CruisingUS

Supply and demand determines prices. If you are looking for less expensive cruises, book close to or in the off season. Caribbean cruises are usually high in January and February. Sail in November, December and March can be less expensive. This year, after the hurricanes, there are huge price drops for November and December cruises. Avoid the obvious destroyed islands like St. Martin, Dominica, and Puerto Rico. Southern islands are a good choice this year.

i literally schedule my vacations around these discounted prices lol

i thought I read a while ago that 2 of the M class ship were up for sale?

yea. millennium is one allegedly.

which makes me wonder if renovating these ships makes them more profitable to sell or keep.

Which is what I was saying about Edge, the charters are already coming in and she hasn’t even sailed yet ;).

whoops. reading comprehension fail #MAGA

I worked in the construction industry and we would always tell the customer that a job can be good, fast, or cheap but you can only have two, it is impossible to have all three.

 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🛳🇺🇸🌅

there should be a like button.

I did construction too when I was younger. Exactly where I got the phrase too.

wow....you are actually a talented photographer.

I am genuinely impressed at your use of lighting and perspective.

Plenty of time left for cancellations before Jan 2019, you may yet end up with your usual sky suite ;). X have already started chartering her out, no doubt there’ll be more changes announced over the next year.

 

Perhaps X are hoping the refurbishments will entice pax to ‘spread’ their cruising experiences throughout the fleet rather than just booking the newer classes? It will be more interesting to see if the amount of suites is increased after the refits - X can always reconfigure the current layouts to incorporate more suites and even more revenue ;).

X charters a lot of their newer ships too.

I see a lot of chartered cruises on newer sihps available for the professional organizations i belong too.

We thought the same until we retired....Last minute bargains are few and far between! If we want to cruise from a port which is flying distance from where we live (which cruises inevitably are) the odd gain we may make from the cruise will disappear by paying for a more expensive flight. Likewise overnight hotel costs can be more rather than less expensive nearer the time and choices can be more restricted too.

 

We have also discovered we are quite room and itinerary picky! One has to balance any price gain against making compromises on other things...

We do now enjoy booking outside peak times and enjoy the benefits of quieter destinations and the wider range of cruises on offer but we have returned to booking well ahead of time! Financially for us this has worked out well as on recent cruises our preferred category has either become more expensive nearer the time or sold out.

price, quality, speed - at most you can only pick 2.

on a related note....i assume renovating these ships can mean that they can demand a higher price for M ships

Oh! To be retired like the OP and therefore able to book last minute cruises! I long for the day.

As an academic, I cannot sail before 1 June, or later given our practice to arrive before day of embarkation. Never mind Holiday sailing prices in December! Sigh! [emoji17]

 

 

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right? that's what i am thinking. woo is me...i have cannot relax the way i want to ;p:D

I still book out 9 months out anymore...but since it is so far in advance, i often cancel. since that isn't an option for u in the uk...i'd thinking 2x b4 booking.

They are not offered on every cruise.

ah. ic.

what are the typical discounts then? i've been clicking around and i don't see any difference in price on any cruises

What is the discount for those who belong to these groups? When I click on them, I see no discounts.

Not to be a downer but hurricane season isn't officially over.....ya never know...

right. that's what i was thinking but didn't want to say it....

wow, thanks for the pics. they're great.

What I like about NCL's fleet is that they look pretty good and fresh

The way I see it is that it's a way to make the "free" UBP look like an even better deal. Simple as that. People who haven't previously sailed NCL won't notice the difference in the service charge.

 

I have mostly found that other cruise lines that don't offer this "perk" have overall lower cruise fares-- if you drink little or moderately or mostly beer.

 

I've actually not been on NCL yet, but wanted to see if the package was worth the increased cost of the cruise + the service fees and I have my first NCL cruise at the end of the month. Depending on how much BF and I drink, we may not return to NCL... especially with this increase.

 

As per comments re: "Find another CL or vacay option"... people have spent a lot of money and years building up their status to get additional perks so it's sh***y if they now feel like they have to leave and subsequently start over with a different loyalty program.

 

I've mostly crusied Carnival due to them generally having the lowest prices, based on the amount we drink, but the NCL loyalty perks looked appealing so we wanted to get the ball rolling in addition to trying out the UBP. Just not sure the loyalty perks will be worth it if prices continue to increase.

 

I also find it pretty shady that they advertise these brilliant cruise prices AND the Free at Sea and then *bait and switch* you have to pay $10s to $100s extra for a room to qualify for the UBP in the first place PLUS the service charge.

 

I'm staying open minded because I already paid for my upcoming NCL cruise but SMH about all the price increases that have been cited on her.

To stay with a CL just b/c u racked up some perks is less than smart. Go out there and explore a lil if you are unhappy with a company's product. Don't just keep buying a the same product out of habit or b/c of some perk.

And ... wait for it ... next will be the Corkage Fee for bringing your own bottle goes up to $20. ;p

:')

I am the OP on this thread. We are back home now and had a wonderful time on this cruise. It was in the top three of eight cruises we have been on so far.

 

I do have some possible insight as to why Celebrity had to take this extreme action of trying to bump us involantarily. The ship was full of "affinity cruisers". Some maybe all were members of a literary group and an author was on the ship and conducted seminars on his work.

 

I suspect that late bookers of this cruise by members of this large group (maybe half the ship) led Celebrity to try to bump us to make room for them. Is this good business practice on Celebrity's part. Well, maybe. They certainly p%$#@ off me but maybe it generated enough good will on the part of the affinity group to make it worthwhile.

 

I have heard of these affinity groups previously but had no idea that they could be so large. I must say that other than seeing a large number of people with strange badges dangling from their necks, this group had no impact on our cruise experience.

 

Will we ever cruise with Celebrity again? Don't know.

 

David

What is an affinity cruise?

Most changes in a business are made from customer feedback (within reason). NCL and other cruise lines have staff that monitors what is said on CC and other website so you couldn't be any more wrong.

this is such a small change, they aren't going to roll back on it.

you are free to complain, but you aren't going to get anywhere.

I do not understand all of this whining. If you do not like their current pricing, book your vacation using another cruise line. We have exclusively sailed NCL for the last 12+ years. If we get to a point (and we may be there, I don't know yet) where I do not feel that NCL provides the service and value that I require for my vacation dollars, I will not hesitate one second to go on another cabin category, cruise line or vacation type.

 

Factual information about the price and features of UBP that are found in this blog are extremely helpful (lets hope $18 per drink rumor actually is the new price point). But the incessant comments that NCL is "now" too pricey (as if it wasn't on NCL's previous price increase when you still booked a cruise) just clutters up an otherwise useful thread.

I agree. if you don't like NCL's prices anymore, shop around. Dwelling on this doesn't do anything b/c you cannot complain your way to getting change from NCL

Just returned from 7 day cruise. I noticed before last full day of cruise, our room steward kept asking if we were happy with his service.

Finally, he said that he might not be available tomorrow so if there was anything we wanted him to come back for later.

Realized he wanted his tip, which we had set aside to give him the last evening of cruise. I went ahead and gave it to him them. Later that day, I saw him and said hello. He was very curt with me and did not show same friendliness. I guess he was not happy with his tip of $100. I thought it was very generous, but now I wonder. Perhaps, since he was done with us, he moved on to other guests? Really put me off. Did not adjust our DSC , paid in full.

dang...he cold blooded

I think all of the DSC should be cashed out at the end of the cruise and compiled/consolidated. On the last night of the cruise, the employees on board that it is supposed to cover all all gathered in the theater and the cruising public can sit in the seats. The consolidated cash is then dumped on the stage from above and the crew are allowed to battle to the death for the DSC winnings. It would be entertaining and every employee would have a chance to get a good chunk of cash. Who agrees??:):)

i'd watch that. it'd be better than their "broadway" shows ;)

I booked what is likely my last NCL cruise two days ago. Lucky timing. I'm paying solo rates for a 7-night cruise out of San Juan in February 2019. (Hopefully PR will be put back together by then. ) With booze and shorex credit I'm in for ~$1,850 for an obstructed Oceanview cabin.

 

This December I'm on a 7-night out of Miami on HAL, also paying solo. I also have my own reserved poolside cabana for the whole week, with perks and a full picture window in my ocean view cabin. I'm in for ~$1,350. That leaves me $500 to buy my own cheap drinks and shorex.

 

NCL is no longer a value proposition.

 

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IMO, the value that NCL provided was always just middle of the pack compared to other CL.

I chose them in the past due to the freestyle cruising, but that isn't unique any more to NCL....for the most part...I still say that it is more of a hassle on other CL.

Also, NCL has to raise more money to pay off the debt of these billion dollar ships. They ain't free. They have to pay it off somehow...even if it is $2 at a time

I agree with you. Someone in their marketing department came up with the slogan "Free at Sea" and they absolutely fell in love with it. Only one of the perks they offer is actually free, and that is the internet package. And even with that one, there is a one-time log-on fee of about $3.00 or so. (Really?) All of the other perks require that you spend money in order to use it. Even with the $50 excursion credit, there are few excursions less than $50 and even the ones that are less, most people travel at least as a couple, so the $50 still doesn't cover it.

 

I know, I know, nothing is really free. But you are already paying a higher price for your room just to qualify for the perks, and then the perks still cost you more. If you are going to charge more to qualify for the perks, shouldn't the perks actually be free? Or at the very least, call them "Spectacular Discounts" or something like that.

Which word do you think grabs the average consumer (not the average CC user)?

"Free" or "Discount"

I'd love to know what bank you went to that had an abundance of $2 bills on hand! I've got a few tucked away and they are a true rarity.

you just ask them to order them for you for free

At $10 per drink you're talking about 62 drinks over 6 1/2 days. Most sailings have 2-3 sea days and 3-4 port days.

 

In order for the UBP to be worth it you'd have to drink 12 beverages on sea days (3 days) and 9 beverages on port says.

 

I'd say 95% of people can't drink that much. Even during my college days I couldn't drink that much. Now after 4-5 drinks at night I'm done.

Did you get it as a free perk the last time you sailed with NCL? Or did you pay in full?