Pricing on NCL Has Gotten Outrageous

[DCGuy64]

20 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Is there an airport that everyone does not hate?

I don't hate Reagan National or Dulles, both of them are within 30 minutes of our house and have excellent restaurants (and in the case of Dulles, some awesome business class lounges). 😀

[ontheweb]

2 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

Yes, there is. It's Buffalo, NY.

I'll have to check with one of my brothers on that. He left for Buffalo in 1969 to go to college, and he still lives in that area.

[JamieLogical]

2 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

Could you please answer my question (from my original post # 167)?

 

I don't know the answer to your question about how the TA was able to offer a refundable deposit. I sincerely doubt they are able to just "eat" the $900 if we cancel, so I assume it is some sort of special TA arrangement with Celebrity. All I know is that all of my documentation from the TA says the deposit is refundable.

[ngrund]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

I'll have to check with one of my brothers on that. He left for Buffalo in 1969 to go to college, and he still lives in that area.

Actually, Buffalo is pretty good as far as getting through TSA screening and baggage pickup. Its been a while, but the only complaint I have is the quick food availability. If time allows, the Anchor Bar makes up for it

[ngrund]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Yes, the April 28, 2025 sailing. As for Cape Liberty/NYC, same difference.  It will be a long time until I am worrying about flights. Though I do hate the Newark airport.....

Not too early to at least look into availability/cost, my flights are already booked for March

[kirtihk]

2 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I don't know the answer to your question about how the TA was able to offer a refundable deposit. I sincerely doubt they are able to just "eat" the $900 if we cancel, so I assume it is some sort of special TA arrangement with Celebrity. All I know is that all of my documentation from the TA says the deposit is refundable.

It's more than great!

 

PS. All included is $72 per person per day.  That's why I wrote "your cruise is almost free" before port charges and tax.  It's very unusual, and again, with refundable deposit it's impressive!  The current price for my 12-day March 3, 2025, Asian cruise on Millenium is $525 pp for Aqua (with all the same items as in your cruise).  I booked it for $220 pp per day a 1.5 years ago, but it is still not comparable with your number.

[JamieLogical]

5 minutes ago, ngrund said:

Not too early to at least look into availability/cost, my flights are already booked for March

 

Best pricing for domestic flights is usually around 90 days out. I will start looking at pricing a bit before that, set up some Google Flight Tracking, and strike when the iron is hot.

[kirtihk]

10 minutes ago, ngrund said:

Actually, Buffalo is pretty good as far as getting through TSA screening and baggage pickup. Its been a while, but the only complaint I have is the quick food availability. If time allows, the Anchor Bar makes up for it

We live in Buffalo since 1991 (moved from another country).  Security is 2-15 minutes in most cases including holidays.  We go to the Club (with the Priority Pass).

[ngrund]

16 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Best pricing for domestic flights is usually around 90 days out. I will start looking at pricing a bit before that, set up some Google Flight Tracking, and strike when the iron is hot.

We try to always fly JetBlue and wife likes front of plane aisle seats.

 

We kind of know how low the price will likely go, so if around that price now, I'll just book to make sure wife is happy.

[JamieLogical]

56 minutes ago, kirtihk said:

It's more than great!

 

PS. All included is $72 per person per day.  That's why I wrote "your cruise is almost free" before port charges and tax.  It's very unusual, and again, with refundable deposit it's impressive!  The current price for my 12-day March 3, 2025, Asian cruise on Millenium is $525 pp for Aqua (with all the same items as in your cruise).  I booked it for $220 pp per day a 1.5 years ago, but it is still not comparable with your number.

 

So when I price the cruise out on the Celebrity site right now, the price difference between the cruise only and always included prices is $619 more for always included per person. That works out to $61.90 per day difference on the 10-day sailing, not $72. If I subtract that $619 from our final price, that would have been $1534.78 or $76.74 per person per day, which would be quite cheap indeed! Though I don't know if we would have gotten the same other discounts from the TA had we done that so it might not have worked out quite that low. Plus, there is 0% chance I would ever book a cruise without drinks and wifi, so it's a moot point in my case.

 

Edited July 30 by JamieLogical

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Yes, the April 28, 2025 sailing. As for Cape Liberty/NYC, same difference.  It will be a long time until I am worrying about flights. Though I do hate the Newark airport.....

There was one year (IIRC 2015) when we flew out of Newark, and I was in a walking boot. I mentioned to the TSA personnel that it had a lot of metal. They practically fought to see which one was going to walk me through security, no further checking. Our last flight was out of the airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. I also pointed out to them the amount of metal. Their reaction was "Can you take it off?" Which of course I then had to do.

[kirtihk]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

So when I price the cruise out on the Celebrity site right now, the price difference between the cruise only and always included prices is $619 more for always included per person. That works out to $61.90 per day difference on the 10-day sailing, not $72. If I subtract that $619 from our final price, that would have been $1534.78 or $76.74 per person per day, which would be quite cheap indeed! Though I don't know if we would have gotten the same other discounts from the TA had we done that so it might not have worked out quite that low. Plus, there is 0% chance I would ever book a cruise without drinks and wifi, so it's a moot point in my case.

 

The same (0%) chance is for me, too.  We should cruise together!  Slainte!  Lechaim!

[kirtihk]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

So when I price the cruise out on the Celebrity site right now, the price difference between the cruise only and always included prices is $619 more for always included per person. That works out to $61.90 per day difference on the 10-day sailing, not $72. If I subtract that $619 from our final price, that would have been $1534.78 or $76.74 per person per day, which would be quite cheap indeed! Though I don't know if we would have gotten the same other discounts from the TA had we done that so it might not have worked out quite that low. Plus, there is 0% chance I would ever book a cruise without drinks and wifi, so it's a moot point in my case.

 

For our cruise it is $72 pp per day extra.  I didn’t know $$ “always included” per day varies between itineraries.

 

$76.74 is with port charges and taxes.  Subtract that (around $30), and the cruise fare is $45 (as I wrote - almost free for a balcony, and even for inside it would be still almost free).

[SeaShark]

17 hours ago, Fredrik said:

Well, to be honest I did answer why I tried MSC, and also added why I wouldn’t go back.

 

Prior to MSC none were worst or really bad. There will always be pros and cons to every line, sailing, destination etc. That’s why I ranked the top seven cruise lines I’ve sailed the most with.

 

Possibly right above MSC I would put Disney, also I line I’ve only sailed with once and probably would not go back to because of the value proposition.

 

I now think I have answered both your questions 🎉

 

No...not really. You just dance around without actually answering for some unknown reason.

 

What I asked was:

Q1-Prior to the MSC cruise, what line held the "absolute worst in every way" title for you?

--All this takes is the name of the line of an answer. Nothing about why you tried MSC, or what you didn't like about MSC. You point out that you've taken 108 cruises. Out of the 107, which one was the worst? If they were all good, then I'm likely to think you're overreacting if only 1 out of 108 was bad. A B+ is a good grade, but if you have 106 A+, A, & A- it is still OK to say the B+ is the worst. Simple question, simple answer. If you had never sailed MSC, which line is your worst?

 

Q2-With 108 cruises, which line stands out as the best for you? 

--Again, just the name of the line. Nothing more.

 

 Q3-Why were you sailing MSC instead of that line?

--Looking for some context. With 108 cruises, you must have a handle on what you like and where you can get it...yet you are trying MSC instead. Wondering why? What are you looking for that you didn't get in all of those great cruises before?

[Travelling2Some]

6 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Is there an airport that everyone does not hate?

I'm laughing but got to say that LGA here in NY is much improved.  For years it was the airport to avoid.  I do recall Shiphol (Amsterdam) and Narita (Tokyo) being nice and I have heard Singapore has a great airport but have not been there myself yet.

[Seas2mountains]

4 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

So when I price the cruise out on the Celebrity site right now, the price difference between the cruise only and always included prices is $619 more for always included per person. That works out to $61.90 per day difference on the 10-day sailing, not $72. If I subtract that $619 from our final price, that would have been $1534.78 or $76.74 per person per day, which would be quite cheap indeed! Though I don't know if we would have gotten the same other discounts from the TA had we done that so it might not have worked out quite that low. Plus, there is 0% chance I would ever book a cruise without drinks and wifi, so it's a moot point in my case.

 

How picky are you about alcohol?  
 

Celebrity made changes to the Classic package which is what is included in the “All Included” package. It now only covers drinks that cost $10 or less. They apparently moved sone popular liquors to the Premium package and there are people who are quite upset about this change. 

[Fredrik]

5 hours ago, SeaShark said:

 

No...not really. You just dance around without actually answering for some unknown reason.

 

What I asked was:

Q1-Prior to the MSC cruise, what line held the "absolute worst in every way" title for you?

--All this takes is the name of the line of an answer. Nothing about why you tried MSC, or what you didn't like about MSC. You point out that you've taken 108 cruises. Out of the 107, which one was the worst? If they were all good, then I'm likely to think you're overreacting if only 1 out of 108 was bad. A B+ is a good grade, but if you have 106 A+, A, & A- it is still OK to say the B+ is the worst. Simple question, simple answer. If you had never sailed MSC, which line is your worst?

 

Q2-With 108 cruises, which line stands out as the best for you? 

--Again, just the name of the line. Nothing more.

 

 Q3-Why were you sailing MSC instead of that line?

--Looking for some context. With 108 cruises, you must have a handle on what you like and where you can get it...yet you are trying MSC instead. Wondering why? What are you looking for that you didn't get in all of those great cruises before?

Again. I have answered in a way that I think is satisfactory, but I’m going to play along to make it easier for you.

 

Q1. Disney

Q2. Oceania

Q3. By recommendation from friends who had tried YC on MSC.

 

Have a wonderful day.

 

-Fredrik

[JamieLogical]

10 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

How picky are you about alcohol?  
 

Celebrity made changes to the Classic package which is what is included in the “All Included” package. It now only covers drinks that cost $10 or less. They apparently moved sone popular liquors to the Premium package and there are people who are quite upset about this change. 

 

I think we will probably upgrade to the Premium drink package, though I will do a little research first. Upgrading with my 10% discount would be $18/day. That would bring our total cost per person per day up to $156. I think I can live with that. Also, they tell me on the Celebrity boards that sometimes the upgrades go on sale, so I will keep an eye out for that.

[spethstation]

17 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I don't know the answer to your question about how the TA was able to offer a refundable deposit. I sincerely doubt they are able to just "eat" the $900 if we cancel, so I assume it is some sort of special TA arrangement with Celebrity. All I know is that all of my documentation from the TA says the deposit is refundable.

Sounds like it could be a group rate, a lot of group block space has refundable deposits or different T&Cs altogether over standard cruise bookings.

[JamieLogical]

2 minutes ago, spethstation said:

Sounds like it could be a group rate, a lot of group block space has refundable deposits or different T&Cs altogether over standard cruise bookings.

 

Yes, I do see a "Group ID" at the top of my booking confirmation.

[kirtihk]

3 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Yes, I do see a "Group ID" at the top of my booking confirmation.

That's strange, because my TA (he is an owner of his agency) told me recently that the refundable deposit status for Celebrity cruises doesn't depend on whether booking is a group booking or not (the same non-refundable deposit rule is applied if not paying extra for a booking to have the refundable deposit).  Perhaps, this matter was changed by Celebrity a few weeks ago.

[kirtihk]

14 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

How picky are you about alcohol?  
 

Celebrity made changes to the Classic package which is what is included in the “All Included” package. It now only covers drinks that cost $10 or less. They apparently moved sone popular liquors to the Premium package and there are people who are quite upset about this change. 

I didn't know Celebrity still sales drinks under $10.  Is it wine from a bucket or diluted vodka, perhaps?

[vacation44]

22 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Is there an airport that everyone does not hate?

 

21 hours ago, kirtihk said:

Yes, there is. It's Buffalo, NY.

And MacArthur airport out on Long Island!     

[Sailor75]

I recently booked 2 cruises on NCL and I found them to be the same price as what I typically spend on Princess. But, with NCL I get unlimited drinks and a dining credit; however, I have to pay gratuities. But, on Princess I get tired of tracking my drinks and other peoples since their drinks frequently show on my account.

[SeaShark]

18 hours ago, Fredrik said:

I have answered in a way that I think is satisfactory

 

Interesting position. Just for fun . . . If MSC had said to you "We have provided service in a way that we think is satisfactory" would you still think they were the worst cruise you ever had, or would this statement justify the experience you had onboard?