Second person flies free with NCL

[smtr467]

6 hours ago, saltsandknit said:

You can cancel the transport fee if you want and get a taxi which will be about 50$ from airport to cruise port. Unless the taxi rates have increased. We just stick with the NCL transportation for ease. I have learned to love one and done booking

I think we'll probably go with NCL transporting us to the port from the airport.  Seems a lot easier especially since we will be in a new city.  Worth the extra I'm hoping.  They won't do it though if we decide to come a day or so earlier, will they, from the hotel I mean?

Thanks

[smtr467]

5 hours ago, saltsandknit said:

When we did this in Miami the transport fee stayed the same and the bus came to the hotel. There are a lot of cruisers at the hotel. I have not done it out of the county and I booked the hotel from NCL. I would call NCL and see what your options are.  

That's good to know.  I was thinking of going a day or so early also.  

 

[victory2020]

22 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

We only used NCL once for our flight.  We flew out of St. Louis on the day of the ship's departure and were met at the Miami airport by a NCL rep who put us on their bus to the port.  Everything was easy peasy.

For our return we were given a time to disembark the ship and we boarded their bus back to the airport.  The only negative was the flight they assigned us for our return was early evening so we spent most of the day in the airport.  For a fee we could have gotten a better return flight.

 

We just booked a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Bliss and we will be using NCL for our flights again.

If your flight is later you also have the option of taking a tour with transfer to the airport

[hallux]

1 hour ago, smtr467 said:

They won't do it though if we decide to come a day or so earlier, will they, from the hotel I mean?

It seems that depends on the port city, and possibly if the hotel was booked through NCL or not.  When I used the transfer in LA after arriving a day early I had to find my way back to the airport to pick up the shuttle to the cruise terminal.  The first time I did this is wasn't too bad as I was staying 1/2 mile from the terminal, along the road in.  The second time I was on the South side of the airport and the hotel shuttle had to fight the terminal traffic to get there.  Both instances were self-booked hotels.

Edited June 1, 2021 by hallux

[coloradocruiselover88]

On 3/3/2021 at 7:50 AM, GIZMO81 said:

We live in Miami so we are just

going straight to The Apex from home. How about You?

 

10 hours ago, smtr467 said:

Thank you for the info.  We are thinking of booking a cruise out of Copenhagen and have several people in our group.  We are just worried we won't fly together.

 

 

NCL offers travel with for $25 per person.

 

OUR TRAVEL-WITH-GUARANTEE PROGRAM

Guests who want to travel together can now take advantage of our new Travel-With-Guarantee Program. Below are the program’s Terms and Conditions and how to qualify:

• The Travel-With-Guarantee program ensures that eligible guests on different reservations are booked on the same flight.
• A non-refundable fee of $25 per guest (over the age of two) on eligible reservations.
• There is a maximum of four reservations per Travel-With-Guarantee group.
• Guests may add or revise their Travel-With- Guarantee group up to 75 days prior to embarkation.
• If you are embarking on the Norwegian Gem from La Romana, Norwegian Jade from Athens, and Norwegian Joy from Montego Bay, the Travel With program can be added up to 60 days prior to embarkation.
• All eligible guests in the Travel-With-Guarantee group must be booked on the same ship, travel on the same dates and depart from the same gateways in order to qualify.
• All eligible bookings in the Travel-With-Guarantee group will be ticketed at the same time and follow our standard ticketing window of 45 to 60 days prior to embarkation. 
• Guests may deviate up to two days prior to embarkation and two days after disembarkation and qualify for the Travel-With-Guarantee program. However, all reservations must be traveling on the same date and gateway in order to qualify.

 

[saltsandknit]

2 hours ago, smtr467 said:

I think we'll probably go with NCL transporting us to the port from the airport.  Seems a lot easier especially since we will be in a new city.  Worth the extra I'm hoping.  They won't do it though if we decide to come a day or so earlier, will they, from the hotel I mean?

Thanks

Yes you can use NCL transport even when flying in early. When we did this in Miami the hotel NCL put us in had a large group of people on our cruise so the bus was our transport. If you are staying near the airport you can always go back to the airport and get on the NCL bus. We have done this as well.  Depending on the hotel they will arrange a taxi or shuttle to the port and it will be less than the cost through NCL. However this is all based on my US travels I’m not sure about foreign ports but I am sure your hotel can help arrange travel to the port or back to the airport depending on what you choose. 

[Sailing12Away]

11 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Their transfers seem a little steep, though - do folks that use the air usually keep those or make their own way to/from port?

We've used them, cancelled them completely, and kept them for one-way. So you can literally do anything that you want which works out the best for you. 

 

Search these boards for the ports you'll be traveling into/out of for a general idea of what people have done before you and what it costs. For Iceland they're charging $150/pp - so we'll most definitely cancel those. 

[classy_cruiser]

I have an update on requesting the deviation and transfer fee changes, thanks to all the tips here. I chatted with an agent yesterday and asked to arrive 2 days early into Athens and asked how that would change the transfer fee. This was no problem at all. This 4 day courtesy hold timeframe to figure out all the logistics before paying the deposit is pretty slick. 

 

I'm now arriving Friday into Athens for Sunday departure date and I received a $25 discount on the airfare for the deviation. They also cut the transfer fee from $150 to $75 total because we will have to get ourselves to the port. We will pay our own hotel. 

 

Once I get the actual flight schedules, I will decide if it makes sense to take the return transfer to the airport or not. 

[hallux]

11 minutes ago, classy_cruiser said:

They also cut the transfer fee from $150 to $75 total because we will have to get ourselves to the port

Why should you pay any transfer at all if you're getting yourself to the port?  Or is that $150 for before and after the cruise and you're only making use of after so it's half the cost?

[classy_cruiser]

21 minutes ago, hallux said:

Why should you pay any transfer at all if you're getting yourself to the port?  Or is that $150 for before and after the cruise and you're only making use of after so it's half the cost?

Correct

[smtr467]

6 hours ago, classy_cruiser said:

I have an update on requesting the deviation and transfer fee changes, thanks to all the tips here. I chatted with an agent yesterday and asked to arrive 2 days early into Athens and asked how that would change the transfer fee. This was no problem at all. This 4 day courtesy hold timeframe to figure out all the logistics before paying the deposit is pretty slick. 

 

I'm now arriving Friday into Athens for Sunday departure date and I received a $25 discount on the airfare for the deviation. They also cut the transfer fee from $150 to $75 total because we will have to get ourselves to the port. We will pay our own hotel. 

 

Once I get the actual flight schedules, I will decide if it makes sense to take the return transfer to the airport or not. 

 

[smtr467]

Just now, smtr467 said:

 

Thanks for the info.  We have booked our cruise going out of Copenhagen on the new ship, Prima.  Since NCL will guarantee one way or another, to get us to the port, we are going directly from the airport to the ship!  Hoping it works out as we our flight will be at least a 14 hour flight!