REDICULOUS NCL Policy

[NoobCroozer]

Forgive me for my rant, I looked to see if this has been previously discussed and found nothing.

 

Joy>Bermuda 5/14

 

First night on board, everything was copacetic. Beautiful ship, good vibes. Happy as a clam. Room card worked as its supposed to, used it throughout the ship.

 

Next morning, go to Starbucks, card declined. Go to bar at observation lounge. Card declined.

 

Goto Guest Services, wait in line for 45 minutes, sorry sir, your card is now active. No explanation given for the issue.

 

Next day, Specialty restaurant, food brought to the table, "sorry sir, card declined, but my manager out of the kindness of her heart is covering it". Crowded restaurant, mortified. Goto guest services. "Oh, here's the problem sir. (Not using my real name obviously here)----On the credit card assigned to your room key, it says Ed Smith, but on your room key it says Edward Smith". I explained to them that I paid for the entire cruise using the "Ed Smith" credit card. Produce another credit card with "Edward" on the card, to match the room key. Card works for another day.

 

Next evening, Observation Lounge Bar, sorry sir, card declined. THIRD TIME MORTIFIED in front of everyone. Back to the sixth deck. I was FUMING.

 

Guest services says, sorry sir, the problem is that you have "Edward Smith Jr" on the credit card assigned to your room key, and your room key does not have the JR displayed. The staff could not understand or wrap their heads around the fact that;

 

Ed and Edward are one in the same, as is

Jim/James

Joe/Joseph

Rob/Bob/Robert

Al/Albert

Steve/Stephen, etc, etc, etc.

 

He says sorry sir, unless you can produce a credit card WITHOUT the JR designation, there is nothing we can do. He went back and forth with finance which went on for 30 minutes. Nothing we can do. I said, "you mean to tell me I have to go the next 2.5 days aboard this ship and not be able to make ANY purchases?"--- "Thats correct sir, we do not accept any other forms of payment" (meanwhile there were no issues with either one of the before mentioned credit card accounts).......I said you better get a white shirt down here right now. I go through the same thing with the officer as described above for the next 15 minutes. Luckily, I went through all of my credit cards which were fanned out all over the counter and found a Best Buy and Macy's card with "Edward Smith Jr" on it. The officer comes back 10 minutes later and says, "good thing you found those two cards.....we will go back to square one with the original card you paid for the cruise on" (Ed Smith).

 

I have been on multiple cruises and paid the exact same way for each cruise (1 other with Norwegian) and NEVER had this problem.

 

I STRONGLY encourage you to use a credit card with the EXACT name on the credit card assigned to your room key as what is displayed on your passport.

 

Made what was a perfect cruise into an unenjoyable experience. Well, the disembarking in NYC was a whole other story, for another day.

 

/End Rant

[The Traveling Man]

21 minutes ago, NoobCroozer said:

Forgive me for my rant, I looked to see if this has been previously discussed and found nothing.

 

Joy>Bermuda 5/14

 

First night on board, everything was copacetic. Beautiful ship, good vibes. Happy as a clam. Room card worked as its supposed to, used it throughout the ship.

 

Next morning, go to Starbucks, card declined. Go to bar at observation lounge. Card declined.

 

Goto Guest Services, wait in line for 45 minutes, sorry sir, your card is now active. No explanation given for the issue.

 

Next day, Specialty restaurant, food brought to the table, "sorry sir, card declined, but my manager out of the kindness of her heart is covering it". Crowded restaurant, mortified. Goto guest services. "Oh, here's the problem sir. (Not using my real name obviously here)----On the credit card assigned to your room key, it says Ed Smith, but on your room key it says Edward Smith". I explained to them that I paid for the entire cruise using the "Ed Smith" credit card. Produce another credit card with "Edward" on the card, to match the room key. Card works for another day.

 

Next evening, Observation Lounge Bar, sorry sir, card declined. THIRD TIME MORTIFIED in front of everyone. Back to the sixth deck. I was FUMING.

 

Guest services says, sorry sir, the problem is that you have "Edward Smith Jr" on the credit card assigned to your room key, and your room key does not have the JR displayed. The staff could not understand or wrap their heads around the fact that;

 

Ed and Edward are one in the same, as is

Jim/James

Joe/Joseph

Rob/Bob/Robert

Al/Albert

Steve/Stephen, etc, etc, etc.

 

He says sorry sir, unless you can produce a credit card WITHOUT the JR designation, there is nothing we can do. He went back and forth with finance which went on for 30 minutes. Nothing we can do. I said, "you mean to tell me I have to go the next 2.5 days aboard this ship and not be able to make ANY purchases?"--- "Thats correct sir, we do not accept any other forms of payment" (meanwhile there were no issues with either one of the before mentioned credit card accounts).......I said you better get a white shirt down here right now. I go through the same thing with the officer as described above for the next 15 minutes. Luckily, I went through all of my credit cards which were fanned out all over the counter and found a Best Buy and Macy's card with "Edward Smith Jr" on it. The officer comes back 10 minutes later and says, "good thing you found those two cards.....we will go back to square one with the original card you paid for the cruise on" (Ed Smith).

 

I have been on multiple cruises and paid the exact same way for each cruise (1 other with Norwegian) and NEVER had this problem.

 

I STRONGLY encourage you to use a credit card with the EXACT name on the credit card assigned to your room key as what is displayed on your passport.

 

Made what was a perfect cruise into an unenjoyable experience. Well, the disembarking in NYC was a whole other story, for another day.

 

/End Rant

WOW!  Sorry for the difficulties you encountered.  Thanks for bringing this to our attention.  I can't help but be reminded of a version of the old axiom "You can lead a horse to water, but..."

 

"You can lead someone to school, but you can't make them think."

 

 

[All-ready2cruise]

I actually have the same type of thing, so, will I have the same problem? Best I find out I'm thinking.

Really sorry for this type of problem "Noob" especially if you own and on have on your person another card with the same problem. 

Scary. 

I guess they're trying to reduce the amount of Fraud but there should be some kind of notice, I've received none. 

[Homosassa]

There seems to have been a problem with the authorization and hold the cruise line would have put through  at the start of the cruise.

 

Did you notify your credit card that you were traveling  (not just the countries, but also that the request would be from a cruise line)?

 

Some credit card issuers are very particular about authorizing request from a  business that is not a business that shows in your normal day to day transactions and if the name does not match their records. 

 

While my husband is a "Bob" to me and many others, he is a "Robert" to his charge cards, government issued ID's - driver's license, passport, social security, etc. - and a Robert to anyone  receiving a credit card from him or other business transaction.

 

His signature always reflects the name used for identification documents and other transactions.

 

Of course, it is important that the name be the same for the credit card company, any ID used and the cruise line booking records (which may or may not appear on the room key (my double first name frequently is reduced to just the first part on my key card, but all booking information matches). 

 

 

 

Edited May 23, 2023 by Homosassa

[bluesea777]

Since your daddy has the same as yours, they need to differentiate you from him, hence all bookings, credit cards, etc need to match the name on your passport with the suffix.

 

Fraud is getting so widespread now so the credit card companies are clamping down fraud by using stricter authorization methods. NCL possibly tried to put your CC through using your booking name without the suffix, but the CC company saw that there is a suffix on the card, so they rejected it.

 

We already are noticing an increase of CC authorizations in the past year or two, since the C-pandemic started and the online shopping increased many-fold.

 

Sorry about your experience. Hope the cruise itself and Bermuda were lovely.

 

 

[cruiseny4life]

This happened to my husband due to a name change. He changed his last name just over a week before our cruise. Lots of documents (including passport) to get prior to the cruise.

 

Anyway! When we checked in at the port, couldn't do online check-in due to the passport not being issued in time, he used a card with his previous last name. His room card worked fine for a day or two. Then, it stopped working. Thankfully he was able to go to the concierge (not wait in a giant line) to find out what was going on. It was the name mismatch. 

All he had to do was show the concierge his driver's license with his old last name. Concierge did some magic and his card worked again. No new credit cards. 

 

Sorry you went through so much drama. Also, don't be mortified when your card is declined. It happens to everyone! 

[DCGuy64]

35 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

Since your daddy has the same as yours, they need to differentiate you from him, hence all bookings, credit cards, etc need to match the name on your passport with the suffix.

 

Fraud is getting so widespread now so the credit card companies are clamping down fraud by using stricter authorization methods. NCL possibly tried to put your CC through using your booking name without the suffix, but the CC company saw that there is a suffix on the card, so they rejected it.

 

We already are noticing an increase of CC authorizations in the past year or two, since the C-pandemic started and the online shopping increased many-fold.

 

Sorry about your experience. Hope the cruise itself and Bermuda were lovely.

 

 

I work for a FI and I'm not surprised that they're getting so strict. That said, the OP's experience sounds incredibly infuriating! No reason they needed to have been so inflexible.

[scooter6139]

Had this same problem with Princess a while back.  I didn't specify my middle initial when linking a CC, which did have my middle initial on it, unlike some other cards.  Didn't figure it out until we hit the minimum for using cash when they stopped me from purchasing.

[libtrek]

I have a two word first name, Mary Lou. It has been a pain for 70+ years. That said, my first and last names are always the same. It’s that darn second name. Sometimes put as first name, sometimes in full as middle name, sometimes an initial. It does seem to be more of a problem lately. Passport and divers license are correctly 2 word first, no middle. Thanks, Mom. NCL has it the “correct” way. Crossing fingers no problems.

[WickedRed]

I had something similar happen to me on my last cruise.  Some where along the line someone accidentally typed an f instead of an e at the end of my name.  NCL went to run my card at the beginning of my cruise and copied my name wrong, which of course the card declined.  Had to go to guest services to see what was up and present them with my card and ID I think so they could straighten in all out. 

[SomewhereGirl]

Seems like they always run an authorization when you check in.  How did they do that on the first day and not subsequent days?🤷‍♀️

[complawyer]

wow, out of all the posts ive ever read about people having problems with/on ncl cruises, this was the worst. i absolutely "HATE" inefficiency, and it seems the staff on your ship takes the cake for this one .  i would have been screaming my head off and probably been put off the ship. 

 

such simple problem to resolve, and yet they made you go through hell. i have often stood up for ncl and commented a number of these so called problems were of the 1st world category.

 

in this case, ncl should totally be ashamed of themselves to allow this to have happened to you and ruin your cruise. it begs the question, how can ncl justify declining your card, when you have it, you're physically on board, and more likely than not, they took your picture when you boarded the ship.

 

shame on ncl for treating a passenger so poorly.  No excuse at all

[MoCruiseFan]

2 hours ago, NoobCroozer said:

Forgive me for my rant, I looked to see if this has been previously discussed and found nothing.

 

Joy>Bermuda 5/14

 

First night on board, everything was copacetic. Beautiful ship, good vibes. Happy as a clam. Room card worked as its supposed to, used it throughout the ship.

 

Next morning, go to Starbucks, card declined. Go to bar at observation lounge. Card declined.

 

Goto Guest Services, wait in line for 45 minutes, sorry sir, your card is now active. No explanation given for the issue.

 

Next day, Specialty restaurant, food brought to the table, "sorry sir, card declined, but my manager out of the kindness of her heart is covering it". Crowded restaurant, mortified. Goto guest services. "Oh, here's the problem sir. (Not using my real name obviously here)----On the credit card assigned to your room key, it says Ed Smith, but on your room key it says Edward Smith". I explained to them that I paid for the entire cruise using the "Ed Smith" credit card. Produce another credit card with "Edward" on the card, to match the room key. Card works for another day.

 

Next evening, Observation Lounge Bar, sorry sir, card declined. THIRD TIME MORTIFIED in front of everyone. Back to the sixth deck. I was FUMING.

 

Guest services says, sorry sir, the problem is that you have "Edward Smith Jr" on the credit card assigned to your room key, and your room key does not have the JR displayed. The staff could not understand or wrap their heads around the fact that;

 

Ed and Edward are one in the same, as is

Jim/James

Joe/Joseph

Rob/Bob/Robert

Al/Albert

Steve/Stephen, etc, etc, etc.

 

He says sorry sir, unless you can produce a credit card WITHOUT the JR designation, there is nothing we can do. He went back and forth with finance which went on for 30 minutes. Nothing we can do. I said, "you mean to tell me I have to go the next 2.5 days aboard this ship and not be able to make ANY purchases?"--- "Thats correct sir, we do not accept any other forms of payment" (meanwhile there were no issues with either one of the before mentioned credit card accounts).......I said you better get a white shirt down here right now. I go through the same thing with the officer as described above for the next 15 minutes. Luckily, I went through all of my credit cards which were fanned out all over the counter and found a Best Buy and Macy's card with "Edward Smith Jr" on it. The officer comes back 10 minutes later and says, "good thing you found those two cards.....we will go back to square one with the original card you paid for the cruise on" (Ed Smith).

 

I have been on multiple cruises and paid the exact same way for each cruise (1 other with Norwegian) and NEVER had this problem.

 

I STRONGLY encourage you to use a credit card with the EXACT name on the credit card assigned to your room key as what is displayed on your passport.

 

Made what was a perfect cruise into an unenjoyable experience. Well, the disembarking in NYC was a whole other story, for another day.

 

/End Rant

As far as the "JR" issue I am vert surprised that you have not run into that same problem elsewhere.  Ed Smith is NOT the same person as Ed Smith Jr and vendors accept cards with someone else's name on them at their own risk of charge backs.  Accepting Ed Smith Jr's card to pay an obligation of Ed Smith is the same as accepting Jame Lee's card to pay for an obligation of Mary Trent.  YOu seem to not to be abel to wrap YOUR head around that fact!

[MoCruiseFan]

5 minutes ago, complawyer said:

wow, out of all the posts ive ever read about people having problems with/on ncl cruises, this was the worst. i absolutely "HATE" inefficiency, and it seems the staff on your ship takes the cake for this one .  i would have been screaming my head off and probably been put off the ship. 

 

such simple problem to resolve, and yet they made you go through hell. i have often stood up for ncl and commented a number of these so called problems were of the 1st world category.

 

in this case, ncl should totally be ashamed of themselves to allow this to have happened to you and ruin your cruise. it begs the question, how can ncl justify declining your card, when you have it, you're physically on board, and more likely than not, they took your picture when you boarded the ship.

 

shame on ncl for treating a passenger so poorly.  No excuse at all

 

A card with the name John Doe Jr is NOT John Doe's card.  It is John Doe Jr's card.

[complawyer]

im sorry, so what is your point? the card was issued when the ship was 1st boarded. there should be no problems using it. my passport reads samuel, but i never use that. ive been sam for over 50 years, and before that sammy.  Just to avoid this type of hassle, i book under samuel, but i would never have anticipated the problem that op  faced. it should have been 100% cleared up the1st time she approached guest services

[bluesea777]

1 hour ago, SomewhereGirl said:

Seems like they always run an authorization when you check in.  How did they do that on the first day and not subsequent days?🤷‍♀️

When you check in you’re at the port authority’s mercy, not NCL. 
 

[DCGuy64]

2 minutes ago, complawyer said:

im sorry, so what is your point? the card was issued when the ship was 1st boarded. there should be no problems using it. my passport reads samuel, but i never use that. ive been sam for over 50 years, and before that sammy.  Just to avoid this type of hassle, i book under samuel, but i would never have anticipated the problem that op  faced. it should have been 100% cleared up the1st time she approached guest services

That's true, but as a lawyer, you know that names matter a great deal. When someone does a title search on a property, seeing John Doe Jr, John Doe, Jon Doe, etc. might as well be completely different names. Having said that, it should have been obvious fairly quickly that the OP is who he says he is, and he should have been spared the additional frustration and embarrassment.

[tomk3212]

WOW!!!  Thanks for bringing this up!

 

My late Dad & I have the same name but my birth certificate does NOT have a 'Junior', 'Jr' or 'JR' on it so my LEGAL name is the same as his.  So far, so good, right?  When I got old enough to have a bank account (savings then checking) my Dad INSISTED that I use a 'JR" even though that wasn't my legal name.  So my BANK accounts have a 'JR" and my CREDIT CARDS have my legal name.  TG I've always used my CC instead of my bank/ATM card for NCL charges!  Otherwise I'd have probably had the same issues that you unfortunately had!

 

Thanks for the heads-up!

[ngrund]

OP, I wonder if you went to B Of A's website, applied for the NCL card, got instant approval if they would have accepted it- 😀

[esimon]

bob and robert are not the same person- ask my husband - that being said - they should have told you this before you got on board

 

[complawyer]

dcguy64. you are generally correct in principal, but in this case the op was checked in the ship, a card was issued, a picture most likely would have been taken when they checked in, and i would hope that the picture corresponded to the card issue. IMHO, there was no excuse for what happened to the op.

 

the only possible excuse was that there happened to be another "john Doe" that could have been confused with "john doe jr". absent that possibility, i still maintain, ncl ahs no excuse

[DCGuy64]

5 minutes ago, complawyer said:

IMHO, there was no excuse for what happened to the op.

I agree, and I would really have been annoyed to have this happen not once or twice, but several times. Very frustrating!

[shof515]

i book all of my cruises with my first and last name. when i get onboard the ship i noticed they automatically add my middle name to my onboard account since that's the name that is on my passport. Will i have a problem on my next NCL cruise because they will want a credit card that has my middle name on it? my credit card only has first and last name. 

[MoCruiseFan]

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

That's true, but as a lawyer, you know that names matter a great deal. When someone does a title search on a property, seeing John Doe Jr, John Doe, Jon Doe, etc. might as well be completely different names. Having said that, it should have been obvious fairly quickly that the OP is who he says he is, and he should have been spared the additional frustration and embarrassment.

 

What was there to be embarrassed about?  The fact he might have chosen to be embarrassed is 100% on him.

[MoCruiseFan]

1 hour ago, tomk3212 said:

WOW!!!  Thanks for bringing this up!

 

My late Dad & I have the same name but my birth certificate does NOT have a 'Junior', 'Jr' or 'JR' on it so my LEGAL name is the same as his.  So far, so good, right?  When I got old enough to have a bank account (savings then checking) my Dad INSISTED that I use a 'JR" even though that wasn't my legal name.  So my BANK accounts have a 'JR" and my CREDIT CARDS have my legal name.  TG I've always used my CC instead of my bank/ATM card for NCL charges!  Otherwise I'd have probably had the same issues that you unfortunately had!

 

Thanks for the heads-up!

So you opened a bank account in someone else's name...