Norwegian Pearl spa pass - don’t buy in advance

I’m crushing the Pearl out of NOLA right now, just wrapping up day 7. I purchased the spa pas in advance for my spouse and myself. We have used it daily since getting on board.

None of the locks in the change rooms work, so you can’t take any valuables to the spa. They actually told my wife not to worry, just put the stuff in the locker. Really? I trust the cabin stewards not to steal my stuff, but not other passengers.

The hot tub doesn’t get up to temp. They say it’s the 40 degrees Celsius (~104 F) it’s supposed to be, but it isn’t. It doesn’t even compare to the outside tubs - there’s not even any steam rolling off it. Similarly, the individual pools in the change rooms are also of similar cool temps. It’s so bad that the hot tub is rarely used, and when it is, the passengers don’t use it for very long due to the temperature. I’ve complained every day and either get brushed off or lied to. On Day 6 the soaker pool was also way below the temp it should be.

Based on all that I finally asked to speak to the spa manager based on the guidance of the NCL Guest Relations Manager as the spa services is outsourced by NCL, but never got a call back from the manager or the assistant manager.

I feel I’ve given then more than sufficient opportunity to address the matter, but they have elected to ignore my concerns (obviously more interested in selling more treatments).

I called Amex to dispute the charge and they have reversed it pending an investigation. For the record I will be leaving a letter detailing my experiences with the Guest Relations Manager and sending a follow-up letter to NCL management in Florida upon my return.

It’s clear that the lockers have not worked for a number of cruises and that the hot tub heater is malfunctioning as well. Buy the Spa Pass at your own risk.

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Interesting about the "hot" tub temps in the spa. On our third (and final) Epic TA spa mini suite cruise--6th Epic cruise, I found the spa pool to be quite a bit below it's former temps. Some days were warmer than others, but at no time were they (pool/hot tub) hot enough to produce the general condensation dampness which had always existed there. My experience and your report make me think that Mandara is simply reducing operating costs. I did ask that the temps be checked but was also told that the temps were correct.

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Thank you for posting this. We're on the December 5th cruise and I keep going back and forth deciding whether to buy spa passes. I think I'll save my money this time.

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I called Amex to dispute the charge and they have reversed it pending an investigation. For the record I will be leaving a letter detailing my experiences with the Guest Relations Manager and sending a follow-up letter to NCL management in Florida upon my return.

Disputing the charge indicates that you are accusing NCL of a criminal act and that you are going to aid AmEx with a law enforcement investigation of fraud.

Your description is more that you are not satisfied with the product you purchased, even though you clearly state that you continue to use the product on a daily basis (which significantly weakens your claim). And that you have not requested a refund on board, but rather launched a criminal complaint of fraud against NCL for the services which you willingly continue to use. Further, that the basis of your complaint is that the hot tub water is not as warm as you think it should be.

Disputing the charge indicates that you are accusing NCL of a criminal act and that you are going to aid AmEx with a law enforcement investigation of fraud.

 

 

 

be.

Not at all true

Disputed charges are often used for perceived violations of contract, over charges, etc. nothing that says criminal action was taken. That’s what OP is saying, they bought a service and believe carnival failed to deliver. I don’t think they will win but can try. The service was delivered, they were able to use the spa. They were just unhappy with it. Now if the spa had been closed most of the trip then I think that would win.

For example; I rented a car from hertz. I took an upgrade that was quoted at $56 for the week. When I returned the car, they said that was an error (it was printed on the contract) and it was going to be $80 for the week so that’s what they would charge me. Got nowhere with them so disputed charge when I got home. Contract violation. (I also filed with the BBB and in response to the complaint hertz refunded the difference so I withdrew the dispute)

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Disputing the charge indicates that you are accusing NCL of a criminal act and that you are going to aid AmEx with a law enforcement investigation of fraud.

 

Your description is more that you are not satisfied with the product you purchased, even though you clearly state that you continue to use the product on a daily basis (which significantly weakens your claim). And that you have not requested a refund on board, but rather launched a criminal complaint of fraud against NCL for the services which you willingly continue to use. Further, that the basis of your complaint is that the hot tub water is not as warm as you think it should be.

Over the past several decades with Amex (and now Amex Plat), we've had a few times that we did "chargebacks", claiming that what we "got" wasn't what we were supposed to get, etc.

In all cases, Amex/Amex Plat gave us our money back.

In one case, they wanted substantial "evidence" showing what we ordered, what we got, what we got as "replacements" (also totally unsatisfactory, not what was described).

In that case, we also got to keep the merchandise, both sets, because the vendor declined to arrange for return shipping. We donated all of the unwanted merchandise.

There was no "law enforcement action".

The only time there was "law enforcement" involvement was when someone fraudulently used our Amex Plat card to try to pick up a Mac "tomorrow morning", all the way across country.

In that case, all systems worked as they should. The vendor notified us (our first knowledge of the attempt) that they "needed to delay pickup for 48 hours for security purposes".

Meanwhile, Amex had already cancelled the charge (we don't know if vendor notified Amex or Amex's own fraud detection detected this).

Amex told us to call the local police about the attempted fraud and possible identity theft.

We felt foolish doing this, until the local police said, Yes, we'll send an officer over; is now convenient?"

And by overnight, we got new Amex cards.

This is PRECISELY the type of situation for which we always use charge cards, and especially Amex, if there's any chance of a dicey vendor (NCL doesn't fall into that category generally, but there can always be "problems", as with this... where the services were apparently not usable as advertised).

A disputed charge could mean simply that you didn't get what was advertised, or it didn't work as advertised, etc.

That may or may not be due to fraud.

Either way, the ability to dispute and get money refunded is a serious advantage of charge cards, should something like this occur.

GC

Sorry about your spa experience. I love the Pearl spa. Yes some of the locks on the lockers don’t work. The spa attendants will get one that locks for you and then I just always take that one on subsequent visits should I need to lock my stuff up. Really no different than many gyms and even high end spas.

Re the water temperatures- the more they are used, the lower the temperature is - could be you got in right after a lot of use? Could also be that someone else had complained about them being too hot. They will adjust up or down if you request.

I’ve been on other mid size ships- Hal zuiderdam spa was woefully sub par compared to Jewel class spas. Much of the spa on the zuiderdam wasn’t in working order on our sailing including all of the coed areas shut down for over half our sailing and I complained. Didn’t get a dime back or even an apology.

Ncl is typically very responsive onboard. They have always gone above and beyond once I’m onboard. Perhaps leaving a note for hotel director can help if you have had no luck. The end of the sailing, after using the spa daily, isn’t probably the best time to say you want a refund.

Not sure if this spa situation rises to the level of a charge dispute approval but I guess that’s up to you and Ncl and amex. I’m pretty sure that you first need to try and resolve with the company and attempt to let them make it right and show you did. In your case I’d make sure you have proof that you tried in good faith to rectify the situation because on the outside it may seem like you just wanted your spa for free. Especially if you were using it regularly. Unless of course each time you visited, it was only long enough to determine the spa was not working to your standards and you stayed in there all of 5 mins and then complained and left.

I’m crushing the Pearl out of NOLA right now, just wrapping up day 7. I purchased the spa pas in advance for my spouse and myself. We have used it daily since getting on board.

 

None of the locks in the change rooms work, so you can’t take any valuables to the spa. They actually told my wife not to worry, just put the stuff in the locker. Really? I trust the cabin stewards not to steal my stuff, but not other passengers.

 

The hot tub doesn’t get up to temp. They say it’s the 40 degrees Celsius (~104 F) it’s supposed to be, but it isn’t. It doesn’t even compare to the outside tubs - there’s not even any steam rolling off it. Similarly, the individual pools in the change rooms are also of similar cool temps. It’s so bad that the hot tub is rarely used, and when it is, the passengers don’t use it for very long due to the temperature. I’ve complained every day and either get brushed off or lied to. On Day 6 the soaker pool was also way below the temp it should be.

 

Based on all that I finally asked to speak to the spa manager based on the guidance of the NCL Guest Relations Manager as the spa services is outsourced by NCL, but never got a call back from the manager or the assistant manager.

 

I feel I’ve given then more than sufficient opportunity to address the matter, but they have elected to ignore my concerns (obviously more interested in selling more treatments).

 

I called Amex to dispute the charge and they have reversed it pending an investigation. For the record I will be leaving a letter detailing my experiences with the Guest Relations Manager and sending a follow-up letter to NCL management in Florida upon my return.

 

It’s clear that the lockers have not worked for a number of cruises and that the hot tub heater is malfunctioning as well. Buy the Spa Pass at your own risk.

 

 

 

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Thanks for posting your experience. Sorry that the spa temperature was not up to your expectation.

However, you still used the spa, despite of that. Is not unethical to dispute the charges then? Just asking please, no insults intended.

We had an experience on the Gem some time back.... old lady with open oozing wounds on legs was allowed in the thallasso pool. It was not hygenic for the rest of the users. People complained but the spa manager would not say anything to her. We spoke with the spa manager and told him that we would not be using the spa since this was totally unhygienic and we would appreciate if he can refund us our spa pass minus the one day we used it. He agreed.

So you used the spa daily, but feel you deserve a full refund? That’s crazy. On3 time in 5be Breakaway, iconcierge wasn’t working well with texting on my phone. I went to GS and got a refund on the first day. I was not permitted to keep it.

Why did you continue to use the facilities if you were unhappy from Day One? I can understand going back a second day to see if the temps increased in the hot tub but.....

It’s unclear why many are assuming I am expecting a full refund. I never mentioned that at all in the original post. I made significant effort to open a dialogue on the issues, but NCL (more accurately, the spa management) have elected to ignore those attempts. Your only option with disputing credit charges is to dispute the entire amount. You can’t dispute an arbitrary portion of it.

I could spend the rest of the cruise chasing down someone at NCL to address my concern, but given my efforts to date I don’t think the onus is on me to continue. By disputing the entire charge I am attempting to open a dialogue, which will be supported by my letters that I mentioned in my original post.

If NCL decides to engage, we can discuss an appropriate discount. If they chose not to engage me in a dialogue, then I have no problem retaining the entire 100% discount. By disputing the charge I am just taking another avenue to put the ball in their court to address my concerns as previous efforts have been ignored and/or dismissed.

And for Birdtravels allegations that I am accusing NCL of fraud - please refrain from posting on topics you know nothing about.

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It’s unclear why many are assuming I am expecting a full refund. I never mentioned that at all in the original post. I made significant effort to open a dialogue on the issues, but NCL (more accurately, the spa management) have elected to ignore those attempts. Your only option with disputing credit charges is to dispute the entire amount. You can’t dispute an arbitrary portion of it.

 

I could spend the rest of the cruise chasing down someone at NCL to address my concern, but given my efforts to date I don’t think the onus is on me to continue. By disputing the entire charge I am attempting to open a dialogue, which will be supported by my letters that I mentioned in my original post.

 

If NCL decides to engage, we can discuss an appropriate discount. If they chose not to engage me in a dialogue, then I have no problem retaining the entire 100% discount. By disputing the charge I am just taking another avenue to put the ball in their court to address my concerns as previous efforts have been ignored and/or dismissed.

 

And for Birdtravels allegations that I am accusing NCL of fraud - please refrain from posting on topics you know nothing about.

 

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Also, in terms of opening a "dispute", I am unaware of any way (although perhaps there is one?) of disputing a specific portion of a single charge.

If there are several parts of the charge separately listed, sure. But not if there is a single change for "all of the <whatever>".

Opening a dispute allows, at a minimum, the vendor to start to deal with the situation, especially given that OP had no such opportunity at the time.

"How it is resolved" will be up to the vendor, the OP, and, ultimately, Amex's decision.

GC

I'll ask again - Why did you continue to go back to the spa if you were unhappy with things?

Against my better judgement, I decided to take another 30 minutes out of my cruise experience to go engage them again on this matter. The pool maintenance man showed up this time (the other two times he did not while I waited in the spa area for him).

Turns out they don’t have a pool thermometer on board the ship that he knows of. Apparently the temps are set in the depths of the ship and they don’t actually take the temperatures at pool level.

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I'll ask again - Why did you continue to go back to the spa if you were unhappy with things?

Not that I have to respond to your inquiry, but to answer your question:

I was unhappy with the locker lock malfunctioning, so I did not use them because I could not secure my personal effects. I did not use the hot tub (nor did anyone else) because the temps were below body temperature.

I used the thermal pool because it was working (at least on five of the six days I used it - on the sixth it was the same temp as the hot tub). I also used the hot beds.

So I used two of the four items that had value to me. The lockers has less value than the other three, but the hot tub had a lot more value than the other three and was the primary reason I got the spa pass to avoid the crowded hot tubs on deck. So let’s call it even - I used two of the four services that had value to me.

By the time the time day three rolled around, it was clear to me that the hot tub was never going to be up to temp. Yet I could still use two of the four services that had value to me, so I continued to do so while continuing to try to engage spa management to address the non-performance of the other two items.

Spa management failed to make any effort whatsoever to address the concerns, so I attempted to escalate the matter by engaging guest services twice on the matter. Both times I was told to talk to the spa manager, including by the guest services manager herself who also told me that it was a concession service run by a third party (this surprised me).

Spa management failed to twice contact me on the matter. So I took the next escalation step and disputed the charge with Amex. This should prompt some response from NCL head office in Tampa, as should (hopefully) the letter I intend to send them upon my return home (which really should be unnecessary on my part, but for which I will do as it is the right thing to do).

If someone from NCL does reach out to me, I will be more than happy to accept a discount on the service (and not credit toward a future NCL cruise). If no one from NCL reaches out to me, I am more than happy to retain a complete refund of the $358 I paid for the service due to nonperformance given they have absolutely no concern over the matter. Given what a someone posted above, I’m glad I made that decision as it appears NCL does not care if you’re happy with the service or not.

If you have any other suggested courses or action, I’m all ears. But given I’ve already invested at least three hours of my vacation dealing with this matter between calling Amex, waiting for the pool maintenance person, running around the ship looking for people, and dealing with this thread, I am not going to spend any more time on this matter beyond writing my letters to the Pearl Client Relations Manager and NCL HQ to document the matter. If NCL wants any part of the $358, they will know how to contact me.

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Update - on the final day at sea the spa hot tub was warm enough to use. It wasn’t the 40 degrees the staff claim it should be set at, but it was usable. It was probably the same temp as the thallosso pool. Basically I now feel vindicated that there was a problem that the staff refused to acknowledge. Still shocked the ship didn’t have a pool thermometer on board.

This will be our last NCL cruise. Going back to Celebrity, especially seeing the increase in UBP and gratuities. Bumping gratuities is essentially a way for then to given the staff a slight COLA increase in compensation without having to dig into their own pockets.

Goodbye NCL. It’s been a slice.

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It’s unclear why many are assuming I am expecting a full refund. I never mentioned that at all in the original post. I made significant effort to open a dialogue on the issues, but NCL (more accurately, the spa management) have elected to ignore those attempts. Your only option with disputing credit charges is to dispute the entire amount. You can’t dispute an arbitrary portion of it.

 

I could spend the rest of the cruise chasing down someone at NCL to address my concern, but given my efforts to date I don’t think the onus is on me to continue. By disputing the entire charge I am attempting to open a dialogue, which will be supported by my letters that I mentioned in my original post.

 

If NCL decides to engage, we can discuss an appropriate discount. If they chose not to engage me in a dialogue, then I have no problem retaining the entire 100% discount. By disputing the charge I am just taking another avenue to put the ball in their court to address my concerns as previous efforts have been ignored and/or dismissed.

 

And for Birdtravels allegations that I am accusing NCL of fraud - please refrain from posting on topics you know nothing about.

 

 

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Very clear now. Got it.