Unbelievable!! NCL refuses to protect guests on air they booked!

[Charles4515]

33 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

 

NCL is little more than a booking agent for the flights.  Too late now, but I’d NEVER have NCL book my flights

I usually book my own flights but sometimes it is to my advantage to use the cruise lines booking service. For example many flights booked direct with an airline both ends of a round trip have to be on that airline. With the air booked through the line I can book different airlines if more convenient. For transatlantic cruises I have been able to book one way flights for half the price of direct with the airline. 
 

Whoever I book through I always buy insurance and I also want arrive at least a day in advance. 
 

OP says they may rethink future NCL bookings but the same thing would have happened on any cruise line booked. The lesson should be to buy insurance and to fly in a day early not don’t book with NCL. 

[Crown Vic]

35 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Strictly speaking, this is not always the case. For instance, because my wife and I have a certain status with American Airlines, once the NCL flights are ticketed, we CAN (and do) upgrade our seats. NCL is only acting as a travel agent at that point. Once the flights are ticketed, you can work with the airline. It's two separate transactions. Now that may not be true of every airline, but it has been the case with us and American.

Interesting. AA wouldn’t talk to us…but…we managed to upgrade to AA Business Class at the airport. All’s well that ends well…

[RocketMan275]

32 minutes ago, Charles4515 said:

I usually book my own flights but sometimes it is to my advantage to use the cruise lines booking service. For example many flights booked direct with an airline both ends of a round trip have to be on that airline. With the air booked through the line I can book different airlines if more convenient. For transatlantic cruises I have been able to book one way flights for half the price of direct with the airline. 

You can book one way flights to the port with one airline.

You can book one way flights from the port with a different airline.

All  you have to do is select one way instead of round trip.

[RocketMan275]

Had an NCL rep tell me that if I was particular about my flights, I should never use NCL to book flights.

I am particular.

[DCGuy64]

1 minute ago, Crown Vic said:

Interesting. AA wouldn’t talk to us…but…we managed to upgrade to AA Business Class at the airport. All’s well that ends well…

What do you mean by "AA wouldn't talk to us"? You mean you called them and they said "go away, we're not talking to you" and hung up? Is this just shorthand for "they weren't able to make any changes?" I'm just curious what transpired. Anyway, glad you were able to upgrade to AA Business Class.

[Crown Vic]

6 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

What do you mean by "AA wouldn't talk to us"? You mean you called them and they said "go away, we're not talking to you" and hung up? Is this just shorthand for "they weren't able to make any changes?" I'm just curious what transpired. Anyway, glad you were able to upgrade to AA Business Class.

AA - very professional and pleasant. One of our top two airlines of choice.
The short answer, but phrased differently in conversation, from AA was ‘talk to the Cruise Line’. NCL Air said ‘No changes could be made once the flights were ticketed’. As stated, the experience for flights in both directions was very good. Would certainly consider using cruise line air again but with very careful thought, investigation and planning. 

[DCGuy64]

3 minutes ago, Crown Vic said:

AA - very professional and pleasant. One of our top two airlines of choice.
The short answer, but phrased differently in conversation, from AA was ‘talk to the Cruise Line’. NCL Air said ‘No changes could be made once the flights were ticketed’. As stated, the experience for flights in both directions was very good. Would certainly consider using cruise line air again but with very careful thought, investigation and planning. 

Thanks! I hate to say this, but what can and does happen when it comes to cruise and air planning often depends on the individuals you deal with. We have never had a problem making changes to our air arrangements once ticketed, regardless of who did the booking (cruise line, us, our travel agent). Cruise Critic often has threads from people who want to know how things work, and the unfortunate answer is frequently "it depends." Another hidden item is how the customer/passenger approaches the issue. If you're friendly and polite to customer service personnel, you're more likely to get what you want. If you rant and rave, act like a Karen, use profanity, etc., they won't help you. I sometimes wonder how often people with sob stories saying how they were mistreated have conveniently left out their own behavior. Sorry, this isn't relevant to what you said, at all. It's just been on my mind.

[hallux]

1 hour ago, david_sobe said:

I have never booked a NCL cruise with NCL booking the airline.  I am curious.  Does NCL advise passengers to arrive a day early? 

I believe the thread linked by @kitkat343 actually had some discussion of that.

[Crown Vic]

49 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Thanks! I hate to say this, but what can and does happen when it comes to cruise and air planning often depends on the individuals you deal with…Sorry, this isn't relevant to what you said, at all. It's just been on my mind.

👍 👍 

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, bonvoyagie said:

 

I feel for the OP's friend but we are in the times when the cruise industry is trying to rebound from two years of not sailing so I don't expect them to bend over backwards. 

I disagree. It is a time that the cruise industry should be doing everything extra to keep passengers. Our first cruise was in 2002 for our 25th anniversary. It was from Barcelona. The entire travel industry was rebounding from the horrific events of 9/11. When we arrived in Barcelona early on a flight with many on the cruise, the cruise line took all of us who had booked their transfers on a tour of Barcelona with no extra charge. We did a very similar cruise 10 years later for our 35th anniversary, and we and everyone else just waited for embarkation in what was basically a large warehouse instead.

[sanger727]

This isn't as obvious a situation as posters are making it out to be. Plenty of cruiselines offer a flight/cruise inclusive booking that offers protection to either get you to the ship or to the next port to meet the ship.

 

Carnival's Fly2Fun Air Program | Carnival Cruise Line

 

FAQs: Booking a Cruise + Flight with Us | Celebrity Cruises

 

The fact that NCL doesn't is an outlier. It's perfectly reasonable to expect that this flight booking service would include some customer protection. It doesn't, however, you do have to read all the terms and conditions to figure that out. Their website even includes a refernce to "safety and stability" as a reason to book them. Again, highly implying there is consumer protection involved. 

 

Norwegian's Free at Sea | Free Airfare for 2nd Guest (ncl.com)

 

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by sanger727

[hallux]

6 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

The fact that NCL doesn't is an outlier.

Making it even MORE confusing is that NCL actually offers a 'standard' flight booking service where you pay full airfare for both passengers and you get choice as far as what flights, when, etc, similar to what the other lines offer with the cruise line just acting as a TA for the flight booking.  The BOGO is a promotional perk.  The terms of that one actually DO spell out NCL's responsibility (or lack of) when it comes to delayed flights - 

https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/premium-air

[pghflyer]

For NCL air bookings using the BOGO deal, the default flight is DAY OF so that is the risky part which they don't make clear enough for newbies. They do mildly incentive travelers to arrive in advance (and likely save NCL $$ by flying on a less busy day) by giving the 1-2 day deviation credit of $25 each way (so $50 if you deviated coming/ going).

 

I have booked upgraded (Economy->Economy Plus Type) seats on Delta, United, and American on the BOGO fares. On United, I could have upgraded all the way to Biz using their offerings.

[Karaboudjan]

1 hour ago, hallux said:

Making it even MORE confusing is that NCL actually offers a 'standard' flight booking service where you pay full airfare for both passengers and you get choice as far as what flights, when, etc, similar to what the other lines offer with the cruise line just acting as a TA for the flight booking.  The BOGO is a promotional perk.  The terms of that one actually DO spell out NCL's responsibility (or lack of) when it comes to delayed flights - 

https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/premium-air

 

But the NCL Premium Air also spells out a similar lack of responsibility.  The info is a lot more vague in general, but it certainly does not give any of the reassurances that the other lines' info does.

[RocketMan275]

7 hours ago, david_sobe said:

I have never booked a NCL cruise with NCL booking the airline.  I am curious.  Does NCL advise passengers to arrive a day early?   I know its a touchy subject because if they did, many would complain about having to pay for a hotel.  Its a huge risk to arrive the day of sailing.  But I am just curious if NCL advises passengers during making flight arrangements.  

In fact, just last month, there was a thread where the poster complained about NCL booking their arrive the day before the cruise departure.  IIRC, she thought NCL should pay for the overnight hotel that arrival necessitated.  

[SakeDad]

Update:They arrived at the airport at 4:00pm and the ship waited until 6:30pm but the NCL ground transportation told them they couldn't get them to the ship on time (a 30 min drive)

[RocketMan275]

16 minutes ago, SakeDad said:

Update:They arrived at the airport at 4:00pm and the ship waited until 6:30pm but the NCL ground transportation told them they couldn't get them to the ship on time (a 30 min drive)

From the NCL website.

Final Boarding Time:  In order to facilitate the embarkation process, the processing of your eDocs, and to comply with new government regulations governing departure manifest, all guests are required to complete check-in at the cruise terminal and be onboard the ship no later than one hour prior to the departure time noted on their cruise documents or they will not be permitted to sail. Please note that guests who have not filled out their Online Check-In must arrive at the port two (2) hours prior to sailing.

 

There's more to it than just a 30 minute drive.  They have to retrive their luggage. Board the bus (assuming one is still there).  Travel to port.  Arrive at the port prior to 5:30 (assuming all have completed online checkin).

[Russiamomm]

7 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

What do you mean by "AA wouldn't talk to us"? You mean you called them and they said "go away, we're not talking to you" and hung up? Is this just shorthand for "they weren't able to make any changes?" I'm just curious what transpired. Anyway, glad you were able to upgrade to AA Business Class.

Honestly, I think it depends on the airline.  I’m Executive Platinum on AA and have no status on Delta.  Last September we used NCL air just to go to NYC.  I didn’t like the flights.  I could definitely choose my seats, using my status to get the good seats, but wasn’t able to change the flight time - I didn’t own the booking.  We were able to fly standby and get an earlier flight home, but were stuck on the outbound flight.
 

Fast forward to our transatlantic in April.  The flight to NYC is on Delta this time.  I was able to go into Deltas site and change the flight to slightly later in the morning and pick seats.  No problem - all done online.  We were thrilled. Maybe it was because the “rack rate” for the new flight was lower than the original flight booked by NCL.  I got a notice that the difference in fare would be credited to the credit card that paid for it.  That was NCL.  I didn’t pay Delta - NCL did.

 

we weren’t thrilled with the return - scheduled on Lufthansa.  For that flight we can’t do anything.  Can’t even pick seats until check in 24 hours before flight time.

 

Just one person’s experience, but I really thing some of the flexibility depends on the airline.

[GeezerCouple]

11 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

Two different things, with excursions, they charge more than independent vendors, but you don’t have to worry about missing the ship. With the discount airfare, you pay less for your flights, but get what you get, NCL is just passing on savings to the customer. Just like booking flights yourself, it is important to insure your trip for issues such as flight delays.

 

Ooops, sorry... there is no absolute guarantee that any cruiseline will make sure you don't "miss the ship".

There may be tides that the ship *must* use, or another ship may be arriving at the same dock...

Elsewhere on this thread, above, it's already been mentioned how some HAL passengers got stranded for several days due to a dreadful weather situation (flooding, etc.).  That was an unusually unfortunate situation, however.  But... "life happens"...

 

What probably WILL happen on a cruise-line sponsored excursion is that the line will get you back to the ship the best they can, IF the ship could not wait.  That won't happen if you have a private excursion.

 

But it's pretty rare that an excursion can't make it back in time/that the ship can't wait a bit.  They'd do the best they could, whereas for a private excursion, there'd probably be very little leeway.

 

GC

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, sanger727 said:

This isn't as obvious a situation as posters are making it out to be. Plenty of cruiselines offer a flight/cruise inclusive booking that offers protection to either get you to the ship or to the next port to meet the ship.

 

Carnival's Fly2Fun Air Program | Carnival Cruise Line

 

FAQs: Booking a Cruise + Flight with Us | Celebrity Cruises

 

The fact that NCL doesn't is an outlier. It's perfectly reasonable to expect that this flight booking service would include some customer protection. It doesn't, however, you do have to read all the terms and conditions to figure that out. Their website even includes a refernce to "safety and stability" as a reason to book them. Again, highly implying there is consumer protection involved. 

 

Norwegian's Free at Sea | Free Airfare for 2nd Guest (ncl.com)

 

 

I'm no fan of NCL's air program, but the Carnival and Celebrity programs you're citing do not guarantee they'll get you to the ship or to the next port to meet the ship. 

 

They say they'll assist you but that doesn't mean their assistance will be successful . A cruise line can't create open airline seats that don't exist.

Here's what Celebrity says. If you think it's a guarantee that they'll get you to your ship you're reading far to much into it.  

"Protection

When you use Flights by Celebrity℠ to book your air travel, we’ve got your back. You enjoy 24/7 travel service, so you have the peace of mind knowing there’s someone looking out for you. Our Flights by Celebrity℠ Specialists are on hand monitoring your flights, so if there are any delays or cancellations that jeopardize your travel plans, they’ll work quickly with the airline to get you on the next available flight to get you to your ship. So, take comfort in booking your complete vacation with us all at once, and let us take care of everything."

 

Carnival actually admits they may not be able to get you to the ship, but at least they'll give you FCC if they're unsuccessful. (As an aside I can't believe they refer to the Jones Act in their statement. The Jones act applies to the transportation of cargo, not people. The correct law is the Passenger Vessel Services Act.):

"What if my flights are cancelled or delayed?
Our Fly2Fun Air Program provides Flight Protection in the event of airline flight cancellations or delays resulting from mechanicals or severe weather conditions. Guests affected by these situations should contact our Travel Hotline at 1-800-529-6792 and our travel professional will make alternate flight, hotel and/or ground transportation arrangements and do everything we can to get you to the port of embarkation in time to board the ship or to the first port of call (without violating the Jones Act). If no viable options are available to join the ship, guest will be given a Future Cruise Credit to apply towards a future Carnival cruise."

[BirdTravels]

6 hours ago, sanger727 said:

This isn't as obvious a situation as posters are making it out to be. Plenty of cruiselines offer a flight/cruise inclusive booking that offers protection to either get you to the ship or to the next port to meet the ship.

 

Carnival's Fly2Fun Air Program | Carnival Cruise Line

 

FAQs: Booking a Cruise + Flight with Us | Celebrity Cruises

 

The fact that NCL doesn't is an outlier. It's perfectly reasonable to expect that this flight booking service would include some customer protection. It doesn't, however, you do have to read all the terms and conditions to figure that out. Their website even includes a refernce to "safety and stability" as a reason to book them. Again, highly implying there is consumer protection involved. 

 

Norwegian's Free at Sea | Free Airfare for 2nd Guest (ncl.com)

 

 

Huh??? Says nothing about the ship waiting for yours or days for late arriving passengers. 

[Panhandle Couple]

Our 10 month old car broke down on the way to our last cruise.  Luckily it restarted and we nursed it into the closest dealer after talking to them on the phone.  That dealer didn't have to repair part.  We were  told to drive again to the next dealer, who did have the part.

That dealer did install the repair part, only to have another part fail.  Can't get that part until next Tuesday.

We quickly got a rental car, 10 minutes before closing.  Then drove the remaining 3+ hours to get to port.  And paid to park a rental car for 7 days.

 

The lesson is that this was the day BEFORE cruise departure.  If it was the day of, should NCL have "held" the ship for us?  After all, we did purchase their travel insurance.  We only arrived 5 HOURS after we had planned.  Maybe NCL would have flown us to the next port?  No, we were on our own.

 

And the kicker is, I still have the rental car 12 days later.  My car is still at the dealer 4 hours away.  Another part was needed and it may or may not have arrived today. It may or may not be installed tomorrow.  Every day is yet another excuse and another delay.

 

Maybe I should start legal action against <i> {car company name withheld}</i> if I had missed the cruise?

[gotscrapz]

I am sorry to hear that. It sounds like he was trying to come in a day early to avoid this. I hope that he has a passport so that he can book a one-way flight- I hope that it's affordable so he can get on a flight that arrives in time.

 

[kitkat343]

3 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

 

What probably WILL happen on a cruise-line sponsored excursion is that the line will get you back to the ship the best they can, IF the ship could not wait.  That won't happen if you have a private excursion.

 

But it's pretty rare that an excursion can't make it back in time/that the ship can't wait a bit.  They'd do the best they could, whereas for a private excursion, there'd probably be very little leeway.

 

GC

The one time I was on a private excursion that was starting to cut it close, they texted the people running the ship excursions to see their ETA.  They knew they couldn't get us back any later than the ship excursions, but knew if the ship excursions were running late that we'd be fine.  If you are worried, you can book a private excursion for just your family (we were late because the other people on our tour had gotten off the ship late, and they'd made us wait for them before we could do our second part of the excursion).  If it had been just us, we would not have been running late.  And you are correct, they would not have held the ship for us.  

 

In Guatemala, they charge very high port fees, so very few cruise ships dock there.  So there aren't a lot of private tour operators, and that was the one place I booked with a private vendor that nearly got people back too late in the past.  As it turned out, they had the captain of the HAL ship's wife and daughter on the excursion that was running late.  Apparently, the captain explained everything to the passengers, told them he'd wait for his wife and daughter for half and hour and if they were any later than that he'd have to leave them behind because he couldn't wait any longer and be in port the next day on time.  Thankfully, they made it (and we booked a private excursion with that operator for just our family because I knew the ship wouldn't have waited for us and on a private excursion for just our family we could make them take us back with lots of time to spare) 

Edited March 15, 2023 by kitkat343

[Charles4515]

5 hours ago, SakeDad said:

Update:They arrived at the airport at 4:00pm and the ship waited until 6:30pm but the NCL ground transportation told them they couldn't get them to the ship on time (a 30 min drive)

That story doesn’t sound right. If they arrived at 4 and the ship was waiting until 6:30 why didn’t they go to the port. They didn’t have to use NCL ground transportation. 

Edited March 15, 2023 by Charles4515