Interior costs the same as balcony?

[Cyn874]

Hi all, 

I've been closely tracking a particular cruise I'm very interested in booking, but I've been waiting to see if the price might drop a little bit during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. However, I noticed an unusual price shift on this cruise. The interior rooms, which started at I think around $359 per person, has gone up to match the price of the balcony cabin. This this common with NCL? I've never cruised this cruise line before, but I've never seen this with any other line. 

 

My speculation is that they have an abundance of balcony cabins still available and they're trying to entice people to book those first before they have to lower them further. And once more of the balconies are filled, the price on the interior will drop again. Am I on the right track with that?

 

 

[Liljo22]

Are you booking for four in the room?  My cruise did the same but it was because of the 3rd and 4th guest free in balconies and above.

[Cyn874]

No, just me. This would be a solo cruise. And speaking of - I could swear when I did the original mock booking, it was giving me a solo rate discount. But now when I do a mock booking it's charging the full double (but just port fees/taxes for one of course.) 

 

My original mock booking came to $667. Today, the same mock booking is $742.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Cyn874

[smplybcause]

I've seen it before. Likely is due to balconies having more availability. I wouldn't count on insides going back down, but they might. 

[lizord]

Noticed this as well with the early Jan Getaway sailings out of New Orleans. I'd expect the price to drop down to correct levels reasonably soon. As per usual, with NCL, it is best to book extremely last minute for >90% of sailings, though we booked our Jan cruise in October because we booked 3 cabins and we wanted them near each other.

Edited November 21, 2019 by lizord

[Cyn874]

1 minute ago, lizord said:

Noticed this as well with the early Jan Getaway sailings out of New Orleans. I'd expect the price to drop down to correct levels reasonably soon. As per usual, with NCL, it is best to book extremely last minute for >90% of sailings, though we booked our Jan cruise in October because we booked 3 cabins and we wanted them near each other.

 

Thanks, that's what I'm hoping. I work from home/self employed, so I have the flexibility to wait til very last minute. I'm trying to wait this one out and see if it lowers, because I really want to try out NCL and it looks like a great ship.

[lizord]

Just now, Cyn874 said:

 

Thanks, that's what I'm hoping. I work from home/self employed, so I have the flexibility to wait til very last minute. I'm trying to wait this one out and see if it lowers, because I really want to try out NCL and it looks like a great ship.

I agree, wait until they drop the single supplement, about 1-3 weeks before the cruise. If you enjoy the Joy and think you will sail on NCL again, get the CruiseNext certificates onboard, they can be used on any 6 day or longer cruise and you can use 2 per cabin and work out great for single travelers as its per cabin not per person. For example, say a 7 day cruise is $500 (cruise fare) + $150 (taxes and fees) when using 2 CruiseNext you would be paying $400 out of pocket total since you get basically a $125 discount for each $250 voucher you buy.

[lizord]

2 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

Are you booking for four in the room?  My cruise did the same but it was because of the 3rd and 4th guest free in balconies and above.

The free 3rd and 4th are for all cabin categories, the reason they automatically apply it on the cruise search results page is because of the "Take all 5" offer which automatically takes the 3rd and 4th fare off the cheapest non sail away rate. In your example if you go through the booking process you will see that insides are actually cheaper you just have to choose the cheapest Subcategory that's not sail away.

[mking8288]

Gem's mid-December sailing - similar pricing trend last month, balconies (sailaway) dropped to the same as that of oceanview sailaway ... fast forward a little bit, prices gone up for balconies, then oceanview gone up - insides too, later on.  

 

If the prices look good, don't wait & book it - nearly all stateroom categories now fully sold out at 3+ weeks, almost zero chance for anyone to win their upgrade bids.  

 

When I get time later, will do a more in-depth write-up.  

[coastcat]

The pricing has been all over the place on this one. When I originally booked, about 100 days prior to sailing, there was indeed a solo cruiser discount and Sail Away balconies were something like $799 for single occupancy. I opted for a BD balcony for $980 or so. When the emails went out inviting customers to bid on upgrades, minimum bid on a Mini Suite was $25/pp (so $50 for me). However, a mock booking showed that MA mini suites had dropped to $944, less than I already paid for the BD cabin (which had fallen to under $750). Now prices are rising again on the mini suites but I think the balconies are still low.

 

(the NCL rep moved me into a MA at my request, so I’m not bidding or anything, but I keep checking prices out of curiosity).

 

If you wind up snagging a good price, please head over to the Roll Call and sign up for the M&G. I’d love to meet another solo traveler!

[DaCruiseBug]

5 hours ago, Cyn874 said:

Hi all, 

I've been closely tracking a particular cruise I'm very interested in booking, but I've been waiting to see if the price might drop a little bit during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. However, I noticed an unusual price shift on this cruise. The interior rooms, which started at I think around $359 per person, has gone up to match the price of the balcony cabin. This this common with NCL? I've never cruised this cruise line before, but I've never seen this with any other line. 

 

My speculation is that they have an abundance of balcony cabins still available and they're trying to entice people to book those first before they have to lower them further. And once more of the balconies are filled, the price on the interior will drop again. Am I on the right track with that?

 

 

 

 

Hmmm....may have been a mistake. I just pulled up this sailing and this is what I see:

 

 

[KeithJenner]

When booking the Escape in the Baltics for next year, we were going to go for an Oceanview, as the weather means that I don't tend to spend as much time on the balcony there.

 

When booking, we went for an angled balcony, mainly because it was the same price as the Oceanview. Being allowed to use two Cruisenext vouchers on the balcony meant that it cost us less.

 

I've seen similar on a few occasions. It isn't that rare.

[Budget Queen]

Pure-  supply and demand.   Prices are liquid.    

 

[Budget Queen]

8 hours ago, lizord said:

I agree, wait until they drop the single supplement, about 1-3 weeks before the cruise. If you enjoy the Joy and think you will sail on NCL again, get the CruiseNext certificates onboard, they can be used on any 6 day or longer cruise and you can use 2 per cabin and work out great for single travelers as its per cabin not per person. For example, say a 7 day cruise is $500 (cruise fare) + $150 (taxes and fees) when using 2 CruiseNext you would be paying $400 out of pocket total since you get basically a $125 discount for each $250 voucher you buy.

A supplement drop is more common to occur less than a week prior.  

 

The double Cruise Next- any cabin promotion expires 11-30.   

[Langham1865]

As someone said, prices for cruises, like hotels and airfare, fluctuate with supply and demand.  But be careful, as the rate for one might include the "free at Sea" perks, while the other might be "sail away" and include nothing.  you will know when you click on the cabin category. 

[FLAHAM]

The prices listed by OP are those for the lowest cabins in that category still available.  I have seen cases where the insides are equal to or even more than the balconies on the website.  However, when you further investigate a booking it turns out that only the most expensive insides are available while the balcony price is for a sailaway cabin without perks or choice of cabin.  Booking a higher-grade balcony sometimes adds up to $1,000 to the price. 

[luckyinpa]

one thing ive learned is book when you see a price you like. it will go up in the next 5 seconds.  and if it does go down tomorrow. well. then you know to stop pricing cruises every day like i do so theres no disappointment. 

 

but all cruise lines ive looked at do pricing like this. princess just changed theirs this year so you cannot see the other categories without digging down like on NCL. im almost convinced they get paid just for clicks on their site 🙂

[Greek Boss]

It has to do with supply and demand - seems like they are trying to sell more Oceanview and Balcony rooms for that particular sailing. Just keep in mind that those are the starting prices so they are all Sail Away rates with no perks. For Balcony and above it is the Take all Offers so if you opt to do that you will probably be spending more in the gratuities for the Drink package, Dining Package, etc if you choose anything but a Sail Away.

 

If you are content with the price then I would just go ahead and book it. Too many times I have seen people pass up on good offers thinking it will go down in price again only for it to skyrocket the next day. There is a chance it will lower again, but I would just play it safe. That is a great price for a fantastic ship.

[lizord]

2 hours ago, Budget Queen said:

A supplement drop is more common to occur less than a week prior.  

 

The double Cruise Next- any cabin promotion expires 11-30.   

I doubt they won't extend double up like they have every month for the last year.

[Budget Queen]

18 minutes ago, lizord said:

I doubt they won't extend double up like they have every month for the last year.

It has not been for the past year.   And it was 2 YEARS before they offered it again in May  - for any cabin.   

[luckyinpa]

one thing i regularly see on ncl is last minute pricing that truly is single pricing. never saw any other line do it. in some cases it pays to book an interior and balcony and both shack up in the balcony

[smplybcause]

One thing to check is whether the category you want has switch to all GTY or not. Once they stop letting you pick a room in the major category there's no telling what the price will do. I've been on a cruise where I was looking to upgrade for free and the insides crashed in price and then they sold enough and it rocketed back up to close to OV/Balc prices and stayed there until the ship sold out. 

[Starry Eyes]

If I have a serious interest in the cruise, I tend to click further to get the details of the cabin offers.  You might find, for example, that solo inside comes with one perk, the ov comes with two perks, while the balcony is a sailaway rate without any perks.  Some people really value the perks;others not so much, so different reasonable people would make different choices in such a case.  If your rate does include perks, depending on the perks you select, you may have to pay a gratuity on the perk(s).  Also, some rates may allow you to select your cabin location while other rates do not.  Selecting your location can be nice IF they are offering good locations to select from in that category at that moment; sometimes the selections aren’t good.