NCL Cancelled My Cruise,4 Days Before Departure!

[newmexicoNita]

don't get me wrong, im still excited for the cruise, just can't shake the sick feeling i get everytime I think of what could've happened:(

 

will be great to finally relax on Saturday, drinkie poo in hand;)

 

all in all, i consider myself to be extraordinarly LUCKY I caught this, ha - maybe an omen to visit the casino!

 

i still can't see any value in NCL touting an complimentary upgrade from an AG (exactly where I wanted to be, next to spa) vs either the 1st AF (under disco) or the room we finally received, not much better located @ elevators/stairs...guess that's splitting hairs @ this point, glad to have a place to lay our heads.

 

by now you are on your way. Good luck. As for being close to the elevator, come back and tell us about your criuise. We have been near the elevators many times, if we can't get a aft cabin we love the elevator location.

 

By the way, didn't you have any docs, like Edocs or something to show you had a reservation..Wow, just glad it did work out for you.

 

Nita

[CanadianTwosome]

I hope so too. :) I sure that by then the trauma would have subsided and I'll be able to relax and have a good time with my family.

All I've heard were good things about NCL Cruises and I look forward to the freestyle dining and all the other cool things they have on the ship.

We're in the process of planning our excursions. Can't wait to see all those beautiful beaches.

 

Sadly, it is fairly common knowledge on this board that NCL's land-based customer service is atrocious. Personally, I've had nothing but exemplary service any time I've called or emailed, but I've never had to call with an issue; it's just been for queries and bookings, and they've all gone smoothly. That being said, I've read enough horror stories here to know that it can be truly frustrating.

 

The good news is that the vast majority of people who have had problems appear to return from their cruises happy and wondering how they can have such a great product but such crappy off-ship relations. I'm sorry to hear that you had to deal with so much frustration, but I'm confident that your cruise on the Gem will be fabulous!

[Starrgazer50]

I'm confident that your cruise on the Gem will be fabulous!

 

Thanks..that what I'm hoping. :D

[Jed12345]

keishashadow,

 

How was your cruise? I hope it all turned out good in the end!

 

We were on the same cruise and had a great time.

[terrymtex01]

Booking directly through the cruiseline seems to be the problem.

 

I booked on the Norwegian Gem for Jan 24, 2010 in January of 2009 through the cruiseline.( I gonna try to make an attempt to explain what happened, but it's too stressfull to remenice it all.) To make a long story shortened. This is a family cruise and were all on the same deck in close proximity. When I called to add people to my room, the reps. were removing and adding on promocodes that caused me to lose my perks, then gain my perks back, but with an additional $100.00 or more change in the in cruise cost. My booking dates changed from Jan. 09 to June 09. Each time I called back for a newly discoverd problem (of course you got a new rep.) I got a different story of what the promotion rules were. I finally called the Corporate Office and spoke with a Rep. Supervisor and asked her to please explain what was going on and why every rep. I spoke to has a different understanding of the promo rules..and why the listed promo rules (for the customers) on the website had abbreviations with no explanation of what they meant. She didn't know ( but in regard to the abbreviations, "we" are suppose to call them and ask them to explain it to us...huh..:confused:.) Anyway, after she looked at my account she said was sorry for the confusion and that she fixed everything. I lost the $99.00 perk for the third person because when they were removing promo codes the promotion maxxed out. Fine...I left from her laughing and telling her I'm gonna need two cocktails after this and thanking her for her help.

When I got my confirmation I noticed that my room was changed to a room that slept 3 instead of 4. She never told me that my room had changed! I would not have cared, but the pullman bed was not good for any of us because we have mobility problems and need the third lower bed (that was our plan from the beginning).

I couldn't get the rep. supervisor back when I called, so here I go with the regular rep. again and was told that my original room was gone and there were no more on the 10th deck. Ater all I had been through in this one day for several hours..that was the straw that broke the camels back. :mad:. I told them to please cancel my trip. I couldn't take anymore!!

I do want to go with my family on this trip, so when I received my refund, I booked the same trip through a Travel Agency instead because I no longer wanted to deal with the NCL reps.

And even though I have a TA rep. and we started everything from scratch I got my old room back that sleeps 4:confused:....they (NCL) still made another error! When I made an additional deposit .. I got a printout confirmation, my OBC was now gone my promo code was M.I.A !!:eek:. I brought it to my TA's attention and he had to call them and find out what was going on. The NCL rep. said it was their error and would be corrected. What the heck!!

 

NCL needs to look at what's happening in the customer service/reservations arena. They are the forerunners of first impressions for NCL.

 

Within the group of nine, seven of us are not new to cruising, but new to Norwegian Cruiselines including myself. Right now I have a bad taste in my mouth concerning NCL. If it weren't a family cruise, I would change cruiselines.:mad:

My brother and his wife use NCL all the time (but they always book through a TA) and assures us that they love their cruise experience with NCL. So, I'm trying to be open minded and not allow my NCL rep. experiences to make me prejudge NCL as a whole.

 

So, when I hear the story of the errorous canceled Alaska trip 4 days before sailing, I'm not too surprised. .

That's ten times worse than my experience. I'm scared also concerning my trip. But I will have my TA check all my information.

 

Thank you for posting this. It just goes to show issues can happen if the cruise is booked directly through NCL or through a TA. You had issues booking directly through NCL and the OP's TA accidentially cancelled their cruise. It all goes to show there is no right or wrong and folks should book with the company they feel comfortable with. We have always booked directly with NCL and so far never had one issue. We would just rather have direct access to NCL rather than having to go through a TA. Some people are just the opposite.

[Starrgazer50]

Thank you for posting this. It just goes to show issues can happen if the cruise is booked directly through NCL or through a TA. You had issues booking directly through NCL and the OP's TA accidentially cancelled their cruise. It all goes to show there is no right or wrong and folks should book with the company they feel comfortable with. We have always booked directly with NCL and so far never had one issue. We would just rather have direct access to NCL rather than having to go through a TA. Some people are just the opposite.

 

Hi Terrymtex,

 

Keisha's cruise was not accidentally cancelled by the Travel Agent. It was cancelled by an NCL Rep. Instead of cancelling her shore excursion, they cancelled her cruise. I don't think the shore excursions are handled through the Travel Agency, only through NCL Shore Excursion Department.

 

Per Keisha's post. "Mid day received call from TA, with NCL on hold...they finally admited to cancelling the ressie by mistake when i cancelled an excursion with their Shore Department this weekend...just a slip on the keypad i was told, no harm no foul. Wrong!!!!"

 

Still in all, as you were saying...(paraphrase) each person should book their trips however they feel comfortable. My main concern (being that my background is in customer service) was how it made me feel about the product of NCL before I even tried it And that how "important" it is for "any" business to make sure that the people they have in front line makes a good representation for the company. I'm not harping on their mistake only, but also and more importantly that no one I spoke to knew how to handle their public promotion and it caused kaos. It just put a bad taste in my mouth as a whole entitiy, but I'm over it.... and I'll stay with my travel agency. I never really used TA's before, but now I see how important they can be.

And moving forward.. I'm very excited about my cruise on NCL with my family. My brother loves their product, so I'm very sure that I will have a good time because I'm lots of fun!! :D

[Starrgazer50]

Keisha...

How was your cruise? :)

[salty dingo]

"upgrade from AG to AF (big whoop), $250 OBC & dinner in specialty restuarant"

 

Well, that more than makes up for the inconvenience, in my opinion. I'd go through a scare too, for that kind of reward!

 

Glad you did not just show up at the pier with no reservation - that would have been a bummer!

[keishashadow]

sorry i was so delinquent alaska was amazing!!!!

 

only big issue we had was weather delayed flight out of PIT, almost missed connection @ MDW, thrilled they held the flight for so many also delayed up & down the east coast that afternoon. Got into Seattle around 3 am, shuttle we reserved (already there) came thru & dropped us off @ the Westin. Oddly, long line of folk?appears as though they oversold and appeared as though those who booked hotwire or priceline were getting comped @ 'boutique hotel' i knew had dicey ratings on tripadvisor. I insisted on speaking to mgr and managed to get the Fairmont, what a lovely hotel. The staff was amazing, offered us a late 3 pm checkout & a suite upgrade. I'd love to go back & spend more time in Seattle, staying @ this hotel.

 

We had a minor issue checking in, our cards wouldn't work once we made our way up to ship, quickly resolved & for some reason the dinner credit was missing, pursers desk said it was too close to sail date to add to our account no matter; we were just happy to be aboard.

 

Enjoyed the white pass RR excursion out to carcross/emerald lake (thru private tour operator)...most of other guests were from another ship that was leaving later...we got stuck in traffic/TSA checkpoint back into town...just made it...def not fun to be the ones running back to the ship, entertaining those on the balconies LOL

 

Ironicly, decided to use our OBC on the excursion we cancelled in the 1st place...enjoyed getting up close to the the glacier on the small boat...a highlight of our trip.

 

can't say we enjoyed the food in the main dining room or Cagney's (perhaps an off night?service was great there though). Wound up eating @ the Italian restuarant 2 nights (steak was to DH's liking there) and more chicken wings than i care to admit.

 

despite the few bumps, we're thinking of POA hawaii this summer

 

couple of pics

 

so many whales (especially on excursion to glacier) & eagles

 

 

 

glacier, note the little brown specs on the ice...

 

 

they were lots of mama seals & their pups, very cool

 

 

 

even got to shed our cold weather gear @ the carcross desert!

[thecatsmeow]

Glad everything worked out in the end. Thank you for posting your pictures. The mama seal and her baby are so sweet .:)

 

Joyce

[salty dingo]

We got that same picture in the "world's smallest desert" last year. DW and I went to explore while my parents stayed in the car. It was really neat.

 

We drove all the way to the emerald lake and took our own time doing it. Highly recommended. The car was not expensive at all. The lunch we had at a lodge was kind of pricey but for what we saved not doing the ship tour it was a drop in the bucket.

 

We saw a bear on the side of the road and stopped to shoot pictures. the bear did not care, but we stayed in the car.

[keishashadow]

Glad everything worked out in the end. Thank you for posting your pictures. The mama seal and her baby are so sweet .:)

 

Joyce

we had never seen any seals 'in the wild' before & were amazed there were so many of them and they didn't seem fazed by the boat circling around them.

 

We got that same picture in the "world's smallest desert" last year. DW and I went to explore while my parents stayed in the car. It was really neat.

 

We drove all the way to the emerald lake and took our own time doing it. Highly recommended. The car was not expensive at all. The lunch we had at a lodge was kind of pricey but for what we saved not doing the ship tour it was a drop in the bucket.

 

We saw a bear on the side of the road and stopped to shoot pictures. the bear did not care, but we stayed in the car.

 

bet u have a yukon sign pic one too;), think it may be our Xmas card this year.

 

we saw a bear roadside too, guide stopped to let us take pics. One of our fellow passengers protested loudly (as she did much of the trip) that she must be allowed out of the van to take pics of the bear:confused:. quiet guy sitting in the back yelled up to the guide he'd give him $100 if he would:p

 

we'd def rent a car if we return, typically tours spend too much time @ the gift shops for my liking & this one followed suit.