Norwegian Prima - Port- and pilotless.

[redgy]

On September 17th,we left Southampton for a Scandinavian cruise of 2 weeks. The 2nd port of call was Belfast, cancelled however due to strong winds. These things can happen but…….when a company can not provide a prepaid service or material good, there must be a refund. That happened to us with a well known cruise company and the amount was on our account the next day! NCL refuses to pay back.This matter has nothing to do with under-or overestimated fees for ports and pilots. Being a pilot myself I know very well that these fees do not change every month. When a cruise company is setting a voyage on the market and fixing prices, they know exactly what the costs will be according to length and/or draught of the vessel. 
Most passengers on board however do not know how the system works and the company takes advantage of that.With a very careful estimation of 15 $ per person with 3000 passengers on board makes about 45000 $. It can be more or it can be less. My point is the principle that every $ paid for these fees is one too much. This way of doing business is not fair nor decent.

[DCGuy64]

You and @Bruges should get together, you've both posted about the same missed port and the refusal of NCL to refund the fees, along with the same calculation of $15 x 3000 = $45,000. FWIW I don't fault the cruise line. When we've missed ports due to bad weather, we just make the best of it and enjoy the onboard services. We've even received OBC as a thank-you.

[Bruges]

Ports  can be missed due bad weather, that is not the point. 
Some passengers got a code they have to send to NCL  when home to get a refund, others were said they are waiting for an answer from Miami, we got a letter with an answer totally beside the question, you got OBC….

Why not just refund like other companies do and treat every passenger the same way.

It isn't a matter of money, it is for the principle, but NCL just gives an answer “ à la tête du client“ as they say inFrench.

[DCGuy64]

OK

 

[julig22]

True, fees probably don't change month to month but they may change over time.  However, fees are set years in advance and for those that are not based on actual passenger count they are divided by estimated passenger count.

They cannot keep excess taxes, I don't know about pilot/port fees and how/if those are refunded by the port to the cruiseline. But they also don't charge you if they didn't collect enough. Fees are pooled, so missing a port doesn't mean that passengers overpaid in taxes.

But of course, they could adopt your assumed model and charge actual port charges individually, add any discrepancies to your final bill. Personally, I'd rather the cruiseline  absorb any additional fees.

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, Bruges said:

Why not just refund like other companies do and treat every passenger the same way.

It isn't a matter of money, it is for the principle, but NCL just gives an answer “ à la tête du client“ as they say inFrench.

Any claim that "It isn't a matter of money, it is for the principle," only proves that it is about the money.  Principle is just an excuse.

[Bruges]

I will not replay to this, not worth it

[DCGuy64]

2 hours ago, Bruges said:

Ports  can be missed due bad weather, that is not the point. 
Some passengers got a code they have to send to NCL  when home to get a refund, others were said they are waiting for an answer from Miami, we got a letter with an answer totally beside the question, you got OBC….

Why not just refund like other companies do and treat every passenger the same way.

It isn't a matter of money, it is for the principle, but NCL just gives an answer “ à la tête du client“ as they say inFrench.

I'm sure you know NCL is based in the US, so they do things differently than in Belgium. Like, basically everything else. (And as someone who loves traveling to Europe as often as possible, I love the differences. But the US is not Europe.)