julig22

You potentially gain points by using statement credit because you could get points on expenditures you make onboard. No additional points if you use OBC. Why people mess with OBC I don't understand.

Timeline to transfer is 2 weeks now I believe. And I don't see how using CNs would have any effect on commission, as that is a payment, not a reduction in cruise fare??? But I don't use a TA, so only speculation on my part. They don't give OBC for fare drops after final payment but they will give FCC if the price for the cabin you paid for ( not the upgrade) drops in price. Just did that.

They each may give a different answer to obfuscate how it really works - and yes, some don't seem to quite get the real math behind what they are saying but the result is the same. You are buying certificates for less than face value. You really do get free money, just not necessarily in the way they present it. I've lost track of how many I've bought over the years but I'm guessing well over 30, using 2 on the majority of my cruises. So over time, I've basically paid for another cruise or two with my "too good to be true" savings. Your mileage may vary.

That I can definitely agree with! I was on one ship where my balance/OBC numbers were different every time I checked, even though I hadn't bought anything. At the beginning of my last cruise it appeared that my SH OBC had been applied to my CruiseNext purchase, despite all claims to the contrary. However, there were a couple of excursion refunds later on that complicated the accounting, but the "unspent" SH OBC was actually refunded at the end. Hard to say whether that still would have been the case by the end of the cruise if there hadn't been excursion refunds to complicate things. I usually make a point of getting a print-out a day or two before the end of the cruise, just to make sure I'm not leaving anything behind.

I was just booking a hotel for an upcoming trip. Web site for example lists $100 for the room. Get to the checkout and here come the add-ons. $10 if you want to be able to cancel. $2 if you want to pay onsite instead of now. $10 if you want breakfast included. $11 in taxes. And so forth. I can't speak to the logic. But fairly common in my experience with hotels and airlines. And most online purchases don't give you shipping charges until you get to the checkout.

Current promo appears to be any cabin. For how long, nobody knows because there is no date and the info on the CN website conflicts with the info on the promo T&C page. But several people have reported they successfully added a second certificate to their inside/OV rooms in the last few days.

There is no laundry coupon. Yes, the information/instructions are printed underneath the 2 dinner coupons on the card they leave in your room but it is not a coupon, even though it may look like one. "Write your full name, stateroom number and Latitudes Rewards status on your laundry slip..." is what it says. No mention of attaching a certificate. Vs "Please give your server this certificate..." that is printed on the meal tickets.

Info about CNs is in 2 places. And they don't always agree.

Only done 1 dinner. No choice of time or restaurant. Signed up day 1, got an invite a few days into the cruise.

My bad, I thought it used to be 90. I don't usually wait that long!

Not quite. Final payment is 120 days so you have to decide yay or nay by then to avoid a penalty. The 90 days is the time limit for deciding what days you want to arrive/depart. As to flying from difficult locations, I fly from a small regional airport in Oregon. So leg 1 of my trip is always to a hub of some sort (Seattle, LAX, SFO are common from my location). Due to their booking guidelines I tend to get more direct flights when going overseas. - international flights are generally limited to 2 layovers. For example, I flew to Montreal, then non-stop from Montreal to Rome. Those leaving from Montreal had 1 or 2 layovers.

Depends on what you cancel. While I wouldn't necessarily assume a price drop would count as a cancel/rebook in this situation, things like a name change might.

I think the $500 CF value is a promo as well, so not always available. Also, you lose the CF if you cancel the cruise. CNCs are returned to your account.

If it is indeed Olympics-related, it makes the most sense that it will be in Tahiti where they will be having the surfing competition.

I absolutely would NOT book as a single trip. You can book the same room on 2 different reservations. As you already pointed out, the perks wouldn't double, although it would be interesting to see if the shareholder OBC was $250 or 2x$100. I had B2B cruises booked, then NCL cancelled 1 of the cruises (did a lift and drop to another ship, same dates, similar itinerary) and moved the dates on the other so could no longer do a B2B. They were separate bookings but they wouldn't add back the missing airfare (this was in the days when the airfare promo wasn't always available) If something happens and you can't make 1 leg, you have to cancel everything.

LOL. I have a cruise to Alaska later this summer. No studio on that cruise, but no single supplement either on inside or OV. My cost $549. Balcony is more than $3k more at the moment - so if I were to choose to use points to upgrade, that $300 in statement credit is actually worth more than $3K. Still debating on that one... Now, I also have a cruise next week with last-minute pricing. So a balcony is currently about $100 more than what I originally paid - but I was also able to get FCC for a price drop, so overall I'm still ahead by using points.

If you are on a NCL excursion, 1 person can collect the stickers that they use to identify which bus/tour group you are in. Same for tenders I believe. But please, don't be that group that holds up everyone else because only half of the group shows up on time. Had a lady literally blocking the exit out of the theater (more than once) while trying to get her group together. 3rd time it happened, NCL stepped in and made them wait until the group was together.

Haven't done it recently but it took a couple of days at that time.

On your BofA account page, click the rewards tab. Then click the NCL picture. Your choices there are for upgrades, cruise credits, OBC or free cruises. Drop-down list will give you your options. Statement credit would be a BofA option, so not listed here.

No different than how they give you cruise prices 2 years out - they may have contracts but hard to actually say. They take the hit if they miscalculate. And adjust prices on new bookings - which they are currently doing. When you book, you sign a contract for the prices given. Which is why I always book early, then keep an eye on prices. If they go down, I rebook. If they go up, they will abide by the contract. So always a win on the passenger side (US bookings anyway), up until final payment, if you pay attention.

You are correct, mostly. Upgrades (the best bang for your buck in my opinion) are done in advance. On-board credit means just that. On Board. I guess I'm not understanding the issue with statement credit. It's actually better than if you bought OBC because you get more credits if you pay for your excursions with the CC. Book/pay for excursions now, use your statement credit and the excursions are fully paid when you get onboard. And, just FYI, if you pay in advance and then cancel an excursion onboard, you get cash back. It does not go back to your credit card, no points lost.

I am assuming you are referring to the NCL credit card. There is a very long discussion pinned to the top of this forum. But to answer your question. The points on the card are through BofA, not NCL. Just like points on any other credit card. You can't apply points to your onboard account. You can buy OBC that you can spend onboard, but that means that you take what's left when you get onboard,with respect to excursions - and they most definitely can sell out months ahead of time. Your best value is to use the NCL card for purchasing your excursions in advance and any onboard expenses. You will then get points for those expenses as well. Then take the statememt credit.

They definitely have waiting lists for excursions once you get onboard, just not when you pre-book. Depending on the excursion, they can add another tour if they know there is enough interest. Or is someone cancels, they fill the slot. As to whether or not they have to cancel/rebook I can't say for sure. I've not had any issues then I've had to reprice excursions when they didn't add my latitudes discount but that wasn't changing the payment method.

As far as I know, you can use 2 on any cruise that meets the current criteria - which at the moment is anything before final payment (4 months). But the balcony/any category stipulation changes frequently.

Wow - I checked it yesterday morning and it said balcony, then checked it later (someone had posted any, so I checked) and it said any. Now it's back to balcony. So apparently you gotta check it hourly now! But this is what the CN website has: