Not the cruise line you want to cruise with

[Cafedumonde]

1 hour ago, ColinIllinois said:

 

 

It's not your cabin.  It's NCL's cabin and if you forfeit it they can do what they please with it.  This isn't rocket science. It's business and economics 101.

It is an interesting business question, and I agree if you take any human element out, maximizing profits is what a business should do.   And logically it makes sense that after a certain point, it may become difficult to resell a cabin, so refunds cannot be given after a point.  But if the cruise line can resell the cabin, should it be that heartless to a cancer patient to make double on one cabin? It may seem like they are making more money doing it, but I wonder if it really pays long term.  Regardless of what other businesses do, it is not what a good business does.  It comes across as desperate.  Also, I said that it is my cabin... for the cruise.  Not literally my cabin. 

[phoenix1181]

I don't get it.  I follow the rules and buy insurance in case we need to cancel (we did) and a lot of posters here believe someone with a sob story should get the same benefit (refund) that I do.  Actually, they would make out better because I'm out the cost of the insurance.  Why does that make sense?

 

 

[bonvoyagie]

If you are a no- show for your cruise they probably won't resell that cabin because they  would only have a few hours. Now if you cancel the cruise under the terms of the contract they agree to refund you a portion of your cruise fare per the contract. They also know that it is often hard to resell a room in the final 120 days prior to the cruise - which is why they have the increasing penalties as the cruise gets closer.

 

 I am not sure what happens when you try to do something outside the contract - like the OP did by asking for credit towards a future cruise. Granted if I were NCL I would be more than happy to put a credit on his account towards a future cruise equal to the amount of his refund. That said, I have sort of had this happen - the price of my cabin (a suite) went way down right before the cruise. I was after final payment - my TA was able to get us the difference in the price in the form of a discount on a future cruise -  The catch was I had to book the cruise within one year. There was no paperwork for this - except for an e-mail to my TA from NCL. Last year I cancelled a cruise before final payment and there was no problem getting my deposit back.

 

To me there is more here that the OP is telling us.

 

Something else to consider - the entire population of people here on CC might fill one cruise ship - so we represent a very small amount of the total cruising population. We hear a good sob story and we react - the big cruise line could surely spare a few thousand $$ to help out this poor soul - stop and think how many of these stories the cruise lines hear. If they bent the policies for each and every one of them the contract would be worthless.

 

I would very much like to hear NCLs side of this.

Edited November 14, 2018 by bonvoyagie

[gmbhardy]

1 hour ago, bonvoyagie said:

If you are a no- show for your cruise they probably won't resell that cabin because they  would only have a few hours. Now if you cancel the cruise under the terms of the contract they agree to refund you a portion of your cruise fare per the contract. They also know that it is often hard to resell a room in the final 120 days prior to the cruise - which is why they have the increasing penalties as the cruise gets closer.

 

 I am not sure what happens when you try to do something outside the contract - like the OP did by asking for credit towards a future cruise. Granted if I were NCL I would be more than happy to put a credit on his account towards a future cruise equal to the amount of his refund. That said, I have sort of had this happen - the price of my cabin (a suite) went way down right before the cruise. I was after final payment - my TA was able to get us the difference in the price in the form of a discount on a future cruise -  The catch was I had to book the cruise within one year. There was no paperwork for this - except for an e-mail to my TA from NCL. Last year I cancelled a cruise before final payment and there was no problem getting my deposit back.

 

To me there is more here that the OP is telling us.

 

Something else to consider - the entire population of people here on CC might fill one cruise ship - so we represent a very small amount of the total cruising population. We hear a good sob story and we react - the big cruise line could surely spare a few thousand $$ to help out this poor soul - stop and think how many of these stories the cruise lines hear. If they bent the policies for each and every one of them the contract would be worthless.

 

I would very much like to hear NCLs side of this.

 

You did not abide by the terms of the contract by asking for a refund because the cost of your cabin dropped. Shame on you!

[adam_s_allen]

3 hours ago, matt151617 said:

Well going with this mindset, we should never start a go fund me for someone whose house burned down. They should have kept some of their valuables in a safe deposit box right? And the various hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, New Jersey, New Orleans, some were too poor or uneducated to have insurance. I guess we should leave them homeless?

 

This is about basic human compassion. Cut the guy a break.

Or you get insurance on your house against that thing. This would be like asking the person you bought the house from for your money back because it burned down.

[sverigecruiser]

4 hours ago, BNBR said:

 

If they charge you for it, then it's your cabin.  If I want to buy a cabin and leave it empty, that's my choice.  Selling it twice should be illegal.  If they want to sell my cabin to someone else, then they need to reimburse me for it.

 

And if they don't sell it to someone else you have to pay more money because you don't spend any extra money on the ship.

 

They want to sell the cabin so that they can earn more money when the passenger spend money on the ship.

 

[sverigecruiser]

11 hours ago, richstowe said:

I have a different perspective . We "self insure" as in gamble that we won't have to cancel a trip. Might this come back to bite us ? Perhaps but so far we are over a trip ahead by not buying travel insurance . (In truth DW has limited cancellation insurance through her employer) Plus we always have the option to piss and moan on various social sites to get our money back .😏

 

Robb have you had to cancel many of these 65 cruises ? What do you think your plus/minus is ?  

 

The day a medical evacuation is needed the insurence is defenitely worth it.

 

I know that can be another insurence but for me that's a part of the travelinsurence.

 

We were on our way to New York when Sandy closed all NY airports and our insurence paid us almost $1000 for the delay.

 

We usually pay a little more that $100/each for travel insurence, well worth the money.

 

[Fincherson]

6 hours ago, BNBR said:

 

Lol. Ignorant?  Buying insurance to protect yourself from catastrophe and financial ruin is a great decision.  Buying "sadness" insurance is not. The only thing you lose by not going on your cruise is, well, not going on your cruise.  But by all means, you are creating jobs. Keep buying it. 

 

"Can't afford to lose the cost of your trip" - do you not realize this makes no sense whatsoever?  If you can't afford to lose the cost of your trip, then you couldn't afford the trip in the first place. If you went on the trip, you would still be out the same amount... 

 

He'd be out $11,450 with nothing to show for it. Being glib isn't as cheeky as you seem to think it is. 

[pokerpro5]

I once had a laughable argument with people here, where everyone insisted that travel insurance is a wonderful value, and that anyone not buying it is a fool.

 

I kept insisting that travel insurance has HUGE profit margins, and that no, it's not a good deal at all.

 

In a few cases, travel insurance can be good value (such as if you're anticipating possible health problems), but otherwise it's throwing money down the drain.

 

If the money you're saving on the cruise is big money compared to your net worth, then I agree you should get the insurance.  It's the same reason I get health insurance (even before it was required).

 

But if you are financially comfortable and insure a $10k cruise, you're not being very smart with your money.

FYI I have taken countless trips in my lifetime, and other than small local trips which were easy/free to cancel, I didn't cancel a single trip until one this October, and that one only cost me $1250.

 

I've saved big money by not getting travel insurance.

[pokerpro5]

Also, the reason NCL doesn't let people off the hook for illnesses is because their customer base is old.

 

They must have several cruisers each time who come down with some kind of serious ailment between booking time and cruise time.  So they had to take a hard line stance and disallow any refunds past final payment date.  I actually understand that.

[BNBR]

5 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

The day a medical evacuation is needed the insurence is defenitely worth it.

 

I know that can be another insurence but for me that's a part of the travelinsurence.

 

We were on our way to New York when Sandy closed all NY airports and our insurence paid us almost $1000 for the delay.

 

We usually pay a little more that $100/each for travel insurence, well worth the money.

 

 

Evacuation and trip cancelation are totally different insurance products.  Everyone should have evac when traveling. It can be purchased for under $100 for an entire family for a year of coverage.  Evac would be a catastrophic loss and makes sense.

[BNBR]

2 hours ago, pokerpro5 said:

I once had a laughable argument with people here, where everyone insisted that travel insurance is a wonderful value, and that anyone not buying it is a fool.

 

I kept insisting that travel insurance has HUGE profit margins, and that no, it's not a good deal at all.

 

In a few cases, travel insurance can be good value (such as if you're anticipating possible health problems), but otherwise it's throwing money down the drain.

 

If the money you're saving on the cruise is big money compared to your net worth, then I agree you should get the insurance.  It's the same reason I get health insurance (even before it was required).

 

But if you are financially comfortable and insure a $10k cruise, you're not being very smart with your money.

FYI I have taken countless trips in my lifetime, and other than small local trips which were easy/free to cancel, I didn't cancel a single trip until one this October, and that one only cost me $1250.

 

I've saved big money by not getting travel insurance.

 

Insurance is like a casino. The house wins. Thats how they stay in business.  I'm glad you understand it.   I bet the people advocating for it are the same ones that buy extended warranties on toasters, too. 

[sparks1093]

Not sure if it was discussed in the thread but if the OP cancelled in August for a cruise in December wouldn't that put them outside of final payment date? 

[sparks1093]

2 hours ago, pokerpro5 said:

I once had a laughable argument with people here, where everyone insisted that travel insurance is a wonderful value, and that anyone not buying it is a fool.

 

I kept insisting that travel insurance has HUGE profit margins, and that no, it's not a good deal at all.

 

In a few cases, travel insurance can be good value (such as if you're anticipating possible health problems), but otherwise it's throwing money down the drain.

 

If the money you're saving on the cruise is big money compared to your net worth, then I agree you should get the insurance.  It's the same reason I get health insurance (even before it was required).

 

But if you are financially comfortable and insure a $10k cruise, you're not being very smart with your money.

FYI I have taken countless trips in my lifetime, and other than small local trips which were easy/free to cancel, I didn't cancel a single trip until one this October, and that one only cost me $1250.

 

I've saved big money by not getting travel insurance.

I get travel insurance to cover the big ticket things like medical care and evacuation. Since it's less expensive to buy a comprehensive plan that covers everything that is what I buy. No, insurance won't make up for the trip I lose if I have to cancel but it can give me the money back to take another trip.

[beerman2]

28 minutes ago, BNBR said:

 

Evacuation and trip cancelation are totally different insurance products.  Everyone should have evac when traveling. It can be purchased for under $100 for an entire family for a year of coverage.  Evac would be a catastrophic loss and makes sense.

As would a 12,000. 00 loss. Some people just aren't in the financial situation to take that hit, if they couldn't make that cruise.

 

I always took the "chance" when we were younger, now no. It's called Medicare age for us with DW dad being 90. So it does make sense to insure.

 

Many people have worked  years to get to this point in life, so yes a cruise loss , although not devastating is still a loss of money.

 

Be Happy/fortunate you can absorb that cost/loss. I would be willing to bet most can't.

It is indeed all about choices.

[BNBR]

2 minutes ago, beerman2 said:

As would a 12,000. 00 loss. Some people just aren't in the financial situation to take that hit, if they couldn't make that cruise.

 

I always took the "chance" when we were younger, now no. It's called Medicare age for us with DW dad being 90. So it does make sense to insure.

 

Many people have worked  years to get to this point in life, so yes a cruise loss , although not devastating is still a loss of money.

 

Be Happy/fortunate you can absorb that cost/loss. I would be willing to bet most can't.

It is indeed all about choices.

 

The cruise is already paid for. So the unexpected financial impact of missing your cruise is literally zero.  It's actually negative since you get refunded excursions, packages, fees, etc.  So what are you insuring? "I'll be disappointed" is not something you buy insurance for! 

 

You said I should be happy if I can absorb that cost.  Literally everyone can absorb the cost/loss.  They paid for the cruise already!  

[sparks1093]

10 minutes ago, BNBR said:

 

The cruise is already paid for. So the unexpected financial impact of missing your cruise is literally zero.  It's actually negative since you get refunded excursions, packages, fees, etc.  So what are you insuring? "I'll be disappointed" is not something you buy insurance for! 

 

You said I should be happy if I can absorb that cost.  Literally everyone can absorb the cost/loss.  They paid for the cruise already!  

If I can get my $2000 fare back why not? That way I can book another trip.

[beerman2]

9 minutes ago, BNBR said:

 

The cruise is already paid for. So the unexpected financial impact of missing your cruise is literally zero.  It's actually negative since you get refunded excursions, packages, fees, etc.  So what are you insuring? "I'll be disappointed" is not something you buy insurance for! 

 

You said I should be happy if I can absorb that cost.  Literally everyone can absorb the cost/loss.  They paid for the cruise already!  

We can agree to disagree, I believe 2 other posters are in your boat, all others tend to disagree about the benefits of insurance. To each their own.

[BNBR]

11 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

If I can get my $2000 fare back why not? That way I can book another trip.

 

And you can play roulette in the casino and win $2000 for another trip, too! 

[mjkacmom]

10 hours ago, matt151617 said:

Well going with this mindset, we should never start a go fund me for someone whose house burned down. They should have kept some of their valuables in a safe deposit box right? And the various hurricane victims in Puerto Rico, New Jersey, New Orleans, some were too poor or uneducated to have insurance. I guess we should leave them homeless?

 

This is about basic human compassion. Cut the guy a break.

You are comparing people who have lost everything due to natural disasters to missing a week’s vacation?! In this case, the OP shouldn’t have even been out the full cost, more like 25%, and saved around $500 by not purchasing insurance in the first place.

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, BNBR said:

 

Insurance is like a casino. The house wins. Thats how they stay in business.  I'm glad you understand it.   I bet the people advocating for it are the same ones that buy extended warranties on toasters, too. 

I get this, but if you think that you are going to be one to cry and whine when you can’t rebook a cruise for free because you couldn’t go on the one you booked, you should be prepared to purchase the insurance. 

[BNBR]

1 minute ago, mjkacmom said:

I get this, but if you think that you are going to be one to cry and whine when you can’t rebook a cruise for free because you couldn’t go on the one you booked, you should be prepared to purchase the insurance. 

 

Seems fair 🙂

[mjkacmom]

12 hours ago, Newleno said:

yes they can, yes they can, yes they can give people with tragic events back their money

One in three will get a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, that’s a lot of refunds.

[GeezerCouple]

22 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

One in three will get a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, that’s a lot of refunds.

 

It's "worse" than that for "claiming a refund" (from insurance... or, er, cruise line). 

 

People make legit insurance claims if some of these events happen to traveling companions, or to family members not even traveling, etc.  That network spreads out fast...

 

GC

[mjkacmom]

3 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

It's "worse" than that for "claiming a refund" (from insurance... or, er, cruise line). 

 

People make legit insurance claims if some of these events happen to traveling companions, or to family members not even traveling, etc.  That network spreads out fast...

 

GC

Yes, when my mom got the diagnosis, she was sailing with my dad, and my dad’s sibling and their spouses, as a fami,y vacation. They all had insurance, they were all reimbursed.