Worst cruise line! Worst customer service!

Norwegian Encore Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 15

Overall rating:

1.9 out of 5
Norwegian Encore

7 Night Alaska: Glacier Bay Skagway & Juneau (Seattle Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 21, 2023

Ship: Norwegian Encore

Cabin number: 5101

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 9 months ago

Review summary

A very brief summary … Norwegian requires every single person on the ship, minor or adult, to carry a room key card at all times. However, what they failed to tell us was that these “room” key cards are also linked to my credit card. This means my children can use these “room” key cards to buy anything they want on the ship. We found this out the hard way. My 13 year old , autistic son, was able to charge over $300.00 in arcade charges in one day to our account without our permission. If we had not checked our cruise account on the tv the first night who knows how much he would have racked up. When we went to management they said it is their policy to link all cards to the our credit card so they can each be used as such, regardless of the age of the person or our consent apparently. They stated if we did not want my children to have this privilege then we would have had to call them and put a block on the account. I expressed that this was unacceptable and to allow my child to use my credit card without my permission is fraud. Their policy should be the other way around , as I repeatedly explained to management. All key cards given to minor children should automatically be blocked from using their card as a credit card. Then IF , and only if, the parents would like to give access to their children then the parent can unblock it. We spent hours with several managers on the ship who all swore they could not rectify the situation and reverse the arcade charges. They insisted we had to fight this on land. So, here we are fighting this on land only to receive the same lack of accountability for their fraudulent policy and inexcusable lack of customer service. I have taken this complaint to the BBB, 3 on your side, and just filed a complaint with the attorney generals office. The company has only responded once and refused to refund my money. No parent , in their right mind would allow their children to run around the ship with their credit card (they call a "room key"). This is fraud and they are 100% responsible for any charges my minor child was able to charge without our consent. Not to mention, their lack of customer service ruined our entire cruise. I would steer clear of this cruise line.

Embarkation

1 out of 5
a nightmare that lasted all day

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5
The go carts would allow you to just get on. You had to schedule it prior to the trip

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Children's Programs

2 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5
the worst

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5

Ship tip

Block your children from using their room key as a credit card cause they will not do it and you will be sorry

Ports of call

Seattle, Washington

1 out of 5

Juneau, Alaska

4 out of 5

Skagway, Alaska

4 out of 5

Cruise Glacier Bay

4 out of 5

KETCHIKAN (WARD COVE), ALASKA

3 out of 5

Victoria, British Columbia

1 out of 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 15

17 Comments

maer17     9 months ago

Here we go blaming the cruise line for your own oversight. Additionally, if your son is autistic he shouldn’t be roaming the ship by himself. Im surprised you didn’t have more complaints

cubfan0725     9 months ago

Sounds like you needed to read the restrictions when you book.Maybe cruising is not for you.

LadyBugT     9 months ago

It is good to know that next time, one should link a PRE-PAID card to the key and not a regular credit card in order to avoid this issue again.

RetiredRay     9 months ago

Interesting, I looked at another May 21 sailing and they had no problems boarding. Wonder why it took you “all” day (define please, 1 hour , 6 hours, 12 hours?)

karlgrgurich     9 months ago

Gotta research and ask questions. I’m glad you caught this early on tho

nclcruzr     9 months ago

It is your fault for allowing your child to roam and make charges. If he is unable to understand that the charges will occur, then why is he alone in the first place. Kids run around on the ships unattended all the time, much to the dismay of cruisers with no kids or well behaved kids. We rode the go carts after signing up the same day. You should have read all the fine print and supervised your kids. The cruise ship is not your free baby sitter. Maybe cruising is not for you.

Niavlys     9 months ago

Blaming the cruise for something that you should have read in the documents they send us...your key card is like a credit card, without blocking it, people can use it... and un that is what your kid did...

Lawnboy1956     9 months ago

Not sure how you can say worst cruise line having only been on the one ship. Your negligence is not their problem. Why is a child with autism left to roam the ship without supervision? You made no attempt to understand how your account works with the key card and now you want to absolve yourself from responsibility and demand compensation. All key cards on ships work this way so like has been said you should move on.

natelorip     9 months ago

Thanks for sharing. Sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise.

lifeisgoodenjoy     9 months ago

If he is a minor with autism, how did you not notice he was having a spending spree at the arcade?

Gwbigdog     9 months ago

Oops sorry 😞 thanks

Kiwi247     9 months ago

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience on what seems like your first cruise.

picalo     9 months ago

I'm sorry this happened. I think you should just "live and learn" here and save your time and energy for other endeavors... i say that because this is the practice of every cruise line since i can rember and frankly every hotel does somthing similar. As far as ever seeing a dime from NCL good luck... we've all been there done that.

Jerrec     9 months ago

Sorry you didn’t take the time to learn how things work beforehand. Don’t expect all your complaining to get you anywhere since you failed to understand their policies. Linking your key card to your onboard account is pretty standard among cruise lines.

lexilarissa     9 months ago

I’m sorry for your stressful experience, but it’s very clear from the moment you have to put your credit card on the account that every key to that room is linked to the credit card. Did you read your pre-cruise documents? It states it in there, too. A general search will easily tell you that this is a common practice on most (if not all) cruise lines.

cruising2004     9 months ago

And you can also put a limit on each and every card so this doesn’t happen.

NavasotaCruiser     9 months ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise experience with us. Appreciate the details you shared.

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