cruiser2015

It seems we are, almost, in agreement. Conceptually, anyway. The issue seems to be the word "refundable". It looks like you have your way of defining the word. Releasing a deposit back into a CF certificate is not a refund to me. I guess it is to you. Now, I'm done as well.

Well, this is what I read: "all payments, including CF, are refundable" So, no, you were not correct. You cannot get the money you pay for a CF back in your bank account. I totally stand by my comments as 100% accurate.

Fair enough. I've sailed on NCL, now and then, for over 20 years. I'd never heard about this program until I saw it mentioned in another thread shortly before I posted mine, and that was after I booked my January cruise and made final payment. I understand NCL had a discount program previously and restarted it this year. Since we had 2 cruises cancelled by covid (6/20 & 1/21), we have not been to sea and I rarely visited the CC boards until the last couple of months. Thanks for keeping the info updated on here, even though I missed it.

Of course I don't know what announcements were made - I WAS NOT THERE. I'm commenting based on the post bemoaning a lack of communication. I agree that an announcement in the middle of the night would be avoid, if possible. The OP did say it happened at night. As for your mention of a rogue wave, sure, a warning may not have been possible. That would not preclude a post event communication. In fact, there should have been one. Twisting my airplane analogy does not hold water (no pun intended). The captain's speech should include an explanation of what happened (e.g. rogue wave) and a sorry for the inconvenience, blah, blah... And, on a plane, the do do a post event recap, not simply a reminder to fasten belts. I've been through it - on the sea and in the air.

I'm the OP, and I started this thread on 9/28. So, if you commented about this months ago, it was on an older thread which I have not seen. Questions do get repeated, especially if a lot of time has passed.

That makes perfect sense. I don't recall what the relative prices were when I booked back in July, but I don't believe there was much if any savings to take the next one. Also, I rebooked a few weeks later when there was a $600 price drop on my Club Balcony. Perhaps that explains partially what I'm seeing today: Club Balcony is $400 more for your sailing; Balcony is the same price.

The CF can only be applied to cruises 4 months or more in the future. The certificate expires 3 years from date of issue.

Please be careful with your word usage. Refundable means to get your cash back - in your pocket. That is a NO for the CF. How about calling it reusable? Much more accurate. In fact, the NCL T&C specifies the buy as non-refundable.

You're a bit late with this response to my post of 2 weeks ago. The process to register was clarified in subsequent posts, which I guess you did not read before commenting.

As I recall, Cruise First payments are non-refundable. As to the OP's question on the CF, yes, any amount above the required deposit is considered an early payment of the balance due (unless, of course you are booking less than 120 days out). Also, the value of the CF, while non-refundable may be used on a different booking - meaning, you may cancel the original booking to which you applied the certificate and reapply to another reservation, as long as its within the rules as to dates.

Thanks, Bird. I'll keep my expectations dialed down. Pre-pandemic...is that a new vintage description? No doubt it's aged at least a day or two.

In my experience, if the ship encounters a situation such as rough seas, the captain makes an announcement about what is happening and what is expected from that point. That would be similar to the captain on an airliner informing passengers about turbulence.

Oh, was that you sailing on the 27th? Where are you starting from? Obviously, you have to change at BWI, at least for the return flight. A bit annoying I'm on Delta out of JFK. I only had enough points to cover the MIA flight. Then, just to add some pain, my DW pressured me to book first class for out flight to LAX. I chose the eastbound voyage in order to have the shorter flight for our return and land at JFK about 2:30 PM on the 27th. We're staying overnight on the 11th, about half way between LAX and the cruise terminal (free night on my Best Western points). Also hoping to meet cousins for dinner that evening. They live about 50 miles east of LA.

Ouch!

That's cool. I have friends who recently got a credit of $100 for a delay of a couple of hours. I had a flight from Austin to NY last year that was delayed several times, totaling at least 5 hours. We got zip.

I was wondering how a couple of these items are executed. A bottle of sparkling wine on embarkation. How is it provided? To the cabin? Is it available to use in a dining room? Treats delivered twice a week. That will be 4 times for my January cruise. Who decides what days? Are there options or is it a set plate or platter? I usually grab a couple of cookies and/or fruit from the buffet to take back to the cabin for snacks. Is this an upgrade to the more common stuff? Complimentary Laundry. Is it correct to assume that you can submit one bag anytime during the cruise?

Totally right. Especially if you have a preference for a specific airline or are fussy about the scheduling - more so if there are connecting flights needed. Booking on your own means you have much more control. I would only book the cruise line air if there were a generous savings. For my upcoming cruise, I needed flights from NYC to LA and Miami to NY. Now, I did have a cheat - I had enough miles to cover the MIA-NY leg. That's about 1/3 of the total air travel. Anyway, my combo here was a lot less than the NCL promo. Plus, I fly my preferred airline which also gets me free checked baggage ($120 savings for two).

Sales for cruise prices - do they not happen all the time? Or, price reductions, if you will. The thread started by asking about FAS + And there are convincing posts here that add-ons (FAS, shrorex) do not go on sale.

I couldn't resist throwing my two cents (plain) into this pot. While no one (who has posted here) knows why the fee structure is done differently for UK vs. US passengers, or exactly how the funds are utilized, at least for the UK passengers (due to the different description of the charge), logically I see this: On the same ship, related to the same FAS package, it seems likely that all of the funds, regardless of country of origin, are distributed the same way. Of course, this is pure speculation, but most things have a reason and flow to them. For fees paid by two passengers, sitting next to each other in a ship's bar, to have fees applied differently, to "stiif" that bartender on one vs. the other is totally obtuse. Just sayin'.

Not so much. 🙄

I didn't say in my previous post why I made the suggestions about calling. When I first asked my TA to contact NCL (as instructed by an NCL agent), my TA called them with me on hold. She came back and told me that NCL refused the credit as we were past the final payment date. So, I called NCL again, told the agent what transpired and was informed that the standard policy was to use the 120 day cutoff, but exceptions have already been made and that as my cruise date was still far off (over 100 days) enough that I would get my credit as long as the TA called. When I asked how to prevent the last cycle of calls from repeating, she said to tell my TA to ask for a supervisor. I do not know what that conversation was like (again with me on hold), but 10 minutes later I had my $591 credit. That's why I recommended fighting on. Good luck.

Congrats to you IA!!

As I recall, that is the rate at which the average person metabolizes an once of alcohol. More power to you for your ability. I just hope that your liver agrees.

I think they are saying that, strictly speaking, use of this device meets the NCL guidelines. Therefore, not stealing. But, the fact that the user is able to leverage something in their favor, is a karmic payback of sorts, against the exhorbitent rates for, in may cases, very poor service.

To each his (or her) own. That just gets you drunk twice as fast. But I'm going to guess that your metabolism is a beast on alcohol.