I fell for the 60% off email

[skeeter195]

I got the email this morning and actually got a little excited to see 60% off the 2nd person.  I even called NCL to reprice 2 cruises that I booked only to realize the 60% off the 2nd person is the same as 30% off the 1st 2 people that has been running for quite some time.  I give NCL credit as it is hard to "trick" me but they did, good for them.  Bonus though, when I called I was able to get $276 off one of the cruises due to a price drop.  

[cycling_fan]

I had to look closely at this too. My fare for both of us was exactly the same. Hoping for a discount in the future. 

 

[vacation44]

1 hour ago, skeeter195 said:

I got the email this morning and actually got a little excited to see 60% off the 2nd person.  I even called NCL to reprice 2 cruises that I booked only to realize the 60% off the 2nd person is the same as 30% off the 1st 2 people that has been running for quite some time.  I give NCL credit as it is hard to "trick" me but they did, good for them.  Bonus though, when I called I was able to get $276 off one of the cruises due to a price drop.  

 

I fell for it too!

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Talk about click-bait advertising at it's finest!  Pricing still shows as "30% off" some mystery "from" price for each guest when you look at pricing breakdown, so the 60% off is a smoke and mirrors marketing gimmick just like the 30% off is.  The average fare pp shown when shopping for cruises is the fare for guests 1&2 just like it has always been.  Royal Caribbean has been doing this for YEARS

[complawyer]

you just need to look carefully at all the cabins and their specific fares.  the 30% off has been going on since last nov.  when i first saw this, it looked like they had actually raised the prices before the 30% discount, so no real savings.  watch the prices carefully. i am anal about this, and constantly going in the ncl website. the prices do go down if you watch closely, and you can get the cheaper fares if you

can catch them before  your final payment is due. we're booked on the epic in jan, and the prices have dropped 2 or 3 times already. ( 2 bedroom haven)

 

as my late daddy once told me: "son, if it sounds to good to be true...etc."

 

while we have sailed with ncl exclusively since 2010 (18 separate cruises) the latin phrase caveat emptor more then applies 

[RunBikeCruiseDC]

So annoying, I was looking yesterday and yes, exact same prices as today.  

[Seany527]

You know someone in the main office thought this 60% off sale was a genius idea and the executives all sat around a table laughing about the potential number of people they would trick into a booking. 

[luckyinpa]

I booked Tuesday n Thursday the price was 100 cheaper so must be a legit sale this time

[casofilia]

Pricing still shows as "30% off" some mystery "from" price for each guest 

 

Can anyone tell me when that "from" price was actually the price that was charged for the particular cabin?

 

This is grossly misleading advertising and I would imagine illegal in many decent countries!!

[vadersprincess12]

This is basically the same bait they use with the "Free" at Sea advertising.

 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

4 hours ago, casofilia said:

Pricing still shows as "30% off" some mystery "from" price for each guest 

 

Can anyone tell me when that "from" price was actually the price that was charged for the particular cabin?

 

This is grossly misleading advertising and I would imagine illegal in many decent countries!!

It’s the same concept as the “rack rate” most hotels are required to post on the inside of the door, or a “full fare” airline ticket. Its a mythical $ amount no one pays and fluctuates based on what discount or pricing scheme they dream up to subtract from it to get to the bottom line $ they want to charge the consumer. 

[Carnac767]

Yep, I saw the offer and got excited until I checked their rate on the cabin we already have booked for our next cruise.  The price now actually had gone up a few bucks.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I love this blurb from the T&C of the “30% off” offer: 

Original rate prices quoted are offering prices and may not have resulted in, and savings shown from original prices may not be based on, actual sales. From time to time, we may use original to mean the price offered during a previous seasonal time period, and therefore such prices may not have been in effect during the past 90 days.  https://www.ncl.com/termsandconditions/promotions

 

In short the “original” pre discount price can be ANY amount they decide it to be in order to reflect a 30% “discount” as the actual price to be paid by the consumer, it’s not a fare anyone at any time has actually ever paid for the selected accommodation.  While not uncommon in multiple industries (travel, retail, automotive, etc) it still smacks of marking up to mark down and misrepresentation of any actual discount. 

[mama-of-three]

I have a question semi related to this 60% off. I was looking at these (we don’t have anything booked yet) and see a balcony for $835 but when I get to the summary page it shows the fare as $1300. I’m not understanding the difference in fare. I originally thought gratuities and ….  Any suggestions? 

[ggTexasGal]

6 hours ago, mama-of-three said:

I have a question semi related to this 60% off. I was looking at these (we don’t have anything booked yet) and see a balcony for $835 but when I get to the summary page it shows the fare as $1300. I’m not understanding the difference in fare. I originally thought gratuities and ….  Any suggestions? 

IF you are looking for the full breakdown of costs (on NCL's site you can see upfront-per-person-fare).

Once you select your category, you'll be taken to the next page.  There, you will see the Free at Sea options to keep, or un-select.  Before even "CONTINUE"(ing) there is an option to View Details (blue print.  Lower right hand of page). Once you continue, you can then select your stateroom from available list. And once again, (towards the bottom of summary ...right hand side) you can VIEW DETAILS.

I hope this helps answer your questions.

 

If you want the lowest fare, select the SAIL AWAY option and take no perks.

***Also , you DO NOT get to select your room!!!

Edited October 20, 2021 by ggTexasGal
added FAS info

[milolii]

Yes it sounds like the gratitudes were added on for the drink and specialty dinners.  If you don’t want these you can uncheck them, or chose the sail away as ggTexasgal  suggests.  
 

Complawyer is correct the 30% off is been offered since forever.  I watch the fares for my cruise as well.  😁

Edited October 20, 2021 by milolii

[Sixtytwo]

24 minutes ago, milolii said:

Yes it sounds like the gratitudes were added on for the drink and specialty dinners.  If you don’t want these you can uncheck them, or chose the sail away as ggTexasgal  suggests.  
 

Complawyer is correct the 30% off is been offered since forever.  I watch the fares for my cruise as well.  😁

I know this is a dumb question since we have been cruising since 1997, but how do you "watch the fares" for a cruise? With the web knowing everything about what we do, every time I go to check the fare, the site(s) know I am already booked! 🤷‍♂️

[complawyer]

ive never had this problem in 10years. i go to the ncl website,check off what i want to view and go there. even if you are already booked, you  can mock book another cabin, or any other cruise. this helps if you have multiple cruises booked 

we have a trans-atlantic cruise booked for next nov and i've watched the price go down twice, same with the my cruise in january. if you see the price go down, and you have a cruise consultant, contact them. if you have a travel agent contact them. 

 

i dont mean to be facetious, but maybe youre onthe wrong site,  and even if it knows youre booked, the site shouldnt be able to keep you from looking at similar cabin prices

[Sthrngary]

32 minutes ago, complawyer said:

ive never had this problem in 10years. i go to the ncl website,check off what i want to view and go there. even if you are already booked, you  can mock book another cabin, or any other cruise. this helps if you have multiple cruises booked 

we have a trans-atlantic cruise booked for next nov and i've watched the price go down twice, same with the my cruise in january. if you see the price go down, and you have a cruise consultant, contact them. if you have a travel agent contact them. 

 

i dont mean to be facetious, but maybe youre onthe wrong site,  and even if it knows youre booked, the site shouldnt be able to keep you from looking at similar cabin prices

I completely agree with @complawyer.  I check prices daily on my upcoming cruise by doing a mock booking. I also allows you to see how many cabins in a specific category are available for "Bidding for an upgrade".  More cabins, lower upgrade bid.  Not a great strategy but makes sense. 

 

One gaining lower fares, yet again I completely agree with @complawyer.  As long as you have not hit the final payment, you should be able to get different solutions to lower prices.  If you cabin type is sold out, you obviously will not.  If Final Payment was required it is hit/or Miss.  

 

 

[Beach Life 1]

2 hours ago, Sixtytwo said:

I know this is a dumb question since we have been cruising since 1997, but how do you "watch the fares" for a cruise? With the web knowing everything about what we do, every time I go to check the fare, the site(s) know I am already booked! 🤷‍♂️

Are you logging in to NCL?   Don't log in, just go to NCL site and do a mock booking. 

[janice2348]

I sometimes use an incognito browser.  
 

I fell for this “ sale”. Princess cancelled our four day Alaska cruise two days after I booked it.  Pretty much said, we will get our deposit back whenever.  So I went to NCL and booked a Panama Canal 9 day out of Panama City in March 2023. Saw the 60% off for an 8 day Panama Canal cruise out of Panama City a week earlier.  Did the math- savings of about $330.  Put a courtesy hold on it. Since it was after 8 pm, I waited until the next day and instead of calling I did a chat.  Asked to have my $250 transferred to the booking on hold.  Got disconnected from the chat.  Reconnected. The rep had cancelled my booked cruise.  Was told that they had to request the deposit be transferred which could take up to three days.  This didn’t sound right to me, so I called today.  Was told I was being refunded; I should have called to have the deposit transferred. Why wasn’t I told this on the chat?  Cruise is on courtesy hold for another four days( the rep extended it).  Refund will take up to ten days.  I’ll probably end up with no booking.  All of this drama just to save a few hundred bucks. 
 

So now I’m out $450 ( between Princess and NCL). I’m really frustrated with the cruise industry right now.  If we don’t get the deposit back in time, I’m going to wait until next year to book.  The cruise industry is just too much in flux right now. Just wanted to write all this because I don’t want someone to make the mistake of using NCLs chat feature to change a booking( I have sailed with them twice before and never had this problem).  I did Live chat for many years and I always informed my customers when they had to call in to do something.  I prefer chat because I don’t usually have to sit on hold for an hour.  
 

I also have to say that the NCL reps were all snippy and seemed annoyed.  Yes, I understand they are overwhelmed, but it doesn’t make me want to sail with them.  Princess reps weren’t much better.  

[Jenner9]

So when I am pricing cruises I clicked on a price of $784 for a balcony. 2nd and 3rd passengers are "free". When I go to the summary page it shows $1567 per person (1st and 2nd passenger) What happened to the $784? This is the price before gratuities, etc.

[RRSeeker]

It is divided by 4 guests. If there were just 2 that would be the price per person.  Since 2 are free the amount is divided in 4 instead of 2 since it is giving the average price per person.

[Jenner9]

2 minutes ago, RRSeeker said:

It is divided by 4 guests. If there were just 2 that would be the price per person.  Since 2 are free the amount is divided in 4 instead of 2 since it is giving the average price per person.

Ahhh! Gotcha! Thank you

[Jenner9]

28 minutes ago, RRSeeker said:

It is divided by 4 guests. If there were just 2 that would be the price per person.  Since 2 are free the amount is divided in 4 instead of 2 since it is giving the average price per person.

Wait so even though they say 3rd and 4th passengers are "free" they are not. I mean $1567 is a far cry from $784. I expect the cost to be $784 x 2 plus gratuities and port fees.