Diamond Upgrade Success....or Not?

[KeithJenner]

1 hour ago, TrumpyNor said:

Which e-mail address did you use - I have only seen the phone number listed? We have one Diamond upgrade left, that we would like to use for a cruise next year - to go from oceanview to balcony. Last time I sent an e-mail to my PCC at NCL in the US instead of calling from Norway, and she acted like a "middle man" in the "upgrade matter". But I would prefer to do it directly through the "Diamond upgrade dept." if possible.... 

I used latitudesupport@ncl.com

 

I suspect you would get better results by calling, but I decided that email would do in this case as there aren’t any Club Suites on the Viva that I wouldn’t have been happy with, so I decided to go for ease.

[TrumpyNor]

On 5/8/2022 at 10:12 AM, KeithJenner said:

I used latitudesupport@ncl.com

 

I suspect you would get better results by calling, but I decided that email would do in this case as there aren’t any Club Suites on the Viva that I wouldn’t have been happy with, so I decided to go for ease.

Thank you, I wrote them an e-mail last Monday, and received a cofirmation today (Friday) that they have upgraded our Obstructed Oceanview cabin to a BF balcony cabin for the cruise we have booked for August 2023. Mr. Google provided the photo below that shows cabin #8522 on the Star (which is  the cabin we have been upgraded to). As you can see from the picture, it is a "hull balcony" - and normally I would have been a little dissappointed about the "framing" of the balcony. But our cruise will sail in Arctic waters where weather can be "all over the place" also in August - mainly Northern Norway, Iceland and Greenland - so I am actually very pleased with a type of balcony that will protect us a little against the weather. So I actually call this a Diamond Upgrade Success.... 

 

Edited May 20, 2022 by TrumpyNor

[spanishguy1970]

Thank you for the latitude email, i wrote to it to use my Diamond upgrade. We will see.

[spanishguy1970]

On 5/8/2022 at 4:12 AM, KeithJenner said:

I used latitudesupport@ncl.com

 

I suspect you would get better results by calling, but I decided that email would do in this case as there aren’t any Club Suites on the Viva that I wouldn’t have been happy with, so I decided to go for ease.

this email worked great. I wrote on Saturday and received the email today that we have been upgraded to a Club Balcony suite on deck 9 the Escape, using our Diamond free upgrade option.

[complawyer]

without trying to sound like a complete snob, diva,  or jerk,  there is really nothing of any value for my wife and i to attain diamond status. at the very least i would book the club balcony, but normally try for a suite or the haven, so i really have no incentive to get to diamond status, other than bragging rights.

I was very content to be platinum + and am just as content at sapphire>

I've already come to the reality that I will never make it to ambassador, or if by a slim chance I do, I'll probably be to old to enjoy it.  lol

[KeithJenner]

2 hours ago, complawyer said:

without trying to sound like a complete snob, diva,  or jerk,  there is really nothing of any value for my wife and i to attain diamond status. at the very least i would book the club balcony, but normally try for a suite or the haven, so i really have no incentive to get to diamond status, other than bragging rights.

I was very content to be platinum + and am just as content at sapphire>

I've already come to the reality that I will never make it to ambassador, or if by a slim chance I do, I'll probably be to old to enjoy it.  lol

If you would book a club balcony at least then the diamond upgrade would mean you could do that for the cost of a balcony. That could be a significant saving.

 

I know you prefer a suite or haven (everyone on this site knows that 🙂 ), but as you mention a club suite as an option then that could make the diamond upgrade worth it).

[complawyer]

dear mr jenner. all this means is that regardless of my point status,  im not going to book a balcony cabin, just so i can use the diamond level to upgrade to a club suite. i was just saying that the diamond level will have no real benefit for me.

[KeithJenner]

2 hours ago, complawyer said:

dear mr jenner. all this means is that regardless of my point status,  im not going to book a balcony cabin, just so i can use the diamond level to upgrade to a club suite. i was just saying that the diamond level will have no real benefit for me.

If that because you could be allocated a club suite anywhere rather than selecting your own?

 

I’m genuinely interested. You have posted a number of times saying that it doesn’t work for you as you prefer a suite, and in that case there really is no value in the diamond upgrade, but above you stated that you would book a club suite. Balcony to Club suite is a decent diamond upgrade (a couple of us here have used ours for just that), so I’m interested in why you wouldn’t want to do that.

 

Or maybe I misunderstood your earlier post and you meant that you would book a club suite in order to upgrade to a suite of that was possible?

Edited June 9, 2022 by KeithJenner

[spanishguy1970]

14 hours ago, complawyer said:

without trying to sound like a complete snob, diva,  or jerk,  there is really nothing of any value for my wife and i to attain diamond status. at the very least i would book the club balcony, but normally try for a suite or the haven, so i really have no incentive to get to diamond status, other than bragging rights.

I was very content to be platinum + and am just as content at sapphire>

I've already come to the reality that I will never make it to ambassador, or if by a slim chance I do, I'll probably be to old to enjoy it.  lol

 I see your point, in our case we were Platinum plus and very happy with it. NCL changed the Latitudes program and we went to Diamond, just like that. Now, maybe they will change the program again and poof maybe we will become Ambassador 😁😉We earned the points so why not get a little benefit from it, but that's just us, maybe others don't feel the same way. For instance we could care less about the Haven not to say we wouldn't be happy to be up there, it's just not something we are willing to spend the extra money on, but others swear by it, i guess is all about choice. 🙂

Edited June 9, 2022 by spanishguy1970

[complawyer]

spanishguy1970

 

but wouldnt you do it if you could upgrade as a diamond from a club balcony to a haven cabin? ive never sailed because of points awarded, and only found some value when we reached platinum.

 

by the way, how did you you manage to det to diamond from platinum + and bypass sapphire?

[The Traveling Man]

16 hours ago, complawyer said:

without trying to sound like a complete snob, diva,  or jerk,  there is really nothing of any value for my wife and i to attain diamond status. at the very least i would book the club balcony, but normally try for a suite or the haven, so i really have no incentive to get to diamond status, other than bragging rights.

I was very content to be platinum + and am just as content at sapphire>

I've already come to the reality that I will never make it to ambassador, or if by a slim chance I do, I'll probably be to old to enjoy it.  lol

We have traveled in a Suite or the Haven a few times, but mostly we choose a Balcony.  The Diamond upgrade benefit allowed us to try a Club Balcony on our recent Getaway TransAtlantic.  The extra room around the bed was nice, the closet that opened into the room without having to climb over the bed or sofa to get to it was a welcome relief, and the much larger and nicer bathroom was wonderful.  Other than that, however, we would have done just as fine in a regular Balcony.  The services of the Butler and Concierge were mostly lost on us.  Like you, I don't think we'll ever make it to Ambassador, so I don't think that free cruise is in our future.  As for bragging rights, I actually saw a woman wearing her Diamond Latitudes pin everywhere she went on board.  Mine went into a drawer with a couple of dozen other membership lapel pins as soon as I got home.

[complawyer]

keith jenner, you may have misunderstood. again, for me diamond status has no real value. the highest upgrade cabin wise is to club balcony suite i merely said that i wouldnt book a "balcony" category, just so i could upgrade to a club balcony.  If I wanted to be in a club balcony, i would just merely book that category cabin. we've stayed in the club balcony in the past (although no one can convince me they arent just renamed mini-suites) they are nice, comfortable spacious and i have no problem booking one.

 

we just prefer the extra amenities associated with the haven. 

 

if you look carefully, you can find very nice prices for some haven cabins on certain itineraries, especially if more than 2 people are in the cabin. 

 

by the way, contrary to what you may think, it was never my intent to brag about staying in a haven.

i was just using that as a way to express my personal opinion to answer thespecific questions posed.

 

my wife and i are 73 and 74 respectively, paid our dues throughout our lives, and if a haven cabin comes up and  we feel affordable at the price and itinerary, we jump at it. on our last cruise we took a friend along (april 8 thru 17 from athens). she had never been in a haven complex, and was just amazed at the difference. 

 

she is again joining us in sept for 10 day cruise london to copenhagen.  2 bedroom to accommodate the 3 of us.

 

in the end, maybe we should have never tried a haven or a suite, but when we 1st did it, the offer of goodies to book a haven ended up to be just slightly higher that the cost we would have paid in  mini suite and had to pay for the extras.

 

ok, you win, i concede, we're spoiled!

 

having a butler and concierge may sound pretentious to you, but as they say "dont knock it, until you've tried it" 

[The Traveling Man]

21 minutes ago, complawyer said:

how did you you manage to det to diamond from platinum + and bypass sapphire?

When NCL changed the program recently and added the Diamond level, we already were a couple of hundred points past the minimum for Platinum Plus, but several hundred points shy of Ambassador.  Thus we were P+.  Presto, change-o, the new Diamond level comes along and we already had enough points to qualify.  Hence, straight from P+ to Diamond, sames as @spanishguy1970.

[complawyer]

traveling man. at least you got a pin. we havent been able to get one in years, and the last time we did, we did the same thing. put it in a drawer, never t o be seen or heard from again.

 

actually, through our slot host at paris, las vegas and casinos at sea, be we are getting a comped club balcony on the bliss this aug. im curious to see how much this cabin has changed from when it was a "mini suite"

[KeithJenner]

3 hours ago, complawyer said:

keith jenner, you may have misunderstood. again, for me diamond status has no real value. the highest upgrade cabin wise is to club balcony suite i merely said that i wouldnt book a "balcony" category, just so i could upgrade to a club balcony.  If I wanted to be in a club balcony, i would just merely book that category cabin. we've stayed in the club balcony in the past (although no one can convince me they arent just renamed mini-suites) they are nice, comfortable spacious and i have no problem booking one.

 

we just prefer the extra amenities associated with the haven. 

 

if you look carefully, you can find very nice prices for some haven cabins on certain itineraries, especially if more than 2 people are in the cabin. 

 

by the way, contrary to what you may think, it was never my intent to brag about staying in a haven.

i was just using that as a way to express my personal opinion to answer thespecific questions posed.

 

my wife and i are 73 and 74 respectively, paid our dues throughout our lives, and if a haven cabin comes up and  we feel affordable at the price and itinerary, we jump at it. on our last cruise we took a friend along (april 8 thru 17 from athens). she had never been in a haven complex, and was just amazed at the difference. 

 

she is again joining us in sept for 10 day cruise london to copenhagen.  2 bedroom to accommodate the 3 of us.

 

in the end, maybe we should have never tried a haven or a suite, but when we 1st did it, the offer of goodies to book a haven ended up to be just slightly higher that the cost we would have paid in  mini suite and had to pay for the extras.

 

ok, you win, i concede, we're spoiled!

 

having a butler and concierge may sound pretentious to you, but as they say "dont knock it, until you've tried it" 

Yes, I must have misunderstood you, that's why I questioned it.

 

I sense that you think I am criticising or judging. I thought the smiley I included in my original post indicated that it was a light hearted comment.

 

As for the Haven, I have tried it already and am honestly not fussed. I like a suite (I've just upgraded my next cruise to an aft balcony, after the two bedroom suite we had on the Jade in April). I like the bigger room and breakfast is great but that is what we are paying for. I like the general public areas too much to pay extra money for access to another area.

 

I don't think that a butler and concierge is pretentious. I just find them a bit annoying. Luckily, last time they didn't bother us too much.

Edited June 9, 2022 by KeithJenner

[complawyer]

were we possibly on t he same cruise in april without knowing it? we were also in a 2 bedroom on the jade. qpril 8th through the 17th. if so we may have even been next door without knowing it. 

 

smallworld huh? but with the haven, you get the best of both worlds. you can escape to the privacy of the haven when  you wish, and enjoy all the public areas as well.

 

i certainly dont lock my self in the cabin for the length of the cruise, and other  than the general; pool area, i wander the ship as well. we enjoy the bars, i frequent mdr. after many sailings with ncl, i dont really like osheehans, would prefer to stay away from le bistro, not overly excited about la cucina.   love the waterfront on the getaway, make sure i eat at teppanyaki at least once during the cruise, and as i said before, if we were on the same cruise last april, our butler and the concierge were amazing

[spanishguy1970]

6 hours ago, complawyer said:

spanishguy1970

 

but wouldnt you do it if you could upgrade as a diamond from a club balcony to a haven cabin? ive never sailed because of points awarded, and only found some value when we reached platinum.

 

by the way, how did you you manage to det to diamond from platinum + and bypass sapphire?

traveling man explained it better than i could. We were very high in the latitudes level that we bypassed Sapphire. Now your other question, apples to oranges, Of course if we could upgrade to Haven from Club Balcony we would do it, who wouldn't? but that's not what the Diamond Upgrade offers, but we would not spend thousands of dollars to be in the Haven, we like to spend our money in other ways, not to say that those who have the money and want to spend it on the Haven shouldn't do it, knock yourselves out.  We have never sailed for the points, We sailed on NCL for many years and we got them, so whatever the latitude programs offers us is extra and appreciated. I agree with traveling man, we have no use for the Butler service, i would find it annoying too.

Edited June 9, 2022 by spanishguy1970

[spanishguy1970]

6 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

We have traveled in a Suite or the Haven a few times, but mostly we choose a Balcony.  The Diamond upgrade benefit allowed us to try a Club Balcony on our recent Getaway TransAtlantic.  The extra room around the bed was nice, the closet that opened into the room without having to climb over the bed or sofa to get to it was a welcome relief, and the much larger and nicer bathroom was wonderful.  Other than that, however, we would have done just as fine in a regular Balcony.  The services of the Butler and Concierge were mostly lost on us.  Like you, I don't think we'll ever make it to Ambassador, so I don't think that free cruise is in our future.  As for bragging rights, I actually saw a woman wearing her Diamond Latitudes pin everywhere she went on board.  Mine went into a drawer with a couple of dozen other membership lapel pins as soon as I got home.

how do you get the diamond pin? we didn't get it....LOL but then again all our pins are in a drawer somewhere

[The Traveling Man]

4 minutes ago, spanishguy1970 said:

how do you get the diamond pin? we didn't get it....LOL but then again all our pins are in a drawer somewhere

Stop by the Cruise Next desk and ask for it.

[ChiefMateJRK]

7 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

As for bragging rights, I actually saw a woman wearing her Diamond Latitudes pin everywhere she went on board.  Mine went into a drawer with a couple of dozen other membership lapel pins as soon as I got home.

Why waste the drawer space?  

[KeithJenner]

10 hours ago, complawyer said:

were we possibly on t he same cruise in april without knowing it? we were also in a 2 bedroom on the jade. qpril 8th through the 17th. if so we may have even been next door without knowing it. 

 

smallworld huh? but with the haven, you get the best of both worlds. you can escape to the privacy of the haven when  you wish, and enjoy all the public areas as well.

 

i certainly dont lock my self in the cabin for the length of the cruise, and other  than the general; pool area, i wander the ship as well. we enjoy the bars, i frequent mdr. after many sailings with ncl, i dont really like osheehans, would prefer to stay away from le bistro, not overly excited about la cucina.   love the waterfront on the getaway, make sure i eat at teppanyaki at least once during the cruise, and as i said before, if we were on the same cruise last april, our butler and the concierge were amazing

We were onboard the week after you. I’m sure the concierge and butler were very good. I just have no need for them, especially the concierge. I could at least imagine getting the butler to bring breakfast if we have an early start, but on the few occasions I have ever had involvement with a concierge (onboard or at hotels) they just seem to make things harder. If I want to book something then I’d rather do it myself rather than have to explain what I want to someone who then passes that message on to someone else. I’d rather cut out the middle man.

[Funky Fusion FoodsJ]

3 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

We were onboard the week after you. I’m sure the concierge and butler were very good. I just have no need for them, especially the concierge. I could at least imagine getting the butler to bring breakfast if we have an early start, but on the few occasions I have ever had involvement with a concierge (onboard or at hotels) they just seem to make things harder. If I want to book something then I’d rather do it myself rather than have to explain what I want to someone who then passes that message on to someone else. I’d rather cut out the middle man.

I'm like you and prefer to do my own reservations.  However, I have found when I make a reservation if they don't have the reservation time I want I've called the concierge and they've been able to get us the time we wanted.

[fandangocruiser]

On 6/10/2022 at 3:15 AM, Funky Fusion FoodsJ said:

I'm like you and prefer to do my own reservations.  However, I have found when I make a reservation if they don't have the reservation time I want I've called the concierge and they've been able to get us the time we wanted.

The first Haven we got was the result of a modest bid to upgrade.   I wasn't sure what to do with a butler/concierge either.  However, I was at guest service trying to make Cagney's reservations for the last night.  Nothing.  How about next to last night?  "9:00 PM only".  About that time the Butler/Concierge came walking by and asked me what I was doing.  I told him, and he said, "what time?"  When I said I preferred last night, about 6:00 PM, he punched a couple buttons on his laptop, and said, "All done."  

[complawyer]

they are most useful for stuff like that

[roxette]

Has anyone tried this on the Epic from an inside room to a balcony? Since there are no oceanviews...