New Tier between Platinum Plus and Ambassador starting Jan 2022

[TrumpyNor]

4 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

No, it's because the laws vary from one country to another.  As an example, in the US we are accustomed to seeing prices quoted as a base price plus additional taxes and fees.  In other countries, it is customary to quote only the final price, then the merchant has to deduct the appropriate amounts for taxes and fees.  In the US we can book a cruise and put down a small deposit.  If we decide to cancel prior to the final payment date, we can cancel without penalty.  Persons who book in some other countries lose their deposit if they change.  If the price goes down, we can cancel and re-book at the lower price without penalty.  In some places that is not possible.  At the very least, the prices on the various websites are listed in the local currencies and English is not the principal language in every country.

And this is the reason why; even though I live in Europe myself, I always book my NCL cruises through my PCC who is located in the US - for me personally I simply find the booking conditions to be better doing it that way. Only "negative" I can think about is that final payment for bookings made through NCL in the US is 120 days out, compared to Europe's 30 days out. And often the prices are better when booking through NCL in the US compared to what is offered through NCL Europe - I always thought the reason behind that is that the European customers are willing to pay more than the average American, but that is of course just a "unqualified" guess on my part. 😉

[The Traveling Man]

8 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

And this is the reason why; even though I live in Europe myself, I always book my NCL cruises through my PCC who is located in the US - for me personally I simply find the booking conditions to be better doing it that way. Only "negative" I can think about is that final payment for bookings made through NCL in the US is 120 days out, compared to Europe's 30 days out. And often the prices are better when booking through NCL in the US compared to what is offered through NCL Europe - I always thought the reason behind that is that the European customers are willing to pay more than the average American, but that is of course just a "unqualified" guess on my part. 😉

Also remember that if the cruise is booked through the USA and the price goes down after you have made your final payment, you can still change your reservation to a higher category room by paying the price difference.  Let's say you paid $1000 pp for an Inside when Balconies were going for $2000.  Shortly before sailing the price goes down to $600 Inside and $1200 Balcony.  You may not be able to get back the "extra" $400 pp that you already have spent on your Inside, but you can upgrade to a Balcony by paying just $200 pp more.  I don't think you can do that if you book through an NCL European office.

[The Traveling Man]

8 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

I’m quite sure that is just a result of how the table it’s set up. It basically shows that all tiers get everything that the lower tiers have plus the new bits. For an ambassador they have already has the upgrade (when they were diamond) so it is still ticked.

 

I assume that if anyone is ambassador now then they can get their upgrade that they missed because diamond wasn’t a thing before, in tha same way that diamond members can, but there will just be one of them.

My take on it is that a newly created Ambassador receives a free upgrade upon becoming an Ambassador in addition to the upgrade they received upon becoming a Diamond, hence two upgrades in their lifetime.  Now whether that applies to those who already were Ambassadors when the Diamond level was added and the new benefit of the free upgrade was created is anyone's guess.

[TrumpyNor]

17 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

Also remember that if the cruise is booked through the USA and the price goes down after you have made your final payment, you can still change your reservation to a higher category room by paying the price difference.  Let's say you paid $1000 pp for an Inside when Balconies were going for $2000.  Shortly before sailing the price goes down to $600 Inside and $1200 Balcony.  You may not be able to get back the "extra" $400 pp that you already have spent on your Inside, but you can upgrade to a Balcony by paying just $200 pp more.  I don't think you can do that if you book through an NCL European office.

Exactly,  and I have done this type of purchased upgrade very succesfully in the past. 😊

[The Traveling Man]

2 minutes ago, TrumpyNor said:

Exactly,  and I have done this type of purchased upgrade very succesfully in the past. 😊

We were on a 14 day Caribbean cruise on the Breakaway in January 2016.  We booked a regular Balcony for what I thought was a reasonable price.  As the sailing date approached, though, the price of a Haven Spa Balcony dropped to just $75 pp more that we already had spent on the standard Balcony.  Two weeks in the Haven plus Spa privileges for just $150 total more - NO BRAINER !!!

[casofilia]

HOORAY!!!

 

I posted on the Roll Call of the Bliss going through the Panama Canal starting on the 24th January asking for someone who was entitled to the Latitudes 60 min Free WIFI to post if they got them; here is the answer:-

 

Yes, we received them on the account and are using them. Both Sapphire, both got them.

 

It looks as if NCL have grandfathered all of us who booked cruses BEFORE the change in Latitude Rewards on 7th January.

 

Looking forward to ours on the Jade later this year.

 

Mike

[Travelicious]

On 1/23/2022 at 5:28 PM, casofilia said:

 

It looks as if NCL have grandfathered all of us who booked cruses BEFORE the change in Latitude Rewards on 7th January.

 

I was just coming here to comment that this appears to be the case.  I just received updated amenity confirmations for cruises booked before the changes, and they still show the Latitudes internet minutes, including 60 minutes for me as a result of advancing to Sapphire (though I would have still been a bit short for Platinum Plus.  

 

Also, regarding the changes to internet provided as part of the Free at Sea benefits, it is actually a better deal if two people are in a cabin.  It was previously 250 minutes per stateroom.  It is now 150 minutes per person.

[julig22]

Just thought I'd share - I just got to Sapphire after my last cruise, ending Friday.  Checked my account and found that all of my pre-paid excursions for future cruises had been adjusted to reflect the additional discount. One less phone call to make!