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

[Northender]

Carol, sorry to hear about this. Still wish you would do a review:cool:

 

I know a few people who have had the "jitters" waiting for their GTY cabin.

I have never done this and will not do it in the future.

 

garycarla - I know you say you don't work for NCL but looking at your profile, most of your cruises have been with them. Also, you have a link for folks to go to a post on NCL. If it is your fav line, just say so. Mine is Princess.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=852599

Even that link has a link for cruising on NCL. Your cruises are listed below:

 

NCL Pearl Miami-Panama-Seattle 4/13/08

NCL Spirit New Orleans 11/25/07

NCL Spirit New England 9/30/07

NCL Spirit -NYC , 9/29/07

NCL Sun from New Orleans 3/25/07

NCL Jewel Barcelona to Miami 10/21/06

QM2 from New York to England 4/15/06

Alaska via Princess Dawn 5/30/05

Seabourn Pride: NY-FL-Nassau, 10/17/04

Alaska via Carnival Spirit 6/2/04

 

I have sailed NCL also but as stated still consider Princess my favorite.:)

 

You are certainly entitled to the opinion that you feel it all worked out. I would have been so stressed. People work very hard and to get a weekend away on a cruise would be nice. It would take a 7 day cruise for me to relax after all that happened to the OP.:(

 

Carol, hope we meet on Princess someday:D

[garycarla]

Is NCL our favorite. In many ways, yes. We have been close to booking a few others, but fixed dining just does not work for us anymore. I also make regular donations at the casino, and they do give some of that back.

 

We just booked another cruise on NCL- so here we go again.

 

As to the OP and their situation. Yes it was stressful, and from what I can see NCL did not handle it well. They blew that one. But, I just think it is important to point out that these folks did get their cruise. The tone of some postings is they got there and were turned away. Again, NCL blew it!

[Almagetty]

One thing which I don't think I mentioned before in this thread is that, when we got to our cabin, there were bags, MARKED FOR THAT CABIN, sitting outside the door. Obviously, those folks who were supposed to be in that cabin showed up. Otherwise, their luggage wouldn't be there. So, where'd they go?? I guess they got upgraded, which is fine. It certainly looked like there had never been anyone inside the cabin, which means that apparently they were upgraded on the dock. Since people are supposed to arrive at the pier by 3 PM, and it was 5 PM by the time we got to the cabin -- and the bags were already there -- that presumably means that the other folks had been upgraded quite a while before 5 PM. So, why take so long to put us into that cabin?? I got the distinct impression several times during the 3 hours that they didn't have the faintest idea who was in what cabin. At one point, our TA was talking to someone in reservations, who claimed that cabin number x was available. The lady at the front desk said "No, we checked and someone is in that cabin", as we were going to put you there before. How did the person GET into that cabin, unless NCL put them there??? No way to run a railroad..

 

As others have stated before, all of the cruise lines oversell on a lot of their sold out sailings. There are whole departments involved in forecasting things like cancellations and no-shows. The vast majority of times, these forecasts are very accurate and it doesn't end up being an issue. That's not what happened in your case. I am really sorry that it wasn't.

 

In all likelihood, you are right and the people who were assigned to your cabin were upgraded at the pier upon check in. You are also right in your assumption that during the hours of embarkation, they (the purser's desk, the embarkation manager on the pier, and most especially the staff in the main office) probably have very little idea as to who is where, especially when they're dealing with having to accommodate guests in an oversold situation. It's not usually until the very end of the day that the embarkation manager and the Chief Purser have a clear picture of what cabins are open. Checking in an entire ship's worth of people in a very few hours is madness by definition. The ship's "inventory" on sailing day is turned over from the main office to the embarkation staff early in the morning and then to the purser's desk close to sailing time. What seems like a simple task of moving people from one room to another is in actual practice on an embarkation day, quite complicated. I'm not making excuses, but rather, I am trying to explain how these things go. I can see how you would feel frustrated and angry. I do agree that they should have offered to watch your bags for you so that you could go eat and enjoy the ship.

 

And, no, I do not work for NCL. I did work for them a very long time ago, before FreeStyle, and was very involved in trying to find space for guests on oversold sailings.

[Carol_Hill]

Carol, sorry to hear about this. Still wish you would do a review:cool:

 

.......

Carol, hope we meet on Princess someday:D

 

Northender--Sorry, I just don't feel like doing a review, as I know I am not objective about the ship, AT ALL. I do know that there were a WHOLE LOT of things I did not like about this cruise, but if I write a review, everyone will just say that I'm just bashing them because of what happened the first day, and I don't care to put that much more psychological energy into a lost cause, as those three hours were the most stressed out I had been in a while.. I guess, since I took the bar exam this spring! :)

 

Funny thing, though, I got a customer comment card by email from NCL yesterday. It started out something to the effect of "According to our records, your last cruise on the Norweigan Sky was in a suite, ..etc". I wonder if corporate at NCL told them to put us in suite and they just didn't do it on the ship, or whether it was just the usual computer screwup by NCL?? Either way, I called my TA last night, and we both laughed about it.

 

We're on the Emerald Princess this fall.. Back where we belong.. :)

[Carol_Hill]

Almageddy--I certainly have never worked for a cruise line, and I'm sure wouldn't want to, but the only times I've ever heard of this before is people have been called a day or two before sailing and offered money to get off, etc. Never someone showed up and were told there was no cabin. I still don't understand how, in this day and age of computers, that they wouldn't know exactly who was in what cabin, especially if they take somebody OUT of a cabin, to upgrade them. They should know instantaneously that the former cabin is now empty. That I really don't get..

 

Almost what gauled me the most was that they didn't have the guts to admit that they did anything wrong---EVER. They said, "we're giving you this for your inconvenience", but not "we're sorry"-- not ever. They told me originally that it was my TA's fault, which I knew was not correct, claiming that I had booked a waitlist cabin, as opposed to a cat guarantee. I also have a suspicion that the gal that was working the front desk as a 'supervisor' that afternoon probably was not a regular supervisor, because it was a sailing immediately after the holidays, and I figure the regular supervisors were off that day. She just didn't seem to have the "it" to be a supervisor..

 

I will be somewhat interested to see if I get a response to the scathing review I gave of the ship on their email questionnaire. I'm betting not.. :)

[Almagetty]

Almageddy--I certainly have never worked for a cruise line, and I'm sure wouldn't want to, but the only times I've ever heard of this before is people have been called a day or two before sailing and offered money to get off, etc. Never someone showed up and were told there was no cabin. I still don't understand how, in this day and age of computers, that they wouldn't know exactly who was in what cabin, especially if they take somebody OUT of a cabin, to upgrade them. They should know instantaneously that the former cabin is now empty. That I really don't get..

 

Almost what gauled me the most was that they didn't have the guts to admit that they did anything wrong---EVER. They said, "we're giving you this for your inconvenience", but not "we're sorry"-- not ever. They told me originally that it was my TA's fault, which I knew was not correct, claiming that I had booked a waitlist cabin, as opposed to a cat guarantee. I also have a suspicion that the gal that was working the front desk as a 'supervisor' that afternoon probably was not a regular supervisor, because it was a sailing immediately after the holidays, and I figure the regular supervisors were off that day. She just didn't seem to have the "it" to be a supervisor..

 

I will be somewhat interested to see if I get a response to the scathing review I gave of the ship on their email questionnaire. I'm betting not.. :)

 

Even though you don't hear about it often, it does sometimes happen that the ship is oversold at embarkation time. There could be lots of reasons that they couldn't assign you a cabin until later on. They were, quite possibly, waiting and hoping for no-shows. You would be surprised how often there are no-shows on fully paid for cabins. The cabin you were ultimately assigned was, obviously not a no-show cabin if there was luggage there, but it could have been an entertainer's cabin or the cabin assigned to a consultant coming onboard for this or that, and those people would ultimately be moved to crew quarters in order to accommodate paying guests (which involves a whole different set of complications). But, before giving you that cabin, the ship would have to make super sure that the person assigned to that cabin had been notified of the change. Imagine your surprise or embarrassment if you were to walk in on someone else or they on you. There's a million scenarios that could have been in place that would cause the delay in your cabin assignment and also cause the Purser's desk not to be sure of the present status of a cabin.

 

In my opinion, they really should have never blamed your travel agent and they certainly should have apologized. They probably felt that the complimentary dinner and wine were an apology, but sometimes people need to hear the words "I'm sorry".

[Almagetty]

Oh, and Carol, I can tell you unequivocally, that working for the cruise line was THE most fun, exciting and fulfilling job I ever had. If I still lived in South Florida, I would go back in a heartbeat.

[ashtyn]

Ok, as a first time NCL cruiser I have booked a gty cabin for this fall for 14 nights. I usually sail with Princess and usually book a mini gty. I have never had a problem with Princess. I did one time get a call with a nice offer to downgrade to a regular balcony which we did. I was called 2 days before the cruise so if I was offered to sail on another date I would have had no problem with flights.

 

I really don't want my first experience with NCL to turn out this bad or even bad at all. If something like this would happen I would never sail wlith them again.

[garycarla]

Ok, as a first time NCL cruiser I have booked a gty cabin for this fall for 14 nights. I usually sail with Princess and usually book a mini gty. I have never had a problem with Princess. I did one time get a call with a nice offer to downgrade to a regular balcony which we did. I was called 2 days before the cruise so if I was offered to sail on another date I would have had no problem with flights.

 

I really don't want my first experience with NCL to turn out this bad or even bad at all. If something like this would happen I would never sail wlith them again.

 

 

From somebody that spends way too much time on these boards, let me share what I have seen and heard.

 

This is the first time in two years here that I have seen this happen. I am not saying it has not happened, as I am sure it has. But, the point being it is very very rare. A few of the regulars here are TA's and they too have indicated how rare it is. I think you have a better chance of hitting the Wheel of Fortune in the casino compared to getting bumped. Actually, I have never heard of anyone getting actually bumped, yet.

[Almagetty]

ashtyn,

 

I would definitely not worry about this happening to you. Oversold situations rarely make it as far as poor Carol's did last week. If it did happen often, you would read about it all over the internet.

[mylesf]

First, I am glad you got a cabin. Second, I can not believe, due to security reasons, that they would have let you board the ship if they knew they could not get you into a cabin. Upsells happen at the pier and it could have been that they were offering upsells and reaccomodating passengers that had assigned cabins. In addition, not only are upsells offered, before, at the pier, but if available after the ship sails! This happenened on my last cruise with NCL, this past December. I don't agree with everyone saying that NCL really did anything wrong here. You have no idea what was going on behind the scenes to draw a bottom line conclusion. And why would you, you are on vacation, on board the ship. Granted, you have stated over and over you could not enjoy yourself and that is too bad. I would recommend if anyone is in this same, rare situation, and you have boarded the ship, have the ship store your bags and go enjoy the afternoon. Do people get this upset when they try to check-in to a hotel at noon and told that their room will not be available until 3pm? NCL, or any other cruise line, does not guarentee that your cabin is going to be available to you as soon as you board the ship.

[Carol_Hill]

Almageddy--I tell you, when we saw those bags sitting there in front of that cabin, I about lost it! My husband said 'let's knock on the door, see what happens, try the key and see if it looks like anyone has been in the cabin". We stuck our noses in and it looked like no one had been there, but I marched my you know what back down to the purser's desk and asked them "are you SURE there is no one in that cabin, as there are bags there". They said they were sure, and we told the porter who was in the hallway and he took them away.

[newmexicoNita]

We just got off the January 2 sailing of the Sky. We had booked a balcony cabin guarantee, about 3 weeks prior to sailing. We, as well as two other couples arrived at the pier to be told that we had NO cabin assignment, but they let us onboard. Onboard we were told that the ship was totally booked and that we would probably have to disembark. We spent 3 hours by the purser's desk, waiting to hear whether we would be sailing at all. Eventually, at approximately 4:55, we were notified that we did have a cabin, which ended up being a balcony cabin. However, it was extremely stressful, to be told that we would probably have to disembark and it ruined our first day onboard. SO!! If you are due to sail SOON and you still don't have a cabin assignment, have your travel agent call NCL ASAP, and demand that you get a cabin assignment.

 

OMG that is terrible. I have never heard of anything like it, Well at least you got decent cabins out of the mess. I have been cruising for 30 years and been a TA for 10, never have I heard of this. I guess we learn something everyday. As some have said, unforutnately we, as agents can not demand a cabin assignment, We can try like hell, but we are at the mercy of the cruise line.

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

My opinion, which is worth what you're paying for it, ;), is that NCL is overbooking the balcony cabins on the Sky because they are selling it DIRT cheap, as compared to the other cruise lines, for a weekend cruise in a balcony cabin. The January 9 sailing, they were selling for $149 in a balcony, or possibly even cheaper than that. We paid something like $209 or so.

Carol, RCI and Carnival have some pretty cheap rates out there for the short cruises as well.

 

As for no apology, yes one would have been nice, but in today's world the minute a company admits any fault they open the door to law suits. this is sad but so true.

 

Nita

[SwimnwFishes]

For those who might insist that it was a TA mistake, I can assure you, Carol and I use the same TA...and there is NO way on Earth that she made an error.

 

If ANYTHING she over services her customers...and goes out of her way more often than she should to make sure that every little detail is covered and straight.

 

LOL...and I also have to say...I wouldn't want to have been one of the folks Carol was staring at while she "patiently" waited for them to resolve this problem. :eek: I've seen her stare...it ain't comfortable.

 

Carol.....I'm so glad I found you out here...and I'm sorry you had such a horrid cruise. I'm a fan of NCL...but I don't have as much cruising experience as you do and I've never run into anything resembling your problems with them. I hope I never do.

[Carol_Hill]

Cathy--thanks for the support! And I sincerely hope you never have a similar situation either!! :(

 

Let me know if we can get together here in Florida soon!

[Carol_Hill]

Carol, RCI and Carnival have some pretty cheap rates out there for the short cruises as well.

 

As for no apology, yes one would have been nice, but in today's world the minute a company admits any fault they open the door to law suits. this is sad but so true.

 

Nita

 

Nita--I'm a lawyer, admitted to practice in Florida. Whether they apologized or not, it's irrelevant, if they were at fault, which they were. But realistically--what would my damages be, since I got on the ship, in a balcony cabin?? Probably not much, if anything. I have always been a person who accepts responsibility for anything that I screw up. It would be nice if a company would do that also. It never crossed my mind to sue them. If I had been denied passage, yeah, probably I would have thought about it, if they had just said, "here's your money back, have a nice life", which I really doubt would have happened.

 

But being honest, which I generally am, to a fault--my two major reasons for posting this here were 1) a heads up to other pax sailing especially on the Sky in the near future and 2) to POSSIBLY cause them a bit of embarassment. I probably succeeded with number 1. Number 2, I kinda doubt it.

[Carol_Hill]

First, I am glad you got a cabin. Second, I can not believe, due to security reasons, that they would have let you board the ship if they knew they could not get you into a cabin. Upsells happen at the pier and it could have been that they were offering upsells and reaccomodating passengers that had assigned cabins. In addition, not only are upsells offered, before, at the pier, but if available after the ship sails! This happenened on my last cruise with NCL, this past December. I don't agree with everyone saying that NCL really did anything wrong here. You have no idea what was going on behind the scenes to draw a bottom line conclusion. And why would you, you are on vacation, on board the ship. Granted, you have stated over and over you could not enjoy yourself and that is too bad. I would recommend if anyone is in this same, rare situation, and you have boarded the ship, have the ship store your bags and go enjoy the afternoon. Do people get this upset when they try to check-in to a hotel at noon and told that their room will not be available until 3pm? NCL, or any other cruise line, does not guarentee that your cabin is going to be available to you as soon as you board the ship.

 

You don't agree that NCL did anything wrong?? Well, geez, if that's your position, not sure I can explain it to you any plainer than I have already. Obviously, you didn't read anything I posted on this thread.

 

I was NEVER told by ANYONE on the ship that we WOULD in fact have a cabin at ALL, until we got a key at about 4:55 PM, something like that. On the contrary, what we were told was 1) the ship is oversold and 2) we don't have any cabins available. The other couple who were sitting right beside us were SPECIFICALLY told, "you will probably have to disembark".

 

This was NOT a situation of not having a cabin available until 3 PM. Had they said at ANY point during the process "yes, we will definitely find you a cabin, somewhere, even if it's not what you booked", I wouldn't have been so upset. The ONLY person who ever told me that we would definitely have a cabin, before we got that cabin key, was my TA, who was on the phone for about 3 solid hours with NCL corporate, who told me about 4 PM that NCL corporate told HER that we definitely would have a cabin. That made me feel somewhat better, but I wanted to know if NCL corporate told the people on the SHIP that, as that was certainly not what they were telling me. All they were telling me is that they were TRYING to find me a cabin and that they didn't know if they would be able to.

 

If we had known up front we would be sitting there for 3 hours, we would have perhaps acted differently and tried harder to get them take our bags, but they kept saying they were "trying". My feeling was that, in a few minutes, they would tell us either 1) we've got a cabin or 2) you definitely will have to get off.

[mylesf]

You don't agree that NCL did anything wrong?? Well, geez, if that's your position, not sure I can explain it to you any plainer than I have already. Obviously, you didn't read anything I posted on this thread.

 

I was NEVER told by ANYONE on the ship that we WOULD in fact have a cabin at ALL, until we got a key at about 4:55 PM, something like that. On the contrary, what we were told was 1) the ship is oversold and 2) we don't have any cabins available. The other couple who were sitting right beside us were SPECIFICALLY told, "you will probably have to disembark".

 

This was NOT a situation of not having a cabin available until 3 PM. Had they said at ANY point during the process "yes, we will definitely find you a cabin, somewhere, even if it's not what you booked", I wouldn't have been so upset. The ONLY person who ever told me that we would definitely have a cabin, before we got that cabin key, was my TA, who was on the phone for about 3 solid hours with NCL corporate, who told me about 4 PM that NCL corporate told HER that we definitely would have a cabin. That made me feel somewhat better, but I wanted to know if NCL corporate told the people on the SHIP that, as that was certainly not what they were telling me. All they were telling me is that they were TRYING to find me a cabin and that they didn't know if they would be able to.

 

If we had known up front we would be sitting there for 3 hours, we would have perhaps acted differently and tried harder to get them take our bags, but they kept saying they were "trying". My feeling was that, in a few minutes, they would tell us either 1) we've got a cabin or 2) you definitely will have to get off.

 

Last post for me on this issue: I have read all your posts and I still maintain that without all the information, as you are presenting it one sided, I am not willing to fully blame NCL on this one. If you want to take the position that they made you aware and privy to all information than so be it, I do not think they did, so I am not going to assume that they were at fault. Was it a not a pleasant experience for you: No, you have made that clear. If you read my post I indicated that due to security issues, that are much bigger than NCL, had they not been able to accomodate you or they thought you would not get a cabin, they would not allow you to go on board, you would have spent those three hours sitting on the pier. Your previous posts indicated that you don't know what happened to the people you keep referring to. Therefore, they could have sailed. Once again, lack of information being report but drawing to a conclusion. I am done! Moreover, you have made the point you wanted to make to those that are listening and point taken.

[NoName]

I have been reading post after post and finally had to post a reply. If this situation happened to me, it would be the LAST time that I ever sailed with that company.

 

Garycarla's post stating, in red, "IT DID WORK OUT!"....What??? I would say the only way this "worked out" is that NCL lost a repeat customer and that their name and reputation has taken a beating.

 

Carol-Hill, I am so sorry this happened to you. NCL really dropped the ball on customer service. No question, you should have been notified way before you reached the pier. Even so, once on board, you should have been sent to enjoy FREE SPA services while NCL worked out their problem. The chef should have made a special lunch for you, complimentary drinks should have appeared like magic and your luggage should have been taken off your hands immediately. They should have been tripping over themselves to make this right with you.

 

What a devastating way to start your relaxing vacation. I understand how this ruined the whole trip.

 

Kim

[newmexicoNita]

I have been reading post after post and finally had to post a reply. If this situation happened to me, it would be the LAST time that I ever sailed with that company.

 

Garycarla's post stating, in red, "IT DID WORK OUT!"....What??? I would say the only way this "worked out" is that NCL lost a repeat customer and that their name and reputation has taken a beating.

 

Carol-Hill, I am so sorry this happened to you. NCL really dropped the ball on customer service. No question, you should have been notified way before you reached the pier. Even so, once on board, you should have been sent to enjoy FREE SPA services while NCL worked out their problem. The chef should have made a special lunch for you, complimentary drinks should have appeared like magic and your luggage should have been taken off your hands immediately. They should have been tripping over themselves to make this right with you.

 

What a devastating way to start your relaxing vacation. I understand how this ruined the whole trip.

 

Kim

Kim,devastating of course, but would I never sail that line again< I don't think I would go that far as this could happen on any cruiseline. It is very rare, obviously but could happen.

 

Nita

[Carol_Hill]

Yeah, for sure, we will not sail NCL again. Lots of stuff they do that we don't agree with, things they screwed up, not having anything to do with our cabin, and their corporate office is f*ed up. They will not get a penny of my money again.

[Carol_Hill]

Oh, and myslef--I defy anyone from NCL to dispute any single fact I have posted here. And your previous post said NCL was not to blame at all...... Which they were.. Totally..

[garycarla]

Not sure how anyone can say NCL is not too blame for the way they handled this. It was shoddy. I could accept not having a cabin YET, but to imply that they may not have one at all and to make these folks sit there without some kind of apology at least is wrong.

 

 

I would be interested in other issues that you had on the cruise. It may be risky to post, but why not go for it?

[goodml]

Last post for me on this issue: I have read all your posts and I still maintain that without all the information, as you are presenting it one sided, I am not willing to fully blame NCL on this one. If you want to take the position that they made you aware and privy to all information than so be it, I do not think they did, so I am not going to assume that they were at fault. Was it a not a pleasant experience for you: No, you have made that clear. If you read my post I indicated that due to security issues, that are much bigger than NCL, had they not been able to accomodate you or they thought you would not get a cabin, they would not allow you to go on board, you would have spent those three hours sitting on the pier. Your previous posts indicated that you don't know what happened to the people you keep referring to. Therefore, they could have sailed. Once again, lack of information being report but drawing to a conclusion. I am done! Moreover, you have made the point you wanted to make to those that are listening and point taken.

 

You've got to be kidding.:eek: