NCL Air. - BEWARE and Be Aware

[CrusinCousins]

We are long time customers of NCL.  Many of our cruises have been on the line, but our last sailing with them may be our upcoming Panama Canal sailing.

 

Here is a brief explanation of our recent experience with NCL air and reasons for you  to be aware and to fully understand how they are currently operating the department before you consider using the service:

1) The flight to Miami was cancelled by JetBlue on the day of the flight.  Several attempts were made to contact the emergency number at NCL.  Calls were never answered!  Finally, after a “hold” for over an hour, near midnight, the equivalent of an “answering service” answered and took our information.  She said we were “protected” and that NCL would make things right after the cruise.  They could/would not provide any information for new flights, etc.

 

2) We booked flights on our own to ensure we would arrive in Miami before departure, as most flights were quickly filling up.

 

3) The luggage finally arrived after we departed the ship at our first port, following two sea days.  After two complaints about the lack of support from the air department, customer service agreed to provide a bit of compensation to purchase items of clothing to use until the luggage finally arrived.  We had to “beg” for the funds, they were not forthcoming.

 

4) At the conclusion of the cruise, we contacted NCL air to receive a refund for the additional funds we were required to pay for the flights to get to the port on time.

 

5) NCL had no intention to refund us for the additional payments we made to replace the flights that they had booked for us.  After two repeat contacts with their customer service department, following the cruise, they finally agreed to refund to us half of the airfare we had paid with the original booking.  We provided proof of the funds paid directly to American Airlines, but they would not budge to increase the refund to the amount we paid.  They used the “cop out” that we should refer to our cruise insurance for the additional amount.

 

6). We contacted two levels above the regular Guest Relations department with no success.  They are insistent that there is nothing further they will do for us.

 

So, please be aware that in addition to all the other issues associated with NCL air, these are yet additional reasons to avoid the service unless you are fully aware of the lack of service and commitment that they are willing to provide.  
- No assistance on the day of travel, even though an emergency number is provided, it is unlikely that your call will not be answered 

- If you decided to take matters into your own hands, you may be able to successfully book last minute replacement flights, but don’t expect NCL to support you with anything other than a minimal reimbursement of only half of the fare paid, if your flights were only impacted in one direction.  You will not be compensated for the amount you are deserving of unless you have more success with their senior management then we did.

 

BEWARE and Be Aware…. NCL Air is a very questionable operation of the business!  
 

Happy Sailing!

[grozzy1]

A few questions-

Did you have insurance?

Were you flying on the date of departure?

Who actually had your luggage?

Regardless of the debate on NCLs responsibilities, better planning could have helped avoid trouble.

[complawyer]

sorry for your problem, but it only goes to show you that  you should never, ever use ncl air service. some folks swear by it, some at it! while it sounds like a terrific deal, look what happened to you.  the only time i ever even thought about using this service, i found out that its the lowest seats available, and to upgrade on your own, the costs was even lower than the ncl fare.

 

we like to go in a few days earlier, and stay in the city from where we are departing. ncl only allows this for 1 day prior (i believe) . 

we live in los angeles, and if we're departing from either miami, tampa or new orleans, i take the red-eye. nothing special i want to see in either tampa or miami. we get  to the airport, grab a cab to the port and voila! we're there

 

also, next time if you give ncl another chance, check the fare to ft lauderdale. sometimes its cheaper and only about 30minutes or less from the port in miami.  finally,if you paid by cedit card, i would contact them and file a dispute claim

[MidCitiesMan]

33 minutes ago, grozzy1 said:

A few questions-

Did you have insurance?

Were you flying on the date of departure?

Who actually had your luggage?

Regardless of the debate on NCLs responsibilities, better planning could have helped avoid trouble.

Other than not using NCL air, how could they have planned any better? Be specific. 

[jkneern]

44 minutes ago, grozzy1 said:

Regardless of the debate on NCLs responsibilities, better planning could have helped avoid trouble.

What are you talking about????  

The OP booked their flights through NCL....NCL should have gotten them to the port and not ghosted them.

[MsTabbyKats]

1 hour ago, grozzy1 said:

A few questions-

Did you have insurance?

Were you flying on the date of departure?

Who actually had your luggage?

Regardless of the debate on NCLs responsibilities, better planning could have helped avoid trouble.

Isn't the point of NCL Air to avoid "planning".

[MidCitiesMan]

To add to this, we have been waiting for 3 days for NCL to contact us to reschedule our flights due to us getting Covid. Saturday we were told we would hear from them Monday or Tuesday. Nada. Two other people told us yesterday and today. Nada. It is almost 7pm in Miami so I’m writing today off. 
 

I filed a BBB complaint a bit ago. 

[NoahtheRed]

1 hour ago, MidCitiesMan said:

I filed a BBB complaint a bit ago. 

I fully support holding NCL accountable (and really, business in general), but BBB might be the most meaningless rating possible. Frankly, I'd consider a chargeback with your CC at this point.

[GeezerCouple]

46 minutes ago, NoahtheRed said:

I fully support holding NCL accountable (and really, business in general), but BBB might be the most meaningless rating possible. Frankly, I'd consider a chargeback with your CC at this point.

 

This ^^

 

How many people here on Cruise Critic checked with BBB when you booked your first cruise on any particular cruise line?
 

Or checked in some years later to see how the reviews were more recently?

GC

[MidCitiesMan]

1 hour ago, NoahtheRed said:

I fully support holding NCL accountable (and really, business in general), but BBB might be the most meaningless rating possible. Frankly, I'd consider a chargeback with your CC at this point.

You are right, it won’t save any future customers. But it will likely get the attention of someone at corporate. And heck, it’s not like I have anything but time right now. 
 

The chargeback would hurt my travel agent, not NCL. The agent has been helpful. 

Edited May 25, 2022 by MidCitiesMan

[GeezerCouple]

1 hour ago, MidCitiesMan said:

You are right, it won’t save any future customers. But it will likely get the attention of someone at corporate. And heck, it’s not like I have anything but time right now. 
 

The chargeback would hurt my travel agent, not NCL. The agent has been helpful. 

 

Your payment was directly to your travel agent, and not to NCL?

 

If we make arrangements through a travel agent, the agent passes our charge information to the actual travel vendor (cruise line, airline, hotel...) and the charge goes through the vendor, not the travel agent.

GC

[mollie jo]

 

I could not agree more about NCL air.  Our flight on our transatlantic was delayed over 2 hours due to mechanical issues causing us to miss our connecting flight.  NCL air offered no assistance whatsoever.  They told me all the flights into Newark were booked and maybe I could join the ship in Halifax which was the first port. They said I would have to book it myself and pay for it though.  I ended up finding a flight into New York (that is where our ship was sailing from) and got the last two seats on the plane.  I called NCL air again and told them and that we may be a little late due to traffic.  She said they would not hold the ship for us and if we were not at the port one hour before the ship sailed, we would be denied boarding. I was shocked at the lack of support.  We made it but our luggage did not. I will say Guest Services on the Getaway was wonderful.  They gave us t shirts, toiletries, free express laundry, $200 on board credit to buy clothes with, and made arrangements to pick up our luggage in Halifax. We are very experienced cruisers but this was our first NCL cruise. We booked it for the itinerary. I doubt we will ever sail this line again.  It is a false sense of assurance they promise you that if you book your air through them, they will make sure you get on the ship.  

 

 

[Montanagirlalways]

So NCL uses Jet Blue now for the free air they advertise?

[GALSews]

Doesn't Jet Blue have some responsibility here, too? We were booked on American when the flight we were on was delayed. It would leave after the time the second leg of our flight was to have left. American rebooked us on a non-stop to our final destination. 

 

(AA had sent a text at 2 AM, which we didn't see until we were on the 4:30 AM shuttle to the airport. We were a little stunned, but the counter lady at AA was very efficient and rebooked us on the non-stop.)

[NoahtheRed]

2 hours ago, Montanagirlalways said:

So NCL uses Jet Blue now for the free air they advertise?

It varies depending on the markets. Some friends of ours are on Delta for their flight to Honolulu while my wife and I are on Alaskan to Seattle. 

[reeinaz]

11 hours ago, mollie jo said:

 

I could not agree more about NCL air.  Our flight on our transatlantic was delayed over 2 hours due to mechanical issues causing us to miss our connecting flight.  NCL air offered no assistance whatsoever.  They told me all the flights into Newark were booked and maybe I could join the ship in Halifax which was the first port. They said I would have to book it myself and pay for it though.  I ended up finding a flight into New York (that is where our ship was sailing from) and got the last two seats on the plane.  I called NCL air again and told them and that we may be a little late due to traffic.  She said they would not hold the ship for us and if we were not at the port one hour before the ship sailed, we would be denied boarding. I was shocked at the lack of support.  We made it but our luggage did not. I will say Guest Services on the Getaway was wonderful.  They gave us t shirts, toiletries, free express laundry, $200 on board credit to buy clothes with, and made arrangements to pick up our luggage in Halifax. We are very experienced cruisers but this was our first NCL cruise. We booked it for the itinerary. I doubt we will ever sail this line again.  It is a false sense of assurance they promise you that if you book your air through them, they will make sure you get on the ship.  

 

 

Where does NCL promise to get you on the ship? 

[dexddd]

14 hours ago, GALSews said:

Doesn't Jet Blue have some responsibility here, too? We were booked on American when the flight we were on was delayed. It would leave after the time the second leg of our flight was to have left. American rebooked us on a non-stop to our final destination. 

 

(AA had sent a text at 2 AM, which we didn't see until we were on the 4:30 AM shuttle to the airport. We were a little stunned, but the counter lady at AA was very efficient and rebooked us on the non-stop.)

You got lucky.  We flew AA in September and after getting on plane but mechanical issue popped up, best AA could do was 30 hours later even though a Delta flight one gate over had seats.  Nope, cant do that.

[Trimone]

13 hours ago, reeinaz said:

Where does NCL promise to get you on the ship? 

When you book a package with them, the whole point is you give the cases to NCL at the airport and the next time you see them they are in your room.

[mjkacmom]

35 minutes ago, Trimone said:

When you book a package with them, the whole point is you give the cases to NCL at the airport and the next time you see them they are in your room.

I thought the point of purchasing discount air with NCL is to get cheap flights and deal with potential poorly timed flights. It’s not like folks are paying a premium to make things easy. I’m curious about the lost luggage, which airline lost it and why is it NCL’s responsibility?

[Trimone]

12 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

I thought the point of purchasing discount air with NCL is to get cheap flights and deal with potential poorly timed flights. It’s not like folks are paying a premium to make things easy. I’m curious about the lost luggage, which airline lost it and why is it NCL’s responsibility?

I think they’ve turned back time, my original cruises with NCL they picked you up from airport, and if you had a late flight put you in a hotel for the day. We had choice of flights at booking, both local and good time slots 

[wil e coyote]

I think (but don't have any data to back it up) that the flights NCL arranges DO go smoothly for most people. So what about when they don't?

It seems there is a fundamental assumption for some underlying the NCL Air discussion that goes something like this: "Since I am booking my air travel through NCL, it is an extension of my cruise, so NCL should help make sure it goes smoothly." I can see the logic of this thought process - after all, if you paid NCL and they set up the flights, and it is so you can go spend money on their ship, shouldn't they have some interest in getting you on the ship? What I have NO insight to is whether NCL looks at it this way. These posts (and others) would suggest that NCL either doesn't see it that way or cannot consistently carry it out. There could be lots of reasons why NCL wants to help with flight support, but cannot - from internal staffing problems, to airline staffing, and other factors.

I have used NCL Air in the past, and other times I have booked my own flights for a cruise. I'm a frequent traveler, so even when someone else books my flights, I know how to work the system if something goes wrong. But I realize not everyone knows how to do that.

My takeaway from all this is that even when NCL arranges the flights for you, you're really on your own to get on the ship (and especially to get home.) So be aware! Forewarned is forearmed.

[weltek]

Ugh. I really am leaning away from accepting the NCL Air after all the stories I've heard in the last year. I have my own Delta BOGO I can use. Given the current state of the airline industry, third party just doesn't seem to be the way to go, even when traveling the day ahead. 

 

I haven't used NCL Air before (other than our first cruise in 2000). Can I get the flight offer and then turn it down? With our small airport, I'm tempted to see what they offer and if it's a great schedule (something I usually can't get with my Delta BOGO), I might be tempted.

[wil e coyote]

One other thing to keep in mind is that the airline industry on-time percentage is about 77% right now. So if you are on connecting flights and have a tight connection, there is a 20%-ish chance that you will miss it no matter who booked the flights. That is just a fact of life right now.

I'd prefer it if NCL recognized that and booked flights with ample connection items given the current state of the industry. From what I have seen, they don't always. That is really my biggest complaint about using them.

[Trimone]

33 minutes ago, wil e coyote said:

I think (but don't have any data to back it up) that the flights NCL arranges DO go smoothly for most people. So what about when they don't?

It seems there is a fundamental assumption for some underlying the NCL Air discussion that goes something like this: "Since I am booking my air travel through NCL, it is an extension of my cruise, so NCL should help make sure it goes smoothly." I can see the logic of this thought process - after all, if you paid NCL and they set up the flights, and it is so you can go spend money on their ship, shouldn't they have some interest in getting you on the ship? What I have NO insight to is whether NCL looks at it this way. These posts (and others) would suggest that NCL either doesn't see it that way or cannot consistently carry it out. There could be lots of reasons why NCL wants to help with flight support, but cannot - from internal staffing problems, to airline staffing, and other factors.

I have used NCL Air in the past, and other times I have booked my own flights for a cruise. I'm a frequent traveler, so even when someone else books my flights, I know how to work the system if something goes wrong. But I realize not everyone knows how to do that.

My takeaway from all this is that even when NCL arranges the flights for you, you're really on your own to get on the ship (and especially to get home.) So be aware! Forewarned is forearmed.

Transfers are included with U.K. bookings 

[hallux]

35 minutes ago, weltek said:

I haven't used NCL Air before (other than our first cruise in 2000). Can I get the flight offer and then turn it down?

The deadline for booking the cruise and requesting date deviations is 75 days.  I imagine if you're before final payment, any changes made after final payment may be subject to the refund terms for cancellation after that date.

 

42 minutes ago, weltek said:

I'm tempted to see what they offer and if it's a great schedule (something I usually can't get with my Delta BOGO), I might be tempted.

You don't know what flights they'll put you on until 30-45 days before the cruise, well after any opportunity to cancel the offer.