Big price drop!

Dilemma. We are booked on NCL for Panama Canal I booked back in February. We paid 937 for 10 day. Now it is down to 599. I called yesterday and they gave me an upgrade from inside cabin to porthole with free drinks (which we already had) and free gratuities. We have the insurance. I think with insurance we get a cruise credit for 75%. Am I figuring wrong or wouldn't I still save money by canceling and rebooking?

When is your cruise...

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Dilemma. We are booked on NCL for Panama Canal I booked back in February. We paid 937 for 10 day. Now it is down to 599. I called yesterday and they gave me an upgrade from inside cabin to porthole with free drinks (which we already had) and free gratuities. We have the insurance. I think with insurance we get a cruise credit for 75%. Am I figuring wrong or wouldn't I still save money by canceling and rebooking?

Wow you have some great insurance.

Do you mind sharing which company insures you to that extent just because the price went down?

Rochelle

The $599 price is a guaratee room that does not include promo items. So, I don't know about the 75% and how all of that would work but you would not have the beverage package and your gratuities would be additional.

I'm a bit confused by the insurance comment - are you thinking of cancelling and rebooking??

I'm in the same sort of situation you are. I was in an inside guarantee with one free promo (internet for me). Prices went way down. Last week I upgraded to a porthole cabin. I paid $101, but got free dsc as my 2nd promo which is valued at $148.50 for my 11 day cruise. So it is like I pre-paid my dsc, but only had to pay $101 instead of $148.50 AND I now have a porthole cabin.

Since you are moving up in category, there is no cancellation fee. You do have to purchase a cabin that costs more. For me, the porthole guarantee was less than I paid, but I would have had to cancel and rebook and I'm less than 90 days from sailing. I also would have lost my free internet package.

You'd better look a little closer at that insurance policy. Most policies do not come with "cancel for any reason" -- which is essentially what you're looking to do.

Nov 28, 2016

75% refund on cancellation fees for any reason is what NCL offers.

On the graduated scale of cancellation fees, get a refund per the scale.

For example:

90 days - 76 days 25% penalty

75 days - 61 days 50% penalty

60 days - 31 days 75% penalty

less than 30 days 100% penalty.

So if you cancel 90-76 day out, you get a 25% penalty (automatically get 75% back in cash).

You file an NCL insurance claim for the 25% penalty. NCL insurance will decline it if you do not have a covered reason. If the NCL insurance declines the claim,,,, NCL (not in the insurance company) will then give you 75% of that back (e.g., 25% * 75% = 19% future cruise credit).

Since our jobs don't always allow us to cruise when we book, we have used this to cancel as late as the week of cruise and not lose all of our cruise fare.

Wow. Thanks. I'm going to call again tomorrow.

NCL's CFAR insurance pays out a "cruise credit equal to 75% of the penalty amount imposed for your use toward a future cruise". At 68 days out, you are in the 50% cancellation penalty phase. So basically you will recover 87.5% of your cruise fare (50% refund + 37.5% insurance payout in the form of cruise credit). In other words, you will lose about $117 (assuming the $937 was just the cruise fare, not including taxes/fees), plus the cost of the insurance.

I don't know how much of a hassle it is to file a claim, or how quickly you will receive the cruise credit so that you can rebook the same cruise. Do keep in mind cruizinwithkids's comment about the $599 fare. If you are interested in the free drinks, you should not book IX.

Rochelle - Booksafe Travel through NCL.

NCL's CFAR insurance pays out a "cruise credit equal to 75% of the penalty amount imposed for your use toward a future cruise". At 68 days out, you are in the 50% cancellation penalty phase. So basically you will recover 87.5% of your cruise fare (50% refund + 37.5% insurance payout in the form of cruise credit). In other words, you will lose about $117 (assuming the $937 was just the cruise fare, not including taxes/fees), plus the cost of the insurance.

 

I don't know how much of a hassle it is to file a claim, or how quickly you will receive the cruise credit so that you can rebook the same cruise. Do keep in mind cruizinwithkids's comment about the $599 fare. If you are interested in the free drinks, you should not book IX.

I agree that OP should do the math and put values to perks gained and lost. This is to avoid wasting time for an insignificant gain.

I agree that OP should do the math and put values to perks gained and lost. This is to avoid wasting time for an insignificant gain.

I agree but, maybe I'm having trouble with the math but I saw a savings of over $300pp before the % lost with canceling. I don't drink enough to even pay the gratuity for drinks. We are going to sit down tomorrow and figure it out and see if it's worth the hassle. I know one thing I've learned... I don't think it's worth the double points to book early.

I don't know how much of a hassle it is to file a claim, or how quickly you will receive the cruise credit so that you can rebook the same cruise. Do keep in mind cruizinwithkids's comment about the $599 fare. If you are interested in the free drinks, you should not book IX.

It is a long, painful process.

In the case of the OP, they will need to cancel their cruise and get their cancellation receipt from NCL showing the amount refunded and the amount of penalty they pay.

They need to contact the insurance carrier and get their paperwork to file a claim, then carefully fill out the forms (one per person) to file the claim. (If you are not careful, there may be a couple of rounds of filling out the paperwork and submitting the claim).

You then sit and wait for the insurance company to adjudicate the claim. And wait. And wait. Until you finally get a letter (one per person) stating that your insurance claim is declined because you do not have a covered reason for cancellation.

You take your letters declining the claim, and send that to NCL who will, eventually post the future cruise credit to your latitudes account.

In this case, you would not be able to use that credit to rebook this cruise. It will be a credit for your next cruise. You will be done with your vacation long before this process completes.

It works great if you have a job that may cause you to cancel at the last minute (i.e., you are cancelling after final payment and close to your cruise date where you are in the 50%-100% penalty phase). That's a short window.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. We figured it out and will keep it as is. The savings would not be worth the hassle. But I won't book this early again. Although, I booked our Bahamas cruise at same time because it was on 199 for 4 days.

Dilemma. We are booked on NCL for Panama Canal I booked back in February. We paid 937 for 10 day. Now it is down to 599. I called yesterday and they gave me an upgrade from inside cabin to porthole with free drinks (which we already had) and free gratuities. We have the insurance. I think with insurance we get a cruise credit for 75%. Am I figuring wrong or wouldn't I still save money by canceling and rebooking?

Cancel and rebook.

Nov 28, 2016

Oops...Looks like you're inside 75 days. I don't think you can come out by canceling and rebooking now.

I agree but, maybe I'm having trouble with the math but I saw a savings of over $300pp before the % lost with canceling. I don't drink enough to even pay the gratuity for drinks. We are going to sit down tomorrow and figure it out and see if it's worth the hassle. I know one thing I've learned... I don't think it's worth the double points to book early.

If you don't drink enough to cover the gratuity can you at least call and switch to the dining plan?

Thanks for the advice, everyone. We figured it out and will keep it as is. The savings would not be worth the hassle. But I won't book this early again. Although, I booked our Bahamas cruise at same time because it was on 199 for 4 days.

I do think what is going on right now with the fire sales is more extreme than I have seen before.

I booked a Europe cruise early and go what I thought was a good deal. It has gone up 60%. So now I really think it was a great deal and glad I didn't wait.

I don't drink enough to even pay the gratuity for drinks.

You can decline a promo, or they can replace it with one of the other choices.