Thanks for screwing up our trip from the start, NCL

[SeaShark]

30 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

I’m just not making the assumption that these flights are changeable based on the information given. They aren’t advertised as changeable. Just customizable.

 

It isn't an assumption given the "changes" are specifically mentioned.

[pdmlynek]

On 7/6/2022 at 10:12 AM, PTC DAWG said:

Flying in a day early is the bare minimum these days, lesson learned.  

 

Well, you are right of course. 

 

But one size doesn't fit all.  I think that it really depends on the route.  If someone living in New York City books a cruise from Miami, well, there are dozens of non-stop flights to choose from and flying a few hours before is fine.  But if a passenger from Bozeman, Montana has to make 5 connections to get to Papeete, Tahiti, then planning to arrive two days early would be more appropriate.  

[AllenO]

Finally got our airline issue resolved, and it only cost me an additional $2,700 and an extra Airbnb for two nights.  To recap, three couples are traveling to Anchorage and all booked our air at the same time and linked our reservations with NCL.  (This was confirmed multiple times with different NCL agents while we were setting up our trip.)  When it came time to issue the airline tickets, they split up our party of three couples to arrive in Anchorage, separated not by a few hours, but by TWO DAYS.  Hours spent on hold for the Flight Arrangements line before I asked for the issue to be elevated.  Hours more time on hold (about 8 hours in total) before I spoke with a lady in Dispute Resolution.  She agreed it seemed an unreasonable separation but said there was nothing she could do about it because the tickets had been "released to the airline" 8 days before we got the flight arrangements.  She then conveniently dropped my call after I asked to speak with her supervisor.  The two of us who would arrive two days after the other couples cancelled our original NCL arranged flights (no refunds but I'd been worn down enough to expect that, thank you) and spent an additional $2,700 to arrive at least on the same day as  our earlier arriving companions.  Decided to book an Airbnb where we can all decompress and are going to make the best of this mess.   

 

After this cruise, we are done with NCL.  This will be our 3rd NCL cruise and 10th overall, so we are not newbies by any means.  I accept that most poor level of service is still all the lingering effects of COVID and the economy but it's also just another nasty reminder that it's "Caveat Emptor" out there and that once the cruise line gets your money, you can pretty much expect to be on your own.

 

[SightCRR]

Now with the extra time look into walking on Matanuska glacier about 2 hr outside of ANC towards Palmer. Some have transportation. 

sightcrr

[Shidah]

Two extra days vacation with your friends sounds like a great plan “B”!  Have fun!

[Shidah]

Having airfare scheduled 2 days before a cruise sounds really odd without the party asking for it since it obviously means lodging costs. Hopefully your friends didn’t request  that for a little alone time before the voyage.

[mpk]

5 hours ago, SightCRR said:

Now with the extra time look into walking on Matanuska glacier about 2 hr outside of ANC towards Palmer. Some have transportation. 

sightcrr

 

Had a lots of fun doing this.  It does take awhile to drive there, 2 hours sounds like a proper amount of time to budget.

[Homosassa]

OP - Were all three couples leaving from the same city and airport? Did all book at the same time using the same agent?

 

[nferr]

NCL is not going to book you flying in two days early unless it's requested. Let's be real here. They're not going to just dump you into a city that early.

[CrazyTrain2]

Just now, nferr said:

NCL is not going to book you flying in two days early unless it's requested. Let's be real here. They're not going to just dump you into a city that early.

Oh, and they charge you for the pleasure of a "Deviation".  The deviation that saved them an insurance claim and lost revenue for a missed cruise. What a bunch of malarkey.

[nferr]

Just now, CrazyTrain2 said:

Oh, and they charge you for the pleasure of a "Deviation".  The deviation that saved them an insurance claim and lost revenue for a missed cruise. What a bunch of malarkey.

 

Not sure what you're talking about. A requested deviation I think was $25 when I flew from Europe in April. 

[Sailing12Away]

10 hours ago, CrazyTrain2 said:

Oh, and they charge you for the pleasure of a "Deviation".  The deviation that saved them an insurance claim and lost revenue for a missed cruise. What a bunch of malarkey.

Yeah... you don't have your facts correct. They used to charge $25-50 for a deviation, now they CREDIT you that money because it's easier for them to find flights that will work (more options at least).

[styxfire]

A lot of early responders to this question just wanted to argue, multiple times.  Are these people affiliated with NCL?  To the O.P., I'm sorry this resulted in CRAZY flight days for your companions plus an extra $2700 expense.  That is horrendous, and would be a killer for many cruisers.  Kudos to you for being good-natured about it, and for perservering, and for posting the outcomes.

 

To the people who responded to this inquiry by trying to accuse the O.P of posting ignorant questions, or lack of details, or being a "hit & run", you are worthless.  People come here asking for help, not for judgement.  Yuck.

 

Please remember that people come here for friendship & help, not for judgment.

[Sailing12Away]

7 hours ago, styxfire said:

A lot of early responders to this question just wanted to argue, multiple times.  Are these people affiliated with NCL?  To the O.P., I'm sorry this resulted in CRAZY flight days for your companions plus an extra $2700 expense.  That is horrendous, and would be a killer for many cruisers.  Kudos to you for being good-natured about it, and for perservering, and for posting the outcomes.

 

To the people who responded to this inquiry by trying to accuse the O.P of posting ignorant questions, or lack of details, or being a "hit & run", you are worthless.  People come here asking for help, not for judgement.  Yuck.

 

Please remember that people come here for friendship & help, not for judgment.

Yeah, but it's hard to provide proper guidance to others who may find themselves in a similar situation when the details are vague or suggest there was human error on the poster's part. The point of these boards is to learn from each other so we don't make the same mistakes and can go into our trips well prepared - but you can't do that when some folks just want to bash the entire cruise industry for things out of their control. Or the folks who say "I want a 5K refund because I only drink Coke products and you don't offer them."

[SeaShark]

8 hours ago, styxfire said:

A lot of early responders to this question just wanted to argue, multiple times.  Are these people affiliated with NCL?  To the O.P., I'm sorry this resulted in CRAZY flight days for your companions plus an extra $2700 expense.  That is horrendous, and would be a killer for many cruisers.  Kudos to you for being good-natured about it, and for perservering, and for posting the outcomes.

 

To the people who responded to this inquiry by trying to accuse the O.P of posting ignorant questions, or lack of details, or being a "hit & run", you are worthless.  People come here asking for help, not for judgement.  Yuck.

 

Please remember that people come here for friendship & help, not for judgment.

 

Are these people affiliated with NCL? Why would you ask that? Is the ONLY reason that someone wouldn't jump on the bandwagon because they are affiliated with NCL? By that logic, we can assume that those who post negative are affiliated with RCCL and/or CCL, right?

 

And, the next time you want to tell people "you are worthless", please keep your last sentence in mind.

[PTC DAWG]

On 7/9/2022 at 9:38 AM, pdmlynek said:

 

Well, you are right of course. 

 

But one size doesn't fit all.  I think that it really depends on the route.  If someone living in New York City books a cruise from Miami, well, there are dozens of non-stop flights to choose from and flying a few hours before is fine.  But if a passenger from Bozeman, Montana has to make 5 connections to get to Papeete, Tahiti, then planning to arrive two days early would be more appropriate.  

I live 20 minutes from ATL, and I fly a day early into MIA these days...too many cancellations.  Govern yourself accordingly.  

[Zippeedee]

13 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

I live 20 minutes from ATL, and I fly a day early into MIA these days...too many cancellations.  Govern yourself accordingly.  

We did a family cruise in 2006. The people flying from Boston to NYC were fogged in all morning and just barely made it to the ship, which was delayed in leaving NYC. You just never know about the weather and flight delays.

[jamadeliz]

8 hours ago, Zippeedee said:

We did a family cruise in 2006. The people flying from Boston to NYC were fogged in all morning and just barely made it to the ship, which was delayed in leaving NYC. You just never know about the weather and flight delays.

We are from Boston too.  I think I would have driven lol.  

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, jamadeliz said:

We are from Boston too.  I think I would have driven lol.  

Or Acela...definitely not flying from Boston to NYC! 

[AllenO]

On 7/6/2022 at 9:08 AM, shof515 said:

this is not NCL fault. complain to the air line for changing the flight times. Airlines is struggling this year with lots of flight cancelations and other delays 

The airline did not change the flight times.  This was the info as received directly from NCL.

 

[SeaShark]

5 minutes ago, AllenO said:

The airline did not change the flight times.  This was the info as received directly from NCL.

 

 

However, Premium Air allows you to make changes...the real question would be why you failed to do so. Personally, I think you mixed up Premium Air with the Free at Sea air promo, but you can't/won't admit that...

[Zippeedee]

6 hours ago, jamadeliz said:

We are from Boston too.  I think I would have driven lol.  

We always fly, but that was before the airlines fell apart.