Norwegian Cruise Line
Reviews and Complaints

Trying to receive confirmation of air upgrade after credit card correction. 5 emails sent to air upgrade.

One including credit card snap shot of payment and just asking for confirmation. Daughter received their tickets within 48 hrs. NCL says again today to just wait 3 days.again. Last email I sent was 7/24/25.

I have all correspondence. NO ONE at NCL will help, NO ONE at air dept can help. 8 hrs of calling for 2 wks refers me to just email air upgrades and wait.

Since Im paying for 3 cabins (6 people) Im not very happy with lack of being able to talk to a person at air upgrades. Oh yes, Im told the person that took my upgrade payment doesn't exist even tho my credit card shows the time/date my upgrade charges were made and additional prepaymentsby this person.

On August 22, 2024, we booked an NCL cruise, 12-Day Transatlantic From London To Miami: Spain & Portugal, beginning on December 03, 2024 on the Norwegian Encore. Yesterday, October 31, we received a letter that there will be renovations on the Encore and that part of the ships amenities would be unavailable.
We were not happy about being on the Encore while parts of the ship were blocked off and construction was going on.


We were concerned about the lack of facilities, leading to overcrowding.

Here is an excerpt from the letter of October 31, 2024.
To complete these enhancements, Teppanyaki will be closed from December 3, 2024, through December 8, 2024. Additionally, the Laser Tag arena will no longer be available as of December 3, 2024 as it will be replaced by the all-new, complimentary Spice H2O for guests 18 and up. However, this new venue will not be ready during your sailing as we will be finalizing the updates. These new enhancements will beautifully complement the ship's existing family-friendly offerings, such as the 1,100-foot-long Norwegian Encore Speedway, the Aqua Park with two multi-story waterslides, and the Galaxy Pavilion, NCL's immersive virtual reality complex.
NCL offered no compensation at all for blocking off parts of the ship.

Here is an excerpt from the letter of October 31, 2024.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and want to assure you that our dedicated team is committed to ensuring you have an unforgettable vacation experience.
As always, we are at your service.
We were also concerned about the increased risk of an onboard fire caused by the use of construction equipment, possibly such as welding equipment.
Today, November 1, 2024, I called NCL customer care and spoke to an agent and to a supervisor. They told me that if I cancelled that I would be penalized 75% of my fair and after November 3, 202* ***% of the Fare.
I asked the supervisor if there was anything that could be done to compensate for the construction issues passengers would deal with on this cruise, which has 8 sea day with reduced amenities. Basically, the supervisors answer was no, other than I cancel and lose 75 to 100 % of my payment. I said to the supervisor that I inferred from what he said, NCL does not care about its passengers.

He raised his voice and accused me of putting words in his mouth. IT IS OBVIOUS THAT NCL IS NOT, AS THEY SAY, As always, we are at your service.
So now, we either go on a cruise ship with construction and blocked areas, possible INCREASED FIRE AND safety hazards, or we lose 75% to 100% of the money we spent.
NCL should have taken the ship out of service to complete these renovations. However, apparently their bottom line is profit over passengers.
This is not the first time that NCL has pulled the last-minute stunt on us. In July 2022, at check in to board the Norwegian Star in Iceland, We were informed the Greenland-Iceland cruise was not going to Greenland.

We were 2,725.57 mi (4,386.39 km) from Toronto. Thus, we felt we had to take the cruise.
I think we have learned our lesson.

We will never take an NCL cruise again. I recommend to anyone reading this, that you use other cruise lines in the future.

On August 22, 2024, we booked an NCL cruise, a 12-day Transatlantic from London to Miami: Spain & Portugal, beginning on December 3, 2024, on the Norwegian Encore. Yesterday, on October 31, we received a letter indicating that there would be renovations on the Encore and that part of the ship's amenities would be unavailable.

We were not happy about being on the Encore while parts of the ship were blocked off and construction was occurring. We were concerned about the lack of facilities leading to overcrowding. Here is an excerpt from the letter of October 31, 2024.

'To complete these enhancements, Teppanyaki will be closed from December 3, 2024, through December 8, 2024. Additionally, the Laser Tag arena will no longer be available as of December 3, 2024, as it will be replaced by the all-new, complimentary Spice H2O for guests 18 and up. However, this new venue will not be ready during your sailing as we will be finalizing the updates.'

NCL offered no compensation at all for blocking off parts of the ship. Here is an excerpt from the letter of October 31, 2024.

'We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and want to assure you that our dedicated team is committed to ensuring you have an unforgettable vacation experience. As always, we are at your service.'

We were also concerned about the increased risk of an onboard fire caused by the use of construction equipment, possibly such as welding equipment.

Today, on November 1, 2024, I called NCL customer care and spoke to an agent and a supervisor. They told me that if I cancelled, I would be penalized 75% of my fare, and after November 3, 2024, the penalty would total 100% of the fare.

I asked the supervisor if there was anything that could be done to compensate for the construction issues passengers would deal with on this cruise, which has 8 sea days with reduced amenities. Basically, the supervisor's answer was no, other than I cancel and lose 75 to 100% of my payment. I said to the supervisor that I inferred from what he said, NCL does not care about its passengers. He raised his voice and accused me of putting words in his mouth. It is obvious that NCL is not, as they say, always at our service.

So now, we either go on a cruise ship with construction and blocked areas, possible increased fire and safety hazards, or we lose 75% to 100% of the money we spent.

NCL should have taken the ship out of service to complete these renovations. However, apparently their bottom line is profit over passengers.

This is not the first time that NCL has pulled the last-minute stunt on us. In July 2022, at check-in to board the Norwegian Star in Iceland, we were informed the Greenland-Iceland cruise was not going to Greenland. We were 2,725.57 miles (4,386.39 km) away from Toronto, so we felt we had no choice but to take the cruise.

I think we have learned our lesson. We will never take an NCL cruise again. I recommend to anyone reading this, that you use other cruise lines in the future.

I can't honestly say I would never travel with Norwegian again. It was intimidating to get on an elevator at any time when you have unsupervised teens playing music in elevators as loud as possible when the elevator is packed with adults.

When one adult asked if he could please turn it down, he got no results and was refused to turn it down. When the adult got off on his floor, one teen yelled, 'Go on, you f--king *** They rode up and down elevators constantly, pushing every floor and then keeping doors closed from inside so no one could enter. These same teens sprayed an elevator with shaving lotion. Of course, the elevator reeked of lotion.

I could have found security, maybe found them, and reported this, but I didn't want to probably cause issues with the parents. And of course, their parents would say no, my child wouldn't do or say those things. Lack of security is another big issue. The food was good on some days and terrible on others.

I really wish I had not wasted my money on this cruise, and I'm not a first-timer. That's my experience with Norwegian for the first and last time.

As a travel agent for the largest Wholesaler of travel, as well as cruises, I was shocked at the mis-representation and care less attitude NCL put my wife and I thru during our latest cruise.
Both 72 years of age ,we saved for 3 years for this bucket list cruise. After researching, we decided to contact NCL.

After looking at the cruise options, we initially were not impressed with what they offered on board, however, the NCL agent was very convincing when it can to all the Excursions and add ons.
That said, our cruise turned into a lot more then what we budgeted for, however, the NCL agents were quite convincing regarding the add on excursions. So while we werent really trilled with the cruise itself, we were stoked about the 7 packages we bought (for excursions & extras), all booked thru NCL.
That saidWe started out our cruise, arriving at our cabin and finding out that The Behind the scenes tour for the 2nd day at sea- was CANCELED, with no reason was given.The next day, at sea, my wife became extremely seasick. Now on our previous 15 cruises (with other companies) she would get a shot two days before (costing $50-$150). However, this time she didnt and when we rushed her to medical, the sea sickness was nothing compared to the RIP-OFF of $2,500 in medical costs that you charged us.

We gave you ALL the information from our insurance policy and our travel medical insurance but they refused to accept it and told us that its cash only (charged to our on board account). OUT $2,500 NextWe arrived at Sitka, to discover that The Sitka Culinary Adventure- CANCELED NextIt was Skagway. The Best of Skagway Railway- False advertisingnothing like we were promised. This was a bus ride to a hill billy theater for a outdoor overcooked rainy meal at 11:30 am (the write up states that the meal was the last stop); followed by the Red Onion Saloonwhich was a glass of watery champagne and short tour of the 2nd floor and goodbye (and I mean shortthree rooms and 5 minutes).

There was no dancing, no barmaids, in fact, there wasnt even a place to sit and no time to get a drink as we were rushed on the bus; and finished off, with the train ride. In fact the best thing about the excursion was RJ the tour guidewe tipped her $100 because she made the trip. False advertisingBut it didnt matter because we knew we had The Helo and Glacier walk- this is why we booked your cruisethis was to be the highlight. Ah, but when we arrived on the pier and prepared to board the busit was CANCELEDSo the guide for NCL directed us to The Mountain Tram- to purchase an excursion Tram ride over the mountain...got to the front of the lineand CANCELEDWe the had a special side tour planned for the town of Ketchikan- but NCL decided to cancel the port- CANCELEDLast day at seawe had pre-paid and booked a couples salt massage.

The invoice stated couples massage, it was on the books as a couples massage and the receipt stated PAID IN FULL COUPLES MASSAGE. But when we arrived, we were told that your system had an error and actually it charged us only $298 and it should have been doubled. We refused to pay another $298 and told them to cancel thee massage. But we were informed that we either use it or lose it, we cant cancel.

After demanding to speak with the manager (10 minutes) we were finally refunded our monies. CANCELED. Than to top off our nightmare trip, we went back to Cagneys (which by the way, the food was incredible and Rohan (the manager) was the best. We had our meal plan for 6 nights and ordered the same thing we ordered.

This time we had an iced tea and a ginger ale. The bill came and the food was zero but we were charged $22 for iced tea and a ginger ale.Finally, I have looked over all of the advertising for the cruise and excursions and no where does it say that there is a possibility of 50-70% cancellation of our excursions, if it did we would have booked another cruise line.
What makes it even worse, we paid over $350 for unlimited internet for my wife, which worked only 25% of the time but when it did, you couldn't stream, and emails took forever to load. When we asked Guest services about it, they stated, "Sorry, the weather is affecting it". Seems like the weather not only affected your excursions & internet but your customer service...or lack there of.
Now, cancelations can happenone or maybe two, at most.

BUT SIX (6) cancellations?
So while we were in the towns (with the canceled excursions) we noticed that ½ of the stores were closed. We finally started asking the locals what was that all about. They stated I quote, This is the time of year that the vendors close up for the winterbeginning Sept 15th. After that it is straight rain and cold.

The next shop owner stated, I dont want to be open but NCL decided to extend the season, into our rainy cold time of the year. I want to close up but I cant. And finally this from a large two shop owner.We have petition the cruise ships to end the season (as in the past) on September 5th because of the weather. In fact, the cruise lines admit, there will be 40-70% cancellations on the excursionsbut the passengers still have their cruise.

So too bad.
So now we know why the 6 cancellations took place. Its called bait and switch. Get me to pay over $8,000 for a cruise w/excursions. Cancel the excursions and they still have all the money we spent on the cruise, and on the ship, because of the cancellations.
Needless to say, when we returned home we wrote an extended letter of dissatisfaction for the cruise, our concern for what appeared to be bait and switch and the fact that while they refunded all of the cancellations, we were left on a rocking ship that cancelled all the excursions and even a port.

Was there any compensation they wished to offer.
The response was an insult and ELDER ABUSE! They made excuses for each of the cancellations, questioned Whats the problem, you got your money backbut we will give you an on board $75 credit for a future cruise. No apology! No we will investigate.

No addition compensation. Nothing.

This was my daughters and my first cruise via NCL. It was horrible.

Even seasoned 'cruisers' who went on 20+ cruises said it was the worst cruise they had ever been on and would be filing complaints. It was a disaster from start to finish with irate workers irritated with us passengers when the entire NCL computer system crashed prior to boarding to the worst junk food freezer food being served to the captain skipping a port to 'beat a storm' which beat us LITERALLY. I never in my life saw so many things falling all over the place, people throwing up, waves going over the front of the boat - we literally though we were going to capsize. These are just the start of example of what went wrong.

The rooms, gross, stained, dated. The price gauging from bartenders to excursions where we paid $300 up front only to find out we had to pay $20 per person to sit in a lounge chair! So much more to say but if you still go on an NCL cruise, I tried to warn you!

I formally complained, tried to reach executive level personnel via LinkedIn when my complaint was falling on deaf ears further down the ladder and NOT ONE single person offered to contact me to refund the thousands of dollars we spent on the worst cruise experience! DO NOT USE THIS CRUISE LINE!!!

Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) has proven to be a disappointment, leaving many passengers stranded and furious over its deceptive practices. My holiday travel plans were ruined due to NCLs confusing, incomplete, and delayed communication about documentation requirements.

This isnt just poor customer serviceits a potential violation of federal and Florida consumer protection laws.
The Problem
I booked a closed-loop cruise with NCL, a type of trip where U.S. citizens can travel using a birth certificate instead of a passport. During booking, I explicitly confirmed this requirement, yet NCLs communication failed to provide clear or accurate guidance. The invoice ambiguously recommended passports without addressing exceptions for minors or explaining alternatives for closed-loop cruises.
Shockingly, just 30 days before departure, NCL notified me of additional documentation requirements.

This left insufficient time to obtain a passport, which typically takes 68 weeks. The result? Unnecessary stress, confusion, and a canceled trip.
Not an Isolated Incident
Numerous other passengers faced similar issues, indicating a systemic problem in NCLs operations. This isnt a simple mistake; its a pattern of ambiguous policies and inadequate communication that mislead customers, causing financial losses and emotional distress.
Legal Implications
Under the Federal Trade Commission Act and Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, businesses must provide clear and truthful information.

NCLs failure to disclose essential documentation requirements violates these laws, constituting deceptive and unfair practices.
The Bottom Line
If youre considering booking with NCL, beware. Their lack of transparency and accountability can derail your plans and cost you time, money, and peace of mind.

Companies like this must be held accountable for their actions to protect consumers. Share your story if youve been impactedtogether, we can push for change.