Here are some tips & instructions for booking shorex using the $50/port shorex promo

[Turtles06]

There are so many threads here in which people have asked questions relating to the booking of NCL shore excursions when they have the $50/port shorex promo that I thought it would be helpful to set out some how-tos and advice:

 

1.  The $50 promo credit is per port and per cabin.  It is not per person, and you don't get a credit if there's a port in which you haven't taken an NCL shore excursion.  It's use it or lose it.   (There's an exception to the per-port rule for Bermuda, where your ship may spend one or more overnights.  In Bermuda, the credit is per day, up to three individual days.  In all other overnight ports, there's only one $50 credit for that port.)   The full Terms and Conditions for the shorex promo are here:

 

https://www.ncl.com/termsandconditions/promotions

 

2. Unless for some reason you want to pay for your shorex before you sail, you should book your shorex prior to sailing by calling NCL's shorex desk: 1-866-625-1167.  (You can also book on board, but then you run the risk of a shore excursion selling out.)   By booking on the phone, you will not have to pay in advance; the excursion will be charged to your onboard account.  (You'll be able to use any OBC you have to pay for the excursion on board, another benefit of booking by phone and not paying in advance.) 

 

3.  When you call to book your shorex, have your reservation number available.  If your Latitudes tier entitles you to a certain % off the cost of a shore excursion, that % will first be applied to the price, to give you a per person cost of the tour.  It's from that total amount that the $50 will be deducted after you have taken the shore excursion.  (For example, if a shorex is $100 pp and you and your spouse are Platinum Latitudes members and thus get 10%  off, the pp cost of the shorex is $90, for a total of $180.  Once you've taken the shorex, $50 will be applied to your account, making the total cost of that shorex for the two of you $130.)

 

4.  Pro Tip: Before you call to book any shore excursion, take a screen shot of the description AND the price and bring it with you on board, so you have proof of the price at the time you booked, since that price is locked in for you.   You need to do this because the email confirmation of your shorex booking that you receive from NCL will not show the price, and because, once you have booked a shore excursion, NCL's site will only show you that shorex as costing $0.  (It also will NOT show you any other shore excursions for that port, which I find ridiculous, as you might want to change your mind.  So be sure to review the available shorex for a port carefully before you book.)

 

5.  If you want to pay for your shorex before you sail, you can book on line and pay the full price by credit card then.  Once you take the shore excursion, a $50, non-refundable credit will be applied to your on board account.  This information is stated in the Terms and Conditions as well as in the auto-greeting you hear when you call the shorex desk.  (In the early days of this promo a few years ago, you could only book by phone.) 

 

I hope this is helpful.  If I've misstated anything or something is not clear, please do post a comment.

 

 

[NYcruzzer]

Thank you for providing this useful info. Do I have to wait for final payment to book excursions by phone ?

[Turtles06]

10 minutes ago, NYcruzzer said:

Thank you for providing this useful info. Do I have to wait for final payment to book excursions by phone ?

 

You're welcome, and absolutely not!   You can book an excursion as soon as it appears in the reservation for your cruise. 

Edited August 13, 2019 by Turtles06

[Tinyturtle22]

If you save your shore excursions to your “favorites”, by tapping the little heart in the description, they will show the correct amount paid after booking in your favorites folder, including  your latitudes discount. Print that page and take it with you. 

Edited August 13, 2019 by Tinyturtle22

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, Tinyturtle22 said:

If you save your shore excursions to your “favorites”, by tapping the little heart in the description, they will show the correct amount paid after booking in your favorites folder, including  your latitudes discount. Print that page and take it with you. 

 

Thanks for that additional tip.  It appears that you must save it to favorites BEFORE you book.  (Is that right?)  I just tried this now with a shorex I have already booked, and it shows in my favorites as costing $0 pp, the same thing it shows on the shorex page itself. 

[erdoran]

1 hour ago, Tinyturtle22 said:

If you save your shore excursions to your “favorites”, by tapping the little heart in the description, they will show the correct amount paid after booking in your favorites folder, including  your latitudes discount. Print that page and take it with you. 

What a great tip!!

[Tinyturtle22]

25 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Thanks for that additional tip.  It appears that you must save it to favorites BEFORE you book.  (Is that right?)  I just tried this now with a shorex I have already booked, and it shows in my favorites as costing $0 pp, the same thing it shows on the shorex page itself. 

Yes you have to do it before but if you just reserved them and didn’t pay it might just show $0.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Tinyturtle22

[ThxMomnDad]

Excellent information! Thanks!!!

[Tinyturtle22]

These are my son’s booked excursions for our upcoming trip. You can see his 10% discount applied.  

[njhorseman]

3 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

There are so many threads here in which people have asked questions relating to the booking of NCL shore excursions when they have the $50/port shorex promo that I thought it would be helpful to set out some how-tos and advice:

 

1.  The $50 promo credit is per port and per cabin.  It is not per person, and you don't get a credit if there's a port in which you haven't taken an NCL shore excursion.  It's use it or lose it.   (There's an exception to the per-port rule for Bermuda, where your ship may spend one or more overnights.  In Bermuda, the credit is per day, up to three individual days.  In all other overnight ports, there's only one $50 credit for that port.)   The full Terms and Conditions for the shorex promo are here:

 

https://www.ncl.com/termsandconditions/promotions

 

2. Unless for some reason you want to pay for your shorex before you sail, you should book your shorex prior to sailing by calling NCL's shorex desk: 1-866-625-1167.  (You can also book on board, but then you run the risk of a shore excursion selling out.)   By booking on the phone, you will not have to pay in advance; the excursion will be charged to your onboard account.  (You'll be able to use any OBC you have to pay for the excursion on board, another benefit of booking by phone and not paying in advance.) 

 

3.  When you call to book your shorex, have your reservation number available.  If your Latitudes tier entitles you to a certain % off the cost of a shore excursion, that % will first be applied to the price, to give you a per person cost of the tour.  It's from that total amount that the $50 will be deducted after you have taken the shore excursion.  (For example, if a shorex is $100 pp and you and your spouse are Platinum Latitudes members and thus get 10%  off, the pp cost of the shorex is $90, for a total of $180.  Once you've taken the shorex, $50 will be applied to your account, making the total cost of that shorex for the two of you $130.)

 

4.  Pro Tip: Before you call to book any shore excursion, take a screen shot of the description AND the price and bring it with you on board, so you have proof of the price at the time you booked, since that price is locked in for you.   You need to do this because the email confirmation of your shorex booking that you receive from NCL will not show the price, and because, once you have booked a shore excursion, NCL's site will only show you that shorex as costing $0.  (It also will NOT show you any other shore excursions for that port, which I find ridiculous, as you might want to change your mind.  So be sure to review the available shorex for a port carefully before you book.)

 

5.  If you want to pay for your shorex before you sail, you can book on line and pay the full price by credit card then.  Once you take the shore excursion, a $50, non-refundable credit will be applied to your on board account.  This information is stated in the Terms and Conditions as well as in the auto-greeting you hear when you call the shorex desk.  (In the early days of this promo a few years ago, you could only book by phone.) 

 

I hope this is helpful.  If I've misstated anything or something is not clear, please do post a comment.

 

 

Judith

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this, but I have a caveat about the Latitudes discounts.

 

I found that although the shore excursion telephone reservations desk quoted the correct price reflecting the Latitudes discount, when we got on board and checked our account we saw that we were actually charged the full price of the excursions. I had to go to the on  board shore excursion desk and have them reprice everything to get the discount. I was told that the proper data was not being transmitted from the shore side system to the on board system.

 

This problem occurred over six months ago so perhaps it's been fixed by now, but I strongly suggest that everyone doing a telephone shore excursion booking check their on board account charges for accuracy.

[Tinyturtle22]

I have never had the latitudes discount applied correctly onboard when I called to reserve. I always had to go down to the desk and tell them. That’s one of the reasons I prepay them online. 

 

When you just just reserve them by phone they charge them all to your onboard account the first night anyway. That starts you off on the cruise in the negative. A lot more opportunities for mistakes and more line items to go through on your bill. I would rather get $50 in extra put back every day.

[samzing]

10 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

Judith

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this, but I have a caveat about the Latitudes discounts.

 

I found that although the shore excursion telephone reservations desk quoted the correct price reflecting the Latitudes discount, when we got on board and checked our account we saw that we were actually charged the full price of the excursions. I had to go to the on  board shore excursion desk and have them reprice everything to get the discount. I was told that the proper data was not being transmitted from the shore side system to the on board system.

 

This problem occurred over six months ago so perhaps it's been fixed by now, but I strongly suggest that everyone doing a telephone shore excursion booking check their on board account charges for accuracy.

It was not fixed in July or May.  Both times we had to go to the Shore Excursions Desk to request the credit.  I think they hope you won't notice!  Be sure to double check your onboard account.

[Turtles06]

I appreciate and thank all of you who have just pointed out the fact that the Latitudes discount for a shore excursion may not be reflected in one's on-board account even though the phone rep correctly quoted the price with the discount when making a pre-cruise shorex booking.  It's always a good idea to check that account for accuracy in any event, but this is a good thing to flag.  It's definitely a shame if folks have to make needless trips to the Shorex Desk on board to get such matters corrected.    🙁

[Turtles06]

6 minutes ago, Tinyturtle22 said:

I have never had the latitudes discount applied correctly onboard when I called to reserve. I always had to go down to the desk and tell them. That’s one of the reasons I prepay them online. 

 

When you just just reserve them by phone they charge them all to your onboard account the first night anyway. That starts you off on the cruise in the negative. A lot more opportunities for mistakes and more line items to go through on your bill. I would rather get $50 in extra put back every day.

 

Understood.  But for folks who have OBC to use, and who may already have the four Free at Sea promos, there's not a ton left to spend money on onboard, so until NCL joins other cruise lines (including Celebrity and HAL) in allowing OBC to be used for pre-cruise purchases, the only way to use OBC for shorex is by not paying in advance.  

[cruisekitty22]

Good info here.

[kenlyn]

I prefer to book everything on line. Do I have to do anything else? Call? Go to desk? Will the 50 dollar credit automagically appear on my ship account?  I havent used this promo before and want to make sure I dont miss a step.

[ddlb]

Thank you so much for this post. I too had to stand in line to get my latitudes discount for an excursion I had booked by calling.   It’s usually a very long line too. I especially appreciate you explaining the $0 showing for a booked excursion you had already called in. I also learned from you the excursions for a port booked disappear!  I was going to ask about this because when I went to look at the excursions listed it went from like 154 to 54 and I couldnt Figure out what happened thank you so much!    One more question if you don’t mind if an excursion is $35 each do you still get a $50 per cabin discount or only $35? THANKS!

[Turtles06]

33 minutes ago, kenlyn said:

I prefer to book everything on line. Do I have to do anything else? Call? Go to desk? Will the 50 dollar credit automagically appear on my ship account?  I havent used this promo before and want to make sure I dont miss a step.

 

As I explained in numbered paragraph 5 of my first post, there's nothing more you need do.  The $50 credit should appear in your account after you have taken the shore excursion.   This is also answered in the Terms and Conditions, linked in my OP:  "For the guests that book their excursions online; they are charged full retail for the excursions and the discount will be applied onboard in the form of a credit to their onboard account."  

[Turtles06]

11 minutes ago, ddlb said:

One more question if you don’t mind if an excursion is $35 each do you still get a $50 per cabin discount or only $35? THANKS!

 

The $50 credit is per stateroom.  If two of you in the cabin have booked a shorex that costs $35 pp, there will be a $50 credit. 

[kenlyn]

2 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

As I explained in numbered paragraph 5 of my first post, there's nothing more you need do.  The $50 credit should appear in your account after you have taken the shore excursion.   This is also answered in the Terms and Conditions, linked in my OP:  "For the guests that book their excursions online; they are charged full retail for the excursions and the discount will be applied onboard in the form of a credit to their onboard account."  

Thank you I did read through your post. I was just worried that with all of the glitches with the system lately was the credit actually showing up on the ship accounts once on board. Sounds like everything  but the latitude discount is working. Thanks for taking the time to help

[Turtles06]

3 minutes ago, kenlyn said:

Thank you I did read through your post. I was just worried that with all of the glitches with the system lately was the credit actually showing up on the ship accounts once on board. Sounds like everything  but the latitude discount is working. Thanks for taking the time to help

 

I haven’t been on NCL recently, but I feel pretty certain that if the credit weren’t showing up, people would be posting about it. In any event, it’s always a good idea to check your account on board frequently. 

Edited August 13, 2019 by Turtles06

[njhorseman]

5 minutes ago, kenlyn said:

Thank you I did read through your post. I was just worried that with all of the glitches with the system lately was the credit actually showing up on the ship accounts once on board. Sounds like everything  but the latitude discount is working. Thanks for taking the time to help

 

2 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

I haven’t been on NCL recently, but I feel pretty certain that if the credit weren’t showing up, people would be posting about it. In any event, it’s always a good idea to check your account on board frequently. 

We never had a problem where the credit did not get posted to our account . The Latitudes discount not being applied is the only issue we've encountered.

[dbrown84]

7 hours ago, Tinyturtle22 said:

If you save your shore excursions to your “favorites”, by tapping the little heart in the description, they will show the correct amount paid after booking in your favorites folder, including  your latitudes discount. Print that page and take it with you. 

Excellent tip!!!  I'm going to save mines now

[dbrown84]

5 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Understood.  But for folks who have OBC to use, and who may already have the four Free at Sea promos, there's not a ton left to spend money on onboard, so until NCL joins other cruise lines (including Celebrity and HAL) in allowing OBC to be used for pre-cruise purchases, the only way to use OBC for shorex is by not paying in advance.  

I've decided to try something a little different on my upcoming 11 day cruise, which has 8 ports.  I would normally prepay for the excursions and collect the credits each day, but I wouldn't be able to spend $400 in OBC.  Also don't want all the excursions to hit my account on the first night, especially since I fund my onboard account with cash.  So I'm prepaying the first two ports (the third day is a sea day) then I'll book the next port as the credits hit my account.  I'll only need to put $36 cash on my account when boarding to have everything even out at the end of the cruise.  Yes, I risk things selling out, but I'm not picky and don't have my heart really set on any one thing.  BTW, I'm traveling solo, so I get the full $50 credit for myself.  As a result, three of my excursions will be free and three will only be $29 each.

[OrcaGirl]

9 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

4.  Pro Tip: Before you call to book any shore excursion, take a screen shot of the description AND the price and bring it with you on board, so you have proof of the price at the time you booked, since that price is locked in for you.   You need to do this because the email confirmation of your shorex booking that you receive from NCL will not show the price, and because, once you have booked a shore excursion, NCL's site will only show you that shorex as costing $0.  (It also will NOT show you any other shore excursions for that port, which I find ridiculous, as you might want to change your mind.  So be sure to review the available shorex for a port carefully before you book.)

 

 

Totally agree that it's ridiculous that NCL's site doesn't display any other shore excursions for a port once you've booked something. For what it's worth, back in January 2019 I actually submitted that as a bug to NCL's digital team because it seemed so weird, and this was the reply I got:

 

"I did review this with out IT Department and there is an issue going on where only the booked excursions shows and nothing else. They are looking into the issue because you should be able to view all the excursions available no matter what. This is not an intentional design, this is a legitimate error that is occurring and is being worked on. We apologize for the inconvenience."

 

But if it's still happening... 🤷‍♀️