Price Drop?

[spanishguy1970]

10 minutes ago, Notnewtoit said:

Agree 100% on flexibility. 'Fair' is subjective however... 

true, however if NCL drops their prices after final payment is fair to say they should expect customers to come back and ask for adjustments, give or not, is human nature to try to save money specially if you are on a budget. Coming back to what i said before,  booking at the last minute is hard to manage, yes the price may be better but what if you have to book airlines? specially if you go abroad? airlines prices can make the cheap cruise price not worth it, so every situation is different.

[Notnewtoit]

10 minutes ago, spanishguy1970 said:

true, however if NCL drops their prices after final payment is fair to say they should expect customers to come back and ask for adjustments, give or not, is human nature to try to save money specially if you are on a budget. Coming back to what i said before,  booking at the last minute is hard to manage, yes the price may be better but what if you have to book airlines? specially if you go abroad? airlines prices can make the cheap cruise price not worth it, so every situation is different.

...of course the whole reason that there even is a final payment date months in advance is so that they CAN check load factors and adjust pricing accordingly. I sense a tenuous grasp on reality here... you buy any product, the price may go up or down the next day... it's called "life" or "s**t happens".

Edited March 14, 2019 by Notnewtoit

[Budget Queen]

10 minutes ago, spanishguy1970 said:

good grief, not everyone can be flexible, school year, work, adjust to children vacation etc. That said,you can't answer OP threads without trying to understand where they are coming from, being an NCL apologist is not the way. Yes, you seem to play the game every month and once again this falls under the category that is YOUR experience, your way of booking and not everyone can do that, once again not everyone can be flexible. People expect fair pricing and quite frankly NCL  pricing is far from fair. Yes, is about demand but they need to start being more flexible if they care to keep customers. 

 

That is the point.  A LOT more choices and benefits that come at a cost.     You seem to want prices low to begin with???    Then why are people paying it and booking?         There are multiple choices and cruise lines.  

 

Sorry. Your “fair”. Slant wanting a piece of the bottom rates?    

 

your list of restrictions and about where people are “coming from “.   Well what about the late booking?????   Do you want to wait until hours prior for a trip?   Scramble -packing ,arrangements with lodging transportation     Etc. 

 

As I already mentioned there are all kinds of “costs” of travel.   

 

Sour grapes in in some cases. 

[FitchburgWIFamily]

The TV I bought at Costco before Christmas is now $500.00 cheaper.     My coworker is flying to the exact same airport I am 10 days before I am, she paid 1/5 of the fare I paid.   I am flying on a high demand day (Saturday) during a high demand week (last week of March) she flew out this Wednesday.  I can buy a swim suit this week in the department store or I can wait until we can actually swim in this state.  If I wait until June, the prices will be bargain basement clearance prices.  The selection will be picked over.

 

The department store doesn't make nearly as much profit on the swim suit sold at 40% off the sale price as it did at the sale price or at full price.  In all of the examples above, the business isn't trying to maximize profit when they sell at the lower rate, they are trying to recoup the costs they have already laid out.

 

NCL has the pay the stewards, the waiters, the bar tenders, the casino workers, the engineers, the laundry workers, the dishwashers, etc. whether the cabins are all full or 1/2 full.  There is a business model somewhere that tells them the desired occupancy.  For some passengers, they made profit from the higher per cabin rate.  For the ones that sign on at the bargain rate, they are just hoping to cover their costs.

 

I could be disingenuous and return my TV this week and buy a new one.  But I won't.  Because I knew when I bought it was I paying an early adapter rate at a high demand time, and it was worth it to me then.  I can return my swim suit, lurk around until they return it to the floor at a clearance rate and buy it again, but I won't because that is a huge waste of time and has too much risk built in.  I can call the airline and explain that I think they should give me the same rate as my coworker but I won't because that would be absolutely futile.

 

Some posters on here are saying that NCL should offer the lowest possible fare to all consumers.  That is not how a business makes money.   If  you want to say it is a customer dissatisfier and never book a cruise with them again, no one can stop you.  

 

As for the people like me who understand basic concepts of business, we will continue to book a cruise when the value of that cruise (the type of accommodation,  the itinerary, the amenities) provide value commensurate with the price.   If after we reach the final payment date, the price goes down, we will either not care (because the value is still commensurate with the price) or we will call NCL and see if we can get a better room now the that prices are lower (increasing the value to price ratio).

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CruzinKristin]

On 3/14/2019 at 7:18 AM, yoedba said:

Which cruise are you going on? My cruise had a price drop of $2200, the most I ended getting back from NCL was a measly $150 obc. Not worth it!!.

I called them and my TA at least 5 times. I ended up paying $1000 more to upgrade to a better cabin. My cruise is in May, I hope I will enjoy the cruise and the upgraded room rather than feeling pissed off about getting robbed $2200...

 

Pride of America in June.

[trex-de]

Different scenario:  past final payment. A higher category dropped in price.   Will NCL through a TA work with me (I pay the difference and get the next level perks)?

 

currently:  inside with UBP

upgrade:  ov with UBP and 3 day SDP (+$100 difference in price)

 

thoughts?

thanks

[yoedba]

10 hours ago, trex-de said:

Different scenario:  past final payment. A higher category dropped in price.   Will NCL through a TA work with me (I pay the difference and get the next level perks)?

 

currently:  inside with UBP

upgrade:  ov with UBP and 3 day SDP (+$100 difference in price)

 

thoughts?

thanks

From my experience, as long as the base fare for the new cabin is higher ( not including the price of perks) they will let you upgrade for the current price difference.

[trex-de]

9 hours ago, yoedba said:

From my experience, as long as the base fare for the new cabin is higher ( not including the price of perks) they will let you upgrade for the current price difference.

Called and got the upgrade!!   Paid the difference and received both perks. Never tried before but it worked. FYI - I used a popular online TA (exp...com) and not NCL. Took an hour with the rep but got a bigger room and an extra perk. 

 

Cool beans!

[yoedba]

Just now, trex-de said:

Called and got the upgrade!!   Paid the difference and received both perks. Never tried before but it worked. FYI - I used a popular online TA (exp...com) and not NCL. Took an hour with the rep but got a bigger room and an extra perk. 

 

Cool beans

Glad to hear, enjoy your cruise!!!

[Carnac767]

My best price drop experience was ten years ago when I booked an Eastern Med cruise on Jade over a year in advance.  This was a bucket list cruise (the Vatican, the Parthenon, and the Pyramids), so we booked early to get the aft balcony we wanted.  It was the height of the 2008 financial crisis.  Over the course of the year NCL kept lowering prices, as vacation travel was a casualty of the recession.  We went from the aft balcony to an aft penthouse, for $2200 less than our original booking.  To top it off, they offered us an upsell to the Garden Villa days before sailing.

[FAGATRON]

On 3/6/2019 at 6:51 PM, blcruising said:

I think this is a foolish suggestion. NCL customers are regularly hunting for bargains. People want the most for the least. It is human nature. So, to resolve your curiosity, I don't know anyone who would offer to pay a higher price today for something they bought yesterday for less money. 

 

It's like the price guarantees at the big box stores...if you buy something today, that price is guaranteed for 30, 60 , 90 days. If you find a lower price for the same item, they'll refund you the difference. 

 

I do agree it is nice of them to do anything after final payment. Many lines do nothing.

 

I know NCL regularly overstates their pricing early on, so I have solved this by booking last minute. I know this is not an option for many though. If I couldn't sail last minute, I would not sail NCL as their rates are not competitive far in advance.

 

I agree with you. My first cruise this past January wouldn't have happened on NCL if it weren't for the last minute discounted rate. The same with my next cruise this upcoming May, though this one was booked out at 52 days compared to 17 days, lol.