Wow, web site changes

[TACoor]

I haven't even looked at booking a cruise in a good while, but thought I'd start dreaming and planning a cruise so I went to the NCL website. I can't see balcony categories any more, guess they are gone. Pick a room type and they'll assign you a cabin. Want a different deck? Upcharge. Want a different location? Upcharge. It's like the airlines that charge extra to select a seat and more to bring a carry on. I didn't get very far with my reservation but do they also charge by the bag for luggage checked in? One cruise I looked at showed no balconies available other than the assigned cabin, and this is for December. I doubt they only have one left.  I have always been selective on cabin deck and location, so to me this is unacceptable.

[ChiefMateJRK]

Take your time and you'll find that nothing has really changed.  When you get the "here's your room on deck 4" message, there is a link nearby to select a different room.   I suspect you found this, since you also note that you can change decks and specific room types for various price increments.  This is exactly how it has been for years.  I have no clue why you can't find a balcony.  Is this cruise next week?

 

Yes, they now charge $50 per checked bag. (jk)

[coastcat]

You used to be able to click on the balcony category and then on the specific categories. Now you can't easily compare prices for BF vs BC vs BB vs BA.

 

On the other hand, at least when you go to select your cabin (instead of accepting their recommendation) you'll see the difference between choosing something forward on deck 12 vs something mid-ship on 13. This is the way RC's website does it.

 

The change does eliminate the annoyance of only seeing 15 of the available cabins in your selected category. And they're never the ones you wanted to check for availability...

 

 

[rnfulk]

Some of the up charges are actually rooms in a stateroom class higher that your original selection. If you choose a standard balcony the more expensive rooms may actually be club balcony suites, for example. 
It is confusing because the category isn’t visible until you click on a specific room. 

[EllieinNJ]

I don't bother checking prices and cabins on the NCL website anymore.  My TA's website is like NCL's used to be.  You can pick any category and they will show you the deck plan and whatever cabins are available will be blinking.  And the extra OBC is a great bonus.