PHOENIX (InvestigateTV) — Two Phoenix women took a cruise over Christmas and New Year’s and paid for the trip months in advance.
Once they got on board, they were told a big part of the trip hadn’t been paid for.
Faye Harris and her cousin Dawn love to travel. Going on cruises is their favorite way to see the world.
“We get to go to different places,” Faye said, “without a lot of stress to go there. We don’t have a lot of unpacking and finding a hotel and getting around.”
They decided to book something special for the holidays: A two-week trip through the Caribbean, stopping in places like Panama, Aruba, and Jamaica.
They paid for the Norwegian Cruise Lines trip in full when they booked, including a drinks package and two special restaurant meals on board.
“So we went to the Italian restaurant and we went to the steakhouse. One for Christmas, one for New Year’s,” Faye said.
But once they boarded the ship, they got an unwanted surprise.
The cruise line insisted that the ladies had canceled the drinks package and the two special meals. If they wanted them, they’d have to pay again.
It was a total of $650.
However, Faye had proof she paid.
“I could show them my receipts,” she said. “I said, look, this is paid for, this is paid for, it’s not paid for on our papers. And they weren’t terribly kind about it.”
Faye and Dawn didn’t want to spoil the trip, so they paid again, and the cruise line promised to sort it out later.
They had to use money that Faye had set aside to buy Christmas presents for her grandchildren.
“Since I was being gone, what I did was asked my grandkids to give me a wish list,” she said. “What could grandma bring you back that would be different than just going shopping? And I had a wish list from everybody, and I couldn’t do that.”
After the trip, Faye reached out to the cruise line, Norwegian, for an explanation and to get her money back.
She says the cruise line told her it considered the matter “resolved.”
That’s when she called our investigators for help.
Our investigators reached out to Norwegian. The company replied that a “system error” dropped the $650 food and drink packages from Faye’s reservation.
That money was then applied to two new charges:
$118 for trip insurance
$560 to pre-pay gratuities for the trip
So, Faye and Dawn were never really out any money like they thought.
Norwegian apologized and acknowledged that the company could have been a little clearer with the charges and where they were applied.
Faye is happy to have the situation resolved, but she’s disappointed she partially spent her grandchildren’s Christmas money on the cruise.
“So the kids got a T-shirt instead of what they asked for,” she said. “They forgive grandma. But still it was frustrating not to be able to kind of do what we thought we were going to do.”
Expert advice for cruise booking
Whether you’re a seasoned cruiser like Harris or booking for the first time, Morgan Dean with AAA says to be sure to shop around and read the reviews.
“See what you really want to do. See some of the things that are recommended at that port of call. What would you like to do while you’re there and go ahead and book those. And watching some of the prices on them around some of the holidays and some of the deal days you could actually see those drop pricewise. And get some good deals on some of those things,” Dean said.
If you have flexibility while booking the trip, that can help you save money.
“That flexibility can offer you some opportunities to even save money. If you don’t have to leave on a certain day and you don’t have to come back on a certain day and you’re not tied to definitely going to these three or four ports during a tour you might be able to find some real deals out there, where there’s some opportunities maybe at the last minute,” Dean said.
Dean says pay attention for any deals, including drink or internet packages, so you can get a lower price point.
AAA says downloading the app for the cruise line allows you to check in, review your itinerary, and in some cases make dinner reservations.
If possible, arrive to your port city the day before your cruise to take the stress out of the travel.
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Billing mistake leads to cruise confusion for two Arizona travelers
