Josher61

OP,

I feel your frustration. It seems like an awful lot of aggravation for something that seems so simple to you, the customer. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. As many have pointed out, I think a lot of the problem rests on the shoulders of the TA. BUT, I know you think the TA was helpful. In reading your post carefully I noted a few glaring points that lead me to believe, or assume (as I know I shouldn’t lol but I do), your TA was possibly less than a tad upfront from the get go and then was just outright wrong or incompetent. I do think that the first time your wife called the rooms were indeed available, but not through the TA’s inventory of a group booking. So they sold your wife something else and thought that would be that. But it wasn’t. Once you started calling back and questioning things, they had to place the blame somewhere. I know this sounds like the TA is being dishonest, but believe me, worse things have happened. They don’t want to admit their role in what I would call dubious practices, so rather than do that, they do the “dance” and blame someone else. In this case, NCL.

 

Then you mention the TA didn’t think it was right that NCL charge for a “downgrade” in room. That right there tells me they aren’t competent. And from there on things got worse. Having your TA engage you with NCL is just wrong. It’s simply not the way it works. I am actually surprised that NCL would talk to you at all. I understand those conversations and calls were not pleasant for you. Reading between the lines a bit (and again making a few assumptions) I suspect the TA’s supervisor had to get involved somehow and convince NCL to talk to you because they knew they were in the wrong and couldn’t very well just come out and say they did wrong by you, so they continued with the incompetence and at some point enlisted NCL to “explain policy”. I don’t know how large the TA online company is but they may have a bit of pull with NCL and managed to get them to “break their silence” and deal with you directly. As a customer, this is not an answer for you, I know. But the “behind the scenes” of how the agency relationship works between TA’s and cruise lines is very straightforward. If booked through a TA, they are paid the commission on the booking and the cruise line does not deal directly with the passenger. It's just the way it works. There would have been some serious arm twisting to get NCL to even talk to you. I know you may think this is a good thing....but really, it wasn’t. (see below for my reasoning)

 

Unfortunately, there are no guarantees in this business (or in any) that ensures competence and well versed product knowledge. I truly believe your TA was not forthcoming in explaining the “rules” when you booked. Maybe through lack of knowledge and expertise on their own part, hence the wrong statements made to you, or just from a lack of desire to do a “good thorough job”. While I was reading your post, a number of times I kept thinking....it doesn’t work that way. Why is the TA not explaining it properly? Some of the statements your TA made are just wrong. After reading some follow up posts and your responses here I thought about something else. You say you are in business and you would never treat a customer that way and I understand that for sure, as I am as well, and I value my clients above everything. So if I may....a little example to explain what I mean from my above comments about why this situation was handled incorrectly. Frequently when dealing with new clients or just hearing stories of others in my field, I will often hear things like: my person was so good, my person had to do this when X happened, my person went to X for this for me etc. They are raving about "how wonderful" their person is. I cringe. Because what it means is really this: their person is lousy. Those clients had no reason to ever be involved in whatever issue they are discussing. But because their person chose to involve them and make them aware of issues, they are left feeling or thinking that their person did a wonderful job, when in reality, their person did a lousy job for them even knowing about the problems or issues or for getting them involved with the problem solving. That should all be handled “behind the scenes” with a final resolution being presented to the client when completed. Often I shake my head and think it’s actually almost misleading that clients feel they are dealing with someone competent and wonderful because of X problem. In reality they are dealing with someone lousy who should never have let the problem occur in the first place or in the worst cases, they caused it to happen. But once it did, to allow it to escalate the way it can and then to involve their clients in the resolution to the extent they did (other than receiving the clients approval for said resolution) makes it even worse. The best “service” to provide to a customer is one that is relatively problem free, or at the least, leave the client feeling/thinking it was. Does this make sense? Sometimes we perceive the person as helpful when in reality they are hindering you.

 

I know you are defending your TA and I understand that. As a consumer myself, I might think my TA was good too if they were battling for me. But experience tells me there is more of a problem on the TA side that caused the issue to begin with and made it worse with the terrible drawn out resolution. Maybe in time you will come to see it this way, I don’t know, but I hope that at some point you are able to reflect on all this when you are not frustrated and see maybe part of the issue was indeed the TA. It’s hard, when as consumers, we go out and “hire” a professional, we expect them to be just that; a professional. Unfortunately, that’s not always what we get. There are incompetent people in every field. I guess that’s why personal recommendations etc mean so much in business. You know that yourself, running your own business. Your reputation is all you have. But in the “online world”, reputations don’t mean as much, each client is replaceable with a click it seems.

 

Anyway, sorry for my long response, I just wanted to hopefully shed some light and perhaps have you consider the possibilities from a different perspective. Does any of this negate how you feel? Of course not. But it may help in the long run at a later time when reflecting back. I’m not absolving NCL or blaming you or blaming your TA (well I am) but what’s done is done and you certainly seem to still have a very positive attitude going into your cruise on the Breakaway. I hope you and your family enjoy your vacation! Its sure sounds like you worked hard for it!!!

I didn't swear and I was drunk

 

And this, is the morning, as you were docking, to disembark, you said.....:eek:

LOL what a great pic!!!

Yes, unfortunately that's the conclusion we reached a few days ago on a thread here. It would appear the 10% is the only discount available to us now. I agree, it shouldn't be so difficult to figure out what the rate is, most NCL reps are incorrectly claiming the exchange rate is 25%. Lots of discussion about this on previous threads if you want to read those :)

I hope you have a great cruise!! Im sure it will be wonderful! Personally, I haven't ruled NCL out or anything for the exchange reason, not at all. Our dollar simply sucks. I just thought NCL was giving us a better deal. And if the dollar continues to tank then 1.33 may indeed become a great deal down the road. And I wish NCL reps knew what they were talking about on this subject. And I think that if they offer a Canadian resident rate with a better exchange, they should offer it to all Canadians when they book, not just those wise enough to ask. Many moons ago I had a store which offered a discount on certain days to a certain segment of my market. I sure didn't hope that they didn't know about it and not give it to them. If they qualified I gave it to them automatically. Simple as that. Many were surprised and pleased and to me, customer satisfaction/retention was king.

 

Im still deciding on the Getaway cruise the week before Xmas I wanted to take all along when this started. But now I am indeed pricing a Celebrity as well that seems to have good fares and I guess we will decide. Soon, I hope! We are already going to be in Florida for 2 weeks so it made a lot of sense to spend an additional week on a cruise not having to pay airfare again. The Getaway looks enticing and a cruise would be nice. But with a US/Caribbean trip already planned for Feb Im not sure I will justify the cost for the cruise with our dollar sitting where it is. Who knows :)

 

Once again, enjoy your cruise, it sounds like you will have a great time with a new little one in tow :)

Ok here's my conclusion...it doesn't make it the right one...but its what Im concluding from my calculations and conversations with a variety of NCL reps. The rate is .75. A nicer way for NCL to say to their customers 1.33, which we all know is no bargain, its the going conversion rate. Period.

 

They are offering 10% off the base fare. Then they convert, using 1.33. So when you ask for the total amount and convert X US to X CDN it appears to be at 25%. But its not. Its at 1.33 but the base fare had a discount applied before hand. When I look at the posts of others on the older thread from those who booked recently, they were paying 20% on their base fare was their calculation, then 33% on their extras. That caused all the confusion I think. For those that recently got 1.08 and all the extras are 1.08, that is indeed the rate. Not calculated as a percentage but as a rate. Why they got 1.08 I don't know. Myself, previously, I called about a March cruise and received the 1.08 rate, but today, when I called again for the exact same cruise the rate was 1.33. Even though I was again told it was 25%. I asked about the 10% off base fare (which I never knew before) and was told yes, that's calculated. When I asked for the breakdown, it worked out to 1.33. The rep said: it still works out to the same thing as 25%. I said no, its not, but Im not getting into that end of it with the rep. Post that call, I went onto AC Vac and the same March cruise was showing at less than the NCL US site. It was 10% off and then 1.08 conversion. When I clicked on it, it came up at 10% off then 1.33 conversion (significantly higher). I called AC. They said..oh, must have just had a price increase. While on the phone with them when I start over on the website that cheap base fare doesn't come up anymore. I chose another date, April, showing up cheaper than US NCL fare, clicked on it, it stayed the same. So I asked her to quote me that one. Came out at 10% off then 1.33. Again, I asked why. She said the same thing. Must have just gone up. So I called NCL back yet again to price the April date. Came out at 10% off, 1.33 conversion. By this time I am thinking that somewhere at NCL they are frantically going through their system trying to find the mispriced cruises and correcting them lol.

 

So, based on way too many phone calls and way too many calculations. the rate is 1.33 for Canadians. If you get lucky and find a cruise that NCL is still selling for 1.08 that's great. Some have indeed done so as per the old thread. But I suspect that whatever glitches are in their system are being found and converted to the 1.33 rate as they go along. I think those ones are the ones that were in error. But how do I know, I don't work for NCL lol.

 

IMHO, the NCL rate is whatever the banks are charging today. They no longer offer a discounted conversion rate as some other lines still do. They are however offering a base fare rate reduction of 10% off, which for whatever reason, they never seem to tell you about. And rather than post rates of 1.08, 1.11 or 1.19 etc as they did in the past, which we could all easily see and know was a deal, they have switched to posting as .75 because it looks and sounds better than 1.33. That's easily discernible as not being a deal. But there is nothing false about it. Its the CDN dollar value vs the US dollar. But Its NOT the conversion rate. And many NCL reps say the conversion rate is 25%, not knowing any better. Its just NCL's way of marketing a poor dollar exchange for Canadians with a better sounding spin. And many at NCL don't understand the difference. For those who have gone back and forth with NCL, the problem is they (NCL) don't understand how a dollar converts so they assume its 25% and are at a loss to explain it. Hence, I myself have been told, it makes no sense. No, it doesn't if the rate of exchange is the quoted 25%, but it sure makes sense if its the dollar value of .75. Its that 10% off the base fare that makes it "look" like 25%. Until Nangirl posted that image, I believed, because I was told by NCL, the exchange rate was 25%. I wonder what the older memo looked like or said. I wonder if those had a 10% discount on base fare. Regardless, today it is what it is. And to me, that is a 1.33 conversion rate. And that's not a discount. But the 10% off base fare is. Not much different than the seniors rate, or resident rate or whatever else they may offer. That's how I am doing the comparisons now between cruise lines. Nothing to do with the exchange rate. Buts that just me :) And as I really am not planning on cruising in April to get the 1.08 one I priced out it doesn't factor in for me.

 

Im not sure if this helps anybody or not but I hope so. Again, this is MY conclusion....not an answer from a TA or NCL themselves. And I may indeed be wrong lol.

Ok Ive done a calculation. If you take the base fare in US funds....subtract 10%...then do the conversion at .75 or 1.33 you get the fare I am being charged. (Effectively a 20% surcharge). So that may explain the base fare. But then how do you explain the rest of the charges being at 1.25? And others here who are getting their OBC and DSC at their fare rates of whatever they paid? 1.19 or 1.08 etc. It still doesn't make sense that for some people the 10% discount comes into play and for others it doesn't. And the responses from NCL regarding cruise date vs sailing date vs cabin selection even was posted as well. :confused:

LOL, no there was another thread about this. His wife decided she didn't want to go and told him to go alone.

As an add on to that last post....it may very well be that whoever is programming their rates (and the rates are all over the map) or a programming error they say....they are indeed in some instances inputting the rate at .75 so that's why the extras are coming out at 1.33. Regardless though, they claim all purchases are to be at the initial rate you received when booking. So if the base fare is at 1.25 why are the extras coming in at 1.33? Doesn't make sense. Except someone entered the info incorrectly. If indeed they are using .75 then that is no bargain rate. That's today bank rate of 1.33%. They claim they are giving us a break. If everything is at 1.33 then its not. The main issue here is some items are at 1.25, some are at 1.33 and for others its all at 1.25. Doesn't compute :confused:

I know what he means about that. Except in this case NCL rates have actually been at 25%. IE: if the American fare was 899 US then they charged 1124 CDN. not 1196. I found it interesting that the memo shown above said .75. Because they all say it the other way 25%. And when others here post their rates of 1.08 or 1.11 etc that's what they are getting. A few times in these conversations I have thought about the rate differential between saying .75 and 25% but it would appear that from most bookings people are actually pay the rate they are quoted. In my case 25%. Not .75. Am I making sense?? LOL

Enjoy your cruise!! I'm glad it all worked out in the end!

What a delightful read!! I couldn't help but think you were a teacher with those - and + grades :) Great sense of humour! Made me chuckle quite a few times. You sound like you would be great to encounter on a cruise!

Thanks for the review!

Those of you who do not purchase insurance to cover trip, do you at least purchase medical and medical evacuation insurance??

 

Those who think buying your air through the cruise line means they'll get you to the next port, nope, they will simply assist you in finding hotel or flights but will not pay for them. As someone else mentioned, the cruise line is simply acting as an agent. Read the small print and especially notice the vague wording.

 

I think that's a very distinguishing point. Many on here speak of trip insurance and mean medical insurance....and vice versa.

 

Personally, I already have a comprehensive medical insurance plan that I purchase, on a annual basis. As a Canadian who travels frequently to the US, this policy covers all my travel outside of my country (and province). It is not "trip" insurance. I come and go freely and frequently to the states (or wherever I wish). I don't personally buy trip insurance. I will roll with it if I need hotels or airfare or whatever because I missed a cruise. That part of the equation is an acceptable risk, for me personally. The medical side of things is not an acceptable risk. For that I'm insured.

Clearly there is an issue going on. As discussed on the other thread, so many different reports of rates that it makes no sense. Has cruisers guessing....booking date for rate, sailing date for rate, ship?? who knows, everyone has gotten different answers to their questions.

 

A few things stand out to me now.....the 10% discount. That was never offered when I was on the phone all those times with NCL. All quotes were straight 25%. So where was the 10 % discount in the fare??? (and now that you've explained it Canagirl, that certainly explains the AC site showing rates that were less than the US rate!!)

 

If this memo was sent to all NCL reps why the heck don't most of them know what the rate is when you call in??

 

If this memo is sent out to all NCL reps why aren't they able to book it that way, offer the rate, offer the discount and do it the way NCL states??

 

Is it that complicated to follow the company directives or to be knowledgeable about the product you are selling??

 

Is it that difficult for NCL to implement their own program??

 

I guess those booking at 1.08 are getting a deal. But for those that are finding their extras are coming in at 33%, it sure isn't right. Like you say, its a matter of principle now, not dollars!

 

For NCL to say they see the mistake but can't fix it is preposterous!

 

Nangirl, thanks for posting this!!! I was wondering what your update was and thanks for giving it along with this "memo" that NCL is supposed to follow!

You're right! I love a good debate, but don't like the sniping at all. Sometimes I get involved in a debate more because I'm battling the rudeness than because I care all that much about the issue :-)

 

Yes, I know what you mean. Sometimes I find myself playing devils advocate just due to rudeness of others :)

 

The lost luggage comedy routine I mentioned earlier...don't know why miramike's post reminded me of it....just felt his post (although serious in nature) could make good comedy.... so in case your are in the mood for some levity...check out this comedy routine. I laugh till I cry every time....airlines!!!! UGH.

 

You folks have carried on one of the most civilized discussions of late. I see some of these threads pop up and cringe, because we know some are started simply to stir the pot, and boy do they succeed. People wind up getting downright nasty. From both sides.

 

I can see both sides of the issue and certainly empathize with those who are affected by the changes. None of us have the right to decide what another persons value or perception of value is. All a consumer can do is speak with their wallet. I know that doesn't help anyone today or on their upcoming, already paid for cruise....but certainly there appears to be many who will be speaking with their wallets for any upcoming choices of cruise lines. And for those that the changes don't bother them, they too will speak with their wallets.

 

Anyway, didn't want to "get into the issue" really, just wanted to say its nice to see a pleasant exchange of opinions; a civilized discussion. I applaud you for accomplishing that! Sincerely.

MianMike I cracked up over your analogy. In a good way :D

Some levity is always a good thing. I could picture a comedian doing a skit with the material! Reminded me of the "Lost Luggage" comedian skit.

Careful on the exaggeration...

 

 

Can you imagine if everyone decided to bring a ... aboard?

• stroller
  
• mobility scooter
  
• wheelchair
  
• service dog
  
• infant or toddler
  

Shall we also dissuade people from bringing any of those items?

 

Personally I'd be leary of bringing a bicycle on the basis of undue risk of injury. I've seen enough of drivers in Nassau that I wouldn't want to be on a bicycle thank you very much.

 

Your comparison items are not at all of the same category as a bike. I think those that require a mobility scooter or wheelchair or service dog would be quite pleased if they didn't need to bring those items and only wanted to. And no, I certainly feel no need to dissuade them from bringing any of those items, quite the contrary. As to the strollers and kids....well again...I don't think they have a choice :)

 

People will do what they want to do....if NCL clears a bike then so be it. Like you, Im not sure I would be wanting to bike ride in Nassau with the way they drive there :eek:

My apologies, you're right, its not a prohibited item. If NCL gives you the go ahead, I would most certainly ask for it in writing lest you find yourself at the pier and someone else says no. However, I stand by my earlier comment....can you imagine if everyone decided to bring a bike onboard??

You cant bring it on board. Can you imagine if everyone brought a bike?

 

DISCOURTEOUS OR DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOR

Pool, deck and theater chairs may not be reserved. Topless sunbathing is not permitted. Boom boxes or loud radios are not permitted. Roller blades, roller skates, skateboards, scooters, surfboards, bicycles, and similar items may not be utilized on-board; except for mobility aids related to special needs, as approved by the ship’s management.

That promo is still on...don't know why it didn't work for your wife.

 

Just did a mock booking on the Dawn, it allowed the CHOB (beverage package promo code) plus it also gave the 100 OBC for holiday sailing. And the OV was the same price as the inside!

It is indeed horrible that so many missed their cruise, but the tragedy could be "real" in the possibility that their plane never landed at all.

 

Thankfully, everyone is safe.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2276710

 

I know the thread is about the Breakaway, but maybe applies to the Getaway as well? I don't know the answer but thought this thread may help with ideas.

OP; I have no idea what type of cabin you are looking for or if you are planning on one or two cabins. If I was in your shoes....I would go with the alternate week you mentioned, the 13-20, and consider the Getaway out of Miami. It also has UBP available but unfortunately no Kids Sail Free that week as some other ships do. But if considering the rates for xmas week on other ships, personally, I would do the week before on the Getaway. Newer ship, lots of activities for the kids (and parents) lots of ports etc. Just another thought....

Whatever you choose, enjoy your cruise!!

Bring only a little cash. Yes, OBC is traded in for "real cash". :) Heres how it works. You buy as much OBC now or up until your cruise date, paying the exchange rate that you have of only 11%! Then when you get on the ship you have all this "cash" pre bought at such a great rate. You go to the casino and ask for cash off of your account. They hand you the cash at a 3% rate. So voila, you have bought US cash for 14% instead of some crazy 33 or 34 that your bank wants. So what some (many, most, Im not sure) do is take as little cash with them as possible. In other words, consider the casino your ATM for the week :) The 3% fee is nothing, compared to what you would pay the bank for US cash today. If you have cash left over on your account because you did not spend it all, simply cash out that amount on the last night of your cruise and bring the US cash back home and sell it to you bank at their own crazy rate and make money :) Don't use your CC (or as little as possible). You can also prepay your gratuities this way as well. Either through NCL now at your great rate or through your OBC also at the great rate with what you have already paid for. So use your CC now to buy whatever amount of OBC you think you will need, through NCL, before you cruise.

 

Have a fabulous first cruise!!!!