Price Drop After Final Payment

[c-cruise]

The discounting (via upgrade bids) after final payment ticks me off a bit since we are paying for Haven in advance and likely end up spending way more than the upgrade bids. However, I am also of the opinion that you should be good with the price of the cruise when you book it and not expect any sort of refund or credit after final payment. It makes sense that they would give you the new price before final payment so they don't have to deal with people cancelling and rebooking at the new price which just creates more work for everyone. Ideally before final payment if the price is reduced the cruise line should just automatically make that adjustment for everyone.

[BermudaBound2014]

27 minutes ago, mscdivina2016 said:

That strategy may be now but a year ago it was the opposite. I have 7 booked with NCL and all of them have almost doubled in price.

 

I think you may have missed my point.  It is not uncommon for prices to rise right up until final payment, but 30 days prior to the actual cruise sailing is when the bottom tends to fall out. Based on your signature you don't have any NCL cruises booked until October. Those prices won't drop until September. 

 

Example: Right now you can sail 7 days in a balcony on the Escape for $549. This was pricing nearly double in January. I do see you tend to book less typical itineraries, so you obviously need to adjust for supply and demand, but I'll bet dollars to donuts that your October 3rd Spirit cruise to Alaska will drop significantly after final payment.

 

Edited February 17, 2022 by BermudaBound2014

[Fisical1]

I received an email today for a price drop I called about after final payment on my upcoming cruise.  Prices dropped a lot.   The email stated "As a one-time good will gesture, we have created 50% of the amount as future cruise credits.  These credits will be available for one year to book and sail, upon completion of your current sailing on debarkation date."

 

I spoke with 2 different reps.  One said I didn't qualify, and the other rep stated they would request but couldn't promise anything, but I would receive a call to discuss.  I received an email.

[BermudaBound2014]

1 minute ago, Fisical1 said:

I received an email today for a price drop I called about after final payment on my upcoming cruise.  Prices dropped a lot.   The email stated "As a one-time good will gesture, we have created 50% of the amount as future cruise credits.  These credits will be available for one year to book and sail, upon completion of your current sailing on debarkation date."

 

I spoke with 2 different reps.  One said I didn't qualify, and the other rep stated they would request but couldn't promise anything, but I would receive a call to discuss.  I received an email.

 

Just so I'm understanding, NCL will give you 50% of the difference in price only if you apply it to an entirely different cruise?

[JamieLogical]

8 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Just so I'm understanding, NCL will give you 50% of the difference in price only if you apply it to an entirely different cruise?

 

Within one year!

[n4w]

1 hour ago, Fisical1 said:

I received an email today for a price drop I called

How long ago was your call?  Waiting for my email.

[johnlat]

Just curious..would you be willing to pay more, if the price actually went up after final payment?.  I don't see this as a customer service issue as I do a business decision.  I can't think of much of any product of service that will give you a lower price on something after you have paid for it.  Not being critical at all, I just don't understand, why the expectation of a lower price once the final has been paid. Certainly I can understand if final payment has not been paid, but I also understand that the cruise industry  is suffering a ton. So much so, I am amazed that many are still afloat.  So I can see them starting to get a little less flexible in its post final payment discounts.

[Fisical1]

2 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Just so I'm understanding, NCL will give you 50% of the difference in price only if you apply it to an entirely different cruise?

Thats the way it looks to me.  I have another booked in September so hope I can use it then.

[Fisical1]

1 hour ago, n4w said:

How long ago was your call?  Waiting for my email.

I would say a week ago.

[luckyinpa]

5 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

NCL's current strategy is to charge more for those who want to book a cruise in advance and then deeply discount the remaining cabins after final payment is due. This means that NCL has more inventory to deep discount, therefore offering deeper discounts for last minute but less customer friendly policies. This was true prior to Covid also. I never booked either NCL and MSC until after final payment because these two lines tend to discount the most. 

 

this appears to be true. i, by habit, usually book after final payment not because it's after final. but it's just because thats when i decide to cruise. i decided 2 weeks ago to go on a march cruise and in comparison shopping the same cabin is usually near 2x the price  and christmas week its over 10K per person. totally nuts.  also pre covid they had steals on no single supplement so you could book an inside and balcony when there were 2 people and save vs the 2 balcony pricing. 

[vacation44]

12 hours ago, Fisical1 said:

Thats the way it looks to me.  I have another booked in September so hope I can use it then.

Yes, you will be able to use it for your September cruise.  It has to be used within a year of the original sailing.

[aswmammoth]

Update:  Prices have dropped even further for our sailing, and now the club balcony suites are less than what we paid originally for our regular balcony.  We were hoping for a smaller price drop to just pay to upgrade to a mini suite, but it was a sharp price decrease and now I guess we don't have that option. Seems silly to bid to upgrade to a cabin that is now cheaper than our current one.

 

Anyone have experience with this situation recently? And were you able to get an upgrade, OBC, etc. somehow?

[n4w]

1 hour ago, aswmammoth said:

Update:  Prices have dropped even further for our sailing, and now the club balcony suites are less than what we paid originally for our regular balcony.  We were hoping for a smaller price drop to just pay to upgrade to a mini suite, but it was a sharp price decrease and now I guess we don't have that option. Seems silly to bid to upgrade to a cabin that is now cheaper than our current one.

 

Anyone have experience with this situation recently? And were you able to get an upgrade, OBC, etc. somehow?

Exact scenario as you, price drop amount jumped right over us.  I ended up with 50% of the difference in FCC that I'll apply to another cruise later in the year.

[lgdesign]

25 minutes ago, n4w said:

Exact scenario as you, price drop amount jumped right over us.  I ended up with 50% of the difference in FCC that I'll apply to another cruise later in the year.

How did you go about getting the FCC?

[n4w]

17 minutes ago, lgdesign said:

How did you go about getting the FCC?

My PCC kept ignoring my emails about it, or did not bother to look into it for me, so I just called.  Explained I know I can't get a refund, I understand that they don't offer 25% OBC anymore, and I heard the new procedure is 50% FCC.  The rep confirmed and said he'd put in a request; got an email a week later with a confirmation amount, available for a year to book, upon completion of this cruise.

[dacsmom]

I am a solo cruiser. I booked when the itinerary first came out. I am sailing on Sunday and the price is over $700 less than what I paid. I do understand fluctuations, but within the past month the bottom fell out. I put in an upgrade bid that I did get, but I too am frustrated. I alternate between RCI, Celebrity, Carnival, and NCL depending on the best deal at the time. When the sailings resumed I got some great deals on RCI and Carnival. NCL, not so much. Luckily, there are other lines who want my money too.

 

[aswmammoth]

1 hour ago, n4w said:

Exact scenario as you, price drop amount jumped right over us.  I ended up with 50% of the difference in FCC that I'll apply to another cruise later in the year.

Good to hear.  This will be our first time with NCL so we are unsure if we would even use a FCC with them unless it was a significant amount.  We would've rather paid to upgrade to a club balcony suite for this sailing, but they are now priced about $100 less than what we've already paid.  If only they would let us just pay an extra dollar or two to upgrade!

[phissy]

Wondering how many cancel before final payment for Haven cabins?

I can easily see having thousands due  4 months before cruise and  , for multiple reasons, deciding to cancel.

We are hoping to get different cabin in our category. If others cancel, will we be allowed to change cabins after final ?
 

[JamieLogical]

3 minutes ago, phissy said:

Wondering how many cancel before final payment for Haven cabins?

I can easily see having thousands due  4 months before cruise and  , for multiple reasons, deciding to cancel.

We are hoping to get different cabin in our category. If others cancel, will we be allowed to change cabins after final ?
 

 

You want a different cabin in the same category? You can call up at any time and have them switch that....

[tbjl24]

35 minutes ago, aswmammoth said:

Good to hear.  This will be our first time with NCL so we are unsure if we would even use a FCC with them unless it was a significant amount.  We would've rather paid to upgrade to a club balcony suite for this sailing, but they are now priced about $100 less than what we've already paid.  If only they would let us just pay an extra dollar or two to upgrade!

 

So you can't simply call and get upgraded? Sorry for the question as this is only my 2nd sailing with NCL and we are in the same scenario as you....have a standard balcony booked and Club Balcony Suite is now available for less than we paid for the standard balcony. 

 

I cancelled my upgrade bid on the Club Balcony Suite because it seems ridiculous to have to give NCL more money for something I could buy cheaper today than when I booked 6 months ago. 

 

I was able to squeeze a 50% credit on the difference for a future sailing a few weeks back. 

[phissy]

17 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

You want a different cabin in the same category? You can call up at any time and have them switch that....

Category sold out .
Final payment due sometime in June. Just hoping that after final, if cabins become available in our category, we can change.

[SliderNc]

6 minutes ago, phissy said:

Category sold out .
Final payment due sometime in June. Just hoping that after final, if cabins become available in our category, we can change.

Yes, if there is a cabin in the same category that you booked in that you want to switch to, you can change it at anytime, even after final payment.  I had done this on my Escape cruise in 2017 as we wanted a certain balcony cabin on a certain deck.  Then I won a bid on a Haven room and well, now I'm screwed... 🙂

 

Good luck!

[aswmammoth]

19 minutes ago, tbjl24 said:

 

So you can't simply call and get upgraded? Sorry for the question as this is only my 2nd sailing with NCL and we are in the same scenario as you....have a standard balcony booked and Club Balcony Suite is now available for less than we paid for the standard balcony. 

 

I cancelled my upgrade bid on the Club Balcony Suite because it seems ridiculous to have to give NCL more money for something I could buy cheaper today than when I booked 6 months ago. 

 

I was able to squeeze a 50% credit on the difference for a future sailing a few weeks back. 

I just got off the phone with someone at NCL.  These are the options he gave us:

 

- Pay to upgrade to The Haven, a spa cabin or the club balcony suite with larger balcony for $91 (not unreasonable but unsure about the lack of privacy and shade).  They were not allowed to upgrade our cabin unless the higher category is currently priced higher by NCL than what you've already paid.

- Wait to see if prices potentially increase before sailing and pay to upgrade then.

- Take the 50% FCC on another sailing

[tbjl24]

54 minutes ago, aswmammoth said:

I just got off the phone with someone at NCL.  These are the options he gave us:

 

- Pay to upgrade to The Haven, a spa cabin or the club balcony suite with larger balcony for $91 (not unreasonable but unsure about the lack of privacy and shade).  They were not allowed to upgrade our cabin unless the higher category is currently priced higher by NCL than what you've already paid.

- Wait to see if prices potentially increase before sailing and pay to upgrade then.

- Take the 50% FCC on another sailing

Interesting model they have going. Very unlike other competitors. Oh well it is what it is. The next one will be booked after final payment since I live in Florida and can be pretty spontaneous 

Edited February 22, 2022 by tbjl24

[pghflyer]

Just sharing for the good of others............I booked a balcony guarantee through big box, have paid our final payment, and got our room assignment which was less than ideal......so that and seeing as the fare was down about $600 per person, I gave a call to agent to see if any options. 

 

Long time on hold for them to get an NCL agent, and then that NCL agent on hold trying to get an NCL supervisor. 

 

Basically they said they don't give anything back after final payment but might could do an upgrade....but would have to temporarily remove me from my group rate, temporarily remove my air promo.....just to find out IF there were any options for me to upgrade to, and these would only be available to me IF I would PAY an unknown amount EXTRA to get an unknown type of upgrade room. 

 

All that started sounding too much so we told them not to bother. No big deal, it was a calculated risk booking far in advance for a guarantee room with a TA who doesn't participate in the upgrade program.  At this point just thrilled if the darned sailing takes place and hits most the ports! 🙂

Edited March 8, 2022 by pghflyer