Who else got scammed by PROMO?

[schmoopie17]

It truly sucks that you had to go through this and all the hoop-jumping to get it resolved.

 

I know it's too late now, but having a good PCC, or a travel agent who has clout with NCL (we have both), goes a long way to help fight the battle for you.

 

Now that you have the drink package restored, have one on me. 😜

[davencl]

Glad you got this resolved.  Yes my experience has been anything slightly unknown must go thru Miami.  Have generally found guest services has little leaway in resolving issues.  

[tomk3212]

First off, glad you got the issue resolved.  Truly sucks going through all this nonsense getting something straightened out that should never have been screwed up.

 

My two cents; the several times that we've bid successfully on an upgrade (Inside cabin to balcony)  we've had our Free at Sea stuff changed...and NOT for the better...lol.  Even though this incident is now 'spilt milk under the bridge' ('Margin Call') I'd still take a close look at your email chain from NCL for EVERYTHING to do with this reservation, open the PDFs, and examine them carefully.  Thanks to YOU I will now pay more attention to email from NCL re: anything to do with our future cruise reservations.  

[Retiredafter39]

This also happened to me, I was told that when the Air Dept. opened to look at my reservation the agent "inadvertently" cancelled the FAS. Several people are telling a similar story here and other social media sites. NCL quickly corrected the problem & offered OBC for the inconvenience. 

[PartyPlannerLady]

On 8/2/2024 at 8:32 AM, Scottiedog473 said:

Booked this cruise a year ago.  Primary factor being the PROMO's offered for the price.  Got on board and NONE of them are applied.  Customer Service onboard is NO help.  The chat on NCL website says I was "refunded" - check card - received $542 back on 7/18 (AFTER Final payment receipt on 4/1/2024.  No communication via email, app or any other method.  Guess NCL is stating all of the add ons (picture) is that value (Minus the prepaid service).  Several cruises on NCL and this will be the last.

 

 

Bye!

[IAcruising]

On 8/3/2024 at 1:55 PM, hallux said:

 Any time ANYTHING changes on your booking (including making reservations for on-board) you typically get an email with a new PDF, how could this be different.

 

 

This is our experience. Also shows why you should always check your account on the website daily, weekly, monthly etc. If this were a common occurrence, we would all know about it.

 

[MrsTocko]

On 8/3/2024 at 8:19 AM, Retiredafter39 said:

This also happened to me, I was told that when the Air Dept. opened to look at my reservation the agent "inadvertently" cancelled the FAS. Several people are telling a similar story here and other social media sites. NCL quickly corrected the problem & offered OBC for the inconvenience. 

We had a sort of similar experience.  On our Northern European in 2022, when NCL put the “placeholder route” for airfare, (and our first time using NCL air) I got concerned about something, so I called to just ask the question and confirm the deviation was in place, the air dept changed something thinking it was a new deviation request.  They wanted to talk to the pcc that booked the cruise for me (she had left ncl), my new pcc was on a cruise, and their change resulted in $2000 due after final payment.  2 hours on phone calls back and forth and my ability to provide back up that it was asked for well in advance, and it was fixed.  I am now waiting for the place holder for my next cruise, which hoping to be ticketed soon as we are 111 days out from cruise and 109 from requested deviation fly day, I just have to be patient.

[DCGuy64]

On 8/3/2024 at 2:37 AM, Scottiedog473 said:

An update from Cannes.

The refund was the beverage service charge and Dining service charge when they arbitrarily dropped free at sea from my booking.  The ship Customer Service was near worthless as we had to wait for Miami office to open.  The call line was worthless as it went to a UK agent that basically said it was my fault for not catching at checkin that items were dropped.  Chat on site said in a nut shell "you were refunded so be happy and shut up".

Finally clawed up the chain in Miami once that office opened and got Free at Sea restored and paid the refunded service charges.  No one was able to explain why this happed, there were no late changes to the itinerary, there was zero communication from me to NCL after final payment so no communication that could have been construed as a change.  I am at a mystery on the "How".  While I should be happy that it is now resolved, I remain upset about the fact that I had to dedicate the start of my vacation to resolve a NCL issue. All without even a "sorry we missed up".  

I appreciate the feedback and comments, IF I eventually find out the "how and why" I will post.

 

To also answer a question from above - booked directly with NCL and using an Amex card.

 

Don't book directly from now on. Always, always, always use a travel agent. This is one of the reasons we always use our guy for cruise bookings. I've never heard of NCL arbitrarily dropping the FAS before, but if they had, your travel agent would have been notified in time to get it corrected.  Also, I understand you are upset, but to characterize the response on the chat as amounting to "...be happy and shut up" is, I think you know, an exaggeration at best, if not a complete fabrication. I've never had any chat bot tell me to shut up. Come on. On the plus side, you now have $542 to spend on food and drinks, so life isn't all bad. I hope you are enjoying your cruise in the Mediterranean. I've always wanted to visit Cannes, so I envy you.

[DCGuy64]

19 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

 

This is our experience. Also shows why you should always check your account on the website daily, weekly, monthly etc. If this were a common occurrence, we would all know about it.

 

Yeah, agreed. I've really never heard of this, but I suppose anything is possible. I always feel like there's more to these stories than OP is letting on, but I can't expect the person to write a novel about it, either.

[Retiredafter39]

When I first look into my situation they said my original reservation didn’t show I had FAS, however after I said I had copies of all the previous issued confirmation emails, I got the hold on let me check another screen. Guess what, that’s when they discovered the inadvertent cancellation. So, word of advice, download all your confirmations for your records. 

[sanger727]

So the how could very well be that computer issue that grounded flights and wreaked havoc on many companies.  I know that the Amazon orders I placed shortly after then were completely screwed up.  I think alot of companies had screwy things happen on the tech side.  That being said, they should have taken the burden of fixing it on them, not you. This promo code disappearing is not a known issue. It seems to be a fluke. 

[Liljo22]

I would be surprised if you find out the how and why.  The FAS is NCL's standard promotion and nothing has changed so this seems like an IT glitch like others have said.   

 

I don't believe NCL was trying to scam you.  

[Asawi]

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

Don't book directly from now on. Always, always, always use a travel agent. 

I agree! Well, sort of anyway. I'm in EU and for me my PCC is the best option, not a travel agent (we don't get those "free gratuities" or OBC deals here - at least not in steerage). When he contacted me the first time I thought " I don't need him. I can do this on my own." And sure, booking is absolutely no problem at all! But as soon as you want to something outside a basic booking a good PCC or TA is gold! Mine is gold! On almost every cruise he has found me something special like room upgrades or discount codes or great flights. Actually, a few hours ago he moved me to a much better room on my September cruise, managed to apply discounts given before leading to €375 refund because of price drop. I could not have done that myself online!

SO even if I'm "sure" all I need is the basic booking, I let him do it. We do all our communication through email which suits me perfectly. Of course I can call him or have him call me should I want to but I prefer written communication.

Maybe someone else is thinking the way I did before involving my PCC. I you are, I suggest that you at least try going through a PCC/TA! 

[DCGuy64]

47 minutes ago, Asawi said:

I agree! Well, sort of anyway. I'm in EU and for me my PCC is the best option, not a travel agent (we don't get those "free gratuities" or OBC deals here - at least not in steerage). When he contacted me the first time I thought " I don't need him. I can do this on my own." And sure, booking is absolutely no problem at all! But as soon as you want to something outside a basic booking a good PCC or TA is gold! Mine is gold! On almost every cruise he has found me something special like room upgrades or discount codes or great flights. Actually, a few hours ago he moved me to a much better room on my September cruise, managed to apply discounts given before leading to €375 refund because of price drop. I could not have done that myself online!

SO even if I'm "sure" all I need is the basic booking, I let him do it. We do all our communication through email which suits me perfectly. Of course I can call him or have him call me should I want to but I prefer written communication.

Maybe someone else is thinking the way I did before involving my PCC. I you are, I suggest that you at least try going through a PCC/TA! 

Well said. It's almost like travel insurance: you think you won't need it, until you do. Booking is the easy part, it's when things change (and you didn't want/expect them to) that you see the real need for a TA. Ours is gold, too: several times he's alerted us to price drops that we never would have known about otherwise.

[Scottiedog473]

On 8/5/2024 at 7:35 AM, DCGuy64 said:

Don't book directly from now on. Always, always, always use a travel agent. This is one of the reasons we always use our guy for cruise bookings. I've never heard of NCL arbitrarily dropping the FAS before, but if they had, your travel agent would have been notified in time to get it corrected.  Also, I understand you are upset, but to characterize the response on the chat as amounting to "...be happy and shut up" is, I think you know, an exaggeration at best, if not a complete fabrication. I've never had any chat bot tell me to shut up. Come on. On the plus side, you now have $542 to spend on food and drinks, so life isn't all bad. I hope you are enjoying your cruise in the Mediterranean. I've always wanted to visit Cannes, so I envy you.

I was told that the issue had been resolved with my refund.  Take that as you may.  I took the response as go away.  A fabrication - not in the least.

[bonvoyagie]

We had a similar situation on our last cruise. We were awarded a cabin upgrade and in the process list all the FAS stuff. One clerk at the front desk said that was correct with upgrades. I did not like that answer so I called my TA who had NCL send my my amenities document. Then I went back and found a different agent who said that I was not the only person with that issue, he did look at the document but said that when they could reach Miami they would official confirmation. Sure enough, the next morning we had new key cards and all the beverage charges from the previous day were gone. 

[ryanpatricksmom]

We changed our booking to a Casino booking, and our Free at Sea Plus disappeared.  We were able to get it reinstated by paying the differential (and it was still cheaper than the original booking), but my experience is that any time a change to the reservation is made, things disappear....so check, check, check!