enarkis

Thanks for taking the time for this reply! Funny, I AM on the 10/14 sailing. Why is that one so high?!? This will definitely be our most expensive vacation EVER, and we have been on some really nice vacations. Oh well, I am really looking forward to it. It's just funny, I hear people say all the time, "Cruises are so cheap!" Ummmm....not the NCL cruises I have taken/will be taking, ha! I am leaving my DH in the dark on how much this one is, he would die if he knew what it was up to including excursions, etc. I never lie about it, but if he doesn't ask, I don't share, ha! Sometimes I just say trust me, it's all good. And we always have GREAT vacations.

LOL - what he don't know won't hurt him!! :). No idea why the one you are on is soo much more...maybe kids vacation break in some parts of the country?? My kids are off a few days at the end of the month so that was the dates I was focusing on when looking. Honestly, I would still call. The balcony's are listed at $100 less then you paid and the ocean views are $250. I would tell them what you were told (that ocean views were higher which is why you booked the balcony in the first place and now with the "free taxes" specials you really feel like you got the short end of the stick on this. I would then tell them you want to know exactly what the pricing would be to cancel and rebook (both at the balcony or the ocean view staterooms) so you can make an informed decision on how you want to handle - worst case it is more for the balcony and not worth it to go down to the ocean view...but even then they may just give you some OBC because they feel bad about the situation.

We leave on the escape this Saturday....so excited, can't wait to see it!!! :).

On the January cruise, we were in an ocean view with the large window over the bed. I loved that window, so cool! This time, we are in a balcony, but I was not looking for a balcony, but was told it would actually be $20.00 cheaper per person to do the balcony over the ocean view. So balcony it was :-)

Wow...just wow wow wow. I would have definitely taken the balcony room too :).

I do have to say that I am NOT a cruise expert so I could definitely be missing something here but I have got to believe something went terribly wrong when you called because I just do not see how it is possible that an ocean view on a 7 day escape sailing in October was $1300 pp - that is just completely crazy. And I was watching this Oct escape sailings from about 1.5 years ago until probably 6 month ago.

Also, again I am absolutely NOT a cruse expert or a travel agent and I have never done this but after looking at the prices on the website and I am thinking you should call them and find out how much it would be to cancel and rebook. I think even if you lose your deposit which I think would have been $250 (you are just over the 45 days out), and you could cancel, rebook, and save money. If you are on the Oct 14th sailing it might not work because those prices are higher but on all the others...the prices are that much cheaper right now and they have a "tax free" special so I think if you went down to an Ocean view you would save like $700-800 and if you stayed in a balcony you would still save a couple hundred. They may even just give you some OBC or something due to the pricing and specials difference without much hassle or needing to cancel - calling doesn't cost but a small amount of time... I would sure the heck try :). Good luck!!!!

I hear you! We are going on a NCL cruise in October, NOT peak season, and it is TWICE as much as the cruise we went on in January, that was almost identical. This is a seven day versus six, and added one Mexican port. The first cruise was $699 a person, this one is $1299 a person. First was on Getaway, this one is Escape. I still can't believe that this one in October is going to be so damned expensive once you add in all the taxes, fees, insurance, and excursions. I know you don't have to do those things, well, just the excursions, but why would we be going if we did not? I'm looking forward to it, even more so, as it may have to be our last at these prices.

 

I do understand you can get them cheap when they pop up and you are available. But we do ours in October for a reason, that is our fall break.

Is the room type comparable for both cruises??? Because when I booked our upcoming cruise I was also looking at the Jan and Oct time frame for off season type pricing and looked at both the Gem and the escape - I can't for the life of me figured out how you could have gone from a $699 price to a $1299 price unless you were in an inside or ocean view on your first cruise and moved up to like a suite on the upcoming one....

We have definitely cut back on the excursion portion of our cruises....a family of four for the stuff we like to do is usually $80-120 each.

 

Grand Turk has a beautiful beach right in port, and Nassau has a free beach (Junkanoo Beach) within walking distance from the port. San Juan, you can walk to the fort (although it is up hill the entire way). St. Thomas is fairly inexpensive to take a cab to one of the many beautiful beaches. Our last cruise, as well as this one, we pick one "big" excursion, the rest of the ports we do stuff on our own. We have also used tour companies outside of the cruise ship for excursions.

 

We are non-drinkers, so that right there saves us a BUNDLE!! :D

Oh...don't get me wrong - our first cruise I spent a FORTUNE on excursions!! We swam with the dolphins, we zip lined, can't remember the 3rd thing but none of them were cheap. We too have gone to the "pick one" really cool one concept if there are a bunch of expensive things - would my kids like to swim with the dolphins again, absolutely it was really cool...but they don't have to do it every time :). And yes the tour companies outside of the cruise ship are the real key to saving money and IMO better excursions. It takes a bit more work reading up on reviews and stuff but definitely worth it!!

You don't have to "sign him up" right when you get there however when you are exploring around the ship I would encourage you to stop in with him and have a look - I haven't been on the escape YET (we will be on Saturday :)) but have been on other NCL ships and the kids and teen clubs are pretty cool...once he sees it he probably will want to spend some time there which will give you some adult time to enjoy as well.

And "sign up" only takes a minute or two - it is very effiecient so unless your timing is just really unlucky and it is packed you might as well do it right then when checking it out.

You don't need to reserve a spot during normal hours on sea days - but I am not sure about the late night programs or times when in port.

We have only done 7 day cruises and we are just going our 3rd family cruise so I can't speak to how much longer ones are and I am in no way an expert cruiser however in regards to traveling with families...have you done a trip to Orlando going to Disney and/or Universal lately?? Trust me...Ugggg!!! Heck, we (me and 3 kids) spend $500-600 for a day at a "local" amusement park or waterpark (ie about an hour drive) when you consider tickets, parking, gas, food and drink, etc. No we don't pack our lunches or drinks and go out to the parking lot to eat drink which we could to reduce the cost but we also aren't buying 3 meals there or bringing home bunch of over priced T-shirts or anything like that either....

Obviously it is all dependent on your expectations and what you comforts you deem worth it but if you want to you can absolutely take a family of 4 on a 7 day cruise for a reasonable price even if you have to fly to get there. Fly in the day before, choose an low price no frill airlines and watch for specials and then get a reasonable (but clean) hotel, choose an inside cabin on the cruise, travel when they have 3rd and 4th person free, DIY excursions, forget the internet packages and specialty dinning - even having my fair share of adult beverages and letting the kids spend some (reasonable amounts) on ridiculous priced things like bingo or arcade games....we can still have a complete blast and see some pretty cool things for a decent price for 7 days (as long as I stay out of the casino lol :)). Would I love it if costs went down (or even stopped going up) of course, but when you compare to other options where you have as much entertainment, things to do, food and drinks (and ice cream!! lol)...well I just don't agree that cruises are expensive in comparison...

Just got back from our cruise to Nassau and did Breezes. It was wonderful! Plenty to do to keep you busy, including kayaks, paddle boats, etc... and the beach was clean with crystal clear water. We chatted with a couple who rented jet skis a few hundred yards from the resort for a half hour and they loved it. It looked fun. That being said, it is a group of locals standing on the beach and renting you the jet skis, so I would say it is do it at your own risk. The beach was safe and very calm. I am sure you will enjoy yourself even if you skip the jet skis!

Can you give me an idea on prices (doesn't have to be perfect, just an idea) on the jet ski rental as well as anything else you saw like parasailing or banana boat or whatever...

First I would like to thank the person who posted the question. It is a good question and I was wondering it myself.

Next, to the couple of folks being all crabby about how they have seen this question too many times before. Maybe you have time to go through 1200 pages or maybe you go on a cruise every other week so you keep up....good for you. Some of us don't and come on in a few months or weeks before our cruise (or when we are looking to book) and appreciate some of these discussions. Sure I could search but well, sometimes you don't even think about things until you are on the ship. But thanks for making all of us nonregulars feeling sooo welcome. I am sure it would be so much better for cc without us stopping by and asking things you may have read about sometime in the past. SMH!

Next - To those who say it doesn't matter, yes...it kind of does. For those of us who want to tip extra for exceptional service it isn't an easy decision to decide how much is appropriate. As an example from home - waitresses make basically nothing while bartenders do get at least, usually above, minimum wage. I spent about 10 years in the service business I assure you I ALWAYS tip well however a waitress will get more for the serving me the same exact item as the bartender would...because the pay scale is different. And the pizza guy and the mailman gets different amounts at Christmas due to their wage differences. Knowing how the SC are allocated helps to make those distribution decisions.

To all of you wonderful helpful people on this thread and other threads - thank you so much for your help!! Many of us really appreciate the guidance you provide about so many things. To all of you who are more newbies like me - I hope you have so much fun on your next cruise you turn into one of the all knowing gurus on here :). To you crabby ones being rude to people for asking questions...go buy and read a book instead of logging on here for goodness sakes....

No, you keep whatever promos you have (you don't lose any nor do you gain any)

My bid was accepted today.

Escape sailing 8/26

Started in Inside as CAS guests.

Bid $75 pp for Balcony (min bid allowed was $50/max was $400) . R

Awarded Balcony BE category.

 

Pros: Looking forward to balcony, views, maybe sleeping with doors open. Also moved up from deck 12 to deck 13.

Cons: Original room I chose at the back of ship very close to elevators and stairs which I prefer, new room is at the front of ship as far as possible away from elevators/stairs. I will also have to explain to the kids that a balcony is NOT to be expected on any future sailings (we are NEVER in the room so we are fine in an inside and able to vaca more often then needing something more expensive which would result in less vacations).

 

For $150 I am very good with the pros over the cons :).

Oh - I should add there was a ton of balcony availability on this sailing plus they started awarding the people upgrading FROM balconies over the last day or two as well. Pretty sure I could have got it for the min bid as well....

My bid was accepted today.

Escape sailing 8/26

Started in Inside as CAS guests.

Bid $75 pp for Balcony (min bid allowed was $50/max was $400) . R

Awarded Balcony BE category.

Pros: Looking forward to balcony, views, maybe sleeping with doors open. Also moved up from deck 12 to deck 13.

Cons: Original room I chose at the back of ship very close to elevators and stairs which I prefer, new room is at the front of ship as far as possible away from elevators/stairs. I will also have to explain to the kids that a balcony is NOT to be expected on any future sailings (we are NEVER in the room so we are fine in an inside and able to vaca more often then needing something more expensive which would result in less vacations).

For $150 I am very good with the pros over the cons :).

UMTIGERFAN1 - Looks like you were on the Escape last month....did you end up going to Melia?? If so what did you think and did you just go there and buy the pass?? Will be on the Escape in 2 weeks (me and 3 kids ages 22, 15, and 12) and trying to decide if we want to go to Melia or something else -other things I am considering is Blue Lagoon thru NCL or just going to the free beach.