How do we buy a cruise next certificate?

[Languageman]

Is there a "market" where you purchase a Cruise Next Certificate?

[hallux]

You buy on board.  There are groups on certain social media sites where they are sold.  I don't imagine there are many being sold anymore unless the people just need the cash or have decided to swear off NCL for one reason or another. The certificates no longer expire, there were lots sold because some people had some expiring in the next year and ended up not planning to cruise before the expiration.

[DorothyB]

I heard that people are purchasing them on the ship paying with their NCL credit card to get triple points and then selling them for the cost they paid with the net result of more points on their credit card (which might lead to OBC??)

 

I found a group on a social media site that included a list of "valid" sellers - but also had tales of a scam person.

[ChiefMateJRK]

22 minutes ago, DorothyB said:

I heard that people are purchasing them on the ship paying with their NCL credit card to get triple points and then selling them for the cost they paid with the net result of more points on their credit card (which might lead to OBC??)

That sounds like a lot of silliness to earn a few points.  If I spend $100 on an NCL credit card, how much are the points worth in actual cash back?  Anyone?

[DorothyB]

38 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

That sounds like a lot of silliness to earn a few points.  If I spend $100 on an NCL credit card, how much are the points worth in actual cash back?  Anyone?

I agree.  However, 8 cruise next (I did read that sometimes you can buy 8 - but not sure if that is per person or for a couple?) would be 8 x $500 = $4,000 worth of points (and yes, they would get $2K in OBC)  I'm not sure if the credit card records the purchases of $4K or just $2K - I'm guessing some of the $2K could have gone to DSC, etc but not sure.

Edited June 16 by DorothyB

[ChiefMateJRK]

54 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

If I spend $100 on an NCL credit card, how much are the points worth in actual cash back?  Anyone?

Still waiting for an answer to this....

[hallux]

19 minutes ago, DorothyB said:

would be 8 x $500

non-Haven CruiseNext are $250 each.  If you do the BOGO you're only paying for 4, which is $2000.  That's 6,000 points or about $60 in redemption value if my math is correct.

[ChiefMateJRK]

43 minutes ago, hallux said:

non-Haven CruiseNext are $250 each.  If you do the BOGO you're only paying for 4, which is $2000.  That's 6,000 points or about $60 in redemption value if my math is correct.

Thanks.  That answers my question.  Personally, I wouldn't bother to spend $2000 on something and hope to sell it in the secondary market to a reputable buyer just to pocket $60.  Would anybody here actually do that?

[DorothyB]

1 hour ago, hallux said:

non-Haven CruiseNext are $250 each.  If you do the BOGO you're only paying for 4, which is $2000.  That's 6,000 points or about $60 in redemption value if my math is correct.

 

Actually don't you pay $500 each but then get $250 OBC? Although I guess it would net the same since if you didn't have the OBC you would be paying DSC, excursions, etc with your NCL card . . . 

 

29 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Thanks.  That answers my question.  Personally, I wouldn't bother to spend $2000 on something and hope to sell it in the secondary market to a reputable buyer just to pocket $60.  Would anybody here actually do that?

Not me, but apparently some people do!

[hallux]

21 minutes ago, DorothyB said:

Actually don't you pay $500 each but then get $250 OBC?

No, you pay $250 each and get $250 OBC.  No need to question, it's in B&W on their website - https://www.ncl.com/cruisenext

[The Traveling Man]

4 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

That sounds like a lot of silliness to earn a few points.  If I spend $100 on an NCL credit card, how much are the points worth in actual cash back?  Anyone?

They would be worth $3.00, but only after your purchases accumulate to $3,333,34, which will add up to 10,000 points.  Then you can redeem them in a block for $100.00.

Edited June 17 by The Traveling Man

[Asawi]

7 hours ago, hallux said:

No, you pay $250 each and get $250 OBC.  No need to question, it's in B&W on their website - https://www.ncl.com/cruisenext

Actually you "pay" either 250 or 500 (Haven certificate) each and get 125 in OBC. But as has been mentioned the OBC is counted towards the certificates and you will only be charged 125 or 375.

There is absolutely no need whatsoever to spend the OBC on anything else unless you want to.

 

[julig22]

To simplify, you get 3x points, so if you buy 2CNs, you actually pay $250, get 750 in points, worth $7.50. But you can also use those points for a room upgrade - which is where the value comes in. 30,000 points ($300 in statement credit) can be worth thousands if you use them for an upgrade.

[PartyPlannerLady]

17 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Still waiting for an answer to this....

1¢ per point.

[ChiefMateJRK]

8 hours ago, Asawi said:

There is absolutely no need whatsoever to spend the OBC on anything else unless you want to.

Technically, you can't spend it on anything else.  The T&C's indicate that the OBC will first be applied to the cost of the CNs, meaning there is never any left to spend on stupid stuff.

[ChiefMateJRK]

4 hours ago, julig22 said:

To simplify, you get 3x points, so if you buy 2CNs, you actually pay $250, get 750 in points, worth $7.50. But you can also use those points for a room upgrade - which is where the value comes in. 30,000 points ($300 in statement credit) can be worth thousands if you use them for an upgrade.

Thanks.  So if a room upgrade is worth $300 to me, then using the card makes sense.  Is that just a one level upgrade? (i.e. from inside to OV or OV to balcony)

[The Traveling Man]

25 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Is that just a one level upgrade? (i.e. from inside to OV or OV to balcony)

Yes, it takes 30,000 points for a single meta upgrade.  That would be Inside to Ocean View or OV to Balcony.  These upgrade privileges do not include Studio cabins or anything beyond Balconies.  Going from Inside to Balcony in one fell swoop would require 60,000 points.  As noted previously, all purchases from NCL using the BOA NCL World Points Master Card earn three points per dollar spent.  Any purchases from other vendors earn just one point per dollar.  If you only use this card exclusively for NCL expenses, those 30,000 points will cost you $10,000.00.  If the price difference between stateroom types is more than $150.00 pr person, or $300.00 total, it makes more sense to use the card for an upgrade rather than cashing it in for OBC.  At $300.00 value for $10,000.00 spent, that works out to a 3% return.  On longer cruises, though, we frequently have found prices where a Balcony was going for as much as $2,000.00 per person more than an OV.  We prefer Balconies, so we saved $4,000.00 on our cruise by spending $10,000.00 on previous NCL expenses.  That's a 40% return on money spent.  What's in your wallet?

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, The Traveling Man said:

Yes, it takes 30,000 points for a single meta upgrade.  That would be Inside to Ocean View or OV to Balcony.  These upgrade privileges do not include Studio cabins or anything beyond Balconies.  Going from Inside to Balcony in one fell swoop would require 60,000 points.  As noted previously, all purchases from NCL using the BOA NCL World Points Master Card earn three points per dollar spent.  Any purchases from other vendors earn just one point per dollar.  If you only use this card exclusively for NCL expenses, those 30,000 points will cost you $10,000.00.  If the price difference between stateroom types is more than $150.00 pr person, or $300.00 total, it makes more sense to use the card for an upgrade rather than cashing it in for OBC.  At $300.00 value for $10,000.00 spent, that works out to a 3% return.  On longer cruises, though, we frequently have found prices where a Balcony was going for as much as $2,000.00 per person more than an OV.  We prefer Balconies, so we saved $4,000.00 on our cruise by spending $10,000.00 on previous NCL expenses.  That's a 40% return on money spent.  What's in your wallet?

Thanks.  I'll pass on the whole thing, as I'm fine in inside and wouldn't spend $600 to upgrade from an inside to balcony.  IMO, OV is kind of a joke on most ships.