Long Term Booking Considerations Questions

[san92103]

My Wife and I are planning our 5 year Anniversary (2020) to be an NCL Haven Cruise. Our Honeymoon in 2015 was Haven on the Jade. While I know we cannot book 3 years out, I am seeing booking opportunities on NCL into 2019. While minimal, it is slowing being published.

 

I'll be honest and say I do listen to the various Cruise podcasts and continue to hear how the best deals-period- are booked via the cruise lines website as soon as they get published. (Note, I ONLY book thru the company. never third party as support for any changes can be super difficult given a terms of condition used)

 

My questions are:

 

1) How far in advance are the schedules published (is there a way to get notified when they do)?

 

2) Are they truly the best rates?

 

3) While I believe they will refund you the difference if the price is lower, besides checking every day for x years, I hear there is a service that does it for you. Can anyone share with me what that is?

 

4) Say I book a 2019 7-day West Med cruise. sometime between now and Sailing, they change the ship, itinerary etc... What are my rights for refund due to change in plan by NCL?

 

5) So, I book said cruise for 2019, select all x perks. Am I entitled to the newly announced perks should I see in "2" months a new set of perks I prefer more be offered?

 

6) For a booking this far out, I will do insurance as so many things can and will happen between now and then. How successful have those who have needed to use the insurance, feel the investment was worth the price. In other words, similar to Q4, Has the insurance proved useful in getting money back?

 

 

Thank you all so very much for your help.

[Kryssa]

We never book more than a year ahead, but we find the best deals through our travel agent. They match the cruise line deal exactly, then give us extra OBC. For our next cruise, we got an extra $175, plus they paid our gratuities (~$95.)

 

That was for a mini-suite on a 7-day cruise for $1179/pp + tax. If you are shelling out for Haven, the right TA would load you up with OBC!

 

You can always cancel and rebook for a better deal and the new perks. Usually your deposit is refundable - check the timeline on that. I've heard of people canceling and rebooking on the same phone call to keep the same room.

 

We had to invoke our travel insurance when my grandmother broke her arm 2 weeks before a cruise and couldn't sail - she couldn't dress herself or eat on her own and wanted to stay home. Her doctor agreed and signed the paperwork. They gave her a full refund for cruise fare and flights - just make sure you add your flights to the insurance as soon as you book.

 

Also, make sure you know the covered reasons for canceling and using insurance. You can cancel for a medical reason if your doctor signs the form, you usually can't cancel if you get a new job that won't give you time off or if your sister is getting married that week and you want to attend her wedding.

 

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Edited July 7, 2017 by Kryssa

[Kryssa]

Triple post :(

Edited July 7, 2017 by Kryssa

[Kryssa]

Triple post :(

Edited July 7, 2017 by Kryssa

[Two Wheels Only]

1) Impossible to know. Maybe a few days before they are released, someone will get word from their TA and let us know here.

 

2) Usually, but not always. Prices go up and down. It's just a matter of when you hop on.

 

3) There is no guarantee that NCL will give anything in the case of a price drop. They might (OBC, upgrade, etc.) but nothing is promised nor should it be expected.

 

4) Pretty much...none (see legalese below)

https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/Guest_Ticket_Contract_04-2017_2.pdf

 

b) Substitute Vessel:

If the vessel does not sail on or about the advertised or scheduled date for any reason, including fault of the Carrier, the Guest agrees that the Carrier shall be entitled to substitute any other vessel or means of transportation, regardless of whether owned or operated by the Carrier, and to re-berth Guests thereon or, at the Carrier's option, to refund the fare paid or a pro rata portion thereof, without further liability for damages or losses of any kind whatsoever.

© Itinerary Deviation:

The Guest agrees that the Carrier has the sole discretion and liberty to direct the movements of the vessel, including the rights to: proceed without pilots and tow, and assist other vessels in all situations; deviate from the purchased voyage or the normal course for any purpose, including, without limitation, in the interest of Guests or of the vessel, or to save life or property; put in at any unscheduled or unadvertised port; cancel any scheduled call at any port for any reason and at any time before, during or after sailing of the vessel; omit, advance or delay landing at any scheduled or advertised port; return to port of embarkation or to any port previously visited if the Carrier deems it prudent to do so; substitute another vessel or port(s) of call without prior notice and without incurring any liability to the Guest on account thereof for any loss, damage or delay whatsoever, whether consequential or otherwise.

 

5) No. You keep the promos that you booked with. If better promos are released later, it would be a cancel/re-book at whatever the then current rate.

 

6) Can't answer....never had an issue.

[www3traveler]

I have 2 cruises booked now through my travel agent for September and October 2018 through consortium that he belongs to- in over 30 cruises he has beat the Norwegian price almost every time. He books everything- cruise, hotels, transfers, air. If I have a problem along the line, he CAN AND DOES fix it.

[njmomof2]

My Wife and I are planning our 5 year Anniversary (2020) to be an NCL Haven Cruise. Our Honeymoon in 2015 was Haven on the Jade. While I know we cannot book 3 years out, I am seeing booking opportunities on NCL into 2019. While minimal, it is slowing being published.

 

I'll be honest and say I do listen to the various Cruise podcasts and continue to hear how the best deals-period- are booked via the cruise lines website as soon as they get published. (Note, I ONLY book thru the company. never third party as support for any changes can be super difficult given a terms of condition used)

 

My questions are:

 

1) How far in advance are the schedules published (is there a way to get notified when they do)?

 

Itineraries are published at different times, but you'll either hear about it here on the boards, or get yourself a TA who can let you know a couple of days to a week or so in advance.

 

2) Are they truly the best rates?

 

I truly don't know. There will be some itineraries that are best when booked immediately, especially if they are special ones that don't occur all the time, over and over. Also, holidays sailings often increase in price, so booking early may give you the best pricing. Certainly, you'll get the pick of cabins when booking at the time a sailing opens.

 

3) While I believe they will refund you the difference if the price is lower, besides checking every day for x years, I hear there is a service that does it for you. Can anyone share with me what that is?

 

As long as you are before final payment due, you can get a price drop. As for a service "doing it for you", no one is going to get your lower price. However, there are sites that people use to monitor pricing and will alert you to a lower price being offered. Some love it, others have said that it missed price drops for them.

 

4) Say I book a 2019 7-day West Med cruise. sometime between now and Sailing, they change the ship, itinerary etc... What are my rights for refund due to change in plan by NCL?

 

If your sailing is cancelled for a charter or dry dock, depending on how far in advance this notice is provided, you may get something (price protection or on board credit), you may not. Certainly, when the sailing is more than a year out, air fare is not available and many hotels will not book. However, once air becomes available, you might expect that they will offer air change fee refunds, price protection for certain specifically named other options, etc. You don't have any "rights" to these things, but they often offer them.

 

5) So, I book said cruise for 2019, select all x perks. Am I entitled to the newly announced perks should I see in "2" months a new set of perks I prefer more be offered?

 

If a new promotion comes along after you book your cruise, you are certainly entitled to change; however, you will be repriced at the current cabin pricing. You do not get to change to new perks with your old price. They go hand in hand.

 

6) For a booking this far out, I will do insurance as so many things can and will happen between now and then. How successful have those who have needed to use the insurance, feel the investment was worth the price. In other words, similar to Q4, Has the insurance proved useful in getting money back?

 

Buying insurance at the time of booking is important if you are concerned about pre-existing condition waivers (which means that if you have a current medical condition, you will not have to worry that the insurance company will exclude a claim based upon such condition). However, there are a number of companies that offer coverage with the same waiver that do not have to be purchased within a certain number of days following deposit. You can check insuremytrip or the insurance store online to review different companies and their policies.

As for making a claim, the value of such insurance differs between cruisers. If you have medical insurance that covers you outside the US, you might only need coverage for medical evacuation. If you don't have coverage outside the US, you might want that. Some feel they can "self insure" the cost of the cruise, and only need certain other costs covered. It's a very individual purchase that only you can decide if it provides value to you. I can tell you that my sister needed to cancel a Med cruise after falling ill last year, and got cruise, air and excursion costs back in full with little to no trouble.

 

 

 

Thank you all so very much for your help.

 

See my answers above.

[garycarla]

You can always cancel right up the final payment date and book at the current promo, or cancel all together.

 

If you cancel or have any issues prior to final payment date, then no need to use insurance at all. In fact, there is nothing for the insurance to reimburse you for - at least for the cruise since there is no damages at that point.

[don't-use-real-name]

If you have a specific Haven cabin that has caught your eye or you stayed in before - book it as soon as it becomes available.

If not you maybe left with its mirror image mate or something less desirable in location. The fares on the high end suites havens

gardens does not change much until the 90 day payment period starts and by then the cabin you had your eye on would

be gone. Booking 2 years or more out gives you a whole bunch of options to consider as time goes by. If you are booking

directly with NCL they may not be as watchful of your plans and desire for certain accommodations thus you will have to be

continually checking for those details. I use a TA someone who does all the minding of business to get what I want or a

heads up alert for when I need to think about changing plans perks promos and other things. The fares that a TA charges

are no different than NCL - you may achieve miles points and additional OBC from a TA.

 

And it really is great that you visit CC for advice - there will be a lot of posts to the thread you started

read on for more - - -

[pizzalady1]

#3 I use cruise fish dot net. I usually ask for alerts for my type of cabin and also the type of cabin I would like to upgrade into. It costs $1 per cruise. I plunked in $5 and each cruise alert is deducted from the balance.

 

This website works for me--I have gotten better prices on several cruises.

[garycarla]

.... continue to hear how the best deals-period- are booked via the cruise lines website as soon as they get published....

 

I do not have factual data but would not tend to agree with that. I know we have done well with bookings closer to departure date. I would say six months out is a long time for us to book. For sure we have never done anything over a year out. Three months is not unusual. We have seen some great deals as rooms open up. We often do not even deal with deposit as we are within the final payment timeframe and have to pay in full.

 

I would guess part of it would be the time of year you are looking at and where. And, if you MUST have certain cabins.

 

I might suggest you follow the booking prices for the same cruise, but a year or two earlier to see how prices move around.

[GeezerCouple]

Wow. Great insight! Thank you all for your help!!!!!!

 

So, who is a good TA? I live in Southern California so not sure if that matters. Or, are we just referring to using OBITZ?

 

Again. Than you all!

 

 

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CruiseCritic does not allow travel agent recommendations (unfortunately).

 

As for insurance, see CC subforum on Travel Insurance:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=635

 

And also see

 

www.TripInsuranceStore.com

but CALL them, don't just rely upon the online summaries, as the "fine print" really matters.

 

We've used them to purchase policies from Travel Insured, and we've had a few claims, including two large ones, which were paid promptly with no nonsense. That's what matters after all.

 

IF you will need coverage for pre-existing conditions, make sure to check on that right away, after making initial payment, as you will have more choices for policies.

 

About "how far in advance":

We are very "picky" about which suite we want, and there are very few of them. So we usually book as soon as we notice a cruise is posted.

We can always get the deposit back prior to final payment.

As for the insurance, the type we get allows us to transfer the payments-to-date to another trip, with a few date restrictions, and we've used this a few times.

 

If you find a lower rate later (before final payment), make SURE that you double check that any extras/perks would be the same, or the price might not be less, "all in".

One final payment (non-refundable) is made, don't bother checking the prices in hopes of huge savings.

At best (and this *can* be useful), you might be able to get a bit of extra OBC (on board credit), but the price won't change. (I'm sure there might be exceptions, but this is generally the case.)

 

There aren't that many changes of ship, although you'll read a bunch of complaints about the few that occur.

Changes of itinerary could be due to political situations, for example.

And of course, once the ship sails, there could be changes due to weather.

 

We already have reservations for two cruises in 2019, and one (a different cruise line) in 2018.

And we have several land trips planned as well.

(We are making up for a late start on these special trips!)

 

And YES, the Travel Insurance has been very useful.

At this point, we've "come out ahead" in terms of what we've paid in premiums over the past several years and about 10+ trips, vs. what we've collected.

But that is UNFORTUNATE. We get the insurance, but always hope we will NOT need it, just as with homeowner's insurance.

 

Some will say that if you can't afford the loss of the cruise fare, you can't afford the cruise.

For us, we certainly could "afford" it. After all, we've paid for it (we never run a tab on charge cards, though we do use the cards for the points, and then pay them right off).

However, when we had to cancel on short notice due to DH's medical emergency, for the first "big trip" (special b-day and "event"), it was awfully nice to know that we would not have to pay "again" to take that same trip later. We had enough to deal with medically, without grinding our teeth about the lost money, and any possible need to "pay again" later for that same trip...

 

We also have a very elderly MIL, so if she gets sick... that's another reason for the coverage, not just our own health. We'd want to cancel our trip or return asap if something were wrong with her.

 

Just make SURE that however it is covered, you have insurance for medical care overseas, be it your regular insurance or travel insurance. That's a risk with unknown and potentially sky high cost "limits".

[ClevelandCruisin]

We have 4 booked through 2019!

 

Love planning ahead and knowing a cruise is coming.

 

But then again I'm a cruise-a-holic!

 

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[garycarla]

Awesome post. Anyone that has not read it all, should scroll back up. Not going to repost the whole thing.

 

.....

[san92103]

Yes definitely great info provided. Thanks to all!!

 

 

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[bonvoyagie]

Good TAs know a week or so in advance of a major itinerary announcement they usually are on a conference call with the cruise line - or they get e-mail announcements - or both. NCL has also offered Latitudes members to book a couple of days earlier than the rest.

 

On our last cruise we booked as soon as it became available - which was the winter of 2014 for a cruise in the fall of 16 the prime reason for this is the cabin we wanted was a 2 br suite of which there were only 10 on the ship. Like others have mentioned the suites don't change much in price until it is too late. By booking early we got a good cabin.

 

No matter when you book, there is no guarantee that the cruise will occur as advertised about all the contract guarantees is that you will get X number of nights on a cruise ship - face it, stuff happens - so yes your cruise may get cancelled due to a charter or mechanical problems. NCL is not always the most generous with compensation but most of the time it is fair.

 

You can always cancel and rebook to take advantage of changes in offers you always run the risk of loosing your room as during the process of the rebook, the cabin is put back into inventory until the new booking is confirmed.

 

Good Luck