NCL Epic very unhappy

[GROOVERS]

You are right.. she could be in bed... crying...

 

My apologies to the OP for that comment, but I am only writing what most people are thinking (against Thumper's Rule, I know)!

 

In all honesty, there are MANY people who only lurk on the boards, and rarely - if ever, post. Some people's skin is thicker than others, and if you take things too personally you will not "enjoy" the boards to their full potential. In my case, I probably spend too much time here anyway.

Time to get to work now!

Tom

 

 

Look, I have made mistakes, some of them costly, we all have, but I don't get on some kind of forum and slam something, everyone else is planning to have a good time with!

We have known and traveled with folks that wouldn't be happy working in a pie factory, and I know how great that is, I work in a pie factory, and the Pecan Pie is the best, I do love it...:p

Always remember what that famous person said, "Mama always said, Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get" and mama knew what she was talking about!:)

 

See ya Saturday Tom!

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Look, I have made mistakes, some of them costly, we all have, but I don't get on some kind of forum and slam something, everyone else is planning to have a good time with!

We have known and traveled with folks that wouldn't be happy working in a pie factory, and I know how great that is, I work in a pie factory, and the Pecan Pie is the best, I do love it...:p

Always remember what that famous person said, "Mama always said, Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get" and mama knew what she was talking about!:)

 

See ya Saturday Tom!

 

We just recorded a Good Eats episode a couple of nights ago for a Thanksgiving feast, and the real standout was his Pecan Pie recipe... can't wait to try it!!!

 

See you soon!

 

Tom

[halos]

You do realize this apparently was the OP's first cruise?

"My husband and I have been on 16 cruises since 1999 and 4 of which are NCL"

:eek:

Whoa...my mistake.

OK...that puts an entirely different light on this and makes me even more confused about how someone with cruises under their belt (THAT MANY :eek:) managed to not get the cabin she wanted and cry for 3 days over it...

 

Wait..it was her first cruise or it was her 16th?? I am seriously confused

 

She posted twice on here this thread...I see nothing about her history or anything about someone laughing at her. Did posts get deleted?? :confused:

 

 

I am really shocked at how many posters feel that the OP was at fault. Cruises are expensive and not everyone knows how to find info on the internet. I have been reading the messages boards for over a year and this is the first time I heard about differences in balconies. The OP is not to blame.

 

 

 

You have to be your own advocate. I don't know how else to say this.

 

When you make any purchase and do not understand what you're buying, you are at fault.

 

It is a lesson learned. When she cruises again, I guarantee she will pick her cabin herself after doing some investigation.

 

Sometimes you have to chalk things up to lessons learned/experience.

 

That's life.

 

In the mean time, she ruined three days of her cruise crying over the cabin?????

 

Please. :rolleyes:

[cruisemainiac]

Our first cruise on NCL was on the Majasty. We got an oceanview gty. We were new to the cruise thing and found out that it might be an obstucted view, how bad could it be?. We had a breathtaking view of the lifeboat. On another cruise with CCL, booked an oceanview GTY. We were deck 4 forward. It had a great view, perfect, until 6am. We were right over the forward thrusters and it felt like a freight train coming through. Needless to say that was the end of GTY for us.

[che5904]

 

I see nothing about her history or anything about someone laughing at her. Did posts get deleted?? :confused:

 

In the original post "I'm leaving out many details leading up to this point, like for example, when the guest services woman laughed at me when we were complaining about the room."

 

Where I'm having a hard time understanding is why anyone would laugh at someone that was complaining. They might be rude, they might be uncaring but it just doesn't seem right that they would "laugh".

[markcruising]

Exactly!

 

 

Great username Leeroy. I wonder how many people here understand the genesis of it.

[candygirl27540]

Great username Leeroy. I wonder how many people here understand the genesis of it.

 

 

Well, just call me Betty!:p

[halos]

In the original post "I'm leaving out many details leading up to this point, like for example, when the guest services woman laughed at me when we were complaining about the room."

 

Where I'm having a hard time understanding is why anyone would laugh at someone that was complaining. They might be rude, they might be uncaring but it just doesn't seem right that they would "laugh".

 

I agree. It isn't right at all.

However....the whole thing about crying for 3 days has me suspect of her perceptions. It's hard to take anything seriously (sadly) when someone says their cabin had them crying for 3 days.

 

If you book your cruise through a TA and then go to the CS desk while on your cruise ranting about your cabin, what is CS supposed to do???

If they laughed at her, this was wrong, but like I said...I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall and witnessed the conversation.

 

And..finally after reading the post again (I swear after a while all I saw was 'blah blah blah' which is why I didn't see it) I see the part that states they have cruised numerous times.

I'm sorry her cabin sucked...I truly am. I just think her anger is misdirected.

 

 

Well, just call me Betty!

 

I will call you Betty and Betty when you call me, you can call me, Al...call me Al

 

 

 

 

 

(OK now that song is stuck in my head ) :p

[che5904]

I agree. It isn't right at all.

However....the whole thing about crying for 3 days has me suspect of her perceptions. It's hard to take anything seriously (sadly) when someone says their cabin had them crying for 3 days.

 

If you book your cruise through a TA and then go to the CS desk while on your cruise ranting about your cabin, what is CS supposed to do???

If they laughed at her, this was wrong, but like I said...I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall and witnessed the conversation.

 

Also..was this her first cruise or their 16th??? I am still confused.

 

Actually what I meant by "it just doesn't seem right" was that something didn't make sense in that statement. I agree with everything you said above.

[halos]

Actually what I meant by "it just doesn't seem right" was that something didn't make sense in that statement. I agree with everything you said above.

I edited my post...My comprehension is awful this morning. (I know...bad)

I sped read her first post several times...finally I actually read the whole thing.

[che5904]

I edited my post...My comprehension is awful this morning. (I know...bad)

I sped read her first post several times...finally I actually read the whole thing.

 

:D :D I did that on another thread this morning, only mine was a very embarrassing mistake. :o

[cod]

I would never book a guarantee hoping for an upgrade. I would only do it if I can live with all the cabins within that category (because most likely that is where I'll end up!) and because it is LOTS cheaper (sometimes yes, sometimes no) than picking a particular cabin in that category. Plus, I check the next couple of categories up for 'the worst case scenario cabins' there because that is the next possibility.

 

I've read posts where people have claimed to have had a huge upgrade..one claimed a balcony from an inside. I never saw that happen at the agency I worked for or to anyone I know personally or to myself, for that matter. Can it happen? Sure. But I tend to put those posts with the ones who claim endless winning in the casino!!

[dalgirl]

I think you've given good, general advice, but in this particular situation, for the reasons I noted in red above, it might not play out for everyone....

 

I see your point - but if you are rolling the dice with a GTY, then you should expect that it could be a disappointment. I think some people (and this is a guess) will book GTY on the off chance they will be upgraded... but this is not always the case. I agree that NCL should let people know that the balcony is "enclosed" just as they do for "obstructed" window views. Just because they are all outside balconies there are a few nasty surprises - uncovered balconies being another example - we would hate that.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

... But I tend to put those posts with the ones who claim endless winning in the casino!!

 

There was a period of time where I won (thousands) on TEN CONSECUTIVE cruises. I almost thought it should continue... then reality hit (hard) over the next several sailings! :eek:

 

Tom

[2Ports]

Sorry, folks, but I have to say NCL is at fault here for not making a distinction between these balconies and "regular" balconies like other cruise lines do. THAT SAID...

 

I figured out within hours of booking my Star cruise next week that I had one of those. (I didn't have a clue these existed) So what? It was a balcony on a cruise ship. :D And for what I paid... :p

 

The cherry on top, though... I got an email a couple of weeks ago telling me I'd been upgraded from a BX cove on deck 8 over the theater to a BB regular on deck 10!

 

I've booked GTY on at least half my cruises, and never found anything to complain about. (Well, OK, the food on the Aloha... :eek: ) Gotten some awesome upgrades, sometimes exactly what I paid for.

[halos]

Sorry, folks, but I have to say NCL is at fault here for not making a distinction between these balconies and "regular" balconies like other cruise lines do. THAT SAID...

.

 

I don't think many or any of us could disagree that NCL should be more descriptive, however, if you are working with a TA, it is the TA's job to know...whether NCL is forthcoming on their deck plans or not.

 

Does anyone else have a job where they can just be as informed or uninformed as they feel like being??? Not without being fired, I'd think.

[Zeno]

1. If you want a specific cabin or even cabin location or a cabin with certain features (like an open balcony) - DO NOT try to save money by booking a GTY. The OPs cabin was definitely a GTY since with non-GTYs you get your cabin number IMMEDIATELY upon booking (unless the system is down). Just because a balcony cabin is in the bulkhead does not make it other than a balcony cabin. The OP got exactly what she booked - a GTY balcony. Blaming NCL for a poor TA and a lack of personal due diligence does not change that.

2. DO YOUR RESEARCH before booking - so you KNOW which cabins have the features you want - this is NOT hard to do - the internet is a great tool and this website has tons of info.

3. Personally I believe in booking directly with NCL but if you use a TA, make sure they understand exactly what you want and give them a specific cabin numbers of the cabins that have the features you want. No TA or NCL PCC is going to be familiar with ALL the features of every cabin on every ship.

4. Anyone who would ruin their own cruise by spending several days sobbing because their balcony wasn't what they expected, needs to be expecially diligent about booking a SPECIFIC cabin after they have done some proper research.

 

Bottom line - NCL did nothing wrong. OP required a cabin with specific features and therefore should have been especially careful to book the "right" cabin.

For our upcoming cruise, we have specific cabin requirements and were very careful to book a specific cabin that has these requirements. We called our PCC with a list of acceptable cabins - our 3rd choice was available and we booked it immediately.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

...

Does anyone else have a job where they can just be as informed or uninformed as they feel like being??? Not without being fired, I'd think.

 

Weather forecasters come to mind... but we kind of expect them to be wrong (or at least, not always right)! :D

 

Tom

[che5904]

Sorry, folks, but I have to say NCL is at fault here for not making a distinction between these balconies and "regular" balconies like other cruise lines do. THAT SAID...

 

 

It has been pointed out that not ALL other cruise lines do point this out either, just some.

 

I haven't seen it disagreed anywhere in this thread, that NCL shouldn't make these cabins specially noted.

 

I think the question that comes to play was the risks thoroughly looked at by her or her TA.

 

She said she requested a regular balcony. At what level of "regular balcony" did she request? If we assume her TA placed her in any "regular balcony" that would mean she would have been put in one of 13 balcony categories or higher. Even if NCL noted the hull balcony as a different category it would have still meant she could have been put in that.

 

The only thing where NCL comes into play is that when she received her cabin 3 weeks prior to sail that she didn't see this was a hull balcony. 3 weeks prior to sail is after final payment and therefore is no guarantee NCL could have did anything about this at that time or even would have. Thats the risk of a GTY.

 

I'm glad you book this way and it works for you, but you also appear to know the risks.

 

Either the OP didn't know the risks and weren't told by her TA. Or she knew the risks and hoped for a better category. Either way the risk was taken and obviously she didn't like the end result. If you are only going to be happy with a specific cabin then you have to book that specific cabin or in this case give your TA the block of cabins you would be interested only in. Then if she gave this cabin number thinking it was just a regular large balcony, she would have something to blame on NCL for not noting it.

[che5904]

Weather forecasters come to mind:D

 

Tom

 

I thought the exact same thing.

[N747KT]

I was on the Epic cruise the wek of 11/12/11. I also ahd a forward Cove balcony. We really enjoyed that type of balcont for the extra space and privacy it provided, and the view was ok as long as you stood up by the rail.

 

I have zero complaints about NCL the crew our the cabin. We loved every minute of our vacation!!

[time2cruise1]

Sorry, folks, but I have to say NCL is at fault here for not making a distinction between these balconies and "regular" balconies like other cruise lines do. THAT SAID...

 

.

 

They make it pretty clear. I just did a partial booking of a BX GTY. The risk is pointed out and the TA in this case should have done the same for the OP

 

 

 

A stateroom in the category they paid for, or possibly higher

 

A Guarantee Stateroom does NOT guarantee the guests

Deck or Location

Specific bedding arrangements (Two lowers that convert to a queen)

A specific cabin number

An unobstructed view

An upgrade

 

Once the stateroom has been assigned, there will be NO changes.

[halos]

Weather forecasters come to mind... but we kind of expect them to be wrong (or at least, not always right)! :D

 

Tom

Funny you said that because they came to mind when I was typing that post!

[Sugar*Magnolia]

Epic doesnt have any oceanview cabins. What she had was the enclosed balcony with a "openable" window. Scroll up and see the photo another person posted on this thread. That is what the Epic hull balconies are.

 

Thank you very much GreaseDJ!!

I think the OP got a little mixed up further down in the post when they refered to what they had received as and "obstructed balcony". But perhaps they didn't know that that term is used for oceanview with something in their line of vision. Actually if you look at my photo of the forward balconies in post #35. It's a pretty good description that the OP used in their fist paragraph. Although if you wish a balcony, why anyone would then accept an inside in place of this "steel room with a window" is beyond me

 

The OP was mixed up and mixed me up too! lol I looked at your picture, thanks so much!

 

 

Being new to the NCL boards, I really appreciate the info, thanks a bunch.

[SuiteCruiser]

They make it pretty clear. I just did a partial booking of a BX GTY. The risk is pointed out and the TA in this case should have done the same for the OP

 

 

 

A stateroom in the category they paid for, or possibly higher

 

A Guarantee Stateroom does NOT guarantee the guests

Deck or Location

Specific bedding arrangements (Two lowers that convert to a queen)

A specific cabin number

An unobstructed view

An upgrade

 

 

 

 

Once the stateroom has been assigned, there will be NO changes.

 

I think that's pretty darned clear