Why is NCL so generous with their new 48hr cancelation policy?

[dml71913]

I am a pragmatic, retired attorney.  I once had occasion to receive a simple and elegant response to a question from a social worker with Human Services, after my client had been denied benefits:  "Every time there is a rule change, it helps some and it hurts some.  This change hurt your lady."

Please take time to read the CruiseCritic Summary of ALL cruise line cancellation policies.  NCL is, BY FAR, the most generous among its rivals (Princess, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Holland America).  Sure, there WILL be people that will be hurt if they accept a FCC.  But there will be a lot more people who will be helped.  There is no rule change that will please everyone other than a full refund if a person simply does not want to go on a booked cruise, and we all know that this is not going to happen.  So I say, celebrate the win!   I am not a big fan of FCC, but under the circumstances this is an opportunity for a number of people to reassess their travel plans and make informed decisions.   NCL should be thanked for this gesture. 

ps  I was on the ill fated Star when it had propulsion problems in Asia about 3 years back.  My brother and I were on a 7 week hop that was sandwiched around a 34 day B2B that saw Saigon, Bangkok, Komodo and other stops cancelled on Leg 1.  The ship broke down in the Tasman Sea and was towed back to Melbourne on Leg 2.  We ended up with close to 9K in FCC, if i recall, but we made the best of it.  It took us a couple of years to use up the credits, but we are still NCL customers (Platinum+).        

[BirdTravels]

22 hours ago, GettotheSun said:

 

I wonder if I spoke a bit too soon.  On the FAQ, it says :

The following will not be applied to the FCC:

• Travel Protection
• Special Promotional Onboard Credits (OBC)  

Am I reading this correctly?  If you purchased Cancel for Any Reason insurance, you lose that altogether? 

That does not make sense to me.  I paid over $800 for my NCL cancellation insurance, and I lose that altogether if I cancel under the new policy.  Seems punitive to those who actually paid for insurance...I guess those who purchased insurance are ostensibly subsidizing the new program for those who didn't buy insurance.  Womp womp.

You buy insurance for a specific cruise. When you paid your $800, NCL purchased an insurance policy through Nationwide Mutual Insurance for THIS cruise. With the new cancellation policy, you will not file a claim on THIS cruise, you get 100% of your cruise fare back as a FCC. 
 

You can not say “not going to use the insurance on THIS cruise, please move it to the NEXT cruise. 
 

That’s like saying, I didn’t get into an accident in my car this year, can you just move the premium payment to next year. 

Edited March 8, 2020 by BirdTravels

[GettotheSun]

47 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

You buy insurance for a specific cruise. When you paid your $800, NCL purchased an insurance policy through Nationwide Mutual Insurance for THIS cruise. With the new cancellation policy, you will not file a claim on THIS cruise, you get 100% of your cruise fare back as a FCC. 
 

You can not say “not going to use the insurance on THIS cruise, please move it to the NEXT cruise. 
 

That’s like saying, I didn’t get into an accident in my car this year, can you just move the premium payment to next year. 

 

I see your point.   It does kind of suck though!

 

Anyway, it's rather moot for me personally, as unless the world goes to hell in a hand basket in the next few days, I'll be on the ship on vacation anyway!

[GettotheSun]

Can you only edit your post until a certain amount of time?  I wasn't able to edit above and I only posted 20 min ago...anyway.

 

Giving this further thought, I'm still better off under the new policy.  I would have only received a 75% credit under insurance if I walked away under my purchased , whereas I'm only eating the insurance premium for the cruise if I were to walk away under the new policy.  I'll stop complaining now, lol.

[fstuff1]

8 hours ago, chobo2 said:

Second if the price goes lower (which is possible as they might be desperate to fill them....so kinda unfair to people who booked months in advance) 

 

that's ncl's dirty little secret.

if the ship isnt near full by sail week, they will drop prices like a rock!

when i pay for my cruises (ie: not comped by the casino), it's always been $50/day per less.

(it's easy to search for cruises by price at your preferred port on ncl's site.)

 

booking in advance gets you the preferred cabin location you want.

ie: angled balcony on one of the megaships

 

some people are willing to pay that premium.

or dont have the flexibility to take a vacation with a week's notice.

 

i, on the other hand, will take a random room they'll assign me @ $50/day or less.

 

Edited March 8, 2020 by fstuff1

[Roger88]

They really want to keep their audience with them. Its business and nothing personal. I am glad that the competition these days is super high and you can get all those exclusive deals and offers. I also like that companies take it seriously and worry about its reputation. These people who couldn't travel this year, they will defiantly stay up with the news and all those offers to choose the most loyal company to its customers. I hope next year wont have all those complications 

[luv2kroooz]

On 3/7/2020 at 7:07 AM, tallnthensome said:

NCL is just going to raise prices on future cruises. They’ll force those with cancellation credits to pay WAY more for the same cruise they had booked. You’ll be stuck and NCL will get back all the money they had lost from all this and stab people in the back ....If you don’t use your credit, you’ll lose it.  Profits ....long term ....always the NCL plan. That’s what they will do.....

Yes, this is what I am learning. I hadn't read the fine print until today....when you cancel you are issued a FCC valid on sailing through December of 2022. The catch is that the FCC expires one year from issuance. So, if I run out and cancel my booking on Tuesday March 10, 2020 and they issue my FCC on Tuesday March 10, 2020, I now have to book my future cruise by March 10, 2021. Anyone who follows NCL pricing models knows that most of the 2022 cruises will be priced ridiculously high, forcing you to pay the higher price if you want to sail in 2022. 

 

So, for me, I think the strategy is to have the FCC issued as close as possible to my upcoming cruise that is being cancelled. See, I don't like this. I would rather use the CFAR insurance that I paid for, lose 25% of my base fare which is a known number and get refunds for port charges and beverage packages than ending up with a future gift certificate with an expiration date.

[chobo2]

9 hours ago, julig22 said:

Pretty sure the DSC increase was in the works long before the current crisis - it has increased every year for some time now.  And why (assuming that it does go to the staff, not looking for a debate on that) would you penalize the crew who are at this time probably working much harder because of all the additional work they have to do?

 

If you read the terms of the increase, you pay the old rate as long as you book before March 31 and pay before you board (at least that's the US terms, I suppose Canada could be different).  If you pay them and then cancel, they would be returned as FCC, not cash.

 

I believe the faq says 7 days on the refund - but figure that they are swamped so that might be pretty optimistic.

No guarantee that the price of the new booking would be lower - and from what I've read, there is a good chance that it could be higher.  NCL isn't oblivious to the fact that people might try to do what you are thinking.  Call for an upgrade (you might get the new perks) - they will probably be more swamped after the 10th than they are now.  Or if you want to stay where you are, you might get OBC worth 25% of the price difference - and keep your perks.

 

I am sure it was planned along time ago, but they do have the option to postpone an increase if they wanted to and you would think right now they would not want to do any sort of increase at a time when you have literal governments saying not go on cruises so making it more expensive does not seem like a smart idea.

 

What I received is this

 

• $15.50 per person per day for any category up to through a mini-suite stateroom
• $18.50 per person per day for any suite or The Haven category

Any guest that has made a booking by March 31, 2020 will have the option of prepaying their service charges at the current rate if done prior to sail date. Guests with existing cruise reservations who have already pre-paid their service charges at the current rate are not affected.

 

I will have to prepay if I want to save the money, I guess I got a few weeks to decide. 

 

 

4 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

First, the DSC increase is a regular update planned long before anyone could spell COVID-19. 
 

Second, there is no refund. It is a credit out on your latitudes account as a Future Cruise Credit (FCC). 
 

No one knows exactly how this FCC will work. IN THE PAST,,, FCC associated with cancellations were valid on one future cruise. So, if you cancelled a $1000 cruise, you had to use all $1000 on one future cruise. If the future cruise only cost $750, you would forfeit the $250 difference. Some people posted that they had confirmed this yesterday. I would not be 100% confident on how the FCC works until Tuesday. 

 

If I cancel I am going to cancel as late as possible as I really want to go on this cruise, it is hard for my wife to get vacation and this was to be our honeymoon. Also since it is not a refund in cash and just credit it makes it harder as I don't know how life will be in 1 to 2 years right now, we may not have time to go on a crusie.

 

2 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

that's ncl's dirty little secret.

if the ship isnt near full by sail week, they will drop prices like a rock!

when i pay for my cruises (ie: not comped by the casino), it's always been $50/day per less.

(it's easy to search for cruises by price at your preferred port on ncl's site.)

 

booking in advance gets you the preferred cabin location you want.

ie: angled balcony on one of the megaships

 

some people are willing to pay that premium.

or dont have the flexibility to take a vacation with a week's notice.

 

i, on the other hand, will take a random room they'll assign me @ $50/day or less.

 

 

Yeah, I did that with an Alaskan trip booked like a month in advance (though this was Holland america). I did watch prices and from what I saw when I was watching them they actually went up but I guess those ships were almost full.

 

For me I don't care about choosing my cabin and always have done a "guaranteed inside cabin"  but this time around as  I booked earlier (like 5 months before departure) it was cheaper to choose a cabin and it came with 1 free perk.

 

I  got to think what to do, I may call in and see if I can get switched to an "guaranteed inside cabin" or get some more perks or something. I rather lose my free perk and save $300 per person, but might be a long shot as my room Category type is actually more expensive then when I booked so I would really be banking if they allow me to switch room types.

 

 

[julig22]

13 minutes ago, blcruising said:

So, for me, I think the strategy is to have the FCC issued as close as possible to my upcoming cruise that is being cancelled. See, I don't like this. I would rather use the CFAR insurance that I paid for, lose 25% of my base fare which is a known number and get refunds for port charges and beverage packages than ending up with a future gift certificate with an expiration date.

I think it remains to be seen whether or not you can use the CFAR insurance if you prefer.  Your insurance is a third-party product so if you meet the terms of your policy, how can NCL say otherwise?  It would be up to the insurance, not NCL - and NCL gets to keep your cruise fare.  But of course that's a conversation to have with the insurance co, not NCL. 

[julig22]

8 minutes ago, chobo2 said:

$15.50 per person per day for any category up to through a mini-suite stateroom

• $18.50 per person per day for any suite or The Haven category

Any guest that has made a booking by March 31, 2020 will have the option of prepaying their service charges at the current rate if done prior to sail date. Guests with existing cruise reservations who have already pre-paid their service charges at the current rate are not affected.

 

I will have to prepay if I want to save the money, I guess I got a few weeks to decide.

You have until the day before you sail, so don't prepay until you are sure you are going, otherwise it will be FCC.

[chobo2]

2 minutes ago, julig22 said:

You have until the day before you sail, so don't prepay until you are sure you are going, otherwise it will be FCC.

Ah, reading it again I see, that I misunderstood, well that is better. now got till I guess April 29th (though I guess would do it April 28th, to be on the safe side...past the cancellation period anyways)

[luv2kroooz]

10 minutes ago, julig22 said:

I think it remains to be seen whether or not you can use the CFAR insurance if you prefer.  Your insurance is a third-party product so if you meet the terms of your policy, how can NCL say otherwise?  It would be up to the insurance, not NCL - and NCL gets to keep your cruise fare.  But of course that's a conversation to have with the insurance co, not NCL. 

Thanks and I wouldn't think NCL would really care...they get their cruise fare $$, I get my money back through insurance. Except they'd have to pay me back via a credit to my Visa for my beverage package and port fees. But I'd have most of my cash investment back in my pocket.

[erdoran]

So I have a question - I had understood that final payment is now 90 days out.  I have a cruise booked departing June 14, so the new final payment date is about March 14 (although we had already made final payment in February, so in our case we should be able to get a refund through March 14).  Are you saying that if I cancel/request refund before March 14, that is no longer an option?

[julig22]

1 minute ago, erdoran said:

So I have a question - I had understood that final payment is now 90 days out.  I have a cruise booked departing June 14, so the new final payment date is about March 14 (although we had already made final payment in February, so in our case we should be able to get a refund through March 14).  Are you saying that if I cancel/request refund before March 14, that is no longer an option?

The 90 day payment due date was only in effect for a couple of days, so unless you actually booked your cruise on one of those days, your final payment was still due at 120 days.  It sounds like you are in the 25% penalty phase but it appears NCL isn't allowing any cancellations until March 10 - and it is anybody's guess what will happen with people who would rather take the penalty than get the FCC.  I can't see how they can retroactively change a policy, but all my legal knowledge comes from watching Judge Judy and People's Court so I could be missing something, like fine print that says otherwise.

[HowardK]

In terms of the insurance regardless of whether it is a 3rd party or not I paid NCL for it. While I appreciate their intentions; I am sure there are others on this board that booked their SPECIFIC booking for a combination of ship/ports/time etc...

In other words, not everyone cruises every year or every other. For those individuals they should offer refunds. Having worked in marketing analytics for several years, loyalty goes a long way  in terms of lifetime value for a customer.

[SarahDO]

Glad they’re being so GENEROUS with a 48 hr cancel policy 24 hours before we board. My husband has had a residual cough for three weeks, brought a doctors note and we were still denied boarding, THIS IS OUR HONEYMOON. I’m so done with NCL. Yesterday they stated that anyone with “symptoms “ would be medically evaluated, he had his temp taken that was it, and he passed fine. But no, we fly across the country to be denied. 

[erdoran]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

The 90 day payment due date was only in effect for a couple of days, so unless you actually booked your cruise on one of those days, your final payment was still due at 120 days.  It sounds like you are in the 25% penalty phase but it appears NCL isn't allowing any cancellations until March 10 - and it is anybody's guess what will happen with people who would rather take the penalty than get the FCC.  I can't see how they can retroactively change a policy, but all my legal knowledge comes from watching Judge Judy and People's Court so I could be missing something, like fine print that says otherwise.

Actually, my cruise was booked last summer and my final payment date was mid-February (Haven), and I made final payment.  I checked with my TA Friday and her email said 

 

“Per Norwegian’s agent 

If you cancel Before 3/16/2020 full refund will apply.

You can call our office on the 15^th if you don’t want to wait until last minute and cancel with someone else.”

 

Having said that, someone on my roll call did just call to cancel and was only offered FCC and no refund.  He spoke with a supervisor who said that if he had asked for the cash refund Friday  that would have been honored, but now the FCC is in place instead.

 

My personal guess is there were so many refund requests that they were getting killed with negative cash flow and they had to do something to preserve cash.

[logocop]

Does anyone have any information on whether we can cancel, get the FCC, and then use it to rebook the cruise we just cancelled -- at the current lower rate with all the promos? I know it's a "future" cruise credit but I haven't been able to find any terms and conditions. Thanks.

[julig22]

19 minutes ago, erdoran said:

Actually, my cruise was booked last summer and my final payment date was mid-February (Haven), and I made final payment.  I checked with my TA Friday and her email said 

 

“Per Norwegian’s agent 

If you cancel Before 3/16/2020 full refund will apply.

You can call our office on the 15^th if you don’t want to wait until last minute and cancel with someone else.”

 

Having said that, someone on my roll call did just call to cancel and was only offered FCC and no refund.  He spoke with a supervisor who said that if he had asked for the cash refund Friday  that would have been honored, but now the FCC is in place instead.

 

My personal guess is there were so many refund requests that they were getting killed with negative cash flow and they had to do something to preserve cash.

New policy statement came out on 3/7, overrides any previous updates to the cancellation policy.  What your TA sent is now obsolete - was only in effect for a couple of days.

[logocop]

18 hours ago, logocop said:

Does anyone have any information on whether we can cancel, get the FCC, and then use it to rebook the cruise we just cancelled -- at the current lower rate with all the promos? I know it's a "future" cruise credit but I haven't been able to find any terms and conditions. Thanks.

 

I called NCL and the rep said that the FCC can be used for the one you cancelled. Of course, cancelling a reservation means you have to start from scratch when making a new one, and since the FAQ says it takes a week for the credit to appear, odds are you won't get the same cabin, but if that doesn't matter than it may be something to consider.

[CarolinaMamma]

We are scheduled to sail April 4 in a Haven 2-bedroom family villa with 5 people. We pre-paid DSC, upgraded the two adults to premium plus beverage package, and bought specialty dining and soda packages for the teens. It’s an expensive cruise.  We are driving to the port and have booked cancellable hotels on points, so no loss there. 
 

We have CFAR (NOT bought through NCL) which was bought before the January 21 cutoff and covers 75% of the cost, including the add-ons we paid for.  
 

Up until yesterday, we were planning to sail, but now that the State Department is advising people not to cruise, and saying “don’t expect the government to bail you out if you get stuck somewhere,” we are thinking maybe we shouldn’t go, which breaks my heart. 

 

My husband doesn’t like the idea of an FCC for a couple of reasons. He fears the prices may go up, and we don’t have a lot of flexibility in when we can travel, because we have teenagers in school. Looking at possible future bookings that would work with the school calendar, pricing for our cabin type seems quite a bit higher than what we paid. We also worry that NCL may be hit hard financially, which could result in cutting corners and a decrease in quality, or possibly even cancelled cruises or bankruptcy.  Plus, experts are saying there might be a second wave of the virus next fall and winter, like the Spanish flu in 1918-19, which makes me hesitant to book a Christmas cruise. 
 

So, if we cancel, could we choose not to take the FCC and just get 75% of our money back? 
 

Looking at the curve of the Coronavirus graph, it looks like it will be hitting the fan right about the time of our cruise. Do you think that if the CDC puts out an official ban on cruising and NCL has to cancel the cruise, that, NCL might have to offer refunds instead of FCC?  
 

I guess the best strategy right now is to wait it out and see what happens, and I should count my blessings that we have the CFAR insurance.

[erdoran]

@CarolinaMama from what I’ve read here you can (at least today) get a refund for your prepaid items:  DSC, UBP, premium plus upgrade, SDP, etc, etc.  I was told it was 25% penalty to cancel my booking (June 14 sail date) but I got full refunds for my DSC, UBP, and SDP.  If you have any doubts about taking the cruise, get those items refunded that you can get refunded - today - because from what’s been said here, tomorrow it will be FCC.  This way you have cut your losses, and will have that cash in hand,  Then if you end up sailing, add them right back on.  Not sure the deadline for doing that, but I know for at least DSC & Prem Plus you can add those at any point; I don’t know about UBP/SDP, maybe 48 hrs in advance?

[chobo2]

Bit surprised that they did raise the price from yesterday to today. Yesterday an Guaranteed inside suite  was like $800 CAD / person  now $1200 CAD /person .

 

I guess they are scared of people who booked many months ago, canceling then rebooking, though in the end don't they get the same amount of money? Since it will be a FCC which you going to have to spend anyways?

 

I did not expect the prices to drop like a rock but thought the would be lower as right now at $1200 / per person with all the governments coming out and recommending against cruise travel I don't think it is going to get many people to book.

[luv2kroooz]

3 minutes ago, chobo2 said:

 

I guess they are scared of people who booked many months ago, canceling then rebooking,

....and that is a fair concern of NCL. But the way you cure that concern is to make a policy that says sorry, your FCC must be used on a different future sailing. What you don't do is jack up the price of a product to levels that you know are unsustainable. This is not looked upon favorably. You see this all the time during natural disasters when snow shovels, toilet paper, fuel is in short supply. The fact pattern is a bit different here, but at the end of the day, they are not pricing at market levels and that is a problem.

[chobo2]

12 minutes ago, blcruising said:

....and that is a fair concern of NCL. But the way you cure that concern is to make a policy that says sorry, your FCC must be used on a different future sailing. What you don't do is jack up the price of a product to levels that you know are unsustainable. This is not looked upon favorably. You see this all the time during natural disasters when snow shovels, toilet paper, fuel is in short supply. The fact pattern is a bit different here, but at the end of the day, they are not pricing at market levels and that is a problem.

 

Yep they can do that or like I said I am not really seeing it being that abused by most people. For me if I would have cancelled and rebooked I might have saved $300 / person but I am not planning to do a cruise next year (well I guess it depends now if my cruise gets cancelled this year) so in the end I would have to spend that amount all on my next cruise so they would get the money 1 way or another.