julig22

Just scored a sweet upgrade deal, for anyone who is debating the value of the CC upgrades. Cost to upgrade from my OV to balcony would be a little over $3K on my upcoming cruise. Minimum bid to upgrade would have been $80 x 2 ($160 total) and no guarantee for any upgrade, let alone at a minimum bid. So I used my $300 in points value and my balcony was just assigned - I'm not picky so just did the online redemption, took less than 24 hours for new cabin assignment. Cruise is still 2 months away, so of course prices could go down some but very doubtful that a paid upgrade would be less than $300. And while I've had good luck with bids in the past, don't really want to chance it. I'm happy.

I've won my bid after lowering it, don't think it really matters when you bid although there is some speculation that bids are date-stamped. But the bid amount could make a difference. In my case the ship was way undersold (just after startup) so figured I'd probably get my upgrade regardless of the bid amount, and I was correct. Sealed your fate? - depends entirely on the where your bid fits into the algorithm. Did you lower your chances - maybe, simply because others may outbid you at this point. If the ship is undersold and there are upgrades available for everyone then bid amount probably doesn't matter much.

As far as I know, it's still balcony and above, even though the banner may say any cabin. Rumor has it that there is a triple-up promo coming (balcony and above) starting tomorrow (6/20)

I like NCL but NEVER believe what the call-center rep says about ship specifics. Unless they have actually sailed they probably don't know. Either stating a general policy or simply making up answers. Last time I disembarked in London, the posted Self-Assist time started at 5:45 am. First NCL airport shuttle was 6:15 to LGW, 6:30 to LHR. Priority tags 7am. I think it took us about an hour to get to LHR but it was a Sunday morning, no traffic. So you are definitely cutting it close, even if everything is on schedule.

NCL will book whatever airline has flights that meet their needs. As to timing, as well as airline, well that would kinda depend on where you are going.

One advantage of using CruiseNext for deposits. You get a discounted deposit and it's returned to your account almost immediately. The discount more than makes up for any loss of interest because you buy them in advance. As for the 7-10 days for it to show up, that's on your bank, not NCL.

Not sure what you are trying to say. The certificate has no bearing on the price you are paying, it is simply like using a gift card to pay toward your trip. There isn't really a second person discount when they advertise a 2nd person free. Sometimes they advertise a 35% discount, sometimes it's 70% off the second person. It's the same deal. If you have 2 people going and there is no single supplement, then getting 2 rooms would be cheaper by the amount of the coupon. Othwise sharing a room is usually cheaper, even if you can only apply 1 coupon.

I would always send them separately. Even then you could have trouble. I had 2 different cruises to Mexico last year and I had to send the request 3 times before they noticed that the cruises were different.

Good question, hoping to hear from people who have done this - or at least tried. I'm not sure it's possible. As to deciding the 2nd person, that shouldn't be an issue. They would (could) do what they do with solo travelers, just charge 1/2 the rate for each person, based on the gateway. I'm looking at something similar, current thought is to meet at a central location - hopefully one that would potentially end up with a non-stop to the final destination.

They do but it's something like 7 years

It is per reservation, doesn't matter how many people are on the reservation. The 2nd or 3rd person cannot use another certificate. It does not mean one per person on the reservation.

You have no choice in the matter - you get the route NCL chooses. And if it happens to be via St. Louis or Dallas or Toronto or Germany, that's what you get. NCL makes deals with the airlines, non-stop may not be available in your situation. For example, if they have negotiated 10 tickets from JFK to Rome on a non-stop and have 10 people where JFK-Rome would be the last leg, those 10 people get the NS, you get something else. But if they do have an available seat, they will certainly assign it to you. My first NCL trip to Rome was NS from Toronto, but first to Denver, then to Toronto. Quite a few passengers were coming from Toronto and they did NOT get a NS flight.

It can be - I had a non-stop from Rome to JFK, but that wasn't my final destination, so my reservation would have taken priority since it still takes another 2 legs for me to get home to the west coast. Another time I had a layover in Munich. They will use any airline that has available flights.

I usually go the OV to balcony route as the price difference between inside and OV is often pretty low compared to the significant difference between OV and balcony. That way I get upgraded on 2 cruises.

I've never seen anything above 25K and it seems like it's been awhile since it was over 20K. But I also have to admit it's not something I pay attention to, since I've had my card for several years.

No notice yet but it's gone from my account and the CN I used was returned. I happened to be on the phone with my PCC on another matter on Friday and she found the cancellation notice that had just been released. Assuming we're getting the same FCC deals.

Not that it helps overseas but I got Global Entry after getting a "legal" 90 minute layover at JFK, flying in from Italy. I'm too old to be running through the airport to get to the next gate!

20% fcc hasn't been issued yet but my pcc suggested I book my replacement cruise now since people will be scrambling to rebook to use it. No indication that it won't be able to be used on an existing reservation that complies with the terms. The do tend to limit coupons to 2, so hard to say how much you can apply at any time. I've also got fcc from a price drop to apply, waiting for everything to return to my account. CN was already returned which was helpful to have for rebooking my replacement cruise.

Not entirely true. The time frame for adding/deleting the air promo was recently changed to 110 days. Deviation requests are still 75 days.

I agree. But being forewarned about potential issues helps. It's amazing how many times I've been told something isn't possible and had to let the person know that it actually was possible, and if they didn't know how to do it, please get a supervisor. So getting responses from people with actual experience can be helpful IMHO. But one does have to weigh the information they get on CC- sometimes rules change so how things were 10 years ago- or even last year - isn't always relevant.

Because sadly there is a good chance that the rep will not know for certain and if they botch the upgrade/airfare it's hard to go back.

Following as I have a similar situation, although not past final payment yet. My state room price went down but airfare went up. According to my PCC, I'd lose the lower airfare, plus the onboard upgrade that I have if I make changes now. Not too worried about the loss of the upgrade because I'll probably be using CC points to upgrade anyway but would obviously like the lower fare. I don't think anything else changed on my reservation when I've done an upgrade after FP but then again it's been awhile and I don't think there was anything that would have been different anyway. I'm wondering if I can wait and then request FCC for the price drop right after final payment.

What about the look on the faces of those in the standby line as people with priority access go to the head of the line? Never done it, just heard that it is one of those latitudes perks that's kinda in the small print.

Mine just cancelled today - it was one of the holdouts but now it's gone along with the others. I booked something else to take advantage of the 20% fcc but trying to figure out if there would be any issues upgrading now and then applying the 20% fcc when it becomes available.

There is no such thing as a "free" tag. What you get as a latitudes member is a card that has 2 coupons for the meals. Unfortunately, by virtue of poor design, it appears that the bottom of the card is a coupon - it is not. It is merely the instructions on how to get your free laundry done. Which is to write your latitudes status on both the bag and the laundry slip. Nothing about attaching a coupon. As I recall, in a suite you get a letter that says what to write on the bag, again no coupon. I can't speak to how they keep track of how much laundry anyone submits. I did 2 bags on a 14 day trip and was not charged. According to the onboard CN staff, it is 1/week. Maybe I'll ask the next time I take a tour - then again maybe I don't want to know.