Free Cruise, Krack-its on Star

[Big Kev]

To follow up on another post we made in a thread a few months ago, and now finally home after almost 3 months travelling, its timely that we report back. When we finally left on our way, we had just been through dramas in contacting someone in NCL to find out why we hadn't any documents, .

 

We had "won" a 7 day Caribbean Cruise for 2 from buying Krack-its whilst on the Star last year, and chose to take the cruise in April this year . After getting back home, we phoned and booked a cabin on the Jewel, and gave our credit card details for the Govt Taxes Fees and Service Charges which we were required to pay.

 

Over the next week completed all the on-line registration for the allocated cabin.

 

Less than a week before leaving to join cruise we enquired to find out why we didnt have documents and why we could no longer access our account registration page on thier website. We were then told that they have cancelled our booking the week before because we hadnt paid !!!! :eek:

 

Panic stations now,,, 'cos its a long way from Australia to Miami for nothing!! We gave credit card again and hopefully everything would happen.

 

When we finally did get e-documents and left to join the cruise, we had some unanswered questions, and NCL had not, and still has not responded, to emails and calls.

 

The Docs we got says, "Taxes and Fees" (for 2 ppl) equates to $175.14. Thats fine.

 

BUT,, another item of "GUEST FARE" (for 2ppl) of $280 had us boggling!!!

Also, with the docs was paperwork telling us amongst other things, that we are not to discuss our fares with anyone, and that we must give way and give priority to other full paying cruisers on board.:confused:

 

We were obviously insulted by this, not only about having to pay a guest fare for a free cruise. The many hundreds of people buying the Krackits ticket bundles at $20 each and not winning are the people who paid for the cruise, not NCL.

 

When on board, I asked the on board salesperson what "guest fare" was, and was not really helped apart from "maybe its for the port fees"

 

Since NCL cant answer me, maybe someone on the forum may be able to throw some light on it. Has anyone else here "won" ? a cruise and experienced similar?

 

Incidently, the cruise , and especially the crew were great:D

[shoreguy]

I have no idea. I know it has been a challenge to book the free cruises. Did you upgrade at all :confused: They will charge the difference between the lowest inside cabin and the cabin you want. Other then that I am mystified:rolleyes:

[dwrist]

Is it possibly the "tipping" charge?

[KeystoneCruiser]

BUT,, another item of "GUEST FARE" (for 2ppl) of $280 had us boggling!!!

Also, with the docs was paperwork telling us amongst other things, that we are not to discuss our fares with anyone, and that we must give way and give priority to other full paying cruisers on board.:confused:

 

My guess on the "guest fare" was that it paid for an upgrade from the lowest price cabin to whatever you got. What catagory were you in?

 

As far as not discussing your fare with others....that has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard, even for the idiots at NCL corporate! Who cares if you discuss the fact that you won a free cruise on NCL???

 

NCL is so stupid that they really missed a great marketing tool...using you while on board to help sell krack-its! Why not introduce you at shows and other places where they sell krack-its and say: "look at the xxxxxx family, they are here enjoying the free cruise that they won playing Krackits! YOU could be the next big winner....play now!" But once again, they are afraid that someone will be mad that someone else got something they didn't and so they try and hide everything. What a stupid way to run a cruise line.

 

And in what ways were you going to have to give way to full paying passengers? If you had made a reservation for a specialty dining room, were you going to have to lose your reservation if a full paying passenger came along??? I'll bet when Colin and the boys sail on the ships, they don't have to give way and priority to "full paying passengers."

 

Typical NCL corporate stupidity.

[MrLee]

I would guess the Guest fare would be the $10 pp/pd for tips but, if it was a 7 day cruise, that would come out to half of what you were charged. About the only other thing that comes to mind is port fees, but I would expect to find that lumped in with taxes.

[Cosmopolitan]

Can't be the tipping at that rate.

 

Tipping never on the charge before the cruise.

 

Upgrade:confused: What cabin category did you win? What did you sail in?

 

Could it be insurance...never saw it listed as "guest fare". But, then again, have never won a cruise :-(

 

You paid the charge not knowing what it was?

 

I'm grasping at straws here...taxes on the win??

 

Please come back and let us know the outcome.

[Big Kev]

Thanks for your input so far.

To Clarify. To quote the relevant stuff ---

1/. The Certificate is valid for 1 year from the date. A 7 day Caribbean Cruise for 2.

2/. Govt fees/taxes/charges are not included.

3/. Is good for inside staterooms only.

4/. Can be exchanged for any cruise outside of those parameters, with a maximum value of up to $1,000

5/. Non Transferable. Upgrades will be considered for additional charge.

 

shoreguy --

We were allotted the cabin. It was, however in the highest inside category. We would have also expected that, given the certificate criterea.

 

MrLee --

Gratuities were additional, as expected, and were added to our on-board account at $10 P/D - P/P = $140

 

KeystoneCruiser --

Cabin was allocated to us.

 

Cosmopolitan --

Keep Grasping ...

We were originally told and agreed that our card would be debited $455.14 for Govt. taxes fees and charges. We didnt know that this included a "Guest Fare" They didnt debit immediately, so we assumed they were going complete the transaction at what would be the normal final deposit time.

 

We did not have any paperwork or breakdown of any charges because they were to come only in the fiinal e-documents.

 

As stated, we finally got these only days before travelling.

 

The mystery of what is a "Guest fare" ? continues :confused:

 

Curiosity aint gunna kill this cat..:p

 

Maybe a simple answer somewhere, its just that no one at NCL wants to talk..The courtesy of a reply from NCL would have answered our queries. We've given up on emailing and more fruitless overseas calls and faxes.

 

Any more ideas on what "free cruises" are????

[cliffd64]

Well, regardless of what the "guest fare" is... still beats any deal you can pay for :) Hope you enjoy(ed) it! :)

[cliffd64]

dupe post :(

[heelfan94]

Well, regardless of what the "guest fare" is... still beats any deal you can pay for :) Hope you enjoy(ed) it! :)

True enough, but why won't NCL just tell the OP what it is? And if they're paying a fare, however they want to word it, then it's not a free cruise. Discounted, to be sure, but not free. :)

[cliffd64]

True enough, but why won't NCL just tell the OP what it is? And if they're paying a fare, however they want to word it, then it's not a free cruise. Discounted, to be sure, but not free. :)

 

My guess is, the people they are talking to, don't have the answers and have no idea who to contact to get them...

 

More than likely it's not a common question that most reps get asked...

 

But, perserverance may pay off... keep trying :)

[heelfan94]

That's a good point, Cliff. I also agree with Keystone about NCL using the winners for their own good. I would have paraded them around like a Macy's Parade float. If I'd been on this cruise and saw them introduced as the winners of a free trip, I'm sure it would encourage me and other passengers to buy those krack-its. Oh, well. It sounds like the cruise was fun for the winners. Congratulations. :)

[CRUZIN TOM]

The $140.00 per person is the charge that NCL charges for each person. When we booked our cruise for this August for Alaska thru the Casinos at Sea. We were able to get 18% off the Fare for the cruise. That did not inlcude the port and taxes and the set $140.00 NCL fee. If you get a true breakdown of the cost of the cruise you will see that there are 3 charges. One for the cruise. One as they say guest fare (really the booking charge of $140.00) and the ports and taxes charge.:)

[KeystoneCruiser]

KeystoneCruiser --

Cabin was allocated to us.

Ok, so that answers that. Wasn't an upgrade.

 

I now believe that it was $140 per person booking charge or something that NCL charges to all. That makes sense.

 

 

Maybe a simple answer somewhere, its just that no one at NCL wants to talk..The courtesy of a reply from NCL would have answered our queries. We've given up on emailing and more fruitless overseas calls and faxes.

 

You are talking NCL customer service and corporate here....courtesy and honesty are foreign words for them! Trust me, you won't get an answer and if you do, it will be just a bunch of words...no answers. And the sadest part is that NCL doesn't care how bad their Customer Service department is getting bashed or looks!

[mbisson]

After seeing a couple of different threads that talk about difficulty in booking a cruise that is won, I'm almost glad NCL hasn't let me win one ;).

 

Notice I said "almost"

[calmac]

After seeing a couple of different threads that talk about difficulty in booking a cruise that is won, I'm almost glad NCL hasn't let me win one ;).

 

Notice I said "almost"

 

Your time will come!

[mbisson]

Your time will come!

 

I dunno. Looks like the "Spring for it" cruise giveaway is over. :(

 

I think the next contest is where I give them my credit card # and they send me a confirmation! :)

No - wait, I played that contest a couple weeks ago!!! ALOHA!

[newmexicoNita]

To follow up on another post we made in a thread a few months ago, and now finally home after almost 3 months travelling, its timely that we report back. When we finally left on our way, we had just been through dramas in contacting someone in NCL to find out why we hadn't any documents, .

 

We had "won" a 7 day Caribbean Cruise for 2 from buying Krack-its whilst on the Star last year, and chose to take the cruise in April this year . After getting back home, we phoned and booked a cabin on the Jewel, and gave our credit card details for the Govt Taxes Fees and Service Charges which we were required to pay.

 

Over the next week completed all the on-line registration for the allocated cabin.

 

Less than a week before leaving to join cruise we enquired to find out why we didnt have documents and why we could no longer access our account registration page on thier website. We were then told that they have cancelled our booking the week before because we hadnt paid !!!! :eek:

 

Panic stations now,,, 'cos its a long way from Australia to Miami for nothing!! We gave credit card again and hopefully everything would happen.

 

When we finally did get e-documents and left to join the cruise, we had some unanswered questions, and NCL had not, and still has not responded, to emails and calls.

 

The Docs we got says, "Taxes and Fees" (for 2 ppl) equates to $175.14. Thats fine.

 

BUT,, another item of "GUEST FARE" (for 2ppl) of $280 had us boggling!!!

Also, with the docs was paperwork telling us amongst other things, that we are not to discuss our fares with anyone, and that we must give way and give priority to other full paying cruisers on board.:confused:

 

We were obviously insulted by this, not only about having to pay a guest fare for a free cruise. The many hundreds of people buying the Krackits ticket bundles at $20 each and not winning are the people who paid for the cruise, not NCL.

 

When on board, I asked the on board salesperson what "guest fare" was, and was not really helped apart from "maybe its for the port fees"

 

Since NCL cant answer me, maybe someone on the forum may be able to throw some light on it. Has anyone else here "won" ? a cruise and experienced similar?

 

Incidently, the cruise , and especially the crew were great:D

I am glad you enjoyed your cruise, that is more important than all the rest. As for the charges: the $280 was the port charges, $140 each and the $175 or whatever was the actually taxes and other fees.

 

One time, several years ago my husband purchased a car one weekend when the car company had a promo going; it was a free cruise and yes, we had to pay the port charges and the taxes.

 

I hope this helps straighten the mess out a little.

 

NMNita

[Lotteryfan]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought NCL stopped giving away a free cruise on the krack-its. I thought the most that you could win was $2,000. Of course, if you purchased a set of krack-its you were given raffle tickets which could enable you to win a free cruise if you are present at the last bingo session.

 

If NCL doesn't like it when people announce they are sailing on a free cruise, then NCL doesn't like it when the $2,000 top prize on the krack-its is announced also.

 

On a recent back to back cruise on the Spirit, on both trips the cruise ship hosts were selling krack-its late into the last night. They were saying that the $2,000 top prize had not been redeemed as of yet on each trip. I can't believe the odds that someone either won and didn't collect yet, or that someone hadn't received the winning ticket on both occasions. I'm sure other people on the boards here will write that they heard the same thing. This is wrong on NCL's part if the top prize ticket had actually been sold or redeemed. Its like the state lotteries having to announce that all top prizes have been awarded in a particular game if they are going to continue selling it. This was already proven in the courts. I guess out on the open sea, the only law is the NCL Law.

 

Hey! What if they create a television show called, "NCL Law". Each week there could be stories about frivolous lawsuits taken from real life. Like the rough wave story, or that couple that sued because they were found to be having sex on their balcony. Well, I digress from my original statement.

[Big Kev]

Thanks again guys.

I guess we will never find out for sure. It seems from your input responses, that the "Guest Fare" as invoiced by NCL is either

 

(a) - a charge that is for the PORT charges as different from Taxes.

or (b) - an extra "booking fee" that every-one is charged.

 

Anyway, I will probably buy more tickets on a future NCL cruiseship. When we win again, we will know what to ask immediately, and hopefully get an answer whilst they write our details to print on the winning cruise voucher.:D