NCL Epic very unhappy

I didn't know where to post this because I'm still kind of new on the message boards, but I just wanted to vent a little about our cruise on the Epic last week. I booked our cruise in early August for the Nov. 12th sailing. I reserved a balcony through a travel agent and didn't get our room assignment until about 3 weeks ago. I've had a stressful last couple of months, so I was really looking foward to laying in bed all week, letting my husband watch tv (especially football) and just staring out the window at the ocean from bed in our balcony stateroom. Well, much to my suprise, when we got to our room, we didn't have a traditional balcony. We had sort of an extra steel room with a window to the ocean. I'm very short and it was barely chest level for me standing up! I was so let down! On the scale of bad things happening on a vacation, this doesn't come close, but still... we reserved a traditional balcony and I was NEVER informed that it would be an obstructed view!!! All I could see from bed was a steel wall, not the ocean I've waited 3 months for!

My husband and I NEVER complain about anything. We get the wrong food in restaurants, bad meals, etc., but never complain. This we did though. I could understand if we paid a little less for the room or knew ahead of time so we could get the right balcony but SERIOUSLY!!! I cried for 3 days about this once we were on the ship! I couldn't sleep the first night and cried all night long. After we got into our stateroom, we went down to the guest services and explained to them that we were never informed about this room being an obstructed view. Unfortunately they were sold out of traditional balconies so we couldn't get what I really thought we were getting to begin with. After talking to several people, we finally settled on possibly switching to an inside cabin midweek. No one understood that we didn't get what we wanted, a BALCONY!!! I guess we got an extra room with a window and I was told we could still open the door and "get fresh air." We paid almost $800 extra for a balcony stateroom vs an inside cabin.

I was so upset that on Monday, they called to offer us an inside cabin with a $380 onboard credit. So in otherwords, we ended up paying an extra $420 for an inside cabin. I was so upset about the room that we just took the onboard credit. So instead of the relaxing vacation I had hoped for, I was just stressed... I'm leaving out many details leading up to this point, like for example, when the guest services woman laughed at me when we were complaining about the room. There were also minor problems with the cruise. Ladies, if you are stressed and get your menstral cycle early, bring pads, because they are NOT available onboard.

Bottom line, we will NOT be cruising NCL EVER again! My husband and I have been on 16 cruises since 1999 and 4 of which are NCL, but never again! When we were at the guest services, I was informed that we should know that after so many cruises, we could get an obstructed balcony with no indication. I have been so disappointed and will NEVER EVER cruise with NCL again!

Oh, and I checked the NCL website and it doesn't say in the room discription anywhere that our stateroom was not a real balcony stateroom.

I am so sorry to hear about your bad experience - I would have been so upset too. I have never cruised before, much less on NCL so I cannot offer anything but condolences. We are in a balcony and I have my heart set on sitting out on it!

You booked a specific cabin through a Travel Agent and didn't get it?

Or you booked a "guarantee" stateroom and it was never explained to you by the Travel Agent that there is a possibility of getting an obscured view balcony?

In either case, it sounds like your issue should be with the Travel Agent, not NCL.

While I understand your disappointment, something's not right with your story. I can't figure out why you wouldn't know which room you booked until 3 weeks before unless the Agent booked you on a "guarantee" to save you a few dollars.

:confused:

If you booked your cruise in August, but didn't get your cabin assignment until 3 weeks before sailaway, it sounds like you booked a "guarantee", not a specific balcony cabin. So sorry you did not have a good cruise, but this is the risk taken when booking a "guarantee".

Trust me, I am very upset with our travel agent as we were told it would be a regular balcony, because I remember saying when I booked the reservation that I wanted to make sure it was a regular balcony. The thing that I'm upset with NCL about is that when we got our room assignment, I looked at our catagory and there was NO indication that it was an obstructed view. The pictures of the staterooms in our catagory show a REGULAR balcony. I've never had this problem before and I just feel so cheated. We really didn't save any money. We got a $100 room credit from our travel agent. That's it. I would have GLADLY paid extra for a regular balcony. Like I said, I just feel so cheated. There should be somewhere in the room explinations on the NCL website about these specific balconies

I can only imagine how surprised you were, and that you felt cheated, but it's something your TA should have explained to you in advance. If you book a "balcony guarantee", you can be assigned an obstructed view or an unobstructed view, and unfortunately, you were assigned an obstructed view. What a shame that nothing was said to you in advance, but this really does sound like a TA issue, not an NCL issue. I would have been upset about this too!

So you had a closed in balcony? I think if you book a guarantee, your agent should tell you that your room is possibly not in a prime location. Unfortunately this can happen on any cruise line not just Norwegian...since you know now, be sure you dont book a guarantee on your next cruise....

Do you have a picture of the balcony....also what was the room number? It would be helpful so others on this board wont book the same room...

Sorry you didn't get what you wanted. Still not sure why NCL deserves the blame for your TA's obvious lack of interest in filling your wishes.

Guess this just gives another vote for booking directly through the cruise line after doing your own complete homework.

You state the reason you are upset with NCL is "that when we got our room assignment, I looked at our catagory and there was NO indication that it was an obstructed view. The pictures of the staterooms in our catagory show a REGULAR balcony."

NCL's website states on the exact same page as you would have viewed your category stateroom. "Stateroom images, square footage, and configurations are representative only. Actual accommodations may vary"

Don't understand why you din't just select the cabin you wanted? Was it save money?

Sounds like an "in-hull" balcony. If so - this is not an obstructed view.

Putting aside the issue of a "guarantee" balcony, the point is that NCL does NOT make any distinction between "hull/enclosed" balconies and "regular" balconies -- not in pricing, and, most important, not in the deck plans (at least not on the Jewel class ships; if the EPIC is different, I'm unaware of that).

If you did not know these enclosed/hull balconies exist, you could not tell it by looking at the deck plans, nor are these cabins so marked with any sort of icon or legend to flag this when you are looking at cabin selections on line. In fact, if you weren't a Cruise Critic addict, I think you wouldn't even know these types of balconies exist at all.

Making things worse, as I found out personally, NCL's own sales reps don't have information available to them to be able to know exactly which cabins on a given ship have enclosed balconies. A year ago, I was making a reservation on the Jewel through my PCC. We'd picked out a balcony on Deck 10. It was fairly far forward, and I wanted to be sure that it was NOT an enclosed balcony (the existence of which I only knew because of CC).

My NCL PCC told me that they did NOT have any information showing which of the balconies were enclosed and which were not. He could only tell me that he was pretty sure the one I was interested in was not. That wasn't good enough. Do you know what he had to do to confirm the information? He had to email THE SHIP and have someone go check out the cabin and walk out to the balcony!

I wish I were making that up, it's so absurd.

In the OP's case, if she had a "guarantee" cabin (which we don't know), then of course NCL could have put her anywhere in that cabin class or above. BUT should NCL really be treating the enclosed balconies the same as regular open balconies? Personally, I don't think so... And I think the deck plans should be marked so that the hull balcony cabins are easily identified by anyone trying to book a cabin, be it the passenger herself, a TA, or any NCL sales rep. (There are icons for other things, like "holds three." They could easily have an icon for this.)

OP: I'm sorry this happened to you.

Sounds like your TA dropped the ball and let you book a GTY when you really weren't going to be happy with "any balcony". If you booked in August, you should have had a stateroom number in August, and been able to look at deck plans, search the web for pictures of the staterooms and reviews of others that have sailed in it, etc.

Your frustrations are well founded, and I can feel your disappointment in just what you've written.

So what balcony category/ stateroom # did you end up with? There are so many different categories of balconies. If I was booked in one of the "lower" categories, I would expect there to be some difference between my cabin and a BA. hence the fact that you aren't paying the same price as a BA.

My NCL PCC told me that they did NOT have any information showing which of the balconies were enclosed and which were not. He could only tell me that he was pretty sure the one I was interested in was not. That wasn't good enough. Do you know what he had to do to confirm the information? He had to email THE SHIP and have someone go check out the cabin and walk out to the balcony!

That is horrible. They should have that information...people should not have to rely on Webshots and CC to find out what their balcony is going to look like.

Putting aside the issue of a "guarantee" balcony, the point is that NCL does NOT make any distinction between "hull/enclosed" balconies and "regular" balconies -- not in pricing, and, most important, not in the deck plans (at least not on the Jewel class ships; if the EPIC is different, I'm unaware of that).

 

If you did not know these enclosed/hull balconies exist, you could not tell it by looking at the deck plans, nor are these cabins so marked with any sort of icon or legend to flag this when you are looking at cabin selections on line. In fact, if you weren't a Cruise Critic addict, I think you wouldn't even know these types of balconies exist at all.

 

Making things worse, as I found out personally, NCL's own sales reps don't have information available to them to be able to know exactly which cabins on a given ship have enclosed balconies. A year ago, I was making a reservation on the Jewel through my PCC. We'd picked out a balcony on Deck 10. It was fairly far forward, and I wanted to be sure that it was NOT an enclosed balcony (the existence of which I only knew because of CC).

 

My NCL PCC told me that they did NOT have any information showing which of the balconies were enclosed and which were not. He could only tell me that he was pretty sure the one I was interested in was not. That wasn't good enough. Do you know what he had to do to confirm the information? He had to email THE SHIP and have someone go check out the cabin and walk out to the balcony!

 

I wish I were making that up, it's so absurd.

 

In the OP's case, if she had a "guarantee" cabin (which we don't know), then of course NCL could have put her anywhere in that cabin class or above. BUT should NCL really be treating the enclosed balconies the same as regular open balconies? Personally, I don't think so... And I think the deck plans should be marked so that the hull balcony cabins are easily identified by anyone trying to book a cabin, be it the passenger herself, a TA, or any NCL sales rep. (There are icons for other things, like "holds three." They could easily have an icon for this.)

 

OP: I'm sorry this happened to you.

Excellent information! Good to know!

You need a new travel agent.

Now that you have found cruise critic, you have a wonderful source of info about ships and cabins...hopefully research here will help prevent future disappointments.

This is not ncl fault even after they gave u the room assigment it was to late they wont switch you thats the bad part in booking just a ggty you was promised no less than a balacony.. it sucks and im sorry it happen next time book a solid room

Putting aside the issue of a "guarantee" balcony, the point is that NCL does NOT make any distinction between "hull/enclosed" balconies and "regular" balconies -- not in pricing, and, most important, not in the deck plans (at least not on the Jewel class ships; if the EPIC is different, I'm unaware of that).

 

If you did not know these enclosed/hull balconies exist, you could not tell it by looking at the deck plans, nor are these cabins so marked with any sort of icon or legend to flag this when you are looking at cabin selections on line. In fact, if you weren't a Cruise Critic addict, I think you wouldn't even know these types of balconies exist at all.

 

Making things worse, as I found out personally, NCL's own sales reps don't have information available to them to be able to know exactly which cabins on a given ship have enclosed balconies. A year ago, I was making a reservation on the Jewel through my PCC. We'd picked out a balcony on Deck 10. It was fairly far forward, and I wanted to be sure that it was NOT an enclosed balcony (the existence of which I only knew because of CC).

 

My NCL PCC told me that they did NOT have any information showing which of the balconies were enclosed and which were not...

 

OP: I'm sorry this happened to you.

I'm going on the Epic in a couple of weeks and have been inquiring about upgrading from our inside cabin to a balcony. In my multiple conversations with NCL agents no one ever mentioned "in hull" balconies nor did I see any indication on their site. I would not like this at all. The misinformation we did received in our various calls was beyond belief. I'm now thinking I should just stay with my inside cabin.

OP, I feel very badly for you, between the disappointment of the balcony, then feeling like you were belittled by the rep. at the desk, understandably makes for a very unhappy customer.

When my kids were young we booked an inside guarantee on a new Carnival ship and we were placed above the disco. We could hear the music - not just the bass but all the words - until about 3 a.m. I called the purser's desk and they said they'd ask the club to turn down the volumne (prob. didn't but I felt like an effort being made - lol). By the 2nd night I was down at that desk in tears from no sleep & cranky children. There were no cabins available at that time but the employee at the purser's desk was sympathetic, assured us that by the first port a cabin was opening up and they would move us into it, and they would credit my shipboard account for $300. to make up for such a poor start to our cruise! I'm sure this is an exception rather than the rule, but still it made an impression. I'm now up to 18 cruises on Carnival. My children (15 CCL cruise each) are adults and have also sailed with their friends so Carnival made back that money plus way more. I never booked a guarantee after that sailing. I also noticed shortly after that experience that in future brochures they listed this cabin as a "night-owl cabin" going for a lesser rate than a reg. inside.

Sorry you didn't get the room you wanted, but as stated by others this was an issue with your travel agent and not NCL. When a ship is full there is very little the line can do about it once the rooms have been assigned. The TA should have warned you about the risks of saving money with a GTY.

Hope you at least enjoyed some of the other features of the ship, including the great entertainment

The second and LAST guarantee I ever booked ended up being a "hull" balcony on Holland America's Noordam. I did find out on CC that they had those type of balconies and was very disappointed when that was what we were assigned. I could see out the window from the bed but had to stand on the balcony to see anything.

I'm going on the Epic in a couple of weeks and have been inquiring about upgrading from our inside cabin to a balcony. In my multiple conversations with NCL agents no one ever mentioned "in hull" balconies nor did I see any indication on their site. I would not like this at all. The misinformation we did received in our various calls was beyond belief. I'm now thinking I should just stay with my inside cabin.

 

On the Epic, be aware that there are also balcony cabins that are not covered and some that have the life boats just below them (and the life boats "stick out" from the hull). Again, NCL has no indication of the uncovered balconies on their website.

Also, as a genera rule, the balcony cabins that are the most forward on the ship and on the lower decks are most likely to be "in hull"---that is to protect these balconies from waves and spray when things get rough.

The TA should have warned you about the risks of saving money with a GTY.

Exactly!

I didn't know where to post this because I'm still kind of new on the message boards, but I just wanted to vent a little about our cruise on the Epic last week. I booked our cruise in early August for the Nov. 12th sailing. I reserved a balcony through a travel agent and didn't get our room assignment until about 3 weeks ago. I've had a stressful last couple of months, so I was really looking foward to laying in bed all week, letting my husband watch tv (especially football) and just staring out the window at the ocean from bed in our balcony stateroom. Well, much to my suprise, when we got to our room, we didn't have a traditional balcony. We had sort of an extra steel room with a window to the ocean. I'm very short and it was barely chest level for me standing up! I was so let down! On the scale of bad things happening on a vacation, this doesn't come close, but still... we reserved a traditional balcony and I was NEVER informed that it would be an obstructed view!!! All I could see from bed was a steel wall, not the ocean I've waited 3 months for!

 

My husband and I NEVER complain about anything. We get the wrong food in restaurants, bad meals, etc., but never complain. This we did though. I could understand if we paid a little less for the room or knew ahead of time so we could get the right balcony but SERIOUSLY!!! I cried for 3 days about this once we were on the ship! I couldn't sleep the first night and cried all night long. After we got into our stateroom, we went down to the guest services and explained to them that we were never informed about this room being an obstructed view. Unfortunately they were sold out of traditional balconies so we couldn't get what I really thought we were getting to begin with. After talking to several people, we finally settled on possibly switching to an inside cabin midweek. No one understood that we didn't get what we wanted, a BALCONY!!! I guess we got an extra room with a window and I was told we could still open the door and "get fresh air." We paid almost $800 extra for a balcony stateroom vs an inside cabin.

 

I was so upset that on Monday, they called to offer us an inside cabin with a $380 onboard credit. So in otherwords, we ended up paying an extra $420 for an inside cabin. I was so upset about the room that we just took the onboard credit. So instead of the relaxing vacation I had hoped for, I was just stressed... I'm leaving out many details leading up to this point, like for example, when the guest services woman laughed at me when we were complaining about the room. There were also minor problems with the cruise. Ladies, if you are stressed and get your menstral cycle early, bring pads, because they are NOT available onboard.

 

Bottom line, we will NOT be cruising NCL EVER again! My husband and I have been on 16 cruises since 1999 and 4 of which are NCL, but never again! When we were at the guest services, I was informed that we should know that after so many cruises, we could get an obstructed balcony with no indication. I have been so disappointed and will NEVER EVER cruise with NCL again!

 

Oh, and I checked the NCL website and it doesn't say in the room discription anywhere that our stateroom was not a real balcony stateroom.

I understand your frustration thoroughly!

I have been assigned a hull balcony on the Dawn in December. Did the hull balcony you had on the Epic have plexiglass from the rail down to the "piece of steel" surrounding the opening. Please let me know or if possible, post a photo.

My TA told me that if I booked a guarantee balcony, I could save a few hundred dollars and due to the position of the lifeboats on the Dawn, this shouldn't be a problem. (There are no lifeboats in front of balcony cabins on the Dawn.)

She didn't mention the possibility of a hull balcony either and although I tried to change my cabin after it was assigned, due to my accepting the guarantee status, I couldn't.

Lesson learned here. I'm hoping that this balcony on the Dawn will permit us to see out when sitting on it even though it has the steel enclosure.

Barbara

I didn't know where to post this because I'm still kind of new on the message boards, but I just wanted to vent a little about our cruise on the Epic last week. I booked our cruise in early August for the Nov. 12th sailing. I reserved a balcony through a travel agent and didn't get our room assignment until about 3 weeks ago. I've had a stressful last couple of months, so I was really looking foward to laying in bed all week, letting my husband watch tv (especially football) and just staring out the window at the ocean from bed in our balcony stateroom. Well, much to my suprise, when we got to our room, we didn't have a traditional balcony. We had sort of an extra steel room with a window to the ocean. I'm very short and it was barely chest level for me standing up! I was so let down! On the scale of bad things happening on a vacation, this doesn't come close, but still... we reserved a traditional balcony and I was NEVER informed that it would be an obstructed view!!! All I could see from bed was a steel wall, not the ocean I've waited 3 months for!

 

My husband and I NEVER complain about anything. We get the wrong food in restaurants, bad meals, etc., but never complain. This we did though. I could understand if we paid a little less for the room or knew ahead of time so we could get the right balcony but SERIOUSLY!!! I cried for 3 days about this once we were on the ship! I couldn't sleep the first night and cried all night long. After we got into our stateroom, we went down to the guest services and explained to them that we were never informed about this room being an obstructed view. Unfortunately they were sold out of traditional balconies so we couldn't get what I really thought we were getting to begin with. After talking to several people, we finally settled on possibly switching to an inside cabin midweek. No one understood that we didn't get what we wanted, a BALCONY!!! I guess we got an extra room with a window and I was told we could still open the door and "get fresh air." We paid almost $800 extra for a balcony stateroom vs an inside cabin.

 

I was so upset that on Monday, they called to offer us an inside cabin with a $380 onboard credit. So in otherwords, we ended up paying an extra $420 for an inside cabin. I was so upset about the room that we just took the onboard credit. So instead of the relaxing vacation I had hoped for, I was just stressed... I'm leaving out many details leading up to this point, like for example, when the guest services woman laughed at me when we were complaining about the room. There were also minor problems with the cruise. Ladies, if you are stressed and get your menstral cycle early, bring pads, because they are NOT available onboard.

 

Bottom line, we will NOT be cruising NCL EVER again! My husband and I have been on 16 cruises since 1999 and 4 of which are NCL, but never again! When we were at the guest services, I was informed that we should know that after so many cruises, we could get an obstructed balcony with no indication. I have been so disappointed and will NEVER EVER cruise with NCL again!

 

Oh, and I checked the NCL website and it doesn't say in the room discription anywhere that our stateroom was not a real balcony stateroom.

I understand your frustration thoroughly!

I have been assigned a hull balcony on the Dawn in December. Did the hull balcony you had on the Epic have clear plexiglass from the rail down to the bottom "piece of steel" surrounding the opening? Please let me know or if possible, post a photo.

My TA told me that if I booked a guarantee balcony, I could save a few hundred dollars and due to the position of the lifeboats on the Dawn, this shouldn't be a problem. (There are no lifeboats in front of balcony cabins on the Dawn.)

She didn't mention the possibility of a hull balcony either and although I tried to change my cabin after it was assigned, due to my accepting the guarantee status, I couldn't.

Lesson learned here. I'm hoping that this balcony on the Dawn will permit us to see out when sitting on it even though it has the steel enclosure.

Barbara

Was the hull balcony on the Epic the same?

Hope I'm doing this correctly.

I saw another pic somewhere of an Epic hull balcony and it looked like there was more steel on the bottom.

Barbara

Sorry to hear you were disappointed and didn't enjoy your cruise. I feel like others that since you were posting on these boards prior to sailing, there are plenty of threads about the Epic and types of balconies and many about the "hull" balconies on all of the ships. The first time I booked a balcony it was a hull balcony on the Gem. We really enjoyed it because we left from NYC in February and the extra wind protection helped us to enjoy our balcony much more often than an open one. However, sailing from Miami I can see that the partially enclosed balcony would be a disappointment. I agree that having a gty puts you at a high risk for that type balcony. The thing I don't understand about your post is that you traded a balcony for an inside cabin... I just don't understand. Even the enclosed balcony offered you the opportunity to sit outside and in fresh air.. the change to an inside cabin makes no sense to me. Seems like it would make me more miserable.

Hope your next vacation is better. If you do try NCL again, just come back here and ask the questions you have and quite possibly you'll get the answers you need.

I know that it seems odd that you can get more information here than from the NCL web page... maybe that is why they treat us with very nice meet and greets and an NCL rep posts here. They know that they are reaching lots of people. Everytime I was at a meet and greet, the officers all said that they monitor these boards... speaks volumes for the importance they place on cruise critic.