Beware Bogus Onboard Credit

[suef26]

BEWARE! We booked a last-minute 7-day cruise to the Bahamas on the Norwegian Gem through a cruise agent and were told that we would have $400 of onboard credit. The “onboard credit” turned out to be discount coupons on merchandise which could be purchased on the ship. That was certainly not our definition of “onboard credit.” When questioned, the cruise agent claimed that Norwegian offered onboard credit and Norwegian claimed that the coupons were their offer. Since the booking was done over the phone we have no recourse. We just wanted to make sure to get the word out so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else!

On the positive side, the cruise on the Norwegian Gem (4/15/2012 thru 4/22/2012) was delightful. The food was good, there were lots of activities for kids, and the entertainment (singers, dancers, magician, Second City Comedy) was superb. It’s a shame that this experience with the bogus onboard credit has soured us on both Norwegian and the cruise agent.

[russianmom]

I feel like it's Groundhog Day :eek:

[deladypilot]

Do not let this keep you from sailing with NCL. They did not do this. I have checked many of the online travel sites and several offer $400.00 coupon books. NCL offers this too. The travel agent mislead you with their advertising saying it was OBC. If you can find the listing again, you might be able to get them on Bate & Switch laws.

 

NCL is wonderful to sail with and im glad you had a great trip. When you are ready to book another cruise check out the companies website yourself and then call them.

 

I have only booked 3 cruises. I looked on NCLs website and found what I wanted and then call a Personal Cruise Consultant (PCC) at NCL and got things booked.

 

Best of luck

[Rileyz]

BEWARE! We booked a last-minute 7-day cruise to the Bahamas on the Norwegian Gem through a cruise agent and were told that we would have $400 of onboard credit. The “onboard credit” turned out to be discount coupons on merchandise which could be purchased on the ship. That was certainly not our definition of “onboard credit.” When questioned, the cruise agent claimed that Norwegian offered onboard credit and Norwegian claimed that the coupons were their offer. Since the booking was done over the phone we have no recourse. We just wanted to make sure to get the word out so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else!

On the positive side, the cruise on the Norwegian Gem (4/15/2012 thru 4/22/2012) was delightful. The food was good, there were lots of activities for kids, and the entertainment (singers, dancers, magician, Second City Comedy) was superb. It’s a shame that this experience with the bogus onboard credit has soured us on both Norwegian and the cruise agent.

 

 

By cruise agent do you mean a travel agent or an agent with NCL?

[deladypilot]

ok going back and reading your post. Was the cruise agent part of NCL or an independent travel agent?

 

I do know the NCL website says $400.00 Coupon book though

[cruiseclues]

My understanding was that is was not an NCL agent. This is just as bad as when HAL did not honor cruise prices after a consumer had already booked the cruise (several years back and it made the national news). If a cruiser does not find this out soon enough after boarding they might begin to spend much more freely on board. Especially bad if the cruiser is on a budget and brought a specific amount of cash for the cruise. :)

[shof515]

looks like a repeat of similar topic from earlier today

[Pokeraddict]

Just another reason why not to use ta's.

[luddite]

Wow!! I'm having deja` vu and esp simultaneously!

 

Book direct with the line and eschew the TA.

[valleyvillage]

looks like a repeat of similar topic from earlier today

 

I think the OP must have reposted after the first post used the specific name of a travel agency. But still finds they are soured on NCL. Thought that might go away since it's clearly a TA thing if they hyped that useless coupon book as an OBC.

[Seanote]

looks like a repeat of similar topic from earlier today

 

Looks like exactly the same post. :confused:

[cruiseclues]

Apparently, that earlier post was removed...as I believe the Cruise Critic rules do not allow a mentioning of specific Cruise Agents or Agencies. This is a good thing in the end as we would be subjected to a huge number of posts about who the best cruise agents were, and or the terrible things they did. I believe it might become difficult to find posts on other topics.

 

Though, no doubt, we who have cruised a number of times would like others to know when we have been wronged by our cruise agents. :)

[johnql]

Lesson to be learned: always get OBC offers in writing when confirming a booking. Clearly, there was a miscommunication between the OP and their "cruise agent".

[fergusonvt]

Looks like exactly the same post. :confused:

 

It is but different poster. Looks like the first maybe got deleted.

[Beaver1975]

It is but different poster. Looks like the first maybe got deleted.

 

Same poster

Here is a first at CC.....a repeat OPW. :rolleyes:

 

John

[HokiePoq]

This is a good reason to take a copy of your cruise contract/confirmation with you. On our last cruise we did not get the OBC that was in the ad and confirmation. I was able to email our agent from the ship and the OBC was added before the end of the cruise.

Sounds like an agent misled or there was a misunderstanding in this case. I'm thinking the contract probably did not spell out OBC.

[camz]

If you book directly with NCL they send you a confirmation email which details any OBCs or promos. That way you have actual confirmation you can bring onboard with you. This was a travel agent being shady, not NCL. It would not make sense for NCL to mislead a passenger in such a fashion. They would only have to deal with this unhappy passenger once they got onboard the ship and noticed the discrepency. Sorry for the OP's frustrations, however, this one cannot be NCL's responsibility. As the saying goes, if you don't know diamonds, know your jeweler. Well if you don't know the travel industry, know your travel agent. Live and learn! :)

[jdvmd]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

I think the OP must have gotten hung up on the wording. With the coupon books, it normally says "more than $400 worth of onboard savings." As we all know the coupon book is basically worthless.

[SFO-F/A]

Shady TA practice, not NCL. Another reason to book directly with NCL.

[garycarla]

NCL did not do this. 90%+ of TA's would not do this. You TA is a scamster.

 

Plain and simple. Any half idiot should know the difference between an OBC and Discount Book - which is not worth diddly. The TA tried to play with the terms and make it sound great.

 

Only way to avoid this is to get it in writing what the "OBC" can be used for. If you can not use it as $400 off your bar bill, then move to another TA.

[alex12_3]

Ohh that coupon book. The same one that ANY passenger can find a link to in their e-docs. :)

 

I brought the coupons with me. I think they saved me around $50. But remember...you have to spend a wild amount of money to use every coupon and save $400 :D

[boowaaccaa]

Does anyone know what is in these coupon books?

[valleyvillage]

We always get them, never used them. Bargains like : spend over 500 dollars on a medical procedure in the spa (:eek:) and save! Seriously, pretty much all the coupons are discounts you can probably get for yourself. I think they still have one involving specialty restaurants that's OK but we never used it. Here on CC they seem to irritate people more than please them.

[shof515]

Does anyone know what is in these coupon books?

 

there is a link in my sig about these coupon books

[sparks1093]

Does anyone know what is in these coupon books?

 

Coupons:cool:. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist:o).