Online booking frustration

[shtoopidanimal]

Hi all. I'm looking to book a Norwegian cruise online, and have been waiting for a great price. On the first couple days after new years, NCL had a promo with all six free including 3/4 guests sailing free and free air. That was the deal I was waiting for! So, I typed in my dates and found out that the air was not free but the 3/4 guests were. I called CD abs they said the promo supply ran out! That's sneaky of them! I thought maybe I'll wait and more will be supplied and the promo came and went. When the promo came back, the air is still full price but even the free guest promo is not available! My question to this who know, does the promos get re-supplied or I missed out on getting a lower price on my cruise because I had my heart set out on a mini suite for the Venice cruise to the Greek isle in August but I've been checking everyday and the prices aren't budging. Please help! Wondering if I should just book now. 

[Peachypooh]

I am not familiar with the term CD abs. Who was this person? I have never heard that promos had a limited

number of items available (free air for example) but I do know that once lifeboat capacity is reached in the

section you are looking at the 3/4 person availability goes away free or not.

[shtoopidanimal]

HI thanks for your reply.  CD abs was a typo.  Meant customer service rep.  I'll try  booking in another section to see if the guests sail free. Thanks for the insight.

[RedwingHockeyFan]

I've been looking for a cruise for early 2020 and have noticed the same thing.  When I choose the first 5 options the free air goes away.  I wouldn't use it anyway because I prefer flexibility in that area.  Also,  The 3/4 guests free option, the free air option and the all 6 free option are only available on certain cruises.

[bambilin]

When I searched for a cruise for February of 2021 on the Encore I was thrilled to see the free air and 3/4 guest free on the week the kids here in New York are on winter break.  We are a family of four and it saved us a bundle.  My travel agent was able to book 5 of our cabins with all 6 promos.  When he got to the 6th cabin the free air was no longer selectable. We had 9 cabins looking to book at the time.  He contacted his NCL rep to see what was going on (that was a Friday night) and she said she would look into it.  The next morning he saw the free air icon back on our sailing and booked the other 4 cabins.  He tried to add two more and the offer was gone again.  His rep was off and the customer service rep he reached said the offer was capacity controlled and they must have reached the limit on free air.  His rep called him the next day to say the offer was not capacity controlled, but our sailing was never supposed to have free air, it was an error. (I am thinking they realized it was winter break because the sailing that departs the day we get off the ship still has the offer)  Of course ours is being honored, but she said she could not add the promo to the additional two rooms.  Suggested we keep looking "in case they make another mistake."  Weird!  But we will keep checking just in case. 

 

If you are definitely planning to go, why not book at the $50 per person now for the cabin you want?  It is refundable.  If the offers come back, you can have it added if it does not change your fare or effect your other promos negatively.

 

The Greek Isles cruise sounds awesome, had considered it for August of 2020 but we can't swing it.  We sailed on the Epic out of Barcelona last year and had an awesome time.  Have a great cruise whatever you decide!!!  

 

   

[shtoopidanimal]

56 minutes ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

I've been looking for a cruise for early 2020 and have noticed the same thing.  When I choose the first 5 options the free air goes away.  I wouldn't use it anyway because I prefer flexibility in that area.  Also,  The 3/4 guests free option, the free air option and the all 6 free option are only available on certain cruises.

On new years day the extra guests were sailing free for me on that cruise. It definitely saves a lot of money. 

[tallnthensome]

The sale after New Years on site was the screwiest I’ve ever seen. Things didn’t match up right, numbers were weird, promos came and went and were charging daily. Air promo would come and go.  I snagged our Balcony on the Encore for 2021 for four people including the drink package, specialty dining, and WIFI for less than they wanted for an inside cabin with just the drink package by $500. I quickly booked before they caught the error and raised the price $1500 for our package the next morning after catching the error. I’m very pleased ...... Keep watching. 

[shtoopidanimal]

48 minutes ago, bambilin said:

When I searched for a cruise for February of 2021 on the Encore I was thrilled to see the free air and 3/4 guest free on the week the kids here in New York are on winter break.  We are a family of four and it saved us a bundle.  My travel agent was able to book 5 of our cabins with all 6 promos.  When he got to the 6th cabin the free air was no longer selectable. We had 9 cabins looking to book at the time.  He contacted his NCL rep to see what was going on (that was a Friday night) and she said she would look into it.  The next morning he saw the free air icon back on our sailing and booked the other 4 cabins.  He tried to add two more and the offer was gone again.  His rep was off and the customer service rep he reached said the offer was capacity controlled and they must have reached the limit on free air.  His rep called him the next day to say the offer was not capacity controlled, but our sailing was never supposed to have free air, it was an error. (I am thinking they realized it was winter break because the sailing that departs the day we get off the ship still has the offer)  Of course ours is being honored, but she said she could not add the promo to the additional two rooms.  Suggested we keep looking "in case they make another mistake."  Weird!  But we will keep checking just in case. 

 

If you are definitely planning to go, why not book at the $50 per person now for the cabin you want?  It is refundable.  If the offers come back, you can have it added if it does not change your fare or effect your other promos negatively.

 

The Greek Isles cruise sounds awesome, had considered it for August of 2020 but we can't swing it.  We sailed on the Epic out of Barcelona last year and had an awesome time.  Have a great cruise whatever you decide!!!  

 

   

Thank you. Barcelona was fun. I sailed from it a while back. I think I'm going to book it. I'm just going to have a sour taste in my mouth, because a $1,200 price difference is hard to swallow. I'm glad they honored your flight request. 

[shtoopidanimal]

For those looking to save money, some online travel sites offer on board credit for booking with them. I'm hesitant to do so because I'm not sure I can still price adjust after that. Does NCL price adjust third party agents? 

[shof515]

1 minute ago, shtoopidanimal said:

For those looking to save money, some online travel sites offer on board credit for booking with them. I'm hesitant to do so because I'm not sure I can still price adjust after that. Does NCL price adjust third party agents? 

no

 

and it is true travel sites can offer onboard credit and other perks, those come at a price that you lose FULL control of your booking. that travel site now owns your booking and any payments, booking questions needs to be done through them. For some people this can be a big inconvenience

[RedwingHockeyFan]

On my cruise next week I'm just going to book my next cruise on the ship because you get $500 OBC for purchasing 4 $250 stateroom credits with CruiseNext, plus a free upgrade (or whatever the current promotion is).  I just hope the 6 free is still available Sunday.  Mainly, I just want the UBP and 3/4 guest sail free.  The others would just be a bonus.

 

But for the following cruise in 2021 I think I will have to get with a travel agent to see what options are available with other cruise lines. Then choose the one I think would be best based on price and other factors and not have to deal with all the online searching.

Edited January 10, 2019 by RedwingHockeyFan

[phillyguy31]

3 minutes ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

On my cruise next week I'm just going to book my next cruise on the ship because you get $500 OBC for purchasing 4 $250 stateroom credits with CruiseNext, plus a free upgrade (or whatever the current promotion is).  I just hope the 6 free is still available Sunday.  Mainly, I just want the UBP and 3/4 guest sail free.  The others would just be a bonus.

 

But for the following cruise in 2021 I think I will have to get with a travel agent to see what options are available with other cruise lines. Then choose the one I think would be best based on price and other factors and not have to deal with all the online searching.

Just as a warning you don't really get OBC instead of the $1000.00 value you are only charged $500.00. You may be charged 1000.00 to your room account and then given 500.00 OBC. Either way it really isn't 500.00 extra.

[RedwingHockeyFan]

10 minutes ago, phillyguy31 said:

Just as a warning you don't really get OBC instead of the $1000.00 value you are only charged $500.00. You may be charged 1000.00 to your room account and then given 500.00 OBC. Either way it really isn't 500.00 extra.

 

Yes, we did it last year.  You are charged $1000 but given $500 OBC.  Both the charge and the credit are put on your account and they offset to $500.   You can use 2 credits per stateroom on balcony and higher so in the end you save $250 per stateroom.