Question about Cancellation with NCL

tarn4 · #1 (**permalink**) July 19th, 2014, 07:24 AM

I'm hoping that someone might be able to give me some advise on an issue we're having. Back in March we booked a cruise with NCL for August but did not pay a deposit. Two or three days later we realized we had a schedule conflict and decided we wanted the same cruise, but 10 days later. When I emailed NCL telling them we would not be able to take the initially booked cruise, I was told that in order to avoid rescheduling penalties, I should just book the desired date. I also called before sending the email to tell them we would not be able to take the original date cruise. Apparently NCL never cancelled the original date and I received and email asking me to pay over 1000 euro penalty for late cancellation (keep in mind we never even put a deposit down). After a few emails about the situation, they offered as a gesture of good faith, to lower the penalty to 10% of the cruise cost. After reading NCL's policies I'm still under the impression that I do not owe them anything. Can they do this? I don't want any bad surprises later so want to resolve this as soon as possible and would appreciate any advise. We are so excited about our upcoming cruise and this has been a real downer to have to deal with. Also keep in mind we are paid in full on another NCL cruise.

Travelbuggs · #2 (**permalink**) July 19th, 2014, 10:04 AM

The first thing that struck me as very odd is that you were somehow able to book a cruise without paying a deposit. That would never happen here in the US. And here in the US, we have a penalty free cancellation period that ends 90 days prior to the cruise date. I assume that as you mentioned euros, you live in Europe and booked through the European branch of NCL. I know the rules regarding booking and cancellation differ between the US and Europe due to the difference in the laws there that govern this in Europe.

Was there a Travel Agent involved? Even if not, one might now be helpful in explaining to you what the rules are there and where you stand. When we book here, regardless of the means of booking, we get a booking confirmation from the cruise line, and if we cancel, we get a confirmation of cancellation. These confirmations always spell out the terms of the contract, with specifics on cancellation periods and penalties. Did you not get these?

Hopefully someone here may know something about European bookings and can advise you. Is there not a means of picking up the phone and speaking to someone who can explain why you have a penalty? I would never deal with this kind of issue by a series of emails. You need to talk to someone.

tarn4 · #3 (**permalink**) July 19th, 2014, 10:09 AM

Thanks for your response. Yes, I guess the rules in Europe are possibly different. You can book a cruise and then have 7 days to pay the deposit. Their cancellation policy says that once a deposit is paid, cancellation fees apply and as we never made a deposit, I don't understand how they can ask us to pay a penalty. I just don't want to get to our cruise the following week and have them ask us to pay it there. Hopefully someone from Europe has advise and I have asked a manager from NCL to call me. I just want to be well informed before speaking with them. My feeling is they will try their best to get extra money from us without informing us of our rights.

Travelbuggs · #4 (**permalink**) July 19th, 2014, 10:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarn4

Thanks for your response. Yes, I guess the rules in Europe are possibly different. You can book a cruise and then have 7 days to pay the deposit. Their cancellation policy says that once a deposit is paid, cancellation fees apply and as we never made a deposit, I don't understand how they can ask us to pay a penalty. I just don't want to get to our cruise the following week and have them ask us to pay it there. Hopefully someone from Europe has advise and I have asked a manager from NCL to call me. I just want to be well informed before speaking with them. My feeling is they will try their best to get extra money from us without informing us of our rights.

Make sure you are talking to the EU division of NCL rather than their US counterpart. The US may not be familiar with the EU rules. If you never paid a deposit, it should be easy enough for them to confirm. They can only go by the contract ( or whether there was a contract ) which is in place between you and the company.