August Promo Question

[Sizzlechest]

No mention of the August promotion yet on the NCL website. Attempted a mock booking using the CHOBDIS code and it got accepted, but I didn't see anything in the details to show gratuities were now paid.

[Sizzlechest]

This is what's now available from a TA website:

 

Choose 1: Dining package, Beverage Package or more

Call to book an oceanview or higher stateroom category on select Norwegian sailings and you can choose between from an Ultimate Beverage package for 2, an Ultimate Dining package for 2, Prepaid gratuities for 2, a 250 minute internet package or on select dates you may choose free cruise fares for 3rd or 4th guests traveling in same stateroom as two paying adults. Guests are responsible for taxes and government fees. Book an inside or studio stateroom for a sailing date departing thru 12/22/15 and you can choose one of the above amenities. Book an interior or studio stateroom for departures on 12/23/15 - 4/29/17 and you may choose between a soda package for 2, a $50 dining credit for 2, $25 onboard credit or a 100 minute internet package. This offer is for new reservations only made between 8/1/15 and 8/31/15. Not valid for all fares displaying online and is restricted by certain fare codes. Please call to book and for more information. Offer ends 11:59 pm EST on August 31st!

 

Looks the same as the July promo.

[Sizzlechest]

The promo page on NCL has changed: http://www.ncl.com/promo/wave15

 

Looks like inside and studio are the same as the July promo for 2016 sailings. The Oceanview or higher look better (maybe).

[littlelulu01]

I just called and had my ta check on rebooking with new promo. The fare for my cruise in a suite increased by $300 pp since yesterday. So glad I booked before the new promo. The new promo sounded too good to be true. Guess ill be paying the gratuities myself.

[tartan cruiser]

The new offer is a little confusing if you don't read all the details first. If you book an inside cabin for 2016 or 2017 it lets you choose the CHOB and is listed as an applied option all the way through the booking process. Once you put a hold on the reservation it never says the the CHOB has been removed and does not apply to your booking. Just a heads up to anyone booking an inside online that even though you can choose the CHOB as an option and it show as being applied it is not for inside cabins.

[punkincc]

The new offer is a little confusing if you don't read all the details first. If you book an inside cabin for 2016 or 2017 it lets you choose the CHOB and is listed as an applied option all the way through the booking process. Once you put a hold on the reservation it never says the the CHOB has been removed and does not apply to your booking. Just a heads up to anyone booking an inside online that even though you can choose the CHOB as an option and it show as being applied it is not for inside cabins.

 

Yes, I just had two not so very pleasant convos with two different NCL reps. I called NCL to rebook an inside cabin to get the Ultimate Bev Package and was told it applied to OV and above only. I told the rep I had been able to go through a mock booking for an inside this am and it appeared to apply the UBP. He told me to see if I could complete the booking and if so call back.

 

I did complete a booking and it showed the UBP all the way through. I did it on a "Hold". No where did it indicate a Soda Pkg rather than UBP. No where did I get an error message that "This Promo does not apply to this cabin type". When I called back, another REP said my final confirmation, when I get it, would show the soda pkg instead. I expressed some strong opinions about their misleading booking system which appears to book one thing and then switch it to another on the final confirmation.

[jrsegrl]

I did the same for our April cruise. Gave me 25 room credit and said I had Bev Pkg. But when the confirmation arrived in my email - no UBP. Was suspicious anyway since no gratuity was added to cruise fare. Really wish they would have all their ducks in a row when the promos change.

[LHHFMF]

Same experience here. I tried to book my mom to an inside and the reservation department was of no help in answering why it is offered on the page and stays on the page until they took my money.

[maggieworkman]

I saw the free beverage package with no service charge for inside deal too and was just about to book it. I'm glad I saw on here that it was a mistake. I thought it was too good to be true, that is why I checked on here.

 

Except I don't see the free gratuities option. That is what I had been planning on selecting.

 

Did you also notice it still says "Automatically get free or half price 3rd & 4th stateroom guests plus apply any one promo code below for a bonus offer!" right above the promo offers?

 

Maggie

Edited August 1, 2015 by maggieworkman

[tartan cruiser]

I agree completely. Had the same conversation this morning regarding my reservation that was put on "hold" only mine defaulted to the $25 OBC. If you put a booking on hold I would call to make sure you're getting what you thought you booked so your not disappointed. I've got 6 cruises currently booked between Princess, RCCL, Celebrity and NCL and so far NCL has been the most difficult to deal with. I'm looking forward to my onboard experience on Escape but it's not easy getting to that point.

[coldflame]

Like every promo cruise lines push out, it's mostly smoke and mirrors. If you aren't careful you might end up paying more with promo than w/o it.

[punkincc]

Found it:

 

 

August Promo: Finish off your summer with a sizzling offer. Book a Studio or higher and choose from five great offers. Toast another magical sunset, compliments of our FREE Unlimited Beverages. Indulge in delicious meals with our FREE Unlimited Specialty Dining. Don't worry about the tip with the FREE Gratuities. Upload tropical selfies with our FREE WiFi. Share the trip of a lifetime with a loved one with our Friends & Family Sail FREE. Best of all, book a Suite or The Haven and get ALL five offers for FREE!

 

Looks like I'm rebooking if the price remains the same. Hopefully this applies to 2016 sailing dates.

 

 

So, what happened to this Promo offer which clearly indicates "Book a Studio or higher and choose from 5 great offers" one of which is Beverage Package? Now suddenly it is OV or higher for UBP?

[fstuff1]

So, what happened to this Promo offer which clearly indicates "Book a Studio or higher and choose from 5 great offers" one of which is Beverage Package? Now suddenly it is OV or higher for UBP?

 

the onboard cruise consultant on my July cruise said he saw the Aug promos and they are worse than the July promos.

"so book July promos now!"

 

this Aug 1-31 flyer clearly makes it look better than the July promo.

I guess the cruise consultant was right.

 

as for why did NCL make this flyer, I don't know.

maybe it was planned for but they changed their mind?

Edited August 1, 2015 by fstuff1

[Sizzlechest]

So, what happened to this Promo offer which clearly indicates "Book a Studio or higher and choose from 5 great offers" one of which is Beverage Package? Now suddenly it is OV or higher for UBP?

 

For sailings departing before December 22, 2015, it's for all cabins. Sailings after that, it's different for inside and studios. That's why I commented when the Terms and Conditions were originally posted that it didn't make sense that they had the language in there for the $50 specialty dining credit if it applied across the board.

[punkincc]

For sailings departing before December 22, 2015, it's for all cabins. Sailings after that, it's different for inside and studios. That's why I commented when the Terms and Conditions were originally posted that it didn't make sense that they had the language in there for the $50 specialty dining credit if it applied across the board.

 

Still seems misleading to me. Especially when you do a booking on the website for January 2016 and it accepts your chob for UBP all the way through.

 

Will just keep the original booking, not worth the increase in fare for the choices offered.

[tartan cruiser]

What bugs me is I'm sure NCL knows by now that their booking site is deceptive or misleading at best. Why don't they correct it? During last month's promo they had 2 columns, one if you booked an inside with amenity choices and one for oceanview and higher with amenity choices. For some customers, their booking window, is the only information most cruisers would know about when booking a cruise. Most are not as savvy as cruise critic readers. This seems very much like a bait and switch situation to me. I feel FDR is misguided in his approach to making NCL more profitable. To me a satisfied customer will be a repeat customer and willing to spend more if a value is there. Previously cruised NCL every year but got to feeling nickeled and dimed to death so we stopped sailing with them. Last year I booked the Escape because of the free beverage package and the allure of a new ship. Since the time I booked and now so much has changed and I'm not very happy with the direction it's going. I'm taking a wait and see attitude, if my Escape cruise does not live up to my expectations then I'll move along again.

[fstuff1]

hm.. mock booking of a non-Haven suite for a Aug cruise still gives me July's promos.

it doesn't list the free gratuities.

 

"Haven and Suites automatically get Ultimate Dining Package, Ultimate Beverage Package, Shore Excursion Credit, and Free WiFi Credit. If you pick a Haven or Suite you do not need to apply a promo code."

 

 

who run's their IT dept?

former govt employees?

Edited August 1, 2015 by fstuff1

[tartan cruiser]

Not sure who's running their IT department but I'm sure they are stripped to the bare bones. When I booked my Escape cruise I noticed my husband had a cruise missing and his status was different from mine. We had only cruised together so it was easy to see what cruise was missing. When I emailed NCL regarding this the web site said it would take 6-8 weeks.This was in February. By the end of June I still hadn't heard from them nor was his status corrected. If they are that short of staff or have that many passengers with missing cruises then something is wrong. IT or otherwise. Totally unacceptable in my opinion. I still have not heard back from my original email. Thankfully,by reading this site I found other people had this same problem and some had been waiting for more than 6 months.They provided a name to contact. I contacted this person and had the issue resolved the same day. Another frustration dealing with NCL. Like I said before, not everyone reads cruise critic.

[littlelulu01]

I just called and had my ta check on rebooking with new promo. The fare for my cruise in a suite increased by $300 pp since yesterday. So glad I booked before the new promo. The new promo sounded too good to be true. Guess ill be paying the gratuities myself.

 

Persistence pays. I got to thinking about this and the quoted increase today matched my AARP discount. I called TA back and found out the price had not increased. I was able to rebook my 11 night cruise and have the DSC replace the shore credit promo. Paid nothing extra. The only difference is now we only have five nights specialty dining vs. all 11 nights but since I don't plan on specialty dining every night this deal works out much better for us. I'm pretty excited. I know it's not the deal that was offered at the beginning of the year but it's not bad given we have $250 TA obc in addition.

[carads]

Persistence pays. I got to thinking about this and the quoted increase today matched my AARP discount. I called TA back and found out the price had not increased. I was able to rebook my 11 night cruise and have the DSC replace the shore credit promo. Paid nothing extra. The only difference is now we only have five nights specialty dining vs. all 11 nights but since I don't plan on specialty dining every night this deal works out much better for us. I'm pretty excited. I know it's not the deal that was offered at the beginning of the year but it's not bad given we have $250 TA obc in addition.

 

We did the same thing on our 7 night cruise for next year. With AARP discount the price stayed the same and we gave up the excursion credits that we wouldn't use for prepaid DSC. We went from 7 nights specialty dining to 4 but we like the Haven restaurant and would normally have dinner there 3 or 4 nights anyway.

[littlelulu01]

We did the same thing on our 7 night cruise for next year. With AARP discount the price stayed the same and we gave up the excursion credits that we wouldn't use for prepaid DSC. We went from 7 nights specialty dining to 4 but we like the Haven restaurant and would normally have dinner there 3 or 4 nights anyway.

 

Great! I'm really excited to sail on the epic. It's our first mega ship experience. I initially booked a spa balcony but after reading all the complaints about the wavey rooms I priced out how much extra for a haven spa room. Our sailing isn't till next year either but given all the perks I'm happy with the price paid. It really wasn't too much more factoring the perks. This promo seems to be the best one offered for a while now. booking so far in advance gives some time to see if anything better comes along too. I had been kicking myself for not booking when the choice packages first came out but for a suite this comes pretty close in value to initial offerings at the beginning of the year. For a non suite it seems like last months promo was better.

Edited August 2, 2015 by littlelulu01

[C. Anne]

We booked last night, because they said the promotion was ending. One thing we found out is that even though the promotion of Ultimate Dining and Ultimate Beverage ends in December, if you book an oceanview cabin in January, February, etc.. the Ultimate Dining and Ultimate Beverage packages are available. So, we booked, but this morning I checked and saw that the UD and UB were put back on the inside cabin, but the price was raised $150. If the promotion ends again, always ask about the upgraded cabins that may still be offering it. The oceanview was only a little more expensive and we got the UD and UB (one for each cabin), so it was a good deal.

[don't-use-real-name]

I wonder if suites will get all promos.

 

Yup - Suites Havens Gardens get all the promos * exception POA has

restrictions and MINI-SUITES (NOT real Suites) same as Balcony cabins.

Before signing on dotted line know what you are getting EXACTLY !

Subject to "Blue Moon" clauses (expired) and other whims of the NCL

current management but to their favor each passing month seems to

get better and better with the promos for almost everyone !

But know this it may be FREE but you are still paying for it.

[maggieworkman]

Other travel sites are showing the UBP with inside cabins. I even read the terms and service closely and they say for ANY stateroom category. For those of you that have booked this, have you been definitely told it doesn't apply to inside cabins?

 

And I still don't see the gratuity option.

 

Maggie

[tartan cruiser]

Yes, I tried to book an inside online (1/2017 Getaway)with a hold put on the reservation. I called NCL at 9:00 am 8/1 to confirm it included the beverage package but was told it only applied to oceanview and above. As you've noted it appears the beverage package is included when booking an inside. Very deceptive in my opinion. I might call one of the TA's and see what they say. Not a good way to increase customer loyalty and increase your profits for the longterm. Once a customer leaves with bad taste in their mouths it's hard to lure them back.