Shore Excursion Credit for 1St person only?

[smellywax]

I understand with the free shore excursion credit, it goes to the first listed passenger on the booking. What if I don’t want to use it and want a family member in my cabin to use it…do I just buy a ticket and give it to them? Do they look that closely or care?

[Ima Ginaree]

I can’t answer your question about NCL’s ‘actual’ process.  
What I can tell you is that the Terms and Conditions clearly state you can’t. I suggest you don’t risk it even if someone on here comes back and says ‘They don’t/didn’t look too closely at us’. You are the one wearing the risk they won’t look closely at yours on the day.
Consider whether it would it be considered a contravention of the T&Cs and if yes, what might the penalty be.

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

I agree that it isn't allowed.   I also agree that I have never heard of anyone being "picked up" for doing what you suggest.   BUT, like most things, "you pays your money and takes your chance!!

 

You are more likely to "get away" with it if the person donating the ticket is the same gender as the person receiving it!!

[DominicAUS]

Whilst in the T&Cs that it’s not allowed. In all my excursions no one has ever crossed checked the ticket to my ship card. As long as you have the ticket I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine 

[shof515]

the only time this will be an issue is you are doing a excursion that requires signing a waiver. they might check the name on the ticket to that name that signed the waiver

[julig22]

5 hours ago, shof515 said:

the only time this will be an issue is you are doing a excursion that requires signing a waiver. they might check the name on the ticket to that name that signed the waiver

Or on an excursion that requires ID for some reason, such as crossing an international border. For example, for the Yukon excursions out of Skagway. They have a manifest with all passengers names, they check passports as you board the train or bus, use the manifest for border crossing.

[DCGuy64]

6 hours ago, DominicAUS said:

As long as you have the ticket I’m pretty sure you’ll be fine 

Reminds me of that commercial going around, "I'm pretty sure your house doesn't have rats" or "I'm pretty sure your surgeon has done this before."

Not as dire as those examples, I know, but I wouldn't risk it.

[PatJim]

You could also, pre cruise, change from first listed passenger to second listed, and put the person using the credit as first passenger.  We’ve done this several times.  But check, beforehand, that you won’t lose any other benefits only going to passenger #1.

[80sGal]

3 hours ago, PatJim said:

You could also, pre cruise, change from first listed passenger to second listed, and put the person using the credit as first passenger.  We’ve done this several times.  But check, beforehand, that you won’t lose any other benefits only going to passenger #1.

Is that as easy as a phone call?  I posted the same question a while back .... hubby wants to zipline (prob an ID/ waiver issue), I do not.  It makes no sense he couldn't use "my" 50 buck credit.   Thanks for the suggestion.  

[IAcruising]

18 minutes ago, 80sGal said:

 It makes no sense he couldn't use "my" 50 buck credit.  

 

It makes sense to NCL. They profit $50 each time this situation occurs.

 

[PatJim]

21 minutes ago, 80sGal said:

Is that as easy as a phone call?  I posted the same question a while back .... hubby wants to zipline (prob an ID/ waiver issue), I do not.  It makes no sense he couldn't use "my" 50 buck credit.   Thanks for the suggestion.  

Shouldn’t be a problem.  We just called the TA who booked our cruise.  

[BirdTravels]

12 hours ago, shof515 said:

the only time this will be an issue is you are doing a excursion that requires signing a waiver. they might check the name on the ticket to that name that signed the waiver

Assuming that you actually put a real name on the waiver you sign. 

[complawyer]

so far, on any shore excursions we've ever booked thru ncl no one has ever (and i mean never) checked if the name corresponds with the person getting on the bus. they dont check if you have to wait in the stardust theater until your excursion is called, they just rip off the ticket when you board the bus. by the way, i find its cheaper to take the tour description that you want with you and hire a taxi. 

 

btw, we've taken dozens of excursions by/thru ncl and on our own

[DominicAUS]

On 10/20/2023 at 3:20 AM, DCGuy64 said:

Reminds me of that commercial going around, "I'm pretty sure your house doesn't have rats" or "I'm pretty sure your surgeon has done this before."

Not as dire as those examples, I know, but I wouldn't risk it.

I think it was lost in translation, here in Australia is more of a confident term. Like she’ll be right! 
 

As mentioned no one has ever checked and if they did, you could say they were unwell and couldn’t cancel, so took their place. 

[The Traveling Man]

On 10/19/2023 at 6:35 PM, PatJim said:

You could also, pre cruise, change from first listed passenger to second listed, and put the person using the credit as first passenger.  We’ve done this several times.  But check, beforehand, that you won’t lose any other benefits only going to passenger #1.

We also have done it on board.  The Guest Service Desk did in a snap on a cruise where my wife wanted to take some tours while I just wanted to explore the towns on my own.  We walked straight across the atrium from Guest Services to Shore Excursions and the sequence of who was listed first on our account was already changed.  That way she got the discount instead of me. 

[skittl1321]

On 10/19/2023 at 5:59 PM, BirdTravels said:

Assuming that you actually put a real name on the waiver you sign. 

We literally had a shore excursion leader tell us "I need you all to sign this. You can sign Bugs Bunny, I just have to see each person sign"

 

[julig22]

Just to throw in a tiny monkey wrench.  If you have a 10-15% latitudes discount, that discount comes off after the $50 discount. So if you have a discount and are sailing with someone without a discount, you can save a little bit by putting the lower-latitudes level 1st on the reservation. It's only $5 or so but that almost pays for room service breakfast...

[vacation44]

50 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Just to throw in a tiny monkey wrench.  If you have a 10-15% latitudes discount, that discount comes off after the $50 discount. So if you have a discount and are sailing with someone without a discount, you can save a little bit by putting the lower-latitudes level 1st on the reservation. It's only $5 or so but that almost pays for room service breakfast...

Thank you for pointing this out.     If I switch Passenger No. 1 and Passenger No. 2 for both of my young adult children and their significant others, it will save me $30 for our June Encore 2025 cruise as we plan to take three NCL excursions.  

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, julig22 said:

Just to throw in a tiny monkey wrench.  If you have a 10-15% latitudes discount, that discount comes off after the $50 discount. So if you have a discount and are sailing with someone without a discount, you can save a little bit by putting the lower-latitudes level 1st on the reservation. It's only $5 or so but that almost pays for room service breakfast...

Funny, back sometime I believe last summer, I posted the same thing about the $50 not really being $50 because it came off before your Latitudes discount, and I was really criticized for pointing that out.

 

And that not saving the $5 was what happened on the few excursions we booked pre-cruise. But then on the cruise, we booked an excursion with a museum stop ending at the airport in Reykjavik. And for that excursion my 10% Latitudes discount came off on the entire excursion price, not the price after the $50 had come off.

 

[julig22]

20 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Funny, back sometime I believe last summer, I posted the same thing about the $50 not really being $50 because it came off before your Latitudes discount, and I was really criticized for pointing that out.

 

And that not saving the $5 was what happened on the few excursions we booked pre-cruise. But then on the cruise, we booked an excursion with a museum stop ending at the airport in Reykjavik. And for that excursion my 10% Latitudes discount came off on the entire excursion price, not the price after the $50 had come off.

 

When you book onboard, they have to manually calculate the latitudes discount - and some staff are better at math than others. Online, the system recognizes your latitudes discount, onboard, you have to make sure they know to give it to you (which is stated in the T&Cs). So not surprising that in some cases they will just give you the discount, forgetting to factor in the $50 credit, since that doesn't apply to everyone.

[MrsK]

I was on an excursion this past summer where due to a difference in the amount of people on the bus and the amount of tickets they had, they did actually take "attendance".  After checking the list several times the tour guide called out all the  names one by one and we had to announce that we were present ( like in a school classroom). 

 

That being said they never actually asked for proof of identification to be shown by those who were answering present for the names called. In my experience an occasion like that is a rare occurrence. Unless there is an issue they just collect the tickets and don't even look at the person who is handing over the tickets.

Edited October 23, 2023 by MrsK

[MCMC100]

5 hours ago, vacation44 said:

Thank you for pointing this out.     If I switch Passenger No. 1 and Passenger No. 2 for both of my young adult children and their significant others, it will save me $30 for our June Encore 2025 cruise as we plan to take three NCL excursions.  

One other thing to consider is only passengers 1&2 receive any additional Lattitude points available for the sailing. If you are cruising on a double or triple Lattitude points sailing you are potentially giving away a significant number of points by changing the passenger order on the reservation. 

This may not matter to you if you seldom sail or are already Platinum or above. In that case, it’s a nice gesture to help your adult children reach Platinum quicker. But if you’re 12 points from Platinum and receiving 14 points for the cruise (7 nights x 2 bonus as an example) you may be giving up more in future sail benefits than the $30 saved on excursions. 

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, julig22 said:

When you book onboard, they have to manually calculate the latitudes discount - and some staff are better at math than others. Online, the system recognizes your latitudes discount, onboard, you have to make sure they know to give it to you (which is stated in the T&Cs). So not surprising that in some cases they will just give you the discount, forgetting to factor in the $50 credit, since that doesn't apply to everyone.

There may also have been a time situation that affected this as I was told that they normally do not give the discounts until after the excursion is finished. However, since they had to give a final bill and our excursion was ending at the airport, it had to be done actually prior to the excursion.

[Yesimapirate]

Just go to guest services and ask nicely.   Front line customer service people generally want to help you when you approach them correctly.  It's much less work than to argue with you or have you get a supervisor that will overrule you. 

 

I'm not quite certain why the advice on these boards so often is to make up a lie.  Do people no longer have any integrity? 

[vacation44]

31 minutes ago, MCMC100 said:

One other thing to consider is only passengers 1&2 receive any additional Lattitude points available for the sailing. If you are cruising on a double or triple Lattitude points sailing you are potentially giving away a significant number of points by changing the passenger order on the reservation. 

This may not matter to you if you seldom sail or are already Platinum or above. In that case, it’s a nice gesture to help your adult children reach Platinum quicker. But if you’re 12 points from Platinum and receiving 14 points for the cruise (7 nights x 2 bonus as an example) you may be giving up more in future sail benefits than the $30 saved on excursions.

Our young adult children each have their own cabins with their significant others so it would not affect us.    They are gold and their significant others will be silver when we sail.   But thank you for the notice just in case it applied.