Black Friday deal?

[gmbhardy]

It’s not all bad. I scored a flight from Toronto for $199 Canadian. That’s about one third the normal cost, so I’m happy.

[tanyaewa]

On 11/13/2018 at 4:37 PM, BirdTravels said:

Probably won't be better than Take All 5 (Veteran's Day special). 

That was awesome.  Upgraded to all 5 and am very stoked, 

[Hotspring]

14 hours ago, geneticfreak said:

Someone please tell me why the free airfare is bad. IMO, I am picking the departure airport, and everything else is on them including booking a flight that gets me to the port before the ship leaves, which is the most important thing. 

If there only two to the stateroom, free airfare might be acceptable if one realizes that could be given a red eye arriving at the airport at 6AM, have to wait in the airport 3 hours and wait in the terminal.    If more than 2 are in the stateroom, NCL appears to be really jacking up the price of the airfare for the additional guest, even with the discount they suggest they offer.    Anyone proficient on the web should be able to find a much better deal with foreknowledge of what flights they are getting.    Also NCL makes you buy their airport transfer packages, adding more costs.

[April42749]

On 11/21/2018 at 8:14 PM, JamieLogical said:

 

Isn't that what the Sail Away rate is?

No, because you can't pick your own cabin with sail-away rate.

[sfaaa]

Sometimes, NCL would allow you to pick cabin under IX.

[timf2001]

Another change regarding the "free" airfare that I haven't seen mentioned is that in the previous incarnation, Suites & Haven always got truly free airfare regardless of departure city.  Now, it prices out at the same as non-suites.

Edited November 23, 2018 by timf2001

[ksmcdonald]

Black Friday price is definitely not a deal!  I have the Escape booked  ($200 OBC, dining and drink package) for Mar 24 and the price is now $173 more than when I booked in August.    So,  it not only cost $173 more for the Black Friday sale, but I would also lose my $200 OBC, so essentially it would cost me $373 more with their so called sale.  Smoke and mirrors.

 

 

 

[geneticfreak]

Well I’m giving the free airfare a go. Was free from Newark and $99 pp from philly, so I’ll drive a hour to save $200. 

[JamieLogical]

Shocking no one, NCL's new "Cyber Monday Sale" is the same as the Black Friday Sale that ended at midnight.

[mking8288]

Been watching one of our upcoming Escape booking for price trends lately - plenty of unsold inventory for new booking, while the SailAway rates remain unchanged, the FAS rates actually gone up slightly, right on Black Friday ...  huh & now extended thru Monday (won't be surprised thru end of month, again, "for a limited time only")  Deal or No Deal, final answer is "no deal"

 

Looks like tomorrow's (11/25) 14 Day Escape to West Carib out of N.Y is sailing with a good # of empty cabins, including balconies & oceanviews, and, of course -  even, Studio isn't "sold out" but, you can get a SailAway deal for a Balcony - GTY for less (single supplement dropped earlier but ...) 

[Arzeena]

On 11/21/2018 at 3:09 PM, JamieLogical said:

 

Some people are particular about which airlines they fly. Some people aren't content with economy class. Some people are traveling with others and want to be able to sit together. Some people don't want more than one layover. Some people want to get into the port city a day early so they aren't so rushed the day of the cruise.  

And "some people" were able to check majority of those boxes recently with the Free Airline offering, so overall not bad for some people..

[realtorgranny]

I recently booked with 5 perks plus airfare,  only to find out that San Antonio is not on the list of cities they book from. No you do not get to choose your airline or even flight. I was however given $100 off per person on the cruise fare. This was a TA cruise from Copenhagen to NO. 

[JamieLogical]

37 minutes ago, realtorgranny said:

I recently booked with 5 perks plus airfare,  only to find out that San Antonio is not on the list of cities they book from. No you do not get to choose your airline or even flight. I was however given $100 off per person on the cruise fare. This was a TA cruise from Copenhagen to NO. 

 

I don't think you can get the $100 off for unused airfare with the current promotion, since they are now treating airfare as one of the normal Free at Sea perks instead of it's own separate promotion.

[beachseasand]

I realize that this promotion has only been running in parts of the system for a short while, so has anyone used the "Free/reduced airfare"? My question is can you come in one day before to avoid missing your cruise due to flight delays? Also, what happens if you want to stay in Alaska to tour Denali and catch your flight three days later? It seems to me that NCL has opened a whole Pandora's box of late flights full of cruise passengers either delaying the departure or they miss the cruise. 

[JamieLogical]

1 minute ago, beachseasand said:

I realize that this promotion has only been running in parts of the system for a short while, so has anyone used the "Free/reduced airfare"? My question is can you come in one day before to avoid missing your cruise due to flight delays? Also, what happens if you want to stay in Alaska to tour Denali and catch your flight three days later? It seems to me that NCL has opened a whole Pandora's box of late flights full of cruise passengers either delaying the departure or they miss the cruise. 

 

 

According to some other threads, it seems some people where able to pay $50 extra per person to get flights that arrive a day earlier, though some people were told they would be required to book their hotel through NCL as well if doing that. I was explicitly told by my PCC that I could not opt to stay longer in the port city AFTER the cruise no matter what I was willing to pay extra. I contemplated using the "free" flight to fly into NOLA and then paying for my own one-way tickets from NOLA back home, but ended up just choosing a different cruise.

[beachseasand]

Thank you

[Beachiekeen]

For us the new deal is way worse and I wish we would have booked it already. Cruise went up $200/pp and they took away perks we wanted like pre-cruise hotel. I hope it goes back to the way it was after this “sale.”

[FLAHAM]

On 11/20/2018 at 4:02 PM, sfaaa said:

Nothing to write home about for sure. Then again, it's no secret that NCL's current business model is to move away from bargain hunter and bottom feeder market.

 

Good.