Questionable NCL business practices

[travelgals]

Just booked the inside cabin two weeks ago. No airfare. Leaves from my hometown. 

 Not more than 2  in the cabin.

Existing cabin has drink package

Web says haven 2099 with 5 amenities

They quoted me 3800 (not 600 more- 1700 more!) for same Haven cabin that is on web for 2099!  

I asked so many questions about why that she said she had a headache- but she could not answer me with anything that made sense in any way. Lots of doubletalk. 

 

[smplybcause]

You said Haven is 2099pp

You booked at 499pp

which is a difference of 1600pp

or 3200 in total according to the website

 

You were quoted 3800 to upgrade

 

The difference between 3200 and 3800 is $600 or $300pp. So they are quoting you an upgrade price of $600 more than what the price is showing on the website.

 

As you already had the drink package, only ~$50 of that is explained by the gratuities on the dining package. Not sure what the other $550 is for. Did you call back and try someone else?

Edited October 16, 2019 by smplybcause

[Zippeedee]

9 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

I just checked five transatlantic NCL cruises for 2020 that I might be interested in doing.  

ALL FIVE had sailaway cabins SOLD OUT.

 

So much for options on NCL!

I am pretty sure that "sold out" in that case means they aren't ready to price them yet. They will wait to see how many they can sell at the full price with perks and when they think they are near the end of that group, the sail away rate will appear.  I've seen that on cruises I've tracked starting last year.

[SeaShark]

Seems like it would have been a lot easier to book the Haven instead of the inside in the first place....

[travelgals]

I was quoted 7600 to upgrade- 3800 per person. 

 

And yes,  It seems I should have booked Haven originally,  but I didn’t and  I changed my mind and was willing to pay for it. But there is no reason I can think of, or they can explain, why I can’t just pay for the upgrade without being gouged. I’ve sailed in Haven- it’s wonderful! And I was once in an inside- it was perfectly fine. For this trip the inside was fine for my purposes when I booked it, and it will be just fine. But they need to get their act together. 

[4774Papa]

1 hour ago, Zippeedee said:

I am pretty sure that "sold out" in that case means they aren't ready to price them yet. They will wait to see how many they can sell at the full price with perks and when they think they are near the end of that group, the sail away rate will appear.  I've seen that on cruises I've tracked starting last year.

Zippeedee,

That confirms what i thought.  That the sailaway isn't available until close to Final Payment.   I have never seen it available on any cruise that I try to book.  I don't like booking late, prices frequently have gone up, the worst cabins are what is left.

Another reason to go with Royal Caribbean.

[erdoran]

39 minutes ago, travelgals said:

I was quoted 7600 to upgrade- 3800 per person. 

 

And yes,  It seems I should have booked Haven originally,  but I didn’t and  I changed my mind and was willing to pay for it. But there is no reason I can think of, or they can explain, why I can’t just pay for the upgrade without being gouged. I’ve sailed in Haven- it’s wonderful! And I was once in an inside- it was perfectly fine. For this trip the inside was fine for my purposes when I booked it, and it will be just fine. But they need to get their act together. 

Call and ask for a supervisor, and ask for an itemization of the upgrade cost, line by line.  I’m curious too.  Just “simple arithmetic, if I book a haven online, with all amenities and taxes and DSC the price is $xx.  Please explain how UPGRADing, which should cost $xx minus what I already paid =$yy, is quoted so high.  Clearly there is a mistake, perhaps if we walk through the numbers together, we can find it”. Or...ask for a written, itemized quote to be emailed to you along with a 24 hr hold, which is free.

[jgreenwo17]

On 10/14/2019 at 3:07 PM, DaCruiseBug said:

Before I get into it, I mean NCL the business model of taking advantage of customers sucks. Not the actual NCL product or all the hard working people on the ship.

 

So we have the Getaway booked for December 8th. Have a balcony cabin with the free airfare promo. We already received all the flight info from NCL etc.

 

Today we noticed that to upgrade to a Spa Balcony is only about $100 more total. So we call NCL to just pay the difference in cabin fares and they say that the free airfare no longer applies. On the website it still saying "free or reduced airfare" and it applies to this specific cabin category. So now they want over $1,000 to upgrade to the Spa Balcony because they want to charge $499 per person for the airfare. Seriously? That's their "reduced" airfare promo. The problem is that the flights we are booked on price out to $300 per ticket if bought on our own directly with the airline. So how is that free or reduced? They're charging a 60% premium to what the actual tickets cost...AND...we are already booked on those flights for FREE. When we booked the cruise 2 months ago it was completely free to fly from our city to New Orleans. But today under the same exact promo they want $499 per person for the airfare? 

When people complain about NCL this is what they mostly complain about. Sneaky business practices designed to just bend you over and take you for a ride. It's the same exact promo. Same exact wording. Same everything! Except the price. For the price they want for airfare I can buy a first class ticket.

 

The more I deal with NCL the more it makes me want to run away from them. My girlfriend is a Platinum but we're going to be looking elsewhere for cruising from here on out.

Welcome to my world!  Same thing happened to me on an upgrade from mini suite to Haven suite!  Left a bad taste in my mouth.

[jgreenwo17]

On 10/14/2019 at 3:07 PM, DaCruiseBug said:

Before I get into it, I mean NCL the business model of taking advantage of customers sucks. Not the actual NCL product or all the hard working people on the ship.

 

So we have the Getaway booked for December 8th. Have a balcony cabin with the free airfare promo. We already received all the flight info from NCL etc.

 

Today we noticed that to upgrade to a Spa Balcony is only about $100 more total. So we call NCL to just pay the difference in cabin fares and they say that the free airfare no longer applies. On the website it still saying "free or reduced airfare" and it applies to this specific cabin category. So now they want over $1,000 to upgrade to the Spa Balcony because they want to charge $499 per person for the airfare. Seriously? That's their "reduced" airfare promo. The problem is that the flights we are booked on price out to $300 per ticket if bought on our own directly with the airline. So how is that free or reduced? They're charging a 60% premium to what the actual tickets cost...AND...we are already booked on those flights for FREE. When we booked the cruise 2 months ago it was completely free to fly from our city to New Orleans. But today under the same exact promo they want $499 per person for the airfare? 

When people complain about NCL this is what they mostly complain about. Sneaky business practices designed to just bend you over and take you for a ride. It's the same exact promo. Same exact wording. Same everything! Except the price. For the price they want for airfare I can buy a first class ticket.

 

The more I deal with NCL the more it makes me want to run away from them. My girlfriend is a Platinum but we're going to be looking elsewhere for cruising from here on out.

Welcome to my world!  Same thing happened to me on an upgrade from mini suite to Haven suite!  Left a bad taste in my mouth.  I have an awesome TA.  He talked to lackeys and their supervisors.  Same story.  

My TA told me that I could cancel the air, pay about $200, and then get the better cabin for the price difference.

(Sheesh).

[travelgals]

Given that I sail in a week or so, I will stay where I am. The purpose of the post was really just to report in as to my experience. 

I booked the trip a few weeks ago and called after a few days to try and upgrade. How they could quote $3800 per person, for exactly what was currently on their site for $2099 per person astounded me. 

[graphicguy]

I think everyone here understands what SAILAWAY means...that is, you trade a cheap fare for no perks, no choice of cabin, no booking a cabin when they are plentiful and no choice of cabin location.  You trade cheap for all the restrictions that go along with that sort of fare.  Shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.  I actually think that’s reasonable of NCL given the pricing, too.

 

I’ve sailed the Haven 4 times.  None of them were done via the bidding process or calling after I’d booked some other cabin.  IMHO, if you want the Haven, book it.  All other ways of sailing the Haven have some risks involved....pricing changes, may not bid high enough, etc.

 

If you’re astute enough in your shopping of fares, you can score a Haven cabin for about the price of what you’d pay for another lines’ Jr Suites.