$200 price drop- what to do????

[newmexicoNita]

yes Nita it was a special they were running, but our TA was able to get it for us and that was great, but if not we still would have been happy where we were originally

 

I thought it was and good for your TA. The sad thing, the minute the promo was over it was over...Not a budge from NCL on anything. As I have said, I love NCL, but hate their "after final payment" policy. they are not the only line that does this, I do want to add that and I understand the reasoning behind this, it doesn't make it easy though when you have unhappy clients...At least they do offer upgrades...

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

Called my TA about our minisuite (paid $1049...now listed at $799) Got Zip, Zero, Nada......Wish I knew about CC sooner. Next cruise, should it happen, I will take all the info I've gleaned from all of you. Thanks.

When did you call? Please don't blame this on your TA, she/he made have done whatever they could. Since the promo ended it hasn't been easy to get them to budge.

 

Nita

[*Wink*]

Hopefully you booked directly with NCl, and not a TA. If you booked with a TA, they wont talk to you. Just call them and nicely ask what they are going to do for you, let them suggest a solution. Probably will be upgrade or obc. Good luck,

 

Howard

 

 

 

Thanks for the encouraging needs about my refund....lol. The first and most important lesson that I learned that in the future I will only book a cruise directly with the cruise line and not, I repeat NOT book with a TA. I used (company name removed) and I personally called them and got an agent on the phone. When he sent me an invoice, paid in full mind you, it didn't have $200 in obc on it. I called him and he told me that NCL was having a problem linking up my latitudes account, and until that time I would only be receiving $50. I called NCL directly and spoke to a reservations supervisor who gave me her name and extention number and told me to have him call her directly to add the additional $150 in obc to the reservation. The TA gave me some story that he called her 3 times but she didn't return his calls. I called the TA back and had him cancel the reservation and I called in a few minutes later to NCL and booked the exact thing that he was supposed to do. I had to give them $250 deposit and then pay the balance by this last tuesday. Every day I check with my bank, but no refund. I spoke with NCL and they gave me the run around. So i guess I will wait til the end of next week and call back to both (company name removed) and NCL. If I get the refund, I will post here and let everyone know.

 

Howard

 

Hi ~ My concern was that new cruisers may decide to not book with a TA because of Howard's bad experience. Sorry if I sounded harsh, I guess I feel protective of TA's because I really like mine. I do agree that the first quote I misunderstood him to mean his TA wouldn't talk to him, not NCL.

 

Either way, I can understand his frustration, and hope his refund comes soon.:)

 

Now I gotta go and watch my Chief's lose... again. :D

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

I only asked that question simply because there were others who seemed to be a bit confused as they came back in defense of their TA. Can't assume everyone reads things the same way.;)

 

 

YEP!

 

I was agreeing with you....and that's a good thing! HAHA! :D

[melligene]

When did you call? Please don't blame this on your TA, she/he made have done whatever they could. Since the promo ended it hasn't been easy to get them to budge.

 

Nita

 

 

 

 

Contacted my TA at the begining of the Promo. She said she called NCL and they told her it was for new bookings only.(made final payment 1 week early) This is my first ever cruise and from what I have been reading here on CC I knda have to believe.....she didn't push the issue...if in fact she even called NCL. No complaints, no problems. I knew what I was going to have to pay from the get-go and that is that. If'n there is a NEXT cruise....I'll take all the info you seasoned cruisers have provided me and go from there. Thanks again.

[Cruzin2paradise09]

DW and I booked a December cruise, (our first!) on Pearl (balcony room deck 9), back in August and paid for it at that time. Now I see the price has dropped $200 for balcony rooms and I can actually book a suite for the price I paid for the balcony! What if anything, can I do? I realize the only leverage I have now is that NCL will want me back as a customer and if the cruise starts on a sour note, that probably ain't gonna happen:mad: but what sort of adjustment could I reasonably expect at this point? When I call them, what should I ask for? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! :confused:

 

Bill

 

Call your TA if you booked with one. Be nice, kind and respectful. Ask if they would upgrade you or if you have other options. If they say no, then move on. You booked and paid for a room that you could afford at the time. They do not 'owe' you anything. Yes, it would be nice, and I agree, totally worth asking, but if you ask in an expectation sort of tone, you will get nothing.

 

Your comment about leverage leaves a funny taste in my mouth too. The tone, in my opinion, is that NCL owes you something ..... I'm not a pushover by any means, but please don't have the attitude that NCL cannot survive without you as a repeat customer.

 

Again, there is absolutely no harm in asking and if you do it properly, you may get what you are asking for. But if you cop an attitude, forget it.

 

Good luck and let us know what happens.

[Cruzin2paradise09]

Hi ~ My concern was that new cruisers may decide to not book with a TA because of Howard's bad experience. Sorry if I sounded harsh, I guess I feel protective of TA's because I really like mine. I do agree that the first quote I misunderstood him to mean his TA wouldn't talk to him, not NCL.

 

Either way, I can understand his frustration, and hope his refund comes soon.:)

 

Now I gotta go and watch my Chief's lose... again. :D

 

There are definitely TAs who work for and with you and others, well, they are just plain ick. I have a good one (thank goodness). And I agree with you in that just because 'you' have a bad one doesn't mean they are all terrible.

 

As for the Chiefs, well ...... maybe we can get all the bad TAs and have them play instead and maybe we could win? haha

[iheartbda]

YEP!

 

I was agreeing with you....and that's a good thing! HAHA! :D

 

Never mind.:o:o:o

Good grief!!! Talk about not reading things the same way.:D

[fin]

This issue (of price reductions to move inventory) seems to be mentioned around this board at least once a week or so., which I don't have a problem with. Hey...that's what his board is here for, right? To ask cruise-related questions?

 

What I REALLY am curious about, though, is why all these people keep checking the price of their own cruise AFTER they've paid for it already??

The price must have been good enough for them to book in the first place, no?

 

I honestly don't understand this phenomenon. :confused:

 

I mean, seriously...summer clothing goes on sale in Fall for a reason.

 

I made the identical point over in the thread about how unfair the latitudes rewards are. If you spend all your time worrying about what OTHER people paid, you will go absolutely nuts on an airplane where often no two people in 14 seats paid the same price for an identical ride. If you buy a new car and your neighbor gets one for less money, do you go running to the car dealer for money back?

[newmexicoNita]

Contacted my TA at the begining of the Promo. She said she called NCL and they told her it was for new bookings only.(made final payment 1 week early) This is my first ever cruise and from what I have been reading here on CC I knda have to believe.....she didn't push the issue...if in fact she even called NCL. No complaints, no problems. I knew what I was going to have to pay from the get-go and that is that. If'n there is a NEXT cruise....I'll take all the info you seasoned cruisers have provided me and go from there. Thanks again.

Well I don't want to go into detail now or call your TA a story teller, but that has not been my experience. I will leave it there.....

 

Nita

[moses10]

I to have paid my balance on my cruise. Then the price went down. I called my travel agent and he called NCL and I got a very good upgrade. It does pay to get a good agent I have had this Travel Agent of many years and have never had a problem He called NCL and I printed off my new Doc. with my new cabin number with in 10 minutes.If you have a refund coming from NCl it may take a few months. I had a piece of lugged damanged andhad insurance and they replaced it, also thier new transfer program didn't work for me on a crusie and they sent me a refund. I have used NCl for many years and find them to be an honest andr relieable cruise line.

[wkelly5688]

Call your TA if you booked with one. Be nice, kind and respectful. Ask if they would upgrade you or if you have other options. If they say no, then move on. You booked and paid for a room that you could afford at the time. They do not 'owe' you anything. Yes, it would be nice, and I agree, totally worth asking, but if you ask in an expectation sort of tone, you will get nothing.

 

Your comment about leverage leaves a funny taste in my mouth too. The tone, in my opinion, is that NCL owes you something ..... I'm not a pushover by any means, but please don't have the attitude that NCL cannot survive without you as a repeat customer.

 

Again, there is absolutely no harm in asking and if you do it properly, you may get what you are asking for. But if you cop an attitude, forget it.

 

Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

Sorry about the funny taste in your mouth. I was only asking a question as a first time newbie and seeking advice from the seasoned veterans on the board. I will call and ASK for an adjustment since that is all I can do. If I don't get one, it will not ruin my cruise but it if I do get one, it would show me that NCL cares about customers and will do some things to help keep one. Seems to me it would be good business, assuming there are upgrade rooms available, to offer SOMETHING when a customer they worked so hard to get expresses a reasonable concern. The $400 is not going to make NCL profitable and it certainly is not going to bankrupt me. Maybe I came across with the wrong "tone" in my earlier email. If so, I apologize. Again, my intent was only to find out what, if any, adjustments NCL or other cruise lines may have made in the past. I think I got a good deal when I originally booked or I wouldn't have booked it, but an upgrade or OBC would certainly sweeten the deal and improve the odds that I would cruise NCL in the future. Thanks for your response.

Bill

[Suni99]

Bill I found nothing wrong with your question, I would expect NCL to refund the difference also. Most buisnesses do this nowadays, price match or adjust within so many days of the sale or whatever. I also have my final payment date very close and I am poundering wether to cancel and then rebook. All the research I have done shows that the price goes down significantly after the final payment date. I do not care about an upgrade, I have a balcony which is good enough for me, but I will say that after I make final payment and I found out the prices drops a few hundred pp, I would not be thrilled. I have read that RCL adjusts their prices for all guests right up until the sailing date, but NCL does not, I am hoping they will change this in the future.good luck to you, I will still debate as to what I should do.:)

[newmexicoNita]

I made the identical point over in the thread about how unfair the latitudes rewards are. If you spend all your time worrying about what OTHER people paid, you will go absolutely nuts on an airplane where often no two people in 14 seats paid the same price for an identical ride. If you buy a new car and your neighbor gets one for less money, do you go running to the car dealer for money back?

or if you order your car, it arrives on Sat and Sun they offer a huge rebate? You may ask for it but chances are you will not get it..

I certainly do not like the policy as I have been saying, but they are not going to change thier policies..

 

Nita

[newmexicoNita]

I to have paid my balance on my cruise. Then the price went down. I called my travel agent and he called NCL and I got a very good upgrade. It does pay to get a good agent I have had this Travel Agent of many years and have never had a problem He called NCL and I printed off my new Doc. with my new cabin number with in 10 minutes.If you have a refund coming from NCl it may take a few months. I had a piece of lugged damanged andhad insurance and they replaced it, also thier new transfer program didn't work for me on a crusie and they sent me a refund. I have used NCl for many years and find them to be an honest andr relieable cruise line.

upgrades are one thing, yes, NCL offers very good upgrades, but the OP wants a refund or OBC, this is something NCL will rarely due after final payment date. It is a different thing if final payment date has not arrived but after that day, absulutely nothing much will be done..

 

By the way, I have no problem with clients that ask and hope for something, my problem is with agents that will not take the time to make a simple phone call or two..I agree, one of the worst things clients can do is watch prices after final payment, only because it can create an atmosphere that will influence their cruise experience. But, with that, I know we are all human.

 

Nta

[coilover88]

A few days after we made final payment for our Dec cruise NCL started their big sale. It had no effect on our suite price. I don't know if that was due to the unique market/NCLA or the fact we were in a suite. The sale did offer a much more generous OBC than we got when we booked. Due to people on the now nearly infamous thread regarding that sale, I called our TA to see what if anything could be done. She spent an hour and a half on the phone with NCL. (She rocks!) As stated in the T&C's of the offer, the sale was for NEW bookings only. We expected to get nothing and our expectations were met! Even though others posted that they got upgrades, OBC increases after final payment, we weren't upset because we knew the rules. The problem arose when NCL had "issues" or glitches as they put it, with some PCC/sales personnel giving better deals than allowed by the terms.

Sorry for the long post but my point is this----Like the man said about the car purchase, that's life! We still follow the pricing on our cruise but only to see the trends. It makes us better informed for the future.

Find a cruise you like, pay for it, then go cruisein'!!!!

[newmexicoNita]

A few days after we made final payment for our Dec cruise NCL started their big sale. It had no effect on our suite price. I don't know if that was due to the unique market/NCLA or the fact we were in a suite. The sale did offer a much more generous OBC than we got when we booked. Due to people on the now nearly infamous thread regarding that sale, I called our TA to see what if anything could be done. She spent an hour and a half on the phone with NCL. (She rocks!) As stated in the T&C's of the offer, the sale was for NEW bookings only. We expected to get nothing and our expectations were met! Even though others posted that they got upgrades, OBC increases after final payment, we weren't upset because we knew the rules. The problem arose when NCL had "issues" or glitches as they put it, with some PCC/sales personnel giving better deals than allowed by the terms.

Sorry for the long post but my point is this----Like the man said about the car purchase, that's life! We still follow the pricing on our cruise but only to see the trends. It makes us better informed for the future.

Find a cruise you like, pay for it, then go cruisein'!!!!

just to clarify this, it was not for new bookings only, yes, many were given OBC credits.

 

Nita

[coilover88]

just to clarify this, it was not for new bookings only, yes, many were given OBC credits.

 

Nita

 

And I thought that can of worms was closed! lol I thought the terms and conditions said new bookings only. I read , enjoy, and trust your posts so my inclination is to ask for an explanation. However I am just now getting over the migrane from that particular thread and don't even care to revisit it!

 

Grant

[newmexicoNita]

And I thought that can of worms was closed! lol I thought the terms and conditions said new bookings only. I read , enjoy, and trust your posts so my inclination is to ask for an explanation. However I am just now getting over the migrane from that particular thread and don't even care to revisit it!

 

Grant

 

you know Grant, like so many others, I think people coming on these threads with their stories of what a great deal they got is a mixed bag. It is good for others to know there may be options out there, but it does open a can of worms.

 

No, the particular promo, this time, which was run part of last month did not apply to new bookings, most promos do..but after final payment date all bets are off. I certainly see both sides of this. I see clients wanting the better deal but I also understand it works like airlines etc. As someone mentioned on one of these threads earlier, you can ask 10 people on the airplane how much they paid and get 10 answers. This is true with cruising as well, there will always be those who saved a bunch, those who paid top $$ and most of those inbetween. Now, for me, the can of worms is closed..LOL

 

Nita

[Wilcoam]

Nita I'm going to take your thoughts one step further

 

There's alot of people on the NCL thread whom get so excited when there's a price drop before final payment so much so that we all end

up checking to see if our(s) also dropped

 

Usually it hasn't because The majority of these excited people booked DIRECT with NCL (IMO overpaying in the first place) - so in reality

there are just getting back some of the funds we all got in the first

place by using a TA

 

Still because they are so excited - sometimes we're miffed - though

we forget how much we saved in the first place by not going direct

 

Ditto sometimes also on OBC specials and Fuel surcharge(s) drops

 

For example my upcoming family X-Mas cruise on the POA my mother in law's inside cabin has dropped - It's after payment - I know we can't get

a OBC or a refund - but potentially could get an upgrade - The inside cabin is right across our suite so why we we want to upgrade her? Point being sometimes knowing all this stuff can be a detriment - we're booked

we're fully paid - we have the cabins we wanted in the first place - why

get all worked up over all these excited posts?

 

Another example we didn't get a $550 OBC on this cruise as we already made final payment - I'm still a little miffed here - I do feel penalized for booking early - but then again - by going through a TA I already got as huge discount - In reality how much over and above the original discount do I really need? I just would have spent it in extra spa treatments anyway

 

Food for thought...

 

Jc

toronto

[Suni99]

Nita I'm going to take your thoughts one step further

 

There's alot of people on the NCL thread whom get so excited when there's a price drop before final payment so much so that we all end

up checking to see if our(s) also dropped

 

Usually it hasn't because The majority of these excited people booked DIRECT with NCL (IMO overpaying in the first place) - so in reality

there are just getting back some of the funds we all got in the first

place by using a TA

 

Still because they are so excited - sometimes we're miffed - though

we forget how much we saved in the first place by not going direct

 

Ditto sometimes also on OBC specials and Fuel surcharge(s) drops

 

For example my upcoming family X-Mas cruise on the POA my mother in law's inside cabin has dropped - It's after payment - I know we can't get

a OBC or a refund - but potentially could get an upgrade - The inside cabin is right across our suite so why we we want to upgrade her? Point being sometimes knowing all this stuff can be a detriment - we're booked

we're fully paid - we have the cabins we wanted in the first place - why

get all worked up over all these excited posts?

 

Another example we didn't get a $550 OBC on this cruise as we already made final payment - I'm still a little miffed here - I do feel penalized for booking early - but then again - by going through a TA I already got as huge discount - In reality how much over and above the original discount do I really need? I just would have spent it in extra spa treatments anyway

 

Food for thought...

 

Jc

toronto

 

:confused: I have done alot of research, hours and hours, I have talked to several TA's online, on the phone, in person. Have gotten several price quotes for cruises with all of them and then through the cruise lines themselves. I must be missing something bc I am not sure where ppl are seeing the TA's giving huge discounted fares like this poster. I just dont get it after all the searching you might get a difference within 100$ with credits etc. but again I have not found anything substantial

WHATS CONSIDERED TO BE A HUGE DISCOUNT?

CONFUSED

[blackerbys17]

:confused: I have done alot of research, hours and hours, I have talked to several TA's online, on the phone, in person. Have gotten several price quotes for cruises with all of them and then through the cruise lines themselves. I must be missing something bc I am not sure where ppl are seeing the TA's giving huge discounted fares like this poster. I just dont get it after all the searching you might get a difference within 100$ with credits etc. but again I have not found anything substantial

WHATS CONSIDERED TO BE A HUGE DISCOUNT?

CONFUSED

 

I totally agree. No huge discounts out there. At most, $100 in OBC or other benefit of similar value. However, then you can't call NCL directly about your cruise. I prefer to deal with NCL direct because even after final payment, they ALWAYS give me something off if teh cruise fare goes down, wether it is OBC or an upgrade. Besides, my PCC is an absolute angel!

[alexandria]

On the Dec 15 NCL Sky sailing, the lowest quote I got from a TA was almost $100 more than booking with NCL directly. Not sure why but even though I asked for the Prior Guest/Latitudes rate in my quote requests, the TA quotes did not reflect the Latitudes discount that NCL had for that sailing.

 

The TA quotes were generally about 4-5% less than the NCL rates without the Latitudes discounts. I just booked with NCL direct since it was the lowest rate and I wasn't confident that a TA would be able to resolve any issues or provide a higher level of service considering each of them had some problem with getting the Latitudes rate from NCL.

[Carol1560]

I was like every one else on here who was upset about price drop after final payment. So I called NCL and called and called and called.

I called my TA and called and called.

Finally I decided to write a letter to my TA and let her know my concerns about this. I mean after all, if I bought a dress and never wore it and was planning to and it went on sale, I would take it back and get my money back.

Simple huh?

 

Not with cruise lines, but anyways long story short, my TA was able to get me a FREE upgrade, 5 floors up same type of room

 

I am happy :)

 

My advice DONT GIVE up!!

My cruise leaves on Nov 30 and today is the 10th

[*Wink*]

I was like every one else on here who was upset about price drop after final payment. So I called NCL and called and called and called.

I called my TA and called and called.

Finally I decided to write a letter to my TA and let her know my concerns about this. I mean after all, if I bought a dress and never wore it and was planning to and it went on sale, I would take it back and get my money back.

Simple huh?

 

Not with cruise lines, but anyways long story short, my TA was able to get me a FREE upgrade, 5 floors up same type of room

 

I am happy :)

 

My advice DONT GIVE up!!

My cruise leaves on Nov 30 and today is the 10th

Upgrades are pretty common after final payment has been made.

 

Many department stores have a 30-90 day return policy in place. After the 90 days, guess what happens... dress goes on sale and you're back to having to enjoy the price you originally paid.

 

Glad you got an upgrade. Enjoy your cruise.