Customer Service

[WTRLFC]

Hi all,

 

We are soon to make our 2nd cruise with NCL and after a relativly straight forward first cruise, an issue occurred in the build up to our 2nd one that made us have to contact NCL customer service.

 

Sadly, the response has, to be honest, put us off from using NCL again!

 

The reply was full of spelling and grammatical errors (not a major issue) but worse of all it was obviously a cut and paste that failed to answer pretty much any of my questions and did give answers to things unrelated. Is this the norm for NCL or have we just been unlucky?

Edited April 18, 2019 by WTRLFC

[prwilson33]

In my experience, I have always called into their customer service and have had great interactions. I know others on here have experienced differently. I have realized that calling in the middle of the week (as opposed to Friday and Monday because of the upcoming or past weekend cruises) I tend to have less of a wait time and attitudes tend to be a little better.

[JamieLogical]

If you have sailed with NCL previously, you should now have a Personal Cruise Consultant assigned to you. I have found that since getting my PCC, calling her is the best way to resolve any customer services issues.

[spanishguy1970]

but if you don't have pcc and you contact them via email the responses are pretty much cut and paste, robotic ( cheat sheet) answers, never responding to the actual questions. We have contacted them before and their response is always, your feedback is appreciated and we will send it to the right department, nothing to do with what we wrote about in the first place. Any questions we have, we have our TA answer them, and if we have a complaint or concern of any sort we let her handle it. There have been times that we write on our post cruise section on the ncl.com ( help section) and someone from NCL calls us and we talked to him or her of our experience on our past cruise and concerns. The experience with NCL MIAMI customer service is very different with the one you will have on your cruise. Good Luck.

[rugerdog]

I have an upcoming cruise on NCL, only my second with this line. 

 

This time, I booked using the PCC.  She was great when I was planning the cruise.  However, once booked, I tried to call her, and left a voice mail.   No response.  I emailed her.  No reply.  I emailed again.  She responded that I should call her.  I called her, left yet another voice mail.   No response.  Then I sent another email.  Again, nothing.   This was maybe 2 weeks ago, and still, nothing from her.  Should I call customer service, or another PCC?  I've never booked directly through a cruise line before, and don't  know what my next move should be.  Clearly, this is not the type of service I expected to receive.

[ProfessorMA]

We have an amazing travel agent that has managed all of our travel for 20 years.  She is particularly good with cruises, handled 12 of our past NCL cruises, and booked and managing the four we currently have booked.  No need to speak directly with the customer service people at NCL, same price or better with the bonuses she's added for us.  She coordinates all or our transportation, flights, transfers and pre and post hotels, and books all of you non-NCL tours with great discounts.  Private message me if you'd like her contact info. 

[smplybcause]

You know when you're searching for cruises on NCL's site and that little chat box pops up? I've had some success getting answers from them. It probably wouldn't work if you had something very specific to your booking. One time I was waiting for a bit because they went to go ask someone else the questions because they didn't know. 

[FLAHAM]

In the past, this kind of thread has arisen because the OP did not "get what he or she wanted" from NCL.  Just what is it you wanted from NCL?

[aeroo777]

If it’s beyond final payment and you want to cancel without insurance, you’re not going to like any answer you get.

[BirdTravels]

You are emailing an off shore call center who receives thousands of emails and calls a day. They sub-minimum wage agents are allowed to respond with a set of approved responses. Just like the call center for almost any business. You’re not getting a senior manager (although most emails are signed by one),,, you’re getting someone who is rated on the number of calls/emails they respond to a day (just like almost any other business). 

[drumming cruisers]

4 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

If you have sailed with NCL previously, you should now have a Personal Cruise Consultant assigned to you. I have found that since getting my PCC, calling her is the best way to resolve any customer services issues.

 I have been on 16 cruises with NCL and don't have a PCC. I do book thru CAS, but its always a different person. Who assigns a PCC to you?

[spanishguy1970]

1 hour ago, CruiseGal999 said:

'but worse of all'     LOL  .....   but worst of all, I do believe is the correct phrasing.  But not a major issue.  

and yet i ask you, is this necessary? why can't people answer the question instead of being snarky. 😏

 

1 hour ago, FLAHAM said:

In the past, this kind of thread has arisen because the OP did not "get what he or she wanted" from NCL.  Just what is it you wanted from NCL?

after this assumption why would the person tell you anything of what he or she wanted from NCL? 🙄

[CruiseGal999]

9 minutes ago, spanishguy1970 said:

 

 

'but worse of all'     LOL  .....   but worst of all, I do believe is the correct phrasing.  But not a major issue.  

and yet i ask you, is this necessary? why can't people answer the question instead of being snarky. 😏

 

Because the OP specifically bad mouthed the customer service rep for EXACTLY what they did!  That's why.  LOL .... don't dish it out if you can't take it!  

[valleyvillage]

3 hours ago, rugerdog said:

I have an upcoming cruise on NCL, only my second with this line. 

 

This time, I booked using the PCC.  She was great when I was planning the cruise.  However, once booked, I tried to call her, and left a voice mail.   No response.  I emailed her.  No reply.  I emailed again.  She responded that I should call her.  I called her, left yet another voice mail.   No response.  Then I sent another email.  Again, nothing.   This was maybe 2 weeks ago, and still, nothing from her.  Should I call customer service, or another PCC?  I've never booked directly through a cruise line before, and don't  know what my next move should be.  Clearly, this is not the type of service I expected to receive.

Yes, get another PCC! Good ones are out there. 

[FLAHAM]

1 hour ago, spanishguy1970 said:

and yet i ask you, is this necessary? why can't people answer the question instead of being snarky. 😏

 

after this assumption why would the person tell you anything of what he or she wanted from NCL? 🙄

Because perhaps OP was interested in a substantive response instead of just venting.  If the sum total of the post is just "NCL is a lousy company," than the original post was fine.

[rugerdog]

1 hour ago, valleyvillage said:

Yes, get another PCC! Good ones are out there. 

 

Thank you for the information.  I wasn't trying to hijack this thread, I just hoped those more familiar (such as yourself) with NCL customer service could point me in the right direction.

 

I actually did email my PCC once more, and was immediately called.  Apparently there had been some miscommunication, so at least now I know I wasn't being intentionally ignored.

[peacefulOR]

3 hours ago, rugerdog said:

 

Thank you for the information.  I wasn't trying to hijack this thread, I just hoped those more familiar (such as yourself) with NCL customer service could point me in the right direction.

 

I actually did email my PCC once more, and was immediately called.  Apparently there had been some miscommunication, so at least now I know I wasn't being intentionally ignored.

 

My experiences with NCL is that I've run into employee turnover or movement. Haven't had a PCC stay long after booking; I might go an independent next time. See you in the Getaway!

Rainey

[rugerdog]

9 minutes ago, peacefulOR said:

My experiences with NCL is that I've run into employee turnover or movement. Haven't had a PCC stay long after booking; I might go an independent next time. See you in the Getaway!

Rainey

 

Well that makes sense.  I've always used a TA before, and just didn't know how a PCC worked.  

9 days to go!!!

[bonvoyagie]

This is one reason I use a TA. He gets to handle my issues. I understand that TAs have a different path to go when getting questions answered. As for flights, hotels, excursions I do all of that myself. Our TA was very helpful back in 2002 when we took our first cruise - he took the time to go over the entire cruise experience for us. I did not discover CC until our third cruise in 2006. Now between him and CC I have great sources of information.

[thistimeplease]

15 hours ago, CruiseGal999 said:

'but worse of all'     LOL  .....   but worst of all, I do believe is the correct phrasing.  But not a major issue.  

 

I believe it is against the rules to correct grammar, also unnecessary and rude IMO.

[WTRLFC]

Thanks to those who replied with advice to do with my original question. It seems phoning is the best option

[CruiseGal999]

14 minutes ago, thistimeplease said:

 

I believe it is against the rules to correct grammar, also unnecessary and rude IMO.

 

I think it's rude to shame and make derogatory remarks about hard working employees, and then make the exact same errors you are shaming others for!

[newmexicoNita]

As a few others have mentioned, this is he reason for a PCC or a TA. Emailing customer service is never the best way to handle a question  but more than that, I always wonder what is behind a poster who has only posted twice, both with complaints. Especially ones that really make little or no difference. So the grammar wasn't up to the standards, does it really affect the overall correspondence in anyway? 

[Smsarlo62]

17 hours ago, rugerdog said:

I have an upcoming cruise on NCL, only my second with this line. 

 

This time, I booked using the PCC.  She was great when I was planning the cruise.  However, once booked, I tried to call her, and left a voice mail.   No response.  I emailed her.  No reply.  I emailed again.  She responded that I should call her.  I called her, left yet another voice mail.   No response.  Then I sent another email.  Again, nothing.   This was maybe 2 weeks ago, and still, nothing from her.  Should I call customer service, or another PCC?  I've never booked directly through a cruise line before, and don't  know what my next move should be.  Clearly, this is not the type of service I expected to receive.

I just booked my first cruise with NCL.  I spoke with 2 different people at the call center who were very helpful!  The day after I booked, I received a call from a PCC; she was so excited about my first cruise and was there to help me with whatever I needed, anything from booking shows, dinner, shore excursions or to answer any questions I might have.  I was so impressed at this level of service.  Fast forward to just 2 days later when I called (like she suggested I do) to book the shows and with a list of questions as I'm not familiar with how this cruise line handles things.  I called, left a voice mail, and then waited most of the day.  About 3:00, I called back, but used her direct number this time.  Let's just say my experience this time left a lot to be desired.  I never did ask her my questions.  I ended up calling back into the call center, the woman was extremely helpful.  I decided that I won't be using my PCC in the future, I received great customer service each time I just called the main number.

[tomk3212]

NCL's PCC's (or "CC"'s as I've also referred to them) are hit and miss, IMHO; some are VERY good and others leave something to be desired (a lot or a little..lol).  I've ALWAYS had good experiences over the phone with reservations and/or customer service.  As many have mentioned previously, not so much with PCC's.

 

Maybe someone who's more familiar with NCL's management structure can answer this question: where are the PCC's located?  Are they the "entry-level" customer service position or do they start out taking calls & then get promoted to the PCC position?  Also are there levels within the PCC structure?  For example, I've gotten emails from a former PCC that we had that listed his position as a "Senior Cruise Consultant" or something like that. 

 

My point is that in an entry-level position you want that person to be able to exercise good judgement in knowing when or when not to escalate a customer service issue and to be able to follow-up promptly with the customer when you can resolve a customer's issue(s).  Some people are good at this and others not so much.  Just like NCL's PCCs.

 

My 2 cents.