Norwegian Crise Line VERY bad and false adverts!

[dennphill]

Looking at cruises - Latitudes Member, Senior, past Military Service, nothing gives anything other than Retail Rates at Norwegian. I am flodded with offers, mail and email! They advertise if you have suite or balcony you get some (2 of 5 or 2 of 4) of their complimentary "free at sea" offers, but if you choose 'guaranteed" suite or balcony, these ARE NOT available! Not seen unless you go through booking process (up to select and finish and pay) and you see these offers for suites and balconies, but not at the 'guaranteed' rates. What this means is that you must pay an additional $250 or more per person to get these "free" offers. Agent for Norwegian don't tell you this...only when you press them do they say the 'guarantee rates (with an X after the category - MX or NX)s are discounted so yo don't get these free offers. this is a very poor line. I was looking at a re-positioning in April 2017 form New Orleans to Boston on the DAWN, but decided definitely against.

A last cruise on the DAWN from New Orleans in 2015 (Nov 29 - 7 Days) in a mini-suite was poor. Very poor actually. Lousy handling and wasted time boarding and getting off. New Orleans is generally very easy - good parking and quick boarding and exit in the past with Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Not so with this line.

Went here to make complaints and experience known. Digging deeper yesterday, I find Norwegian now runs Regent (never cruised...probably never will at their prices) and Oceana (where I will never cruise again after a disaster on a 12-day Baltic cruise in 2014 with my sister and her husband - 2 suites, but poor food, and snotty staff and crew). I will keep away from these cruise lines and recommend against to all my (retired) friends and family.

[KeithJenner]

Maybe it's different in other countries, but in the UK it says on the main page about the free at sea offer that X cabins are excluded from the offer. It isn't even hidden in the T&Cs and you certainly don't need to go through the booking process to see it.

[hugocruiser]

US Site shows it pretty clear as well

[NLH Arizona]

The Terms and Conditions of Free At Sea clearly states which cabins are and are no included in the promotion:

 

Free at Sea

TERMS & CONDITIONS

Booking Window: December 01, 2016 - February 06, 2017 11:59 pm EST

Applicable Sailings: 3 nights or longer sailings

 

Studios & Insides: Pick 1 Offer

Oceanviews, Balconies & Mini-Suites: Pick 2 Offers

Suites & The Haven: Automatically receive all available offers. Extra Guests Sail Free only available on select sailings.

 

Offer is not applicable to categories IX, OX, BX & MX.

 

So, I'm not sure the false advertising claim would stand up in court.

 

A lot of cruise lines don't offer their perks on the lowest catagory (in this case with NCL they offer it to all categories except for guarantee).

 

Sorry you had such a bad cruise on the Dawn. I will say, that on my December 2015, embarkation and disembarkation was a pain in the butt because of the construction. However, my cruise this December, embarkation and disembarkation was a piece of cake in comparison.

[Coastalbreezes]

Sounds to me like you have yet to be on a cruise that wasn't poor, very poor with poor food and snotty crew and staff.

 

Maybe cruising isn't for you?

 

Tracy

[lanceholt]

Sounds like you are better off driving...

[westcoastman]

Nothing is really "free" anymore in cruising. It's very sad but true and explicitly stated in their terms.

As an example, by me paying more (at least $250 PER PERSON) to get two perks instead of one (for a single window I won't need or use) AND paying $28 a day in EXTRA gratuity for the UBP I am pretty certain my "free" beverage package is no longer even close to being free. In fact, I have to drink quite a bit even to break even to the $750 cost. But by itself UBP would be $1305.

And you know that 3rd and 4th guest free?

Yeah you can guess what they did, double the per person cost.

Buyer beware.

[khaide612]

Nothing is really "free" anymore in cruising. It's very sad but true and explicitly stated in their terms.

As an example, by me paying more (at least $250 PER PERSON) to get two perks instead of one (for a single window I won't need or use) AND paying $28 a day in EXTRA gratuity for the UBP I am pretty certain my "free" beverage package is no longer even close to being free. In fact, I have to drink quite a bit even to break even to the $750 cost. But by itself UBP would be $1305.

And you know that 3rd and 4th guest free?

Yeah you can guess what they did, double the per person cost.

Buyer beware.

 

When you price a cruise for 4 people it shows the total divided by 4 as the per person rate. When you price that same cruise for 2 people it shows the total divided by 2. So where I may have priced a cruise for 4 people and saw $500 per person, it would come to $2000 for the final total. If I price that same cruise for 2 people it will show $1000 per person and come to $2000 for the final total - same price as 4 people.

 

You chose to pay $250 extra for an oceanview window room that you get to 1) pick the location of cabin and 2) pick perks where you have to pay gratuities. Go to an inside guarantee, save the money on the cabin and the gratuities and pay for your drinks as you go. You may make out better.

[pollux]

glad I seen this site.

I booked 2 cruises on the Epic transatlantic and marroco.

Booked in January btb studio never got an offer for 1 special.

Just got off the phone with NCL and got 250 free internet on each cruise.

So they are not cheating.

Could have free drinks, restaurant or tour.

Thanks for the information.

[DinaS]

If your last NCL cruise was crappy, why on earth are you looking to take another cruise on NCL?

 

Try another cruise line - see if that is more to your liking.

[fshagan]

It's pretty clear. Perhaps the OP didn't realize you can "hover" over the little markers that indicate the promo offered on the booking page and see that it clearly excludes the guarantee category (BX in this case):

 

I think if this kind of thing is hard for you then finding a good travel agent makes a lot of sense. If you want to do it without an agent, you have to do extra work to make sure you understand how pricing works.

[BirdTravels]

Looking at cruises - Latitudes Member, Senior, past Military Service, nothing gives anything other than Retail Rates at Norwegian. I am flodded with offers, mail and email! They advertise if you have suite or balcony you get some (2 of 5 or 2 of 4) of their complimentary "free at sea" offers, but if you choose 'guaranteed" suite or balcony, these ARE NOT available! Not seen unless you go through booking process (up to select and finish and pay) and you see these offers for suites and balconies, but not at the 'guaranteed' rates. What this means is that you must pay an additional $250 or more per person to get these "free" offers. Agent for Norwegian don't tell you this...only when you press them do they say the 'guarantee rates (with an X after the category - MX or NX)s are discounted so yo don't get these free offers. this is a very poor line. I was looking at a re-positioning in April 2017 form New Orleans to Boston on the DAWN, but decided definitely against.

A last cruise on the DAWN from New Orleans in 2015 (Nov 29 - 7 Days) in a mini-suite was poor. Very poor actually. Lousy handling and wasted time boarding and getting off. New Orleans is generally very easy - good parking and quick boarding and exit in the past with Carnival and Royal Caribbean. Not so with this line.

Went here to make complaints and experience known. Digging deeper yesterday, I find Norwegian now runs Regent (never cruised...probably never will at their prices) and Oceana (where I will never cruise again after a disaster on a 12-day Baltic cruise in 2014 with my sister and her husband - 2 suites, but poor food, and snotty staff and crew). I will keep away from these cruise lines and recommend against to all my (retired) friends and family.

 

There is no false advertising. If you took the time to read the promotion, rather than looking at the pretty pictures, you would see that there are restrictions on certain Cabin classes. I don't think anyone would book a cruise based upon a pretty picture, and not take the time to read the terms and conditions are what they are buying.

[SquishTheWhale]

Sorry that you are confused. Not sure why you think being a senior or being a lattitude member entitles you to cheaper cruise rates. Anyone can be a lattitudes member, you can join before your first cruise.

 

Are we supposed to be shocked by your 'digging deep' research that NCL also owns Regent and Oceana? :confused:

[old nutter]

I have to say that I do have a degree of sympathy for the OP, not much but some. I have just had a mailshot knowing telling me that NCL UK are offering "Half Deposits Fleetwide for February". Knowing how adept NCL are at hiding their eligibilty criteria I searched for the small print.

 

At first sight, I found the usual list of exclusions for the cheap rooms but after quite a lot of extra searching, right at the bottom of one of the T&C pages, I discovered the offer does not apply to Suite bookings either. So, the punters paying the highest and earliest deposits gain nothing from this offer. I call that bordering on dishonest advertising. It was only because I was aware from CC that NCL have this habit of hiding the small print exclusions that I distrusted the big text headlines.

 

I am not sure I would have been so diligent at reading ALL of the small print if I was more of a casual cruise customer. So somewhere in the original less than readable rant there is quite a fair critical comment.

[deltonares]

I have seen NCL advertise FREE AT SEA and then will have 2 rates for a gty cabin, 1 price with no perks and another higher price with perk.

[philip_eunice1]

Welcome back your second post in 10 years

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[substructure]

The price difference between cabins with the promotion and those without is that when you choose the promotion, the gratuity for that promotion is added into the final price.

Edited February 1, 2017 by substructure

[newmexicoNita]

Sounds to me like you have yet to be on a cruise that wasn't poor, very poor with poor food and snotty crew and staff.

 

Maybe cruising isn't for you?

 

Tracy

 

thanks, my thoughts as well. As for his claim NOLA is easy on and off; I have cruised out of there twice and neither was it easy: once on NCL and once on Carnival. There are some people who are just not as easy to please as others. Not to mention cruising, as you say, may not be for him. Nothing is for everyone.

[sha32]

2nd post in over 10 years [emoji57]

Even I post more than that [emoji23]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[KeithJenner]

The price difference between cabins with the promotion and those without is that when you choose the promotion, the gratuity for that promotion is added into the final price.

 

 

 

It has been reported in the past that the base price, before the gratuities, does sometimes change depending on if you take the free at sea offers. This specific issue is nothing to do with the gratuities.

 

I've never seen it, but it's been reported a few times.

[substructure]

Huh. Weird and not good if true. Luckily not my experience recently. I got a quoted price and then was offered the promotion.

[CasinoCruzGirl]

Welcome back your second post in 10 years

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

Lol that's pretty funny

[ShipsAhoy508]

thanks, my thoughts as well. As for his claim NOLA is easy on and off; I have cruised out of there twice and neither was it easy: once on NCL and once on Carnival. There are some people who are just not as easy to please as others. Not to mention cruising, as you say, may not be for him. Nothing is for everyone.

 

Reading your post I just wanted to add my opinion. Three years ago I cruised out of NOLA on Carnival and it was the most stressful port I've been through. It was chaotic at times.

[NLH Arizona]

Reading your post I just wanted to add my opinion. Three years ago I cruised out of NOLA on Carnival and it was the most stressful port I've been through. It was chaotic at times.

I've cruised out of New Orleans a number of times and it was always a mess, that is until this December, where it was a breeze.

[luddite]

New Orleans is a fine port to cruise from.

 

The real question here is why is this thread still extant? There has been time for it to be edited. Poofing it would have taken less time than editing it.