A 2.0 concern

[EileenN]

I don't think I've ever looked at another passenger's card to see what color it was.

 

And if you did notice the color, would you know what it meant? My point exactly!!!

[sim444]

NCL took away perks for the mini suites. SO, I do think this is a way to appease the mini passengers. They want people to THINK that they are giving them a special perk. I do not consider a colored card a perk. Or to lose concierge service ( after you booked with that service included) a perk. It is a marketing strategy to sell those minis and balconies..IMHO.

:(

 

I agree it's wrong to change the concierge service after you factor that in as a reason to book up to a mini-suite-with no rebate or credit.

[EileenN]

If the policy was to have concierge service in any particular suite when you booked, I feel that NCL should be obliged to provide this service as contracted. It would mean phasing out the service over the next year or so in order to meet that obligation. Or, perhaps, offer a compensation of on board credit, something reasonable, but an attempt to make the customer feel they are getting what they paid for.

[EileenN]

sorry, duplicate

[cruise4kicks]

If the policy was to have concierge service in any particular suite when you booked, I feel that NCL should be obliged to provide this service as contracted. It would mean phasing out the service over the next year or so in order to meet that obligation. Or, perhaps, offer a compensation of on board credit, something reasonable, but an attempt to make the customer feel they are getting what they paid for.

It wasn't a contract until final payment was made. (It's not a contract at booking.) The change in providing concierge service to mini-suites was made well in advance of any of those affected on sailings 1/1/2008 and following and would therefore not have been included in their contract.

[CruiseNurseBabe82]

I can't seem to find the Freestyle 2.0 on NCL's site. Does anyone know when this is supposed to be implemented?

[EileenN]

It wasn't a contract until final payment was made. (It's not a contract at booking.) The change in providing concierge service to mini-suites was made well in advance of any of those affected on sailings 1/1/2008 and following and would therefore not have been included in their contract.

 

Thank you, Becky, I was not aware of those facts and you make it easier to understand. I appreciate the explanation.

[smeyer418]

It wasn't a contract until final payment was made. (It's not a contract at booking.) The change in providing concierge service to mini-suites was made well in advance of any of those affected on sailings 1/1/2008 and following and would therefore not have been included in their contract.

I don't want to teach a law school class here but a contract is made when there is a meeting on of the minds on the essential terms irrespective of when payment is due(some contacts require a writing but most don't). Here a contract was made with payment required in the future. You can call it a booking if you want but it was a contract nonetheless. Whether the concierge was an essential term is another question. But since they unilaterally varied a term you probably should be able to cancel with out a penalty(unless there was a clause in the incorporated by reference stuff that allowed them to make this change without causing a change in material terms like they can do with ports and itinerary).

 

I would give many examples(the very first case you learn in law school contracts class is about a pregnant cow and whether the contract is a good one)...my favorite is Pennzoil v Texaco. Texaco enters into a one page letter of intent to sell certain oil rights to Pennzoil. The letter contains all the terms of the sale price identifies the property etc but also states there isn't a contract until a formal contract is signed. Texaco decides to renege and sell the rights to someone else because they will pay more. Pennzoil sues. Since the letter contains all the essential terms and is signed by both parties-since this type of sale does require a writing-it is held it doesn't matter what the parties called it since there was a meeting of the minds on the essential terms it was a contract. This went all the way to the US Supreme Court. The award was 10.4 billion dollars.

 

So parties to an agreement-a contract- are bound when there is an contract irrespective if money has changed hands.

[newmexicoNita]

I am not concerned about who gets perks and yes, I think suite passengers and loyal latitude members should get special treatment, just as long as the average Joe cruiser doesn't get overlooked. On Princess a few weeks ago I had a platinum key card because of status (supposidly) I never paid much attention now did anyone else.

 

the main issue is not to revert back in time to the class thing. Adding perks is one thing, taking them away or looking down at someone is quite another.

 

 

Nita

[runnerandme]

Thanks for the info smeyer. I felt it was a contract. I have asked NCl to honor the services, but am sure they will decline. I have used concierge service on all of my cruises and expected to do so on this cruise.

 

Connie

[sim444]

Thanks, enjoyed the contract explanation-remember similar from business law class many years ago, please let me know how the discussion with NCL goes, I believe it should be honored.

[cruise4kicks]

But since they unilaterally varied a term you probably should be able to cancel with out a penalty(unless there was a clause in the incorporated by reference stuff that allowed them to make this change without causing a change in material terms like they can do with ports and itinerary).

And since the change was made before anyone's final payment was due, they could have cancelled without penalty. ;)

[runnerandme]

Becky, Yes, IF someone found out that the concierge service was no longer available they could have cancelled. NCL did not notify those booked in mini suites of this fact:( I have still not been notified. Not everyone that sails reads cruise related boards. They have my email, my address, my phone number. A copy of 2.0 could have been snail mailed also, they chose no to do this.

 

They have taken away the opportunity for some to cancel, change cabins, etc. by not letting their customers know about these changes. I am sure there will be a few disgruntled passengers that try to use a service that is not available to them when they thought it would be.

If I had found out earlier I could have made other choices. I am taking a wonderful cruise, just not with the services that were offered when I booked. Plain and simple.

Connie

[cruise4kicks]

Connie, I think you'll find that concierge service was a vastly overrated "perk," especially now that NCL has made the specialty restaurant booking process so easy. Many have reported here that it was easier for them to book their own specialty restaurant reservations than contact the concierge to do it. ;) I hope you enjoy your cruise!

[smeyer418]

Connie, I think you'll find that concierge service was a vastly overrated "perk," especially now that NCL has made the specialty restaurant booking process so easy. Many have reported here that it was easier for them to book their own specialty restaurant reservations than contact the concierge to do it. ;) I hope you enjoy your cruise!

 

I respectfully disagree. While they have made it much easier to make speciality reservations. Besides the telephone line and the reservation during the day at the main desk area, they have opened two different areas to make reservations at night one by Magenta and one by Bar central on the Gem. But you can only make reservations for that day and the following day. The Concierge can reservations for the entire cruise. The most difficult reservation on the Gem was Cucina followed by Teppiyanki. All the others were easy. Orchid was available without a reservation almost all nights. They really had a difficult night on Valentines day with some people even with reservations at Cagney's waiting 45 minutes(its why they didn't charge me for the lobster that night)....If you eat late after 9 its pretty easy even in Cucina.

 

Cucina's food was excellent even for a New Yorker used to good Italian.

[runnerandme]

Overated perk or not, I still expected that service. A concierge does more than book dinner ressies...I will let everyone know if NCL does the right thing by us, somehow I just doubt that will happen. Will it ruin my cruise, Not al all.

 

Connie

[LOWTYD]

I never had a conceirge and thougt it was great that they offered it int he mini suite we booked last April on the Spirit. Not only did they take away my concierge, they took away Key West too.

Oh well, as far the conceirge goes, I guess I'll never know if was wonderful to have one or not. (but I will miss Key West:( )

 

My husband is a Gold member and I am Bronze. Do you know if we get the Gold memeber perks as long as one person in the stateroom has that status?