Admin charge for ‘Lift & Shift’

[Bollinge]

We had a deposit credit which expired, but NCL kindly extended it enabling us to book an Indian Ocean cruise from Dubai to South Africa this December.

 

We were due to have two days in the Seychelles, but the government there banned all cruise ships visiting until 2020.

 

Moreover, we are due four or five days at various ports in South Africa, home of a new, more virulent Covid 19 strain, which is endemic there. We will likely be vaccinated by then, but the scientists say the vaccines are not as efficacious against this new virus.

 

We don’t want to have more sea days, and are worried about visiting South Africa, as we are both elderly, so I asked our TA to look at cancelling that cruise and booking an Atlantic islands voyage out of Lisbon in November. NCL said it was possible, but we would lose two out of four ‘Free at Sea’ perks, and have to pay £35 ($45?) admin fees each.

 

I don’t think this is fair in the current climate. What do others think?

 

Cheers, John.

[HaveWeMetYet]

Neither cruise is going to happen.

Get your money back and quit booking cruises until everything settles out.

There is no telling when cruising returns and what ships will actually sail.

 

[hallux]

1 hour ago, Bollinge said:

so I asked our TA to look at cancelling that cruise and booking an Atlantic islands voyage out of Lisbon in November. NCL said it was possible, but we would lose two out of four ‘Free at Sea’ perks, and have to pay £35 ($45?) admin fees each

When you cancel and re-book you have to accept the new promos at the time of the re-book.  If you lose perks, you lose perks.  I'm not sure what the admin fees are.  "Lift & Shift" is a Royal Caribbean concept, don't expect that rebooking a cruise on NCL will work in that manner...

Edited February 9, 2021 by hallux

[Cruise Wonderland]

Since the OP is from England, would the admin fee be a policy from NCL UK / NCL Europe? They have different terms and conditions comparing with NCL US and NCL Asia.

[Bollinge]

4 hours ago, HaveWeMetYet said:

Neither cruise is going to happen.

Get your money back and quit booking cruises until everything settles out.

There is no telling when cruising returns and what ships will actually sail.

 

MSC have been sailing round Europe for several months.

[Bollinge]

4 hours ago, hallux said:

When you cancel and re-book you have to accept the new promos at the time of the re-book.  If you lose perks, you lose perks.  

 New bookings still have all four perks.

[Snowrose]

5 hours ago, HaveWeMetYet said:

Neither cruise is going to happen.

Get your money back and quit booking cruises until everything settles out.

There is no telling when cruising returns and what ships will actually sail.

 

 Lisbon isn't the US, other countries have done a much better job of dealing with COVID and now that vaccines are available It's possible this cruise - which doesn't involve America - might make it. We won't know until we get closer.

 

If you don't want to pay the fees, ask to speak to the cruise consultant's supervisor. If you bump things up the chain they can be pretty accommodating, especially over something as small as that fee.

[SpainAlien]

6 hours ago, Bollinge said:

We had a deposit credit which expired, but NCL kindly extended it enabling us to book an Indian Ocean cruise from Dubai to South Africa this December.

 

We were due to have two days in the Seychelles, but the government there banned all cruise ships visiting until 2020.

 

Moreover, we are due four or five days at various ports in South Africa, home of a new, more virulent Covid 19 strain, which is endemic there. We will likely be vaccinated by then, but the scientists say the vaccines are not as efficacious against this new virus.

 

We don’t want to have more sea days, and are worried about visiting South Africa, as we are both elderly, so I asked our TA to look at cancelling that cruise and booking an Atlantic islands voyage out of Lisbon in November. NCL said it was possible, but we would lose two out of four ‘Free at Sea’ perks, and have to pay £35 ($45?) admin fees each.

 

I don’t think this is fair in the current climate. What do others think?

 

Cheers, John.

I have found that there is an admin fee if you move to a lower class of cabin so it might occur if the new cruise you are looking to book is cheaper than the one you currently have. Ask them if the admin fee would still apply if you upgraded your cabin so that the cruise fare exceeded the current booked cruise price.

 

 

[alysonofagun]

2 hours ago, Snowrose said:

 Lisbon isn't the US, other countries have done a much better job of dealing with COVID 

 

 

Sadly, Portuguese hospitals are in dire straits at the moment. 

[Snowrose]

5 hours ago, alysonofagun said:

 

Sadly, Portuguese hospitals are in dire straits at the moment. 

 

Portugal has a population of only 10 million people. Depending on vaccine availability, they could bounce back quickly. There's no way to tell how things will go until we get closer to that time.

 

BTW, the original poster's question was simply about paying a fee to change a booking.

[GA Dave]

3 hours ago, Snowrose said:

 

Portugal has a population of only 10 million people. Depending on vaccine availability, they could bounce back quickly. There's no way to tell how things will go until we get closer to that time.

 

BTW, the original poster's question was simply about paying a fee to change a booking.

I think the point he was trying to make was that you took a shot at the US, but they are actually way ahead of the EU in the actual number of vaccinations per capita.

 

Covid Vaccinations Per Capita

 

(US = 12.45 per 100 vs. EU = 3.85 per 100)

Edited February 9, 2021 by GA Dave

[ziggyuk]

It sounds like a very good deal to me, the rules in the UK is normally you lose the deposit upon a customer cancellation. In the US you are usually free to chop and change as you wish but not here.

 

The last cruise I rebooked due to a price drop cost me the deposit, the Cruise Next deposit should not make any difference.

[ScratchTheRat]

On 2/9/2021 at 1:39 AM, HaveWeMetYet said:

Neither cruise is going to happen.

Get your money back and quit booking cruises until everything settles out.

There is no telling when cruising returns and what ships will actually sail.

 

We have a psychic among us!

[disneykins]

We were supposed to be on the Dubai to Cape Town right now but it got pushed out to the Dec. 2021 on the Jade that you had booked. We are thinking of cancelling it too, maybe booking the Dec. 2022 one. A lot of our bucket list cruise ideas are being put on hold. Our PCC just keeps making the changes, no fees involved and we only have Cruise Next certificates as deposits, so no cash on the line.