Major New Break - Upgrades

[seahorse]

Shoreguy,

 

FYI the Jewel aft deck 10 bal. is not the same:mad: Found that out the hard way. None of them are.

[shoreguy]

Apples to oranges nectarines to peaches, etc. Value to the high priced spread:eek:

 

just kidding, funnen wich ya:D

 

This was my best kepet secret until Shoreguy came along:mad:

 

Oh by the way, GO EAGLES

 

Sorry, the down side of CC shared secrets :eek: - may be one of the reasons upsell is not going to take calls.

[greenie]

I love it when everyone gets all workd up like this--gets the juices flowing, doncha know. :D

 

I certainly didn't say or mean that I wasn't going to give NCL a chance or that I was going to jump ship. What I meant was this: I am the sort of person who likes to find a good fit (be it a relationship, a job, a TA, or--in this case--a cruiseline) and not spend my time sniffing out something that will be "even more better." I know there is no perfection out there and that everyone and everything has it's not-so-wunnerful to go along with it's wunnerfulness. In the same way, I do not choose a job, love, TA, or cruiseline with the intent of getting something OK that I will then turn around and pursue something better. Puh-leeze! The grass is NOT always greener, of that we can be sure. (Along with death and taxes, ha ha.)

 

NCL will be my 3rd cruiseline--I've been on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and now am checking out NCL. The other 3 cruises were all good (how can a cruise not be) but I had yet to find just that special one where I could settle in and be a committed customer. That's what I want. After researching these and other boards I learned of NCL's thing where you can try--and often succeed--to get an upgrade. That psyched me! That's really special, as far as I am concerned. What red-blooded American doesn't groove on that challenge, on that "maybe it could happen". That gave me a tingle of "This is gpoing to be "my" cruiseline! This is the hook for me!"

 

Now they will take it away or change the rules to make it not as I'd been smitten by--so I feel disappointed. My dance card no longer is full! (And no, I am nowhere old enough to ever had a dancecard. 23 I may not be, but neither am I 80!:) )

 

What can I say? I AM BUMMED, NCL!:(

[awatt]

I will go to a premium line because most premium lines (Crystal, RSSC, etc.) will give you the same level of service in a balcony room that NCL gives someone in a suite.

 

Not exactly bigsweeps. We are booked on Radisson. Overall service I expect will be significantly better than the mass market lines. That's why we're trying Radisson. BUT, some of the perks we enjoyed in our NCL suite will not be available in our non-suite Radisson cabin. For instance we will not have our own butler and concierge, among other things. So your generalization is not accurate.

 

Also, Radisson and Crystal are luxury lines, not premium lines. X,Princess and HAL are premium lines.

 

Finally, upgrading to a luxury line comes at a significantly higher price. We are paying subtantially more for 2 balcony cabins on Radisson than we are paying for the AB suite on the Dawn. So,as someone else said, be prepared to open your weallet- wide open in fact.

[Welove2cruise2]

the category you're going to be happy with. That's been our philosophy on every cruise we've taken so far with NCL (the only GTY we EVER booked was a BE on the Dawn -- and we were upgraded to a BC with NO call -- really no difference, just a different deck). And we'll shop around for the best price (which happens to be the on-line TA we've been dealing with for the last three cruises we've booked). We'll get what we pay for -- and if we happen to get that magical, mystery call from NCL, even better! But it better be a GREAT deal, or we'll stay where we're at!! :p

[bigsweeps]

Not exactly bigsweeps. We are booked on Radisson. Overall service I expect will be significantly better than the mass market lines. That's why we're trying Radisson. BUT, some of the perks we enjoyed in our NCL suite will not be available in our non-suite Radisson cabin. For instance we will not have our own butler and concierge, among other things. So your generalization is not accurate.

 

Also, Radisson and Crystal are luxury lines, not premium lines. X,Princess and HAL are premium lines.

 

Finally, upgrading to a luxury line comes at a significantly higher price. We are paying subtantially more for 2 balcony cabins on Radisson than we are paying for the AB suite on the Dawn. So,as someone else said, be prepared to open your weallet- wide open in fact.

 

I hardly call Princess, HAL and others PREMIUM lines. That's a joke. I've been on them and didn't find them any better than NCL. They are still mass market lines as far as I'm concerned.

 

Luxury lines are not significantly more than an upsell on a suite if you shop around. My travel agent has 2 for 1 deals on them frequently and several members of my family have been on Radisson and Crystal in the highest level non-suite room for less than I pay on NCL with an upsell. My sister is going on a 10 day Crystal cruise for $4,800 for two. That's about what an AA or AB suite costs on the Dawn with an upsell. Sure, they don't have a butler or concierge - but the only thing I use my butler for is meals in the suite, and I only use the concierge to make reservations at the specialty restaurants - both of which I wouldn't miss on a luxury line.

 

I never book a cruise more than 3 months in advance.....I can't because of my job. I never know if I can take time off until about 6-8 weeks out. So if NCL only calls those who booked first, I will NEVER get the upsell call. And if that's the case and they never have specials that will get me into a suite for about 50% of list price, I'll change lines. It's as simple as that.

[awatt]

bigsweeps-

 

Whether or not you call X,HAL and Princess premium lines is irrelevant. They are labelled such by the cruise/travel industry- not me- to distinguish them from RCCL,NCL CCL and others which are labelled as mainstream or contemporary lines. I'm sure the TA's on these boards would confirm this.

 

Regarding suites on NCL vs standard cabins on luxury lines- our Radisson cabin will not have 5 TV's, 2 bathrooms, DVD player, private cocktail party with the Captain, priority debarkation, among other things. That is not to say I think our NCL cruise will be better than our Radisson cruise. Just trying to say that it's comparing two very different entities, and not a good comparison. As someone who has both of these scenarios booked within the next year, I am experiencing this first hand.

 

In the end,we may prefer non-suite luxury line to NCL's suite experience,and feel its well worth the cost. Time will tell.

 

I think the pax have brought this upon themselves in part. Reading these boards and learning how to call the upsell department independently has created a feeling of entitlement or expectation to the upsells. It probably has created more unanticipated calls to the upsell dept as well. Now everybody's ticked that the policy is changing. As said above,you should book the best cabin you can afford and not expect anything further. Personally I like the aforementioned idea of using upsells to reward those who have sailed NCL previously, would be an improvement to their weak Latitudes program.

[hotspur]

I hardly call Princess, HAL and others PREMIUM lines. That's a joke. I've been on them and didn't find them any better than NCL. They are still mass market lines as far as I'm concerned.

Agree wholeheartedly. What nonsense that claim is.

 

It's hilarious reading some of the threads on the Celebrity board here where people keep absurdly posturing as if they're superior in some way--more "sophisticated," or "refined," or "upscale--to passengers who frequent other mass-market lines. It's wonderful how people can be conned by advertising hype into thinking they're getting some kind of special experience--and as a result that they're better in some fashion than someone else.

[seahorse]

Agree wholeheartedly. What nonsense that claim is.

 

It's hilarious reading some of the threads on the Celebrity board here where people keep absurdly posturing as if they're superior in some way--more "sophisticated," or "refined," or "upscale--to passengers who frequent other mass-market lines. It's wonderful how people can be conned by advertising hype into thinking they're getting some kind of special experience--and as a result that they're better in some fashion than someone else.

 

It is all in the marketing folks. I feel that there are true Luxury, mass market, niche luxury and specialty cruise lines that don`t fit any of the above.

 

NCL, Princess, Celebrity/ RCCI, Carnival, Holland America. They are all mass market with luxury accommodations. So far NCL is offering the best with their Garden Villas, etc.

 

By the way I get more complaints about the QM2 then anything else:eek: go figure.

 

 

 

Fly Eagles Fly

Go Eagles!!!!!

 

[bigsweeps]

The QM2? Really? Do tell......what kinds of complaints do you hear?

[seahorse]

The QM2? Really? Do tell......what kinds of complaints do you hear?

 

Not to go into details, food, service, hull balconies, even tho they knew, class system bothered them. General disappointment all around.

 

Positive--Ship was beautiful

 

I had a group and they all felt the same.

[hotspur]

Not to go into details, food, service, hull balconies, even tho they knew, class system bothered them. General disappointment all around.

 

Positive--Ship was beautiful

 

I had a group and they all felt the same.

I'd never sail a ship with a "class system."

 

Apparently HAL until very recently had a separate dining room where suite passengers could have breakfast or lunch without having to associate with the other riff-raff on board. I, for one, want no part of that kind of thing.

 

On our one HAL cruise, two people at a breakfast were describing this beautifully-decorated lounge they discovered while exploring on their first day on the ship, and how much they were going to enjoy spending time there. I told them that this was the Neptune Lounge and was exclusively for use of suite passengers, and the looks of disappointment on their faces would have made you cry.

 

I believe that once you walk out your cabin door, you should have access to everything on the ship, whether you're in a suite or an inside cabin next to the boiler room. If some features (e.g., the thalassotherapy pool on Celebrity's Century-class ships) are "free" to suite passengers while others must pay an additional fee for them, that's OK, but I see no reason for something to be available ONLY to certain passengers and not others. That's just a "closet" class system, and simply abhorrent to me.

[newmexicoNita]

bigsweeps-

 

Whether or not you call X,HAL and Princess premium lines is irrelevant. They are labelled such by the cruise/travel industry- not me- to distinguish them from RCCL,NCL CCL and others which are labelled as mainstream or contemporary lines. I'm sure the TA's on these boards would confirm this.

 

Regarding suites on NCL vs standard cabins on luxury lines- our Radisson cabin will not have 5 TV's, 2 bathrooms, DVD player, private cocktail party with the Captain, priority debarkation, among other things. That is not to say I think our NCL cruise will be better than our Radisson cruise. Just trying to say that it's comparing two very different entities, and not a good comparison. As someone who has both of these scenarios booked within the next year, I am experiencing this first hand.

 

In the end,we may prefer non-suite luxury line to NCL's suite experience,and feel its well worth the cost. Time will tell.

 

I think the pax have brought this upon themselves in part. Reading these boards and learning how to call the upsell department independently has created a feeling of entitlement or expectation to the upsells. It probably has created more unanticipated calls to the upsell dept as well. Now everybody's ticked that the policy is changing. As said above,you should book the best cabin you can afford and not expect anything further. Personally I like the aforementioned idea of using upsells to reward those who have sailed NCL previously, would be an improvement to their weak Latitudes program.

 

 

you are complete right; the ships are considered Primium: I personally have no idea why and I think many of those sailing on Celebrity are a bit on the snobby side; I know they are, as for HAL I have gotten complaints about the ship from one side to the other. Until a few years ago it was one step above: still in the industry these lines are considered premium. I am not sure about Princess, know it shouldn't be in this catagory by any means: well I guess if you consider fresh water pools part of the primium status then she is. LOL

 

NMNita

[SoCalCruiseguy]

I'd never sail a ship with a "class system."

I believe that once you walk out your cabin door, you should have access to everything on the ship, whether you're in a suite or an inside cabin next to the boiler room.

 

I'm sure lots of people feel that way. Just like many people feel like they should fly in first class no matter what price they've paid. We all want as much as possible for as little as possible. But the reality is that if the rules of the game are those who pay over a certain amount get XX additional bennys then so be it. Its a free market and thats how those folks desire to spend their money. If we walk onboard knowing or worse yet, not doing the research so that you do know that different classes get additional bennys, its not the cruiselines fault. The right thing if you feel that way is to do as you stated and just not go on that ship. Live and learn

[hotspur]

I'm sure lots of people feel that way. Just like many people feel like they should fly in first class no matter what price they've paid. We all want as much as possible for as little as possible. But the reality is that if the rules of the game are those who pay over a certain amount get XX additional bennys then so be it. Its a free market and thats how those folks desire to spend their money. If we walk onboard knowing or worse yet, not doing the research so that you do know that different classes get additional bennys, its not the cruiselines fault. The right thing if you feel that way is to do as you stated and just not go on that ship. Live and learn

No. You managed not to read what I wrote. What I said is a single-class ship should be a single-class ship. You can give all the bennies you want to passengers within their higher-cost cabins (e.g., butlers, special menus, champagne, stocked refrigerators, flowers, robes, fruit bowls, etc.) but there shouldn't be restricted places in non-cabin areas of the ship. Else the ship is by definition not a single-class ship.

 

Your analogy with first-class air is simply off the mark. Airplanes are not single-class, and not claimed to be. Can a cruise line do as it wishes? Of course. But--and this is the point made in my posting above--I'll have no part of it.

[SoCalCruiseguy]

Understand and fair enough

 

 

George

[hazeleyez3]

No. You managed not to read what I wrote. What I said is a single-class ship should be a single-class ship. You can give all the bennies you want to passengers within their higher-cost cabins (e.g., butlers, special menus, champagne, stocked refrigerators, flowers, robes, fruit bowls, etc.) but there shouldn't be restricted places in non-cabin areas of the ship. Else the ship is by definition not a single-class ship.

 

Your analogy with first-class air is simply off the mark. Airplanes are not single-class, and not claimed to be. Can a cruise line do as it wishes? Of course. But--and this is the point made in my posting above--I'll have no part of it.

 

I understand what you are saying but you also have to remember that Lattitude members and guests in suites are typically invited to a Captain's party. It isn't open to all guests - isn't that a class system?

[fodorspeter]

No, a true class system discriminates based on social standing. Anyone can be a Lattitudes member and anyone can purchase a suite. Those that have sailed before are getting a reward for repeat business which is not an uncommon business practice. Those that have paid for a suite, are getting something extra that's in the price. They also get consierge services and a dvd player.

 

Also, I called the upsell desk again yesterday and they re-confirmed that passengers can not call to inquire about upsells, but they will call them if they fit the criteria (whatever that is) and something is available.

 

Peter

[hotspur]

No, a true class system discriminates based on social standing.

Depends on whether you're talking about social "classes" or different classes of passage on a ship or airplane.

 

In the so-called good old days of Atlantic crossings, passengers booked a certain "class" and based on that class were given access to certain parts of the ship, with passengers in a "higher" class having access to better everything. Kept the riff-raff separate from the wealthy, and maybe gave the latter first crack at the lifeboats.

 

That concept, thankfully, pretty much disappeared from the world of cruising, because, I suspect, as seahorse pointed out above for his group of folks, the "class system bothered them." I, and I'd guess many Americans, find that kind of separation by territory distasteful. As I said above, whatever the cruise line chooses to do for a passenger within his or her cabin is fair game. You decide upon whatever level of services, space, amenities, food and drink, etc., you are willing to pay for, and these are made available to you in your cabin. But when you start restricting access to what are commonly thought of as the public areas of the ship, then you are regressing to the multi-class structure of 50-100 years ago, and that I find uncomfortable, whether I'm in the "higher" class--as we were on our recent Celebrity cruise in a suite--or in the "lower" class.

 

Once you set aside special dining rooms for suite passengers, or special lounges, what's the next step? Reserved superior seating areas for shows? Reserved lounge chairs in a special area by the pool? Will ordinary passengers have to give up their lounge chairs if another passenger flashes a "suite card" in their face? Suite-passenger-only lectures and "enrichment" events? A more posh private casino? Go-to-the-head-of-the-line access at the buffet, or the waffle station?

 

Those sorts of things cause resentment among the "lower" class, and, I'd like to think, some degree of discomfort among the "higher." I suspect that's what seahorse's group was sensing on the QM2. Recognizing frequent-traveler members with a modest event--reception or tea--is somehow different--to me, at least.

[mrsbooger]

I recently booked the Norwegian Jewel in a Courtyard Villa. These are 'suites' on their own deck with a private pool and hot tub, they get all the 'perks' of a suite plus use of this deck. Is this the start of a 'class system' again? It is space that was set aside for people who booked certain cabins. I have been on RCCL that has the Conceige Club that is only for suite passengers. I have been on cruises where I was able to access this lounge and where I haven't been. The time I was able to go I went once and thought it was a waste. It's a 'perk' that comes with a suite, but personally, it wasn't all that great fro me. In order to get 'free' drinks you had to be there certain hours etc. I guess the new Jewel fits into this latest topic. Thoughts, comments?

 

mizboog

[fodorspeter]

What you are saying doesn't make sense. If you are a suite passenger, you get a preferred check-in line, you get preferred tender tickets, you get a separate lounge area with free drinks and hors deurs, you get early disembarkment tags. Are you saying that you don't think suite passengers deserve this special treatment?? Come on - even lattitude members get a special cocktail party, those with ship's excursions get first tender tickets. Are you not ok with these privileges?

 

Peter

[seahorse]

On Cunard, "Second Class" can`t eat in certain restaurants, etc. When you are on a "classless" cruiseship you can pretty much eat and go wherever you want. I think NCL is threading a fine line with what they are doing with the Garden and courtyard villas. I agree that if you pay these prices you should be able to get certain perks, and your own space is one of them.

 

I think that they have to be very careful with what they are doing here. You can antagonize a lot of pax (the majority), for only a few. After what I read here about the young adults trying to get up to the GV on the Dawn a few months ago. I think this is what happened. Unfortunately in our society, with certain people, there is resentment.

 

As far as "class" goes, I know many wealthy people who have none:eek: and many an average "Joe" that would put the Queen to shame:D

 

As far as giving up anything to the suite pax as Hotspur said, I think that is why NCL has given the Higher Suite pax their own space and pool and the ability to dine in with white glove service.

 

BTW Hotspur, I`m a she:D

[lovemylife]

Bravo, Ann, wealth and class are not the same...

[mrsbooger]

Fodor, I'm ok with the 'privileges', just wondering how everyone else sees them. It's interesting to read the boards and see different perspectives. I do believe that if you pay more, you should get more for your money. That being said, a private pool, more space, etc..fits into that for me, whether I'm a suite passenger or not, and I've been both. Some people see it from the other side though. I'll never forget the day we were disembarking on The Dawn. We stayed in a mini suite, this was in March 2003, I really didn't get many 'perks', but that was ok, it was one of my best cruises and by far my favorite ship. WHile they were cleaning one of the AB suites, they allowed me to come through and take pictures. I was in awe of the beauty of the suite. From that point forward I realized that if you could afford it, it was definitely worth the price! Some people would rather cruise often at cheaper rates and some less often and splurge on a suite. That's what makes the world go round and keep it interesting!

 

mizboog

[fodorspeter]

Sorry Mrsbooger, I was aiming my remarks at Hotspur.

 

Peter