Booking a cruise with NCL directly

[tacobird]

What are others experiences with booking directly with NCL? I have found the best rate for 3 in a cabin so far from NCL. I was a bit surprised the internet sites did not offer lower rates. Any others book through NCL? We will be booking the 9/2/07 Pride of Aloha.

[whatawonderfulworld]

We've sailed on NCL once...this past October on the Dawn. When I made the reservations, I booked with NCL directly. Our itinerary was pretty simple...no pretravel arrangements needed as we only took the LIRR into Manhattan and boarded the ship.

 

The first time I ever cruised was with Carnival. I again booked directly and was assigned one person to deal with for everything. She was terrific...offering advice to someone who had never cruised before. I have to say Carnival really had it down perfectly...when my contact wasn't available there was always someone else to speak with. I missed that when I booked when I booked with NCL. However....

 

When we booked our next cruise with NCL (again directly, actually while onboard the Dawn), we were assigned a personal cruise consultant. So far this has worked out really well. I communicate with him by email and he always gets back to me. I like the idea of having a "face" to go to rather than anyone who just happens to answer the phone.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Ciao,

 

W A W W

[Cruise_More_Often]

We, too, book directly with NCL, and our Personal Cruise Consultant (Fran) is great!

 

We just returned from a cruise on the Star, and Fran called to see how we liked the cruise! I was impressed. The last time we had a TA (for our first NCL cruise), the only time we heard from her is when we booked the cruise.

[marcyjane]

I have always booked direct with the cruise lines as well.

Sailed NCL, CCL & RCL and never had a problem so far.

After I've booked I continue to check the prices daily and if the price goes down I call and so far including the cruise booked for this year I've managed to save anywhere from $300.00 to $600.00 per person or instead of the $ savings sometimes they will give you a upgrade. If I feel the upgrade is better I'll take it instead of the lower price.

Just always call the cruise lines and ask, all they can tell you is yes they will reduce the price or no, even sometime with a no answer they might give you a ship board credit or a Bon Voyage gift for your cabin.

Marcy

[CRUZIN TOM]

If you are a steady user of the casino and have a Casinos at Sea card, you can book your cruise thru them on line thru NCL. We have booked our Alaska cruise this coming August and their discount rate is 18% from the NCL price. The discount is off the actual cruise not counting the port fees and taxes. It saved us about $600.00 for the 2 of us in a balcony room. :)

[tacobird]

Thanks for the helpful experiences. I think I will do my booking directly with NCL. How long do you get before you need to pay the final payment? From what I have been reading you can only negotiate a lower price up to the final payment. If our cruise is 9/2/07 what is our deadline for paying for it?

[NCL_Cruiser]

Thanks for the helpful experiences. I think I will do my booking directly with NCL. How long do you get before you need to pay the final payment? From what I have been reading you can only negotiate a lower price up to the final payment. If our cruise is 9/2/07 what is our deadline for paying for it?

 

Your final payment will be due 75 days before sailing.

[just4now]

I booked through NCL directly, but don't have a personal consultant. I've spoken to several people at their call center--actually I was told they have 3 call centers when I asked to speak to the person I'd originally dealt with. Are you assigned a consultant sometime between booking and making that last payment?

[refman]

no matter what line we book we will only book thru the line directly. i would rather screw something up myself than pay a third party to do it.

[mlbcruiser]

Up until just a few yrs. ago you could save a fair amount of money by NOT booking directly through the cruiselines as a general rule. Various T/As and agencies favored by this or that cruiseline (due to their booking volume) offered some very nice discounts. Prices for the same category cabin sometimes could vary greatly. Then the cruiselines changed the way things were done. As it stands now, some T/As offer perks such as free bottles of wine for dinner, onboard credits (though these are sometimes offered by the lines themselves, sometimes a T/A will throw some in), a free shore excursion or free cruise insurance. The cruiselines don't usually offer such perks. A good T/A can sometimes be invaluable for a number of reasons, but that doesn't mean that a rep from the cruiseline itself won't handle your reservation well and give you good service. A knowledgable T/A will sometimes be more honest about guiding you to a line you will be well suited for, and sometimes can even tell you where the best or worst cabins are on a particular ship and why But a particular cruiseline booking agent can only steer you to that particular line's ships.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

no matter what line we book we will only book thru the line directly. i would rather screw something up myself than pay a third party to do it.

 

sounds like you had some bad dealings in the past with TA's. How much did they charge you to screw things up?

 

Bill

[Maryfrei]

I booked through NCL directly, but don't have a personal consultant. I've spoken to several people at their call center--actually I was told they have 3 call centers when I asked to speak to the person I'd originally dealt with. Are you assigned a consultant sometime between booking and making that last payment?

 

If you call and ask, they will assign you to a PCC:)!

[refman]

sounds like you had some bad dealings in the past with TA's. How much did they charge you to screw things up?

 

Bill

 

obscene probably describes it best. and when they finally go out of business i`ll be hosting the party.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

obscene probably describes it best. and when they finally go out of business i`ll be hosting the party.

 

I still would like to know why you had to pay a travel agent for their services, even if they were terrible?

 

Bill

[Rita]

I have always booked my cruises through the cruise line for the last 10 years- also if you are a Latitude number- there is a special phone number to call- I have had great luck going with the cruise line- I am booked with the Sun leaving Easter Sunday and looking forward to it

[Plant]

Hi Bill,

 

I still would like to know why you had to pay a travel agent for their services, even if they were terrible?

 

I think you should have been more specific with your question ;) ;) ! I don't think refman "gets it" :) . (Sorry, I just had to...)

 

Hi refman,

 

 

obscene probably describes it best. and when they finally go out of business i`ll be hosting the party.

 

What we want to know is how much you paid a TA to book your cruise? TA's are not paid commission by the customer, but by the cruise line. If your TA charged you anything to book I'd be reporting her/him to the BBB and to NCL! Whether it was a wonderful or a terrible experience, it shouldn't have cost you anything to book with a TA.

[refman]

Hi Bill,

 

 

 

I think you should have been more specific with your question ;) ;) ! I don't think refman "gets it" :) . (Sorry, I just had to...)

 

Hi refman,

 

 

 

What we want to know is how much you paid a TA to book your cruise? TA's are not paid commission by the customer, but by the cruise line. If your TA charged you anything to book I'd be reporting her/him to the BBB and to NCL! Whether it was a wonderful or a terrible experience, it shouldn't have cost you anything to book with a TA.

we paid approx. 15,000.00 for a 7 day mex. riviera cruise out of san diego with a 2 day 2 rooms at the del coronado.to many things went wrong for me to belive they wer`nt intentional,if not them pure poor business. i`ve used same agent before with minor glitches but this took the prize. our 14 yr old daughter brought her friend fron school who just finished treatments for cancer and was finally cleared to travel.

1. us air lost luggage to san diego which contained wigs for daughters girlfriend,not agents fault but here we go.

1. charged over 5600.00 dollars on amex card for airline tix she forgot to get so we had to pay or not go.t/a admitted mistake on her brother.

2.traveling as family of 4 and we have seperate seats on air because of t/as brother.

3. seperate tables as well as dining times on oosterdam.

4. we asked for suite center ship and got a corner suite,daughter and friend were on different deck.

5. no onboard credit,t/a never sent request

6. same air difficulties going back except this time different flights. little 14 yr old girl now starts blaming all problems encountered are her fault cause now she believes in her heart all is her fault(bad luck she says)

and i could go on but we made lemonaide out of all these lemons. HAL made there end very special, DEL CORONADO made there end special AMEX was wonderful about all and even went after t/a legally but were not sure what happened except a bunch of lies on their part.we made the best of a bad situation and had a great time as we were together.when i say paid the agent i mean the total amount for entire trip and i`m sure they get a refund from HAL. sorry to bore all but this is part of it and i`m still angry so i`ll book myself and do alot better. thanks for listening

[S.S.Oceanlover]

we paid approx. 15,000.00 for a 7 day mex. riviera cruise out of san diego with a 2 day 2 rooms at the del coronado.to many things went wrong for me to belive they wer`nt intentional,if not them pure poor business. i`ve used same agent before with minor glitches but this took the prize. our 14 yr old daughter brought her friend fron school who just finished treatments for cancer and was finally cleared to travel.

1. us air lost luggage to san diego which contained wigs for daughters girlfriend,not agents fault but here we go.

1. charged over 5600.00 dollars on amex card for airline tix she forgot to get so we had to pay or not go.t/a admitted mistake on her brother.

2.traveling as family of 4 and we have seperate seats on air because of t/as brother.

3. seperate tables as well as dining times on oosterdam.

4. we asked for suite center ship and got a corner suite,daughter and friend were on different deck.

5. no onboard credit,t/a never sent request

6. same air difficulties going back except this time different flights. little 14 yr old girl now starts blaming all problems encountered are her fault cause now she believes in her heart all is her fault(bad luck she says)

and i could go on but we made lemonaide out of all these lemons. HAL made there end very special, DEL CORONADO made there end special AMEX was wonderful about all and even went after t/a legally but were not sure what happened except a bunch of lies on their part.we made the best of a bad situation and had a great time as we were together.when i say paid the agent i mean the total amount for entire trip and i`m sure they get a refund from HAL. sorry to bore all but this is part of it and i`m still angry so i`ll book myself and do alot better. thanks for listening

 

Refman,

Thanks for coming back to explain. Not boring at all. Sorry this TA screwed up so badly. I can't understand how a TA like this stays in business. I hope your daughters friend is doing better now.

 

I have heard that TA's have an errors and omissions insurance policy for major screwups like this. I would imagine it's like any other insurance that when you make a claim the rates go up. This agents rates would be off the charts if the reported al their screwups. Instead of reporting these mistakes they just pass the buck.

 

Hopefully your future cruises won't have all the hassles.

 

Bill

[just4now]

If you call and ask, they will assign you to a PCC:)!

 

Great! I'll do that soon!

[pieshops]

we originally booked through NCl for our crown cruise to Bermuda on October 7, 2007 and paid $2130 for an inside cabin, this was the best price I could find after scouring many online and storefront agencies..

 

A few weeks later i realized we would have to change the date we left to the 14th of october, called NCl and the price had gone up to $2390 for the same cabin.

 

I again contacted an online and was given a price of $2050 for the same cabin NCl wanted to charge me $2390 for.

 

I called Ncl and asked if they could honor the previous price as i am more comfortable booking direct through NCL, i even said give me an onboard credit for the differance. I told them i had a lower price from an online agent and they told me to book through them as they could not lower the price or give me a credit.

 

So this shows that you have to do your homework, sometimes online is cheaper and sometimes not

[Plant]

Hi refman,

 

Thank you for clarifying your problems! I'm sorry I misunderstood your original post :( . You certainly did have a mess. I'm glad you enjoyed the cruise part of your trip. If you haven't already, you should report this TA to the BBB.

 

I can't imagine our TA blaming any problems on her brother :eek: !

 

we made the best of a bad situation and had a great time as we were together.

Sounds like you did make lemonade out of lemons :) !

[weary traveler]

I also book directly with NCL and have always found them to be thorough and do a lot of follow ups with me.. (i may not be the norm).. any price adjustments i've found have always been honored and last minute additions to the cabin have always been handled with great care and expediency..

I worked in a travel agency (multi store front) for 10 years before getting out of the business and my worst experience (not to judge all) was that the owner of the business sat on our downpayments until the final bell and lost our cabin arrangements when he didnt send it in by the proper date.. imagine my horror.. to be done in by my own employer. not that it happens frequently but served as an influence to deal directly with the cruise line. Thank goodness he's no longer in business.. feel confident that you can book directly without loss of service..

 

Weary Traveler

[Cubechick]

I used to book through NCL directly...until last year I found a TA that charges significantly less than NCL. I too called NCL to find out if they would honor the lower price (as I would prefer to book directly) and they said no.

 

I've booked 3 cruises w/ this TA and have saved around $1000 to date.

[vacation fool]

Same thing happenned to me yesterday. I had booked already with NCL. I found a better rate thru an online agency. I called NCL and asked if they would match price. They said they couldn"t? So I called online ageny and transferred reservation (it was still on a courtesy hold) to them. NCL was on a 3 way call with us and it was done. I don't understand why NCL cannot honor it? If the agency can get that rate thru NCL then why would they not honor it?