Warning - TA/Norwegian

[ibrinn]

Three of us booked a forward penthouse suite on the Sky sailing Nov/2012 using a very well known Travel Agency.

 

I did this without the benefit of my usual research here on the Cruise Critic boards since the penthouses seemed to be booking very quickly and I didn't want to miss out on a particular date.

 

Two weeks later, after researching these boards, I realized that we would probably be happier in an aft penthouse. This is my sister's first cruise (perhaps her last) and I want everything to be as perfect as possible. I know - an impossible task!

 

I called my TA to try to switch the cabin from 9002 to 9075 and was met with less than stellar customer service.

 

After almost an hour and a half on the phone, being put on hold several times while the TA spoke with Norwegian directly? and speaking to a supervisor at TA, we were finally told that Norwegian was refusing to switch the cabin. In fact, Norwegian told TA that they would not book the remaining aft cabins for more than two people per cabin because the lifeboats in that section were at near capacity.

 

The travel agent was not rude- I just felt that they didn't do everything they could to help me with my problem.

 

Even though I was thoroughly confused, I ended my conversation with TA and decided to call Norwegian directly. I thought that if this was the case, then I should hear it directly from the cruiseline.

 

I called Norwegian and after a very short wait, an extremely polite and helpful customer service agent named Brenda came on the line.

 

I told her my dilema and she immediately went to work to solve my problem.

 

It did take about 45 minutes, but she stayed with me on the line the entire time while she liaisoned with the travel agency to get the cabin switched. While on the phone, she answered numerous other questions about our cruise.

 

To her credit, she did not refute the information that the TA gave me. It may or may not have been the truth. This only added to her professionalism!

 

I fully expected Norwegian to refer me back to the TA since I had not booked directly with the cruiseline. If she had done this, I would not have been able to switch cabins since the final advice from the TA was to keep checking Norwegian's website in case there was a cancellation.

 

 

Brenda verified that all of the perks that the TA had offered would remain and had the new documents emailed to me even before we ended our conversation.

 

So, lesson learned! I feel that I would have received better and more personal attention had I booked directly with Norwegian in the first place!

 

(The only perk that the TA offered that I contemplated using was the abiltiy to cancel 75 days out without penalty. While on the phone with TA, my husband was looking at Royal Carribean and Carnival)

 

Hats off to Norwegian for excellent customer service and a very big THANKS for everyone here at Cruise Critic

[bonvoyagie]

I am glad that you got your problem resolved. You bring out one of the negatives about using a TA - esp large ones. It is possible that the TA booked a block of rooms to get a discount from NCL and then went about selling them - I will guess that there were no more aft suites in their block and they really wanted to sell you what was in their inventory and not NCLs. The story about too many people for lifeboats has been repeated on these boards several times from people who booked direct or through a TA. I do believe that this is true if you have more than two people in a single room - no matter what the room's capacity is.

 

One needs to remember that the TA is a seperate business and has its own business interests that it puts ahead of the cruise line or sometimes even the crusier.

 

TAs sometimes charge to cancel and rebook cruises - yes changing rooms involves this.

 

TAs have their own business rules that are often different than those of the cruiseline.

 

TAs are in competition with each other AND the cruise lines direct websites. NCL was one of the last holdouts for self booking cruises online. In 2002 and 03 we had to book through an authorized TA - by our next cruise in 06 they had the phone/online option. Now they actually have PCCs which almost take the place of a TA.

 

BTW I use a TA to book my cruises - not a big online one - but a local one man shop. He is an avid crusier and has been in the cruise business for many years. He put together a wonderful package for our HI cruise that included airfare, hotel, and transfers (non NCL) - he would have done even more if we had asked. He also did our first two cruises in 02 and 03 as well as our upcomming one in 102 days :)

 

Sometimes a good deal is more than $$$$

[che5904]

You addressed the reason that I won't book through a TA and choose to do my own thorough research and book directly. I want to control my own cruise, not depend on someone else that may or may not be interested or have the time to deal with what is important to me. I also don't want to wait until the TA has the time to deal with my request and contact me back.

 

I'm sure it is different for all. Some have local TAs that they have used for years and they know whether they can depend on them to meet their requests and interests. Others simply book for the end dollar (which I would never do, since that leads a lot of times to, you get what you pay for).

 

Glad everything worked out for you.

[RareBird]

I used to book through a local TA, but stopped because of your experience and a few of my own.

 

I like to take control of my reservations, I like to handle everything and don't mind it. I need to be able to get in touch middle of weekend if necessary to switch or reflect a lower price.

 

Norwegian is very good at this, as you get your own PCC. I email her all the time, and she responds right away. It's great.

[palmyrafan]

Three of us booked a forward penthouse suite on the Sky sailing Nov/2012 using a very well known Travel Agency.

 

I did this without the benefit of my usual research here on the Cruise Critic boards since the penthouses seemed to be booking very quickly and I didn't want to miss out on a particular date.

 

Two weeks later, after researching these boards, I realized that we would probably be happier in an aft penthouse. This is my sister's first cruise (perhaps her last) and I want everything to be as perfect as possible. I know - an impossible task!

 

I called my TA to try to switch the cabin from 9002 to 9075 and was met with less than stellar customer service.

 

After almost an hour and a half on the phone, being put on hold several times while the TA spoke with Norwegian directly? and speaking to a supervisor at TA, we were finally told that Norwegian was refusing to switch the cabin. In fact, Norwegian told TA that they would not book the remaining aft cabins for more than two people per cabin because the lifeboats in that section were at near capacity.

 

The travel agent was not rude- I just felt that they didn't do everything they could to help me with my problem.

 

Even though I was thoroughly confused, I ended my conversation with TA and decided to call Norwegian directly. I thought that if this was the case, then I should hear it directly from the cruiseline.

 

I called Norwegian and after a very short wait, an extremely polite and helpful customer service agent named Brenda came on the line.

 

I told her my dilema and she immediately went to work to solve my problem.

 

It did take about 45 minutes, but she stayed with me on the line the entire time while she liaisoned with the travel agency to get the cabin switched. While on the phone, she answered numerous other questions about our cruise.

 

To her credit, she did not refute the information that the TA gave me. It may or may not have been the truth. This only added to her professionalism!

 

I fully expected Norwegian to refer me back to the TA since I had not booked directly with the cruiseline. If she had done this, I would not have been able to switch cabins since the final advice from the TA was to keep checking Norwegian's website in case there was a cancellation.

 

 

Brenda verified that all of the perks that the TA had offered would remain and had the new documents emailed to me even before we ended our conversation.

 

So, lesson learned! I feel that I would have received better and more personal attention had I booked directly with Norwegian in the first place!

 

(The only perk that the TA offered that I contemplated using was the abiltiy to cancel 75 days out without penalty. While on the phone with TA, my husband was looking at Royal Carribean and Carnival)

 

Hats off to Norwegian for excellent customer service and a very big THANKS for everyone here at Cruise Critic

 

 

Our very first cruise with NCL was in 1992 booked through a TA. We had lousy service with the TA and were not told what to expect about anything. Newbies :rolleyes: !

 

Since then, we have only booked directly with NCL. My husband usually calls them directly and is always treated with the utmost respect and kindness and the NCL staff is courteous and works with us to accomodate our needs and answers any questions we have. When the issue with the charters and switching of ships came up, our dates and ships kept moving. After receiving the emails (some on a daily basis) my DH would call NCL and they would repeately assure him that our cruise date had not changed, but our ship had. Again, they were respectful, courteous and went out of their way to make sure our questions were answered.

 

I am glad you were able to finally get things resolved to your satisfaction. I hope you and your family enjoy your cruise!

[my_crib_too]

We tend to book our cruise vacations a long time in advance of sailing. A few weeks prior to final payment, I move the reservation to a T/A to obtain additional OBC. When the T/A is brought into the picture, I don't plan on making any more changes to my reservation.

[Warmer Climes]

Could I speak up for my TA? Our first cruise was on RCI- I used TA #1. Ok but nothing special- no reason to give him my business again. Second cruise was NCL- used TA # 2 and she was worse than #1. (Told me I had to hire an attorney in order to take my niece's son with us and told me to call NCL myself if i wanted to know something.) Third cruise- booked myself online through a travel site. Did not get a good price or a good cabin as it turned out.

 

So finally we come to TA #3. All my subsequent cruises have been booked through her. If there is something she doesn't know about cruise ships I would be amazed. Her advice on ship and cabin selection has been outstanding. She watches the prices and steers me to good deals. She calls me the week before we sail and asks if we need any help or information, and calls me when we get back for feedback. She has great contacts at NCL and RCI and is on any issues like you wouldn't believe. If I call and say I want to cruise a certain week, she will call me back in an hour with options on various ships. So I don't doubt that you guys get good service from NCL and I am glad, but the service I get from my TA is outstanding.:)

 

Barb

[sdmike]

I use a large TA that has served us VERY well on every cruise we have done. We have always, without exception, gotten great service and much better pricing than available from the cruise lines (yes, even our upcoming Jewel trip). The agents are not on commission, so they spend as much time as needed to solve any issues.

[AceDoc]

What I find, is that there are just some things that the TA is not able to do, due to the limitations of their connection with NCL (or any line). I have booked directly on a cruise for this summer, and have a ton of family joining us. One family member booked through a large bargain agency, due to a significant cost differential (which NCL was unable to even come close to). They then upgraded with miles, to a Balcony cabin. There were no available cabins at the time of the upgrade, and they were given a guarantee, which was then later assigned (they were told to check back regarding room assignment and changes). From watching closely online, they saw that a cabin became available that they wanted, so the calls began. NCL sent them back to the TA, the TA said that NCL wouldn't change, because the original upgrade was to a guarantee. They seemed certainly willing to try to get the change, and suggested an email to NCL. Rather, a call to NCL got routed over to "groups," and a supervisor was able to enact the cabin change. All was done with patience and pleasantness with the TA and at NCL, and the request was certainly handled satisfactorially. Score another one for NCL.

 

It seems that, in this instance, it was a limitation of the TA's contact with NCL, that they were not in a position to be able to enact the request. (I think this was due to the upgrade not being under the direct auspice of the TA) I think there are things that supervisors at NCL can do that the TA cannot.

 

Also, as one will see posted throughout CC, pleasantness will serve well in making these requests. :)

[billie5]

I could just say "ditto" of sdmike. We use several different large online TAs, depending upon who gives the best deal. The deal is always much better than we could get directly from the cruiseline. And our TAs have always treated us well.

 

So it all comes down to knowing the agency - or agent - you are dealing with.

 

And, for what it is worth, there ARE lifeboat capacity issues, and cruiselines do control cabin occupancy when limits are being approached. This does not explain how Brenda was able to surmount any such problem, but it does seem rather silly to surmise that the travel agency was involved in some nefarious plot.

[ibrinn]

I don't think anyone has suggested "a nefarious plot"

[che5904]

Could I speak up for my TA? Our first cruise was on RCI- I used TA #1. Ok but nothing special- no reason to give him my business again. Second cruise was NCL- used TA # 2 and she was worse than #1. (Told me I had to hire an attorney in order to take my niece's son with us and told me to call NCL myself if i wanted to know something.) Third cruise- booked myself online through a travel site. Did not get a good price or a good cabin as it turned out.

 

So finally we come to TA #3. All my subsequent cruises have been booked through her. If there is something she doesn't know about cruise ships I would be amazed. Her advice on ship and cabin selection has been outstanding. She watches the prices and steers me to good deals. She calls me the week before we sail and asks if we need any help or information, and calls me when we get back for feedback. She has great contacts at NCL and RCI and is on any issues like you wouldn't believe. If I call and say I want to cruise a certain week, she will call me back in an hour with options on various ships. So I don't doubt that you guys get good service from NCL and I am glad, but the service I get from my TA is outstanding.:)

 

Barb

 

Barb that was my point above that some TAs could be totally invaluable if you find a good one.

 

I do have to say you were much more persistent than I would have been in finding one and obviously have a lot more patience.

 

I've only used a couple, one local for a trip to Hawaii. I can't say we had bad luck , because we didn't. We had nice accomodations and the air was equivalent to what I could have gotten. But I still had to do all the leg work to get vacationing information, they weren't forthcoming at all with extra information. And I've used a couple vacation companies for AIs and they did nothing but book.

[Freckles_51]

(The only perk that the TA offered that I contemplated using was the abiltiy to cancel 75 days out without penalty. While on the phone with TA, my husband was looking at Royal Carribean and Carnival)

 

I may be missing something, but I don't see that as a "perk". NCL offers cancellation without penalty before final payment. :confused:

[Mrs. H.]

I'm surprised the OP was able to talk with NCL directly when dealing with a TA. I've always heard that NCL would tell people they had to speak with their TA.

 

Any time I see a price decrease I immediately call my PCC and she is more then happy to help me each and every time. :D

 

I use a wonderful PCC @ NCL that I am crazy about and have been sending people to her.

[ibrinn]

I'm surprised as well that the CSR from Norwegian spoke to me! I thought that I would be referred back to the TA. But I thought I would give it a try- even if all she could provide was general information.

 

At the start of the conversation, she did say that she would check the "booking history". I'm not sure what that is or what it would have told her.

 

I'm just glad that she provided the excellent help that we needed.

[halos]

I have never had a bad experience with the on line agency I have been using since 2004. However, if I ever had an experience like yours, I would drop them immediately.

I am glad NCL service was awesome and helped you out :)

[BeckyMax]

 

And, for what it is worth, there ARE lifeboat capacity issues, and cruiselines do control cabin occupancy when limits are being approached. This does not explain how Brenda was able to surmount any such problem, but it does seem rather silly to surmise that the travel agency was involved in some nefarious plot.

 

 

True, 2 years ago my son and i booked a cruise in a cabin that would accommodate 4, be living we could add, my DH if his work scheduled cleared up so he could join us. It did, but not until about 2 weeks prior to sailing. We called to add him and were not able to based on the ship filling up and would be sailing at full capacity when the remaining cabins were booked at double capacity. We ended up booking an outside cabin across from ours, paid the single supplement. Lesson: on our upcoming cruise we booked all 3 of us, purchased travelers insurance, which we would have anyway, then added the cancel for work reasons rider for about $30

 

becky

 

 

NCL Sky 3/19/12

[penguinscott]

Shoot, and I thought we were going to be chatting about a transAtlantic! :p

 

So many abbreviated terms. I only just recently found out what a DH or DW is!