raschueller

21 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

Hey...look what I found in the pudding. 🙄

Yes. Someone who went through it with NCL. It is awesome how flip you can be without any understanding of the circumstances. NCL has held OUR money for two years. Did I mention it was OUR money. Then set a deadline by which we have to spend OUR money. And regardless of the circumstances of the cruise they are offering are offering no recompense.

That is not being a fault finder. Those are indisputable facts. And are aside from any fine print argument hardly disputable.

2 hours ago, SeaShark said:

 

Probably true, but then the Norwegian fault-finders here will certainly take a stand against NCL without question, so it all evens out in the end.

Well except for the whole cheating us out of our money thing. 

11 minutes ago, Heather1972 said:

 I meant when did you get official notification versus seeing “cruise on hold” online. 

Oh sorry. It was not long after that. in the first case it was a matter of a week or so from going from you owe a deposit do not lose your cruise to official cancellation, In the second case (that was the gem) it was much longer. About two or three weeks. it was irritating because we initially called and they tried to duck the issue. We are still going etc etc. And they would even allow folks to buy the cruise for days after they knew it was not going. In fact in the second case, we told them we had been through this before. And the CC grudgingly admitted that it was on hold. And that was when we also found out they would be giving us FCC. That was an angry day.

So I double checked. We were scheduled to go on the 20th and the cancellation was official April 3

1 hour ago, Heather1972 said:

 

How long after the “cruise on hold” did you get actual cancellation notification?

in case one about two weeks two about a week before the go to date. 

I know. I was thinking about something else when I posted that and just edited it. We had two cruises that were cancelled. Our first cruise was the deadline to pay message. One on the getaway and one on the pearl.

when we lost our two cruises previously that was the exact message we received. we called were told "everything is fine on this end, and we are still SCHEDULED to go.

Then we would get a follow up saying that it was not going. 

Yeah. That is it. That is how they lock out the cruise before the announcement.

21 hours ago, Karaboudjan said:

 

Some pay attention but apparently expect NCL to know a week or more in advance exactly how many crew members on what ship and from what roles will be in isolation on the day of a particular stop or show.  🙄

Before we go too far in that direction there is this. Many of us were trapped into an FCC for what is now almost years. We were given a choice. Book by January 15th or lose your money. It is our money. Money they held on to for more than 2 years. And having been given a choice would not have booked during a pandemic. We were not given that choice. So before you start with what we expected NCL to know... lets start with the situation they put us in. 

I am happy that we are finally getting value out of OUR money. But the end result for those of us who were new to cruising and have been treated as we have been deserve better. NCL will do what NCL will do. But I am not going to blame anyone or be haughty about what NCL should be expected to do in advance.

You can use it for thermal suite access. Hotels before ... etc. But it can not be used onboard. With my experience I think there is a simple reason. These transactions take a bit of work to complete. We have made several transactions with our fcc. Drinks, Hotels, Thermal Suite (etc). So I think to simplify the process they made it contingent on before sailing. But not 100% sure. 

But to be clear you can not use your FCC at dinner.

This was our logic. I drink. My partner does not. But she does enjoy a good glass of wine. Pellegrino. Good Coffee. Virgin Drinks. So it made sense to go ahead and use our FCC for this. It will be nice to never check the app to see how much we are spending. Also unlimited bottled water is a huge plus. 

Hotel was a wonderful perk as well.

Finally giving her access to the thermal suite was a huge perk. She deserves it.

Only thing I ask is keep the crazy at home. Follow the rules and do not be an ass when someone is doing their job.

On 11/21/2021 at 7:52 AM, havanadaydreaming said:

Whats your opinion on the best room class to splurge on for an upcoming cruise? 

 

We are not Haven people, fyi.  Not that theres anything wrong with that. 

 

We have a mess of FCC to use, like $4-5k. The Mrs wants to "blow it all" on one weeklong cruise in February since we need to book by 12/31 and sail in 2022 or we lose it.  

 

Large balcony? 

Spa balcony? 

Penthouse suite? 

Club balcony (bigger restroom)? 

Before you go room happy think about upgrading your drink package, getting a hotel room, etc.

On 4/1/2021 at 5:34 AM, Sthrngary said:

JustAPilot:

You make a good point.  I have a completely different take on this. First a little background.  I am a 5 million miler with Delta.  I traveled when 9/11 happened.  The hangs had more to do with fear then penny pinching.  Yet you are correct, eventually some services were reduces.

On cruise lines it is a different deal especially during the first year that cruises start up.  All brands want banner reviews.  They want no issues.  The want to attract not only frequent cruisers whom are their loyalty base, they want and need to bring back other people to the fold.  You can't do that if you start to Penny Pinch.  

Now a year from now when the clients start coming back, the full fleet is cruising and people start forgetting a pandemic that shut down; I do think the cruise lines will start playing games to improve profit.

I have to add something here just because I am old and cranky.  I wish that all products and services would just raise the darn price and leave the quality alone. I get marketing a low price to get folks to buy and all.  The issue is if the product, service, food, entertainment, ect. are down hill, people are disappointed and won't come back. You wrote your comment they way you did because you, like me have been disappointed in the past and don't want to be disappointed in the future. 

Just my thoughts!!!

I can say this. Without saying too much. They have suddenly become very very accommodating (as compared to a year ago). In fact, we asked our consultant to do a few things for us and it goes like this:

Us - request

CC: Ummm ok I will try but I do.... hold on... yep. Wow that worked. 

Us- Cool. Thank you.

100% these were requests that would have resulted in firm no's a few months ago.

NCL is quietly making some big changes to keep us happy. And to be honest we are not really cruise people. Our vacations are usually fly in to a country and find our own way for a few weeks. But NCL has really gone to the 9's to keep us happy.

1 minute ago, Sthrngary said:

Lots of folks are confused.  Allow me to do my best to help you.  If you have the Premium Plus Beverage Package, you can order a bottle of selected wine at lunch and dinner.  Not just one at each meal.  Each member of your party can order a different bottle of selected wine.  My wife and I ordered a bottle, we were having a little too good a time and order another one each at the same meal.  We took the remaining wine back to the suite for night caps.  

 

So, yes, you can order at each meal and multiple within reason.  

 

Cruise well.

I thought this package was worth it before 🙂 My partner has never had top shelf anything (her idea of good right now is a cheap bottle of peach Moscato). I am looking forward to her having a top shelf experience, and having wine for the balcony. You literally just made my day!

On 8/18/2021 at 12:55 PM, WIBadgerFan said:

Thank you for posting this.  It is the latest version that I could find.

I see that "specialty coffee" which I assume are the Starbucks items at the bottom of the restaurant menus are included.  My question is where to get this at breakfast, instead of the house coffee?  Is it available anywhere on the buffet for example?

 

Question 2: any idea why the package cannot be used on the wine dispensers or Starbucks machines?  The products seem to be identical.

Because people would simply share their package.

4 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

I am not sure you can get a bottle of Venue period.  We were able to get glasses.  We did some damage for sure.  Remember, they will give a you a bottle of "Selected" wines and those list change so you might have a favorite you think is offered and it is not.  The offerings are quite nice though.  

 

Allow me to answer this question this way.  My wife ordered a bottle of White (Selected) and I ordered a bottle of Red (Selected).  No issue.  Also, not issue whether lunch or dinner is fine.  You could actually do it at breakfast also but I did not see that done. 

 

You can't get the Premium Plus Plan unless each person in the suite has it.  So if you don't drink adult beverages, it is a total waste of money.  That is my opinion anyway.

 

BTW, I also live in Birmingham, Alabama.  Small world. 

I am still a tad confused. I can order a bottle with dinner and one with lunch as well? We got the plus package because it just makes sense for us, but the ability to be able to order a bottle of wine with each meal would be a huge plus.

We noticed that the Chichen Itza tour (or Tulum for that matter) are not being offered for our March cruise. Are they closed down? Noticed the Airplane tour is available though. 

Guests who had an active reservation on a suspended cruises in November 2020 through March 2021 will automatically receive a refund of their cruise fare in the original form of a payment for the amount paid within 25 days. Additionally, a 10% off coupon will be automatically added to the guest's account which is valid for one year from date of issue, and can be used for any Norwegian Cruise Line voyage embarking through 2022 and is combinable with any FCCs and all future promotions at time of booking.

16 minutes ago, BSR said:

That's what I thought. You can still get a full refund if you paid with cash. 

Not if you rebook,. If you rebook then they consider the NEW cruise an FCC cruise. And then the money is theirs. According to them. However, for us small claims court is cheap and they frown on no shows. So they can hire a lawyer and burn the time money and bad press.

15 minutes ago, MoCruiseFan said:

You have no claim for court.  When you have a cruise canceled and you personally choose to take the FCC, that closes that transaction and it is a done deal.  When you use the FCC to book a new cruise, it is a completely different transaction and if that cruise gets canceled (as with everyone else) you get refunded to the original form of payment.  For that cruise it was FCC so you get back FCC.  Don't waste your time and money in court.

First. And let me make this abundantly clear. You have no stake in my case. You have no say in my case. And finally and most importantly the point of the post was to let others know. Again, this is not your province to decide. Further I have an email and a text line where I SPECIFICALLY asked about this at the time of the rebook in April.

7 minutes ago, MoCruiseFan said:

 

The refund is to the original form of payment FOR THAT CRUISE.  Do if you paid with FCC you get back FCC.

I paid the original cruise with my money. So really do not need your feedback. DESPITE your abuse of the ENGLISH language and your USE of RANDOM capital letters.

1 minute ago, MoCruiseFan said:

 

You already got the 25% bonus when you opted for the FCC initially.

Despite your line that is not the way it was represented. So you can say what you will but I actually have texts that assured me that we would be able to get our original money back. So in actuality we do have a case, and I do not know where you have been, but I have actually been working and not stalking cruise boards.

Once you rebook you can never get your money back. You can only get FCC.

So no. DO NOT REBOOK.

On 10/2/2020 at 5:33 PM, ohiocruisemom said:

I’ve been checking my 28NOV sailing on Escape regularly and just now got the “You’re so close... Don’t lose you reservation now! Make Payment “ where I was seeing messages about upgrades.  This happened to us on our other two cruises right before NCL cancelled. 

Whatever you do... DO NOT REBOOK YOUR CRUISE... Once you do NCL will not refund any of your money. Once you rebook they will only extend your money as FCC which you must use within a set period of time. 

You ONLY get a FCC. We had a booked cruise in April. We called for a refund. They talked us into a HIGHLY upgraded cruise in July. We thought what the risk. Asked about the refund if the new cruise was cancelled. he said NO PROBLEM> turn it in within 90 days.

We were just told that they will not refund the funds and we are headed to small claims court. If you really want the skinny on the whole thing talk to Sonja at Norwegian. Her extension is 23969. Once you rebook the money is THEIRS FOREVER. According to them...