Question on next month's pricing

[pnm655]

I see the UBP is being removed from the Freestyle choice promotion next month. Does anyone know if the removal of UBP will lead to lower pricing next month? We are thinking of booking the Dawn to Bermuda on either May 1st or the 8th. We do not drink alcohol and so we don't care about the UBP.

[Bluefox]

Cruising this year- as in a week? I'd be worried about getting a room. This close out rooms might sell out. If next year- I'd go ahead and book- just don't pay your final payment till it's due date and you can always call and get a price adjustment.

 

Our cruise isn't till Nov and the ocean views are already sold out.

[luvtheships]

Cruising this year- as in a week? I'd be worried about getting a room. This close out rooms might sell out. If next year- I'd go ahead and book- just don't pay your final payment till it's due date and you can always call and get a price adjustment.

 

Our cruise isn't till Nov and the ocean views are already sold out.

 

Exactly

 

 

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Edited April 25, 2015 by luvtheships

[pnm655]

We are looking at this May. Both weeks have rooms available. We typically book with a week or less notice. Once we booked the day before and booked the last available room. Last year we booked 2 days before sailing. We used to be able to get great last minute deals with NCL. Now that has disappeared.

 

We have 11 cruises with NCL. So the question is should I book May 1st this week or wait until May and book the 8th? Does anyone know next month's promos or pricing yet?

 

Both New York and Boston are within an easy driving distance for us.

[garnet115]

We are looking at this May. Both weeks have rooms available. We typically book with a week or less notice. Once we booked the day before and booked the last available room. Last year we booked 2 days before sailing. We used to be able to get great last minute deals with NCL. Now that has disappeared.

 

We have 11 cruises with NCL. So the question is should I book May 1st this week or wait until May and book the 8th? Does anyone know next month's promos or pricing yet?

 

Both New York and Boston are within an easy driving distance for us.

 

Rumor is that the May promo is Freestyle Choice, but swapping out an internet package for the UBP. I'm glad I booked this month (actually, wish I'd booked last month when it was OBC instead of shore excursion credit).

[lbrandon]

From what I've seen UBP and free gratuities are being replaced with free wifi and OBC for the May promo. Not sure how much the OBC will be though.

 

We booked this month because we wanted the UBP. Wish we had booked last month and gotten the OBC instead of shore excursion credit but we'll use it so no big deal.

[luvtheships]

The shore excursion credit per port is nonsense IMHO

 

So you have say 4 ports and 3 of them you want to DIY anyway because its easier cheaper and you get more time if you take a taxi to the beach in say ....saint wherever

 

But now you have to take an overpriced tour that will allow you 1/3 the beach time you would like in saint wherever because you have an excursion obc

 

The way I see the excursion obc will be good only in certain ports and only for a certain demographic

 

Otherwise it's going to waste

 

Now.... Before the naysayers start....

 

We do ship excursion

Private excursions

And we do DIY

 

But not in every port that is for sure so a 4 port cruise for us would mean at least 2 excursion obcs go to waste

 

And what about families?

 

Pay for 3 overpriced excursions so the 4 th pax in the cabin can get a $75 credit?

 

Ncl won't be able to accommodate all the pax on their excursions either and they will have to start contracting with untested port guides🙀

 

Ncl will also be taking up all the port tour slots which will make it close to impossible for a DIY to pick up a reasonably priced tour on the dock

 

The excursion obc is the biggest scam going and will probably go unused by many pax

 

Fdr is a genius

 

 

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[amscene1]

I think they are doing this so they can lower cruise pricing and still have incentives to book . Smart move considering last summer I paid $699pp balcony on the getaway for a June cruise and those are about $1000pp right now.

 

Let's face it the ubp is more than double the value of the other packages, Ncl will be able to drop prices $100-$200 pp at least while still churning a profit.

 

Ubp x2 (780ish value)

Udp x2 (280 value)

Shore ex (225 value @ 3 ports)

Internet unlimited (280ish)

Gratuities (220ish)

[AtlantaCruiser72]

We are looking at this May. Both weeks have rooms available. We typically book with a week or less notice. Once we booked the day before and booked the last available room. Last year we booked 2 days before sailing. We used to be able to get great last minute deals with NCL. Now that has disappeared.

 

We have 11 cruises with NCL. So the question is should I book May 1st this week or wait until May and book the 8th? Does anyone know next month's promos or pricing yet?

 

Both New York and Boston are within an easy driving distance for us.

 

I have noticed most sailings w/ NCL being closed to new bookings 4-7 days prior to departure as of late. Pricing has been holding steady at 30 days out on almost all sailings. If rooms are available now I'd book. There may be unassigned gty cabins that could eat up inventory as well.

[amscene1]

The last minute overviews and balconys on the getaway and would drop more if not for the promos. NCLs getaway sailing today has a bunch on unsold rooms but they won't go below $679 for an oceanview and $899 for a balcony. When the promo ends it will go to $599 for ocean view $699 balcony as it did last year. I'll be a buyer for a balcony at $699.00 just like last year.

 

This is in reference to the getaway only

Edited April 26, 2015 by amscene1

[pnm655]

All spring I noticed that prices remained steady from 30 days out but lately I see more fare reductions close to sailing. The 12 day Grand Med cruise this week was cut all the way down to $349 for a GTY inside. We would like to have done the grand med but the airfare was out of our budget. I notice the Bermuda cruises and the Baltic cruises for May have had price cuts recently.

 

I would like to see the Dawn go $100 cheaper. I feel like we would be subsidizing the UBP people with the current promo. The only promo we would use is the prepaid gratuities. I was hoping the end of the UBP would result in an across the board price cut.

 

I sent our new PCC (Our old one quit) an e-mail the other day on the Dawn and so far have not gotten any response. As in no e-mails or phone calls from anyone at NCL. Does anyone know if this one quit do other PCCs get the e-mails? I used the e-mail shown on all the junk e-mails i get. You would think the PCC would call me right back. Our old one was great he would call or e-mail in the same day

 

We often book guarantee rooms. We have had very good luck with the guarantee rooms. We book so close to sailing that there are usually only a few rooms left so I can get a good idea of what we will be assigned.

[mking8288]

Hmmm, can't imagine 500 users on a shared satellite internet connection at sea with enough bandwidth to do anything but to check email, unlimited or otherwise, another "free" promo perk full of disclaimers. Ditto for ShoreEx credits, overpriced & not worth more than 50% of its declared value - but, it's free.

 

As for PCC, DW's latest is still working, I think, we have explicit instructions for them to NOT call ... initials are E.T. - usually if the old one quit/left, another one will be assigned & eager to introduce and get your credit card # on file quickly, LOL. Give them until Monday as not all of them work late into evenings and/or on Sundays, mine did before and was good - he's gone.

 

As for those last minute price drop, been tracking only NY prices lately & they don't really drop until 2 weeks out, sometimes 1 week out & only briefly - it is great if you can just pack up & go last minute, and don't need to get HR and superior's approval at work (self-employed, free-lance & small business owners, etc.) for non-holiday sailings. Many are biased against GTY cabins or dislike them for varied reasons, understood but we can live with them, if the prices are right - if not, land-based vacations & driving are options for us, and, at those crazy prices for Haven - our TA on land can come up with lots of alternatives to choose from.

[pnm655]

I agree price drops are often short so I have been checking prices every day. I am a business owner so I look for weeks that are slow when I can get away. It is hard to predict when a slow week will occur. I don't get the opportunity to specify a given week ahead of time.It is 4:46 pm and no contact form the PCC.

[sixesandeights]

We are looking at this May. Both weeks have rooms available. We typically book with a week or less notice. Once we booked the day before and booked the last available room. Last year we booked 2 days before sailing. We used to be able to get great last minute deals with NCL. Now that has disappeared.

 

We have 11 cruises with NCL. So the question is should I book May 1st this week or wait until May and book the 8th? Does anyone know next month's promos or pricing yet?

 

Both New York and Boston are within an easy driving distance for us.

 

Since 9/11 you have to book more then 3 days before the sailing date so the government can do their checks. I have to call shenanigans on you booking 2 days before sailing last year.

 

Pre-9/11 you could book (sometimes) on the day of sailing if you wanted, but that is long gone...

 

6&8

[pnm655]

Not true on the 3 day rule. In 2007 I booked the 7 day Bahamas and Florida from Charleston SC on the Majesty a day before the cruise. I booked Friday at 5 pm and left at 10 pm and drove thru the night to Charleston. Slept in the car for a few hours along the way and puled into the pier parking garage at 2pm for a 4 pm departure. I didn't have a room assignment and so had to wait for the all aboard to see what was available. I was the last person put on as the gangway was removed. I booked a GTY inside and got a nice Oceanview.

The Majesty was a nice ship. One issue was my luggage was not delivered because I didn't have a room assignment. The luggage went to the deck 2 naughty room so I went down and got it.

 

Last year we booked 2 days before departure on a cruise. When we got to our room the room steward approached us because we were not on his list. We also had to go to the FCC to get our latitude benefits because we were not on his list. We have booked less than 3 days before sailing probably 4 or 5 times.

 

Maybe once you are initially cleared you are freed from the 3 day rule. I know in New York City background checks are done when you check in for the cruise. The cruise terminal computers interface with the police databases. Once we were in the terminal when the NYPD showed up to arrest a guy who had a warrant outstanding for child support. Sucks to pay for a cruise and then not be able to take it because of an outstanding warrant. Once we got to check in around 2 pm in Manhattan and we had to wait for the customer check in database to be sent in for background checks. We had to wait maybe 10 minutes.

[TwizzlersAddict]

Since 9/11 you have to book more then 3 days before the sailing date so the government can do their checks. I have to call shenanigans on you booking 2 days before sailing last year.

 

Pre-9/11 you could book (sometimes) on the day of sailing if you wanted, but that is long gone...

 

6&8

 

You have a source for that info

 

 

This is from cruise critic

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=68

 

These days, cruise lines are required by law to submit passenger manifests within 24 to 48 hours of departure.

Edited April 27, 2015 by TwizzlersAddict

[pnm655]

The only item NCL has ever advised us on was we had to pre register on line. Our 2007 cruise was less than 24 hours before departure.

 

Another item that may be helpful is that I have passed many background checks to obtain licenses and permits from various gov. entities.

[pnm655]

Just noticed the price dropped another $50 for GTY inside and GTY obstructed oceanview on the May 1st Dawn

[Saraphine]

Once we were in the terminal when the NYPD showed up to arrest a guy who had a warrant outstanding for child support. Sucks to pay for a cruise and then not be able to take it because of an outstanding warrant.

 

Sucks that he decided to pay for a cruise rather than his child support.

[pnm655]

So true. Several of my male customers have asked about reducing or getting out of child support. I always tell them to pay their child support.