Tell me your good, bad and ugly with Sail Away category

[Jasonmom]

 

Have book sailaway probably 10 - 15 times.  Only once did we really have an issue with room location (it was an ocean view).  All the way in front on NCL Breakaway.  The blinds had to come down at night because the light might interfere with bridge, and it was ALOT of extra walking (look at deck plan on Breakaway) for us.  We do have some mobility issues though.

 

[cruisinmeme]

On 8/18/2019 at 11:03 AM, crazyboutdisney said:

On 8/18/2019 at 11:03 AM, crazyboutdisney said:

So you booked sail away for this December and got your cabin assignment right away? I guess I was assuming it didn’t happen until like the week before. 

And do I understand correctly the sail away category dropped in price?

Yes, sail away price can go down so i watch daily.  It actually went down the first time 2 days after booking then a few weeks later it went down again.  

I just hope when i finally get my cabin assignment it is good as i had.  Each time you call/email about the price change you start over and wait for new cabin. 

[crazyboutdisney]

1 minute ago, cruisinmeme said:

Yes, sail away price can go down so i watch daily.  It actually went down the first time 2 days after booking then a few weeks later it went down again.  

I just hope when i finally get my cabin assignment it is good as i had.  Each time you call/email about the price change you start over and wait for new cabin. 

Good to know! So at that point you consider  the money savings against the room location. 

 

[crazyboutdisney]

4 minutes ago, cruisinmeme said:

Yes, sail away price can go down so i watch daily.  It actually went down the first time 2 days after booking then a few weeks later it went down again.  

I just hope when i finally get my cabin assignment it is good as i had.  Each time you call/email about the price change you start over and wait for new cabin. 

Another question...can you change back to a regular category where you pick your room? Say you really hate the location? 

[cruisinmeme]

11 minutes ago, crazyboutdisney said:

Another question...can you change back to a regular category where you pick your room? Say you really hate the location? 

 

13 minutes ago, crazyboutdisney said:

Good to know! So at that point you consider  the money savings against the room location. 

 

Yes, huge savings for the two I have booked sailaway. We do get two meals as platinum guest and 30 mins each internet and dont drink so the extra’s are not important. 

Yes, if you dont like the location and you are not paid in full yet change away.  Like my PCC told me, even change to mini suite rather than balcony and see what happens there. It is driving me nuts that i got cabin assignment right away before now i am waiting on one.

like others have said i have had plenty of cabins i picked and had neighbors from hell. My last cruise i picked cabin and paid dearly and the kids in cabin thought they was in a gym doing wall tumbles all week.

[crazyboutdisney]

21 minutes ago, cruisinmeme said:

 

Yes, huge savings for the two I have booked sailaway. We do get two meals as platinum guest and 30 mins each internet and dont drink so the extra’s are not important. 

Yes, if you dont like the location and you are not paid in full yet change away.  Like my PCC told me, even change to mini suite rather than balcony and see what happens there. It is driving me nuts that i got cabin assignment right away before now i am waiting on one.

like others have said i have had plenty of cabins i picked and had neighbors from hell. My last cruise i picked cabin and paid dearly and the kids in cabin thought they was in a gym doing wall tumbles all week.

This happened to me on our last cruise with another line. The kids were being left unattended in the cabin and I swear they were bouncing off the walls. And running in and out of the cabin, slamming the door every time. So another good point!! 

[cruisinmeme]

I would of said something but the dad looked 6’6” and 400 lbs and mom not far behind.lol. I dont know what was worse the wall banging or door slamming.  At one point i saw them sitting in the hall playing. At lease they were sitting.  We were in balcony cabins.  Who leaves kids for hours on end in cabin with a balcony. 

[hladygirl]

Did one sailaway inside and got the farthest forward cabin in the corner of deck 8 on the gem. The 1st 24 hours were rough seas and the cabin was unbearable during that time due to cabin rocking and bouncing and the horrible scary loud bashing of waves on the hull. I have been in cabins mid and aft in much,much worse seas and never experienced anything that bad. Will never get a forward cabin again.

[crazyboutdisney]

1 hour ago, cruisinmeme said:

I would of said something but the dad looked 6’6” and 400 lbs and mom not far behind.lol. I dont know what was worse the wall banging or door slamming.  At one point i saw them sitting in the hall playing. At lease they were sitting.  We were in balcony cabins.  Who leaves kids for hours on end in cabin with a balcony. 

You sure we weren’t on the same ship!! Lol This was the exact experience we were having! 

[newmexicoNita]

I think which works best depends on what you are willing to give up for a great price. For us, we love specialty dining and yes, enjoy ordering drinks and not worrying about our bar bill at the end of the cruise so we go with Free at Sea. If the perks are not worth it for you, then take your chances and do Sail Away. We just like the idea of knowing ahead of time what the cruise is going to cost us, everything included. We rarely have a bill at the end of the cruise except for gratuities. 

[janj01]

On 8/19/2019 at 12:09 AM, crazyboutdisney said:

We are booked on the Epic out of San Juan in March. Flights are WOW expensive. Traveling with friends and really want to go so we are considering changing our booking to Sail Away to save the money for airfare. We like the drink package but knowing its a port intensive cruise we arent too upset about losing the offers.

So I am just curious on peoples experiences with Sail Away. We really arent that picky about our room location. Close to elevators wouldnt bother me etc. The only thing that might is all the way forward. 

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance 🙂

 

We had a balony cabin with all perks booked and when saw sailaway cabins drop heavilly in price we decided to forfeit the perks and save $1200 each and get the sailaway. We have our cabins and got deck 10 midship which is almost the same position we originally booked. Very happy

[debgreg]

We are in the UK, we have a GTY cabin and we have two perks included not sure how.

 

As some others have said I don't care where I am as long as I'm on. We use the savings to pay for other things, like a few nights hotel stay before and after. Last time we got a great inside, deck 9 Aft near the lifts.

[ppcox]

21 hours ago, crazyboutdisney said:

All of the responses have been very helpful!!! The difference in price is less than I thought, $677. We are now debating just sticking with what we have. Even if we don’t drink that much I think the gap will come closer. BUT this info has been very helpful because this will definitely be something I will consider more seriously in the future!

 I have read all the great sail away “wins” with envy.We have sailed 7 times with NCL only once with a sail away rate as the cabin was all the way forward on a low deck . After balconies or Mini suites  on the Getaway, Escape and Bliss we did a last minute inside sail way on the Spirit.

 

Every time we docked ( usually very early in the morning between 4-6 am ) the noise and vibrations were unbelievable our water bottles feel off the shelves the wardrobe door slide open we were wide awake until we had finished docking, of course we became better at preparing the cabin for the vibrations. Still the noise frightened us every time not a great way to be woken up.

We told ourselves we weren’t picky , we would never be in the cabin etc etc but honestly never again as it happens I am fussy about sleeping uninterrupted!

 

[spethstation]

I booked a Sailaway GTY inside for my upcoming Dec 7 sailing on the Escape. I knew it was a risk, but the savings were too great.

 

I got my cabin assignment shortly after final payment. Unfortunately, I was assigned in a family inside - forward, deck 5, and right under the theatre! 😳😂 It's just me and my sister travelling. We'll be with all the Guppies!

 

Needless to say I'm bidding for an upgrade, or hoping the pricing plummets and I can pay for an upgrade!

Edited August 20, 2019 by spethstation

[crazyboutdisney]

8 hours ago, janj01 said:

 

We had a balony cabin with all perks booked and when saw sailaway cabins drop heavilly in price we decided to forfeit the perks and save $1200 each and get the sailaway. We have our cabins and got deck 10 midship which is almost the same position we originally booked. Very happy

Now that is a great savings!!! Awesome!

[snorklinbarb]

On 8/19/2019 at 11:11 AM, April42749 said:

I only book sailaway rates because the perks are of no value to me and we live "almost at" the port, plus we're retired.

 

So, with that being said, on the "probably 10 cruises" all the cabins were good except for the time on the BA.  It was a guaranteed inside and they gave us a family inside.  So, I was happy....thinking it was good for 4 people and we were only 2.  Boy, was I wrong.  The bunk beds made floor space really tight.  We kept the bunks up (didn't need them) and the beds separated so at least we could walk upright (and we're short...I'm under 5' and dh is 5'6".  In addition...there was no storage space, basically no shelves.  It was the smallest cabin I ever saw. 

 

Unbelievably there were 4 adults sharing the same cabin across the hall.

 

After that incident I never booked inside sailaway again.

 

 

I've had good results in insides & balconies sailaway guaranty.  Must say, as Platinum Plus I don't see the assignments linked to Latitudes status.  

 

Like April, on Escape I booked an IX gty as I booked the cruise 4 days before sailing!  Initially very pleased with I1 "family inside" on deck 13.  First time to ever be in one of those "sleeps 4" cabins and the beds stored "in the wall" are quite hard to maneuver around.  Either bumped head or knee half the time.  

 

Also had the family of 4 (very loud) right across the hall.  Looked like a quiet little short hall but the kids still managed to run up and down.  I knew Bermuda in summer would mean most cabins 3-4 people.

 

Just booked close in B2B cruise and did IX for both legs.  Got my assignments within a few days.  For leg 1, I'll be in an IB in very good location.  For leg 2, an I1, also good location but another case of extra wall bunk beds.  On both I've been sent the upgrade offer.  I'm also looking at paying for an upgrade as the spread between IX and others within the category narrows.  

 

For our Epic TA next year, I booked a cabin I wanted (B6 large balcony) as will be with DH on his first TA.  

 

But when solo, and especially last minute, I've been very pleased with the spillways even with no perks.  When booking sailaway guarantees keep in mind that no perks are included at all.

Edited August 20, 2019 by snorklinbarb

[pspercy]

On 8/19/2019 at 4:22 PM, cruisinmeme said:

Yes, sail away price can go down so i watch daily.  It actually went down the first time 2 days after booking then a few weeks later it went down again.  

I just hope when i finally get my cabin assignment it is good as i had.  Each time you call/email about the price change you start over and wait for new cabin. 

 

I have SailAway GTY OV on a trip next Spring. A cabin was assigned upon booking and didn't change tho' there's been at least three price drops applied since then.

 

BTW, the "fully loaded" OV (all five percs) was nearly double the cost of the SailAway option, I was astonished.

[Newleno]

On 8/19/2019 at 9:36 PM, hladygirl said:

Did one sailaway inside and got the farthest forward cabin in the corner of deck 8 on the gem. The 1st 24 hours were rough seas and the cabin was unbearable during that time due to cabin rocking and bouncing and the horrible scary loud bashing of waves on the hull. I have been in cabins mid and aft in much,much worse seas and never experienced anything that bad. Will never get a forward cabin again.

That sounds like fun!  We are value cruisers and dont drink (other than the free sparkling wine and free wine with platinum dinner) we always gty/sailaway.  Some people love to drink and they will drink all day every day, in that case a package perk may turn out to be better but the "free at sea" numbers never work out for us.  Even with a great room location you can still get lousy neighbors that make crazy amounts of noise.  

[gymbomb]

The last time I didn't choose my own room I ended up on a low deck (which itself is not a big problem for me) right above a really loud area where the sound of heavy equipment woke us up multiple times every single night. It was HORRIBLE and I will never again not choose my own cabin location.