Norwegian's Free at Sea

[greg2014]

I have just received e-mail with confirmation from NCL: "When receiving the beverage package via a promotion, all gratuities are included and nothing will be added to the price."

[FLcruisergrl]

I just booked at the end of June and had to pay the 18 percent on the promotion

[greg2014]

As Jayne wrote earlier probably it is depending where booking is made - if in US you need to pay 18% extra, if in EU - gratuities are is included. NCL have probably different terms for US and EU.

[grandmarnnurse]

I had to pay the 18% gratuity when I booked in January for a January 2017 cruise. Perhaps it is only for US passengers.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[emcelh]

I had to pay the 18% gratuity when I booked in January for a January 2017 cruise. Perhaps it is only for US passengers.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

I believe it is. Depends on if you book through NCL in US or not.

[$hip$hape]

As Jayne wrote earlier probably it is depending where booking is made - if in US you need to pay 18% extra, if in EU - gratuities are is included.

NCL have probably different terms for US and EU.

 

Can anyone explain why this is?

Are there Euro laws that prevent NCL from bilking customers?

[Quilting_Cruiser]

Can anyone explain why this is?

Are there Euro laws that prevent NCL from bilking customers?

 

 

You answered the question. It has to do with their consumer protection laws--hopefully someone from the UK will come along and explain it. Another difference is that if you're from the UK and want to remove or reduce the DSC you can do that on board, but U.S. passengers must send in a form after the cruise. Before I get flamed, in all my cruises, I've never once reduces or removed the gratuities. :p

[rickays]

You answered the question. It has to do with their consumer protection laws--hopefully someone from the UK will come along and explain it. Another difference is that if you're from the UK and want to remove or reduce the DSC you can do that on board, but U.S. passengers must send in a form after the cruise. Before I get flamed, in all my cruises, I've never once reduces or removed the gratuities. :p

 

Also in Australia the gratuities are included for the "FREE" beverage package and I think it is the consumer laws that say if something is free then there cannot be any cost. Not sure if the cruise I booked actually costs more to compensate because I can only get the price in Aus$. DSC has to be prepaid and dont know if it can be removed or adjusted (didn't ask).

[J and G Love to Travel]

Just booked the Epic for 7 days in June. Selected "Each stateroom receives a $50 shore excursion credit for every port of call during your cruise." We visit 5 ports of call, but my Travel Agent says we only get 4 $50 credits, not 5. He verified this with NCL. Has anyone else had this same discrepancy?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

[ryarger]

Just booked the Epic for 7 days in June. Selected "Each stateroom receives a $50 shore excursion credit for every port of call during your cruise." We visit 5 ports of call, but my Travel Agent says we only get 4 $50 credits, not 5. He verified this with NCL. Has anyone else had this same discrepancy?

 

 

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

 

It's not a discrepancy. Read the Terms and Conditions carefully. They state that a maximum of 4 credits will be given, along with other restrictions (no refund if less than 4 ports are visited and overnights only count as one port except for Bermuda).

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hawkeyetlse]

Just booked the Epic for 7 days in June. Selected "Each stateroom receives a $50 shore excursion credit for every port of call during your cruise." We visit 5 ports of call, but my Travel Agent says we only get 4 $50 credits, not 5.

:mad: Every other time they have offered this, there has been a limit of 4 ports, but this restriction was clearly stated in the terms and conditions of the offer. This time, the terms say nothing about the number of ports:

$50 Per Port Shore Excursion Credit:

 

$50 USD per port shore excursion credit is per stateroom.

Credit has no monetary value and is nonrefundable.

In the event a port of call or excursion is missed, for any reason, no refund or credit will be issued.

Shore excursion credit is applicable for each port, and is not transferable to other ports. Use the credit or lose it.

Does not include embarkation and debarkation ports. Overnight stays count as one port, except Bermuda sailings which can receive up to 3 individual days of shore excursion credit.

Shore excursion credit can only be redeemed by calling 1-866-625-1167 or booking onboard.

And as you said, the front page of the promo clearly says "Each stateroom receives a $50 shore excursion credit for every port of call during your cruise." So I don't blame you for thinking that you are entitled to a credit for each of your 5 ports. I would encourage you to call NCL directly, ask to speak to a supervisor, and let them know that if there is indeed a limit of 4 ports, they need to update the terms ASAP to state that explicitly.

 

While you have the supervisor on the line, if you feel strongly about getting the $50 for your 5th port, you should not hesitate to ask for it.

[J and G Love to Travel]

:mad: Every other time they have offered this, there has been a limit of 4 ports, but this restriction was clearly stated in the terms and conditions of the offer. This time, the terms say nothing about the number of ports:

 

And as you said, the front page of the promo clearly says "Each stateroom receives a $50 shore excursion credit for every port of call during your cruise." So I don't blame you for thinking that you are entitled to a credit for each of your 5 ports. I would encourage you to call NCL directly, ask to speak to a supervisor, and let them know that if there is indeed a limit of 4 ports, they need to update the terms ASAP to state that explicitly.

 

While you have the supervisor on the line, if you feel strongly about getting the $50 for your 5th port, you should not hesitate to ask for it.

Thank you for your response. I sent a Twitter message to NCL and they replied that the 4 port restriction has been removed and the applies to all 5 ports of call on our cruise.

 

Thanks again.

[SNJCruisers]

Assuming that there is two per cabin, your promotional perk will entitle you to 25 pp for an overpriced shore excursion that more often than not can be found cheaper booking through an independent operator. At the very least, it will be in a smaller group instead of a larger one if by chance the prices are similar. It's the one perk that is the biggest money maker for NCL.

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Forums mobile app

[hawkeyetlse]

I sent a Twitter message to NCL and they replied that the 4 port restriction has been removed and the applies to all 5 ports of call on our cruise.

That's good news for people on longer cruises! It's very rare for them to increase the value of a perk from previous versions of the promo, in fact I think this may be the only example of that ever happening…

[SNJCruisers]

Assuming there are two to a cabin, all NCL is doing is giving a 25.00 per person discount. The discount is even less if there are 3 or 4 in a cabin. They are making more than that in profit per person per excursion, so by granting 5 ports of discounts instead of 4, they are making additional profits. On paper they are increasing the value of the perk, but in reality they are adding extra monies into their own pockets.

[hawkeyetlse]

I get what you're saying, like many offers in life it's a case of "spend money to save money", but lots of people take NCL excursions even at full price (and they may have very good reasons for doing that instead of looking for independent tours). For those people, it's $50 savings per port. The fact that it's a money maker for NCL doesn't mean that it's not a good deal for some customers, too.

 

I'm with you, I would never choose this perk over beverage or dining. But currently, bookings in France come with this excursion credit automatically (limited to 4 ports). In that case, I would certainly be happy to take advantage of it, if I found a good excursion. I wouldn't force myself to use it in every port just to get the savings, but of course NCL is hoping that people will do that.

[cruiseagona]

I am going on Getaway in January for two weeks. I chose the 250 free wifi minutes as my choice for both weeks. We've been to all of the upgraded restaurants and don't need to go to them again. We like the buffet. Our "upgrade" is eating in the MDR. I was tempted to do the soda, but don't drink that much of it to make that worthwhile. I have a new granddaughter (my first grandchild) and the thought of going for 2 weeks without knowing about her would be awful. Also, I sell on eBay to pay for these trips. Even though I put my store on vacation, I like to check in with customers in case they have a problem.

 

And the biggest reason why I do the wifi as my free perk is because I am addicted to it. Just like many Americans are addicted to coffee, I am addicted to the internet. I don't drink coffee. Hate the stuff. But love me some internet in the morning! :)

[J and G Love to Travel]

Assuming that there is two per cabin, your promotional perk will entitle you to 25 pp for an overpriced shore excursion that more often than not can be found cheaper booking through an independent operator. At the very least, it will be in a smaller group instead of a larger one if by chance the prices are similar. It's the one perk that is the biggest money maker for NCL.

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Forums mobile app

 

Thank you for your comments. I definitely understand how this is the big moneymaker for NCL, but here is the thought that went into my decision.

 

There will be three of us traveling, myself, my wife and a Great Nephew that will just have graduated from High School. My wife is disabled and will not go on the tours with us. We have a cabin that gives us two of the five free offers:

 

1. Unlimited Open Bar. The gratuity I would have to pay on this is more then we will spend at the bar for the entire trip. (7 night cruise, gratuity of $99.54 * 2 = $199.08)

 

2. Specialty Dinning. The included dinning options are good with us, plus with a third passenger we would have to pay for him to join us.

 

3. WiFi. If the wife opts for WiFi she will want more then 250 minutes.

 

4. Friends and Family Free. Yes, I am using this for the Great Nephew cruise fare.

 

5. Shore Excursion Credit. I agree with your evaluation and have taken independent tours or just gone on our own in many ports. I have had a case where our bus broke down returning to the ship (on a tour that was through the ship) and they held the ship for us. I was also on a tour I arranged locally and just made it back with 5 minutes to spare due to traffic. On this trip I will be taking the Nephew on two long excursions to Rome and Florence, so I want to be sure we get back on the ship, so I will use the cruise line's tours at least for these ports.

 

As with any choice like this "your millage will vary" based on our individual circumstances.

[ew101]

We just stepped off the Jade and they did credit the 250 free minutes (=$125) to the unlimited package plan. Note do this right after boarding as they have limited "slots" for unlimited users. We got four full days - they even threw in a credit for the roughly $5 difference. So we just paid for three days. We loved the unlimited- there was no stressing about failing to logout properly which is a huge nuisance.

[grandmarnnurse]

Thank you for your comments. I definitely understand how this is the big moneymaker for NCL, but here is the thought that went into my decision.

 

There will be three of us traveling, myself, my wife and a Great Nephew that will just have graduated from High School. My wife is disabled and will not go on the tours with us. We have a cabin that gives us two of the five free offers:

 

1. Unlimited Open Bar. The gratuity I would have to pay on this is more then we will spend at the bar for the entire trip. (7 night cruise, gratuity of $99.54 * 2 = $199.08)

 

2. Specialty Dinning. The included dinning options are good with us, plus with a third passenger we would have to pay for him to join us.

 

3. WiFi. If the wife opts for WiFi she will want more then 250 minutes.

 

4. Friends and Family Free. Yes, I am using this for the Great Nephew cruise fare.

 

5. Shore Excursion Credit. I agree with your evaluation and have taken independent tours or just gone on our own in many ports. I have had a case where our bus broke down returning to the ship (on a tour that was through the ship) and they held the ship for us. I was also on a tour I arranged locally and just made it back with 5 minutes to spare due to traffic. On this trip I will be taking the Nephew on two long excursions to Rome and Florence, so I want to be sure we get back on the ship, so I will use the cruise line's tours at least for these ports.

 

As with any choice like this "your millage will vary" based on our individual circumstances.

 

It sounds like you made the right choice for your family. Enjoy your trip!

[RareBird]

BIG warning on Wi-Fi package. We just returned and we had all four offers because we stayed in the suite. The Wi-Fi package even though it's 250 minutes it's only one gigabyte of data and it goes by incredibly quickly. For example about five minutes a FaceTime call is 200 MB. We went through our data in about a day. It's also a slow as molasses.

 

For my money if I had to pick one I would go with unlimited drinks.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

BIG warning on Wi-Fi package. We just returned and we had all four offers because we stayed in the suite. The Wi-Fi package even though it's 250 minutes it's only one gigabyte of data and it goes by incredibly quickly. For example about five minutes a FaceTime call is 200 MB. We went through our data in about a day. It's also a slow as molasses.

 

For my money if I had to pick one I would go with unlimited drinks.

 

Yes, if you use it that way, you'll use it up very quickly! I use Viber or Google Hangout to text with my daughter each evening for about 20 minutes. I always have minutes left over at the end of a 7-day cruise--not a lot, just 20 minutes or so.

[KeithJenner]

BIG warning on Wi-Fi package. We just returned and we had all four offers because we stayed in the suite. The Wi-Fi package even though it's 250 minutes it's only one gigabyte of data and it goes by incredibly quickly. For example about five minutes a FaceTime call is 200 MB. We went through our data in about a day. It's also a slow as molasses.

 

 

 

For my money if I had to pick one I would go with unlimited drinks.

 

 

 

Were you on the Breakaway? The wifi on there is measured by the gb rather than minutes, so I assume your experience is unique to that ship where the promo will be an amount of data rather than time.

[RareBird]

Were you on the Breakaway? The wifi on there is measured by the gb rather than minutes, so I assume your experience is unique to that ship where the promo will be an amount of data rather than time.

 

Yes we were on Breakaway and on 2nd day switched to using their computers as our iPhones and iPads ate too much data right away. Using their machines to email and browse internet it was about 100MB per 50-60min, much better rest of cruise!

[LoraJ]

I am going on Getaway in January for two weeks. I chose the 250 free wifi minutes as my choice for both weeks. We've been to all of the upgraded restaurants and don't need to go to them again. We like the buffet. Our "upgrade" is eating in the MDR. I was tempted to do the soda, but don't drink that much of it to make that worthwhile. I have a new granddaughter (my first grandchild) and the thought of going for 2 weeks without knowing about her would be awful. Also, I sell on eBay to pay for these trips. Even though I put my store on vacation, I like to check in with customers in case they have a problem.

 

And the biggest reason why I do the wifi as my free perk is because I am addicted to it. Just like many Americans are addicted to coffee, I am addicted to the internet. I don't drink coffee. Hate the stuff. But love me some internet in the morning! :)

 

I am addicted too and am not ashamed. Can't believe how judgmental people are. LOL.

 

I actually originally chose the 250 min package, but then remembered I had that many mins on my last cruise and went over, so I switched to the service charges package and got an unlimited internet package. I can enjoy the wifi on deck and on my balcony just as I would a book.