Norwegian abandoned us

[DCGuy64]

We aren't terribly fussy travelers and aren't particular to any one airline. But I think one's personal experience (as @david_sobe alluded to earlier) is very important. I saw that American wasn't very highly rated in customer satisfaction, but we've been very pleased with them. American is our default domestic carrier. Last year, we agreed to go on a later flight (same day) in exchange for $1,200 each in future trip credit, so our last 3 flights have been free, and we only got to our destination a few hours later + they paid for lunch. Due to our status, we get free seat upgrades and a free checked bag regardless of what class of service we've paid for. Any airline can have issues (mechanical, weather- or staff-related), so I'm not sure there IS one carrier that won't ever have problems. But all things being equal, I'd rather have an extra day if it makes financial sense and we have the vacation time saved up.

[hallux]

3 hours ago, golden6911 said:

 

Oh, I thought you could request to be booked the day before?  I have no options at all?

As noted - that's the only option.  You're not actually booking the air yourself, you're just asking the cruise line to do it for you and they'll put on whatever airline they can get you seats on at the rate they're willing to pay. 

 

Oh - you may not even be on the same airline for both ends of the cruise.  When I used the promotional airfare in 2019 they put me on Delta flying to the cruise and AA on the way home.

 

Additionally - if you fly in the day before that does not mean they won't still book you a flight that could get you to the cruise on time if embarkation day is that day.  In 2019 I was in LA from Upstate NY (I had to connect in ATL) by noon, the day BEFORE the cruise sailed.

[uneamie]

We live a 2 hour drive from NYC port. Murphy's Law says, "if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong". In light of that we always book a hotel the day BEFORE our cruise. Weather, traffic jams, car breaking down etc can happen. I remember one cruise out of NYC, a time that we failed to book a hotel....we were in a traffic jam in the city for 4 + hours. The cars were barely moving. It was a nightmare.  Something was going on in the city...who knew! Not us! We were about ready to abandon our car, park it on the side of the road, and risk it being towed so we could walk to the ship. LOL  Never again will we chance driving from home to the port on the same day of the cruise. Live and learn 

[Christina231955]

21 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Wow this sounds like a travel nightmare which mostly began with the airline.  I NEVER travel on any airline that is not an American carrier (except Air Canada).  We travel to Argentina frequently and they have all sorts of discounted airlines that I wont mention but the price is almost half of what an American carrier would be.   However these airlines are backed by the government and are never on time.  Besides that, its common for flights to be cancelled for days until you can get the next one.  This story just reminds me and reinforces my beliefs. I know nothing about Air Portugal and they could be a good airline.  European airlines are famous for losing or stealing luggage too.

We look right past those discounted flights to Argentina and book reputable airlines.  After the flight debacle there seemed to be a domino effect of other mishaps which would have been avoided with another airline.  If they could not get you to the ship, I am not sure what NCL could have done other than give you full credit for a future cruise.  Was that even discussed?

I have been on hundreds of planes ( mainly European airlines as we live in Italy) and the only time they lost my luggage was a Miami to Milan flight with American Airlines so it can happen with any airline. It’s the ground staff at the airport not the airline staff. We have iPhones and always put an AirTag in our luggage so we always know where it is.If it does get lost you can tell the airline exactly where it is so they can get it to you quicker.

[hallux]

8 hours ago, uneamie said:

Something was going on in the city...who knew! Not us!

Funny you bring THAT up.  My parents were headed out on a one-way cruise (not an NCL cruise) from the Red Hook port, the only way they were going to easily get there from Albany was for me to drive them.  As it turns out, that was the day POTUS was going to be speaking at the UN.  We had actually planned to drive down the East side of Manhattan.  Needless to say, that plan changed.  Fortunately we're Mets fans so I know all too well how to get THERE and we just went around on the Grand Central Pkwy...

 

4 hours ago, Christina231955 said:

We have iPhones and always put an AirTag in our luggage so we always know where it is.If it does get lost you can tell the airline exactly where it is so they can get it to you quicker.

Something to be careful with there - you're relying the network of iPhones to report the location of the tag.  My sister used a Tile in 2019, we changed planes in Philly on the way home, when we got to our home airport her Tile was reporting as being in Chicago.  The last device in the Tile network that saw her device (before it came out in baggage claim) belonged to someone that ended up in Chicago so that's where her Tile showed for the location for a while.  The AirTags may work similarly.

[cruiseny4life]

14 hours ago, ontheweb said:

If both domestic and foreign owned airlines are not up to good standards, what are you left with? It's not like you can fly Jefferson Airplane. 🤣

Either don't fly (that's not an option for me, yet, damn my environmental credo, eh) or don't make sweeping edicts about not flying an airline, because it's held by a corporation or by the government. All of them are out to make as much money as possible, by offering the least amount of service to customers. 

[ontheweb]

1 minute ago, cruiseny4life said:

Either don't fly (that's not an option for me, yet, damn my environmental credo, eh) or don't make sweeping edicts about not flying an airline, because it's held by a corporation or by the government. All of them are out to make as much money as possible, by offering the least amount of service to customers. 

You could always go by train. But beware of derailments. 😢

[SimplyAlbert]

On 3/7/2023 at 11:05 AM, mjkacmom said:

No, the whole point of NCL air is that it’s a good deal, saving a lot of money. Flights are expensive so folks gamble to get a good deal.

Not necessarily.  I'm in the camp of booking my own airfare.  For our most recent cruise with four of us flying it was only $25/pp more that what NCL quoted to book our own flights.

 

From reading these threads it looks like where people really save a lot of money is on either cross country or international flights.

 

We're cruising to Hawaii later this year and our flights (2 of us) are actually less than what NCL wanted for the "buy one, get one" promo.  We also are able to come in three days before and stay five days after.

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

You could always go by train. But beware of derailments. 😢

You can laugh at derailments, but believe me they are not laughing in Ohio or Pennsylvania.

 

And I should have added that Amtrak seems to have an abysmal record as for being on time.

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, SimplyAlbert said:

From reading these threads it looks like where people really save a lot of money is on either cross country or international flights.

I agree, some places aren't located near enough to a major airport and it can be quite expensive to go anywhere (such is the case with a friend of mine who loves to travel and lives in MT). We live in the DC area and have 3 airports so it's generally easier for us to find deals. (but not always)

[julig22]

1 hour ago, SimplyAlbert said:

Not necessarily.  I'm in the camp of booking my own airfare.  For our most recent cruise with four of us flying it was only $25/pp more that what NCL quoted to book our own flights.

 

From reading these threads it looks like where people really save a lot of money is on either cross country or international flights.

You are more or less correct.  Domestic "savings" might not be worth the aggravation, unless you are flying at a peak time. But international has been well worth the savings for me, both in $$ and time.  There can be so many options for overseas, especially from the west - I'm more than happy to let someone else wade through them all, haven't been disappointed with NCLs choices so far.

[Mississippian]

On 3/6/2023 at 4:45 PM, luv2kroooz said:

So sorry to read about your situation. Over and again, we read stories like this. And, over and again, we read about how NCL misrepresents things to customers and then couldn't care less. It is a lesson learned, albeit a tough one. If we choose to sail with NCL, we get very good travel insurance knowing that NCL has earned a reputation of having the worst customer service in the industry. It doesn't help that they are in severe debt with cash flow issues. I hope you can get some resolution from your insurance claim. 

Every time I read something like this I think about how important it is to book one's own travel directly with the airline. These cruise-line flights are the worst.

[SeaShark]

1 hour ago, Mississippian said:

Every time I read something like this I think about how important it is to book one's own travel directly with the airline. These cruise-line flights are the worst.

 

Just to educate everyone...walk us through it. Had these flights been booked directly, are you saying that the delays would not have happened and that the OP would have made the cruise? I'm not 100% clear on why it becomes an issue simply because the cruise line booked he flight instead of the guest. Surely, not everyone on the affected plane booked through the cruise line, so how is it that the booking method is to blame?

[Smitheroo]

15 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

Just to educate everyone...walk us through it. Had these flights been booked directly, are you saying that the delays would not have happened and that the OP would have made the cruise? I'm not 100% clear on why it becomes an issue simply because the cruise line booked he flight instead of the guest. Surely, not everyone on the affected plane booked through the cruise line, so how is it that the booking method is to blame?

I think perhaps that sometimes the cruise line doesnt allow for delays, with arrival time too close to ship departure time.    Not everyone on the plane booked through the cruise lines. For some it wouldnt matter if they were late. 

[julig22]

17 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

Just to educate everyone...walk us through it. Had these flights been booked directly, are you saying that the delays would not have happened and that the OP would have made the cruise? I'm not 100% clear on why it becomes an issue simply because the cruise line booked he flight instead of the guest. Surely, not everyone on the affected plane booked through the cruise line, so how is it that the booking method is to blame?

Perfect!

[hallux]

31 minutes ago, Smitheroo said:

I think perhaps that sometimes the cruise line doesnt allow for delays, with arrival time too close to ship departure time.

Except the passenger COULD have requested that the cruise line book them to arrive a day earlier but chose not to.  If they had booked their own flights would they have made the same decision, thus having the same result or would they have suddenly made the conscious decision to fly in a day earlier while booking their own flights?

[Mississippian]

3 hours ago, SeaShark said:

 

Just to educate everyone...walk us through it. Had these flights been booked directly, are you saying that the delays would not have happened and that the OP would have made the cruise? I'm not 100% clear on why it becomes an issue simply because the cruise line booked he flight instead of the guest. Surely, not everyone on the affected plane booked through the cruise line, so how is it that the booking method is to blame?

The OP pointed out that she thought the connection time was too short. NCL didn't care. She wanted to switch to another flight with a more reasonable connection. NCL refused. Everyone has their own standard of risk tolerance, but NCL is putting people's cruises at risk by doing this. This isn't just NCL; other cruise lines do this as well. Most people, if given a choice, wouldn't engage in this garbage of having flights arrive within a couple of hours before the cruise.

[Mississippian]

2 hours ago, hallux said:

Except the passenger COULD have requested that the cruise line book them to arrive a day earlier but chose not to.  If they had booked their own flights would they have made the same decision, thus having the same result or would they have suddenly made the conscious decision to fly in a day earlier while booking their own flights?

The cruise lines trick people into thinking they are going to be taken care of. The OP made it clear she thought the connection was too tight but NCL refused to allow changes. If she had booked it herself she would have gotten a more reasonable connection, perhaps even booking a day early if she saw she had to. She is right to be mad.

[KeithJenner]

18 hours ago, hallux said:

Something to be careful with there - you're relying the network of iPhones to report the location of the tag.  My sister used a Tile in 2019, we changed planes in Philly on the way home, when we got to our home airport her Tile was reporting as being in Chicago.  The last device in the Tile network that saw her device (before it came out in baggage claim) belonged to someone that ended up in Chicago so that's where her Tile showed for the location for a while.  The AirTags may work similarly.

The big difference is that Tile relies on people with devices that are running the Tile app in order to report the location (unless that has changed recently).

 

Airtags locations are reported by any iPhone. The chances of nobody with an iPhone walking near your luggage is slim.

 

We have travelled numerous times with AirTags and the location is always correctly reporting when we first check, which is usually soon after leaving the plane.

[cruiseny4life]

8 hours ago, Mississippian said:

The cruise lines trick people into thinking they are going to be taken care of. The OP made it clear she thought the connection was too tight but NCL refused to allow changes. If she had booked it herself she would have gotten a more reasonable connection, perhaps even booking a day early if she saw she had to. She is right to be mad.

I've received a lot of communication from NCL in the past about the buy one, get one free airfare program. The communication is extremely clear that if you want to control your flights, have flexibility with your flights, want specific flights, then you should not use their BOGO Airfare Program. Everyone should read through the terms and conditions prior to purchasing, so they know what they're getting. Consumers need to educate themselves. 

 

Is it frustrating to get crappy flights? Quick layovers? Etc.? Yep! Sure is. That's why you should book your tickets yourself if you care about the details. If you want a potential deal and want to avoid the hassle of booking your flights (not that it's hard), then just do it on your own and don't use the program offered as a convenience. 

 

People need to take responsibility for themselves and their actions. Trust me, I'm not a proponent of NCL, but I do feel they are very upfront about how inflexible their BOGO Airfare is. You don't need to be a member of Cruise Critic to learn this. Just go to NCL.com and read the terms.

 

https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions It's truly all there. 

[graphicguy]

On 3/7/2023 at 12:40 PM, LloydJr said:

Thanks for that.  It comes as little surprise to me that Southwest is at the top and AA is near the bottom.

Have flown probably 2M+ miles on a variety of airlines during my work career (now retired).  Overall, one passenger’s observations, Alaska Air, Southwest, Jet Blue are (although the latter 2 have really screwed the pooch recently) are good.  Delta has their moments.  The ones outside of the U.S., UAE and British Air are good.  Delta has their moments.

 

All the rest rank somewhere between poor and dismal…looking at you American, United, Frontier, Spirit are all terrible. 

[DCGuy64]

31 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

People need to take responsibility for themselves and their actions.

This right here. As you say, NCL is pretty upfront (actually, VERY upfront) about what the "risks" are (if you want to use that term) in allowing them to book for you. Sadly, and unsurprisingly, the world is filled with people who choose a particular course of action without reading the fine print and then play the victim when things unfold as they very likely might. That doesn't mean I *blame* the injured party, I only mean that the outcome was far from unlikely. We once booked a flight from DC to San Juan for a cruise that arrived same-day, but we were using FF miles and it was literally TWICE the number of miles to fly in a day early, and we didn't have enough miles for that. We were indeed delayed and sweated a bit, but made the ship, anyway. I can't say for sure if I'd go through that again or not.  If one chooses BOGO air, one takes the chance of a last-minute delay and a missed embarkation, it comes with the territory. On the other hand, those who say you should ALWAYS book your own flights are missing something, too: there's a COST to that strategy, and it may not be worth it in the long run. If there's a 1% chance that allowing NCL to book you will result in your being late, but you saved $1,000 each time, would it be worth it? Over a long time, that money adds up. If you do it on your own (and even then, you aren't guaranteed that your flight will arrive on time, even if you plan to arrive earlier), then you've paid that money and can't get it back. How much is that peace of mind worth to you? Depends on the person, there's no "one size fits all" to this.

[kirtihk]

13 hours ago, SeaShark said:

 

Just to educate everyone...walk us through it. Had these flights been booked directly, are you saying that the delays would not have happened and that the OP would have made the cruise? I'm not 100% clear on why it becomes an issue simply because the cruise line booked he flight instead of the guest. Surely, not everyone on the affected plane booked through the cruise line, so how is it that the booking method is to blame?

A potential big issue with booking air through a cruise line is in case of having flights cancellation/delay contacting directly an air company might be impossible: they could say to contact the third party (which is a cruise line) for any issue meaning you don't have control of situation for 2 reasons: 1. a cruise line might not help at all or a slow help that might lead to further delays, and 2. there would be no flexibility of getting a new flight with a cruise line assistance on your behalf while when you are on your own, you may discuss multiple choices (if available) with an air line to get the best outcome at the time of changes.

 

The above matter goes along with topic in the reply # 95 ("The communication is extremely clear that if you want to control your flights, have flexibility with your flights, want specific flights, then you should not use their BOGO Airfare Program.").

Edited March 9, 2023 by kirtihk

[hallux]

39 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

On the other hand, those who say you should ALWAYS book your own flights are missing something, too: there's a COST to that strategy,

Yes, there is.  I booked my own flights for my next cruise, despite having the option of paying about $100-$150 less through NCL (solo cruiser so I get 50% off airfare).  Why?  The cruise is out of Port Canaveral and MCO is one of the very few direct flights I can get from my home airport, on Southwest.  I wanted to be sure to get that even though I was flying in the day before and until recently Southwest has not been a carrier NCL used for promotional airfare.

[julig22]

1 hour ago, kirtihk said:

A potential big issue with booking air through a cruise line is in case of having flights cancellation/delay contacting directly an air company might be impossible: they could say to contact the third party (which is a cruise line) for any issue meaning you don't have control of situation for 2 reasons: 1. a cruise line might not help at all or a slow help that might lead to further delays, and 2. there would be no flexibility of getting a new flight with a cruise line assistance on your behalf while when you are on your own, you may discuss multiple choices (if available) with an air line to get the best outcome at the time of changes.

 

The above matter goes along with topic in the reply # 95 ("The communication is extremely clear that if you want to control your flights, have flexibility with your flights, want specific flights, then you should not use their BOGO Airfare Program.").

Guessing you've never used BOGO so simply speculation on your part. 

NCL controls your reservation until 72 hours before your scheduled flight departure. Schedule changes within 14 days - expect 1-2 business days for corrected itinerary. More than 14 days, expect 7 business days.

Knock on wood, never had an issue with rebooking NCL flights missed for whatever reason - no different than when I've missed flights I booked myself.

On the other hand, when my flight on SAS was in jeopardy because of a potential strike, NCL proactively rebooked my flight - completely different airlines and route. Would have been very expensive and time-consuming had I booked my own flights.