Suze10860

Hand wringing? Really?

Forums like this are really interesting. Just saying...

1 hour ago, pieshops said:

Not sure how accurate this is but the REAL reason the prices are increasing is because people are willing to pay it and the ships are sailing full. When the ships stop sailing full prices will drop.  It’s as simple as that. 

 

I remember an economics professor asking how much we should charge for a certain item, there were a bunch of answers with a bunch of formulas and the correct answer was as much as the market will bear, very simple 

Thanks for this well thought-out answer. It's exactly what I assume to be true abut the price of this (and every) cruise. If the ship ends up fully booked, obviously there is no deal to be had. And I'm not talking on March 1 or 2 - I mean closer to sail date.  If, however, there are available cabins when April arrives, I think I might get a deal. Easy peasy. How good that deal is....well, who knows?

I guess my original question was sort of wondering exactly how much wiggle-room there actually is to work out a price with a customer. I mean, you book an airline ticket and that's it...you're paying rack rate no matter what. You can chat-up an agent all you want, but that's the price. Six months before you fly or 1 day before you fly. No one is making a deal.

Assuming the ship is not fully booked (and it probably WILL be fully booked - I get it!) I wonder if he can negotiate a bit. Can he work with me on a price, or does not that happen? Ever. Because let's face it, if that ship leaves the port with an empty cabin, it's not like someone is going to book it the next day to make up some money! On a much smaller level, my husband and I have pulled into hotels very late at night when traveling, and I've gotten steep discounts off the best already discounted rates they have available. Better to have someone in the room at a very cheap rate than to have it sit empty and get nothing, right? And yes, I realize that's certainly not an apples-to-apples comparison, but that's why I'm curious about cruise pricing.

I think that people are actually over-reacting a bit to the call itself. As someone said earlier, it was a sales call, and I certainly didn't think it was anything else. I personally don't think the guy said anything he's going to get fired for, or that I should be leary of, or that comes anywhere near the level of consumer fraud. I don't even think he was speaking badly of his employer, or at least I didn't think less of them after he spoke to me.

He just piqued my curiosity as far as the possibility of pricing.

1 minute ago, mjkacmom said:

According to your siggy, your cruise was a different week three years ago, the week after Easter. Our district has off the 3rd week in April regardless of when Easter is, this year it’s Easter week so travel is more expensive than other weeks. I’d expect th3 ship to have Christmas week pricing (and with nicer weather).

Just out of curiosity, I checked pricing for the week AFTER Easter this year. It's the same price as the week before Easter - so still 25% more expensive. So I'm not totally positive that Easter is the ultimate deciding factor there.

Obviously I can only base my decisions on what works for us and our school schedules. We work for different districts, but our April breaks are always the same, and it's obviously not automatically the 3rd week of April or even connected to Easter for that matter. I think there are a lot of different variables involved.

But honestly, I'm not wanting to discuss why it's so much more expensive this year than 3 years ago. We have no wiggle room as far as when to vacation, so the "why" doesn't matter. Again, I'm not asking why it's more expensive. And I know that the guy I spoke with is a salesman and wants to make a commission. It's not like he's going to trick me into spending more money than I want to. I'm actually a pretty savvy shopper.

My original post here was just to see if getting a call like I did had ever ended up with an actual cheaper cruise price than what one sees on the NCL website. I've never gotten this type of call so I have no experience.

From the sounds of it, I'm guessing it will not result in a better deal. But that's ok. I know what the experience is worth for me and what I'm willing to pay.

My husband and I both work in schools so we're very familiar with the popularity of this particular week. It is, in fact, the week we always have off from school so it's the same week we cruised last time - at the much cheaper price, 3 years ago.

I'm really not "expecting" anything as far as high fares or low fares. My attitude is that it is what it is, but I'm definitely not willing to pay 25% more than I did last time. That cruise was worth what we paid for it, not substantially more.

I guess I'm really just asking if anyone more familiar with NCL than I am has ever gotten a call like this, and if it ever did actually lead to a cheaper price. Just curious.

1 minute ago, Alegeeter said:

I'm surprised he admitted that NCL increases their prices so they can then say something is free. To all of us here that's obvious but you can bet NCL doesn't want to advertise that or have their frontline staff touting that. 

That's actually what I thought too. It's why I felt that the call itself was surprising. I guess I'll see what comes of it.

So, what do you think?

I just got a call from NCL (personal cruise consultant, blah, blah, blah) and I basically told him that there's no way I'm going to book the exact same cruise I took 3 years ago at a price increase of 25% - it's just too much. (I've been spending a lot of time in my NCL account online researching the price of the Getaway from NY on April 13.)

He looked at my information and told me yes, that is a very large price increase! He then told me that the reason for it was because they are currently running a "free airfare" promotion and that they need to make the money up elsewhere. While it doesn't help someone like me (very close to the port) it's a good incentive for lots of people. He then said that the airfare promotion is ending at the end of February, and I should call him back on March 1 to see what they can offer me.

Does this actually sound like a thing that NCL might do? At this point I'm just going to play it by ear, and if something last minute works out with cruising the week of April 13 I'll be thrilled, but if it doesn't, I'll survive.

Has anyone ever had something like this happen that really worked its way into being a good/better price on a cruise? Thanks.

Thanks for that suggestion...I am investigating the cruise out of Baltimore right now. Not sure what the hubs would think about it, but it's worth a look.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply.

After checking how much the exact same NCL cruise was 3 years ago, and realizing it's a 25% increase, I'm definitely questing the entire idea. Maybe it's just not in the cards for us right now.

In re-reading my 2016 very detailed review of that cruise, it's obvious that I felt the experience was definitely worth what it cost us - especially because I LOVED that mini-suite so much. Now, 3 years later, I'm equally sure that for me, t's NOT worth a 25% increase in price. We have the ability to pull off a last minute booking, so if it works out at a cheaper price, that would be great. If not, maybe we'll have to put off the idea of cruising until we actually retire from our school jobs and have more flexibility in time of year.

Thank you for that...it does help. The weather in Bermuda in April is a iffy so heading further south to the Caribbean is a consideration.

And then add in the fact that I'm really not crazy about that Boston part of the itinerary. No disrespect to Boston - I love it there and can't even count how many times we've gone.. But it's not cruise material to me when at least part of my goal is to go South.

I spent quite a bit of time last night reading on these forums, including my own very detailed review of my last NCL cruise in April of 2016. It reminded me of the pros and cons of sailing on this exact same cruise 3 years ago.  I also found my actual confirmation for that cruise. I spent $3,271 (before tips) for our mini-suite cabin. (The cabin itself was rated an A+++ by me. I loved it!) To get the exact same type of cabin now the cost would be $4,024.  Hmmmmmm...that's giving me pause for thought. It's a 25% increase in 3 years.

My thought right now is that the entire idea might not work out unless I can get some sort of really good deal by waiting until the last minute to book.

I'll keep investigating. Thanks again

Hello – sadly, I haven’t been on this forum in about 3 years because (even more sadly!) we’ve not taken a cruise in that long. So not only am I rusty as far as the cruise planning process, I’m actually a bit out of practice with even posting a question here. Please bear with me…

I’m hoping to book something for the week of April 13 (yes, it’s a Spring Break week – my husband and I both work in schools) out of NY/NJ. My two choices seem to be NCL (which we’ve sailed a couple of times before) or RCCL (which we’ve never done.) My first inclination was towards NCL because we really like their “Free at Sea” packages, but after just a tiny bit of reading here, it seems that it’s possible to book RCCL, purchase their beverage package, and have the cost be about the same.  Just an FYI: The main reason we like the package deals is because I really like to know what I’m spending in advance. I’m not a really big drinker, but still don’t want to worry about what every single drink I order is going to add to our final tab!

I had one specific question:

Has anyone ever done the RCCL itinerary out of NJ that does Bermuda and then Boston and then back to NJ? Seems a little strange to me, but does anyone have an opinion? If I were going strictly by itinerary, I’d probably stick with NCL (Florida and Caribbean) because in April it will be warmer. 

Basically, the price I get on RCCL (Anthem of the Seas – Balcony room) was just about $2,200. If I add on the best beverage package, it would add about $1,000 – bringing the total to $3,200.

For NCL (Getaway – with all 4 of the “Free at Seas” deals added – Balcony room) was about $3,800.

Now, I realize I might be comparing apples to oranges here, but I’m just trying to see if others have opinions on things I might not be taking into consideration. I assume both ships will be pretty crowded and that there will probably be lots of kids on both. For us, the best part of cruising is actually doing nothing - having no responsibility, nothing we need to commit to, never needing to touch our wallets, stretching out on a lounge chair and RELAXING. That's what I'm looking for.

Also, I’m not sure how long that RCCL price is even going to be good for – it might be part of some sale that ends tomorrow. My current thinking is to put off the actual booking as late as possible to see if we can get a last minute deal. But then again, I’m also keeping in mind since it IS a Spring Break week, there might not be deals to be had if I wait too long. I’m sort of winging this much more than I normally do as far as my vacation planning…

Does anyone have anything they can share with me, or is my question too broad and/or difficult?  Thanks.
 

We ate at the buffet a lot this time (just off the BA on 4/17/2016). I found the crepes in the evening. Sometimes on the semi-closed side (I say semi-closed side because it was really closed except for the crepe station...so easy to miss). I also remember cookies on the Dawn and asked about them. They are apparently only put out at snack time 3:00 and 9:00 PM. We did find them at those times (or shortly after).

Thanks for that info.

Yeah - I definitely didn't even walk around the buffet as much this time as I did on the Jewel. I've pretty much just come to realize that the husband is NOT a buffet guy. I am a little sad that I missed those crepes though...they were so darn good!!!

I'm not in the restaurant business but I think it has to do with how many waiters they have. If they have empty tables but not enough staff to wait on them then they don't seat anyone there.

I understand that too. But I figure if you are on a sold out cruise ship, how do you not have enough wait staff for the restaurant? Just seems like poor planning.

Suze,

 

I just want to thank you for your informative and very thorough information. It sounds like yours and my cruising styles are similar so I have a feeling I will have a similar experience to yours. You write very well with no misspellings (from what I noticed . . .:D). Honestly, anyone who writes a review but demonstrates a poor command of the English language or an inability to write properly automatically is discounted in my opinion. Ditto the people who seem to only care about the food . . .it's NCL, not a high-end cruise line, so no one should expect gourmet fare 100% of the time on these mainstream, large cruise lines.

 

Anyway, just wanted to thank you for taking the time to really tell anyone who is interested all the little details about the Breakaway. And, yes, the petty annoyances you experienced throughout the trip sound completely justified . . .I would get annoyed too!

 

Happy Future Cruising!

Thank you. That was a very nice post. I hope you have a wonderful cruise!

I'm curious...but not quite curious enough to read through 10 pages to find the answer.

OP - What was the decision?

Coincidentally, my son got final approval this week on his summer grant so he's finalizing his travel reservations for 8 weeks in Germany. Considering he's a graduate student at University of Chicago, thought by some to be the most dangerous city in America, coupled with that fact that we raised him about 20 minutes outside of New York City, maybe I should consider this a move toward safety?!?! Nothing makes me as happy as his embracing of the remarkable opportunities he's earned!!

Yes - I ordered club soda/seltzer quite a few times.

I tip the room steward the first day. I don't really care if some consider it a bribe or whatever else suits their fancy. That first tip is my way of showing my appreciation for the steward's effort to prepare the room for me prior to me boarding, which is usually a lot more involved than the typical clean up throughout my stay that the auto-gratuity covers. I also tend to throw in an extra tip at the end if I feel they earned it through expectional service.

 

I believe in tipping. I did not come from a wealthy family but I've managed to do quite well for myself through hard work and perseverance. I'm at a point in my life where I have the ability to pay it forward, and by God, I do so. People can frown upon my choices or judge me for them but I can't tell you how many times when I was trying to get ahead when I was starting out that those little "bonuses" that kind people offered me meant the difference of driving to work or walking 5 miles. Don't be so uptight. If you want to pre-tip, do so because that's what you want to do and it makes you feel good doing it. Justify it however you want, or don't justify it at all. You don't have to explain yourself to anyone. If you don't want to pre-tip, than don't.

Well said.

Thank you for this, too. I'm going to be on a 9-day cruise, so I'll just keep an eye out. I'm guessing these were all At Sea days, right?

Yes to the "At Sea" days. The only one that my husband and I went to was the Bavarian. It was really excellent. My husband took some lovely pictures of me with the suckling pig they had on display. He loves to do things like that for some reason! We loved all of the food there. My husband thought it was one of the best meals he had on the cruise.

My friend, who happens to be quasi-vegitarian, really like the Mediterranean buffet. None of us went to the Indian buffet.

Enjoy!

Time to get a new TA!

Yeah - for sure!

Thanks for your review.

 

Can you give a little more details on the different lunch buffets and where they are held.

 

I don't remember this on our last BA cruise.

I just grabbed all of my Freestyle Dailies.

Day 2 - Moderno Mediterranean buffet

Day 6 - Moderno Indian buffet

Day 7 - Moderno Bavarian buffet

These are all lunch - from 12:30-2:00/2:30

Not sure who said you had to wait in the theater. We did not do self-assist debarkation simply because this was not my first rodeo with NCL and I find that way too many people are attempting to leave the ship with their luggage in tow and it is just not worth the crowds. We heard the announcements very clearly and were told we could wait in any of the common areas of the ship (but asked to avoid deck 7 because of the hordes of people attempting to get off the ship with luggage). Personally, unless you have a flight to catch, I don't feel that people should be allowed to disembark with their luggage in tow. The ship arrived late (not anyone's fault) and customs held up the disembarkation for quite a while after that. Then, when the ship was cleared by customs, mass amounts of people attempted to disembark at once and the port can't handle it. We had a relaxing morning watching the bedlam and drinking coffee. When our tag was called, we simply walked off the ship and were in our car in less than 10 minutes.

I stand corrected on the theater. My husband will attest to the fact that more than one person did, however, say it while we were in line. And there were definitely quite a few people with assigned times in the self assist line with us.

I'm going to have to assume that the announcements to which you refer were the very early ones (like 7:15 a.m.) about the crowds on deck 7. This was well before any disembarking was supposed to begin. If you heard something after that time about self assist, it must have been made only to certain areas. It says right on the paper I'm holding in my hand that all announcement after 8:00 a.m. would be made into all cabins as well as public areas. That because it also says (in bold no less) that you need to leave your cabin by 8:30 a.m. You can hopefully understand why I felt secure waiting in my cabin until 8:30 a.m. for the announcement that NEVER came.

I'll guarantee that we heard no announcement ever about self assist beginning. I know that at least one other person on this thread confirmed that. That would be from 7:15 a.m. when we heard the last announcement, until about 9:30 when we actually got off of the ship. Of course, from 8:30 until 9:30 when I was standing in line sweating and being pushed along by certain rude fellow passengers and searching in vain for crew members to help guide people, I was probably so cranky I might not have been exactly listening. Seemed pretty irrelevant by then.

And the only reason I chose self assist was the exact reason it seems you did not choose it. The last time I sailed with NCL I was off in 20 minutes. And really, just because you choose NOT to use self assist, I'm not sure why you think others shouldn't be allowed to do it. Sorry if this post sounds snarky, but that line sort of got under my skin.

We are considering a last minute cruise, for those of you who have done this, were you happy with the cabin you were given? Obviously you were on a cruise, but my concern is the cabins no one wants being the only cabins left - under the pool or near the clubs or any loud public area. We have always booked way in advance for the pricing and choosing our cabin (cabins above and below), but thought we might take our chances. Thanks for any insight you can provide.

Add my friends to the incredibly lucky list. We sailed on the NCL Breakaway on April, and they booked their guarantee balcony cabin on the Wednesday before we sailed. They were assigned a Spa Balcony cabin - free spa access for the week. So, sometimes it does work out well!!

Suze,

 

We are booked in 8716 sailing 5/1. were you able to spend time on the balcony. Aslo, I read about noise from the theater below.

I hope you love your room as much as we did! I have nothing but wonderful things to say about it. You are about 5 cabins more forward than we were, so you're further from the Waterfront and all the action. Considering we had no problem with noise or anything else from there, I'm sure you'll be fine. I never heard noise from anywhere, including the theater.

I spent time on my balcony every day - with the exception of the last sea day (Saturday) because it really was just too nasty to be outside anywhere. Decks 7 and 8 were closed all day. Since you're sailing on 5/1 I'm sure your weather will be much better than ours, so you'll be in better shape than we were. As I said earlier, I personally felt perfectly private out there. Only saw someone above me once.

My cabin and balcony were for us one of the (if not the) best parts of the cruise.

The reservations availability in restaurants is not based on table space, it is based on cooking space. The chefs can only prepare so many meals per hour so they space the reservations out so people can get their meals in a timely manner. This does allow for some wiggle room, but NCL does not want a restaurant completely full and people waiting an unreasonable amount of time for their food to be served.

 

This applies to specialty restaurants. I do not know what they do with MDRs.

I guess that makes sense, but I think they might be over-doing it. When I say that the restaurants were half empty, I'm not exaggerating. Most land restaurants seem to over book their reservations, but there might be a happy middle-ground somewhere.

This is fun.

First thank you for taking the time to write your experience.

 

From your pre-cruise posts I know you were thinking about getting Vibe passes and then decided against it. Did you regret that decision? Do you think you would've been able to get them or did they sell out really fast? (If you heard). Were you able to find chairs on deck in Spice or higher?

 

I'm also wanting to avoid any stress related to getting a Vibe pass but do like to sit in the sun and read on sea days. Any advise?

We had boarding number 5 and I feel like we were among the first to get on the ship. I honestly don't know how quickly the VIBE passes went. I was up on the sun deck peering over the wall at what I assume was the VIBE area. It was a sunny hot day at sea, and the area was not crowded at all. There were plenty of loungers available.

The sun deck that I was on was also not crowded - loungers available. I personally am happy with my decision not to try for the VIBE passes - only because I'm cheap. And for me, if I'm not able to lay in a lounge chair by the pool, I'd probably just prefer to be on my balcony.

The first day I went to Spice (when the water feature was not working - grrrrr) it was sunny and warm and it was packed (this was the Cape Canaveral day when I thought it wouldn't be that crowded.) I don't really enjoy being anywhere with lounge chairs lined up next to each other that way. But we were chatting with some other people so we hung out and it was fine.

I didn't even check it on the missed private island day because I just assumed it would be crowded. I went back on the Nassau day and it was much less crowded and the water feature was working. That was nice.

I think that the upper sun decks seemed to have room available most of the time.

Thanks for your review, Suze!

 

I have 2 questions... Ive never sailed NCL before and Im on the BA in Oct.

 

1) After we leave port in NYC, do we pay ANYTHING on the UBP or will the bill always be $0? (no tip, no tax, no nothing?). I might have read something in your review wrong that you were charged incorrectly on a drink? Should you have been charged anything at all?

 

2) Ive only sailed Carnival, and was hoping for a more positive experience with NCL... now I'm a bit worried lol. I have a few picky eaters and in the MDR of Carnival, we ordered multiple entrees... are you able to do that in the main dining rooms on NCL? (my son loves steak, so we'd sit down at the tables in Carnival and the waiter would know just to bring him two of the flat iron steaks.. nothing else, just two steaks lol). Are we able to order multiple entrees at a time or is that taboo on NCL?

1) The only time we paid anything for drinks with the UBP was

* In port in NYC

* In port in Cape Canaveral

* Drinks over $15

We paid about $30 in extra charges.

I'll stand by my advice of checking your account quickly and often! The iConcierge app was great for that. Also, our experience was that the only time you will need to sign a slip is when you are being charged anything...that's what tipped me off one of the times when my husband ordered what should have been his $3.50 Bookers Bourbon. We weren't asked to sign, but then when I checked my phone I saw that they charged us the full $21+ that the drink would normally cost ($17 plus tax and tip.)

2) Don't worry at all about ordering in the MDRs. You can order whatever you want. My husband got multiple entrees multiple times, and I did it too on the last night.

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time on your cruise. We really did (even though it might seem like I'm complaining about a lot!)

Wow! Is the lunch thing new? Is it a paid option or complimentary- or for Haven guests only? :)

Totally free!! I mentioned in my rambling post above that they also have a Mediterranean buffet early in the cruise. They were both really good.