NCL Price Adjustments After Booking

[smeyer418]

I am not sure this is on point or not but its not just NCL

 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/09/06/apple.price.cut.ap/index.html

[jaja]

I am new at this...my first cruise is in December. We haven't made final payment yet..it's due this month.

Our TA called yesterday..he got us moved up a deck...and a 100 reduction in price, and a small online board credit is still in place. He said he was on the phone with NCL for a while...but made it happen. But again, he has been the best TA...has answered all our questions..no matter how trivial they have been. I talked to several TAs before I decided on him...from the first phone conversation, I felt like I was dealing with a real professional.

A $100 isn't a lot...but my friend and I are very happy with it..and what we are paying for the cruise.

 

I am really happy for you.(re: successful negotiations for new rate,etc)..and jealous that you have found such a professional and dilligent TA -don't loose her/him!!!! I know we can't mention names...etc..but I am curious...are they B&M or internet TA..?

[Hobbsey]

Thanks for the link.

 

I guess the main difference (for me) is that those early I-Phone users gott heir purchase, took it home and immediately began using it. If that I-phone had been left in the box, unused, then it could have been returned and repurchased at the new price.

 

In the case of a cruise, it's never used until one boards the ship. I don't think any or us here (at least not me) has a problem with different sailings being priced differently. However, if the ship hasn't sailed then the price structure remains fluid and anyone that books that cruise should be open for the best price possible.

 

That's in my opinion.

[pieshops]

However, if the ship hasn't sailed then the price structure remains fluid and anyone that books that cruise should be open for the best price possible.

 

using that logic, if the price was to go up, should the cruiseline then send bills to all booked?

[smeyer418]

Thanks for the link.

 

I guess the main difference (for me) is that those early I-Phone users gott heir purchase, took it home and immediately began using it. If that I-phone had been left in the box, unused, then it could have been returned and repurchased at the new price.

 

In the case of a cruise, it's never used until one boards the ship. I don't think any or us here (at least not me) has a problem with different sailings being priced differently. However, if the ship hasn't sailed then the price structure remains fluid and anyone that books that cruise should be open for the best price possible.

 

That's in my opinion.

Apple announced it was going to give an $100 store credit for people who bought the iphone at full initial price.

[Hobbsey]

No, I am saying the best price possible for the pax, not for the cruiseline.

 

Certainly it would make sense that as space is getting scarse on a ship that the price would go up, not down. I am arguing for rewarding the early booking rather than penalizing it. I am also not saying that it should be an automatic reduction, I am OK for it being based on a pax request.

 

At the end of the day I think that it's hard to make a sensible case for denying a proven supportive customer (early booker) the better price (at least outside of final payment date) while rewarding those who wait for the last minute deal because the cruise line didn't manage the inventory well or market the product well in advance of the cruise.

 

In many cases these inventory problems arise because the cruise line has assigned tons of cabin space to agencies who hold them as group but sell them one at a time. Suddenly, 2 or 3 months or before sailing this unsold inventory comes back to the cruiseline and they have to try and sell it.

 

Well, if I booked 9 months in advance, the cruise line has had my deposit money in their accounts, and now I find that the cabin next door (or worse a better catagory cabin in the ship) is going for less and I can't take advantage of the deal.

 

Where is the logic on that? Especially for a company and an industry that should be trying as hard as possible to create repeat cruisers.

[Hobbsey]

Apple is a company that understands how to keep it most loyal customers coming back.

[pieshops]

i can only state my experiences.

 

we book early because we have 2 children with is ( 8 and 3) and cabin location really matters to us.

 

We are going to Bermuda in October on the Crown and wanted a cabin close to midship and low on the ship ( we later moved up to the lido deck, but are still kind of mid ship) because of the chance for rough seas on the Bermuda voyage.

 

so we book early to get the cabin we want, i would not want to book last minute to Bermuda and wind up in the front of the ship in high seas.

[vacation fool]

Actually I am one of the "idiots" that has to book early to secure holidays at work.

 

I am also one of those idiots. But by booking early i have saved $234 for our cabin and was upgraded once by TA due to a price drop. The prices have only gone up on this particular sailing......so i guess it depends.:)

[Ted Pulaski]

Maximize Your Hard Earned Vacation Dollars!!

If you can Drive a Better Deal With Any Other Vacation...

Go For It...

If enough consumers reject NCL's Policy...

NCL will change the Policy...

[plane2port]

Hobbsey, you mentioned in one of your posts that your email was open to everyone. I looked at your profile and it says "no contact information available." Would like to email you re: what you mention in your post. Thanks,

 

Leigh

[P&D_LTC]

I booked balcony cabin (upgraded from BE to BB) on the Gem for December 22, 2007 on a cruise last year November on the Dawn. Not only did I get an "upgrade but I got the early booking discount and the book on the cruise discount". What? Are you kidding?

 

About a month ago, I decided that the cost for the balcony cabin was way too much. I checked an internet provider and the cost was almost $1000 less for the balcony.

 

Called NCL and asked if they would match the price and they refused. I cancelled the cruise with NCL and rebooked via a phone call to the internet provider. I was able to transfer over all payments/discounts to my new reservation.

 

Oh yeah by the way I now have a cat. BA. I will NEVER book directly with NCL again.

[vacation fool]

Hobbsey, you mentioned in one of your posts that your email was open to everyone. I looked at your profile and it says "no contact information available." Would like to email you re: what you mention in your post. Thanks,

 

Leigh

 

Ditto:D

[nicknack]

Apple announced it was going to give an $100 store credit for people who bought the iphone at full initial price.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20624042/

 

No one hold their breath waiting for NCL to follow this good business example. Truly an example of fine business practices contrasted with the very worst.

[bkozer1]

The problem that NCL is going to find is that other cruise lines will honor lower pricing up to at least final payment. If they are going to remain competative (and frankly, it is becoming VERY competitive in the cruising industry) they are going to have to change their policy eventually. Right now all they are doing is "turning people off" with this policy. Come on NCL, there are plenty of other cruise lines out there that we can go to and will honor lower rates. ..

 

Yes I agree NCL has turned me OFF to them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad:

If I book with NCL again I WILL WAIT TILL THE LAST MIN.

[roboref]

I think this is a very good argument for NCL to reduce a deposited cabin if the price goes down prior to final payment and stop the irritating "new" bookings only sham.

 

Obviously no one forced Apple to provide this credit, they chose to in order to not drive away customers that they need. Also many argue that no company can afford to reduce a price after it is purchased.

 

I can certainly see where NCL's policy will drive away some former repeat customers by not matching a lower price or will suffer when customers choose to wait till last minute to purchase a cruise. Can you imagine the bean counters dismay when a ship 60 days prior to sailing is only half full. You can bet they will do some serious price adjustments then. So in the meantime they have simply driven former happy customers away for the maybe one time cruiser. When in this example they could just have adjusted the early bookers cabin which was already sold and then sold additional cabins for the same price.

 

We also have to recognize that the cruise industry is going to be affected by econmic considerations as the home mortgage credit crunch and fuel prices go up that fewer folks will be able to cruise. However if NCL continues to avoid offering a price reduction when same category cabins go down, then I have the option to go on a different cruise or go on some other vacation.

Bravo Apple!

[smeyer418]

but Apple only returned 1/2 of the difference. The cost has been reduced by $200 and the store credit is $100.00 I would BET they expect less than a 100% redemption(and I expect they expect less than a 50% redemption if past rebate policies are any indication). Many of the intial purcashes were resold at a profit-since it was so hard to get...who gets the rebate?

 

Is it ok for NCL only to allow 1/2 the difference. Apple is no different than NCL a store credit is not the same as money back...IMO.

 

BTW I don't have much sympathy for the Iphone purchasers. Its rare that a new item doesn't get discounted after a few months. The people who were standing in line wanted the latest gadget to show off from the start. Now that the price has dropped some vocal ones who wanted the "in" thing are complaining. As I said many if not most of the people who bought it won't use the partial rebate...

[Hobbsey]

The I-Phone and a Cruise are two different things. One can assume anyone buying the I-phone when it was first on sale immediately started using it. On the other hand, I booked my cruise in February, paid in full in July and am not even on board yet. So, for them to give $100 says alot about how they value their most loyal customers.

 

I am happy with my price however as my original TA got one that has not been matched by the cruise line and now the ship is full.

 

For anyone looking for my email address, apparently CC does not allow us to post them in here (I had a post deleted because it was there) nor do they allow contact info in the profile any longer.

 

I did, however, post my Yahoo messenger address in my profile.

[smeyer418]

I am pretty sure you can put it in your signature

[actraveler]

Reading through this thread reminded me of why I haven't taken NCL in 15 years!

 

At the time, we were a party of 6 in 3 cabins. Long story short, a bunch of stuff happened for which NCL acknowledged and apologized with on-board credits on a future cruise. We used those credits, but never went back after the 2nd cruise because we just didn't feel that we received a quality vacation- twice. Mostly the problem was with "Customer Service Policies".

 

Here's why I even read this thread. On 9/4, I booked a cruise on the Pearl and paid in full. On 9/5, the same cruise was advertised at a lower price with a $50 cabin credit AND a coupon book "worth up to $300".

 

Guess where I am? Screee-ewed. :mad:

 

Thanks NCL for reminding me why I haven't come back for 15 years. I had hoped the new ships and the new advertising campaigns conveyed a new "Customer Service" attitude, only to reinforce why I have chosen Celebrity and Princess instead for the last 15 years.

 

I'm paying more, and there's nothing I can do about it. I hope the cruise is at least pleasant!:)

 

Hal

[smeyer418]

Reading through this thread reminded me of why I haven't taken NCL in 15 years!

 

At the time, we were a party of 6 in 3 cabins. Long story short, a bunch of stuff happened for which NCL acknowledged and apologized with on-board credits on a future cruise. We used those credits, but never went back after the 2nd cruise because we just didn't feel that we received a quality vacation- twice. Mostly the problem was with "Customer Service Policies".

 

Here's why I even read this thread. On 9/4, I booked a cruise on the Pearl and paid in full. On 9/5, the same cruise was advertised at a lower price with a $50 cabin credit AND a coupon book "worth up to $300".

 

Guess where I am? Screee-ewed. :mad:

 

Thanks NCL for reminding me why I haven't come back for 15 years. I had hoped the new ships and the new advertising campaigns conveyed a new "Customer Service" attitude, only to reinforce why I have chosen Celebrity and Princess instead for the last 15 years.

 

I'm paying more, and there's nothing I can do about it. I hope the cruise is at least pleasant!:)

 

Hal

 

I am not positive but I think this a TA promotion and not NCL...does any one know for sure?

[Cuizer2]

I am not sure this is on point or not but its not just NCL

 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/09/06/apple.price.cut.ap/index.html

 

 

The difference is, Apple realized what it was doing, and did something to correct it ...

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20624042/

 

If NCL wants to model is business after the cell phone companies, who are known for being customer unfriendly, that is NCL's choice. Fortunately there are other cruise lines out there that still value customer service.

[actraveler]

I am not positive but I think this a TA promotion and not NCL...does any one know for sure?

 

This is a joint offering by the TA and NCL through the agency.

 

Agency says NCL won't budge because it is for new bookings only.

 

Waiting for a call back from agency manager to ask why I wasn't made aware of the promotion for the next day. Clearly, the agency had knowledge the day I booked. These promotional campaigns have to be planned on well in advance.

 

In the meantime, the front line TA on the phone says NCL won't budge.

 

Hal

[jdarch]

As OP, I guess I get the option to recap:

- Since it was brought up, the fact that there are now three pages of new posts about what, according to some, was "old" news about the "new" NCL Customer Service is precisely WHY this gets hashed and rehashed on here.

- Just because a cruiser books at a pricey rate doesn't implicitly say they are okay with that rate. Perhaps they are going with reps' suggestions that the rate may go down. Perhaps its the only cruise close to what the traveler wants being offered. Can you say over a barrel?

- When the line raves about "Pity the Procrastinators" and then posts lower rates for those procrastinators, who is to pity?

- When a business who is business IS customer service won't honor a rate change policy that their reps hype, what does this say about how they feel about their clientele (read as "TURKEY!")

- I am most puzzled over why cruisers who share their experiences here (maybe to the benefit of others) get roasted by other members that, unless they hold NCL stock, gain little by their negativity.

[smeyer418]

This is a joint offering by the TA and NCL through the agency.

 

Agency says NCL won't budge because it is for new bookings only.

 

Waiting for a call back from agency manager to ask why I wasn't made aware of the promotion for the next day. Clearly, the agency had knowledge the day I booked. These promotional campaigns have to be planned on well in advance.

 

In the meantime, the front line TA on the phone says NCL won't budge.

 

Hal

thanks for taking the time to respond.