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Loved our NCL Cruise but not happy with PCC


Solomon D

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We have been world travelers for 40 years and recently took our first NCL cruise that was great, promoting them to be our cruise line of first choice. A month after we returned I logged onto NCL’s website to check what was available in 3 month’s time departing Rome and found that their Jade cruise which also visited 2 ports in Turkey was exactly what we wanted. In addition, we needed flights, hotel accommodation and Rome tours. Within a short time a person called our home phone stating he was my PCC and asked if I had any questions. I told him that we needed a price for the air, hotels and tours and he told me he would prepare a package for me. He also sent me an email stating that he was working hard to put it together and would phone me back in an hour. I replied that I was rarely at home and requested he email me the price for the deal. He did not answer but in several days left 2 messages on my home voicemail to call him. I emailed him again and told him that I’m unable to call him and to please just email me the price. Since then there have been no emails or phone calls and now he’s simply ignoring me. Two days ago I checked NCL again and we have now missed our opportunity to take our selected cruise because it has sold out. I emailed my PCC yet again as follows..

 

“I'm disappointed that you have refused to provide me a quote by email and are only interested in 'phoning me directly despite me stating I'm unable to discuss the upcoming trip over the 'phone. Your etiquette is disrespectful when you don't even answer my request and illustrates the inequity of service that's available compared to a colleague at my firm who always receives a quote by email from his cruise consultant enabling him to choose at his leisure which options to select.

 

Please bear in mind that I did not initially call you and it was you who called me after NCL's system registered a login to my recently created account when I was checking which upcoming cruises were available that suited our calendar. That was 10 days ago and now I see that the type of stateroom I requested is now sold out! This would have been an almost certain sell for you because we were ready to buy once we had a few more details on the flights, hotels and tours of Rome.

 

As a long term investor in NCL's overseas holding company, I'm disappointed to see an employee of MY COMPANY treat a repeat customer in this fashion and intend to raise the matter with ***************, who oversees reservations, air/sea and customer relations. In addition, there will be follow-up postings of my customer experience with my PCC on cruisecritic.com's NCL forum”

 

My PCC never answered and appears not to care. If there’s a “No Email” policy with NCl, he should have told me.

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As a long term investor in NCL's overseas holding company, I'm disappointed to see an employee of MY COMPANY treat a repeat customer in this fashion and intend to raise the matter with

 

Well that didn't take long. The company had only went public yesterday and the this line is already been given with complaints.

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When I used a PCC, he regularly sent me info, including quotes, via email. Of course for some reason he calls my house and leaves voicemails for my BFF - who has sailed with me but never lived with me. But that's a whole other story.

 

For a number of reasons, however, we've since transitioned to a wonderful travel agent who is always responsive.

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Well...in this type of relationship you typically get what you give. I can't speak for your PCC, but if I was the one that received that email, I certainly wouldn't be eager to communicate with you. Last person I'd want to deal with is the one who name-drops and makes thinly-veiled "I'm a stockholder" threats.

 

 

Interesting though, that you're a self-confessed "repeat customer" and you're only meeting your PCC now. How were you been doing your bookings in the past??

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From Personal experience, NCL's PCC's can not give quotes via email.

 

They need to talk to you. ... .

 

I disagree.

 

A year or so ago an NCL PCC phoned us but we had no budget for a cruise at the time. He mailed his business card to us and later had NCL send us a 2013-April 2014 brochure. He only made two other phone calls to us, one to congratulate us on reaching Platinum when NCL changed their counting from cruises to days aboard and one several months later just to touch base with us.

 

So, when I recently saw a fare on NCL website for a cruise I was interested in, I emailed that PCC asking what the total price, with fees, would be for the cruise. He emailed a sample invoice to me within an hour so I don't think they're barred from emailing quotes.

Maybe some PCC's prefer phone. That way there's no proof if they make a mistake.

 

I replied via email with more questions and had speedy email replies, including answers to pre-cruise hotel questions.

By the end of the day we'd made the decision to book, emailed that decision to our PCC and soon had an official invoice from NCL, all done without a phone call.

I'm sorry the OP couldn't get that kind of service from their PCC.

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We have been world travelers for 40 years and recently took our first NCL cruise that was great, promoting them to be our cruise line of first choice. A month after we returned I logged onto NCL’s website to check what was available in 3 month’s time departing Rome and found that their Jade cruise which also visited 2 ports in Turkey was exactly what we wanted. In addition, we needed flights, hotel accommodation and Rome tours. Within a short time a person called our home phone stating he was my PCC and asked if I had any questions. I told him that we needed a price for the air, hotels and tours and he told me he would prepare a package for me. He also sent me an email stating that he was working hard to put it together and would phone me back in an hour. I replied that I was rarely at home and requested he email me the price for the deal. He did not answer but in several days left 2 messages on my home voicemail to call him. I emailed him again and told him that I’m unable to call him and to please just email me the price. Since then there have been no emails or phone calls and now he’s simply ignoring me. Two days ago I checked NCL again and we have now missed our opportunity to take our selected cruise because it has sold out. I emailed my PCC yet again as follows..

 

“I'm disappointed that you have refused to provide me a quote by email and are only interested in 'phoning me directly despite me stating I'm unable to discuss the upcoming trip over the 'phone. Your etiquette is disrespectful when you don't even answer my request and illustrates the inequity of service that's available compared to a colleague at my firm who always receives a quote by email from his cruise consultant enabling him to choose at his leisure which options to select.

 

Please bear in mind that I did not initially call you and it was you who called me after NCL's system registered a login to my recently created account when I was checking which upcoming cruises were available that suited our calendar. That was 10 days ago and now I see that the type of stateroom I requested is now sold out! This would have been an almost certain sell for you because we were ready to buy once we had a few more details on the flights, hotels and tours of Rome.

 

As a long term investor in NCL's overseas holding company, I'm disappointed to see an employee of MY COMPANY treat a repeat customer in this fashion and intend to raise the matter with ***************, who oversees reservations, air/sea and customer relations. In addition, there will be follow-up postings of my customer experience with my PCC on cruisecritic.com's NCL forum”

 

My PCC never answered and appears not to care. If there’s a “No Email” policy with NCl, he should have told me.

 

I'd be very surprised if that was sold out. Our online agency has an offer out on it right now. It might be that cabins are in the hands of various agents. I've never dealt with the NCL PCC. Had a call one time and was not impressed with mine. Have used ours with HAL and was so sorry when he left for other employment. Try searching some of the online agencies Ours has a package deal with air, hotel, cruise, and transfers.

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I am a US citizen but live overseas most of the year. I received quotes, booked and paid for my last three cruises completely by email. At one point I received a new PCC that refused to deal by email. I explained my situation and I continued to get emails saying he was sorry that he tried calling me and missed talking and asked that I call him back. I requested a new PCC. Explained things to the new one, he accepted the limitations and took care of our next cruise, 100% by email.

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Well that didn't take long. The company had only went public yesterday and the this line is already been given with complaints.

 

 

OP says that they're an investor in NCL's overseas holding company. That's most likely the Genting Group, not NCLH which went public yesterday.

 

 

.

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It's also there first post so let give them a nice big warm welcome to Cruise Critic. They state it was their first cruise with NCL but in the letter to the PCC they claim they are repeat customers - perhaps they have sailed on Star Cruises - will be interesting to see if they come back and respond.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

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We have been world travelers for 40 years and recently took our first NCL cruise that was great, promoting them to be our cruise line of first choice. A month after we returned I logged onto NCL’s website to check what was available in 3 month’s time departing Rome and found that their Jade cruise which also visited 2 ports in Turkey was exactly what we wanted. In addition, we needed flights, hotel accommodation and Rome tours. Within a short time a person called our home phone stating he was my PCC and asked if I had any questions. I told him that we needed a price for the air, hotels and tours and he told me he would prepare a package for me. He also sent me an email stating that he was working hard to put it together and would phone me back in an hour. I replied that I was rarely at home and requested he email me the price for the deal. He did not answer but in several days left 2 messages on my home voicemail to call him. I emailed him again and told him that I’m unable to call him and to please just email me the price. Since then there have been no emails or phone calls and now he’s simply ignoring me. Two days ago I checked NCL again and we have now missed our opportunity to take our selected cruise because it has sold out. I emailed my PCC yet again as follows..

 

“I'm disappointed that you have refused to provide me a quote by email and are only interested in 'phoning me directly despite me stating I'm unable to discuss the upcoming trip over the 'phone. Your etiquette is disrespectful when you don't even answer my request and illustrates the inequity of service that's available compared to a colleague at my firm who always receives a quote by email from his cruise consultant enabling him to choose at his leisure which options to select.

 

Please bear in mind that I did not initially call you and it was you who called me after NCL's system registered a login to my recently created account when I was checking which upcoming cruises were available that suited our calendar. That was 10 days ago and now I see that the type of stateroom I requested is now sold out! This would have been an almost certain sell for you because we were ready to buy once we had a few more details on the flights, hotels and tours of Rome.

 

As a long term investor in NCL's overseas holding company, I'm disappointed to see an employee of MY COMPANY treat a repeat customer in this fashion and intend to raise the matter with ***************, who oversees reservations, air/sea and customer relations. In addition, there will be follow-up postings of my customer experience with my PCC on cruisecritic.com's NCL forum”

 

My PCC never answered and appears not to care. If there’s a “No Email” policy with NCl, he should have told me.

 

There defnintely is NOT a no email policy as I am always, and I do mean always, quoted via email! You should call or contact NCL and let them know what is happening. My PCC always responds to me quickly via email, and he knows not to call me.

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Solomon. Welcome. IMHO, if you see a cruise you like, at a price you like... BOOK IT! Not tomorrow, not next week, NOW! Prices changeand go up, almost in an instant.

 

Then, once locked in, check out air and hotel prices on your own. Then call NCL and see how they compare.

 

You do not. Eed to include tours at this point. Those prices are fixed. Now they may sell out, but they do not need to bundled into a quote.

 

I have reread your post and I wasn't able to interpret your meaning of MY COMPANY. Would you explain? Did you imply ownership, which IMHO is pompous and arrogant or did you imply "cruise line of choice", which isn't.

 

If a PCC isn't meeting your needs, and obviously this one wasn't, why didn't you just call NCL, ask to speak with a supervisor and ask for a new PPC who could communicate with you only by Email?

 

By doung either of these things, you could have perhaps saved yourself some grief, avoided writing a negative letter and gotten the cruise you wanted.

 

Hope it works out for you.

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Like in many corporate cultures, employees fail to comprehend that those of us who are either self-employed or work non-conventional work days aren't necessarily 9-5 M-F people. That's why I use a private travel agent (who just happens to be my secretary from over 25 years ago) to arrange my travel.

 

I'm going to be blunt, "headset jockeys" sometimes just don't "get it".

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I once had a PCC who told me that they get more credit for booking a cruise by phone than by email. I don't know if that is true or not but she left the company and I was assigned a PCC that constantly called me to book cruises. I asked him to stop calling and to please email me. He just kept calling and would not email me at all. I switched to a PCC who takes care of one of my friends and she will give me quotes or book a cruise over the phone or by email. She only calls me when I leave her a message.

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Why couldn't you talk to them on the phone? Seems to me to be no real reason why a cruise couldn't have been booked otherwise?

 

I must be missing something? One PCC doesn't control everything at NCL.

 

:confused:

 

I"m not the OP, but I often cannot take calls during the day. I do almost everything online or thru email. I've never had a problem dealing with NCL or any TA this way.

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Though my situation isn't identical to the OP, it is concerning to me that complaints with PCCs and NCL's customer service seem to be on the rise.

 

Because of my work hours, it is also much easier and efficient for me to communicate via e-mail. Our first cruise was a year ago - Jan. 2012 - and we purchased a future cruise credit because we had such a phenomenal experience. Our PCC called about three months later and we said that due to our budget, we wouldn't sail until 2014, likely to Alaska. He was very respectful and would just e-mail if a big 2013 Alaska sale came out. Not too bothersome.

 

When the 2014 sailings came out, we changed our mind and were eying a Southern Caribbean cruise, but had a handful of questions. In order to collect our thoughts and give our PCC time to gather answers/not put him on the spot, we e-mailed. One of our 7 or 8 questions referenced our Costco membership. In short, we went back and forth with our PCC multiple times after sending our questions, because all he would say was "Go with Costco, they're better." Wouldn't even address our other, unrelated questions.

 

Granted this was just one in a series of recent issues with our PCC, but we have since spoken with a supervisor (who initially argued that we were wrong until we forwarded along the series of e-mails), but again, mine seems to be one in a series of complaints that show a lack of customer service within NCL.

 

NCL doesn't corner the cruise market, but I think PCCs are / should be an important component to building a loyal customer base. Maybe it would be worthwhile to hold an "institute day" of sorts to go over company expectations, hold professional development seminars, etc. ... seems like a solid investment to me.

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My PCC Faith Levine is amazing.

But she never sends me quotes through email. (I wish she would)

I am the PCC nightmare. I have very high expectations and often book last minute (just the way our life and business are) When we can get the chance we just go ...

I learned the hard way recently to just book it because when the cruise is usually within 2 weeks NCL will not hold it, not even for an hour.

We booked the NCL Gem going out of NYC on Jan 27, 2013 on Sunday, January 13. Giving us 2 weeks lead time.

I spoke with Faith, called my friends and family to be sure they were up for it and by the time I called her back within the hour the suite was gone.

I flipped out on poor Faith (it was not really her fault) but to her credit she stayed calm and focussed against my fury, while trying to book us on another date. (which most likely was not an option given my time constraints) Faith was sincerely upset that we lost the date and with her professional persistance she somehow was able to secure our suite and we are all set to sail on the 27th as orignally planned.

IMO NCL could improve their customer service by allowing PCC's to hold the suite/cabin for an hour or 2 even if the sailing date is coming up so soon.

But lesson learned on my part, get the go ahead first and book it ASAP.

Please take the time to write a letter to NCL.

We had only one complaint many years ago and discovered that NCL is highly responsive to complaint letters. In fact they dealt with it above my expectations.

Good luck.

Juried

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This definitely is not true. I am always quoted via email from my PCC.

 

It is true with my PCC. I hope you aren't calling me a liar? :eek:

 

I've used him for 4 NCL cruises within the past 2 years and he said he can not give a quote through email.

 

Maybe it's just him? However, I read where it's true with another CC members PCC. I don't mind and prefer talking over the phone, trying different ways to save money, get OBC, etc.

 

If I want to know how much a cruise costs, I go to NCL.com. I use the PCC to book the cabin I want, get the discount I want and try to get me as much OBC as possible.

 

I have used TA's with Celebrity and was quoted via email.

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It is true with my PCC. I hope you aren't calling me a liar? :eek:

 

I've used him for 4 NCL cruises within the past 2 years and he said he can not give a quote through email.

 

Maybe it's just him? However, I read where it's true with another CC members PCC. I don't mind and prefer talking over the phone, trying different ways to save money, get OBC, etc.

 

If I want to know how much a cruise costs, I go to NCL.com. I use the PCC to book the cabin I want, get the discount I want and try to get me as much OBC as possible.

 

I have used TA's with Celebrity and was quoted via email.

 

I wasn't calling you a liar but was simply disagreeing with your all-inclusive statement that NCL PCC's can't do quotes by email.

 

Although NCL.com gives the basic fare price for a cabin, where on NCL.com do you then find the amount of fees/tax that will be added to that fare? It's the total price I want, not just the basic fare. I also want the total price quote to include possible discounts. I can't get that on NCL.com so I'm glad my PCC is willing to do that total price quote by email since doing phone calls is often difficult for me.

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