Prima H4 category bait and switch/false advertising alert

[Cruise Gopher]

I wanted to make others aware of the nasty bait and switch tactic NCL has pulled on the Prima H4 category. See photo, they have quietly added text stating that the H4 cabins on deck 10 do NOT have the balcony hot tubs! 
 

Only the H4 cabins on deck 12 will have them. I am SO pissed off about this because that was the whole reason I booked this cabin, and of course the ones on deck 12 are no longer available, so I can’t just switch. 

 

So, those who were booked into the deck 10 ones are still paying the same premium rate as those who happened to book the H4 on deck 12, but those on deck 10 will not have the hot tub. This is a bait and switch, or at least some form of false advertising, as this disclaimer was not there when the bookings first opened up for the Prima.

 

[complawyer]

im truly sorry about your mixup, but how can you now yell 
"bait and switch"  when the cabin description clearly states no out door hot tub?

 

you have a huge cabin with a huge balcony on a brand new ship. please stop crying in your beer.

 

plus, since you added "see photo" there is nothing in that picture showing a tub on the patio.

 

ive priced the prima for multiple cruises, and i'm sure youre paying a small fortune.

 

why dont you just enjoy the cruise with what you already have, enjoy the amenities of the haven category, i'm sure that  there are probably 1000's of other cruisers that would wish to have this problem

 

[happy cruzin]

15 minutes ago, complawyer said:

im truly sorry about your mixup, but how can you now yell 
"bait and switch"  when the cabin description clearly states no out door hot tub?

 

you have a huge cabin with a huge balcony on a brand new ship. please stop crying in your beer.

 

plus, since you added "see photo" there is nothing in that picture showing a tub on the patio.

 

ive priced the prima for multiple cruises, and i'm sure youre paying a small fortune.

 

why dont you just enjoy the cruise with what you already have, enjoy the amenities of the haven category, i'm sure that  there are probably 1000's of other cruisers that would wish to have this problem

 

That statement was NOT in the description when the bookings opened a couple of weeks ago.  It appeared in the last few days.

That being said....I do not think it's a "bait and switch situation" - the ship is being built.  This is one of many things that will be different by the time the Prima is launched.

 

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by happy cruzin

[complawyer]

in   that case i apologize for my text

[complawyer]

3 minutes ago, happy cruzin said:

That statement was NOT in the description when the bookings opened a couple of weeks ago.  It appeared in the last few days.

That being said....I do not think it's a "bait and switch situation" - the ship is being built.  This is one of many things that will be different by the time the Prima is launched.

 

 

by the way, if the only or major reason that particular cabin was booked (the hot tub on the balcony), he can always cancel the cruise for a full refund, or wait and see. the prima doesnt sail for another year, and i'm sure there will be cancellations.

 

personally, i would be delighted with with this cabin as is...

[luckyinpa]

i came here to see the pricing on the cabin since all i checked were booked up.  is that 8500 for a 7 nite cruise?

 

one thing i do wish is they had floor plans done for all categories but i guess its too early

[Two Wheels Only]

NCL will fall back on.....

 

"Stateroom images, square footage, and configurations are representative only. Actual accommodations may vary. Total square footage includes balcony."

 

Sure, it sucks for those who booked deck 10 but NCL isn't going to do anything about it. Unless some engineer can figure out a way to add the hot-tubs between now and sailings, don't expect anything positive. 

 

It was worse when MSC Seaside bookings first opened. All Grand Suites were listed as 2BR/2Bathroom but the majority of them were 1BR/1Bathroom. Some people got lucky just as some were lucky to book deck 12 on Prima for the H4. 

[Cruise Gopher]

59 minutes ago, complawyer said:

by the way, if the only or major reason that particular cabin was booked (the hot tub on the balcony), he can always cancel the cruise for a full refund, or wait and see. the prima doesnt sail for another year, and i'm sure there will be cancellations.

 

personally, i would be delighted with with this cabin as is...

Yes that was the only reason I booked that room, was to have the balcony hot tub. 
 

Trust me, if you bought a Mercedes SUV with all the bells and whistles but when you went to go pick it up they gave you a Mercedes compact sedan you would not be delighted with it as is. 

[Seany527]

1 hour ago, complawyer said:

you have a huge cabin with a huge balcony on a brand new ship. please stop crying in your beer.

 

ive priced the prima for multiple cruises, and i'm sure youre paying a small fortune.

 

why dont you just enjoy the cruise with what you already have, enjoy the amenities of the haven category, i'm sure that  there are probably 1000's of other cruisers that would wish to have this problem

 

Right. OP is paying a small fortune and if you were in their situation, you would be saying the same thing. Actually, I’ve read some of your other posts and you would be crying a lot harder. 
 

If you booked your cruise off of this photo and at the time of booking had the choice of Deck 10 or Deck 12 for the same price and you chose Deck 10, how would you feel?
 

I’ll wait for your reply. 

 

[Cruise Gopher]

41 minutes ago, luckyinpa said:

i came here to see the pricing on the cabin since all i checked were booked up.  is that 8500 for a 7 nite cruise?

 

one thing i do wish is they had floor plans done for all categories but i guess its too early

Yep the price in the photo above is a 7 night cruise! The prices have gone way up since the original bookings opened. Our rate we got was $6k pp. 

[complawyer]

ive already apologized for my mistaken post, but i still wouldnt let the lack of the hot tub spoil my cruise

[complawyer]

8 minutes ago, SkierRobUMN said:

Yes that was the only reason I booked that room, was to have the balcony hot tub. 
 

Trust me, if you bought a Mercedes SUV with all the bells and whistles but when you went to go pick it up they gave you a Mercedes compact sedan you would not be delighted with it as is. 

true, but then i  would have the option to not accept the vehicle, likewise you have the option to cancel, which i would do if the hot tub was the only reason i booked that particular cabin. incidentally, i have already apologized since i wasnt aware that the original description didnt mention the lack of the hot tub.

 

again, i apologize directly to you by way of this response

[complawyer]

10 minutes ago, Seany527 said:

Right. OP is paying a small fortune and if you were in their situation, you would be saying the same thing. Actually, I’ve read some of your other posts and you would be crying a lot harder. 
 

If you booked your cruise off of this photo and at the time of booking had the choice of Deck 10 or Deck 12 for the same price and you chose Deck 10, how would you feel?
 

I’ll wait for your reply. 

 

please do not presume to decide what i would or would not do. yes i'd be pissed if i booked for a balcony with a hot tub and didnt get it. the original post showed the description. if not for that, i would have not responded at all. i agree skierrob didnt get what he bargained for, but that wasnt clear on the original post. i have apologized directly to him as well as a general apology for misunderstanding or misinterpreting the post.

now please let me live in peace!~

[Shidah]

As was mentioned, the ship is still being built.  There will be lots of changes.  I could see if this was advertised and then you got on the ship and surprise, no hot tub.  But your cruise has to be over a year out, and you can cancel if the hot tub is a deal breaker.  On that note, i’m with you in that the hot tubs on the balcony is sweet, and if and when we sail Prima, it will 100% be the room we book.  Or the DOS which looks huge, if I could talk the whole family into going on a cruise.  Can you change to a week where one is available on the right floor?

[Cruise Gopher]

5 minutes ago, Shidah said:

As was mentioned, the ship is still being built.  There will be lots of changes.  I could see if this was advertised and then you got on the ship and surprise, no hot tub.  But your cruise has to be over a year out, and you can cancel if the hot tub is a deal breaker.  On that note, i’m with you in that the hot tubs on the balcony is sweet, and if and when we sail Prima, it will 100% be the room we book.  Or the DOS which looks huge, if I could talk the whole family into going on a cruise.  Can you change to a week where one is available on the right floor?

I have my TA checking if there are any options. If not, we’ll just cancel and find something else. 

[Turtles06]

49 minutes ago, complawyer said:

i agree skierrob didnt get what he bargained for, but that wasnt clear on the original post.

 

Sorry, but I know nothing about the stateroom categories on the Prima and I thought the original post was totally clear about what had happened, so much so that I was really taken aback when I read your harsh response to @SkierRobUMN in your first comment above.  I am glad you apologized.

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by Turtles06

[Turtles06]

5 minutes ago, SkierRobUMN said:

I have my TA checking if there are any options. If not, we’ll just cancel and find something else. 

 

I'm sorry this happened to you, you have a right to be upset.  Probably not "bait and switch," though, which requires intent; probably just a screwup on the part of NCL in getting the info out on a still-being-built ship.  Doesn't make it right and doesn't mean you shouldn't be upset.  They should make it right by repricing/re-categorizing the suite.  Good luck!

[Sailing12Away]

I got lucky and choose deck 12, so for now I'm not affected. But when we all booked our cabins when they opened up, at the time it was advertised that all of the H4 cabins had a hot tub on the balcony. Now - they don't. So yes, to me, bait and switch.

 

There's no way I would have paid the price I paid for this room if I wasn't getting the hot tub, I would have downgraded to a regular Haven room for 1/3 of the cost. We'll be sailing through Iceland and the Fjords, so that was why we splurged for the hot tub room. Like I said in some of the other threads that recently popped up about this topic, I would be pissed.

 

For anyone that isn't affected and nonchalantly just saying "well just switch" or "just cancel and pick a different sailing" - easier said than done. Those rooms booked out like hot cakes and are near impossible to come by since there's so few of them. I got lucky, but others got the short end of the stick. My particular sailing no longer has deck 12 available (one of the cabins is mine, obviously), but deck 10 is still available for 3K more than what I booked it at. 

 

Sure, I could downgrade to an HA instead of an H4 (if I had been unlucky enough to pick deck 10 originally) - but for the same price that I paid for the H4, so why would I? That's the problem, folks who booked early thinking they were getting package A, and then Monty Hall comes out and gives you a box of honking geese.

 

I feel your pain OP. If you feel like coming to Iceland in 2023 I'll let you come hang out in my hot tub (assuming they still keep it in the plans by the time I sail).

 

 

[Capitan Obvious]

1 hour ago, Seany527 said:

Right. OP is paying a small fortune and if you were in their situation, you would be saying the same thing. Actually, I’ve read some of your other posts and you would be crying a lot harder. 
 

If you booked your cruise off of this photo and at the time of booking had the choice of Deck 10 or Deck 12 for the same price and you chose Deck 10, how would you feel?
 

I’ll wait for your reply. 

 

 

Probabably going to disappoint you when you find out that this isn't a photo. It is merely an artist's rendition...something quite different than a photo.

 

You might also be disappointed when you get there and find that a) the pool isn't empty, and b) neither are the surrounding loungers. When you see all the people there you can take your photo to the Captain to complain about false advertising and bait & switch tactics.

[Seany527]

2 hours ago, Capitan Obvious said:

 

Probabably going to disappoint you when you find out that this isn't a photo. It is merely an artist's rendition...something quite different than a photo.

 

You might also be disappointed when you get there and find that a) the pool isn't empty, and b) neither are the surrounding loungers. When you see all the people there you can take your photo to the Captain to complain about false advertising and bait & switch tactics.

The only baiting here is what you do to others on Cruise Critic.

 

You must be from an older generation. It’s a picture, a prototype, an artists rendering. All semantics. 

 

But as you put it, enjoy the “renderings.” That’s the closest you will ever get to the Haven. 

[complawyer]

and people tell me my posts are snarky. so what  if it's just  a rendering, that is totally irrelevant to his post. he thought he was booking a suite with a hot tub on the balcony and he didnt get it.

 

he's in a haven suite, and regardless of any current renderings, ncl has described the cabins, and consistent with that description he booked. so cut him some slack.

 

i already apologized as i misunderstood his problem. im sure we would all be pissed if we were paying for something listed then were told later on what we bargained for didnt exist

[littlelulu01]

As someone else who’s booked in a deck 10 H4, I feel your pain but I don’t think this was anything malicious or bait and switchy on Ncl’s part. Although pretty consequential,  I think it was an honest mistake.  I was pretty bummed to see they amended the room description for deck 10.  I’ve found ncl to be pretty reasonable.   They want to make $ but they also want to provide an excellent vacation and have satisfied return customers.  They can’t magically make a hot tub fit on deck 10 balconies  but I would not be surprised if they try  to make some amends for the error. 

[Trimone]

Well I have a similar issue with the Epic, when I booked a Haven Spa suite it had a hot tub in the room, however after the refit it doesn’t reference it?

[Cruise Gopher]

5 hours ago, littlelulu01 said:

As someone else who’s booked in a deck 10 H4, I feel your pain but I don’t think this was anything malicious or bait and switchy on Ncl’s part. Although pretty consequential,  I think it was an honest mistake.  I was pretty bummed to see they amended the room description for deck 10.  I’ve found ncl to be pretty reasonable.   They want to make $ but they also want to provide an excellent vacation and have satisfied return customers.  They can’t magically make a hot tub fit on deck 10 balconies  but I would not be surprised if they try  to make some amends for the error. 

I agree mistakes happen and I don’t fault them for that. What I do fault them for is not communicating to their customers who were negatively impacted by this change and just quietly hoping that those customers wouldn’t notice. 

 

35 minutes ago, Trimone said:

Well I have a similar issue with the Epic, when I booked a Haven Spa suite it had a hot tub in the room, however after the refit it doesn’t reference it?

Yes I agree, similar situation exists there. However, did the room description previously say that the room included a hot tub/spa inside the room? I know the picture showed it, but can’t remember if the room description stated it.

[Trimone]

2 minutes ago, SkierRobUMN said:

I agree mistakes happen and I don’t fault them for that. What I do fault them for is not communicating to their customers who were negatively impacted by this change and just quietly hoping that those customers wouldn’t notice. 

 

Yes I agree, similar situation exists there. However, did the room description previously say that the room included a hot tub/spa inside the room? I know the picture showed it, but can’t remember if the room description stated it.

Yes it did, I won’t be happy if it hasn’t!