Cmdr Cody

I called NCL today, because i was interested in taking a fall 2017 transatlantic cruise. My wife and I have done several TA's but normally from US to europe. We've been interested in coming from europe to the US since you gain an hour a day instead of lose and hour a day.

Well after looking at prices, I found the following.

For the Jade 2016 14 day TA the only haven suite availble is the GARDEN Villa this fall (2016) it is 11999 per person or $24,268 for two.

For the 2017 Breakaway 14 day TA in the DELUXE OWNERS suite (top cabin on board) it is 7449 per person or $15,215 for a couple, pricey but not bad for the Haven.

For the 2017 Star 15day TA in the DOS that we normally book it is 13999 per person for the or $28,275 for two people. The GV for 2 is listed as $50,275 for two people.

So I call NCL and talk to a PCC, and ask if this pricing is correct. Dopey says it is. So in a DOS that is noramlly priced at about 4000-5000 for a TA NCL is charging 2 1/2 times as much as I would spend on Seabourn Odyssey at the same time.

NCL owns two lines that are more premium than the NCL line. Due to that I would never expect them to move up to premium. They make money filling all cabins. They do make more off me and the other Haven/Suites cruisers per person. For some people it's not worth the extra cost, but for me and the wife we earned it and can afford to do it, so it's our choice.

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Leave for Port Canaveral in two days, sail in 5[emoji41][emoji79][emoji879][emoji1015][emoji1016]⚓️[emoji924]

I see you chose to ignore the April to April comparison in my post. But still...

 

Norwegian Getaway, 7 Day Caribbean / Miami:

 

Nov 2016: Balcony, from $879

Apr 2017: Balcony, from $1149

 

Jewel, 7 Day Mex Riv:

 

Nov 2016: Balcony, from $989

Apr 2017: Balcony, from $1189

 

I'd say April and November are comparable enough for the purposes of this discussion.

April (spring break time) is NOT price comparable to November excluding thanksgiving.

April has tons of families who can cruise, so the price is high. November kids are in school, harder to fill a cruise price is lower.

April (except for tran Atlantic cruises) is more expensive than May cruise. I know because my anniversary is May 1 and we cruise most years for it. The months that compare to May are, November, December and January for prices, and those months are EXTREMELY high for the holiday sailing weeks.

As for UBP, I can care less for it, because we don't drink much. I always book suites so it's been free, but I would never purchase it separately.

Yes she can go with you. Just to be clear though, Gold does not go to the head of the line, that is reserved for suites and Haven. Gold can go at any time by getting in line without regard to numbers. Normally there will be a ticket of some kind in your room, if not, show your room card if challenged. Reality is, if you want to get off very early, go get in line early.

This is true, Suites have priority before latitudes. It's nice that we are platinum and also always book a suite.

The online agent sent a deceptive email with this:

 

"NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE

BIG NEWS!!!

As of May the Free Beverage Package will no longer be offered as a free perk. Get yours now!"

 

To me they make it appear that they have information that it is going away.

Or they're pushing for sales. There have been many "book you cruise now now before this goes away" posts, for every thing from kids/family free etc. Then the day after the same or slightly changed offer is there for the "NEW" sale that starts.

Do they only assign boarding times on the larger ships? Im looking at my Edocs and do not see any specific boarding time. All I see is that boarding begins at 12pm.

If you are in the Haven or have a Suite, you check in when you get there, due to priority boarding.

14 [emoji879][emoji1016][emoji1015][emoji41][emoji924][emoji322][emoji568]

One reason if one wants to spend their time in an adult-only area. Haven is not one.

There are normally very few kids in the Haven this time of year (after Easter)

What ship is she sailing on?

 

 

The Beach club is called Vibe. Its very hard to get unless your in Haven then you just have to request it, if not she will have to be one of the first to board and even then its a maybe at best.

 

The Spa suites also include access to the Thermal spa area and that varies by ship.

 

Haven on the newer ships Epic, Breakaway, Getaway, Escape has its own restaurant for all 3 meals. On Older ships you can dine in Cagney's for Breakfast and Lunch.

 

The Haven also has its own lounge, pool, spa's and sundecks again depend on ship. The new ships have it all.

 

Royal is playing catch up to NCL's suite game IMO.

No reason to pay for Vibe, unless you have friends in it. Have Haven sun deck right alongside Vibe and it's free.

Hi Everyone! I usually sail Royal Caribbean, and I'm not familiar with Norwegian. A friend of mine is sailing Norwegian and considering an upgrade to a Haven Spa Suite from their currently booked balcony for $1500.

 

Do you think it's worth it? What are the perks? They were already considering purchasing the access to the beach club.

 

Thank you in advance - I know I could search and dig for this info, but appreciate your responses to help my friend out.

 

Thanks!

Joanna

The room is better. The Spa Suite has some perks. Why pay for the beach club when you have the Haven which is much better.

I'm staying in an OS next month and I called the concierge last night.

 

• In the OS I got to pick 3 bottles of liquor, mixers, and soda
  
• We also had choice of tea and coffee
  
• My wife is a towel hog, so we requested extra towels
  
• Special pillow requests
  
• An additional lounger on the balcony (the room only comes with one normally)
  

 

I think that's everything we asked for.

We stay in DOS or OS most the time. We unfortunately have found Miami pre-cruise concierge communication with the ship is less than sucessfull, EVERY TIME we used them. They may be better now, but we find it easier to talk to the concierge at the ship check in and ensure we get what we ordered.

18 days until our Spirit Trans-Atlantic.:cool:

The UBP goes for the adults in the cabin. The children (non adults) get soda card. They are less than 18 so can't order alcoholic drinks but can get soda. ArE you saying you want them to get virgin drinks? If you don't drink alcohol you can get virgin drinks. If the UDP was for everyone in the cabin, your husband will need to drink about eight to twelve drinks a day to make this work out as a better deal the the UDP. Because if you ate at a specialty restaurant each night it can be $20-30 a person and at ten a drink it's hard to make them equal if only one drinks.

If you're in a suite, and it may only be owners suites and above, you get a letter telling you how to contact the pre cruise concierge. We have and ordered everything we wanted only to find they never sent it to the ship, and we had to have the butler and concierge fix it, three cruises, two different ships, three different concierges. Two different deluxe owners suites (one of them twice). My opinion of the Miami operations group is they should be let go, they do little besides accepting your payments.

too little to late! All cabanas are booked for the cruise that leaves on sat- what are the chances that people change their mind and some open up? how easy (or hard) is it to get the clamshell chairs?

 

thanks

if you are in suite or the Haven, the Concierge may have some reserved. if any they reserved don't get booked, they may be available the night before or early morning of GSC. you needed to book as soon as bookimg open up though. Good Luck

Butler

 

will help you unpack if you want too, clean your shoes, if you want arrange with the concierge your dinning arrangements in the specialist restaurants UDP.... BUTLER will deliver food to your room and even set up the dinning table.

 

Suite perks free room service, reserved area in thearter,coffee machine, up market toiletres One bottle of water and we recieved a bottle of wine as well. tv with dvd.

 

Breakfast and Lunch in a resereved area or restaurant or served in your room by the butler.,VIP party with officers, priority boarding, tenders and disembarkation.

 

 

 

concierge

 

Will sort out problems, arrange dinning, airport/ airline bookings, shore excursions, disembarkation etc

 

 

 

UBP

 

for first 2 in cabin, all drinks up to $11 but not water or from the mini bar or via room service. just ask for the fridge to be emptied and brink drinks back from the bars.

 

UDP

 

SPECIALIST dinning, ask conceirge to arrange times as she can usually get you in if shown as full.

 

$75 dollar shore excursion allowance use it or lose it, cannot be used against your onboard spend. i think it is only for one trip not daily the whole cruise (uk site)

 

 

 

enjoy the extras you will want a suite every time after this.

 

 

 

have a gret cruise j

 

PS

 

The 18% there is confusion about this but on our last cruise the 18% was covered by the free package.

 

Bars showed the total price plus 18% but never appeared on the final bill, the dinning again showed the total but zeroed on final bill.

Our package the $75 was for EACH port call, it's a great deal if your going to a lot of ports, on a TA which is just a few ports, it's not real great.

Butler unpacking, never done it, but I know they will, I think if you demand this they deserve a larger tip.

Concierge, they make or break your cruise if there are any problems. On Breakaway, there were problems, but Anoop and his staff took care of them unlike how it would have been in a normal cabin, I wouldn't do a Mega ship (Epic and newer) outside the Haven, the ships are too crowded.

The only ships with the dinner shows are the mega ships Epic and later. The Jewel and other older ships do not have dinner shows, unless you consider murder mystery lunch or chefs table dinner, but you pay for those.

We are in the same situation (a good one!) as you and were also wondering how the platinum Le Bistro perk works with the UDP. Has anyone been able to give the voucher to another passenger? Lastly, searching for the link that shows suites do not have to pay gratuities for UDP/UBP for the current promotion. Thanks

The vouchers have your name and cabin/suite number on them. So I don't think they will accept it from someone else.

Last year in a Breakaway 2 Br Family Villa, we had booked it in December for Sept 28. So we booked before the promo hit. Our PCC called and all in suite (my wife, me, my son and his fiancé) all got UBP. My son and his fiancé paid $99 each for UDP. Our Platinum dinner for two at LeBistro made good bookmarks since there was no need to use them. Our platinum laundry certificates were used.

Think of it this way. 2 people in the suite. 7 days. $2.00 x 7 = $14.00 per person. $28.00 total extra for the Butler and the Concierge? So, they'd, what, split that each getting a $14.00 tip each if there are 2 people in the suite for 7 days? Does that really sound right to you?

 

 

 

My understanding is that the extra $2.00 pp is due to the fact that the suite is bigger, takes more time to clean it, remove dishes, etc. etc. etc.

 

 

 

Yet, NCL's website clearly states that they are not included in the service charge.

 

 

 

In regard to you mentioning the HD....I did ask on my last cruise which was on the Gem last week......and that's why I believe I'm correct - in addition to what NCL website says. I also asked the Butler and Concierge - both confirmed my understanding as well.

 

 

 

Harriet

Harriet, the suite being bigger is covered by paying two to five times as much for the suite. Two people in a Deluxe Owners Suite probably make much less a mess that four people in an inside cabin.

Two dollars per day is chicken feed I earn that in less than thirty seconds. So I don't mind paying.

I believe every place we ate at on Breakaway have vegetarian meals available. But we only did LeBistro, Cagneys, La Cucina, Haven and Teppenyaki during the cruise, twice at Cagneys and LeBistro.

I'm not going to even attempt to comment on the rest of your post as I don't know where you get some of your information. Who told you the cabin stewards get $3.00 per day? What about all the other people who work to make your cruise enjoyable? Opps, I said I wasn't going to comment on that.

 

 

 

More importantly, who told you that the $14.95 includes the Butler? Whomever said that was is DEAD WRONG.

 

 

 

Just saying........

 

 

 

Harriet

Actually my PCC said the butler and Concierge get the extra $2.00 we suite people pay. It's funny because as a person who has never sailed outside of a suite, the extra price paid should more than cover this. But as I said he told me about five times butler and concierge were added to the suite tips due to poor tipping by cruisers in suites. I told him I found nothing that sai d this but he said the communique they had was this was the reason suite service charge was more. Funny, my $20 a day or more for each of them must not be paid by others who use the butler and concierge.

We were in the BA Haven, and there was a DVD player and there was A movie list for PFV. But the free ones seemed old.

OBTW, there were pornographic titles listed as I perused the list. Didn't try to watch anything, but I assume you need some proof of who you are for the XXX.