Rebooking with less than equivalent room

[Pillonad]

Thank you for your feedback. 

[pete_coach]

19 hours ago, Pillonad said:

I guess I'm being unreasonable in expecting the same category of cabin I originally booked . I'm not asking for any other compensation or consideration for the inconvenience of being on an older ship than originally booked and changes in itinerary. One would think when you pay upwards of $25k for a cabin that it would actually be the one you book. Yes. We will get off the boat. But we have a large group traveling together and like our privacy at the end of the day. Yall act like I'm being stupid and should just be happy with whatever they give me.

As they told you, the ship will not be ready so, they cannot give you the same.

As I read your post, you had 3 options and you chose option 3. I am pretty sure they did not ask you to make the decision within a few minutes and had time to research what your options were.

Cabins can be, and in some cases, are different among ships and new ships will be considerable different so, I am not surprised there is a difference between the brand new and a 12 year old ship. I also suspect that Viva has more Haven suites than Getaway and the equivalent suites were what was offered you.

[Pillonad]

3 minutes ago, pete_coach said:

As they told you, the ship will not be ready so, they cannot give you the same.

As I read your post, you had 3 options and you chose option 3. I am pretty sure they did not ask you to make the decision within a few minutes and had time to research what your options were.

Cabins can be, and in some cases, are different among ships and new ships will be considerable different so, I am not surprised there is a difference between the brand new and a 12 year old ship. I also suspect that Viva has more Haven suites than Getaway and the equivalent suites were what was offered you.

Yes. Thanks for your feedback., I knew there would be differences in the cabins on the Viva versus the Getaway. But I was not told what our cabin number or category would be before we had to make the decision other than it would be "comparable." Did not realize comparable meant lower category. We were informed of our new  category after the decision was made. There are still rooms available on the Getaway in our original category. Thanks for your feedback.

[TampaGambler]

10 hours ago, Pillonad said:

Let's start over and try this again.

 

Hi friends. I'm new to the community but not to cruising. I'm hoping I can get you opinion and/or advice. My family booked on a trip that got cancelled and have been rebooked on a similar itinerary.  We were told we would be booked in a comparable room category and discovered we have been downgraded even though rooms of the exact same category originally booked are available. Has this ever happened to you? I've spoken with customer service, emailed the VP of customer service, and am not working with a personal consultant or travel agent. Do you have any other ideas how to approach this issue. It just doesn't feel right to me.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance. 

 

First, welcome to the board. As you can obviously see, like most things in life, some comments on this forum are more valuable than others and come across in different ways. However, do not take it personally, some people are just more negative. At the end of the day, you will get loads of valuable information here. 

 

For curiosity, did they reprice the sailing or did the price of the cabins stay the same? While this doesn't effect my response, I'm curious because I too, would be disappointed going from a new ship to an older one. 

 

Also, I'm confused with what you said here...."When we we rebooked, we were given no options as to room or location, only "this is your new room." Were I told that the room would be different, I would not have chosen that option." So, did you know the room number or the type of room? What specifically did they tell you?

 

So, with all that said, I believe a huge mistake was made, and I'm sure you recognize it now, that you should have researched all this back in September when you had the opportunity to make changes. At this point, you are past the final payment date, and agreed to changes 7 months ago. 

 

At this point, without beating you down more, I would do the following...

 

1) Figure out what you want and be reasonable.. for example, do you want to postpone the cruise, change ships, or see if they will change the rooms for you.  

2) Then, do as one of the initial responders said and KINDLY email NCL and see if they can or will do anything.

 

Lastly, to answer your other question... Yes, it has happened to us before on RCL (due to dry dock repairs taking longer) and it sucks. It happens on every cruise line for various reasons. In addition, we too were replaced with an older ship, but we declined after looking at the ship, got a refund and went on a different cruise. 

Edited April 1, 2023 by TampaGambler

[TampaGambler]

21 minutes ago, Pillonad said:

Yes. Thanks for your feedback., I knew there would be differences in the cabins on the Viva versus the Getaway. But I was not told what our cabin number or category would be before we had to make the decision other than it would be "comparable." Did not realize comparable meant lower category. We were informed of our new  category after the decision was made. There are still rooms available on the Getaway in our original category. Thanks for your feedback.

 

You answered one of my questions here, but now it spurred another..

 

How long ago did they assign you the new cabin room?

[pete_coach]

45 minutes ago, Pillonad said:

Yes. Thanks for your feedback., I knew there would be differences in the cabins on the Viva versus the Getaway. But I was not told what our cabin number or category would be before we had to make the decision other than it would be "comparable." Did not realize comparable meant lower category. We were informed of our new  category after the decision was made. There are still rooms available on the Getaway in our original category. Thanks for your feedback.

My point was that the ships are different and you could have looked at what Getaway had. Seems Getaway has more types of haven Suites than Viva. I suspect that the one you got on Getaway was the same sq feet at the one offered on Viva. An upgrade would be to a bigger suite, more sq ft.

[graphicguy]

There’s really nothing you can do about his now, since you already made the switch and paid.

 

But, there’s a pretty big difference between the Viva and “AWAY” ships.  Still, the AWAY ships are quite nice.  And, the Haven, regardless of Balcony size, is always a treat.

 

You’ll have fun.  You can contact NCL Customer Service and see what, if anything, they’ll do for you.  But, you’re in a nice cabin in the nicest part of the ship.  It’s just a different ship from the Viva (vs Breakaway and Getaway, which are nearly identical).

 

 

[mtrancher]

So last week I dug a little deeper into your issue of the room being smaller and the deck being smaller. I hesitated to bring numbers into the equation but hope these may ease your mind on what you are receiving. From your 1st post you said you booked a Haven Aft Facing Penthouse with Master Bedroom and Large Balcony and are now re-booked into a Getaway Haven Aft Facing Suite. Here is the square footage of each Suite and Balcony:

                                     State room                         Balcony
Viva                                  550                                   175

Getaway                           700                                   266

 

The Getaway suite was for the regular Haven aft balconies and not the 'large' Haven aft balconies. NCL gives a range so I just averaged the numbers.

 

So it would appear on your re-booking you are receiving a larger cabin than originally booked and a  larger deck than originally booked. The word 'large' in the Vivi description does not match to the use when describing the Getaway cabins.

 

Now of course none of this changes your discussions with customer service nor their perceived treatment of you. But, it just might rest you mind to know you will be able to enjoy a larger room and larger deck than originally booked.

 

Enjoy the win!

 

Edited April 3, 2023 by mtrancher
errant hitting of submit button

[DCGuy64]

The only piece of advice I would offer the OP is not to put the cart before the horse. If you are going on a luxury vacation and staying in the Haven, and your cohorts are celebrating milestone birthdays and (I assume) visiting Greece, which is part of their heritage, awesome!! 👏 Embrace the fact that you have this opportunity to spend a wonderful time on a beautiful cruise ship enjoying all of the perks offered by the Haven, and don't concentrate so much time on the changes that have been made. In 2021 my wife and I were booked on the then-new MSC Virtuosa, but then the cruise line pulled that ship in order to sail around the UK (and only for UK customers, which we're not) and so they substituted the older MSC Splendida. Who cares? We were still in the Yacht Club (MSC's answer to the Haven), and we had a spectacular time. Your trip sounds fantastic. Enjoy!