very upset with NCL

[ldydoc12]

So my niece is getting married in the south of France next summer. Our extended family decided to stay and take a cruise. We found only one cruise during the right time period leaving out of Marsaille. NCL Epic. We went to book my husband, myself and my daughters family which consist of daughter, son-in-law, a 2 yr. old and 1 yr. old twins. We wanted to book a connecting room or family suite for obvious reasons. But they did not put any of those types of rooms in this port. We would have to go to Barcelona and not have the same days with the rest of my family. PLUS they are now charging for the 1 yr. olds Are you serious? They won't use any of the services. I sent a letter to the president to see if they could put one of the connecting rooms in the the Marsaille block, but NO WAY. I even asked if the rooms were available when we cruise could we have it then. AGAIN NO. They didn't offer a thing. So we may now not be able to go on this cruise as we need to have the two year old with us and he'll be separated from his parents. I just don't get it. I guess they have pleasant of customers and don't care if they keep customers.

[Cambrensis]

That sounds terribly frustrating. But do the rooms have to be connecting? Mightn't they be closely proximate? NCL or any line for that matter really do have limitations. If the category cabin you want can't accommodate your wishes, then it is really up to you to find one that does, or adapt accordingly.

 

As to charging for little ones ... ours aren't so little any more, but I also have to agree with NCL on this one. Small children DO consume resources. Someone has to pay for that.

 

Finally, as to your comment re they must have plenty of customers and don't care ... there is actually probably some real truth to that statement. As one who is also in the service sector -- I can tell there are difficult customers we are more than happy to bid farewell in favor of the competition.

 

Hope things work out for you and heartiest congratulations to your niece.

[RD64]

I think it may have to do with the fact that this cruise is inter-ported. Passengers may embark in Barcelona, Marseille, and I believe Civitivecchia. Each port has a certain amount of cabins that are allocated to it.

 

I assume it is a matter of logistics and mathematical algorithms as to which accomodations are allocated to each port. I am going to make the assumption that the majority of passengers will embark/disembark in Barcelona, and that is why the majority of the cabins are allocated here.

 

Good luck with your plans.

[Unknotted]

The glaring sense of entitlement here amazes me. How spoiled and demanding we have become as a society.

[lanceholt]

The glaring sense of entitlement here amazes me. How spoiled and demanding we have become as a society.

 

Amen, the rooms re the rooms. Here's another one, service charge per day will be added for each cruiser each day, just so you know.

 

I agree with the poster who said that small children indeed use resources. Your plan that the twin one year olds would cruise for free won't work.

 

No company is going to make major changes to accommodate one customer.

[6rugrats]

To be honest, I am not an NCL fan, but your complaints are really ridiculous. You have very specific needs and NCL can't provide them. We can't always get what we want.

 

Children are almost always charged as the third, fourth, etc. passengers in the cabin, no matter what their age, unless there is some sort of special. NCL is no different than anyone else. Of course they use services! They make a tremendous mess and lots of trash.

 

Maybe you can change to a land vacation. There are some really lovely places in Provence where your entire family could stay together.

[dustyroad]

The glaring sense of entitlement here amazes me. How spoiled and demanding we have become as a society.

 

i agree. yes you should pay for the little ones. who do they think is going too take out the soiled diapers from the cabin ? and they still eat at the food vendures. who is going too warm up a bottle for them or who is suppose too pay for the juice that might go in a bottle. lets face the fact that no matter what the age, some services are being done for toddlers by the employees. it is only fair there is a charge for all of that.

[Starry Eyes]

The cruise is interported, as you discovered. Relatively few passengers will probably board in Marseilles, so relatively few rooms are allocated to that port. many of the "best" reallocated rooms were reserved many months ago, so those are not available to you. it is a pity that the rooms you desire are not available from the port you want when you want to sail, but c'est la vie.

 

Is the daughter's family willing to cram into one "normal" cabin (maybe a mini suite)? The two year old would be booked with you, but could sleep with his parents...nobody will do bed checks....Pleas know that room would get very crowded...so get the biggest one available and watch to see if a bigger, better or connecting set happen to come available (ie if some other family cancels).

[debt]

So my niece is getting married in the south of France next summer. Our extended family decided to stay and take a cruise. We found only one cruise during the right time period leaving out of Marsaille. NCL Epic. We went to book my husband, myself and my daughters family which consist of daughter, son-in-law, a 2 yr. old and 1 yr. old twins. We wanted to book a connecting room or family suite for obvious reasons. But they did not put any of those types of rooms in this port. We would have to go to Barcelona and not have the same days with the rest of my family. PLUS they are now charging for the 1 yr. olds Are you serious? They won't use any of the services. I sent a letter to the president to see if they could put one of the connecting rooms in the the Marsaille block, but NO WAY. I even asked if the rooms were available when we cruise could we have it then. AGAIN NO. They didn't offer a thing. So we may now not be able to go on this cruise as we need to have the two year old with us and he'll be separated from his parents. I just don't get it. I guess they have pleasant of customers and don't care if they keep customers.

 

Could you book the room for embarkation in barcelona and join the cruise in France?

[CI66774]

First of all - most, if not all, cruiselines charge for infants and toddlers - so your disgust is ill-founded. Secondly, your post comes across as somewhat arrogant and elitist as if NCL must move mountains to please you. If the cabins are not available - DEAL WITH IT - and stop blaming NCL.

[palmyrafan]

So my niece is getting married in the south of France next summer. Our extended family decided to stay and take a cruise. We found only one cruise during the right time period leaving out of Marsaille. NCL Epic. We went to book my husband, myself and my daughters family which consist of daughter, son-in-law, a 2 yr. old and 1 yr. old twins. We wanted to book a connecting room or family suite for obvious reasons. But they did not put any of those types of rooms in this port. We would have to go to Barcelona and not have the same days with the rest of my family. PLUS they are now charging for the 1 yr. olds Are you serious? They won't use any of the services. I sent a letter to the president to see if they could put one of the connecting rooms in the the Marsaille block, but NO WAY. I even asked if the rooms were available when we cruise could we have it then. AGAIN NO. They didn't offer a thing. So we may now not be able to go on this cruise as we need to have the two year old with us and he'll be separated from his parents. I just don't get it. I guess they have pleasant of customers and don't care if they keep customers.

 

I am sorry that you are frustrated. But no cruise line that I am aware of takes away rooms. More than likely the rooms you are looking to book are either already booked for the week you want to cruise or have been blocked out for a large group.

 

As for charging for the little ones? NCL came out this year (I believe) and said they were going to start charging. Little ones do sleep, eat, and use the some of the ships facilities and therefore they decided to charge for them. This could also be a way to make sure that parents or caregivers make sure the little ones don't tear up the ship, not that yours would.

 

As others have posted, you may not be able to get connecting rooms and if you can't you shouldn't let that ruin your trip. You can still enjoy a nice cruise with your family. You may want to consider a suite where everyone will be accomodated (sp?).

 

Regardless, NCL is a great cruise line. You need to decide which is more important, being able to cruise with your family (in attached rooms or not) or not being able to enjoy a cruise.

 

Regardless, I hope you give NCL a chance.

[Tapi]

PLUS they are now charging for the 1 yr. olds Are you serious? They won't use any of the services.

 

I'm a parent with two kids under the age of 3. In my opinion, this change was long overdue. Initially, I used to share your views about this, but then after we took our first son on a cruise, we realized that what's charged is more than justified.

 

- Remember that, unlike lap children on airplanes, in a cruise ship they DO count towards the total passenger count. That's one less adult passenger that will not be generating any onboard revenue (alcohol drinks, specialty meals, gambling, onboard shops). The cruise line does need to recoup some of that lost revenue.

- You are right that very small children will not eat the food, but they will be waited on like any other guest on the ship (actually, more!) I was amazed at how much more work everyone tending to us had to do just because we had a toddler. We actually ended up tipping extra our cabin steward and waiter because we felt they deserved more.

- Even though NCL is indeed charging, the rates are not exhorbitant. Their 3rd/4th passenger rates are very reasonable. In fact, even though we are being charged for our 2 kids, our total for our upcoming NCL cruise is considerably cheaper than every other cruise line offering a similar itinerary that week.

[Alg63]

Ldyd i am sorry you feel frustrated, Tapi, excellent post. Having been a reservations manager, i understand how difficult it is to allocate specific rooms, complicated by the multi port issue. If everyone arrives and departs on the same day, it is somewhat easier, but in this case,they have to fill as many cabins as possible from day 1/port 1 until final day/final port. Anything not filled for the full period is up for grabs.

Yes, we have choices and our choice is to accept the decisions and policies made by a company, or do business with another company. I am often amazed at what people expect on board, you are buying a vacation, not the ship

[DMH15]

We do not get everything we want in life. NCL made a business decision you don't like ? So either adapt or don't cruise with them. Simple.

 

And the rant about the babies I agree with every other poster.

 

I notice the OP has not returned.

[deladypilot]

I am sorry you are not able to get exactly what you want but that does not mean you can not still go. It is totally up to you.

 

Example - My car holds 5 passengers, if I agree to pick you up at the airport and then you tell me you have 7 passengers, do you expect me to knock out the back of my vehicle and make it bigger so I can get all of you? No because it is not possible. Same thing with NCL. The ship can accomidate 4100 passengers, adult or children. Once they reach that number they can hold no more so yes children should pay.

 

If the ship does not have available connecting rooms available what do you want them to do? Bring a crew on board to knock out a wall just for you? Because of the multi stop embarkation, the connecting rooms may already be taken, therefore you can not have one unless they knock a hole in the wall.

 

Many families have had to work around these issues. Could you not get one outside cabin and one inside cabin across from each other, or a larger suite that can accomidate all of you. There are many options, you just have to take a moment to look at it

[redxpanda]

Ive never heard of a budget line doing this inter port thing. You are very lucky to have found one for the exact city you are going to be in.

 

Yes, paying for a child under 1 sucks, but honestly NCL has some of the lowest rates for 3rd and 4th passengers. Heck, their regular 1st and 2nd are low. Be happy this is the line that is servicing you out of Marseille and not something more expensive!

 

We paid around $170 for our DD (15 month) on her first DCL cruise. It was only 4 nights, so you can figure 7 nights would have been around $300, which is close to what NCL is charging. She enjoyed the entertainment and ate A LOT of food and we filled the trashcans with diapers and baby food/snack containers. They also would have tried to save her life if a catastrophic emergency were to occur. I think it was well worth it for a few hundred.

[redxpanda]

I also wanted to mention that on a lot of lines, there aren't always a large amount of connecting cabins. I've done a lot of deck plan studying lately and was surprised to see how few some ships have.

[softsands]

So my niece is getting married in the south of France next summer. Our extended family decided to stay and take a cruise. We found only one cruise during the right time period leaving out of Marsaille. NCL Epic. We went to book my husband, myself and my daughters family which consist of daughter, son-in-law, a 2 yr. old and 1 yr. old twins. We wanted to book a connecting room or family suite for obvious reasons. But they did not put any of those types of rooms in this port. We would have to go to Barcelona and not have the same days with the rest of my family. PLUS they are now charging for the 1 yr. olds Are you serious? They won't use any of the services. I sent a letter to the president to see if they could put one of the connecting rooms in the the Marsaille block, but NO WAY. I even asked if the rooms were available when we cruise could we have it then. AGAIN NO. They didn't offer a thing. So we may now not be able to go on this cruise as we need to have the two year old with us and he'll be separated from his parents. I just don't get it. I guess they have pleasant of customers and don't care if they keep customers.

 

Nice of you to look after the 2 year old.

[jdvmd]

So why can't you get two cabins next to one another, across the hall from one another or even a few doors away. You stated you wrote the president because you could not get two connecting cabins together? Really?

[dinek1]

Summer is a very busy time, too.

[luddite]

The glaring sense of entitlement here amazes me. How spoiled and demanding we have become as a society.

 

We need a 'Like' button here!

[Urban trekker]

"Like"

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[shelly11]

Let's see....I want NCL to give me the exact room I want and then go to all the ports I want on the days I want for the price that I want. But wait,...it's not my ship it's theirs. Maybe I have to choose the trip that best suits me and enjoy it?

[dustyroad]

we need a 'like' button here!

 

lmao !!!!!

[cabincop]

love the like idea, sometimes I am still amazed at people