What do you think about this cancellation policy?

[DirtyDawg]

Hi ifernbol,

Just an 'off the wall' thought here. I know you don't want to cancel fist and leave it up to NCL to determine if they could be made whole before reducing the cancellation penalty but is this policy only NCL's or is there some kind of EU regulation regarding this? i.e. companies can charge a large cancellation penalty but they must reduce it if..... Any type of regulation like this would give you more leverage with NCL.

[ifernbol]

Hi ifernbol,

Just an 'off the wall' thought here. I know you don't want to cancel fist and leave it up to NCL to determine if they could be made whole before reducing the cancellation penalty but is this policy only NCL's or is there some kind of EU regulation regarding this? i.e. companies can charge a large cancellation penalty but they must reduce it if..... Any type of regulation like this would give you more leverage with NCL.

 

 

 

In the EU there is consumer protection against abusive clauses on contracts. For example, lately the European Comission has ruled against many bank contracts (mortgage for example) because they had one sided abusive clauses on them, and the banks have been forced to give back their consumers whatever costs had been determined to be abusive (thousands of Euros in all cases).

 

I really have not looked that deep on the matter and I’m no jurist so I don’t know if there is an specific regulation that applies here. Anyway I really think it would be better to reach any agreement and not have to take any steps further.

 

What I do suspect, is that the clause that stated the right to prove the cancellation fee is higher than potential losses NCL could have is there only to address that kind of regulations that protects consumers against abusive terms & conditions.

 

 

 

 

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[ifernbol]

In order to provide all the information, NCL just told me that my booking was made with some kind of price protection. So I might be able to match the price to the one published at this moment.

 

 

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[Tiggertastic]

Have you considered asking, if it works for you, to switch the deposit to another cruise. Unfortunately the terms are the terms but do far out they may consider an alternative

 

 

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[ifernbol]

Have you considered asking, if it works for you, to switch the deposit to another cruise. Unfortunately the terms are the terms but do far out they may consider an alternative

 

 

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Thanks! A very good suggestion!

 

I think I will settle with the price match. At least this way I don’t have to pay a premium having booked in advance and will get the price today offered (significantly lower).

 

But I hope this thread serves all people in Europe considering far in advance bookings to know under what conditions those booking are.

 

 

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[DirtyDawg]

Thanks! A very good suggestion!

 

I think I will settle with the price match. At least this way I don’t have to pay a premium having booked in advance and will get the price today offered (significantly lower).

 

But I hope this thread serves all people in Europe considering far in advance bookings to know under what conditions those booking are.

 

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I'm glad this is working out for you. Have a great (and cheaper) cruise!:)

[HowardK]

How does this work in the U.S.- if your cancellation period is 89-76 days 25%- and you cancel on day 90 or 91- do you just call them on the phone (this is after you have made your final payment) and get credited a refund?

Or do you have to submit your request in writing?

 

Also, if you have the booksafe travel insurance and for a non covered reason get a 90% credit- does that exclude the amount you paid for the insurance and promo service fees?

[BirdTravels]

How does this work in the U.S.- if your cancellation period is 89-76 days 25%- and you cancel on day 90 or 91- do you just call them on the phone (this is after you have made your final payment) and get credited a refund? Or do you have to submit your request in writing? Also, if you have the booksafe travel insurance and for a non covered reason get a 90% credit- does that exclude the amount you paid for the insurance and promo service fees?

 

The current cancellation policy for US is:

>120 day 0%

119 - 91 days 25%

90 - 61 days 50%

60 - 31 days 75%

30 days or less 100%

If Booksafe refuses to pay for a non-covered reason, Norwegian Cruise Line provides guests with a future cruisecredit equal to 75% of the non-refundable cancellation charge to use on your next cruise with us. For guests who upgrade to BookSafe Platinum Protection,this credit is increased to 90% of the non-refundable cancellation charge.

 

 

[TrumpyNor]

CHANGE INSTEAD OF CANCELLATION AS AN OPTION?

To the OP - maybe it might be an interesting alternative to loosing 20% of your Haven category price to instead change to a different NCL cruise (even change to a regular balcony cabin would be better than loosing all that money???). I know that some rules are different for Spain than for the rest of Europe when it comes to NCL bookings done through NCL in Europe, all though I am not certain what those differences might be in detail. I live in Norway, and have a cruise booked for May 2018 that I booked already in May 2017. Long story short, a couple of weeks ago I changed/upgrated that to a different cabin type due to a large price drop, and all I had to pay as "penalty" was EUR 50 per person (EUR 100 total for the two of us) which was much less than what I gained by doing the change. On my cruise confirmation from NCL Europe it states very different rules for CHANGE instead of a total CANCELLATION, and you can even change to a different ship, different dates, etc, and only pay the EUR 50 p.p. penalty for the change. Here is a quote from the conditions regarding CHANGE that I have received from NCL (I don't know if this might be different for Spanish bookings, but it might be worth looking in to, as the OP seems to be loosing lots of money for the cancellation. I don't know exactly what would be the penalty regarding a Haven suite, as it doesn't explain that in detail - does the below mean that Haven suite changes can not be changed without the regular cancellation fees kicking in???):

 

QUOTE: 6.2 Booking Changes

Passenger's booking can be changed upon request and subject to availability (rebooking). Rebookings include any changes of travel date, destination, travel accession, hotel timetable , cabin category or mode of transportation. This can be done until 42 days before the date of travel. Norwegian charges the sum of EUR 50 rebooking fee per person. Rebooking fees of the airlines (depending booked class of service and fare) or any other costs incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers will be charged in all cases and in addition. Should the passenger wish to make a rebooking from 41 days prior to the date of travel, then booking changes can only be made, if at all possible, by cancelling the travel contract under the conditions stated in 6.1 and rebooking. Rebooking fees of the airlines or any other costs incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers will always be charged. When rebooking Suites, Concierge and the Haven by Norwegian®-Suites (all categories beginning with "S", "C" and "H") different rebooking fees per person apply analogous to the cancellation fees set out under 6.1.2. END OF QUOTE

[ifernbol]

CHANGE INSTEAD OF CANCELLATION AS AN OPTION?

To the OP - maybe it might be an interesting alternative to loosing 20% of your Haven category price to instead change to a different NCL cruise (even change to a regular balcony cabin would be better than loosing all that money???). I know that some rules are different for Spain than for the rest of Europe when it comes to NCL bookings done through NCL in Europe, all though I am not certain what those differences might be in detail. I live in Norway, and have a cruise booked for May 2018 that I booked already in May 2017. Long story short, a couple of weeks ago I changed/upgrated that to a different cabin type due to a large price drop, and all I had to pay as "penalty" was EUR 50 per person (EUR 100 total for the two of us) which was much less than what I gained by doing the change. On my cruise confirmation from NCL Europe it states very different rules for CHANGE instead of a total CANCELLATION, and you can even change to a different ship, different dates, etc, and only pay the EUR 50 p.p. penalty for the change. Here is a quote from the conditions regarding CHANGE that I have received from NCL (I don't know if this might be different for Spanish bookings, but it might be worth looking in to, as the OP seems to be loosing lots of money for the cancellation):

 

QUOTE: 6.2 Booking Changes

Passenger's booking can be changed upon request and subject to availability (rebooking). Rebookings include any changes of travel date, destination, travel accession, hotel timetable , cabin category or mode of transportation. This can be done until 42 days before the date of travel. Norwegian charges the sum of EUR 50 rebooking fee per person. Rebooking fees of the airlines (depending booked class of service and fare) or any other costs incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers will be charged in all cases and in addition. Should the passenger wish to make a rebooking from 41 days prior to the date of travel, then booking changes can only be made, if at all possible, by cancelling the travel contract under the conditions stated in 6.1 and rebooking. Rebooking fees of the airlines or any other costs incurred or imposed by any of our suppliers will always be charged. When rebooking Suites, Concierge and the Haven by Norwegian[emoji768]-Suites (all categories beginning with "S", "C" and "H") different rebooking fees per person apply analogous to the cancellation fees set out under 6.1.2. END OF QUOTE

 

 

 

Thanks for providing that information! I still think that NCL policies in Europe are too restrictive and even abusive. I have been able at least to get the price match the lower price that was offered before Christmas. So I’m still booked same dates, same Cat. And price lower that initial booking.

 

 

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[TrumpyNor]

Thanks for providing that information! I still think that NCL policies in Europe are too restrictive and even abusive. I have been able at least to get the price match the lower price that was offered before Christmas. So I’m still booked same dates, same Cat. And price lower that initial booking.

 

I agree with you 100%, for various reasons, so I am now back to booking NCL cruises through my US based NCL cruise consultant (I have had the same PCC since 2008, so from before they (NCL) divided the different customer markets like they have nowadays (which is a good argument on my part, IF someone at NCL headquarters would try to "argue" with that "right" to continue with the same PCC). I have two cruises for 2018 booked through NCL Europe, but for 2019 I am back to booking with my US based PCC (personal cruise consultant) - main reasons are better cancellation conditions and usually much better prices than we are offered through NCL Europe. :)

[newmexicoNita]

Hello all,

 

I would like to hear opinions about the fairness or unfairness of NCL cancellation policies in my country (Spain).

 

I booked my cruise 1 year and a half in advance on the NCL Epic on a 2 bdr suite haven. After trying MSC YC I decided that the experience was excellent and thought about cancelling with NCL and booking MSC YC on the same dates. That was more than 300 days before sailing.

 

I found out that if I cancelled any time until 90 days before sailing, the cancellation fees are 20% of the cruise fare. That is about 1900€/2100$.

 

I really find it disproportionate in relation with the days in advance I want to cancel (276 at present time). It is also completely different to the cancelation fees most (or all) of the other cruise companies apply. They usually have no cancellation fee if you cancel at least 120 days in advance.

 

It is also worth noting that my booking was not under any promotional non refundable rate.

 

What do you think about this situation?

 

 

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I hope you eventually can get this worked out to your satisfaction and yes, it is a steep penalty for booking eary and then deciding to go to a different cruise line, but I will add, as much as the policy NCL has for one country over another is still thier priority and you have to accept some of the blame for not realizing the difference in booking through one country over another.

Edited February 17, 2018 by newmexicoNita

[tef43]

What do you think about this situation?

 

 

It is what it is. You can either choose to accept the terms and conditions, or not cruise with NCL.

[NMLady]

"I found out that if I cancelled any time until 90 days before sailing, the cancellation fees are 20% of the cruise fare" was what you said. Untrue, the fee kicks in AFTER 90 days. Prior to that there is no fee.

 

You are quoting US rules but OP is from Spain. Different rules.

[grest]

I don't think it is a matter of fair or not....it is a contract you choose to sign knowingly. I hope this works out for you.

[LuckyStar]

The only unfair cancellation policy is one that is imposed but wasn’t in effect at the time you booked. No sympathy here.

 

 

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Wow, very harsh.

[LuckyStar]

Can you buy trip insurance in Europe?

[HowardK]

You need a good attorney to read the whole 36 page travel protection document- my lawyer- Trevor Miles said it gave him a headache and he needed a beer to get halfway through it!