Any Way To Argue For Cruise Credit When Excursion Costs Increase After Cruise Line Tells You To Wait?

[thereal_kman]

Hi all:

 

First time NCL cruiser after having good experiences on HAL and Carnival (and mixed on RC). I am sailing on the Norwegian Gem on Jan 16-25 and one of the excursions I planned to do with my family was the Atlantis Waterpark.

 

We have a $50 discount towards one person based on a promotion. We were going to book the excursion but about 10 days after our booking, worked with a cruise consultant (after an NCL agent was super unhelpful on the phone) to help get my mother in law booked into her own room to join us on the trip. It was essentially stated by the unhelpful NCL customer service rep to wait to book our excursions, food etc until we got my mother in law all set up since she was a separate purchase and we could coordinate with NCL to get it all booked at once despite it being my wife, kids and myself and then my MIL as a separate customer.

 

So we booked her last night. We went to go check on booking the excursions before we called to firm it up and.........find the excursion cost went up by almost $60 for adults per person. That's a BIG increase. (It's also a dumb one considering the ship according to our cruise consultant is only about half full)

 

So by doing what NCL advised us, we're now on the hook for paying almost $200 more for the 3 adults. 

 

My questions are two fold.

 

1) Is there any person to talk to about this? Their chat agent was beyond unhelpful. Is this something I could try to go to a manager about on the phone? Can the cruise consultant do something on their end? Even if it was just $100 excursion credit or SOMETHING, it  would seem fair.

 

Or are we just up a creek?  It seems frankly offensive that we're paying a financial penalty because we followed their advice to wait, just referred a customer (MIL) who just gave NCL another $1500 and now are going to risk losing making another $500 off us because now, we may not even book it. But I guess companies can be stupid.

 

2) Has anyone done the Atlantis water park by taking a taxi and just paying the regular ticket price. Is that cheaper than the posted rate by NCL which is now up to $219 for an adult (it was $169 yesterday).  

 

Thanks all

Edited December 20, 2022 by thereal_kman
Missed a word "losing" in 3rd paragraph

[klfrodo]

Start paddling. Sometimes, life just isn't fair.

[Shmoo here]

1 hour ago, thereal_kman said:

because we followed their advice to wait,

As with most things in life, You received some advice and chose to follow it.  Your choice.  You certainly have the option of contacting a supervisor and pleading your case, but I wouldn't expect another outcome.  

[ontheweb]

57 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

As with most things in life, You received some advice and chose to follow it.  Your choice.  You certainly have the option of contacting a supervisor and pleading your case, but I wouldn't expect another outcome.  

Yes, the OP asked if he can argue, and of course he can. But, he should not expect to get any satisfactory outcome.

[ldubs]

I suspect the customer service person had no idea that the price was going to change, meaning it was not intentional.  You could contact  NCL to make your case.  I would not be hopeful, but who knows.  Sorry this happened to you.  

 

The Atlantis water park looks very cool.  Out of curiosity I looked at the cost of a daily pass on their website.  If you were going right now, it would be $250.  So the NCL excursion would still be the better option.  You could plug your date(s) in to get an accurate day pass quote.     

[Essiesmom]

It could also be that Atlantis increased the price since the cruise line originally set it up.  EM

[navybankerteacher]

You get what you pay for -- not what you want to pay for it.

[mjkacmom]

We’ve done Atlantis on cruise stops different ways, see how much a day pass is through Atlantis. A taxi is only $5 pp.

[sanger727]

I've never done Atlantis, but check out the ports of calls forum. I've seen alot of people say that they get around the Atlantis daily pass by purchasing a hotel room. I'm not sure which hotel it is, but there is one that includes 4 daily passes to Atlantis in the room rate. People book a room, take a taxi, check in and get their passes. Then go to Atlantis, check out, and get a taxi back to the ship. 

[Mum2Mercury]

I don't mean this meanly or sarcastically, it's just the truth:  Prove it.  Without proof, you have nothing to go on. 

 

Two options:  

 

- Having said that, keep watching the excursion price every single day.  If it goes down, call in for a price match.  It's not likely to happen with only three weeks left, but it's possible. 

- You're talking about Atlantis in the Bahamas?  Do just as you suggested:  skip the excursion.  Reserve a day pass ticket directly with the hotel and take a taxi.  No way I would pay anyone even a single dollar to manage such a simple trip.   

Edited December 23, 2022 by Mum2Mercury

[capriccio]

@thereal_kmanWelcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Since your question is NCL specific I suggest posting it on the NCL forum (each cruise line has a dedicated forum) where it will be seen by many more NCL passengers:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/64-norwegian-cruise-line/

 

Edited December 24, 2022 by capriccio

[CruiseGal999]

On 12/20/2022 at 2:05 PM, thereal_kman said:

Hi all:

 

First time NCL cruiser after having good experiences on HAL and Carnival (and mixed on RC). I am sailing on the Norwegian Gem on Jan 16-25 and one of the excursions I planned to do with my family was the Atlantis Waterpark.

 

We have a $50 discount towards one person based on a promotion. We were going to book the excursion but about 10 days after our booking, worked with a cruise consultant (after an NCL agent was super unhelpful on the phone) to help get my mother in law booked into her own room to join us on the trip. It was essentially stated by the unhelpful NCL customer service rep to wait to book our excursions, food etc until we got my mother in law all set up since she was a separate purchase and we could coordinate with NCL to get it all booked at once despite it being my wife, kids and myself and then my MIL as a separate customer.

 

So we booked her last night. We went to go check on booking the excursions before we called to firm it up and.........find the excursion cost went up by almost $60 for adults per person. That's a BIG increase. (It's also a dumb one considering the ship according to our cruise consultant is only about half full)

 

So by doing what NCL advised us, we're now on the hook for paying almost $200 more for the 3 adults. 

 

My questions are two fold.

 

1) Is there any person to talk to about this? Their chat agent was beyond unhelpful. Is this something I could try to go to a manager about on the phone? Can the cruise consultant do something on their end? Even if it was just $100 excursion credit or SOMETHING, it  would seem fair.

 

Or are we just up a creek?  It seems frankly offensive that we're paying a financial penalty because we followed their advice to wait, just referred a customer (MIL) who just gave NCL another $1500 and now are going to risk losing making another $500 off us because now, we may not even book it. But I guess companies can be stupid.

 

2) Has anyone done the Atlantis water park by taking a taxi and just paying the regular ticket price. Is that cheaper than the posted rate by NCL which is now up to $219 for an adult (it was $169 yesterday).  

 

Thanks all

Most of my cruises - only 19 so far - have been NCL.  1)  Their food is the WORST - I know - you didn't ask, I'm just saying.  2)  Their excursions ARE AWFUL ... from EXTREMELY overpriced and horrible in content, I have been disappointed on every single excursion I have purchased through NCL.  WHY did I?  Because my Med. cruise ... I had NO idea who to go to/through for excursions  -  so I was at NCL's mercy.  Alaska - same - NO idea who to use/go to - at NCL's mercy.  

[Turtles06]

9 minutes ago, CruiseGal999 said:

Most of my cruises - only 19 so far - have been NCL.  1)  Their food is the WORST - I know - you didn't ask, I'm just saying.  2)  Their excursions ARE AWFUL ... from EXTREMELY overpriced and horrible in content, I have been disappointed on every single excursion I have purchased through NCL.  WHY did I?  Because my Med. cruise ... I had NO idea who to go to/through for excursions  -  so I was at NCL's mercy.  Alaska - same - NO idea who to use/go to - at NCL's mercy.  

 

What?  You seem to hate NCL, yet you keep booking with them?

 

As for ship-sponsored shorex, the cruise lines often use the same private tour suppliers in the same ports; if an NCL excursion is bad, probably the similar/same XYZ cruise line excursion in the same port is also bad.

 

You've been a CC member for ten years and haven't been able to find recommendations for private shorex, especially in the Med??   The Ports of Call forums, particularly those covering Europe, are full of them.   Also, Roll Calls are often a good source of that info; in fact, putting together a small group from a Roll Call to do a private shorex with is, imho, a big advantage of Roll Calls.

[CruiseGal999]

32 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

What?  You seem to hate NCL, yet you keep booking with them?

 

As for ship-sponsored shorex, the cruise lines often use the same private tour suppliers in the same ports; if an NCL excursion is bad, probably the similar/same XYZ cruise line excursion in the same port is also bad.

 

You've been a CC member for ten years and haven't been able to find recommendations for private shorex, especially in the Med??   The Ports of Call forums, particularly those covering Europe, are full of them.   Also, Roll Calls are often a good source of that info; in fact, putting together a small group from a Roll Call to do a private shorex with is, imho, a big advantage of Roll Calls.

Wow ... VERY judgy.  My 1 & only Med cruise was 2013 ... so NOT on CC for 10 years at that time.  There are more to cruiselines than excursions .... but the food ... very disappointing.  I do have to say that our Med cruise had the BEST NCL food ever.  ALL 19 cruises haven't been NCL ... I've sailed RC, Carnival, Princess, and NCL.  

[BamaVol]

On 12/20/2022 at 1:05 PM, thereal_kman said:

Hi all:

 

First time NCL cruiser after having good experiences on HAL and Carnival (and mixed on RC). I am sailing on the Norwegian Gem on Jan 16-25 and one of the excursions I planned to do with my family was the Atlantis Waterpark.

 

We have a $50 discount towards one person based on a promotion. We were going to book the excursion but about 10 days after our booking, worked with a cruise consultant (after an NCL agent was super unhelpful on the phone) to help get my mother in law booked into her own room to join us on the trip. It was essentially stated by the unhelpful NCL customer service rep to wait to book our excursions, food etc until we got my mother in law all set up since she was a separate purchase and we could coordinate with NCL to get it all booked at once despite it being my wife, kids and myself and then my MIL as a separate customer.

 

So we booked her last night. We went to go check on booking the excursions before we called to firm it up and.........find the excursion cost went up by almost $60 for adults per person. That's a BIG increase. (It's also a dumb one considering the ship according to our cruise consultant is only about half full)

 

So by doing what NCL advised us, we're now on the hook for paying almost $200 more for the 3 adults. 

 

My questions are two fold.

 

1) Is there any person to talk to about this? Their chat agent was beyond unhelpful. Is this something I could try to go to a manager about on the phone? Can the cruise consultant do something on their end? Even if it was just $100 excursion credit or SOMETHING, it  would seem fair.

 

Or are we just up a creek?  It seems frankly offensive that we're paying a financial penalty because we followed their advice to wait, just referred a customer (MIL) who just gave NCL another $1500 and now are going to risk losing making another $500 off us because now, we may not even book it. But I guess companies can be stupid.

 

2) Has anyone done the Atlantis water park by taking a taxi and just paying the regular ticket price. Is that cheaper than the posted rate by NCL which is now up to $219 for an adult (it was $169 yesterday).  

 

Thanks all

Probably a low probability for success. But you won’t get anything if you don’t ask.