NCL "Free Cruise"

[TheBestCruiser]

Hi All, 

first time poster, long time lurker, but I recently just got an NCL free cruise offer in the mail. This past summer i went on the Escape and loved it and spent a good amount of time in the casino -- Didnt lose so it was a good trip -- But my question is how much of this "free cruise offer" is actually free. Now i see a lot of you guys discussing about the fees/taxes/grats etc. but if any of you have actual amounts for how much all in everything would be, that would be much appreciated. The cruise offer is for the Escape out of NYC in March or the Getaway out of Miami also in March. Now it would be me and another person on the trip, we would stay in the comped inside room and we would use the UBP as the free at sea and i know im going to have to pay taxes or something on that. So just if anyone could tell me how much it would be per person for port fees/taxes/grats/admin fee and UBP or whatever else that would be super helpful

Thanks!

[poohdreaming]

You have to pay the admin fee of at least $140 per person. It might be increased later on. Right now, some people are paying $280.00 for two people for 7 days.

 

The cruise that goes out of Miami, check if it included the open bar. If that is the case, you already needed to include the taxes/gratuity for the drink. Check the taxes of the port. You can do a mocking of the cruise to get an idea of what the port taxes you would have to pay.

 

Then you also need to prepaid or pay the DSC at the end of the cruise before you get off the cruise ship. Right now the DSC is $14.50 per day. 7 days, would be $101.50 and for 2 people = $203.00.

 

The whole cruise for two people would probably cost between $800-$1,000 something.

 

FYI, if your cruise is through the casino - you would get a casino card drink on the house.

However, it is not for all drinks. But you can get waters, red/white wine.

[Stlcardsfan79]

You can call NCL directly and they will transfer you to the casino rep and they will tell you exactly how much it will be and break down the fees for you. For our upcoming 10 day cruise in Jan thought a casino offer we are paying just under $1200, that includes the gratuity on the UBP and travel insurance. Also this is for an inside cabin, you can pay extra to upgrade your cabin (we have in the past but this time we didn't). We will pre pay the DSC before sailing. There may also be some extra perks they will give you, besides the UBP we also received 250 wifi minutes,  Ship to shore phone credit and $50 per shore excursion credit. 

[K_e_short]

I am going on the Jewel next July with my son on one of those "free cruise offers." It's a 7 day Alaskan cruise Vancouver to Seward.

I chose an inside cabin, deck 10, A1 level I think. I didn't ask about the upgrade as I wanted an inside cabin (yes I'm weird).

 

We had to pay:

 

$140 per person = $280 admin fee

$204.24 per person = $406.24 port/taxes

Total for 2 people = $688.24.

 

This included one option (drink package, $50 excursion credit, etc). I chose the wifi.

 

I then had to pay $2400 CAD for flights to Vancouver/Seward.

 

The other out of pocket expenses will include:

 

1 night hotel in Vancouver ($150 CAD)

transportation to and from airport in Vancouver ($20 CAD)

transportation to and from port in Seward ($65 per person US)

luggage on flights 😞

drinks on ship

excursions

 

 

Edited November 11, 2018 by K_e_short
forgot to add type of room

[cdnsteelman]

I assume it's a Casinos at Sea offer mailing for select sailings (as opposed to any cruise you choose). If my assumption is right the offer will be for an inside stateroom. Admin fees are currently $20 per person per day plus port fees an taxes.

 

A real life example is I just booked one of these offers by calling the CAS direct number off the mailer. I'm going solo so my offer was almost exactly USD $400 for a 10-day W-Cari cruise from Port Canaveral on the Epic. I added a further $400 to upgrade to a BA (midship balcony) with no single supplement for an exact amount of $811.04 (solo - double that for two). I got one free at sea perq included (its based on the inside cabin as a base) and I went back and forth but ultimately went with the beverage package and so added another UDS $200 to the cost (but that was my choice).

 

At the same time I priced out the CAS offer on a 7-day sailing on the Getaway out of Miami also to the W-Cari. Again based on an inside it would have been $140 for admin fees and $161.33 for port fees and taxes  for a total of $301.33 solo (double that for 2). Again it would have been $400 to upgrade to a BA with no single supplement.

 

That s the standard CAS offer right now for the lesser level gamblers (like the Pearl and possibly Sapphire levels). Bigger fish get higher level staterooms and aren't limited to specific sailings.

 

The other thing is that you will get a drink card for free (non premium) drinks will playing in the casino.

 

Hope this helps.

[zqvol]

Without seeing the actual offer no one can tell you anything about what fees might be involved. Why not pick up the phone and call?

[kathy884]

We took a free cruise casino offer for a cruise (offer was for inside for two people -- air for two people was also included reimbursed by casino, not NCL -- free air perk not part of NCL package when we had to book -- last March).  We are doing this cruise in January 2019, and all the free cruise really amounts to is a $1000 discount on the cruise portion and free air for two out of the three people in our family (That's worth about $700).  We upgraded from inside to mini suite large balcony (Basic cruise cost of about $2800 that we are getting for $1800 and also just getting one instead of more freebies -- with upgrade you still only get freebie offers for an inside which is one).  Our cabin is on deck 8 on the Getaway.  For our one Free at Sea offer we took third person cruising for free in same room (and of course, you pay taxes on freebies).  All in all if I consider the entire budget for the vacation for the three of us, the trip will cost us about 4K (2K for the cruise, one more airfare, kennel for our dog, ubers/taxis, unlimited wifi for DS 23 (the freebie person coming with us), we are doing two dinners in specialty restaurants that we don't have freebies for (one is the Cirque show), hotel the night before, tips, excursions, food/snacks before after cruise, travel insurance (we go outside rather than getting this thru NCL, etc.).  We don't drink on cruises and usually don't have much in upcharges except what I have already mentioned (DS's wifi, our tips, and two dinner upcharges).  Our excursions are independent, not with NCL, and were actually less costly on normal on this particular cruise.  We have nine other people coming (four of other cabins), all who will be on deck 8 and many also picked the mini suite extra large balconies too.  Part of our doing the upgrade was to have the larger balcony for extended family visiting and to be in the same section of the ship (right next to my parents and god parents) and near by brother and god parent's son.

 

If you stick to the inside, you pay taxes and the administrative fee, plus any extras.

 

The reality which we clearly understood is that an offer like this is basically just a 1K discount, so if you want to do a cruise, sure and it's a decent discount (for us it was enough to decide to do NCL instead of a different line), but it's something we usually pass up.  We usually prefer land based vacations, but variety is the spice of life and do enjoy the occasional cruise (especially with a large extended family group -- A cruise is very easy and fun to do with a larger group).

 

Casino discounts have gotten stingier too.  The last time we had a casino discount it was for a few categories higher -- balcony rather than an inside.

 

 

[K_e_short]

I'm saving $2400 CAD by using the free cruise voucher I received from my local casino. ($3000 CAD instead of $800 CAD)

 

I consider that a great deal.

[Mike_DeA]

140   CAS Admin Fee ($20/day pp)

200   approx. Port taxes pp (varies based on itinerary, but range of $150-250 for 7 night cruise)

139    Gratuities on UPB ($19.80/day currently), if selected as your Free At Sea per, pp

102    DSC Daily Service Charge (14.50/day pp) - paid upfront or charged to onboard acct

581   Approx. total per person

 

Edited November 23, 2018 by Mike_DeA