NCL Website Pricing

[cacj]

Time after time when I go to check NCL website pricing, things are seemingly wacky. Last night, pricing "started" for a balcony at $999....when trying to price through, get reply "no staterooms".

 

This morning, pricing for a different cruise, balcony starts at $649....click through and get $699. Is this also your experience?

 

I know I can call a TA or my PCC, but how is one able to do comparison shopping if the website is so unpredictable?

[martinchem]

Prices can change on a dime on close-in cruises, find your best deal and enjoy your cruise.

[FLAHAM]

When you bring up multiple dates for cruises the "prices from" reflects the least expensive cruise. When you then select a particular date, you get the prices for that sailing, which may be higher than the cheapest sailing.

[sparks1093]

Time after time when I go to check NCL website pricing, things are seemingly wacky. Last night, pricing "started" for a balcony at $999....when trying to price through, get reply "no staterooms".

 

This morning, pricing for a different cruise, balcony starts at $649....click through and get $699. Is this also your experience?

 

I know I can call a TA or my PCC, but how is one able to do comparison shopping if the website is so unpredictable?

 

The "prices started at" price is the lowest price for the dates returned in the search results. I've seen a difference of several hundred dollars pp based on when the cruise is, with the peak times fetching more.

[cacj]

Prices can change on a dime on close-in cruises, find your best deal and enjoy your cruise.

 

 

Yes, agreed, prices do change quickly, but I am talking about when I go thru the process, from the page that shows pricing for categories. That list seems to change when you click thru to select the cabin.

 

 

When you bring up multiple dates for cruises the "prices from" reflects the least expensive cruise. When you then select a particular date, you get the prices for that sailing, which may be higher than the cheapest sailing.

 

Okay, but how come when you select your sailing, and get to the category choices, you get say a quote for $670 for the BE with an upgrade to BA....so then you click to get the choice of staterooms, but the total price shown is for $740 plus taxes, totaling over $1600. Isn't this a lot more than just "pricing changes on a dime?"

 

 

The "prices started at" price is the lowest price for the dates returned in the search results. I've seen a difference of several hundred dollars pp based on when the cruise is, with the peak times fetching more.

 

 

Yes, time year, sailings, all that explains various prices, but when you are clicking thru, see a price for a category, then go to choose stateroom, why does price change at that stage? Is this normal?

[insidecabin]

I have noticed that the summary prices are updated at different times to the actual cabin pricings.

 

So you can get the summary still including a grade that is no longer available or it will have yesterdays prices.

[faymuiheng]

Hi Cacj,

 

could it be for the fact, that when you go to choose the room, that the free upgrade does not reflect that?

 

I've seen fluctuations in prices for my balcony type. I work night shifts, so I check NCL website regularly for sales. At 2am, it was priced lower then what I paid, but by 6am, the prices jumped up over and above what I paid. Who programs the fares like that?

 

F

[sparks1093]

Yes, agreed, prices do change quickly, but I am talking about when I go thru the process, from the page that shows pricing for categories. That list seems to change when you click thru to select the cabin.

 

 

 

 

Okay, but how come when you select your sailing, and get to the category choices, you get say a quote for $670 for the BE with an upgrade to BA....so then you click to get the choice of staterooms, but the total price shown is for $740 plus taxes, totaling over $1600. Isn't this a lot more than just "pricing changes on a dime?"

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, time year, sailings, all that explains various prices, but when you are clicking thru, see a price for a category, then go to choose stateroom, why does price change at that stage? Is this normal?

 

Sounds like it might be a cache/cookies problem on your computer. I seem to recall times when I've looked at one cruise and then the next one and the prices didn't jibe. The only other explanation- gremlins;).

[cacj]

I have noticed that the summary prices are updated at different times to the actual cabin pricings.

 

So you can get the summary still including a grade that is no longer available or it will have yesterdays prices.

 

Does the summary show the grade? I have to pay more attention to that.

 

Hi Cacj,

 

could it be for the fact, that when you go to choose the room, that the free upgrade does not reflect that?

 

I've seen fluctuations in prices for my balcony type. I work night shifts, so I check NCL website regularly for sales. At 2am, it was priced lower then what I paid, but by 6am, the prices jumped up over and above what I paid. Who programs the fares like that?

 

F

 

Perhaps, but then even when I tried a balcony with no free upgrade, the final summary varied from the category price on the page before.

 

Sounds like it might be a cache/cookies problem on your computer. I seem to recall times when I've looked at one cruise and then the next one and the prices didn't jibe. The only other explanation- gremlins;).

 

I will clear cookies more frequently and see if that works.

 

Okay, how about this for pricing? Take a look at the price for balcony cabins? Is this supposed to be so?

 

: Norwegian Spirit

Departs: New Orleans

Departure Dates: 2010: Apr 11

 

Ports of call:New Orleans; Costa Maya; Santo Tomas De Castilla; Aruba; Curacao; Hamilton; Boston

Cruise Fares from:

Inside

 

$599

 

Oceanview

 

$799

 

Balcony

 

$9,999

 

Suite

 

$3,049

 

 

CHOOSE A CRUISE

[cacj]

oh, and just saw this balcony pricing for the Feb 12 sailing on the Dawn:

 

 

Want this balcony?

 

 

Feb 12, 2010

 

SELECT $729.00

$979.00

Balcony: $99,699.00

Suite: Not Available

[fin]

For you NCL employees who read here, the website is really in need of some serious upgrades.

[pengu1n]

Something that can also affect your price is whether (when you started the search) you put in your home state (I got a $100 MO price cut) and that you're a Latitudes member. I've had the site lose track of this when pricing different cruises.

[Frenchsnowhite]

This is getting me mad.............:mad: We booked and inside.

 

Last week we started thinking, we should change to an ocean view for the extra 140$. So monday I call my PVP and we see the prices together. Later that day to prices go up :( I wait, I wait...

 

Again this morning check the website the prices have drop but it's 7 o'clock so no one at the NCL offices:rolleyes: Now it' 9 o'clock and the prices have gone up AGAIN:mad::mad:

 

I'm getting very frustrated:cool:

[faymuiheng]

Bonjour Frenchsowhite!

 

Same thing happened to me. I booked directly with NCL so, I have somewhat a rapport with my PCC. I mentioned the same thing to PCC about not being able to contact them when this happened. Like I said in my previous post, I saw the price at 2am go cheaper than what I paid, and then by 6am, it went back up. I emailed them at 2am, hoping that I could still get the discount, and was pleasantly surprised when it did happen. Glitch, problem with their programs? I was still able to benefit.

 

Maybe address your problem with them, and see what happens.

 

Bonne Chance de Vancouver!

[Frenchsnowhite]

Well, yesterday I told my PCC about this and she said that she cannot do anything about it. But maybe today she will say something different:rolleyes:

 

But next time I see the price, I will call NCL and if my PCC is not there I will speak to someone else:o

 

Merci de Montréal!:D

[faymuiheng]

I also copied and pasted a screen shot of the sale page. That always helps, and it's not my fault that no one is there when I notice the price drop right?

 

au revoir a mes amis de la belle province!

[cacj]

For you NCL employees who read here, the website is really in need of some serious upgrades.

 

 

It needs to be directed to their website designers and corporate .... as far as wecan see, for every glitch on their site, they lose revenue....we won't book thru them until we see stabilization of website pricing, and some reliable consistency.

 

We won't even call a PCC, as they have no power or anwers to these wide discrepancies.

 

We are interested in a cruise, but this pricing structure is too unreliable.

 

We keep hearing how the economy matters to the cruise lines, well, guess what, the economy matters to us. When we cannot do a comparison thru a reliable pricing on a website, then our money stays in our pockets.

 

How can the pricing be so wild? And does it also happen that way for outside TA's?

 

Corporate confusion is pretty bad policy.

[cacj]

The April 11 Spirit still shows balcony pricing at 9000 plus

 

The POA Jan 23, now shows this:

 

Jan 23, 2010

 

Inside Not Available

 

Oceanview $1,203.00

 

Balcony $10,032.00

 

Suite Not Available

 

 

Editied to add: And if you want to go to Morroco on the Jade: all three cruises list balconies for 9,899 to 9999.00.

[Frenchsnowhite]

The April 11 Spirit still shows balcony pricing at 9000 plus

 

The POA Jan 23, now shows this:

 

Jan 23, 2010

 

Inside Not Available

 

Oceanview $1,203.00

 

Balcony $10,032.00

 

Suite Not Available

 

Wow! This is incredible:eek:

 

God they need to fix this:cool:

[insidecabin]

If you have no other benifits/penalties on your existing booking why not rebook overnight when the price is lower(place a hold on a booking to get reference number) and get the PCC to cancel the existing booking and transfer the deposits?