Pride of America - Post Cruise Marriott through Norwegian

[Cruiseoholic000]

I know Norwegian offers a promotion pre-cruise through Marriott and Pride of America. I was wondering if this is the same for post cruise? If so does Pride of America bring your luggage to the Marriott during disembarkation? Does anyone know the going rate for this? Any information would be appreciated.

[Manbo]

There is no advantage to booking through the cruise line. Go to any of the hotel search site and book your own. Just grab a taxi to your hotel.

FYI...we did that and stayed a the Hyatt one block off the beach! It was great!

[Host Jazzbeau]

If they charge the usual cruise line mark-up on such pre- and post-cruise hotels, you can book the fanciest place in Hawaii on your own for that money.

[Merriem]

Cannot imagine anyone booking a hotel through the cruise line. It is double the cost

[Cruiseoholic000]

Wow, I did not expect such negative feedback. If the price is the same with Free Pre-Cruise Hotel Night then why not. You get to check into the ship at the hotel and they bring your luggage.

 

It might not be a good deal post cruise but was wondering if there might be? If they deal with your luggage it might be worth it if the mark up is not too high.

 

Just trying to get a idea for post cruise.

[Merriem]

Did you check rates? That is the best thing to do.

[Lphs35]

I did check rates. Ncl includes 3 excursions, airport pickup and transportation to ship. With all that, even without breakfast it seemed well worth it!!

Diane

[mgfiest]

We thought it was a good deal.. maybe the prices have changed....

[punkincc]

Wow, I did not expect such negative feedback. If the price is the same with Free Pre-Cruise Hotel Night then why not. You get to check into the ship at the hotel and they bring your luggage.

 

It might not be a good deal post cruise but was wondering if there might be? If they deal with your luggage it might be worth it if the mark up is not too high.

 

Just trying to get a idea for post cruise.

 

 

Not sure what you mean "If the price is the same for Pre-Cruise Hotel Night". With the Choice Promo, your hotel price pre cruise is zero.

 

The Free Hotel Night pre cruise is one of the Choice Promo offerings for Hawaii cruise bookings currently. It is included with the base fare at booking. It's easy enough to check the current price of the Mariott or similar and this $ is what this promo is worth vs another choice like free gratuities. I would not assume that any transfers to the hotel or ship are included unless you see it in the Promo Terms and Conditions or NCL has told you so. With the price of hotels in Waikiki, it may be the best value offered.

 

You can probably add a post cruise hotel through NCL, but I think you will find their price is far higher than you could do on your own. Taxis to and from the pier are not at all expensive or difficult to come by.

 

Some of the negative responses you got were probably thinking you were booking the 11 Day O'ahu Explorer Mariott Waikiki Cruisetour which includes the 7 night cruise, the Mariott 3 or 4 nights and some tours. I don't know if one of the Mariott days is post cruise or if they are all pre cruise, but in any case, most agree this is not a good value. Rather than a base price of $899 pp cruise rate, you are paying a $2,149 pp base rate. For two people that is a difference of more than $2,500. And on your own, you could certainly find a nice hotel, transfers and a few tours and have money left over.

 

But the Choice Promo with free hotel night does seem like a good offer as you are not paying an inflated cruise price to get it

Edited July 11, 2016 by punkincc

[mgfiest]

The last time I looked the different between 11 and 7 days was about $1000... that seemed to be a good $ spend for 3 post cruise days, excusions and bags and you get to the boat

Edited July 11, 2016 by mgfiest

[Weluv2cruise2gether]

We did this in 2013. We flew in from Newark NJ (11 hours straight) on Thursday. Stayed at the Marriott until Saturday when we checked out, NCL picked us up, transported us to the ship. Then we were taken ahead of the lines to check in. When the cruise was over the following Saturday, we had a post cruise excursion booked. They took our luggage right to the Marriott while we did the tour. Upon return to the hotel, luggage was already in our room awaiting us. We initially were going to fly home right after the cruise, but our travel agent told us that the price of the flight to fly on a Saturday was slightly more than staying the extra night at the Mariott and flying home Sunday evening. We booked with our TA who actually just called NCL to make all the arrangement while we were sitting right there. One advantage to staying at the Marriott Waikiki is that NCL has an office in the hotel and they make the effort to greet you on arrival and to talk with you about any questions or concerns. We have already said we would love to do The POA again and would definitely book the same way.

 

P.S. If you go and stay at the Marriott, make sure you walk about one block down and eat at LuLu's. We read about it on the internet so we tried it the first day for a late dinner. Loved it! We ended up eating there 2 more times for a fabulous breakfast!

[punkincc]

Do these packages include airfare? If so, then an extra $1,200 per person above the base cruise price might be a better deal. But if it's just cruise, hotel and a couple tours, I don't see how you could not do much better on your own.

 

There's a small convenience factor, but not a huge one, as things like taxis and shuttles are plentiful and very reasonable when it comes to transportation. Amd they are not at all difficult to obtain. The tours in the description I saw we have done on our own with a $50 rental car. I think only one involves any sort of fee, Kualoa ranch, which has several tours which run as little as $30 pp.

 

The cruise lines do not offer these packages out of generosity in order to save the passenger money. They do it to make money, and if they were not making good money on it they would not bother. So you have to ask yourself if the convenience of having someone else book and plan for you, vs what it would cost you booking it on your own, is worth it to you for the actual extra dollars spent.

 

We learned this the hard way once when needing a shuttle between Ft Lauderdale and the Port of Miami. Rather than research and book on our own, we simply booked NCL's transfer. $30 pp for a total of $60. We cooled our heels for two hours waiting for the shuttle to be ready to depart. Not at all convenient, and not a good value. As we have learned since, we could have booked any of several shared shuttle services for $15 pp, and they would have been at the curb within minutes of us informing them we were ready. We would have been at the pier a full 2 hours before we arrived with NCL. We recently even booked a private shuttle for $20 pp, no waiting, no hassle.

Edited July 11, 2016 by punkincc

[pspercy]

P.S. If you go and stay at the Marriott, make sure you walk about one block down and eat at LuLu's. We read about it on the internet so we tried it the first day for a late dinner. Loved it! We ended up eating there 2 more times for a fabulous breakfast!

__________________

 

Yes, one of the best deals in Waikiki:)

[mgfiest]

it does not include airfair.... NCL does not work with airlines anymore... for the reason you have stated... to make money and the airlines want to rape us only no need for another partner.

[kp3184]

We have booked a cruise for 5(4 adults, 1 child)in a suite for Spring Break, 2017. When making the reservation, I asked about the free night prior to the cruise and was told we do not qualify because we have 5 guests in the 1 suite. Was told the hotel free night is only available for a max of 4 guests only. The NCL website also advertises a low airfare of $399 round trip from most west coast airports...however, that is available for the first 2 guests on the reservation only. I'm a little bummed that we'll have to be spending the extra $$$ on a possible hotel room and probably higher airfare. (Travel dates are specific because our daughter is a school administrator and if we wait until summer, the cruise cost was almost double)

[DaisyGoldberg]

It's a nice hotel (and if still available, they had a laundry room which was perfect post-cruise - we did laundry and sat by the pool and relaxed and returned home with clean things!) There was also a business office from which you could mail packages home, which saved us a lot of souvenir carrying.

 

We booked ourselves, and were glad we did when we saw the cattle call in the lobby the morning of the cruise. We rolled our bags through the chaos out to the bellman, and were in a cab in minutes, and at the pier not long after that. Not sure when the NCL bus arrived, or how long it took to first separate everybody from their bags then reunite them with them on the other end. Don't remember the fare to the pier, but it wasn't astronomical.

 

On the other end, we got our bags and hopped in a cab and were at the hotel very early. Drawback was the room wasn't ready and we had to wait several hours (remember, it's pretty much breakfast time when you leave the ship -- of course people have not checked out yet!) That's when we rolled our bags up to the laundry room and did our laundry!

 

If you book yourself, and ask for Diamondhead views, you will also overlook the zoo, and be able to hear some of the animals, especially at night.