More At Sea is a downgrade if you had FAS+

[moody cruiser]

4 hours ago, Mississippian said:

The FAS+ has been stripped off my November cruise even though it is paid for. Every part of the package is important to me, from having drinkable wine, to unlimited Internet, to two specialty meals. Maybe they will honor it, but it doesn't show up.

 

My cruise is coming up end of October.  Had the FAS+ sitting in my basket in my NCL online account.  This morning, before learning about More at Sea, I figured I should pull the FAS+ trigger for the premium brands, 2 additional specialty dining, Starbucks, etc.  The transaction would NOT go through!  I panicked.

 

Ended up calling NCL directly and they honored my request/processed my payment.  Since you booked your cruise before 10/1, I'm thinking they'll honor your request - at least I hope so.  Hopefully they'll honor it for me on my cruise.  The inconsistencies are no fun.

Edited Wednesday at 12:19 AM by moody cruiser

[ThomasNL]

8 hours ago, macewank said:

At the expense of:

 

Unlimited internet: $29.99 PPPD

Starbucks: $16.50 PPPD

(this is already more than $42 PPPD)

2 Specialty Dining: $120 (2x $60 under new pricing)
Fresh juice + bottled water:  no package inclusion. 100% a la carte.

And for those paying $49 PPPD:

a $50 per tour credit on excursions for the 2nd person in the room (1st person gets it with the regular FAS package)

And fas+ also has drink options with prices of $50 and up

[MB_]

Alright so I got on the phone with my travel agent and an NCL rep today. The NCL person told me that I would be keeping the unlimited streaming wi-fi and extra two specialty dining credits from the Free At Sea Plus. The Beverage portion of FAS+ is going to be refunded and they didn't know exactly how much that was going to be. Then I will have the option of upgrading to the Starbucks package or buying waters. The rep also said that there should be a more detailed email coming out "soon" that has refund information and stuff like that. 

[mistertomatoe]

Crazy they don't know the refund amount. They didn't think of it? Makes me wonder what they scrambled to also figure out yesterday.

 

I swear I only saw the internal KB say FAS Plus was canceled. Then I looked later and they added that unlimited Internet, 2nd $50 shorex, and 2 dining would remain.  Now I saw somewhere that you can cancel everything and get your full refund without any penalty. I assume that's so your cruise isn't forced to be repriced resulting in possibly a higher price and other unintended side effects. Also it gives you much more time to decide what to do.

 

So the decision is get the full refund or just the alcohol part. You have to do it without knowing what will changed. What's in the MAS open bar? I'm pretty sure pricing for everything will change. Internet, dining, Starbucks, Shorex could go up by the time you sail.

[MB_]

Man the more I read the more confused I get 😂

[ThomasNL]

27 minutes ago, MB_ said:

Alright so I got on the phone with my travel agent and an NCL rep today. The NCL person told me that I would be keeping the unlimited streaming wi-fi and extra two specialty dining credits from the Free At Sea Plus. The Beverage portion of FAS+ is going to be refunded and they didn't know exactly how much that was going to be. Then I will have the option of upgrading to the Starbucks package or buying waters. The rep also said that there should be a more detailed email coming out "soon" that has refund information and stuff like that. 

I made an official complain to them. Letting them know what it will cost me minimum extra when they take away the fas-plus option. ( In my very reasonable calculation a 1000 more then the cost of the package) Mostly because we always drink top wine/whiskey/cognac and bottle of top wine during dinner. It's even worse because everything was all ready paid in full and it's part of the travel package we bought. Taking the plus option away is not a small change on vallue and there for they have to deliver the product or a similar product or you should even able to cancel the whole paid booking without any costs. This is at least when looking at the European law. It doesn't even matter what it says in their terms and conditions which you signed for.

[ocdb8r]

I've given up on speculating too much until an actual communication comes out from NCL on the FAS+.  My suspicion is that the main thing fundamentally changing is the drink packaging on board.  They can't (seem to) operationally manage both FAS, MAS and FAS+ at the same time (note, I'm not saying it's impossible....just that NCL "can't" do it for whatever reason....systems, training...who knows).  However, the other items (internet upgrade, shorex credit and extra dining) aren't really changing, just "how much" of each you get, so they can likely still operationally handle just letting you keep those items a la carte.  They refund some portion of the FAS+ attributed to the "Open Bar" and let you get anything else you still can a la carte (Starbucks package, water package...etc).  They likely believe this is a "reasonable" compromise.  However, as has been pointed out, it means no way to get unlimited high-end drinks, fresh juices or Pellegrino/Aqua Pana (the water packages is just standard bottled water). 

 

All that said, if the "refund" for the Open Bar is high enough, it still may be a decent compromise for many/most.  You can get Starbucks for $20/day (after gratuities) and  water for $1.25 - $2.00/bottle depending on how big a package you buy.  That could leave enough leftover to covers some of the left-out items.  No, for true "consumers" (especially of the higher-end drinks) it will not be as good....but for many, it may be good enough.

[stitchcreek]

Following with interest, as we current have Plus for next year.

[MB_]

So this is going to be my first cruise - what are the Starbucks prices like on board? I’m trying to figure out if $20/day would be worth it for me or not. $280 is a lot of money to pay for Starbs, lol.

[jdickerson]

The confusion is so frustrating, and IMO the folks who buy FAS+ are the customer segment you should NOT piss off.

 

All I will say is, I had a "to do" to add FAS+ to a 2025 14 day Australian cruise we booked, and after this I now have a "to do" to cancel said 14 day cruise and book a similar one on Princess (getting Premiere Plus).

 

And I'm an NCL shareholder...

[macewank]

14 minutes ago, MB_ said:

So this is going to be my first cruise - what are the Starbucks prices like on board? I’m trying to figure out if $20/day would be worth it for me or not. $280 is a lot of money to pay for Starbs, lol.

more or less similar to the prices shoreside. isn't really marked up.

[MB_]

1 minute ago, macewank said:

more or less similar to the prices shoreside. isn't really marked up.

Ok thanks. That would be like…3-4 Starbucks every day for me to break even on the package. I think I will pass and then just buy a la carte Starbs whenever I want, it’ll be way less money. 

[yakcruiser]

16 minutes ago, MB_ said:

So this is going to be my first cruise - what are the Starbucks prices like on board? I’m trying to figure out if $20/day would be worth it for me or not. $280 is a lot of money to pay for Starbs, lol.

Maybe @BirdTravels will post a price list for you. I drink a lot of coffee so I purchased a package on both legs of my 28-day adventure in April and I didn't break even on either leg.

[ajaris]

this may be my last Ncl cruise... after paying for the drink package plus and if they do take it away... adios.

 

[AlexandNessa]

So i may have a teeny bit of attention on X (Twitter).  I had 0 followers and exactly 3 Tweets (are we still calling them Tweets?), all related to my disappointment in FAS+ leaving. Now i have 3 followers. 😂

 

Please join me in making your displeasure known there, or any social media. I know, i know. I have an obviously minimal account that i primarily use for easier lurking and I understand many of you don't have or want to create accounts. However, NCL has never tried to reach out to me from a post here.  I came out of the shadows of this. It was worth it😄

 

Edited Thursday at 02:02 PM by AlexandNessa
Typo

[graphicguy]

I think there's some confusion here.  The MAS replaces FAS+.  What NCL has planned to replace FAS+ with is unknown if or when that will be implemented.

 

 

[RedwingHockeyFan]

I can understand the frustration with the people who bought the FAS+ and had it cancelled.  The more I read the more I think that what NCL is doing has less to do with costs and more to do with making things easier on themselves and the crew.  I can see how having 2 separate levels of drink packages along with charging the difference on drinks above $15 could be logistically challenging.  I've never really been interested in specialty coffees, juices, or bottled water but I understand how that is important to others and now it isn't currently available via a package.  Perhaps maybe down the line they will add a specific package just for that.

 

I've posted this via another forum but what bothers me is the specialty dining change.  For a 7-day cruise it went from 2 dinners to 3 but the price shot up over $40 pp.  And now I cannot buy one for my son, I have to pay the individual cover charges.  I already get 2 platinum dinners, and I'm not interested in going 5 times so I may just remove that option on my next booking.

[MiniJeffrey]

As a regular P+ user this just feels like a kick in the nuts. No more starbucks, bottles water, fresh juices, champagne and not even clear yet if the P+ liquors are all included in the MAS...

 

 

[quillwercruisers]

We sail in March of 25, reservation was made in Jan 24. The FAS+ is back on my reservation, and I am able to book excursions using the extra $50 excursion credit. This is from my Vacation Summary:

 

[UKstages]

2 hours ago, AlexandNessa said:

Now i have 3 followers.

 

those don't look like legit NCL accounts to me. i'd be very careful communicating with them or giving them any information. it appears as if two of them may have already been taken down.

 

the latest online scam is people posing as representatives of various companies on social media. they respond to customer service complaints (often before the legit reps do) and then ask you for personally identifying info (including the credit card to which the reservation was charged) and then disappear with that data.

 

I seriously doubt harry is following you on twitter or "liked" a tweet dealing with customer dissatisfaction. 

[MB_]

1 hour ago, quillwercruisers said:

We sail in March of 25, reservation was made in Jan 24. The FAS+ is back on my reservation, and I am able to book excursions using the extra $50 excursion credit. This is from my Vacation Summary:

 

same, mine is back too. 

[dock]

This is soo confusing. 
Just checked and ours is also back.

It definitely was not there yesterday.

On the app.

304 days to go .

 

Edited Thursday at 05:47 PM by dock

[vacation44]

3 hours ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

 

I've posted this via another forum but what bothers me is the specialty dining change.  For a 7-day cruise it went from 2 dinners to 3 but the price shot up over $40 pp.  And now I cannot buy one for my son, I have to pay the individual cover charges.  I already get 2 platinum dinners, and I'm not interested in going 5 times so I may just remove that option on my next booking.

I feel the same way with this specialty dining change.  With the two previously included and the two from platinum, four credits were just the right amount for us.    I would rather keep my $84.40 (the difference between FAS & MAS) and eat another meal in the MDR (or the Haven if we decide to stay in the Haven ever again).   

 

Also feel this way about the additional cost for the beverage package--I would rather keep the $114.80 and pay the small amount of taxes the first day on board.    Very rarely did we go over the $15 limit.       

 

 

[New2cruise2022]

38 minutes ago, dock said:

This is soo confusing. 
Just checked and ours is also back.

It definitely was not there yesterday.

On the app.

304 days to go .

 

304 days. I love this! I’ve got mine lined up too. 

[rnfulk]

I just received the official communication for my 3/9/25 cruise. No new information - 2 dining credits, unlimited WiFi, and shorex credit will be honored. We will get a refund for a portion of the beverage package (amount undisclosed), but it’s ok because the new more at sea package has many of the same offerings as the former Premium Plus beverage package. 🙄

Free at Sea Plus Package Discontinuation Email.pdf

Edited Thursday at 09:03 PM by rnfulk
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