$12.25 credit for misssing Cancun! NCL Sea

[terryteacher]

Merry Christmas. We just returned from NCL Sea 12/18-25. Thanks to CCritic message boards, we had a phenomenal time. We spent our day in Cozumel at paradise beach- great if you like a fewer number of people than Chankanab. In Roatan, we spent day at Bay Island Beach Resort. My college kids went hiking with someone who works at property. They really loved the boa constrictor, hottest pepper ever eaten and coconut cracking with Carlos. Snorkeling was outstanding, and the day was perfect. In Belize, we took Maya Air to Ambergris, rented a golf cart and had an absolute blast. We even took golf cart onto the "ferry." It's a guy who pulls the ferry across by hand! Now that I have given the positives...

How can NCL get away with missing Cancun 3 out of 5 times and then giving cruisers that measly $12.25 per person credit. I figure that the other ports then must charge around $48 per person or someone is making lots of money on port charges/taxes. I will take this up with NCL, but I wanted to see if there was any angry class action attorney who wanted to assist us? :)

It's Christmas, so I'll sign on later.

[ColoradoLad]

NCL strives to give the "Sea's" cruise four ports, few =cruise lines do in a seven day trip.

 

Cancun is at the mouth of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and yes, faces the Atlantic: so sometimes the ocean is either rough, or the "swells" make the

larea deoth not safe for a large ship.

 

Cancun gets most of its $$$ via the airport.

 

Just asking that you realize each port uses the $$ minus corruption to maintain safety and welfare for each passenger!

 

Actually, they do a good job.

 

Colorado

[bruins12]

I have two thoughts....

 

First, it's for the safety of the passengers that they have to cancel when they do....if something ever happened it would be tragic...it's not worth taking the chance...transporting the passengers on tenders in the rough seas is just to dangerous...in fact when I was just there, our tender ride was rather rocky...I was surprised they allowed us...

 

That being the case, and with the history of rough seas and tenders with Cancun, they really should replace it with a docked port like "Costa Maya"...it really is a disappointment and frustrating for passengers to have their plans changed...it's especially frustrating when it occurs frequently and NCL doesn't have a plan "B"....and doesn't seem to do anything about it....no one can fault NCL for protecting the passengers, but there's no excuse for not having another option...

[smeyer418]

I am not defending NCL on this but they changed the name of Port charges to non-commissionable charges years ago after class action lawsuits. These non-commissionable charges include expendable like fuel oil so when they "miss" a port and keep sailing in fact it sometimes costs more not less...and given the cost of fuel oil it can cost a lot more. So more than likely all they returned was what was the port tax and not the other charges...

[dosi]

Gee NCL really cheated you. When we missed Cancun on the Princess Star Princess gave us each $18.00 credit. NCL owes you $6. Now let's if the lawyer keeps fifty per cent then you would need to actually sue them for $12 per person. Have you figured out how much it will cost you to take this up. I am betting after the cost of the registered letter alone your net will be down to like $3 per person. And all this over something that is not guaranteed in the first place. All in all it sounds like you had a wonderful vacation and yet you want to get in on a class action suit....I just don't get it :rolleyes: .

[duanesgame]

:mad: Lawyer, You have to be kidding right?

[Copper_beeches]

Sarcasm... expressing annoyance at the small recoup on a dissapointment... not really encouraging a lawsuit over a total of max $30...

 

At least I hope so!:eek:

[terryteacher]

I understand safety concerns, but my original question remains. If you failed to deliver an advertised portion of your itinerary approximately 75% of the time, do you not believe that a change or alternate plan would be appropriate? I would have appreciated spending more time in Belize or Roatan or cruise on back to Cozumel and let us spend the 7 hours there or something. I was tongue in cheek concerning the class action suit. Certainly, I recognize that there would be no significant financial reimbursement; however, I do believe it is incumbent upon those who care to make cruise lines aware of areas in need of improvement. I continue to appeal to those who support my position to post suggestions for improvement of future cruise(rs).

And by the way, I already complimented NCL on the handwashing stations by suggesting such stations for my health club. Happy New Years.

[dosi]

Oh and we didn't miss Cancun we missed Cayman....and yes I do think that if a ship consistently misses a port then it is time for an itinerary change. I believe otherwise it is dangling a carrot in the face of the consumer. I would be hesitant to book any cruise that had a poor track record of making it into one of the featured ports. Unfortunately I think a lot of folks do not do very thorough research and do not look into the missed port situation until AFTER their cruise. :(

[TWA4Ever]

From the NCL website (this is from the Passenger Ticket Contract, paragraph 7):

 

"Carrier, in its sole discretion, shall have full liberty ... to cancel any scheduled call at any port for any reason and at any time before, during or after sailing of the vessel; to omit, advance or delay landing at any scheduled or advertised port ..."

 

Hope this helps!

[cliffd64]

I understand safety concerns, but my original question remains. If you failed to deliver an advertised portion of your itinerary approximately 75% of the time, do you not believe that a change or alternate plan would be appropriate? I would have appreciated spending more time in Belize or Roatan or cruise on back to Cozumel and let us spend the 7 hours there or something. I was tongue in cheek concerning the class action suit. Certainly, I recognize that there would be no significant financial reimbursement; however, I do believe it is incumbent upon those who care to make cruise lines aware of areas in need of improvement. I continue to appeal to those who support my position to post suggestions for improvement of future cruise(rs).

And by the way, I already complimented NCL on the handwashing stations by suggesting such stations for my health club. Happy New Years.

 

 

Here's the big problem: A cruise ship cannot just show up in a port and expect to be accomodated. Each of the port destinations are SCHEDULED and PAID FOR in advance. Therefore, if you MISS one such as Cancun, a cruise ship cannot just waltz into another port. Sometimes, there can be a string of very fortunate events that can be negotiated resulting in an nearby alternate port being arranged, but often, this is not the case. Cancun CAN be very tricky to get into at this time of year, due to rough seas and high winds. Any tender port is more difficult, and the Captains of all vessels always regard passenger and crew safety as their primary concern. It is not customary (or even allowed) or cost effiicient for cruise lines to reserve berths or moorings at alternate locations just in case of bad weather elsewhere in their itineraries. You can appeal for change all you want, but unless you wish to pay several times more, this will not ever happen on ANY cruise line. You may have better luck appealing to the weather to be nice.

 

Missing a port 3 out of 4 weeks in a month is certainly unfortunate, but not unheard of in the fall/winter. We missed Costa Maya once in March on the Sun (and that is a DOCKED port) because of high winds, and we certainly found many other ways to enjoy ourselves.

[Cruzin'Fool]

From the NCL website (this is from the Passenger Ticket Contract, paragraph 7):

 

"Carrier, in its sole discretion, shall have full liberty ... to cancel any scheduled call at any port for any reason and at any time before, during or after sailing of the vessel; to omit, advance or delay landing at any scheduled or advertised port ..."

 

Hope this helps!

Gee, TWA, do you work for NCL? the reason is they gave me the same response when I wrote them complaining about missing almost a whole day of my cruise because of the Dawn arriving late in NYC. They gave everyone a lousy $20 credit as compensation (no matter whether they sat in the terminal for 12 hours or 1 hour).

 

Last year when I sailed on the Dawn, I wrote a letter complaining that my cabin steward had told me the queen bed could not be split when in fact it could (I shared the cabin with my nephew; he ended up sleeping on the pull-out couch). For that I got a $100 onboard credit for my next cruise. This year the Dawn came in to port almost 12 hours late, and I got a letter from NCL saying they were not obligated to give me any compensation.

 

It is for this reason that I will NEVER (and yes, I do mean never) sail NCL again. Their customer service stinks, they are inconsistent with their compensation policies, and, frankly, the quality of service onboard has declined considerably over the last 3 years.

 

I am taking my business elsewhere NCL - anyone else who cares about customer service should do the same!

[shoreguy]

Their customer service stinks' date=' they are inconsistent with their compensation policies, and, frankly, the quality of service onboard has declined considerably over the last 3 years.

 

[/quote']

 

I think that can be said about all the mass market cruiselines. I have cruised on most with the exception of HAL. I think you would get about the same answers from all of them. Good luck I hope you find a cruisline that meets your expectations. BTW HAL will be ruising out of NYC next winter.

 

Having cruised NCL off and on since 1989 I happen to think the quality of service onboard has improved from 3 or 4 years ago. Most of the Bugs ar out of Freestyle and they are transforming the fleet to make it consistant across the line.

 

I think the decline is very noticable on some of the other lines. Celebrity and Princess are not what they were in the late 90s. Niether are the fares. Still good products. It is tough industry with low fares and high expectations.

 

Just my $.02 -

[cliffd64]

From the NCL website (this is from the Passenger Ticket Contract, paragraph 7):

 

"Carrier, in its sole discretion, shall have full liberty ... to cancel any scheduled call at any port for any reason and at any time before, during or after sailing of the vessel; to omit, advance or delay landing at any scheduled or advertised port ..."

 

Hope this helps!

 

Good legalese....

So... how do you cancel a port AFTER you've been there? :D

 

"Ok Mr. Smith, we need you to hand over your pictures from Tulum... as we are cancelling the stop we made at Cancun... "

[haymish]

I am reading about all these last minute cruise deals. Where do you find them?

Thanks.

Marv

[98Charlie]

I am reading about all these last minute cruise deals. Where do you find them?

Thanks.

Marv

Marv

 

You may want to post this question on the "Ask A Cruise Question" forum. Go to the bottom of this page to "Forum Jump", click on "Ask A Cruise Question" and at the top of the page you will find a "Start New Thread" button. Click and go!

 

Also, check out the "bargains" section at the top of any page on Cruise Critic.

 

Charlie

[Globaliser]

Good legalese....

So... how do you cancel a port AFTER you've been there? :D

To be pedantic, the contract says "after sailing", which means after the vessel has sailed from its point of origin.

[KathieP]

I agree with sheheke, It's not that I would argue with missing Cancun. We missed it because it wasn't safe to tender. Okay, fine.

 

I had no interest in seeing Cancun. I just wanted to go snorkeling SOMEWHERE warm. They need to change the itinerary. Forget Cancun, and find a deep water port.

 

Here's what we did for our cruise: First stop Cozumel - Shopped for two hours. Would have bought more if storekeepers weren't so darn pushy. Those big chain jewelry stores are annoying. Went to Chankanaab park to have the dolphin experience. I did the dolphin encounter with younger son and watched older kids to the royal swim. Left the park at 5:30, got back just before leaving. Roatan- pouring, pouring rain. Would have done snorkeling. Belize - Did the Lamanai tour. So, we've had three ports, still haven't actually swam in the ocean. We've all got snorkles and masks and we are excited to go to Garafon Reef for a nice relaxing beach day.

 

But instead of going to the beach, we're told that we're heading back to New Orleans. Mind you, when we left N.O., it was 35 degrees there so this is not welcome news. I can understand why we didn't tender. It was very windy and the anchors wouldn't hold, etc. However, hanging out on the deck in the wind around a pool with thousands of other people is not a substitute for snorkeling in the ocean. I wouldn't have gone to our community pool in the wind we had that day.

 

So, of course, you can't tender when the weather is rocky but, duh, if something doesn't work then you change it. Forget an alternate port in case of bad weather - change the itinerary and get a different port! I'm sure this is not an easy thing to do but it's something that should be addressed and changed asap.

[cyrilee]

We missed Cancun on our cruise as well, but the difference here is that we were not disappointed. We did enough research (here and elsewhere) before going to find that the Sea misses Cancun more often than not and so we were expecting it. With the rough seas we encountered as we left Belize, it was obvious the night before that we weren't going to Cancun.

 

So we purposely booked an excursion in Cancun that we didn't really care if we missed (Xcaret). We've no interest in shopping and only wanted to snorkel or sail so we planned that for the other ports.

 

My advice to anyone is to go on your cruise expecting not to go to Cancun. 3 ports on a 7 day is pretty good really.

 

As for the compensation, that was a surprise. I didn't expect to get anything back. I don't think we got anything back when we missed St Martin on the Norway because a crew member fell overboard.

[yags]

We were on the Jan 8th sailing of the Sea and it did not stop at Cancun for safety reasons. I agree. the ship has only 6 feet clearance from the bottom so seas must be very calm. Maybe it is time to stop at Playa del Carmen instead. The first cruise we did years ago stopped at both Cozumel and Playa del Carmen. Seas are more calm and better suited to a consistant port of call.

 

They can do shore excursions to Cancun from there if they want.

 

The sarcastic part of me believes that more money is spent on board to find things to do with a 2nd day at sea.