NCL Mastercard FAQ

[kjquilts]

4 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

One time one cruise only and its capped at a Balcony. No higher.

 

I inquired as I am 17 points away.

 

Again, this is off topic because it pertains to the one time one category upgrade when you reach Diamond latitude level on NCL instead of NCL Worldpoints upgrade ...... but here is the terms and conditions for the Diamond upgrade.  Club balcony is highest you can go, not regular balcony.  Larry ad I will both be diamond after our Star med cruise this April.

 

This is from the Latitude terms and conditions

 

One-Time Free Cabin Upgrade – Diamond

Diamond members will be offered a one-time complimentary cabin upgrade once they have reached the Diamond tier. The cabin upgrade is valid for one category increase from the category that the guest booked. The Latitudes member must first make their booking, then call to redeem their complimentary cabin upgrade. The cabin upgrade is not eligible for Suites or Haven. The highest cabin category that a member may be upgraded to is Club Balcony. Eligible members will have one (1) year to take the complimentary cabin upgrade after graduating to the Diamond tier.

The complimentary cabin upgrade may only be redeemed once for each member. There are no destination restrictions but holiday sailings are excluded. All upgrades are subject to availability. This benefit is not combinable with other cabin upgrade promotions or offers. Taxes and fees are not included. Complimentary cabin upgrades are non-transferable.

Terms and conditions are subject to change and inventory is subject to availability.

[mscdivina2016]

1 hour ago, kjquilts said:

 

Again, this is off topic because it pertains to the one time one category upgrade when you reach Diamond latitude level on NCL instead of NCL Worldpoints upgrade ...... but here is the terms and conditions for the Diamond upgrade.  Club balcony is highest you can go, not regular balcony.  Larry ad I will both be diamond after our Star med cruise this April.

 

This is from the Latitude terms and conditions

 

One-Time Free Cabin Upgrade – Diamond

Diamond members will be offered a one-time complimentary cabin upgrade once they have reached the Diamond tier. The cabin upgrade is valid for one category increase from the category that the guest booked. The Latitudes member must first make their booking, then call to redeem their complimentary cabin upgrade. The cabin upgrade is not eligible for Suites or Haven. The highest cabin category that a member may be upgraded to is Club Balcony. Eligible members will have one (1) year to take the complimentary cabin upgrade after graduating to the Diamond tier.

The complimentary cabin upgrade may only be redeemed once for each member. There are no destination restrictions but holiday sailings are excluded. All upgrades are subject to availability. This benefit is not combinable with other cabin upgrade promotions or offers. Taxes and fees are not included. Complimentary cabin upgrades are non-transferable.

Terms and conditions are subject to change and inventory is subject to availability.

That's true if the ship has club balcony's.  We were going to use it on the Spirit.

 I should have clarified that. My bad.

[gochina]

This might be old news but I just found out you no longer have to call or talk to anyone to upgrade your room with world points anymore.  I just did a double meta upgrade all on line.  Wish me luck!

[The Traveling Man]

12 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

One time one cruise only and its capped at a Balcony. No higher.

 

I inquired as I am 17 points away.

The upper limit is a one-category upgrade from Balcony to Club Balcony.  It otherwise could be used to upgrade Ocean View to Balcony or Inside to Ocean View, but only one upgrade per Diamond member.  Also, it must be used within one year after becoming a Diamond Latitudes member.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

15 hours ago, gochina said:

This might be old news but I just found out you no longer have to call or talk to anyone to upgrade your room with world points anymore.  I just did a double meta upgrade all on line.  Wish me luck!

That is good news, although WP was not usually much of a wait, like regular NCL calls.  But my question is whether you get to select your cabin or is it just assigned.  I’m fussy about room.  I would hope they still have the option to speak to a customer service rep.  I did just go to BOA and it says “ now available online, or cal ### to redeem.   Good news.

Edited January 4, 2023 by MagnoliaBlossom

[hhalliv]

6 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

That is good news, although WP was not usually much of a wait, like regular NCL calls.  But my question is whether you get to select your cabin or is it just assigned.  I’m fussy about room.  I would hope they still have the option to speak to a customer service rep.  I did just go to BOA and it says “ now available online, or cal ### to redeem.   Good news.

I just did this (on a single meta upgrade) and just got an updated confirmation in my e-mail a few days later.  I did ultimately call and spoke to an agent, so I think you will always retain the ability to talk to an agent.

 

Hopefully that helps!

[smillerholmes]

13 hours ago, hhalliv said:

I just did this (on a single meta upgrade) and just got an updated confirmation in my e-mail a few days later.  I did ultimately call and spoke to an agent, so I think you will always retain the ability to talk to an agent.

 

Hopefully that helps!

Does anyone know if there is a timeframe/deadline in advance of the cruise when this can be done?

[MagnoliaBlossom]

I’ve done it two years out so I would say no.  But I’ve become a bit more cautious as they now warn that points oncancelled cruises may be forfeited.😳  that happened during covid and I do not know of anyone reporting that having happened to them but it is in the small print now.

 

the last time I upgraded a room and the rep was reading off all the disclosure verbage at the end I stopped him when he got to that forfeiture part.  He said yes, it is knew and it depends on the reason for cancellation and is at the discretion of someone higher than him.

 

I have a cruise in 6/2024 that I’ll do a double meta but I holding off a bit because there are a lot of moving parts to that cruise and anything can happen.

 

I have cancelled many a cruise during covid, 8 I think, and it was not a problem.  But be aware the points gods could get ugly.

[smillerholmes]

25 minutes ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

I’ve done it two years out so I would say no.  But I’ve become a bit more cautious as they now warn that points oncancelled cruises may be forfeited.😳  that happened during covid and I do not know of anyone reporting that having happened to them but it is in the small print now.

 

the last time I upgraded a room and the rep was reading off all the disclosure verbage at the end I stopped him when he got to that forfeiture part.  He said yes, it is knew and it depends on the reason for cancellation and is at the discretion of someone higher than him.

 

I have a cruise in 6/2024 that I’ll do a double meta but I holding off a bit because there are a lot of moving parts to that cruise and anything can happen.

 

I have cancelled many a cruise during covid, 8 I think, and it was not a problem.  But be aware the points gods could get ugly.

Thanks for the info, I've got two scenarios...

 

1.  April 2023  I have bid for an upgrade from Inside to Balcony - I'd hate to use points if I can upgrade for $200, but I probably won't know until a few days prior to the cruise

2.  April 2024 - I'll keep watching for price drops, but I don't expect to be able to afford to bid and I think I might want to be a little pickier than usual for my cabin since it is Hawaii to Alaska.

 

 

[mscdivina2016]

11 hours ago, smillerholmes said:

Does anyone know if there is a timeframe/deadline in advance of the cruise when this can be done?

You can do it up to a few days before.

But......if there is no availability you are out of luck.

Some smaller ships like the Spirit can be an issue even months in advance.

[mscdivina2016]

6 hours ago, smillerholmes said:

Thanks for the info, I've got two scenarios...

 

1.  April 2023  I have bid for an upgrade from Inside to Balcony - I'd hate to use points if I can upgrade for $200, but I probably won't know until a few days prior to the cruise

2.  April 2024 - I'll keep watching for price drops, but I don't expect to be able to afford to bid and I think I might want to be a little pickier than usual for my cabin since it is Hawaii to Alaska.

 

 

It's not the Spirit is it? If so, I just did the Alaska to Hawaii and even 6 months in advance I could not even upgrade even across. IA to BA was not available. My only choice was IA to BD.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

7 hours ago, smillerholmes said:

Thanks for the info, I've got two scenarios...

 

1.  April 2023  I have bid for an upgrade from Inside to Balcony - I'd hate to use points if I can upgrade for $200, but I probably won't know until a few days prior to the cruise

2.  April 2024 - I'll keep watching for price drops, but I don't expect to be able to afford to bid and I think I might want to be a little pickier than usual for my cabin since it is Hawaii to Alaska.

 

 

Anytime you can upgrade for a reasonably small amount of money, you have to weigh the points vs cash value to you.  Same goes for doing an OV to BA vs IN to BA.  But the timing may not be in your favor since April may be a pretty busy cruise time as it is still Spring Break in some areas.

 

Ooh AK to HI, I’ve always wanted to do that!   I’d watch it closely to see how the ship is booking up, sometimes those transoceanic cruises are not full, but since that one does two great locales for balconies, it bears watching closely.

[smillerholmes]

2 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

You can do it up to a few days before.

But......if there is no availability you are out of luck.

Some smaller ships like the Spirit can be an issue even months in advance.

Yep, it's the Spirit.  I will just plan on spending the points for that one since I've been price watching on that one since April 2022.  There was no significant price drop.  I will monitor again for April 2023, but pretty sure those points will be spent.

 

Thanks for the info!

[saleaaway]

On 12/13/2022 at 6:53 AM, julig22 said:

its how I got my 250.00. lol

[MagnoliaBlossom]

Just an FYI, if your situation Kermit’s, you and your spouse can each apply for individual cards and each receive 250 points.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

On 1/6/2023 at 1:38 PM, MagnoliaBlossom said:

Just an FYI, if your situation Kermit’s, you and your spouse can each apply for individual cards and each receive 250 points.

Typo.  Should say “permits you” and 25,000 points. ☺️

[originalglide]

When you redeem for OBC, when/where does it show up on your reservation?

[mscdivina2016]

14 hours ago, originalglide said:

When you redeem for OBC, when/where does it show up on your reservation?

Instantly it's there but you need to go on the NCL website and go to the "print my booking" and it's there . 

[originalglide]

2 hours ago, mscdivina2016 said:

Instantly it's there but you need to go on the NCL website and go to the "print my booking" and it's there . 

Where is print my booking? I’ve been all over the website, I don’t see it in edocs or my vacation summary.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

There is no print my booking.   What you can do is a screen shot and print that.  Or, y you should have received an email updating your confirmation to reflect the OBC and you can print that.   When you have checked in and receive your boarding documents it will be on those, and there is a print my boarding docs button.

[kjquilts]

4 hours ago, originalglide said:

Where is print my booking? I’ve been all over the website, I don’t see it in edocs or my vacation summary.

 

When you are signed in to your NCL account pull up your cruise and choose Vacation Summary

 

Underneath the Included Items there are two orange buttons.  One says Print Booked Items.  Click on that button and see if your OBC shows up there. 

 

[MagnoliaBlossom]

2 hours ago, kjquilts said:

 

When you are signed in to your NCL account pull up your cruise and choose Vacation Summary

 

Underneath the Included Items there are two orange buttons.  One says Print Booked Items.  Click on that button and see if your OBC shows up there. 

 

I stand corrected.   I have never noticed those before.  I guess I just never scroll down through all the perks, etc and have never needed to print them.  Good to know.

[3OfDiamonds]

So this is almost certainly a n00b question (as I am one lol 😅), but if I earn a double meta upgrade via the credit card, that amounts to what in terms of upgrading from, say, an ocean view room?  Are interior, ocean view, balcony, and club balcony all considered distinct “metas?”  If offered on a particular ship, how are the singles rooms treated in terms of upgrades? Is my understanding that one cannot use an upgrade to get a suite (other than club balcony) correct?  Thanks in advance for any insight/clarification 😊   

[mscdivina2016]

9 hours ago, 3OfDiamonds said:

So this is almost certainly a n00b question (as I am one lol 😅), but if I earn a double meta upgrade via the credit card, that amounts to what in terms of upgrading from, say, an ocean view room?  Are interior, ocean view, balcony, and club balcony all considered distinct “metas?”  If offered on a particular ship, how are the singles rooms treated in terms of upgrades? Is my understanding that one cannot use an upgrade to get a suite (other than club balcony) correct?  Thanks in advance for any insight/clarification 😊   

Double upgrade is inside to balcony.

If you are talking the actual single rooms I have no knowledge of anyone actually getting an upgrade from there.

You cannot get a suite, haven or even an aft balcony by points.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

MSC is right.   But there is a nuance.  If you book an I4 (family inside, the largest inside).  You can upgrade to a BA.  If you were to book a mid range inside you can jump to a BC or so.  Same goes for single meta with OV to Balcony.

 

Be sure to pay close attention to to the price difference between an inside and OV.  At time the difference may be very small.  If so you may wish to save your points and book the OV for a single meta upgrade.

 

also check for any differences between perks.   It doesn’t happen much anymore, but at times the perks inanOV would be a bit better than Inside.

 

also, in case you didn’t know, you will receive the perks for the category you paid for not the balcony.  Most notably, the dining perk.  One meal for IN and OV (currently) while it’s two for Balcony.   At times I’ve had them assign me two when I booked IN but my PCC says to just be quiet about it. 🤫