Anyone encounter this problem before?

[AmR87]

Hello all,

 

I am traveling on NCL for the first time in three weeks. I had booked this vacation originally online in August. I however, used my teacher Union to get 'points' towards teacher rewards by booking the cruise.

 

Anyhow, in October I called to upgrade to include the ubp. When calling, NCL told me they couldn't help me in any way because I booked through a travel agent. Well, obviously I was surprised and confused so I hung up and called the number they gave me.

 

Well this was the number to my reward points. They flat out told me they couldn't do anything to update my cruise because they are not a travel agency. So, I was back to calling NCL. Eventually I found someone that actually helped me and added the ubp.

 

Fast forward to today. I call to ask about an upgrade. Basically the same thing happens. However, this time I have background knowledge and tell 'david' on the phone the situation. He refuses to do anything, so I ask for his supervisor. He tells me ' well I don't know why you would want them, they're going to tell you the same thing'. Well, guess what? He came back on the line and said I was correct and I would get my upgrade.

 

We have friends on this cruise and they called to get the same upgrade. A room ended up opening next to them, so there I was calling a mere 10 hours later to switch rooms.

 

Anyway... The Same thing happens. AGAIN! Literally, the same exact thing happened and 25 minutes later the woman finally agreed with me. She changed my room number once I proved myself.

 

My question then is, has anyone ever dealt with anything like this? Are there any tips in case I do have to call again? This has definitely changed my mind about trying to get reward points from the union. That's for sure.!

[fshagan]

It sounds like you were successful three times in getting the agents to understand that the union booking was an exception to the rule about travel agents, so I don't think you really need our advice on it. We could learn from you!

 

The NCL booking agents are nice, and very helpful when you have something that is in their scope of responsibilities. But unique or unusual situations can throw them for a loop. It may be that the information on their computer screen shows just a "Yes" or a "No" for "booked with NCL". "No" means a travel agent, perhaps 99.99999999% of the time. So it's not unreasonable for an agent to give the answer that is true almost every time: check with your travel agent.

 

If you have ever worked in a call center you know that call after call is easily answered. So easy that they have scripts to tell them the answer. It is very rare that you get a question that you haven't heard hundreds of times before. And it is very easy to give an answer that is wrong when it was the right answer hundreds of times before. You see "No" on the screen and follow the script "Thank you for your question! I see you didn't book directly for us. We value the relationships we have with our partners, the professional travel agent. Please check with your travel agent and they can assist you!"

 

You may not have worked in that environment before, but you hit on the right method to get past the initial (wrong) answer.

[luckyinpa]

i am curious about something. if you book through a warehouse club is that a 'travel agent'

 

i'm assuming anything other than booking with NCL is a travel agent..i guess?

[It's a Ship!!!]

i am curious about something. if you book through a warehouse club is that a 'travel agent'

 

i'm assuming anything other than booking with NCL is a travel agent..i guess?

Just like the above situation a warehouse club isn't really a travel agent, but they are acting as one in booking your cruise. It would depend on the club as to whether they would be able to actually service your booking or not.

[AmR87]

I would say it would be similar to my situation. Just be careful that it is a pain if you ever want to change the reservation! (I.e. Feeling like a jerk and 30-45 mins on the phone)