Oldsweets

“c” you make some interesting observations and appreciate your positive remarks as well as the informative remarks of others. We have made more good decisions than bad ones because of the experiences and feedback of others. We cruise almost monthly and are constantly looking for ways to expand our cruising/casino options and had hoped that the free ncl cruise was an option. We have struggled to ever get on NCL’s radar even as Platinum Plus NCL members who regularly played the casino. Little to no offers with NCL while Yacht Club with MSC and suites and $1,000 in free play with carnival. No s complaint but simply the realty of folks who cruise often and -Kay regularly and enjoy whatever benefits we can capture. Thanks again for the productive comments if many of you.

Thank you for your polite and factual response. Sadly many choose to attack the message instead of talking about the details. I completely agree with the Administrative fee being an annoyance and is the actual expense that seemed unreasonable enough to make booking a soIid “NO”. We agree with your point on taxes and port fee’s and pay them monthly with other cruise bookings and accept them as part of a casino booking. We do though most enjoy MSC’s approach with “Free means Free”. With MSC we have no taxes or port fee’s and the $400 deposit is refunded once aboard as an onboard credit. To date we have only sailed MSC with free yacht club suites so they have been extremely generous and anticipate these offers with shirk given the volume of bookings they are also enjoying. We had enjoyed celebrity but find the reworked casino offers now so significantly reduced as to cause us to search other options. As long as ur comped and carnival casino’s programs remain as aggressive as they have been we will avoid those who tack on Administrative Fees. Thanks for your positive feedback!

“M” Your complaint about my posting is interesting and proves once again that folks like you are only interested in their own opinions. Sorry you’re so narrow minded that you couldn’t take my observations as just that and moved on. In answer “C” we obviously play the numerous other Cruise Lines and have been using UR Comped most successfully for MSC as well as a few other cruise lines. Our land casino play has dropped off given the amount of sea days we spend playing and find that all the casino offers are less then what the cruise lines are offering either directly or through U R Comped.

Just picked up our Free Cruise certificates from Caesar’s and were pleasantly surprised we were offered/given these promotion as we had pulled back from playing with Caesar’s as former Diamond members to gamble with better promotions or offers with others. The free cruise with NCL for an inside was prices out as $280 in Administrative Fee’s and $515.63 for Port Fees and Taxes or total of $795.63. Another $1,000 to upgrade to a Balcony. Why in the world would someone consider booking one of these Casino Offers given the Casino Offers from Carnival, Royal, MSC, Virgin,, and the list goes on? I will admit I was surprised when I went to pick up the Free Cruise Certificate how literally we were the only ones in line. Guess I know why now. Yes, when I hung up I booked a Casino Offef from another Cruise LIne.

Just received what is something of a new email from Carnival Players Club (for us anyway) called Voice of the Player. The email has an action button in which we suppose we are to tell them what we are looking for from the Casino on our upcoming back to back Conquest Cruise in late May. Unfortunately the button isn’t working so unable to respond. Is this something new and if not has anyone utilized this before and a tally had it work and what were your results?

We would agree that for us the elite perks don’t match up to the $1,000 free play offers. It does get to be a close match when the cash play is only $500 against the car service is Orlando or Galveston.

They are hosting a Halloween Costume Party/judging with prizes on the Seascape for 2023 and it’s part of the reason we booked. Not sure if this a casino deal, a ship wide program, or only for UR Comped Casino Players.

The proof will be in the pudding as they say. If NCL own up to the problem in the ap and makes a change and eliminates the possibility of others being snagged then “‘MAYBE” it wasn’t a policy or poor business decision but rather a opps in the ap. We will see! I for one will be watching for some sort of announcement from NCL of an acknowledgement of a fix to the system and without that acknowledgement then Cruuse Critic, Points Guy, Cruise Hive, consumer Groups, Cruise Web Broadcasters, as well as other travel sites all need to pile on and demand a correction to the system.

I agree that the ap is poor but believe that at least some of NCL’s people believed it was ok to cancel with full penalty given the letter they sent which I posted below. This Policy was confirmed by NCL by the Consumer Advocate in her attempts to resolve. So had this policy and intent and that NCL had NO intention of reversing this decision except for the outcry on Cruise Critic and other sites. So congratulations to the Consumer Advocate and to the Cruise Critic participants for helping change NCL’s mind on “THIS CASE”. NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE® Ms. Evangella Koumanidis US Re: Norwegian Prima Voyage of 2/19/2023 Dear Ms. Koumanidis: This is to further the previous correspondence and in response to your recent lotter. Per our records, reservation I was made via nel.com and was cancelled due to non-payment of ground Transfers added on 1/29/23. Please see attached confirmation for your records. While wo sympathize with your situation and please understand that it is not our intent to cause any further distress, unfortunately, we are unable lo offer compensation or credit for the cancellation fees assessed lo your reservation. The terms and conditions governing our cancellation policy and applicable fees are outlined in our brochure. It would be inconsistent for us to make exceptions when other passongers have cancelled and accepted these terms and apologize for any disappointment in this rogard. Thank you for this opportunity to respond, once again. We trust our explanation will help you to understand our position in this matter and hope you will consider Norwogian Cruise Line in your futuro travel plans. Sincerely. Roxane S. Guest Experience Coordinator Norwegian Cruise Line

I am pleased “IF” NCL did indeed actually reverse itself and issued a credit. Having said that it still leaves NCL with a problem as far as I am concerned in that the opportunity to snare other unsuspecting customers at risk for a policy that seems most unfair at best. No way in the world should NCL have a policy that can penalize any customer for transportation or the other laundry list of items and capture Cruise fare. The system needs to simply cancel out the unpaid addition and not be tied into a cruise fare. Let’s see what NCL does with this…. If true let me be the first to congratulate NCL for doing the right thing!

Let’s say that things folks are writing about the customer are true, what if they had bad credit, customer error, late booking, etc. I submit that for me that cancelation or even written NCL policy (which we NOW KNOW about) could or will result in cancelation of a fully paid cruise for non payment of a transfer is simply rigging the system and wrong. If this policy is indeed true and stays in place it’s reason enough to avoid. What other high risk hard to find policy’s are lurking to steal your money. For now I have been warned until new information is presented.

I would do whatever gives you peace of mind. Some think that this story is just hot air while many believe that NCL has put it to a customer. Give yourself the peace of mind and easiest with a phone call.

Always a chance until the dust settles that you are correct and NCL is faultless but currently I am swayed by the work & proof provided by the consumer advocate. I appreciate her work and look forward to watching this story unfold but until then I will treat it as a “Great case of buyer beware until this is resolved.”

This is a story I will be following to see how it shakes out. The facts will perk to the top in the coming days.

I also was a disbeliever and only posted after reading the story by the consumer advocate. We still use AOL so yep some of us antiques are still breathing. In the comments under the story the writer says they are moving forward with contacting media outlets. If this pans out to be true the blow could be serious for NCL. It will be reason enough for many to avoid NCL and as a minimum why would anyone book anything additional to a booked cruise with the risk of loosing a booking?

I also was a disbeliever and only posted after reading the story by the consumer advocate. We still use AOL so yep some of us antiques are still breathing. In the comments under the story the writer says they are moving forward with contacting media outlets. If this pans out to be true the blow could be serious for NCL. It will be reason enough for many to avoid NCL and as a minimum why would anyone book anything additional to a booked cruise with the risk of loosing a booking?

Did Norwegian Cruise Line really cancel this family’s $5,000 prepaid cruise over a $112 transfer? yes they did and as a sapphire member and a stock holder we are washing our hands of NCL. Read Michelle Couch-Friedman investigation as the founder and CEO of Consumer Rescue who attempted unsuccessfully to work with NCL to resolve. There is more here - NCL is not cancelling an entire cruise just items were left on the cart (unless those transfers were required for the cruise). I've left items in cart multiple times on NCL and others and have yet to not sail. Based on this article: https://consumerrescue.org/cruise-fiascos/norwegian-cruise-line-cancel-familys-cruise-over-ground-transfer/ - this is unacceptable

Don’t make my mistake! I have successfully used Carnival gift cards purchased through AARP and assumed that Celebrity gift cards would work the same. You know what they say about assuming. Well the fine print says only for new bookings $500 credited per passenger with max of $1,000 per booking. Can NOT be used onboard only for booking. It’s my own fault but boy am I disappointed and frustrated. As much with myself for missing the fine print as with celebrity. Just a warning so you don’t let Celebrity’s restrictive policy’s burn you as well. Guess we will see if we can use these on a future Blue Chip booking.

On “MYNCL” account when I sign in I now see in Blue CASINO-VALUE listed. It’s not a link as when I touch it nothing happens and in searching I find nothing. I have NO casino offers booked with NCL and has been over a year since my last NCL Cruise and it’s wasn’t a casino offer. What does this CASINO-VALUE mean? THANKS

We were aboard for the relaunch of Cruises sailing out of St Marteen. We went home and return a few weeks later and did the sailing again. We returned a 3rd time in May of 2022 and different casino staff but still nice time.

Thank you, for the great info as this will prove helpful for our March Cruise. Appreciate the time you took to write these comments!

We so much enjoyed the husband & wife team (she was casino manager & he an assistant) as well as the host aboard the first 6 months of so of the relaunch aboard the Millenium. Wondering who is the the. Casino Manager & host currently aboard the Soltice and if you think they will still be aboard for our March Cruise. His were they