Can't you turn down one of the Free at Sea offers?

[Turtles06]

It's been my understanding that when booking a cruise with all of the "Free at Sea" offers available, a guest can turn down one or more of them.  (For example, someone who doesn't drink much alcohol may not want to have the beverage package and pay the gratuities on that.)

 

Is that a correct understanding? It would seem to be correct according to the Terms & Conditions:

 

https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions

 

The reason I'm asking is that two friends are being told by a travel agent that booking through her, they can't remove the beverage package.  I'm not sure why booking through a TA would matter.   

 

Thanks for any help! 

 

 

[zounds]

I am saphire Latitudes and have never had a problem declining any FAS offer, both through NCL and on-line sites.

[DorothyB]

Absolutely.  I declined the FAS drink package on each of my cruises.  There is a point close to payment that has the options over to the left and I just unchecked the unlimited drink package.

[ontheweb]

6 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

It's been my understanding that when booking a cruise with all of the "Free at Sea" offers available, a guest can turn down one or more of them.  (For example, someone who doesn't drink much alcohol may not want to have the beverage package and pay the gratuities on that.)

 

Is that a correct understanding? It would seem to be correct according to the Terms & Conditions:

 

https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions

 

The reason I'm asking is that two friends are being told by a travel agent that booking through her, they can't remove the beverage package.  I'm not sure why booking through a TA would matter.   

 

Thanks for any help! 

 

 

We booked through a TA, and we were able to turn down offers. Since I barely drink and DW cannot due to alcohol being contraindicated with a med she takes, the drink package made no sense. Also, not being foodies, we were happy with MDR and buffet. In fact, DW does not even really like people serving her and would much rather "have control" by going to the buffet.

[rebeccac]

Our TA can easily pick and choose from the FAS offers, not sure why yours is telling you differently unless they have some sort of group rate going that includes it.  

[julig22]

I've sailed/booked over 25 cruises on NCL and have never taken the FAS beverage or meal package.

The TA is incorrect.

[Twolittleboys]

Are they booking in the US? Far as I know if booked in Europe you have to take all of the FAS or none.There is a flat fee charge for the FAS though (based on length of trip) so it wouldn't be cheaper to for example decline the beverage package (as no taxes have to be paid on it)

[1bighund]

You can turn down the drink package if both in the cabin do so.  I’ve done it several times.  You can’t have 1 person with the drink package and one without it.

[Turtles06]

23 minutes ago, rebeccac said:

Our TA can easily pick and choose from the FAS offers, not sure why yours is telling you differently unless they have some sort of group rate going that includes it.  

 

Thanks, but to be clear, she's not my TA.  My friends need to book thru her because of a group, but it's not a group rate. It's the same pricing that is displayed on NCL's web site, available to anyone. 

[Turtles06]

14 minutes ago, Twolittleboys said:

Are they booking in the US?

 

Yes, thanks.  (I appreciate that there are often different rules in Europe. Thanks for flagging that.)

[cooncat_mom]

I book my own cruises and when the Free at Sea offers are put up at the beginning of the booking you should be able to uncheck the beverage package and I believe it’s the dining package - I always uncheck both of them. I don’t believe you can uncheck the shore excursion or the 75 minute WiFi.

[dmwnc1959]

Had my FAS Unlimited Open Bar beverage packages removed from both segments of my 2025 B2B. Travel agent called and there were no problems at all.

 

 

Edited April 30 by dmwnc1959

[zqvol]

This is an issue with the specific TA, it’s not an NCL issue. 

[DwayneG]

I never drink so always turn down beverage to save gratuities on  it. Sometimes I take dining, sometimes I don't.  Never had a problem with that.  Excursions is just a discount, so no reason to delete that. Wi-Fi no charges, so use it or don't.

Edited May 1 by DwayneG
spelling

[1025cruise]

My guess is the TA doesn't want to deal with it.

[mskaufman]

I've never had a problem declining drinks or specialty dinning

 

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

This is an issue with the specific TA, it’s not an NCL issue. 

Thanks, I think so too. 

[UKstages]

all this talk of "turn down" has made me nostalgic for 2X daily housekeeping services. 

 

travel agents essentially book using the same site that NCL cruise consultants use, albeit with a few restrictions and a slightly different interface. it, in turn, is not all that different from the site consumers use.

 

you can decline any part of the FAS program that you don't want. FAS is non-commissionable, so i can't think of any rational reason why a TA would not comply with a guest's preferences, unless it was tied in somehow to a restriction on the group booking.

 

there are separate promo codes for different combinations of FAS benefits. for example, DISXIN is dining, shore excursion discount and internet, with no beverage package. DRINKDIN is drink package and dining. And DRNKDINE is beverage package and dining package.

[N-8]

You have the answer but I'm usually booking two to three cabins at once and it's only my cabin that gets the free drinks. I turn down the drinks for the other two cabins since they maybe will have one drink once or twice during the cruise.

 

Love to hear the resolution on this.

[Levanah]

We have declined the beverage package several times during the booking process with no issue.  We do not use a TA and book on our own,

[carohs]

It's entirely possible that TA may not be able to remove the FAS per policy or just doesn't know how. But asking cruise critic is helpful in these situations. We all know one person doesn't always have all the answers. In which case, a second opinion holds value, and why not ask this forum where not only can you get a second opinion but several and from people who are specifically experienced in the subject you are asking about. It will either reinforce what the TA has said, or give you the confidence to tell someone no that's not right, check again or tell me why.

 

And it also allows for the decision of whether the FAS is worth keeping the TA or booking elsewhere. I'd rather have a capable TA, and without asking here, well you may not have realized their limitations and if something else comes up where you really need a good TA they wouldn't be able to help you then either. You'd be SOL and all because you didn't know better because you blindly trusted the opinion of one person. 

[UKstages]

7 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Do travel agents get paid a percentage of the total booking?  So if the gratuities on the beverage package count towards her commission, that might be why she is saying that?

 

travel advisors (NCL prefers that term) get paid between 10% and 16% of commissionable items; it's a sliding scale based on either the number of cruises they book or their total dollar value of sales. you can qualify for higher commissions by meeting quotas in either of those areas.

 

gratuities are not commissionable.

Edited May 1 by UKstages

[ontheweb]

38 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Do travel agents get paid a percentage of the total booking?  So if the gratuities on the beverage package count towards her commission, that might be why she is saying that?

To me, the end goal of the discussion would be that OP should tell friends that TA is wrong, and if TA insists on booking them a beverage package they don't want, then it's time to find a different TA.  Or ask TA to call NCL, because she is wrong.

 

I don't believe the gratuities on either the drink package or specialty restaurant package count toward the portion of the booking that a TA is paid commission on.

[Turtles06]

5 hours ago, N-8 said:

Love to hear the resolution on this.

 

So as it turns out, this is a group booking (as I noted in an earlier comment) and the deal with NCL is that they have given the group "price protection" on the cabin categories being held by the TA (that is, if the price goes up after the group was created, guests can still book those cabins at the original price).  One part of that deal is that all the FAS offers will be included if guests want them, but they can't decline separate parts of FAS (e.g., the Beverage Package).

 

Many thanks again to those of you who offered your information and experience.  

[DCGuy64]

43 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

One part of that deal is that all the FAS offers will be included if guests want them, but they can't decline separate parts of FAS (e.g., the Beverage Package).

Well, that's a very important detail that, as far as I can tell, wasn't known from the outset. When people (who I am sure are trying to be helpful) say that the TA just didn't want to deal with declining the FAS or that they were "sure" it could be dropped, it was (I'm guessing) under the assumption that this was a regular booking. Thank you for providing the additional detail. In the future, if I see a similar question from a different poster, I may ask if there's a deal going like this that prevents the FAS from being removed. Good to know!