NCL Experimenting with On Line Check in for Bliss

I am traveling with friends on the Bliss for the 8th of September and several traveling with us received emails over the weekend that their on line check in was not complete and required their Passport photo to be uploaded. Oddly I did not receive this email and my online registration showed complete. So I called NCL, this is a totally new procedure they are experimenting with to speed up the on line check in process. The reason I did not receive it was that we are in The Haven and they are not requiring this for their Haven since the check in process is handled differently but they told me to go to Proof of Citizenship and if I wanted to I could upload the photo from our passports but not required for Haven.

I was just surprised since no one has mentioned this here on CC that I had noticed.

That sounds a very good idea, I hope it works and goes throughout the fleet. Then the possibility of loading Credit Card details.

I just completed check in for my November cruise and I was prompted to upload my passport photo. I skipped over and completed everything else including my credit card information and authorized my onboard account. I received a "check in complete" message and logged out. 2 days later I received an email that my check in authentication failed due to lack of the picture not being uploaded. I logged on to upload and there is no place to do so. My account indicates check in complete. I will get my picture taken at port. Not to concerned. Debbie

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I loaded pictures for the security and also for passport. It also had me enter the credit card information and ok for all passengers on same card. Instructions state if you don’t take the correct type of picture it will need to be redone at port. Will see if it speeds things up. Reports are the check in process is already very smooth. Perhaps it’s because of this.

Now the major problems in the port will be people without an ESTA who need one for the States or with no paper copy on hand AND/OR those who have the wrong or no visa for a country to be visited.

We have been held up at different ports waiting for people to sort out these problems.

I'm on the Bliss this coming weekend and did not get prompted to add passport photos. But we did include credit card info and authorized everyone in our party to use it for purchases. But now that you posted this I went to our on line check in and see that we can put passport photos there. So are you saying this will help with check in when we arrive?

I am traveling with friends on the Bliss for the 8th of September and several traveling with us received emails over the weekend that their on line check in was not complete and required their Passport photo to be uploaded. Oddly I did not receive this email and my online registration showed complete. So I called NCL, this is a totally new procedure they are experimenting with to speed up the on line check in process. The reason I did not receive it was that we are in The Haven and they are not requiring this for their Haven since the check in process is handled differently but they told me to go to Proof of Citizenship and if I wanted to I could upload the photo from our passports but not required for Haven.

I was just surprised since no one has mentioned this here on CC that I had noticed.

So this is odd. When we checked in for the Bliss at the port, they actually had fancy new scanning machines to scan our passport and grabbed the security photo from that. I.e., no webcam photo. RCCL has allowed upload of security photos,,, but we have seen them re-take photos at the port because the system did not send the uploaded photos through.

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So this is odd. When we checked in for the Bliss at the port, they actually had fancy new scanning machines to scan our passport and grabbed the security photo from that. I.e., no webcam photo. RCCL has allowed upload of security photos,,, but we have seen them re-take photos at the port because the system did not send the uploaded photos through.

I think it is pretty odd as well, when I called NCL to find out about this they told me the best way to do it was if I had the new app on my phone which I already had and could do my on line check in there if I wanted so I tried uploading the photo, they do make it very easy but guess what I took at least 40 photos between my husband and myself and none were excepted. I already all the correct information in there and it has been done for a few months so definitely not going to worry about it. But I would think it still be better security wise to have them scan the passport at the pier :confused:

Ok, not ignorant here but how would you upload your passport picture. Thanks!

Seems to me that in their zeal to stream line things (which is really a zeal to decrease the amount of shore side staff) that NCL is setting themselves up for a potential disaster if their system is hacked. I think that I will just skip online check in and arrive at the pier a little earlier.

Well I sure hope the system they have works better than the one U.S. Custom's has at the Vancouver airport for passenger's headed to the U.S., that system was horrible. I'd say that probably 3 out of every 5 photo's taken they were not able to match to the passport photo. So we got to stand in the long line instead of the one that had no more than 30 people total in it. Took almost an hour and a half just to get through.

My passport was issued in 2010 and I have lost 65 pounds since then. Hope the change does not cause me issues!

My passport was issued in 2010 and I have lost 65 pounds since then. Hope the change does not cause me issues!

The directions on security photo they have you upload says it must be current and look like you.

Pretty sure your passport photo should also be a likeness of you though. I think I had to replace my kids a couple years early at one point because the likeness had changed so drastically.

Seems to me that in their zeal to stream line things (which is really a zeal to decrease the amount of shore side staff) that NCL is setting themselves up for a potential disaster if their system is hacked. I think that I will just skip online check in and arrive at the pier a little earlier.

Totally agree!

So I uploaded the passport and sea pass photos and received an email confirmation that I had completed the process successfully, even though I had an error message when I uploaded the passport. The email also reminded me to make sure I brought the original documents..

The odd thing is now my edocs are screwed up. Our middle names are now on there twice. Once abbreviated and once full. Example: “A Ann”and “Christop Christopher”. I have the original doc downloaded with our initial correct booking names that match our passports just in case.

Seems to me that in their zeal to stream line things (which is really a zeal to decrease the amount of shore side staff) that NCL is setting themselves up for a potential disaster if their system is hacked. I think that I will just skip online check in and arrive at the pier a little earlier.

RCCL does the same thing. You're required to enter a credit card and security photo for some ships. Port check-in is an ipad to scan passports. You use your printed boarding pass to get on the ship. And your room keys are sitting on your cabin door.

A lot of people do not know how to do this.

I would rather just check in at the port.

If I would need to "download" passport picture, I would not be sailing. Would have no idea how to do, or would want to. Check in at Port absolutely!

So I uploaded the passport and sea pass photos and received an email confirmation that I had completed the process successfully, even though I had an error message when I uploaded the passport. The email also reminded me to make sure I brought the original documents..

 

The odd thing is now my edocs are screwed up. Our middle names are now on there twice. Once abbreviated and once full. Example: “A Ann”and “Christop Christopher”. I have the original doc downloaded with our initial correct booking names that match our passports just in case.

I called my pcc and he fixed my issue in less than a minute.

It was not a difficult process. The online checkin gives step by step instructions.

They aren’t asking for anything more than I already need to provide to get onboard so I don’t have an issue trying to make the process easier.

Here is an excerpt from emails both my wife and I received from NCL about our travel docs for Sep 15th on the Bliss:

Thank you for choosing Norwegian Cruise Line for your upcoming vacation!

You have attempted to check-in with Reservation No. xxxxxxxx for BLISS, sailing on 2018-09-15, via https://www.ncl.com/ . Unfortunately, we have encountered some issues with the documents required during Online Check-In. Please refer to the issues listed below.

Security Photo for John Doe

• Photo has not been provided.
  

Primary Identification Document(s) for John Doe

Passport

• Clearly captured photograph of the document has not been provided.
  

Please resubmit the above mentioned items using our website https://www.ncl.com/ or via the Cruise Norwegian Mobile app https://www.ncl.com/apps to complete your online check-in. Completing online check-in before arriving to the port will greatly reduce your wait time in the terminal.

I went to ncl.com to add security pictures and found there is nowhere to do so. Called Customer Care to find out "whazup??" I was put on hold while CC rep contacted IT. She said she was told "the functionality is not there yet". From previous posts it looks like that function comes and goes on the web site randomly. Nice! Bliss Passengers are being used as unknowing and unpaid Beta testers for software "upgrades". :mad:

In this era when most corporate and govt. servers have been hacked at one time or another I will not be sending photos of our passports to NCL or anyone else.

Now the major problems in the port will be people without an ESTA who need one for the States or with no paper copy on hand AND/OR those who have the wrong or no visa for a country to be visited.

 

We have been held up at different ports waiting for people to sort out these problems.

Hi I have an ESTA visa I know it’s done electronically I’ve flown into USA many times and not needed to print it out , is it different for the cruise ? Will they need to see we have the ESTA

.?

My passport was issued in 2010 and I have lost 65 pounds since then. Hope the change does not cause me issues!

Congrats..I was thinking along those same lines. Looks change over the years.

Hi I have an ESTA visa I know it’s done electronically I’ve flown into USA many times and not needed to print it out , is it different for the cruise ? Will they need to see we have the ESTA

Yes. If we are arriving from any foreign country at the US border by cruise liner we have to show the ESTA paper copy before we embark. Carry it with your other documents, DON'T put it in your checked in luggage.

Just back from our 8/25 cruise on the Bliss. We had uploaded security photos and our passports to the on line check in, and I'm not sure if it made any difference at all. They still snapped security photos of us upon arrival and they still scanned our passports just like they were doing for everyone. So I don't know if it mattered at all. There was no evidence that people who had that info uploaded already were processed any differently.