Questions on price drops, lost obc and early booking bonus

[Kenlorz]

Hello all. I've never cruised with NCL before, so I'm not very familiar with their policies. My dh and I are cruising on the Breakaway on the May 31st sailing in a spa balcony cabin. I used a much treasured and beloved travel agent to book and scored $300 obc with her and another $100 from NCL from the double dash sale for a total of $400 obc.

 

Just today I saw that the prices had dropped $180 per person from $1519 to $1339, for a total of $360 off our total cost. Our TA explained that you can't just get a price reduction with NCL, but that she had to actually cancel and rebook the cabin. By doing so, we lost the dash sale OBC of $100, but did get the lower price on the cabin and we still have the $300 from her. I asked if there were any other offers from NCL that would give us any obc from them and she said no. I thought I recall there being an early booking bonus offered through NCL. We are still nine months plus out. She didn't think they were offering anything like that. If they still offer it, can someone point me in the right direction to find it, because I can't locate it anywhere. My TA says not to go crazy trying to find it, because they will most likely offer something much better before final payment and we would need to cancel and rebook to get it and I would lose it in the long run anyway.

 

What say all of you? Do they still offer early booking bonuses? Even if they do, should I just wait for a better promotion instead of making an issue of it now? And finally, does anyone know what the next promotion will be? Thanks for your help and advice :)

[rochelle_s]

Sorry I can't answer your questions but I do really like the image you created for your cruise. What program did you create that with?

 

 

Rochelle

[Demonyte]

You need to book a suite (category codes starting with S or H) to get extra OBC more than nine months out. No early booking bonuses for regular cabins.

[Kenlorz]

Sorry I can't answer your questions but I do really like the image you created for your cruise. What program did you create that with?

 

 

Rochelle

 

Thank you for the compliment :) I do graphic arts as part of my career, but for this I just used Pages on my iMac. I used a few tricks of the trade and did a ton of layering with shapes and one or two generic clip arts to create it. I appreciate the compliment. I plan to order t shirts for our cruise with it through Cafe Press and open it to anyone on our roll call to order if they would like. I did a graphic for our Allure cruise and a ton of roll call people ordered shirts and we all wore them on embarkation day. It was so cool to keep running into people wearing them and know you had just met a friend. We also had a banner ordered with the logo and all gathered together for sail away and requested a wave from the webcam for families back home. I still have our sail away web cam video. It makes for great memories.

[Kenlorz]

You need to book a suite (category codes starting with S or H) to get extra OBC more than nine months out. No early booking bonuses for regular cabins.

 

Thank you for the help. Guess I'll be waiting for a good promotion and hoping for the price to stay the same or drop to get it.

[garycarla]

Sales and specials come and go. Often the new lower pricing is WITHOUT the OBC. It just depends on what they are offering today. The price might get lower, it might get higher.

[candydane]

AARP offers up to $100 or 5% off for any cabin category on cruises booked 9 months in advance: AARP Member Cruise Deals.

 

I think you have to be 50 to get AARP membership but it could be worth it if at least one of you in your cabin in your qualify.

Edited August 9, 2014 by candydane

[Imasima752]

AARP offers up to $100 or 5% off for any cabin category on cruises booked 9 months in advance: AARP Member Cruise Deals.

 

I think you have to be 50 to get AARP membership but it could be worth it if at least one of you in your cabin in your qualify.

 

Those under 50 can become associate members and get AARP travel discounts - I did it myself this week. Check out this thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1937636

[CruzLover80]

The only booking bonus 9 months out is the double latitude points earned on your sailing. The minute you do a price adjustment (within the 9 months) you get a new booking date and you lose the double points. However, It's typically worth the savings for points. With the money you save you can go on another cruise and get those points anyway. I was able to save $1000. from my original booking price.

[Imasima752]

The only booking bonus 9 months out is the double latitude points earned on your sailing. The minute you do a price adjustment (within the 9 months) you get a new booking date and you lose the double points. However, It's typically worth the savings for points. With the money you save you can go on another cruise and get those points anyway. I was able to save $1000. from my original booking price.

 

According to link posted by Candydane from the NCL website, "Many cruises in our most desirable locations such as Alaska, Bermuda, The Caribbean, Hawaii and Europe offer up to $100 off and all cruises booked at least nine months in advance will always receive up to 5% AARP members' discount. So start packing and get on your way to feeling what it's like to Cruise Like a Norwegian®".