[Travelandtourism] NCL not at fault here

[cheryl echevarria]

Please read the whole story

Cruise line takes the heat for a canceled charter
By: Johanna Jainchill

February 16, 2010

There are times when criticism of cruise lines is well deserved. And then 
there are times when cruise lines are criticized for something out of their 
hands.

The canceled charter of Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Star is one of the 
latter.

After Canada-based Newwest Special Projects, which chartered the Norwegian 
Star for 28 days for use as lodging during the Winter Olympics and two 
four-day sailings, canceled the charter just days before it was to begin, 
angry customers began an online campaign threatening to boycott NCL.

"If they do not sail, we are going viral to boycott NCL!" threatened one of 
the petition's organizers, who had booked a room on the chartered Star.

"I cannot believe that people think NCL has no responsibility on this," said 
another on the site. "NCL needs to make this right. If not, me and a lot of 
the other seniors are finished with NCL."

In fact, however, NCL had nothing to do with sales of the charter and 
nothing to do with its cancellation. Unfortunately, the public sees that it 
is an NCL ship, and few have ever heard of Newwest Special Projects, a 
company created specifically for the Olympics charter that has some 
connections to a Canada-based travel agency, Newwest Travel.

"By association, this will reflect on the cruise line," said Joyce Landry, 
CEO of Miami-based Landry & Kling Inc., a company that has been in the 
cruise-ship charter business for three decades.

"People look at it and see the Norwegian Star, and most people don't 
understand the difference between the charterer and the cruise line that 
operates it," she said.

To Landry's point, the headline on a Dallas Morning News story about the 
charter cancellation read, "Norwegian cancels Winter Olympics ship 
accommodations."

Even some consumers who do recognize the difference still think NCL should 
help fix the situation.

"I do not blame NCL, but I do think they need to make sure we get all our 
money back and help us out," said one petitioner. "Because, honestly, at 
this point me and my mom will never book a charter, nor NCL."

The problem is that NCL never collected a cent of the money consumers paid 
for the cruise. Only Newwest Special Projects can make restitution; it's out 
of NCL's control.
Cheryl Echevarria
Independent Travel Consultant
http://Echevarriatravel.com
1-866-580-5574

http://blog.echevarriatravel.com
Reservations at echevarriatravel.com
Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10