LatinaInTexas

Since I started cruising my tolerance has jumped up to 2 drinks at a sitting, sometimes. I order a lot of drinks to try but don't finish a lot of drinks.

It was a nice surprise, first time booking using the rewards I wasn't aware of this. We used it daily to get water at the casino bar.

Will be catching up after work, have a fabulous cruise day!

It's an interesting read. I learned from it. I'm always trying to learn. It was just a suggestion that felt appropriate at the moment.

I think your statement was more than just semantics. Might I suggest reading IHGs views on Social Justice and diversity? It's right there on their web page.

Typo.... You did not say poorest, you said cheapest.

Well you could have just said that. Mentioning the poorest people had me thinking that perhaps the CEO of IHG had put it out there that they had come up with a brilliant, genius marketing plan that would make the cheapest people think they were getting something for nothing🧐

Yup bout sums it up.... again🥱

The cheapest people? Wow I guess that's one way of looking at it. I always thought when I booked in advance and got a discount it was because the rate was non refundable not because I was cheap😮

But you are a person who carries no debt, not everyone can do that😁

I'm not arguing anything. I think everyone has had their say on the subject. Some feel free at sea is not of value some feel it is. All I did was show my final thought on the subject by providing some data that shows I feel it was of value. I'm here mostly to learn and to be entertained so this discussion was both, nothing more, nothing less😁

Don't leave without me! I need one of your comedy of errors cruise report right about now. It has been over 7 months since my last cruise and I'm wallowing in self pity. This should perk me right up🤸

Late to the party but sounds like something I don't want to miss😁

Absolutely, I considered that as other comparisons but the post was already long so just wanted to focus on the claim that was repeated numerous times that the free at sea is baked into the fare. It didn't ring true to me so I had to find out for myself....twice

That's my whole point, NCL does and can work for people, just how many neither you or I know that answer. A marketing gimmick to you a savings tool to me. My bank account appreciates it lol.

Since I had the day off and am bored I decided to crunch some numbers to see if indeed booking NCL with the free at sea would have the price baked into the fare. Last time I did this comparison it did not add up to the price being baked into the fare but things might have changed since then. Will use Carnival for the comparison. My cruise is on the NCL Jade in August. The most similar cruise I could find on Carnival for the same time frame was on the Legend. The one thing that I could not match on any Carnival ship was that the Jade had 4 port stops compared to the Legend only having 3. I won't even bother trying to estimate the cost savings of having an extra port. Both are 7 nights. Both are based on 2 people. Legend base fare $689pp Jade base fare $979pp Right off the bat seeing this might stop someone from even considering booking NCL. But moving on... All in fare for the Jade including the free at sea perks and gratuities, the port taxes and fees, and the regular daily gratuities comes to $3024. This includes a drink package, a specialty dining choice such as the steakhouse, $50 off one excursion per cabin not per person but not limited to just one excursion per port. Also 150 wifi minutes per person. All in for the Legend is $1863. This includes port taxes and fees and daily gratuities. Once again at this point someone might be turned off booking NCL. But if you look you will see there are some things missing from the Legend booking making it not comparable at all. Let's correct that. To have a drink package on the Legend you will have to pay $993. To eat at the steakhouse on the Legend you will have to pay $115. If you take an excursion at each port on the Legend you will pay the 3x$50=$150 that is included on the Jade. Also I didn't know how to value the free 150 minutes wifi pp on the Jade so I just went with a $50 pp value. Once you add in the cost of perks of the free at sea to the Legend it is now comparable. So onto the grand totals. Grand total on the Jade remains $3024. Grand total on the Legend adding the value of the free at sea perks to make it comparable now totals $3221. Yes arguments can be made that not everyone wants these perks so these numbers mean nothing to them. But this discussion for the last 2 days has been that the free at sea doesn't save you money, is not of value, is smoke and mirrors, is an advertising gimmick and is baked into NCL fares. Yes there were sub discussions but these were repeated and focused on the most. Like Saint Greg posted early on it's no big deal if you aren't a fan of NCL or won't ever sail them but why try to deliberately paint them in a bad light and turn people off? I personally don't like RC but I never bash them. I just say I liked my RC cruises but I didn't love them. Oh one more point. For the pricing on the Jade I didn't add the $250 free money from using a cruise first certificate or the $195 off for using the veterans benefit bringing the total down to $2579. Oh and best of all I used a My Vegas reward and also got another $1500 off taking my total way down to $1079😁🤑

If I hadn't already been booked on NCL this post would definitely have had me checking them out for myself. You covered all points in a factual non personal way, very helpful and interesting. The odd Tuesday-Tuesday or Thursday-Thursday sailing dates on Carnival were the number one reason among a few that I didn't even consider them for Alaska.

I did a lot of research and comparing for my upcoming Alaska cruise, and for all the points you mentioned and then some I also picked NCL on the Encore. I will say until I saw some posters on here point out NCL "free" "free" "free" way of advertising I didn't even notice that. Even if I had I would never think I would get something for free lol.

That bout sums it up 😂🤣

When I sailed MSC there was no added gratuity charge on the drink package. I wonder if they still do that. The first time we tipped at the bar the bartender looked at us funny and didn't want to take it. Later into the cruise we got to talking with our favorite bar tender and I asked him did it bother him that MSC didn't have a sign slip to leave a tip. He smiled and said no, absolutely not, MSC pays me very well. The whole cruise we only saw one other person leave a tip. He made the joke that he appreciated our tips because at one of our port stops his wife would be waiting at the pier with her hand out and he could get away with giving her less of his money lol.

Understood but that doesn't mean it isn't happening.

Like mentioned everyone should do their own research and book what works for them. Without judgement would be nice. It seems no cruise line is doing it right, I see more people leaving their previous cruise line of choice to explore other cruise lines more than ever. Everyone can be a winner at the end of the day by having a great cruise no matter what ship or cruise line it's on.

I meant to say the free at sea was $49 less than the sail away fare

I have only once seen a sail away fare offered, it's always sold out as are solo cabins, I'm usually a last minute type booker. But the one time I saw it offered it was $49 less than the sail away fare.

I'm still confused lol. All I know is I love Carnival and NCL and book which one has better value to me overall. I just don't get the blanket statements, like the one that you will pay for the free at sea with an inflated base fare. I went back to my notes way back when I was researching for my May Alaska cruise. As you can see the base fare prices are quite comparable. NCL Encore $779 pp Spirit $629 pp Luminosa $754 pp Once I added in the free at sea it became a no brainer which was the better value. I wouldn't blanket statement say it will be be NCL for the win every time just as I wouldn't blanket statement say it won't be🤷