Coronavirus and Corporate Greed cannot be the only justification for the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) to continue ripping off customers.

Is Norwegian Cruise Line in financial trouble, or are they doing so well, that writing off some upset customers is just collateral damage for this giant company? Is NCL overstepping a Red Line law enforcement and regulators should look into?

NCL is destroying the good image the global cruise industry enjoys so far. The company represents everything “Better Business” should not be about. Strangely NCL still enjoys a very high rating A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. Strangely the BBB is relying their rating on 44 reviews. 44 reviews for a Billion Dollar company is laughable, and BBB should review the way they come to ratings. It may be in order to remind NCL customers a complaint with BBB can easily be filed. This can be done online.

eTN contacted The Miami-Dade County Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources’ Office of Consumer Protection. Bryant Acevedo [email protected] +1-786-469-2340 wants to hear from victims in the NCL scam.

It appears Coronavirus is not the only time NCL seems to be in business to embezzle money from their customers. “Norwegian can never get my business again I was double-billed for a balcony upgrade and because I didn’t discover the overcharge till 3 months later they refused a refund.”, was the complaint by eTN reader Charlene Morgan

Corporate Greed over Coronavirus may only be the beginning of the downfall of NCL.

Without edit here is some more feedback received by eTurboNews on NCL – and it speaks for itself. This feedback includes all positive messages, in case you are looking for them.

Guys in my humble opinion, individuals never had the power to fight with such a giant company. We should form a group and collect information on how much money Norwegian has not refunded at all without even providing any services in this extraordinary condition. We should forward this information to law firms, shareholders, governments through media and let them support what to do with this company. When this company treats people from each country just like their own wallet, why do these countries allow this company to continue with operation in their country. For example, clearly, Chinese people are being targeted and are not treated respectfully right now, I heard hundreds of cases of people deny on board.
The customer service from Norwegian is just like a black box, if you want to spend money with them, they pick up the phone and answer all your questions. When you ask for a refund, their refunding service doesn’t even have a phone number to reach out to, all you can do is email and wait forever. Let’s form groups, gather up info and sue this company to let people know the low credibility and money greedy of this company. Let’s get government support on this matter as well!

My parents are currently on the Norwegian Jade. After several route changes and 3 days on the sea they now sailing to Ko Samui, because all Vietnam ports were canceled. Let’s see if Thailand will let them go from aboard. In my eyes, NCL needs to cancel the following cruise, as it makes no sense to have a cruise when you’re not allowed to moor in any port.

We were denied boarding our cruise for February 6 because we did have a connecting flight at Hong Kong airport. They sent an email to us 3 hours prior to boarding. We then had to scramble to get home from Singapore.

My husband and I were booked on the 17 Feb cruise, we have had ten days of wrangling with NCL, they do not care about customer safety. Someone on this thread said that they didn’t believe the cruise lines should cancel just in case you got I’ll? Well, I’m sorry but these are extraordinary circumstances, a novel virus prolific in the area that no one has any immunity to. Other cruise lines have canceled and NCL themselves have pulled their shiny new ship the Spirit out from April due to the uncertainty of Coronavirus, so why not the Jade? Are we not as important? Greed over customer safety, companies succeed or fail on the strength of their customer services, NCL needs to think very carefully about that one. We will never touch them again. This was supposed to be a dream holiday for my 60th birthday, it’s not happening now and probably never will due to cost, we have lost all the money paid. Disgusted!

Same here… We’re due on the jade on 17th Feb this coming Monday…. Ive rang NCL several times and I found them to be cold calculating uncaring liars putting money before health n safety of the people…. Not good with information lack of knowledge…. I would not recommend this company…. Won’t be going on their cruises for sure….. Won’t give money back…. Can’t guarantee if we’ll sail to the destinations booked…. All they see are ££££$$$$$ Disgusting!

I am having the same experience with NCL also booked to Jade on Feb 17. Ridiculous that don’t cancel it. Singapore has second-highest cases of the virus after China. And that is our port ?! Chances for getting sick 30-40% and chances of quarantine 90%+.
How continuing with the cruise can be good for business I cannot fathom. I wonder what the staff is thinking the ship’s personnel I’m sure are not too happy either to become potentially locked in the infestation epicenter.
I’m not risking going with my 6year old with NCL’s “health safety measures”

I’m on the Jade on March 18. I should be dreaming of lounge chairs, not IV tubes.

Hi Jürgen,
a great and thoroughly researched article that fully reflects my experience of how they interpret “caring about customers”.
Therefore, using the expressions “customer service” and “NCL” in one sentence made me shiver and prompted me to add my experience. As a gold member at their Latitude Club, I have ample experience of how they deal with customers if anything unforeseen happens.
For instance, the couple of times I wrote to their customer service I NEVER received an answer. One issue was an obviously wrong charge and another was when a tour got canceled, we did not get informed and actually not get fully refunded up to today ….
(FYI: German-speaking tour / non-English speaking participant / realized the cancellation after migration into Russia, already sitting in the bus.)…
Again, great job!

We are due to fly out this Saturday to Singapore and pick up the norwegian jade on Monday going to Thailand, Vietnam…. They won’t cancel… Like I told them there putting money over peoples health…. They even tried to tell me that they cancelled HK as that was originally where we were to fly to and then stay over night picking cruise up in HK….. I told them they did not cancel HK for us, HK has told them you cannot come here… Well done HK…. Ncl need to get there act together…. Disgusting attitude… They should cancel jade cruise this coming weekend, and refund everyone….

Hi Caril,

I totally agree and am also in a situation where I was originally to pick up the Jade in Hong Kong on Monday 17th Feb, but of course, the cruise terminal is now closed. I thought they would just cancel the cruise but to then say they will sail from Singapore which is at the orange level now is crazy. I live in the UK and we know a key case is a businessman who attended a conference at the Hyatt in Singapore and went nowhere near China, so why is it now safe to go through Singapore? Look at what Princess Cruises are now dealing with in Japan an also another ship has said it will not stop at Singapore and miss the port and go back to Dubai. They are very much putting profit ahead of safety and will not cancel. I am also a gold latitudes member and for me, this is not about money refunds but safety and if I do not go based on my own risk assessment and loose all then that is the end of it for me with NCL.

We are in UK…. My first time with ncl…. This trip is mine n my husbands Xmas present to one another… Rather a holiday n make memories,…. Some memory this is going to be… I even told ncl about my husbands illness, which we pay extra for on our travel insurance…. My husband has bronchiectasis… Im really disappointed with ncl…. Customer service is disgusting n a joke…. Can’t understand why they have cancelled their other ship the spirit…. Why not Jade, we leave sooner than the spirit…

The passport ban is simply a ridiculous move. There are millions of people who hold a Chinese passport and haven’t been to China in the past few years. And there are millions of people who don’t hold the passport but have close relatives with people who have been back to China. The US government had already refused anyone that has traveled to China in the past 14 days from entering the US, which is already a great prescreen for this virus. The banning of passport isn’t even a solution, simply a dumb move with a misunderstanding of the government directions and really just have zero impact to prevent the infection from Coronavirus.
Royal Caribbean originally had the same policy, but they were willing to admit they misunderstood the government policy and are willing to make the change or give refund. Norwegian did Nothing to correct their wrongs, and just decide to keep with their direction so they don’t need to admit that they didn’t think everything through.
Chinese people should avoid traveling with this company now and in the future.

I actually got no sense out of the UK office for NCL so called Miami last night as also got the wonderful letter saying they would ban any Chinese, Hong Kong or Macau passport holders regardless of place or residencey. So based on the fact that I am a Rish passport holder and my wide a British it is safe for us to go but none of the above who may live in the UK. Is this not just simply racism for people with certain passports who choose to live in other countries and have never travelled through China? By the way Miami was also a waste of time as the managers of NCL are faceless.

Booking with Norwegian is the worst cruise experience I had in my entire life with traveling. I booked a cruise with them about a month ago to sail on Feb 17th, 2020. Usually, I book with Carnival, but this time I want to try something new for the first time and thought I should give Norwegian cruise a try. I booked the trip so that my family can go with another family. Later, the company starts to post varieties of policies every day. I had to cancel my parents’ room. A few days later, they post another policy say that all Chinese passport holders will be denied boarding. My wife is a Chinese passport holder with a Canadian permanent resident card and I’m a Canadian citizen. We haven’t been back to China for about two years, and now we are forced to cancel our trip for no good reason. When we reach out to their contact center, their customer service people had an extremely bad attitude and threatens us that she would disconnect the phone. I admit that we were a bit emotional. But who wouldn’t be when they tell u that they will deny you from boarding and won’t issue you a refund because of some policies they suddenly come up with no good foundation. They handle a complex situation with an oversimplified method and are not considering the people who didn’t board on their ship as their customers or passengers. Although they eat up all your money without serving you at all. They didn’t even mention about offering any future credit neither. This is a horrifying experience and I would encourage anyone I know to not book with this company and avoid it at all cost. Now they don’t even have a phone line that you can communicate with their Guest Relations and I don’t even know where my money is at or what I should do right now. I had cancelled my flights and lost 400 dollar for flight cancellation as well. I may never get my refund back, but as long as people knows what this company is like, i guess I had served for the public good. AVOID NORWEGIAN, or risk losing all money booking with them.

Here is a letter I wrote to NCL yesterday and I haven’t heard back from them yet! :
I just read the news today about NCL canceling Norwegian Spirit’s upcoming cruises from April to December to all Asian Ports because of concerns about the Coronavirus ,sighting the safety of your crew and passengers is what is considered most important. So what about the Norwegian Jade that is still in Asia. It left the Hong Kong port eleven days ago and now it is heading to Singapore. My wife and I are scheduled to be on the Jade on the 17th . Could we cancel and get our full refund; get a credit, or can you cancel the entire cruise? If there is concern about the safety on the Spirit, then why not the Jade? Why put 2500 more passengers in harms way in the epicenter of this crisis? Will the Jade end up having to deal with the same issues as the Diamond Princess? Why is NCL gambling with this situation?
I will save this communication and post it on social media showing that I raised this issue one week before this upcoming cruise. Please don’t put your loyal customers in a situation that in all likelihood may turn into another Diamond Princess? Please pass on this communication to your corporate offices and hopefully, we all can avoid a potential crisis.Thank You
Marlin Moreno A long time Norwegian Cruise Line loyal customer.

Bill Jones I have said exactly the same thing about their shiny new ship the Spirit,, it’s disgusting that they are not protecting us too. We have canceled our 17 Feb cruise as we put our health before money, NCL obviously doesn’t feel the same. We will never touch them again, we have lost all our money on this holiday.

We are experiencing the same situation. Our cruise departing from Hong Kong on 2/17 was changed to depart and return to Singapore. For the past few weeks, we have been talking to NCL for a refund or reschedule without any luck nor empathy. Contrary to NCL, airlines and hotels have agreed to give us a complete refund. Customer service is nonexistent, local NCL representatives have no power to persuade them in favor of the clients (we live in Panama). This is definitively our last NCL adventure. Our biggest fear, other than getting sick with the virus, is to get stuck for weeks in a boat or foreign country due to quarantine. What a big disappointment!

Philip Benz We have a similar situation. We booked a cruise on the Norwegian Jade starting on 17 February, through Cruisedirect. They are unable to help us get a refund for our cruise, over $3000. We were able to get our airfare canceled (through Finnair) but NCL has not been helpful. We are stuck hoping that the situation in Singapore worsens, which feels really wrong. But there is no way we are going to risk quarantine or contact with the coronavirus. Changing their itinerary from Hong Kong to Singapore just doesn’t cut it. We would be very happy to speak with someone from eTurboNews to further expand on our situation. I work and cannot risk being blocked in quarantine during or after our cruise.

This discussion has nothing to do with anything other than Norwegian Cruise Lines, their lack of customer service and poor decision making as a company. All other major cruise lines have chosen to refund or give credits on all cruises out of Asia. All major airlines have refunded nonrefundable bookings on flights in and out of Asia. All major hotel chains have refunded nonrefundable reservations in Asia. Why is it that Norwegian Cruise Lines refuses?? Like the article says, “Corporate Greed!” They aren’t interested in taking care of their customers! They are interested in their bottom line! My personal choice in the future will be to choose another company to take my vacations with and spend my hard-earned money!

My sister has this same refundable issue with NCL. During her last cruise with them, they owed her Over $400 but refused to refund or apply to the next upcoming cruise. What should she do?

We were booked on NCL Jade from Singapore on Feb 6th. The original itinerary was to arrive in Hong Kong on Feb 17th after stops in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam (3). Since Hong Kong had announced the closure of its cruise terminals w.e.f. Feb 8th I knew this itinerary had to change. By the morning of the departure, I had received nothing from NCL so I rang them to find they had changed the cruise to be a circular tour cutting out Halong Bay (for Hanoi) and returning to Singapore. By this time 2 cruise ships were in quarantine ( in Hong Kong and Yokahama) and with the abrupt change of the itinerary without notice, and our concerns re the health risks, we canceled. We have been advised by NCL that no refunds will be made. A cruise ship is a dangerous environment with an epidemic of this nature, and a company that truly was caring for its “valued guests” would have either canceled the cruise or at least given people the option to cancel with reasonable compensation.

JC, we’re in the same boat you are – literally. NCL needs to step up. It’s sad that we are watching the news hoping that the situation in Singapore worsens so that our cruise on the Jade is canceled. We’ve had good experiences on NCL in the past, but their refusal to refund booked cruises has made this our last trip with them. We won’t be going, even if we have to write off over $3000.

Hello, I’m Carlos Chelala, I was going out in Jade, but I decided not to put my life and my wife’s life at risk, a trip must be a pleasure and with this virus, one cannot enjoy that trip. I am in the same situation as several families, I hope NCL rewards us or gives us credit for another trip. I think it’s very easy to find out about this situation!

Hi, I read your article ” Greed over Coronavirus: Norwegian Cruise Line”. My parents are on board the Jade right now. After passengers were already disembarked in Thailand, more were also kicked out in Cambodia. As you can see in the attached picture, the route now consists almost entirely of sea days.
RegardsFabian

Blogger David Boothe who is sympathizing with Norwegian responded: So you got scared to cruise and wanted to cancel your cruise at the last minute too, then got mad because your own personal choice to get inadequate insurance left you assuming the risk of loss just like you knew it would when you made that choice?

Norwegian do not have to refund guests who cancel just because they are scared of getting sick. NCL has been doing plenty in regards to the virus already, and have policies in place which guest services and reservations staff have been applying. You can take your matters to court all you like, but you won’t get very far.

Here is the end of the discussion if it was to NCL:

Hi Juergen, At this moment, we have nothing further to share outside of our statement. Thank you, Public Relations | Norwegian Cruise Line P:+1.305.436.4713 [email protected] | www.ncl.com