Call your agent if you don't have a cabin assigned!

[Carol_Hill]

What really surprises me is that they allowed you to board the ship. What if you had just "disappeared" somewhere, instead of parking near the pursers desk? How would they "finid" you to debark you? Seems to me they wouldn't have let you on without being pretty sure that they were going to be assigning a cabin. (not that I doubt you, I'm just supposing here).

 

Either way, glad to hear that it all worked out and that you received some compensation as well for your upset (dinner and wine).

 

We actually were discussing that with the other couple, as 5 PM approached--what would happen if we just disappeared instead of sitting patiently (OK, not too patiently) by the purser's desk????? We discussed what would happen, whether we would prevent the ship from sailing, if we just disappeared..... We dismissed the idea pretty quickly, but it did give us pause, as to what they would do. They were pretty nonchalant. The other couple were told specifically that they would have to get off. They never told us that, in so many words. Just said there were no cabins--which seemed to be the same thing......

[nycruiser80]

Not sure how they determine who goes. I know for overbooked flights first they ask volunteers. They usually have a credit voucher for another flight or they offer you biz class on the next flight to make it more appealing. But if there are no bites then they usually start bumping people without seat assignments. That is why with airline tickets its advisable to get seat assignments before the flight. Though this can be difficult because most airlines limit the amount of seats that can be pre-assigned.

 

Honestly, as much as I love travel it can get stressful because I have seen many people go through a lot. They key is to be patient, compliant but always question and be forceful in a polite way. Never be nasty.

 

At the end of the day all of this stress is caused by travel companies...cruise lines...airlines worrying about their profits. That is why people get bumped.

[MYSTIQUES]

We actually were discussing that with the other couple, as 5 PM approached--what would happen if we just disappeared instead of sitting patiently (OK, not too patiently) by the purser's desk????? We discussed what would happen, whether we would prevent the ship from sailing, if we just disappeared..... We dismissed the idea pretty quickly, but it did give us pause, as to what they would do. They were pretty nonchalant. The other couple were told specifically that they would have to get off. They never told us that, in so many words. Just said there were no cabins--which seemed to be the same thing......

Hi, your making me so nervous! I'm sailing Friday 1/9/09 in a bb guaranteed cabin and still have no room assigned. Called TA today and told her about this post and she said not to worry, she said in her 18 years she has never heard of anyone being told they would have to disembark. Did the other couples have to get off the ship? Should I call NCL? This should be a stress-free weekend and I'm Stressed!

[beachchick]

What I don't get is that you all were able to check in. You need your cabin number to do that because it's tied to your ship card. Did they just check you in, take your photo, and issue you a "generic" card? Did the porters take your checked bags, which should have been tagged with your cabin number? Bizarre!

 

I'm glad it worked out, but I'd be ticked too. I'm not one to say "compensation" for every little thing, but I think a couple of rounds of drinks or a bottle of wine for each cabin would not have been amiss. That's just good customer relations. And it does concern me that they would let anyone onboard who might not even have a cabin--All of our CC members are wonderful, but you just never know about those "other" pax.

 

Sure, we all know that airlines routinely overbook and ask people to give up their seats, but it's a bit more complex when it involves a cruise. We even volunteer to be bumped on flights if there's no rush to get wherever. We wouldn't volunteer to give up our cabin unless the upside was an upgrade to a suite on a later cruise.

 

beachchick

[Carol_Hill]

Hi, your making me so nervous! I'm sailing Friday 1/9/09 in a bb guaranteed cabin and still have no room assigned. Called TA today and told her about this post and she said not to worry, she said in her 18 years she has never heard of anyone being told they would have to disembark. Did the other couples have to get off the ship? Should I call NCL? This should be a stress-free weekend and I'm Stressed!

 

Mystiques--I can pretty much guarantee you (with someone ELSE's money! :) ) that the ship is overbooked for Friday, as they were selling it dirt cheap for balcony cabins, even cheaper than our sailing. Tell your agent you need them to call NCL NOW. I'm not kidding. If your travel agent would like to talk to my travel agent, I can give you her number, if you can give me an email or something. My TA had never heard of this either in 12 years of booking cruises. Have them call NCL and make a stink, and take names.

 

One other couple we knew of were given a cabin, after we got ours. There was a third couple in our situation, which we found out from our TA, but we never saw them onboard, so I don't know what happened to them, as to whether they had to get off or not.

[Carol_Hill]

What I don't get is that you all were able to check in. You need your cabin number to do that because it's tied to your ship card. Did they just check you in, take your photo, and issue you a "generic" card? Did the porters take your checked bags, which should have been tagged with your cabin number? Bizarre!

 

 

beachchick

 

Beachchick--they gave us a generic keycard, with a cabin number assigned as 9999. Did the same with the other couple we met. When we got to the ship, the purser's desk TOOK those cards, so I have no idea whether they would have worked to purchase drinks or not. We did not give the porters our bags because we just had a rolly bag each and a computer bag, and had intended to just take them to the cabin ourselves. That was one of the worst things. During the whole 3 hours we sat there, RIGHT in front of the purser's desk, no one offered to take our bags and hold them, so we could go enjoy the ship. And we couldn't have a drink to calm our nerves, as we couldn't pay for it.. We took turns going to get a quick bite to eat--about 3:30--so we wouldn't have to haul the bags. The other couple with us gave their bags to the porters, and I guess they did get their bags eventually, as they weren't wearing the same clothes all weekend! :)

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

While stressful, the end result sounds as if noone was bumped, that obviously, there WERE no-shows. I don't think that anyone should panic though as obviously, you did get what you paid for in the end. Suggesting that everyone have their T/A call to get a specific cabin would kind of negate the whole GTY booking waiting game, right? If you don't want to play the GTY game and need peace of mind, book a specific cabin. While similar in practice with airlines, the options are obviously much more limited...typically airlines have multiple flights daily to the destination and can use other carriers to transport if necessary; the cruiselines probably don't have this option very often.

 

Also, I wonder why the cruiselines would be overbooking agressively...wouldn't a no-show be within the 100% penalty phase whereas the line would still maintain the funds paid? Even with insurance, doesn't the line still get paid? But, I guess that the initial cruise fare paid is hardly the profitable portion of the revenue intake as the on-board incurred expenses probably generate the real cash to survive.

 

Bottom line, panicking will not produce a better result than remaining calm and rolling with the punches. Relax and let what will be, be. A lot of folks probably book a GTY cabin for financial reasons...costs less and higher upgrade potential...only cabin available in that category without stepping up to the next category. You have to realize this is indeed a gamble. I hope that lady luck is on your side for all of you with GTY cabins...best of luck on a comp upgrade. Face it...we hear a lot more on this board about people getting a BA for a BD GTY than we do about anyone getting 'bumped' off the ship altogether...and if that were common, it would be all over this board...that's for sure. ;)

[webecruzin2]

To the OP, I'm so so sorry about what happend to you! That should have never happened, although IMO it's hard to tell who dropped the ball.

I've just retired from the airlines and I can tell you it was one of the worst parts of my job to have to tell someone they are involuntarily bumped off a flight. I've never heard of a cruise line doing it but hotels and car rental companys do this too.

And as others have said it's just to maximize revenue, but you'd think the cruiselines could manage their numbers better than airlines or hotels.

I have seen many times when TA's who have misbooked clients by waitlisting or inputting another type of status code that does not actually confirm the client on the flight and they get to the airport and yell at the agent. That doesn't happen often, but it does happen. And then sometimes the link between the airline's system and the travel agent's system sends a cancellation message in error and cancels the client's seat. That happens alot!

But when the flight is overbooked here is how it is worked:

All passengers with confirmed seats who have checked in and those who have checked in before the last of the seats are assigned are okay.

Usually the day before or a few hours before the flight the agent working it will go throught the pax list and try to seat familys together. Sometimes they will call people to move them to another flight. Next they will give seats to all premium passengers who do not have prereserved seats.

(Platinums,Golds and full fare).

Then it's up to the passengers who don't have seat assignments (and those who do!) to check in early! The first ones there get the seats.

However, if you check in at home and then try to run up to the gate at the last minute you can still be bumped. You must checkin at the Airport at least 30 mins before departure or you can be SOL. (Some airports it's 45 minutes)

Did the OP check in early? Did the T/A 's computer system send the wrong message? Why didn't the cruise line contact the pax or the T/A before hand to advise them they may be bumped? It's obvious someone dropped the ball here, but I'm glad you were accomodated and that it worked out okay for you. I would have been livid, I can tell you that!

[Carol_Hill]

rickechambers--I was perfectly willing to play the 'guarantee' game. I was NOT willing to be told I DON'T HAVE A CABIN AT ALL. If I were booked on the January 9 sailing of the Sky, like the one other poster here, yeah, I would be having kittens, cause I bet she gets the same cr*p that we did. Ultimately, we got on, but after 3 hours of sitting by the purser's desk, basically being told 'we're sorry, we don't have a cabin'.

 

With regard to the travel agent, as I have said several times in this thread--my TA did nothing wrong. NCL screwed it up. My paperwork said BE GTY, up to the morning of sailing. If in fact, something really bad happened and they had overbooked, they COULD HAVE called us and at least the one other couple and offered us another sailing or something, when things looked bad. I found out afterward that my TA called a couple of OTHER times after we knew about, including the day before our sailing, and she was given the same BS by NCL. We live in Florida and drove to the pier. If there was a big problem and they told us the day before "hey, we're sorry, we screwed up. How about if we put you on this other sailing instead in X cabin and give you X onboard credit". I would have been very disappointed, but I would have felt they gave a cr*p about us.

 

And with regard to checking in early, if you had read the rest of the thread, you would have seen that we checked in at 1:15, the other couple that I know of checked in at 2 PM. I never met the third couple, don't know their story, or even if they even got on the ship. The only way I knew about the third couple is my TA told me about them. The couple that we did get to know had a totally different TA than us, and again, they had booked a balcony guarantee. NCL is pulling a stunt with the balcony cabins on the Sky, trying to get people to book the Sky because of the cheap price for the balcony cabins, which is exactly what we did. They got caught overselling the ship. And, as I said, I bet it's oversold for this Friday also.

[webecruzin2]

Again, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I'm also sorry if it sounded as if I was blaming you, I wasn't. Just presenting possibilities on all sides but ultimately it was NCL's bad. The least they could have done was called you, I agree 100 %. Like I said, I've never heard of a cruise line doing this before but thank you for letting us know that it does happen so the rest of us can avoid it happening to us in the future.

Hope your next cruise is a stress-free and happy one.:)

[Carol_Hill]

I am of course still steamed that this happened to us, but as I said, I believe they are overbooking that ship on purpose in balcony cabins and I hope to keep the same stuff from happening to someone else.

 

I know that Princess got caught doing some heavy overbooking a few years ago, and while it didn't involve me personally, I understood at the time that they were calling people right before the cruise, offering them other cruises to buy them out of their cabin. I don't know that they allowed people to just show up and then tell them they didn't have a cabin.

 

The analogy to flight overbooking is just not a good analogy. It's apples and oranges. If your flight is overbooked, chances are you can probably get there some other way. If your cruise is overbooked, you're just scr*wed.

[webecruzin2]

I am of course still steamed that this happened to us, but as I said, I believe they are overbooking that ship on purpose in balcony cabins and I hope to keep the same stuff from happening to someone else.

 

I know that Princess got caught doing some heavy overbooking a few years ago, and while it didn't involve me personally, I understood at the time that they were calling people right before the cruise, offering them other cruises to buy them out of their cabin. I don't know that they allowed people to just show up and then tell them they didn't have a cabin.

 

The analogy to flight overbooking is just not a good analogy. It's apples and oranges. If your flight is overbooked, chances are you can probably get there some other way. If your cruise is overbooked, you're just scr*wed.

 

I agree, I was just saying, not comparing, I should have made myself clearer. I don't mean to upset you anymore than you have been.

You are 100% right! Like I said if I were in your shoes there'd be h*** to pay!;)

[mylesf]

I am of course still steamed that this happened to us, but as I said, I believe they are overbooking that ship on purpose in balcony cabins and I hope to keep the same stuff from happening to someone else.

 

I know that Princess got caught doing some heavy overbooking a few years ago, and while it didn't involve me personally, I understood at the time that they were calling people right before the cruise, offering them other cruises to buy them out of their cabin. I don't know that they allowed people to just show up and then tell them they didn't have a cabin.

 

The analogy to flight overbooking is just not a good analogy. It's apples and oranges. If your flight is overbooked, chances are you can probably get there some other way. If your cruise is overbooked, you're just scr*wed.

 

As steamed as you still are over this, I am guessing if you cruise again, with any cruise line you will not book a GTY cabin and pay more to have an assigned cabin.

[Carol_Hill]

You are correct, I will not book a guaranty cabin again. I was not EXPECTING anything at all in the way of an upgrade, other than to possibly to a higher category balcony cabin, which basically makes zero difference on the Sky anyway. Other than the balconies aft, I think the various categories mean nothing at all, other than location on the ship, which made no difference. I don't think you some of you guys get it--I was perfectly willing to not have an assigned cabin right away at the time of booking. I was not prepared to get to the ship and be told I don't have a cabin, PERIOD. Think about it for a minute, and I think you would agree. And, btw, this was around cruise number 34 for us, not sure of the exact number. We had not sailed on NCL for 15 years, and I would say that we will not sail with NCL again, as their customer service in this instance was pretty darn lacking.

 

To webecrusin--I am not mad at you. Some other people who have responded in this thread don't seem to get it though.

[mylesf]

You are correct, I will not book a guaranty cabin again. I was not EXPECTING anything at all in the way of an upgrade, other than to possibly to a higher category balcony cabin, which basically makes zero difference on the Sky anyway. Other than the balconies aft, I think the various categories mean nothing at all, other than location on the ship, which made no difference. I don't think you some of you guys get it--I was perfectly willing to not have an assigned cabin right away at the time of booking. I was not prepared to get to the ship and be told I don't have a cabin, PERIOD. Think about it for a minute, and I think you would agree. And, btw, this was around cruise number 34 for us, not sure of the exact number. We had not sailed on NCL for 15 years, and I would say that we will not sail with NCL again, as their customer service in this instance was pretty darn lacking.

 

To webecrusin--I am not mad at you. Some other people who have responded in this thread don't seem to get it though.

 

I am not following you here on the Expected upgrade? If all you wanted was a balcony but a higher category, that in the crusieline industry, is an upgrade. The general rule when booking a GTY is if you are going to get an upgrade it is usually within the cabin meta you booked: inside/inside, balcony/balcony. It rarely is an inside/balcony, those are usually upsold to other passengers willing to pay a little more for the cabin. I do know that NCL has lots of storage for passengers that can not get into their cabins when they board the ship. Did you ask them if they would store your luggage? Why wait for them to ask? I would have dumbed the luggage and enjoyed the ship even if it was for a limited time.

[CruisnGram]

This happens on a daily basis with airlines. My job requires me to do a lot of air travel and I can tell you that this is the norm within the airline industry. Just like the OP, they book and paid for their airline ticket, ticket was issued by the airline only to get to the airport an realize they have no seat on the aircraft! They are put on the a waitlist and have to hope for a no-show or someone else willing to give up their seat so you can travel.

 

Now THIS has me nervous! LOL I'm already nervous about flying in to Ft. Lauderdale the same day as our cruise and if we're bumped from our flight, I'm gonna die right there. :)

 

Any tips on how to avoid this? We're flying Air Tran and you can check in online 24 hours before the flight. If we check in online, I'm assuming they will assign seats? Will that guarantee us we won't be wait listed?

 

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

CG

[webecruzin2]

Now THIS has me nervous! LOL I'm already nervous about flying in to Ft. Lauderdale the same day as our cruise and if we're bumped from our flight, I'm gonna die right there. :)

 

Any tips on how to avoid this? We're flying Air Tran and you can check in online 24 hours before the flight. If we check in online, I'm assuming they will assign seats? Will that guarantee us we won't be wait listed?

 

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

CG

Go back a few posts and read my thread. Hope this helps.:)Only problem with Air Tran is I don't think they have any agreeements with other airlines. That means if you're bumped they will not accomodate you on American or United or the other big carriers. (Unless this has changed in the 3 months since I retired). Not meant to scare you but just letting you know.

[mylesf]

Now THIS has me nervous! LOL I'm already nervous about flying in to Ft. Lauderdale the same day as our cruise and if we're bumped from our flight, I'm gonna die right there. :)

 

Any tips on how to avoid this? We're flying Air Tran and you can check in online 24 hours before the flight. If we check in online, I'm assuming they will assign seats? Will that guarantee us we won't be wait listed?

 

Thanks for any help you can give.

 

CG

 

Since you can not fly in the day before and it has been a long time since I have used Air Tran, the key would be getting an assigned seat. Do they do pre-assigned seats? If so make sure you have one so when you check-in on-line your boarding pass will have you in a seat. If they do not do seat assignment until you get to the airport, the earlier the better. There is no guarantee you will not be waitlisted. If you are, how many more flights do they have going to Ft. Lauderdale that day and will it get you to the ship in time? Also, if you can not get on your flight, look at flying into Miami as your first choice and second option would be West Palm Beach....Just a couple of thoughts.

[CruisnGram]

Go back a few posts and read my thread. Hope this helps.:)Only problem with Air Tran is I don't think they have any agreeements with other airlines. That means if you're bumped they will not accomodate you on American or United or the other big carriers. (Unless this has changed in the 3 months since I retired). Not meant to scare you but just letting you know.

 

Thanks. I found your post after I posted mine. We always get there early and you can bet I am going to doing online check in the moment I'm allowed to (24 hours before the flight). I have no idea if they will assign us a seat when I do the online check in or not, but I'm thinking that they will. If I get that, and arrive early, we should be fine. I've seen many people over the years standing at the gate trying to get on a plane that didn't have their seat assignment yet. And I've seen reps asking people to give up their seats. So I'm thinking if we can just get that seat assignment, we should be good. In addition, it's an early morning flight, so I'm hoping that most people won't be booked that early and will be talking a flight later in the day...I can wish can't I? :)

 

CG

[garycarla]

re: Airline bumping.

 

Yes, they overbook. Yes they bump. BUT, it is very rare that somebody gets bumped that has not already volunteered. Only time that happens is when there have been cancellations and there is a backup of people trying to fly. I have flown way too much and have never seen people not get on if they wanted to. Yes, it happens, but very very rare. You will be fine.

 

To help yourself, go online and KNOW what other flight options are out there. But really, you will be fine. They always ask for volunteers and there always folks that will take a delay for the freebies offered.

 

And, this whole thread is the first time I have ever seen it happen on a cruiseship. I am sure it has happened, but it must be very very rare.

And, even in this case,they did sail. Do not forget that part of this story. They did sail.

 

So, even in this report, nobody got bumped off the ship.

[Carol_Hill]

mylesf---No, you did not read my post, I booked a BE guarantee, which is the cheapest balcony cabin.

 

As far as the luggage, yes, I should have asked them to store it for me. Shame on me. We kept thinking that there would be a resolution soon. At one point, one of the ladies at the front desk asked if we had had anything to eat. I said "No, I have my bags here, and I don't want to carry them around". She gave me NO response at all. I took that to mean that they would NOT keep our luggage for us, as if they would do that, she should have offered to do that, at that point. We then took turns and went and got some food.

[Carol_Hill]

garycarla--do you work for NCL?? You seem to be awfully protective of them...

 

Oh, and actually, I don't know for sure that no one was bumped off the ship, as I'm not sure what happened to the third couple. I never saw them.

[watchdiva]

The bottom line appears to be that all ended well - more stressful than one would wish but at least a positive outcome.

 

In 20+ years of sailing we've never booked a guarantee but always a specific cabin and after reading this entire thread about your experience with booking a guarantee, I'm more glad than ever that we book specific cabins......

[Carol_Hill]

Stressful isn't really a strong enough word. BUT a good part of my reason for going on with this is that I think there are other people, THIS weekend, who are going to be in the same position we were in. One person who responded in this thread is sailing this Friday, with a balcony guarantee, and they don't have a cabin yet. I don't want other people to go through what we did, if they can help it. Maybe they can get their agent to call NCL and demand some answers.

[MYSTIQUES]

Hi Carol. just wanted to say thank you, you probably saved me hours of grief! Called TA again and got the cabin assigned! we booked a BB gty and that's what we got. I'm just glad we got a cabin! I'm looking forward to a stress free week-end. Thanks!