Thinking of NCL? Look elsewhere!

[DCGuy64]

1 minute ago, ziggyuk said:

I am amazed there is so little protection in the US, had this been booked in the UK it would be classed as a package under ABTA rules (which NCL are a member) and it would be the providers responsibility from the moment you arrive at the airport.
I fact we are advised to purchase package holidays for the added protection, I always book my own flights but know I forfeit my added ABTA protection by doing this.

I don't know what percentage of bookings on NCL are from the UK, but I understand deposits are non-refundable over there vs USA where they aren't. Maybe the extra revenue NCL gains offsets whatever payouts they might be required to make in situations like these. Just a guess, of course.

[SeaShark]

10 hours ago, J_RAD said:

We used to be a huge fans of NCL, we've sailed with them at least a half dozen other times and wrote glowing reviews.

 

Well, seeing that you only recently created an account here, and seeing that this is your one and only post...Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

I like to take people at their word. You state, in the quote above, that you "wrote glowing reviews" of your prior NCL experiences. However, you didn't share the WHERE of those reviews. Could you please provide a link? Where did you post these reviews? Under what name?

 

I love to read what a self-professed "huge fan" had to say in their reviews.

[ziggyuk]

1 minute ago, DCGuy64 said:

I don't know what percentage of bookings on NCL are from the UK, but I understand deposits are non-refundable over there vs USA where they aren't. Maybe the extra revenue NCL gains offsets whatever payouts they might be required to make in situations like these. Just a guess, of course.

 

You are probably right, and the extra protection we get via ABTA could well be the reason we get less favourable terms when booking.

[SeaShark]

10 hours ago, J_RAD said:

Next, the package we purchased included beverages and specialty dining. However, when we went to book reservations at the specialty restaurants, we found that all but 2 were closed; not full from reservations - but temporarily closed! We were not told this prior to booking. Shameful NCL.

 

I have a number of questions on this review...for example, above you say "We were not told this prior to booking". 

 

How would NCL, know....PRIOR TO BOOKING...that they even needed to tell you things about a cruise they weren't even aware that you had an interest in?

[www3traveler]

Given the fact that a very massive snowstorm hit almost the entire United States a day or two before Christmas, cancellations and delays were happening almost minute by minute.  There is NO ONE to blame for an extreme act of nature.

 

Where I live in the Pacific Northwest because of the weather, I could not get to church for either Christmas Eve or Christmas morning services.

[cruiser52forever]

23 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

I have a number of questions on this review...for example, above you say "We were not told this prior to booking". 

 

How would NCL, know....PRIOR TO BOOKING...that they even needed to tell you things about a cruise they weren't even aware that you had an interest in?

I believe the poster was referring to booking the restaurant not booking the cruise.  

[BirdTravels]

10 hours ago, J_RAD said:

As mentioned, travel protection was purchased through NCL who was responsible for all bookings. We asked the full trip, with airfare and all offers purchased, be rebooked at no additional charge to another Hawaii sailing this year or for NCL to refund the full amount of the trip. They’ve declined to do either. Their travel protection is indicating their coverage doesn't begin until guests are on the ship (not stated anywhere).

So, the travel protection is valid from the day you purchase it. We have filed multiple trip delay claims, all paid. 

 

All of the "who should be responsible" and "who should be doing something" is irrelevant. The only relevant fact is that you cancelled your cruise (I hope). 

 

You needed to have CANCELLED the got a cancellation receipt from NCL showing what was refunded and what was not (which should have been just the cruise fare - everything else, if you cancelled, should be refunded to original form of payment)

 

You needed to file a claim with Aon with the pertinent information. That would include original receipt, cancellation receipt, notification from Delta of flight cancellations, etc.

 

Aon will provide a formal response to the claim in 3-6 weeks. 

 

If Aon denies the claim, you will still receive a 75% FCC from NCL.

Edited January 25, 2023 by BirdTravels

[detroitlions]

You can not blame the airline or  NCL for a storm that would be dangerous to fly though.

Also I would never agree to fly and cruise on the same day never ever no way. 

 

 

[DCGuy64]

4 minutes ago, fastpitchdad said:

People view NCL flights in the same way as an excursion booked through NCL (which are also simply resold through 3rd parties) which has a guarantee that you won't miss the ship. 

I think it depends. Some people have commented very favorably on their experiences using NCL air, and others have probably had good experiences and simply chose not to post about it here. One recent poster spoke of being delayed to the cruise port due to flight delays and simply chose to go home rather than miss the first day of the cruise, even though NCL offered to fly him to the first port at its expense. He refused, paid his own airfare home, and then tried to hold NCL responsible for a decision he made on his own. I mean, that's just ridiculous.

[vacationut]

11 hours ago, J_RAD said:

You have no real say in the flight selection (airline, schedule, etc.) and are not notified of the details until approximately 60 days prior to sailing. We attempted to add an extra day with hotel to the front-end and tail-end of our itinerary, but NCL told us there was no availability for arrival on the front-end.

 

Seems like some details are missing on this. When did you ask about adding onto the front-end? You mention a hotel and no availability. Were you getting the hotel through NCL?

 

Sounds like this was one of two scenarios: waited until flights were booked before asking for a deviation or was going through NCL for deviation but they didn't have any hotel opening in Hawaii Christmas week. If it was the second, you could have taken the deviation and made your own hotel reservations. 

[vacationut]

11 hours ago, J_RAD said:

You have no real say in the flight selection (airline, schedule, etc.) and are not notified of the details until approximately 60 days prior to sailing. We attempted to add an extra day with hotel to the front-end and tail-end of our itinerary, but NCL told us there was no availability for arrival on the front-end.

 

Seems like some details are missing on this. When did you ask about adding onto the front-end? You mention a hotel and no availability. Were you getting the hotel through NCL?

 

Sounds like this was one of two scenarios: waited until flights were booked before asking for a deviation or was going through NCL for deviation but they didn't have any hotel opening in Hawaii Christmas week. If it was the second, you could have taken the deviation and made your own hotel reservations. 

[kitkat343]

57 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

So, the travel protection is valid from the day you purchase it. We have filed multiple trip delay claims, all paid. 

 

All of the "who should be responsible" and "who should be doing something" is irrelevant. The only relevant fact is that you cancelled your cruise (I hope). 

 

You needed to have CANCELLED the got a cancellation receipt from NCL showing what was refunded and what was not (which should have been just the cruise fare - everything else, if you cancelled, should be refunded to original form of payment)

 

You needed to file a claim with Aon with the pertinent information. That would include original receipt, cancellation receipt, notification from Delta of flight cancellations, etc.

 

Aon will provide a formal response to the claim in 3-6 weeks. 

 

If Aon denies the claim, you will still receive a 75% FCC from NCL.

When there is a massive snowstorm, it is possible that cruisers will not be able to reach their final destination.  Flying out earlier will make it more likely you can get there on time, but still no guarantee if there are massive delays in a massive winter storms.  

 

The only part of this story I was concerned about was the fact that they posted they purchased NCL insurance, and they were told it wouldn't cover the cancelled cruise.  That would seem really unfair, and I hope you are correct in that they can redeem some of their money back (or if they can't its because they didn't contact NCL to discuss their cancellation options and options to meet the cruise later as soon as the original flight was cancelled, which seems like a pretty reasonable thing to expect someone to do as they are trying to fly out to a cruise).  I've never used cruise insurance because I've always gotten 3rd party insurance, so I had no idea what would be covered.

[julig22]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

So, the travel protection is valid from the day you purchase it. We have filed multiple trip delay claims, all paid. 

 

All of the "who should be responsible" and "who should be doing something" is irrelevant. The only relevant fact is that you cancelled your cruise (I hope). 

 

You needed to have CANCELLED the got a cancellation receipt from NCL showing what was refunded and what was not (which should have been just the cruise fare - everything else, if you cancelled, should be refunded to original form of payment)

 

You needed to file a claim with Aon with the pertinent information. That would include original receipt, cancellation receipt, notification from Delta of flight cancellations, etc.

 

Aon will provide a formal response to the claim in 3-6 weeks. 

 

If Aon denies the claim, you will still receive a 75% FCC from NCL.

Based on statements made by the OP, they probably bought the Essentials plan, since they said it was added later - when they tried to add excursions.  The booksafe plan that covers cancellation and gives FCC is only available up until final payment - so doubtful it was the plan they purchased.

There is no provision for refunds so of course their insurance claim was denied.

 

[farmecologist]

One thing I would recommend is to get yourself a top tier travel credit card like Chase Sapphire, etc....and use that to pay for your trips.  As for Chase Sapphire, their travel insurance is great...and they do advocate for you.    

[cruiseny4life]

2 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Aon will provide a formal response to the claim in 3-6 weeks. 

 

If Aon denies the claim, you will still receive a 75% FCC from NCL.

That's definitely what Aon says and probably what many cruisers get in terms of a timeline...not us.

 

We canceled a cruise in August (Platinum Plan with Aon, through NCL). We've submitted the claim and contacted Aon multiple times. We've also contacted NCL and NCL has actually advocated for us. It's the end of January and Aon has still not denied our claim. I just want a denial so we can get the 90% FCC from NCL (Platinum).

 

I really hope we're an exception to the 3-6 week timeline. Eeeeeek! 

[BirdTravels]

6 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

That's definitely what Aon says and probably what many cruisers get in terms of a timeline...not us.

 

I really hope we're an exception to the 3-6 week timeline. Eeeeeek! 

I hope so too. We normally have responses in the 3-6 week range. The one big exception was in April 2022 when we were caught up in the Escape grounding in the DR and the weather system that shut down air traffic in Florida for a day. That claim took a while. 

[phillygwm]

7 hours ago, ew101 said:

Two days early is the new one day early.   If there is a bad storm and they close the airport(s), you cannot blame or easily sue the cruise line.   

Absolutely.  I'll chance getting from Philly to NYC same day.  Maybe even Boston.  Any other port and I'm coming in the day before, at least.  Especially flying out of a cold weather city in the winter, lots of things go wrong and, if you're laying over somewhere, you've multiplied the complexity.

[sailorusvi]

35 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I never base my decision on whether to do anything due to someone else's experience. There are plenty of cruisers who have been happy with NCL Air and it's not really a "do/don't do" kind of thing. There are also, always nuances and details left out of this stories, either for brevity's sake or because the author chose not to reveal certain things that might mitigate people's sympathy. I re-read the author's initial post and it isn't clear whether NCL did, or did not, offer to fly him and his family to the first port, which I thought was a part of the NCL Air terms. It just says the flight was cancelled 12 hours prior to departure and the booking was cancelled. I find it hard (but not impossible) to believe that NCL didn't attempt to get him and his family to the 1st port of call.

 

They mentioned there were no flights available to other ports.

 

In additional to what the weather did to flights all over the country during that period,  Christmas in Hawaii, hardly surprising.  Too many people heading that way and not enough seats available.      Not surprised there were wasn't NCL available early flights or hotels in Sept(?) when the booked either.  Again, Christmas in Hawaii.

 

I don't know about their insurance policy to speak about that.  Nor do I know NCL bookings for the future to know that availability either.  Inside cabin?  I imagine they would, another category with only a few cabins?  Maybe not? Nor do I know if they cancelled "properly", whatever that means.

 

I like these threads as I makes me ask more questions in the future. 

[RocketMan275]

36 minutes ago, farmecologist said:

One thing I would recommend is to get yourself a top tier travel credit card like Chase Sapphire, etc....and use that to pay for your trips.  As for Chase Sapphire, their travel insurance is great...and they do advocate for you.    

Not only that, but they advocate for  you when online purchases go bad.  I won't go into the details but wife ordered something from China and they sent the wrong product.  When she asked for a refund, they said she had to ship the product back to China.  Chase told them wife didn't order the product sent, had no obligation to pay for it, and reversed the charges.

[bortman23]

4 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

hey purchased NCL insurance, and they were told it wouldn't cover the cancelled cruise

 

Seems like they purchased insurance that is offered by NCL AFTER the cruise booking has been made (a different more robust insurance is offered at the time of booking). It clearly states that the insurance is only for after the cruise has begun (eg it's not cancelation insurance, it's trip interruption insurance). It is the responsibility of anyone booking/securing insurance to read what it does and does not cover. Don't assume.

[kaprin02]

4 hours ago, julig22 said:

Based on statements made by the OP, they probably bought the Essentials plan, since they said it was added later - when they tried to add excursions.  The booksafe plan that covers cancellation and gives FCC is only available up until final payment - so doubtful it was the plan they purchased.

There is no provision for refunds so of course their insurance claim was denied.

 

 

This is it exactly.  This is why OP's trip is not covered - they simply did not have trip cancellation coverage.  The Essentials coverage very clearly says nothing about trip cancellation (or interruption).

[vacationut]

4 hours ago, farmecologist said:

One thing I would recommend is to get yourself a top tier travel credit card like Chase Sapphire, etc....and use that to pay for your trips.  As for Chase Sapphire, their travel insurance is great...and they do advocate for you.    

Have you had to use their travel coverage? I got the card a few years ago and have often wondered how difficult claims would be and if they really cover much without a fight. 

[MsTabbyKats]

1 hour ago, vacationut said:

Have you had to use their travel coverage? I got the card a few years ago and have often wondered how difficult claims would be and if they really cover much without a fight. 

A few years ago I booked a cruise 2 weeks prior to departure.  One week prior to departure I got the flu.  So we cancelled and got every penny back without a problem.  As I recall, I only needed to submit a physicians letter as proof.   I forget which card I used.  No fight involved....we live a 15 minute cab ride away to the port.

[uneamie]

19 hours ago, J_RAD said:

We used to be a huge fans of NCL, we've sailed with them at least a half dozen other times and wrote glowing reviews. No more and I strongly recommend avoiding travel with NCL! They are a shell of their former selves.

 

We booked a cruise to Hawaii in late Dec 2022.  Our cruise was selected based on sail dates and itinerary. The entire trip, including airfare was booked through NCL; never again.  We began noticing some small issues with NCL shortly after booking in Sept. – it was merely a precursor of things to come. 

 

First, when booking through the cruise line, you must understand they select flights for you - they select provider, time, etc. This may seem like an "easy button" but it's not. Don't do it. You have no real say in the flight selection (airline, schedule, etc.) and are not notified of the details until approximately 60 days prior to sailing. We attempted to add an extra day with hotel to the front-end and tail-end of our itinerary, but NCL told us there was no availability for arrival on the front-end. Well, this is the date that really matters...and a cruise line should know this as well. We always arrive a day prior to our cruise in an attempt to mitigate any potential flight delays (this turned out to be critical in our case). Adding days to the tail-end of a cruise is mostly moot. So, we were stuck with what the cruise line selected -- and what they selected was arrival on the sail date.

 

Next, the package we purchased included beverages and specialty dining. However, when we went to book reservations at the specialty restaurants, we found that all but 2 were closed; not full from reservations - but temporarily closed! We were not told this prior to booking. Shameful NCL.

Then, we noticed the entertainment was incredibly scaled back -- virtually non-existent. Sure, there were a couple crew-based tribute shows but nothing notable; scaled way back. As others have posted, NCL has cut back entertainment staff and overall staffing is clearly an issue.

 

Finally, we went to book excursions, only to find these too were scaled way back. Fine, we're going to "paradise" we'll find other stuff to do. It was around this time we added travel protection through NCL to our trip.

 

Well, turns out we weren't going to paradise at all. ~12 hours prior to flight departure, we received notice from Delta Airlines, the carrier selected by NCL, that our initial departing flight was cancelled due to weather. We immediately contacted both NCL and Delta. Both providers pointed fingers back to the other for resolution while we spent HOURS looking for alternate flights. Unfortunately, due to weather issues across the country, absolutely no flights were available -- including options for connecting through other cities and arriving to alternate ports even several days later. As a result, and again through no fault of own, NCL was not able to fulfill their commitment to get us to our cruise, which departed 12/24 and the booking was cancelled.

 

Now weather issues happen, that's not a fault of Delta or NCL. How they deal with it, however, is absolutely their issue.

As mentioned, travel protection was purchased through NCL who was responsible for all bookings. We asked the full trip, with airfare and all offers purchased, be rebooked at no additional charge to another Hawaii sailing this year or for NCL to refund the full amount of the trip. They’ve declined to do either. Their travel protection is indicating their coverage doesn't begin until guests are on the ship (not stated anywhere).

 

We will not just be walking away from nearly $20K and are taking up formal legal action against the cruise line for non-performance.  Moreover, NCL lost a loyal customer and we will do our best to warn whomever we can away from NCL going forward.

 

There's what's legally required and there's doing the right thing for your guests. NCL is doing neither.

Very sorry for your terrible experience. I am sure there is more to the story then you had time to express but from what you did express it gives me pause to ever book a flight or trip insurance via ANY cruise line. I never have and now I never will..........thank you for the heads up and I do hope you get this favorably resolved. 20K is way too much money to lose. Good luck! 

[Georgia_Peaches]

What a nightmare and so very disappointing. The thing I’m not understanding is why they wouldn’t rebook you on a future cruise. You paid the money and got nothing for it. I think I read that they cancelled your booking due to weather and simply kept your money?  I’m just not understanding how that works. I hope you get it sorted.