How did the Sail Away rate work out for you?

[xcell]

Not a sail away but a GTY with all the perks -- checked my NCL account and was assigned a cabin within a month.

 

1st time doing a GTY and happy with the assignment.

[bermuda8553]

Got my room assignment today. Sailing 12-13.  Did a sail away inside. Got an inside in the 10th floor, which is great. I really just didn't want to be on the 4th or 5th floor. So it worked out well. Love that this cruise does an overnight in Orlando. 

[xcell]

What would you do overnight in Orlando????

[Nebr.cruiser]

On 7/7/2019 at 8:15 PM, Jasonmom said:

Booked Sail-away ocean view on NCL Breakaway in January.  Ended up in one of the very front ocean view rooms.  Was a bit of a walk for my mom and with the window the way it was (angled up) it was hard to keep room cool.  Also had to close blinds at night.  I forget why, but there was a sign there telling us to do it and the steward always came around in PM and closed blind if it wasn't already closed.

 

Booked guaranteed balcony on up-coming NCL Breakaway this September.  We were assigned a room very soon there after.  Room 9884.  The only problem I could see now with it is that it is near stairs.  Hoping there won't be too much noise.  

 

Haven't received upgrade offer, but doubt we would do it anyway.

We book cabins near the stairs on purpose--no long halls to walk down.  We've never noticed much noise at all.  Our last cruise, sailaway cabin, on the Pearl we were assigned a cabin that opened right on the stairs/elevator.  There was a kind of wall or hall separating the areas, but the cabin was quiet and great.

[azcruise]

On 6/13/2019 at 7:28 PM, richstowe said:

Trying to find the Viva Vino package

 

I saw this newer one in another thread from a couple days ago.

[richstowe]

47 minutes ago, azcruise said:

I saw this newer one in another thread from a couple days ago.

Well that's shocking . They didn't change the prices ! 😲

[azcruise]

2 minutes ago, richstowe said:

Well that's shocking . They didn't change the prices ! 😲

No kidding.  With the 20%, it makes the cheap wine $24.60....  We are going to the grocery in Southampton to buy wine.  Even with the $15 corkage, we can pick out own wines.  Getting on Spirit in a little over a week.

[bermuda8553]

5 hours ago, xcell said:

What would you do overnight in Orlando????

already booked a hotel at universal will visit the park for 2 days and 1 night

[snorklinbarb]

On 6/9/2019 at 7:32 PM, perditax said:

Has anyone gotten a really terrible mini suite on Escape? I’m eyeballing these for an upcoming cruise.

 

 

Unfortunately on Escape got a deck 9 mini right above the 5 O'Clock Somewhere bar.  The floor literally shook from the bass and the band played till around 1 am.  Neighbors to the right and left of me had the same issue (out in the hall discussing it).  A couple of days later ended up being given a "sleeping cabin" on another deck (quiet) with my belongings in the original cabin (which was fine during the day).  They did move us for the 2nd week and the Asst. HD (now called Asst. Genl Manager) was very helpful throughout the whole process.  A few niceties offered for the inconvenience.  

 

There was another Cruise Critic who was directly above the District Brew House in a balcony and experienced a lot of noise so that's another area to be wary of (deck 9 Escape all the way FWD).  

 

That said, I've also had good luck with sailaway gty rates.  In fact, just yesterday booked a sailaway rate for a cruise leaving in 4 days!  No assignment yet.  In general I'd say I've been surprised at how quickly we've been assigned cabins even a few months out.  This one is a little different as I've just booked and they are probably in the midst of last day's cabin shuffling with bids, etc.  Of course, there's a chance I won't know till I get to the pier.

 

Am platinum plus and have never found that to be a determining factor in cabin assignment.  

 

 

Edited July 11, 2019 by snorklinbarb

[1bets1]

I just booked this morning an inside sailaway on Escape for the end of August. My 1st time with NCL. I get that they select my cabin. Where can I find a diagram of the cabins on the ship? I didn't see one on the website. Also, should I be expecting an email to bid on a better cabin? I don't really understand that part. Is this bidding email offer usually cheaper than if I would have booked it from the start? I don't much care about the perks.  Also, being I booked this only 45 days out, when should I expect the initial cabin assignment? Thanks in advance for any help!

[xcell]

11 hours ago, 1bets1 said:

I just booked this morning an inside sailaway on Escape for the end of August. My 1st time with NCL. I get that they select my cabin. Where can I find a diagram of the cabins on the ship? I didn't see one on the website. Also, should I be expecting an email to bid on a better cabin? I don't really understand that part. Is this bidding email offer usually cheaper than if I would have booked it from the start? I don't much care about the perks.  Also, being I booked this only 45 days out, when should I expect the initial cabin assignment? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

- if you are referring to the cabin layout --  I'd just google it

- bidding is dependent on whether your TA has subscribed to the bidding process, some are not. If you booked directly with NCL, then you should be getting the email shortly or you could call in and ask (there's a thread about this)

- bidding -- basically, you can bid for a room up to 2 categories higher than your (i.e. an inside can only bid up to a balcony -- no chance for a Haven)

- perks: if you bid, you can only take the perks that was assigned to your original cabin (you don't get the perks of the upgraded room).

- cabin assignment: depends -- I received my a few weeks later, and my cruise is not until Dec -- you should see the assignment if you have a NCL account, you can log in and look at your vacation summary

 

I hope that helps...happy cruising and good luck on the bid! 

 

[1bets1]

29 minutes ago, xcell said:

 

- if you are referring to the cabin layout --  I'd just google it

- bidding is dependent on whether your TA has subscribed to the bidding process, some are not. If you booked directly with NCL, then you should be getting the email shortly or you could call in and ask (there's a thread about this)

- bidding -- basically, you can bid for a room up to 2 categories higher than your (i.e. an inside can only bid up to a balcony -- no chance for a Haven)

- perks: if you bid, you can only take the perks that was assigned to your original cabin (you don't get the perks of the upgraded room).

- cabin assignment: depends -- I received my a few weeks later, and my cruise is not until Dec -- you should see the assignment if you have a NCL account, you can log in and look at your vacation summary

 

I hope that helps...happy cruising and good luck on the bid! 

 

Thank you! Really, I'm more interested in a diagram of cabin locations than the bidding. I probably would only want to bid if my cabin was under a bar or something. Or if they offered me a balcony super cheap!

[JerseyJaguar]

I wanted a balcony on my cruise and it said there weren't any available but I could do a guarantee, it was about $700 less. I was confused about the perks so called NCL and they explained you didn't get them without paying for a definite cabin and she had a cabin if I wanted one (hmmm). I said no because the only perk I wanted was wifi. Then I didn't hear anything about it again. And when I went to do my paperwork I saw that I'd be assigned a cabin, in the perfect spot, with cabins above and below, I'm very happy (I'll let you know if that changes once I'm on the ship).

 

So I'm happy with how it worked out, just wish they'd been better at letting me know when I actually had a cabin.

[richstowe]

26 minutes ago, JerseyJaguar said:

I wanted a balcony on my cruise and it said there weren't any available but I could do a guarantee, it was about $700 less.

So I'm happy with how it worked out, just wish they'd been better at letting me know when I actually had a cabin.

If you are offered a guarantee/sailaway , then they are promising you a cabin in a specific category . 

[Arzeena]

21 hours ago, snorklinbarb said:

 

 

Unfortunately on Escape got a deck 9 mini right above the 5 O'Clock Somewhere bar.  The floor literally shook from the bass and the band played till around 1 am.  Neighbors to the right and left of me had the same issue (out in the hall discussing it).  A couple of days later ended up being given a "sleeping cabin" on another deck (quiet) with my belongings in the original cabin (which was fine during the day).  They did move us for the 2nd week and the Asst. HD (now called Asst. Genl Manager) was very helpful throughout the whole process.  A few niceties offered for the inconvenience.  

 

There was another Cruise Critic who was directly above the District Brew House in a balcony and experienced a lot of noise so that's another area to be wary of (deck 9 Escape all the way FWD).  

 

That said, I've also had good luck with sailaway gty rates.  In fact, just yesterday booked a sailaway rate for a cruise leaving in 4 days!  No assignment yet.  In general I'd say I've been surprised at how quickly we've been assigned cabins even a few months out.  This one is a little different as I've just booked and they are probably in the midst of last day's cabin shuffling with bids, etc.  Of course, there's a chance I won't know till I get to the pier.

 

Am platinum plus and have never found that to be a determining factor in cabin assignment.  

 

 

Hi Barb,

I had the same problems you had on the BA.
On the Escape I was right above the District Brew two times ......I could look right into it (from my balcony) through  the glass roof. Never had a problem with loud noise or the floors shaking like I did in a mini suite on the BA over fat cats (?)

[dcipjr]

We just booked a Sailaway balcony for a cruise on the Bliss.

 

It's a longer cruise, so the cost of gratuities on the beverage package perk would be exorbitant. It would have been a $1300+ difference to bump up from a sailaway rate to the Free-At-Sea rate on the next highest category (BD, which was only showing GTYs available).

 

I'd have to drink a LOT to cover that kind of money, and neither my wallet nor my liver are up for that, so Sailaway rate it is.

 

Interestingly enough, one of the actual BX cabins was available -- there are only four actual cabins that are marked as BX on the deck plan, but they are all on Deck 8 in a pretty good location, close to the Waterfront. So, no GTY, and no perks. All in all, not so bad.