NEW- "Norwegian Lifestyle Collection" credit

[Out to sea!]

I think that by that description this "offer" is worth absolutely nothing. When buying FCR onboard, there is no actually any free spending money - just a marketing scheme to make people think that they have an extra $100 to spend when in reality they can get away simply just by paying $150 total for the certificate ($250 minus the $100 "free" OBC).

 

So what the new offer does is just convincing people to buy more from NCL when they don't actually need to.

 

While it may be a marketing scheme, it's one that saves you $100 on your next cruise (the FCR itself). Fair enough to me (if you ever plan on sailing NCL again). As for the Lifestyle credit, unless you have expensive tastes (and can afford those expensive tastes), it's a useless $100 credit towards things that most people will never purchase (such as a $299 case of wine). I deleted my email as soon as I got it.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Out to sea!

[Out to sea!]

As an aside, there was also an offer to convert the $100 OBC into $125 in slot play credit.

 

I agree with punkincc - as long as the Freestyle Cruise Reward continues to receive the automatic $100 OBC, I will buy it. The Lifestyle Collection bonus and the slot play bonus aren't very valuable to me.

 

 

Of course, with this promotion, you could always join, play the $25 comped, and then cash out the $100 left over.

[Out to sea!]

There are posters here who believe that a Cruise Reward should never be resold for more than $150. ($250 cost - $100 OBC)

 

 

It will be interesting to see if they hold true to their belief by now saying that the resale value of a Cruise Reward should only be $50 ($250 cost - $100 OBC - $100 Lifestyle Credit). :rolleyes:

 

A seller can ask anything they want for their FCR ($5 or $500). As the owner of the property that is their right. An intelligent buyer would never pay more than $150 for an FCR because that's what was paid for it. I doubt I would even pay the $150 because the seller is obviously trying to get rid of it and not lose the entire $150 they have invested in it. The onus is on the seller to get rid of the property they no longer want, not on the buyer to make sure the seller doesn't lose his/her shirt on a poorly conceived plan.

[Out to sea!]

During your cruise you will receive a form to complete to purchase FCCs (or you can visit the cruise consultant on board). Your account will be charged $250 and you will also receive a $100 OBC at the same time. Thus, the cost is only $150. You will then receive a letter verifying the purchase and the FCC is attached to your lattitude number. Once you have the FCC, you can use it for a cruise deposit worth $250, saving $100 on the cruise.

 

And to make it sweeter, you can use more than 1 on a multi-segment cruise. I used two on my b2b Alaska cruise coming up in 2015. One on the northbound leg and one on the southbound leg so I saved $200 on that cruise AND no money out of pocket when I booked it! :)

[mitsugirly]

I am wondering about this LifeStyle credit as well. They advertised it on our cruise and I bought a certificate (but they didn't deliver anything to my room saying I got the certificate and I always thought they did that prior to the end of the cruise) :confused:

 

I did however confirm that they did charge my account for the cruise cert.

 

I came back on Dec 22nd and haven't received anything for the cruise cert OR an email for the additional promotion yet. Others on my cruise sailing received their emails today. :eek:

 

Where's mine?

 

Anyone have this website for the products so I can check it out and see if there's anything worth buying?

[AlphaGeek]

I agree with others in this thread that if the OBC was removed, and only the Lifestyle Credit was provided when purchasing a cert, then I would no longer purchase one. Sadly, that might actually influence us to try out cruises with other lines, which is not the behaviour that NCL was hoping for.

[newmexicoNita]

We got 2 FCC and Lifestyle credits Nov 16th cruise and still have not received our email with the pin number to use it so far I am thinking it is not a very good program, tried calling no one knew what I was talking about.

 

we checked a few days ago with the company. Apparently, due to the busy holiday season they are running behind. It is taking much longer to send the info. I haven't read all the responses here, but I look at it this way: We still get a good deal on the certificate, even if we never use the $100 credit from Lifestyle. All I have found out, which is not much, the merchandise seems to be on the pricey side.

 

Now, after reading all the responses, I too, would not purchase a certificate if it wasn't for the OBC or as Carnival does it: OBC on your next sailing. I am guessing NCL will not convert to only a $100 coupon to buy on line merchandise unless the other lines do something similar.

Edited January 4, 2014 by newmexicoNita

[show_me_girl]

Their website is lifestylecollectiondotcom. We sailed two weeks ago, purchased 1 FCC and I received the email today. Email says you have to call eight five five three zero three two three three nine to activate your credit. I have not called and when I looked at the website, I could not see any merchandise unless I logged in. If everything is very overpriced then this is not worth a thing to me.

 

My bill showed a $250 purchase for a FCC plus a $100 OBC, so I was essentially charged $150 for a $250 credit off a future cruise. That was our motivation for purchasing, not the merchandise credit.

[johnsak123]

I couldnt even log on to the website they gave me

didnt realize i needed a pin

never received an email either and off ship for a couple of long long weeks

[garycarla]

If I am reading this right, it is the SAME as if you bought it onboard - dollar wise.

[DCP]

I am wondering about this LifeStyle credit as well. They advertised it on our cruise and I bought a certificate (but they didn't deliver anything to my room saying I got the certificate and I always thought they did that prior to the end of the cruise)

 

I did however confirm that they did charge my account for the cruise cert.

 

I came back on Dec 22nd and haven't received anything for the cruise cert OR an email for the additional promotion yet. Others on my cruise sailing received their emails today.

 

Where's mine?

 

Anyone have this website for the products so I can check it out and see if there's anything worth buying?

 

You don't *purchase* the Lifestyle credit, you get it when you purchase a FCC. If you bought the FCC, they should have delivered something to your room stating so. If not, call NCL directly and ask them where it is? I think they're worth the cost - it's always $250. off your next booking. I bought 2 this last cruise.

[sjbdtz]

A seller can ask anything they want for their FCR ($5 or $500). As the owner of the property that is their right. An intelligent buyer would never pay more than $150 for an FCR because that's what was paid for it.

 

 

I missed this post back in December, but have a different perspective.

 

Think of concert tickets. You want to go, but it was sold-out when you went to buy tickets. So you find a scalper, and pay cover-price + whatever else they're asking.

 

If you need to put down an $800 deposit on a cruise which is 2 years away, and somebody is selling their FCR for $200, and that FCR will not only hold your deposit but will also give you $250 value toward your cruise, why would it not be an intelligent thing to buy it?

 

You're not tying-up $800, and you have $50 in value over & above what you paid. And the seller got a $50 profit.

 

Doesn't sound unintelligent to me.

 

 

 

Stephen

 

.

[NCLStarHawaii2003]

We got 2 FCC and Lifestyle credits Nov 16th cruise and still have not received our email with the pin number to use it so far I am thinking it is not a very good program, tried calling no one knew what I was talking about.

 

I think NCL automatically activated our sailing as we were supposedly the first group to be offered the "bonus" Lifestyle credit. I never registered with the site because I didn't receive an email; but I did receive a survey today to fill out which I thought was odd. I went onto the site, entered my email, and clicked on lost password and received an email. (Your user name is your email address on file with NCL and the password is probably norwegian). The activation date was 11/25/13; the date we docked back in NY.

[sparks1093]

I missed this post back in December, but have a different perspective.

 

Think of concert tickets. You want to go, but it was sold-out when you went to buy tickets. So you find a scalper, and pay cover-price + whatever else they're asking.

 

If you need to put down an $800 deposit on a cruise which is 2 years away, and somebody is selling their FCR for $200, and that FCR will not only hold your deposit but will also give you $250 value toward your cruise, why would it not be an intelligent thing to buy it?

 

You're not tying-up $800, and you have $50 in value over & above what you paid. And the seller got a $50 profit.

 

Doesn't sound unintelligent to me.

 

 

 

Stephen

 

.

 

Heck, under those circumstances I would probably pay the full $250. I don't concern myself about "fair profit" as much as good value for myself and spending $250 instead of $800 would fall into the good value for myself category:D.

[polySeraph]

I think NCL automatically activated our sailing as we were supposedly the first group to be offered the "bonus" Lifestyle credit. I never registered with the site because I didn't receive an email; but I did receive a survey today to fill out which I thought was odd. I went onto the site, entered my email, and clicked on lost password and received an email. (Your user name is your email address on file with NCL and the password is probably norwegian). The activation date was 11/25/13; the date we docked back in NY.

 

The same thing happened to me. I received the email about the survey as well. I found it curious (as I had never taken any action on the initial offer) but not curious enough to do any sleuthing. I just clicked the link to unsubscribe. Hopefully, that will end it.

[stardancer1]

I think NCL automatically activated our sailing as we were supposedly the first group to be offered the "bonus" Lifestyle credit. I never registered with the site because I didn't receive an email; but I did receive a survey today to fill out which I thought was odd. I went onto the site, entered my email, and clicked on lost password and received an email. (Your user name is your email address on file with NCL and the password is probably norwegian). The activation date was 11/25/13; the date we docked back in NY.

 

 

 

where did you find the site? I haven't been able to find it. I also got an email survey asking why I hadn't used it yet, but never received an email about having it.

[NCLStarHawaii2003]

where did you find the site? I haven't been able to find it. I also got an email survey asking why I hadn't used it yet, but never received an email about having it.

 

This is the link

http://www.lifestylecollection.com/ms_landing_page?v2_landing_page_type_id=536

 

Don't expect much; it doesn't seem like what was explained on the ship. It was made to sound like you had $100.00 to use; so if you bought something for $100 it would be essentially free. Bought something for $125.00; it would cost you $25.00 and so on. It seems more like a discount. If you bought something for $100.00; you could use say $23.50 of your credit as a discount; and pay $76.50. I didn't spend too much time on the site and didn't actually purchase anything; so I could be mistaken; but as soon as it appeared I was wasting my time;I stopped looking.

[HokiePoq]

This is a travel club. When I called they told me there were discounts on hotels and items to purchase but you must purchase a membership before you can use your $100 "credit" Not worth it to me. I was quoted a membership price of $249 but don't know if there where other membership levels.

 

Thanks for the info! (Some posters are confusing this with the actual future cruise credit which is not affected by the new program.) I got a survey last week about how I liked the program. I never received an email with a pin or anything after purchasing the FCC on the Star in January. Now I won't be bothering to find out what it is as I agree the "credit" isn't worth bothering with.

[rvsullivan]

Well, it's not a travel club as someone said. It is a discount type thing, but as an example, the hotels listed show all prices at rack rates. Much higher than I would pay myself if booking. So book at a higher price and then discount that by the $100, not so good. Also a two night minimum when I only wanted one night. Same thing for the wine they sell, to much markup.

As a "freebie" no big deal, but not something I would normally take advantage of. No one ever mentioned to me that they were thinking of replacing any of the current programs with this, just another marketing partnership.

[Ron_L]

Has anyone ordered from the Lifestyles Collection site? I've compared prices on a few items against Amazon.com and with the savings from my credit for buy the Cruise Reward Cert the same products at the Lifestyles Collection site are lower, even after including shipping costs. This may not be true for all items, of course.

[Tricialy]

I haven't ordered anything from the site, but there is a section (under gift cards, I think) that gives you a credit to restaurant.com where you can get restaurant discount certificates. We got one for a restaurant on the strip in Vegas that was pretty good. The restaurants where we live aren't that exciting.

 

I think you get $25 a month to spend at restaurant.com. - I used it in February and April, forgot in March and it says that credit expired - and I have no idea how many months the discount will be there - but it is something :)

Edited April 25, 2014 by Tricialy

[quianakj]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ron_L]

I haven't ordered anything from the site, but there is a section (under gift cards, I think) that gives you a credit to restaurant.com where you can get restaurant discount certificates. We got one for a restaurant on the strip in Vegas that was pretty good. The restaurants where we live aren't that exciting.

 

I think you get $25 a month to spend at restaurant.com. - I used it in February and April, forgot in March and it says that credit expired - and I have no idea how many months the discount will be there - but it is something :)

 

Thanks...

 

I saw that. We use Restaurant.com almost every time we go out to eat so we'll definitely use that!

[Koala_D]

A seller can ask anything they want for their FCR ($5 or $500). As the owner of the property that is their right. An intelligent buyer would never pay more than $150 for an FCR because that's what was paid for it. I doubt I would even pay the $150 because the seller is obviously trying to get rid of it and not lose the entire $150 they have invested in it. The onus is on the seller to get rid of the property they no longer want, not on the buyer to make sure the seller doesn't lose his/her shirt on a poorly conceived plan.

There are other advantages to buying a FCC from a private party. It also covers the entire deposit and the balance is not due until 90 days or less? before sailing. For anyone booking an expensive 2-week cruise like the Panama Canal a year in advance... the FCC certificate is handy.

[Heaven6566]

I have used it a lot for discounts on hotels, claim my restaraunt.com certificate every month and have bought a couple of gift items. I've enjoyed it so far. I have also searched prices on the same hotels and through all of the discount sites, the price is the same with them but they add the discount for the credit I received through NCL. In then end the hotel cost is always cheaper. When my credit runs out, it might be different.

 

I had a question about a hotel bill and called, Customer service is awesome!