esp13

My secret (such as it is) to affording the suite life is to sail the week before Christmas (much cheaper) and book way early. Both times I have done this I have scored a good amount of OBC ($450 this time around) and booked at a cheaper price (my current suite is up over $450 pp from what I booked). I also use my NCL BofA points to get more OBC which brings the overall cost even lower.

Because I can generally only cruise once a year and sometimes only every other year, I can also save up to pay for the higher costs of a suite, including the "hidden" costs of tipping the butler and concierge. It's not that those are secret costs, but they are in addition to the normal sailing costs and need to be accounted for in the budgeting process. It takes a little more planning, but is well worth it.

esp13 is correct and this info applies to all NCL ships. Haven guests may have dinner in the Haven but it is my understanding that there would be a charge for dinner. You might be surprised at the food in the MDRs and buffet usually are quite good and sometimes excellent:)

There is no upcharge for dinner in the Haven.

Because the Dawn does not have the Haven, there are no dinner dining privileges included in the suite amenities. You do get to have breakfast and lunch in Cagneys which is limited to suite guests, however.

But, for dinner, you would have the same choices as everybody else - main dining rooms (or buffet) or specialty restaurants with the normal upcharge. You can have meals served in your suite by your butler, but the upcharge will still apply to any entrees ordered from the specialty restaurants.

Sigh.

The Epic has excellent shows. In Nov. 2010, I did a cruise on the ship and thoroughly enjoyed all of their shows. We ate in the MDR several times and thought the food (and service) was great.

You do NOT have to pay extra for good food. There are three main dining rooms, O'Sheehans and the buffet which have no additional cost and which serve good food. If you CHOOSE to go to a specialty restaurant, the food is also quite good but you don't HAVE to do so unless you CHOOSE.

That's the great thing about NCL, it's your CHOICE. :)

On some of the older ships (i.e. not the Epic, Breakaway or Getaway), there are suites which do not have access to the Haven/Courtyard. Last year, we sailed in an aft PH suite on the Pearl and while we had suite amenities (butler, concierge, Cagneys, etc.) we did not have access to the courtyard on the Pearl. I think it's because on those earlier ships, the Haven/Courtyard is a much smaller area.

However, on the newer/bigger ships, NCL has decided that all suites are Haven suites (i.e. have access to the Haven regardless of location).

I truly envy those who can cruise multiple times per year. For others though, like me, NCL could offer $99 cruises and it wouldn't impact how many times I can cruise in a year simply because I don't have the time available.

As others have said, it's great that NCL offers multiple options that fit everyone's needs.

I find the suite very valuable and worth the price. My issue, generally speaking, is not with price but with time when it comes to cruising. My job makes it difficult to cruise more than once a year (2012 was the exception) and usually, it's closer to two years in between them. It's also fairly stressful, so when I do get to go, I want as much comfort and relaxation as possible.

December of 2012 was my first cruise in a suite (Aft PH on the Pearl) and I found it to be worth every penny. I loved the extra room on the balcony for just hanging out and relaxing. I loved the butler to bring breakfast, drinks, or snacks if I didn't feel like making the trek outside. I loved going to Cagneys, knowing I didn't have to fight crowds in the buffet (although I admit, it's probably not THAT different than a main dining room breakfast). And I enjoyed being able to make a call to the concierge and get reservations when I was ready rather than feeling like I needed to plan the meals more.

This December, we are in a Aft PH on the Getaway which will include my first Haven experience. It's significantly more than a balcony, but the huge aft balcony is definitely worth it, along with the private Haven courtyard.

But that's just me. And my guess is that there are many, many more people who feel differently or the ships would be all suites. :) That's what is so nice about having options - hopefully everybody can find something that fits their budget/needs.

The dress code is cruise casual. If you go to the FAQ in the NCL website, it has a good explanation of what that means.

It's interesting how there are such different experiences. We were in our first suite on the Pearl in December of 2012 with Monica as our concierge. We were in an aft PH and thought she was great. She didn't call everyday or anything, but she always recognized us when we were out and about and asked us several times if everything was going okay. She was friendly and helpful when we needed something and I didn't notice any differences in how she treated us as opposed to anybody else.

This is not to say that those other experiences are wrong or anything. Just like anything else, experiences can vary widely sometimes.

I can understand the OP's concerns as I had the same expectations about embarkation when I was in an Aft PH on the Pearl. I fully expected our butler to greet us at Cagneys and then escort us to the suite because that was what I had read on CC. However, that did not happen. We were escorted to Cagneys, but when lunch was over, we just wandered down to our suite and dropped our bags. Later, when the rooms were finished we returned to the suite and our butler dropped by and introduced himself and showed us the coffee maker, etc.

As for disembarkation, we chose to walk off. But then we saw the line and headed straight to Monica who laughed at us (nicely) for not coming to her in the first place. She took us straight out and off the ship and we were very grateful for the priority disembarkation.

I do think there might be differences based on ship and Haven/non-Haven suites. I'm interested to see if there is any difference with my Getaway Aft PH this year. Nonetheless, I think priority embarkation and debarkation are excellent perks, even if they weren't exactly what I thought they would be. And everything during the cruise is even better. I am definitely hooked on the suite life.

I agree. Looking at the price drops for suites on the Getaway (and to a certain extent, the Breakaway), I think NCL misjudged the perceived advantage of being in the Haven itself. I think they thought that people would pay more for a smaller room (like the Courtyard PH or the Spa Suite) for the advantage of having pretty much direct access to the Haven (or the Spa). But, I think people surprised them by favoring the larger rooms and/or balconies of the Aft and Forward PH's, even if that means having to walk longer distances to get to the Haven itself.

Most of the cruises I have watched, the Aft and Forward PH's have little or no price drop and, in fact, often show price increases. But the Courtyard and Spa suites are struggling a bit.

The issue doesn't seem to be quite as bad on the Breakaway and I wonder if it is the difference in weather. If I were sailing out of a cold weather port, easy access to the Haven (and the covered pool area) might be more important than a little more room or a bigger balcony.

There is no legal requirement of fencing around pools, at least as a general rule although I suppose some communities may have their own laws on that. The reason there is generally fencing involved is because most insurance companies will not insure the pool unless those measures are taken.

Community pools and hotel pools, at least the ones I'm familiar with, have fencing that is more about keeping people who are not members/guests out of the pool. At the hotel I stayed in on Maui recently, there was one pool which was close to the beach which had a fence and gate and another closer to the hotel which did not. Neither pool had lifeguards and the signs on that were clearly posted. The community pools in my area (i.e. that are part of subdivisions) also do not have lifeguards.

So, there are reasons that other pools have fences and/or lifeguards that simply do not apply to a cruise ship. They don't need to keep nonmembers out and don't have to worry about insurance coverage for the pool.

The Breakaway has been sailing for 8 months. At a very conservative average of 3000 people per week that is approximately 108,000 people on that ship. There has been one drowning death, which is .009 percent of the guests on the ship. Yes, even one death is a tragedy, but it's hardly evidence of a need to completely overhaul the pool deck. Not every tragedy is preventable and nobody knows whether those measures you suggest would have even made a difference in this case.

The daily service charge covers everyone but your butler and concierge. If you choose to leave additional tips for those covered by the DSC, you certainly may. I'm sure everybody is different, but we tip the waitstaff at the end of the dinner because we never know if we will see them later. We would also tip a little extra if we had a good bartender on a particular bar. We generally give extra to the room steward (if he or she has been good) on the last full day of the cruise, but that is totally your discretion.

If you use your butler and concierge you should tip as they are not included in the DSC. Envelopes are not provided, but you can get plain envelopes from guest services. We tipped our butler and concierge on the last full day (i.e. the day before disembarkation). We did not tip the butler each time he brought us something, but saved it all for the last day.

Tradgedy can bring about change, so I ask this question. Has the drowning of a 4 year old and near drowning of a 6 year old on the NCL Breakaway this week changed your minds as to the need for Lifeguards on cruiseships?

It hasn't changed my mind. First, it's not clear from the reports how this happened so it's impossible to know whether a lifeguard would have been on duty at that time and/or would have made a difference. Secondly, I believe that a lifeguard being present generally only makes people less vigilant because they get a false sense of security from the lifeguard.

What happened is a tragedy, no question. But we cannot bubble wrap the world to try and make sure no tragedies occur. There are lessons to be learned, of course, and I would hope this would serve as a reminder that vigilance is key.

Now, if NCL decides it wants to hire lifeguards, great. But I do not believe that they are necessary, nor do I believe that NCL should have to do so.

Congrats on the upgrade!! I love that booking the guaranty cabin paid off so well for you. I have friends who lived in Seattle who got upgraded to an owner's suite (I think it was on the Sun) when they booked last minute. They were over the moon too.

I don't really care how NCL decides to do the upgrades. If it's not gonna be me, then it might as well be a great story like this one. :)

I was just teasing you with the comment.

Honestly, this may be hard to believe, but I'm not a complainer. I like to have fun, enjoy myself and not get wound up about things. I didn't go looking for lower prices after booking, just came upon a thread devoted to what was happening and said "whoa, hold the phones."

I was offered an upgrade today, still debating if I'll take it, my TA suggested I do some research first. The fact they offered me this has made me much more satisfied with the experience.

And this may be hard to believe, but I'm not an unsympathetic person. I'm very glad that they offered you the upgrade and that it has made you feel better about how things happened. :)

And I would agree about the research. When we got the "upgraded" midship balcony, we took it with out really looking into it. But after being on the ship, I think our original location would have served our purposes better. Not that the new room was bad, just not quite as convenient to the things we ended up doing.

I'm not against NCL compensating people. I said in a couple of places that if they did, that's fine. In fact, I think I even said in response to one of your posts that it might take care of the complaints.

My only point all along has been that I don't think they should be obligated to do so, nor do I think it's some kind of trick, crime, or even bad customer service not to. If they do CHOOSE to do so, great. I'm glad that you are getting something that might make you feel better about the whole thing. I just don't believe that should be criticized for choosing not to.

If it were me and I called and they offered me something, I would accept it. But if they chose not to, I would accept that just as well.

You got it. I didn't say it was $2000 cheaper, for four of us in two cabins it was $1000 cheaper for the cabin, but with all the incentives, including pre-paid gratuities for two cabins, it worked out to $2000.

Well that really changes some things then. I can't understand why NCL would be responsible for compensating early bookers when it is not the one offering the better deals, the TA is.

but in my case I paid top dollar because it is president's week with only a $50 OBC. my price dropped almost $1500 dollars . that's a big deal. I am usally a carnival sailer and they honor this if you book an early saver.

I don't know Carnival's program, but NCL has never promised to compensate for price drops after final payment. As you can see from various threads and posts others feel upset like you do, but thus far NCL isn't changing it's position.

I'm with you! As one of the posters the OP is disagreeing with (price change and incentives were major in my case, nearly $2000 difference for two cabins), I really was only looking for a small token from NCL, but my TA was told "she's paid in full, we aren't doing anything."

Well, it is what it is...but I'll never book early with them again. As in ever.

And for the record, I see all those who agree with OP were cruisers who saw prices go UP after they booked :D

Well, yes, that was why the thread had the title of "the other side of the pricing issue." I figured it was only fair to talk about what happens when the price goes up as well as when it goes down. :D

But, I have had a price drop and did not receive compensation, although they moved us to a "slightly better" balcony cabin (more midship). I think the price difference was about $300 total, but I didn't get upset when they wouldn't compensate it. That was the risk I took by booking early.

I understand that, in your case, the drop is a large amount of money. What I can't quite understand (and I'm being totally sincere here) is how if you are upset at a $2000 price drop, the $100 OBC would make any kind of difference? Is it just because NCL would be making a gesture? Again, I'm not being snarky here, I'm really trying to understand why that little amount would change your opinion so much.

You certainly have carried the CLs water on this issue, which is fine. Everyone has their own opinion.

 

The "other side" you mention, and other support, appear to all indicate that you still have a NET GAIN; i.e., no loss or impairment.

 

I am glad for you.

 

The FIRST "other side" had NET REDUCTIONS; i.e., loss or impairment.

 

So, it appear reasonable to conclude, that those who weren't impaired are OK with these deal factors, and those who were impaired are NOT OK.

 

I wholly support everyone's right to express the affect on them. If others don't agree, although I support their right also to express the no affect on them, I don't get why the effort to discount the concerns of others. If you are happy, great. The others obviously are not, so they post. They aren't wrong or not unhappy because you and others are happy.

 

Just saying.

 

IMO, the attempt to fill ships by CLs closer to cruise dates by such last minute significant deals, will cause less advance bookings in the long run as, IMO only, the 'happy's, not cost affected" are outnumbered by the "not happy's, cost affected."

 

Again, JIMHO.

First all, I'm not carrying anyone's water but my own.

Second, there is no question that I have (thus far) been on the good side of the price change, but your conclusion misses my entire point. My point isn't that anybody is "wrong." My point is that, for ME, if I'm happy when the price goes up because I don't have to pay more, I feel a bit hypocritical to then expect compensation from NCL when the price goes down. That's ME and that was my point. Clearly, some others agree with me and yes, they were also people who's price went up. That's why the thread was called "the other side of the pricing issue."

And I'm sure you are right that, if the drastic price drops continue, there will be less advanced bookings. I'm also sure that if that affects the bottom line significantly, NCL will change there policies. As I've said repeatedly, I totally encourage people to book at the last minute if their schedules allow them to do that. More often than not, this will probably get them the best deal and if they have a lot of flexibility, then the times when it costs them the best deal will not matter as much. I'm all for that idea. I wish I could do it myself.

Everything time I read the "if the price went up would you call NCL and offer to pay the difference" I want to stick a fork in my eye. I want the best deal so when I book what I think is a good deal is only a good deal until the price starts dropping (yes, I understand it can go up, in which case my deal got even better). I've learned to play the game. It's never do or die that I cruise, so I either wait as long as possible to book, or book a lower category I could live with knowing I can probably upgrade as prices start falling (which they usually do since we travel on shoulder seasons, again, to get the best deal). I learned that the hard way a few years ago when I paid $300 to upgrade to a balcony and then literally 2 days later the prices fell and that was $300 for nothing since I could've upgraded for free. And no, it's not like buying a car and having the prices drop after. The car has been driven, the cruise hasn't been cruised. I'm just saying. It's one of those agree to disagree things.

I can certainly agree to disagree. And, as I've said elsewhere, I am happy for (and a little envious of) those who have the ability to wait until the last minute and make sure they get the best deal. If I could do that, I certainly would as -- to be clear -- I don't like paying higher prices than I have to. And, based on what I've seen, I would totally encourage people with that kind of flexibility to never book early.

But not everyone has that ability. I certainly can't wait to the last minute or I would probably never get to cruise. Other people book early for different reasons (OBC incentives, wanting to make sure they get the cabin they want, etc.). I just figure that if you need to book early for whatever reason, then that's the choice you've made because ensuring that reservation is more important than getting the absolute best deal possible. JMO, though.

Recently, there have been several threads with people expressing anything from mild annoyance to rage at the fact that the price for their cabin dropped significantly after final payment and NCL was unwilling to compensate them for that drop. Well, I figured it was only fair to talk about the other side of that issue.

I booked my December 13, 2014 cruise on the Getaway in May of 2013. Along with the cabin price, I received $450 in OBC based on booking more than 9 months in advance and because both of us are Latitudes members ($75 each).

I just checked the NCL website and that room has increased in price by $350 per person and there is only $150 in OBC offered. So, the price has effectively gone up by $1000. Now, it is still well before final payment so it is likely (maybe even highly likely) the price will drop if the remaining rooms are not sold. However, there is no question that if I had waited until now to book, I would not be going on the cruise (or at least in that cabin) because it is outside my budget.

This is why I really can't complain when the price drops. For me personally, I can't expect NCL to modify the contract that I agreed to when the price drops unless I also give them the same right to charge me extra when the price increases. And for those who will say they just want a little compensation in the form of increased OBC, the same rationale applies. I don't want NCL to take a way a little of my OBC when the rate goes up or the OBC offer drops.

I understand that price drops occur far more frequently than price increases, but they do happen. And while I wouldn't criticize NCL if they did offer compensation as a form of customer service, I simply can't criticize them for not doing it either. I just feel like I'd be a hypocrite if I expected them to compensate me when I am certainly not willing to compensate them in return.

Anyway, I'm not expecting to change anybody's minds and I'm sure many will disagree. But, I just wanted to offer a different perspective.

Sad that I have to explain this, but the anger/blame is because vacations are expensive, I don't have the extra money on hand to say "oh well, oh gee, *shrug the shoulders*, no big deal, better luck next time!:)". So pardon me if I feel a little pissed off and screwed by the cruise line. Maybe if more people gave a damn and made noise about these kinds of things like I do then big companies wouldn't be so quick to have such BS policies & practices. I can tell you this - I'm damn glad that I'm the way I am, because if I wasn't I wouldn't have gotten $600 credit from RCL for finding human feces on my Allure stateroom carpet, and I wouldn't have over $900 back in bank account refunded from Airtran last year (refund, not credit) after a massive drop in my airfare occurred.

 

These days you have to be willing to fight, every man/woman for themselves, otherwise you're going to get walked over every single time. Fact.

I know vacations are expensive because I have to pay for them. But I also don't book something that I can't afford in the hopes that they will give me some extra money if the price goes down. I book at a time and rate that fits my budget, plain and simple.

And comparing serious issues like the human feces to a price drop is ridiculous. Yes, if something like that happened I would absolutely expect it to be fixed and to be compensated for it.

But price drops (and increases) are the cost of doing business in a particular industry. There is nothing BS about their practices as we all have choices in life. If you don't like the price drops then wait until the last minute to book and guarantee yourself the lowest rate. That's a choice. I'm all about standing up for myself, but I also don't think that I'm being screwed when I'm asked to fulfill the terms of a contract that I agreed to.

I also mentioned twice that I didn't expect a lower cabin price, just some small token so I don't feel so screwed about booking early -- like an OBC. :)

 

I honestly don't want the best of both worlds. I just figured new ship, good to book early. We sailed right after Allure launched, booked early and there was very little available. Booked Disney Dream last year and for both cruises prices remained steady

I don't think anyone would have expected them to go to these lengths to get people to sail on a brand new ship. As JoeSki said, it would be a goodwill gesture on their part to offer a small OBC, it would cost them very little but make us LOYAL early bookers feel happy as opposed to screwed.

I understand all about free enterprise, (thanks for the lesson though). Seems like some posters have offered examples of being compensated when prices go down, but regardless, whether you want to call it "disappointed" or "angry" the way I feel right now is not a great feeling.

I wasn't offering a lesson and definitely not to you as that point was made in response to a different poster. I'm sorry if I misunderstood what you were wanting in regards to NCL. I would agree that a small OBC probably would smooth things over.

And sure, I understand that it is unexpected that a new ship might have so much availability late and, as I have said, I totally understand the disappointment in seeing those lower prices. But, I guess in the end I just can't see the anger at NCL. I'm quite sure they didn't expect the availability with a new ship either and I can't blame them for doing what they need to do to fill the ship. Depending on your idea of "small OBC" it might make financial sense for them to offer it.

But, mainly, it's just a difference in opinion and perspective. I book when I book knowing I'm stuck with it after final payment and knowing that somebody else might get a similar room for half price if they have the flexibility of waiting. It's just kind of the luck of the draw and for those that get on the good side, good for them. Just my perspective on things.