Lots of NCL BOGO Flight Questions

[hallux]

35 minutes ago, CrazyTrain2 said:

Jet blue

Not an airline NCL has used, historically.  Domestic flights have typically been on United, Delta or AA.  NCL may have expanded to JB or Spirit in the interest of expanding options with the current state of air travel.

[aubreyc1988]

I have had great experiences with NCL air, day of and deviation. 

 

If you are nervous, my tips are to do the 1 day deviation and remove the transfers IF you are sailing out of an area where Ubers are cheap. I noticed that NCL is charging 150.00 total for 2 people roundtrip transfers to Port Canaveral and consider that to be a fair price. If you deviate and decide to keep the transfers, just book a hotel with an airport shuttle. Morning of the cruise, shuttle back to the airport, take the NCL transfer to the ship 🙂

[aubreyc1988]

57 minutes ago, CrazyTrain2 said:

I leave in 8 days on NCL air and it is horrible - so yes, I am using the service currently - but this odyssey started 2 years ago.  In my case, they are using Jet blue (red eye overnight with a 3 hour layover in the middle) with NOTHING for free. We arrive in NYC at the crack of dawn - tired with no place to stay unless I book a room for 5 hours of use.  The return is on United with slightly better options but we either need to optimize packing for Jet Blue or United - either way is gonna cost us.  If I would have booked my self, I would have chosen better flights, chosen seats with less total cost.  It's a sales gimmick that may work for some but has been a horrible experience for us.  But no worries, this will be my last cruise with NCL - fool me once, shame on you as they say.

Last time I used NCL Air, they put me on American. I got my included carry on, and then I was able to log into my account and purchase a checked bag. I would have had to do this even if I booked myself with American. I saved over 300.00 by using NCL air with this flight. Let's say if NCL put me on Spirit or Frontier, I would have saved probably 260.00 because a checked bag is a little bit more on Spirit and usually costs 10.00 to pick your seat. Will everyone save money doing it, maybe not...you just have to see if it's right for you and plan for the worst case scenario (Being put on a budget airline) and be pleasantly surprised if you are on AA/Delta/United.  I find that flights have been more expensive lately so I am hoping to hop on a cruise that NCL is offering the bogo airfare. 

[Middleager]

13 hours ago, CrazyTrain2 said:

Along the way, NCL discounts the A la carte to the point were for US it did not make sense.  The break even on the base drink package is about 10 drinks per day.  My wife and I are no where near 10 per day - EVERY Day - Port or at sea.  The specialty dining can be bought for way less then they are charging you.  Again, no pressure to use it or lose it.  As far as air goes, NCL books sub standard fare basis that allows no baggage even in the overhead.  It's super cheap to NCL because the airlines know you are going to be spending $75 -$100+ additional on baggage/ seat assignment/ bathroom privileges! each way.  NCL Air booked us on TERRIBLE red eye flights with long layovers in the middle of the night (yes, we even purchased a deviation - so they brought us in 2 days earlier) with no recourse - we are screwed.  The OBC/Discounted excursions are always a ripoff compared to doing it yourself and not being elbow to elbow with 50-200 other people being treated like cattle.

 

Needless to say - this is my last cruise with NCL.  They simply missed the boat at every opportunity and I have been feeling like they have been reaching into my pocket the entire time.  The ability to Choose my cabin is literally being extorted into a bloated bill.

 

Not the vacation experience I am looking for.  I don't want to play games, I just want to relax and enjoy.

We don't buy the drink packages ourselves.  But the breakeven point is not 10 drinks a day.  Check the price of buying individual drinks.

 

I have never ever had to pay for bathroom privileges.  Which airline did you fly that you had to pay?  Most economy fares I buy these days do not include seat assignment.  Most don't include free checked luggage if flying domestic and often includes one piece checked luggage if flying across the pond.  Also depending on the routes you fly, if flying from west coast to east coast, often the cheapest is red-eye flight -- we did get one of those and we were prepared and satisfied with it because we did save hundreds on airfare.

 

The OBC/discount on NCL excursions are NOT always a ripoff.  There have been short port stays, and the NCL excursions offered plus the U$50 discount worked out cheaper and we had taken those (we almost always go for 3rd party excursions).  There were also situations where only ship-excursions can be taken (e.g. in Italy last year) so it's either NCL excursion or no excursion (no get off the ship) and the U$50 discount is better than nothing.

 

You don't want to play games.  Suggest you learn about the T&Cs.  The grass is not necessarily greener on other sides.

 

 

 

 

[KeithJenner]

1 hour ago, PATRLR said:

Really, genuine question?  I suspect most people are swayed by a perceived cost savings?

Yes, so why did they go for the option that gave them less flexibility and more cost?

 

It really is a very genuine question.

[julig22]

4 hours ago, PATRLR said:

I'm not sure what you mean by "having NCL on the hook during turbulent times", but everything I've read is that if anything goes sideways with your air travel, NCL will tell you to talk to the airline.  My sense is that NCL is on the hook to buy you an airline ticket and that is all.  Once they buy the ticket for you, they are out of the picture and you get to deal with the airline yourself.

I had a cruise last July, starting in Stockholm. A few days before I was scheduled to leave, everything had to be changed because of cancellations. I didn't have to lift a finger to get my flights rebooked, NCL took care of it - on completely different airlines.  On the way home, one of my flights was delayed, so I would miss my connection.  Even tho the airline said they'd take care of it (which they did), I called NCL and they would have rebooked my ticket if necessary.

What NCL won't do is change your flights if you don't like them. They don't choose your seats, they won't upgrade you from basic economy. They follow industry guidelines regarding connection times.

[mjkacmom]

15 hours ago, CrazyTrain2 said:

Along the way, NCL discounts the A la carte to the point were for US it did not make sense.  The break even on the base drink package is about 10 drinks per day.  My wife and I are no where near 10 per day - EVERY Day - Port or at sea.  The specialty dining can be bought for way less then they are charging you.  Again, no pressure to use it or lose it.  As far as air goes, NCL books sub standard fare basis that allows no baggage even in the overhead.  It's super cheap to NCL because the airlines know you are going to be spending $75 -$100+ additional on baggage/ seat assignment/ bathroom privileges! each way.  NCL Air booked us on TERRIBLE red eye flights with long layovers in the middle of the night (yes, we even purchased a deviation - so they brought us in 2 days earlier) with no recourse - we are screwed.  The OBC/Discounted excursions are always a ripoff compared to doing it yourself and not being elbow to elbow with 50-200 other people being treated like cattle.

 

Needless to say - this is my last cruise with NCL.  They simply missed the boat at every opportunity and I have been feeling like they have been reaching into my pocket the entire time.  The ability to Choose my cabin is literally being extorted into a bloated bill.

 

Not the vacation experience I am looking for.  I don't want to play games, I just want to relax and enjoy.

What? The gratuities for the beverage package are about $20 a day, most cocktails and wine cost more than $10 each, so unless you only drink one or two drinks a day it’s worth it. The gratuities on the dining package are a tiny fraction of the actual cost of the meals. Please let us know what airline charges passengers to use the bathroom!

[divincenzo]

26 days from my cruise and still no flight itinerary yet. My flights are from Toronto to Papeete. I called NCL and they told me itinerary might not be received until the 14 day mark. Something to consider if you're flying out of a logistically challenging airport?

[weltek]

4 hours ago, CrazyTrain2 said:

I leave in 8 days on NCL air and it is horrible - so yes, I am using the service currently - but this odyssey started 2 years ago.  In my case, they are using Jet blue (red eye overnight with a 3 hour layover in the middle) with NOTHING for free. We arrive in NYC at the crack of dawn - tired with no place to stay unless I book a room for 5 hours of use.  The return is on United with slightly better options but we either need to optimize packing for Jet Blue or United - either way is gonna cost us.  If I would have booked my self, I would have chosen better flights, chosen seats with less total cost.  It's a sales gimmick that may work for some but has been a horrible experience for us.  But no worries, this will be my last cruise with NCL - fool me once, shame on you as they say.

Your example that you shared here awhile back is one example that I give when people ask why I would almost never consider using NCL BOGO air. 

[weltek]

53 minutes ago, julig22 said:

I had a cruise last July, starting in Stockholm. A few days before I was scheduled to leave, everything had to be changed because of cancellations. I didn't have to lift a finger to get my flights rebooked, NCL took care of it - on completely different airlines.  On the way home, one of my flights was delayed, so I would miss my connection.  Even tho the airline said they'd take care of it (which they did), I called NCL and they would have rebooked my ticket if necessary.

What NCL won't do is change your flights if you don't like them. They don't choose your seats, they won't upgrade you from basic economy. They follow industry guidelines regarding connection times.

In my reading, most people on Cruise Critic have reported NCL says "not our problem" in this instance and you are responsible for dealing with it via the airline directly. 🤷‍♂️

[julig22]

22 minutes ago, divincenzo said:

26 days from my cruise and still no flight itinerary yet. My flights are from Toronto to Papeete. I called NCL and they told me itinerary might not be received until the 14 day mark. Something to consider if you're flying out of a logistically challenging airport?

In your case I would check with your roll call and see if others are getting flights.  They sometimes charter flights from LAX.  Leave around midnight, arrive at 6 am.

[julig22]

10 minutes ago, weltek said:

In my reading, most people on Cruise Critic have reported NCL says "not our problem" in this instance and you are responsible for dealing with it via the airline directly. 🤷‍♂️

It obviously depends on the situation but to put it in perspective, most people posting on CC regarding their flight experience are complaining. No way to really weigh the actual success vs failure.

[Middleager]

50 minutes ago, weltek said:

Your example that you shared here awhile back is one example that I give when people ask why I would almost never consider using NCL BOGO air. 

We're all waiting from that poster to tell us which airline(s) charged them for using washroom.

It's one thing to complain.  It's another thing to not be credible (airline charging for washroom?!?) or just plain ignorant. 

 

The complain about having to pay for checked baggage, or seat assignment, just showed he didn't do homework.  Most people know the cheaper economy airfare doesn't include seat assignment (we just did a payment to choose seats), or checked bags (we did pay for checked in bag earlier this year), and these are extra costs we'd pay either we buy air through NCL or ourselves.

[agrimm01]

On 10/11/2022 at 3:58 PM, sjmbruce said:

DH and I are looking at a cruise deal that includes BOGO flights. I have always booked our flights, so I'm a little nervous.

1. We're in the US, the cruise is in Europe.  Will they fly us in the day before the cruise? Or will they cut it close on the same day? 

2. Can we request to fly in a day or two early and fly out a day or two after we disembark?

3. Will our seats be next to each other?

4. How reasonable are they regarding layovers?  A super long or incredibly short layover would not be fun. 

As I've said before.  Using NCL BOGO airfare is like a box of chocolates.   You never know what you are going to get.  We flew to Greece last year going a day early and they were great flights with no short or long layovers and we were very happy.  This September we flew to Seattle for an Alaskan cruise and it was terrible.  When flying from Florida to Seattle we flew through JFK.  We disembarked the ship in Seattle at 8:30 am and our flight left about 11:30 pm and flew through Boston on the way to Florida.  Terrible redeye flight.

That being said I wouldn't hesitate to use NCL BOGO airfare heading to Europe.

Good luck

[julig22]

33 minutes ago, agrimm01 said:

As I've said before.  Using NCL BOGO airfare is like a box of chocolates.   You never know what you are going to get.  We flew to Greece last year going a day early and they were great flights with no short or long layovers and we were very happy.  This September we flew to Seattle for an Alaskan cruise and it was terrible.  When flying from Florida to Seattle we flew through JFK.  We disembarked the ship in Seattle at 8:30 am and our flight left about 11:30 pm and flew through Boston on the way to Florida.  Terrible redeye flight.

That being said I wouldn't hesitate to use NCL BOGO airfare heading to Europe.

Good luck

Yes, your mileage may vary.  But from the NCL faq (which seems to change quite often, probably a direct result of the # of phone calls complaining about things that may not necessarily be under the control of NCL) - "For cruises concluding on the West Coast of the U.S. with guests returning home to a city located on the East Coast or central U.S., you may be reserved on a flight that departs up to 11:59 p.m. depending on available inventory."

 

Doesn't make it more convenient of course, but that's pretty much the reality of cruises ending in Seattle.  Probably why Seattle has the Port Valet program - store your luggage for you and encourage you to spend money in Seattle - brilliant move to get more tourist money!!

 

[DAVLIB007]

21 hours ago, sjmbruce said:

Alright I think I have my last question:

 

During booking, when I choose airfare, ground transportation is automatically added at a price of over $300. If we plan to arrive a few days before the cruise and leave a couple days after disembarking, we wouldn't be using their shuttle. Can that be refunded (even OBC would be fine) or is that a cost we'd just eat? Or given the distance from port to city (like Le Havre to Paris) maybe it would make sense to take their transportation to the airport and just leave from there in a cab. 

You don't have to use the ground transportation. when i booked mine i told them i would not be using did not charge me . no problem. I am also coming in 2 days early. i have used this a few years ago. i did have a layover on the way back. i think depending on where your flying from makes a big difference, i am flying from Dallas so the flight seemed to be a lot better than some airports.

[LoveThatCorgi]

21 hours ago, julig22 said:

There is a major flaw in your logic, unfortunately.  They attempt to limit to 3 flights.  So if you are flying from a major hub they have more options than if you're coming from a local airport and have to use at least 1 leg to get to a hub.  Last year I flew to Denver, then Toronto to Rome.  There were a number of passengers from Toronto that had layovers, nothing direct at all.  

True. From everything I have read, it's a gamble.  And that's tough for a travel control freak!  I took the cruise air as a back up plan.  I will be watching Delta's prices, and if they get to a price I can stand to pay, I'll book directly with the airline and cancel the cruise air.  Otherwise, we'll hope for the best.  

[Russiamomm]

I made a mistake for my Canada/NE trip out of NY last month and booked NCL Air.  The times of the flights were horrible and they put me on a connecting flight when there were direct flights available.  I was able to twist some arms at AA because of my status and got on a direct flight there.  They had my friend on a 10PM flight back to DC when there are flights every hour.  We were able to get on standby for the return flight and got home at a reasonable hour, but it was a pain in the neck.  I’ll never book NCL air again to same a few hundred dollars.

 

That being said, we just booked a transatlantic and opted for the NCL air.  The savings was thousands of dollars.  That’s worth it.  And there’s only so many flights they can put us on.  We’ll see what they do for us, but we won’t know until March.

 

I like the analogy of a box of chocolates.  That’s exactly what it’s like.

Edited October 13, 2022 by Russiamomm
Fix typos

[Blossom73]

My husband and I used the NCL bogo airfare promotion for our cruise on the Getaway out of NYC last month. 

 

We did not get to choose the airline, arrival airport or flight times. 

 

NCL booked us on United. We did a one day deviation, so we could fly in a day early. They picked an early morning flight to Newark, leaving at 8:30am. That one got canceled by United a few days before our trip, so we ended up being switched by NCL to a 6:30am flight. That was exhausting, having to be at the airport by 4:30am. 

 

Fortunately the hotel let us check in about 11am, instead of making us wait until the 3pm check-in time. 

 

We had to pay $125 extra, to United, for a checked bag a piece, on the two round-trip flights. 

 

Our flight home from Newark was scheduled for 5pm, so we had 6 1/2 hours of sitting at the airport waiting for our flight. There were several earlier flights to Cleveland, so it was irritating not getting to take one of those. 

 

We did not get to sit together on either flight. United wanted a fee to choose our own seats, which I didn't want to pay. Not sitting together wasn't a big deal though. 

 

We did not do NCL ground transportation to the cruise port, but we did do it for the cruise port to the airport on disembarkation day. 

 

The good thing was the flight even with baggage was significantly cheaper than booking a flight on our own.

 

If you aren't on a budget, I'd say book flights on your own. 

Edited October 13, 2022 by Blossom73

[PATRLR]

19 hours ago, julig22 said:

On the way home, one of my flights was delayed, so I would miss my connection.  Even tho the airline said they'd take care of it (which they did), I called NCL and they would have rebooked my ticket if necessary.

I have no doubt you were told that, I do have doubts that NCL would have actually rebooked if it was a simple delayed flight.  Wouldn't be the first time an NCL call handler gave bad information.  We'll never know.

[dexddd]

19 hours ago, divincenzo said:

26 days from my cruise and still no flight itinerary yet. My flights are from Toronto to Papeete. I called NCL and they told me itinerary might not be received until the 14 day mark. Something to consider if you're flying out of a logistically challenging airport?

Flown there before and last I checked out of US was ATN out of LAX.  At one time UA had flight out of SFO.

[agrimm01]

15 hours ago, julig22 said:

Yes, your mileage may vary.  But from the NCL faq (which seems to change quite often, probably a direct result of the # of phone calls complaining about things that may not necessarily be under the control of NCL) - "For cruises concluding on the West Coast of the U.S. with guests returning home to a city located on the East Coast or central U.S., you may be reserved on a flight that departs up to 11:59 p.m. depending on available inventory."

 

Doesn't make it more convenient of course, but that's pretty much the reality of cruises ending in Seattle.  Probably why Seattle has the Port Valet program - store your luggage for you and encourage you to spend money in Seattle - brilliant move to get more tourist money!!

 

Yes, NCL met their time requirement.  It was kind of funny as the couple we traveled with had a return flight leaving at 11:30am and ours was 11:30 pm.  They went through Atlanta and us through Boston.  They got home Saturday night and we got home Sunday afternoon.  Oh well.

[julig22]

5 hours ago, PATRLR said:

I have no doubt you were told that, I do have doubts that NCL would have actually rebooked if it was a simple delayed flight.  Wouldn't be the first time an NCL call handler gave bad information.  We'll never know.

Not just a simple delayed flight.  Flight from Copenhagen to Reykjavik was delayed, no way to make it to Reykjavik in time - flight was already long gone.  In this case she had the new flight information and would have booked the flight from Reykjavik the next day, right then and there if I had said go. Wasn't bad information, I was on the phone with the emergency contact number, not a random NCL call handler.  Yes, the emergency number works, at least it did for me.

[Jerzzygirl]

I just booked a cruise using the BOGO air deal. Newark to Florida over spring break. I choose a 1 day deviation. I’m going to hope for the best that we have direct flights for a 2.5 hour flight. NCL is charging 418.00 but looking at spirit, jet blue and United for those days I can’t find a deal less then 1600.00 for 2!! I have used the air promo before flying from Newark to Barcelona with a 2 day air deviation and the flights were great. Direct flights at the perfect time and I was even able to upgrade to United’s plus seats right through United’s website! I know I need to pick my seats and pay for bags so no surprises there! Hoping for the best. 

[Love2cruise77]

On 10/12/2022 at 8:12 AM, CrazyTrain2 said:

I leave in 8 days on NCL air and it is horrible - so yes, I am using the service currently - but this odyssey started 2 years ago.  In my case, they are using Jet blue (red eye overnight with a 3 hour layover in the middle) with NOTHING for free. We arrive in NYC at the crack of dawn - tired with no place to stay unless I book a room for 5 hours of use.  The return is on United with slightly better options but we either need to optimize packing for Jet Blue or United - either way is gonna cost us.  If I would have booked my self, I would have chosen better flights, chosen seats with less total cost.  It's a sales gimmick that may work for some but has been a horrible experience for us.  But no worries, this will be my last cruise with NCL - fool me once, shame on you as they say.

 

Yes, you don't get free luggage with Jetblue, but which airline (beside Southwest) gives you free luggage nowadays?  With NCL air, you don't get to pick the time/connection, but you do get seat selection and carry on.  We just got flights for two separate cruises through NCL, one with Jetblue and one with AA.  I was able to pick seats for both and they do give me carryon.  I just need to pay for checked luggage, which I would have to pay even if I booked the flights directly with the airline.