On April 28, 2003, my wife and I stood in line for nearly 3 hours to check in for a cruise on board the Norwegian Cruise Lines ship, NORWEGIAN DREAM. The itinerary was the Scandinavian Capitals, including St. Petersburg, Russia. The ship was sailing from and returning to Dover, UK. We purchased the cruise and a two-day St. Petersburg tour package for each of us through ONLINE VACATION TRAVEL in February. The total cost of the travel company’s two-day tour in St. Petersburg was $598. We also purchased a travel insurance policy through the travel agent. The entire amount, cruise, tour and insurance was charged to our Visa credit card at the time of booking….two months prior to sailing. This credit card purchase was paid in full on the next bill received.

After standing in line for 1 ½ hours to check in, we were handed a letter from NCL informing us the itinerary had been changed and the ship would not sail to Tallinn, Helsinki, and St. Petersburg. I have been on this same itinerary before with Princess Cruise Lines and had a marvelous trip. My wife however, has never traveled to this part of the world and the main purpose of taking the trip was for her to see St. Petersburg and all its marvelous museums and architecture. As you can imagine, we, along with over 1600 others were shocked and disappointed at this news. We debated whether or not to go on the cruise.

At the check-in desk we asked if there would be any compensation from NCL for the changed itinerary, or if we could re-book the trip to a later cruise with no penalty. The woman at the desk directed us to a private area behind the check-in counters where, it turns out, unhappy passengers were being dealt with. We spoke with a representative from NCL’s main office in Miami. He had been sent to Dover to intervene, with the company knowing that the situation in Dover would be UGLY! It was. This person from NCL was obnoxious and flat out rude to us. When asked what the company would do for compensation, he replied, “absolutely nothing. The cruise line has the right to make changes in the itinerary if it deems it necessary.” When questioned if we could re-book without penalty, he stated that was not possible since we were inside of any cancellation time period allowed without being penalized. The arrogance of this individual was beyond belief and the manner in which he spoke to us was even less believable when he said, “the ship is sailing in one hour, with or without you. You decide if you want to go or not. I can’t help you any further.”

We decided that since we had taken time off from work and traveled that distance from San Diego, and because we had traveled on non-changeable tickets, what other choice did we have but check in and get on the ship. Besides, our bags had been sent to the ship at 10am that morning and we were told that there would be no possible way of locating them prior to the ship sailing. The proverbial “rock and a hard place.” We planned to deal with the problem when we returned at the end of the cruise.

The talk on board the ship for the entire cruise was about the trashy way everyone had been treated by NCL at the check-in and that NCL made no attempt to contact ANY passengers regarding the itinerary change prior to Dover. The reason NCL gave for the itinerary change was that the Gulf of Finland was iced over and the ship could not make passage to these ports. At the captain’s welcome party, he personally informed the passengers that the packed ice was nearly 5 feet thick in the Gulf and that they had monitored the situation very carefully hoping that the warming trend in the North would be favorable for our cruise. He stated that the decision to alter the itinerary was made at the very last minute, on April 27, and did not allow NCL sufficient time to inform any passengers of the change.

How long does it take a chunk of ice 5 feet thick to melt? Is it practical to believe that they really hoped that ice that thick would be passable three days after we sailed out of Dover?

Over 1,000 of the 1600+ passengers that were on board the April 28 cruise banded together to protest the treatment given us by NCL. The protest was in the form of a formal petition, which was presented to the captain during the cruise. A copy has also been sent to the President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Lines. Hundreds of people were seriously inconvenienced and financially harmed by this cruise company.

When my wife and I returned from the cruise, my first contact was to ONLINE VACATION CENTER travel company to request a refund of our pre-paid St. Petersburg exclusive tour package which they were to provide. Their answer to this request was, “we need to evaluate the situation and see how we are going to respond to over 200 expected requests.”

What’s to evaluate? I paid them for a service that I didn’t receive!

Their answer came 5 days later in the form of a letter saying that they had no intention of a refund, and since I had purchased insurance, I needed to file a claim with the travel insurance company, ACCESS AMERICA. I called the insurance company and requested two claim forms (they told me it would be necessary to file two separate claims) and that it would take 6 to 10 days to process the claims, after their receipt of them. A phone call to them on the 14th of June confirmed they had received them on June 4th and the claims were under review. After not hearing from them for another 10 days, I called ACCESS AMERICA insurance company on June 24th to get the status of our claim and was informed that it had been sent to a special person to evaluate, since it was part of a group claim.

I was never part of a group. I did not purchase anything relating to this cruise as a group.

I asked to speak with the individual making the decision regarding our claim and was put through to her. Her response to me was that the company was denying the claim on the grounds that there is no basis in the policy to make a claim. The company contends they are within their right not to honor the insurance claim because the ship sailed a full cruise with no trip interruption of at least 24 hours, and because the reason the ship did not enter the port of call where the excursion was scheduled was due to weather.

So here we are, caught in catch-22, trying to explain to veteran and novice cruisers alike, how NCL, ONLINE TRAVEL CENTER and ACCESS AMERICA treats its customers. None of the three companies wants to accept the responsibility for repayment of our tour, which was not received and was paid for in good faith.

There is a lesson here for any would-be first-time cruisers. Ask a lot of questions! Know what your rights are as a customer and passenger. Purchase from responsible companies who will stand behind their products and treat their customers with respect.

This was my sixth cruise and first time onboard a NCL ship. This is also the first ship where I have had ANY problems of any kind. Sure, small things have come up, but they were resolved on the spot, in a professional and respectful manner. This situation has become a nightmare. And I still want my $598.

Sorry this has been as long as it has, but I felt it was necessary to get this situation addressed publicly for other cruisers to be aware of and be able to comment about. Fair winds and smooth seas to all.
BAS

I was on the cruise with BAS, and over 1,000 passengers signed a petition against NCL. NCL was aware at least 4 days prior to sailing that NCL was changing over 50% of our itinerary, and they chose to put their business interests ahead of our vacation experience. NCL also advised us by letter when we boarded that they had been monitoring the situation for weeks, but they failed to notify the passengers to ensure that we had no other options. I echo BAS's statements that NCL was very arrogant and treated the passengers very badly. NCL was not apologetic in the least and daily interfered with the vacation experience for me and my husband by abruptly changing the revised schedule to pull out of ports 1-2 hours earlier than published, so it was a nightmare. To all who read this message: How would you feel if you booked a Caribbean cruise and ended up on a man made beach in Mississippi? That's NCL's idea of fair, and you should strongly consider taking your business elsewhere. Is it really worth saving $100? I don't think so.

I can imagine that you and many of your fellow passengers were terribly disappointed to miss those ports, as many probably booked that particular cruise because of the itinerary. Although I would agree that, from your accounts, it seems NCL could have handled the situation more kindly, they were within their rights to change the itinerary at the last minute. Your documents probably included information (albeit in fine print) to that effect. Cruise itineraries do occasionally change due to weather, sea conditions, or situations that might be considered a danger to passengers (for example, civil unrest or terrorism in a port, etc.) Sometimes these changes are made at the last minute, as in your case.

Actually Karen, a few more than "many." More like 1600+ people were terribly disappointed, with over 1000 of them signing the petition to NCL objecting to the way we were treated. You are correct; NCL did have the right to change the itinerary according to the terms of their ticket. I checked it VERY carefully, reading it word for word after this happened. I know that itineraries change on cruises...I have been on those cruises, and, you accept them with some disappointment. But, those things happen while you are on the cruise and come along suddenly and unexpectedly, not 2 hours before you depart. Especially if the decision to change the itinerary was placed in motion days before the passengers were informed of the change.

But, I believe you don't fully understand the problem. There is no way that the company could have been "monitoring the situation" as they stated and not known enough in advance that the ship would not be able to make passage to the cancelled ports. We contend that NCL knew enough in advance, to be able to notify passengers and/or travel agents that the itinerary was going to change. We are working on gathering credible information which will indicate that. You don't wait until the passengers show up at the ship to tell them the cruise they purchased has been significantly altered.

If they had told us, prior to leaving San Diego, or told us at the check-in that we could re-book to a later cruise, we would not have gone on the cruise. Had they done that, I suspect that they would have sailed with just the crew. But, an OFFICIAL we personally spoke with, from NCL, did not give us that option. He gave us NO OPTIONS other than "get on board, or not." Personally, I am not in a position to throw thousands of dollars away by not going and that's exactly what I would have been doing had we not gone.

If April 28th of this year (and by the way, to the best of my information the earliest they have ever scheduled this itinerary) was too early to attempt the Gulf of Finland, then anyone considering booking on NCL for this itinerary in 2004 should think very hard about which cruise they book. I don’t have the 2004 NCL brochure available as I’m writing this, but it is published and I have seen it. They have the first cruise for the Scandinavian Capitals and St. Petersburg scheduled EARLIER next year than this year!

NCL has taken a very hard line and have alienated over 1,000 people. This issue is not dead and not likely to die soon. At least not without a damn good fight!

Karen, I’m not trying to pick a fight with you, just trying to set the record straight. I appreciate and thank you for your comments.

BAS

Yes, he's right. NCL admitted in their letter to us that the situation had been monitored "for weeks." We were financial hostages. I can understand that others have had itineraries altered--we have too--due to weather, but this was not a sudden occurrence and was know to NCL well in advance (and not to us or our travel agents). Bottom line is that NCL sold a product they could not deliver. We bought fresh lettuce adn got a rotten lemon--the two products weren't even comparable. I think NCL is a disreputable company, and we won't sail with them again. We strongly advise others not to also.

We've been monitoring this problem with NCL. While I have never sailed with them (and sure I won't) due to many other problems that I've heard about, we can certainly sympathize with you. We are going on the Celebrity Constellation on July 19th to the British Isles and Norwegian Fjords. I clicked on email early last evening, and had a message from Celebrity. The shore excursion for a lake cruise in Olden, Norway has been cancelled by the tour operator. They were emailing so we might consider another tour. This port only had 4 tours to begin with, and 2 of the 4 were miles to climb a glacier. With the 4 of us well into our 60's and 70's, we've opted to stay on the ship for the day. Celebrity was very gracious, and our total money will be refunded if we can't find another tour. While we're disappointed, we are 100% pleased with Celebrity and how they handle any problem. Good luck with actions against NCL.

Sue

Bas, Thank you for the information. I will definitely not be cruising with them. I cannot believe that they did not have the descency to treat all the passengers with more respect especially when you are investing your money in their company. I hope that you get a refund on the excursion. Good Luck!

I'd be interested to learn how this all comes out. Thanks for the additional information.

The NCL Dream is one of the ships we are, or should I say we were, considering for a Jan/Feb cruise out of New Orleans. As a matter of fact, it was at the top of our list only because we have never sailed NCL. It looks like we may need to reconsider and stick with either the Carnival or RCI ships that offer seven day cruises from NO.
Happy 4th and happy cruising to all!

"Sea" you,

Keith & Rita Ann

I was one of the many passengers hijacked and taken against my will around Norway etc instead of the promised cruise to Russia.
I too have been astounded at how arrogant NCL have been, but having looked at numerous websites that have been set up, clearly this is the NCL way of doing things. It seems that their motto is 'You've got the cash, now take a dash'.
Every cruise that I have been on has had some minor change due to weather (alternative ports, or even cancellations). However, NCL contend that it is ok to advertise a cruise to Russia in the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg, and then just change it with no notice, despite knowing in advance, and just not care. If you write to complain, all you can expect (6 weeks later) is a standard letter that is not addressed, signed, dated and will bear no resemblance to your letter to them.
Oh by the way, Freestyle cruising just means standing in queues a lot of the time - average of 40 minutes for every meal.
And it's not just sour grapes - I spoke to a passenger who went on the cruise to St Petersburg only last week (i.e. not the hijacked cruise that I was on) and she said the NCL was the worst cruise line she has ever been on and would not be with them again.

<
What's to evaluate? I paid them for a service that I didn't receive! >>

BAS, I am assuming that the online agency that you booked with also sold you the insurance policy with Access America? Also, I notice that you are located in San Diego.

Every travel agent that sells travel to a California resident is required to register with the State of California Attorney General's Office and receive a "California Seller of Travel" registration number. You probably have seen the CST # xxxxxx in various advertisements. I do not know which online agency you purchased the trip from, but I would think that you might want to check to see if they are registered in the State of California. If they are not, I would consider a letter of demand for a full refund citing that they have not complied with the laws of California and that they had no legal standing to sell travel within the state.

If they do not respond, then you have a wonderful small claims action that you could bring against the agency in question and you would probably prevail.

Bas, and everyone else reading this message, please use the services of an established cruise professional. It is situations like this where a cruise professional would go to bat for you to resolve the issue rather than exasperate it.

Tom

Have you checked with your credit card agency.

They may be able to help you with the tour package money if nothing else. I would certainly challenge that charge under the grounds that I never received what I paid for.

I'd also try challenging the insurance charge as well since it's obvious they didn't deliver a service either.

One last observation for what it's worth, if the ports are more important than the cruise experience, it might be safer next time to plan a land vacation where you are in charge of where you go next.

Dan

Dan,

I know it's difficult to understand if you haven't travelled to this area, but there's a reason why even the Europeans choose to cruise to St. Petersburg by boat vs. a land tour. A land tour is much more expensive and much more difficult to arrange and book. A Russian visa is required, and due to the fact that the Russian language is not familiar to most Americans and their alphabet is even different, the language barrier is much more difficult to overcome than in other European countries. Also, there are safety issues and cultural issues. We had many passengers from Europe on our cruise, and they all travel extensively in Europe, and they all found it much easier to see St. Petes by cruise ship. So although I'm sure your comment was well-intentioned, it was not practical or applicable in this case.

Donna

TO TOM:
thanks for looking in and commenting on this mess. It is appreciated. The answer to your question about whether or not the Travel company also sold us the insurance, is YES. You mentioned some things about them needing to be registered in the state of California to have made this transaction legal. They advertise they are, with a Calif. Seller of Travel # CST-2064227-40. They also advertise as being registered in the states of Washington and Florida.

You also recommended that anyone reading your post to only deal with an "established cruise professional." In this case, I thought I was. Here are two quotes directly from their website, which you can check out for yourself.

"Online Vacation Center is your best source of quality cruise vacations at greatly reduced prices. We are one of the country's largest cruise retailers and have been in business for over 30 years." "In addition to our fantastic cruise deals, our clients enjoy the completely free services of our Personal Vacation Managers, dedicated experts who pride themselves on providing impeccable service, quality travel arrangements, and the best cruise prices in the industry."

They handled everything in a professional manner up to the point of being responsible for refunding the money they owe us, for the shore excursion they were to provide and didn't.

So Tom, in your opinion, what could a local San Diego, or Omaha, or Tulsa travel agent have done to help us out in this situation, as opposed to the company we used to book this trip?

My wife and I are seasoned travelers and have used the services of local as well as on-line travel agents. Whether it was a personal contact or on the internet, we have found good as well as not so good agents. By being cautious and purchasing travel insurance (which this is the first time ever, by the way), I really didn't expect to find ourselves in this situation. One where all the companies are pointing fingers at one another to accept the responsibility.

TO DAN:
I have contacted my credit card company and filed a dispute over ALL CHARGES relating to this trip. I have asked VISA to do a charge-back to each of the companies involved; NCL, ONLINE VACATION CENTER and ACCESS AMERICA. Not one of the companies fullfilled their obligation of providing us the complete services or products purchased.

We may have a problem with our dispute to the card company inasmuch as we didn't file it in the 90 days required from the date of purchase. You see, we booked and paid for this cruise months before the departure day when all this trouble started. I explained that to VISA when they asked why the delay. We have not heard back from them regarding what they can do for us.

As for "planning a land vacation next time so I can be in charge". Have you ever been on a cruise? Have you ever been to St. Petersburg? I have been there and the only way I would go about visiting this wonderful city is as a port of call on a cruise.

Donna was very accurate in her reply to you describing the problems involved with visiting just this one city, if not traveling by cruise ship. In my opinion it is just too much hassle to do it any other way.

I do take extensive land vacations abroad and enjoy them immensly. I also enjoy cruising. It isn't only about "the cruise experience". Many times it's ONLY about the ports on a particular cruise. Such was the case this time with St. Petes.

NEWEST INFO FOR THOSE INTERESTED:
On 7/3/03 received letter from ACCESS AMERICA insurance company. It states:

"We have reviewed the details of your claim. Unfortunately, we will not be able to honor your claim because there was not a complete cessation of services by the tour operator and/or cruise line."

It goes on to say, "the general provisions related to insurance benefits of your program indicates that any dispute regarding this decision be submitted to arbitration in accordance with the rules then applying of the AMERICAN ARBITRATION ASSOCIATION".

This "we won't pay you" insurance company, also included a 7 page booklet on how and where to file for arbitration....including the filing fees. The fees will only be $375 EACH CLAIM! So, for us to file two claims for the refund of our two, pre-paid shore excursions which cost a total of $598.00, we are being asked to pay an additional $750.00! Does anyone else see a problem with this picture?

Why did we purchase trip insurance in the first place? If a trip is interrupted and services aren't provided, why doesn't insurance cover that?

Our next step is to file complaints with the State Attorney General of the State of Florida. This is where NCL and OnLine Vacation Center are both headquartered. Letters to both these companies have gotten us nowhere.

I have now spent more than $598 of my time on this situation and I don't plan to give up before getting a full refund. It has really become the "principle of the thing". I can't accept these big companies thinking they can get away with stuff like this and not be morally and financially responsible to their customers.

I'll keep you updated to any changes in the situation. If anyone else out there following this "saga" has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

Thanks for your posts and comments. Cruise On!
BAS

Hi,

isn't Online Vacation Center the company which also operates the infamous "Renaissance Cruises is back from Vacation" web site at http://www.renaissancecruises.cc ?

Best regards,

Raoul Fiebig
Das Ruderhaus

<>

Great question. First of all, while San Diego is a large city, all of us still think about it as a small town. A San Diego cruise professional (and I am going to simply name one, so as to be specific) would have the ability to intervene in a way that would expedite the solution to the issue. First, I am sure you are familiar with Anderson Travel in San Diego. It is a huge leisure agency and the principles know the folks at NCL personally. They have the ability to pick up the telephone, call whomever they want and resolve the crisis on the spot.

Why? Because they do a huge volume with just about all cruise lines and their reputation is on the block with every client that sails. I have seen them (and many other cruise professionals) go into their own packets to settle a claim simply to keep the goodwill of the client. This is not uncommon for a reputable travel agent.

Please understand that I am not pushing Anderson Travel, we have several excellent agencies in San Diego. I am just using them as a viable example of the benefits of using a local cruise professional since you are located in San Diego and have probably seen their advertising.

Secondly, While on-line agencies always tout "LOW PRICE" it isn't necessarily so. I guarantee you that Anderson Travel has lower prices than you will find on any on-line agency. Why? Because they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising (have you seen the 4-color double trucks in the San Diego Union every Sunday?) They are creating demand, not intercepting it. The cruise lines are not going to enable someone that is not adding value to the development of the cruise market. Think about it.

Lastly, While the agency you purchased from may be registered with the State of California, if they are not located within California they cannot participate in the State of California Restitution Fund. Anderson Travel (and all other travel agencies located in California must belong to this fund) The fund works this way.

In your situation, if you had purchased from a local cruise professional, you could simply file a claim with the Fund and the state of California would refund your money. The State then would pursue settlement with the registered CST member. The Restitution Fund is maintained by all registered Sellers of Travel within the State of California and does not cost taxpayers one cent. It is consumer protection at its best?

At any rate, I hope I have made my point.

As to what you can do now. Since the on-line agency is registered within the State of California, I would immediately serve them with a letter of demand for a full and complete refund for the optional tours that were missed, as well as the cost of the Access America policy. I doubt they will pay, so I would then file a complaint with the CA Attorney General's office and copy the agency and at the same time file a small claims action and have them served.

Here is a link for more information about the Sellers of Travel law in the State of California.

http://caag.state.ca.us/travel/

Sorry this is happening to you. Life seems to short to have to deal with this kind of nonsense. Best of luck resolving this issue and let me know if I can help.

Tom

Regarding Raoul's comment on this travel agency, the On-Line Vacation Center was previously associated with American Express, and that is a reputable company. (I booked through a local agency in another state, and we don't have a restitution fund for our state, but I appreciate that information.) I wonder what prompted the business decision to end that association between the two companies and who made the decision.

Norwegian Cruise Lines has been non-responsive to our many complaints,assuring us (passengers) that we have no recourse to their decision. The following is being sent to various travel editors and newspapers in the hope of shedding light in the darkness. A short article appeared June 8, 2003 in the Washington Post entitled "Mutiny on the Norwegian.." (and picked up by the Birmingham Newspaper).

LETTER TO TRAVEL EDITOR

You thought you were sailing where ?!

Do you know that a cruise ship line could decide on a change of destination well in advance of the sailing date, and not only not notify the passengers until boarding, but refuse to refund any portion of the fare, or allow rebooking?

When you book through a travel agent or a cruise line they hold themselves out to be experts in the field of providing travel services. One of the performance requirements is called "the duty to warn". The law requires they warn service recipients of their inability to perform a service as soon as this inability becomes known.

Recently, Norwegian Cruise Lines "Dream" embarked 1700 passengers for St. Petersburg, Russia, on St. Petersburg's 300th Anniversary year,
only to announce that due to pre-existing ice conditions, and insurance considerations, they will not be sailing to the major ports of call, and as recompense, would be cruising the Fjords of, where else, Norway. In this case, NCL did not even inform their travel agents. Many NCL passengers had to "jump ship" en route.

Some cruise lines make an effort to be more accommodating.

When Princess Cruise Lines cancelled a Mediterranean port-of-call, they contacted every passenger 5 days before sailing, and offered a full refund, a cabin upgrade, or a cruise at a later date.

Carnival Cruise Lines, in the event of a pre-planned change of
itinerary, has a policy of prior notification of any changes, and the passengers have 24 hours after receipt of the notification to decide whether or not they want to sail the itinerary, and there are no penalties. ….

Radisson Cruise Lines will notify passengers of change in itinerary,
and in the past, when unable to get into a scheduled port, offered alternative transportation to passengers.

Crystal Cruises will advise your travel agent of itinerary changes, and generally these will be known prior to any penalty periods, especially if they impact any of the major ports of call. There may be slight changes in itinerary closer to sailing as well (which will most often be arrival/departure times in ports rather than full port changes). While they do reserve the right to alter an itinerary at any time, in the past when changes have been significant, they have offered options. Smaller changes are at the company's discretion, but will seldom impact the overall itinerary.

If your cruise destination is as important as the food, you would be well advised to check with your travel agent or directly with the cruise line to be aware of their track record before booking your next cruise.