did we make a mistake booking early?

[pathubia]

I always book early and on my last 3 cruises the prices have gone up.

 

My upcoming cruise (DAWN, NOLA to Western Caribbean) has some pretty substansial price drops. We booked MX paid 959pp and its now 799pp. Its my first time on this itinenary. Live and learn, if I book this cruise again, I will wait till later. (I did call to see if we could upgrade to a suite to get the promos, was told no, but the prices on the suites had come down so much, we paid for an upgrade to a suite.) You just have to make the best of it!!

[trish1c]

The biggest advantage to booking early as most of you have pointed out is the ability to select the cabin we want. Doesn't apply. We always book GTY. We don't care about cabins. We care about price / value.

 

We also rarely sail in "prime time" during the summer or over Easter; we have gone for NYE where I expect prices to go up & they always have. I thought this cruise might go up because it's over MLK day so we only have to take 4 vacation days rather than 5 which is what convinced me to book early.

 

I tried something out of my norm. I booked early. That wrong decision for me is currently making me annoyed. I have learned a valuable lesson & I will never do that again.

 

Because it's the Epic which doesn't have OV rooms, our usual, we also booked a mini-suite. The day we booked it was $20 pp higher than a balcony, which was a good deal then & why we did it. But again, for us that was a mistake because we don't really care about the extra space. I will never book such a high category again because the price of the balcony cabins plummeted before the cancel & rebook deadline while the price of our category remained the same. The cost jump to the Haven also means the upgrade fairy won't be gracing us with her presence.

 

I get it. I screwed this up & I have to live with the consequences of my bad decision. I appreciate the folks who are trying to reassure me.

Edited January 5, 2015 by trish1c

[justhere]

Hey I'm happy to be proven wrong. I want to be happy with my choice but I'm just not.

 

I'm trying to tell myself I tried different things this time but . . . . grrrr.

 

TA gets in at 4:00. Maybe she can make me happier but she's probably just going to tell me the cabin price went up, there's nothing she can do.

Of course she's going to tell you the price went up. You told us the price went up so why would she tell you something different?

 

What exactly is it that you expect her to do for you when the price went up? Would you like her to charge you more? I'm sure she can do that by adding either the UDP, UBP, or some OBC or any combination of the three.

 

The fact that an inside or balcony dropped in price has nothing to do with your or your reservation. If you were booked in either of those categories then maybe it would make a difference. Not that it matters but do you know what the rates for those categories were at the time you booked your mini-suite?

 

Again, your category went up in price, not down, so your concern/complaint makes no sense.

[trish1c]

Again, your category went up in price, not down, so your concern/complaint makes no sense.

 

When you add in the value of the new perks, especially the UBP, even with the additional cabin cost, the overall value of the cabin plus the UBP works out cheaper then what we are paying without the UBP.

[justhere]

I tried something out of my norm. I booked early. That wrong decision for me is currently making me annoyed. I have learned a valuable lesson & I will never do that again.

But the price of your cabin went UP . How was booking early the wrong decision??? :confused:

 

I will never book such a high category again because the price of the balcony cabins plummeted before the cancel & rebook deadline while the price of our category remained the same.

So why didn't you cancel and rebook in a balcony cabin??? You are making even less sense now.

[trish1c]

But the price of your cabin went UP . So why didn't you cancel and rebook in a balcony cabin??? You are making even less sense now.

 

You are right. I should have. the TA told me I couldn't. Stupid me I believed her.

 

Again I learned a lot here & have only myself to blame.

[don't-use-real-name]

It is an extra point per day if you booked 9 months out and is automatically added to your latitude account after the cruise. So if you booked a non-suite cabin for a 7 day cruise at least 9 months before the cruise, you will get 14 points. Add another point per day if you book a full suite

 

Add more points if this is your second cruise and you have an established

latitudes rewards account.

 

So it comes down to this:

Earn Rewards Points

◦Earn 1 point for every cruise night.

◦Earn 1 additional point per night for reserving a Suite or in The Haven.*

◦Earn 1 additional point per night when booking nine months or more in advance.

◦Earn 1 additional point per night when booking a Latitudes Insider Offer.

*Full fare suites booked when reservation was originally made. Does not include mini-suites

 

Rewards Point Structure

TIER REWARDS POINTS

Bronze 1 - 19

Silver 20 - 47

Gold 48 - 75

Platinum 76+

 

Special milestone gifts are provided for guests who achieve 250, 500, 700 and 1,000 points.

wards program offering.

 

It is possible to go Platinum after 2 cruises 1 @ 7 days = 7 points needing an

additional 69 - on the second cruise of 19 days bought 9 months out - in a

suite haven garden villa - and a Latitudes offering --- 19+19+19+19= 76

an then the 7 points from the first cruise puts one over the top - chocolate

strawberries and FREE laundry here you go !

[marial_gumby]

It's not the fact that you booked early that is the issue. It's the fact that the current promotion wasn't available when you booked. If someone is booking early now, let's say for a cruise a year from now, they will get the current pick three promotion and the extra Latitude points etc. You can wait to the last minute to try and get a lower price because NCL is trying to fill cabins, but it's always best to try and book during a promotion period to get extra perks. Maybe you should be looking to book early for your next cruise instead of pouting about this one.

[sfaaa]

What is done is done. No point to regret or feel bad. But you can always eat more at the buffet to get even.

[don't-use-real-name]

But the price of your cabin went UP . How was booking early the wrong decision??? :confused:

 

 

So why didn't you cancel and rebook in a balcony cabin??? You are making even less sense now.

 

CAUTION HERE !

 

You can not CANCEL & REBOOK inside the 55 days before sailing without

suffering some or all of the money forfeiting. UPGRADE yes CANCEL NO !

 

Cancellation fees 6 or more days after 1/1/2015:

Cruise Days: 6 Days or More

75-56 Days Deposit $100 $0 $0

55-29 Days 50%* 50% 50% 50%

28-15 Days 75%* 75% 75% 75%

14 days or less 100% 100% 100% 100%

 

Only thing left to do is go for an Upgrade but I don't think that NCL is going to

add the Promos OBC UBP UDP since those are for NEW bookings only ?!

 

Laurel and Hardy - "Another fine mess" !

 

About the only recourse is to write or call NCL (Corporate Office) or have

the situation reviewed by the Travel Ombudsman Chris Elliott -

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-elliott/

 

who may have a more sympathetic ear with substantial clout in the news media !

[TheWulf]

I'm in the same boat (both figuratively and literally!).

 

Booked early, ended up missing out on the best promo.

We did manage to get a BA > MA upgrade for cheap during an earlier promo, but there's no way they would allow us to grab this latest deal - my TA checked.

 

I'm happy with the rate, but I never expected them to offer UBP for free. Now, knowing that this happens, I am very likely to wait until this promo is up before booking again - provided I do; NCL is on thin ice after my previous cruise on the Dawn.

 

From what I've been seeing, the best deals are about 5 weeks out.

Edited January 5, 2015 by TheWulf
grammar

[Kingmaker_inc]

With NCL especially I don't know people who are happy they booked early.

 

We sail in the Haven. We book at least nine months out. We've never been unhappy about booking early. Not once was it a bad idea.

[GORDONCHICK]

We almost always book 9+ months out. But regardless, we book at a price we are happy with (or at least okay with since we usually have to sail during peak times). I'm fully aware that there are some promotions that are strictly for new bookings only. I also know that we are picky about cabin location so a guarantee won't fly for us.

 

Then I sit back. I will watch for price drops or check on promos that we may be able to take advantage of, but mainly I just chill because I know we've got at least one cruise coming up. If I get OBC or some kind of perk on top of what we originally booked - yay! But if not, I just chill knowing I've got at least one cruise coming up.

 

Trust me - saving money, getting great perks &/or great deals is paramount with DH. He's a CPA, so you do the math......

 

Bottom line, I know we're blessed to be able to go at all. Those perks have never made or broke our cruise anyway.....

 

(for our upcoming cruise for the 3 of us in an inside to AK, the price is now more than $2200 more for the same cabin during this promo.)

Edited January 5, 2015 by GORDONCHICK

[daisey22]

The biggest advantage to booking early as most of you have pointed out is the ability to select the cabin we want. Doesn't apply. We always book GTY. We don't care about cabins. We care about price / value.

 

We also rarely sail in "prime time" during the summer or over Easter; we have gone for NYE where I expect prices to go up & they always have. I thought this cruise might go up because it's over MLK day so we only have to take 4 vacation days rather than 5 which is what convinced me to book early.

 

I tried something out of my norm. I booked early. That wrong decision for me is currently making me annoyed. I have learned a valuable lesson & I will never do that again.

 

Because it's the Epic which doesn't have OV rooms, our usual, we also booked a mini-suite. The day we booked it was $20 pp higher than a balcony, which was a good deal then & why we did it. But again, for us that was a mistake because we don't really care about the extra space. I will never book such a high category again because the price of the balcony cabins plummeted before the cancel & rebook deadline while the price of our category remained the same. The cost jump to the Haven also means the upgrade fairy won't be gracing us with her presence.

 

I get it. I screwed this up & I have to live with the consequences of my bad decision. I appreciate the folks who are trying to reassure me.

 

Try and not to be so hard on yourself it happens to us all and its how we deal with it that makes us grow...

[trish1c]

I'm a little happier. TA got back to me. She got us more OBC so I do feel better.

[Kingmaker_inc]

Yay! A happier customer!

[pathubia]

I'm a little happier. TA got back to me. She got us more OBC so I do feel better.

 

That is great!!! Bon voyage!!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Demonyte]

With NCL especially I don't know people who are happy they booked early.

 

 

There are a lot of CC members here (including me) who have better experiences of booking in advance than booking last minute.

[thatjoeguy]

With NCL especially I don't know people who are happy they booked early.

 

I looked at rates for our next cruise, liked what I saw, and meant to book, but it slipped my mind. When I finally got around to booking, the rates had jumped about $150 pp. I wish we had booked EARLIER.

 

I could have waited till the last week or two, when rates would have dropped again, but then we would have had more expensive flights and they wouldn't come in at the times we wanted. Also, they rates could have spiked, as they often do.

[sparks1093]

Pizzalady explained the extra latitudes points.

 

With NCL especially I don't know people who are happy they booked early.

 

I also looked at some other NCL cruises. I'm seeing OV rooms for $429 pp with UBP. How does NCL make money on that? Are they on the verge of going out of business?

 

We booked our Gem cruise 15 months ahead of time and the price never went anywhere but up. A lot depends on what time of year you are sailing.

[Family Guy 57]

CAUTION HERE !

 

You can not CANCEL & REBOOK inside the 55 days before sailing without

suffering some or all of the money forfeiting. UPGRADE yes CANCEL NO !

 

Cancellation fees 6 or more days after 1/1/2015:

Cruise Days: 6 Days or More

75-56 Days Deposit $100 $0 $0

55-29 Days 50%* 50% 50% 50%

28-15 Days 75%* 75% 75% 75%

14 days or less 100% 100% 100% 100%

 

Only thing left to do is go for an Upgrade but I don't think that NCL is going to

add the Promos OBC UBP UDP since those are for NEW bookings only ?!

 

Laurel and Hardy - "Another fine mess" !

 

About the only recourse is to write or call NCL (Corporate Office) or have

the situation reviewed by the Travel Ombudsman Chris Elliott -

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-elliott/

 

who may have a more sympathetic ear with substantial clout in the news media !

 

 

yeah and while you are at it write your congressman ;-)

 

you booked what was acceptable, now it isn't - tough luck

[cruiseblues2013]

I'm a little happier. TA got back to me. She got us more OBC so I do feel better.

 

Consider your lucky stars! We booked 5 weeks out, and then decided to do a back to back and enjoy some nice weather, so booked #2 at 31 days out 12 hours before the promotion, credit card charges had not gone thru yet. I was really happy for what we paid, but, no promotions.... a day late and a dollar short. BUT, I have called three times over the last 4 weeks, waiting at times up to 1.5 to 2.0 plus hours....hoping we could stay in the same room. I offered to pay extra, go to a lower cabin booking. I went thru our TA and held and spoke with NCL with them. First call...told to call back in two weeks. Next call....told no two rooms open (every site I went to, including NCL's) had both weeks with rooms open for both BTB sailings. Last call told all rooms sold out....(but still selling multiple rooms on different sites). I made it clear, I was happy, just wanted the convenience of not moving. Long story short, we will move, this is our 4th cruise with NCL, our next we booked last week with Celebrity. I guess I felt a little insulted to be told to call back when so many rooms were available, and then to be told out all rooms were sold out..... I was not asking for something for nothing....

[don't-use-real-name]

yeah and while you are at it write your congressman ;-)

 

you booked what was acceptable, now it isn't - tough luck

 

Gee thanks for snipping and clipping the total response I had to poster

justhere - sort of loses something here. I had commented about NOT

CANCELLING but instead of using the money paid to UPGRADE.

Cancellation within a certain number of days is not good.

Losing a portion if not all of the money paid.

Better to add a few dollars more and Upgrade if possible while the fares

are in flux.

 

Yes I am not happy with the way this played out but live and learn and

come back again another day. This learning experience cost me well over

$2500 (drop in cabin price and the Promos OBC UBP UDP for 2 persons).

Nothing really to gain for the immediate moment but when planning

another cruise upon the ocean blue I can still get the present perks until

the end of the month. The three part Promo - OBC UBP UDP perks and

perhaps whittle the fare down somewhat while waiting for the fares to flux.

A lot of time to wait and still yet lock in those promo perks.

 

In a kind way - "Caveat Emptor" !

Hang in there to achieve the "Best Bang for the Buck" !

[justhere]

CAUTION HERE !

 

You can not CANCEL & REBOOK inside the 55 days before sailing without

suffering some or all of the money forfeiting. UPGRADE yes CANCEL NO

The post I was replying to by the OP stated that it was before the cancel deadline.