Short trip report, problems with NCL Air, and some warnings.... Jade back to back 10-30 to 11-13-2022

[cuterlmt]

We chose this unique itinerary because and had two cruises we needed to use or lose before the end of the year.

The itinerary was Athens, Turkey, Israel (Ashdod and Haifa), Cypress, and Santorini. We were glad we were able to do back to back because we saw a lot of interesting excursions, and, again, had to use or lose.

AIR:

We have cruised with NCL exclusively since 2017, and have about 9 cruises under our belt, and decided to try to use NCL Air for the BOGO, and for the idea that if the flight was cancelled, they would cover it. We planned the air back when there were cancellations after cancellations, and one of our prior cruises was affected by that, and we had to put out an extra $1000 the day of the cruise to get to the port on time (the day before). This was not our first international travel.

Anyway, I talked to NCL a LOT about the arrangements.

We did a 1 day deviation going but not coming back.

We scheduled the first cruise, and added the air, one way to the cruise. When I talked to NCL, I was trying to decide if I use our other cruise for the same itinerary - then decided to do it, and added the air to return home portion of our cruise.

When we got our first flights going, they were great, no problems, not too long a layover. We did not get the return flights until after I called and spoke to a supervisor. We waited for those, and finally received them about 3 days before sailing. When I called they gave us a hint about them, but thankfully changed them. Initially it was requiring an overnight in Chicago, but when we finally received the flights, they were pretty good, getting us home the same day we left. Granted, there is a 9 hour time difference, but still, no overnight in an airport! I was frustrated with NCL not understanding that we really needed to have the air arrangements before we left the states given the lousy wifi on the ship.

But, unfortunately, as sometimes happens it wasn't as good as we thought. Air going was fine, good flights - the last flight into Athens from Toronto was challenging because the seats I picked were odd - we wanted to seat in a two seat configuration, and the seat next to the window was to far from the window to lean on it to sleep. It was a pretty empty flight so hubby was able to find a row to sleep in. I wasn't able to sleep which isn't unusual for me on flights.

On the plane, there was a call for a medical doctor, and apparently a passenger had a medical emergency. We were kept on the plane after landing so the person could be taken off. We didn't know what happened, but hope that the person is ok. The other odd thing was that we had to take stairs down from the plane. We both did pretty well with that, carrying our small carryon bag.

Then we had to get on a bus to get to the terminal. When getting on the bus, I fell flat on my knees on the bus, landing hard. I am not a small person. It hurt. And I was in shock. I also somehow lost my cross--body purse/backpack that had all of our paperwork in it and cash. Thankfully someone saw it and pushed it towards me. The gentleman on the bus tried to force me to get up, but I couldn't do it from that position. And a very kind young woman who spoke greek and English helped me explain to him to wait to let me get my bearings and move into a better position to stand up. Thankfully that worked, and all was ok. I'm sure the exhaustion from not sleeping on the plane and unfamiliar surroundings contributed. It was painful.

 

More on return air later.

 

ISSUES AT THE AIRPORT, WITH NCL TRANSFERS

When we initially scheduled our trip, transfers were included, and then they were taken out of our reservation. Months prior to the cruise, I contacted NCL about getting the transfers and trying to find out what hotel NCL uses in Athens so we could get an NCL transfer to the hotel and from the hotel to the port. I made my own (much less expensive) arrangements at the NCL hotel which was the Grand Hyatt Athens (great hotel! beautiful and great food). I called NCL back and made all the arrangements for the transfers, and they were included as part of our payment prior to final payment date. They were all also on our documents that I printed out before the trip. I was hesitant to try to take a cab or lyft or uber and enjoy NCL transfers for the excitement from everyone on the transfer going to the hotel/port. Anyway, they were all paid for.

When we got to airport baggage claim, I found the NCL rep, and long story short, we were not on the list. He refused to sell us a transfer and told us we had to find another way to a hotel. He said if he took us on the bus, he would get arrested? He said cabs were safe, etc., etc., and to talk to guest services about getting reimbursed for our taxi. I was in a lot of pain, and just wanted to get to our hotel. Normally when we travel, we get local cash from an ATM at the airport. I didn't do that - so my fault. But when we went to the taxi stand, found a cab driver who said he would take US$ or credit card. During our ride, he wanted to take us somewhere other than our hotel and insisted that we go with him to exchange money. We said no - he insisted that I talk to his wife who spoke better English, who again insisted that we go somewhere to get cash. I said no. He stopped at an ATM that did not look like a safe area. I refused to get out. I finally realized that our hotel would probably have an ATM and reassured him we would get him Euro when we got there. This was a very stressful ride. I was worried he was going to dump us off somewhere. We finally got to the hotel, I got to an ATM, and got him his Euro. This was not a pleasant experience.

At the hotel, there was an NCL rep who we were able to get the transfer to the ship with - again, on our paperwork, transfer is included, have a voucher, but we were not on the list. 

 

HOTEL:

Grand Hyatt Athens: Although it boasts views of the parthenon and acropolis, our room view was of some apartments. But the hotel was very nice, room very comfortable. They have a rooftop pool and restaurant where you can see those places. Food was great, and different. Breakfast buffet was delicious, full of lots of different pastries and treats. 

 

EMBARKATION:

Taking the NCL transfer bus (the second bus scheduled at 1030 am), we got to the port, dumped our luggage off, went into the different tents, and moved pretty quickly into the terminal and on to the ship. That process probably took less than 10 minutes in each place - it wasn't very crowded, and we were able to get on the ship and have lunch. I was a little disappointed that neither of the MDRs were open for lunch as that's our normal "go to" on the first day, but we went to O'Sheehans and had a nice relaxing lunch. Then on to get our dinner reservations, which we always end up doing on board. 

 

ROOMS: We originally had an Oceanview, and had reserved the same room for both legs of the cruise, but decided to bid on a  balcony and club balcony for both weeks, deciding it would be ok to have different rooms if we got different rooms. Both bids were accepted and we have a club balcony for week one and a regular balcony for week two. I do wish they would get rid of the tubs in the club balcony. With the fall I had, I had a lot of trouble getting in and out of the tub. It was a huge room, very nice, and we got the extra goodies you get with the club balcony. I placed a minimum bid on both rooms. Our balcony room was on the 8th floor near O'Sheehans - very interesting hallways, twists and turns and slopes. Both cabins were close to the forward elevators. 11008 and 8032.

 

EXCURSIONS: The excursions were great, but I will say that there were a couple of tour guides who were not very patient with us, and would move way far ahead of us. In Santorini it was very difficult because it was all uphill, and she was leading us to the cable car, and we had to find out from someone else about where the cable car was. It was already dark by the time we were there. 

 

AIR CONTINUED AND WARNING: The morning of our flight out of Athens, we were told that the flight would be delayed, and our connecting flights were cancelled and reset for the next day. There was no way to make the connecting flights as the original flight would not even arrive until after the first connecting flight left. When we received the email, I received new flights with the email, dates, flight numbers, air carriers, etc. When we checked in at Athens Delta counter, they gave us a printed copy of our booking which I thought were tickets. They also advised that we would be provided accommodations in Athens, including a hotel since we were stuck overnight. They made that same announcement on our flight (which was packed). Delta flight was great - more room, more comfortable than our flight going. When we got to JFK, we had to collect our luggage and go through customs/immigration, and then to the Delta Counter - they were fast, and provided a voucher for a hotel, meal vouchers and lyft vouchers. I have NEVER used a lyft before, so it was challenging, but I was able to get the lyft set up. We got a great hotel, another Hyatt, that was close to the airport. I was a bit concerned about how long it was taking, and he stopped and was going to drop us off in front of a law office - not a hotel. I said that was not where we were supposed to be and showed him my phone and the hotel, etc.. After him researching his GPS and putting the luggage back in his car, he took us to the hotel which was pretty close to where he dropped us off. Apparently it was not yet on his GPS. (We had the same problem with our lyft return who was unable to find the hotel.)

Anyway, back to air. Thinking all was good, I had tickets to get on a flight, we headed to the airport the next morning and went to the Delta counter. They could not find our tickets. They looked at all of my documents, including the booked materials i received the day before at the Delta Counter. They said we did not have tickets. Eventually they suggested I call the cruise line and figure out what happened. 

I called the NCL emergency air number - thankfully I had put it on my phone. After sitting on hold and going through a phone tree, I spoke to one person who told me to call back because the connection was bad. I called back, found a semi quiet place to talk to the second person, and tried to figure out what happened. He kept telling me we had tickets, and to go back to the counter and gave me the ticket numbers. I went back to the counter and gave the same Delta crew the information, over and over again, and was told they didn't have those numbers. (The NCL person changed the numbers a few times, just slightly, but enough to be frustrating and to think maybe he did not know what he was talking about.) Eventually I figured out he was talking about our flights from the day before that had been cancelled. I told him we had to have flights home and asked him to make those flight arrangements. He said no. I asked how we were going to get home. He said to buy our own flights and we would get reimbursed. We had already missed our original Delta Flights set for that day. So I went on to Expedia and found flights, and over $1000 and a few hours later, we were on our way home.

 

Thankfully, we got home, our luggage got home, and we've filed an insurance claim. I am hopeful we'll get reimbursed for the plane tickets. Has anyone had experience with this? I was much to hopeful that NCL would pull through for us and make it work. I'm only lucky we had $1000 that we could use to get a flight. I don't know what families do who have lots of people to buy tickets for. It certainly could have been a lot worse, but it also could have been a lot better.

 

We have another cruise to Europe in April. I was tempted to use NCL Air, but not again. I'll do it myself. 

 

Good luck to those of you who choose NCL Air. 

 

[SimplyAlbert]

So sorry to hear about your air problems.  I was going to use NCL air for our cruise next year, but after reading several stories I decided to book our own air.  It will cost a bit more, but I'd rather have the peace of mind that I'm in control.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Goodness; I’m sorry you went through all that with the flights and the fall! Cruise line air works great…unless there’s a problem; if there’s a problem, it adds an extra layer of inconvenience, complication, and stress. If you have a problem, it’s best to be able to call the airline directly, and they are more likely to solve it to your satisfaction, being direct customers. I am very surprised, though, that Delta couldn’t see that they themselves were the cause of the problem on the way home, and should definitely have accommodated you on alternative flights. Good luck getting reimbursed!

[julig22]

Sounds like Delta dropped the ball - not sure why the airline would send you back to NCL since NCL didn't rebook the flights?

 

Had a totally different experience with regard to delayed flights.  Flight home from Copenhagen to Reykjavik was delayed, so would miss my connection to Seattle.  Airline said they would rebook and put us up in a hotel - which they did- but I did call the NCL emergency number and they offered to rebook my flights and to call back if the airline didn't come through.  So I was a day late getting home, had nothing to do with the fact that NCL booked my flights.  This was with IcelandAir.

[cuterlmt]

Thanks for your responses. Until we got home, i didn't really think about how this all worked out - I regretted not calling NCL air the night we were stuck in NY and letting them know about the problem. I was so exhausted, and I presumed they had changed the flights, and we were fine. I felt like Delta helped us a lot, and was thrilled we got a hotel and transfers and meal vouchers (although not all of that worked out great). 

Although I doubt I'll use NCL air again, for future reference, I guess I should have contacted NCL first, then tried to work it out through Delta in the morning once learning they didn't have tickets for us. I know when I talked to Delta, they asked how I booked and when I said through NCL, they said I needed to talk to NCL to square away the flights. I sure hope we get reimbursed for the flight. 

[cuterlmt]

Thought I would update you all - 

We submitted our claim on 11/15/2022 to get reimbursed for our new flights and a few add ons - meal in the airport, baggage fees, etc. 

Received a request for information from the airline about why our flight was delayed and got that pretty quickly from Delta. So sent that in the same day.

Received an email this evening that our claim was approved, $500 each, which is the max available. So I am thrilled! I was worried that because I didn't call NCL emergency air initially when the flights were changed that we would lose out on the reimbursement.

We just had NCL/AON insurance which we always purchase when we make our reservation for our CAS cruises.

On another side note, we got a postcard notifying us that we're getting another CAS cruise from our local land-based casino on the 8th. 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by cuterlmt

[PATRLR]

On 11/19/2022 at 11:45 PM, julig22 said:

Sounds like Delta dropped the ball - not sure why the airline would send you back to NCL since NCL didn't rebook the flights?

That would depend on how the 2nd leg was booked.  If all on same PNR, sure, Delta problem.  But knowing how NCL goes for the cheapest possible itineraries, my guess is that they were on two different PNRs and NCL never dealt with the second one.  Maybe NCL didn't know there was going to be a problem with the second one, but, it doesn't seem like it should be incumbent on the OP to know that the 2nd leg wasn't also being taken care of when the first leg was.

[julig22]

On 12/2/2022 at 5:48 AM, PATRLR said:

That would depend on how the 2nd leg was booked.  If all on same PNR, sure, Delta problem.  But knowing how NCL goes for the cheapest possible itineraries, my guess is that they were on two different PNRs and NCL never dealt with the second one.  Maybe NCL didn't know there was going to be a problem with the second one, but, it doesn't seem like it should be incumbent on the OP to know that the 2nd leg wasn't also being taken care of when the first leg was.

The first leg of my NCL-booked flight home from Copenhagen was delayed so would also miss connecting flights and next flight wasn't until the next day.  Airline (Iceland air in this case) took care of hotel, transportation and rebooking both legs, even though the final leg was a different airline and PNR.

I called NCL at the time and they offered to rebook me for the next day, don't know if they would have automatically taken care of both remaining flights - but doubtful they would have taken care of the hotel/transportation. Under the circumstances I chose to let the airline take responsibility.

[ChiefMateJRK]

What the heck is a "PNR?"

[Babr]

Passenger Name Record

 

It identifies you in the computer reservation system that has information about your itinerary.