littlelulu01

Well said! I would happily deal with the new itinerary if the price hadn't doubled, or swapped to a different ship if I could have kept all of my existing promotions/pricing perks. Instead I am having to start over closer to sailing when prices are trending up, and the 10% discount offered doesn't make it worth it for me.

Did you check out the Epic 11/24-12/5 out of Orlando or the Breakaway 11/25-12/6 out of NOLA? Not sure what your original price and perks were but both those sailings have the take all five offers plus latitude bonus and obc. If Ncl gives you 10% off those look like a great deal.

As much as I usually defend NCL, in this case the whole thing does suck. I am still trying to understand why they are doing this. I can't seem to justify it and usually I do see the other side of the story.

Many reasons why. Perhaps the ship has been partially chartered. I’ve been on a sailing that was over half chartered and it wasn’t ideal. Regardless of the reason the ultimately did it because they can and they did it for profit. They’re currently selling a Jade cruise for the med while also selling it as an advertised music charter with conflicting dates and ports. These things happen because charters make the corporation big $. It doesn’t seem right to be selling folks their dream vacations that Ncl knows isn’t going to happen but I guess they have their reasons.

The most fair solution in my opinion would be a choice of a few similar sailings with price and perk protection and some meaningful obc for the troubles. $25/$50 is not meaningful. And also give booked customers an option to book any sailing within a certain time frame at a meaningful percentage off if price protection alternatives don’t work for displaced passengers. I’m all for a corporation making $ but at the same time I don’t see what the hardship is in stepping up and taking care of displaced passengers. Just build the loss into the profit of the replacement sailing and save the brand name/keep customers in the process.

When I’ve talked to the displacement department in the past I found that some reps had a little more experience and ability to save my vacation than others who simply read the instructions and have zero desire to help you salvage the vacation.

Thank you for the very thorough reply! I apparently wasn't using the right words in the search function to find those threads.

 

It saddens me that price protection is not being offered at all (only a 10% discount on cruises that are much more expensive than the original booking). I am now in the tough position of trying to find a comparable cruise cost wise for 6 cabins (very tough this late in the game) on a different cruise line for the same dates, or cancelling the family trip all together.

 

The NCL dedicated customer service department for this cancellation would not budge on honoring any of the original promo perks or coming close to the original price. If you have any tips or advice it would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

The breakaway out of Nola or the Epic out of Orlando have some very attractive pricing and perk offers around same date as your canceled cruise. With an additional 10% off offer and up to $300 per person for airfare change fees, I’d think if your party could agree quickly on a date you could get a great vacation for potentially less $ than you originally had.

The original sailing isn’t an option anymore and I know it is frustrating but getting furious doesn’t get you the vacation back. I’m saying this from experience. I went ahead with continuing to give Ncl vacation $ and ended up having some fantastic vacations as a result. That worked better for me than walking away angry. Since this actually could happen on any cruise line, swearing off Ncl isn’t going to solve the potential for it to happen again on another line.

If not crazy about Panama Canal sailing I’d forgot about the sun new itinerary. The port fees alone are very high for Canal sailings and there’s nothing Ncl would likely do on those fees.

Good luck and remember you likely have a deadline for working with that displacement department. If you’re still up for sailing with Ncl, best to figure out what sailing alternative is feasible and then call them.

This is the exact same ship just hitting different ports on the exact same dates for the same duration. Are you saying Norwegian has reconfigured an itinerary completely and in the process making everyone rebook/reprice the the same ship for the same dates? I personally have never heard of such a thing, and the $25 OBC example you gave implies you have dealt with something like this before?

Ncl redeployed about half their fleet in 2016. Some passengers were given price and perk protection and just paid port fee difference. Some not so lucky. Back then the perks were udp with many passengers having unlimited speciality dinners, gratuity included in the ubp, lower dsc, various obc pkgs, $75 shore excursion credits instead of the $50, some had free dsc as a perk... I don’t recall how many ships had same dates different ports and how many were simply switched around but there’s several threads on the subject of various lengths and hundreds of pages on the major redeployment. Some people got the standard back then of $50 obc up to mini suites and $100 obc if their Haven full suite booking was cancelled, if they chose a new sailing at the new pricing and perks. With thousands of passengers who had vacations canceled, It was luck of the draw who got what but some ultimately got a great replacement deal. At the time I read the entire cruise contract for Ncl and other lines. They all have basically the same wording and can cancel, change sailings and need only give you your $ back. At the time I looked into it I found that all lines do this to some extent, mainly with charters. Nobody is usually happy with it but some lines really step up and try and keep the canceled passengers happy. Ncl has recently given some valid good will offers that seem to coincide with the newly formed public relations department. I would think a persistent, polite and reasonable, replacement request would be granted.

I just sent an email to the president explaining how his senior vice president, nor her team, have responded. Sent him the entire email chain. I agree, in the policy, I can't see where they can cancel a cruise only to create a new itinerary.

They can and they do. I actually read the contract in it's entirety and all the cruise lines have the ability to do the same thing. Sometimes they will price protect for another sailing around the same dates. The 10% off offer is certainly better than the previous standard, we canceled your cruise, here's $25 obc if you want to re book an alternative sailing.

How frustrating. I would love to know what insurance company folks speak of that will actually give you the $ back on the flights. I have yet to find such a plan. NCL booked airfare will cover it but with such highly restrictive fares and high prices it's rarely worth the risk to book flights with NCL. Independent insurance plans cover if the flight is missed ...for a covered reason... but they are not going to pay out on a flight that is booked and leaving as scheduled, regardless of the cruise line cancellation. The cruise line canceling your sailing is not a covered reason even in the cancel for any reason plans.

The $300 airfare change fees ncl offers are typically good for changes to another booked ncl cruise. Is there any other ncl cruises that are priced at what your willing to pay and fit into your vacation schedules? If so, and if NCL is willing to discount any re booked sailing at 10% that is probably your best bet. If they only offer the 10% and the airfare change fee on the new sun schedule at twice the price it's probably best to find a land based vacation or alternative line that fits with the flights.

I've successfully been able to transfer independently purchased AIG/travel guard cruise insurance to a different sailing by paying a transfer fee.

British Airways flights booked with Avios do have some hefty taxes and fees but the best part of booking with Avios is that you can cancel and have miles redeposited for a $50 fee. I try and use Avios for airfare with NCL cruises and also try and plan NCL cruises that have alternative options on different lines should NCL cancel my sailing. Cancellations less than 6 months out puts cruise alternatives often at the highest prices.

Best option is to book far out on air and cruise and place a deposit on another cruise that fits the flights. Sounds extreme but seems the best way to avoid getting priced out of the vacation you want because NCL decides to sell your vacation to someone willing to pay more than you did.

Good questions....No, the gratuities on the promos do not count. First, they are pre-cruise and not onboard spend and gratuities can't be counted as corporate income...that said, the DSC does count since service charges belong to the employer.

 

You are right about meals and additional excursions, you also have to consider that the free drinks, free meals, shore excursion discounts, and free internet also represent a decrease since no money will be spent on those items. Is the cost of a few extra meals and a few more tours enough to not only cover the losses from the freebies, but to end up being a net gain sufficient enough to beat out both RCCL and CCL?

The Ncl freebies are making the company more in onboard profits than the competition. Ncl’s “free” perks are an opportunity for increased revenue once onboard- not a loss. The free perks are setup like a Kohl’s, “sale.” I can purchase a blender at Kohl’s for 80% off or I can purchase same blender at Costco not on sale for the same price. I think most savvy customers see through the “free” perks and realize they are not really saving the 5k advertised savings.

The beverage packages given as a perk are still making the cruise lines $. Alcohol sales are a huge profit maker for the industry. The lines didn’t decide to give up the revenue. Ncl’s ubp profit on the free ubp is just more than the competition. The competition gives you the beverage package and it comes with water bottles, speciality coffee... Ncl simply banned water and soda and created extra onboard opportunity to purchase their water, Starbucks, sodas... the competition is still making money off their free beverage packages but Ncl just makes more.

The “free” internet is a great way to entice the customer to upgrade to the premium unlimited package at a, “discount” The discounted rate is just bringing the cost down to what the competition is charging. Because Ncl gave me a free perk I, and many others. purchase the unlimited premium. In the end ncl’s Internet sales are more than competition.

Ksf- great way to stuff more onboard to spend more.

Free sdp? Lots supplement with additional nights a la carte or an additional package. My two week comes with 4 sdp. If I supplement with an add on package I’m actually only saving a few $ off the lesser per meal cost of the package I would have otherwise purchased. It’s a win win either way because Ncl gets you into the speciality venues, cut out the more expensive foods they previously had on offer in speciality venues that the competition still offers and they make more than the competition.

Free excursion credits? If you have the free at sea perk it’s still costing you more than the competition pricing. If you have double perks with distinctive voyage- you might save a little over the competition pricing but Ncl is still making $ and a lot more than the competition because a lot more will book with the cruise line instead of diy.

For the most of us the Ncl perks, even in a suite, are an opportunity to give the company more $ and not feel too bad about it.

A select few will benefit. The guy who has all five perks on a flash sale, no single supplement, distinctive voyage credit, drinks like a sailor, doesn’t gamble, eats like a high school football player, is happy with ship tap water and coffee and uses only his 250 min Internet package- Ncl likely doesn’t make much off him. Everyone else? They are somewhere in between making some some profit to making a lot of profit. We know they’re making more than the competition re onboard spending.

I’m guilty of giving them more than I used to once onboard and don’t resent it. They give me an excellent vacation in return.

Are excursions part of onboard spending? If so I bet that $50 per port is encouraging more people to book excursions directly with NCL. On my last cruise I met two different couples who said they were using NCL only because of that credit. That made me giggle as their excursions are often so over priced that even with the credit you are paying more. I know that there are other advantages of using NCL for excursions but doing so only to not "lose" $50 credit was funny to me.

 

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Granted the Ncl excursions are much higher priced than the other lines and often double compared to diy but not all are a bad deal. If you have the distinctive voyage credit plus free at sea and then 10-15% off pre discount prices for latitude discount, it can be free or lower cost than diy. It’s something that you still have to watch- can still end up paying more than diy even with all the discounts but for our next sailing we intend to make good use of the double credits and latitude discount for a 12 port sailing. Some will still cost just a little less than diy but some are free or considerably less than diy. We also got a nice chunk of obc that puts us at a huge savings overall. we’ll still end up giving Ncl more $ as a result this trip but it’ll be the first time I’m actually leaving most of the shore excursion planning to Ncl on a very port intensive sailing so I’m happy.

My friends canceled their Ncl cruise over the high excursion costs. They weren’t comfortable first Europe trip doing diy. Rci’s non discount excursion prices were considerably lower so they switched. Pretty easy for the consumer to compare these extra costs nowadays.

In Katakolo, we suggest either to take the touristic train or take a taxi to Kourouta Beach. Then you can stroll around the harbour followed by a lunch at a restaurant called - Fillia - right on the harbour. The restaurant is held by local girls who cook only local products. We were there 2 years ago and we can highly recommend it ( high ratings on Tripadvisor).

We rented a car from Diaz Travel. Cost was minimal- I think around 25 euro for the day. They are located at the port as you exit. They gave us a map and instructions to just follow the tour busses. Easy drive to Olympia. Peaceful beautiful place with a nice museum. One can read up/watch some YouTube videos in advance to get the feel for the history. Definitely worth the easy drive. GPS on our phones worked fine for return. We stopped at San Andres beach right near the port and had a swim and some lunch prior to returning the car. Diaz Travel also sold tickets upon arrival for bus to Olympia but we wanted to hit the beach too so went with the car rental.

Op- thanks for your review. Throughly enjoying the details.

I wouldn’t worry about the food. From the pictures posted so far on the Bliss, the food looks like a REAL step up.

We’ve sailed Ncl several times and only had one cruise, our most recent, with what we felt was pretty subpar food in included options. We switched to speciality only and were just fine. I attribute the poor food quality as a one off and due to a large charter group onboard that swamped the venues and provisions. As long as you don’t have a large group behaving very different from the norm, staff and provisions should be fine and meals served overall to be good by most standards.

I would encourage you to try the inclusive venues. You’ll hopefully be pleasantly surprised.

Some items aren’t available in speciality venues onboard many Ncl ships. Example- surf and turf is steak and shrimp. No lobster available even in speciality... however ymmv as I’ve seen lobsters and crab legs on offer in the buffet on the Bliss! Not sure if this is a temporary offering or if Bliss is going to be provisioned with higher quality items.

Likely an autocorrect mistake. Both states have so many cities starting with a “k” that can be difficult to spell. The person typing the letter probably just didn’t notice. Ketchikan/Kahului or something like that. Have a wonderful time.

I don’t see anything about a maximum entree cost of $20 with the Sdp. I know for platinum perk the main is up to $20 and certain venues have an up charge but the a la carte venues according to Ncl faq state one entree no exclusions at included a la carte venues with sdp.

Our first Ncl sailing was a two bedroom Haven Alaska on the Pearl in 2013. Total cost for husband and I was $3883 (that included taxes and port fees)and the room came with $50 obc. No free at sea. We paid a nominal fee for speciality dinners and had melt in your mouth filet mignon, excellent lobster. The food was definitely a notch above what we’ve recently had onboard, the room was great and we were subsequently hooked. husband went from swearing he’d never cruise again to loving the experience. I remember the garden villa was around 8k.

Pricing on travel in general has definitely increased since about 2015 when the economy recovered. Deals can still be had with last minute travel on sailings not selling well or if you book way off. Since you really can’t predict what’s not going to sell well I’ve moved to the camp of book as far out as possible at a price you are comfortable with.

In 2015 I took a 2 week med cruise with my kids. In January of this year I booked my kids the same category on the same ship (better itinerary this time). October, 2019 sailing is only a couple hundred more than the May, 2015 sailing. That’s factoring in the ubp gratuity now paid vs free back then. The 2019 sailing has the distinctive voyage credit in addition to free at sea. YMmv on that perk but it’s a nice added little bonus for double shore excursion credit on potentially 11 ports. I thought the Haven suite on the same sailing was on the verge of reason and so booked husband and In the Haven for the same sailing. I’m thankful I didn’t wait- all Haven and non Haven suites are already gone and we don’t sail for another year and a half! The good enough deals definitely don’t stick around long but they are still out there. The room I booked for adult kids has really increased in price since I booked. I assume if any cancellations on suites they will go back into the booking pool at a much higher rate.

The Bliss had some decent deals initially.

The hotel room can be a savings with the distinctive voyage credit. Example- for Rome the rack rates are typically $150-190/night. The Ncl hotel rate is $145 pp and includes breakfast and a transfer to ship from Rome. With the dv $100 credit it’s a great deal for two people- costs about the same as rack rate but includes the expensive transfer from Rome to Civitavecchia.

I don’t know if I’d want to trust my airfare to a third party site. Too many things can go wrong with air travel and the last thing I’d want if something goes wrong with flight delays is for me not to even be the one who owns the tickets = potential major hassle.

The best thing I can find about cruise airfare is that if Ncl canceled the sailing or changed Embarkation port, I wouldn’t be out a non refundable ticket. Can’t see any other benefit.

Thank you so much for your detailed review. So sorry about the train/luggage troubles. I didn’t take my father’s advice and brought full size luggage on our first trip. I was reduced to a sobbing idiot more than once. After my daughter study abroad year we had to pick her and her 6 full size luggage up/travel Venice and a cruise. I planned the trip around the luggage and it went much better but otherwise won’t ever travel with more than I can easily run up and down stairs with and carry carry on my lap if needed.

Several Ncl ships don’t have their repositioning cruises posted yet. Spirit just went on sale a couple weeks ago for the 2019 Europe season. I’m sure they’ll be posting the itineraries soon and are likely in the final stages of getting charters squared away. Since at least one full charter is on sale for the Jade and also being concurrently sold as sailings for the general public to book, I doubt it’ll be long before the missing puzzle pieces are announced.

According to Sixthman website they are announcing other charters for the Jade med soon. They are presently selling just the one August charter and Ncl is selling the 10&11 night cruise that obviously conflict with the charters that Sixthman is selling.

It’s a really tough deal to get your sailing pulled. Especially since usually by the time a sailing is canceled the alternative options pricing has skyrocketed. Sometimes Ncl shows they value customers by offering price protection on an alternative date(s). Nothing screams don’t let the door hit you on the way out more than the $25/$50 for rebooking another sailing at twice the price. Very simple solution- pad a little extra into the charter pricing in order to give a valid good will offer to displaced passengers.

Ncl definitely is the leader in the charter business and the Pearl and Jade are the ships typically used.

The NCL excursions are very well organized. Be aware that even if you choose the small group tours, you still end up touring along with the larger groups from several ships depending on how many ships are at a particular port. The small group part typically comes into play with the travel arrangements. For example you would travel in a 12 person van vs. a larger bus. Larger buses can be 15 passenger to 50 passenger. Most are air conditioned. Larger buses have a restroom. Once you get to the site, you're in the mix with everyone else. Your guide may be dedicated to your small group but there are dozens of other groups around you. We went on the regular tours, no small groups, and everything was just great. Our largest group was about 30 people at Chacchoben but we were not crowded and could wander off a bit. Chichen Itza was a group of 13 as that was the max capacity of the prop plane that took us there.

 

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Thanks. I was thinking for some tours a smaller group with their own tour guide might be easier to hear in crowded areas and perhaps the flow/maneuverability would go a little better with a smaller group.

Thanks. Excited to have the ship excursions within a price point that I can justify. We’ve done mainly diy in the past but I’ve only heard great things from everyone who tells about their Ncl sponsored excursions in general. They don’t offer small group on all the excursions but I thought the pricing difference on the ones that had the option was a reasonable amount.

Pretty sure tax applies on the ship. When in port you pay the local tax. In Washington state we do get tax free on beverages that list milk as their primary ingredient. So Starbucks latte = no tax but the beverage tax is applied to alcohol and sugary drinks such as a soda. Starbucks lobbied successfully for exemptions on their sugary beverages as long as they list milk as primary ingredient. The high tax is meant as a deterrent for bad for you beverages but ironically some of the Starbucks tax exempt beverages are up to 68 grams of sugar and tax exempt.

For anyone who’s taken an Ncl sponsored small group excursion- about how many were on the excursions?

We have the distinctive voyage credit for an upcoming cruise along with the shore excursion credit and latitudes discount which puts many of the Ncl small group excursions at about the same cost of diy roll call group excursions.

Just trying to gauge what, “small” is so I can be sure I’m comparing apples to apples.

Also - some of the Ncl excursions are almost identical with the only difference being, “small group.” For example in Athens they offer Acropolis, archeological museum and lunch. $189 or small group $229. Normally neither would be on my radar but with the triple discount, the ncl excursions sounds like a no hassle easy day. Not typically a fan of large bus tours so the small group excursions for a few $ more sounds appealing.

Now that’s interesting... they let you use a Haven CN on a non-Haven room. I would think they would be stricter about that...

 

 

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They’ll gladly accept it. One Haven cn costs $400, is worth $500 and can be used for a full suite/Haven deposit instead of the otherwise $1500 -$5000 deposit typically required for full suites.

A Haven cn nets $100 savings upfront so less than a non Haven Cn.

Great deal for booking a cruise far in advance. You can keep the extra in your pocket vs ncl’s pocket till final payment. If booking a year or two in advance it’s a great savings.

Hi. Just a thought but have you contemplated booking a suite for this sailing? The lowest category full suite hasn’t had a pricing increase on this sailing. Suites receive full compliments of all of the free at sea perks. They also have their own dining venue available for breakfast and lunch and access to a butler and concierge and a very nice Nespresso maker in your room. They still have one non handicap room available on deck 8 aft. It’s about $900 pp more than the mini suites.

They had the suites priced pretty low for this sailing. As a result almost all are gone.

On the other hand a suite might not interest you on such a port intensive sailing. Just thought id mention it.

Airfare is really fickle. On any given flight I can bet the guy in the row behind me probably paid half my fare and the guy in front of me paid twice what I paid.

Some people will book with the cruise line regardless of cost for a perceived assurance. It’s not an issue of being had though. It’s truly $100 off each way of ncl’s airfare quote. Just as the shore excursion credits are $50 off ncl’s shore excursion offered price. Many folks are happy to pay extra to just do one stop shopping and have Ncl take care of the rest. In your case the Ncl price is higher than diy. For others it could be a savings. For some it’s a wash.

I’m by no means a cheerleader for any one company but in this case it’s not about false advertising or something scammy. It’s just a fun little extra perk pkg that may or may not be beneficial to you. If even one component of dv is of benefit then you have a little extra goodie to look forward to. You’re obviously a smart shopper and can evaluate the components and take advantage of any that are going to save you some $, hassle or time. Have fun with the dv extra perk and I hope some portions of it benefit you.

And btw you can look up the cost of hotel rooms today. They are per person pricing. For example my hotel in Rome is $145 per person and includes transfer to the port and breakfast. Not a bad deal with the $100 credit. The hotels and rates can change but at least it gives an idea.

I don’t think it’s false advertising because the terms and conditions are really clear and it’s not like they’re hiding them. My pcc was also upfront and said that I could likely buy for less on my own. I do plan on at least getting a quote to see what the cost is when the time comes. Cruise airfare in general is highly restrictive tickets. That alone is cause for concern should something happen with delayed flights. Im sure there’s benefits to booking with the cruise line too. The biggest benefit probably being if the cruise line canceled your sailing I don’t think you’d be out the airfare.

the advertising gimmicks when booking cruises are industry wide. Personally I think it gives the cruise industry a used car salesmen appearance but it’s just how it is when booking a cruise.

As far as the other options- so far the Internet perk is a free perk as stated, The phone call credit is a nice novelty. They are definitely potentially fun goodies but they don’t have a value that I’d actually cancel and rebook at a higher fare just to get.

The shore excursion credit may or may not be benificial. They price their ship sponsored excursions a lot higher than the competition and independent. some folks don’t feel comfortable booking independently so any savings is a great savings. $50 for dv plus $50 for free at sea will probably bring down to around the same as independent booking so not a bad deal. Some excursions can be had for free or very little cost with a double shore excursion credit.

I noticed that Ncl has outlined some of the free at sea perk fees more clearly. When you’re picking a perk it now says, free beverage package you pay the bartender gratuities. So they do seem to be trying to make it easier for us to understand the perk choices and associated costs of choosing them.