TAMPA BAY, Fla. — Tampa Bay teacher Heather Davis loves nothing more than to spend her time off cruising with family and friends. She said she’s never had a problem until she boarded the Norwegian Escape in March.
On day two of the cruise, the ocean liner ran aground in the Dominican Republic.
Davis said they felt a hard shift, and then “the captain came on and said that there had been a sandbar incident.”
Tugboats pulled the boat into the port, but according to a NCL, the passengers had to remain on the ship for five days before they finally disembarked and flew home.
In a letter to passengers, NCL stated, “....in addition to the 100% refund or full return of your FCC, (future cruise credit) you will receive an FCC valued at 100% of the voyage fare paid for your current sailing.”
NCL made good on their offer and gave Davis a full refund and a future cruise credit. She used that credit to pay for a NCL cruise bound for Hawaii in June. But in May, Norwegian canceled the sailing.
Norwegian again offered to return 100% of the cruise cost in the original form of payment and said in a letter to make up for the disappointment, they would issue Future Cruise Credit valued at 100% of the voyage cost.
So the couple decided to use the credits they had accumulated for a cruise to Alaska.
They still find it hard to believe what happened during that trip — the ship struck an iceberg.
“Everyone's breakfast plates and coffee went flying,” Davis told ABC Action News. “You could hear the scraping along the side of the hull.”
NCL canceled the rest of the cruise.
In a letter to Davis, the company offered once again to refund 100% of the cruise credit used for the trip and issue a future credit for the full cost of the voyage to make up for the “turn of events.”
NCL said the monetary refunds and cruise credit would arrive in five to 10 business days. But one month and multiple phone calls to NCL later, the couple was still waiting for all the promised cruise credit and the $1,700 they put on a credit card for shore excursions.
Davis told ABC Action News, “I feel like I’m being treated very poorly.”
We contacted NCL via email about Davis's account. Within days the cruise line refunded the entire cost of the Alaska trip in future cruise credit and returned the $1,700 Heather had paid for shore excursions.
NCL also wrote that passengers will get additional cruise credit “for any voyage through December 31, 2023.”
