NCL.com room availability is either broken beyond repair or using intentionally misleading room rates

[f1rstxlas7]

Since booking my Feb 2023 cruise back in September, I've been keeping track of room pricing and availability almost daily. There have been multiple instances now where I've seen a certain room category open up that I was interested in, called NCL and my TA about it, and have been told someone must've "snapped it up" before I was able to. Despite refreshing the booking availability page multiple times or using a different browser with cleared cache/incognito after the 15 minute hold period, later in the day, or even in the following days the rooms still appear as available. When I go to actually click on the desired room category, the website displays that it's no longer available, but using a different browser it'll show me the pricing for that category anyway.

 

I've noticed that my TA's website that pulls available rooms from NCL has never shown the same room category availability that the actual NCL website is showing. So either NCL isn't successfully pulling room availability to their own website OR they're intentionally misleading people to believe that certain rooms are available to try and get them to book a room that is available. 

Has anyone else had any other experiences like this?

[sailorusvi]

Yes, we did just last week. We didn't use a TA, but PCC (a very bad one who mislead us so bad we demanded they listen to the recordings of our conversation to get what we want, but I digress).  

 

We wanted to upgrade to Haven, as saw some opening on the website, but when we called it wasn't available anymore, but of course more expensive ones were.   Then later that day the less expensive one was still able to be booked.   We eventually upgraded.

 

Honestly, it's left a bad taste in our mouth. It's my husband's first cruise and my first one in decades (non on NCL).  

[JandC_Cruising]

Here is something we have noticed. 

If there is say only one room available in a particular category and you go into NCL.com and do a mock booking, that specific room is then "held" for some mysterious amount of time.  

This can happen easily when looking at Haven rooms as there can be very limited numbers in each category as you get closer to the cruise date.

Even if you back out of the mock-booking, clear your cache, or try "incognito mode" in the browser, NCL has that room locked for a while.  

[J0Y0US]

2 hours ago, sailorusvi said:

We wanted to upgrade to Haven, as saw some opening on the website, but when we called it wasn't available anymore, but of course more expensive ones were.   Then later that day the less expensive one was still able to be booked.   We eventually upgraded.

 

If someone is going in to the room it gets held. So now if you call instead its gone because its held by you or someone else on the web. The hold isn't that long typically though.

 

I can essentially make a whole category go on hold if its small enough and really wanted to. There is no benefit to this but just outlining that is likely what is occurring.

 

See this all the time with NCL.com when I am comparing things actively.

[J0Y0US]

2 hours ago, sailorusvi said:

Honestly, it's left a bad taste in our mouth. It's my husband's first cruise and my first one in decades (non on NCL).  

 

Think of it this way.

 

If you go to a jewelry store and ask them to pull out a diamond that is 2CTs and its the only one in the store its now in front of you. Someone comes in and asks for a 2CT diamond and a different salesperson looks in the case and tells that person there are none.

 

This is what is happening. The website is "dumb" it is trying to make sure the room is not booked from out under you essentially coming over and just stealing that diamond from in front of you.

 

This will cause issues when you are in the store looking (online) then call the store to ask about it. Which essentially is what you are doing.

 

Now NCL might do something shady but I dont think that is what is occurring here its likely the issue I describe or possibly just a broken system.

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, J0Y0US said:

 

If someone is going in to the room it gets held. So now if you call instead its gone because its held by you or someone else on the web. The hold isn't that long typically though.

 

I can essentially make a whole category go on hold if its small enough and really wanted to. There is no benefit to this but just outlining that is likely what is occurring.

 

See this all the time with NCL.com when I am comparing things actively.

Exactly. For my most recent cruise, there was a phenomenal deal. I had a room held on a TA site, my NCL website, my husband had a room held on his, and our PCC had a room held on her end. That's four rooms. Several times none of us could see any availability, because we had so many rooms held. But, we got the deal! Probably drove others that didn't know what was going on, insane.

[TSUmom]

This has happened to me.  I found a cabin I wanted, called my PCC and it showed not available.  My PCC told me it is because it is now on "hold" for a short time. 

[zqvol]

Seems to me as if the system simply doesn't work in the way the OP thinks it should. I doubt that there is anything wrong with it.

[BirdTravels]

5 hours ago, f1rstxlas7 said:

I've noticed that my TA's website that pulls available rooms from NCL has never shown the same room category availability that the actual NCL website is showing. 

I am sure that you understand that airlines, hotels, cruise lines, often allocate blocks of rooms to top travel agencies on "consignment", allowing them to manage that inventory. So, it is totally reasonable that a TA site would show rooms that NCL would not. And visa versa, the TA would promote their inventory before going to general NCL inventory. This is the way business is done. Not misleading. 

[f1rstxlas7]

  

1 hour ago, J0Y0US said:

 

Think of it this way.

 

If you go to a jewelry store and ask them to pull out a diamond that is 2CTs and its the only one in the store its now in front of you. Someone comes in and asks for a 2CT diamond and a different salesperson looks in the case and tells that person there are none.

 

This is what is happening. The website is "dumb" it is trying to make sure the room is not booked from out under you essentially coming over and just stealing that diamond from in front of you.

 

This will cause issues when you are in the store looking (online) then call the store to ask about it. Which essentially is what you are doing.

 

Now NCL might do something shady but I dont think that is what is occurring here its likely the issue I describe or possibly just a broken system.

This is decidedly not what's happening. It's very clear that NCL has a timer for rooms in the checkout process already. It's very easy to see and understand that when someone picks out a room/diamond, it's held and not available for others. It's very easy to cross check this but simply letting the timer expire, giving the room time to be "re-added" into the pool of inventory until it's showing as available again on the site, and then calling them directly about it without adding it to cart. This is common amongst eCommerce platforms, especially for ticket vendors like TicketMaster. This is not what's happening.

 

11 minutes ago, zqvol said:

Seems to me as if the system simply doesn't work in the way the OP thinks it should. I doubt that there is anything wrong with it.

You're misinterpreting what I'm saying based on the other comments above. This is has nothing to do with temporary holds on rooms during the checkout process.

 

2 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

I am sure that you understand that airlines, hotels, cruise lines, often allocate blocks of rooms to top travel agencies on "consignment", allowing them to manage that inventory. So, it is totally reasonable that a TA site would show rooms that NCL would not. And visa versa, the TA would promote their inventory before going to general NCL inventory. This is the way business is done. Not misleading. 

If this were the case, my TA would be able to see the room listed as available and allow an upgrade for it and that has not been the case. I've asked multiple different times, multiple different people, and those at Team Lead or Management positions.

Unfortunately, since posting this, I've learned why this is occurring and it doesn't sit right with me. The NCL rep I spoke to today informed me that they cannot search their reservation system by room #, only by room category. They confirmed this with their Team Lead. As it turns out, what's actually happening is that the room number that's showing as available on the TA site actually is available on NCL's end, but NCL has recategorized it into a lower priced category. Basically, the TA site is correctly showing the room number as available, but because it's no longer specifically defined as within the original room category, the entire category shows up as unavailable. What's actually happening with the room is that NCL has recategorized it from a Balcony with Thermal Suite access to a Guaranteed Balcony where room number isn't assigned until check-in. This allows them to essentially advertise and fill a Balcony room without having to provide the Thermal Suite privileges that was actually supposed to come with the room.

tl;dr NCL is using better quality rooms with similar specs & qualities but without the additional benefits to help fill unbooked rooms.

[phillygwm]

3 hours ago, JandC_Cruising said:

Here is something we have noticed. 

If there is say only one room available in a particular category and you go into NCL.com and do a mock booking, that specific room is then "held" for some mysterious amount of time.  

I'm not sure it's that mysterious.  If you start a booking on ncl.com, it starts a countdown timer (15 minutes IIRC.)  That takes the room off the grid, which is a good thing because imagine the complaints if people were "stealing" rooms out from under each other mid-booking.

 

The NCL website leaves a lot to be desired (restaurant bookings as one example) but this one is a feature, not a bug.

[JandC_Cruising]

Just now, phillygwm said:

I'm not sure it's that mysterious.  If you start a booking on ncl.com, it starts a countdown timer (15 minutes IIRC.)  That takes the room off the grid, which is a good thing because imagine the complaints if people were "stealing" rooms out from under each other mid-booking.

 

The NCL website leaves a lot to be desired (restaurant bookings as one example) but this one is a feature, not a bug.

I fully agree it is the right process.  but we've seen cabins disappear for nearly 1/2 of the day in the past.   Even if the category wasn't sold out.  (Mock booking on a cabin...change mind...then come back and want to select that original cabin again and it's gone....re-appears later in the day)

Could someone else have gone into it and done the same as us exactly 15 minutes later? I suppose so.  I was just using "mysterious" as code for the fact that I don't know "EXACTLY" how long before it would re-appear.   I've seen it take longer than 15 minutes though.... 

[phillygwm]

4 minutes ago, f1rstxlas7 said:

The NCL rep I spoke to today informed me that they cannot search their reservation system by room #, only by room category. They confirmed this with their Team Lead. As it turns out, what's actually happening is that the room number that's showing as available on the TA site actually is available on NCL's end, but NCL has recategorized it into a lower priced category. Basically, the TA site is correctly showing the room number as available, but because it's no longer specifically defined as within the original room category, the entire category shows up as unavailable. What's actually happening with the room is that NCL has recategorized it from a Balcony with Thermal Suite access to a Guaranteed Balcony where room number isn't assigned until check-in. This allows them to essentially advertise and fill a Balcony room without having to provide the Thermal Suite privileges that was actually supposed to come with the room.

tl;dr NCL is using better quality rooms with similar specs & qualities but without the additional benefits to help fill unbooked rooms.

It's entirely probable that I'm misunderstanding this but the scenario doesn't make sense to me.  I'd think that a Spa Balcony would cost considerably more than a guaranteed balcony.  Why wouldn't NCL want to squeeze out that extra revenue?  If nothing else, perhaps someone in a standard balcony would care to upgrade during the bidding process.

 

 

 

[cruiseny4life]

Just now, phillygwm said:

It's entirely probable that I'm misunderstanding this but the scenario doesn't make sense to me.  I'd think that a Spa Balcony would cost considerably more than a guaranteed balcony.  Why wouldn't NCL want to squeeze out that extra revenue?  If nothing else, perhaps someone in a standard balcony would care to upgrade during the bidding process.

 

 

 

Spa balcony cabins usually cost around $600'ish more. At least when I've looked at different cruises. The room is the same crappy balcony room. It just provides the additional benefit of providing access to a thermal suite. Of course it's a bit larger than a considerably lower grade balcony, but it's still a balcony room. You might be thinking of the Haven Spa Balcony rooms. Those are generally at least $1,000 more than a balcony, if not $2,000 more, but they are actually larger rooms (not necessarily larger balconies though), with Haven perks, and thermal suite access.

 

Here's an example on the Getaway in May, 2024:

 

 

That Haven room listed at $4,839 is for a Haven Spa Balcony room.

[f1rstxlas7]

  

7 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

It's entirely probable that I'm misunderstanding this but the scenario doesn't make sense to me.  I'd think that a Spa Balcony would cost considerably more than a guaranteed balcony.  Why wouldn't NCL want to squeeze out that extra revenue?  If nothing else, perhaps someone in a standard balcony would care to upgrade during the bidding process.

 

 

 

Ah-ha! That's a great point too! I did the math on this one to be sure. The TA I'm using is listing the Spa Balcony as $160 more than the equivalent regular Balcony, but for this specific itinerary, the week long Thermal Suite pass was $309 per person! Meaning, they're pocketing the difference of $149 per person by not having to provide access to the Spa!

Edited January 10, 2023 by f1rstxlas7

[cruiseny4life]

16 minutes ago, f1rstxlas7 said:

If this were the case, my TA would be able to see the room listed as available and allow an upgrade for it and that has not been the case. I've asked multiple different times, multiple different people, and those at Team Lead or Management positions.

Unfortunately, since posting this, I've learned why this is occurring and it doesn't sit right with me. The NCL rep I spoke to today informed me that they cannot search their reservation system by room #, only by room category. They confirmed this with their Team Lead. As it turns out, what's actually happening is that the room number that's showing as available on the TA site actually is available on NCL's end, but NCL has recategorized it into a lower priced category. Basically, the TA site is correctly showing the room number as available, but because it's no longer specifically defined as within the original room category, the entire category shows up as unavailable. What's actually happening with the room is that NCL has recategorized it from a Balcony with Thermal Suite access to a Guaranteed Balcony where room number isn't assigned until check-in. This allows them to essentially advertise and fill a Balcony room without having to provide the Thermal Suite privileges that was actually supposed to come with the room.

tl;dr NCL is using better quality rooms with similar specs & qualities but without the additional benefits to help fill unbooked rooms.

No, your TA wouldn't be able to see those rooms. Specific travel agents will book a block of rooms that are only available to their clients up until a certain point in time, then they are released to the general pool so they can be booked by anyone.

 

Your TA should be using the NCL site for travel agents which is updated in real time and is very similar to the one used by NCL staff (PCC's). The room would show to your NCL rep (thought it was a PCC) and to your TA in the same category. There is no difference. Now, perhaps your TA works for a large agency (Costco, AAA, etc.), then they might use a different site. I'm not sure which one they use. So, no the reason the NCL rep gave you is most likely not correct.

 

Now, in your tl;dr, it's possible you're correct. NCL does occasionally downgrade/upgrade rooms to different categories. For instance, on the Getaway room 14130 used to be a Haven Spa Balcony. Now it is a Haven Penthouse Suite (no thermal suite access). It's the exact same room as a Haven Spa Balcony (bathtub and all), but no spa in the name/access. That's how the room will be unless NCL changes it again. They don't change categories for one sailing to fill rooms, then change them back.

[phillygwm]

10 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Spa balcony cabins usually cost around $600'ish more. At least when I've looked at different cruises. The room is the same crappy balcony room. It just provides the additional benefit of providing access to a thermal suite. Of course it's a bit larger than a considerably lower grade balcony, but it's still a balcony room. You might be thinking of the Haven Spa Balcony rooms. Those are generally at least $1,000 more than a balcony, if not $2,000 more, but they are actually larger rooms (not necessarily larger balconies though), with Haven perks, and thermal suite access.

Right.  It's just a balcony with thermal suite access.  If NCL can get $600 more for that, why wouldn't they?  Or if they can't get the full $600, maybe someone bids $200 to upgrade.  Why give that to someone taking the cheapest category (OK, they won't have spa access but still...) and preclude the additional revenue?

Edited January 10, 2023 by phillygwm

[TrumpyNor]

IF YOU DO A MOCK BOOKING FOR A CERTAIN CABIN NUMBER, THEN YOU ACTUALLY PUT THAT PARTICULAR CABIN "ON HOLD" IN THE BOOKING SYSTEM YOURSELF, AND IT REMAINS BLOCKED FOR 30 MINUTES - this is to give you enough time to complete the reservation online.

 

I experienced this on a couple of different occasions a few years ago when close to sailing date for cruises where I had booked regular balcony cabins. I was doing "mock bookings" on ncl.com hoping to see a "bargain" and there were suddenly ONE suite or Haven suite available for a reasonably good price. I contacted my PCC at NCL right away and asked her to upgrade me to that particular suite. And when she tried to book it for me, it came up as "not available". Then about an hour later I saw it being available again, and contacted my PCC again, and the same happened again - "not available to book in the system".

 

After 3 times of this happening over the course of a few hours, I suspected that it was my own "mock booking" that somehow blocked the cabin number for other reservations. So I asked my PCC to please wait about 30 minutes more, and see if the suite was then available. And it was!

 

A couple of years later the situation was similar - 3 days before sailing dat I saw an owner suite available for a price that I found to be very good, by doing a mock booking. But I remembered what happened last time we tried to do the same thing, so  this time I contacted my PCC and asked her to please check to see if the upgrade was available in her system, and it was not. I then asked her to please try again 1/2 hour later, and it was indeed available.

Edited January 10, 2023 by TrumpyNor

[f1rstxlas7]

Just now, TrumpyNor said:

IF YOU DO A MOCK BOOKING FOR A CERTAIN CABIN NUMBER, THEN YOU ACTUALLY PUT THAT PARTICULAR CABIN "ON HOLD" IN THE BOOKING SYSTEM YOURSELF, AND IT REMAINS BLOCKED FOR 30 MINUTES - this is to give you enough time to complete the reservation online.

This is not what we're talking about. It's well noted and understood.

  

12 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

 

Now, in your tl;dr, it's possible you're correct. NCL does occasionally downgrade/upgrade rooms to different categories. For instance, on the Getaway room 14130 used to be a Haven Spa Balcony. Now it is a Haven Penthouse Suite (no thermal suite access). It's the exact same room as a Haven Spa Balcony (bathtub and all), but no spa in the name/access. That's how the room will be unless NCL changes it again. They don't change categories for one sailing to fill rooms, then change them back.

 

I'm curious, not debating it, but how do you know they don't change room categories for each sailing? What's stopping them from doing so?

6 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

Right.  It's just a balcony with thermal suite access.  If NCL can get $600 more for that, why wouldn't they?  Or if they can't get the full $600, maybe someone bids $200 to upgrade.  Why give that to someone taking the cheapest category (OK, they won't have spa access but still...) and preclude the additional revenue?

A couple reasons. One, lower advertised prices(ie a Balcony without the Spa perk) help draw people in last minute(this particular itinerary is about a month away). Two, selling an individual Spa pass plus the Balcony room is more profitable than selling the Spa Balcony together.

[cruiseny4life]

3 minutes ago, f1rstxlas7 said:

  

Ah-ha! That's a great point too! I did the math on this one to be sure. The TA I'm using is listing the Spa Balcony as $160 more than the equivalent regular Balcony, but for this specific itinerary, the week long Thermal Suite pass was $309 per person! Meaning, they're pocketing the difference of $149 per person by not having to provide access to the Spa!

Using your actual Feb. cruise, here's the prices on NCL's public site. It's almost a $300 difference, not $160. It also looks like the Spa Balcony may be a phantom room or was just booked. I don't see any available on the public site and only BA's show up elsewhere. Some of those BA's (ex. 14106) used to be Spa Balconies, but are now just Balcony rooms, so likely these were changed when the earlier example (14130) was changed.

 

[shof515]

i noticed other cruises lines like Royal also does something similar in that the search results and the booking page on the website often shows the highest priced cabin in that specific category and it will usually never show the cheapest options 

[cruiseny4life]

1 minute ago, f1rstxlas7 said:

I'm curious, not debating it, but how do you know they don't change room categories for each sailing? What's stopping them from doing so?

Ok, that's a valid point. I suspect they do not change room categories each sailing, or in some random way. But, you're right. It is a possibility (I'm a bit doubtful though).

[TrumpyNor]

6 minutes ago, f1rstxlas7 said:

This is not what we're talking about. It's well noted and understood.

  

 

I am sorry, but I must have misunderstood what OP originally was asking about.

I must admit that I did not read all 17 replies that was posted before my post, so sorry if what I wrote was information that everybody knew.....

Edited January 10, 2023 by TrumpyNor

[cruiseny4life]

4 minutes ago, TrumpyNor said:

I am sorry, but I must have misunderstood what OP originally was asking about.

I must admit that I did not read all 17 replies that was posted before my post, so sorry if what I wrote was information that everybody knew.....

You're fine...your response was in line with the conversation.

[davencl]

I noticed exactly what the OP is talking about for the Jan. 15 Spirit sailing of suite cabins.  It acted that way for most of December.  When going to a cruise consolidating site it didn't show up. Can't say it bothers me, just seems to be a S/W bug of some sort.