I HATE NCL ALREADY (and we havent even sailed!!)

[canadiangirl77]

Wow where to begin, basically I just need to vent, and normally, I'm pretty easy going.

 

We booked an NCL cruise through our travel agent, and made our deposit back in Feb. They lost our deposit and when we went to make our final payment, told us we owed our final payment amount PLUS our deposit. (they later found it on another reservation as we were travelling with another couple). First hurdle over with. So, we make our final payment. Simple right? Wrong!!

 

Our final payment was due March 6th. The final payment is called into NCL. We get a phone call from our credit card company flagging fraud as NCL tried to charge us $19,000.00 instead of the cost of the cruise. Inserted an extra zero somewhere? No sweat, they made an error.

 

Was left a message by NCL on March 8th, to call as our credit card was declined. Well no kidding it was. Called in, spoke to a "lovely" lady in accounting. (I wont say her name here). Told her the reason it was declined was because she tried to charge us $19k for the cruise. Her response, oh no we'd never do that. Your credit card company is wrong. Ok, whoever's wrong, not really an issue, just please try again.

 

I get an invoice in my email from NCL reservations on March 8th, stating our final payment. (which is $300 LESS then what we booked it for) YAY!! Called back the accounting dept, speak to the same "lovely lady", and asked why the difference in price?!!? (seemed too good to be true, lesson for you, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably IS!!!)

She states, oh, it's a sale. Perfect, after the mix up this is GREAT!! right?? WRONG!!!

 

So, my travel agent calls in, makes the FINAL payment on our behalf of EXACTLY the amount listed on the invoice. (to the penny) Confirms this is the FINAL AMOUNT due with the "lovely lady". Payment goes thru as they have now charged it correctly and it shows up correctly on my credit card statement. YAY we're going on a cruise.

 

Everything's perfect right?? WRONG!!!

 

A week LATER (March 16), we get a call from our travel agent, we owe another $300. PARDON? we paid our final payment in FULL, and it was confrimed with the "lovely accounting lady".

Oh no, NCL is sorry, the invoice they sent you is incorrect. WHAT?!?!?

 

So now since March 16th, our Travel agent has been going back and forth with NCL trying to get this sorted out. The conclusion today is,

we pay NCL another $80 and they will release our tickets to us. Otherwise, too bad for us. No final payment in their books (eyes) and no tickets to the customer.

 

Where did they come up with this $80 you ask? Oh, it's an amount made up from their "revenue" dept. It's just a made up amount they want us to pay to feel it's "even steven".

 

SO in short, we are being forced to pay this additional $80 to NCL or we don't receive our tickets. They are NOT honoring the invoice price. Basically we are being held hostage as we have already booked our flight, side trips, and a post cruise stay as well, and are travelling with another couple.

 

I've agreed to pay the additional $80 to END this nightmare, however basically NCL is holding us HOSTAGE!! and I'm not completely convinced the nightmare is over and they wont call back again in another few weeks DEMANDING the $220.00 owed.

 

I will NEVER book another NCL cruise again, no matter how great this experience is .. they should be paying ME at this point to go on this cruise since it's taken over a month to sort out a simple payment.

 

Their internal issues should NOT be the customer's problem. NCL sent out an invoice and then say oh sorry, it's wrong. HONOR WHAT YOU SEND

 

I can only hope the we have a much better experience on the ship.........

[nyyleeroy]

Your TA should request from NCL (not sure who there, but someone) a document that shows IN WRITING that you have paid in full and that no additional monies will be requested from you ahead of the departure.

 

Nice to save $220, but probably not worth all the headaches you've gone through (kinda like those who were bumped from the 5/26 and 6/2 Dawn sailings).

 

Good luck, and enjoy your trip.

[lvtotrvl1]

Once payment was called in to NCL, they immediatley send a fax showing payment in full. Your TA should have this. I had a similar situation happen with one of my clients (final payment made) then I get a call from NCL asking for more money. Spent quite some time on the phone with a supervisor and it was taken care of. If I hadn't saved the fax, I might have been lost. Call your TA and ask for the original fax from NCL.

[canadiangirl77]

yes i did definately request that IN writing, this is IT, they will NOT come back to us again for more monies. I told my TA if I had've known this would've been the case, I would've saved myself the headache and paid the $300!!!

 

sigh..

[canadiangirl77]

lve2trvl - because we're paying in canadian funds, the payment does not get processed immediately (so we're told), so the invoice she received was on march 16th showing the outstanding balance. they have tried to make up every excuse in the book, oh well the first invoice was in us funds, no it CLEARLY says canadian .. so much headache i just want it over and done with, but i will never book or recommend NCL again.

[mikeytnj]

i was on the dawn on 5-26. they cancelled it and told me i would have to pay 1100 more to sail a cruise earlier or later. and it was not their problem the cruise was cancelled it was mine. they suck and and do not treat their cruisers right at all. and the people who answer the phones for them are not helpful and rude

[Casshew]

Once you sailed you can call your credit card company and refute the 80.00 charge. Let NCL call you about it and then you can present your proof that the cruise was paid in full and they were not entitled to the 80.00 extra.

 

Or - you could just put all this behind you and not worry about it :)

[Bily]

Wow!!!!!!!!!! I believe we are on the same cruise 05/20 Sun. We haven't had that problem, thank goodness. I can understand you being upset. I sure would be too. We also booked through a travel agent. I haven't heard of any sales and I haven't checked our credit card so can't say what we have been charged. After all of that it had better be a darn good experience while you are on board. Good Luck

Bev

[canadiangirl77]

haha yes Bev we ARE on the same sailing to Alaska, im trying to hard not to let this ruin my cruise experience, but I already have a really bad taste in my mouth from this one!

 

i just hope the cruise is amazing!! Happy sailing!!

[Bily]

It had darn well better be after all of that. Good Luck and happy sailing to you as well. This is our first and maybe our last if that is any indication of what is to come.

LOL. Bev

[canadiangirl77]

our first too ... im sure it'll be wayyyyy better for you .. we just had a run of bad luck that's all!!

where in western canada are you? i used to live in alberta .. :) miss it so much .. so we're doing the cruise so i can get a taste of the mountains/glaciers again ..

[Bily]

We are from Medicine Hat. Three hours SE of Calgary. We love the mountains also. Love to go to Banff for holidays. Our friends decided to go on this cruise and asked us to come. My husband has always wanted to go to Alaska, so we decided to go. I am sure once we all get aboard we will have a blast.

Bev

[squirrelgardens]

I think that the lovely lady in accounting and the billing procedures sound not Kosher.

 

I guess that your only recourse beside the $80.00 dispute is to tell all about your experiences. Most people shy away from any business when it hears these stories. Your credit is too important for someone to make such mistakes.

[vowsatsea]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck.I know what it's like to deal with some of the reps over at NCL, since I was on the 5/26 cancelled sailing, and received horrible service from them.

 

Hope the sailing is awesome, so it'll make you forget all this horrible pre-cruise stuff!

[Zeno]

I think you need a new TA. Your TA appears to have serious communication problems dealing with the cruiseline. Your TA should have given you a CORRECT invoice (IN WRITING) after they confirmed with NCL the exact price. If there was any discrepancy, your TA should have resolved it with NCL - well before any final payment was due. You should have been made aware of any discrepancy before an invoice was even issued - so that you could change your mind if need be. Your TA should have a final (and unchangeable price) within a VERY short time of the booking. My TA has a policy that the final price should be absolutely confirmed within 24 hours of booking and receiving the client's credit card number, if possible and within no greater than 48 hours. If any discrepancy occurs after that period, she resolves it without involving the customer. She ALWAYS prints the invoice out in U.S. AND Canadian dollars. - so there is NO confusion on those grounds and she does not charge the client's card with the deposit UNTIL the price is confirmed.

I can understand why you are annoyed. I would be furious. I hope that you can still enjoy your cruise but I am serious - look for a new TA before you book you next cruise.

[Seago2]

I have had some wierd experiences but nothing like what you have described. I always use the same online TA and have only had problems with my NCL bookings. The people you talk to on the phone are not the nicest- for sure. I have called about Lattitudes stuff, CC stuff, room configuration- they are brusque if they even anser the question at all. The website is a horror as we all know.

 

BUT! I have found the shipboard crew (IME- just the Spirit) to be the nicest, friendliest, most helpful people you would ever want to meet. So- chin up! You'll probably have a great cruise-

[canadiangirl77]

the problem is .. the invoice came to me direct from NCL which they never should've done to begin with ... (although after reading you're comments, I probably should've got something in writing from them, shame on me considering i used to be a travel agent! lol) ..

[harleyglide]

After a travel agent booked a return flight in fort lauderdale when it should have been miami i book all our vacations tru the computer get a conformation by e -mail check everything out and never had a problem.Im sorry to say T A,s went the way of the dinosaurs,so try booking online you save all the headache just one click and your done.Now this does not prevent bad service such as the shifty airlines who make it hard to redeem vouchers for ther incompentance buts it is a cold day in hell trying to rip off this ol shister.Book online the way to go:D :D

[Maxima81]

I think you need a new TA. Your TA appears to have serious communication problems dealing with the cruiseline. Your TA should have given you a CORRECT invoice (IN WRITING) after they confirmed with NCL the exact price. If there was any discrepancy, your TA should have resolved it with NCL - well before any final payment was due. You should have been made aware of any discrepancy before an invoice was even issued - so that you could change your mind if need be. Your TA should have a final (and unchangeable price) within a VERY short time of the booking. My TA has a policy that the final price should be absolutely confirmed within 24 hours of booking and receiving the client's credit card number, if possible and within no greater than 48 hours. If any discrepancy occurs after that period, she resolves it without involving the customer. She ALWAYS prints the invoice out in U.S. AND Canadian dollars. - so there is NO confusion on those grounds and she does not charge the client's card with the deposit UNTIL the price is confirmed.

I can understand why you are annoyed. I would be furious. I hope that you can still enjoy your cruise but I am serious - look for a new TA before you book you next cruise.

 

+1 for this post. I don't understand how or why NCL would deal directly with the customer in this case. I thought the TA was the middleperson here and should have handled / resolved this before it reached the customer. Seems like the TA just played telephone here and relayed information back and forth instead of working for the customer.

 

I may be wrong, but from what I can gather about NCL's fares, the TA's prices doesn't necessarily have to match NCL's direct fare since the TA fares might be part of a larger group booking at a discounted price.

 

Regardless, I'd say let it slide and enjoy the trip. You still paid less than what you originally were quoted for.

[mikedw]

After a travel agent booked a return flight in fort lauderdale when it should have been miami i book all our vacations tru the computer get a conformation by e -mail check everything out and never had a problem.Im sorry to say T A,s went the way of the dinosaurs,so try booking online you save all the headache just one click and your done.Now this does not prevent bad service such as the shifty airlines who make it hard to redeem vouchers for ther incompentance buts it is a cold day in hell trying to rip off this ol shister.Book online the way to go:D :D

 

The way of dinosaurs? Our business is booming at our two offices. Most of my clients got tired of doing things themselves and because of good service and our commitment to the community they keep coming back.

[lvtotrvl1]

After a travel agent booked a return flight in fort lauderdale when it should have been miami i book all our vacations tru the computer get a conformation by e -mail check everything out and never had a problem.Im sorry to say T A,s went the way of the dinosaurs,so try booking online you save all the headache just one click and your done.Now this does not prevent bad service such as the shifty airlines who make it hard to redeem vouchers for ther incompentance buts it is a cold day in hell trying to rip off this ol shister.Book online the way to go:D :D

 

Wait until you have a problem, the dinosaurs will be too busy helping all their clients change flights, change cruises etc. Don't forget 9/11, the New Orleans hurricane, or the cancun hurricanes...those with travel agents were able to make alternative plans quickly for the most part. I have to agree with Mikedw..crazy busy here too!

[Zeno]

A good TA (and I am not impressed with OPs) will really go to bat for you ESPECIALLY when difficulties arise. On our last NCL cruise (one of the NOLA cruises that had to be switched to Miami after the hurricane) our TA REALLY earned her commission getting everything straightened out to our complete satisfaction.

 

OPs problems sound very odd - her getting the invoice directly instead of it going to the TA (my TA checks the invoice in detail for discrepancies before passing it on to me), difficulties establishing a final price because of payment in Canadian funds (I am Canadian and my TA has NO problem getting us the final price in U.S. OR Canadian funds), having to deal directly with NCL to resolve problems (my TA has spent hours getting stuff resolved for me).

[BeachBumMama]

I'm with the others in thinking this problem may have something to do with the TA. No, NCL service isn't A+, but once you get a price you get a price. I think the TA could have messed up somewhere along the line. Your booking has a price and that's what you pay. NCL doesn't care where the money comes from, but that price has to be paid by final payment date... period. I've never heard of fluctuations, them automatically giving you the sale price, then asking for more money. They have a booking # and a price on it and as long as that original price is paid that's all they care about.

 

I could be wrong (been known to happen a time or two:p ), but it sounds like things went too out of whack for just NCL to be blamed. It think the TA was at fault somewhere and then had to correct it all.

 

Regardless, get it all behind you and have a great time!:D

[canadiangirl77]

i'd like it all behind me excepttttt .. who's to say they wont come back later for more money. Neither NCL or the TA is willing to send me anyting IN WRITING stating this is FINAL after i pay this $80 - it's very frustrating!

[mikedw]

If the TA won't send an invoice, I would be leary of using them. We book a cruise for a client, the cruise line sends us a agent and a guest copy of the invoice. Then we do one in our system which is a bit fancier and that one is sent to the client and it list final price, deposit and remainder and date due. If the client paid with a credit card, it shows up on the cruise line copy immediately, if they pay by cash or check, we guarantee it with a agency check and mail that to the cruise line. I always check a few days later to make sure it made it to the cruse line and I have them send me another invoice reflecting that they got it. That's how it's supposed to be legitimately done.