Free Airfare and B2B?

[JamieLogical]

Anyone know how NCL handles the second person flies free promo with back to back cruises? Now that NCL is starting cruising in the Caribbean again this summer, we are thinking of booking a B2B on the Joy. We definitely don't want to pay for flights for both sailings, since we would only be flying once, but we would want the flight dates to correspond with the first leg of our trip for the flight down and the last leg of our trip for the flight home...

[MeHeartCruising]

Great question.  I'm going to guess that their online systems can't deal with this situation.  But perhaps they can do it with a phone call intervention.  Good luck.

[jebhoward3]

Seems like I read some where on NCL website that they charge half the fare price for 1 way flights.   We were booked with return flights following b2b cruises and that's what they charged.    We were getting ourselves to Tampa and NCL was going to get us from Amsterdam back to Dallas.

[Middleager]

I was just dealing with this situation.  I'm happy NCL announced all guests/crews must be fully vaccinated, so I'm now looking at NCL cruises.

 

I put a hold on a b2b for San Diego to Panama, and Panama roundtrip in Caribbean island cruise.   The online system only provides roundtrip airfare and (airport) transfer.

 

Next day a NCL agent called.  I didn't request a call, so this agent saw my booking holds and called.  I asked him to adjust the flights for the two bookings, and email to me.

 

For the first cruise San Diego to Panama, the adjusted airfare was exactly half, but the (airport) transfer was less than half.  It made sense the airport transfer in San Diego (only 5 minutes or 2.5 Miles airport to cruise port) is less.  But for flight it should be less than half as flights yyz-san should be less than from Panama (from Central America) back to yyz.  But that's ok, still a good deal.

 

 

I wanted to further ask if we can take out the transfer, because we'd rather take a taxi ourselves, which would be quicker than waiting for the cruise transfer bus.  It should be much cheaper by taxi too, but it's mainly the saving in time.

Edited April 6, 2021 by Middleager

[julig22]

I  had a b2b booked at one time under the old NCL air promo.  I'd booked cruise 1 with airfare, then added cruise 2 later, also with airfare, so just cancelled the flights and transfers I wouldn't need and got a refund.

 

Everything was great until there were itinerary changes and the b2b was no longer possible and I was left with only one-way air for each leg.  NCL refused to reinstate the original reduced airfare for the leg I could take, because the promo was no longer available.

 

So if I ever choose to include airfare on a b2b again, I'll most likely book rt for each leg and cancel later, just in case.

[JamieLogical]

I called my PCC last night and she was able to remove one-way airfare and transfer from both cruises and we are now officially booked! Cannot wait to be cruising again!

[Middleager]

On 4/6/2021 at 5:22 PM, julig22 said:

I  had a b2b booked at one time under the old NCL air promo.  I'd booked cruise 1 with airfare, then added cruise 2 later, also with airfare, so just cancelled the flights and transfers I wouldn't need and got a refund.

 

Everything was great until there were itinerary changes and the b2b was no longer possible and I was left with only one-way air for each leg.  NCL refused to reinstate the original reduced airfare for the leg I could take, because the promo was no longer available.

 

So if I ever choose to include airfare on a b2b again, I'll most likely book rt for each leg and cancel later, just in case.

Ah, that's not good when NCL changed the itinerary and won't take care of the air offer.

So your experience is suggesting people don't cancel the middle flights and transfers till later.  But wouldn't people be required to pay everything at the time of final payment?  After that, NCL may not allow you to cancel the middle flight/transfers even though they know it's not needed.

[Middleager]

4 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

I called my PCC last night and she was able to remove one-way airfare and transfer from both cruises and we are now officially booked! Cannot wait to be cruising again!

That's good.

 

Something I can add is that people can remove the airport transfers in the other legs, and just take the flights including the free flights for the 2nd guest.

I talked to an NCL agent to confirm that.  In most ports, we'd rather just take the taxi and it'd be faster and cheaper, than waiting for the NCL bus.  In some places the bus may stop at other places, and multiple (airport) terminals before the final destination.

[julig22]

41 minutes ago, Middleager said:

Ah, that's not good when NCL changed the itinerary and won't take care of the air offer.

So your experience is suggesting people don't cancel the middle flights and transfers till later.  But wouldn't people be required to pay everything at the time of final payment?  After that, NCL may not allow you to cancel the middle flight/transfers even though they know it's not needed.

I don't know when the cancellation deadline would be and yes, you would have to pay everything at final payment, so probably best to cancel then.  That wouldn't have helped in my case, since the switcheroo happened after final payment.  It was very annoying!

[Middleager]

13 minutes ago, julig22 said:

I don't know when the cancellation deadline would be and yes, you would have to pay everything at final payment, so probably best to cancel then.  That wouldn't have helped in my case, since the switcheroo happened after final payment.  It was very annoying!

This got me thinking.

We should all ask NCL (and other cruiselines with similar offers), if people pay for b2b with air for before 1st cruise and after 2nd cruise, NCL also need to honour the original air arrangement at reasonable cost -- the original airfare if it had been taken would be the reasonable amount.

[RickCanada]

If I book a flight from Miami to cruise and a return to Toronto is this a one way or a return?

 

[JamieLogical]

6 hours ago, RickCanada said:

If I book a flight from Miami to cruise and a return to Toronto is this a one way or a return?

 

 

It seems to me that our flights for the B2B are being considered two one-way flights. When I put holds on the two sailings, I called my PCC and she was able to cancel the return flight for the first sailing and the outbound flight for the second sailing. So, If you are doing a B2B, I think you could choose Miami for the first leg and Toronto for the second leg and then call NCL to cancel the extra flights. If you are only booking for 1 week, I don't think it would be as easy, but you could call and ask.

[pghflyer]

Last time I looked it was better to book the second B2B as a sailaway rate because the cost of those "free flights" are bundled into the non-sailaway rates........