Really?!

[stevens397]

We will be taking our second NCL cruise next month - 12 nights to the Norwegian Fjords. Our first was 15 nights in South America.  The first trip we reserved the Owners Suite and this trip the Penthouse Suite.  We have given a lot of money to NCL.  A bit over a week ago, we saw that a larger Penthouse Suite was available and asked if we could upgrade for a reasonable fee. We were able to upgrade for $300. Today we found out that because we changed our reservation, they changed - meaning REDUCED - our benefits, taking away $50 excursion credit for 7 ports ($350), additional internet minutes and telephone minutes.

 

So let me get this straight - I paid to upgrade and ended up with having benefits removed.  I spent 45 minutes on the phone with NCL today and in the end, the Supervisor said Too Bad.

 

Second and last cruise with Norwegian.  Talk about penny wise and pound foolish.

Edited May 15, 2019 by stevens397

[PTC DAWG]

No matter the line, I always asked about my perks, etc....when upgrading...

 

on the surface something seems amiss...

[valleyvillage]

When you called NCL to upgrade, you should have been informed about the fact that you were about to lose the perks. This happened to us on our honeymoond when we upgraded to a suite from a mini-suite. We lost $75 OBC, and were not told about it until on the ship. Lesson learned for us and the first-time suite experience more than made up for it! I would write to Meg Lee at the corporate office. Snail mail. Emails and calls are too easy to blow off. 

Stress ONE thing: the Personal Cruise Consultant neglected to inform you about the loss of benefits. This is a "mis-quote" and you need a remedy that will make you whole. Use those exact words.

Good luck.

[Birdie And Sue]

You cancelled and rebooked.  When you did that you lost whatever offers you initially had and gained whatever was currently in effect.

[cruisencrazy]

We are doing Baltic in August and today I saw the extra perks for balcony and above.  I really love our suite and location, so didn't want to upgrade anything, and NCL wasn't going to work with our agent so she went through them and made the online upgrades herself.  It was a bit of a mess, but with NCL's help (chuckle chuckle) we, not only kept the perks we already had, but added many more and only had to pay the gratuities. They also uncovered some NCL mistakes within our booking.  If you used a travel agent, have them handle it for you.  If you booked with NCL directly, keep calling until you get the answer you want and then get their name 🙂

[Son of a son of a ...]

NCL customer service stinks

[Laszlo]

32 minutes ago, stevens397 said:

We will be taking our second NCL cruise next month - 12 nights to the Norwegian Fjords. Our first was 15 nights in South America.  The first trip we reserved the Owners Suite and this trip the Penthouse Suite.  We have given a lot of money to NCL.  A bit over a week ago, we saw that a larger Penthouse Suite was available and asked if we could upgrade for a reasonable fee. We were able to upgrade for $300. Today we found out that because we changed our reservation, they changed - meaning REDUCED - our benefits, taking away $50 excursion credit for 7 ports ($350), additional internet minutes and telephone minutes.

 

So let me get this straight - I paid to upgrade and ended up with having benefits removed.  I spent 45 minutes on the phone with NCL today and in the end, the Supervisor said Too Bad.

 

Second and last cruise with Norwegian.  Talk about penny wise and pound foolish.

The booking person should have notified you what would change. However you should have checked what the current perks are.

 

I would send an email to Vivian Ewart, she was actually very helpful for me last year.   VEWART@ncl.com

 

Edited May 15, 2019 by Laszlo

[Nic6318]

Hi Stevens 397

 

I have said it many times before. The things that irritate cruise passengers the most are things that they don't understand, but think they do.  I also usually mention that this site is invaluable in helping others, but usually they find the site after they have made their (usually costly) error. You have been a member since 2010... you never thought to ask? The silver lining is that what you describe is not uncommon with other cruise lines. So, now that you know, the next time you make "any" changes to your booking, just ask if there are any penalties for yourself, and if in doubt ask here first. Normally you would expect that an individual might inform you, but relying on someone who may be poorly trained or poorly motivated, is hit and miss. 

 

Putting your case to the boss as ValeyVillage suggest, could yield results, but then you would be relying on ones sense of propriety.

 

have a great cruise

[BirdTravels]

You always get the current promotions when you cancel and rebook. However, you got the better room!  

[Birdie And Sue]

1 hour ago, Son of a son of a ... said:

NCL customer service stinks

 

 

So abiding by the rules is bad customer service now?

[Son of a son of a ...]

26 minutes ago, Birdie And Sue said:

 

 

So abiding by the rules is bad customer service now?

 

No, NCL has terrible customer service.  It is factual and it does a disservice to the onboard hotel staff.

[VisionStar]

This is ridiculous how people are getting shorted with this cruise line!  I should have waited to book mine, and then I wouldn't be out of over $1100!

[Two Wheels Only]

2 hours ago, VisionStar said:

This is ridiculous how people are getting shorted with this cruise line!  I should have waited to book mine, and then I wouldn't be out of over $1100!

 

You weren't "shorted". You are getting exactly what you wanted and paid for. 

 

On the flip side, when the price goes up after booking, the people who booked at a lower rate aren't "earning" anything. 

[smplybcause]

3 hours ago, VisionStar said:

This is ridiculous how people are getting shorted with this cruise line!  I should have waited to book mine, and then I wouldn't be out of over $1100!

No cruise line that I know of refunds any money after final payment. If they did they wouldn't lower the prices after final payment! 

[Nic6318]

6 hours ago, smplybcause said:

No cruise line that I know of refunds any money after final payment. If they did they wouldn't lower the prices after final payment! 

 

 

Hi

 

While they won't "refund" money after final payment, Carnival will give you an OBC if you see any price drops for your cabin category up to 2 days before sailing, if you booked with their "early saver" rate. For many this works, for some because of certain restrictions they prefer other booking rates. Before final payment they will refund for any price drops, but of course, prices don't always drop.

[kitkat343]

What are your ports?  We did all private excursions in Norway.  

[newmexicoNita]

13 hours ago, stevens397 said:

We will be taking our second NCL cruise next month - 12 nights to the Norwegian Fjords. Our first was 15 nights in South America.  The first trip we reserved the Owners Suite and this trip the Penthouse Suite.  We have given a lot of money to NCL.  A bit over a week ago, we saw that a larger Penthouse Suite was available and asked if we could upgrade for a reasonable fee. We were able to upgrade for $300. Today we found out that because we changed our reservation, they changed - meaning REDUCED - our benefits, taking away $50 excursion credit for 7 ports ($350), additional internet minutes and telephone minutes.

 

So let me get this straight - I paid to upgrade and ended up with having benefits removed.  I spent 45 minutes on the phone with NCL today and in the end, the Supervisor said Too Bad.

 

Second and last cruise with Norwegian.  Talk about penny wise and pound foolish.

I know it is crappy and too bad you didn't realize this could happen, but you really can't blame anyone. You simply didn't realize in essence, you are cancelling and booking another reservation so the perks that now apply are whatever are being offered. Here is the perfect example of how a travel agent can help. A good one could have informed you what could happen if you did cancel and rebook. As I mentioned on another thread a little while ago, something similar happened to us, but luckily we did have our travel agent to explain it to us. 

[newmexicoNita]

11 hours ago, Son of a son of a ... said:

 

No, NCL has terrible customer service.  It is factual and it does a disservice to the onboard hotel staff.

Maybe so, but in this case it has nothing to do with customer service. I do think the agent could have explained to the OP what what would happen. I do think Laszlo's idea is the best, but still this isn't the same as poor customer service. What do you think NCL should do? 

[Arzeena]

13 hours ago, Son of a son of a ... said:

NCL customer service stinks

Cannot beat MSC.....they take the top prize for stinking customer service.

[Son of a son of a ...]

46 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

Maybe so, but in this case it has nothing to do with customer service. I do think the agent could have explained to the OP what what would happen. I do think Laszlo's idea is the best, but still this isn't the same as poor customer service. What do you think NCL should do? 

 

I think telling a customer "too bad" is terrible customer service, especially with a suite customer.  NCL has a disconnect between landbased customer service and onboard customer service.  The 1-800 customer service forgets that NCL is in the hospitality industry.  This is a high value customer and they are going to lose him/her over excursion credit and WiFi?  Heck, they were just giving extra excursion credit away as a perk.  Now, OP is going on a cruise with a bad taste in their mouth and an intention to bolt from NCL after the cruise.  The hotel director must love that passengers are PO'd before even entering the suite.

[MCC retired]

Booking thru a Good TA would have warned you about losing your current promotion goodies  when Re-Booking the new promotional rate . Sad .

[smplybcause]

3 hours ago, Nic6318 said:

 

 

Hi

 

While they won't "refund" money after final payment, Carnival will give you an OBC if you see any price drops for your cabin category up to 2 days before sailing, if you booked with their "early saver" rate. For many this works, for some because of certain restrictions they prefer other booking rates. Before final payment they will refund for any price drops, but of course, prices don't always drop.

 

On that one very specific fare that comes with a non-refundable deposit. I have no clue how many pick that rate vs others. And NCL lets you either upgrade or give a portion of it in OBC. Royal gives no OBC and only allows you to upgrade to something that costs more - and last I tried the cheaper rate was gty and they wouldn't let me switch to a gty rate because I didn't book gty (ie they were just looking for ways not to upgrade me). 

 

Like others have mentioned before - airlines don't give you a refund if the flight gets cheaper (unless you buy a refundable ticket and cancel then rebook). Even retail stores that give you a refund for price changes put a time limit on it - usually around 30 days and NCL usually price drops more than 30 days after final payment. 

[newmexicoNita]

1 hour ago, Son of a son of a ... said:

 

I think telling a customer "too bad" is terrible customer service, especially with a suite customer.  NCL has a disconnect between landbased customer service and onboard customer service.  The 1-800 customer service forgets that NCL is in the hospitality industry.  This is a high value customer and they are going to lose him/her over excursion credit and WiFi?  Heck, they were just giving extra excursion credit away as a perk.  Now, OP is going on a cruise with a bad taste in their mouth and an intention to bolt from NCL after the cruise.  The hotel director must love that passengers are PO'd before even entering the suite.

Do we know he was really told "too bad" or did someone explain it to him ? We were not there, we are hearing 1 side of the story. I do understand his being upset, but I don't think this was bad customer service. As for your comment about special consideration because he was a suite guest. I understand special dining rooms for VIP< I understand some special attention is some cases, but I do not understand why you would think those who are just the typical cruiser would get less attention. 

[stevens397]

Apparently

[Dar & Bob]

On ‎5‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 8:50 AM, Son of a son of a ... said:

 

I think telling a customer "too bad" is terrible customer service, especially with a suite customer.  NCL has a disconnect between landbased customer service and onboard customer service.  The 1-800 customer service forgets that NCL is in the hospitality industry.  This is a high value customer and they are going to lose him/her over excursion credit and WiFi?  Heck, they were just giving extra excursion credit away as a perk.  Now, OP is going on a cruise with a bad taste in their mouth and an intention to bolt from NCL after the cruise.  The hotel director must love that passengers are PO'd before even entering the suite.

Right now I am working with an NCL representative with a group.  It has been a nightmare.  We had a "group" way back in September and I had asked about additional amenities.  I was told we would get certain things but not others.  Long story short we get to final payment and supposedly don't even have the group much less any of the perks.  The rep tells me all the hard work he did to get us the group.  Now the other items that were to be included are not. Also, our original booking is cancelled and our gratuities on the UBP are increased even though the bookings were in July 2018.  He has told me he will look into it.

 

 He hardly answers phone calls and never emails - except the first ones getting us to book.  Members of our group have had so many problems.  I think it is time to write corporate, if this rep doesn't come through next week.  I have copies of emails and phone records of the numerous calls. 

 

I have been on Carnival, Princess and RCI.  I can say this is the absolute worst service I have ever had. 

Edited June 1, 2019 by Dar & Bob
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