Are you thinking of giving up on NCL?

[coldflame]

Are you a loyal customer? and what makes you keep coming back?

 

I have zero loyalty for any brand. We've tried 3 different cruise lines and have been quite happy with our experience on all 3. We now simply travel on whichever makes more sense at any given time. Purposefully limiting yourself to one line, any one line, is a bit silly, IMO. But to each his or her own.

[fshagan]

Just the other night I saw that NCL has a 14-day itinerary that's RT out of Southampton and goes to Norway, Scotland, and Iceland. I priced it out with prepaid gratuities as my promo (I was looking at an inside as this would be a solo cruise, and the Jade doesn't have studios). The cost ended up being $3038 (base fare with promo). I looked at both Princess and HAL for similar itineraries, and IIRC for cruises that weren't quite as long the base fares were hundreds higher--I believe one of them was about $1,000 higher. I'm finding this pretty consistently with European and Alaskan itineraries. It may be different for Caribbean cruises, but I don't care for the Caribbean so don't ever look at those cruises.

 

My unscientific method of comparing cruise prices is showing that NCL pricing is softening a bit. Just a few weeks ago when I listed cruises by the lines I want to try or sail again for Alaska (Celebrity, Disney, HAL, NCL, Princess and RCL) the NCL cruises were higher than HAL, Princess and RCL regularly, and often higher than Celebrity. Now I'm seeing them back on the first page of cruises again with more competitive rates.

 

I don't know if that means anything long term for the line, or if we should read anything into it. I'm following the Celebrity board now because we want to sail on them, and everyone is aghast at the high prices (including a massive price increase and then a "50% off second passenger" sale that put pricing back to the prior regular amount).

 

I suspect the cruise lines are trying to push the fares higher and meeting resistance due to competition.

[coldflame]

I suspect the cruise lines are trying to push the fares higher and meeting resistance due to competition.

 

That indeed is how competitive markets work. Nothing specific with cruise lines :)

 

What they are really hoping for is that all or many cruise lines increase their prices at the same time, independently (else it's illegal) so that price-choice isn't there and people will be "forced" to travel at elevated prices.

 

Edit: Or ... like DCL decided to do since two years ago. Price as high as your fans are willing to pay ignoring the rest of the market. I hate to admit it, but it's working wonderfully for them, economically speaking.

Edited September 22, 2016 by coldflame

[spanishguy1970]

I have zero loyalty for any brand. We've tried 3 different cruise lines and have been quite happy with our experience on all 3. We now simply travel on whichever makes more sense at any given time. Purposefully limiting yourself to one line, any one line, is a bit silly, IMO. But to each his or her own.

 

Some choose to stay with the line others choose to try different things..the key word is CHOICE i respect either so IMO is not silly. It has nothing to do with loyalty but it does have everything to do what is convenient and enjoy at the moment, at least it is in my case.

Edited September 22, 2016 by qtaromar1970

[sparks1093]

Some choose to stay with the line others choose to try different things..the key word is CHOICE i respect either so IMO is not silly. It has nothing to do with loyalty but it does have everything to do what is convenient and enjoy at the moment, at least it is in my case.

 

But if one does not experience it first hand (if one has the opportunity) then one cannot truly know if there is something out there that one would enjoy better or just as much. Before we sailed on CCL I was a little apprehensive from all that I've read about CCL but we gave it a try anyway and what we found was a cruise line more similar to NCL than different. That gave us two choices when booking cruises instead of just one. Our goal is to try all of the main stream lines at least once but in reality we expect to find the same thing- more similarities than real substantial differences.

[deliver42]

I agree. If you look at my signature, you will see that I've tried, or will be trying different lines. Other than price, I want to see what each line offers.While I always look at CC, I usually discount the raves and rants of a ship, and follow the balanced reviews.

[fshagan]

Edit: Or ... like DCL decided to do since two years ago. Price as high as your fans are willing to pay ignoring the rest of the market. I hate to admit it, but it's working wonderfully for them, economically speaking.

 

I always look at DCL (and NCL's Pride of America) as the fare price you would pay if every ship jettisoned their smokey casinos full of people who either enjoy gambling very much or are really bad at math (jk - I know gamblers fall into the first category much more than the latter).

[spanishguy1970]

But if one does not experience it first hand (if one has the opportunity) then one cannot truly know if there is something out there that one would enjoy better or just as much. Before we sailed on CCL I was a little apprehensive from all that I've read about CCL but we gave it a try anyway and what we found was a cruise line more similar to NCL than different. That gave us two choices when booking cruises instead of just one. Our goal is to try all of the main stream lines at least once but in reality we expect to find the same thing- more similarities than real substantial differences.

 

Yes, you may be right, but again is about time and space, for instance there may be a time when we decide to try something new because IS TIME, and we may go that route, but there is attitude out there that if you are not experiencing other cruise lines you are missing out and we are trying to say no we are not, because we are enjoying what we are doing now, others see it as being loyal to the cruise line and it has nothing to do with that, does that make sense? oh i hope so LOL :D

[sparks1093]

Yes, you may be right, but again is about time and space, for instance there may be a time when we decide to try something new because IS TIME, and we may go that route, but there is attitude out there that if you are not experiencing other cruise lines you are missing out and we are trying to say no we are not, because we are enjoying what we are doing now, others see it as being loyal to the cruise line and it has nothing to do with that, does that make sense? oh i hope so LOL :D

 

At the end of the day you have to please yourself, that's for sure. I'm to cost conscious to just keep booking the same line over and over without at least seeing what the prices are for other lines. So for us the lowest fare for the itinerary we want to take will almost always win out (and interestingly enough I just priced a Baltic Sea cruise and NCL was the only line I found doing that itinerary, so we'll see how it goes when it's time to book that one).

[Toby459]

I’m really not giving much thought to leaving NCL. I like the product, the price, the departure cities and the routes (I love trans-atlantics). I’m also one who believes that eventually, if one lives long enough, loyalty pays off.

 

When I used to do a lot of travelling with my job, I picked one airline and did all of my flying with them for years and years. The result of that is that I had almost two million frequent flyer miles. I’m still flying free but for tax today. Other things that I considered an advantage was that I got to know the flight crews and they knew me by name. With that came numerous perks not all of which were written down as benefits. We have gotten to know some of the Norwegian staff by name and we recognize each other when we board. It’s a good feeling.

 

In time, I believe Norwegian will upgrade its rewards program and I’m pretty sure that when it does, I’ll be somewhere near the top. It might not be “the top” but it will be far enough up there for me to appreciate the difference for my loyalty.

 

Now, this is my opinion. To those of you who are more interested in shredding another person’s opinion that putting forth your own; relax, take a breath and realize that we can both be civil even though we have different experiences and values.

 

I leave on another trans-atlantic in five weeks and I’m looking forward to again being on board. :D

[spanishguy1970]

At the end of the day you have to please yourself, that's for sure. I'm to cost conscious to just keep booking the same line over and over without at least seeing what the prices are for other lines. So for us the lowest fare for the itinerary we want to take will almost always win out (and interestingly enough I just priced a Baltic Sea cruise and NCL was the only line I found doing that itinerary, so we'll see how it goes when it's time to book that one).

 

and now just saw 10 day cruise South America for 199 YIKES i guess most people don't want to travel on December...

[spanishguy1970]

see you there TOBY459 :D

[sparks1093]

and now just saw 10 day cruise South America for 199 YIKES i guess most people don't want to travel on December...

 

Or for 10 days. Or pay for airfare to South America. Looking forward to SA cruises in December of next year they are running them differently and the prices are much, much higher. Of course if I were considering doing the 2017 cruise I would be waiting to see if the price drops the way the 2016 cruises to SA have.

[spanishguy1970]

Or for 10 days. Or pay for airfare to South America. Looking forward to SA cruises in December of next year they are running them differently and the prices are much, much higher. Of course if I were considering doing the 2017 cruise I would be waiting to see if the price drops the way the 2016 cruises to SA have.

 

yes, considering that an airline ticket to SA can range from 1000 and up, maybe that is why those prices are so low right now..:confused: