price protection plan

[iwannago07]

Does NCL have a price protection plan? We booked an Alaska cruise for 2013 and if the price goes down will they match it? We've only been on Carnival and they have their early saver so wondering if NCL has anything like that?

 

Thanks

[che5904]

I'm not familiar with what Carnival has.

 

You are responsible for keeping an eye on prices. If the price lowers before final payment is due, you can contact NCL or your TA and request to be given the lower price.

 

Keeping in mind in order to get the lower price their system cancels and rebooks your reservation. Which can mean any OBC you may have gotten with your original booking may not be available at the time of the change. Also if you are interested in latitude perks then your 9 month out reservation perks you would not receive if it's under the 9 months.

[bakerintn]

here is a link to the official "best price guarantee" program:

 

http://www2.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/best-price-guarantee

 

NCL may give you the benefit of new pricing beyond the above policy if it is before final payment date. You have to ask for it, and you will lose any special promotional benefits that you got with your original booking. Therefore, it may or may not end up being a better price.

[ndabunka]

If your cruise is less than 90 days out, you will have already have made your final payment and will not get any price matching but you "may be able" to get some type of OBC for a portion of the differential between what you had paid and what the current cost may be.

[AttilaTheFun]

If your cruise is less than 90 days out, you will have already have made your final payment and will not get any price matching but you "may be able" to get some type of OBC for a portion of the differential between what you had paid and what the current cost may be.

 

Or a category upgrade. When our Europe cruise price dropped dramatically, we were able to get a free upgrade from inside to balcony, but they refused any kind of onboard credit instead.

[garycarla]

Yes,they do have a plan. They guarantee they will not raise your price.

[bonvoyagie]

For my upcomming cruise there are 12 suites in our catagory - as of a day or two ago only 5 were taken. NCL has dropped the price back down to the EBF for the first two people - this would be a 20.00 pp drop for me. I had my TA look into it and found out that the 20.00 drop was only for the first two passengers and that additional passengers were seeing a 120.00 increase. So to cancel and re-book to save 40.00 would cost me an additional 80.00 (we are a party of three) as well as my OBC for early booking - so I do have a good deal.

 

BTW I don't think that with NCL you will ever see a price lower than the EBF - which is what you get by booking a year or more in advance.

[AttilaTheFun]

For my upcomming cruise there are 12 suites in our catagory - as of a day or two ago only 5 were taken. NCL has dropped the price back down to the EBF for the first two people - this would be a 20.00 pp drop for me. I had my TA look into it and found out that the 20.00 drop was only for the first two passengers and that additional passengers were seeing a 120.00 increase. So to cancel and re-book to save 40.00 would cost me an additional 80.00 (we are a party of three) as well as my OBC for early booking - so I do have a good deal.

 

BTW I don't think that with NCL you will ever see a price lower than the EBF - which is what you get by booking a year or more in advance.

 

Sorry, what is the EBF?

[che5904]

The other thing I just thought of.

 

Also be careful when checking prices that the lower price or promotion is not for new bookings only (which sometimes NCL will have).

[ndabunka]

Sorry, what is the EBF?

 

Early Booking Fare - You basically have to book the first day or two the ship is available which can be 2 or 3 years in advance. I also think that special rate may disappear rather quickly (within a month) of it being made available.

 

Unfortunately, it is simply not practical for many (like us with a family) but appears to be a hit for cruise hawks who circle the emerging ships availability online. I did consider it for the Hawaii itinerary but that is sometime in 2015 as of today's date so is 3 years out.

 

One caveat is that upsell calls DO offer SIGNIFICANTLY lower rates than even the EBF. Some have gotten calls to move from an inside to a Suite for a fraction of the difference between the published prices. EBF for suite was something like $1,899pp when the buyer paid $499pp for an inside GTY ($1,400pp difference). They were then called 2 weeks prior to sailing and offered that same suite for $200pp "upsell" so they essentially got the suite for $699pp