How did the Sail Away rate work out for you?

[Fartlek]

We have sailed three times on NCL and two times we took the sail away rate.  There are some huge savings with the sail away and the perks (free offers) with the more expensive rates do not appeal to us.   Anyway I'm wondering if you were happy with the cabin that you received with the sail away rate?   For us, it has worked out well but I guess there is always a chance you could get a not so desirable cabin.  

 

Cheers

 

[Arzeena]

19 minutes ago, Fartlek said:

We have sailed three times on NCL and two times we took the sail away rate.  There are some huge savings with the sail away and the perks (free offers) with the more expensive rates do not appeal to us.   Anyway I'm wondering if you were happy with the cabin that you received with the sail away rate?   For us, it has worked out well but I guess there is always a chance you could get a not so desirable cabin.  

 

Cheers

 

Yes we have been very happy with the cabins...we got upgraded to family balcony several times, sometiems with connecting doors some times not. Had no problems with the connecting doors and good neighbors (so far 😁LOL!). And for a couple future cruise we could pick the sailaway cabin. Perks are nice but most of the times do not make as much sense for us as for other people who really enjoy them.

[cruisencrazy]

We have also done sail away rate.  It worked out great for us.  We usually prefer to purchase a wine package, so most of the perks are not that important to us. Also, we are platinum so we receive free specialty dining and bottles of alcohol.  We could barely finish everything (not big drinkers).

[cruiserssandr]

We booked the Escape for February 8 with a balcony sail away rate. This is the first time we have done a sail away rate. When does the room actually get assigned? Is it just before the cruise? Does Latitudes status have any bearing on which cabin you get?

[gymbomb]

We will never book a rate that doesn't let us choose our cabin. We did a couple of times in the past, and sometimes it was fine, but after the room located above hydraulic equipment that woke us up multiple times every single night we swore we would never do it again.

[GOODIES]

Just booked the Escape for May cruise to Bemuda, I received my cabin assigment the next day to a mid-ship deck 10

[IrieBajan54]

I only book Sail Away and I'm Platinum Plus. Have always gotten good cabin locations. I have no used for the fancy marketing with the so-called Free Choices. The difference between Sail Away and assigned cabin can be huge.  

 

Cabins have been assigned within 48 hours. My next cabin is a BX booking and I was assigned B2 which is an AFT balcony. 

 

I met this woman on board one cruise and she too books Sail Away but likes to drink wine. She told me that what works for her is buying a wine package: 4 bottles for something like $99 or $108.

[Happy_Traveler_2008]

I too prefer Sail Away rates.  The $300 per person savings is more than enough to cover a few specialty dinners, drinks and internet package.  I was assigned a spacious Aft balcony on the Escape on my first cruise with Platinum status! 

[JUSRN]

We too do sail away and have always been pleased with our room assignments.

The savings is significant. The so called “free” perks are really quite expensive by the time you pay more for the higher category cabin plus gratuities on the beverage or dining packages.

[RaiderDuck]

We booked our first Sail-Away cabin (inside) ever for our upcoming cruise at an awesome price (we normally get the meal package as one of our "free" perks, but we can buy it separately this time and still save money). We've been assigned middle of the ship on Deck 4, and might put in a bid on a Balcony when bidding opens up (we have no interest in bidding for a Window cabin and ending up with a window by a walkway with people gawking in, or a window-sized view of a lifeboat or whatever).

[spanishguy1970]

7 hours ago, Fartlek said:

We have sailed three times on NCL and two times we took the sail away rate.  There are some huge savings with the sail away and the perks (free offers) with the more expensive rates do not appeal to us.   Anyway I'm wondering if you were happy with the cabin that you received with the sail away rate?   For us, it has worked out well but I guess there is always a chance you could get a not so desirable cabin.  

 

Cheers

 

We have taken it twice and both times we have been happy. Some people say because of our Platinum plus we get good locations on our staterooms however we don't know if that is true  but again we have been happy. The first time we booked a sail away Balcony  we received a forward one near the elevator ( quiet as can be) this time around we booked an inside IX and we received an aft inside stateroom. The price on sail away balcony  went down so we got it and received a forward stateroom which looks to be in a quiet section as well...so far so good with the sail away price.

[ebay33]

Always book sail away rate and always happy with the room.  In addition, it is really easy to adjust when the rate changes to a lower price because there is no concern with losing the perks when doing a price adjustment. The only thing I miss with the sail away rate are the bonus nights when booking a latitude "past guest offer" as that deal also excludes the sail away rate.

[DaisyGoldberg]

I've booked sail away balconies twice - both times about 8 weeks out, both times was assigned a midship balcony (I'm platinum, don't know if that helps).

 

The second time I bid (solo) to upgrade to the Breakaway Haven and got in for about $1500 more than my sailaway rate -- 10 days for about $3300.  (It was an unusual post-Hurricane itinerary and I think a lot of people bailed, so that may not be typical).

 

 

[alisonslp]

We are getting ready to sail for the first time on NCL. We booked a gty balcony because it was only about $100 more pp than the sail away rate and with 2 "free" perks, it was well worth the extra $200 - we got our 3rd person free ($450) and the dining package for 2 ($200ish?). We booked only 50 days out, so maybe that's why the costs were so similar but it made no sense to me.  In general, I would only book a gty/sail away rate if I knew that I would be OK with all the cabins in that category. I know there are no "bad" balcony cabins on the Bliss so I was fine with it. I don't think I would risk it with any other category

Edited April 24, 2019 by alisonslp

[Animalgirl27]

We booked sailaway oceanview on the NCL Sun. We received an unobstructed picture window on deck 6 about 10 days before the cruise. We were happy with our assignment. We are Silver Latitudes members. 

Edited April 25, 2019 by Animalgirl27
Forgot to add last sentence.

[amberjohn]

  We have had incredible luck with the sailaway and will continue to use until we get burnt.

We have taken 5 NCL cruises.  The last two were sailaway.  Both times the cabins were much

nicer than what we would have booked.  Last November we got a $1800 balcony cabin for

$532.  The "free" perks cost a lot of money so we don't mind getting the sailaway with no perks.

[Budget Queen]

I most always book  sail away.   As noted the perks are worthless to me, and the savings are significant.    Over 30 times  in 2.5  years.  I do not care where the cabin is,   and HAVE had "undesirable"   cabin assignments.    You MUST be accepting of this,  and the past does not predict any future.    

[hladygirl]

I am sailing Friday on the gem in a sail away inside. Got assigned a cabin the farthest forward on deck 8. Not a good location but the savings was incredible. $299 for solo. The cheapest inside cabin with a perk was $998 for solo cruiser. That would come to $1136 with beverage package gratuity. I will not spend the additional charge of $837 for drinks, so I will live with the undesirable cabin. Used a cruise credit that was gifted to me by a wonderful lady on this forum. Total cost of cruise $262. Can not beat that.

[Budget Queen]

4 hours ago, spanishguy1970 said:

We have taken it twice and both times we have been happy. Some people say because of our Platinum plus we get good locations on our staterooms however we don't know if that is true  but again we have been happy. 

  

Myth.   There isn't going to be any "preferential"  assignments.   You are only going to get what is open.    There are also multiple thousands of higher level latitudes,  so hardly exclusive with assignments.    You'll get what's available.     

[hladygirl]

32 minutes ago, Budget Queen said:

  

Myth.   There isn't going to be any "preferential"  assignments.   You are only going to get what is open.    There are also multiple thousands of higher level latitudes,  so hardly exclusive with assignments.    You'll get what's available.     

I know. I am platinum and got one of the worst assigned cabins even though there are a ton of desirable insides that are not going to sell before Friday. O well! At least I wasn’t assigned a broom closet as I could have been at this price, I am happy. More to spend in casino! LOL!

[alisonslp]

3 hours ago, alisonslp said:

We are getting ready to sail for the first time on NCL. We booked a gty balcony because it was only about $100 more pp than the sail away rate and with 2 "free" perks, it was well worth the extra $200 - we got our 3rd person free ($450) and the dining package for 2 ($200ish?). We booked only 50 days out, so maybe that's why the costs were so similar but it made no sense to me.  In general, I would only book a gty/sail away rate if I knew that I would be OK with all the cabins in that category. I know there are no "bad" balcony cabins on the Bliss so I was fine with it. I don't think I would risk it with any other category

I forgot to mention that we were assigned a deck 13 midship balcony by the aft stairs. We booked 50 days out and had our cabin assignment within 3 days of booking. We were very pleased!

[Nebr.cruiser]

We booked a Sailaway cabin on our April 28th cruise because a similar cabin with perks cost over $400 more.  We don't feel, on NCL, that the 'perks' are anything useful, as we rarely drink, would not use the $50 shore excursion credit and don't care if we eat specialty dinners or not.  Plus, since they add the tips on top of the dining and drink pkg., really not good.

 

We might use the internet perk and the dining perk, but only if the price of the cabin wasn't inflated to pay for it.  I wish some of the perks were free grats and OBC, like on some other lines.  We do have some OBC, but it is from our travel agent.

 

We have sailed guarantees several times before, on other lines and have never had a bad cabin.  This cruise we got a slightly upgraded balcony on deck nine right by the forward stairs--which we like.  Not bad at all.  This will be our 4th cruise on NCL, so no special status.

Edited April 25, 2019 by Nebr.cruiser

[Cruiser_Girl1]

We have booked sail Away on the Joy.  We just got our cabin number which is a picture window on the 9th deck right in front of ship.  Can anyone tell me what the motion is like up there and can you see past the front of the ship?

[linbobky]

18 hours ago, cruiserssandr said:

We booked the Escape for February 8 with a balcony sail away rate. This is the first time we have done a sail away rate. When does the room actually get assigned? Is it just before the cruise? Does Latitudes status have any bearing on which cabin you get?

we booked the breakaway for dec. 14th 2019 last week. already have our cabin number. 

[esm54687]

15 hours ago, IrieBajan54 said:

I only book Sail Away and I'm Platinum Plus. Have always gotten good cabin locations. I have no used for the fancy marketing with the so-called Free Choices. The difference between Sail Away and assigned cabin can be huge.  

 

Cabins have been assigned within 48 hours. My next cabin is a BX booking and I was assigned B2 which is an AFT balcony. 

 

I met this woman on board one cruise and she too books Sail Away but likes to drink wine. She told me that what works for her is buying a wine package: 4 bottles for something like $99 or $108.

I was under the impression a B2 was a Family Balcony (it may be located in the aft area of the ship) but a B1 is a True Aft Balcony