CHARTERED??? NCL Pearl...aka Reservations Dumped!!!

We are very sad to report our family vacation booked on the NCL Pearl out of Miami Jan 20 2013 was basically dumped by NCL, when the ship was recently Chartered.....a term I have never heard of or experienced.

We had already made arrangements for the weekend of the 20th to be our embarkation.....so, the other dates NCL tried to push us into accepting on the Pearl would not work....plus the meager $50 on board credit seemed a trivial offering. We were very unhappy with NCL's extremely limited offerings for those of us who booked in advance and were rewarded so unceremoniously for our planning. I, in my ignorance, actually thought NCL would try to work with the families whose reservations were dumped. NCL staff said they do not make accommodations like moving us to the Epic, going out of the same port the same weekend for the same price/same rooms. Not like Epic doesn't have loads of available rooms. Answer from NCL? NO. They emphasized they do not make accommodations......I suggested to them it seems you do for big fish (with big $) who book/ Charter the entire ship......you just won't for the little fish, (simple family vacations for six). Very sad when I know they could have helped us out. As a repeat NCL cruiser I can safely tell you I will probably never cruise their line again. I understand the money they make on a charter, however, how about being flexible with the rest of the poor people who bothered to plan in advance, chose them ahead of others and had previously recommended their line to everyone who listened? Not any more. They just simply did not care about the families disrupted. They would rather we take our $ somewhere else than make some very minor accommodations. Well, so be it. Be forewarned cruisers...it could happen to you on NCL, and they don't care that you already have work scheduled off, or that your kids have off school that week, or that you have already made travel arrangements......no accommodation for family plans....they just want to send you to another sailing of their choosing......I guess they think they know what's best for you and your family. Here we come Carnival with our $$$!

Beware NCL doesn't really care about your family vacation. :mad:

Prairies

How are you just now finding out about this charter? Did you book with NCL directly, or use a TA? Did you get involved with your Roll Call on CC?

Remember, you catch more flies with honey... Polite is much better for YOU than popping off to someone who would much rather the rude people go elsewhere with their business.

Is this the charter that people have been posting about for some time?

I am very sorry this happened to your family vacation. I hope you can get on the Epic and preserve your vacation week, even it it's not in the same type of cabin. If you have a TA, get them to call and work on the problem for you. Do you have a cruise rep at NCL? I got an email long ago from someone, but they never called/emailed again. If not, I'd call again or get another family member to call and if you get no better treatment, ask for a supervisor. $50 is not enough, I agree.

We are very sad to report our family vacation booked on the NCL Pearl out of Miami Jan 20 2013 was basically dumped by NCL, when the ship was recently Chartered.....a term I have never heard of or experienced.

 

We had already made arrangements for the weekend of the 20th to be our embarkation.....so, the other dates NCL tried to push us into accepting on the Pearl would not work....plus the meager $50 on board credit seemed a trivial offering. We were very unhappy with NCL's extremely limited offerings for those of us who booked in advance and were rewarded so unceremoniously for our planning. I, in my ignorance, actually thought NCL would try to work with the families whose reservations were dumped. NCL staff said they do not make accommodations like moving us to the Epic, going out of the same port the same weekend for the same price/same rooms. Not like Epic doesn't have loads of available rooms. Answer from NCL? NO. They emphasized they do not make accommodations......I suggested to them it seems you do for big fish (with big $) who book/ Charter the entire ship......you just won't for the little fish, (simple family vacations for six). Very sad when I know they could have helped us out. As a repeat NCL cruiser I can safely tell you I will probably never cruise their line again. I understand the money they make on a charter, however, how about being flexible with the rest of the poor people who bothered to plan in advance, chose them ahead of others and had previously recommended their line to everyone who listened? Not any more. They just simply did not care about the families disrupted. They would rather we take our $ somewhere else than make some very minor accommodations. Well, so be it. Be forewarned cruisers...it could happen to you on NCL, and they don't care that you already have work scheduled off, or that your kids have off school that week, or that you have already made travel arrangements......no accommodation for family plans....they just want to send you to another sailing of their choosing......I guess they think they know what's best for you and your family. Here we come Carnival with our $$$!

 

Beware NCL doesn't really care about your family vacation. :mad:

 

Prairies

Welcome to the world of cruising. It is common in the cruise industry with most, if not all, cruise lines to do this. It doesn't make it right, it doesn't make it fair, but they are in business to make money and if someone comes along that has $$$$ to spend and wants to charter, NCL and the other cruise lines are going to do it.

We were supposed to be on the Pearl through the Panama Canal next year but the Pearl was chartered, our cruise was dumped, and we were moved to the Jewel. Lucky for us, the suite was the same. Also lucky for us, it moved to NY instead of Miami and therefore saved us having to buy airfare (which we never do until about 2-3 months prior to the cruise).

I am sorry that this has happened to you, but again, it is quite common in the cruise industry. By the way, remember that NCL didn't have to offer you anything at all and $50 to everyone that was on that cruise as a token of their apology (and moving you to other dates that worked) was quite generous. At least they offered. Some cruise lines do not.

How are you just now finding out about this charter? Did you book with NCL directly, or use a TA? Did you get involved with your Roll Call on CC?

 

Remember, you catch more flies with honey... Polite is much better for YOU than popping off to someone who would much rather the rude people go elsewhere with their business.

According to roll calls, prairies is sailing on the Dawn out of Tampa on January 20, 2013.

John

We are very sad to report our family vacation booked on the NCL Pearl out of Miami Jan 20 2013 was basically dumped by NCL, when the ship was recently Chartered.....a term I have never heard of or experienced.

 

We had already made arrangements for the weekend of the 20th to be our embarkation.....so, the other dates NCL tried to push us into accepting on the Pearl would not work....plus the meager $50 on board credit seemed a trivial offering. We were very unhappy with NCL's extremely limited offerings for those of us who booked in advance and were rewarded so unceremoniously for our planning. I, in my ignorance, actually thought NCL would try to work with the families whose reservations were dumped. NCL staff said they do not make accommodations like moving us to the Epic, going out of the same port the same weekend for the same price/same rooms. Not like Epic doesn't have loads of available rooms. Answer from NCL? NO. They emphasized they do not make accommodations......I suggested to them it seems you do for big fish (with big $) who book/ Charter the entire ship......you just won't for the little fish, (simple family vacations for six). Very sad when I know they could have helped us out. As a repeat NCL cruiser I can safely tell you I will probably never cruise their line again. I understand the money they make on a charter, however, how about being flexible with the rest of the poor people who bothered to plan in advance, chose them ahead of others and had previously recommended their line to everyone who listened? Not any more. They just simply did not care about the families disrupted. They would rather we take our $ somewhere else than make some very minor accommodations. Well, so be it. Be forewarned cruisers...it could happen to you on NCL, and they don't care that you already have work scheduled off, or that your kids have off school that week, or that you have already made travel arrangements......no accommodation for family plans....they just want to send you to another sailing of their choosing......I guess they think they know what's best for you and your family. Here we come Carnival with our $$$!

 

Beware NCL doesn't really care about your family vacation. :mad:

 

Prairies

Beware The same thing happens on Carnival.. When any cruiseline gets a chance to sell a charter ship they are gonna take it..

Beware NCL doesn't really care about your family vacation. :mad:

I think this cancellation issue has been covered here before. Good luck with Carnival, post a review when you return.

According to roll calls, prairies is sailing on the Dawn out of Tampa on January 20, 2013.

 

John

So prairies switched to Dawn after getting cancelled from the Pearl?

So prairies switched to Dawn after getting cancelled from the Pearl?

They joined the Dawn roll call back in April. :confused:

John

They joined the Dawn roll call back in April. :confused:

 

John

Bizarre: http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=31977949

Maybe they just didn't leave the Dawn roll call or join the Pearl one. *shrug*

Bizarre: http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=31977949

 

Maybe they just didn't leave the Dawn roll call or join the Pearl one. *shrug*

Your link does not go anywhere. What were you trying to link to?

John

Your link does not go anywhere. What were you trying to link to?

 

John

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=33362014#post33362014 is what I think she means.

We are very sad to report our family vacation booked on the NCL Pearl out of Miami Jan 20 2013 was basically dumped by NCL, when the ship was recently Chartered.....a term I have never heard of or experienced.

 

We had already made arrangements for the weekend of the 20th to be our embarkation.....so, the other dates NCL tried to push us into accepting on the Pearl would not work....plus the meager $50 on board credit seemed a trivial offering. We were very unhappy with NCL's extremely limited offerings for those of us who booked in advance and were rewarded so unceremoniously for our planning. I, in my ignorance, actually thought NCL would try to work with the families whose reservations were dumped. NCL staff said they do not make accommodations like moving us to the Epic, going out of the same port the same weekend for the same price/same rooms. Not like Epic doesn't have loads of available rooms. Answer from NCL? NO. They emphasized they do not make accommodations......I suggested to them it seems you do for big fish (with big $) who book/ Charter the entire ship......you just won't for the little fish, (simple family vacations for six). Very sad when I know they could have helped us out. As a repeat NCL cruiser I can safely tell you I will probably never cruise their line again. I understand the money they make on a charter, however, how about being flexible with the rest of the poor people who bothered to plan in advance, chose them ahead of others and had previously recommended their line to everyone who listened? Not any more. They just simply did not care about the families disrupted. They would rather we take our $ somewhere else than make some very minor accommodations. Well, so be it. Be forewarned cruisers...it could happen to you on NCL, and they don't care that you already have work scheduled off, or that your kids have off school that week, or that you have already made travel arrangements......no accommodation for family plans....they just want to send you to another sailing of their choosing......I guess they think they know what's best for you and your family. Here we come Carnival with our $$$!

 

Beware NCL doesn't really care about your family vacation. :mad:

 

Prairies

That stinks, however Carnival does pretty much the same. It happened to our friends. Enjoy your Carnival cruise.:)

So sorry it happened to you. Unfortunately it does happen on all cruise lines, and you just never know which ship is going to look appealing to a big group who want to charter a ship :(

Here's a good article from CC about getting bumped for charters (with stories from different cruise lines, and options, etc.):

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=340

And "Here we come Carnival with our $$$!", if you were on these Carnival sailings mentioned in the article you would probably be done with them too:

The Situation, #2: Every few years, cruise ships head into dry dock to have the barnacles scraped off their hulls (in other words, for regularly scheduled maintenance). Typically lines try to limit or eliminate the impact to booked passengers by scheduling these routine dry docks far in advance before itineraries are published, but bumping does occasionally occur. For example, in July 2010, Carnival canceled a pair of Carnival Pride sailings in November -- just four months prior to sail date -- to send the ship into dry dock. Pride was originally scheduled to head to the repair yard for routine maintenance in January 2011, but Carnival opted to move the dates up and complete the work earlier.

Cruisers:

Of course I was polite, as was my sister and our TA, ***********. I felt I was reasonable in all conversation with NCL. The poor people who I spoke with we're empathetic, including supervisors - many of them.

As a side note, we were originally on the Dawn out of Tampa, whoever observed that is spot on. I had sailed on the Star in February 2012 and had met with the sales person who handles the advanced deposits, information, etc. and he had assured me the Dawn, which was taking the Star's place at port in 2013, was identical in layout to the Star, which we very much enjoyed. However, shortly after making the reservations we found t the Dawn is not identical to the Star, specifically regarding the pools / pool deck layout. No slides and only one pool on the Dawn. We knew this would not work because we were bringing seven and nine year old boys. So, we researched and switched to the Pearl. We were thrilled with what it offered.

We found out about the chartering on about the 25th of June when my sister returned from being out of the country. TA had sent her an email (only) in response to a question she had letting her know the ship had been chartered.....they sent the email only to her on June 20th.....I had a seperate reservation and never received a call or an email from anyone and I was a available. Poor communication on that end of things in my opinion. Never received any notification from NCL, other than the original welcome email after booking. My mistake not checking in on the role call....as a side note, I was busy with a bought of Whooping Cough. I know, who gets that these days? Evidently there has been an epidemic of it this year.

As far as switching dates to what NCL offered, some of you may think that's acceptable. It is not for us because we are locked in on our dates. A $50 credit is nice you think? Well I already had a $75 credit on each room which we would have lost. If we would have elected to rebook on the Epic, we were informed we would have to pay the going rate, which is much higher than when we booked the Pearl, as there were more sales/incentives then. We considered it strongly, but it was only going to three ports, and we were still irritated with NCL and decided to put our money elsewhere.

We completely understand the money behind the charter. Business is business, however, having a smidge of flexibility for a family who is not asking for much, would have been nice.

Not sure if I answered all the questions. Yes, we know it could happen to us again...however, maybe the communication will be better. I normally book directly with the cruise line, not a TA. I wonder if we would have received better service directly through NCL. I do think the TA tried her best for us, but polite was working for her either.

We have rebooked on the Carnival Dream for Jan 20 2013, and I am hopeful it will be just fine. We have cruised on NCL, Carnival, Royal and Princess and have never received such poor response from any of them before. We all have a choice in where we spend our money, and for now, it is not going to NCL. Over 20 years of cruising it will add up to some money they could have made, minor in their world, but a good amount to be sure.

Prairies

Prairies, good luck with your Carnival cruise.

This seems to be happening alot lately

I understand the frustration of the booked passengers. Let them vent freely without being attacked here. We love our cruises here and look forward over a year in advance and make plans, airfares, etc. Totally understand the frustration.

Good therapy to let it all out!

Forgot to mention we booked directly with Carnival.....not sure if that matters or not.

Prairies

How are you just now finding out about this charter? Did you book with NCL directly, or use a TA? Did you get involved with your Roll Call on CC?

 

This was my first thought, I thought this was an old post. Posts about this have been on here for months!

Cruisers:

 

Of course I was polite, as was my sister and our TA, ***********. I felt I was reasonable in all conversation with NCL. The poor people who I spoke with we're empathetic, including supervisors - many of them.

 

As a side note, we were originally on the Dawn out of Tampa, whoever observed that is spot on. I had sailed on the Star in February 2012 and had met with the sales person who handles the advanced deposits, information, etc. and he had assured me the Dawn, which was taking the Star's place at port in 2013, was identical in layout to the Star, which we very much enjoyed. However, shortly after making the reservations we found t the Dawn is not identical to the Star, specifically regarding the pools / pool deck layout. No slides and only one pool on the Dawn. We knew this would not work because we were bringing seven and nine year old boys. So, we researched and switched to the Pearl. We were thrilled with what it offered.

 

We found out about the chartering on about the 25th of June when my sister returned from being out of the country. TA had sent her an email (only) in response to a question she had letting her know the ship had been chartered.....they sent the email only to her on June 20th.....I had a seperate reservation and never received a call or an email from anyone and I was a available. Poor communication on that end of things in my opinion. Never received any notification from NCL, other than the original welcome email after booking. My mistake not checking in on the role call....as a side note, I was busy with a bought of Whooping Cough. I know, who gets that these days? Evidently there has been an epidemic of it this year.

 

As far as switching dates to what NCL offered, some of you may think that's acceptable. It is not for us because we are locked in on our dates. A $50 credit is nice you think? Well I already had a $75 credit on each room which we would have lost. If we would have elected to rebook on the Epic, we were informed we would have to pay the going rate, which is much higher than when we booked the Pearl, as there were more sales/incentives then. We considered it strongly, but it was only going to three ports, and we were still irritated with NCL and decided to put our money elsewhere.

 

We completely understand the money behind the charter. Business is business, however, having a smidge of flexibility for a family who is not asking for much, would have been nice.

 

Not sure if I answered all the questions. Yes, we know it could happen to us again...however, maybe the communication will be better. I normally book directly with the cruise line, not a TA. I wonder if we would have received better service directly through NCL. I do think the TA tried her best for us, but polite was working for her either.

 

We have rebooked on the Carnival Dream for Jan 20 2013, and I am hopeful it will be just fine. We have cruised on NCL, Carnival, Royal and Princess and have never received such poor response from any of them before. We all have a choice in where we spend our money, and for now, it is not going to NCL. Over 20 years of cruising it will add up to some money they could have made, minor in their world, but a good amount to be sure.

 

Prairies

"Having a smidge of flexibility for a family who is not asking for much" Are you kidding me? :eek: You aren't alone in getting dumped, relocated, resituated, rebooked, etc. Many of us were booked on cruises already including my DH and I. We could have really been hurt. The Panama Canal cruise is a repositioning cruise and only happens twice a year per ship. We were extremely lucky that they gave us the same suite on the Jewel (sister ship to the Pearl) AND an additional $50 OBC along with our OBC we already had. We considered ourselves quite lucky to be cruising to our desired destination at all.

Count yourself lucky to cruise at all. Many people aren't as fortunate and can't afford it.

What I'm seeing is the 10 wasted days when the TA failed to contact the OP. Back on the 20th when this first happened, maybe some other options could have been worked out. Never know now, but it seems the TA owns a lot of this particular problem.

What I'm seeing is the 10 wasted days when the TA failed to contact the OP. Back on the 20th when this first happened, maybe some other options could have been worked out. Never know now, but it seems the TA owns a lot of this particular problem.

I agree with the OP. Thankfully this has not happened to me. However what I would have expected as being fair behavior from NCL is to offer a refund or to offer to move the reservation over to any available sailing on any ship in the fleet in the same cabin category for the same number of days. If the EPIC is sailing from the same port at the same time that sounds like an excellent solution as long as there are still cabins available.

However what I would have expected as being fair behavior from NCL is to offer a refund ...

The cruise is in 6 months - there is no need to "offer" a refund - they can get a refund just for asking.

Howard

Posting this issue on this board means a few hundred people will read it. Mostly the NCL cheerleaders. Your post will be buried in a week or two.

But if you post this as a review....it will be forever available for prospective cruisers. Prospective cruisers read cruise reviews. I think your experience will have more impact. Go to the top of this page and look for Cruise Reviews.

NCL may have the legal right to just dump you at any time for any reason. Legally that might be fine. But its a really sucky business practice and insulting to offer you $50 onboard credit!! For your hassle, for your disappointment....50 dollars? And I agree, they should put you on any other ship leaving from that port that weekend. If there's a cost difference for the same category of stateroom then NCL should eat it. That's what makes good business sense to me.

But I think NCL is desperate for every revenue trickle possible these days. They've exhausted how much money they can charge by increasing drink prices. They can't raise the rates for the specialty dining, they can only charge so much for excursions. They're desperate to turn a profit to their share holders in these tough economic times. What's *right* by the customer isn't factored into the equation at all when they are so desperate. They need new profits and if it means jerking around a repeat customer, maybe someone who's purchased plane tickets and has had to pre-request vacation time off, whatever, they don't care.

But I'll tell you who will care......prospective cruisers who too may have to purchase plane tickets way in advance, someone who as two weeks of vacation time and has to pre- request it....use it or lose it. Plenty of NCL's perspective customers wills see your situation and make a different choice. So make your post more visible to more prospective cruisers under Cruise Reviews.

Beware The same thing happens on Carnival.. When any cruiseline gets a chance to sell a charter ship they are gonna take it..

That stinks, however Carnival does pretty much the same. It happened to our friends. Enjoy your Carnival cruise.:)

Well I don't think NCL only, as it had been happened with Disney too.:mad: