Pricing question

[Lumee23]

I had a quick question regarding pricing. We are doing a group sail for my wedding and my uncle booked his own room directly through NCL (the rest of us used a TA). I don't have all the details because I am getting the info second hand but I am hoping someone can clarify. So he paid $2700 for a balcony for just him for a sailing on Jan 2nd. My aunt now wants to come and since he paid double occupancy on his room we were going to add her into his room. He called NCL and they are telling him it will cost an additional $1000 to add her. If I try booking the same room category with two people it is under $3k total (a difference of under $300). He tried calling twice and got the same answer. Can someone explain where the $1k is coming from? It was my understanding that it should just be the difference in port fees/any promo gratuities.

[bnorris10]

I had a quick question regarding pricing. We are doing a group sail for my wedding and my uncle booked his own room directly through NCL (the rest of us used a TA). I don't have all the details because I am getting the info second hand but I am hoping someone can clarify. So he paid $2700 for a balcony for just him for a sailing on Jan 2nd. My aunt now wants to come and since he paid double occupancy on his room we were going to add her into his room. He called NCL and they are telling him it will cost an additional $1000 to add her. If I try booking the same room category with two people it is under $3k total (a difference of under $300). He tried calling twice and got the same answer. Can someone explain where the $1k is coming from? It was my understanding that it should just be the difference in port fees/any promo gratuities.

 

 

Have you tried to see if maybe your TA can call for it?

[bnorris10]

he might have to call and talk to someone else and then maybe ask for supervisor

[fshagan]

I had a quick question regarding pricing. We are doing a group sail for my wedding and my uncle booked his own room directly through NCL (the rest of us used a TA). I don't have all the details because I am getting the info second hand but I am hoping someone can clarify. So he paid $2700 for a balcony for just him for a sailing on Jan 2nd. My aunt now wants to come and since he paid double occupancy on his room we were going to add her into his room. He called NCL and they are telling him it will cost an additional $1000 to add her. If I try booking the same room category with two people it is under $3k total (a difference of under $300). He tried calling twice and got the same answer. Can someone explain where the $1k is coming from? It was my understanding that it should just be the difference in port fees/any promo gratuities.

 

Can he cancel and rebook?

 

I know a single in a cabin doesn't pay the exact same amount as two people in the cabin. Port taxes are charged per-person, so at minimum he would have to pay additional for his wife's port charges. That could be at least part of the difference you saw when you did a mock booking that was < $300 difference.

[Golfin55]

Why did you uncle book outside of the group in the first place? That's strange. Usually in a group, even at the minimum single sup's can be waived if the TA is knowledgable about group cruising.

 

And before your TA can even discuss that booking with NCL. Your uncle must request a transfer of agent form. Otherwise the TA can't help.

[Lumee23]

I don't know why he booked on his own and not through the group TA. I looked into the form and it looks like he can't transfer because final payment has been made. That would have been the best option but that is out. I suppose I can ask her if she knows why they want to charge him so much more.

 

So his only course of action is to speak to a supervisor then I guess. I just don't understand where the 1k is coming from. I expected it to be extra but not that much.

 

Thanks everyone for the info/advice!

[13seth]

I had a similar situation recently and was talked to a supervisor for hours. Basically what I was told is that if a room is booked and you want to make a change it is considered a cancellation. I asked where I could look,at this policy and she sent me an email with a highlighted line in the policy regarding name and date changes that did not apply to me. She kept pushing me off to the travel agent who agreed that the policy did not exist. She finally told me that she would have the legal department contact me within 24 hours and I never heard back. I left numerous messages and my travel agent has also left messages with her, worse experience I have ever had with a cruise line! Good luck getting a satisfying answer from Norwegian, what it comes down to is they can get more money and they will whether or not it is fair or makes sense.

[Lumee23]

I had a similar situation recently and was talked to a supervisor for hours. Basically what I was told is that if a room is booked and you want to make a change it is considered a cancellation. I asked where I could look,at this policy and she sent me an email with a highlighted line in the policy regarding name and date changes that did not apply to me. She kept pushing me off to the travel agent who agreed that the policy did not exist. She finally told me that she would have the legal department contact me within 24 hours and I never heard back. I left numerous messages and my travel agent has also left messages with her, worse experience I have ever had with a cruise line! Good luck getting a satisfying answer from Norwegian, what it comes down to is they can get more money and they will whether or not it is fair or makes sense.

 

That sounds really bad and what I am worried they are doing (canceling and re-booking). A week ago I had asked my TA about adding my aunt to another room as a 4th passenger and she quoted us ~570. She didn't mention anything about having to cancel and rebook. If it comes down to it we will just do that but it doesn't make sense to pay for a 4th passenger in a room when a 2nd passenger was effectively paid for (minus port charges) in another room. :(

[rvsullivan]

I had a similar situation recently and was talked to a supervisor for hours. Basically what I was told is that if a room is booked and you want to make a change it is considered a cancellation. I asked where I could look,at this policy and she sent me an email with a highlighted line in the policy regarding name and date changes that did not apply to me. She kept pushing me off to the travel agent who agreed that the policy did not exist. She finally told me that she would have the legal department contact me within 24 hours and I never heard back. I left numerous messages and my travel agent has also left messages with her, worse experience I have ever had with a cruise line! Good luck getting a satisfying answer from Norwegian, what it comes down to is they can get more money and they will whether or not it is fair or makes sense.

 

This doesn't seem to be the same kind of issue at all. You posted elsewhere that you picked what rooms you wanted and asked your wife to handle it. Instead of booking two rooms, she only booked one for all five people. You didn't like that and have spent hours trying to convince NCL they should fix it at no cost to you! Your wife made the choice and it seems your anger should be directed at her, not NCL. If you were not confident your wife could handle the booking, you could have. Why is NCL responsible for your mistake?? It seems to me that if you don't want the room your wife booked, it would certainly be a cancellation to move to two other rooms?

[HighVoltage#9]

Why did you uncle book outside of the group in the first place? That's strange. Usually in a group, even at the minimum single sup's can be waived if the TA is knowledgable about group cruising.

 

And before your TA can even discuss that booking with NCL. Your uncle must request a transfer of agent form. Otherwise the TA can't help.

 

The uncle probably didn't want the aunt to know he was going on a cruise without her,lol

[Lumee23]

So he called back again and the third time was the charm. He got her added to his reservation for $245. While I am frustrated it took multiple attempts to get it correct I am glad we finally got it all worked out. Thanks again for everyone's input!

[fshagan]

So he called back again and the third time was the charm. He got her added to his reservation for $245. While I am frustrated it took multiple attempts to get it correct I am glad we finally got it all worked out. Thanks again for everyone's input!

 

In this case, bad news followed by some good news. The $245 sounds more reasonable to me.

 

This is what I call "broken customer service." In the end, the customer is given a result that is satisfactory. But the customer has to fight for the result. So what would be a "win" for customer service ends up being a losing proposition twice: not only is NCL losing out on $765 in additional revenue but they also have an upset first-time customer who probably won't sail with them again.

 

It just would be SOOOOO much better if it was done and done graciously with an eye toward building customer loyalty in the first place!

But I'm glad it worked out for you and your uncle. Your persistence paid off!

[Sauer-kraut]

In this case, bad news followed by some good news. The $245 sounds more reasonable to me.

 

This is what I call "broken customer service." In the end, the customer is given a result that is satisfactory. But the customer has to fight for the result. So what would be a "win" for customer service ends up being a losing proposition twice: not only is NCL losing out on $765 in additional revenue but they also have an upset first-time customer who probably won't sail with them again.

 

It just would be SOOOOO much better if it was done and done graciously with an eye toward building customer loyalty in the first place!

But I'm glad it worked out for you and your uncle. Your persistence paid off!

 

They were lucky to be able to add the 'extra' person because lifeboat capacity might have already been reached and the person couldn't be added at all.