NCL blew the surprise!!

My BIL is in the midst of planning a 50th birthday (SURPRISE!) cruise for my sister in May. He went to the trouble to secretly arrange her time off from work and invite friends and family to join them - all unbeknownst to my sister. He booked directly through NCL and explained to the agent that it was a SURPRISE FOR HER 50TH BIRTHDAY and to use his work e-mail ONLY. Yesterday, NCL sent a message to my sister's e-mail address thanking her for her booking!! This is where I need to note that my BIL has only sailed once before (Princess) and isn't really jazzed about cruising - but knows how much my sister enjoys it. My sister has cruised a handful of times before - several on NCL - and the agent apparently pulled up HER Latitudes #. This is the only logical way that she would have erroneously received that e-mail! To add insult to injury, he called NCL today and held on the line for an inordinate amount of time; stated his complaint; and they gave him $25 OBC! I'm not sure what he should have expected, but in all honesty, he is so ripped at what happened and how it was handled that I doubt he will ever book with NCL again. I guess the point of my posting is to warn others that if you want to book a surprise cruise - DON'T LEAVE A TRAIL (i.e. your Latitudes numbers - if that's possible). Any suggestions from anyone else who has successfully pulled off a surprise booking??

An honest mistake. Could have VERY easily happened to anyone. Justone of thos ethings. No reason to be 'ripped'. Heck just concentrate on havng a great time for the birthday celebration.

Don't add a membership number :)

Applies to any hotel, flight, cruise or suchlike

You can always add it later.

NCL like other lines has an automated system. Not the agents fault.

If you wish to add a number, change their email address first to yours.

Don't add a membership number :)

 

Applies to any hotel, flight, cruise or suchlike

 

You can always add it later.

 

NCL like other lines has an automated system. Not the agents fault.

 

If you wish to add a number, change their email address first to yours.

OP said that the NCL agent took it upon themselves to look up the sister's latitude's number and added it to the reservation... so yeah, it is the agents fault.

See also: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1994750

Don't give email address, snail mail address, or phone number either.

I'm beginning to think that it's just impossible to surprise anyone with any amount of lead time booking. We booked last month for next month though & haven't gotten any correspondence at all...whatsoever.

OP, did he happen to have a really nice room booked? That seems to be an underlying theme too.:)

That's exactly what happened. My BIL did not have that information (her Latitudes #). The fact that he made it a point - over and over - to explain to the agent that it is a surprise for her 50th birthday. I think he did all he could do to pull it off and they blew it. Frankly, $25 won't go very far in winning him over or smoothing any feathers. I know the cruise industry is hurting - but, really???

OP said that the NCL agent took it upon themselves to look up the sister's latitude's number and added it to the reservation... so yeah, it is the agents fault.

fair point - I would have altered her email first in that case :)

It that was not possible, then not sure what they should have done.

of course by not giving any numbers then NCL would not have linked it.

I hate to say it but it is just the way it is. If the NCL rep did not look up the Latitudes number then they would not get the points and it makes booking everything easier.

I too had my surprise for my mother ruined with an email sent by NCL. No biggie... why sweat the small stuff in life. I too had hoped to wrap up a special card and give it to her at Christmas. Her dream has been to go to Alaska, so we booked it. She got the email the next morning and we just laughed.

I hope he calms down and starts to enjoy the planning of it all. His wife should be smiling ear to ear knowing that her husband had tried. I know I would be. Sounds like an awesome husband.

Its still a surprise she had no idea what he did !! Just enjoy and let it go, its not worth getting worked up over, life is too short

My BIL is in the midst of planning a 50th birthday (SURPRISE!) cruise for my sister in May. He went to the trouble to secretly arrange her time off from work and invite friends and family to join them - all unbeknownst to my sister. He booked directly through NCL and explained to the agent that it was a SURPRISE FOR HER 50TH BIRTHDAY and to use his work e-mail ONLY. Yesterday, NCL sent a message to my sister's e-mail address thanking her for her booking!! This is where I need to note that my BIL has only sailed once before (Princess) and isn't really jazzed about cruising - but knows how much my sister enjoys it. My sister has cruised a handful of times before - several on NCL - and the agent apparently pulled up HER Latitudes #. This is the only logical way that she would have erroneously received that e-mail! To add insult to injury, he called NCL today and held on the line for an inordinate amount of time; stated his complaint; and they gave him $25 OBC! I'm not sure what he should have expected, but in all honesty, he is so ripped at what happened and how it was handled that I doubt he will ever book with NCL again. I guess the point of my posting is to warn others that if you want to book a surprise cruise - DON'T LEAVE A TRAIL (i.e. your Latitudes numbers - if that's possible). Any suggestions from anyone else who has successfully pulled off a surprise booking??

"What,? Honey, this has got to be some kind of mistake. These darn cruise lines really mixed something up! I really hope they get in touch with the right people!" That's how I would have handled it.

Harriet

Yeah, it happens. My husband was going to surprise me with our booking, but I already knew because NCL had sent me an email saying, "We've combined your latitude accounts!" We hadn't sailed NCL for several years, so I knew something was up to get this email out of the blue.

We successfully surprised my mom once. We called and had her email address changed to mine and logged into her NCL account and changed her password. She could have had it reset in the interim but since as far as she knew she didn't have anything booked she had no reason to log on to my NCL.

The problem with the email address has haunted us for the 4 years since though. My mom & I have the same name and I get all of her cruise alerts - even though we have changed the address back to her's - so we each get her NCL emails. I've called them and asked if she has a secondary listed somewhere on the account. Their tech services has gone through it for me. No one can explain why we each get her emails now & it is very depressing as she cruises a couple times per year & I get the "only X amount of days til your cruise, why don't you check out excursions?" emails. Very depressing. I get excited thinking maybe they are surprising me so I log in but alas no cruise for me. :(

I know it kind of sucks when a surprise party is planned and then it gets discovered, but I really hope you and your whole group end up having a fantastic time on the cruise. What a great sister you are to do this. Your sister is blessed to have someone who loves her so much.

Oh my goodness!!! What a ridiculous thing to be upset about. I would venture a guess that your sister was VERY surprised and thrilled. He should let it go.

Don't add a membership number :)

 

Applies to any hotel, flight, cruise or suchlike

 

You can always add it later.

 

NCL like other lines has an automated system. Not the agents fault.

 

If you wish to add a number, change their email address first to yours.

We did a recent booking on NCL for a group of 79 members and around 70 of them sailed on NCL before. We didn't even book through NCL or gave the TA our Latitude numbers but the TA confirmation came with all our Latitude numbers and when most of us who have NCL online accounts logged our bookings already showed there with Congratulations 499 days to your cruise screen :-)

Oh my goodness!!! What a ridiculous thing to be upset about. I would venture a guess that your sister was VERY surprised and thrilled. He should let it go.

No reason to think he hasn't let it go. There is nothing wrong with being a bit peeved about a blown surprise you had planned and sharing it with others, right?

No reason to think he hasn't let it go. There is nothing wrong with being a bit peeved about a blown surprise you had planned and sharing it with others, right?

Thank you, LGPIZZA. You get it. It's a big deal to him to have gone to that degree of planning for a BIG birthday by inviting a bunch of friends and family to surprise her onboard; go through the hassle of dealing with her employer and arranging vacation time; AND plunking down thousands of dollars, only to have NCL blow the surprise. It's disappointing, for sure. Of course he'll "get over it" and of course they'll still have a fun time - minus the element of surprise. That said, in this day and age, I feel that NCL has a lame computer system if they're unable to block her e-mail from receiving notifications, at least up to the day of sailing. Personally, under the circumstances, I feel that $25 in OBC for their "oopsie" is lame. How about throwing in a dinner at Cagney's, in addition to the OBC. Perhaps a slight cabin upgrade? This mistake is NCL's to own. How they handle it DOES influence newbie cruisers on where they'll throw their cruise dollars next time around.

I don't see why this is such a big deal. Maybe I'm just crazy because secrets don't last long in my family...but how could you get someone on a ship without them knowing? Make the fact that the entire family is going the surprise now that she knows about the cruise....

Oh boy.

There is no fault by anyone here. Here is the real question: were you among the planned, invited guests? :D

Thank you, LGPIZZA. You get it. It's a big deal to him to have gone to that degree of planning for a BIG birthday by inviting a bunch of friends and family to surprise her onboard; go through the hassle of dealing with her employer and arranging vacation time; AND plunking down thousands of dollars, only to have NCL blow the surprise. It's disappointing, for sure. Of course he'll "get over it" and of course they'll still have a fun time - minus the element of surprise. That said, in this day and age, I feel that NCL has a lame computer system if they're unable to block her e-mail from receiving notifications, at least up to the day of sailing. Personally, under the circumstances, I feel that $25 in OBC for their "oopsie" is lame. How about throwing in a dinner at Cagney's, in addition to the OBC. Perhaps a slight cabin upgrade? This mistake is NCL's to own. How they handle it DOES influence newbie cruisers on where they'll throw their cruise dollars next time around.

Gimme gimme gimme ! :rolleyes:

Can't you just get over it and enjoy the cruise and the event? I am sure your sister is loving this kind of a birthday gift. Who wouldn't! :) Surprise or not, it is a wonderful gift and I hope everybody concerned enjoys it rather than burn over how to squeeze something free out of a silly error. Good luck and happy planning!

Yeah, it happens. My husband was going to surprise me with our booking, but I already knew because NCL had sent me an email saying, "We've combined your latitude accounts!" We hadn't sailed NCL for several years, so I knew something was up to get this email out of the blue.

But you can always pretend that you never knew and that's fun too:)

This afternoon I booked the Sky 3-day for my mom and I (online, no agent), and I don't have her latitudes number, so I left it blank. By the time I got the confirmation and the cruise showed up in my account, her number had been added. It may be that the computer system automatically looks for past guests, and as someone stated above, the only way to prevent email notification is to basically hack their account. The agent may not have been able to prevent it unless your brother knew she already had a number. I'm sorry they are disappointed, but truly, this is a first world problem.

Your BIL could always surprise your sister with the birthday party package (confetti, streamers, happy birthday sign, ballons and birthday cake). Add in a dozen red roses and a dinner in her favorite restaurant.

Your BIL could always surprise your sister with the birthday party package (confetti, streamers, happy birthday sign, ballons and birthday cake). Add in a dozen red roses and a dinner in her favorite restaurant.

Now here is someone making lemonade out of lemons! BRAVO!

But is the OP on the guest list? :D

Oh boy.

 

There is no fault by anyone here. Here is the real question: were you among the planned, invited guests? :D

Sorry to go off topic, but based on your name, you must have gone to PSU. MY daughter is a sophomore there and absolutely loves it!