What kind of deals does NCL offer when you book your next cruise on board?

[Sigyn]

Should I wait and book my next NCL cruise when I'm on board in December? What kind of deals do you get if you book while you're on a cruise? 

[Sailing12Away]

Depends on the type of cabin you typically like to book.

 

If you book onboard, you get a free 'within category' cabin upgrade. Meaning you book a BA balcony at the price of a BF. So you save about $100 or so. But it makes things difficult when you want to upgrade that cabin later on as they go by the price of the BF to calculate your price difference increase to jump categories.

I think you also get 10% off the price (pre tax/fees/FAS gratuities, etc). 

There's no harm in waiting until you're on board and talking to them, unless the sailing you're interested in is selling quick and you want a specific cabin. You can always book now, and then talk to them while you're on board still. They can reprice the cruise for you and see if the price has dropped and there's incentives to rebooking.

 

I stopped trying to talk to the cruise next folks when they were trying to tell me my upcoming Panama canal trip would be cheaper if I bought 4 cruise next certificates and rebooked it with them. Except the price they were telling me was $400 higher than what I had paid. So $400 higher, plus the cost of those 4 CN certificates.... yeah, I'm a scientist and not a mathematician but I know that's not actually in my best interest.

[IronRobi]

12 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

I stopped trying to talk to the cruise next folks when they were trying to tell me my upcoming Panama canal trip would be cheaper if I bought 4 cruise next certificates and rebooked it with them. Except the price they were telling me was $400 higher than what I had paid. So $400 higher, plus the cost of those 4 CN certificates.... yeah, I'm a scientist and not a mathematician but I know that's not actually in my best interest.

They weren't wrong if they were willing to apply all 4 towards it.

Let's use some simple hypothetical numbers for easy math purposes.

 

Let's say the booked cruise was $5,000 even.

On board it's $400 more so $5,000 + $400 = $5,400.

Then if you bought those 4 CN certificates. You'd be looking at $500 ($1,000 - $500 OBC which can be applied towards the $1,000) for 4 CN certificates. So $5,400 + $500 = $5,900.

Now from how this is worded I'm assuming they're willing to apply those 4 certificates towards the cruise. Those 4 certificates would apply $1,000 in credits towards the cruise. $5,900 - $1,000 = $4,900. So you'd have been ahead by $100.

 

Add the category upgrade to the mix and it MIGHT actually be worth all the hassle of doing it depending on any differences in benefits or add-ons.

[Sailing12Away]

1 hour ago, IronRobi said:

They weren't wrong if they were willing to apply all 4 towards it.

Let's use some simple hypothetical numbers for easy math purposes.

 

Let's say the booked cruise was $5,000 even.

On board it's $400 more so $5,000 + $400 = $5,400.

Then if you bought those 4 CN certificates. You'd be looking at $500 ($1,000 - $500 OBC which can be applied towards the $1,000) for 4 CN certificates. So $5,400 + $500 = $5,900.

Now from how this is worded I'm assuming they're willing to apply those 4 certificates towards the cruise. Those 4 certificates would apply $1,000 in credits towards the cruise. $5,900 - $1,000 = $4,900. So you'd have been ahead by $100.

 

Add the category upgrade to the mix and it MIGHT actually be worth all the hassle of doing it depending on any differences in benefits or add-ons.

Yeah.... except they would only apply 2 credits per cruise. And we're sailing in Haven (prices are <$300/pp/day currently), so no category upgrade for us. 

 

That cruise and the one we just took in September they were chasing us hard to buy CN certificates as we now have none in our account. I figure on our Prima cruise next September we'll pick up 2 just so they leave me alone.

[julig22]

You get a same category upgrade if you are booking inside, ov or balcony.

Sometimes they also offer an additional discount but it's not standard.

In July they had a 10% discount.  I also got 10% in September but it was apparently something different (the CN manager told me there was no such deal in September....but I have the price reduction to prove it!).  Nothing current, at least according to that same CN manager.

Note, I have successfully upgraded existing bookings while onboard.  Again, per the CN manager, that can only happen if there is a price adjustment. However, this same person also told me you can only have 1 price change....say what????

So I book what I want (giving my pcc the booking credit), then get any cabin upgrades or perks the next time I'm onboard.

Edited November 6, 2022 by julig22

[phillygwm]

From my first NCL cruise, I've always bought CN certs onboard.  Usually (but not always) 2, to replenish the ones I used for the sailing I'm on.  For the first time, someone tried to hard sell me.  When I told him I wanted 2, he insisted on explaining the program and why I needed to get 4, even though I told him I'd been using it for 10 years.  Almost turned me off to the point of just buying CF instead. 

[Sigyn]

On 11/5/2022 at 9:34 AM, Sailing12Away said:

Depends on the type of cabin you typically like to book.

 

If you book onboard, you get a free 'within category' cabin upgrade. Meaning you book a BA balcony at the price of a BF. So you save about $100 or so. But it makes things difficult when you want to upgrade that cabin later on as they go by the price of the BF to calculate your price difference increase to jump categories.

I think you also get 10% off the price (pre tax/fees/FAS gratuities, etc). 

There's no harm in waiting until you're on board and talking to them, unless the sailing you're interested in is selling quick and you want a specific cabin. You can always book now, and then talk to them while you're on board still. They can reprice the cruise for you and see if the price has dropped and there's incentives to rebooking.

 

I stopped trying to talk to the cruise next folks when they were trying to tell me my upcoming Panama canal trip would be cheaper if I bought 4 cruise next certificates and rebooked it with them. Except the price they were telling me was $400 higher than what I had paid. So $400 higher, plus the cost of those 4 CN certificates.... yeah, I'm a scientist and not a mathematician but I know that's not actually in my best interest.

This is helpful, thank you. I wonder if the 10% off applies on top of the 10% military discount.

 

4 hours ago, julig22 said:

You get a same category upgrade if you are booking inside, ov or balcony.

Sometimes they also offer an additional discount but it's not standard.

In July they had a 10% discount.  I also got 10% in September but it was apparently something different (the CN manager told me there was no such deal in September....but I have the price reduction to prove it!).  Nothing current, at least according to that same CN manager.

Note, I have successfully upgraded existing bookings while onboard.  Again, per the CN manager, that can only happen if there is a price adjustment. However, this same person also told me you can only have 1 price change....say what????

So I book what I want (giving my pcc the booking credit), then get any cabin upgrades or perks the next time I'm onboard.

thank you!

[Sailing12Away]

4 hours ago, phillygwm said:

From my first NCL cruise, I've always bought CN certs onboard.  Usually (but not always) 2, to replenish the ones I used for the sailing I'm on.  For the first time, someone tried to hard sell me.  When I told him I wanted 2, he insisted on explaining the program and why I needed to get 4, even though I told him I'd been using it for 10 years.  Almost turned me off to the point of just buying CF instead. 

Same with us... I have none in my account and don't want any. We're trying to do some non-cruise based trips in 2024, so I have no need to get certificates now knowing I will not be able to use them until at least 2 years from now.

[julig22]

Word to the wise - check your onboard bookings/changes CAREFULLY!

I recently asked to have a previously booked cruise repriced while onboard - I already had the room bump-up applied, with the cabin of my choice.  Got home and found that they'd removed the bump-up and put me in probably the worst OV room imaginable. So I wrote to the CN folks, expecting them to correct the error. HAH!

Got a wonderful explanation about how the bump-up is only applied onboard yada yada, no changes after you disembark.  Um, hello, I was onboard, I never asked for a different cabin, etc.  Waiting now for a response to my wonderful explanation on how I was onboard and they need to correct THEIR error.

Note: I've usually found the onboard CN staff to be quite good - not the case on this last cruise. Among other things, the CN manager told me you only got 1 price change (cruise in question is a year away).

[vacation44]

37 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Word to the wise - check your onboard bookings/changes CAREFULLY!

I recently asked to have a previously booked cruise repriced while onboard - I already had the room bump-up applied, with the cabin of my choice.  Got home and found that they'd removed the bump-up and put me in probably the worst OV room imaginable. So I wrote to the CN folks, expecting them to correct the error. HAH!

Got a wonderful explanation about how the bump-up is only applied onboard yada yada, no changes after you disembark.  Um, hello, I was onboard, I never asked for a different cabin, etc.  Waiting now for a response to my wonderful explanation on how I was onboard and they need to correct THEIR error.

Note: I've usually found the onboard CN staff to be quite good - not the case on this last cruise. Among other things, the CN manager told me you only got 1 price change (cruise in question is a year away).

I found the CN staff to be very unhelpful in all of my dealings with them and very often giving me the wrong information.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On the Star inAugust the CN staff were not only useless, and full of misinformation but arrogant as could be.  They were offering a two cabin level up grade with the same category.  I.e. BC to a BA.

Edited November 14, 2022 by MagnoliaBlossom

[CDR Benson]

I took a studied look at the CruiseNext offerings while we were underway on Norwegian Joy in September.  What stuck out to me was the lack of simplicity in the CN benefits.  It wasn't "15% off your next cruise" or "a free upgrade to the next level of stateroom" or something relatively simple to grasp and apply.  It was this fol-de-rol about certificates and how they're applied and you get so much, if you buy so many.  And I hadn't even gotten to the small print, yet.

 

I got a strong whiff of a used-car salesman playing a shell game with his four-box diagram.  Maybe that was unfair, but it was enough to put me off from enquiring further.

 

 

[julig22]

20 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

On the Star inAugust the CN staff were not only useless, and full of misinformation but arrogant as could be.  They were offering a two cabin level up grade with the same category.  I.e. BC to a BA.

Yep, probably the same person.  Unfortunately for me, the person that I've found to be very helpful in the past was coming on as a replacement as I was leaving.

[julig22]

On 11/14/2022 at 10:33 AM, julig22 said:

Word to the wise - check your onboard bookings/changes CAREFULLY!

I recently asked to have a previously booked cruise repriced while onboard - I already had the room bump-up applied, with the cabin of my choice.  Got home and found that they'd removed the bump-up and put me in probably the worst OV room imaginable. So I wrote to the CN folks, expecting them to correct the error. HAH!

Got a wonderful explanation about how the bump-up is only applied onboard yada yada, no changes after you disembark.  Um, hello, I was onboard, I never asked for a different cabin, etc.  Waiting now for a response to my wonderful explanation on how I was onboard and they need to correct THEIR error.

Note: I've usually found the onboard CN staff to be quite good - not the case on this last cruise. Among other things, the CN manager told me you only got 1 price change (cruise in question is a year away).

Update: I'm usually pretty supportive of NCL staff and tolerant of mistakes BUT please don't lie to cover your A** when you screw up.  Latest iteration - onboard CN says that I requested to stay in the OV room (ya know, the one I never had in the first place)  due to my mobility issues!!! Not sure how a porthole cabin on deck 4 (as far away from the elevator as possible) is better for mobility than a picture-window cabin on deck 9, fairly near the elevator - but that's kind of a moot point since I don't have mobility issues in the first place - I ain't no spring chicken but I get around just fine....

[RocketMan275]

On 11/14/2022 at 1:43 PM, CDR Benson said:

I took a studied look at the CruiseNext offerings while we were underway on Norwegian Joy in September.  What stuck out to me was the lack of simplicity in the CN benefits.  It wasn't "15% off your next cruise" or "a free upgrade to the next level of stateroom" or something relatively simple to grasp and apply.  It was this fol-de-rol about certificates and how they're applied and you get so much, if you buy so many.  And I hadn't even gotten to the small print, yet.

 

I got a strong whiff of a used-car salesman playing a shell game with his four-box diagram.  Maybe that was unfair, but it was enough to put me off from enquiring further.

That was my impression as well.  It just seemed like a fast talking shell game to me.  And, yes, it's like the 'Four corners of the deal'.

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by RocketMan275