Burned by Cruise Next

[NewBCruiser29]

I went on a cruise this July with my mom and while onboard they did their CruiseNext credit pitch. We decided to take advantage and each put down $500... they left out telling us the part where you can only apply 1 $250 credit per room otherwise we would have never done this because it makes no sense. We were under the impression that we were each putting down a $500 deposit for our next cruise fare and thus almost paying half advance. We just found this 1 credit per room rule out when we booked our next cruise and tried to apply our credits. Has anyone had a similar experience and/or successfully fought NCL on this? Obviously looking now, it's in the fine print, I just think it's deceptive that they don't tell you this outright. I know our chances of fighting them on it are slim but I figure it's worth a shot, right?

[Orleanscruiser]

I went on a cruise this July with my mom and while onboard they did their CruiseNext credit pitch. We decided to take advantage and each put down $500... they left out telling us the part where you can only apply 1 $250 credit per room otherwise we would have never done this because it makes no sense. We were under the impression that we were each putting down a $500 deposit for our next cruise fare and thus almost paying half advance. We just found this 1 credit per room rule out when we booked our next cruise and tried to apply our credits. Has anyone had a similar experience and/or successfully fought NCL on this? Obviously looking now, it's in the fine print, I just think it's deceptive that they don't tell you this outright. I know our chances of fighting them on it are slim but I figure it's worth a shot, right?

 

Cruise next certificate have alway been 1 per booking sometime they have a promo on select cruise you can use 2 certificate. Ncl has done nothing wrong , it's clearly written on the website . If I were you I would watch when they have the next promo and apply both certificate.

 

check this site they have the promo until October 15th https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruisenext

Edited October 6, 2017 by Orleanscruiser

[newmexicoNita]

I went on a cruise this July with my mom and while onboard they did their CruiseNext credit pitch. We decided to take advantage and each put down $500... they left out telling us the part where you can only apply 1 $250 credit per room otherwise we would have never done this because it makes no sense. We were under the impression that we were each putting down a $500 deposit for our next cruise fare and thus almost paying half advance. We just found this 1 credit per room rule out when we booked our next cruise and tried to apply our credits. Has anyone had a similar experience and/or successfully fought NCL on this? Obviously looking now, it's in the fine print, I just think it's deceptive that they don't tell you this outright. I know our chances of fighting them on it are slim but I figure it's worth a shot, right?

Maybe I see things differently but I think I would have assumed only one per cabin. Fighting it, as long as it is in writing is a total waste of everyone's time, but do what you think you need to do. I am sure most think you did not get burned.

[mugtech]

Cruise next certificate have alway been 1 per booking sometime they have a promo on select cruise you can use 2 certificate. Ncl has done nothing wrong , it's clearly written on the website . If I were you I would watch when they have the next promo and apply both certificate.

 

check this site they have the promo until October 15th https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/cruisenext

You can use 2 per cabin if you are in a balcony or higher. In addition, you have until July 2021 to use them. In November of 2016 we were allowed to use two per cabin for inside cabins on the back to back Gem cruises out of San Juan, so we saved $500 by purchasing 4 cruise next in May and using them all in November. Great investment, tax free.

[rochelle_s]

I am not sure you will have much success 'fighting' the issue but I wish you much success if you choose to pursue the matter further.

 

I will say that when I was on my last cruise (the Sun), at least one of the Cruise Next staff, in his pursuit of a sale (commissions) was definitely being 'deceptive' about the true benefits of the certificates. He was making claims such as I would be financially better off and saving more money if I purchased four certificates as opposed to two. When I pointed out that unless I was planning on booking multiple trips or booking multiple cabins there was no additional benefit he tried his hardest to convince me otherwise and this is where the bulk of his 'deceptive reasoning' came in. He was not the happiest when I pointed out the errors in what he was saying. I understand that they are doing their job and they are obviously compensated based on the number of certificates they sell, (whether through a direct commission or otherwise) but they should be upfront and honest with people who are purchasing them.

 

I think the Cruise Next certificates are a great deal. When you have something good that you are selling there is absolutely no need not to be 100% clear and concise about exactly what it is you are offering and the terms and conditions surrounding it. This would ensure no misunderstandings and ultimately you would have very happy customers as opposed to frustrated ones.

 

Good luck and enjoy your future crises.

 

Rochelle

 

 

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[Manbo]

I can totally relate. We have purchased many future cruise certificates, but also we also dealt with NCL staff that misled on details especially when there were specials involved.

Unless things changed, you can sell or transfer the extra certificates.

[oliver033]

It is typically 1 voucher however one year they pitched 2 vouchers and made it seem to my parents it was for any cruise....turned out to only be true for a subset of cruises during a portion of the year....that was frustrating...and my parents are experienced.

[txagfan]

Take a deep breath and move on...the terms are not that fine of print.

 

 

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[mabones]

Maybe I see things differently but I think I would have assumed only one per cabin. Fighting it, as long as it is in writing is a total waste of everyone's time, but do what you think you need to do. I am sure most think you did not get burned.

 

I hate to go off topic, but I was curious if these certificates can be used even if you put a deposit on a future cruise. I have a few in the future that I only put down the $50 deposit. I will be leaving in a few weeks and was considering purchasing some.

TIA

[Warm Breezes]

I'm not sure how you could have misunderstood this. I just purchased 2 on our cruise last week just by filling out the paperwork and turning it in. I thought the terms were very clear on the forms you filled out that were left in our room almost daily.

[ggTexasGal]

I hate to go off topic, but I was curious if these certificates can be used even if you put a deposit on a future cruise. I have a few in the future that I only put down the $50 deposit. I will be leaving in a few weeks and was considering purchasing some.

TIA

 

We have been able to apply Cruise Next certificates to previously booked cruises. I have logged into "My NCL" account, selected the cruise from there and gone to make payment. (You will first need to verify in My NCL that your certificate(s) does/do exist in your account, first!) Easily done and new Invoice will be emailed as usual.

 

BTW: Currently allowing (through 10/15/17) double Cruise Next deposits!!!

[NLH Arizona]

I will say that when I was on my last cruise (the Sun), at least one of the Cruise Next staff, in his pursuit of a sale (commissions) was definitely being 'deceptive' about the true benefits of the certificates.

According to the OP's post, this is was the case with her. She said they left out telling us the part where you can only apply 1 $250 credit per room. The OP assumed that she could use two, without asking the question or reading the terms.

[djpk2003]

I can relate. As a total cruise newbie on our first cruise, we excitedly purchased cruise next certificates from a gentleman who I can say completely misled us. My sister in law and I were talked into buying them together, assured that we could pool the money together, split the certificates, and use as many as we wanted at once. We literally asked these questions and were lied to. Now that being said, did I read the fine print when purchasing? No, I didn't. I had asked all my questions of the NCL employee and was reassured of my concerns. So that's my bad. Note to self, don't buy cruise next certs when you've had one too many fruity cruise cocktails ;-)

 

I feel for you on this one, but unfortunately I think as others have pointed out, it's pretty clear in the fine print. It would be awfully hard to take them on for this one!

[mabones]

We have been able to apply Cruise Next certificates to previously booked cruises. I have logged into "My NCL" account, selected the cruise from there and gone to make payment. (You will first need to verify in My NCL that your certificate(s) does/do exist in your account, first!) Easily done and new Invoice will be emailed as usual.

 

BTW: Currently allowing (through 10/15/17) double Cruise Next deposits!!!

Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately, we won't be going until the end of the month. So for now I will just purchase them & wait until I get back to see what is going on then. Maybe they will extend it.

[thetaro]

Sell them on eBay. You will not lose money. If you really believe that the employee misled you, you can file credit card dispute.

 

 

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[weltek]

NewBCruiser, and others who might find themselves in this situation, I just want to give some advice, if you continue cruising.

 

Cruisers are often targeted as people who won't read fine print. All the islands have charming people trying to give away free hotel nights, plane tickets, etc. while getting you to buy in to timeshares or travel clubs. Be very, very, very aware of this and take care not to get scammed. If you think, "I want that free week's hotel stay, so I'll sit through their presentation and say a firm no," STICK TO YOUR GUNS. Go home, do some web searches and then make a decision. Do not let them pressure you into a decision that day. And FYI, the free stuff is still probably not worth it, with all the restrictions and additional fees. We did that once in St. Thomas long ago (we were in our early 20s...thank goodness we stuck to our guns, took the free stuff and ran), and when we got home and did some searching, that certificate went in the trash because it was basically worthless. Would cost us the same amount of money for the airfare and hotel with the certificate as it would to purchase those items outright. We only had about an hour of time wasted, which wasn't a huge deal given we had no plans and it was early morning on the island, but still a waste of time. Basically we got two Diet Cokes for listening to them pressure us.

[BostonGal35]

you have up to 4 years to use it. no biggie, book 2 cruises in 4 years or watch for a use two coupon promo as others suggested. its defintiely in the materials, you have to read everything before signing/paying.

[mking8288]

OP, welcome to CruiseCritic - post #1. Cruised in July (like to know, which ship is this ??) and got a "shady" pitch salesman (sitting among the crowd or one-on-one ?) - sure, some of us can relate to that & understood being mislead ... but, you signed the form/document and agreed to the terms, never looked at it.

 

And, you're still covered by buyer's remorse ... more than 3 days' worth and could've called NCL up to a month later to cancel & get fully refunded, unless you opted to use the OBC - yada yada, etc. etc.

 

I pulled up the piles of CN promotion material, it was most definitely not hidden as fine print, it looked clear enough via my bifocal glasses & spelled out in writing what you think you are getting into. Sorry, I am not a big fan of defending or trying to explain the cruiseline's sales practice - but, suffice to say, somewhat troubled by your side of the story. This isn't a new "scam" and is frequently discussed here, a simple search would've yielded numerous threads by others, even after getting home & felt cheated - and, cancel for a full refund .. before the deadline.

 

As several others said, here are the recent "visuals" ... not buried in micro fonts.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/57n6qeebgzbzory/IMG_20170503_170236.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sqzfdamt7m1iuji/IMG_20170504_163320.jpg?dl=0

 

BTW, did you attended the "free" art auctions, got a free print and enjoy the beverage while ...

Edited October 6, 2017 by mking8288

[jmh0603]

NCL often has cruises you can use 2 of the certificates at a time; or even promos to use 2 on any cruise. We used 2 of ours for the cruise we are taking in a couple of weeks. We still have 2 more. This cruise it's me, DH, my mom and a friend; our next cruise will be just me and DH so even if we use one we are okay with that.

[HuliHuli]

One must always do their homework first - caveat emptor.

[Zenica]

Are these offered on every cruise? Can you buy them ahead of your departure if your paid in full?

[electro]

OP, welcome to CruiseCritic - post #1. Cruised in July (like to know, which ship is this ??) and got a "shady" pitch salesman (sitting among the crowd or one-on-one ?) - sure, some of us can relate to that & understood being mislead ... but, you signed the form/document and agreed to the terms, never looked at it.

 

And, you're still covered by buyer's remorse ... more than 3 days' worth and could've called NCL up to a month later to cancel & get fully refunded, unless you opted to use the OBC - yada yada, etc. etc.

 

I pulled up the piles of CN promotion material, it was most definitely not hidden as fine print, it looked clear enough via my bifocal glasses & spelled out in writing what you think you are getting into. Sorry, I am not a big fan of defending or trying to explain the cruiseline's sales practice - but, suffice to say, somewhat troubled by your side of the story. This isn't a new "scam" and is frequently discussed here, a simple search would've yielded numerous threads by others, even after getting home & felt cheated - and, cancel for a full refund .. before the deadline.

 

As several others said, here are the recent "visuals" ... not buried in micro fonts.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/57n6qeebgzbzory/IMG_20170503_170236.jpg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sqzfdamt7m1iuji/IMG_20170504_163320.jpg?dl=0

 

BTW, did you attended the "free" art auctions, got a free print and enjoy the beverage while ...

Both of those document state that you can use 2 per cabin.

[2Oldpeopleinlove]

I understand OP's confusion. We bought two on the Gem last month, and the spoken presentation was very clear that we would be able to use two on a single cruise on a balcony or above. No one at any point said that this would be true only as a promotion within a particular time frame.

 

We are usually pretty precise in asking questions. In fact, the rep obviously became annoyed with us because we asked so many and wouldn't accept vague or off-topic replies. But it was our job to understand before paying. (And others sitting at the lobby bar with us as went went back and forth to get clarifications were grateful we did.) Now I find, through this thread, that we were lucky we chose to book again this week.

 

Of course, we would otherwise have elected to wait for another promo, but we will be even less trusting in the future. I appreciate the OP's information, which brought up other information we lacked. As first timers, it's hard to second guess everything. Thanks.

[old nutter]

We have been able to apply Cruise Next certificates to previously booked cruises. I have logged into "My NCL" account, selected the cruise from there and gone to make payment. (You will first need to verify in My NCL that your certificate(s) does/do exist in your account, first!) Easily done and new Invoice will be emailed as usual.

 

BTW: Currently allowing (through 10/15/17) double Cruise Next deposits!!!

 

We bought two Cruise Next certificates a couple of weeks ago on the Epic but have not got the actual certificate yet nor the relevant number. We were told we would get them by email when we got back but nothing yet. Where does My NCL show them please so we can check they are there?

[Luke104]

We bought two Cruise Next certificates a couple of weeks ago on the Epic but have not got the actual certificate yet nor the relevant number. We were told we would get them by email when we got back but nothing yet. Where does My NCL show them please so we can check they are there?

 

Once you log on, go to "my account", then click on the "my account" directly above the update profile. there is where you should see "coupons and credits" with ID #, amount and valid time period to be used.