NCL guest services was truly terrible to me

[grouchomarx]

Just back from 5-day Joy to Bermuda today.  I sailed just two months ago on Joy and loved it.  I had booked a standard (not solo) balcony cabin for myself and decided to add someone last minute.  I had previously purchased about all the upgrades you possibly could.  FAS+, 2 extra specialty dining, Vibe, thermal suite pass.  The rep who did the booking for my friend on the phone said nothing other than ok he is on the reservation. So I assume he’s just standard FAS and he’s also platinum so will get some more perks.

 

Get to the terminal to check in and get my room key with all my extras printed on it.  His card has nothing printed on it which we think is strange (not even basic FAS and our fares were the same). Once on board we go to guest services primarily looking to get him into the Vibe which is fully booked. But we lucked out and got a cabana.  The rep is really slow and tells us she is still “learning the system” and everything takes ages but we have patience and are calm.  She says she has to print new key cards since we now have a cabana and when she makes my new card it now has zero extras printed on it.  Somehow in the time from me boarding and booking a cabana, all the extras I paid for were dropped from my booking and now I literally have nothing.  There is a lot of back and forth, she’s going in and out of the back office, getting a manager from time to time, yet cannot resolve what is happening and I’m starting to be in shock and complete disbelief.  I showed them several times my itemized list of what I paid for and because they don’t see it in their system they proceed to act like these purchases never happened.  And they were very unkind about it.  We didn’t even have the basic FAS like everyone else on the ship and in order to even get drinks and one meal, we have to pay (again) the gratuities on the dining/drinks which we do.  We leave thinking that the manager will resolve this (as promised) and I’ll be back to normal in a few hours.

 

Nobody ever contacts me and I decide I’ll deal with this tomorrow.  So I go back to GS and am treated even more dismissively about the situation, being shown printouts that don’t show my purchases and gaslighting me into thinking I imagined I bought these things and they were super rude. So instead of having FAS+ which meant better drinks, more dining, unlimited internet, plus the extra 2 meal package I now paid extra to have the most basic amenities and inadequate internet.  This is no small change they stole from me.  I do the rest of the cruise assuming I will have to fight with either NCL and/or my credit card company to get my money back.  I wake up today all stressed about it to see in my final statement they credited me for all the things I bought but didn’t get to use.  It wasn’t even itemized, just a lump sum that was approximately correct (off by $10) and that I have a zero balance.  Guess that is NCL math for ya.

 

Worst experience on a cruise!  I always thought GS could handle issues and resolve them in a professional manner, instead they were rude and dismissive, never communicated anything or apologized (not even a little!) or gave me any kind of compensation. They need to better train their staff.  At least if you cannot technically figure out how to resolve an issue, be polite about it and admit you can clearly see there is a problem that the fault of NCL and you will make it right.   At no time was I raising my voice, yelling, saying anything rude or abusive or acting like a crazy person.  I was completely calm the entire time and showed very easy to read proof of what I bought and they still handled it so poorly.

[shof515]

it appears the rep learning the system deleted all of FAS+ and other things that's why it looks like you never purchased anything. All other GS reps dont know what to believe the system or the copies of the amenity statement

[julig22]

1 minute ago, shof515 said:

it appears the rep learning the system deleted all of FAS+ and other things that's why it looks like you never purchased anything. All other GS reps dont know what to believe the system or the copies of the amenity statement

Correct - they basically have to believe the system, since they have no way of knowing if someone canceled all the extras prior to the cruise. But they should have been able to track it down through corporate - but that does take time.

What I'm not understanding is whether or not there were charges for the 2nd person when they were added to the reservation? While the fare would be free, there would be port fees & taxes, plus gratuities for the drink and meal packages, as well as the FAS+.

Sorry you couldn't get it resolved to your satisfaction - hard to say if it was an employee issue (we were all new to the job sometime in our life) or a system error.

[Pablo Diablo]

24 minutes ago, grouchomarx said:

 I wake up today all stressed about it to see in my final statement they credited me for all the things I bought but didn’t get to use.  It wasn’t even itemized, just a lump sum that was approximately correct (off by $10) and that I have a zero balance.

for clarification, are you saying they ultimately refunded you for the FAS+ extras you had paid for by crediting your onboard account?  Did you get the specialty dining meals you were supposed to and have use of the Vibe and thermal spa throughout the cruise?

[drew69]

A couple of things are not making sense.

 

When you added the second person, did you not ask exactly what was being booked for them?  What did the revised invoice you received say regarding FAS/extras?

 

You say after the GS rep "deleted" your extras, you tried to show the invoice?  What about the original key you had which showed all the extras?  How did they explain why the second key made was different than the original key you were given?

 

 

[Asawi]

I suspect what happened had to do with the addition the other person.That person should have had (and of course paid for) FAS+ as well, or neither of you would. You say it was last minute, but not HOW last minute. Your original keycard may have had the original extras because it had already been printed and the addition of guest 2 somehow messed things up.

I don't think the first CS person removed anything. I think things were messed up from the start.

Just speculation of course.

[grouchomarx]

21 minutes ago, Pablo Diablo said:

for clarification, are you saying they ultimately refunded you for the FAS+ extras you had paid for by crediting your onboard account?  Did you get the specialty dining meals you were supposed to and have use of the Vibe and thermal spa throughout the cruise?

I had to use the dining vouchers of the platinum person I was traveling with for extra meals, which I was happy to have access to.  Vibe was upgraded to a cabana and after all that I ran to the spa to cancel the thermal suite.  Yes I got my money back, without a word of call from GS assuring me things would be made right and not until the final day of the cruise. I didn’t get to have my FAS+ for the whole time which is the thing I was most sore about.  I was afraid to keep laying out more and more money to make up for what I lost after this insane experience on day 1.  I was actually worried I’d never get my money back.

[grouchomarx]

13 minutes ago, Asawi said:

I suspect what happened had to do with the addition the other person.That person should have had (and of course paid for) FAS+ as well, or neither of you would. You say it was last minute, but not HOW last minute. Your original keycard may have had the original extras because it had already been printed and the addition of guest 2 somehow messed things up.

I don't think the first CS person removed anything. I think things were messed up from the start.

Just speculation of course.

It was done 48h prior to sailing.  Once it was confirmed everything looked good on paper, nothing weird, fares were appropriate for our cabin and no notations or aberrations of any kind.  If it was messed up from the jump why did my original card show all the extras? I could see if it never did but it went from being there to disappearing with the click of a few keys from that woman who did not know her job and admitted it.

[Asawi]

1 minute ago, grouchomarx said:

If it was messed up from the jump why did my original card show all the extras?

It may have been printed ahead of time, before things got messed up. I don't know!
But I do find it odd that they have such a bad system onboard that they can't track changes made! That is BAD!

[grouchomarx]

25 minutes ago, drew69 said:

A couple of things are not making sense.

 

When you added the second person, did you not ask exactly what was being booked for them?  What did the revised invoice you received say regarding FAS/extras?

 

You say after the GS rep "deleted" your extras, you tried to show the invoice?  What about the original key you had which showed all the extras?  How did they explain why the second key made was different than the original key you were given?

 

 

When I added the second person I assumed it is just putting them in the room with basic FAS.  The prices reflected that.  It was not a lower fare, it was actually little higher than mine and I thought that was because the fare went up closer to sailing.  I showed up with a printed list of what I bought as well as an email confirmation detailing everything.  It was all there, clear as day.  They took the papers and shuffled them around here and there, going in and out of the office, could not explain about the key card discrepancy.  They wanted me to go away because they could not figure it out, which I eventually did.  It was the most maddening thing because it was clear as day what was happening and they just wanted to walk away.

[floridafish]

Always have paid invoices for extra services either on your phone or print prior to arrival.

They weren't able to punch up your Platinum status? 

[Asawi]

15 minutes ago, grouchomarx said:

When I added the second person I assumed it is just putting them in the room with basic FAS.  

If passenger 1 had FAS+ passenger 2 must also have FAS+ as I understand it. So what you assumed  would not have been an option. That's why I think this somehow messed things up.

But still don't understand how come they couldn't see that...

[grouchomarx]

21 minutes ago, floridafish said:

Always have paid invoices for extra services either on your phone or print prior to arrival.

They weren't able to punch up your Platinum status? 

I had both printed and email invoices ready in hand, in their face.  I am not Platinum only silver. Originally my platinum companion got no vouchers he was owed without making yet another visit later to GS but then finally got what he was due.  Everything was a pita.  He has cruised quite a bit and never had to deal with this type of nonsense. 

[Asawi]

4 minutes ago, grouchomarx said:

Originally my platinum companion got no vouchers he was owed without making yet another visit later to GS

That was probably because of the late booking.

[grouchomarx]

17 minutes ago, Asawi said:

If passenger 1 had FAS+ passenger 2 must also have FAS+ as I understand it. So what you assumed  would not have been an option. That's why I think this somehow messed things up.

But still don't understand how come they couldn't see that...

In my limited experience NCL customer service is hit or miss but usually has been very good. For example when I booked the second person they automatically added travel protection with no mention of it.  I didn’t think of it, as it wasn’t brought up but saw it on the invoice and didn’t want it.  First rep I call, nope, can’t remove it. Second one I call, 10 min on hold and it was done (he has his own travel insurance it would have been a complete waste).  Why one rep could do it and not the other?  Mysteries of NCL.  My guess is whoever made this booking did something very wrong or the person in GS did something very wrong behind that keyboard.  

[Asawi]

1 minute ago, grouchomarx said:

My guess is whoever made this booking did something very wrong or the person in GS did something very wrong behind that keyboard.  

With the extra guest's keycard being blank I suspect the error happened before GS got involved.

[Seas2mountains]

Sorry to hear this happened to you. it sounds really frustrating. 
 

When we added our granddaughter to a cruise in February as a third person, the price we were quoted to add her to the reservation was only about $300 when I knew it should have been closer to $1000. But once I printed the new reservation confirmation with codes, I could see that the FAS + package had been erroneously removed for my husband and I and those funds were credited towards her fare which was why we were asked to pay about $300 instead of $1000. I had to call back to get FAS + added back to the reservation.  The NCL agent I spoke with to correct it said that it sometimes happens when a person is added to the reservation after final payment with P+ falling off and the $ paid for FAS + is applied toward the fare of the person added to the reservation. 
 

I don’t know what happened with your reservation but with the second person being added within 48 hours, your card could have been printed before the second person was added. 

[julig22]

30 minutes ago, Seas2mountains said:

Sorry to hear this happened to you. it sounds really frustrating. 
 

When we added our granddaughter to a cruise in February as a third person, the price we were quoted to add her to the reservation was only about $300 when I knew it should have been closer to $1000. But once I printed the new reservation confirmation with codes, I could see that the FAS + package had been erroneously removed for my husband and I and those funds were credited towards her fare which was why we were asked to pay about $300 instead of $1000. I had to call back to get FAS + added back to the reservation.  The NCL agent I spoke with to correct it said that it sometimes happens when a person is added to the reservation after final payment with P+ falling off and the $ paid for FAS + is applied toward the fare of the person added to the reservation. 
 

I don’t know what happened with your reservation but with the second person being added within 48 hours, your card could have been printed before the second person was added. 

Pretty sure you hit the nail on the head. Although OP has implied that those add-ons were on the updated confirmation.

[felicity]

I'm sorry you had to deal with all that...but how was the cabana in the vibe?  Were all the cabanas booked out?  Did they assign the cabana to you or did you get to chose which one to use for the cruise?  Thanks in advance for any info you have.  Cabana info seems hard to come by...

[grouchomarx]

59 minutes ago, felicity said:

I'm sorry you had to deal with all that...but how was the cabana in the vibe?  Were all the cabanas booked out?  Did they assign the cabana to you or did you get to chose which one to use for the cruise?  Thanks in advance for any info you have.  Cabana info seems hard to come by...

Cabana is a very nice luxury.  You can make your own shade, the bed is super comfy and has 4 throw pillows, side curtains for privacy if you want it.  It is assigned randomly (no choice) and you keep the same one all week.  It seems to be the norm that when you don’t occupy it (like you’re not in the vibe that day), others will try and often succeed to squar in it.  You just ask to get them removed. On Joy one side of vibe was much much windier than the other, I’m glad I got the less windy side.  And on the final sea day back to NY it was so windy no umbrellas were allowed in vibe so without a cabana you’d be stuck with full sun. Worth every penny.  All cabanas appeared booked out, I think I got the last one.  The cabanas on Joy are relatively new so it’s not a lot of info online. The top is a solid piece of fabric and provides genuine shade, the sides have curtains you can close or open and if you want more/less shade and to make them to stay in place when closed/windy you tuck them hard into the mattress bottom and they stay put.  Two side tables, not much in the way of special drink service but half the fun of vibe is sitting at the bar honestly.  This most recent one was right in front of the hot tub, nice for easy access to everything, not so nice for privacy lol!

[YVRteacher]

I’m so sorry you had this unfortunate experience.

 

I know this won’t help with what just happened, but my strategy for when a Guest Services representative fails to correct a situation, especially with finances/on board billing, is to say “I am not leaving this counter until the issue is resolved. Please have a supervisor come out to deal with this.” 
 

I am now in my “don’t let NCL get away with it” era.

[grouchomarx]

46 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

I’m so sorry you had this unfortunate experience.

 

I know this won’t help with what just happened, but my strategy for when a Guest Services representative fails to correct a situation, especially with finances/on board billing, is to say “I am not leaving this counter until the issue is resolved. Please have a supervisor come out to deal with this.” 
 

I am now in my “don’t let NCL get away with it” era.

I like your attitude. Unfortunately, the first day the managers/supervisor couldn’t get it done.  The second day I got a random man at the counter and after trying really hard to reason with him to no avail, I said can you please get a me a manager and he was like I am the supervisor and was like oh Lord, we are getting nowhere!

[ClwtrBoi]

It sounds like a horrible situation and not surprising, most cruise lines are fine until you have an issue and then they're usually pretty abysmal about making things right. Important to vote with tour wallet. I wouldn't cruise with NCL if that experience happened to me. 

 

Had similar frustrating experiences with Celebrity and Cunard so I simply never travel with them again.  

[YVRteacher]

11 minutes ago, grouchomarx said:

I like your attitude. Unfortunately, the first day the managers/supervisor couldn’t get it done.  The second day I got a random man at the counter and after trying really hard to reason with him to no avail, I said can you please get a me a manager and he was like I am the supervisor and was like oh Lord, we are getting nowhere!

Oh crap!!!

[debenson0723]

I am sorry this happened to you. Must have been very frustrating.

 

I had an error on a charge on my Joy cruise in June and the person in Guest Services was worthless also (you would think they would have their best people be guest facing...the guy I had barely understood English). Like @YVRteacher mentioned, I did not leave the desk until my issue was understood and I felt it was going to be resolved to my satisfaction. It was corrected the next day with an apology (several, in fact). Won't help you now but I would have asked to see the GM, or at minimum, his assistant. 

 

I truly believe this happened by adding a person to the reservation within 48 hours of sailing, though that is not an excuse, and I really didn't think that was even possible. I hope the rest of your cruise was enjoyable.