Admin Charge for Re-Pricing Cruises for UK Bookings (when USA don't get charged)

[Ladyshopper23]

Am sure there is a better way to word the title, but my mind went blank!

People who book in the USA seem to get much better terms than us when it comes to re-pricing cruises when the costs goes down. NCL and Princess are two that I've specifically seen a lot of examples of people taking advantage of lower costs when in the USA, and there being no admin charges.

It's completely different here, and I just wondered why that is? For example, I've got an NCL cruise booked, and it's come down quite a lot since I first booked it (around £600). I've re-priced it twice to take advantage of this, but you get charged £70 each time. Obviously I've still benefitted from a lower overall cost, but find it a little bit annoying that if I was in a different country I wouldn't be charged any kind of admin fee.

I've done it with Princess too once before, think this was even more (from memory around £100 I think, but could have remembered that wrong).

Both of these are booking direct with the cruise line.

Just wondered if anyone knows any cruise line where we don't get charged an admin fee for re-pricing (obviously I'm talking about this prior to the paid in full date as well).

[ziggyuk]

The reason I don't know maybe because we have extra protection in the form of ABTA & ATOL.

The other thing you can do with NCL is ask for a (1 time) price match after final payment.
Our next cruise dropped by £400 and our friends by £440, our friends were awarded £390 FCC to be used within a year. Unfortunately we were refused as we booked a guarantee and a price match is not valid against a guarantee apparently.
It's a bit annoying as I don't normally book a guarantee and I left it all to my PCC to book this time and that is what he booked to save us money, you live and learn.

In the past I have taken an upgrade after final payment and spent £10 a head to move from an inside to a balcony (this is a good way to "mop" up a price drop). You do get the new perks by doing this so if you had extra points or anything and it's gone down these can be lost.

The only time I cancelled and rebooked was for a 2000 Alaska cruise, we were very happy at the time, we lost £100 deposit but were saving a lot on the cruise....But........ next covid happened and the cruise was cancelled so that loss of £100 deposit was all a waste of money for us!
There is always the small risk this could happen to you after a cancel and rebook as NCL sometimes cancel a cruise because of itinerary changes or even private charters, you can see from my signature we lost a transatlantic with NCL in December 2022 as they changed their mind and cancelled that sailing without waring.

Edited May 1, 2023 by ziggyuk

[Ray66]

Quote: Just wondered if anyone knows any cruise line where we don't get charged an admin fee for re-pricing

 

It's not the cruise line's rules, it's the country's rules. (Which is what you put in the title).

American Cunard customers get free cancellation or re-booking whereas British Cunard customers have to pay the cancellation fee.

Edited May 1, 2023 by Ray66

[ziggyuk]

18 hours ago, Ray66 said:

Quote: Just wondered if anyone knows any cruise line where we don't get charged an admin fee for re-pricing

 

It's not the cruise line's rules, it's the country's rules. (Which is what you put in the title).

American Cunard customers get free cancellation or re-booking whereas British Cunard customers have to pay the cancellation fee.

 

Are you saying the US has a law to prohibit the charging of a fee when rebooking? I don't think there is any UK law that compels NCL to charge a fee in the UK so I assume you mean a US law.
I believe that NCL charge this cancellation fee when cancelling and rebooking everywhere in Europe from comments I have read in the past from other European cruisers.

[ziggyuk]

23 hours ago, Ladyshopper23 said:

Just wondered if anyone knows any cruise line where we don't get charged an admin fee for re-pricing (obviously I'm talking about this prior to the paid in full date as well).

 

There is one other option, you can buy your cruise from a US site and I assume you would then be under their rules. 
I did ask my PCC about this a while ago and he said that strictly I had to have a US address for him to sell me a cruise on the US terms but said he could "sort it". You would of course then have to pay any fees for the £/$ conversion on your credit card.
I have not ever gone ahead and done this, it was just a question I asked.

Edited May 2, 2023 by ziggyuk

[Ladyshopper23]

6 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

There is one other option, you can buy your cruise from a US site and I assume you would then be under their rules. 
I did ask my PCC about this a while ago and he said that strictly I had to have a US address for him to sell me a cruise on the US terms but said he could "sort it". You would of course then have to pay any feed for the £/$ conversion on your credit card.
I have not ever gone ahead and done this, it was just a question I asked.

I used to book Disney cruises through an American travel agent, mainly for the extra onboard credit you used to get. You also got the same terms as booking direct through Disney, which was you could cancel before pay in full date and get your money back. You also get these same terms if you book directly with DCL in the UK though (which we did for our last and probably final Disney cruise), but not if you book through a UK travel agent.

What you said in your post above about being offered a one time price match after final payment - I was never offered that.

First time I called, I said the cruise had dropped in price, and was instantly offered the chance to re-price, but told an admin charge of £70 would apply, which I had to pay there and then. 

Second time I called, the lady I spoke to was insistent that this wasn't allowed, there was no such policy, but did say something about the re-pricing after final payment, and being given a FCC for the difference "if they accepted the claim". I asked to double check the re-repricing thing with the admin charge, as it had only been a month or so since I did it before. She went off, came back, and confirmed it could be done (no apology for being incorrect of course!). Again, I had to pay the £70 there and then.

Yesterday was my third call, when I asked about upgrading from ocean view to balcony. The chap who took the call was nice enough, but quite hard work, and several times got the cabin number wrong of where I wanted to move to. He did eventually mutter something about an admin charge, but didn't actually explain or confirm how much it would be (I obviously assumed another £70). He confirmed how much my outstanding balance would be if I moved (as you know, I wanted to get it to over £750 in order to use the Amex offer!). I didn't ask too many questions, because the call had gone on a long time with his difficulty in getting the cabin number correct (not a language barrier, so not entirely sure why there were such difficulties).

 

I'm a little bit disappointed that an admin charge was applied to an upgrade, where I'm clearly increasing my spend with NCL. Also, on my previous cruise last year, I also upgraded over the phone - in this instance our cabin number had been changed without us being informed, and I just happened to notice one day when I was logged in. I wasn't happy with the new location, and asked to be moved back, but was told that cabin was no longer available. The lady had a look around and told me she could move me to a balcony for £100 (I think we actually had an inside booked), so I jumped on this. I don't know if the lack of admin fee on this occasion was because they'd randomly moved our cabin or not (and I didn't know about any kind of admin fees, as hadn't re-priced that particular cruise).

I'm not complaining about the admin fee for re-pricing, I guess I'm just puzzled why it's such a different system here as to USA. I am a little bit frustrated by my call yesterday and the admin fee to upgrade, but I'm maybe being unreasonable about that! Knowing that not every cruise line charges over here (e.g. Disney) for changes, I just wonder why the majority do it but don't in USA.

[ziggyuk]

You should not get charged an admin fee on an upgrade, when we did one, our PCC said as long as it was more expensive there was no fee even if only £1. In our case a balcony was £10pp more but had we gone to an Ocean View which was then less than the inside we originally booked we would have incurred a fee.
It might me worth emailing NCL in Southampton and asking for a PCC (personal cruise consultant) they can be great if you get a good one, they are directly employed by NCL but you get his/her direct phone number and email. As long as you book through them they handle everything for you, any problems you talk to the same person every time. My PCC is home based in Malta and is brilliant, some friends of ours ended up with one in the US that was not so helpful and of course they had the time difference. Ask for one based in Europe if you do request one.

[ziggyuk]

47 minutes ago, Ladyshopper23 said:

What you said in your post above about being offered a one time price match after final payment - I was never offered that.

 

PS, you won't get offered this but if you know you can request it, they normally have to put a request in and you will get an acceptance/rejection email in 24-48hrs.
Don't forget it can only be done after final payment and I don't think you are there yet.

[Ladyshopper23]

4 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

You should not get charged an admin fee on an upgrade, when we did one, our PCC said as long as it was more expensive there was no fee even if only £1. In our case a balcony was £10pp more but had we gone to an Ocean View which was then less than the inside we originally booked we would have incurred a fee.
It might me worth emailing NCL in Southampton and asking for a PCC (personal cruise consultant) they can be great if you get a good one, they are directly employed by NCL but you get his/her direct phone number and email. As long as you book through them they handle everything for you, any problems you talk to the same person every time. My PCC is home based in Malta and is brilliant, some friends of ours ended up with one in the US that was not so helpful and of course they had the time difference. Ask for one based in Europe if you do request one.

We did have one (or technically, still do I suppose). However, whilst he was nice enough on the phone when we did eventually get through to him, he never ever responded to emails or voicemails we left him (was almost impossible to get through to him). There was a bit of an issue with something that needed refunding during Covid, and he just didn't speak to us at all. The last two cruises I've just booked on the phone with whoever has picked up the phone rather than trying to do it through him (as our experience with him has really put us off).

I think I'll try sending an email to their customer services to ask about the admin fee for the upgrade yesterday. 

And to answer your other post above - I probably wasn't clear in what I typed. I know it's a thing for after paid in full date (and you're right, I'm not there yet), but what I meant when I said I wasn't offered it was that it wasn't even explained or suggested that this was something NCL do in the UK. The information should perhaps have been offered, then I could have made an informed choice as to whether I re-priced there and then, or took a gamble and waited for the paid in full date to see if it had gone down. Too late now though!

[ziggyuk]

6 minutes ago, Ladyshopper23 said:

Too late now though!

 

You have a good deal though and if it goes down further you still have that 1 chance to request a FCC after final payment up your sleeve.

[Ladyshopper23]

Just now, ziggyuk said:

 

You have a good deal though and if it goes down further you still have that 1 chance to request a FCC after final payment up your sleeve.

Thanks ziggy, you've been really helpful.

[Janevo]

On 5/1/2023 at 6:11 PM, ziggyuk said:

The other thing you can do with NCL is ask for a (1 time) price match after final payment.

Can we ask, if you book a guarantee cabin with NCL, ad then the price goes down, can you still ask for a price match? Or is it just if you have booked a specific cabin?

[ziggyuk]

7 minutes ago, Janevo said:

Can we ask, if you book a guarantee cabin with NCL, ad then the price goes down, can you still ask for a price match? Or is it just if you have booked a specific cabin?

 

No, the price match after final payment does not apply to any guarantee cabin unfortunatly.
You can still price an upgrade, as long as there is a fee even 1£/$ there is no fee. The current perks are applied though, the FAS does not change much these days but you could lose extra latitude points.

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2023 by ziggyuk

[Janevo]

42 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

No, the price match after final payment does not apply to any guarantee cabin unfortunatly.

Thank you very much, this is very useful to know.