Norwegian Cruise Line
reviews and complaints

We booked an Eastern Mediterranean cruise with NCL on the Getaway for our family of 5 (in 2 staterooms) in February, 2023 which included airfare. On Monday, April 17, I called NCL to get our flight adjusted so we could leave a day early. I was told when we booked in February this was not an issue and could be done at any time. Imagine my surprise when we received an email that evening that one of our two stateroom reservations was cancelled. After being on the phone with NCL's customer service for 1 hour and 34 minutes, we finally had the issue resolved (but couldn't leave the day early as hoped). In that process, the agent asked if one of our children did not need an airline reservation. As he researched further, he saw that NCL had somehow cancelled my daughter's airline reservation, although we had no information as to how or why this happened. He told us that he would send it to their Air Dept the next morning and it should be resolved in several days because it was NCL's fault. One week later, I called back as I had not heard anything and he told me that it would be resolved by the time we got our confirmed flight information. Today we received the email with only 4 flights confirmed. I spent over 40 minutes on the phone with NCL this morning as well as multiple times this afternoon (always with a hold time of at least 20++ minutes) and I have been told that they will resolve this as soon as 3 days from now (but not sooner) up to 10 days before our cruise! And there is no guarantee that this "resolution" will involve getting my minor child on the same flight or any flight at all! The Resolution Department keeps telling me there is no one they can escalate this issue to, that they can't call the people who make airline reservations and that they can only email them. They have had a month to work on this and now we are stuck. We have already paid for the cruise and the airfare but I don't know if we can even all go.

This companies lack of customer service is astounding. I’m just shocked! I had included NCLs flight reservation with my cruise. I asked for a flight deviation before final payment was due (to get into the port 2 days before sailing) and thought it was on my itinerary. Long story short it was not (I accept it is my fault as it was a misunderstanding between myself and the rep). I received my flight info today. Noticed my flight arrives the port less than 2 hours before I am due on the boat. That is a problem so decided to call and ask for help in getting this modified.

Their answer was no, no changes. I offered to pay a flight change fee. No, no changes under any circumstances. (Though I know the airline allows changes for a fee even on their cheapest flights; and also know that flights CAN be changed for free within 24 hours of the booking - I was calling within 5 hours of their email with the flight info). I asked that they release the flights to the airline so I can make changes directly with them. Their answer was No.

I asked for a refund so I could book my own flights then as I’m uncomfortable with getting into the port site less than 2 hours before I’m supposed to be on the boat. Their answer; you will lose $1100 of your $1450 as you missed the cancellation window. I had received my flights approximately 5 hours before my phone call to them. Flight cancellation fees start before flights are booked.

Summary:
Flights are only known AFTER penalty timelines begin. Their penalties are loss of 70%+ of your money! They refuse to make any changes (even for a fee). They also refuse to release the reservation so you can change the flights directly with the airline (for a fee). I asked what happens if I miss the boat due to flight delays. I was told they hold no responsibility. I’ll have to figure out how to get to the next port myself. Escalating to Customer Service gets you an extremely rude, arrogant and incredibly disrespectful rep (mine was Starling).

I am still flabbergasted at the lack of respect and nastiness of Starling. I’m reading other complaints I see this is a pattern with NCL. I’ve spent +10k on this cruise, have 4 additional cruises booked and am a stockholder. None of it matters.

We purchased our Greek Isles cruise and reserved a Hawaiian Cruise for March of 2024. We were advised by the NCL travel agent to purchase the platinum insurance package, which cost $644, so we could cancel our trip for any reason. We also purchased the flights through NCL as well. When we received out flight details we contacted NCL because the layover at JFK was very short. Despite there being earlier flights into JFK from our home city, they refused to change the flight unless we paid additional money. We boarded our Delta airlines flight to JFK. The flight was first delayed because the plane needed more fuel, then for weather, then they re-routed the plane, then changed the arrival gate and then the pilot refused to move to the gate twice due to passengers standing. We missed the connecting flight. We contacted NCL and the person answering the phone barely spoke English and told me that it was not their problem and I should try to get a flight to the first port, at my expense, and then make an insurance claim to recoup the money spent. We tried to get Delta to book us a flight but there were no flights that would get us to Athens in time for the cruise.

If this happened to just us that would be bad enough. However we met 10 separate travelers with the same issue. When we tried to make a claim against the insurance we were denied because cancel for any reason is not what we were told we purchased. The Aon insurance platinum package for NCL is not the same as their platinum package for basically anyone not with NCL. We were funneled to purchase this coverage under false pretenses by NCL. This is a HUGE scam fully facilitated by NCL!

Upon booking my flight with Norwegian cruise Director. My mother was added to my reservation at a later date I was not told that my 78-year-old mother would not be able to fly along with us. Furthermore, my mother was not even added to my reservation. as a result, she is being forced to fly along to Europe from Atlanta after providing a doctors note saying that my mother was unable to fly alone due to her disability and multiple health conditions there was still no commitment to change the flight by Norwegian. I am left having the responsibility of pay $2800 for my mother to fly along with her family. If I knew this was even a possibility I would’ve made reservations for hard to breathe be in the room with us and have guarantee flight along with her family.

Cruise Reservation # [protected]

SHIP: NORWEGIAN BREAKAWAY SAILING:

3-Sep-2023 to 13-Sep-2023

ITINERARY: 10-DAY GREEK ISLES ROUND-TRIP ROME: SANTORINI, MYKONOS & FLORENCE

EMBARKATION: CIVITAVECCHIA ROME

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this letter to bring attention towards your pricing policy. We are two couples that booked this cruise back in October 2022. We booked early believing we would be getting the best price. After making the final payment as per NCL’s request before May 6, 2023, I received your brochure in the mail with the exact cruise we will be taking at a considerable discount. After calling one of your agents, I was told that since the final payment had been made we would not qualify for any discount. They gave me two options as compensation, one was to get some upgrades and the other was to accept a credit towards a future cruise determined by another department. We chose the latter and are still waiting for the amount.

This whole situation has left a sour taste in my mouth. By my estimation, we overpaid by $5,739.48. This cruise was a celebration gift for my wife after undergoing a traumatic accident five years ago. It would also be our first vacation in over five years.

We will certainly cruise in the future but NCL will certainly not be one of our choices if an acceptable resolution is not found.

We have booked a cruise with NCL Epic starting from 28th august 2023 from Trieste. The offer was advertised with 50% discount. After we booked a cruise and payed deposit, on NCL pages came a new offer with 30% of discount on this cruise. Out of curiosity we looked up the new offer and discovered that the full amount without discount is now advertised much lower than the one we can find in our offer so it turned out that the same cruise with all the same conditions is cheaper with 30% discount then 50% discount.

After contacting our cruise assistent, we received the confirmation that our cruise with same conditions is now much cheaper but if we want to have this new conditions, we have to pay changing fee.

According to EU laws, false advertisement to customers across EU and failing to remedy such misconduct and recover damages to the customers is punishable by law.

Minimum what we expect is to receive an apology for the change of the basic price without formal notice and to withdraw all possible costs connected to the equalinf our offer with the one now advertised.

We recently sailed on the NCL Prima (3/12 thru 3/19). The only really nice thing I can say about this cruise was the casino and our room. The service was terrible. Examples:

(1) We went to diner at Hudsons. While people around us were getting served, we had to wait. Then our food was luke warm. Then no one came to even fill our water glasses. It was terrible.

(2) Most times there was only one or two people manning the bars. It took my husband almost 45 minutes to get served.

(3) It also took a while for the waiters to come around for drink orders. We were told that because the ship is smaller, staff was only at half.

(4) It was the same food constantly. One waitress said "oh well, this is the way it is". I've never had anyone be so rude as some of the staff. Granted it was only a few.

(5) We got to Grand Cayman, then the ship started to pull away. The Captain never told us why we were leaving until 9 a.m. I understand the water being choppy and not wanting anyone to get hurt, but let us know prior to pulling out of port please.

(6) You had only 2 spots to smoke in. The casino and deck 17. The back of the boat was sealed off for staff so you couldn't even see the back of the ship.

My husband said that on all the ships we've sailed on, including Carnival (which he will never step foot on again), this was the worst. We are supposed to go with our daughter and a big group to Bermuda on the Joy in May of 2024. My husband is not sure because we spent so much money on the last cruise. Our daughter said that the joy is so much better. We are booked but my husband is thinking about cancelling. This is supposed to be a vacation. Stress free and enjoyable. This was not the case. This was our first vacation in 5 years. We so needed it.

Thank you for your help,

May 2 I called to ask questions about my room. The customer service agent Alicia was very condescending, would not let me speak to a manager. I called back same day waited for 48 min to talk to a manager Sara and she was of no help. The aggravation and distress prior to even getting on the boat is ridiculous! To say my experience with NCL is BAD is an understatement. I don't even want to step on this boat! HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!

We are a group of 3 couples booked a cruise with airfare from Atlanta to New York and onto Norwegian Cruise lines. We had requested two day stay at Reykjavik and then fly back to Atlanta.

The cruise lines has separated us from our group flying from Atlanta to New York on May 14th. Then it gets even worse as our return tickets are not right.

All of us had requested to stay back in Reykjavik for two more days after disembarking the cruise. Regardless of our request we were all booked on the same day to come back to Atlanta on the 25th. My husband caught the error and called the cruise line. They admitted and rectified their mistakes only for two other couples. We had contacted Norwegian several times and so did our travel agent. We get the same response saying that our issue has been escalated by customer service. The sailing date is two weeks away. All the hotels and excursion bookings are getting filled up in Reykjavik. We are extremely anxious. There is no way to reach somebody in airline booking division. This is our one time chance in life and has turned out to be anxiety laden experience.

I had booked a cruise for June 0f 2023 and less than 45 days prior to departure the airlines they choose were keeping us in flight for 2 days and when i tried to change this terrible flight pattern i was only told penalties would be applied. the flight was so ridicules that we had to cancel and no one at NCL cared at all. We lost a lot of money so be careful with your insurance because even though you are not sick to get your money back is limited we lost most of the cost of the cruise but to start out a cruise with a terrible flight that would be more stressful than the entire trip made no sense. The fact that no one in upper management cared what so ever about our experience says a lot about the experience you could have in future cruises. The fact that I have been on over 20 crusies and have had to cancel says alot about how much NCL does not care about their passengers and only cares about money.

On Feb 6 I was supposed to go on a cruise on Norweigan Sky. Roomate cancelled on January 27th and they inadvertently cancelled me. I wanted to go. On that same day I called 3 hours after this happened and they couldn't/wouldn't help me. I filed insurance claim as requested and was turned down as not a valid reason. I have gone to the next level and have been informed I might get 50 percent of 75 percent of money in credits. I am out 1800 and feel as if I am being punished for something I didn't do. I AM AT WITS END AS OF WHAT TO DO AT THIS POINT. I AM SICK FROM THIS AND NORWEIGAN IS VERY NASTY. i DON'T HAVE ANY RECOURSE OR ANYONE TO GO TO. I WOULD LOVE TO CALL SOMEONE FOR HELP. NO PHONES OR EMAILS LEFT.

I AM A SENIOR ON A LIMITED INCOME. ALL I WANTED IS MY CRUISE BACK

This ship is old and needs to be refurbished. Upon our initial boarding of this ship, we were routed thru the Casino on deck 7, which reeked of cigarette smoke, and we had just boarded the ship. The entire ship smelled of the Casino. Our room was 14106 in the front of the ship, and you could still smell it. From day 1 I was struggling to breathe. We set sail and the 1st night we attempted to go to the shopping area and could not stay due to the overwhelming smell from the Casino. When we approached the main area just off the Casino the smoke was so bad it was like a cloud and this went on the whole time we were on the cruise. When speaking to the Manager in the Watch area, I stated that the smell was bad and he stated that it was worse than normal for their cruise. It felt like the ventilation was not working or the filters were not being maintained to keep the ventilation working. I want a refund for this cruise as I was not able to enjoy the cruise due to getting sick the 1st day with allergies, our friends wife has Asthma and she could not go anywhere near the Casino area. We visited the restaurant's farthest from the Casino just to eat. By Far the worst experience ever. Also while trying to eat the ship was shuddering and knocking it was difficult to eat due to the engine being so bouncy, I have a video during breakfast, the ship was shuddering so bad the table was rocking and the sea was smooth not choppy. This was during the whole cruise.

Reservation [protected]

I was never asked when directly purchased my cruise for my middle name and I was told when complained Im sorry but they are not required to ask. I was afraid that I would not be able to board my plane or cruise so out of fear I paid the 300.00 for me and my husband. Is there any way to compensate me for this please give onboard credit to my reservation. Thank you.

It makes me very very sad and I will never book another cruise with NCL.

We are first time Norwegian customers, and I must say the service so far sucks! We have been given wrong and poor information about every excursion we have tried to include. 1st the train from the airport to the ship terminal. Called in Nov, Dec, Feb told can't book yet need to do 120 days prior. Called in April (traveling in Sept) and was told it was all sold out. Can't use our $50 credit and have to pay full fare for a different train leaving at 6:45 AM. Just what we want to do on vacation, get up at 5am like we are going to work. Now same thing with the Mendel Glacier and whale quest. No one has been able to give us the right information about days and months to book these tours and we are getting screwed at every turn! These should be able to be booked at the time the cruise is paid for and through a travel agent or by the traveler. I was married to an agent at one time and have traveled all over the world and have never had these problems being misinformed. You need to get ALL of your sellers, dealers and info staff on the same page via email or co letter. This may be a first and last for us as we are reaching retirement and don't need this stress in our lives and 50 years of it. Four years ago, we did a Carnival cruise, and it was near perfect although it was half kids BUT stress free.

RESERVATION # [protected] LATITUDES # [protected] . I purchased travel protection .On 19 Nov 22 I became sick and reported to the medical staff and they tested and treated me . The charge was $1984.36 . On returning home I filed a claim to Aon insurance and I am still waiting for my claim. I checked with them today and they have sent it up to a higher department for review . They said to give them more time to process . I have been waiting for 5 months now . I purchased the insurance thru NCL so I am asking for your HELP to resolve this problem . I am at the point of filing to the Better Business Bureau and the Florida Attorney General . You can contact me GARY RAMSEUR [protected]@yahoo.com [protected] Travel Ins .Ref # 3279969 THANK YOU .

We booked a cruise on the NCL EPIC leaving NEW York and sailing to Barcelona Spain departure date April 22 2023. The cruise was fully paid on February 18,2023. During the booking which was done by phone, I requested the Essentials Travel Protection plan for myself and my wife. I was told I had to wait until April 1 2023, and include this option when I completed the Online Check-in procedure forms. So, April 1 2023, I completed the Online Check-in forms and discovered there was no option to add the Essentials Travel Protection plan to our itinerary. So, I phoned NCL, and reported the problem.

I was told the Essentials Travel Protection was not available to Canadians. Apparently, this new policy had come into effect on February 16 2023. I had booked the cruise and paid the full amount on February 18 2023. At that time nobody from NCL had informed me of the policy change. My wife and I have cruised with NCL numerous times, and we are both Latitudes Platinum members.We always used the travel protection plan as it was cheaper that getting private insurance. Is there anything NCL can do to add this to our trip.

Alan Humphreys

I booked the Hawaii cruise on May 13 which included the airline reservations.

I tried to cancel a few days after I made the reservation. I was told that there would be a $500 or so cancellation cost. I could not believe it. The reservations were not even made. I made my reservation in March for a May 12 cruise.

When I recieved my reservations, the flight to Hawaii was ok, but the return flight was horrible. I was told that reservations would be made as close to my cruise

time and departure time from the ship. I would depart from the ship about 9 am.

They scheduled my return flight at 11:20 pm. I would have to wait at the airport about 14 hours. I called the airliine reservations and she was so RUDE!

I explained the situation and she said I should have read the contract and there was no way I could change my reservation. I asked to speak to a supervisor and she said that the supervisor would tell me the same thing.

When I booked the cruise in March there were no solo rooms and I had to pay almost double for the next room up which was almost double since I had to pay for 2 people. I requested an upgrade online and was told that I should have to pay for 2 people if there was an upgrade. My friends got an upgrade for $300 for both.

I've never been on a cruise before and if I go again, it will not be with Norweigian or any other travel.

Went on cruise out of Manhattan.am going into 3rd week with some disease my neice,her husband and my husband contacted on board.stt and food outstanding but no one had gloves on at buffet,allowed people to use their hands to get food.not enough chairs at pool.over crowded.tables wiped with dirty rags,bathrooms filthy,no toilet seat civers,used sanitary napkins on floor,feces covered toulets.this was our 3 or 4th time on Norweigan out of over 30 cru8srs.we picked up some virus from ship.i lost 8 pounds,sleep 12,15 hours a day.so weak and exhausted.have lung infection,flue and Covid.had all Covid boosters.cough,achiness,complete and total unrest.as they say you get what you pay for.cruise line had disregard for Covid or any other diseasr and did absolutely nothing to prevent Covid coming on board.complete disregard for safety and well being of passengers

I booked the return flight at the end of my cruise from Seattle to Cincinnati thru NCL on Alaska Air FL# 508, a direct flight. I booked the flight to Seattle myself on a direct flight from Cincinnati, a 3-hour drive for me, but due to my wife's and my limited mobility and age, I feel the direct flight is the safest option. Today I opened my E-ticket from Norwegian only to discover the NCl changed this flight to one that leaves late at night and stopped off in Dallas, arriving the NEXT day in Cincinnati for no logical reason other than to make inconvenience the travelers. Economy seats are still available on flight #508 and in first class, which is what I prefer, and I would gladly pay the difference or cancel my reservation with a refund, and I'll make my own reservations.

I was told that NCL was a first-class cruise line. I disagree with that assessment! I have traveled on other cruise lines with no issues. I have been to 46 different countries, and this was our first cruise with NCL and will be our LAST!

Dear Sir

I made a booking for a cruise from Seattle to Alaska on Dec. 30th 2022 and gave a deposit of $250.00. I booked it through Mr. Kerby Augustin. Phone # [protected]. I was given option to cancel the booking before March 18, 2023. Booking # [protected].

Due to Mother's Sickness, I canceled the booking on March 7, 2023 and asked for the refund. He refused to give the refund. He said he can only give credit for future cruise, because he applied a coupon. I do not need any coupon, I need my money refunded. I know a company like yours will not keep any customer's money, when trip is canceled before the due date. I know you want the customers happy. I have taken cruise with Norwegian in the past.

I am seeking your help to get my deposit refunded.

Looking forward for a favorable reply.

Thanks,

Jacob Oommen, 133 Old Vineyard Lane, Heath, Texas. 75032,

Tel. # [protected]