NCL.co.uk - How to lose customers by ripping them off

[mypleasure]

Thanks for posting that Pootlepoops, I will take a look at Virgin in future.

 

I booked a January cruise yesterday through my PCC in the US. Dropped him an email with my requirements and he called me to finalize details and get my credit card details. Stellar service from him. I prefer to book through the US at the moment but will go where the deal is right for me.

[DevonianCruiser]

Just wanted to add my experience to this. We booked a package 3 weeks ago through Virgin Cruise Holidays for flights, NYC stay and 7 nights on the Breakaway departing 15th Dec. We booked through Virgin as we couldn't get near the price booking independently. Last weekend I noticed the prices for the Balcony cabins has dropped on the NCL site. I phoned NCL to see if we could upgrade, at a cost if need be. They advised me to contact Virgin and I did. Virgin contacted NCL on my behalf and offered us an upgrade to Aft for £35 or an upgrade to a spa balcony for £85. We have taken the spa offer this morning and MyNCL was updated before I had even given my card details to the Virgin rep!

 

Thats very good. I've booked through Virgin before and they were very good to deal with, however when I tried to book a holiday for 6 of us for next summer at around £12,000 in total (mini suite and PH for two weeks) they were nearly £1,200 more expensive than 2 other agents. They couldn't (or wouldn't) discount the holiday at all. They were exactly the same as NCL UK direct. Plus they wanted to charge a booking fee on top. They 'agreed' to remove this, but even after that were still the £1,200 more.

 

The other point to consider is that when we did use them for a two week cruise out of Miami we booked premium economy for everyone. At the airport both my dad and me wanted to use airmiles to upgrade to UC - we checked and the availability was there. Virgin Atlantic said the class of ticket was not upgradeable as it was through Virgin Holidays. They said this issue often arose as people think that Virgin is Virgin but through Holidays there's no flexibility on the tickets. This wouldn't bother some people at all, but worth knowing I think.