Choosing NCL Promos, not good

[4774Papa]

I was looking at booking an NCL cruise and the screen for selecting your two promos came up.

 

Our last NCL cruise was great. It was Alaska on the Sun and we had the beverage packages WITHOUT the 18% gratuities. The NCL policy has changed and now we have to pay the gratuities. For a 7 day cruise for two persons the gratuities for our beverage packages are about $200. Because we are platinum, we get three bottles of wine during a cruise, one the first day, and two more with our free specialty dinners. We would spend about $200 on the cruise, so that promos is a break even. EXCEPT the we normally drink red wine and I was not very happy with the wines offered on the beverage package list. I would rather pay for my own wine.

 

 

So we don't pick the beverage packages, then what? This is were we face another problem. The only promo that we really want to take is the $50 excursion credit for each port. That would probably save us some $$$, Of course, I sometimes organize private tours. If we wanted to take the excursion package, the only other choice that is pared with that are the unlimited dining or the beverage package. We don't want either. We are platinum and each one of us gets a meal for two at a specialty restaurant, with a bottle of wine. There is a free internet package, but we can't pick that one with the excursion package.

 

 

I don't suppose NCL is flexible enough to give us the internet package and the excursion package?

 

My frustration is that I wish NCL would just give us a baseline price without any promos.

 

Please NCL.

 

I don't think that will happen. Perhaps I will just plan on doing private excursions and take the internet, but then I am forced to take one of the two promos that I don't really want, the beverage package (see above) or the dining package, which I don't want either, since we already have two specialty dinners for free.

[luddite]

Get the beverage package and make a lot of friends by giving them drinks.

[hawkeyetlse]

I don't suppose NCL is flexible enough to give us the internet package and the excursion package?

You can choose any combination of two perks, including this one. If this doesn't show up as an option online, you'll have to call to get someone to put in the right code manually.

My frustration is that I wish NCL would just give us a baseline price without any promos.

They did something like this last year (the "Sail-Away" rate), but the current no-perk option is booking IX/OX/BX/MX, and that almost always means you can't choose your own cabin.

 

I don't know what cruise you're trying to book, but the promo discussed in the following thread may be of interest to you:

Select 2017 Europe sailings 50% of 2nd passenger

[triptolemus]

There's nothing in the terms that state the internet and shorex credit can't be picked together. The website is probably too stupid to allow it though...have you tried calling and speaking with someone? I understand that can be pretty hopeless too, but if the website truly doesn't allow it, that is obviously the only other choice...

Edited December 14, 2016 by triptolemus

[MikeBTN]

Book a guarantee and you'll get a great price. Or choose internet & shore excursion credit. If the site doesn't let you, just call. I do wish they would keep the free gratuities and ditched the shore excursion credit, but the shore excursion credit is a much better deal for them, so I get it.

 

 

NCL's business department makes these decisions for a reason, and its not necessarily to please you or I individually. Its to appeal to the broad customer base. They'll tick off a few repeat customers to pick up thousands of new ones because, in the long run, its much better for them. If you don't like it, there are other companies who would love your business. Book Celebrity or Princess, where they "include" promos as well. Or book Carnival, MSC, or Costa for a cheap cruise.

[khaide612]

I don't suppose NCL is flexible enough to give us the internet package and the excursion package?

 

My frustration is that I wish NCL would just give us a baseline price without any promos.

 

Please NCL.

 

The first option should be "Norwegian Rate" with no promos. As others have said there is nothing prohibiting combining whichever promos are available. Call. You can even call up to 48 hours before you actually sail and change them to something else that was offered when you booked.

[4774Papa]

Book a guarantee and you'll get a great price. Or choose internet & shore excursion credit. If the site doesn't let you, just call. I do wish they would keep the free gratuities and ditched the shore excursion credit, but the shore excursion credit is a much better deal for them, so I get it.

 

 

NCL's business department makes these decisions for a reason, and its not necessarily to please you or I individually. Its to appeal to the broad customer base. They'll tick off a few repeat customers to pick up thousands of new ones because, in the long run, its much better for them. If you don't like it, there are other companies who would love your business. Book Celebrity or Princess, where they "include" promos as well. Or book Carnival, MSC, or Costa for a cheap cruise.

 

The problem with going elsewhere is that other cruise lines are doing the same thing, bundling their prices with promos.

 

We cruise a lot on Celebrity and it had significantly boosted their prices. That caused us to book two cruises on Royal Caribbean that didn't have the funding pricing.

 

Still, the cruise that we booked is the Canada and New England seven day out of Boston. We won't go with Carnival or Costa. Royal or Princess may be an option if the overall pricing gets to be too much.

[MikeBTN]

The problem with going elsewhere is that other cruise lines are doing the same thing, bundling their prices with promos.

 

We cruise a lot on Celebrity and it had significantly boosted their prices. That caused us to book two cruises on Royal Caribbean that didn't have the funding pricing.

 

Still, the cruise that we booked is the Canada and New England seven day out of Boston. We won't go with Carnival or Costa. Royal or Princess may be an option if the overall pricing gets to be too much.

 

Well there you go......NCL has a product and price that you want, and they've priced it accordingly with current market conditions to maximize their profit. Complaining that they're not as affordable as they used to be is just silly. Sort of like the "Loyal Royals" who whine about the constant Royal Caribbean "sales" that aren't actually sales. Find a cruise that you like at a price you want, book it, and enjoy your cruise. As has already been mentioned, just call for either no promos (the "Norwegian Rate") or to get Internet & ShoreEx Credit offers together if not available on the site.

[detroitlions]

The prices on board for a glass of wine is quite a bit of money. In some cases you can buy a bottle on land for a glass of wine on board which I think is crazy so I would go with the beverage package for sure.

 

A lot of my family drink wine I am not one that likes more than a glass but they always find wine they like. And on some of the ships you can go to the wine cellar or wine bars which have more to choose from.

 

A plus to this is if you would like another bottle of wine that you can not get by glass they discount it 25% with the UBP. To me it is well worth it you will be paying the 18% Gratuity weather you get the free package or not unless you do not drink anything but your 3 bottles of wine.

[nissach]

Well there you go......NCL has a product and price that you want, and they've priced it accordingly with current market conditions to maximize their profit. Complaining that they're not as affordable as they used to be is just silly. Sort of like the "Loyal Royals" who whine about the constant Royal Caribbean "sales" that aren't actually sales. Find a cruise that you like at a price you want, book it, and enjoy your cruise. As has already been mentioned, just call for either no promos (the "Norwegian Rate") or to get Internet & ShoreEx Credit offers together if not available on the site.

 

First world problems :)

[4774Papa]

Well there you go......NCL has a product and price that you want, and they've priced it accordingly with current market conditions to maximize their profit. Complaining that they're not as affordable as they used to be is just silly. Sort of like the "Loyal Royals" who whine about the constant Royal Caribbean "sales" that aren't actually sales. Find a cruise that you like at a price you want, book it, and enjoy your cruise. As has already been mentioned, just call for either no promos (the "Norwegian Rate") or to get Internet & ShoreEx Credit offers together if not available on the site.

 

Respectfully disagree. Of course, I can always find another cruise line with a more competitive pricing structure. However, how a cruise line prices its product is a legitimate issue. If this isn't a valid subject on cc, then I don't know what is.

 

I don't criticize the cruise lines for making a profit, but don't have to like their pricing. Sometimes bringing up the issue may lead the cruise line changing their policy.

 

Also, once a loyal cruiser achieves a certain bennie under a loyalty program, and these promos either eliminate or reduce the value of those bennies, it is worth exposure.

[hawkeyetlse]

As far as I know, the "Norwegian Rate" is always the same as the rate with perks. Has anyone seen it being lower for any sailings?

 

It's absolutely legitimate to express dissatisfaction with the bundled pricing model. But I think you also have to recognize that the whole point of the permanent promo is to create dissatisfaction in customers that don't want any extras during their cruise.

[littlelulu01]

I was able to book our next cruise with 50% off second passenger on the ncl Asia site. Saved 4K on a Haven suite over booking with free at sea on USA site. That promo runs through the 17th. Same cancellation deadlines and policies as the us site. No free at sea perks included but 50% off for 2nd passenger is a very good deal if you don't want any perks included. It's only for Europe 2017 sailings but do check other markets because they all get different promo offers. Just be careful because some markets have non refundable deposits. See link for booking from previous poster above.

[MikeBTN]

As far as I know, the "Norwegian Rate" is always the same as the rate with perks. Has anyone seen it being lower for any sailings?

 

It's absolutely legitimate to express dissatisfaction with the bundled pricing model. But I think you also have to recognize that the whole point of the permanent promo is to create dissatisfaction in customers that don't want any extras during their cruise.

 

Sure, except that you do have a choice to not participate in the "bundled pricing" - book a guarantee and save (generally) several hundred dollars per stateroom.

 

I'd also disagree that NCL is trying to dissatisfy their customers. Consumers are clearly responding to the included perks in a mostly positive manner, otherwise they would not continue. More and more, consumers are looking for an "all-inclusive" experience, especially with the price of drinks on board. That being said, the difference between a BX and a BF w/ UBP & UDP on Escape (just pulled Feb 4th-11th as a random sample) is $423.92 after taxes & gratuities, so yes, it is more expensive for the "promos" and we all know that. That's still a pretty good deal compared to "retail" pricing on the two packages.

[hawkeyetlse]

I'd also disagree that NCL is trying to dissatisfy their customers.

That's not what I said, I said they wanted to dissatisfy a certain type of customer (who wants to pay a low fare to get on the ship, and then spend little or nothing on onboard extras). All the worse if they're a long-time NCL customer, because not only do they usually know the tricks for getting lower fares and reducing onboard spending, but they're also entitled to loyalty perks that cost NCL even more money every time they cruise.

 

(Not saying this is right or wrong, and if you feel targeted by this policy, I don't expect you to be happy about it.)

 

As for the "X" categories, but the savings are not always significant (in some cases it's actually more expensive than higher categories), and I think the prices are still higher than a few years back, but I have no numbers. So you're right, NCL is not completely turning their back on the most frugal customers, but there is a "quota" per ship (limited to the number of "X" bookings that they choose to accept) and they also gain an operational advantage from these customers by making them book GTY (helps them fill gaps on the ship).

Edited December 15, 2016 by hawkeyetlse

[MikeBTN]

That's not what I said, I said they wanted to dissatisfy a certain type of customer (who wants to pay a low fare to get on the ship, and then spend little or nothing on onboard extras). All the worse if they're a long-time NCL customer, because not only do they usually know the tricks for getting lower fares and reducing onboard spending, but they're also entitled to loyalty perks that cost NCL even more money every time they cruise.

 

(Not saying this is right or wrong, and if you feel targeted by this policy, I don't expect you to be happy about it.)

 

 

Ah....yes, this is probably completely true. I'm guessing most cruise lines want to get rid of these types of pax. Completely unprofitable.

[4774Papa]

Sure, except that you do have a choice to not participate in the "bundled pricing" - book a guarantee and save (generally) several hundred dollars per stateroom.

 

I'd also disagree that NCL is trying to dissatisfy their customers. Consumers are clearly responding to the included perks in a mostly positive manner, otherwise they would not continue. More and more, consumers are looking for an "all-inclusive" experience, especially with the price of drinks on board. That being said, the difference between a BX and a BF w/ UBP & UDP on Escape (just pulled Feb 4th-11th as a random sample) is $423.92 after taxes & gratuities, so yes, it is more expensive for the "promos" and we all know that. That's still a pretty good deal compared to "retail" pricing on the two packages.

 

 

Unfortunately, the guarantee balcony was not available for this New England and Canada cruise.

 

I think NCL and more successful businesses try to please customers in pursuit off a larger market share. I understand the appeal of a more all inclusive package deal.

 

I read on cc from a poster that starts drinking bloody mary's at breakfast and then sits by the pool drinking beer all day, consuming a case of beer a day. Clearly, that customer must be wild about the unlimited drink package. What is that saying you can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

 

Don't get me wrong, I haven't given up on NCL, but I will take more time to compare the competition.

[MikeBTN]

Unfortunately, the guarantee balcony was not available for this New England and Canada cruise.

 

I think NCL and more successful businesses try to please customers in pursuit off a larger market share. I understand the appeal of a more all inclusive package deal.

 

I read on cc from a poster that starts drinking bloody mary's at breakfast and then sits by the pool drinking beer all day, consuming a case of beer a day. Clearly, that customer must be wild about the unlimited drink package. What is that saying you can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

 

Don't get me wrong, I haven't given up on NCL, but I will take more time to compare the competition.

 

That's the beauty of the free market....choice. Someone will step in to pick up customers that have been turned off by NCL's recent changes, just like NCL is picking up market share from someone like Royal who isn't offering any deals and generally more expensive. Personally I'm not line-loyal; I choose to spend my money where I see value. Sometimes that's because of "free" beverage packages, sometimes its unique sailings/ports/activities, sometimes its luxury, etc.

[nissach]

That's the beauty of the free market....choice. Someone will step in to pick up customers that have been turned off by NCL's recent changes, just like NCL is picking up market share from someone like Royal who isn't offering any deals and generally more expensive. Personally I'm not line-loyal; I choose to spend my money where I see value. Sometimes that's because of "free" beverage packages, sometimes its unique sailings/ports/activities, sometimes its luxury, etc.

 

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