Missed Cruise due to AA Flight Delay from PHX 9/22/22

[graphicguy]

2 minutes ago, Babr said:

If it is granted, it will be a goodwill gesture on the part of NCL separate from the terms of the BookSafe travel policy.

 

You can’t cancel after the ship has sailed. At that point, you are a no-show.

Maybe you missed it, but they said they were in contact with NCL the entire time.  They weren’t simply a “no show”.

[Babr]

7 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Maybe you missed it, but they said they were in contact with NCL the entire time.  They weren’t simply a “no show”.

In contact but no official notification of cancellation. That decision was made at dinner long after the ship had sailed.

 

Under the circumstances, NCL may decide to provide some kind of compensation, but they are not necessarily entitled to it under the terms of the policy.

[graphicguy]

Here’s what the OP needs to file a claim with AON, the trip insurance underwriter…

 

https://www.aontravelclaim.com/#/bannerWhatYouNeed/

[Travelexpert35]

11 hours ago, BigWaveDaveAZ said:

 

 

The second thing I failed to mention (my fault) is, when we woke up in the hotel on Saturday morning, we turned on the The Weather Channel and CNN to find that Hurricane Fiona had hit Charoletteown PEI, Sydny, and Halifax Canada, which were our first three Ports O Call on this Cruise. Power lines were down and streets were flooded in all three cities. Not that this will change anything or any decisions with AON or NCL that they have already made, but after I thought about it, it may be some critical info that could make a difference to readers. So many people that we have told about this experience have told us, someone was watching out for us and there is a reason that we were not on that cruise.

We do have a 15 day Panama Canal Cruise scheduled for April of 2023, at this time we are very hesitant and thinking twice if we really want to give NCL any more of our money. 

 

 

                                                          

I’m sure the flights were cancelled into Charlottetown, your first port, due to Hurricane Fiona. The island was a mess. You wouldn’t have been able to get there. I’m sure Halifax flights were cancelled as well. I wonder where the ship docked due to the storm and what revisions were made to their itinerary. There may be posts on CC about this. You could mention all of this in your claim as well.

[Travelexpert35]

Just read a post from Sept 27th that the port in Charlottetown and Sydney were closed due to Fiona until Sept 30th.  I think your ship went to Nfld instead. 

 

[Joebucks]

I'm very sorry the OP had to go through this. You're super-excited for a trip, then this happens. It's devastating.

 

While it is "insensitive" to look at the reality, this is a big learning opportunity for a lot of people. If your backup plan is "insurance" and "should be/finger pointing" you're opening yourself up to disappointment. Insurance is full of exclusions, limits, and headaches. It also cannot repair your vacation. 

 

Always fly in at least a day before. Stuff happens. Traveling in the day of is stressful enough, let alone with a flight delay. Spend an extra day on vacation at the port. Enjoy the night. The next morning will also be far more relaxing.

[HowardK]

OP- I am sorry you had to go through this is sounds horrible.

 

- I am wondering how come NCL doesn't offer flights that are a few days before for people that might want to a) either come early and stay for a few days in NYC etc or b) avoid the risk of a missed flight?

[julig22]

10 minutes ago, HowardK said:

OP- I am sorry you had to go through this is sounds horrible.

 

- I am wondering how come NCL doesn't offer flights that are a few days before for people that might want to a) either come early and stay for a few days in NYC etc or b) avoid the risk of a missed flight?

Ummm, they do, all you have to do is ask at least 75 days ahead.  They even pay you $25 to do so.

[zzdoug]

3 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Ummm, they do, all you have to do is ask at least 75 days ahead.  They even pay you $25 to do so.

How does that work? I'm currently 5 months out. Can I call them and schedule my flights now?

[julig22]

15 minutes ago, zzdoug said:

How does that work? I'm currently 5 months out. Can I call them and schedule my flights now?

If you have the bogo promotion you don't schedule your flights.  You tell them where you want to fly from and they will book flights for you, their choice.  You can choose to arrive up to 2 days early and/or stay later.  You must request a deviation at least 75 days ahead.

Or you can use their premium air service but pay regular prices.

[fandangocruiser]

12 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

I think the lesson is:  make your own flight arrangements.  It may cost a bit more but it's the best way to avoid these kinds of disappointments.  BTW, go to any cruise line forum on CC and you will find the same experiences using cruise line flights.  This is isn't unique to NCL.

I think the lesson is:  make your own flight arrangements.   And go at least a day early.  Then enjoy you Panama cruise.

Coming back from Alaska in July, we missed an SFO connection. United put us up for the night.  In October, we missed a connection in DFW.  American put us up for the night.  Others in line were frustrated and never going to fly this airline again.   I said, "I know how you feel, but they all do it, and you'll soon be out of options."

[fandangocruiser]

12 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

I think the lesson is:  make your own flight arrangements.  It may cost a bit more but it's the best way to avoid these kinds of disappointments.  BTW, go to any cruise line forum on CC and you will find the same experiences using cruise line flights.  This is isn't unique to NCL.

A friend told me that on Celebrity, you pick your own flights, book thru them, and get a discount of about 10%.

Even my NCL rep told me he's never let a customer book the BOGO air offer.  

[hallux]

14 minutes ago, fandangocruiser said:

A friend told me that on Celebrity, you pick your own flights, book thru them, and get a discount of about 10%.

and NCL will let you do the same, through their Premium Air service, but the BOGO offer does not let you pick your own flights.

[SunshineGal2022]

5 hours ago, zzdoug said:

How does that work? I'm currently 5 months out. Can I call them and schedule my flights now?

You need to call them and request a deviation.  Once the 75 day mark has passed, NCL will book your flights to arrive the morning of your cruise and that will be that. 

 

For me, flying across the country on the BOGO NCL flights + paying one night of a hotel is still cheaper than booking flight tickets on my own.  It also gives me some breathing room in case something happens to the flight they book me on.  Staying 2 nights at the hotel gives me even more breathing room, but it almost negates the savings at that point.  I am still debating this mentally (and hoping ticket prices drop so I could book my own flights). 

[SunshineGal2022]

On 12/4/2022 at 7:58 AM, Travelexpert35 said:

I’m sure the flights were cancelled into Charlottetown, your first port, due to Hurricane Fiona. The island was a mess. You wouldn’t have been able to get there. I’m sure Halifax flights were cancelled as well. I wonder where the ship docked due to the storm and what revisions were made to their itinerary. There may be posts on CC about this. You could mention all of this in your claim as well.

I have friends who live on PEI.  Their power was out for a week.  The hurricane devastated that island.  I am sure the ship was redirected out to sea and rocked heavily in the waves.  

[kirtihk]

On 12/2/2022 at 9:09 AM, hallux said:

If your flights were booked through NCL's BOGO airfare deal, the first call after the first delay text should be to NCL's emergency air department (phone number provided in your cruise documents), to get help with booking alternate flights. However - at that point the options are going to be VERY limited.  You say you were in contact with NCL through the entire thing, was that through that number? 

 

Flying West to East poses some interesting challenges for flights.  NCL will book you to arrive ON departure day unless you ask for a deviation - in the case of a West to East flight that would usually be on a red-eye as in this case.  At that point in the day there are very few other options for flights to the embarkation port city.  Planning to fly in the day before in these cases is VERY prudent, to give some wiggle-room for delays and cancellations. I realize not everyone has excessive vacation time, but it's something that needs to be budgeted for in the planning of the trip.

 

If an airline reschedules or delays a flight by a certain amount of time and the resulting schedule provides a hardship for other plans I believe the airline is obligated to refund the flight if you need to make other arrangements, or work with a partner airline to get you there on time.  Easy to do if YOU booked the flight, but when it's booked by a 3rd-party it's a whole other ball-game.

 

SHOULD NCL have booked a flight like this?  Probably not, but it's well within the terms of the promotion for them to do so.  They also won't book a flight that would require a hotel stay unless the passenger requests it, so the flight that met the appropriate criteria was booked.  SHOULD NCL have been proactive to re-book the passenger when the first delay was communicated?  Maybe, IF the appropriate people knew.  When you consider that NCL is embarking how many passengers a day, or at least has passengers transiting to embarkation ports on NCL-booked flights, monitoring those flights (probably numbering in the thousands on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the days leading to and actually typical embarkation days) can be a chore, especially if a weather event is happening.

 

For the OP - it's unfortunate that you missed your cruise, I'd be sick over it too!  I've flown to 3 cruises, haven't missed one despite having flight delays on two of them.  Why?  Because I flew the day before the cruise.  Oddly enough - the flight for at least one of those cruises SHOULD have gotten me to the embarkation city in plenty of time to make the ship if I had been sailing that day but the delays pushed it and I would have been too late to get the ship.  My next cruise - I can fly non-stop to the port city and I'm still going to go in a day early.

In June we had a 13-day Ponant Le Bougainville cruise from Nice to Istanbul.  We flew from Buffalo at 8 am 3 days prior to embarkation (actually 80 hours)!  While sipping espresso in the Buffalo's the Club lounge waiting for our departure to Chicago, we got a text message from BA that our London - Nice flight is cancelled, and... because of that for our convenience (I'm not joking) they also cancelled our Chicago - London flight!  Absolutely Perfect, right!  We immediately called BA requesting to give us our flight and our business class seats back.  They said they cannot do it; they said they only can do if when upon arrival to Chicago we approach their representative.  So, hold our breath hoping no one purchased our seats yet until we are in Chicago.  In Chicago they rescheduled our flight to London with our seats and booked us on a later in day from London flight.  When we arrived in London, we learned that our new flight to Nice is also cancelled, and they can only give us the same flight for the next day that would be a day prior to our embarkation.  We decided to go to a gate for the next leaving flight and asked to put us on a waiting list (the plane was sold out, and there were 4 people ahead of us), and only because we had business class tickets, they agreed to move us to be first on the waiting list.  In the end, there were no business class seats available and only 1 economy class available; then I don't know how right before closing the gate they released another economy seat, and we finally flew to Nice.  Later we learned that BA cancelled our flight next 3 days in a row (!!!) for the same leaving time as they gave us for the cancelled flight, and all other flights from London to Nice were overbooked meaning that if we just agreed rescheduling for the next day flight, we would miss our cruise (again, leaving home 3+ days prior to the embarkation time).  What's a lesson from this event?  I even don't know what to say anymore these days!   Perhaps, to fly a week earlier???  Who can afford that (financially and vacation time-wise)?!

[El Comandante]

Yeahhhhh....nooooooo. NCL cannot foresee an airline cancelling a flight or other flight or transfer issues. They can get you to the cruise as best as possible after an event. That is all one can expect.