NCL - HORRIBLE Customer Service

[steph7021]

Are you splitting up you and your wife because of your own preference or are they telling you this? Even though my friend and I are split up booked in each room....we will be switching that around once on board. I've done this before traveling with my husband and 3 teenagers.

[rhinomike]

Hopefully others will read this and learn from it. Do your homework and research before booking a cabin.

 

After I found out about not getting connecting rooms.... The supervisor told me the only option was the suite connecting to the balcony. She said she would put them on hold. At that point I came on here and did research. I asked questions about the suites and made sure it would be what I wanted. I also went on the NCL website (when it would work) and did research. I called her back and made sure she was holding the suite and balcony I would want. So I did learn from my mistake. A day late and a dollar short. Lol.

 

I doubt the rooms are still being held since that was about 3 weeks ago. Since the supervisor wont call me back I won't know. Maybe if I get hold of somebody higher up they will know.

[rhinomike]

Are you splitting up you and your wife because of your own preference or are they telling you this? Even though my friend and I are split up booked in each room....we will be switching that around once on board. I've done this before traveling with my husband and 3 teenagers.

 

We just aren't comfortable leaving our 4 boys unsupervised. Doesn't seen right to us. I know most other people would be fine with that but we are a little over protective sometimes. When it comes to kids it is better to be safe than sorry.

[steph7021]

We just aren't comfortable leaving our 4 boys unsupervised. Doesn't seen right to us. I know most other people would be fine with that but we are a little over protective sometimes. When it comes to kids it is better to be safe than sorry.

 

Perfect. That means there are two less 18 year old boys I'll have to worry about (with my 18 year olds) on the ship. I'm sure your wife will be putting you with the 3 teenage boys and she'll take the suite....good times :) Good thing it's a port intensive cruise with little time on board!

[SeaShark]

Just my 2 cents here....

 

 

It does seem, after reading your side of the story, that you are really being "put through the wringer" over this. I don't think anyone should have to deal with this much stress.

 

AFAIK, the only benefit to connecting rooms is that it allows people with rooms next to each other to walk between rooms without using the hall. If they don't have connecting rooms, all you need to do is to take a couple of steps in the hall. Sure, that might not be the "perfect" solution, but its only for a week and doesn't seem like it would be worth being upset over for 3+ weeks.

[phrogpilot73]

My stress level has gone way down.

You've raised your sons right, you have adjoining rooms (even though there's not a door connecting them). Time to totally de-stress, and GO ON A CRUISE!

 

Not trying to discount what has happened to you, but even if the world collapses around you tomorrow, and your children turn into the devil (which I doubt) YOU'RE GOING ON A CRUISE! With your family!!

 

:D :D :D

[cruisecritiquer]

With over 300 posts to Cruise Critic I wouldn't think you are 'new' to the internet and the resources available. I just went on NCL's website and their deck plans are there, clearly showing where connecting staterooms are available.

 

I'm wondering why you wouldn't have taken the time to check out the staterooms available before booking, and you would have seen that inside connecting aren't available?

 

Probably for the same reason NCL only allows 20% of their entertainment and excursions to be booked online. Some people like to handle things over the phone and there is nothing wrong with that. That doesn't alleviate NCL's duty to properly inform their employees regarding the product they are selling.

[philip_eunice1]

Just a thought for the future when I'm buying something over the phone or making some kind of contract I just hit record on my phone so many times it has saved so much hassel even this week with my car insurance

 

 

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[SissasMomE]

What you are saying is most NCL reps on the phone don't know their buttocks from their elbow. Most of those try to fake it and mis-inform. Then when you try to pin them down the excuses begin. A lot of us already knew that.

 

and the cheerleaders blame the victim with statements like "why didn't you do your research first" .... what the heck ever happened to a company 1 - knowing its product; 2 - selling its product correctly; and 3 - taking responsibility for its mistakes?? :rolleyes:

[Norwegian Cruise Line]

Hi Rhinomike -

We are so sorry to hear that you are so frustrated and have experienced this issue. We would be happy to look into this further for you. Please email your contact and reservation information to socialmedia@ncl.com and we will work with our customer relations team to resolve this as best as we can.

Thank you,

Marisa

[DMH15]

So I have cruised NCL once before. We did not have a problem. I am a platinum cruiser with Carnival. We have also cruised once with Royal Carribean. However we were looking to try something new but I am regretting that now...

 

Every now and then there are small issues with Carnival but they are always taken care of..... Everyone makes mistakes. Its how you deal with them that counts. Right now NCL is failing. I have never been treated this bad by any company......

 

Me and my wife sat down together a few weeks ago and booked 2 cruises. One on the Spirit in June and one on the Star in April. We explained to the agent that we wanted connecting room. Not just side by side but a door between the 2 rooms. We repeated it several times. We are cruising with our 4 kids and want connecting rooms. Normally we book inside cabins as we are perfectly happy with those. However on the Star the only connecting rooms available were OV cabins. Fine we paid the extra for the OV cabins and booked the cruise. No problems with that cruise.

 

So now the cruise on the Spirit. We had narrowed it down to NCL, Princess or Celebrity. We decided to book with NCL. So we booked the cabins. The same day we booked our airfare to Europe (nonrefundable). We got our rooms with the connecting door. Again we repeated this several times. After booking I am here on the forum doing research and on the NCL website. To make a long story short I find out the Spirit does not have inside connecting rooms. So I call NCL. They assure me I have connecting rooms. So I ask for a supervisor. She tells me I have connecting rooms. I tell her no I don't think that I do. She does more research and finds out that the Spirit does not have connecting inside rooms. It seems CC members know far more about the NCL ships than NCL reps. So she tells me not a problem they can book me into 2 balcony rooms connecting. I explain to her that I looked on the website and there are only rooms that are 3 connecting to 2. We need a rooms for 6 of us. She doesn't believe that to be true. After an hour on the phone going back and forth she finally agrees with me that there is no connecting balcony rooms that can accommodate us. The only connecting rooms that can accommodate us is a suite connecting to a balcony room. However that will double my cruise price. But she thinks they can make me a deal. She puts the cabins on hold for me. I tell her maybe we could split the increase. She has to get her managers approval. It has now been a 3 week process. I call twice a day and NEVER get a call back. Finally yesterday I catch her on the phone. It seems that NCL management talked to the rep and she denied that she said we were getting connecting rooms.... OF COURSE SHE DID. She doesn't want to get in trouble (nor do I want to get her in trouble). I asked the supervisor to get the recording of the original phone call and play it for me. I know what we said since we said it 3 times. She said something went wrong and the conversation wasn't recorded. How convenient. So she said management was willing to offer me a $100 OBC.... REALLY???? I told her to keep her OBC. I was insulted. I asked for her managers number but was refused. She said there is nothing more that I can do...... I have never had to contact an attorney in my life but I think I am going to for this issue. I don't know what else to do. I don't want to do that but I really feel I am being wronged here.

 

I don't like to slam companies or give bad reviews. I held off on this for 3 weeks but I cant hold off anymore. I am NOT an NCL or Carnival cheerleader. I just like to cruise and enjoy vacation with my wife and 4 boys. I did nothing wrong here other than try to be a customer and book a cruise. My point to this thread is to warn others. I have never been treated this bad by any company in my life. Buyer beware. I cant believe they wont even return my phone calls. It sucks. Now I am sealed into this cruise since I booked my airfare. I paid lots of money for this cruise/vacation. I did not make a mistake. I feel like NCL should own up to their mistake and work it out with me. I offered to pay an additional $5k (half the cost of the upgrade). I felt that was more than fair for a mistake that I didn't make...... Well I guess the only mistake I made was to choose NCL. Kind of wishing I chose Celebrity or Princess.

 

Please.... Loyal NCL customers don't come on here to defend them or slam me. I see how things work on here sometimes. If I did something wrong please let me know in a nice manner.... I am more than willing to admit my mistakes and learn from them.. . I love this forum and have learned lots of good stuff. I write this as an attempt to pay it forward and help warn others. Maybe this is just one bad experience...... Hopefully nobody else has to go thru this.... It has not been fun.

 

Ok, I know you are emotional. I can unferstand that. BUT...

 

It took me all of 3 minutes to go to ncl.com and pull up the Star's deckplan! Viola! I can see which rooms connect.

 

Had YOU done this you could have saved yourself a lot of grief.

 

Even so, I am so sorry the phone rep let you down. Please don't judge NCL on the whole by one person. I am so confident that NCL will work with you to resolve. They are superstars at doing that. I have read that time and time on here.

 

GOOD LUCK!!! Pulling for a quick and satisfactory resolution for you and your family!!!

 

 

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[B6ConMe]

Gotta love it when those who can help the most step up to the plate. Thank you NCL, specifically Marisa. Your help does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. :)

[terrydtx]

and the cheerleaders blame the victim with statements like "why didn't you do your research first" .... what the heck ever happened to a company 1 - knowing its product; 2 - selling its product correctly; and 3 - taking responsibility for its mistakes?? :rolleyes:

 

I agree, we are doing our first NCL on the Jewel in 36 days or so. I have had a couple of minor reasons to call NCL customer service and I found their reps to be grossly unknowledgeable about their policies and products. In one case I made 3 different calls and got 3 different answers about one question. Looking at them from a non cheerleader position I think the NCL customer service reps do not get much training and it is no way to run a company. If I ran my company the same way I would have gone out of business a long time ago. I will give NCL credit for reading these threads and responding to issues like the OP's when they are on CC, something I do not recall ever seeing on the HAL CC threads.

[cruisecritiquer]

Hi Rhinomike -

We are so sorry to hear that you are so frustrated and have experienced this issue. We would be happy to look into this further for you. Please email your contact and reservation information to socialmedia@ncl.com and we will work with our customer relations team to resolve this as best as we can.

Thank you,

Marisa

 

Awesome! I knew you guys would come through. :)

[cruisecritiquer]

Ok, I know you are emotional. I can unferstand that. BUT...

 

It took me all of 3 minutes to go to ncl.com and pull up the Star's deckplan! Viola! I can see which rooms connect.

 

Had YOU done this you could have saved yourself a lot of grief.

 

Even so, I am so sorry the phone rep let you down. Please don't judge NCL on the whole by one person. I am so confident that NCL will work with you to resolve. They are superstars at doing that. I have read that time and time on here.

 

GOOD LUCK!!! Pulling for a quick and satisfactory resolution for you and your family!!!

 

 

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The point is if he called, and they said the rooms were connecting, why would he have a reason to second guess them and go online and check. He should be able to rely upon the information given. Now, I'm sure he'll check for himself in the future but he still didn't cause his own grief.

[rhinomike]

Ok, I know you are emotional. I can unferstand that. BUT...

 

It took me all of 3 minutes to go to ncl.com and pull up the Star's deckplan! Viola! I can see which rooms connect.

 

Had YOU done this you could have saved yourself a lot of grief.

 

Even so, I am so sorry the phone rep let you down. Please don't judge NCL on the whole by one person. I am so confident that NCL will work with you to resolve. They are superstars at doing that. I have read that time and time on here.

 

GOOD LUCK!!! Pulling for a quick and satisfactory resolution for you and your family!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free

 

 

Yes. I agree. We did try to go online just to see where our rooms were located. Like I said. This was a few weeks ago and the NCL website was not working due to the upgrade.

 

After research on here and thinking there might be an issue I went on their site. I seen that it looked as if the rooms did not connect. That is when I called NCL. Their rep and supervisor ensured me the rooms connected. It took the supervisor an hour on the phone to realize they didn't have connecting inside rooms on the Spirit.

 

But yes in the future I will trust the website and not the reps. Not just on NCL but any line. I don't think I should have to do taht but I don't want to go thru this again.

[B6ConMe]

The point is if he called, and they said the rooms were connecting, why would he have a reason to second guess them and go online and check. He should be able to rely upon the information given. Now, I'm sure he'll check for himself in the future but he still didn't cause his own grief.

 

Totally agree. If I call my PCC and he tells me that he has set things up properly and we'll be fine, I'll believe him. Why the heck wouldn't I? Just because I know what I want before I ever call him doesn't mean that I don't have questions and if I'm given conflicting information, who am I supposed to believe?

 

I'll bet this situation happens more than we'll ever know on here and I'm just relieved that NCL steps up and corrects things that are NOT the fault of the pax.

 

Let's try to remember that not everyone has the time, the no how, the experience or the patience to do the research that is sometimes required when booking a family cruise.

[cruisecritiquer]

Totally agree. If I call my PCC and he tells me that he has set things up properly and we'll be fine, I'll believe him. Why the heck wouldn't I? Just because I know what I want before I ever call him doesn't mean that I don't have questions and if I'm given conflicting information, who am I supposed to believe?

 

I'll bet this situation happens more than we'll ever know on here and I'm just relieved that NCL steps up and corrects things that are NOT the fault of the pax.

 

Let's try to remember that not everyone has the time, the no how, the experience or the patience to do the research that is sometimes required when booking a family cruise.

 

You saw the post from NCL right? Post #60?

 

I just wanted to make sure you didn't miss it. :)

[DMH15]

The point is if he called, and they said the rooms were connecting, why would he have a reason to second guess them and go online and check. He should be able to rely upon the information given. Now, I'm sure he'll check for himself in the future but he still didn't cause his own grief.

 

Call me anal, but I always check the things I can for my own piece of mind. I know mistakes happen, I know customer service reps are low paid and underskilled, etc. I did not say he "caused" his own grief but he certainly could have "prevented" it. When I posted I had not read that rhinomike had problems accessing ncl.com. But other sites online have ship's deckplans.

 

When I got my room assignment on the Jewel I went online and found it was a porthole room. I had specifically booked a window. Luckily I got it changed.

 

 

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[momoftwinteens]

Hi Rhinomike -

We are so sorry to hear that you are so frustrated and have experienced this issue. We would be happy to look into this further for you. Please email your contact and reservation information to socialmedia@ncl.com and we will work with our customer relations team to resolve this as best as we can.

Thank you,

Marisa

I just knew they would see this and respond. That is the one thing I love most about NCL. They really do look after their customers.

[rhinomike]

Hi Rhinomike -

We are so sorry to hear that you are so frustrated and have experienced this issue. We would be happy to look into this further for you. Please email your contact and reservation information to socialmedia@ncl.com and we will work with our customer relations team to resolve this as best as we can.

Thank you,

Marisa

 

Wow. Very surprised to get a response from NCL. I just sent you my contact info. Thank you so much for offering to help. I was at the end of my rope.

 

I will keep everyone updated. Thanks agin to everyone and NCL for at least contacting me to resolve the issue.

[B6ConMe]

You saw the post from NCL right? Post #60?

 

I just wanted to make sure you didn't miss it. :)

 

Gotta love it when those who can help the most step up to the plate. Thank you NCL, specifically Marisa. Your help does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. :)

 

You saw the post from NCL right? Post #60?

 

I just wanted to make sure you didn't miss it.

 

Oh I saw it alright, makes me very happy :)

[DMH15]

I am sorry and had not read the entire thread and did not know ncl.com was down. But I think you can find deck plans on other sites. I subscribe to cruisestaterooms.com and they have cruisedeckplans.com for free. Maybe I have been snakebit in the past by phone reps, not just NCL, but others too, so I over research. It is a shame to not be able to trust them, but like I said, I am anal.

 

Please let us know how it all works out for you. I hope to cruise on the Spirit one day. I hear it is very unique!

 

Best of luck.

Yes. I agree. We did try to go online just to see where our rooms were located. Like I said. This was a few weeks ago and the NCL website was not working due to the upgrade.

 

After research on here and thinking there might be an issue I went on their site. I seen that it looked as if the rooms did not connect. That is when I called NCL. Their rep and supervisor ensured me the rooms connected. It took the supervisor an hour on the phone to realize they didn't have connecting inside rooms on the Spirit.

 

But yes in the future I will trust the website and not the reps. Not just on NCL but any line. I don't think I should have to do taht but I don't want to go thru this again.

 

 

 

 

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[cruisecritiquer]

Call me anal, but I always check the things I can for my own piece of mind. I know mistakes happen, I know customer service reps are low paid and underskilled, etc. I did not say he "caused" his own grief but he certainly could have "prevented" it. When I posted I had not read that rhinomike had problems accessing ncl.com. But other sites online have ship's deckplans.

 

When I got my room assignment on the Jewel I went online and found it was a porthole room. I had specifically booked a window. Luckily I got it changed.

 

 

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I'm sure he now knows for next time. I'm the same as you, I book my rooms online, I check and double check several different websites before I book anything.

 

But, I just think it sucks when people blame a person for a mistake that was not his/her own (not saying you were doing that) just because they trusted what they were told by the company who is running the show. It also sucks when people say "Well I always" or "I would never have"...etc. It comes across as obnoxious. It's so much more polite to say, "sorry about your situation but next time try...." or offer solutions for this time if there are any. I figured NCL would show up which is what I put in my first post. I'm just glad it will hopefully be resolved.

[cj'smom]

Unfortunately, the quality of the NCL reps can be very inconsistent. I just booked an 11 day cruise with them on a ship I have never sailed. Had some questions and could tell my PCC was inexperienced. She kept having to put me on hold to ask her supervisor to get answers to simple things she should have known. I really didn't want to work with her so called back and got another PCC who was wonderful and very knowledgeable.

 

I agree that this is NCL's fault. Some people just like to pick up the phone, describe what they need, book it and move on. NCL needs to not let reps call themselves Personal Cruise Consultants until they have been thoroughly trained and are knowledgeable about all the ships.

 

Also, hopefully you do know that even though you need to have someone 21 or older on the reservation, once on the ship, you can put whoever in the cabin you want. Your wife and you could be in one and put the 4 boys in another. Didn't someone say a couple of them are not "kids" but are 18 - which makes them legally adults? Unless they are incredibly immature and irresponsible (which I doubt), surely they could be trusted to keep watch over your younger sons. This is a port-intensive cruise where you are rarely going to be on the ship or in your cabins anyway. And, you'd be just steps away if you were needed.

 

If NCL can't make the arrangements you wanted, I'd encourage you to relax, enjoy this trip of a lifetime with your wife in your cabin and let your boys enjoy a taste of the freedom and responsibility that comes with being a young adult. Hope you have a great time and bring back many wonderful family memories from Europe.