Do not use/trust Norwegian flight promotion

[fun1367]

We have booked Norwegian flight and transfer for our July 3 cruise from Venice(Trieste)to Barcelona. Norwegian has recently revised its embarkation time to 2:30pm. Our flight is scheduled to arrive Venice at 11:40am and then a bus transfer of 2 hours to Trieste. They are not modifying our flight to accommodate their earlier embarkation time!!! How do they expect us to have seamless connection and timely arrival by 2:30pm at Trieste terminal?  Obviously they don’t care if we miss the ship!

 

I tried to talk and reason with Air Dept  but in vain! They refused to let me speak to higher authority! They said management can’t take call! Is that good customer relation! I am disappointed and annoyed with the whole situation! They refused to do anything! They will not let us cancel cruise without penalty! They are not rebooking our flight( which is simple and easy for Norwegian). Will try to see whether I can book a new flight myself within such short time frame!!!

 

Lesson learned - never trust or book flight and transfer with Norwegian!

[SoloAlaska]

Is that a 2:30 all aboard time?

[schmoopie17]

I'm seeing a 3:45 departure time for the July 3 cruise on the Escape.

[BirdTravels]

You saved a lot of money. The cruise line will get you to the port.  Enjoy your cruise. 
 

BTW: we would always arrive a day early, both to help with the jet lag and avoid concerns on late arriving flights. 

[mjkacmom]

NCL is like an airline broker, they buy blocks of flights at a disco and pass on the savings. If they tried to modify the flight in would cost money. It would be the same if you changed the flight. Why are you flying in the same day? This isn’t premium air, which isn’t a discount program. I’m guessing there is a good reason departure time has changed.

[zqvol]

How many threads are there on CC talking about NCL air? They all say come in at least a day early. 

[CCJack]

I agree with Birdtravels... at this point, best option is to let NCL get you to the ship, you can't stress about what you cannot now control.    

 

I hope the OP has been to Venice before because it would be a shame to be so close to Venice and not spend anytime there since you are departing from Barcelona.   

 

 

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

How many threads are there on CC talking about NCL air? They all say come in at least a day early. 

those that book NCL air are usually very price sensitive.  Coming a day early can add significant costs.  

[fun1367]

Thank you for your input! It’s all aboard at 2:30pm. Sail time is 3:45pm. Of course they have reason/option to change the embarkation time but they  also have responsibility to get passengers with booked  flight and transfer onboard ship in timely manner! How can they neglect and refuse to make  appropriate arrangements for passengers on their existing flight/transfer? Sorry they may incur extra expenses but it’s their fault  and responsibility, IMO, to rectify the situation. The existing flight schedule is definitely creating impossibility to meet ship scheduled departure!

[SoloAlaska]

You can definetly make it on time if the stars are in line. I’ve been on flights that have arrived up to an hour early so if you’re lucky you could be early as well. 
 

if you want control of your flights then don’t book NCL bogo air. If your worried about timings and want to be more conservative then come in the day before as is recommended over and over again on CC.

 

ive never used bogo air but thats because i can usually find a cheaper flight on my own and i like having control. 

Edited June 17 by SoloAlaska

[cruiseny4life]

3 minutes ago, fun1367 said:

Thank you for your input! It’s all aboard at 2:30pm. Sail time is 3:45pm. Of course they have reason/option to change the embarkation time but they  also have responsibility to get passengers with booked  flight and transfer onboard ship in timely manner! How can they neglect and refuse to make  appropriate arrangements for passengers on their existing flight/transfer? Sorry they may incur extra expenses but it’s their fault  and responsibility, IMO, to rectify the situation. The existing flight schedule is definitely creating impossibility to meet ship scheduled departure!

Change your frame of reference slightly. Who would have to change the flights (potentially expend additional monies) if you had booked your own flights? You. Well, NCL acted on your behalf to purchase flight tickets. That was their only requirement. They purchased tickets and they are saying they believe you can get to the port by 2:30. 11:40 + two hours is 1:40, so you should have a slight buffer. I hope you have a wonderful cruise! 

 

Next time, you've got to schedule a deviation of at least a day. When we fly with NCL BOGO Air (I'm a cheerleader of the program and not price sensitive @RocketMan275) we always fly in at least a day, if not two days early. I'd do the same if booking my own flights. Why? Well, what happened to you, but more commonly, due to flight delays/cancellations/etc. More than once due to travel for work, I've had to rent a car and drive home from DC or NYC due to flight delays/cancellations. I don't want to do that with a domestic cruise, and sure can't, for an international cruise.

[Capitan Obvious]

This is a bit confusing, because the title mention "flight promotion", and the post reference the Air Department.

 

NCL's flight promotion that is part of the Free at Sea promotions is simply a discounted airfare booked through a 3rd party clearinghouse. Once your tickets are booked, NCL is out of the transaction. Changes are between you and the airline.

 

NCL's Air Department handles their premium air, where NCL is your airline travel agent (and, of course, you pay for this service). 

 

There is nobody to call for the flight promotion, and the Air Department can't help you...no matter what you say, no matter what supervisor you ask to speak with. FWIW, it is not poor customer relations to say "no" when the answer is actually "no". Good customer relations is giving you the correct information, not allowing you to browbeat employees until they give you what you want.

 

No worries, IF...and this is still an IF...you don't make the ship, you can simply file a claim with your travel insurance provider.

[www3traveler]

24 minutes ago, fun1367 said:

Thank you for your input! It’s all aboard at 2:30pm. Sail time is 3:45pm. Of course they have reason/option to change the embarkation time but they  also have responsibility to get passengers with booked  flight and transfer onboard ship in timely manner! How can they neglect and refuse to make  appropriate arrangements for passengers on their existing flight/transfer? Sorry they may incur extra expenses but it’s their fault  and responsibility, IMO, to rectify the situation. The existing flight schedule is definitely creating impossibility to meet ship scheduled departure!

If you book your flight and transfer through NCL, I suspect they will hold the ship for you.  NCL is known to hold ships to wait for late arriving passengers.  I would not stress out about it.

[mjkacmom]

1 hour ago, www3traveler said:

If you book your flight and transfer through NCL, I suspect they will hold the ship for you.  NCL is known to hold ships to wait for late arriving passengers.  I would not stress out about it.

Not if you took this air program, this isn’t premium air, it’s a discounted air ticket. Once it’s issues, it’s out of NCL’s hands. It would be the same situation as if the OP bought the ticket independently.

[www3traveler]

23 minutes ago, mjkacmom said:

Not if you took this air program, this isn’t premium air, it’s a discounted air ticket. Once it’s issues, it’s out of NCL’s hands. It would be the same situation as if the OP bought the ticket independently.

Where in the OP's statement does it say that it was a discounted ticket?

I have purchased NCL air (not premium) with a transfer -- had delayed flights, had transportation waiting and had the ship waiting.

 

Yesterday in Seattle The Encore was scheduled to sail at 5:00 P.M. and did not sail until about 6:15 P.M.  It happens

[mjkacmom]

12 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

Where in the OP's statement does it say that it was a discounted ticket?

I have purchased NCL air (not premium) with a transfer -- had delayed flights, had transportation waiting and had the ship waiting.

 

Yesterday in Seattle The Encore was scheduled to sail at 5:00 P.M. and did not sail until about 6:15 P.M.  It happens

This is NCL’s BOGO program, it’s literally a discount program. Cheaper flights, NCL picks them, get flight information about 30 days before sailing. There is zero reason to use this offer unless it saves significant money, it’s not premium air. There have been numerous complaints in the board, the response is basically you get what you pay for. If your flight is late, the transfer will leave.

[fun1367]

Thank you for constructive comments. Will take a chance on NCL with existing flight schedule as some of you have suggested. Hope lucky stars are over our night flight! I guess some prayers may help! In case moon, stars are not aligned over the nite sky, we’ll fly to Split ( the next port) to meet ship. I do appreciate your positive suggestions and kind encouragement.  I’ll start with keeping my fingers crossed now!

 

 

[DrUrsula]

6 hours ago, www3traveler said:

If you book your flight and transfer through NCL, I suspect they will hold the ship for you.  NCL is known to hold ships to wait for late arriving passengers.  I would not stress out about it.

I wouldn't count on this ever. Our past 2 cruises from European ports with NCL had multiple people miss the ship ( per the social media groups) due to late planes booked through the promo.

 

[www3traveler]

1 hour ago, DrUrsula said:

I wouldn't count on this ever. Our past 2 cruises from European ports with NCL had multiple people miss the ship ( per the social media groups) due to late planes booked through the promo.

 

The Encore was held Sunday and The Sun was held today.  I have done several European cruises with late flights and the ships were held.

[Seas2mountains]

1 hour ago, DrUrsula said:

I wouldn't count on this ever. Our past 2 cruises from European ports with NCL had multiple people miss the ship ( per the social media groups) due to late planes booked through the promo.

 

Agree. We have seen these same reports on social media from people using the BOGO promotion who are flying in the day of the cruise only to report that they missed the cruise. 

[CCJack]

I wonder what the reason is for moving the ship's departure time up this close to sail date. A little unusual in my experiences. (Moving ships departure to later is not unusual.) 

 

Many passengers may be forced to change plans... transfer plans to ship, or train from Florence,  etc. 

 

 I hope it is not just to save fuel for ship's voyage to Split, the distance to Split has not changed 2 weeks prior to sail date !! 

 

(A worse reason would be to get the casino open 2 hours earlier... a captain did tell us that this is a factor in a cruiseline's scheduling decisions!)

 

It is possible they will hold the ship if necessary up until the original sail time and they are just trying to get out early If possible. 

 

 

 

[dexddd]

That's a lot of exclamation marks.

[Laszlo]

17 hours ago, fun1367 said:

We have booked Norwegian flight and transfer for our July 3 cruise from Venice(Trieste)to Barcelona. Norwegian has recently revised its embarkation time to 2:30pm. Our flight is scheduled to arrive Venice at 11:40am and then a bus transfer of 2 hours to Trieste. They are not modifying our flight to accommodate their earlier embarkation time!!! How do they expect us to have seamless connection and timely arrival by 2:30pm at Trieste terminal?  Obviously they don’t care if we miss the ship!

 

I tried to talk and reason with Air Dept  but in vain! They refused to let me speak to higher authority! They said management can’t take call! Is that good customer relation! I am disappointed and annoyed with the whole situation! They refused to do anything! They will not let us cancel cruise without penalty! They are not rebooking our flight( which is simple and easy for Norwegian). Will try to see whether I can book a new flight myself within such short time frame!!!

 

Lesson learned - never trust or book flight and transfer with Norwegian!

Strange, you are bashing NCL Before your flight, before your cruise. IF you are running late NCL will most likely hold the ship. I've been on 4-5 cruises that were "Late" leaving port because they were waiting for people on a flight or flights that were running late...

 

Hope you come back and let us know how everything worked out

[cruiseny4life]

10 hours ago, fun1367 said:

Thank you for constructive comments. Will take a chance on NCL with existing flight schedule as some of you have suggested. Hope lucky stars are over our night flight! I guess some prayers may help! In case moon, stars are not aligned over the nite sky, we’ll fly to Split ( the next port) to meet ship. I do appreciate your positive suggestions and kind encouragement.  I’ll start with keeping my fingers crossed now!

 

 

I'm here hoping everything goes well for you! Please do let us know and hopefully you are able to enjoy your cruise despite this hiccup.

[klfrodo]

21 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

those that book NCL air are usually very price sensitive.  Coming a day early can add significant costs.  

While I agree with you, what are these people going to do if they are that price sensitive and they twist their ankle on wet marble/cobblestone and have to visit a clinic and the clinic demands payment upfront?

There are tons of warnings on this site about the limitations and limitless potential for cruise line air transportation problems. And yet, people want to risk $20K to save a few hundred. 

Sympathy - Yes

Empathy - No, none whatsoever.