Watch out with Cruise Next Certificates

[Oldsweets]

We are Platinum Members and thought we had a good handle on the system but learned again that its a moving target.  We booked 12 months out direct with NCL for a 11 day Cruise in Jan 2020  and at booking we had no Cruise Next Certificates.  The NCL Rep new we were getting ready to leave on a March NCL Cruise and told us that if we get 2 Cruise Next Certificates on the March trip that they would be able to apply them to our Jan trip.  We just called and said nope it requires a new booking at the current rates which have now gone up $300.  So we will watch prices thru Cruise Fish and hope for a price reduction before final payment and not buy Cruise Next Certificates going forward.  Lots of lessons to be relearned I guess.  

[rrebel94]

Does it give you the option to apply them as payment when you login to your NCL.com account?  I've heard that has worked for others instead of calling.

[Birdie And Sue]

CN certs have ALWAYS been for new bookings only!

[StolidCruiser]

6 minutes ago, Birdie And Sue said:

CN certs have ALWAYS been for new bookings only!

 

Yup.  Apparently the grasp on that handle was yanked loose by questionable advice from an ill-informed CSR.

[retiring soon]

Hi all!

 

I beg to differ as I've used a CN on a cruise that was already booked. I'm wondering if the current promotion would allow applying 2.

 

~ Jo ~ 😊

[DiverJohn]

Bought 8 cruise next in dec, used two while on ship , sold other six to friends and family to put towards their rooms which were already booked. All six rooms got to use them , my sister had paid her room in full and they applied cruise next and refunded 150.00 to the credit card she had used to pay off room . I would call back and try again with a different representative.

[Sand and Seas]

I suggest you just log into your account and choose 'make payment'.  When I did this last year I was able to select a just purchased certificate and apply it as a 2nd $250 (balcony and above).

[robin13]

Sorry but I have used my CN certificates on existing bookings before.  I just call my guy with NCL and he does it.  He even let me take one off of an existing booking and add it to an existing booking.

[mnventure]

I’ve used Cruise Next certificate months after booking (but also before final payment) with no problem. I’ve called NCL and had it applied to an existing reservation. And I’ve logged into MyNCL and applied it as payment to an existing reservation. (Both with no changes to my booking/cost/perks/etc). 

[ziggyuk]

On 5/16/2019 at 2:33 AM, Sand and Seas said:

I suggest you just log into your account and choose 'make payment'.  When I did this last year I was able to select a just purchased certificate and apply it as a 2nd $250 (balcony and above).

 

Exactly this.

We were told (while on ship) it was impossible to apply a CN certificate to an existing booking, due to this we only bought 1 certificate.

 

When I got home my next cruise was close to final payment, when I went to pay my certificate was sitting there, I applied it as part payment and paid the rest by credit card.

 

The only thing you have to be aware of is you need to make full payment as the system will not accept part payment (just certificate), if you are a long way from final payment that could be an issue. You could wait until final payment but I would personally like to lock it in right away in case they change anything.

 

It's always been in the terms and conditions that it is officially only for new bookings but as others have said it is possible to use on existing bookings.

[Arzeena]

On 5/15/2019 at 6:46 PM, Birdie And Sue said:

CN certs have ALWAYS been for new bookings only!

Not for us.

Perhaps there was a promotion or something, we have applied an extra one on one of our cruises. The original booking is made with a new cert and then a second one was applied a couple of months later. Not the case for all of our NCL cruises. I was also able to apply 2 certificates for an inside room when I booked 2 weeks prior to sailing within final payment period. Booked this one over the phone with NCL directly.

[vince_g]

5 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

The only thing you have to be aware of is you need to make full payment as the system will not accept part payment (just certificate), if you are a long way from final payment that could be an issue. You could wait until final payment but I would personally like to lock it in right away in case they change anything.

 

It's always been in the terms and conditions that it is officially only for new bookings but as others have said it is possible to use on existing bookings.

Perhaps it would not accept partial payment in your case because you were so close to final payment.  About a week ago I applied a cruise next certificate as a partial payment to a cruise with a final payment date of June 27. 

[Tedj6050]

It is possible,with the current promo to apply a cruise next certificate to an existing reservation as I did it last night for my New Years  cruise.actually you can apply two to any cabin category as I did on my studio with the new promo.call ncl back,good luck.

[ziggyuk]

55 minutes ago, vince_g said:

Perhaps it would not accept partial payment in your case because you were so close to final payment.  About a week ago I applied a cruise next certificate as a partial payment to a cruise with a final payment date of June 27. 

 

You could be right, although we were still a few weeks from final payment there could be a cut-off when you can only make full payment.

[BaWBarmy]

On ‎5‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 2:45 PM, robin13 said:

Sorry but I have used my CN certificates on existing bookings before.  I just call my guy with NCL and he does it.  He even let me take one off of an existing booking and add it to an existing booking.

We have been able to do this too. Although our PCC said that it wasn't policy.

[browniegirl]

On ‎5‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 2:44 PM, Oldsweets said:

We are Platinum Members and thought we had a good handle on the system but learned again that its a moving target.  We booked 12 months out direct with NCL for a 11 day Cruise in Jan 2020  and at booking we had no Cruise Next Certificates.  The NCL Rep new we were getting ready to leave on a March NCL Cruise and told us that if we get 2 Cruise Next Certificates on the March trip that they would be able to apply them to our Jan trip.  We just called and said nope it requires a new booking at the current rates which have now gone up $300.  So we will watch prices thru Cruise Fish and hope for a price reduction before final payment and not buy Cruise Next Certificates going forward.  Lots of lessons to be relearned I guess.  

We had a lousy experience sort of also...…..  on the last cruise we were talked into buying 4 of the cruise next certificates and were told (after me questioning them SEVERAL times) that YES we could use them solely to book a Suite or the Haven without extra deposits needed.  So when we got back, I tried to book just that and was told NOPE you are wrong, they were wrong, you can apply the cruise next cert's but you also have to pay the $1500 plus deposit on top..... I was not happy.  I still have 2 to use up and have applied 2 against a non-suite cabin for now.....ugh haha.  Lesson learned!!!!

 

Leah

[deweytrader]

Looking to buy 2 cruise next certs for $125 each for a total of $250.

[donovanrs28]

If anyone had 1 available to buy, let me know!

[fstuff1]

6 hours ago, Arzeena said:

The original booking is made with a new cert and then a second one was applied a couple of months later.

 

tomorrow is my cruise in an Inside room.

it's paid in full with credit card and a cruise next certificate.

 

now they have a promo of allowing 2 certificates for any cabin.

i can still log into my acct and add a cruisenext as payment.

 

but im not going to pull the trigger to try to get $250 back.

sooooooooooo many potential problems could arise that it's not worth the risk this late in the game.

 

[drvmywifecrzy]

I have always been able to use them on existing reservations

[mugtech]

2 hours ago, donovanrs28 said:

If anyone had 1 available to buy, let me know!

Write to me at mdyblueathotmail.com.

[Arzeena]

21 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

tomorrow is my cruise in an Inside room.

it's paid in full with credit card and a cruise next certificate.

 

now they have a promo of allowing 2 certificates for any cabin.

i can still log into my acct and add a cruisenext as payment.

 

but im not going to pull the trigger to try to get $250 back.

sooooooooooo many potential problems could arise that it's not worth the risk this late in the game.

 

No, not if you are cruising tomorrow.

[mking8288]

Just off the Dawn, it's going to take me a bit to catch up with the latest NCL news, gossips, rumors and faked stories ... but, I can report that from the Roll Call last week, solo folks booked fire-sale, last minute SailAway Rates within 3 to 6 days of the 5/11 sailing - for a balcony - GTY - was able to use 2 x $250 CN certificate, resulting in super low charges to their credit card; AND, submit a claim for an additional $100 NCLH non-refundable OBC.  Someone paid for the slightly higher rate with the "Freebies" with the doubled $50 ShorEx credit.  

 

It's a matter doing one's homework, diligence and asking the agent (NCL call center) to see if it can be done, or (as in our prior instances) giving it a try & put into their system to see if can be accepted.  Call it a cat-n-mouse game, if you timed it right & got lucky, it's a win-win and even if not, you are still going on a cruise.  I know a year ago, we were able to use 2 CN certificate on a booking but another couple cruising with us called in & was told no - even referenced our booking # to their agent (within 24 hours - maybe the offer just expired ... as we know, sometimes - certain bookings/rate codes are subject to capacity control, yada yada) 

[dbrown84]

just like everyone else has reported, I've never had a problem adding a certificate to an already booked cruise.  I've done it by calling NCL and having a rep add the certificate, and by logging into myncl and adding it from the payment screen.

[bones774]

On 5/17/2019 at 2:56 PM, fstuff1 said:

 

tomorrow is my cruise in an Inside room.

What deal you got going? I'm sure it's a good one.