Confused about cruise price

[doones2]

I haven’t been on these boards in two years.  I was looking at prices for Mediterranean cruises on NCL.  Does the price they quote include the drink and restaurant packages automatically?  And if they do, do they also give quotes for cruises without those packages?  The reason why I’m asking is because we are not big drinkers and being a port intensive cruise, we don’t believe we would get our moneys worth.  I can’t seem to find these answers on their website.

[tgloersen]

You can book with out the packages, if you do you will not be charged the grituities on drinks.  Which definetly add up if you not drinkers,

[purplecow15]

Just do a mock booking. You will come to the page which allows you to choose or refuse perks. You can then see the price with the perks or without and make a choice according to your needs.

 

[phissy]

On 4/1/2022 at 7:08 AM, purplecow15 said:

Just do a mock booking. You will come to the page which allows you to choose or refuse perks. You can then see the price with the perks or without and make a choice according to your needs.

 

Exactly what Purplecow describes.

- when selecting cabin type and going to that page, after selecting cabin, page comes up with cruise and booking details.   Lower left hand side shows all boxes checked for Open Bar, Specialty Dining, Excursions and WiFi.  We just click on Box for Open bar and it gets removed.  

At right , Under Summary of Charges shows fare for guests , amount for dining package gratuity then

Taxes , Fees and Port Expenses.  Then total for all those items.

You can also click on left side for Details of Summary and it opens up the detailed cruise charges.

[ontheweb]

Call a TA and discuss with him or her what you want and what you do not want that would cost you extra. 

 

I know we left off the "free, but pay the tips as if you drank the entire package drink package" as I do not drink that much and DW is not supposed to drink due to meds she takes.

[casofilia]

@doones2

 

Look for the Sailaway price when you do a trial booking.

[Sue Do-Over]

The Free-at-Sea perks aren't quite free.   As others have stated, even the 'free' drink package requires a pretty hefty gratuity, as does the specialty dining package.  The drink packages are for the duration of the cruise, you can't turn them on/off each day.

 

For the lowest possible fare, uncheck all the 'free' perks, and plan to pay for drinks and specialty dining if you choose to use them.  Buffet and main dining room are always included in base fare, along with regular coffee, tea, iced tea, lemonade, juice, milk at those dining venues.

[JGmf]

On 4/1/2022 at 9:40 AM, doones2 said:

The reason why I’m asking is because we are not big drinkers and being a port intensive cruise, we don’t believe we would get our moneys worth.

 

Regarding the "Free at Sea" gratuities:  they're about $20/pp/day.  It does appear expensive when you look at the total cost for multiple days for 2 people.  

 

However, when you consider that most drinks are in the +/- $13 range, the drink package costs are a value if you plan on having more than one per day.

 

Just sayin...

[RunBikeCruiseDC]

Compare the Sailaway price with the "Free At Sea" price, you can always remove drinks/dining package (and the gratuities that go with them) on the Free At Sea.

[Biffire]

The advise everyone above has cited is right on. If you are not going to drink or enjoy the specialty dining, just uncheck the boxes, and you will know what you are paying. One thing to check is what time you need to be back on board, you may find you will be back on board each night for dinner and want to keep the specialty dining perk and just pay the extra gratuity. I drink very little at home, but do get my moneys worth, and happily pay the Beverage package gratuity while on board. As others have pointed out 2 tropical drinks a day and you come out ahead. If your wifey cant drink and you both have to have the package, it might be not worthwhile for you.

[Lionkingrichard]

I get it if you don't drink.

 

$10 for a specialty dining seems like a great deal. The Tenderloin alone is worth money!

[boltnut55]

Timely post!  What I just figured out yesterday is that I could have unchecked Free Drinks because on a 14 night trip for 2, gratuities is over $550.  We don't drink any alcohol, so we wouldn't even drink enough to breakeven w/tips!  We will be keeping the specialty dining though as we were told it's about $30... that's $10/night and a great opportunity to try out other restaurants.  We'll keep wifi and excursion since that's free anyway.

 

I booked through costcotravel.com which has extremely high hold times so will have to go through that to "uncheck" the box.