$1000 OBC Limit for Canadians - Anyone had the difference refunded?

[abe3]

The situation was that those who paid for their cruise in CAD were allowed to buy OBC in USD at the same 'NCL Exchange Rate' that was used when purchasing the cruise, be it 1.07; 1.11, 1.18 or 1.33.

 

 

 

They then had refundable OBC in USD. It could be used against purchases of any kind on the boat; it could be withdrawn in USD, for a 3% fee, through the casino or it could be refunded in USD as a cheque, sent to the home address, after the end of the cruise.

 

 

 

At the present exchange rate it meant that some people were making a 'profit' of 20-30c on the dollar.

 

 

 

Hope that clarifies.

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

So technically NCL would lose money at the end when they issue a check? Unless the CDN dollar crashes then I bet people would really be pissed. I guess it's kind of like gambling, but safer.

 

I can see why NCL is limiting it now. Close the loophole. I do t know why people would want to put 1000's of dollars on hold unless they are trying to make a profit somehow.

[rochelle_s]

If it was me in charge I would of grandfathered everyone in from the date forward, but if they are giving the money back really don't see an issue unless you really were using it for OBC maybe in the casino or something else. If you are just trying to take advantage then yes I don't see a problem with the policy.

 

Do they give you your leftover OBC at the current rate or at the rate you purchased the OBC?

 

It has been the policy of NCL that when you book your cruise that is your rate of exchange going forward for anything paid or purchased prior to the cruise. So if the rate of exchange was $1.20 on the day you booked then this will follow through your pre cruise booking. So if you pre pay your grats, book an excursion, purchase a dining package or buy OBC your rate will be $1.20.

 

Once you board the ship you will be charged the going rate of exchange on the day the transaction is processed through your credit card.

 

For the most part any refunds I am aware of or have read about here have been issued in the form of a cheque after the cruise and in American funds. If this were to change and they were to refund it directly back to the credit card used for purchase then it 'should' be done at that same rate at booking, thereby keeping as consistent as possible.

 

 

Rochelle

[fshagan]

So technically NCL would lose money at the end when they issue a check? Unless the CDN dollar crashes then I bet people would really be pissed. I guess it's kind of like gambling, but safer.

 

I can see why NCL is limiting it now. Close the loophole. I do t know why people would want to put 1000's of dollars on hold unless they are trying to make a profit somehow.

 

Buying OBC to take advantage of the currency exchange rate is fraud. The purpose of OBC is to pre-pay the amount you will be spending and NCL was graciously giving Canadians a deal on the exchange rate. Some were loading up their accounts with OBC to be refunded and earn .30 on the dollar. When a company denotes fraudulent activity that is causing it to lose money they must take measures to stop it.

 

I can't blame NCL for this; they must stop the fraudulent activity. The problem is that stopping it also punishes those who DO plan to spend their OBC on the ship. I'm sure everyone on CC is in that camp, and are innocent victims of this policy implemented due to their less savory fellow countrymen.

[fshagan]

It would also make sense to call NCL and get them to refund the OBC overage rather than waiting after the cruise. Once you are onboard they have to send you physical check rather than crediting your card. This means a delay of 4 to 6 weeks versus the 7 to 10 days the credit card refund takes.

[Ontario cruise duo]

Buying OBC to take advantage of the currency exchange rate is fraud. The purpose of OBC is to pre-pay the amount you will be spending and NCL was graciously giving Canadians a deal on the exchange rate.

 

I take exception to the fact that this benefit that was being offered to us Canadian's is considered "fraud". After having previously sailed 8 times and booking through NCL I was NEVER offered to pay for any of our cruises in CANADIAN dollars and had ALWAYS paid in US dollars. So this benefit comes along to us, and we take what was rightfully offered to us. We had the option of paying in Can $$'s or US $$'s. Anyone capable of simple math formulas would have signed up for the Canadian value. I do not feel that "fraud" is the proper word to be used in this instance and likewise, after sailing many many times cruising with NCL feel that the exchange rate offered was a bonus in our favour. No different than us signing up for the UBP and having only 1 or 2 drinks a day. Who benefited from us not TAKING full advantage of that deal!!

[rochelle_s]

Buying OBC to take advantage of the currency exchange rate is fraud. The purpose of OBC is to pre-pay the amount you will be spending and NCL was graciously giving Canadians a deal on the exchange rate. Some were loading up their accounts with OBC to be refunded and earn .30 on the dollar. When a company denotes fraudulent activity that is causing it to lose money they must take measures to stop it.

 

I can't blame NCL for this; they must stop the fraudulent activity. The problem is that stopping it also punishes those who DO plan to spend their OBC on the ship. I'm sure everyone on CC is in that camp, and are innocent victims of this policy implemented due to their less savory fellow countrymen.

 

I think calling the purchase of OBC fraudulent is a bit of a stretch. It is fully refundable OBC. I have not seen anywhere, in the cruise contract or the terms and conditions, that defines the reasons and uses for the purchase of OBC. Until such limitations are firmly established and noted then people are free to purchase OBC and use at their discretion.

 

That being said I too do not blame NCL for making the changes they have. There were definitely those who took full advantage of what was likely originally meant as a way to ease the financial pain felt by many Canadians when faced with a plunging dollar.

 

 

It would also make sense to call NCL and get them to refund the OBC overage rather than waiting after the cruise. Once you are onboard they have to send you physical check rather than crediting your card. This means a delay of 4 to 6 weeks versus the 7 to 10 days the credit card refund takes.

 

There is no reason anyone should be having to wait post cruise for a refund.

 

The onus should not be on the customer to contact NCL to 'request' a refund of their money. It was NCL that changed their policy. It should be them that is notifying their customers of the change and any funds that are now considered to be 'overages' should have already been processed back to the appropriate credit card and if not already done so should be done immediately.

 

There is no acceptable reason for this not having already been done.

 

 

Rochelle

[casofilia]

Buying OBC to take advantage of the currency exchange rate is fraud.

 

Are you also saying that if I go on eBay.ca and see that an item has a Buy Now of CAD10, that I know I can sell at CAD100, then my purchasing it is a fraud?

 

You have a peculiar definition of fraud. Where do the NCL rules say that all OBC has to be spent in any particular way?

 

We are going on the Sun from Buenos Aires to San Francisco and I wanted enough OBC so I could surprise my wife with the Machu Picchu excursion that NCL was offering. I needed lots of OBC to be able to carry out that surprise.

 

That is now off totally. I am not carrying that amount of cash nor does my USD Credit Card have that sort of limit.

 

Mike from NZ

[NLH Arizona]

Are you also saying that if I go on eBay.ca and see that an item has a Buy Now of CAD10, that I know I can sell at CAD100, then my purchasing it is a fraud?

 

You have a peculiar definition of fraud. Where do the NCL rules say that all OBC has to be spent in any particular way?

 

We are going on the Sun from Buenos Aires to San Francisco and I wanted enough OBC so I could surprise my wife with the Machu Picchu excursion that NCL was offering. I needed lots of OBC to be able to carry out that surprise.

 

That is now off totally. I am not carrying that amount of cash nor does my USD Credit Card have that sort of limit.

 

Mike from NZ

If you purchased the excursion prior to your cruise, would you get the better exchange rate? If not, I think that is something NCL should consider.

[abe3]

To me it's fraud. Some people putting 1000's in OBC ruins it for people that actually use it for what it is intended for.

[SuiteCruiser]

To me it's fraud. Some people putting 1000's in OBC ruins it for people that actually use it for what it is intended for.

 

NCL offers it for a very good reason, it's not a mistake they've made. They offer it because such a large amount of their passengers are from Canada and they don't want them staying home due to the dollar.

 

Myrtle Beach is offering Canadian dollars at par until April because they're suffering horriblly from the downturn in tourism dollars.

[Ontario cruise duo]

Are you Canadian Abe?

 

Curious, about the answer to this question also. Guess Abe doesn't want to answer.

[Ontario cruise duo]

 

 

We are going on the Sun from Buenos Aires to San Francisco and I wanted enough OBC so I could surprise my wife with the Machu Picchu excursion that NCL was offering. I needed lots of OBC to be able to carry out that surprise.

 

That is now off totally. I am not carrying that amount of cash nor does my USD Credit Card have that sort of limit.

 

Mike from NZ

 

Why not book the excursion ahead of time at the posted exchange rate that NCL offered you to book your cruise at. I'm pretty sure that any excursions booked and paid ahead of the time that you sail are at the exchange rate that you also booked your cruise at. If you have to tell your wife before you cruise, it won't totally ruin the surprise, especially if she knows why you have to book it and pay for it before you leave home. Safe travels and I hope you do the Machu Picchu excursion as my brother-in-law and niece have done that and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Edited February 5, 2016 by Ontario cruise duo

[reveur15]

I just called to get my 900$ extra OBC back (i had 1900$ OBC for 5 persons).

I will probably prebook more shore excursions instead.;)

 

But looking at my NCL account after the call and the new amenity invoice they just sent me everything looks wrong. The numbers are not good and are all different. Anyway i'm getting used to the NCL website glitch. I will wait to see if the refund on my CC is for the right amount and then ask again for a new amenity invoice to see if everything is back to $1000 OBC.

 

I'm disapointed from NCL for this situation but I will forget it and enjoy my cruise. But I will certainly consider another cruise line for my next cruise. Not saying I will never cruise with NCL again but they lost my loyalty.:(

 

But the worst is what I have read on forums about that situation where many where bashing canadians because of that. It leaves me a sour taste...:(

Edited February 5, 2016 by reveur15

[NLH Arizona]

 

I'm disapointed from NCL for this situation but I will forget it and enjoy my cruise. But I will certainly consider another cruise line for my next cruise. Not saying I will never cruise with NCL again but they lost my loyalty.:(

 

How do the other lines deal with the exchange rate? Do they allow you to purchase an unlimited amount at a lower rate?

[hamrag]

Are the spa gift certificates, available on MyNCL refundable if unused?

[NLH Arizona]

Are the spa gift certificates, available on MyNCL refundable if unused?

Regular gift cards are not refundable. I wonder if the spa gift certificates are to Steiner (who runs the spas), if so I doubt they would be refundable.

[hamrag]

Regular gift cards are not refundable. I wonder if the spa gift certificates are to Steiner (who runs the spas), if so I doubt they would be refundable.

 

I agree, and cannot imagine they would be refundable. Thanks.

[hamrag]

...And if anyone can point me to the provisions in the Guest Ticket Contract which permits NCL to unilaterally decide that they will not provide me with the OBC in excess of $1000 that I purchased a year ago, I would appreciate it, as I'm not seeing the language in the contract which allows them to do that...

 

There is nothing in the contract that permits them, and there is nothing prohibiting them. I am not a lawyer but, in my thinking, in a case of litigation NCL would argue that many Canadian clients were using the facility to make some money. Now that is not illegal, and certainly not fraudulent as a couple of posters suggested, but surely the judge (or attorney in USA?) would rule that the NCL action is not unreasonable?

 

The lack of communication, and holding the monies for a long period are a different matter but probably in jurisdiction not a corporate offence. Sorry if my use of terminology is different, from UK.

[cjcruises]

And mine came from the University of Saskatchewan twenty years ago.

 

And if anyone can point me to the provisions in the Guest Ticket Contract which permits NCL to unilaterally decide that they will not provide me with the OBC in excess of $1000 that I purchased a year ago, I would appreciate it, as I'm not seeing the language in the contract which allows them to do that (although it is a Friday afternoon after a long week, so everything looks like a jumble of words right now....)

 

If I'm wrong and there are specific provisions which allow NCL to make retroactive changes with regard to OBC, I will gladly admit my error.

 

Thank you! That has been my understanding! I am by no means a lawyer, and I don't pretend to be, but I am good at understanding legalize and I did take a few law courses as part of my degrees, and I didn't read anything that obviously allows for NCL to create a new policy that they then implement retroactively. I figured that I must have been missing something due to the fact that I am clearly not a lawyer.

 

I don't object to the policy change but I object to them not grandfathering purchases which pre-date the change, their seemingly deliberate efforts not to inform those who have completed purchase with them, and also their failure to return funds in a timely manner.

DH has been on the phone with NCL accounting and problem resolution. "Problem Resolution" seems to be a misnomer as their response is "we don't have authority to do anything about this".

Edited February 5, 2016 by cjcruises

[Meekomist]

The Mandara Spa Certificates are NOT refundable. So I would assume the $1000 limit is not applicable to them. (I pre-purchased $100 prior cruise that I went on last month)

 

You can pre-purchases many things before the cruise, for example I did the Thermal Spa & Internet package ahead of time. I would have pre-purchased some excursions to, but we hadn't quite narrowed down what we planned to do, so just purchased extra OBC to cover it.

 

I'm curious what would happen if an excursion is cancelled that you pre-purchased, would they give you OBC on ship; or refund to you CC?

 

Regardless, I'm happy my cruise was before all this kerfuffle, although I would have been minimally impacted, as I only purchased $1500 OBC. (for 14 day cruise)

[casofilia]

For nothing!! :eek:

 

Yesterday evening I sent an email to my PCC with NCL (from NZ the toll free number doesn't work and I am not paying International toll rates to be on hold!!) so he would have it as soon as he got to work. :cool:

 

In it I expressed my disgust at the way NCL had handled the whole matter and demanded the immediate refund of the extra OBC if their rule change applied to me. :rolleyes:

 

As usual he has failed to respond, I think I will find a decent TA and work through them in the future, BUT!!!!!

 

I received an Amenity Invoice from NCL probably soon after he arrived at work.

 

The exact words on the document that came with it were:-

 

Dear Guests: There is a cap of $1000 onboard credit per reservation that can be purchased the rest of the purchased onboard credit will be refunded to your credit card. This information can be found in our website http://www.ncl.com. Regards. Norwegian. :mad:

 

If that is good customer service I'll eat my hat.

 

It will be interesting to see how long I have to wait for the return of my money.

 

Mike

[Maddysdaddy]

As I posted on the other thread, as soon as I received the email saying they were refunding everything over $1000, I put in a call to Visa. They couldn't give me a firm answer, but said that they would investigate since the refund wasn't initiated by me.

 

If Visa is prepared to step up to the plate, I would suggest that others call their credit card companies. NCL hearing from Visa and MC will have more effect than calls from angry Canucks.

[casofilia]

I'm curious what would happen if an excursion is cancelled that you pre-purchased, would they give you OBC on ship; or refund to you CC?

 

We were both sick last year and were able to cancel the two day St Petersburg tour but we were in time for a refund.

They were ADAMANT that the only way I would get the refund was as OBC and then by a cheque after the cruise.

 

Mike

[fshagan]

Buying OBC to take advantage of the currency exchange rate is fraud. The purpose of OBC is to pre-pay the amount you will be spending and NCL was graciously giving Canadians a deal on the exchange rate.

 

I take exception to the fact that this benefit that was being offered to us Canadian's is considered "fraud". After having previously sailed 8 times and booking through NCL I was NEVER offered to pay for any of our cruises in CANADIAN dollars and had ALWAYS paid in US dollars. So this benefit comes along to us, and we take what was rightfully offered to us. We had the option of paying in Can $$'s or US $$'s. Anyone capable of simple math formulas would have signed up for the Canadian value. I do not feel that "fraud" is the proper word to be used in this instance and likewise, after sailing many many times cruising with NCL feel that the exchange rate offered was a bonus in our favour. No different than us signing up for the UBP and having only 1 or 2 drinks a day. Who benefited from us not TAKING full advantage of that deal!!

 

Yeah, I didn't clearly communicate what I meant there. Taking advantage of a benefit offered by a company, including special pricing for your country is obviously not fraud. But that's not what NCL is reacting to. They are reacting to the Canadians who bought OBC with the intention of cashing it in on board and making .30 to .40 on the dollar (minus the 3% casino fee).

 

If you bought $5,000 of OBC at the favorable exchange rate, with the full intention of not using it for the stated purpose, and then cashed it in to make money at NCL's expense on board or after the cruise, it is fraud. According to posts in this thread, many Canadians were bragging about doing exactly this. And NCL plugged that hole. Companies have a duty to do that, of course. We can quibble with the $1,000 limit no matter the size of the party sailing, but that's what happens when a company has to make a quick decision to stop theft.

[Trish4bruce01]

Maddysdaddy, can I ask what exactly you said to your credit card company? I would also call but not sure where to even begin explaining.

 

 

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