Upgrade possibility?

[silentlywaiting]

A few days ago my mom booked a cruise through a family friend who is a TA. The TA doesn't specialize in cruises but offered to book the cruise for us. The price I had quoted to my mom from the NCL website had been "X" which included taxes. The TA also said she could get the same price. The travel agent made the reservations and told my mom that the price was now "X+2000" b/c of taxes. Apprently, there was some miscommunication about the price since the TA thought "X" was w/o taxes. I explained to her that "X" included taxes according to the NCL website. She called up NCL and they told her that the price on the website for this particular cabin isn't always available and that the price changes, which I don't understand since the price has been the same for the past few weeks regardless of the particular room within the category. NCL wouldn't give us the advertised price of "X" that included taxes and only gave us OBC of $400.

 

Today, I asked my TA to request an upgrade to A3 since it is the same price as the AB we had paid for. She said that she would look into it. Do you think that NCL will provide us with an upgrade to A3? I feel like we're being ripped off since we're paying the price for an A3 but only getting an AB. A3 is a big difference from an AB since we get access to the courtyward. And $2000 is a lot of money!!! What do you guys think?

[SaySumthing]

I would ask, but I wouldn't bet on it. It would be nice if they did, but they don't have to do anything. I'm sort of surprised you didn't just book through the internet if that was the best price.

[OceanDreaming2]

Ask to transfer your booking direct to NCL. Makes life a lot easier!

[silentlywaiting]

I would have booked through the internet but my mom had already spoken with the TA who is a close family friend. She didn't want to offend her in any way. Plus we thought that it was the same price, "X" including taxes, but the TA thought it was w/o taxes. It was only after the reservations had been made and final payment had been made that we realized that there was a $2000 difference!

[brovol]

Depending on when the cruise is, you may still be able to cancel without penalty. If so, cancel, and rebook the room you want with either a cruise specialist, or ncl directly. (I always book with a cruise broker, because she gets me a better price than I would pay booking directly, and the service is better). Regardless, it sounds like your TA does not know the ins and outs of the cruise business, which will cost you money, and perhaps lead to other problems as well.

[CruisnGram]

This whole thing sounds very strange to me. Taxes do not add up to over $2000 for just a couple people! A couple questions:

 

1) Are you sure that the price you quoted your mother included taxes on the NCL website? When you search for a cruise, the price shown originally does NOT include taxes and port charges and you have to go through a mock booking process in order to get the final price which includes taxes and port charges.

 

2) Are you sure that your TA knows what she/he is talking about? I know it's a family friend, therefore a touchy situation but it sounds as if they are confused and you are paying the price. The part about a "particular room" having a price fluctuation that is totally different then the rest of the rooms in the exact same category is baloney. Someone is either 1) completely confused or 2) trying to pull a fast one on you.

 

3) Is the price that you saw originally on the NCL website still there? And have you called NCL yourself and "pretend" to book the same cabin and see what price you get? That's the first thing I'd do if I were you.

 

4) How did the TA just charge your you $2000 extra dollars? On you credit card? That's quite a chunk of change for sure and I for one wouldn't be happy.

 

Regarding your original question about an upgrade, if you are postive that the upgrade is selling for the same price you paid for the lower category, NCL will most likely be agreeable to upgrading you. But, that just tells me that you were $crewed in the very beginning unless prices have dropped drastically recently.

 

You really need to get to the bottom of this and I'd start with calling NCL. They won't talk to you if you tell them about your current situation but they will talk to you if you tell them you are calling to inquire about booking a cruise. That way, you can get it straight from the horses mouth as to what the charge truly is for your cabin. And when you get that info, just tell then "thank you" I'll call back if I want to book....no committment.

 

Good luck to you.

 

CG

[silentlywaiting]

Thanks for such a detailed response. I really appreciate it.

 

I double checked and went through the whole mock booking process to check the price. When I had to input my credit card info, it still showed the total price as "X" which includes $1000 in taxes (there are 5 of us).

 

I totally agree with you about the different prices within the same category but this was her explanation. I'm sure she's not trying to cheat us but she definitely did something wrong when booking our cruise.

 

I'm just really hoping that she can get us an upgrade so we actually get what we paid for. The A3 is still the same price as what we had paid for the AB.

 

I just really wish my mom hadn't contacted this TA. The TA should have confirmed the final price with my mom before she made the reservation. She knew that we thought the price was around X. She should have let us know that the price would have increased to X+2000 with taxes. That way we could have booked through NCL directly.

 

This whole thing sounds very strange to me. Taxes do not add up to over $2000 for just a couple people! A couple questions:

 

1) Are you sure that the price you quoted your mother included taxes on the NCL website? When you search for a cruise, the price shown originally does NOT include taxes and port charges and you have to go through a mock booking process in order to get the final price which includes taxes and port charges.

 

 

2) Are you sure that your TA knows what she/he is talking about? I know it's a family friend, therefore a touchy situation but it sounds as if they are confused and you are paying the price. The part about a "particular room" having a price fluctuation that is totally different then the rest of the rooms in the exact same category is baloney. Someone is either 1) completely confused or 2) trying to pull a fast one on you.

 

 

3) Is the price that you saw originally on the NCL website still there? And have you called NCL yourself and "pretend" to book the same cabin and see what price you get? That's the first thing I'd do if I were you.

 

4) How did the TA just charge your you $2000 extra dollars? On you credit card? That's quite a chunk of change for sure and I for one wouldn't be happy.

 

Regarding your original question about an upgrade, if you are postive that the upgrade is selling for the same price you paid for the lower category, NCL will most likely be agreeable to upgrading you. But, that just tells me that you were $crewed in the very beginning unless prices have dropped drastically recently.

 

You really need to get to the bottom of this and I'd start with calling NCL. They won't talk to you if you tell them about your current situation but they will talk to you if you tell them you are calling to inquire about booking a cruise. That way, you can get it straight from the horses mouth as to what the charge truly is for your cabin. And when you get that info, just tell then "thank you" I'll call back if I want to book....no committment.

 

Good luck to you.

 

CG

[flashdog_1]

Tomorrow is Friday and your agent may be closed on the weekend. Act now! (While the $99 or up 3rd, 4th and 5th passenger rate is available!)

 

If you are more than 75 days away from sailing date, even if your agent charges a $50 cancelation fee, you 'd still be ahead by $1950. The AB will definitely hold all of you. It's just up to you if you want to attempt to upgrade to a courtyard suite and for it spend the $2000 you originally didn't plan to spend!

 

Make your decision quickly!

 

If you are in the final payment period and to cancel and rebook is out of the question, then definitely find out about the upgrade since you can't get your money back anyway. But do it tomorrow!!

[CruisnGram]

I"m with Phyllis, don't wait on this. Get to it tomorrow. I'm wondering too when your cruise is as you don't say. Are you past final payment date? Just because you've paid completely doesn't mean that something can't be done. If you are not past final payment date, check out your options because as Phyllis said, you can cancel and rebook with NCL directly and save a bunch of cash.

 

This whole thing is bizarre. Most people will tell you that they save some money booking through a TA....and it surely doens't cost them $2000 more!

 

Keep us posted on how this comes out.

 

CG

[silentlywaiting]

I already contacted my TA about getting an upgrade so she should already be looking into this. The cruise is in May and we're already past the final payment so there's no chance of cancelling and rebooking. I just HOPE we get the upgrade. I'll let everyone know how this works out.

[terrymtex01]

My feeling (and that is all it is) is that if the A3 is now what you paid for the AB, then the AB must now be a lot lower in price as well. If that is the case, I would think it would benefit NCL to upgrade you to the A3 as they will have an easier time selling the AB. However with all of that said, NCL often does things the opposite of what I think would benefit them the most.. so we will just have to see. Please come back and let us know what you found out.

 

I completely understand you going through your close family friend and understand that put you in a difficult position.

[garycarla]

Maybe another way to GET THROUGH to the TA is to say you just want to book the A3 and you want to pay the same price you could get if you booked directly with NCL.

 

And if she is still think, copy the online booking (or almost booking) and show it to her.

 

Wow.... this just does not make sense.

 

I am thinking you should get out of the upgrade discussion and just book the A3.