[biker1]

Your travel contract will spell out the percentage refund for cancelling at certain numbers of days before the departure date. The fact that you got back $1500 is actually pretty good. A cruise line we sail with regularly has $0 refund for a cancellation less than 2 month before the departure date. You mentioned a "deposit". How is it that you hadn't paid the final balance a month before the departure date? We travel quite often and have an annual travel insurance plan with Allianz. When we were younger we didn't bother.

Originally Posted by Barkriver

I had purchased a 7-day New England cruise through Norwegian Cruise Line, sailing on October 3, 2025. My husband and I were to join my sister, brother, and his wife.

I did not (and never have) purchase NCL's proprietary travel insurance. The concept of paying protection money to a company for a service they own has always left a bad taste in my mouth.

On August 29, I slipped in the rain and fell in a parking lot. I broke my hip and fractured my pelvis. (Thank you to all the compassionate strangers who assisted me that afternoon and saw me safely into an ambulance.) ❤️

I had surgery on August 31 to repair the break and luckily, was discharged back home on September 1. I now have in-home physical therapy twice a week and am doing better than expected. Really!

My complaint is with NCL. I contacted them as soon as I returned home to let them know I needed to cancel our reservation. I immediately learned NCL would not be refunding the $8800 deposit we paid for the cruise.

An NCL representative named Guillermo in an NCL chat room wrote to me that I could expect a $1500 refund. When I asked for a supervisor, Guillermo explained that their supervisors did not work in the chat rooms and so none were available...ever. He suggested I call another customer support number.

The woman on the other end of the customer support number was cheerfully adamant that there would be no refund beyond the $1500, and repeated twice, "that is why you should buy the insurance." She was so chipper delivering this admonishment, she sounded like Effie, in The Hunger Games, "May the odds be always in your favor."

I'm going to make a long story short(er). NCL fully intends to keep my paid deposit of $8,800 despite my having provided complete medical documentation. You would think there would be some spirit of goodwill - NCL is aware that my husband is a veteran with Alzheimer's because I completed NCL'S disability form. My husband and I are NCL Gold Latitude members, (which is NCL code for "these folks spent A LOT of vacation money with us.")

My beef is that it is unethical to coerce passengers to either buy NCL travel insurance, or face financial hardship upon cancellation for legitimate, unavoidable, (particularly medical) circumstances. Talk about a conflict of interest.

Now, I have no illusions regarding the readership of TOTV. I know that many of you believe that my husband and I got what we deserved - after all, isn't that what insurance is for? Shame on us. Definitely our bad. And I would agree with you if our cancellation had been for a frivolous or inconsequential reason. But it wasn't. We fully intended to sail. Time is short and this was a wonderfully anticipated adventure with family.

Just consider this a cautionary tale.