marrashadow

Prior to this story I was reading a blogger review about this cruise and she stated due to the once in a lifetime vibe of the cruise many people were not being smart cruisers. They were so caught up in the trip that they were ignoring staff instructions failing to listen to announcements ect. making it difficult for crew. So I'd guess this is the same. If they do go for a lawsuit it happens in Florida which in the past has been very pro NCL passenger contract. Meaning if its explicitly stated you are not getting an exception. Most I see, are supporting NCL and as stated this does happen all the time all over the world. It is passenger responsibility to get to designated areas on-time. I've seen it happen in Alaska and in France. How fair is it for an entire ship to lose out on their trip for a few irresponsible folks. The fact the are playing to the media should not matter. Someone will start a go fund me for them and they will get money back. I don't think they should but people are suckers.

Very few tours booked on alternate sites offer guaranteed on-time drop off. Big part of risking it is knowing how much time you have. One browse through Viator and you will see bad reviews linked to this and companies refusing refunds after itinerary change. Also if they had communicated with the ship would it not make sense to tell them a passenger has meds they need to survive? If they went to rooms for passports they would have grab meds if notified. The difficulty re-boarding is not black and white as someone said if the ship already pulled anchor that is a long process to re-drop and secure a boat that size even if traveling at a slow speed(see Baltimore bridge) Itinerary and other docking requirements are a factor for a ship to delay. Next just getting to new place to board, this isn't like it would be in Caribbean which is tourist friendly. Africa is made of a multitude of countries and each has own rules and there are different requirements to fly in versus sail in and are not always tourist friendly. Although you feel bad, this is a rather common occurrence across all cruise lines. They just played the pity card to the media. Which also if you were so concerned about getting home but you called your hometown media outlet? I mean I'd be figuring out what to do and how to fix the pickle I'm in. I'd be looking for a consulate getting a hold of travel agent/insurance provider not worrying about making a cruise line look bad. There is plenty of time for that after you are no longer stranded in a foreign country. I always take these with a grain of salt. Carnival is having people pulled off boats in handcuffs and that's not got a single article but its all over social media. BTW based on what I can tell its legitimate reasons drugs, violence, using stolen credit cards ect so not faulting them just saying this is news because they are pushing it to be. What we know is cruise lines hate bad press and often will reverse stance for an exception to avoid it and I'm betting they want a refund.

I am booked for April 2025. I've read a lot of advice that you need to view actual port. Europe ports may be in industrial areas not right by attractions. So on your own requires more research. I was told Naples is best done with cruise ship due to traffic to guarantee they wait.

Yes and no. You did get the refund but you took the offer for the free cruise. So if you can't take it because life happens. You have now lost the trip you planned on taking a year prior and can't replace the new one cause they won't reschedule free vouchers. In Viking's case they are ahead now because they got to use your money got a higher fare for that room, got your refund paid by insurance and now can resell the cruise you don't take. Now would I take the offer yes because I think the risk is worth it. But I have seen this scenario happen and people get very upset. A free voucher sounds good until its not. On the other side there have also been very stern warnings to make sure you read fine print and ask questions because some found out it wasn't a refund but a voucher which means 2 trips not 1 but if you were hoping to use the money back then well that's an issue. Honestly for me I would take it because we are planning to replace one of our vehicles in the next year so if the refund came through its a pretty hefty down payment. We saved for a long time to take the trip but a refund would make life better.

So I am unsure if those who don't book Viking air would get the offer and if an insurer would give you back the funds if you took a buy out? As far as if the rescheduled free trip is your own air then yes, obviously that could be insured and of course medical can be purchased separately so yeah that's different all together. I was specifically speaking of the rescheduled "free" cruise not being insured so if something happened you'd loose it.

I don't believe an insurance company would insure a free trip. Remember as the customer you already received a full refund and the trip for free.

Also once they refund customer A that risk free guarantee is gone so if they cancel that new date they get nothing.

Equally your booking time changes the price dramatically so customer A books cruise in height of pandemic 2 years out company is losing cash left and right and worried they are going to sink. They start offering deal busters at half normal cost, free air, discounted extensions, and a refund guarantee. On the side the company purchases risk insurance for fares sold from a business insurance company so if that fee is refunded they get reimbursed. So customer A hits all in for their cruise at 3500 per person waiting 2 years and Viking gets to use that money to recover from loses. Customer B wasn't booking at all until just recently because he finally feels ok about travel. Viking hits him with 5500 per person without discounted airfare, and no guarantee, so all in he is close to 7k per person. So who does the company want in that room? If company refunds customer A it gets the insurance to kick in which pays the customer refund and gets a much higher price for same room. So it gives customer A an offer they can't refuse and still ends up on top with an extra couple grand per person for that room and just pushes the already paid reservation back a bit. Actually quite smart business wise. They aren't losing anything with these deals they are increasing revenue and cash flow. Remember those flights are group purchased probably with a similar airline strategy that they sold those tickets when they were tanking in revenue so they likely paid less for those too which also gives them a boost though that one is temporary cause flight cost increases will eat that back up in rebooking.