NCL NOT CUSTOMER FRIENDLY

[bluesea777]

2 minutes ago, Cruising Lynne said:

Yes, it could be done, but then people would complain about how early they had to leave. NCL can't please everyone! Moral of the story: Book your own flights!!

 

True, plus "long layovers", "short layovers", "multiple legs on different airlines", and so on.

 

 

[happy cruzer]

Did  you look at the options before final payment?  Where any of them better than going with NCL knowing the downsides? 

 

Typically if we can match the NCL price plus a bit more then we book ourselves and cancel the NCL air at final payment.  If not, then you have rolled the dice and have to take what you can get from NCL.

 

If you do no research, and just want someone to take care of you in the current environment you get what you get....

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, Cruising Lynne said:

With time changes and all the travel time, I don't see how you could expect to get to Rome much earlier. This is not really a valid complaint.

To get in earlier, they would have had to leave a day earlier on a red eye. Which would be outside the deviation window?

[julig22]

23 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

To get in earlier, they would have had to leave a day earlier on a red eye. Which would be outside the deviation window?

Umm, no.  Deviation has to do with when you are scheduled to ARRIVE.  It has nothing to do with when you leave.  If you live close, you can leave and arrive on the same day.  If you live far away, you have to leave the previous day, arrive the next day.

[styles27]

5 hours ago, lawman294 said:

NCL is not customer friendly! I just received my flight reservations for a cruise from Rome. We booked air and hotel through NCL for an early 3 day stay. I just received my flights this morning and we won't land in Rome until 535 PM losing a whole day. I called as soon as I received the air. They told me could not be modified because it has to be 75 days out which was 5 days ago, but I just received the notice this morning 70 days out. If I were sailing the same day They would get me to Rome at an early time!. I even offered to pay they said no!!! The air rep I spoke with agreed with me that it is not right! It falls within their parameter's that the flight arrive by 535 and hotel by 7. There is no way you can clear customs and get to the hotel by 7. NCL is losing a customer as of today. I can't even cancel without losing too much money and I looked to book my own air, but NCL will not refund all of my money so they got me. I will make the best of it but they have lost a loyal customer and I will never sail with them again, and I will encourage all of my friends and family not to sail with them!!!!! Not a happy person right now

Simple way to avoid this is to book your own air. 
I would never allow any cruise line to have control of my air arrangements. Especially going to Europe. I don’t care how much money it supposedly saves me. Not worth the stress that you’re now experiencing.
Money isn’t as important as my sanity. 
I think it’s unfair to judge a cruise line by the experience you’re having with your flights. Their on board experience is why we cruise with them. I don’t expect them to make my flight arrangements. I understand you’re upset but there are so many similar stories to yours concerning NCL booked flights that have taught me to never use them for that. 

Edited April 23, 2023 by styles27

[eileeshb]

As others have said when you leave your flight bookings to a 3rd party don’t expect it to be optimum.

I used to work for a multinational that used Amex Travel to book all our business trips, they regularly forgot that the west coast of Ireland is not within driving distance of London. Our site set a policy that we presearch flight options ourselves before talking to Amex and if they couldn’t find a fare in the same route for cheaper they had to book the flight we found. 
 

My next cruise is out of Seattle so the flight options I had for getting back to my home airport in Ireland were less than ideal. I had 3 basic options..

cheapest: get a red-eye from Seattle to Boston, 10 hr layover , overnight flight from Boston to home. For early am on Monday

most ideal: noon departure from Seattle to London and connect back to Ireland for arrival Sunday afternoon but double the price and iffy at making it to seatac off the ship. 

actual chosen: early morning flight the day after disembarking to Boston, 3hr layover, get back to Ireland early am on the Monday. extra night accommodation still cheaper than the “ideal” flight. 
 

I don’t sleep on planes so that tends to heavily influence my flight choices.

[lawman294]

We are taking a red eye and understood that we are at their mercy. I get the cheapest airfare. My main complaint is they didn't want to hear it. They basically blew me off. Next time I book my of wn air. I normally do but lesson learned 

[ilovesalchows]

I booked my own for our Med Cruise this year, because I prefer control.  

 

However, a lot of the things people complain about are really non-issues, and this is one of them.  Every time I fly I spend a ton of time and effort checking out seat maps, on-time performance, youtube videos, etc to get the best experience for my flights.  It has gone sideways sometimes and that carefully selected seat and arrival time has been all for naught.  Every time this happens I have been happy to be on a flight at all, even the time I ended up needing 4 flights to get to Madrid, with the longest leg in the middle seat of a non-reclining back row.  

 

My husband always says, there are three things you can reasonable expect from a purhcase.  Cost, quality, speed.  Pick two.   When you book BOGO you pick one.

[Cruise5life]

All these nightmares with NCL booking air why would you even chance it.   
seems like you set yourself up for disappointment.    
 

isn’t it a 3rd party that actually books the air ?         

[lawman294]

No ncl books it. Lesson learned. When a deal is too good to be true it usually is

[periodic itinerant]

2 hours ago, eileeshb said:

My next cruise is out of Seattle so the flight options I had for getting back to my home airport in Ireland were less than ideal. I had 3 basic options..

cheapest: get a red-eye from Seattle to Boston, 10 hr layover , overnight flight from Boston to home. For early am on Monday

most ideal: noon departure from Seattle to London and connect back to Ireland for arrival Sunday afternoon but double the price and iffy at making it to seatac off the ship. 

actual chosen: early morning flight the day after disembarking to Boston, 3hr layover, get back to Ireland early am on the Monday. extra night accommodation still cheaper than the “ideal” flight. 
 

I don’t sleep on planes so that tends to heavily influence my flight choices.

I thought I'd read that Aer Lingus is re-starting their non-stop Seattle-Dublin route. If I recall, the service was only going to be a few days a week, and maybe not in time for your trip, but I figured I'd mention it. It was very convenient when I visited Ireland a few years back. 

[eileeshb]

2 minutes ago, periodic itinerant said:

I thought I'd read that Aer Lingus is re-starting their non-stop Seattle-Dublin route. If I recall, the service was only going to be a few days a week, and maybe not in time for your trip, but I figured I'd mention it. It was very convenient when I visited Ireland a few years back. 

I’m on the west coast of Ireland and avoid Dublin airport whenever possible. The difference in cost of parking alone makes up for the fares.

 

[periodic itinerant]

9 minutes ago, eileeshb said:

I’m on the west coast of Ireland and avoid Dublin airport whenever possible. The difference in cost of parking alone makes up for the fares.

 

Ah, I think originally there was supposed to be a Seattle-Shannon route in the works, but they barely had a chance to get settled into SeaTac airport before everything shut down... I try to keep an eye on any airlines adding service to/from Seattle and we've had a few false starts unfortunately.

[BirdTravels]

59 minutes ago, lawman294 said:

No ncl books it. Lesson learned. When a deal is too good to be true it usually is

Unfortunately, it is exactly in accordance with the terms and conditions that you agreed to. For a steeply discounted air fare, they get to pick the flights, airlines, and times. Not you. And I would not expect them to pay more if you don't like the flights, airlines, and times they select. They held up their end of the discount fare. 

[Surf&Sand]

On 4/23/2023 at 12:17 PM, lawman294 said:

NCL is not customer friendly! I just received my flight reservations for a cruise from Rome. We booked air and hotel through NCL for an early 3 day stay. I just received my flights this morning and we won't land in Rome until 535 PM losing a whole day. I called as soon as I received the air. They told me could not be modified because it has to be 75 days out which was 5 days ago, but I just received the notice this morning 70 days out. If I were sailing the same day They would get me to Rome at an early time!. I even offered to pay they said no!!! The air rep I spoke with agreed with me that it is not right! It falls within their parameter's that the flight arrive by 535 and hotel by 7. There is no way you can clear customs and get to the hotel by 7. NCL is losing a customer as of today. I can't even cancel without losing too much money and I looked to book my own air, but NCL will not refund all of my money so they got me. I will make the best of it but they have lost a loyal customer and I will never sail with them again, and I will encourage all of my friends and family not to sail with them!!!!! Not a happy person right now

We were on a Panama Canal Cruise in March and they booked us to come in the same day as the departure. I also tried to modify it with no one willing to talk to me. I should have known better to come in a day earlier.  (turned out our bags never made it onto the plane on our stop over and we went 3 days with minimal or no spare clothes (I packed some stuff))

 

But we just booked a Mediterranean cruise for July and did use their air promotion again - saves us $1500 but are scheduled to arrive 2 days before the cruise to see Athens.

 

Good luck and always come in atleast a day before the cruise.

[Debbie42467]

On 4/23/2023 at 12:17 PM, lawman294 said:

NCL is not customer friendly! I just received my flight reservations for a cruise from Rome. We booked air and hotel through NCL for an early 3 day stay. I just received my flights this morning and we won't land in Rome until 535 PM losing a whole day. I called as soon as I received the air. They told me could not be modified because it has to be 75 days out which was 5 days ago, but I just received the notice this morning 70 days out. If I were sailing the same day They would get me to Rome at an early time!. I even offered to pay they said no!!! The air rep I spoke with agreed with me that it is not right! It falls within their parameter's that the flight arrive by 535 and hotel by 7. There is no way you can clear customs and get to the hotel by 7. NCL is losing a customer as of today. I can't even cancel without losing too much money and I looked to book my own air, but NCL will not refund all of my money so they got me. I will make the best of it but they have lost a loyal customer and I will never sail with them again, and I will encourage all of my friends and family not to sail with them!!!!! Not a happy person right now

They Lie!

I was 76 days before cruise and wanted to fly in 1 day ahead, I called and spoke to 6 different agents over the next two days and got 6 different answers. First I was told I could, then I was told I couldn't since it was 76 days before my cruise, and then I was told I needed to book with their hotel for an additional $215 pp. Very long story short, none of the 6 agents could change my flight to fly in one day earlier and I was within the time frame. Very Frustrating!!!!  

[ChiefMateJRK]

On 4/23/2023 at 9:04 AM, BirdTravels said:

We like NCL air. We use it with full understanding that NCL is going to pick the cheapest flights to/from our cruise ports which are not going to be the flights that we would have picked if we booked on our own. There should be no confusion about the fact that flights are going to be sub-optimal. 

 

It's like using an Uber at an airport. I can get in a taxi and leave immediately after getting out of a terminal. The taxi will be of a general, expected quality and cleanliness. Or I can save money with an Uber, standing in the cold (or hot) for 15-20 minutes, getting a car of varying quality, and a driver who does not understand that when they accept an airport run, they can't have their trunk full of Costco purchases with no places for a suitcase. 

Have you ever actually used Uber in the last five years?

[SunshineGal2022]

Perhaps you can modify the return flight home with the airline’s own website(s) to stay the extra full day in Rome.  

[UKstages]

 

On 4/23/2023 at 12:17 PM, lawman294 said:

I will make the best of it but they have lost a loyal customer and I will never sail with them again, and I will encourage all of my friends and family not to sail with them!!!!

 

respectfully, it sounds like you shouldn't fly with them again. i understand the flight's purpose is to get you to the cruise. but you haven't experienced anything wrong with the primary service NCL provides... passage on a cruise ship. 

 

though it's been said many times, many ways... if you book NCL air, you lose almost total control. it's a bit like buying discounted fruit past its prime in the supermarket. if you want a pristine banana at the peak of ripeness, you pay full price. if you're willing to take your chances knowing full well you might get a bruised banana past its prime, then buy the leftover discounted fruit priced for quick sale. 

 

and make banana bread.

 

On 4/23/2023 at 6:54 PM, lawman294 said:

They basically blew me off.

 

geez. i dunno. did they?

 

it sounds like you had an empathetic rep who agreed with you "that it is not right."

 

explaining a company's policies to a concerned customer and adhering to those policies is not blowing you off. just because you didn't get what you would have preferred does not mean that they blew you off. you can choose to sail NCL in the future or not. but mistreatment from NCL should probably not be a driving factor since they did exactly what they told you they would do.

 

if using NCL air is a barrier to your happiness, then don't use NCL air.