Does anybody have advice for redeeming LCV nights when so many cruises are on sale?

Hi,

We were excited to finally earn two free nights last year. We need to redeem them in 10 days or lose them.

The challenge is finding a cruise that is not already on special. (As many of you know, the free nights cannot be combined with any other offer.) Over 110 cruises are listed with "half off 2nd guest and free wifi", so we cannot use the free nights on those. We had been waiting for the BOGOHO special to end on February 28 so we could reevaluate our choices, but the special has been extended until March 31.:rolleyes:

I hate to discard this benefit, which is definitely worth a lot of money. Is my best strategy at this point to look for a (relatively!) inexpensive seven-night cruise with low port fees? For most, we would have to factor in airfare from the United States.

At the very least, I want other board readers to be aware that it can be challenging to redeem the free nights.

P.S. We already booked a 2018 Azamara cruise because we wanted to go with good friends; that cruise wasn't eligible for the free nights, because it was BOGOHO.

Thanks,

Mary

We used our free nights (4) on a Norway cruise on Journey in 2019. We chose that one because Norway cruises are never(or rarely) discounted/part of a promotion. We booked it onboard our last but one cruise, so we also got OBC for booking onboard.

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Thanks,

That is a good way to think of it. This weekend, I will look for a cruise that is probably rarely discounted. That might be a smart way to use the credits.

I appreciate all you do as a host!

We used ours on Irish Seas/British Open Journey July 2019. This is usually one of the more expensive and in-demand cruises. We were on same one in July 2016 and it was sold out early. Perry Golf brings about 120 people which contributes to demand. That cruise has not been on sale at all yet, if it goes on sale and ends up less expensive without using the free nights we will use the "best price guarantee" and see if we can use our free nights for a different cruise. You really have to roll the dice somewhat about future discounts. Guests have many different strategies for using free nights but we're not very flexible travel-wise so can't just add a spontaneous cruise because we have free nights, so we think choosing one we want that has a high per night price gives us value, especially if it doesn't end up discounted.

Thanks,

 

That is a good way to think of it. This weekend, I will look for a cruise that is probably rarely discounted. That might be a smart way to use the credits.

 

I appreciate all you do as a host!

My,pleasure!

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Hi,

 

We were excited to finally earn two free nights last year. We need to redeem them in 10 days or lose them.

 

I hate to discard this benefit, which is definitely worth a lot of money. Is my best strategy at this point to look for a (relatively!) inexpensive seven-night cruise with low port fees? For most, we would have to factor in airfare from the United States.

 

At the very least, I want other board readers to be aware that it can be challenging to redeem the free nights.

 

I’ll be totally honest. Two free nights are really not worth a lot. Because all normal offers are off the table if you use them and you pay full price on the balance of nights for your cruise on a minimum 7 night sailing you are most likely better off discarding them and booking using a deal. I’ll have 3 nights to use fairly soon and I doubt I’ll use them on their own either. 4 nights you might just make it work, 6 nights even better (I’ve done this on a 7 night cruise and it worked well).

A couple of free nights sound great, but unless you have a particular cruise in mind that attracts no deals, you are forcing yourself into paying more for the sake of using those two free nights. There are too many restrictions to make the smaller number of free nights worthwhile in my view.

Phil

Thanks to all for the helpful points of view and suggestions. Sam and I will consider all this and look at the available cruises again.

We'll let you know what we decide. :)

This is just a shot in the dark, but: I notice that on Celebrity the Trans-Atlantic cruises don't come with any benefits. Does that mean that Azamara TAs don't get these promotions? [i have never checked, because TAs just aren't interesting to DW and me.]

Actually our fall TA did qualify for BOGOHO. This was actually the second different offer but it may be due to an itinerary change and not the trend to not make offers on transatlantic cruises in general.

I just read your post again and some further thought. Having used the free nights before my understanding is you can use them on any cruise including those with specials attached, it's just that they will take any promotion codes off before working out the pricing using free nights. Hence my comment about their value when you only have a couple. Pretty sure that is how it works. Perhaps Bonnie or someone else can confirm.

Phil

I just read your post again and some further thought. Having used the free nights before my understanding is you can use them on any cruise including those with specials attached, it's just that they will take any promotion codes off before working out the pricing using free nights. Hence my comment about their value when you only have a couple. Pretty sure that is how it works. Perhaps Bonnie or someone else can confirm.

 

Phil

We also have 3 free nights coming up as well and did check the conditions last time we were onboard. The free nights are not combinable with any other offers except the LCV discount for onboard bookings and open passage bookings.

We are currently planning to book an eleven night cruise with our free nights, currently there are no offers on the cruise so our nights would equate to 27% discount, this compares favourably to the 25% we would get with a BOGOHO offer.

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I have six free nights travel solo.

I understand it’s the price of the cabin that the discount is applied to.

How do you find the price that’s applicable?

Is it brochure price latest advertised on Azamara web site, TA price. HELP

We also have 3 free nights coming up as well and did check the conditions last time we were onboard. The free nights are not combinable with any other offers except the LCV discount for onboard bookings and open passage bookings.

We are currently planning to book an eleven night cruise with our free nights, currently there are no offers on the cruise so our nights would equate to 27% discount, this compares favourably to the 25% we would get with a BOGOHO offer

The point I was making is that whilst the free nights aren't combinable with other offers, you can use them against any cruise, but they'll take the promo codes away. That's the way I understand it and has worked for me in the past. I get from the gist of the OP's post that they are looking for a cruise without promotions to use them which I don't believe is necessary. That still leaves whether or not they'll be better off booking a cruise on full price using two free nights or one with all the promotions and no free nights and hence my comment upon the true value of free nights when you only have two.

Phil

I have six free nights travel solo.

I understand it’s the price of the cabin that the discount is applied to.

How do you find the price that’s applicable?

Is it brochure price latest advertised on Azamara web site, TA price. HELP

Do you use a travel agent? If you do then you should speak to them. Or directly to Azamara. I'm not sure what country you are in.

As per my posts above it will be the full brochure price, so they will take off any promotion currently running (and if you sail solo and are looking at one of their reduced single supplement cruises that will not apply so you'll pay 200%). You can probably work out the rough price by rolling back the offers to give you the full price, but it's better for you or your travel agent to speak to Azamara to get the figure.

The best place to book a cruise using free nights is on the ship so you get the onboard benefit and they can easily tell you the amount you'll pay on the balance, but that's not always possible.

I hope that makes sense.

Phil

The point I was making is that whilst the free nights aren't combinable with other offers, you can use them against any cruise, but they'll take the promo codes away. That's the way I understand it and has worked for me in the past. I get from the gist of the OP's post that they are looking for a cruise without promotions to use them which I don't believe is necessary. That still leaves whether or not they'll be better off booking a cruise on full price using two free nights or one with all the promotions and no free nights and hence my comment upon the true value of free nights when you only have two.

 

 

 

Phil

I did change my post a bit to avoid the is a sale a sale argument and think I lost my point, but suffice it to say I would avoid any cruises with offers on.

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I did change my post a bit to avoid the is a sale a sale argument and think I lost my point, but suffice it to say I would avoid any cruises with offers on.

Why? You can use them on any cruise and the OP only has ten days to use them if they want to. I’ll go back the point I was trying t9 make. I believe the OP understands free nights are only applicable to cruises without offers attached to them, but you can make any cruise one without offers.

Phil

Why? You can use them on any cruise and the OP only has ten days to use them if they want to. I’ll go back the point I was trying t9 make. I believe the OP understands free nights are only applicable to cruises without offers attached to them, but you can make any cruise one without offers.

 

 

 

Phil

Yes that’s correct we have one lot booked where it was “deoffered” for us no problem

To the OP I’d decide what do I want to spend extra where do I want to go and when then get it priced with and without using your free nights.

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Why? You can use them on any cruise and the OP only has ten days to use them if they want to. I’ll go back the point I was trying t9 make. I believe the OP understands free nights are only applicable to cruises without offers attached to them, but you can make any cruise one without offers.

 

 

 

Phil

Sorry Phil I was confusing the issue of course they can use it on any cruise and ones with offers can be de offered. Just that it appears that using a cruise that’s been de offered doesn’t look to be as good value as a cruise with no offers imho.

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Sorry Phil I was confusing the issue of course they can use it on any cruise and ones with offers can be de offered. Just that it appears that using a cruise that’s been de offered doesn’t look to be as good value as a cruise with no offers imho.

 

 

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Maybe it’s me being stupid, but where to I find the base price?

PS am in in the UK

Maybe it’s me being stupid, but where to I find the base price?

 

PS am in in the UK

No it’s a good question as I don’t think there is a base price as pricing is fluid, my take is that when the cruise itineraries are launched there’s a price for each category that Azamara would like to achieve after that anything can happen. If a cruise, or cabin category within the cruise, sells well prices will rise, but if a cruise isn’t selling then there may be offers however unless you’ve been tracking prices since day one it’s impossible to know how valid those offers are.

For example Pursuit’s revised maiden was launched on a BOGOHO offer which we booked on day one, by day three, still on the same offer, the same cabin category was £2000 more per cabin, A few days later it fell below the price we were paying by £50 and then went up again to £1500 more than we paid. The BOGOHO offer has been replaced by the Spring Sale the price pp has reduced by £1100 from the full price shown on our invoice but total cost is £1800 more. So I haven’t a clue what the actual base price all these offers are calculated from and probably never will.

Think that you have to decide what price you’re prepared to pay for a given cruise and if you can achieve it you have to be happy with that.

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Yes that’s correct we have one lot booked where it was “deoffered” for us no problem

To the OP I’d decide what do I want to spend extra where do I want to go and when then get it priced with and without using your free nights.

Yep, that’s what I’d do too and suspect it won’t be worth using the "free" nights. Only having two of them really is almost worthless.

Phil

Maybe it’s me being stupid, but where to I find the base price?

 

PS am in in the UK

Easiest way ask a travel agent- I won’t say call Azamara because they charge you. You need someone who has access to the price breakdown including taxes which are not included in your free nights. That’s why I said get someone to price it two ways with and without the free nights.

Honestly all the other details are too confusing to work out ourselves.

You can get pricing without commitment

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Thank you, all, for giving so generously of your time and advice. You have correctly clarified that I can apply my "two free nights" to most cruises...including those with BOGOHO. I just can't use BOTH these discounts at the same time.

So tonight, I am going to select a few intineraries that interest us, and then I will calculate if the "two free nights" actually benefits us over any other current discounts.

If I don't see a clear benefit to the "two free nights"

discount, we'll simply skip using our two free nights. No need to force a vacation simply to use a discount.

By the way, Azamara is our cruiseline of choice, and we hope to continue to do an annual cruuse on them. We were just hoping to save a few $$ on the next one.

Just a follow-up to all who gave me insights.

We decided not to use the LCV "two free nights" because we didn't find an ideal itinerary/price point this time around.

Thanks for your time and help.

That’s exactly what happened to us when we qualified for two nights. We couldn’t find a cruise that we were interested that wasn’t cheaper on a promotion than it was using the two nights.

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