Disgruntled first timer

[SailAways]

Cabin #8228 on the Wind is 152 sf, has a telephone, television, 2 convertible lower beds, is located midship (good) Starboard side. The description describes this as a 100% obstructed view with picture window.

 

You truly will not be spending that much time in your cabin - if you are like the majority of cruisers. We booked an inside cabin on the Spirit, smaller than this one, and didn't miss a thing.

 

We liked saving the money for extras along the cruise; at the different ports, rather than having our budget tied up for a cabin which mostly would be for sleeping and bathing. Your take on this may be different, but for a first cruise, perhaps you should try to economize on the cabin, and enjoy a few of the great dinners in the specialty restaurants, or do some Xmas shopping while in ports or whatever would please you.

 

However you decide, please do have a wonderful time. Cruising is an awesome thing to do. We have been on smaller ships, Ferry Tours, and boats, but there is absolutely nothing like being on a cruise line.

 

Happy Cruise Vacation - You Should Have a Wonderful Time, Regardless of Cabin Assignment .

[comfixit]

First off let me say that the situation sucks but don't let it ruin your cruise. Think about the advantages.

 

An obstructed room just means that you can see the lifeboat in front of you, but still allows you to see ocean from your room and get natural light.

 

Although they misrepresented what the category of the room offered the price you paid still reflects an obstructed rate. So you should consider if you really want that upgrade for the view even if you get the cheaper rate.

 

For example if it costs you roughly $117 per person to upgrade think what you could do with that money.

 

You could purchase a $100+ per person excursion that you may not have otherwise budgeted for. And the right excursions can become memmories of a lifetime. An unobstructed view does not have the potential especialy when you can have much better views from the top of the ship while you eat your breakfast.

 

You will be able to see whats going on outside from your room (even with a boat partialy blocking your view) and you should get allot of natural light which is one of the big advantages of ocean view rooms.

 

See if you can convince the travel agents to comp you with some sort of enhanced bon voyage gift. I got chocolates for my next cruise instead of that nasty Korbel stuff they always try to pawn on you.

 

Don't let the room thing stress you out, I am telling you that you will enjoy majestic views from the top of the ship, will enjoy looking out your window even with a boat partialy blocking your view, and if you take care do research and pick the right $100+ excursion you may have memories that last a lifetime that you would not have otherwise had.

 

Or perhaps you just want to spoil yourself with two massages on board that you may not have otherwise had. Tell me the thought of getting two massages on board that you hadn't budgeted for doesn't make you feel just a little bit better.

 

Your going on a cruise, this kind of stuff happens, just never use that TA again unless they can fix the situation to your satisfaction, but use the money you would have spent $250 to pamper yourself and you might even be happier with the value you recieved for the same $ spent.

[KAYEF]

On our NCL cruise we, too, had an obstructed view room, but a GREAT price. We are "never" in our room, anyhow.

Our view was totally orange..............they may as well have painted the whole window orange. It was a lifeboat.:(

Our (grown) kids' room was listed in the same category but their view was through the windows of a tender, so they sort of could see.;) It let in more light as well.

They were able to check the weather.

I think, in light of our "orange window," I'd prefer an inside cabin.:confused:

Whatever, relax and have a grand time.............really. It will be what you decide to make of it.

You will not get good communication from NCL and a different room COULD be in a worse location.

We had 8238 on the Dream and it was an excellent location.......right by the elevators and one floor down from Four Seasons.

Hope you are able to relax and ENJOY your cruise.;)

BTW, don't try to be the first one onboard..............those lines are LONG. We go a bit later and have always walked straight on with NO lines. You're all going to get aboard, anyhow!:)

[1cruiselvr]

It sounds to me like the price difference problem is due to an inexperienced TA that quoted an upgrade price based upon the original booking vs. new category. I wouldn't be so quick to blame NCL. Alot of times TAs quote prices before verifying it with the CL and then end up with egg on their face when they are wrong. So rather than admit they quoted wrong, they blame the CL as not willing to 'honor' the price. Happy Sailing!

[newmexicoNita]

My boyfriend and i are going for a cruise for the first time. We are going over the Chirstmas holidays for a 10 day cruise in Hawaii with the NCL wind (Dec 28 to jan 7). The room we are assigned to is an oceanview sateroom. When i go check the deck plan to see the location of the room, it ends up that room is completley obstructed by a lifeboat. I contacted the travel agent and she confirmed with Air Transat (which is who we booked through) that our room is NOT obstructed. When i checked again, on the NCL webpage it states that it is. From reviewing many comments and reviews about this ship and problems with obstructed views, we decided we wanted to upgrade or downgrade so that we do not have an obstructed view. We contacted our travel agent again and she contacted NCL directly and confirmed that it was an obstructed view depsite what we found out earlier. At first, we were told inorder to upgarde it would cost us $117 per person. So i gave the go ahead to upgrade but then my travel agent came back with in order to upgrade it would now cost $450 per person!!!! What gives. First they give us false information about the room and now the quote. The travel agent said that she wouldn't budge at all. What crappy service so far from NCL. Not providing a good first impression. If i'm paying so much already, why the stupid hassle. Anyways, sorry for venting like this my question is has anybody else have this problem and how would you go about to fixing this? thanks

 

 

disgruntled first timer :mad:

I have not read the other comments yet, but I am pretty sure NCL is not the culprit here> NMNita

[newmexicoNita]

first of all welcome to the boards.

secondly You have learned what must of us know already, most TA's are clueless, they have never cruised and will do anything for a sale. I do use a TA mostly so they can rebate so of the commision me and help me get the best price, but you need to do most of the research yourself. If you give us the cabin number we can tell you exactly how much by percentage you are obstructed. If its less than 50% you will be ok... The wind unfortunately doesn't get the highest marks. Its one of the reasons its so relatively inexpensive. I am sorry this first experience has been so bad. But the price and obstruction thing is the TA's. He/she could have found out this info if they used the NCL site right. We have learned never to trust anyone but the facts.

Hey, smeyer, this isn't true about TAs: some, very large companies do hire TA that are nothing more than order takers, but some of us do know what we are doing and have experience. If we haven't actually experienced a situation we do all we can to find out from someone else what we are doing or quoting. As for doing anything for a sale, NOt SO: to me repeat business is my bread and butter. If I don't give good advise and do what I can to have happy clients I do not get referrals or repeat customers. I do feel, in this case the TA royally blew it!!! NMNita

[newmexicoNita]

Thanks for the reply everyone. All your advice is very helpful. We are still dealing with the travel agent to fix our problem. Our main problem was that we are interested in upgrading but NCL does not want to honour it's promo price for first timers (like us). They consider us as ALREADY booked and we can not get the promo price . they would like us to pay $450 per person to upgrade instead of $115. We'll see how it goes. honestly, we will try not to let it ruin our experience but we would like to get what we want to pay for. The blame is with TRANSAT AIR (Cdn company that is the middle-man for offering vactions and air- fortuantely we are flying with WestJet). Anyways, I think they should honour the price they quoted us to upgrade. we are staying on the carribean deck #8228. we'll see how it goes. wish us luck. another quick question, does NCL Wind have any theme nights? if so what are they? and also what is the "check-in" time for the cruise/ the ship leaves at 8 pm. Thanks again for your replies. We'll keep you posted.

 

First-timer cruiser:eek:

I think something isn't quite right here; what do you mean by first timers? I now am thinking the price referred to new bookings which you do not have. This is not usual. When cruise lines run specials quite often they are for new booking, not new cruisers and no, they will not honor an already booked cabin. This is getting a little confusing. I do agree with what others have said, an obstructed view is not the end of the world. NMNita

[SailAways]

I posted earlier, with some specifics only about the cabin, and best wishes for a nice cruise. Nothing indicated that I had a clue as to what information was being asked for otherwise.

I too found the question confusing, but thought maybe it made sense to other posters.

Thanks Nita for restoring the little bit of confidence which remains in this old brain of mine.

Must state that as a TA, Nita, you must have very thick skin - Hang In There!

[smeyer418]

Hey, smeyer, this isn't true about Ta's: some, very large companies do hire TA that are nothing more than order takers, but some of us do know what we are doing and have experience. If we haven't actually experienced a situation we do all we can to find out from someone else what we are doing or quoting. As for doing anything for a sale, Not SO: to me repeat business is my bread and butter. If I don't give good advise and do what I can to have happy clients I do not get referrals or repeat customers. I do feel, in this case the TA royally blew it!!! NMNita

 

It doesn't say all. It says most. there are the rare exception like you but most are clueless :). If I didn't read these boards I wouldn't know how to upgrade. I agree that the TA is the person who blew it. I thought so from the beginning. So if you approach any TA with a healthy skepticism you can't go wrong.

 

Sid

[rt1092]

Next Time try a different cruise line. I sailed on the Dawn the first trip out of NYC. We were very disapointed with the cruise. Sailed on RCI 3 times since then great cruises. Booked an inside cabin on the Celebrity Constellation, 9 night repo cruise, $600PP + $200 dollar shipboard credit per cabin. Thays $1100 for the cabin.

A couple of weeks ago the prices went down I changed the cabin to an outside guarantee. For $50PP more, then a week ago They put veranda (balcony cabins up for $50PP more. So we changed again. Celebrity. then gave us a Concierge class cabin. $1500 total and we still get the shipboard credit. THis will be our first time on Celebrity, but I doubt it will be our last.

[ads320]

We haven't resolved our issue about the upgrade. The TA states that she can not get a hold of NCL b/c their offices are closed due to Hurricane Wilma. If our TA doesn't help, then we will also try to work something out with NCL themselves. We still would like to get what we are willing to pay for. We will probably enjoy the cruise regardless. IT's hawaii....can't beat that. Quick question, what time does port of call or checkin usually occur? Thanks again.

 

Disgruntles (Aka-Gruntles) first-timer cruiser :eek:

[Shellbelle28]

We haven't resolved our issue about the upgrade. The TA states that she can not get a hold of NCL b/c their offices are closed due to Hurricane Wilma. If our TA doesn't help, then we will also try to work something out with NCL themselves. We still would like to get what we are willing to pay for. We will probably enjoy the cruise regardless. IT's hawaii....can't beat that. Quick question, what time does port of call or checkin usually occur? Thanks again.

 

Disgruntles (Aka-Gruntles) first-timer cruiser :eek:

Yay! Glad you're "Gruntles" now :D

[newmexicoNita]

It doesn't say all. It says most. there are the rare exception like you but most are clueless :). If I didn't read these boards I wouldn't know how to upgrade. I agree that the TA is the person who blew it. I thought so from the beginning. So if you approach any TA with a healthy skepticism you can't go wrong.

 

Sid

I was just giving you a rough time!!! LOL

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

Next Time try a different cruise line. I sailed on the Dawn the first trip out of NYC. We were very disapointed with the cruise. Sailed on RCI 3 times since then great cruises. Booked an inside cabin on the Celebrity Constellation, 9 night repo cruise, $600PP + $200 dollar shipboard credit per cabin. Thays $1100 for the cabin.

A couple of weeks ago the prices went down I changed the cabin to an outside guarantee. For $50PP more, then a week ago They put veranda (balcony cabins up for $50PP more. So we changed again. Celebrity. then gave us a Concierge class cabin. $1500 total and we still get the shipboard credit. THis will be our first time on Celebrity, but I doubt it will be our last.

the Connie is a really nice ship; the cabins are identical in size to the Sun; the T poll is awesome and the crew friendly. We did not like the pool area, it seems very crowded and chopped up. Sorry you didn't like the Dawn. Everyone has different likes and dislikes. Most who cruise her are very happy. Good luck on your Celebrity cruise. I love the line but do not feel the same about RCI. We have tried it twice and been less than completely satisfied both times. NMNita

[peanutJMV]

It has to be your TA, I would definetely ask for someone to look into this is I were you.... Did you pay full price yet?, Many cruise agencies will match another agencies price if not paid in full.

Check the cruise websites for their prices and compare.

If full price has not been paid may be able to cancel and rebook without penalty. Dont cancel a trip without checking your prices and availability prior...

Good Luck

Either way, first cruise you, are in for a time of your life!!! Enjoy...

Your really not in your room much anyway.....

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the reply everyone. All your advice is very helpful. We are still dealing with the travel agent to fix our problem. Our main problem was that we are interested in upgrading but NCL does not want to honour it's promo price for first timers (like us). They consider us as ALREADY booked and we can not get the promo price . they would like us to pay $450 per person to upgrade instead of $115. We'll see how it goes. honestly, we will try not to let it ruin our experience but we would like to get what we want to pay for. The blame is with TRANSAT AIR (Cdn company that is the middle-man for offering vactions and air- fortuantely we are flying with WestJet). Anyways, I think they should honour the price they quoted us to upgrade. we are staying on the carribean deck #8228. we'll see how it goes. wish us luck. another quick question, does NCL Wind have any theme nights? if so what are they? and also what is the "check-in" time for the cruise/ the ship leaves at 8 pm. Thanks again for your replies. We'll keep you posted.

 

First-timer cruiser:eek: