more than one case the meals were submitted by seperate receipts. But yes, if I am ever in this situation again, I will charge to the room and then submit an unitimized hotel bill.

[Crown Vic]

The posters who talk about hotel expenses not reimbursed, lame excuses provided, e-mails ignored etc. etc. are 'right on'. You are to be applauded for turning to this forum after being ignored by NCL. We, too, were on the post dry dock cruise, and contacted NCL directly giving full details as requested. We, too, after numerous notes and calls are still waiting for our hotel reimbursement. In addition, any reimbursable credits take eons to arrive and by cheque no less. How quaint! Other lines reimburse to the credit card used on board and usually within 24 hours. The question is 'does NCL care'?. The answer, too us, is an obvious 'NO'. For those waiting, guess the answer is to keep waiting. Eventually payment will be received. The solution, in future, is to owe NCL money rather than the other way around. Hang in there, folks. Christmas is coming...

[Crown Vic]

The posters who talk about hotel expenses not reimbursed, lame excuses provided, e-mails ignored etc. etc. are 'right on'...Hang in there, folks. Christmas is coming...

 

Woo hoo! Just off the phone with NCL Guest Services. Was told that our cheque has been cut and is in the Post. Shall advise when the Pony Express delivers it...

[navybankerteacher]

Having given NCL one last chance in February (they blew it) I remain curious why so many are surprised at the lines efforts at remediation - their efforts at running cruise ships are poor enough. Until the NCL loyalists wise up and start voting with their feet, there is little reason to expect improvement.

[BirdTravels]

The treatment received by Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) as loyal passengers and customers has been terrible. NCL shows a real “lack” of consumer concern, and has plenty of excuses for the delay in payment. 3 months have now passed and NCL still fails to respond to emails or telephone requests when calls are made to NCL’s Guest Services Department in Miami, Florida.

 

If you have done that much cruising, you know that it is not uncommon for ships to make planned and unplanned changes that impact passengers.

 

If you have done that much cruising with NCL, you should know that 3 months is not an abnormal amount of time to process reimbursements for unplanned or planned changes to itineraries. I am not going to debate whether this is reasonable or not,,, just saying that with the hundreds of changed itineraries that happen this time of year as new cruise schedules and dry docks are released and updated, there are a lot of guests that get impacted.

 

If you have done that much cruising with NCL, you should know that Guest Services is usually pretty liberal when making reimbursements when treated with professional courtesy. We have been on several cruises that have planned and unplanned changes. Guest Services have always reimbursed us,,,, slowly. And that reimbursement has been for the full amount claimed,,, even if it exceeds published reimbursement policy for the change.

Edited July 9, 2016 by BirdTravels

[FormulaRacer]

If you have done that much cruising, you know that it is not uncommon for ships to make planned and unplanned changes that impact passengers.

 

If you have done that much cruising with NCL, you should know that 3 months is not an abnormal amount of time to process reimbursements for unplanned or planned changes to itineraries. I am not going to debate whether this is reasonable or not,,, just saying that with the hundreds of changed itineraries that happen this time of year as new cruise schedules and dry docks are released and updated, there are a lot of guests that get impacted.

If you have done that much cruising with NCL, you should know that Guest Services is usually pretty liberal when making reimbursements when treated with professional courtesy. We have been on several cruises that have planned and unplanned changes. Guest Services have always reimbursed us,,,, slowly. And that reimbursement has been for the full amount claimed,,, even if it exceeds published reimbursement policy for the change.

 

BirdTravels:

 

Yes BirdTravels, we have done that much cruising with NCL. We have also seen the many changes that have taken place within NCL. We have sailed when Colin Veitch, Kevin Sheehan and now Frank Del Rio served as CEO's. We are very familiar with the past ownership of NCL and now the majority shareholders of NCLH.

 

The corporate culture at NCL has changed dramatically with a total emphasis on revenues and bottom line profits since emerging as a publically traded corporation. I understand the value of revenues and profits as in my career which was 31 years working for a major Wall Street brokerage firm, bottom line profits is the main concern of any publically traded corporation.

 

What NCLH has lost, is the close relationship between passengers and the company. In the past we were respected guests, in today's culture of NCL we are simply a guest on a ship, with NCL's focus of sucking money out of every passenger to the maximum when possible. In the past, credits or reimbursements due to passengers were paid promptly and efficiently. In today's culture of NCL, passengers must take an active approach to retrieving credits or reimbursements when due.

 

Should you decide to read the CC Roll Call of this specific sailing (POA March 15th, 2016) you will find that many guests have repeatedly contacted NCL Guest Services over the matter of reimbursements. Many have been pushed to the side and given numerous excuses for the delay in payments. 3 months time is excessive and unwarranted. If as a passenger, any outstanding payment or debits due to NCL for any reason while on board is collected immediately by the cruise line. There is no grace period to pay outstanding balances to NCL over a 3 month period.

 

We have 3 more cruises booked on NCL. If the culture of NCL remains the same with a lack of respect for the passenger/guest we will simply continue to cruise but on other cruise lines. This is a highly competitive Leisure Time industry and vacationers have many choices in choosing a cruise line cruise experience.

 

After spending over $80,000 on NCL past cruises, I find it quite foolish not to pay a reimbursement of under $310 to any passenger. I am sure NCL will eventually pay the passengers, but to take this amount of time, sweep the requests to the side, and provide various excuses for the delay is totally unwarranted and inexcusable as a major corporation.