NCL Paid Priority Boarding Program

[ALS1214]

I know that NCL was testing out a faster to the fun/ the key type program. Did it fizzle out? I do not see it offered on the website. 

[Sean87]

I was offered it last night doing my Check In online.  I believe they wanted $330 CAD for our cabin which has 3 people in it.

[bkcoogler]

I just purchased it for our upcoming Feb 23 NCL Getaway sailing out of New Orleans.

[esm54687]

as stated...... available as an add-on during your on-line check in

[miataman19]

Still available. They only release Priority Access to about 25 cabins.

[ALS1214]

Thanks! I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

[colecandler]

Checking in today...it was offered $179 for the stateroom. 

[Vertigirl99]

We just purchased for our recent cruise on the Bliss.  It's useless for embarkation/disembarkation - there was no discernible benefit there. The canapes are about 5 croutons with a dab of a food mousse on them, meh. The $50 per person spa credit, we used, but they made it a pain in the butt and kept trying to switch our port day massage to a couples' for which the discount didn't apply. Also good if you order hot breakfast every morning to eliminate the 7.95 service charge. We did get a call about priority tender for Stirrup Cay to go to a special room by a certain time, but the port was cancelled so can't comment on if that would really get you priority off the ship for the day faster than anyone else. 

[LovesPurple]

I used it on the Escape and thought it was worth the money for embarkation alone. We really wanted Vibe passes and were numbers 20-22 because of the priority boarding. Also helped secure dinner reservations 

[Jim The Lizard]

21 minutes ago, Vertigirl99 said:

We just purchased for our recent cruise on the Bliss.  It's useless for embarkation/disembarkation - there was no discernible benefit there. The canapes are about 5 croutons with a dab of a food mousse on them, meh. The $50 per person spa credit, we used, but they made it a pain in the butt and kept trying to switch our port day massage to a couples' for which the discount didn't apply. Also good if you order hot breakfast every morning to eliminate the 7.95 service charge. We did get a call about priority tender for Stirrup Cay to go to a special room by a certain time, but the port was cancelled so can't comment on if that would really get you priority off the ship for the day faster than anyone else. 

No discernible benefit for embarkation?.   What ship?. We're you attempting to get a Vibe pass or book your entertainment?. So many questions, but since this is a new program, I think that the majority of people who purchased are trying to lock down Vibe/go carts/ laser tag spots.  

[NutsAboutGolf]

It's a newer product and there aren't too many datapoints but like the NCL "perks", most of the priority access have fine print.

 

Biggest reason to do it, you want the Vibe/Posh pass, have lots of tenders and want to board the ship early vs exploring the port or area around the port.

 

Priority embarkment, it comes down to the individual port to whether or not there's either a dedicated priority only security lines or if you can cut regular security line.  This has been further complicated by non-NCL port employees who simply may have no idea there could be a "priority" security line elsewhere and are telling people there is only one security line as someone from San Pedro recently reported.  Check-in usually goes quick, security is usually the bottleneck.

 

Breakfast is reportedly only the three omlettes (one is veggie) on the menu card.

 

If you want to be on one of the first 3 tenders, a regular passenger can get that easily however they'll need to get in line early; with priority access you can get on the first tender.  Reportedly, it's only from ship to port and not back to the ship however that could vary by port.

 

On port days there's almost always spa discounts and its reported that the longer the sailing, the higher odds of the discount as someone said it can be up to 40% off while the average is about 25% off.  You cannot stack the credit with the discount and its only for select treatments (50min at a minimum).  But it is per person, if for whatever reason you have four people in your cabin that all want one the select treatments on a port day that helps.

 

Canapes; I mean, why not pay $7.95 and order room service, you can order as much as you want from the menu which has a cheese plate, dessert plate or fruit plate.

 

Disembarkment, self carry goes off first.

 

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

10 hours ago, colecandler said:

Checking in today...it was offered $179 for the stateroom. 

 

3 to 5 Days - $99 per cabin
6 to 9 Days - $179 per cabin
10 to 15 Days - $249 per cabin
16+ Days - $299 per cabin

[Vertigirl99]

17 hours ago, Jim The Lizard said:

No discernible benefit for embarkation?.   What ship?. We're you attempting to get a Vibe pass or book your entertainment?. So many questions, but since this is a new program, I think that the majority of people who purchased are trying to lock down Vibe/go carts/ laser tag spots.  

This was on the Bliss. While they technically give you an earlier arrival time to the port for embarkation day, it makes no difference. They hand you a boarding group # before you even check in, and where you check in is the same as Latitudes "priority" check in. You're not going to get on the ship any faster than anyone else without the priority pass- it's totally dependent on your group #.  We were boarding group # 32, and were at the port before 10:30, Vibe passes were already sold out. Go karts and laser tag had plenty of slots available acc'd to my nephew who did both.

[Jim The Lizard]

8 minutes ago, Vertigirl99 said:

This was on the Bliss. While they technically give you an earlier arrival time to the port for embarkation day, it makes no difference. They hand you a boarding group # before you even check in, and where you check in is the same as Latitudes "priority" check in. You're not going to get on the ship any faster than anyone else without the priority pass- it's totally dependent on your group #.  We were boarding group # 32, and were at the port before 10:30, Vibe passes were already sold out. Go karts and laser tag had plenty of slots available acc'd to my nephew who did both.

Thank you for clear and specific response.   Truly....so many times the question remains unanswered!.  I hope you enjoyed your cruise regardless, and again, thank you for sharing your experience and information.  Happy New Year!!

[prbffd28]

I hope the folks at Port of Miami have their "ducks in a row" because I purchased this for the sole purpose of getting Vibe passes for my fiance' and I. We sail on the Encore Feb 9, which in theory due to the build, should be easier to purchase but I wanted to enhance my chances by spending the extra for this program. Fingers crossed!!

[Shidah]

13 hours ago, Vertigirl99 said:

This was on the Bliss. While they technically give you an earlier arrival time to the port for embarkation day, it makes no difference. They hand you a boarding group # before you even check in, and where you check in is the same as Latitudes "priority" check in. You're not going to get on the ship any faster than anyone else without the priority pass- it's totally dependent on your group #.  We were boarding group # 32, and were at the port before 10:30, Vibe passes were already sold out. Go karts and laser tag had plenty of slots available acc'd to my nephew who did both.

If you had priority access you should not have been in group 32.

[LovesPurple]

12 hours ago, prbffd28 said:

I hope the folks at Port of Miami have their "ducks in a row" because I purchased this for the sole purpose of getting Vibe passes for my fiance' and I. We sail on the Encore Feb 9, which in theory due to the build, should be easier to purchase but I wanted to enhance my chances by spending the extra for this program. Fingers crossed!!

They did when I was there on Saturday. I wrote a detailed embarkation a couple days ago and let me know if you have questions

[prbffd28]

21 minutes ago, LovesPurple said:

They did when I was there on Saturday. I wrote a detailed embarkation a couple days ago and let me know if you have questions

Good to hear, I appreciate the response. So I assume there is a specific line with signs that I should be looking for once we enter the terminal, it says "Terminal C" in my edocs? We are also part of the Casinos at Sea program on this cruise, not sure if that makes any difference though. It's only our 2nd NCL cruise so we have limited experience with this whole process. Thanks again!

[moosecrouse]

49 minutes ago, prbffd28 said:

Good to hear, I appreciate the response. So I assume there is a specific line with signs that I should be looking for once we enter the terminal, it says "Terminal C" in my edocs? We are also part of the Casinos at Sea program on this cruise, not sure if that makes any difference though. It's only our 2nd NCL cruise so we have limited experience with this whole process. Thanks again!

Casinos at sea should get you priority boarding. At least it does at the Port in NYC. My friend cruises through them all the time and he get placed with me in the Platinum/Platinum plus waiting area which is suppose to board before the priority pass people

[LovesPurple]

3 minutes ago, moosecrouse said:

Casinos at sea should get you priority boarding. At least it does at the Port in NYC. My friend cruises through them all the time and he get placed with me in the Platinum/Platinum plus waiting area which is suppose to board before the priority pass people

Once at Terminal C, you enter the building and go through security - no separate lines at this point. After security, there is a dedicated priority line. With Priority Access, we seemed to board ahead of the Platinum status cruisers, unless they were taken to a different embarkation point. 

[moosecrouse]

3 minutes ago, LovesPurple said:

Once at Terminal C, you enter the building and go through security - no separate lines at this point. After security, there is a dedicated priority line. With Priority Access, we seemed to board ahead of the Platinum status cruisers, unless they were taken to a different embarkation point. 

My understanding is its suppose to be Haven, Handicapped traveller's, Platinum/PP & CAS then Priority Pass than general boarding. But it's a new program with the kinks still being worked out. And I'm sure as someone previously posted each port is still figuring out how to implement the new program because most ports don't have dedicated NCL employees 

[Shidah]

CAS only has priority boarding in NY.

[prbffd28]

Well I guess time will tell how things end up, 39 days to go!! Thanks to all that responded, I appreciate the feedback.

[sdere96]

On 12/31/2019 at 10:25 AM, Vertigirl99 said:

This was on the Bliss. While they technically give you an earlier arrival time to the port for embarkation day, it makes no difference. They hand you a boarding group # before you even check in, and where you check in is the same as Latitudes "priority" check in. You're not going to get on the ship any faster than anyone else without the priority pass- it's totally dependent on your group #.  We were boarding group # 32, and were at the port before 10:30, Vibe passes were already sold out. Go karts and laser tag had plenty of slots available acc'd to my nephew who did both.

What was the embarkation port you sailed out of?

Edited January 17, 2020 by sdere96