Unable to provide day of air fare?

[lfdemt]

My friend just got an email fro the air department that they can not accommodate them for a day of arrival and that they will be booked on a day before and will need to arrange hotel and transportation on their own.  This is not something they were expecting to have to pay for.  What I find extra annoying is that two of the 4 cabins received their day of air fare 2 weeks ago.  And one of the rooms had them arriving in Orlando at noon,  the email to my friend says the flights have to arrive before 11:30 to meet their standard of quality.  Now we had already canceled the air there as we felt arriving at noon with a 40 min layover in Atlanta when coming from a city that could have de icing was way too risky and booked ourselves onto a night before flight.  BUT we had to fight to get the 50% refund due to us and now I'm upset that when we called and raised these concerns and asked if we could be accommodated on this previous evening flight.  (same company southwest and cheaper air at the time) they emphatically told us that no changes can be made and that the original flights meet all their standards.  GRRR!  IF they met their standards then why don't you put our friends on those flights?   The other room that canceled their airfare had a 70 min layover in Chicago and got in at 11:20.  SO there are (or were) flights available to accommodate day of travel.    

What can my friend expect from this?  Will NCL do anything to make this hardship any easier?  onboard credit? crappy bottle of champaign?  Or is this a too bad so sad  sucks to be you kind of thing?

 

Anyone else experience this?

[PTC DAWG]

A day early from your area, especially in the winter, sounds like a blessing to me…not sure on the other questions.

[RocketMan275]

6 minutes ago, lfdemt said:

What can my friend expect from this?  Will NCL do anything to make this hardship any easier?  onboard credit? crappy bottle of champaign?  Or is this a too bad so sad  sucks to be you kind of thing?  Anyone else experience this?

Hardship? They're doing you a favor by bringing  you in the day before the cruise.  You may have additional expenses but  you won't have to worry about missing the ship due to delayed air travel.

[Funky Fusion FoodsJ]

5 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

A day early from your area, especially in the winter, sounds like a blessing to me…not sure on the other questions.

I agree.......the first commandement of cruise flights "Thou shall always fly in the day prior to embarkation".

[cc-riderslc]

Plus no one seems to think it might be an airline problem, not the cruise line air department. Just look online any day of the week on Flight aware and look at the number of canceled flights. The same thing happened to some friends of ours 2 weeks ago. AA canceled the early morning flight just days before departure and NCL air had to scramble getting them a flight a day early. I'm not saying NCL air is always blameless. They do make mistakes but we tend to blame them for everything that goes wrong and often times it is really the airlines. Someone said to me a while back everyone nowadays flys "standby". No ticket in hand is safe. 

[JesseB]

Yeah I would gladly pay for a hotel to not have to worry about missing the cruise flying in same day...I say they did them a favor

[carohs]

That sucks that they weren't able to accommodate your friends but the terms clearly state you have to request deviation (flying in day prior) in advance. Count your flights as peace of mind you won't miss the cruise and relief of the hastle of rebooking/cancelling unfavorable day-of flights. 

[lfdemt]

Okay. Thanks. I got it. LOUD AND CLEAR. 

 

“too bad. So sad. Sucks to be you” 

 

message received. 

[njkate]

1 hour ago, cc-riderslc said:

Plus no one seems to think it might be an airline problem, not the cruise line air department. Just look online any day of the week on Flight aware and look at the number of canceled flights. The same thing happened to some friends of ours 2 weeks ago. AA canceled the early morning flight just days before departure and NCL air had to scramble getting them a flight a day early. I'm not saying NCL air is always blameless. They do make mistakes but we tend to blame them for everything that goes wrong and often times it is really the airlines. Someone said to me a while back everyone nowadays flys "standby". No ticket in hand is safe. 

Yes, my thought was no more flights with seats available at NCL's contracted rates. It's always been a crap shoot taking NCL air now throw into the mix the issues with airlines

[njkate]

2 hours ago, lfdemt said:

My friend just got an email fro the air department that they can not accommodate them for a day of arrival and that they will be booked on a day before and will need to arrange hotel and transportation on their own.  This is not something they were expecting to have to pay for.  What I find extra annoying is that two of the 4 cabins received their day of air fare 2 weeks ago.  And one of the rooms had them arriving in Orlando at noon,  the email to my friend says the flights have to arrive before 11:30 to meet their standard of quality.  Now we had already canceled the air there as we felt arriving at noon with a 40 min layover in Atlanta when coming from a city that could have de icing was way too risky and booked ourselves onto a night before flight.  BUT we had to fight to get the 50% refund due to us and now I'm upset that when we called and raised these concerns and asked if we could be accommodated on this previous evening flight.  (same company southwest and cheaper air at the time) they emphatically told us that no changes can be made and that the original flights meet all their standards.  GRRR!  IF they met their standards then why don't you put our friends on those flights?   The other room that canceled their airfare had a 70 min layover in Chicago and got in at 11:20.  SO there are (or were) flights available to accommodate day of travel.    

What can my friend expect from this?  Will NCL do anything to make this hardship any easier?  onboard credit? crappy bottle of champaign?  Or is this a too bad so sad  sucks to be you kind of thing?

 

Anyone else experience this?

But perhaps not at NCL's contracted rate with the airline

[RocketMan275]

13 minutes ago, lfdemt said:

Okay. Thanks. I got it. LOUD AND CLEAR. 

 

“too bad. So sad. Sucks to be you” 

 

message received. 

I'm not sure you do.  What are  you going to say if those arriving the night before make the cruise and those arriving same day do not?

[johnrich]

4 hours ago, lfdemt said:

BUT we had to fight to get the 50% refund due to us and now I'm upset that when we called and raised these concerns and asked if we could be accommodated on this previous evening flight.  (same company southwest and cheaper air at the time) they emphatically told us that no changes can be made and that the original flights meet all their standards.  

Is NCL now using Southwest as one of their airlines or is that who you ended up booking with on your own? I know they’ve had a bad rap recently, but we still love flying with them. 

[hallux]

5 hours ago, lfdemt said:

they emphatically told us that no changes can be made and that the original flights meet all their standards

Deviations need to be requested 75 or more days before the cruise, it's in the T&C's of the promo (that you probably didn't read).  It's not that changes can't be made, it's that you were no longer in the time frame where the changes could be made, especially if the flights were ticketed.

5 hours ago, lfdemt said:

BUT we had to fight to get the 50% refund due to us

I'm SHOCKED that you got that refunded!  Usually once the airfare is ticketed (inside that 75-day window for the freeze on changes) you're stuck with those flights.

 

I agree with @cc-riderslc and @njkate - NCL gets 'bulk' tickets, they don't pay 'rack rate'.  If the airline sets aside only a certain number of those types of tickets per flight and you got the last couple, they then can't put your friends on the same flight.

[lfdemt]

48 minutes ago, johnrich said:

Is NCL now using Southwest as one of their airlines or is that who you ended up booking with on your own? I know they’ve had a bad rap recently, but we still love flying with them. 

Yes. Ncl booked southwest. We still have them for the return flight. 

[lfdemt]

23 minutes ago, hallux said:

Deviations need to be requested 75 or more days before the cruise, it's in the T&C's of the promo (that you probably didn't read).  It's not that changes can't be made, it's that you were no longer in the time frame where the changes could be made, especially if the flights were ticketed.

I'm SHOCKED that you got that refunded!  Usually once the airfare is ticketed (inside that 75-day window for the freeze on changes) you're stuck with those flights.

 

I agree with @cc-riderslc and @njkate - NCL gets 'bulk' tickets, they don't pay 'rack rate'.  If the airline sets aside only a certain number of those types of tickets per flight and you got the last couple, they then can't put your friends on the same flight.

Why are you shocked. NO WHERE in either the terms and conditions or the cancellation fee schedule would indicate that you wouldn’t get 50% back. The cancellation fee is pretty clear that up to 61 days you get 50% then until 31 days you 25%. 

[debenson0723]

A friend was using RCL air to fly to NYC with his kids last year for a cruise out of Bayonne. They were actually on the plane when United cancelled their flight. They could not get another flight that day and ended up taking a red-eye on Delta to get to NYC, paying out of pocket. They made the cruise but were exhausted after only getting sleep on the plane.  Unbeknownst to him, since he missed the first leg of the United flight, his 2nd leg was cancelled (which is common when using the same airline for both legs). He didn't find out until he went to check in the day before (while he was on the ship). So make sure if you don't use the 1st leg of your flight that the 2nd leg isn't cancelled by the airline.

[Homosassa]

16 hours ago, lfdemt said:

Okay. Thanks. I got it. LOUD AND CLEAR. 

 

“too bad. So sad. Sucks to be you” 

 

message received. 

Sorry you are resentful of advice being giving about arriving the day before embarcation.

 

Here is more that will probably cause more agita:  Travel is never a sure thing and unexpected costs can arise for any reason. If the budget is so tight that there is no room for unexpected costs , perhaps the trip and its cost needs to be reevaluated.

 

In your friend's case, they are not suffering a "hardship" by arriving the night before a cruise and paying for a hotel room.  NCL owns them nothing.

 

By the way, in that realm of unexpected costs, a driver busy texting on his cell phone caused us to be involved in a car crash in our new car on the way to port  three weeks ago (two days before the cruise and an eight hour drive).

 

We had to pay out to rent a car to continue our trip and to return home after the cruise.  While we will eventually have part of the cost paid by insurance, it still was an expected cost.

[njkate]

50 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

Sorry you are resentful of advice being giving about arriving the day before embarcation.

 

Here is more that will probably cause more agita:  Travel is never a sure thing and unexpected costs can arise for any reason. If the budget is so tight that there is no room for unexpected costs , perhaps the trip and its cost needs to be reevaluated.

 

In your friend's case, they are not suffering a "hardship" by arriving the night before a cruise and paying for a hotel room.  NCL owns them nothing.

 

By the way, in that realm of unexpected costs, a driver busy texting on his cell phone caused us to be involved in a car crash in our new car on the way to port  three weeks ago (two days before the cruise and an eight hour drive).

 

We had to pay out to rent a car to continue our trip and to return home after the cruise.  While we will eventually have part of the cost paid by insurance, it still was an expected cost.

Oh wow so sorry that happened to you.

You are correct you have to be prepared for unexpected.

In May my flight home from Costa Rica was cancelled. Had to scrounge for a hotel in Liberia, which isn’t hotel central, had to retake covid tests as we couldn’t get out until next day, cab to and from airport. We ended up with about $1k out of pocket of which American Airlines only reimbursed $561 as they have a cap of $90 per night for hotel in Liberia

Edited February 4, 2023 by njkate

[cmph]

I do have some sympathy, b/c NCL can't say that the flight has to arrive by 11:30am on the day of embarkation to one person AND book a 12:00pm arrival for someone else on that same cruise. Can't have it both ways! So many stories like this are what scared me off the airfare promo.

 

I agree that day-of arrivals are not within my comfort zone. That said, it seems to me like they could request the ($25 i think) deviation credit? I am sure NCL could still tell them no, and I wouldn't think they would get anymore than that.

[Selion]

NCL air, here my story...

Dec 2021, we booked a Mexican Rivera cruise out of LA.  We are on the east coast and NCL originally booked us on an early morning non-stop flight to LAX that would've arrived around 11:30am.  The flight schedule was changed a few weeks before the cruise, and now it was a 1-stop with an arrival time of 1pm at LAX.  NCL's confirmation stated we had to arrive by 12pm.  I figured NCL booked us on the 1pm arrival on the day of embarkation with transfers, they were responsible of getting us to the port regardless when we arrive.

 

We arrived at LAX a few minutes early, collected our bags and went looking for NCL reps.  Took us 20 minutes to find them.  They checked us off their list and by this time the transfer buses already stopped running, they put us on a taxi to the port.  We arrived at the port around 2:45pm and were onboard around 3pm after getting the rapid tests done.  We were the last 2 to board the ship, but we made it.  The all-aboard time listed was 3pm, with a 5pm sailaway.

 

My takeaways from this experience:  1) Request deviation to arrive a day or 2 early, unless the ship is staying overnight at the departure port.  2) When air is booked by cruise lines, they will do what they can to get you to the ship on the day of embarkation.  Not sure about NCL, but other cruise lines will fly you to the next port to join the ship if air booked by them made you miss the boat.

Edited February 4, 2023 by Selion

[lfdemt]

8 hours ago, Homosassa said:

Sorry you are resentful of advice being giving about arriving the day before embarcation.

 

Here is more that will probably cause more agita:  Travel is never a sure thing and unexpected costs can arise for any reason. If the budget is so tight that there is no room for unexpected costs , perhaps the trip and its cost needs to be reevaluated.

 

In your friend's case, they are not suffering a "hardship" by arriving the night before a cruise and paying for a hotel room.  NCL owns them nothing.

 

By the way, in that realm of unexpected costs, a driver busy texting on his cell phone caused us to be involved in a car crash in our new car on the way to port  three weeks ago (two days before the cruise and an eight hour drive).

 

We had to pay out to rent a car to continue our trip and to return home after the cruise.  While we will eventually have part of the cost paid by insurance, it still was an expected cost.

I am not resentful of advice given about arriving day of.  1000's of cruise passengers choose to arrive day of.  Some of them choose to use the cruise line air fare to do this.  The cruise line offers this service.  It is not abnormal to fly in the day of the cruise.  There are plenty of factors that lead people to choose to fly in day of.  That is their choice.  Choices should be accepted with out the comments or remarks that they should be grateful to fly in the day before. That was not their choice.  Their choice is not to be honored.  They were told to expect day of air,  they were planning on day of airfare.  When those plans are changed not by their choice.  They have a right to feel cheated out of what was expected.   I didn't ask for opinions on flying in day before.  I KNOW the preference to fly in early.  I DID ask if anyone has had this happen to them.  I have gotten zero responses of that.  I did ask if my friends should be compensated for this CHANGE to the plans that was not their choice. I have gotten a few responses to this that are basically, No you are not entitled to anything, which leads to the too bad so sad.  

 

As far as suffering a hardship obviously  if they can afford to cruise they are not on desperate times but it is sill money from their budget that was not part of the plan and is a cost not spent by 100's of fellow passengers that are in fact flying in the day of the cruise.   

 

Yes unexpected costs are a part of travel and I am sorry you had to deal with that on your vacation, but that should be just that unexpected for emergency reasons.  This is a choice made by the travel company that should perhaps offer something in return for changing the plan.  Like someone said earlier if my friend would have requested this day before deviation NCL gives you a $25 credit per person. that could be offered as a way of saying hey sorry this sucks that your choice of travel isn't an option.  

 

 

 

[RD64]

Your friends chose NCL Air because - I am going to assume - the cheapest option. Cheap can often times lead to inconvenience. For the last six months - at least - these boards have been full of the trials and tribulations of choosing NCL Air. Despite that, people will always assume that it will work out in their favour.

 

When it doesn’t, everyone gets upset. To reduce stress in these situations, book your own air (yes at the higher price). If you don’t, you have no option but to accept whatever cards you are dealt. For those travelling on a budget, it is best to build a cushion for unseen items for those events that arise. 
 

 

[catinhat]

I am so very sorry!  Sounds frustrating for sure.    I have never had a cruiseline book airfare for me for this reason.  I am very particular about when I fly and layovers etc.  I also like to fly in at least a day or more before a cruise.   The savings were never really that big when I compared.   I hope it all works out for you and your friends!  

[yardbird]

We fly in at LEAST one day before. For our cruise in September, the ship leaves on Friday at 4pm. We're flying in to Quebec City on WEDNESDAY. Why? Because that gives us a whole day and a morning to see some of Quebec City. And because it really doesn't matter to us what time we get there on Wednesday. 

 

[joyy7403]

We have a Panama Canal cruise in April & are flying in 2 days early from Ohio to Miami. We had credits on Southwest, and we all know how dependable they are.🤨  We are laying over in Atlanta in case some disaster happens with SW. There are several airlines with flights to Miami so we’ll grab one of those if needed. Can’t trust them anymore!

 

I’m sorry their flights have been changed. Whether it was NCL’s fault or the airline’s, they don’t deserve a credit. Those of us who have flown for years have gone through this. If you book directly through an airline, you can change your flights, if there’s room. I wish them the best.

Edited February 6, 2023 by joyy7403