littlelulu01

I know pricing really fluctuates depending on dates but I looked at the yacht club suites on msc for med and the pricing was about the same with them compared to Haven on the Jade for my desired dates. Idk, folks on the Ncl boards have good things to say about msc yacht club but their ratings and reviews are pretty scary. If it’s just a few bad ones here and there then I take it with a grain of salt but they pretty consistently have pretty terrible reviews. Since I know I like my Ncl cruises and the savings isn’t as dramatic as I thought, I’m not going to chance it.

Another poster published a link to an interview with Mr. Del Rio abroad the Bliss. Interesting he says their bigger profits come from the Europe and Alaska sailings and according to him there’s more customers than staterooms for these sailings. I’m sure that won’t hold for ALL the sailings so some last minute deals are bound to still be had here and there but overall I think customers are willing to pay more and fill up the ships at the asking prices. I’m quite surprised how much the pricing has increased for our Jade 2019 med sailing. Haven now totally sold out and we’re still more than a year and a half away. Pricing on the itineraries with Iceland last year went pretty high too.

The Spirit 2019 has been released. There’s some sailings in the price range that you’re accustomed to. The 3/7/19 Barcelona 10 night is $799 for insides and $1719 for balconies. They have some 4/19 reasonably priced rt Rome 10 & 11 night. The sailings out of Southampton/Stockholm are a bit on the high side but lower priced than the competition. Most of those Southampton itineraries are not offered by the competition and are pretty desirable. I would expect pricing to go up pretty fast on them. The Ncl site doesn’t have them all loaded yet but should be in a day or so.

Heres the low down You can not compare the prices UK to US. UK includes everything US does not as they also pay service charge on the UBP

Yes. Sorry. The c..... website lists same pricing as NCL USA site. Should have clarified.

Are the prices on the C the same as you get directly from NCL? This will give me an idea at least.

Same pricing. They automatically add the sdp and ubp as perk choices in total though. Those perk gratuity fees aren’t added till after stateroom choice so if you want the base pricing it’s the first view of pricing which includes taxes and port fees. These amounts are the same Ncl charges. They offer obc in addition but the obc amount isn’t viewable unless you’re a member.

SInce I am not US resident, I still do not get it - maybe you try it with another method... :D

 

But I have found another UK website which also has published her itineraries, but without prices.

Try warehouse store Kirkland Washington. You don’t have to be a member to look at pricing. Just can’t book with them unless a member.

What's that? Can you describe it more detailed please what it is exactly? I googled it and did not get a fitting result... :confused:

Cc doesn’t allow mention of names but it’s where you go to purchase groceries, tires... Kirkland, Washington state.

Looking like last sailing from Southampton is to Venice 10/11/19 15 night. Inside from $1999, ov $2499, balcony $3399. Suite $5549.

Didn’t see any ksf but that’s not always accurate on that website.

Thanks for that. Looks like there is some movement at least.

 

They do need to consider how the Spirit is going to get from Barcelona to Rome on the 7th April. It isn't looking good for that last Canaries cruise at the moment.

Showing 10 night Barcelona to Rome on 3/28/19. Ports; Casablanca, Las Palma, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Funchal, Malaga, Alicante.

Pricing; inside from $1099, ov $1479, balconies from $2149 and suites from $4279.

After arriving in Rome there’s three rt Rome sailings in April. All priced about the same and all 10-11 night. Least expensive I see is March rt Barcelona 10 nights from $799.

Prices and itineraries now loaded on big box c store for spirit :D

Spirit 8/17/19 Stockholm to Southampton 15 night inside from $2299, ov from $2799, balcony from $3799, suites from $7049.

The 8/2/19 spirit pricing is the same as the 8/17 price

I’ve purchased an add on package for husband before and not myself for the minimal savings, next time I’m just getting both of us the same number of meals on the package. Some servers are just fine with an a la carte plus speciality dinner order and other servers seem to have great difficulty. It was fairly confusing for a le bistro server and he ended up having to give us two tabs. There’s an excellent vegetarian portobello dish at le Bistro and it is $11.99 I think. The wedge salad at Cagneys - it’s vegetarian when ordered minus the bacon. I eat seafood but not much meat and the speciality venues give me enough choices to get through a cruise without many repeats. I really enjoy moderno even if just the salad bar. That’s a flat fee cover charge regardless of what you eat.

Those itineraries have been out for a few months now. They are selling well and pricing is a supply and demand game. They’re still priced about the same as the competition.

I looked at our cost for 2 week Jade med May, 2015 and the same category, almost same sailing Jade October, 2019. After factoring in the ubp extra charge now vs free back in 2015, the 2019 sailing is only $200 more. Granted deposits placed in January, 2018 for 2019 sailing (price today is higher). Our October 2019 sailing has just a couple suites left. They were priced far better than in 2015 & 2016 and as a result went fast. I was never a believer in the book early method, but for the last couple years it’s definitely been best price when dates first released for the Europe sailings. Did see some great price drops on getaway last year though so worth keeping an eye on.

Shoulder season isn’t what it once was. Yes you have the folks with kids who fill up summer but spring and fall seem more desirable anymore for anyone not bound to school schedules.

Looks like some excellent itineraries. Ncl’s itineraries are some of the best imo. And when they have glitches with ports like they did last year with tender for Edinburgh, they get things fixed. For our sailing later last year they hired large ferries for the tender process and we had zero issues. They seem to offer really good port times too. They may be a little late offering but worth the wait.

I’m perfectly happy in an inside stateroom. If the choice was up to me I’d vacation more often and in the least expensive room available with zero perks. I do like speciality dinners, better food options and spa and willing to pay extra for those things. Husband on the other hand isn’t interested in cruising unless it’s in the Haven. He isn’t pretentious at all, but he’s just not a fan of large crowds, lines and he loves the Haven area. I had him talked into a couple non Haven rooms in the past but he ended up paying for the upgraded experience. I find the longer sailings tend to be priced better. Never done a ta and prefer Port intensive sailings so it’s difficult but not impossible to find something in my price range. We love the Jewel class Haven and so stick with what we know. If just me and the kids we do the inexpensive rooms and have fun participating in everything on the ship.

My gripes -If you’re charging luxury line prices, the food should be similar quality to what’s available on luxury ships. Cutting back on food offerings isn’t going to get better results in the long run. The ubp exclusions really gets me too. For a non alcohol drinker it’s a waste unless you’re body and mind can take a bunch of sugar laden mocktails. At the very least they could offer up the soda package choice instead of the ubp as a free perk switch out. If sailing in the os or gv we get canned soda and water bottles included but if I want one with my dinner and don’t want to pay extra, I have to byob from the stateroom. Last time we sailed in the gv we had 12 bottles of hard alcohol and two bottles of champagne included. Should have asked them for a rain check on future water bottle and soda fees.

What NCL did was to stop spending a huge portion on it's food budget on a few expensive items, and instead chose to spread it around a little more. In doing that, they've improved all menus across the board. (At least this is what they announced they were doing, and it's been my personal experience that food, overall, is much better since they got rid of the pricey items.)

This makes much more sense than the excuse that younger people don’t like lobster and shrimp. In October, 2017 the suite lunch had a seafood pasta dish on lunch menu. The shrimp and scallops looked so small that we joked that they were likely canned. I’d take a vegetarian dish with fresh sautéed veggies any day over those pitiful shrimp. They did serve shrimp cocktail. Not the larger 21-25 count they previously served, It was the 31-40 count which I was fine with. It would be a shame taking them off suite lunch menu entirely. There’s a fine line with cost savings and food quality. Shrimp is something most people can afford to eat often at home. If shrimp is too expensive for a cruise line budget it tells me the cruise line budget is to feed substantially subpar compared to most land based dining venues. It’s also super easy to throw together. Nothing screams wow special dinner to me but to axe the option for suite lunch is getting terribley cheap. An excellent cut of filet minion or lobster is a real treat on a cruise ship. I understand cutting costs and eliminating these items from mdr in lieu of tasty alternatives but speciality dining and suites folks have paid /are willing to pay for higher quality offerings.

well if the Lobster and Shrimp is cheaper now than in 2015, you do not live where we do. We have watched Shrimp go up a couple of times a year here. Lobster, the little frozen Lobster tails may be down a bit but the quality is horrible. Decent Lobster is no cheaper than it was 3 years ago. And some miss priced seafood chains are starting to call Shrimp and Steak, Surf and Turf. This doesn't mean I am happy with it being removed from the ships, but it does mean, I am not quite sure where you are getting your information. :confused:

Increases in the cost consumers at a restaurant or store could easily be attributed to higher costs of labor, rent... but if you’re looking at the actual average wholesale USA prices of shrimp/lb; in March 2015 it was $17.45. In March of 2017 it was $13.78. in March, 2018 it was $12.79.

Any decent seafood and steakhouse serves lobster. Surf and turf can be anything that’s meat and seafood so technically I guess you can serve a hotdog and fake crab and call it surf and turf. The standard for surf and turf according to Wikipedia is lobster tail and filet mignon.

No...cost saving by removing it from MDR menus unlessl you are willing to pay extra for it via high price of cabin (Haven).

I guess we are of the "old" school mindset of being offered foods that we do not eat on a daily basis at home. We still look at lobster and shrimp as a treat.

 

MARAPRINCE

It’s not old school. My kids and their friends wouldn’t find lobster and shrimp at their college campus dining hall because it’s too expensive. but if they are taken to a nice seafood and steak house you better bet they will order it any day over a hamburger if allowed to.

They haven't cut back. They have adapted their menus to meet the tastes of the contemporary cruiser. Snails swimming in butter and shrimps are menus from the 70's and 80's. Even Le Bistro has "skinny down" the recipe for their snails.

Is this response in jest? They have cutback and raised prices. The younger generation hasn’t shunned shrimp for their health :') . I’m not sure where you live but shrimp isn’t a passé menu item from the 70’s and 80’s. And what exactly was the, “skinny down” changes? Le’ Bistro escargot is still swimming in oil - yuck.

Ncl replaced lobster with shrimp, not because folks liked shrimp better but because it’s less expensive. Surf and turf in most venues in the USA is lobster and steak. On Ncl surf and turf is now shrimp and steak. Sorry but that’s a joke and a downgrade in the eyes of most passengers. Taking lobster off speciality menus, replacing lobster dishes with shrimp and reduced size of shrimp was a shame imo. I would be much happier to pay more $ for speciality dinners with better/not worse quality then to get a free at sea speciality dinner perk.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my Ncl cruises but I’m not afraid to call a spade a spade or question the motive behind some of these blind admiration of a company posts.

Shrimp and lobster wholesale prices are both less expensive in March of 2018 than they were in March 2015. In 2015 lobster and shrimp was readily available on Ncl ships and it was a real treat for most to get a good lobster speciality dinner. Mdr- I could care less about but removing from speciality was really cheap. There is simply no option for lobster on most ships.

Isn’t that the case often though. In a restaurant, if you happen to be serving at the time when the restaurant is offering deals then you will get a lower tip than when they aren’t, even though you are offering the same service to everyone.

 

I’m not disagreeing with your point particularly by the way, but this does show what a rubbish way of making up people’s pay tipping is (in my opinion).

 

 

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I think they usually still get their tip. Anytime I use my bank cc for bogo at local venues the bill comes with the pre tip total, discount, and then suggested tip based on non discounted total. But yes, a happy hour special is often a discount. I think most people try and tip depending on level of service how much time they took up a table and service received. So if I was out for happy hour special and only got appetizers and no alcohol and a really low bill I’d tip alot extra because I took up service and table. Usually if that occurs we’re with friends who are ordering expensive drinks and so I don’t think about it much but I think most people make up the difference in higher tip.

Perhaps a different analogy would a resort fees. The $80/night last minute discount rate room pays the same resort fees as the $200/night same non discount room. If the guy next door in same room type gets a room discount fine but if you’re paying extra for all the service related fees on top of the higher rate just because you didn’t get the discount that would probably be a bit of an issue.

If you prepay tips on the drink or dining package at 20% then why is the overall tips for the cruise 13.50 a day, shouldn’t it be a flat 20%

 

 

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That would lead to some inequity. Example one stateroom pays $500 for inside stateroom. Dsc at 20% is $14.29/ day. His next door neighbor pays $199 sail away rate for same type room. His dsc is $5.69/day. Both receive same service in dining and room steward..but staff gets $ depending on what Ncl sold room for? Ncl charges one dsc rate for non suites Higher rate for suites, presumably because the staff serving suites are rewarded with extra pay for past positive performance.

I asked bar servers that I got to know pretty well and felt they were no bs types. They said they do get tipped out from the ubp and alcohol sales depending on how many have it on the sailing and that the dining, room steward... gets tipped out from the dsc per sailing too. They say it does hurt them per sailing if a bunch take off the dsc. Re the extra tips, they prefer cash. They also receive the extra line tip (above the 20% on bar, speciality dinner ...) but it’s split out amongst staff and only given when the sailing makes a certain amount. They said they make a lot more $ on USA sailings because less are removing the Dsc and people are drinking more.

Ncl has a system. It’s really easy to follow. If the staff were not compensated properly for their jobs they would have a staff issue. I’ve yet to see this so I gotta believe them when they say they work hard, are compensated well by their employer, receive tips from the dsc and ubp and they like their job.

All the talk of the dsc not being a gratuity makes me wonder motive behind it. Ncl states that it is, staff tell me it is. Yet some posters on the internet continually debating that it’s some money grab scam.

I wondered about the wide variation on different lines same dates and same ports a few years ago and looked into reasons. The taxes and port fees are not a smoke screen or way for the lines to take money on the backside. They haven’t been for about 20 years now. One reason they vary is due to different contacts the various lines negotiate with various ports.

So Disney may have a sweetheart contract with a port and only have $75 fees. A different line may have twice the fees due to a less favorable contract.

If fees are negotiated from booking time to sailing date and fees go up, the costs are typically spread out to the remaining staterooms that haven’t been sold yet. They can also go down as a result of more than double occupancy.... and that is typically seen in lesser port fees for remaining unsold rooms. That’s the way I understand anyways. Alaska and Panama Canal ports must not cut anybody a deal bc their fees are usually about the same on all lines and pretty high. Other ports can have a pretty wide variation.

Our October 2019 Jade med has increased in price drastically. We booked almost 2 years out on this one. $500 increases per person for inside and ov. over $700 pp increases for balcony and ms. The full suites are almost sold out and we’re still over a year and a half away from sailing. I’d be shocked to see a price drop. If looking for the typical milk run sailing and off time, pricing might be different but for a great itinerary, the pricing only goes up. The full suites on this sailing didn’t see such drastic price jump that other staterooms saw. I guess on some sailings they would rather sell all full suites at a decent price instead of the upsell process.

We’ve definitely benefited from way out booking. Saved thousands. The only risk is that Ncl might cancel sailing closer in and if not offered price protection to switch you are left with either an alternative that is double priced or no cruise.

Agree with previous poster about HAL and Princess if wanting a land add on. Also some of their ships have the retractable pool roof so usable areas with unpredictable weather. They will have the same passenger makeup summer sailings.

Glacier bay on itinerary is a biggie if one and done. Inside passage is also fantastic. Rt Seattle misses inside passage but the Pearl and some others do glacier bay with the rt Seattle. The Bliss would be if you wanted a new mega ship and that was more important than the places visited. Pearl has a forward facing really nice spa.

Very easy. Gratuities are 100% optional other than on a few of the packages such as the UBP (drink package) and the SDP (dining package). Just tip who you want however much you want whenever you want.

 

The Service fee you are discussing is probably the DSC. What that is can be found in the FAQ on the NCL web site. Some people confuse that with a tip even though it is not. Others use it as an excuse not to tip when in all actuality no excuse is needed since tipping is optional.

 

Bottom line is no you do not NEED to tip. However if you feel that someone who has been helping you deserves a tip by all means do so.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

Curious - Do you have any upcoming cruises? If so hopefully you will receive the email I recently did and you can finally rest assured that the dsc IS the gratuity. Here it is just in case you missed it.

Norwegian Cruise Line is making a nominal adjustment to its daily service charges, effective April 1, 2018. Norwegian's discretionary daily service charges make it easy for guests to provide gratuities to the onboard staff dedicated to delivering superior guest service throughout the cruise.

The new rates are:

• $14.50 per person per day for any category up to a mini-suite stateroom
  
• $17.50 per person per day for any suite or The Haven category
  

Any guest that has made a booking by March 31, 2018 will have the option of prepaying their service charges at the current rate if done prior to sail date. Guests with existing cruise reservations who have already pre-paid their service charges at the current rate are not affected.

Service charges can be prepaid in the Vacation Summary section on My NCL.

Sincerely,

Norwegian Cruise Line®

Such a simple answer: don't like the prices, book your tours independently. It is better anyway unless there is a time element involved or for some reason you have to use the ship excursions. We have always thought the cost of the ship excursions on all lines were way out of site.

Have you taken a look at what the other lines charge? Rci excursions are about half that of Ncl excursions. Example: Sorento $49 on rci. $99 for same excursion on Ncl. Pompeii for $135 on Ncl. It’s half that on rci for exact same excursion. The other lines are a little more than diy but Not nearly the cost of Ncl’s. Just wanted you to know that it’s not an all the lines thing. It’s an ncl anomaly.

i agree with this. It kinda makes it hard on first time cruises too as the high cost for a shore excursion might make them skip that tour. and then that first time may never sail again with NCL due to this. There needs to be balancing of pricing so it incentives people waiting to book a cruise, and wanting to book a tour. most first time cruises do not know how to book private tours..

Agree. One of my friends was planning on picking up her daughter from study abroad. She’s never considered a cruise and was nervous first time in Europe. I suggested she book a cruise which she did on the Epic. She was not comfortable booking independent excursions and when she added up the Ncl shore excursions it more than doubled her vacation costs. She ended up canceling and booked RCI new ship. Sole reason- The excursions are considerably lower priced. The ship stateroom was higher cost but with the lower prices on excursions she is actually paying a lot less on rci’s brand new symphony of the seas compared to the Epic and exact same dates, pretty much same itinerary. I’m sure she’s not the only one comparing these things and actually canceling as a result. Simply advertising a free excursion perk and then charging extra for excursions isn’t going to pass with most people anymore. I think they maxed out the sdp and ubp for a while and now working on the shore excursion profit maximization. Problem being that people are not typically gullible enough not to realize how much less the competition cruise lines excursions are.