eynsteinp

I'm sorry but I still don't get it. How is it not misleading when the total amount that I would pay for the room through the upgrade process is higher than the total amount that I can book the room for directly with NCL? This is not only a bad deal, its misleading. I truly find it to be an example of a corporation that does not care if it is taking advantage of its less educated customers. I am usually a defender of NCL on the whole but in this case I think it is very wrong to mislead your customers and trick the less educated customer into thinking that they are getting a special opportunity to upgrade when the cost of the upgrade that they are asking is higher than the full list price of the same room on their site. Just my opinion but the buyer beware attitude of companies and people who defend them really lack compassion for the people who are being taken advantage of.

I get your buyer beware theory but I really feel like they are misleading their own customers with the way it is presented. They make it seem like you were lucky enough to be allowed to bid when you could just go and upgrade without the "special" bidding procedure. I get that it is ultimately the responsibility of the customer but It really is misleading and I feel a bit underhanded on their part. I fortunately did my homework on the pricing but I bet many people trust NCL when they are told that they are getting a special deal.

That's interesting that it happened to you as well. I guess it serves as a warning to everyone that if you are not careful your invite to "upgrade" can be a way to get ripped off. I guess like is the case with so many other things, buyer beware!! NCL really should not do this to people. It really is abusing their customers trust by making you believe that you are getting a deal when you are actually getting ripped off by paying more than you would if you just went on the website or called them to pay to move up a room category.

It definitely made me think that everyone better really do their homework prior to bidding. I don't know if it is a computer glitch or if someone screwed up but it really makes zero sense.

I haven't yet. I just received it today and thought that it made no sense whatsoever. I wondered if anyone else has had that happen. I will try to give them a call and see what they say and report back.

I find this very strange...I am currently booked with my wife in a 2 bedroom haven suite on the Epic. Today I received an upgrade offer to upgrade to the Deluxe Owner's Suite and the minimum bid is $750 per person. The strange part is that when I looked at the cost difference of the 2 bedroom and owners suites on the website the difference in price is only $700 per person ($2799 vs $3499). So I could just call and pay $700 per person to upgrade vs going through the upgrade process and making a minimum bid of $750 per person with a poor chance of getting the upgrade. I think NCL better look at their algorithm :D.

Thank you for the review. I'm very glad you enjoyed your cruise. I was wondering , was the internet very slow? On the Escape about a year ago, the internet was so slow it was not usable at times. We are leaving on the Epic in December. Thanks.

Linda, thanks for the reply. Do you get much more movement being in front of the ship or was the whole ship listing on the night you are describing?

I just booked room 16000 on the Epic. It is a forward facing 2 bedroom cabin. I never have travelled in a forward facing cabin and don't know if it has a different feel or not than a side facing or aft-facing (which I did once and liked). The cruise consultant recommended it saying that these are very popular and give a little bit of a unique cruise experience. Any input on this would be great. I can get a little motion sick if the movement is too bad so that is a little bit of a concern always for me. My wife likes to sleep in and try to avoid very noisy areas if possible. Thanks in advance for any input.

Thank you both for the update. I appreciate the information and pictures.

I was wondering if anyone knew when the Haven area of GSC would be completed. I'm sailing on the Epic on December 9 and was trying to plan out my day. Also, what new things are open on the island since the renovations took place? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

I can't speak of the other lines but I sail NCL Haven and really enjoy it on the larger ships. I truly have not had a bad experience yet in the Haven. Haven only pool, restaurant, and lounge really change the cruise to a 5 star experience.

They are in this review:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2519927&highlight=epic&page=4

Hope you enjoy.

If you are allowed to bid you will get an email inviting you to bid or you can go on NCL.com and look at your reservation and it will say there that you can bid. Not everyone gets the invite is my understanding.

I much prefer the Getaway to the Escape. I felt that the Escape was just a later ship with no added benefits. I don't think NCL did a good job with the design of the Escape because while still a nice ship, it added nothing new from the Getaway and Breakaway. The only purposes was to make it a little bigger to add some extra rooms on the ship with no new or innovative technology or activities. I agree with he 4.5 ratting for the Getaway and 4.0 for Escape.

56 days until we leave on the Epic for our first Mediterranean cruise. Very excited as My wife and I have never been to Europe and going without the kids!

We did a B2B in May and by the Florence port we were exhausted! Add that to the fact that it was predicted to rain all day....DH said "NO WAY!" So we stayed on the ship. Very quiet port.....he had a massage...I enjoyed sitting on the balcony reading and doing NOTHING! Four of my six daughters said that if any port....this was the one to miss! So if you do the half day and hit the "highlights" my thought is that you are on the right track!

I think you have sealed it for me. Half day Pompeii tour, private full day tour in Rome, half day private tour in Florence, and maybe go to Monte Carlo or stay around the ship in Cannes and stay around the ship in Palma. I think more than that will be too much. My wife and I want to see as much as we can but need this trip to also be a relaxing getaway from work and the kids! Thank you so much for your input it really has solidified my decision with regard to excursions.

I appreciate everyone's insight on the exhaustion experienced with this port intensive cruise. I think I am going to plan to do a half day pompeii tour in naples, a private full day tour for Rome, and a half day Florence tour or on our own. As for Cannes I think I may try to go to Monte Carlo on our own for a couple of hours and skip Palma or just walk around the port area. This seems to be much more doable and relaxing to me. I think for my wife and I staying in the Haven is a big part of the relaxation and enjoyment of the vacation. We are both very excited for this trip as it is our first visit to Europe.

You are right. And I do agree with everything you said. BUT we do not know how the OP escalated this situation. It 'could have', I am NOT saying it did, just that it could have escalated to a degree where the OP was belligerent, yelling, threatening his own actions ..... THAT could have been the trigger of being warned with the possibility of being arrested. We don't know. We weren't there.

That is fair enough and if he was the one to escalate it you would be correct. I was going by the original posters first comment that makes it seem that the cruise line threatened him very early on or right away. If he was the aggressor I agree but I can tell you as an owner of a business that it is generally a very very bad decision to threaten a customer, much less threaten them with criminal

Prosecution. I have to imagine that rc has a policy on how to handle this as it happens on a fairly regular basis. I can't imagine that threatening your customer with arrest is in their handbook.

Once again, the original posters issue I think was the threat that he would be arrested. It was the way RC handled the situation that caused the stress. This could have been very easily resolved without threats or making it antagonistic. I cannot believe that anyone thinks it is okay to threaten a passenger with being arrested because the credit card company put a fraud alert hold on a credit card. By the way, even when you notice the credit card company that you will be traveling abroad it does not guarantee that they still won't flag your card for a fraud alert as that has happened to me recently. I am having a hard time understanding why people are blaming the original poster for complaining that the cruise line threatened to have him arrested. Had he known to alert the credit card company that he was traveling abroad I imagine he would have. But this is not the first time that RC has dealt with this issue and they should have a policy to handle it that does not including threatening customers with arrest. I would be beyond angry if that threat was made to me when spending thousands, if not ten thousand or more, on a vacation with the company and they threatened to have me arrested for an honest oversight.

I appreciate your review. i am sailing in the Haven in August and was glad to hear that the staff was so good. I was wondering your thoughts on the excursions. I currently booked a half day tour of Pompeii and a full day private tour in Rome. Do you think a full day in Florence is too much if my wife and I are the types that want to relax during this vacation as well as see the ports. I was leaning towards going to Florence for a half day and then returning to the ship after lunch in Florence. Your input would be great.

Lax - you are not wrong for thinking that threatening you with arrest is extreme. Rc absolutely mishandled a very minor issue. There is no excuse as far as the threats go. As I said, I had the same issue on ncl and they called right from the ship for me and the hold was lifted in less than a minute. It's called customer service and threatening a customer with arrest over something that happens all the time and is a clear misunderstanding is absurd. Yes, lax could have called in advance but it was an oversight. Rc could have handled it a million other ways that would have been better than threatening a customer with arrest. I doubt any of the posters here would think it was okay if they or their family was being threatened with arrest.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I had the same exact thing happen on ncl escape. They called my credit card company from the ship and I had the hold removed. It took 5 minutes and was no problem. I'm not sure why rc couldn't simply do the same thing.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I am scheduled to sail the Epic in August for the first time so I cannot comment on the Epic. But as for the the Escape I did not like it as much as the Haven on the Getaway or Breakaway. I thought the Escape Haven was bigger just to be bigger and added nothing to the ship. I felt that way about the entire ship. I much preferred the Getaway and Breakaway to the Escape both in the Haven and outside the Haven. With that said, I am sure you will love your cruise either way.

Like many others, I have done Nassau many times. While it is not my favorite port the Pirates Museum is in walking distance, is very interesting and the kids may enjoy it depending up their ages. I have also done Atlantis and while I find it a lot of fun, it is expensive for a half of day of fun. There are some nice beaches if you are looking for a more relaxing day. Like so many other things in life, Nassau can be a fun day if you want it to be. Attitude is a lot of it.