Devastated! Lost my cabin (mini suite) and UBP/UDP

[hawkeyetlse]

I recall in making my current booking directly with NCL that they kept me online until they received confirmation that the billing went through with the credit card and then immediately sent me the confirmation right away.

Of course you should make sure to get a confirmation right away, but the very fact that the confirmation is sent immediately after the successful transaction (but before NCL actually gets the money) means that, in rare cases like the OP's, something could still go wrong with the payment.

 

When I receive confirmation of payment from my TA, it always includes language like the following:

Your cruise reservation has been created and is pending credit card authorization from your credit card provider. We have generated this confirmation in order to confirm receipt of your booking. Please note, however, that your booking is still subject to cancellation unless payment is processed and successfully received by the cruise line.

The issue is that I was not informed immediately about the cancellation to my NCL deposit.

That sort of thing always goes through your TA. They wouldn't send you a warning about a bad payment or cancellation notice directly. You should find out from your TA exactly what the timeline was and why you didn't hear about it until Tuesday, by which time it was too late to save your booking.

 

You know that your bank screwed up; it would be useful to know to what extent your TA screwed up and compounded the initial problem. Then again, one of the disadvantages of going through a TA is that they have down time. You can't expect them to be on call working for you, and only you, 24/7. So it may have been bad luck and bad timing in this case, that the payment issue happened over the weekend.

 

In hindsight — which I realize is not helpful at all to you, but maybe for the rest of us if we find ourselves in a similar situation — you could have reduced the risks for yourself by not waiting until the very last day of the promotion to book (especially a Friday, right before your TA closes for the weekend), and you could have used a Freestyle Cruise Rewards as the deposit for your mini-suite (no danger of credit card payment screw-ups).

[asda]

Hi did this ever get resolved?

[TrumpyNor]

Hi did this ever get resolved?

 

I agree - when someone is posting something regarding a problem that might (or might not) get resolved at a later time, it would be nice for the rest of us to know how things did work out in the end, and maybe even learn something from others experience (good or bad).

Edited March 8, 2015 by TrumpyNor

[rvsullivan]

OP was on here last night and still no update. Wonder if we will ever hear the outcome?

[old nutter]

This sort of booking failure is a big problem at the weekend for UK people and probably EU as well because the NCL offices over here are closed on Sundays. If you make a booking late on Saturday and it goes pending, the NCL system will only hold things for 24 hours before cancelling it. The problem then is that here is nobody in the UK office until after the pending hold has expired. The only foolproof way to solve it is to either ring the US and wait on their system on a chargeable transatlantic phone call or book through the US site. And the way NCL systems are set up it is extremely difficult to persuade the browser to go to the .com site from over here.

 

The sorts of issues we have seen with these dropped bookings is bad for customer relations and NCL should seriously look at their systems to stop it losing more unhappy potential business

Edited March 8, 2015 by old nutter
added the EU bit

[TrumpyNor]

The only foolproof way to solve it is to either ring the US and wait on their system on a chargeable transatlantic phone call or book through the US site. And the way NCL systems are set up it is extremely difficult to persuade the browser to go to the .com site from over here.

 

I live in Europe (Norway) myself, but have booked all my cruises with the same PCC from NCL for many years now, since before the NCL cruise market online was divided in to different web pages. So I still book through the US office, since that is where my PCC is based (I have chosen to continue to book everything through her because in my experience the cruises have a better price in American dollars compared to Euros, and the American "rules" also prevents me from loosing my deposit if I choose to cancel or change my reservation before the final payment date. I can also upgrade after final payment date (= cancel and re-book) without loosing parts of my original payment, including deposit.). I always check the prices on a cruise I am interested in online (through the American web site, sometimes after comparing the prices to the EU rates), and then I do the actual booking by e-mailing her, and usually I receive a response within an hour (she seems like she is working almost 24/7 - and if for some reason she is not, then I receive an auto-reply with here cell phone number).

 

But the reason for quoting you, is because you are mentioning the problems with getting re-directed to a European NCL-page if you try to go to the US one. I had the same problem for at least a couple of years, because I wanted to continue to use my American PCC (that I had had good relations with for several years), but didn't have access to the US web page, and therefore it was difficult for me to do any research beforehand based on US prices. Even some tech staff at NCL was trying to help me get access to the US page without getting automatically redirected to one of the EU-pages, but without any luck. A few years ago I solved the problem myself (unfortunately I don't remember exactly how I found out how to do it), but I now have two different web addresses for NCL - one for the EU-page and one for the US-page - and here they are:

NCL in Europe: http://www.ncl.eu/

NCL in USA: http://www.ncl.com/specials-and-promotions/last-minute-deals

Edited March 8, 2015 by TrumpyNor

[Demonyte]

The only foolproof way to solve it is to either ring the US and wait on their system on a chargeable transatlantic phone call or book through the US site. And the way NCL systems are set up it is extremely difficult to persuade the browser to go to the .com site from over here.

 

 

You can call NCL for free from anywhere in the world using Skype, calls to toll-free US numbers are free with Skype.

 

I A few years ago I solved the problem myself (unfortunately I don't remember exactly how I found out how to do it), but I now have two different web addresses for NCL - one for the EU-page and one for the US-page

 

 

Any subpage on US site will do, for example http://www.ncl.com/vacations or http://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship is much easier to remember.

[TrumpyNor]

Any subpage on US site will do, for example http://www.ncl.com/vacations or http://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship is much easier to remember.

 

That is my point - and since I have "flagged" both pages on my browser, I don't have any need to remember it..... :)

[Homosassa]

Some credit card companies (Discover is one) are more vigilant than others about credit card fraud.

 

I have learned to call them to notify them of unusual purchases such as when we booked a cruise (not unusual) and it also happened at the same time of a final payment on a two week land tour. The company had the two payments flagged and I just managed to call them before they called us.

 

So, no blame to the TA, NCL or the credit card company. All systems worked as they are suppose to.

[hawkeyetlse]

So, no blame to the TA, NCL or the credit card company. All systems worked as they are suppose to.

Except that the OP explained that they did warn their bank/card issuer about the upcoming charges. But when those charges actually came, the bank still blocked the card and cancelled transactions that were previously approved. That is not how things are supposed to work.

[Homosassa]

Except that the OP explained that they did warn their bank/card issuer about the upcoming charges. But when those charges actually came, the bank still blocked the card and cancelled transactions that were previously approved. That is not how things are supposed to work.

 

The OP made arrangements for the family cruise payment and then booked the NCL cruise (no prior notification to CC ). Having the NCL cruise show up at the same time after the big pay out for the family reunion would be a big red flag of possible CC fraud and cause the charge to be denied until the charge was verified by the card holder.

[newmexicoNita]

I wonder if NCL tried to call the TA over the weekend and the system auto-cancelled for no payment....:confused:

 

Hope you get it worked out.....

 

sounds like you might be spot on. I don't think the CC company would normally call teh cliant, but it would nice had they done it. If NCL tried to contact the TA and she/he wasn't available I don't think the TA is at fault either. Like so many things, it is a huge mess up. I do hope you can get some satisfaction. Please let us know what happens. I think had you forwarned your CC company ahead of time this could have been prevented. Isn't hind sight fantastic, too bad it doesn't help after the fact.

[smartpeach]

As per CC's suggestion, I emailed the manager of my TA's company to demand the timeline. Why it took them 5 days to tell me that visa was declined and my reservation cancelled. When it's way too late to save my booking.

 

The manager explained that they were notified by NCL when their offices where closed. But they agreed that my personal TA had been less than vigilant and that he has already been reprimanded. This case is still pending with NCL and they are hoping to get this resolved within this week. But they assure me that regardless of the outcome, I will still get my perks back. Not my likely mini-suite because that ship has sailed ( pun intended :) ).

 

I feel a little sorry for my personal TA if NCL doesn't budge on this. He sounded young and a little inexperienced on the phone. He took over from my last TA that had recently resigned. On one hand, he should be doing his job properly and be liable for his actions or inactions. On the other hand, I don't want him to loose too much of his own money because of this.

[TrumpyNor]

As per CC's suggestion, I emailed the manager of my TA's company to demand the timeline. Why it took them 5 days to tell me that visa was declined and my reservation cancelled. When it's way too late to save my booking.

 

The manager explained that they were notified by NCL when their offices where closed. But they agreed that my personal TA had been less than vigilant and that he has already been reprimanded. This case is still pending with NCL and they are hoping to get this resolved within this week. But they assure me that regardless of the outcome, I will still get my perks back. Not my likely mini-suite because that ship has sailed ( pun intended :) ).

 

I feel a little sorry for my personal TA if NCL doesn't budge on this. He sounded young and a little inexperienced on the phone. He took over from my last TA that had recently resigned. On one hand, he should be doing his job properly and be liable for his actions or inactions. On the other hand, I don't want him to loose too much of his own money because of this.

 

Thank you very much for your update! It is nice to read that you actually think about your personal TA in the mid of all this, but you really shouldn't. He learned a very valuable lesson about how important it is to check his e-mails regularly - even when he is out of office.... Wishing you a great cruise when the time arrives!

Edited March 9, 2015 by TrumpyNor

[newmexicoNita]

I recall in making my current booking directly with NCL that they kept me online until they received confirmation that the billing went through with the credit card and then immediately sent me the confirmation right away. I will make sure that happens for sure from now on.

 

They normally do, I can't imagine what heppened this time? Whether it is a TA calling in the cc or the passenger, usuallly NCL keeps you on the phone til the CC is oked.

 

I hope the OP can work things out and hope the TA has learned a hard lesson or finds another field. Being a TA isn't the way to get rich and it takes contant knowlege updating.

Edited March 9, 2015 by newmexicoNita

[Shawnino]

@Smartpeach: Please continue updating us as a resolution wends its way through the works.

 

Please accept my respect for behaving in such a reasonable and considerate manner.

[TheManitoban]

I find it very interesting how the Credit Card company handled this.

 

Like the OP, I almost never alerted the Card companies of abnormal use or even "out of country" use.

 

I was recently in Jamaica, however, where one payment of about $60 went through. A few days later I used it again for about $100 and they declined it and held my card. They immediately contacted me (at home) but i thought it was odd that a small purchase in Jamaica triggered a flag but much larger use at home and in the U.S. never did.

 

I certainly would not think to alert them if I made an online purchase of a vacation which would obviously be of a higher value amount then my normal day to day usage. CC company should have immediately contacted OP if they flagged the card.

[TheManitoban]

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Edited March 9, 2015 by TheManitoban
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