If it sounds too go to be true...and, Nothing is free!

[buckeye82]

I will start off by saying that we had a very nice cruise on the Jade departing Venice on May 31. Couple of glitches on embarkation day and a major glitch on the last full day of the cruise.

 

My husband and I enjoyed the UDP when we sailed on the Spirit, so I signed us up for it again a few days after booking our sailing. Between the time I booked and final payment the cruise price was lowered a couple of times and apparently some other perks added (OBC that I knew about). So I called NCL to get those adjustments. I also called to reserve a post cruise hotel. I reserved and paid for a shore excursion online. When the proper time came I made dinner reservations online at the specialty restaurants that we wished to dine at. I had trouble booking Moderno for one of the nights so called NCL for help. They could not book it either so I had them replace it with another. No big deal. We could get into Moderno on the first night of the cruise. So, most of the dinner reservations I made online. When I placed them in the shopping cart and then reserved them it came back with zero dollars owed (but maybe I misunderstood that).

 

Imagine my surprise when a few weeks later I was going through my credit card bill and saw that NCL had refunded the exact amount for two UDPs to my card. I thought that some mistake had been made and remember being worried that perhaps the UDP would no longer be available. Again a call to NCL. The representative looked at my records and said that she saw the refund. I said that I really wanted that package and could she please put it back on. She told me that I still had the UDP but that I had gotten a promotion for free UDPs! What?! Wow! I told her that I had not noticed that in my account or reservations and she said that she would send me the document that showed the promo code. OK!

 

Now, I have to admitt that I wanted that email to say in very large letters, " NCL has given you free UDPs!" Instead it was a confirmation of my cruise and the price I had paid for the cruise, the hotel, the shore excursion etc. In the top corner were three promotion codes where before there had only been two. The third one was news to me. It said dindis. Looks like dinner discount to me! :)

 

Jump to embarkation day. We had finally gotten on board. My cruise card did not have my name clearly printed on it. Part of my first name, part of my last. No worries I was told. It is the magnetic strip that counts. Try telling that to the security person who compared my cruise card to my passport! Back to the counter I went.

 

Once on board and to lunch, etc. we got back to the cabin to find a voice mail from our conceirge. Too bad. Moderno is closed tonight so you won't be able to dine there. Guess not! We asked him to switch Moderno to the next night and put us in Le Bistro instead. 7:30 reservations became 8:15 after a five minute promised call back became half an hour and when we called him he still hadn't arranged it. Oh well.

 

At some point I realized that our cruise cards did not have the UDP stickers on them like we had on the Spirit. I mentioned this to the Concierge and he said not to worry that they would fix that when we went to dinner. I didn't like that answer, so off we went to the front desk. The nice young man behind the desk looked on his computer and then went into the back. He was gone for about 10 minutes. Red flags waving! But back he came, put stickers on our cards and gave us a little receipt for each night of dining with the name of the restaurant, the time and Pre Paid typed on it. Life was good again!

 

We enjoyed the cruise. Had some nice dinners in the specialty restaurants. Mid cruise my husband asked to see our bill so far and all was well.

 

Well, the last day of the cruise came. We were on a shore excursion and when we came back we had a voice mail. What, the restaurant of our choice was closed? No, it was the maitre'd of Le Bistro asking us to give him a call. He wanted to know if we had the UDP. I answered in the affirmative but the red flags had started waving. We got ready for dinner and stopped at the front desk. We asked to see our bill. Of course you know what it had on it. Cover charges for all the restaurants. We explained our situation and she went in the back and came back and tried going over the bill with us again. She said the records indicated we had not paid for UDPs. By then we had been there 30 minutes and we explained that we were now 10 minutes late for our dinner reservation. She said to go, and relax and have a nice dinner and when we came back she was sure everything would have been worked out. Off we went.

 

In the middle of dinner we were approached by an assistant financial officer who told us that he had no choice but to charge us for our dinners. I told him that I had charged the UDPs initially. He suggested that perhaps our credit card had been rejected! After some discussion he agreed that we could bring him some documentation after our now spoiled dinner. We finished in record time (we still had to pack too! lol) and went to the internet cafe to print out the documents showing the promo code and the paper that said something about our dinner reservations under the UDP. Of course we never saw that Officer again or the first woman who helped us earlier in the evening. They photocopied the documents and said they would send them to Miami. They would call us within 30 minutes to update us with what was going on. We went up to pack and at 10 PM still had heard nothing. Back to the front desk we went. New people, rehashing explainations. They no longer had our paper work. No surprise. My husband went back up to get our copies. They had emails from the office in Miami saying that I had called NCL and canceled my reservation because I had made "other NCL plans."

 

A few times I asked what does the promo code dindis mean? I didn't get, "I don't know, let me call and find out." I got no response at all. Finally we obviously weren't going away and a more senior finance person showed up after we sat and waited in the lobby awhile. She listened to the story, looked at our papers. Told us she believed us but was not authorized to give out free meals. She called Miami while we were standing there. She became authorized to remove the meal charges.

 

So lessons learned? Of course. I should have reconfirmed the UDPs again. I will document every call made, every person talked to on the phone. So nothing is truly free. Our last night on board the Jade was completely ruined. If it sounds too good to be true.......

 

Any comments about this are welcome. Has anyone every gotten a free UDP? I thought I had read (now that I am home) that it has been a promotion in the past for certain ships.

[All-ready2cruise]

OMG, how disappointing for you, and yet, here you are still being nice about it.

 

Unfortunately, I've worked in this type environment where mistakes can be made and no one will accept responsibility for them. I've seen instances where ppl have paid their money and been told that it was never paid but this... having paid it and then had someone reverse the charges saying it was you who did it... WOW!! :eek:

 

Do you know the approx. date you called to get help with your Moderno reservation? If so, they (you'll need to speak with a supervisor) may be able to find and recover the call and identify what really happened. Just an aside, in the office I worked in as a supervisor, I spoke with a customer claiming that someone had stolen their CC number and charged close to a $1000 to it. Because the customer knew when the call was we were able to find the thief and fire their sorry A$$ PDQ. In this case I think, I hope, it was just an error and if you have any info it may get corrected.

 

Good luck, and so glad you enjoyed your cruise, for the most part.

[CaliforniaDreamer]

started reading but way too long.

[triptolemus]

started reading but way too long.

 

No kidding! Is there a Cliff Notes version?

[SissasMomE]

I am hoping you used a credit card for your onboard account, and did not pay in cash. If so, I would dispute every single one of those charges. There is no way I would pay that. Edited - I just re-read it and saw that they did remove the charges. Still, I'd be livid if I had to spend that amount of time standing at a desk trying to resolve that. Geez!!

Edited June 11, 2014 by SissasMomE

[All-ready2cruise]

Yes, OP says paid for UDP but was told not on account while on the cruise. Was charged for all specialty meals. apparently an NCL rep removed UDP when OP called in for help to reserve at a resty.

 

bottom line ... OP charged for all resties.

 

PS, OP sees reversal of charges for UDP but also sees promo DinDis on reservation paperwork.

 

Wonderif DinDis could mean Dining Discontinued?

 

Anyway, charges reversed again. Lesson learned.

Edited June 11, 2014 by All-ready2cruise
PS

[Crusin6]

And there is a thread going on about if a pax 2 kids will get half price meals!!!

She had to prepay full price and then they will adjust at the restaurant she is told. No doubt it will be done but I bet a trip to guest services will occur.

 

Good luck. It could go either way. Lol

[cadien]

That was really poor service to interrupt your meal with that news, when it was too late to change anything.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[sjbdtz]

No kidding! Is there a Cliff Notes version?

 

UDP cost money.

 

Then it was free on promo.

 

Then it wasn't honored.

 

Then it was.

 

 

 

.

[luddite]

I'm a BIG fan of getting things on paper.

I would be letting NCL know that the cover charges were going into dispute with the credit card company. If you can document things from the onset I think you can get some satisfaction.

[SissasMomE]

UDP cost money.

 

Then it was free on promo.

 

Then it wasn't honored.

 

Then it was.

 

 

 

.

 

LOL! Good summary!

[All-ready2cruise]

:D

UDP cost money.

 

Then it was free on promo.

 

Then it wasn't honored.

 

Then it was.

 

 

 

.

 

Sorry, my Bad, :eek:

 

Was reading along, drinking my wine, did a double take, went back, read again........ anyway, thanks for being so succinct. :p

 

I guess I need more wine. :D ... or bacon, maple syrup, beer... not sure.

[SissasMomE]

:D

 

Sorry, my Bad, :eek:

 

Was reading along, drinking my wine, did a double take, went back, read again........ anyway, thanks for being so succinct. :p

 

I guess I need more wine. :D ... or bacon, maple syrup, beer... not sure.

 

and lobster

[All-ready2cruise]

and lobster

 

Only if it comes with REAL butter, just like real CREAM for coffee, and REAL Maple Syrup for pancakes and waffles. :D

 

And the beer of course needs to be home crafted. (We have a craft beer store just down the road from us.)

 

PS, the winery is closer though. ;)

Edited June 11, 2014 by All-ready2cruise

[Out to sea!]

I got hit with this same problem. I called on the 25th of May to get my cabin price lowered due to a sale and for some reason, I got my UDP payment refunded back to my CC on the 31st and I just happen to notice it today. But, UDP was still showing on my travel documents online. Called today, they stated something clearly went haywire as I still had UDP but the system refunded my money. They weren't going to give it to me free (which is fine, I had no issue with that) but when they wanted to take repayment, my wife decided to just forgo the UDP this trip. I didn't want anything for free due to a SNAFU but why their system refunded my money without removing the UDP itself it really weird.

Edited June 11, 2014 by Out to sea!

[buckeye82]

started reading but way too long.

 

 

lol! Luckily my husband came home or I'd probably still be writing! :p

[Got Tequila?]

The only promotion I've seen offering the free UDP, was for sailings on the Breakaway and Getaway duiring May-September sailings, nothing for the JADE.

[garycarla]

started reading but way too long.

 

Yea, I tried to get through it as well.

 

Sorry - I guess.

[All-ready2cruise]

Yea, I tried to get through it as well.

 

Sorry - I guess.

 

It's much easier to just blame the wine... :p:p

[bobg529]

I'm sorry, once somebody started talking about bacon, maple syrup, lobster, and beer, I lost complete track of the subject matter. All I know is now I'm hungry!:rolleyes:

[Cruisercl]

Well, I read the whole OP and glad I did.

 

This is a really good example of things that can be screwed up and no one knows why. I am wondering if getting names of everyone you talk to would be helpful; it isn't always. It is tough to work with a large corporation when things like this happen; I know, I work for one. :)

Thanks for the heads-up!

 

Very glad you enjoyed your cruise...........:D

Edited June 12, 2014 by Cruisercl

[UFMOM]

Thank you for the post. I am seriously considering upgrading our cabin. I have the UDP and all my reservations. I will know now to double and triple check my UDP status and my cc if I make the change.

 

Mary Ann

[rochelle_s]

OP,

 

Thanks for the detailed post. I have no problem with its length, glad you gave all the information you did about what happened. Good to know what to look out for when we make changes to our reservation. Glad it all worked out in the end, but really unfortunate though about how you had to spend the last night of your cruise.

 

Rochelle

[buckeye82]

Yes, OP says paid for UDP but was told not on account while on the cruise. Was charged for all specialty meals. apparently an NCL rep removed UDP when OP called in for help to reserve at a resty.

 

bottom line ... OP charged for all resties.

 

PS, OP sees reversal of charges for UDP but also sees promo DinDis on reservation paperwork.

 

Wonderif DinDis could mean Dining Discontinued?

 

Anyway, charges reversed again. Lesson learned.

 

My husband has decided that dindis must mean dining disaster! :D

[newmexicoNita]

started reading but way too long.

 

my feeling as well: I understand the need to explain but sometimes these posting do get a little long; same with reviews.

 

Anyway, OP, I do feel sorry for you, I appreciate your not taking NCL to task for this and yes, lesson learned, check and recheck. No, I have never heard of a promo that includes UDP. Regardless I can't imagine how disappointed and probable upset I would have been: upset isn't the word I wanted to use...