HoopTroop Posted September 15, 2015 #1 Share Posted September 15, 2015 I see posts from people about horrible cruise prices very often. I constantly look at prices and am AMAZED at the deals out there. Mexican Riviera this November, inside rooms with drinks package, free 3rd and 4th passengers. The total price for 3 people was $1343 on Norwegians website, that is a fantastic price. I paid almost that much for a cruise, inside room with no drink package on the Dawn last year, (take off the gratuity for the drink package) and that was one of the best deals around. This is just one example, look at the prices for this fall with free 3rd and 4th and drinks package, COMPARE to other cruise lines, these deals are the best in years. Now, say you don't want the drinks package, the price is similar to years past. You get a drinks package for only the cost of gratuities. I don't see where people say prices are covering the cost of the package, deals are there for sure, even on the Getaway. Hooptroop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinyturtle22 Posted September 15, 2015 #2 Share Posted September 15, 2015 And prices are dropping closer to sailing contrary to what some here have been saying recently. I just now moved from a studio to a balcony guarantee on the Getaway for the Oct 31 sailing. Totally free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clackey Posted September 15, 2015 #3 Share Posted September 15, 2015 I concur. I watched for 2 months and finally found a steal on the Jade sailing exactly when we wanted to go. I am talking the cheapest that we have had so far for a 7 night cruise. In fact it was cheaper than most 4 and 5 nighters.:D That's right. I showed the price to GingerD and she said, "Book it Danno!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abe3 Posted September 16, 2015 #4 Share Posted September 16, 2015 I see posts from people about horrible cruise prices very often. I constantly look at prices and am AMAZED at the deals out there. Mexican Riviera this November, inside rooms with drinks package, free 3rd and 4th passengers. The total price for 3 people was $1343 on Norwegians website, that is a fantastic price. I paid almost that much for a cruise, inside room with no drink package on the Dawn last year, (take off the gratuity for the drink package) and that was one of the best deals around. This is just one example, look at the prices for this fall with free 3rd and 4th and drinks package, COMPARE to other cruise lines, these deals are the best in years. Now, say you don't want the drinks package, the price is similar to years past. You get a drinks package for only the cost of gratuities. I don't see where people say prices are covering the cost of the package, deals are there for sure, even on the Getaway. Hooptroop Yes it is a great value for a vacation! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyfire53 Posted September 16, 2015 #5 Share Posted September 16, 2015 We booked a family suite with 6 people, the UBP for the 2 adults and the soda pkg for the 4 kids, UDP for everyone and a $300 OBC for our cruise in Dec and it came to less than $3500....When you figure out how much the perks are each, we didnt pay hardly anything for the cruise ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LHHFMF Posted September 16, 2015 #6 Share Posted September 16, 2015 We're leaving on a cruise out of Tampa on 10/25 so I've been keeping track of the prices and shocked at the value of what an inside cabin is going for! I booked a balcony about 9 months ago which has increased in price but insides are a bargain If four people chose to squeeze into an inside cabin the four of them could have a ticket to four ports, all the food they could eat, a place to stay and two of them could have all the drinks they want for $395 (avg) a person for a week. ($958 cruise fair + $136.08 promo fee for two + $485.12 in port fees) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelbug771 Posted September 16, 2015 #7 Share Posted September 16, 2015 We have 12 people sailing on the Escape in Jan in three rooms (1 balcony and 2 insides) and we got the drink package, prepaid gratuities, $50 obc per room for $4435! Crazy good value! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.S.Oceanlover Posted September 16, 2015 #8 Share Posted September 16, 2015 we have a balcony booked on the Getaway for February 7. Paid over $2400. Crazy good deal. lol NOT! If it was a summer cruise I might agree but not for the early part of February. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonmom Posted September 16, 2015 #9 Share Posted September 16, 2015 (edited) we have a balcony booked on the Getaway for February 7. Paid over $2400. Crazy good deal. lol NOT! If it was a summer cruise I might agree but not for the early part of February. Bill I honestly cannot understand anyone who lives in the northern half of the continental US spending any money at all for a summer cruise to anywhere, but especially the tropics! It's finally nice here, there is no snow, and you want to go somewhere where it will be 90 degrees out!? Not me! We are paying about that for our balcony on the Jade next January and it seems fair to me. 7 nights hotel, unlimited food and drinks for 2 adults (alcohol, too!) and 1 child, up to 10 hours of included babysitting every day, housekeeping, transportation to three beautiful ports that will be sunny and warm, pools, shows, activities, all for $2500 *total* including taxes/fees/basic gratuities? At a time when everything here is covered in several feet of snow and it might be as cold as -30 with wind chill? YES, PLEASE!! Edited September 16, 2015 by anonmom typos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.S.Oceanlover Posted September 16, 2015 #10 Share Posted September 16, 2015 I honestly cannot understand anyone who lives in the northern half of the continental US spending any money at all for a summer cruise to anywhere, but especially the tropics! It's finally nice here, there is no snow, and you want to go somewhere where it will be 90 degrees out!? Not me!We are paying about that for our balcony on the Jade next January and it seems fair to me. 7 nights hotel, unlimited food and drinks for 2 adults (alcohol, too!) and 1 child, up to 10 hours of included babysitting every day, housekeeping, transportation to three beautiful ports that will be sunny and warm, pools, shows, activities, all for $2500 *total* including taxes/fees/basic gratuities? At a time when everything here is covered in several feet of snow and it might be as cold as -30 with wind chill? YES, PLEASE!! which is why we don't cruise in the summer.:) You got a better deal than we did. You are only paying $100 more for 3 and your gratuities are included. Enjoy your trip:) Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theroxykitten Posted September 16, 2015 #11 Share Posted September 16, 2015 We moved to the haven to take advantage of the 3+4 free package as grandad is coming too. So are in the haven family villa with all 4 freestyle choices including $300 credit for less than it would have been for two balconies. Cracking deals. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freckle53 Posted September 16, 2015 #12 Share Posted September 16, 2015 I honestly cannot understand anyone who lives in the northern half of the continental US spending any money at all for a summer cruise to anywhere, but especially the tropics! It's finally nice here, there is no snow, and you want to go somewhere where it will be 90 degrees out!? Not me! We are paying about that for our balcony on the Jade next January and it seems fair to me. 7 nights hotel, unlimited food and drinks for 2 adults (alcohol, too!) and 1 child, up to 10 hours of included babysitting every day, housekeeping, transportation to three beautiful ports that will be sunny and warm, pools, shows, activities, all for $2500 *total* including taxes/fees/basic gratuities? At a time when everything here is covered in several feet of snow and it might be as cold as -30 with wind chill? YES, PLEASE!! Last year we cruised in late September/early October when it was starting to get cool here and it was nice to know we had an extra week of summer to look forward to as the leaves were falling. We go again in February and will leave from NY so it'll e cold still for part of it, but 4-5 days of no snow and warm enough for no coats and then even shorts after a bit will be heavenly. Last winter was brutal here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruzsnooze Posted September 16, 2015 #13 Share Posted September 16, 2015 I see posts from people about horrible cruise prices very often. I constantly look at prices and am AMAZED at the deals out there. Mexican Riviera this November, inside rooms with drinks package, free 3rd and 4th passengers. The total price for 3 people was $1343 on Norwegians website, that is a fantastic price. I paid almost that much for a cruise, inside room with no drink package on the Dawn last year, (take off the gratuity for the drink package) and that was one of the best deals around. This is just one example, look at the prices for this fall with free 3rd and 4th and drinks package, COMPARE to other cruise lines, these deals are the best in years. Now, say you don't want the drinks package, the price is similar to years past. You get a drinks package for only the cost of gratuities. I don't see where people say prices are covering the cost of the package, deals are there for sure, even on the Getaway. Hooptroop I wouldn't sail in an inside if it was free. Insides are a hard sell, that's why they are so cheap. On the Mexican Riviera I'm doing the insides are $499 and the suite I took is $1759, big difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William W Posted September 16, 2015 #14 Share Posted September 16, 2015 (edited) And if one were willing to try out MSC, their prices are even better than NCL. For example, a family of 4 with 2 children can sail on the MSC Splendida in an inside cabin for 7 nights round trip in the Meds for approximately $930 tax and port charge included plus another $100 OBC. Yes, one can argue MSC offers a different product than NCL. But with recent changes made by NCL, such as going a la carte in their premium restaurants, I can see they are more similar than different. Edited September 16, 2015 by William W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpcaruth Posted September 16, 2015 #15 Share Posted September 16, 2015 (edited) I think timing in when to book a cruise is key. We have a balcony cabin on the Getaway in January for four. First 2 passengers with UBP (grat included, as we booked last Feb). Our kids get free soda package. Plus, we got $75 obc from NCL and $50 from our TA. We are hitting 4 ports, including Great Stirrup Cay which includes free food and our free beverage package. Our grand total, including taxes and port fees, was $2050!!! This does not include DSC. I am beyond pleased with this deal. Now, I just checked the prices for this cruise... the cruise price has gone up to $3900, the obc has dropped $50, the 2 UBP will be charged an additional gratuity fee of $136, the kids would not get the soda package (will be an additional $97 for 2 teens), and the DSC has gone up $2 per day per person ($56)... I can see where some may be complaining about costs going up. I would NOT book this cruise at today's price - I would be looking at the Fun ships! Edited September 16, 2015 by mpcaruth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4gomez Posted September 16, 2015 #16 Share Posted September 16, 2015 10 nt. gem 4 real ports; no private island, bahamas or florida bs . org booked mid ship balcony for 4 @ approx 4k saw an email (which I usually just delete) got a price of 3k! plus 2 ubp 75 obc; was a REAL sale. same site everything the same after advertised sale; 5k! I am hiding in the house until sale date waiting for cruise police to come and take me to the hoosegow for theft. Moral to the story; We need to take some time periodically to check prices because as in this case they MAY fluctuate like the so called $39 flight tickets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sotermarler Posted September 16, 2015 #17 Share Posted September 16, 2015 think timing in when to book a cruise is key. We have a balcony cabin on the Getaway in January for four. First 2 passengers with UBP (grat included, as we booked last Feb). Our kids get free soda package. Plus, we got $75 obc from NCL and $50 from our TA. We are hitting 4 ports, including Great Stirrup Cay which includes free food and our free beverage package. Our grand total, including taxes and port fees, was $2050!!! This does not include DSC. I am beyond pleased with this deal. Amazing deal! We got a similar deal on the Jade Western Carrib. For 11/2016 When I called in Jan with same perks UBP, KSF! $1900. You can imagine how upset I was when it was cancelled do to the redeployment. Luckily I was able to keep everything after numerous hours on the phone and just move ports from Houston to Tampa. You are correct, it depends when you book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cj_wants_to _sail Posted September 16, 2015 #18 Share Posted September 16, 2015 And prices are dropping closer to sailing contrary to what some here have been saying recently. I just now moved from a studio to a balcony guarantee on the Getaway for the Oct 31 sailing. Totally free. Not being an experienced cruiser, I am comfortable with what we paid overall (can't say if it was a good deal) - 7 nt. Star in Nov, 3 ppl, OV, UBP for two and Soda pkg for 1 incl drink gratuities for $1680 USD. I am disappointed (in myself, NCL and the global economy) that there was a way to pay in CDN $ that I was unaware of.... by the time I found this out, NCL said there was nothing they could do, so this trip is going to cost us a lot more than I would have liked and won't be a better deal than we could have gotten on a nice AI.... Live and learn I guess, we are still super excited that we are able to go on a vacation! The one thing I have been watching for and have not seen are any real price drops as we get closer to sailing - maybe it is still to early?? Or maybe we did get such an awesome deal to begin with that it will not get any cheaper then what we paid? I guess my point is that, to the unexperienced cruiser like myself, based on the prices I am currently seeing, I am not convinced that cruising is a "great deal" (which is totally different than being a great experience). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilentHill Posted September 16, 2015 #19 Share Posted September 16, 2015 (edited) Yea, except when you don't care about the 3rd and 4th passenger free since you only travel as a couple.... Then the prices are not so hot. Also we don't drink alcohol, so UBP is utterly worthless. Edited September 16, 2015 by SilentHill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulInPGH Posted September 16, 2015 #20 Share Posted September 16, 2015 My wife and I are trying NCL for the first time in just over two weeks. We booked a cruise on the Getaway last-minute and I was very impressed with the reasonable prices, not even taking into account the free beverage package we got as a bonus. As the Getaway is one of the newer, larger ships, I was expecting to find prices similar to the newer ships on RCI (where we did our two previous cruises), but I was very pleased to see what a bargain the Getaway was, especially compared to prices on the Oasis/Allure, etc. It could be because we booked last-minute, I don't know, but we are both really happy with what we paid and we're really looking forward to trying what looks like a great ship. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinyturtle22 Posted September 16, 2015 #21 Share Posted September 16, 2015 (edited) Not being an experienced cruiser, I am comfortable with what we paid overall (can't say if it was a good deal) - 7 nt. Star in Nov, 3 ppl, OV, UBP for two and Soda pkg for 1 incl drink gratuities for $1680 USD. I am disappointed (in myself, NCL and the global economy) that there was a way to pay in CDN $ that I was unaware of.... by the time I found this out, NCL said there was nothing they could do, so this trip is going to cost us a lot more than I would have liked and won't be a better deal than we could have gotten on a nice AI.... Live and learn I guess, we are still super excited that we are able to go on a vacation! The one thing I have been watching for and have not seen are any real price drops as we get closer to sailing - maybe it is still to early?? Or maybe we did get such an awesome deal to begin with that it will not get any cheaper then what we paid? I guess my point is that, to the unexperienced cruiser like myself, based on the prices I am currently seeing, I am not convinced that cruising is a "great deal" (which is totally different than being a great experience). I have been looking for price drops for a while but there were just a few dollars here and there. But yesterday I was doing a mock booking on the website to check and at first it didn't look like there was any difference from the day before. But when I kept going all the way through to the point where you actually select a cabin all the prices went way down. Actually $50 less than what I paid for the studio for the Balcony guarantee but about $100 more to actually select a cabin. I called them and they just switched me over to the BX guarantee. I'm totally ok with any kind/location of balcony or above. Just keep checking. Make sure you go all the way to the cabin/promo selection page to see the exact price. There is also always a chance that they will call or email you will an upgrade offer closer to sailing. Edited September 16, 2015 by Tinyturtle22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winston Wolf Posted September 16, 2015 #22 Share Posted September 16, 2015 I wanted to sail Getaway for Spring Break 2017, but the prices are completely out of whack when compared against RCI. We booked a bigger cabin on what I consider to be a comparable ship, with one extra day, for $800 less than what I could get on Getaway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4gomez Posted September 17, 2015 #23 Share Posted September 17, 2015 OH and I may add: If you do sit down and start pulling up prices, it is just like shopping for concert seats. People are holding spots as you sit there. They are also releasing spots as you sit there. If you have the time, keep punching in your info till something comes up that you may like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winston Wolf Posted September 17, 2015 #24 Share Posted September 17, 2015 OH and I may add: If you do sit down and start pulling up prices, it is just like shopping for concert seats. People are holding spots as you sit there. They are also releasing spots as you sit there. If you have the time, keep punching in your info till something comes up that you may like. I haven't seen this at all. Getaway prices for the cabin I wanted have held for months at the same price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newmexicoNita Posted September 18, 2015 #25 Share Posted September 18, 2015 I see posts from people about horrible cruise prices very often. I constantly look at prices and am AMAZED at the deals out there. Mexican Riviera this November, inside rooms with drinks package, free 3rd and 4th passengers. The total price for 3 people was $1343 on Norwegians website, that is a fantastic price. I paid almost that much for a cruise, inside room with no drink package on the Dawn last year, (take off the gratuity for the drink package) and that was one of the best deals around. This is just one example, look at the prices for this fall with free 3rd and 4th and drinks package, COMPARE to other cruise lines, these deals are the best in years. Now, say you don't want the drinks package, the price is similar to years past. You get a drinks package for only the cost of gratuities. I don't see where people say prices are covering the cost of the package, deals are there for sure, even on the Getaway. Hooptroop There will always be those who think if it is free, it is still too expensive or we are being charged for things we do not use. I agree with you: good prices with good perks. I remember our first cruise, the ship and the price. That was about 30 years ago and the cost as about the same as we are paying now. the only real increase has been gratuities, port charges and taxes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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