lfdemt

We leave the 25th, the last old in person muster sailing for the escape, I am hoping (knowing its not likely) that they do a hybrid type muster.  You can go to your muster station anytime before sailing, and then watch the video presented by the crew (since we didn't have that option during check in), they check us off the list and we go on our merry way.  Sounds reasonable to me!

1 hour ago, styles27 said:

You didn’t have a video to watch during your check in? It’s a little over a minute long. 

 

I checked in Friday for a 04/07/2023 sailing and had to watch that video but I just figured they forgot to remove it from the check in process. 

There was no video to watch for our check in. we sail next Saturday.

2 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I've only seen sofa beds and Pullman beds that tilt down from the wall.  Which ship has a bed that pulls down from the ceiling?

That might have been a Disney ship, also had it on a princess ship.  They are stored in the ceiling and drop to the wall and then down for bed. 

1 hour ago, clojacks said:

I'll ask again....what in the second cleaning is so important as to make it a "must have", even at a lower price.

I can only answer for myself and for my family we have routinely had 4 in a cabin with usually at least one pull down bed from the ceiling.  The current reports are that the bed is left down the entire cruise drastically reducing the ability to use the room during the day time.   I don't care if they do a full turn down but at least put the bed away in the day and bring it back out at night. 

I wonder about this as well.  I don't need the second "cleaning" just would like to use the couch as a couch during the day and a bed at night. 

50 minutes ago, clojacks said:

Our NCL attendant said they have recently gone from 15 rooms per attendant to 22 rooms. I'm not sure it is physically possible to do that many twice a day, and still have some time off to eat mid-day.

15 rooms with twice daily housekeeping equals 30 "cleanings". Now they have 22 "cleanings" I don't see why they wouldn't be able to still eat?  And they go from 15 daily service charges to 22 so a considerable increase in tips for 8 less cleanings. 

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

 No reason to avoid NCL air. 
 

We are not picky. We like saving money. 

 

If you want to custom pick your flights, you can and should pay retail. And not get the second seat free. 

In our case we wanted to have mother. Father. And three minor children on the same flights. Ncl air can’t do that for us. We would love to save money but not at the added stress and expense of my own household being separated and trying to work out transportation to/from the airport with flights leaving/arriving several hours apart. 
 

Im not picky about the flights as long as we can be together. 

We had already received ours when we cancelled and got back 50%. They tried to tell us since they were already issued we forfeited the whole amount but the policies don’t back that up.  Called and asked where it says that and they couldn’t tell me so they refunded it, as they should have. 

8 hours ago, julig22 said:

Not how it works. Probably a 100% penalty to cancel air.

To the OP - you could call NCL, you do have a case if your docs say a 2 day deviation.  You might get them to change, although don't count on it.

That is not true. According to their fee cancelation schedule. 30-61 days is 75% penalty. 61-75 days is 50% penalty.  Of course you will have to fight for them to follow this policy but there is nothing in either the terms and conditions or the fee schedule that would take the 100% until you are within 30 days. 
 

As for what OP can do about the flight. We have had luck in changing our flights directly with the airline but you potentially lose any assistance you could get from NCL if there is any trouble. 

In our case we changed canceled our flight down and got the 50% refund and changed one rooms flights home. This was on southwest. Even earned a $20 flight credit. 

5 minutes ago, KSSS2013 said:

 

 

 

  Maybe try to keep a positive outlook and hope that NCL has positive intent and will do the right thing when you go on your cruise.

 

 

If I didn't just spend 5-6 hours jumping through NCL's never ending hoops to get them to follow their own policies, this would be easier to do.  

Having them lie outright and hang up or put on hold only to be dropped several times does not scream NCL has a positive intent.  

2 hours ago, Erniee96 said:

I assume it would work out if we booked as one reservation for two rooms, but we are both on Caesar's Rewards offers.

Currently NCL does not have the ability to have two rooms on one reservation.  We went from one larger room on the joy to the escape and NCL had to split us into two different rooms with two different reservation numbers.  We are now 43 days away from sailing and Myself, hubby, and 13 year old have flights but my 10 year old and my sister (in the now connecting room to ours) do not have flights. There is nothing we can do about it.  Would be great if they would get the same flights as us but I've heard too many stories to the opposite to even have hope for that anymore.  And when we booked this they assured us we would be on the same flights. but since then they dropped the program that would allow that and know it doesn't matter if they are minor children as long as they are with any adult. 

16 hours ago, ysolde said:I being pooh-poohed and told I should not care when it is not available?

This is a very common theme with many people on these boards. You buy the soda package but aren’t able to drink the soda. You shouldn’t complain. You are on a cruise. Bah. 
 

You paid for something. You were told to expect something. You planned on that something. And then due to no choices of your own. You are got given what was expected, explicitly offered and paid for. You have every right to feel cheated out of that experience and your feelings are valid.   Why so many choose to be try to belittle you or tell you how you should feel about it is beyond my understanding. 
 

8 hours ago, Homosassa said:

Sorry you are resentful of advice being giving about arriving the day before embarcation.

 

Here is more that will probably cause more agita:  Travel is never a sure thing and unexpected costs can arise for any reason. If the budget is so tight that there is no room for unexpected costs , perhaps the trip and its cost needs to be reevaluated.

 

In your friend's case, they are not suffering a "hardship" by arriving the night before a cruise and paying for a hotel room.  NCL owns them nothing.

 

By the way, in that realm of unexpected costs, a driver busy texting on his cell phone caused us to be involved in a car crash in our new car on the way to port  three weeks ago (two days before the cruise and an eight hour drive).

 

We had to pay out to rent a car to continue our trip and to return home after the cruise.  While we will eventually have part of the cost paid by insurance, it still was an expected cost.

I am not resentful of advice given about arriving day of.  1000's of cruise passengers choose to arrive day of.  Some of them choose to use the cruise line air fare to do this.  The cruise line offers this service.  It is not abnormal to fly in the day of the cruise.  There are plenty of factors that lead people to choose to fly in day of.  That is their choice.  Choices should be accepted with out the comments or remarks that they should be grateful to fly in the day before. That was not their choice.  Their choice is not to be honored.  They were told to expect day of air,  they were planning on day of airfare.  When those plans are changed not by their choice.  They have a right to feel cheated out of what was expected.   I didn't ask for opinions on flying in day before.  I KNOW the preference to fly in early.  I DID ask if anyone has had this happen to them.  I have gotten zero responses of that.  I did ask if my friends should be compensated for this CHANGE to the plans that was not their choice. I have gotten a few responses to this that are basically, No you are not entitled to anything, which leads to the too bad so sad.  

As far as suffering a hardship obviously  if they can afford to cruise they are not on desperate times but it is sill money from their budget that was not part of the plan and is a cost not spent by 100's of fellow passengers that are in fact flying in the day of the cruise.   

Yes unexpected costs are a part of travel and I am sorry you had to deal with that on your vacation, but that should be just that unexpected for emergency reasons.  This is a choice made by the travel company that should perhaps offer something in return for changing the plan.  Like someone said earlier if my friend would have requested this day before deviation NCL gives you a $25 credit per person. that could be offered as a way of saying hey sorry this sucks that your choice of travel isn't an option.  

23 minutes ago, hallux said:

Deviations need to be requested 75 or more days before the cruise, it's in the T&C's of the promo (that you probably didn't read).  It's not that changes can't be made, it's that you were no longer in the time frame where the changes could be made, especially if the flights were ticketed.

I'm SHOCKED that you got that refunded!  Usually once the airfare is ticketed (inside that 75-day window for the freeze on changes) you're stuck with those flights.

 

I agree with @cc-riderslc and @njkate - NCL gets 'bulk' tickets, they don't pay 'rack rate'.  If the airline sets aside only a certain number of those types of tickets per flight and you got the last couple, they then can't put your friends on the same flight.

Why are you shocked. NO WHERE in either the terms and conditions or the cancellation fee schedule would indicate that you wouldn’t get 50% back. The cancellation fee is pretty clear that up to 61 days you get 50% then until 31 days you 25%. 

48 minutes ago, johnrich said:

Is NCL now using Southwest as one of their airlines or is that who you ended up booking with on your own? I know they’ve had a bad rap recently, but we still love flying with them. 

Yes. Ncl booked southwest. We still have them for the return flight. 

Okay. Thanks. I got it. LOUD AND CLEAR. 

“too bad. So sad. Sucks to be you” 

message received. 

My friend just got an email fro the air department that they can not accommodate them for a day of arrival and that they will be booked on a day before and will need to arrange hotel and transportation on their own.  This is not something they were expecting to have to pay for.  What I find extra annoying is that two of the 4 cabins received their day of air fare 2 weeks ago.  And one of the rooms had them arriving in Orlando at noon,  the email to my friend says the flights have to arrive before 11:30 to meet their standard of quality.  Now we had already canceled the air there as we felt arriving at noon with a 40 min layover in Atlanta when coming from a city that could have de icing was way too risky and booked ourselves onto a night before flight.  BUT we had to fight to get the 50% refund due to us and now I'm upset that when we called and raised these concerns and asked if we could be accommodated on this previous evening flight.  (same company southwest and cheaper air at the time) they emphatically told us that no changes can be made and that the original flights meet all their standards.  GRRR!  IF they met their standards then why don't you put our friends on those flights?   The other room that canceled their airfare had a 70 min layover in Chicago and got in at 11:20.  SO there are (or were) flights available to accommodate day of travel.    

What can my friend expect from this?  Will NCL do anything to make this hardship any easier?  onboard credit? crappy bottle of champaign?  Or is this a too bad so sad  sucks to be you kind of thing?

Anyone else experience this?

On 2/1/2023 at 10:18 AM, Shipshack said:

 

Update - Just received an email from NCL that my flight details will not be issued until 30 days prior to embarkation.  Reason given was due to "large volume of airline schedule changes and modifications" 🙁

A member in our group got that email and then yesterday got another email, saying that there are no flights available to fly in day of that meet their requirements of arriving in port city before 11:30 and that they will be booking them on a flight the DAY before. Not an overnight red eye but DAY before?  

First this is the third cabin in our group and two of the others got airfare for the day of. One with the flight arriving in Orlando at noon (which they now say is too late) and another arriving at 11:20.  Both had tight connections and We felt uncomfortable with that and booked our own flights the Night before (leave 9 pm arrive after midnight, so we can all work Friday since we all work in schools and its a hardship to miss that extra day of work). SO NCL had 6 people cancel flights for the day of and yet my friend can't get a flight day of??

Second, since the letter says day before does that mean that my friends could get a 6 am flight on Friday? missing that extra day of work was not in the plans.  

UGH- the saga continues.

It seems to me that your booking was never confirmed. Which to me would indicate that you should receive the “deposit” amount back in full. Yes I know it’s not a deposit but it sounds like they are using the same ish rules as a deposit or maybe courtesy hold is the better term. Your reservation was on hold until payment was completed. Or 24 hours (whatever the timeline was). Since payment wasn’t completed in that timeline the reservation was cancelled and all money should go back to the original form of payment. But I don’t know that for sure just what I suspect. 

We are 51 days out from our cruise and still have not received our daughters air fare. Got a letter saying due to unpredictability of airlines they will be issued later. But since our room already got ours and now OP got there’s for a cruise even later than ours it makes me extra nervous. 

57 minutes ago, fastpitchdad said:

 

What is the latency?

I am not a computer person at all, but here is the data from my app.  Latency- min 23ms, Max 80ms

No clue what that means.  But as far as speeds go the fastest provider in the area that we got rid of was 4mbps download, maybe .5mbps upload.  Now we get an average of 85 mbps down (sometimes over 100) and 12mbps upload. We have been extremely pleased with the performance and we live in snow areas and the "dish" does well in weather too. 

23 hours ago, njhorseman said:

 

 

They say that it's a very simple installation process so I would think there's a good chance it will be on Prima by the time of your cruise.

I realize that an entire ship process would be different from home set up.....but we have starlink and it is exactly two pieces. plug the electrical cord into an outlet and the cord from the router into the unit.  Fast internet in 10 mins or less. if the equipment would be just slightly smaller I could bring my own, just add the fee for additional "zones". LOL 

The problem will be in getting the equipment, I am sure NCL has enough pull to jump the waiting list,  it took us 11 months before getting our equipment

2 hours ago, AwesomO said:

@lfdemtI booked about 2 years ago and I remember the treats perk, but not room service delivery perks. Just that the treats would be delivered to your room, of course. 

Well somehow it doesn't surprise me that NCL gave me incorrect information.  She definitely told me room service fee would be waived twice.  But since I haven't seen or heard about that from anyone, I will not hold my breath on that.

On 1/25/2023 at 1:05 PM, SoBe2010 said:

I was more curious what's meant with a f&b Delivery twice a week...

I believe the Club balcony suites used to offer free room service delivery twice for a week long cruise.   At least that was what was told to me when we booked our room back in September but I no longer see it mentioned on the website. 

22 minutes ago, Cruise5life said:

No you were a prepared parent.   
not one complaining they there wasn’t a place open late for their angels.   Lol.  
there’s a difference.    

Never once did I complain that there wasn't a place open late,  I was simply trying "prevent" a hungry 13 year old boy by asking what options are available.  When the suggestion of taking items from the buffet to have him make sandwiches was offered, I thought that would work and then up pops this thread calling us squirrels for being prepared.  Here I thought I was doing the right thing to prepare for our cruise by asking people more knowledgeable about it and instead have been basically told to let him starve, rather than use a ziplock.