“Free/reduced airfare”

[Tabatha1988]

For those that got free airfare, was it totally free?

[andymattmom]

There may be a fee to fly out of a certain airport. We paid $50 to fly from Indianapolis to Miami. If you fly in the day before it’s $25 per person. Seats - there are free ones but you can pay to get better ones. You do pay for baggage fees. 

[CaliMom05]

Yes we got free airfare flying from LAX to Seattle. We opted to pay for airport transfers as they were reasonable at $40/pp. 

[tokidoki]

2 hours ago, Tabatha1988 said:

For those that got free airfare, was it totally free?

yes😎😂😂  from JFK/MIA,  totally free!!!   Just paid for transfers roundtrip.

[roger001]

And from my airport to most destinations, I can book it cheaper myself.  Just depends.  

[fsa1155]

12 hours ago, andymattmom said:

There may be a fee to fly out of a certain airport. We paid $50 to fly from Indianapolis to Miami. If you fly in the day before it’s $25 per person. Seats - there are free ones but you can pay to get better ones. You do pay for baggage fees. 

We are flying from Indy to Miami too.  What were your flight times like and what airline did they put you on?  We also opted to pay the $25.00 each to fly in the day before.  I'm worried that we'll get the worst flights and worst seats since it's cheap. 

[BarnCat1]

Price out the trip on NCL with and without the airfare (be sure to add in your airport transfers without the airfare)  then decide if you think you can get airfare at a better rate by booking on your own or if it's better to book with NCL.   I'm sure some locations are worth it to book with NCL, other locations fly with low fares and you might do better on your own. Staying a  day or so extra either at the start or end of the cruise is always nice to do, especially before the cruise. I am booking my own airfare for the flexibility and because I feel the airfare will not be as high as what that the price difference is on NCL from my location.  

Edited April 14, 2019 by BarnCat1

[andymattmom]

2 hours ago, fsa1155 said:

We are flying from Indy to Miami too.  What were your flight times like and what airline did they put you on?  We also opted to pay the $25.00 each to fly in the day before.  I'm worried that we'll get the worst flights and worst seats since it's cheap. 

We leave IND at 7am and arrive in Miami 945 am nonstop on American Airlines. Return is also nonstop on American leaves 3:45 arrives 6:45 pm. It was $50 per person- I found good free seats and we opted out of transfer fee so that wasn’t charged (we are going to Uber to Hampton Inn Mary Brickell). It was much cheaper than prices on any airline for us -even including baggage fees. I checked all airlines including our normal Southwest. I checked flying into Ft Lauderdale and Orlando also. We won’t fly Frontier or Allegiant or Spirit. We are going Memorial Day weekend. Our hotel was $204 including free breakfast . 

 

Hope that helps 

[Joken35]

We declined the air fare benefits as we were able to get the fare at a lower rate than the extra fee. we were able to choose our seats amd fly in a day earlier  . Less  stress as we are flying from Newark NJ to Rome. 

[nicoleinwi]

On an upcoming Alaska cruise out of Seattle the only option was reduced at $200pp but out of an airport 2 hours form home, vs the regional airport 10 mins from home.  So we didn't take it.  We will pay more then $200 for our tix so money wise it's worth it.  However, we opt for convenience.  

[Phaedrus78]

19 hours ago, andymattmom said:

There may be a fee to fly out of a certain airport. We paid $50 to fly from Indianapolis to Miami. If you fly in the day before it’s $25 per person. Seats - there are free ones but you can pay to get better ones. You do pay for baggage fees. 

 

Thats interesting. For our cruise in January 2020 it was $149 each for flights from Indy to Miami. I opted out, I can probably book myself for close to that and be in control of when we arrive and depart. For $50, or $25 the day before, I’d have snatched that up. 

[JillK]

I think this promo really requires research to insure you are getting the best deal.

 

Until recently most of the airfare from Toronto was reduced but several cruises out of Boston, NYC and Florida now offer "free" airfare. 

 

I booked a cruise for hubby and I in December out of NYC under this promo and the air is in fact free. We won't know for some time what flights we will be assigned and they likely will not be ones I would have chosen if I was paying out of pocket, but I was willing to take the chance to get the savings. I did opt to pay the $25 USD pp deviation fee to come in the day before we sail and also was able to easily cancel the NCL transfers that are automatically put on your booking ($70 USD pp return for NYC).

 

As of today, the lowest airfare from Toronto to Laguardia (myNCL shows that is where we'll be flying into) on the dates I am flying on Air Canada (Delta code share partner) are $822 (cdn) to $841 (cdn) on Westjet (United code share partner) so I am saving at least that much vs. buying the flights (around $650 usd). These are our nation's two carriers so we have far less choice in terms of finding discounted air than our friends to the south.

 

Considering that everything costs us Canadians 30% more given our poor exchange rate, I'll gladly take that savings! 

[redhatters]

how do you opt out of free air benefit?  I was told rate is same for sailing.   

[hallux]

17 minutes ago, redhatters said:

how do you opt out of free air benefit?  I was told rate is same for sailing.   

That depends on the stateroom, some offer all perks as included in the fare, some allow you to pick the perks you take.  In my case (a Studio) I only got to pick one perk.  Flights from my airport with this perk (for a Pacific Coastal cruise, 2 one-way fares) were insanely high, I did better having my TA book them independently and picking a different perk.  For those with all perks, I guess they'd just somehow tell NCL not to book the airfare.

[fsa1155]

6 hours ago, andymattmom said:

We leave IND at 7am and arrive in Miami 945 am nonstop on American Airlines. Return is also nonstop on American leaves 3:45 arrives 6:45 pm. It was $50 per person- I found good free seats and we opted out of transfer fee so that wasn’t charged (we are going to Uber to Hampton Inn Mary Brickell). It was much cheaper than prices on any airline for us -even including baggage fees. I checked all airlines including our normal Southwest. I checked flying into Ft Lauderdale and Orlando also. We won’t fly Frontier or Allegiant or Spirit. We are going Memorial Day weekend. Our hotel was $204 including free breakfast . 

 

Hope that helps 

That helps a bunch.  Thanks

[redhatters]

17 minutes ago, hallux said:

That depends on the stateroom, some offer all perks as included in the fare, some allow you to pick the perks you take.  In my case (a Studio) I only got to pick one perk.  Flights from my airport with this perk (for a Pacific Coastal cruise, 2 one-way fares) were insanely high, I did better having my TA book them independently and picking a different perk.  For those with all perks, I guess they'd just somehow tell NCL not to book the airfare.

Prices are much higher for 2020 out of NYC on Bliss and Gem because of this FREE air being paid for by all of us!

[JillK]

1 hour ago, redhatters said:

how do you opt out of free air benefit?  I was told rate is same for sailing.   

 

I believe you are correct. When I use NCL to price, the cruise rate is the same whether or not I input my info to select my gateway. It's only after you select the airport you are flying from that you see the cost of air (if any) and the airport transfers that they add automatically (but which can be cancelled). 

 

Price for the cruise itself remains unchanged. 

[Pens fan]

28 minutes ago, redhatters said:

Prices are much higher for 2020 out of NYC on Bliss and Gem because of this FREE air being paid for by all of us!

 

So true.  NCL is not giving away free airfare.  They just build the cost into the cruise fare and make it look as if it's free.  I really dislike this promotion as we prefer to book our own air and choose the airline, connection points and times, etc.  We usually drive to NYC, so I don't even need airfare on those cruises.  If they are going to continue with this promotion I really wish they would offer at least some OBC or something if you decline the "free" airfare.  

[redhatters]

5 minutes ago, Pens fan said:

 

So true.  NCL is not giving away free airfare.  They just build the cost into the cruise fare and make it look as if it's free.  I really dislike this promotion as we prefer to book our own air and choose the airline, connection points and times, etc.  We usually drive to NYC, so I don't even need airfare on those cruises.  If they are going to continue with this promotion I really wish they would offer at least some OBC or something if you decline the "free" airfare.  

People are being fooled by all these FREE offers which are really higher fares or service fees attached to cruise bill - poor unknowing passengers.  Time to wake up and not pay for someone's Free air!

[CaliMom05]

6 hours ago, redhatters said:

People are being fooled by all these FREE offers which are really higher fares or service fees attached to cruise bill - poor unknowing passengers.  Time to wake up and not pay for someone's Free air!

This might be true for some sailings but I'd been watching the prices for the Joy Alaska sailings prior to the free airfare offer because we wanted to try out the new ship coming into Alaska.  The price we paid for our cabin didn't increase when that perk was offered and our cabin is now selling at a higher price and no free airfare for our sailing is being offered.  So i guess it just pays to watch and track the cruise fares on sailings that you're interested in and jump on good promos when they become available :).

[davy jones]

Like many other things with NCL, you have to understand the restrictions, upcharges, required charges, and other gotchas.  Then you have to work the numbers to see if it works for you.  

 

PHL and EWR are about the same distance from us.  We slightly prefer to fly out of PHL, but choose EWR if it is a better deal or more convenient flights.  We find fares to be about the same from both.  Cruise day fares were running between $375 and $450 RT from both.  NCL offered us $200 RT from PHL, and free from EWR.  Guess which one we chose?  Anyway, it was a deal for us.  (I assume that we will have to pay baggage fees.)

[Georgie562]

On 4/13/2019 at 3:18 PM, Tabatha1988 said:

For those that got free airfare, was it totally free?

 

Of course NOT

You have to book a cabin that will grant you those "free" perks.

Those cabin rates cost extra

Example

Sail Away rate cabin no perks at all: $100

Cabin that will grant you at least 1 perk:  $400

You are paying the $300 to grant you those free perks making it essentially NOT free.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Georgie562

[tokidoki]

59 minutes ago, Georgie562 said:

 

Of course NOT

You have to book a cabin that will grant you those "free" perks.

Those cabin rates cost extra

Example

Sail Away rate cabin no perks at all: $100

Cabin that will grant you at least 1 perk:  $400

You are paying the $300 to grant you those free perks making it essentially NOT free.

We still r very happy with our inside cabin, Sky/Cubs, next month😻. The sail away now is $689, and our cabin was $549 including airfare which is now $457 p.p, so I believe we made a great deal👌

[alexgtp]

Chicago to Seattle  RT on United w/ Direct Flights.

 

I have been pricing this cruise out for the past 4 years but it was always over my budget (7 day Alaska).

 

This year however with all the perks offered (even with the added taxes and fees, I took all 5 perks plus  FREE gratuities and OBC courtesy of  my TA) trip was about $600 cheaper this year and I did not have to book my own airfare, which would have added an additional $800. So yes for me it worked out very well.

 

But every situation is different. Some people say the airfare/perks are not free because of the higher cost in the Cruise fare to offset the "FREE" perks promotions. While on some cruises this is true, there are sometimes great deals to be found, if you seek them out.

[firewife09]

If you choose to pay the extra to come in the day before do you have to use a hotel that NCL picks or can you book your own hotel?