Travel Agent did not invoice correct amount, Reservation canceled by NCL multiple times

[www3traveler]

I have done 37 cruises with Norwegian all booked through a local storefront travel agency that has been in business a very long time.  All of the agents are Certified Travel Consulants.  This agency belongs part of a larger established trade organization.

 

I have never had an issue that could not be quickly resolved sometimes before I knew I had an issue.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, m4ha7m4 said:

 

They are part of a large online group, so I am assuming they are and will look into it, thank you! 

 

 

OK, let us all know if this eventually helps with your problem.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, zzdoug said:

If I  understand  correctly  what  you  are  trying to do, I think you run a big risk booking a duplicate reservation and hoping you can get a refund on one of them later. I doubt this approach is offered in any of the contracts you implicitly entered into when booking.

I am not sure the booking system will allow you to double book.

 

A "double booking" story, though an airline not a cruise line. Years ago, we found a perfect cruise for our 30th anniversary, and booked it way in advance well before airlines had established pricing. Our TA said to take the cruise line (in this case Princess) airfare to make sure we had airfare and then keep checking once airfares had been established as we could always cancel the cruise line airfare before final payment.

 

Long story short, I found great airfare, but every time I tried to book it online, I got a pop-up, technical difficulties, please try again or a number to call. I called after a few tries, and the customer service representative from the airline after I gave my name also had my wife's name that I had not given her. It turns out, we were already booked on the flight by Princess (3 could have flown for the price quoted in the special online promotion for what we were paying Princess for 2). She had asked if we had already paid, and I let her know all we had paid was the cruise line deposit. I asked her to cancel and rebook us. She at first hesitated wanting me to cancel through the TA first, but finally came through for me when I said I did not want at any time to have no airfare booked and promised to immediately call our TA, which of course I did.

[zzdoug]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

I am not sure the booking system will allow you to double book.

 

A "double booking" story, though an airline not a cruise line. Years ago, we found a perfect cruise for our 30th anniversary, and booked it way in advance well before airlines had established pricing. Our TA said to take the cruise line (in this case Princess) airfare to make sure we had airfare and then keep checking once airfares had been established as we could always cancel the cruise line airfare before final payment.

 

Long story short, I found great airfare, but every time I tried to book it online, I got a pop-up, technical difficulties, please try again or a number to call. I called after a few tries, and the customer service representative from the airline after I gave my name also had my wife's name that I had not given her. It turns out, we were already booked on the flight by Princess (3 could have flown for the price quoted in the special online promotion for what we were paying Princess for 2). She had asked if we had already paid, and I let her know all we had paid was the cruise line deposit. I asked her to cancel and rebook us. She at first hesitated wanting me to cancel through the TA first, but finally came through for me when I said I did not want at any time to have no airfare booked and promised to immediately call our TA, which of course I did.

Would be nice if the system had checks to prevent double booking.  Given the testimonials (rumors?) of both problems and bona fide bugs in NCL technology flying around lately, I do not trust it to prevent anything.

[Lupush]

Firstly, sorry that you have to deal with this inconvenience.  However, I do have to ask a silly question, why book with a Travel Agent at all?  What is the benefit of adding an extra step in the booking process?

[brookie848]

13 minutes ago, Lupush said:

Firstly, sorry that you have to deal with this inconvenience.  However, I do have to ask a silly question, why book with a Travel Agent at all?  What is the benefit of adding an extra step in the booking process?

The funny part is many people book with travel agents so that the agents will take care of any issues...

[Lupush]

I've been in the hospitality industry for 25 years.  There are no tools/connections that a Travel Agent has that you as the direct consumer does not.  You can get the same things done directly as long as you know who to contact.  I highly recommend booking direct to avoid issues such as this one.

[PTC DAWG]

28 minutes ago, Lupush said:

Firstly, sorry that you have to deal with this inconvenience.  However, I do have to ask a silly question, why book with a Travel Agent at all?  What is the benefit of adding an extra step in the booking process?

Refundable OBC offered for one reason...."cash" back after cruise for another, possibly in the form of a gift card...

[m4ha7m4]

A representative from the travel agency called me and was able to provide me a full refund after talking to NCL on my behalf.   Based on their explanation it seems this was a glitch with a new promotion and masked by the other billing issues other's have noted with NCL lately.

 

I have also just re-booked a better cabin for the same cruise!  All is well in the world... as long as I get my refund.

 

Once I have some time (maybe on my cruise) I will write up some tips for anyone else in a similar situation.

 

The main takeaway:  If your reservation is not appearing in your NCL account and you get an error message when using the "Don't See Your Reservation?" tool on the "My Account" page, or your reservation has an "On Hold" status your reservation is at risk for automatically being cancelled... even if your booking is confirmed (mine was).  Talk to NCL and check the status of your reservation.

 

Thanks all for the tips

 

[RocketMan275]

45 minutes ago, Lupush said:

Firstly, sorry that you have to deal with this inconvenience.  However, I do have to ask a silly question, why book with a Travel Agent at all?  What is the benefit of adding an extra step in the booking process?

Simple: my TA gives an 8% discount on all fares booked through her agency.

Besides it isn't an extra step.  

If you book through a cruise line, you have one step.  You have to contact the cruise line.

If you book through a travel agent, you have one step.  You have to contact the travel agent.

[Lupush]

15 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Simple: my TA gives an 8% discount on all fares booked through her agency.

Besides it isn't an extra step.  

If you book through a cruise line, you have one step.  You have to contact the cruise line.

If you book through a travel agent, you have one step.  You have to contact the travel agent.

Until you have an issue like this.

[ilovesparky13]

Wow I’m so sorry OP 😞. I hope you reached some sort of resolution now that it’s Monday. 

[RocketMan275]

5 minutes ago, Lupush said:

Until you have an issue like this.

Use a good TA and you won't have issues like this.

[jimsig]

1 hour ago, m4ha7m4 said:

I have also just re-booked a better cabin for the same cruise!  All is well in the world... as long as I get my refund.

 

Did you re-book on your own or with the TA?

[zqvol]

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

Use a good TA and you won't have issues like this.

Until you do have issues.

[RocketMan275]

33 minutes ago, zqvol said:

Until you do have issues.

There have been too many horror stories involving booking directly to think that solves booking issues.

 

 

 

 

[Buford T Justiice]

Glad it worked out for you... and I hope you get your money back from the Travel Agency.

[m4ha7m4]

Lot's of discussion on booking direct vs. an agent.  I would still use an agent if the discount was deep enough, for group travel (esp international), or for travel I'm not familiar with/don't have the time to research (to help avoid/fix mistakes).

 

In this situation I over-estimated the discount ($210 was removing the Free-At-Sea drink and dinner discount which you CAN do when booking direct), underestimated NCL's support (available 24/7, almost no wait time via phone or chat), overestimated the Travel Agent's support (open Saturday, but only till 7pm and closed Sunday), and learned having an agent severely limits the help NCL can provide.

[greatestvalue]

On 1/30/2023 at 5:37 AM, m4ha7m4 said:

What I am trying to ask is what is the chance NCL will refund my money if my TA screwed up? NCL won't even talk to me because I used a TA. 

NCL cancelled my sisters reservation today, because the $250.00 Cruise Next Certificate I transferred to her hasnt reached her account as of yet.  They stated the full amount was to be put back on the credit card. 

 

In our case - They ended up reinstating the reservation with us paying the $250.00 via a credit card. And all is good.  So hope all ends well for you too!!

[hallux]

Regarding using a TA or booking direct - 

If you have a GOOD TA, it's more than just ease of booking and discounts.  The TA my parents use always has info  available to her about her customers that are currently traveling.  That way, if something happens (flight issues, something happens to the guest, whatever) she can jump to action to help them fix issues with things she booked for them.  If you book on your own you're 'stuck' doing that leg-work, possibly while under stress or with limited connectivity (such as on a ship with poor internet).

 

I take a risk on those aspects and have just been booking myself.  I've tried to book with a couple different TA's but it seems nobody really wanted my business even though it would have been an easy booking as I already knew what I wanted.

[ExArkie]

41 minutes ago, hallux said:

Regarding using a TA or booking direct - 

If you have a GOOD TA, it's more than just ease of booking and discounts.  The TA my parents use always has info  available to her about her customers that are currently traveling.  That way, if something happens (flight issues, something happens to the guest, whatever) she can jump to action to help them fix issues with things she booked for them.  If you book on your own you're 'stuck' doing that leg-work, possibly while under stress or with limited connectivity (such as on a ship with poor internet).

 

I take a risk on those aspects and have just been booking myself.  I've tried to book with a couple different TA's but it seems nobody really wanted my business even though it would have been an easy booking as I already knew what I wanted.

Excellent summary. I spent a couple of years trying to find that "GOOD TA" and was successful only in identifying a few who were reasonably competent, and even fewer who could tell me more about my destination/ship than I was able to find out on my own. Only benefit I found was the offer of additional OBC or a discount. Never seemed to reduce the amount of effort required on my part.

[surmy555]

I've had the same TA for the last 30 years. She is excellent. Through Covid we had multiple cruises cancelled, most by the cruise line but a couple because we tested positive before the cruise. She handled all of the details with the cruise lines. She dealt with the FCC's to have them applied to a future cruise (we are booked in June for Norway for the 4th try, 2020 and 2021 cancelled by the cruise line and 2022 cancelled by us due to Covid 5 days before we were to leave - she took care of everything). She takes care of price drops, questions etc. and rebates some commission as well

I'll take my TA over booking direct but to each their own

[cruiseny4life]

On 1/30/2023 at 2:32 PM, m4ha7m4 said:

A representative from the travel agency called me and was able to provide me a full refund after talking to NCL on my behalf.   Based on their explanation it seems this was a glitch with a new promotion and masked by the other billing issues other's have noted with NCL lately.

 

I have also just re-booked a better cabin for the same cruise!  All is well in the world... as long as I get my refund.

 

Once I have some time (maybe on my cruise) I will write up some tips for anyone else in a similar situation.

 

The main takeaway:  If your reservation is not appearing in your NCL account and you get an error message when using the "Don't See Your Reservation?" tool on the "My Account" page, or your reservation has an "On Hold" status your reservation is at risk for automatically being cancelled... even if your booking is confirmed (mine was).  Talk to NCL and check the status of your reservation.

 

Thanks all for the tips

 

I'm so glad your travel agent was able to rectify the error and confirm it was a NCL error due to all the glitches that weekend. Ugh, I stressed myself out a few times that weekend about my (and others) cruises! 

 

Have a wonderful cruise and enjoy that better room!