When Free isn't Free

[softl]

I tip for service regardless if I paid for the service or not. Local bars/restaurants, resorts, cruise ships, anyone that helps me usually gets a reward. I even tip repairmen......

[ThxMomnDad]

The airlines currently have to show you your airfare including taxes when you look up fares on their websites so that the price you see is the price you pay. It would be nice if cruise lines did that too.

What caught my attention and got me to book my upcoming cruise on the Escape was an ad I saw that at the top showed "Take all 5 offers for free" (drink package, 3 specialty dining, etc), and then it showed "Balcony cabins from $699!". I thought to myself, "Wow! A 7 night cruise in a balcony cabin for $1400 including free drinks!" (for the wife and me). I wanted to choose my own cabin as I didn't want us to get stuck in the very front or back of the ship or with an obstructed view. By the time I checked out and paid (with no other add-ons or excursions, etc), my total due was $3,149. So my $1400 cruise ended up costing $1,749 more than what the advertisement showed (obviously, I knew there'd be port charges and taxes and gratuities added on). Now I did book a mid-ship balcony, which added another $350 pp to the fare, but there was still an additional $1,049 in extra fees added to my $2,100 cabin. So doing the easy math, I was charged 50% in taxes and fees.

 

I feel that is a bit deceiving when your cruise fare is more than double the advertised fare after adding in mandatory fees.

[phillyguy31]

When you look at airline prices the cheapest rate they show you is similar to the sail away (on some airlines, AA and Delta at least). You want to pick your own seat pay more. They are showing you the best price for the trip the same way as do the cruise lines. Before you purchase they show you the bottom line just like the airlines. Could there be adders? Yes, the same way airlines do it. More legroom pay more, extra miles pay more, front of the plane pay more. In the end the bottom line is what counts and they all show you that before you plunk down your money.

[ThxMomnDad]

5 minutes ago, phillyguy31 said:

When you look at airline prices the cheapest rate they show you is similar to the sail away (on some airlines, AA and Delta at least). You want to pick your own seat pay more. They are showing you the best price for the trip the same way as do the cruise lines. Before you purchase they show you the bottom line just like the airlines. Could there be adders? Yes, the same way airlines do it. More legroom pay more, extra miles pay more, front of the plane pay more. In the end the bottom line is what counts and they all show you that before you plunk down your money.

You're exactly correct that they do have lot's of add-ons now that don't show in the advertised price. Only difference is that if I click on round trip tickets for NY to FL and the fare shows $430, and I add in a checked bag for $25, giving me a total of $455, when I go to checkout, I'll pay $455. For my cruise, I added in the extra $700 to book the mid-ship balcony, giving me a total of $2,100, but when I went to checkout, I had to pay $3,049.

[phillyguy31]

You decided to take the perks with charges, they can't add that to the price before you decide to take it or not. Ok I'll give you the port taxes and fees but the disclaimer saying the price doesn't include them is pretty clear. Try booking a hotel room and letting me know if the taxes are included in the initial price shown.  Hint they are not.

[PTC DAWG]

How hard is it for people to just look at the bottom line price and see if it makes sense to you?  

 

[ThxMomnDad]

I'm not disagreeing with you phillyguy31. You're absolutely right about the not being able to add the perks charges in because they don't know if you're taking them. My point was more about the port taxes and fees, which they know in advance how much those will be. I will say though, that it is a bit of a surprise when you pick your cabin and then click to checkout, and suddenly there's an extra thousand dollars due.

[ColeThornton]

9 minutes ago, ThxMomnDad said:

I'm not disagreeing with you phillyguy31. You're absolutely right about the not being able to add the perks charges in because they don't know if you're taking them. My point was more about the port taxes and fees, which they know in advance how much those will be. I will say though, that it is a bit of a surprise when you pick your cabin and then click to checkout, and suddenly there's an extra thousand dollars due.

 

That's why you learn after a while to make sure you read the fine print in the Terms and Conditions.  It makes it much easier to decide if that vacation is for you.

 

Ships can take you around the world but as the old saying goes "money makes the world go around".

[chipmaster]

On 8/28/2019 at 2:46 PM, Edhoff said:

Please correct me if i'm wrong.  If I elect the Free Drink Package it DOES NOT INCLUDE the 20% Grat charge. So Free Will cost me aprox. $250.

 

So it really is $250 dollar drink package, what a deal, BTW nothing in life is free you or someone else is paying 

Edited August 30, 2019 by chipmaster

[graphicguy]

1 hour ago, PTC DAWG said:

How hard is it for people to just look at the bottom line price and see if it makes sense to you?  

 

Applause!  If the total price of the cruise has the perks you want, and you compare it to another cruise line’s fare and add in your drinks, etc, you’ll find the delta of the cost between the two.  I know it can be something of an equation, but it’s a simple one.

 

Why everyone wants to make it hard to understand is the most confusion thing to me.

 

Let’s go over this....

 

If you want the cheapest fare and let NCL put your anywhere they want on the ship, you pay for your drinks, your internet, etc...book a SAILAWAY.

 

If you want some perks, but still don’t care where NCL puts you, book a GTY in the category you want.  It will cost a bit more than SAILAWAY.

 

If you want to pick your own cabin, get the perks (and pay the tips on the perks), then book the regular fare.  It will cost a bit more than GTY.

 

It’s easy enough to see what the final bill will be if you just add them up.

 

If you go the cheapest route, and drink a lot, and want to dine in a couple of specialty restaurants, and want some internet, etc...the end result is going to be expensive, and you still weren’t able to pick your own cabin.

 

For example, someone mentioned Celebrity’s Drink Package includes the tips.  But, every time I check Celebrity’s fares, they’re significantly higher than the final price with the perks I can get with NCL.

 

This isn’t rocket science.

[Phaedrus78]

18 hours ago, Budget Queen said:

You don’t get the point I’m making.   Post 41.     I’ve seen the cruise price- base-   Hundreds if dollars more.    Your end cost of the perk is NOT simply the grats.  

 

No, I'm getting your point just fine.  I'm saying that even with the increased price of the base fare, it's still costing me less total to sail NCL with the beverage package than Royal or Carnival with their beverage package.  

 

I'm not going to pull actual numbers right now, but let's say the NCL base rate on a room is $1200/pp, and Carnival is $1000/pp.

 

NCL adds on $20/day for their beverage grats.  Carnival drink package is $52/day, plus grats taking it to $62/day.

 

Assume a 7 day cruise.  $140/pp on NCL for the drink package + $1200 for the room is $1340.  $434/pp for the Carnival package + $1000 for the room is $1434.

 

I'm not saying my findings are true for every possible fare, which is why I said your mileage may vary.  I'm just saying that when I was making the decision to book my last cruise, it was less expensive for us on the whole to book through NCL because of their included beverage package.  Everyone should do their research and spend their money in the best way for them, but let's not automatically assume that you're going to pay more one way or the other.  There are always going to be a ton of factors in play.  

 

 

[ThxMomnDad]

All I know is that I'm going on my cruise, the cost is what it is, and I'm gonna have an awesome freaken' time!

[KeithJenner]

7 minutes ago, Phaedrus78 said:

 

No, I'm getting your point just fine.  I'm saying that even with the increased price of the base fare, it's still costing me less total to sail NCL with the beverage package than Royal or Carnival with their beverage package.  

 

I'm not going to pull actual numbers right now, but let's say the NCL base rate on a room is $1200/pp, and Carnival is $1000/pp.

 

NCL adds on $20/day for their beverage grats.  Carnival drink package is $52/day, plus grats taking it to $62/day.

 

Assume a 7 day cruise.  $140/pp on NCL for the drink package + $1200 for the room is $1340.  $434/pp for the Carnival package + $1000 for the room is $1434.

 

I'm not saying my findings are true for every possible fare, which is why I said your mileage may vary.  I'm just saying that when I was making the decision to book my last cruise, it was less expensive for us on the whole to book through NCL because of their included beverage package.  Everyone should do their research and spend their money in the best way for them, but let's not automatically assume that you're going to pay more one way or the other.  There are always going to be a ton of factors in play.  

 

 

No you aren't getting her point at all. She didn't mention Royal or Carnival or any other line.

 

Budget Queen is talking exclusively about NCL fares. No other line is involved. You are completely missing the point she is making.

 

I'll try:

 

The cost of the NCL promo beverage package isn't just the gratuity. It is also the fact that an NCL fare which qualifies for the perk is more expensive than an NCL fare which doesn't. Therefore the cost of the promo package is the gratuities plus the difference between the NCL fare which includes the perk and the NCL fare which doesn't include the perk. What Royal or Carnival or any other line does is completely irrelevant to this.

[Phaedrus78]

3 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

No you aren't getting her point at all. She didn't mention Royal or Carnival or any other line.

 

Budget Queen is talking exclusively about NCL fares. No other line is involved. You are completely missing the point she is making.

 

I'll try:

 

The cost of the NCL promo beverage package isn't just the gratuity. It is also the fact that an NCL fare which qualifies for the perk is more expensive than an NCL fare which doesn't. Therefore the cost of the promo package is the gratuities plus the difference between the NCL fare which includes the perk and the NCL fare which doesn't include the perk. What Royal or Carnival or any other line does is completely irrelevant to this.

 

That's fair.  By all means, please take everything into account including the difference in cruise fares when making your vacation choices.  

 

Though I do think it's important to note that the NCL fares that include the beverage perk also tend to include several other perks as well as the ability to choose your cabin location.  Whether those matter to you is again, a personal decision.  

[KeithJenner]

1 minute ago, Phaedrus78 said:

 

That's fair.  By all means, please take everything into account including the difference in cruise fares when making your vacation choices.  

 

Though I do think it's important to note that the NCL fares that include the beverage perk also tend to include several other perks as well as the ability to choose your cabin location.  Whether those matter to you is again, a personal decision.  

Absolutely, and I don't book sailaway rooms as I like to select my own cabins (and often book rooms that sailaway doesn't apply to). The added value of non sailaway rooms makes up a large part of the difference in price to me before considering the beverage package, but many people do save in this way. It's actually irrelevant to me now, as in the UK sailaway does include the perks, so there is a lot less difference in price. My involvement in this particular bit of the discussion was to try to help explain what Budget Queen was saying, as it was clear you had misunderstood.

 

I agree that people should look at all options, and in fact I said exactly that on this very thread (post 49).

[bmwman]

On 8/28/2019 at 11:44 PM, KeithJenner said:

As long as you pay £99 each for a 7 day cruise (more for longer).

They are dropping the "free at sea" to £99 upgrade as the advert has been found to be misleading. Only NCL can come up with a free at sea for £99 per person. It is is an upgrade and is good value  if you accept the cruise my be  overpriced

[fshagan]

On 8/28/2019 at 11:32 PM, don't-use-real-name said:

After all this "What part of *FREE* do you not understand" ?

 

No little * (star) see Terms & Conditions - Gratuities not included (even if it is FREE)

and if something is FREE how can that be taxed - Nothing times nothing is after all Zero nada nothing "0" !

Something about that new math being used - must be that warp speed infinity technology !

 

 

Governments can assess taxes that are based on the value of the item, and not what you paid for it. Here's the state of NY's explanation of this practice for items that are discounted by a manufacturer's discount. That's only one example; in California you pay the 15% excise tax on cannabis based on the "average market price" even if your dispensary gives it to you for .01 (they can't give it to you free, because ... California). This tax must be collected from the retail customer.

 

Taxes are a burden for the business too, as they have to collect it, then disburse it to the agency that receives the tax. Sometimes cruise lines will cheat and wait until they are out of the tax jurisdiction to ring up the sale, even though they served you while you were in the jurisdiction. If they ring up an $8 drink that you get free on your beverage plan, and the local jurisdiction requires it they have to still charge you the sales tax rate * $8. It all depends on the tax law in that jurisdiction.

[Robinsoncruiseso]

On 8/29/2019 at 2:14 PM, KeithJenner said:

That isn't what they mean.

 

The cruise price on NCL for a room which qualifies for the promos is usually more (sometimes significantly more) than a room which doesn't qualify for them.

 

So, if you aren't worried about the other differences (i.e. selecting your cabin) then getting the beverage package costs a lot more than just the 20% gratuity. Some people save a lot by booking the cabin without the perks.

I saved $1800 on a 9 day cruise by booking the base rate minus the perks