NCL Air program full of problems

[Disgruntled consumer]

Sounds like a good deal if the cruise line can book your air travel and align it with your cruise. Be aware! When we traveled with Princess to Alaska, the air booking was great - convenient, reputable carrier, direct to our smaller airport. NCL doesn’t have the same quality or customer service clearly. They sent us air confirmation that contained information for two separate flights for the same cruise. Unfortunately it wasn’t a choice to choose the best option. It was a system glitch and we were told that the flight that didn’t work for us was the only one offered. I asked about canceling the air with NCL and was told that because I was less than 110 days from my cruise, I couldn’t cancel without penalty. They only sent the air confirmation at 94 days before my cruise, I wonder why! If I canceled I would lose at least 20% of what I prepaid for air. Be aware that you are at the mercy of the airline and the side deals they make for cheap air travel. You are likely to fly on cheap-o airlines at times that regular passengers wouldn’t choose. If that doesn’t matter to you, then the cheaper airfare thru NCL is probably worth it for you. Otherwise, NCL has gone from a sought after reasonably priced cruise line to the bottom of customer satisfaction ratings on multiple scales. My summer cruise (and flights) are already booked but I’m really not likely to cruise with NCL again. Not worth it!

[Cruising Caribbean]

@Disgruntled consumer I have heard this on several occasions! It seems so scam like. The timing is usually very calculated with NCL. If I were to cruise with NCL, I would not recommend booking my airfare through the line. I likely will not be cruising with NCL due to the issues I see other guests having such as constant changes in itineraries and things like you mentioned. What ships/itineraries will you be cruising this summer? I will be very interested to see if the line is able to follow through with its advertised itineraries. I wish it wasn't the case but the line seems to lack consistency across the board. I'm sad you had this experience, and I hope your upcoming NCL itineraries aren't the same.

[PattyO]

We have used NCL air for our last 5 cruises, and have not had any issues with the flight schedules.  And we will continue to use them since the savings are so great.

 

Edited July 9 by PattyO
misspelling

[Cruising Caribbean]

@PattyO I'm glad to read you have had such good NCL air experiences. I'm used to reading the negative comments and whenever something goes wrong. The biggest issue with the program seems to be the disconnect between the airline and the cruise lines. The cruise lines don't have jurisdiction over the airlines and don't have the power to protect your airfare ticket like the actual cruise line can do. Where do you typically fly to/from? Can you choose your airline or does NCL choose for you? 

[CharlestonMichael]

We love cruising... Diamonds with NCL and occasionally with others.  Normally I do not make the same mistake three times... but...

When you purchase "highly discounted" tickets that NCL air reservations buys in bulk... be advised there are zero resolutions when you have a problem. We are in the middle of our third flight debacle with NCL Flight reservations.

The problem is that the agreement between NCL and the air carriers is NCL has no path to change your flight once it is the hands of a carrier.

1. Booked NCL from Reykjavik to Europe... The night before the flight, Delta sent us a change that would put us in port AFTER the ship left... Delta said they could not fix... NCL said they could not fix... cost us $2,700 to book one-way last minute on a different carrier.  Our travel insurance said "... is out of our policy... carrier's fault"... what a waste of money that turned out to be.

2. NCL/Delta late flight to Frankfurt... we ran to the connecting flight and arrived prior to the door closing, but they had already given our seats away.  Delta's partner offered no resolution other than a flight the next day .. again creating significant negative downstream travel consequences.

3. Now we have a NCL/Air Canada return flight from Athens where Air Canada has changed equipment but the new flight is oversold and the upgraded seats we reserved on Air Canada months ago, are not available... Air Canada says "call NCL". NCL Flight reservations says "..sorry, it is out of our hands.." after multiple calls we are unable to gain any resolution.

As a very frequent business traveler I am accustomed to travel problems that cannot be remediated, but this one could be simple if NCL did not lock into a completely unsatisfactory agreement with the air carriers.

Most of the NCL Flight arrangements have worked fine, but after three major problems on expensive trips with flights that had been booked by NCL months in advance I simply suggest it is like rolling dice... buyer beware.

Regards,

CharlestonMichael

[Cruising Caribbean]

@CharlestonMichael Thanks for sharing your experience! This sort of situation is what I typically when booking with the NCL fly program. There really is not a way to fully resolve any issues after the fact. I really think there is an issue of not being able to work with the airline directly. Since you aren't booking with the airline directly,  you can't resolve any issues with the airline directly. I have read many accounts of guests not being able to get on flights or even on the cruise ship due to unresolved flight errors. I agree that it seems like a gamble. It could workout like for @PattyO, but it also could be havoc. 

[thorpemarlene]

I use NCL quite often but never have used their flight offer until we cruised from Boston to Quebec City in Sept. of 2024. We flew Orlando to Boston on Jet Blue, back from Quebec on United. No problems.  The problem i have is that the airfare went down about 3 months before the cruise by 190.00. Then shortly after the cruise went down in price by quite a bit since our original booking. When i called about the cruise being lower they said since i already received a credit on the air they couldn't do that on the cruise.  What has one to do with the other ?? When i saw the air price which i originally paid 444.00 for (which i thought was a good price for 2) NCL paid 19.00 for the Orlando to Boston and 119.00 Quebec to Orlando. They credit me 190.00 on this which means they profited 196.00 on the air and more on the cruise since they refused to discount that price.  Never again.  I may cruise them again, but never the air. 

[Cruising Caribbean]

@thorpemarlene It's pretty interesting the flight prices changed that much. I wonder if the pricing reflects the current market's airline prices. For instance sometimes booking airfare closer to the fly out date can actually be cheaper than super far in advanced. It really depends on the time of year you are traveling too! It's a shame NCL refused to refund you the difference. I don't like that the line wasn't willing to credit the difference back to you. NCL is a good cruise line, but based on reviews like your I don't think investing in NCL air program is worth the gamble. Other than the pricing issues, did you experience any other technical problems?