Group cruise question

[BarBug]

DD is coordinating a group cruise on NCL and finding out that direct pricing is lower than her group pricing. No additional amenities are offered to her-any benefit is passed on to her guests.

 

What's up with that? Seems like groups are discouraged if direct pricing is lower, especially since 3/4 free is not included in her group offer, but is available direct. The only competitive price she has is for those who book 2 to an inside cabin.

 

Question: can someone book direct and then transfer into the group....or are we misunderstanding something?

[kayjay76]

Here's what I know from booking 3 group cruises the past 3 years. And I'm assuming this is ncl right? Also, is she going directly thru ncl or a TA?

 

here's my experience booking directly thru NCL bookings... I've called the ncl hotline and set up a group booking and they give a group # so everyone can reference when they call that specific ncl cruise agent (once you have an agent, they handle all your questions and bookings and you will deal with only that agent). Prices were same as if you went online and booked yourself. Once a cabin is booked over the phone... group guests can go online and make payments.

 

As far as benefits, every cruise is different as to what they can offer. For our latest cruise ALL group guests did not have to pay the drink taxes (forget specific name). That was an amount 230$ savings per cabin. Groups are also offered different perks... ex: 4 dinners instead of 3, prepaid gratuities paid

 

The biggie perk is book 7 cabins, 14 guests, and one guest sails free ( although I see they have recently changed this to 5 cabins wohoo!) Now this is where it gets dicey... your wife can keep that credit for herself or decide to split it with the group. It's also the base fair not the full amount... meaning our cost pp was $1260 and the 1 sail free credit was $800 after taxes and such.

So how they credit is this... after final payment is done by all guests, including you and your wife, if you have a sail for free credit coming... they will reimburse whatever method you used to pay for the cruise (credit card) usually within 2 weeks.

 

So you can take that credit and split the cash that you would have paid to cruise and give your group the cash. Or you can keep it and your wife sails for a discount. For our group booking we have a large group around 40. And usually 2 of us do everything... check flights, book shuttles, book hotels, research excusrsions, I mean we do all planning and thinking for everyone so we keep the credit instead of everyone getting say a small $80 amount. but the choice is yours.

 

And to answer your question... can someone transfer... yes. But I'm pretty sure their reservation needs to be cancelled then rebooked via the ncl agent. When they call they can give their reservation # and let them know they wish to be added to the group. Make sure they do this asap as prices can change and they would have to pay more if the price went up since they 1st booked.

 

I hope this helps :)

[jdvmd]

I have never found group cruises to be any cheaper than booking direct. Maybe I am missing something.

[thatjoeguy]

I have never found group cruises to be any cheaper than booking direct. Maybe I am missing something.

 

The only real benefit we saw was the ability to price lock a block of cabins. It wasn't helpful for me (boo) but was nice for the members of the group who booked later.

[BarBug]

Thank you for the replies. Y'all are most helpful.