Update: Cabin fare issue for PoH

[beachchick]

Just thought I'd check in and let you all know that it looks like the fare problem we have been having may be resolved tomorrow.

 

I printed out the online pricing 3 days in a row because the higher fare STILL shows up on the confirmation page only, while the other pages still show the lower fare. Frankly, this is not a "lag" between the fare being increased on the confirmation page before the other booking pages. Please--it's been that way for a week. Even I know that (1) a fare increase can be added to all online booking pages at the same time and (2) even a so-called "lag time" is no excuse for the discrepancy still being there after a week. I think it's irresponsible, somewhat deceptive, and plain old bad business practice to do this. But I digress...

 

I called our cruise consultant today and asked her who to call to talk about this. She has tried to deal with the online pricing and revenue department, but kept coming back to me with the same story: Lag time between fare increase, blah, blah, blah. She gave me the NCL CS number.

 

At that point, I was thinking "Oh crud, I'm going to be on hold forever." To my surprise, I was only on hold for about 10 minutes. I immediately asked for a CS manager or supervisor. The CS rep was great; asked for my name and booking number and what I needed. I said that we were having a problem with our PoH booking. Back on hold. About 5 minutes later, one of the supervisors answered the phone and asked how he could help. I explained the whole saga, told him I had checked on online TA sites and had gotten the lower price all the way through the booking, and etc. He looked up the cruise and told me that there is a Senior discount and a discount for CA, but that the lower price included a Lattitudes discount.

 

I told him that it seemed beyond odd to me because (1) I put into our booking that we are NOT Lattitudes member, (2) the online TA websites quote the same lower fare all the way through (even with the "Past Pax" selection set to "no"), and (3) that was not the story that the online reservation department gave my cruise consultant. I told him that we have cruised with a few other lines, but in our family only my mom has cruised with NCL. He apologized for the discrepancy and said he would check into it right then. I was on hold for about 3 minutes. He came back on the phone and said that he was printing out the online pages at that time and taking the matter to the next level of management. He said that he will call first thing tomorrow, but that he will see to it that we get the lower advertised price. He looked up the cabins we are interested in and made a list of four that are available. I told him to just go ahead and switch us to one of those when he gets the go ahead.

 

BTW, they are all aft BA's, so you know we decided to go for the aft this time, even though we are mid-ships fans who have never cared about the larger aft balconies and the PoH doesn't even have larger balconies aft. The view around the islands is what decided it for us. We just love Hawaii and will now see the islands from a different perspective. Mahalo everyone for your advice on the cabin selection.

 

I also told hime about the problems we had with the cruise air (cancellation fee 180 days out not being on any paperwork or terms/conditions, and the custom air timing foul up). I said I figured that CS might want to know of these kinds of issues. He thanked me for the information. I don't know if it matters, but I did my "duty" to pass on our experiences.

 

Bottom line is that we should be moving from a BE guarantee (our first guarantee ever, but the savings at booking time was more than $500 p/p over the BD and $700 over the BA) to a selected aft BA for only $40 p/p more than our original fare. There's always the possibility of an upsell to our first mini-suite or penthouse, but if not, we'll be in a cabin we are happy with and we'll have a great time.:D

 

It was definitely worth being assertive (nicely and politely) and escalating the issue, even though I really shouldn't have had to do so. I'll check in tomorrow with confirmation that everything went as planned.

 

beachchick

[CruisinMK]

wow sweet, good job

[beachchick]

Just checking in. The CS supervisor called today and we got the aft balcony for the lower price. I already got the new invoice and checked our booking to make sure it had been changed.

 

Phew...now maybe I can just concentrate on preparing for more Hawaii fun.

 

Mahalo, MikeKaye, I do feel kind of proud of myself for being assertive.

 

beachchick