Guest Denied boarding due to being oversold - NCL Breakaway

[SirTomster]

I was on Reddit and saw a post in r/cruise from someone who was to be on the Breakaway yesterday.

 

But was denied boarding due to being oversold.

 

He has a GTY Inside cabin and was not assigned a room.  Flew to Florida after confirming he would have a room.  He arrived at the port and was told there was no room.

 

100% refund and 100% Future Cruise Credit.  No mention of the flights and hotel.

 

I do not know the person, I just saw the post and thought I should post here as an FYI. 

 

Post here   I cannot say if the post is legit or not.  Someone else who knows NCL can check out the letter posted.

 

[SirTomster]

If this turns out to be fake, let me know and I will delete.   I am paranoid on these things because I have a cruise in 3 weeks with HAL and have a GTY cabin.  So when I saw this, figured I should post here to let others know.

 

I also could not find a post here about it so decided to post.

Edited May 27 by SirTomster
update

[grouchomarx]

I saw that post a little while ago.  Looked legit to me.  I have heard of this happening before, I forgot what cruise line it was.  I would say if you have a cabin assigned before you leave, you’re probably fine.  That person had no cabin as of embarkation day.  That’s a big red flag IMO.  They told them they would get assigned upon embarkation and then bounced him/her.   Very horrible treatment and it cost a lot of extra money.

[kitkat343]

10 minutes ago, grouchomarx said:

I saw that post a little while ago.  Looked legit to me.  I have heard of this happening before, I forgot what cruise line it was.  I would say if you have a cabin assigned before you leave, you’re probably fine.  That person had no cabin as of embarkation day.  That’s a big red flag IMO.  They told them they would get assigned upon embarkation and then bounced him/her.   Very horrible treatment and it cost a lot of extra money.

It happened a few months ago on RC.  They apologized and promised not to do it again (and has not been reported since).  There's no excuse for this - the cruise line has everyone's phone numbers and emails.  If they'd offered a refund and 50% FCC, someone living in Florida would likely have happily jumped at the offer (and if not they can keep sweetening the deal to the 100% FCC this passenger received until someone accepts.). There's no reason to do this to a passenger involuntarily.  Lots of people live near the Fl ports, and are retired and flexible with their time.  Just keep offering until you find someone who will be happy to accept this offer.  

Edited May 27 by kitkat343

[ChiefMateJRK]

Sounds like the airlines.  They overbook, counting on an expected number of no-shows.  Of course, their process for dealing with it seems much more fair.  

[Ellis1138]

Unfortunately, it is legit, but rare. It's one of the risks of a GTY cabin. 

[The Traveling Man]

13 minutes ago, Ellis1138 said:

Unfortunately, it is legit, but rare. It's one of the risks of a GTY cabin. 

Perhaps I have a different understanding of the meaning of the word "guaranteed."

[itsnotjustme]

23 minutes ago, Ellis1138 said:

It's one of the risks of a GTY cabin. 

That is not a risk unique to GTY cabins.  When reserving a GTY stateroom, the NCL web page displays the below message.  Nothing about possibly not getting a cabin, and specifically states You are guaranteed to sail in the category you have chosen, or higher.

 

"A Guarantee stateroom has no cabin number assigned at the time of booking. You are guaranteed to sail in the category you have chosen, or higher. The deck and location can be anywhere on the ship and assigned up to one day prior to embarkation."

Edited May 27 by itsnotjustme

[Ellis1138]

18 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

Perhaps I have a different understanding of the meaning of the word "guaranteed."

 

Yes, you have a different understanding than the cruise line does. 

 

I have both an understanding about what Guarantee means and an understanding about what a cruise line thinks it means.

[grouchomarx]

I think the very vast majority of people are not expecting to get bounced from a cruise.  This seems to be a relatively new phenomenon.  We all know airlines have been doing it for ages, I never heard of cruise lines doing this until very recently.  They need to change their wording for guaranteed cabins and just in general.  F the “contract” (I only assume it’s in there), what lunatic sits and actually reads a cruise contract? Most folks have never heard of this scenario and for those not hanging out on CC or Reddit, would be utterly shocked and outraged.  Which is a normal reaction to a very abnormal and unnecessary process.  The amount of extra expenses that would be incurred is insane and some folks might not actually have the funds available to cover the costs of this scenario.

[julig22]

1 hour ago, Ellis1138 said:

Unfortunately, it is legit, but rare. It's one of the risks of a GTY cabin. 

True that it's probably easier to bump someone who doesn't have an assigned cabin BUT just because you have an assigned cabin doesn't mean you can't be bumped - if your cabin is no longer available for some reason.

I've booked GTY many times - not by choice, sometimes all cabins in selected categories are listed as GTY (as opposed to Sailaway). But I've never not had my cabin assignment long before I printed out my edocs.

 

[roddy good boy]

2 hours ago, SirTomster said:

I was on Reddit and saw a post in r/cruise from someone who was to be on the Breakaway yesterday.

 

But was denied boarding due to being oversold.

 

He has a GTY Inside cabin and was not assigned a room.  Flew to Florida after confirming he would have a room.  He arrived at the port and was told there was no room.

 

100% refund and 100% Future Cruise Credit.  No mention of the flights and hotel.

 

I do not know the person, I just saw the post and thought I should post here as an FYI. 

 

Post here   I cannot say if the post is legit or not.  Someone else who knows NCL can check out the letter posted.

 

That really is unfortunate and unfair.  There were likely significant costs associated with changing flight times and finding last minute hotel accommodations! 🤦🏻‍♀️

[RocketMan275]

Everyone seems to be assuming that the passenger was denied boarding because of an over-sold situation.  It's also possible that the cruise line had to take a cabin, maybe more than one, out of service because of issues with the cabin.  Perhaps the A/C was broke. Or sewage issues.

[MohrPfun]

I wanted to read the letter, but…

 

[Two Wheels Only]

2 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Everyone seems to be assuming that the passenger was denied boarding because of an over-sold situation.  It's also possible that the cruise line had to take a cabin, maybe more than one, out of service because of issues with the cabin.  Perhaps the A/C was broke. Or sewage issues.

 

The thread below did mention A/C and bathroom issues on Breakaway....

 

 

[julig22]

From another site

[hallux]

17 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

The thread below did mention A/C and bathroom issues on Breakaway....

 

 

That person posted the same here...

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, Ellis1138 said:

 

Yes, you have a different understanding than the cruise line does. 

 

I have both an understanding about what Guarantee means and an understanding about what a cruise line thinks it means.

Or as Rene DeCartes said, "I think that I think, therefore I think that I am."

[dbrown84]

This is horrible!  I really hope this person is local to Fl (or at least drove to the port) and is retired.  Otherwise, they have to get a hotel or get a last minute flight.  then there is the wasted vacation time at work.  For NCL is just think a full refund is enough is ridiculous.  Not like they had a choice in the matter.  Maybe a 2 BDRM haven suite with first class round trip flights and transportation to/from the port could at least showed they cared.  Not saying that would have made up for this, but at least it would look like they cared 

[Southern Dan]

I saw that thread on reddit, unfortunately they flew to FL and took a week off of work for the vacation.  I'd be very upset if that happened to me. 

[kitkat343]

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

Everyone seems to be assuming that the passenger was denied boarding because of an over-sold situation.  It's also possible that the cruise line had to take a cabin, maybe more than one, out of service because of issues with the cabin.  Perhaps the A/C was broke. Or sewage issues.

It doesn't matter why the room was unavailable.  All NCL (and RC before it) needed to do was send out a mass text move-over offer.  If I were retired and living in Florida, I'd take a full refund plus 100% FCC happily.  You could limit the offer to balconies if the original out of commission room was Oceanview or interior, so the person who lost their cabin would be happy (or the person next to them would probably take an upgrade happily).  Thirty years ago when you couldn't reach the majority of passengers quickly I could understand needing to involuntarily bump a passenger but this doesn't need to happen today.   

[Seas2mountains]

On the Breakaway now. I saw this person posted on the other social media website for this specific cruise and about getting a great solo deal to sail last minute a few days before sail date at under $600 total for an inside guarantee after the cruise had been sold out for several weeks. Yes, it was booked a few days before departure.  
 

It’s easy for NCL to provide a full refund plus 100% FCC when the fare is only $600. 
 

 

 

[hallux]

1 hour ago, dbrown84 said:

For NCL is just think a full refund is enough is ridiculous.

They didn't get JUST a full refund, they also got a 100% FCC

[astera]

2 hours ago, julig22 said:

True that it's probably easier to bump someone who doesn't have an assigned cabin BUT just because you have an assigned cabin doesn't mean you can't be bumped - if your cabin is no longer available for some reason.

 

Good point - something might have happened to the cabin that effectively put it "out of order" so unless they have vacancies there is precious little they can do.

 

Of course they could create vacancies by calling up people and offering them refunds and FCC if they agree to shift dates.

 

59 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

Thirty years ago when you couldn't reach the majority of passengers quickly I could understand needing to involuntarily bump a passenger but this doesn't need to happen today.   

 

Very true. Same with airlines, the best ones will reach out and make sure that someone gladly gives up their seat on the plane in an overbooking situation (or operational plane switch). This way nothing is done involuntarily and everyone leaves with a smile.

[dbrown84]

5 minutes ago, hallux said:

They didn't get JUST a full refund, they also got a 100% FCC

right, which ain't ish