New Latitudes Reward Benefits confusion

[Stevio]

Looking forward to our first Platinum level cruise booked more than a year ago to the Baltic on the Getaway. So tried to book NCL excursions (I know, money to burn). NCL faq state 10% discount for Platinum when booking online or on the ship……But no 10% online so called the dedicated excursion number on the NCL webpage.

The nice NCL excursion lady told us politely yet firmly that since we booked before 3rd Feb 2017 we would not qualify for the “New” post Feb Platinum excursion rewards, either online or onboard.

Suitably enraged, we immediately contacted our regular cruise consultant who apparently now has a new full time job pacifying enraged customers who had previously phoned other departments of NCL. The problems are caused by the old pre- Feb system bookings not being recognised by the new one.

The good news is yes we will qualify for the 10% off, but we will have to stand in line at excursions to claim it aboard & it will appear as OBC… Our consultant added that the Platinum free 30 WIFI mins will also be missing & we will have to stand in line for the internet café manager to claim them. This is of course in addition to the lining up for the ship tour, cocktail party etc, etc and has to include all platinum members separately with their identifying key cards.

My beef is, how come the new system knows I am platinum online, when issuing a room key card, or giving bottled water or chocolate covered strawberries… But conveniently has no knowledge of my status when it comes to something that costs money & especially when there is a sales pitch at the end of it? And what leads my cruise consultant to suspect that no one in NCL is going to bother to correct the system before my cruise in three months time?

I should however be able to save a few dollars on the Berlin & Tallinn tours as by my calculations, if all goes smoothly we may well be finished standing in lines by around day 5 when entering St Petersburg.

 

Rant over, feel much better now. Carry on everyone.:D

 

Horoscope *** Scorpio for May….. I forsee long queues in the atrium.

[BirdTravels]

Yup,,, a few kinks and bugs. Not sure that it is anything to get enraged about. Have a great cruise.

[KeithJenner]

My beef is, how come the new system knows I am platinum online, when issuing a room key card, or giving bottled water or chocolate covered strawberries… But conveniently has no knowledge of my status when it comes to something that costs money & especially when there is a sales pitch at the end of it? And what leads my cruise consultant to suspect that no one in NCL is going to bother to correct the system before my cruise in three months time?

 

 

I know that it is appealing to think that this is some sort of plan to get people to go the the cruise next office or Internet cafe to get a sales pitch, but if that was the case then they wouldn't be fixing it.

 

The situation is that for some reason, their system is only picking up these things if you booked after the 3rd of Feb. People who booked after that date have confirmed that the online booking system for shore excursions is giving the correct discount.

 

I'm sure they could make some system changes to get it right, but as it's a temporary thing I can see why they haven't (especially as not doing so is likely to give them some extra money due to people not knowing about the discounts or bothering to queue). The fact that it is fixed for new bookings suggests to me that it isn't some great conspiracy.

 

Next time, don't bother calling NCL to be given the incorrect information. Just come here to ask.

[sanger727]

Just a guess; but it may have something to do with grandfathering in the people getting double latitude points and people who previously attained a level they no longer qualify for

 

 

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[KeithJenner]

Just a guess; but it may have something to do with grandfathering in the people getting double latitude points and people who previously attained a level they no longer qualify for

 

 

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My guess is that the discount and internet minutes are treated as an amenity by the system, so are added at the point of booking. For cruises booked before 3rd Feb, that amenity isn't included in the booking, so the system isn't recognising them.

 

If correct, a better solution would be some sort of run through the database to add that flag to existing bookings, but someone would have to program and run that, so they have decided not to do so.

 

It does introduce one potential ongoing problem, which is that if the discounts and internet minutes are added at the time of booking, based on latitudes level at that time then when people change levels between booking and cruising they may not get the correct amounts.

[TruckerDave]

and there is also the possibility that NCL could have their computer systems updated/fixed (or whatever word you want to use and this whole "rant" could have been a waste of time and energy. :confused:

[Stevio]

and there is also the possibility that NCL could have their computer systems updated/fixed (or whatever word you want to use and this whole "rant" could have been a waste of time and energy. :confused:

 

 

the point of my post was a heads up for silver latitudes & above who booked their cruise before Feb.17 & then go on to book their NCL shore excursions online at a later date will be able to claim at a refund of least 10% of that cost in the form of O.B.C. when aboard.

[Sauer-kraut]

Tallenin is an easy peasy DIY port, wouldn't book anything with ShorEx for that port. Berlin is a long way from the port, but the area around Warnemunde is great and and easy sightseeing on the local trains for a few Euros and you can also DIY. Check out the Molli Train if you are into steam trains! Use private tours for St. Petersburg, you will save a lot of money and there is no problem about visa requirements.

 

Have a great cruise, it will be an exhausting itinerary!

[Huntingdon1701]

That's helpful information. I have one cruise booked before 3rd February, and one after. I get the excursion discount showing online for the one booked after 3rd Feb, but not for the one before.

[janymac]

I did it after I ate lunch as soon as I got on and waited less than 5 minutes, did that and then internet. Easy peasy....