Free at Sea- What Happened Here??? 😠

[BoundForSea]

What is This????? They pulled the free and now there’s credit caps?????? 

 

This is huge IMHO. How did this get snuck in under the radar????

 

Is this here to stay?? Some of those amounts don’t cover squat!! Free 3/4th kids sail free is now down to 1000!! 

 

This just gets worse and worse this year. l’m sorry for the negativity but I wanted to post this for those who were totally unaware as me. No pre-announcement on this either from NCL. 

 

😤😤

[farmersfight]

18 minutes ago, BoundForSea said:

What is This????? They pulled the free and now there’s credit caps?????? 

 

This is huge IMHO. How did this get snuck in under the radar????

 

Is this here to stay?? Some of those amounts don’t cover squat!! Free 3/4th kids sail free is now down to 1000!! 

 

This just gets worse and worse this year. l’m sorry for the negativity but I wanted to post this for those who were totally unaware as me. No pre-announcement on this either from NCL. 

 

😤😤

 

Yeah, first I've seen of this. So much for the "free" in the Fee at Sea promo, eh? Perhaps NCL is trying to recoup some of that cash they have been hemorrhaging during this Covid cruising shutdown.

[latebloomer56]

21 minutes ago, farmersfight said:

 

Yeah, first I've seen of this. So much for the "free" in the Fee at Sea promo, eh? Perhaps NCL is trying to recoup some of that cash they have been hemorrhaging during this Covid cruising shutdown.

Maybe they want to try and limit kids next year? The kids sail free was great for families.

 

[shof515]

so glad i already booked all of my future cruises for 2021 and 2022 now with better deals and promo. It will be interesting to see what happens to these types of sales in the future

[hallux]

The biggest kicker, for some, might be the bar credit.  I know I could get 2-3 specialty dining meals out of that $160 credit (is that per person or per room?) which is no different/better/worse than what the previous deal got you on a 7 night cruise, and the $130 WiFi credit (again, per person or per room?) is more than enough for me.  If the dining credit is per room, it's absolutely a change for the worse on double-occupancy rooms.

[sirenitas]

They should do a better ad instead of just copy/paste their old one. It could be called be a discount or a special offer, but I don't see why it says "choose 2 free offers". 

Their offers are always the same and everyone complains and jokes about that, maybe they just thought to change it up a bit and then the next "offer" would look like a real deal.

 

I did go to NCL and tried to price our May PoA cruise and I still get the choose 2 - the prices are the same as they were last week.  Over $1k more than when I booked in Aug 2019. 

[adam_s_allen]

Doesn’t have those limits for me, weird. 

[MeHeartCruising]

Looking at the Terms and Conditions, I don't see that anything has been changed.  Unless I missed it.  I suspect the some Marketing type just magically came up with those $$ numbers to make the same old promo look fantastically different.  For the alcohol and dining packages, my guess is that the ships systems can't actually do that cap if it were asked to.

[sanger727]

7 minutes ago, MeHeartCruising said:

Looking at the Terms and Conditions, I don't see that anything has been changed.  Unless I missed it.  I suspect the some Marketing type just magically came up with those $$ numbers to make the same old promo look fantastically different.  For the alcohol and dining packages, my guess is that the ships systems can't actually do that cap if it were asked to.

 

They have made this very confusing. It appears you still get the premium beverage package and the same specialty dining package - not "credits" as the website implies. Wifi is based on minutes and for a mock booking for a longer cruise it offers $160 towards internet, so I assume that is for the 500 minutes. They do make it sound as though you won't get more than $1,000 off towards 3rd and 4th guest free. But since it only says you'll save up to $130 for the internet I think this was simply a marketing scheme that completely backfired. I believe that nothing has changed. 

[MeHeartCruising]

Same promos.  They are just using the "retail value" price (as defined in the T&Cs) for each of the perks x 2 passengers x 7 day cruise as the basis for the promo marketing.  I didn't look into the Kids Sale Free option, but I'm sure it's probably the same too.  It does say "on select cruises" for that one, so they probably looked at what the savings for 2 kids on those cruises were.

[All-ready2cruise]

Just playing with your mind, is all.  It appears the same as previous promos for me. 

 

 

[BoundForSea]

So what happens when I book a 14 day or 10 day voyage? I exceed that amount, do I pay out of pocket for the Beverage Package in excess of the credit? If so thats a big nut!

 

I don’t believe this is just marketing folks. I will find out more later today and get the facts from NCL. 

 

[Budget Queen]

16 minutes ago, BoundForSea said:

So what happens when I book a 14 day or 10 day voyage? I exceed that amount, do I pay out of pocket for the Beverage Package in excess of the credit? If so thats a big nut!

 

I don’t believe this is just marketing folks. I will find out more later today and get the facts from NCL. 

 

Good idea.   Go to the official source.    It’s just random guessing here.   

[Trimone]

In the U.K.:

 

[sanger727]

1 hour ago, BoundForSea said:

So what happens when I book a 14 day or 10 day voyage? I exceed that amount, do I pay out of pocket for the Beverage Package in excess of the credit? If so thats a big nut!

 

I don’t believe this is just marketing folks. I will find out more later today and get the facts from NCL. 

 

 

No, I did a mock booking for a 10+ day cruise and it's exactly the same as a 7.  Beverage package for the trip, no overage charges, just the gratuities. In fact the internet credit was over the amount listed in the add. The add is poorly worded. I would not take it as any indication that anything has changed.

[PTC DAWG]

5 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

Same promos.  They are just using the "retail value" price (as defined in the T&Cs) for each of the perks x 2 passengers x 7 day cruise as the basis for the promo marketing.  I didn't look into the Kids Sale Free option, but I'm sure it's probably the same too.  It does say "on select cruises" for that one, so they probably looked at what the savings for 2 kids on those cruises were.

Exactly, big nothing burger...although it did get a few talking...doesn’t take much. 

[Georgie562]

10 hours ago, BoundForSea said:

What is This????? They pulled the free and now there’s credit caps?????? 

 

This is huge IMHO. How did this get snuck in under the radar????

 

Is this here to stay?? Some of those amounts don’t cover squat!! Free 3/4th kids sail free is now down to 1000!! 

 

This just gets worse and worse this year. l’m sorry for the negativity but I wanted to post this for those who were totally unaware as me. No pre-announcement on this either from NCL. 

 

😤😤

 

Sorry to disappoint but it's NEVER been free to begin with.      Ever...Ever...Ever.. 

[mking8288]

Clickbait ??? working its magic, I dunno.

 

Got one's attention ... similar to those belated birthday gifts redeemable at Ikea, lately.  

[Casino Comp Chick]

1 hour ago, Georgie562 said:

 

Sorry to disappoint but it's NEVER been free to begin with.      Ever...Ever...Ever.. 

 

It was free, really free for most of Kevin Sheehan's tenure. It was only towards the end of his career that NCL started charging....my guess was Frankie was already calling the shots at that point.

[Maplemoose]

Is that $1400 per room? And what are the gratutites? 20%?  Has anybody booked using this revised promo? 

[Budget Queen]

1 hour ago, Casino Comp Chick said:

 

It was free, really free for most of Kevin Sheehan's tenure. It was only towards the end of his career that NCL started charging....my guess was Frankie was already calling the shots at that point.

No it wasn’t free.   Your cruise price was more that a sail away rate.   I have personally seen $1000 differences.   I always book sail away at significant savings and in the past sailed at least monthly.   🤩.   Saw the different rates all the time.   

[adam_s_allen]

28 minutes ago, Budget Queen said:

No it wasn’t free.   Your cruise price was more that a sail away rate.   I have personally seen $1000 differences.   I always book sail away at significant savings and in the past sailed at least monthly.   🤩.   Saw the different rates all the time.   

Wasn’t there a time where you got the perks even with guarantee rates?

[hallux]

55 minutes ago, adam_s_allen said:

Wasn’t there a time where you got the perks even with guarantee rates?

Guarantee rates are different from sail-away rates.

[adam_s_allen]

14 minutes ago, hallux said:

Guarantee rates are different from sail-away rates.

They didn’t have sail away rates back then

[Budget Queen]

3 hours ago, adam_s_allen said:

They didn’t have sail away rates back then

yes they did,   that deal was probably  5/6 years ago?   Sail away,  comes and goes,  and in the past showed up for later bookings.   

 

I did a Bermuda cruise-  that offered the drink package without the tips mandatory.     And I grabbed a lower rate without it.   Booked less than a week prior.   At the time,  included drink package rate was about $200++  more,  on a $399 rate that I paid.  🙂