NCL Price Drop After Final Payment - No Credit

[julig22]

8 minutes ago, sherims said:

Yes, $99 for 3rd person is currently being offered for this sailing. Another reason this is unusual.

Sorry, out of ideas.  Try a mock booking & compare the promos?

[Love2cruise77]

What is the date of your sailing in August?  If it is within cancellation period, NCL will not allow price drop.

 

You can upgrade your cabin though.  As long as you are paying more money, they will let you do this.  I upgraded my cabin from inside to balcony for less than $50.

 

Last resort, ask for some FCC.  But that's hit and miss depending on who you speak to at NCL.

Edited April 13, 2022 by Love2cruise77

[lgdesign]

I too was given nothing despite repeated requests and big price drops... I instead took advantage of those price drops to upgrade directly to a much nicer Haven cabin for almost nothing (and well below any upgrade bidding offers they gave me).

 

Took ALL the sting out of those denials.  👍

[Artcricket]

Had this conversation with my NCL rep a week ago. I have saved for quite awhile to take my family, 8 of us,  (I’m a widow) on a cruise to Bermuda out of Boston in the 3 bedroom garden villa. I got an email from NCL with a special - 70% off second guest. As all of you know the price per cabin is truly put on the first 2 guests. My NCL rep told me that if she could pull up the same cabin she could put in a request for a FCC for the difference. Of course the other 3 bed villa was booked so I was told there was no way for her to compare what the new cost would be. Murphy’s Law - of course the closer it gets to sailing the prices fall. 

[julig22]

1 hour ago, Love2cruise77 said:

Last resort, ask for some FCC.  But that's hit and miss depending on who you speak to at NCL.

They changed how they assess eligibility for fcc last August.  If your booking appears to qualify for fcc they put in a request for review.  So not up to the person on the phone/chat, although I did have to remind my PCC that my upcoming cruise should qualify to get him to put in the request.

Perks have to match - so taking the BOGO airfare is almost an immediate disqualification, since the airfare promo drops off at 90 days.  I put in my request for fcc at day 91 so still qualified - we'll see how they rule.

 

48 minutes ago, Artcricket said:

My NCL rep told me that if she could pull up the same cabin she could put in a request for a FCC for the difference. Of course the other 3 bed villa was booked so I was told there was no way for her to compare what the new cost would be. Murphy’s Law - of course the closer it gets to sailing the prices fall. 

Yes, there has to be a comparable cabin available in order to ask for FCC.

[pghflyer]

Yup, I had BOGO airfare and got nothing out of price drops but didn't really expect it either (never hurts to try).  Seeing the cratering fares and after my NCL flight selections though, I am likely to do future booking MUCH closer to sailing and my own flights. I am not so particular on my room locations anyhow.

[lixogab]

19 hours ago, julig22 said:

Prior to last summer, the upgrade policy was pretty lucy-goosey and you could often get a different result by calling back or asking for a supervisor.  Now, from what I've experienced, it's not up to the PCC or NCL rep anymore.  They can screen your request (and tell you why it's not going to happen if you obviously don't qualify) but ultimately they email a request and it is handled by someone else.

How exactly is handled?

I called NCL rep last week and she told me that she will make a request (mentioned "competitive <something>" ) and in  7 business days I'll an email explaining how all that will work and what amount I will get.

So far after 6 days I got no email.

Did anybody recently (After March 1st) got an FCC or something  ?

[julig22]

8 minutes ago, lixogab said:

How exactly is handled?

I called NCL rep last week and she told me that she will make a request (mentioned "competitive <something>" ) and in  7 business days I'll an email explaining how all that will work and what amount I will get.

So far after 6 days I got no email.

Did anybody recently (After March 1st) got an FCC or something  ?

I was told 2 weeks.

[lixogab]

I have doubts if it works. Did anyone actually get the FCC for price difference after final payment day on or after March 1st?

[lixogab]

Ok, just got the answer few minutes ago:

"...Upon review of your request, we are, unfortunately, unable to provide any offer for a future cruise credit.
Please note that your reservation is ineligible for any consideration, your sailing is less than 6 days in length."

 

The ugly part is that the NCL rep on the phone didn't know that the < 6 days is ineligible for FCC.

But now we all know.

Will wait for the price to move little bit  and will try an upgrade.

 

[LGW59]

On 4/12/2022 at 5:58 PM, julig22 said:

You are correct - I should have said adjustment in the form of FCC. But I believe it's now 100% of the difference, changed in late March.

If you hadn’t accepted the $99 third person offer, do you know what that fare would have been?

[vacation44]

9 minutes ago, lixogab said:

Ok, just got the answer few minutes ago:

"...Upon review of your request, we are, unfortunately, unable to provide any offer for a future cruise credit.
Please note that your reservation is ineligible for any consideration, your sailing is less than 6 days in length."

 

The ugly part is that the NCL rep on the phone didn't know that the < 6 days is ineligible for FCC.

But now we all know.

Will wait for the price to move little bit  and will try an upgrade.

 

Interesting.   First I heard of the "less than 6 days in length".   

[julig22]

11 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

Interesting.   First I heard of the "less than 6 days in length".   

Same answer I got a couple of weeks ago for an upcoming 5-day cruise.  I knew about the 14 days and promo and thought I was good but.....

[billctx]

This is my first cruise on NCL and I am fine following whatever their rules are but when I booked I was clearly told that if the price dropped I would be adjusted.  I was never provided a copy of the refund policy nor is any copy available on their website.  Now the price has dropped and every time I speak to our cruise consultant the story changes and she is waiting on a email reply before she can do anything.  This is now going on two weeks.  If they don't want to refund price differences that is fine but pushing that to make a sale is misleading at best.

[julig22]

8 minutes ago, billctx said:

This is my first cruise on NCL and I am fine following whatever their rules are but when I booked I was clearly told that if the price dropped I would be adjusted.  I was never provided a copy of the refund policy nor is any copy available on their website.  Now the price has dropped and every time I speak to our cruise consultant the story changes and she is waiting on a email reply before she can do anything.  This is now going on two weeks.  If they don't want to refund price differences that is fine but pushing that to make a sale is misleading at best.

Prior to your final payment, you can get a refund for the price difference  - if you ask.  Some TA's will keep track but it's normally on you to notice and ask.  After you've paid the agreed-upon price, you might be able to get a courtesy adjustment.

 

Refund policy is very clear on the website.

Cancellation Fee Schedule (ncl.com)

[billctx]

6 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Prior to your final payment, you can get a refund for the price difference  - if you ask.  Some TA's will keep track but it's normally on you to notice and ask.  After you've paid the agreed-upon price, you might be able to get a courtesy adjustment.

 

Refund policy is very clear on the website.

Cancellation Fee Schedule (ncl.com)

That is the cancellation policy but no where does it mention refunds or price adjustments.  If they are not given again that is fine but for their sales people to be promising something that doesn't exist is bordering on fraud.

[MsTabbyKats]

1 hour ago, lixogab said:

I have doubts if it works. Did anyone actually get the FCC for price difference after final payment day on or after March 1st?

Yes....I did .  I think the request was put in mid-February.....but I got the credit while I was cruising (3/27-4/3).  It took over a month.

ETA-i was never told about this policy.  I only knew thru cruise critic.

Edited April 14, 2022 by MsTabbyKats

[JCMass.]

On 4/13/2022 at 11:48 AM, lgdesign said:

I too was given nothing despite repeated requests and big price drops... I instead took advantage of those price drops to upgrade directly to a much nicer Haven cabin for almost nothing (and well below any upgrade bidding offers they gave me).

 

Took ALL the sting out of those denials.  👍

We are sailing in two weeks and there was a huge price drop, we tried to upgrade to a Haven suite and were willing to pay the small amount to do this and were told no.   How did you do this ?

[julig22]

14 minutes ago, billctx said:

That is the cancellation policy but no where does it mention refunds or price adjustments.  If they are not given again that is fine but for their sales people to be promising something that doesn't exist is bordering on fraud.

Their cancellation policy is their refund policy. 

If you cancel before final payment, you get 100% of what you paid as a refund. If you wish to still cruise, then they will apply that refund to a new booking, at the new price, with any other changes to the booking.  Under normal circumstances they don't actually create a new booking, they simply adjust what you had - semantics.  But prior to final payment, they "rebook".  After final payment, they might give you an upgrade or fcc if the price goes down.

 

[Purple_Pig]

Yeah, I'm sorry but almost across the board the price drop thing is up to final payment.

 

[lgdesign]

9 minutes ago, JCMass. said:

We are sailing in two weeks and there was a huge price drop, we tried to upgrade to a Haven suite and were willing to pay the small amount to do this and were told no.   How did you do this ?

My TA called them... it was about 2 months before our sailing.  Someone above mentioned "14 days"... perhaps you were too close to the sailing date?

 

 

 

[portermj]

I feel your pain, my booking dropped $1.3k in the few weeks since I booked it. Sails later this month so nothing I can do about it other than to just not book anything more than 2 weeks out from now on. 

[bookbabe]

9 minutes ago, portermj said:

I feel your pain, my booking dropped $1.3k in the few weeks since I booked it. Sails later this month so nothing I can do about it other than to just not book anything more than 2 weeks out from now on. 

Ours has dropped $7k CDN, so like $5k US maybe?  Sailing in May.  Asked two weeks ago, PCC said they were putting in the compensation request but not to expect to get it.  Ah, well, worth a shot, I guess.

[sherims]

On 4/12/2022 at 3:43 PM, sherims said:

Our 2 cabins dropped $1700 in total today for a cruise in August. Travel Agent called NCL & was told they wouldn't give us any kind of credit or upgrade. NCL said it was because we accepted the booking offers of: 3rd person for $99 in one cabin and free gratuities in the other cabin.  I never knew the "free" offers could stand in the way like this.  Can you shed any light on this? Thanks!! 😊

Referencing back to my original post.  It really does matter who takes the call.  On Tuesday, my TA was told no and given the reasons above.  On Wednesday, my TA was told no for the cabin with the 3rd person, but YES to the other cabin!  NCL agreed to $744 (full amount of price drop) in FCC.

 

[kickbutt10]

I booked through an online agency and have been using them for years.  Just past out final pmt, the prices dropped and I request to upgrade my Haven cabin to a higher class.  The agent called NCL and was told no.  No upgrade even if I paid the difference, no refund, no FCC.  The reason given was the promos did not match.  I had rec'd paid gratuities as a perk and it was no longer offered.  I called NCL and they said I could have either an upgrade or the FCC IF I had booked directly with NCL.  I am not happy at all with any of this as you can imagine.  My category is now sold out so even if they offer the same promo again, I am out of luck.  I guess I won't be booking Haven early or perhaps ever again.  I just think it is cruddy customer service to not allow a paid upgrade.