Perks?!?!?

[KeithJenner]

36 minutes ago, dexddd said:

What do others think about this?  Well, when it first came out about three plus years ago, people thought it was crazy and lots of backlash.  Fast forward, the marketing gimmick has most people in love with the "free" promos.

To be fair, when they first introduced it (first the packages, then giving them as a perk-with price rise, then charging the gratuity) there was plenty of discussion. Many people have something of an issue with the principle, even if it still works for them.

 

The people who it doesn’t work for have tended to move away from NCL so it isn’t really a surprise that most of those still here are happy with the promos.of course there are also those few people who stay here just to complain. 🙂

 

Personally, I think that the way it’s done isn’t great, but I just look past the marketing and decide whether the final price is worth what I am getting. Whether it is actually ‘free’ is irrelevant to me if the final numbers still work.

[RedwingHockeyFan]

I think it goes a lot towards explaining why NCL beverage packages are quite a bit higher than other cruise lines.  They need to make it so the Sail Away price plus the beverage package costs more than the regular price with UBP as a perk. 

[bkrickles1]

21 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

To be fair, when they first introduced it (first the packages, then giving them as a perk-with price rise, then charging the gratuity) there was plenty of discussion. Many people have something of an issue with the principle, even if it still works for them.

 

The people who it doesn’t work for have tended to move away from NCL so it isn’t really a surprise that most of those still here are happy with the promos.of course there are also those few people who stay here just to complain. 🙂

 

Personally, I think that the way it’s done isn’t great, but I just look past the marketing and decide whether the final price is worth what I am getting. Whether it is actually ‘free’ is irrelevant to me if the final numbers still work.

Yep. It's all about the final numbers.

I booked the Encore for 1/19/2020 and did the booking in January of this year, so a full year before.

I did comparisons like I haven't done in years as most of my sailings over the past 10 years have been out of NYC/Bayonne and that's local for me. It made comparing pretty easy and we sailed mostly rccl until last year on the Escape, which was great!

Since I was looking for a winter sailing out of Florida (Miami or Ft. Lauderdale), I looked at NCL, RCCL, Celebrity, Princess and MSC. I was booking for me, my wife and 19 year old daughter and we wanted a balcony.

With NCL I took all 6 perks (3rd free, beverage pkg, sdp, $50 shore, 250 internet and free airfare r/t lga to miami)

My total with all 6 perks and for the 3 of us is just shy of $3600 or $1200 pp. That's for a balcony cabin on the 14th deck, midship. The free airfare for 2 of us probably was the perk that put me over the top as airfare in January can be on the high side.

Without question, NCL gave me the most value over rccl, celebrity and Princess. MSC was a little confusing and may have had a better value with aurea pkg but I wasn't sure and kept reading mixed reviews so NCL was the winner!

As you said, concentrating on "free" as opposed to just comparing final numbers between cruises is a game of semantics.

My final number was terrific and I check every couple of weeks to see if anything has changed and it's only gotten more expensive, so I'm still pretty happy.

I may try for an upgrade to a spa balcony, but won't go crazy with a bid so we'll see in a few months.

I'm already looking for our next cruise and my method of choosing will be the same.

[RedwingHockeyFan]

So I just looked at the cruise I am currently booked for in Feb on the Breakaway.  There are Sail Aways available that are $200 per person cheaper than what I am currently booked for.  However, the price for the 3rd person went from free to $399.  So now the only savings for that cruise is the free at see gratuities, so about $300.

[reeinaz]

I tend to be a solo cruiser. I will probably always choose a studio over an inside or ocean view. I recently booked a sail-away balcony that was less than $100 more than the studio. It's a 4 day cruise from NYC so I figured my carryon bottle of wine and a cabin bar setup should mostly cover my drinks. I can take the train to NYC. So I'm spending about $200 more for the balcony with no perks over the studio with 1 perk.  The balcony is worth $200 to me.

I also booked a 4 day cruise from a port that requires a flight. There was no sail-away balcony but the cheapest balcony was nearly twice the price of a studio (cabin fare only). But flights I'd likely take to Miami in January are about $700. After factoring in the flight and the drink perk gratuities for the studio, the balcony with all 4 perks and free airfare was only $2 more. This was the only time the perks have seemed like a deal to me. Normally I get them just for the convenience of them.

[K_e_short]

On 8/21/2019 at 9:29 AM, shanet60 said:

I find it funny they offer these 5 free perks , but you have to first choose a cabin thats not sail away and then pay all the gratuity for them as well!! The difference in my sail a way balcony and one with the perks was $1034. How is that a perk? I mean even if you drink like a fish it would be hard to reach that even with 3 free meals and $50 off of shore excursions!! None of the cabins on the breakaway have obstructed views so I’m not worried about that , I moved mine back down to a sail a way and will just pay as I go because I don’t see myself spending over $1000 , I never have before!! I’m just curious what others think about this ?

 

Unless you are super rich it's wise to calculate exactly how much money you are spending and saving on certain types of rooms.

In your case you figured a sailaway is the better deal.

Everyone has their wants and needs on a cruise ship.

 

I loved my inside cabin on my last cruise but can get an oceanview for cheaper because of the reduced airfare.
 

Doing your homework and figuring out ways to save makes sense.