NCL recategorizing cabin categories beginning in Oct 2020

[fstuff1]

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/escape/deck-plans/

 

There's 2 tabs:

- 'Departing before Oct 11, 2020'

- 'Departing On or After Oct 11,2020'

 

ie #1:

Some BX balconies (steel hull enclosure 8110, 8112, 8712) will become BF.

only 8710 will keep it's designation of BX, which makes no sense. 

 

if you're going through all this trouble recategorizing, Why not eliminate BX as an actual cabin category altogether so as to not confuse with the sail away GTY category, BX?

Give the steel hull enclosed balconies a new category, like BH for hull.

 

ie #2:

All the Family balconies (b2, b3) on Deck 8 will now be BF.

im assuming BF costs less than b2,b3?

 

but knowing Del Rio, i bet this recategorizing was done to increase revenue somehow...

 

Edited December 18, 2018 by fstuff1

[ColeThornton]

13 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

.........but knowing Del Rio, i bet this recategorizing was done to increase revenue somehow...

 

 

Well yea.   That's what CEO's are supposed to do for their companies and as a shareholder that makes me happy.

[Alegeeter]

Whatever the pricing will be, the deck plans are easier to follow and look nicer this new way.

To me it makes more sense having an entire section of one deck be one category. The change to every other, alternating pinks made me dizzy!

[timf2001]

I noticed this change on Cruise Deck Plans but have been waiting for official word from NCL.  Hopefully we'll find out more when the Winter 2020-21 itineraries are released.

 

I'm guessing that in order to maintain the Sail Away categories, there has to be at least one stateroom assigned to each category.  They have similarly reduced it so there is only one IX, OX, and MX each on the ship.

 

Another big change I noticed is in The Haven.  They split many of the categories in two based on balcony size.  The rooms with deeper balconies such as Deck 17 on Bliss or the Deck 9 & 12 Aft-facing are one tier better than the ones with shallower balconies.  They have also reduced the number of H9 cabins on the Aways & Escape by moving them to the new HI category.  I wonder if these will now simply have in-cabin spas without spa access.

[shof515]

No more family inside cabins on the Escape on Deck 5. All of those cabins on deck 5 is now just a regular inside cabin

[Two Wheels Only]

Uggghhhh 

 

I guess I have enough time to adjust to all of the changes. Don't expect the PCCs to get anything right.

[dcipjr]

2 hours ago, shof515 said:

No more family inside cabins on the Escape on Deck 5. All of those cabins on deck 5 is now just a regular inside cabin

 

That's a positive change in my book. If I'm booking an inside, I like having them on the low decks, since it's more convenient to get to the gangway, plus less motion.

[Chris_2448]

Looks like the NCL website already upgraded the Escape new category colors for the Haven SPA Suites. Although they are all still H9's, 5 of them are now dark green which will be the new HI category.

[ano]

5 hours ago, ColeThornton said:

 

Well yea.   That's what CEO's are supposed to do for their companies and as a shareholder that makes me happy.

You must not be all that happy as NCLH is the same price now as it was 4 years ago, and it doesn't pay a dividend.

 

With all this talk that their CEO is some "genius," I don't see it. If you would have had Carnival 4 years back, you would be up 25% plus Carnival pays a 3.56% dividend.

[ColeThornton]

24 minutes ago, ano said:

You must not be all that happy as NCLH is the same price now as it was 4 years ago, and it doesn't pay a dividend.

 

With all this talk that their CEO is some "genius," I don't see it. If you would have had Carnival 4 years back, you would be up 25% plus Carnival pays a 3.56% dividend.

 

I sold a good bit when it hit it's high of about $62 and kept the rest for long term.    In the long run I think it will eventually hit new highs.  Sad to say 2018 has been a dog for most stocks with 1/2 the S&P 500 currently in a Bear market.  401k's are getting bombed.

 

A dividend would be a nice bonus though.

[VideoTech]

Of course this increase is to increase revenue. It's really no different than the way airlines now sell their seats...you pay extra for 1" of extra legroom --- or in this case, for 2 sq ft more of balcony space. 

[cksv]

Looks like no more mid-ship balcony categories? That's nice. I don't understand why they'd split H9 into H9 and HI categories though. Will the HI cabins still include spa access? Will the pricing be different? They're all in the same hallway so scratching my head at how they could differentiate them.

[Casino Comp Chick]

Also changing on the jewel class some categories no longer have butler or concierge. Well that sucks. I wish they would offer a pay service just to have a butler in other categories, I would gladly pay for that.

[Shanlon42]

On 12/18/2018 at 11:18 AM, timf2001 said:

I noticed this change on Cruise Deck Plans but have been waiting for official word from NCL.  Hopefully we'll find out more when the Winter 2020-21 itineraries are released.

 

I'm guessing that in order to maintain the Sail Away categories, there has to be at least one stateroom assigned to each category.  They have similarly reduced it so there is only one IX, OX, and MX each on the ship.

 

Another big change I noticed is in The Haven.  They split many of the categories in two based on balcony size.  The rooms with deeper balconies such as Deck 17 on Bliss or the Deck 9 & 12 Aft-facing are one tier better than the ones with shallower balconies.  They have also reduced the number of H9 cabins on the Aways & Escape by moving them to the new HI category.  I wonder if these will now simply have in-cabin spas without spa access.

 

On 12/18/2018 at 3:49 PM, Chris_2448 said:

Looks like the NCL website already upgraded the Escape new category colors for the Haven SPA Suites. Although they are all still H9's, 5 of them are now dark green which will be the new HI category.

 

So it looks like the HI’s will be suites with jacuzzis but no Thermal Suite access. I wonder why they’ve decided to do that?

[Chris_2448]

Actually, it looks like the new HI category (formerly H9) will be "Penthouse Suites". It looks like they are taking the Jacuzzi's out and replacing with a vanity area as well as no longer having SPA access. My Guess would be they will be charging more for the remaining 8 H9's then the 5 new HI's.

[Two Wheels Only]

11 minutes ago, Chris_2448 said:

It looks like they are taking the Jacuzzi's out and replacing with a vanity area as well as no longer having SPA access.

 

But it still shows "...shower and jacuzzi" in the description and shows the jacuzzi in the picture (HI). 

[Chris_2448]

2 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

But it still shows "...shower and jacuzzi" in the description and shows the jacuzzi in the picture (HI). 

My mistake..I meant to say Hot Tub. I would assume the didn't update the picture yet. It also looks like they are taking out the waterfall shower.

[Two Wheels Only]

Just now, Chris_2448 said:

I would assume the didn't update the picture yet.

 

The pictures have always been wrong. No surprise there. 

 

The more I look on the website, the more errors...err, "changes" I see. 

 

[timf2001]

I do not expect to see any physical changes to the former Haven Spa Suites.  That would require a dry dock and these category changes are fleet-wide and not tied to specific dry dock dates.  They are reducing the number of spa balcony and spa mini-suite cabins as well.  Either they are trying to make the spa more exclusive by reducing the number of people who have access, or they weren't selling enough of them and were giving out too many as guarantees or upgrades that didn't cover the spa premium.

[Sand and Seas]

We would love the new category of Haven.....if we choose to do Haven again 😉

We had a H9 Spa cabin on the Getaway.  Although we love the spa, we didn't spend much time there.  With the Jacuzzi in the room and then spending time enjoying the upper private decks in the Haven area we didn't find much time for the spa.