NCL sold my cabin

[tpear3]

I booked my Christmas cruise with an online travel agency (used them in my previous 3 cruises) early this year. When I made my final payment, the agency sent confirmation for (NCL Sun) room 1204 a category AE; however, we originally booked cabin 0067. We specifically booked 0067 because of it being at the back of the ship. I contacted my TA and they are STILL trying to get resolution from NCL, as they apparently sold my room during a fare decrease. I'm trying to be patient; however, I paid for a room I may not get--anyone with suggestions???:(

[cmdchiefthom]

tpear3

 

 

At this point, your online TA should be going to war with NCL, and you should sit back and insure that happens by keeping on top or your agent, assuming you have a specific person you're dealing with, and a specific paper receipt, invoice, or electronic document that states you have cabin 0067. The problem you may encounter however is that at this late date, final payments were already due for all cabins booked, and NCL would only have what is left empty to play with. If they booked 0067, and your TA booked 0067, someone will loose. You options would be to take 1204 and push for a substantial onboard credit, or push you TA for a substantial upgrade in cabin category at no cost to you. Rationale? NCL, do you really want to ruin my Christmas?!

 

Conventional wisdom might dictate taking the whole situation into your own hands and attempting to deal with NCL yourself, however I've found that as soon as you mention having a TA, NCL will be insisting on dealing with the agent rather than the customer. Next option would be to ask for a supervisor, perhaps a 50/50 proposition, and mentioning Christmas again. Maybe you'll get lucky.

 

The bottom line here is you do have a seat on the train, and its pulling out of the station. Maybe you can get a deal, or no deal, but at least you'll spend Christmas cruising.:D

[F5Loar]

It common to get upgrades to better rooms without being told all the way up until you board so yes they can take your room without you knowing it however if they are giving you more for your money why complain? Do you know if this is a better category upgrade? If it's worse you better stick by your guns and fight this. You'll end up with a penthouse if you fuss enough.

[Retired not Expired]

It common to get upgrades to better rooms without being told all the way up until you board so yes they can take your room without you knowing it however if they are giving you more for your money why complain? Do you know if this is a better category upgrade? If it's worse you better stick by your guns and fight this. You'll end up with a penthouse if you fuss enough.

 

It wasn't an upgrade. Both are AE. They had an aft facing back and was moved up one deck to the pool deck and moved all the way forward on the Starboard side. Those afts are prime real estate for many people.

[uneamie]

It common to get upgrades to better rooms without being told all the way up until you board so yes they can take your room without you knowing it however if they are giving you more for your money why complain? Do you know if this is a better category upgrade? If it's worse you better stick by your guns and fight this. You'll end up with a penthouse if you fuss enough.

 

I have never heard of being bumped out of a specific cabin that is booked unless an upgrade is "offered" and "accepted". They can't automaticly put you in an upgrade unless you agree to it. For instance, we booked an aft AE penthouse suite. We specifically wanted an "aft cabin". Them putting us in an upgrade, say owners suite in the front of the ship, is doing us no favor. We have no desire to be in the front of the ship therefore we would not agree to it. I am not paying all this money for them to put me where ever they feel like it. No way!

[M&MCruisin]

I booked my Christmas cruise with an online travel agency (used them in my previous 3 cruises) early this year. When I made my final payment, the agency sent confirmation for (NCL Sun) room 1204 a category AE; however, we originally booked cabin 0067. We specifically booked 0067 because of it being at the back of the ship. I contacted my TA and they are STILL trying to get resolution from NCL, as they apparently sold my room during a fare decrease. I'm trying to be patient; however, I paid for a room I may not get--anyone with suggestions???:(

 

This totally happened to me for my March 2007 cruise, however, I found it out a month after I booked it because I was online trying to do the online registration and when my room number popped up, I flipped out. I am assuming you have a room on the ship, but not the one you picked...is that right? Now, it was agonizing trying to get all my rooms back. NCL blames the TA and the TA blames NCL. I got my room back pretty quickly, the second room they had to call someone else that booked it to get it back which took a couple days, then the third room we have took a couple weeks to get it back, but I (and the TA) did manage to get them all back. I pitched such a fit that the TA almost cancelled my whole reservation. I mean we do pay more to have an assigned room. In any case, here is what was explained to me that happened. The TA took a bunch of reservations and put it into a group, which I believe gives them better discounts, etc. which the TA says they pass on to us, and that putting everyone in this group made the rooms auto assign instead of keeping my hand picked room. Well, NCL and I had a long talk and they told me things I wasnt supposed to know about how it happened and it made my TA even more mad. Now my TA told me 4 weeks ago that she would do everything in her power to get NCL to give us something for "their" mistake such as an upgrade, but I have not heard from her again. You can decide whos fault that all was, but I am thankful to have the rooms I picked back. Now I am so paranoid, I look about 1 time per week to make sure they are still there and nothing has changed.

 

I wouldnt hesitate to contact NCL direct if you feel your TA isnt helping you. I called them direct and I was really nice on the phone, explained what happened and they were super nice to me. Even if it doesnt change anything, it may make you feel better while its being sorted out. If he/she is really going to bat for you, let them fight it out. I really hope it works out for you. I got lucky since I found it early, but I totally can relate to your problem. Good luck

[tpear3]

We had 2 other rooms booked, which also had different rooms at the time of paying. I also noticed these right away--and that the original rooms were open; therefore, got them back. We wanted the aft cabin--not a forward cabin on another deck--away from our children. I know--in any other case, it would be a blessing.:rolleyes: When I originally went online to set up our pre-check in we had the room, but that was quite some time ago. I have contacted the TA several times in the last two weeks with nothing coming of it except the correction of the first two rooms and a response that they are "working with NCL". I don't even care who is at fault, but would like it fixed. I will try to call NCL directly in the morning, thanks to your responses, and hope I get somewhere. In any case, they will hear my concerns directly. Any other ideas are welcome!!!!

[Snoopyto]

"Something I am not supposed to know". Why does this phrase keep popping up everywhere? Perhaps this is a very American point of view, but to the best of my knowledge NCL ships are not Warships at sea. So there really should not be too much that is classified. With companies striving to get ISO certification, their methods and procedures should be open for any one.

 

If I request a cabin and the TA booked it as a group. TO me that is deceit. I am not part of a group. Sure she got a better deal, but at what cost to me? If anything, they should had been upfront and said they are booking as a group. So where am I missing the boat?

[seahorse]

"Something I am not supposed to know". Why does this phrase keep popping up everywhere? Perhaps this is a very American point of view, but to the best of my knowledge NCL ships are not Warships at sea. So there really should not be too much that is classified. With companies striving to get ISO certification, their methods and procedures should be open for any one.

 

If I request a cabin and the TA booked it as a group. TO me that is deceit. I am not part of a group. Sure she got a better deal, but at what cost to me? If anything, they should had been upfront and said they are booking as a group. So where am I missing the boat?

 

You are not missing the boat.

 

Online travel sites (sorry it is difficult for me to call them "agencies" or TA`s:rolleyes: ) set up their contracts very different then your "local" TA.

That is why they get "better deals" and sometimes you DO pay the price one way or another.

 

When I do a group I have full control. You block certain cat. for certain prices. When MY clients want to book I insist on full deposit so they can lock into a certain cabin. If they don`t they are at risk. If they want to take that risk, fine.

 

Some "agencies" take full deposit but don`t give it all to the Cruise Line so they can have better cash flow...IMO that is not a good business practice, and is kind of shady to me:rolleyes:

 

So, that "something that I am supposed to know" line means there is not full disclosure somewhere for liability reasons.....IMO. I could be wrong (but don`t tell my husband I said that:D ).

 

When you get the run-a-round it is very frustrating and you will probably never get the correct answer from anyone.

 

BTW....no one should change your cabin without asking you, even for an upgrade.

[Zeno]

As Seahorse pointed out on-line companies seem to do things differently - which is why I will deal with them for air fares and package vacations but NOT for cruises. My cabin which I carefully select is important to me.

I temporarily "lost" my cabin when NCL had to switch the Sun to Miami from New Orleans after the hurricane last year (a computer glitch day due to start date switching, I suspect) My TA (from a 'real' bricks and mortar agency) was on the phone with NCL until everything was fixed (less than a day). This is why I keep going back to her.

 

My advice: pester the online TA AND NCL. I hope you have some documentation with your cabin number on it (even an email) - forward that to NCL. You need some proof that this was the cabin you were told you had booked. Be firm and insistant but polite. Good Luck!!

[RSWBADGER]

I booked my Christmas cruise with an online travel agency (used them in my previous 3 cruises) early this year. When I made my final payment, the agency sent confirmation for (NCL Sun) room 1204 a category AE; however, we originally booked cabin 0067. We specifically booked 0067 because of it being at the back of the ship. I contacted my TA and they are STILL trying to get resolution from NCL, as they apparently sold my room during a fare decrease. I'm trying to be patient; however, I paid for a room I may not get--anyone with suggestions???:(

You never mentioned if you had a written confirmation for room 0067 from NCL when you paid your deposit?

[tpear3]

I talked with a representative at NCL--her first day there!!!! Anyway, she found out that when part of our group cancelled their reservation, apparently, my TA cancelled mine and figured his mistake within a day or so. Unfortunately, for me, someone bought my cabin before he could get it back. Now, I also found out that there is a $607 balance for my cabin. I have NO intention of paying even more for a cabin I did not want--so I'm not sure how this is going to be fixed. I'm guessing the online agency is not going to want to pay the additional monies and provide on board credit. I'm trying not to harrass the agency (they only work through e-mail), but hate not knowing what I have just got myself and my brand new husband into!!!! No matter what, he will enjoy his first balcony experience, I have had an aft cabin before and will have to change my attitude!:eek:

[newlywedcruisers]

I talked with a representative at NCL--her first day there!!!! Anyway, she found out that when part of our group cancelled their reservation, apparently, my TA cancelled mine and figured his mistake within a day or so. Unfortunately, for me, someone bought my cabin before he could get it back. Now, I also found out that there is a $607 balance for my cabin. I have NO intention of paying even more for a cabin I did not want--so I'm not sure how this is going to be fixed. I'm guessing the online agency is not going to want to pay the additional monies and provide on board credit. I'm trying not to harrass the agency (they only work through e-mail), but hate not knowing what I have just got myself and my brand new husband into!!!! No matter what, he will enjoy his first balcony experience, I have had an aft cabin before and will have to change my attitude!:eek:

 

Ouch, what a horrible experiance, the online "Agency" should really cough up the extra monies, but like you I doubt they will. I hope you are able to get it all worked out, keep us updated. :(

[tpear3]

As stated before, this is not NCL's mistake, but rather my TA because of some cancellations from other members of my family. Like I said before I have NO intention of paying the additional monies. I have used the online agency for three other cruises and they have answered every question or concern to date--I just hope they work just as hard this time.

[M&MCruisin]

You are not missing the boat.

 

Online travel sites (sorry it is difficult for me to call them "agencies" or TA`s:rolleyes: ) set up their contracts very different then your "local" TA.

That is why they get "better deals" and sometimes you DO pay the price one way or another.

 

When I do a group I have full control. You block certain cat. for certain prices. When MY clients want to book I insist on full deposit so they can lock into a certain cabin. If they don`t they are at risk. If they want to take that risk, fine.

 

Some "agencies" take full deposit but don`t give it all to the Cruise Line so they can have better cash flow...IMO that is not a good business practice, and is kind of shady to me:rolleyes:

 

So, that "something that I am supposed to know" line means there is not full disclosure somewhere for liability reasons.....IMO. I could be wrong (but don`t tell my husband I said that:D ).

 

When you get the run-a-round it is very frustrating and you will probably never get the correct answer from anyone.

 

BTW....no one should change your cabin without asking you, even for an upgrade.

 

Seahorse - I like your style! Should have used you!

 

All - FYI on the something that I am not supposed to know....NCL told me the TA cancelled my room and rebooked in the group. Told me a name, date and time of the person who did it and when I told the TA, she got mad because they leaked the info on the TA when all along trying to blame NCL. Makes putting the blame on NCL harder. Oh, well, I got my room back luckily. Hope the OP gets their room back too!

[seahorse]

I talked with a representative at NCL--her first day there!!!! Anyway, she found out that when part of our group cancelled their reservation, apparently, my TA cancelled mine and figured his mistake within a day or so. Unfortunately, for me, someone bought my cabin before he could get it back. Now, I also found out that there is a $607 balance for my cabin. I have NO intention of paying even more for a cabin I did not want--so I'm not sure how this is going to be fixed. I'm guessing the online agency is not going to want to pay the additional monies and provide on board credit. I'm trying not to harrass the agency (they only work through e-mail), but hate not knowing what I have just got myself and my brand new husband into!!!! No matter what, he will enjoy his first balcony experience, I have had an aft cabin before and will have to change my attitude!:eek:

 

Do not pay the extra money.......it is the fault of the "agency":rolleyes: In this business when a mistake like this is made we have to "eat it".

 

They have to pay the difference and you harass them every day 2x a day if you have to.

[duckman715]

This totally happened to me for my March 2007 cruise, however, I found it out a month after I booked it because I was online trying to do the online registration and when my room number popped up, I flipped out. I am assuming you have a room on the ship, but not the one you picked...is that right? Now, it was agonizing trying to get all my rooms back. NCL blames the TA and the TA blames NCL. I got my room back pretty quickly, the second room they had to call someone else that booked it to get it back which took a couple days, then the third room we have took a couple weeks to get it back, but I (and the TA) did manage to get them all back. I pitched such a fit that the TA almost cancelled my whole reservation. I mean we do pay more to have an assigned room. In any case, here is what was explained to me that happened. The TA took a bunch of reservations and put it into a group, which I believe gives them better discounts, etc. which the TA says they pass on to us, and that putting everyone in this group made the rooms auto assign instead of keeping my hand picked room. Well, NCL and I had a long talk and they told me things I wasnt supposed to know about how it happened and it made my TA even more mad. Now my TA told me 4 weeks ago that she would do everything in her power to get NCL to give us something for "their" mistake such as an upgrade, but I have not heard from her again. You can decide whos fault that all was, but I am thankful to have the rooms I picked back. Now I am so paranoid, I look about 1 time per week to make sure they are still there and nothing has changed.

 

I wouldnt hesitate to contact NCL direct if you feel your TA isnt helping you. I called them direct and I was really nice on the phone, explained what happened and they were super nice to me. Even if it doesnt change anything, it may make you feel better while its being sorted out. If he/she is really going to bat for you, let them fight it out. I really hope it works out for you. I got lucky since I found it early, but I totally can relate to your problem. Good luck

Same thing happened to me with another line. I booked a specific cabin - aft balcony, TA (on line agency) put it into a group & I was assigned mid ship balcony. Didn't learn of it until several months later. End result, TA gave me $200 off the fare plus a $200 OBC and another aft balcony. They kept my business but without their efforts to rectify their error I would definitely have gone elsewhere. TAs and others in a service profession work hard for their money, as do I and others who purchase a cruise. Mistakes need to be corrected by those who make them - especially in a field as competitive as cruise travel.

[M&MCruisin]

Same thing happened to me with another line. I booked a specific cabin - aft balcony, TA (on line agency) put it into a group & I was assigned mid ship balcony. Didn't learn of it until several months later. End result, TA gave me $200 off the fare plus a $200 OBC and another aft balcony. They kept my business but without their efforts to rectify their error I would definitely have gone elsewhere. TAs and others in a service profession work hard for their money, as do I and others who purchase a cruise. Mistakes need to be corrected by those who make them - especially in a field as competitive as cruise travel.

 

No doubt! Im with you and that is great that you got some $ off. I have a feeling that we wont have that. There were other problems like I didnt get an invoice for over 1 month after paying and so on. She actually tried to cancel me saying she didnt want my business since I kept calling for a receipt and to have my room corrected. I didnt know they could do that. I did have credit card confirmation of my $1600 deposit (4 people) but nothing from the TA for a month. Thats alot of money with no receipt. Im just not used to using a TA. Hopefully next time things will work out better!

[KeystoneCruiser]

I have never heard of being bumped out of a specific cabin that is booked unless an upgrade is "offered" and "accepted".

 

 

I hate to disagree, but NCL did this exact same thing to us earlier this year. Last October we booked connecting AF cabins on the Dawn for this past June. The room numbers were correct on our deposit contract. Then sometime between then and April, the moved us from connecting cabins to non connecting AF's about 8 doors down. Our original connecting cabins were directly across from an interior of another in our party and now they weren't.

 

Both my TA and myself are partially to blame because we sent in the final payment in early April without checking the room numbers on the statement. In fact, we did not catch the change until late April, about 2 weeks after final payment. My TA did everything she and her boss could to get us switched back. They called everyone they could at NCL, held a conference call with NCL, etc. but to no avail. NCL's attitude was: "at least they are still on the cruise in the same catagory, what's the big deal." Of course if we cancelled (which we seriously considered), we would lose most of our money. I wrote a letter to Colin Veitch in early May (to which I didn't get a reply). I wrote an email to Colin in late May to which I got a post card that my concerns were "being investigated." (of course the card came a month later WHILE we were on the cruise!) I brought my story to Cruise Critic and it became a very popular thread with hundreds of hits.

 

I then decided to try and find other connecting cabins on board through NCL's website. The only ones I could find was connecting AB with an AF. I found three pairs of these. I told my TA the cabin numbers, but when she called NCL, she was told that those cabins were full. I went back on line and they showed open and when she told NCL that, NCL's reply was: "the website is usually three to four days behind." (a theory quickly deystroyed by Cruise Critic members on this very board.) Then the next day, the cabins I was looking at disappeared off the website, only to reappear about 4 days later. When we called after they reappeared, we were told once again they were not available and in fact none of the AB's were still open. (four were still showing in inventory.) Our theory is that NCL was afraid that we were going request those cabins for the same price as our AF. Too bad we were willing to pay the difference.

 

Meanwhile, our TA kept calling people at NCL and the story kept growing on these boards. (Host Cecilia was even calling for an online petition of NCL by CC members to solve our problem.) Our documents came and we were about 10 days out of our cruise and I had given up all hope of getting connecting cabins. Then out of the blue an "executive" of NCL called our TA and told her that they had "found" not only two connecting AF cabins for us, but a third cabin right next door for the other member of our party who had been moved. These cabins just happened to be three doors the other direction from our original cabins. (thus only a few doors from our family in the interior cabin) I'm not sure what spured NCL to upgrade the people in those cabins in order to clear them out for us, but I was very happy and we ended up having a great cruise on the Dawn.

 

So there are some ideas to help you in your quest to be returned to your original cabin: Write and Email Colin Veitch; keep your story alive here on Cruise Critic and have your TA continue to badger NCL about the switch.

 

I'm just sorry to see that NCL is still up to those room switching tricks!

 

Btw: if you have a few hours and want to read the whole thread of our story back in April to June, here is the link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=330949

[cruisingisforme]

I am a travel agent and I can't believe that your travel agent wanted to xxl you because you kept wanting your cabin back. I find that unacceptable. I have clients who are picky about thier cabin just because they are. Everyone has preferences, even me. I have been on various decks, front, back, top and bottom. If I can, I book midship but if I booked run of ship or gty then I have to take what I get. But I prefer midship.

 

When I book people I am upfront. I try to be a helpful as I can in picking cabins as most families and friends want to be near each other or maybe not, but I try to assist where I can. But I don't understand even if she had several people booked that would be enough for a group, you shouldn't have lost your cabins. Your agent should have been keeping you informed as much as possible.

 

I will say NCL are not easy to deal with. We had a group sailing with NCL for a Hawaii repositioning cruise that NCL xxl about 3 weeks from departure. It was horrible. What a mess. They did nothing to help. I mean nothing. No future cruise credits, no extra money. Nothing except of course they got their money back. Took a while too. We did manage to get our pax on a Carinval repositioning Hawaii cruise about 2 weeks later than they wanted to go and it did work out. But it took the travel agent alot of long days to sort it out. :(

 

What was the reason for you not getting a receipt? I find that kinda funny...Did you ever get a receipt??

 

Keep us informed as to what is happening. I am curious.

 

Charlotte.:)

[tpear3]

Seahorse--or anyone with much more insight than myself :o : It appears that NCL's website no longer gives available cabins; therefore, I can't do a little investigating for other options. I went to another website but want to know how reliable that information is.

 

Again, it appears this is my agencies fault and they say they are working to correct the room change. I don't think it will happen, but will try to be patient. I just want to say thanks to everyone for the advise and let you know, that in my case anyway, this is not NCL's fault.

[KeystoneCruiser]

I will say NCL are not easy to deal with. We had a group sailing with NCL for a Hawaii repositioning cruise that NCL xxl about 3 weeks from departure. It was horrible. What a mess. They did nothing to help. I mean nothing. No future cruise credits, no extra money. Nothing except of course they got their money back. Took a while too.

Charlotte.:)

 

 

My TA said almost exactly the same thing about NCL and has been trying to get us to try other lines. In fact, the travel agency that she works for no longer advertizes NCL and only sells NCL is requested. They were the only company in our large city area that even advertized NCL in the major daily paper and now they are not. (they say that the poor way our incident was handled weighed heavily in the decision.) NCL, as proven by my story will do nothing that costs them money if they can help it. We got nothing except our connecting rooms in spite of two months of being upset. I firmly believe that if the Cruise Critic members had not been so supportive and vocal on these boards, we wouldn't even have got the connecting cabins! During our experience, especially at the end, I got the feeling that NCL was only giving us the connecting cabins because they had to but they wanted to make sure that we got nothing else extra. (Why not upgrade us instead of the ones they moved out of the connecting cabins...according to the website, the AB/AF connecting rooms were still available right up until the day after the offered us the connecting cabins!)

 

My parents are going on the new Pearl next summer back to Alaska. We were thinking about joining them, but my wife refuses because she doesn't want to risk the potential of stress that we all went through the last two months before our cruise. (and she also feels that NCL owes us for the inconveinence and hassle.) Oh well, maybe she will come around in 2008....lol

[seahorse]

Seahorse--or anyone with much more insight than myself :o : It appears that NCL's website no longer gives available cabins; therefore, I can't do a little investigating for other options. I went to another website but want to know how reliable that information is.

 

Again, it appears this is my agencies fault and they say they are working to correct the room change. I don't think it will happen, but will try to be patient. I just want to say thanks to everyone for the advise and let you know, that in my case anyway, this is not NCL's fault.

 

Call NCL direct and pretend that your a new customer and are looking for availability. The new website is a mess.

[cruizinwithkids]

You can still find out what's available.

 

https://seaweb.it.ncl.com/consumer/

 

Thanks Shoreguy!

[seahorse]

You can still find out what's available.

 

https://seaweb.it.ncl.com/consumer/

 

Thanks Shoreguy!

 

I would still call NCL:) I don`t trust either site, sorry.