NCL - NEVER AGAIN!!!

[Ptroxx]

12 minutes ago, julig22 said:

It is fraudulent because you are circumventing the refund process.  NCL has offered you the option of a refund or FCC for cruises they cancelled.

You shouldn’t have to wait 90 days.  This is the 21st century where everything is automated and computerized.   They’re just holding your money hostage.  
if they can take your money right away.  They should be able to return it in the same fashion by a click of a mouse.   Just like when they took it.    

[julig22]

16 minutes ago, ellasmomanddad said:

We’re cruising with 11 people over 4th of July. I can afford to wait the timeline they give my sister can’t. That timeline means if this clears up her kids still don’t get a vacation this year. That’s the problem others don’t understand.

If I was in this situation, I would call the cc company and explain the situation.  Ask them to waive interest rates and increase credit limit by the amount in question (if needed).

[ellasmomanddad]

6 minutes ago, julig22 said:

If I was in this situation, I would call the cc company and explain the situation.  Ask them to waive interest rates and increase credit limit by the amount in question (if needed).

Because banks are so awesome they wave interest rates that’s adorable. They also don’t increase credit limits when you max a card out to pay for a trip. That’s ultimately the situation most people are in. They live pay check to pay check not cruise ship to cruise ship. I appreciate your comment but most people aren’t like you and I and can just get a credit increase the world doesn’t really work like that.

[julig22]

Just now, ellasmomanddad said:

Because banks are so awesome they wave interest rates that’s adorable. They also don’t increase credit limits when you max a card out to pay for a trip. That’s ultimately the situation most people are in. They live pay check to pay check not cruise ship to cruise ship. I appreciate your comment but most people aren’t like you and I and can just get a credit increase the world doesn’t really work like that.

Hello - have you watched the news lately.  The banks have been asked to work with people by doing exactly what I suggested.  They can easily give the person the same conditional credit that they would give if a person filed a dispute - assuming the account is in good standing.  The difference is that it wouldn't come back as a fraudulent claim, just a pending transaction.

[mjkacmom]

38 minutes ago, ellasmomanddad said:

We’re cruising with 11 people over 4th of July. I can afford to wait the timeline they give my sister can’t. That timeline means if this clears up her kids still don’t get a vacation this year. That’s the problem others don’t understand.

It doesn’t sound like they can afford a vacation this year.

[mianmike]

I cancelled my British Airways flight.  Refund will take a max of 7 days.  They are getting slammed. 

 

Yesterday I got a cold call from an NCL PCC trying to sell me a cruise.  Apparently she has time on her hands and is fishing for new bookings.  Is it unreasonable to think NCL could temporarily reallocate and train employees who have free time on their hands to help with refunds?   

 

In the year 2020, in this computerized world, it seems ridiculous to me that NCL refunds have to be manually processed.  Are they still using carbon paper to make copies?   

   

[FitchburgWIFamily]

There is a lot of arm chair business running going on in this thread.  Everyone is assuming it is as simple as clicking a button or two for NCL, not thinking at all that there might be other factors in place. 

 

I work for a company that cannot simply "cut a check" when someone wants a refund.  We are highly regulated and we need to make sure the accounting is done correctly.  The money that we "refund" does not come out of the same account as the money you paid in.  We have to do a number of offset transactions to move the money to the proper payable account in order to be able to issue a refund.   And some of those transaction require individual approval from executives.  We also have some events that qualify for insurance, and need to send paperwork through them for approval before the process of issuing a refund, because the accounting is all different if it is covered by insurance.

 

This takes a few weeks in normal times (we tell people 14-21 just to be safe).  In these times when so much is changing and so much is unknown, we are telling people to not expect things until after 28 days.  And we are not in the hospitality or travel industry that just had everything upended.

 

I hope OP gets their money back in a timely fashion.  I think if they had been on cruise critic for more than 4 posts, they might have slightly more realistic expectations than instant cash and a service rep in less than 25 minutes.

 

 

[2+2]

90 days does not seem reasonable.  I wonder how this compares to Royal and Carnival.  I think when this all shakes out, veteran cruiser will know which cruise lines treated their costumers well. What they are doing right now, is as important as if these cancelled costumers had sailed . Word of mouth is so important.

[luv2kroooz]

I've already opened a dispute against Norwegian airlines. They cancelled the flight over 2 weeks ago. I completed their online form and heard nothing. A dispute was cordially opened and the chargeback from Visa is credited to my card at this time. I need cash right now and I am not a bank to Norwegian airlines. The same would be true with Norwegian Cruise lines.

 

Had NCL kept the policy simple and consumer friendly, they would have been in better shape. But they decided to make consumers jump through hoops and fill out forms to get a refund. Now they are drowning in processing paperwork while on a reduced work schedule.

[Liljo22]

27 minutes ago, 2+2 said:

90 days does not seem reasonable.  I wonder how this compares to Royal and Carnival.  I think when this all shakes out, veteran cruiser will know which cruise lines treated their costumers well. What they are doing right now, is as important as if these cancelled costumers had sailed . Word of mouth is so important.

Carnival is also 90 days.

 

Royal is 30 days.  

[david_sobe]

This thread makes no sense.  OP states he/she completely understands why the cruise was cancelled.  The fuss is over the speed of the refund?  Really?  If I don't understand that it the right way, please correct me.  Hello!!  Do you see what is going on?  The world is in an emergency.  My $250 refund from NCL took 10 days more than the 14 days they promised.  I actually was surprised it happened so quick.

I don't think the OP grasps the scale of the process of refunding so many people.  I call this thread illogical because the OP starts out the thread completely understanding why the cruise was cancelled.  Well if you understand WHY, then you would also understand the delay with refunds.  Perhaps NCL could have not cancelled and then people would be complaining.  If you are getting a full refund and not future cruise credit, consider yourself lucky.  The OP should be dancing.  The entire cruising industry is shut down and someone is complaining they want instantly refunded?  Me Me Me!!!

[Named-Tawny]

5 hours ago, mnsweeps said:

Yes. But crediting back to credit card has nothing to do with it. Its automated and is processed by backend. Pandemic or not, the credit back transactions are not done manually and shouldn't be.

 

That's not how it works at all.

Refunds are always manual and need to be approved and verified.  That's why literally every travel company (except, maybe, yours?) is taking longer to process than normal - they're handling a lot of volume right now.

[luv2kroooz]

10 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

The entire cruising industry is shut down and someone is complaining they want instantly refunded?  Me Me Me!!!

Need to find a happy medium. 30 days is fair. Instantly is not fair; 90 days is not fair.

 

I mean, no one is booking cruises, so everyone can work to get the refunds issued. If NCL wanted to, the refund could have happened promptly as a matter of course for all bookings that were being cancelled. They didn't say it would take 90 days to issue the FCC did they? They cancelled the cruises when the government forced them to, decided they wanted people to complete a form to get a refund, but the form wasn't ready for release. So, now they have created a huge influx of paperwork that needs addressed. Many people have been ready to cancel since February, they've had money tied up for some period of time and they are ready to get their money back. Telling them it could take 90 days is arbitrary and longer than anything I've ever heard of.

 

[david_sobe]

5 minutes ago, blcruising said:

Need to find a happy medium. 30 days is fair. Instantly is not fair; 90 days is not fair.

 

I mean, no one is booking cruises, so everyone can work to get the refunds issued. If NCL wanted to, the refund could have happened promptly as a matter of course for all bookings that were being cancelled. They didn't say it would take 90 days to issue the FCC did they? They cancelled the cruises when the government forced them to, decided they wanted people to complete a form to get a refund, but the form wasn't ready for release. So, now they have created a huge influx of paperwork that needs addressed. Many people have been ready to cancel since February, they've had money tied up for some period of time and they are ready to get their money back. Telling them it could take 90 days is arbitrary and longer than anything I've ever heard of.

 

You are aware that NCL laid off 20% of salary employees.  Instantly:  Not Fair   90 Days:  Fair with limited staff and number of refunds.  Aren't you happy you are getting a refund and not FCC?  Chill.  Relax.  There is a crisis and you seem to only care about yourself.

 

[luv2kroooz]

1 minute ago, david_sobe said:

You are aware that NCL laid off 20% of salary employees.  Instantly:  Not Fair   90 Days:  Fair with limited staff and number of refunds.  Aren't you happy you are getting a refund and not FCC?  Chill.  Relax.  There is a crisis and you seem to only care about yourself.

 

To some extent, I do. I think everyone does...NCL certainly is. I am looking out for myself and trying to put myself in the best position to recover funds that are owed me without unnecessary and arbitrary delay. Appreciate your directive to chill and relax. Easy to say when you don't have a clue about someone else's current situation.

[mnsweeps]

21 minutes ago, Named-Tawny said:

 

That's not how it works at all.

Refunds are always manual and need to be approved and verified.  That's why literally every travel company (except, maybe, yours?) is taking longer to process than normal - they're handling a lot of volume right now.

 

and when you book a cruise and provide the CC on website, thats also manual and you get charged after 90 days?

[Named-Tawny]

Just now, mnsweeps said:

 

and when you book a cruise and provide the CC on website, thats also manual and you get charged after 90 days?

I thought you said you worked in the travel industry?  You know know this.

It is MUCH easier to automate a booking than a cancellation.  You only need eyes on a booking if something errors out.  Otherwise, you've held the room, and if the CC comes back declined, you can release it.

Cancellations and refunds are an entirely different process - you'd know that if you were actually in the industry.  You need to verify that the person making the request is authorised for make that request.  You need to verify the method of payment used.  You need to re-link it to the card.    It's not nearly as straightforward.

But, you know that already.  Or you should, if you're being honest.

[julig22]

15 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

You are aware that NCL laid off 20% of salary employees.  Instantly:  Not Fair   90 Days:  Fair with limited staff and number of refunds.  Aren't you happy you are getting a refund and not FCC?  Chill.  Relax.  There is a crisis and you seem to only care about yourself.

 

I think you misread what was done.  Salaried employees are working 4 days (m-th) and taking the corresponding 20% pay cut.  When I worked a government job and funds were tight, we had to take unpaid furlough days - same concept.

[BillDz]

7 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

Hmm, I wonder why it will take so long, it’s not like there is disaster going on in our world right now, I mean, they must be used to cancelling all of their cruises and refunding tens of thousands of customers at once.

 

Amazon does it every day. Slow-walking refunds is a sleazy business practice. NCL should know better.

[david_sobe]

11 minutes ago, blcruising said:

To some extent, I do. I think everyone does...NCL certainly is. I am looking out for myself and trying to put myself in the best position to recover funds that are owed me without unnecessary and arbitrary delay. Appreciate your directive to chill and relax. Easy to say when you don't have a clue about someone else's current situation.

Are you alive?  Do you have food?  Do you have shelter?  Clearly you had money to book an exotic vacation so please don't play class warfare with me kid.  We get it.  You are special and should be refunded immediately.  You have 20 items and should be allowed to take the 10 items or fewer line.  You just cant see the big picture or perspective.

[BillDz]

1 minute ago, julig22 said:

Aren't you happy you are getting a refund and not FCC? 

 

If the cruise line cancels, they're required by law to give a refund. They're not doing you a favor, it's an absolute obligation.

[Ptroxx]

1 minute ago, BillDz said:

 

If the cruise line cancels, they're required by law to give a refund. They're not doing you a favor, it's an absolute obligation.

Link to the law that they are required to give a refund? ? ?   I’m sure everyone here would like to see that.   

[luv2kroooz]

6 minutes ago, BillDz said:

 

Yes. If you paid promptly, the merchant should refund just as promptly. 

 

This post suddlenly seems infested with NCL-paid trolls. 

Exactly. 30 days is more than fair. Feisty crowd this afternoon.

Edited March 23, 2020 by blcruising

[NLH Arizona]

19 minutes ago, jezabel80 said:

Can't people just do a little sacrificing for a little while? 

Obviously some can't.

[MadManOfBethesda]

27 minutes ago, Ptroxx said:

Link to the law that they are required to give a refund? ? ?   I’m sure everyone here would like to see that.   

Fair Credit Billing Act of 1974.

 

If you order and pay for a product or service by credit card and it isn't provided, you're entitled to your money back.