Passport Fail - Cruise Line Unforgiving

[smplybcause]

6 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

Fable?  Well, it could be a fable, but the story seems quite possible to me.  Certainly people forget to read the details and could forget passports must be good beyond travel dates.  And sadly, most of us know people who feel entitled to demand others pay for their mistakes.

 

This eight page thread has probably reminded multiple people to check their passport expiration dates and to plan .renew early to avoid such issues.  Mine was renewed last year...no worries.

 

 

 

Hopefully. I'm still utterly amazed by the number of people traveling out of the country that don't look into things and research, research. I went on my first solo cruise 4 years ago (to the Caribbean from Miami) and even after reading NCLs page I still looked up each individual country on the US gov website to check their individual requirements (in case something went wrong). And even though I was all good, my passport was expiring in less than 6 months so I still said screw it and paid to expedite a renewal about 50 days before I left. (Ironically after all that paranoia I didn't go on the cruise with travel insurance 🤦🏻‍♀️ but that's another thread and I now buy it.)

[bmwman]

On 1/14/2020 at 12:01 AM, Akumal said:

Last July, after much planning and paying in full for a long-anticipated vacation to the Baltic and Scandinavia, our family was denied boarding at the departure airport (SFO) because our US Passports fell two days outside the "valid for 90 days after return" rule.  Our return flight back to the USA was scheduled for July 19, and although our passports would not expire until after October 16, 2019, it was 2 days less the than the required 90 days interval.  This was a total shock to us, especially because neither the airline, the travel agent, nor cruise line notified us beforehand that the expiration dates of our US Passports fell two days within the "90 days after return" rule, even though we had submitted numerous information forms to each of them that included the relevant passport information.  What use is automated pre-registration if not to alert users to date problems?  Bottom line - I failed to read the fine print somewhere that refers to passenger responsibility for researching and abiding by international tourism paperwork rules.  Very painful lesson learned.  

 

 We had to cancel our prepaid flights, cruise, hotels, and tours.  Travel insurance reimbursed only a small portion of costs.  Fortunately, the airline gave us partial credit for the cancelled flight as a courtesy, as did the hotel.  But the cruise line (Norwegian) was unforgiving.  We lost thousands of dollars in cruise fares. Even though we are loyal Norwegian Cruise Line customers, they refused to offer any courtesy compensation or credit for future cruises. 

 

This experience has taught me to be more diligent about international travel documents well in advance.  But for lack of compassion and lousy customer service, Norwegian has lost all future business from our family and friends.

Sorry mate you are totally in the wrong and the airline correct. If you were denied entry into a country then the airline picks up the costs. Why do you think NCL should give you anything. They are not a fault and could not sell the cabin if your cancelled so late.

 

There are good reason why a passport needs to extend beyond the date of return .

 

 

[hamrag]

7 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

Fable?  Well, it could be a fable, but the story seems quite possible to me.  

 

Fable, in relation to the NCL bashing element.....I agree with you the airport part of the story is most likely a real event. 😉

Edited February 1, 2020 by hamrag

[beerman2]

I'm one who doesn't read all the rules/regulations, however, I DID know I only had a year left on passport and got it renewed as soon as Year 9 ended.

 

Being your passport is the most important document when traveling abroad, how one can "forget" to renew/wait until last minute is beyond comprehension.

 

I'm sure this thread trolling or not have people scrambling to check. And that's a good thing.