ontheweb

Basically, the person at the call center has never been on a cruise. All they really know is what is on the script they are given. If asked something off script, they can put you on hold and ask their supervisor or they can make something up.

Not the person you asked, but I can answer as we were there this past summer. We paid with a credit card.

And in the case of having to tender, the cruise line will give priority tendering to those who bought their excursions from the cruise line.

And I basically also said that in post #96.

We were on the Prima and visited Alesund, Norway without tendering. And the Prima will not tender as they say their lifeboats are not certified for tender which is why the ship bypassed Isafjordur, Iceland on every cruise this summer as their dock was not yet completed. (The NCL star did tender in Isafjordur this past summer.)

I believe ilikeanswers has continuously challenged my posts in this thread.

I never said that valid complaints should be ignored, just that the majority of complaints do not fall into that category.

Yes, that is true. But let me add that the charge was actually not over what our insurance was willing to pay for an obviously out of network medical charge. If she had gone to our local emergency room or urgent care, the bill would have first shown an ENORMOUS amount, and then a discount would have been taken off per their contract with the insurance. And thank you for your thoughts about her well being.

I agree we are at an impasse. No, I do not believe they will take down the cruise industry. But I do believe there will be more frivolous complaints than valid complaints.

An example---DW ended up going to the medical center our last cruise on a sea day between Norway and Iceland. At the time, we both thought the bill was high but it turned out that we did not need the travel insurance because our secondary insurance (Medicaid is primary and we knew that we would not pay overseas) paid the entire amount as they must have considered it reasonable. But her condition later worsened. Within a few weeks she ended up in first an ambulance, then an emergency room, and finally a hospital bed. If she had reached that condition a few weeks e on our cruise, the bill for treatment and medical evacuation would have been ENORMOUS. That is what the travel insurance is in place for. BTW. she is fine now.

I bet you do not turn your paycheck back in. And it is good doing something you can love. Might be interesting if you could start a thread about some of the nonsense you say you have to sometimes put up with. Maybe the header could be what NOT to do at check in. Maybe you could even see about writing an article like that for cruisecritic. (Not for the money of course. I'm not even sure they pay for writing articles.)

Thirty minutes before the ship departs the port sounds about right. They will post the time you must be back by. Do not ignore that. As for when you can first get off the ship, that may depend more on how quick the ship clears immigration. Usually there is not much of a holdup.

When I was getting contradictory information from the Princess call center, I finally called my TA. He called his own representative at Princess and got the answer to my question (actually the question was did Princess have a bus from London to Dover for our cruise.) We had a 3 way conversation, and then my TA left and let me ask any other questions I had with an actual knowledgeable Princess representative.

Here is an example of frivolous complaints. Read the first post. (The poster has not come back as no one shows any sympathy for him.)

Ah, I was wondering how you were making a living working one day a week. 🤦‍♂️

I hope you have more than a story. I hope you have a successful fulfilling marriage. 😊

It seemed to me from reading post #80 that there were several frivolous complaints, complaints that people from the banks he contacted laughed at. I got the impression that there were more of these than complaints that were valid.

I still think you and your colleagues are still the champs. When you say seven days later, we do again, are you saying you only work one day a week?

See the nest post #80 about frivolous complaints.

To quote Jackson Browne from the song The Loadout---"You guys are the champs." He was referring to his roadies, but it applies to you unsung heroes at the check in desks.

Fine, as long as we can also say that some are truly frivolous. Some of this discussion started when I posted that we had a river cruise chartered out from under us after final payment, and I thought at least getting to the ports by bus was a better alternative than that.

We sailed the Prima, actually on the London (Southampton) to Reykjavik itinerary. Read all the reviews, not everyone hated the ship; we loved it though I will concede that it some of the features would work much better in a warmer environment. This past summer Isafjordur on the Prima was skipped on every cruise since their dock was not finished and either the ship's lifeboats were not certified to tender or the Captain refused to tender given the amount of passengers. None of us know if that dock will be finished by this summer. OTOH, I have read that the Star has had propulsion issues and has missed more ports than any other NCL ship. They did, however, successfully tender in Isafjordur this past summer. Both great itineraries, so you really cannot go wrong whichever you choose.

Yes, I realize that, but all I am trying to say is that there are people whose complaints are not only not valid, but ridiculous. Oh, and in that same thread I wrote about, they were also more than peeved that NCL did not immediately have a table for 14 ready for them whenever they went to eat. The demands that some have are way above ridiculous.

Yes again, and we are among those without a smartphone or a tablet to bring on a cruise.

All well and good, but both of us having been on these forums a long time (you even about a year longer than me) have seen people wanting refunds or at least some form of compensation for things that are ridiculous. How many posts have you seen over the years that complained about a missed port and wanted a full refund when the reason was a hurricane? When it is pointed out that there could be nothing more dangerous than docking in a port with a hurricane, they respond that they do not care that's what they booked. There was a recent thread on the NCL board with multiple complaints starting with the weather was bad the whole cruise and that was NCL's fault.