On the Joy now- need help

[gmkgks]

We are currently on day 6 of a 12 day cruise on the Joy.  We booked a family ocean view.  We upgraded for almost double the cost in the week before the cruise because we cruised over Thanksgiving and realized we needed the room.  Our room looks beautiful but is not livable.  First, they didn’t have three beds as requested.  We are a married couple with my 12 year old daughter and an adult male.  They can see by the names and ages that we need 3 beds. My daughter has been sleeping on the floor because despite my confirming before booking they expect her to sleep in a bed with a man. We finally got a rollaway which takes up all the extra space we paid for. The room is configured such that the space we expected to be the third bed can’t be a bed for “safety” reasons (unexplained). Second, yes he room is hot. The hall is feeding cold but they can’t get our room to a temperature we can sleep.  I’m tempted to sleep with our door to the hall open to get the cold air in. Every day it’s been a different promise.   Third, there is a banging noise in our ceiling when we are moving. I wear ear plugs to sleep and it still wakes me up. After 5 days of being gaslit over it they admit it is a problem known to them.  Their proposed solution is to move us to a smaller room.  The one we spent $3k to upgrade from. We said not acceptable. According to them there are no same sized or larger rooms but I don’t believe them.   We were getting upgrade requests until the day we left.  Depending on who we talk to at Guest Services, they are only at 60-70% capacity.  I just don’t believe every same sized or bigger room is sold out on a ship at 60-70% capacity but what can I do?  As a Platinum Latitudes, almost to the next level, I expected more.  Can any one share advice or suggestions?  Thanks.   

[BennyBrun]

I am so sorry to hear that.  I would ask to set up an appointment as soon as possible to speak with the hotel director or an officer equivalent to address the issue.  Do not wait you leave the ship because issues are better resolved while you are still on the ship.  Guest relations pretty much just take your complaints and try to put a bandaid on it or they will pass it upward.  It is best to go down there in the morning and ask to set up that appointment.  Give the person the facts / the issues you are experiencing and propose two reasonable solutions and see what they can do.  I hope they will resolve this for you.

[WYB!]

Just wondering are the 3rd and 4th passengers part of the paid upgrade or are they the free at sea guest (3 & 4)?

Perhaps inquire if there is an available inside cabin available and if so find out how much it would be to move them in to it for the reminder of the voyage.

[gmkgks]

I will go now to set up an appointment with the hotel manager. Thank you.  
 

The third and forth passengers were paid for. No free at sea promotions, I guess because it’s a holiday sailing.  We could move him but it won’t help me sleep with the heat and banging.  

[BennyBrun]

Make sure it’s the hotel director (officer with stripes) if they push back politely tell them that you were disappointed with the communication and this issues needs to be escalated directly to the hotel director.  The hotel director has a lot more power to move things around and I am surprised that the director has not been involved by guest relations.

[PCHENG]

What is your cabin number if you don't mind me asking.

 

I am booked in a family oceanview on the Joy to Bermuda, and I want to know which room to avoid.

[gmkgks]

5 minutes ago, BennyBrun said:

Make sure it’s the hotel director (officer with stripes) if they push back politely tell them that you were disappointed with the communication and this issues needs to be escalated directly to the hotel director.  The hotel director has a lot more power to move things around and I am surprised that the director has not been involved by guest relations.

Thank you.  I’m trying to speak to him now. We’ve tried to be patient. But every time we wait in the long customer service lines and I feel like that is what I’ve done with my vacation - wait in the lines at customer service.  

[gmkgks]

1 minute ago, PCHENG said:

What is your cabin number if you don't mind me asking.

 

I am booked in a family oceanview on the Joy to Bermuda, and I want to know which room to avoid.

11700 on the Joy. 

[CarolinaMamma]

I’m so sorry to hear you are having a bad experience. 
 

Why did you pay $3k to upgrade instead of just booking a second room? Four adult-sized people in a regular cabin, sharing one bathroom, sounds miserable. I’ve never known a hotel or cruise line to look at the ages and genders and advise you about beds. You book the room, knowing the sleeping configuration, and how you arrange people is your business. I have a teenage son and a teenage daughter, and when a hotel room says “sleeps 4,” I make sure they are not going to be sharing a bed, which often means I need to book a room that says “sleeps 5” or even 6.  On a cruise, I usually book two cabins.
 

The  banging is a separate issue and one that you are more likely to get a response on. Is there something above you, maybe a kitchen? 

 

it is highly unusual for cruise lines to move people once onboard, and part of the reason may be that pricing on a prorated basis is something they don’t have a process for, but maybe asking to add an inside cabin nearby would be a possible solution. 

[bkrickles1]

12 minutes ago, gmkgks said:

11700 on the Joy. 

I'm booked in cabin 10700 on joy for January 15th and I've been excited as it's a huge ov cabin. I hope to not have similar issues. 

[gmkgks]

11 minutes ago, CarolinaMamma said:

I’m so sorry to hear you are having a bad experience. 
 

Why did you pay $3k to upgrade instead of just booking a second room? Four adult-sized people in a regular cabin, sharing one bathroom, sounds miserable. I’ve never known a hotel or cruise line to look at the ages and genders and advise you about beds. You book the room, knowing the sleeping configuration, and how you arrange people is your business. I have a teenage son and a teenage daughter, and when a hotel room says “sleeps 4,” I make sure they are not going to be sharing a bed, which often means I need to book a room that says “sleeps 5” or even 6.  On a cruise, I usually book two cabins.
 

The  banging is a separate issue and one that you are more likely to get a response on. Is there something above you, maybe a kitchen? 

 

it is highly unusual for cruise lines to move people once onboard, and part of the reason may be that pricing on a prorated basis is something they don’t have a process for, but maybe asking to add an inside cabin nearby would be a possible solution. 

We did specifically check with NCL about the sleeping configuration when we booked.  We looked at the photos of the room and it looked like a sofa bed and a couch/single bed under the window.  But they will not make the couch under the window into a bed for safety reasons. But we were not told that prior to booking. 
 

There are only cabins above and below us. Yesterday we were told the banging was a “known issue” about the ship.  

[tallnthensome]

11700 is one of the larger cabins on the ship unless you are expecting to be given a suite. Most balcony, inside, and ocean view cabins are not as big your specific room so where can they give you one the same size or larger if there are so few? Can't you just move the roll away where you want it? 

[gmkgks]

I’m not expecting anything better or bigger. I just want my room to be functional.  Since it’s not, I’d happily take the same room in another location. 
If it was just the rollaway bed issue I could deal with it.  But the heat and the banging is intolerable.  I’m not sleeping. It’s not a vacation if you can’t sleep.  

[Niffernay]

I don't have any ways to help but I really hope everything gets worked out for you.  What a crappy way to spend your vacation.  My two cents: REALLY squeaky wheels get more grease.  Good luck and take care.  

[dad son team]

Go to the desk and ask for the Hotel Director and then ask where you can sit while you wait for him/her to come.  You need a cabin that will sleep 4 people in 3 beds.  Period.  Even a 'smaller" balcony would be better.  Once they change your cabin, the banging and the heat issue will be gone too.

[TowerOrchard]

I would focus on the noise & temperature issues when you are talking to the hotel director and be open to solutions that might not look like what you are imagining - they can't move you to a similar sized room if there are none available. 

 

The sleeping arrangements of the guests you chose to book into the room are not their problem. 

Edited December 28, 2021 by TowerOrchard

[The Traveling Man]

I'm sorry to hear about your travails.  You stated that you are a Platinum Latitudes member, almost a P+, so you obviously have sailed with NCL many times before.  You said that this was day 6 of 12 on this cruise.  I assume that you spoke to someone at the Guest Services desk on day one as soon as you discovered the problems with your room.  It truly is unfortunate that no one was able to solve the problems after so much time.  We have experienced similar problems before with an HVAC unit on the fritz, toilets that wouldn't flush, etc.  It sometimes took the staff a few days and several "house calls" to fix the problem, but staying on top of the Guest Services team almost always resolved the problems in due course. 

 

Since you are a Platinum member, have you attended Latitudes parties in the past?  That is a great opportunity to meet the ship's senior officers.  As they say, it's not what you know, it's WHO you know.  We have been very fortunate in the past to get to know several really outstanding General Managers.  On a couple of occasions when we encountered problems, we just picked up the phone, called the GM directly, and WHAM, things got fixed.  That may not be of much help to you in your current circumstances, but perhaps it will be of aid in the future.

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, gmkgks said:

11700 on the Joy. 

I just checked the NCL website and found that your cabin is designated to hold four guests.  Usually that would mean two in the primary bed, one on the sofa, and one in a Pullman-style bed that pulls down from the wall or ceiling.  Does your room have a Pullman bed?

[FlaMommy75]

4 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

I just checked the NCL website and found that your cabin is designated to hold four guests.  Usually that would mean two in the primary bed, one on the sofa, and one in a Pullman-style bed that pulls down from the wall or ceiling.  Does your room have a Pullman bed?

Yes, thank you for asking this question. I was wondering the same thing because we are a family of 4 (with 2 older teens) and I was just about to book 11700 on the Escape. The whole reason I was looking to book that room over a club balcony was the extra footage. I also was under the impression it had a pullman and it is designated to sleep 4 people.

 

I am so sorry to hear about your room. I know that must be really frustrating 😞

[BirdTravels]

Skip the guest services and go directly to the General Manager for resolution. 

[CarolinaMamma]

48 minutes ago, gmkgks said:

We did specifically check with NCL about the sleeping configuration when we booked.  We looked at the photos of the room and it looked like a sofa bed and a couch/single bed under the window.  But they will not make the couch under the window into a bed for safety reasons. But we were not told that prior to booking. 
 

There are only cabins above and below us. Yesterday we were told the banging was a “known issue” about the ship.  

So it sounds like they did not give you the sleeping arrangements you were promised and can’t explain the “safety issue.” I hope you can talk to someone soon, maybe even have them come see the cabin. Be open to other solutions, such as splitting your party into two cabins.  Good luck to you! 

[pcakes122]

3 minutes ago, CarolinaMamma said:

So it sounds like they did not give you the sleeping arrangements you were promised and can’t explain the “safety issue.” 

In those cabins, the bench under the window isn't a bed, unfortunately.  The window has a very angled slant, so if you laid on that bench (it is not cushioned - it's hard like a countertop) and sat straight up, you would bang you head right into the glass window or the wall.  (Also even if they put a mattress pad and sheet on the hard surface, in rocky seas the person could slide right off onto the floor.)  I can see why NCL considers it a safety risk for someone to sleep there.

[CarolinaMamma]

5 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

In those cabins, the bench under the window isn't a bed, unfortunately.  The window has a very angled slant, so if you laid on that bench (it is not cushioned - it's hard like a countertop) and sat straight up, you would bang you head right into the glass window or the wall.  (Also even if they put a mattress pad and sheet on the hard surface, in rocky seas the person could slide right off onto the floor.)  I can see why NCL considers it a safety risk for someone to sleep there.

Ah, that makes sense, and the picture clarifies things. So OP was assuming that window seat is a bed, but it’s not. 

[pcakes122]

1 minute ago, CarolinaMamma said:

Ah, that makes sense, and the picture clarifies things. So OP was assuming that window seat is a bed, but it’s not. 

Yes, that's what I'm gathering.  But I can understand their issue since the sofa bed (in the front left of the photo) I don't believe is a complete pull out sofa - but just one of the fold-down ones.  Not sure how NCL expects 2 people to sleep on that - it would be tight even if it was a "couple".  The photo I posted is from 12700 so not the OPs cabin, but same category and directly above.

[farjar]

1 hour ago, gmkgks said:

11700 on the Joy. 

Here is a quote from the thread "Our Joy Experience Dec. 18-23 posted by jeremybe currently on page #2 of these reviews.  Sounds as if others are experiencing similar issues.

 

THE STRONG NEGATIVE: VIBRATION IN AFT OF SHIP - I had a Haven Aft balcony cabin -  After leaving Miami on the first night we were woken up to the most intense vibration I have ever felt in my life  - The room was unusable - Between the vibration, the noise from everything rattling etc it was the worst cruise experience of my life (I've been on 30 or more cruises) - 3:30 in the morning I was at Guest Services were I was given a second "sleeping room" - On day 2 we complained to the Concierge about the tiny room we were given and we were then moved to a Haven Balcony room to sleep in - SO we had two rooms for the cruise - Unfortunately the 2 bathroom 1 1/2 Bedroom suite we paid for was unusable - Speaking to our Cabin Steward, she told us that most passengers in the aft of the ship had moved out of the aft - She also mentioned that this had been going on with ALL cruises since the Joy entered service. In addition, she said that in all of her years of cruising she has never felt anything like this.

 

At this point in time, if you are booking a cruise on the JOY - I would avoid at least the last 10 aft cabins on the ship on all decks - Also know that if you plan on going to the specialty restaurants in the aft of the ship it will potentially be uncomfortable due to vibration