Flight booked by Norwegian questions...

[nikkiml]

Hello everyone, I have a question for my fellow Canadians : we are a group of 14 Montrealers that have booked a cruise on the Encore, from April 9-16 2023 departing Miami.

 

We purchase the promotion that included airfare for the second passenger. My questions : were you satisfied with the flights arrangments booked by Norwegian ? What time of day did you arrive in Miami? Did you have a direct flight to Miami or was there one or many stopover ?

 

Thank you in advance for your answers

Lucie

[bruce85]

Not into Miami, but we used it for the first time for our cruise next month. Sailing out of Barcelona. We got our flight todays.

Going we got Columbia SC to Atlanta to Barcelona

Coming back, Barcelona to Phili to Columbia. 

Longest layover we have is 2 and half hours in Phili coming back. Early flight out of Barcelona, back home around 6pm. I was scared using because I had heard horror stories it but couldn't be happier with the flights we got. Once I got the email this morning, I logged into the airline websites and booked our seats, our flights were in their systems. 

[Keata]

@nikkiml I am from Ottawa and will be flying to Miami or Fort Lauderdale (NCL can chose either airport for their "free air") at the end of June.  I will let you know what I end up with when I get my flights.

[ksordi]

I would not use the airfare for going, maybe coming home.  Airlines have too many cancellations right now and we almost missed our cruise trying to get to our port.  We even had to rent a car as they had no other flights to our port until after the ship sailed.

[Katarae]

We used it for our Alaska Cruise next month. We have direct flights, we get in before noon on one of our deviation days, and well unfortunately (but welcome to going from west coast to east coast) we fly out at 9:30pm disembartation day. But honestly we now get 3 full days in Seattle, both direct flights. We looked at flight times leaving Seattle and we understand why they picked the 9:30pm flight. Others would be very close. We used them for our Singapore cruise as well, and they were not bad flights at all. I like letting them decide, and a lot of times, you look up your flight and you can change your seats.

[Rob-Bob]

We used them for cruise out of Athens in July 2021.  Worked out well.  Bumps along the way but they were airline issues.

 

We are using them again for July out of Port Canaveral.  That will be interesting.  Flying in day of.  Assuming we are flying into Orlando.  Will need to leave pretty early if we have connecting flights.

[nikkiml]

Thank you very much for your answers.

[Keata]

@nikkiml Got my NCL flights 35 days before the cruise.  They are flying me from Ottawa to Ft. Lauderdale on WestJet and returning from Ft Lauderdale to Ottawa on United through Chicago.  Not bad flights considering the great price.

[Suite Heart]

I have had flights that were a bit too early for my tastes (I am NOT a morning person); after all, with TSA, etc., you should be at the airport 2+ hours early. But the earliest flight time I've had when booked by NCL was 7:55 a.m.

 

I am old enough to remember when NCL used to fly you in the day before the cruise, and put you up in a partner hotel at no additional cost. Old enough meaning that they flew us in on pteranodons . . 😝

[dexddd]

19 hours ago, Suite Heart said:

I have had flights that were a bit too early for my tastes (I am NOT a morning person); after all, with TSA, etc., you should be at the airport 2+ hours early. But the earliest flight time I've had when booked by NCL was 7:55 a.m.

 

I am old enough to remember when NCL used to fly you in the day before the cruise, and put you up in a partner hotel at no additional cost. Old enough meaning that they flew us in on pteranodons . . 😝

My first NCL was like that.  We stayed at the Omni International in Miami.  It was a super nice hotel.

 

Also first flight on Delta.  Had a huge lunch by current standards that included tortellinis.

[oceanbill457]

If you have NCL book flights, they firmly state no changes. My flights on the day of departure from Seattle are 8 pm.

[MyTMo777]

22 hours ago, oceanbill457 said:

If you have NCL book flights, they firmly state no changes. My flights on the day of departure from Seattle are 8 pm.

My TA told us that for $25 per change, we can change our flights to a different day so we can arrive a day early and stay a few extra days at our disembarkation port. Our cruise is still too far out to receive our flight info so I can't test this out yet. Flying from Canada (Edmonton) to LA and back from Panama City.

[hallux]

15 minutes ago, MyTMo777 said:

My TA told us that for $25 per change, we can change our flights to a different day so we can arrive a day early and stay a few extra days at our disembarkation port

That would be a deviation, you have to ask for it 75 days in advance of the cruise, no fewer (except for select cruises or ships called out in the T&C's of the promo, and those are 60 days).  Right now it's actually a $25 CREDIT for taking a flight deviation.

 

Here is the page containing the T&C's for the BOGO flight promo - https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions

 

Share that with your TA, they might be interested in seeing it..

 

Here is the specific part about deviation requests - 

Deviation Requests:

• Deviation requests up to 2 days pre/post cruise will be credited $25 USD per person per deviation for guests 1 and 3-8 on the reservation. No other deviation requests will be permitted.
• Date deviations can be added up to 75 days prior to embarkation; once flight is ticketed, date deviations can no longer be requested.
• Secondary land package must be selected.
• Hotel add-on is not required for deviation request to apply.
• Deviation credit is non-refundable and non-transferable.

 

I'm not sure what the "secondary land package" is, I wasn't required to take one when I used the air promo in 2019.  If you want your deviation longer than 2 days you can't use the promo.

[mtrancher]

Has anyone ever missed their cruise departure due to NCL booking a day of departure flight schedule and then the airlines had delays, consequently delaying the flights till after initial cruise departure?

If so, how was it handled?

[oceanbill457]

Not disputing the issues about deviations. Just pointing out that once your flights are booked, you have no alternatives to change them. That apparently is their their position.

[hallux]

9 hours ago, oceanbill457 said:

Just pointing out that once your flights are booked, you have no alternatives to change them. That apparently is their their position

That is their position because that is their policy.  There have been many discussions on that...

[MyTMo777]

Thanks for the insights. This is the first time we've used the air option. I've emailed our TA with the link to NCL's promotional policies to see what she has to say.

[weltek]

We opted out of the NCL air promo based on everything I've read on Cruise Critic (not all bad, but a lot bad). But we have Delta BOGOs to use up, so it wasn't a hard decision to turn down NCL and use our own BOGOs.

If we didn't have BOGOs, I know I'd need to be prepared for red eyes and dealing on my own with cancelled flights (and possibly having to fight for a refund from NCL, depending on the situation). 

 

Edited June 14, 2022 by weltek

[MyTMo777]

10 minutes ago, weltek said:

We opted out of the NCL air promo based on everything I've read on Cruise Critic (not all bad, but a lot bad). But we have Delta BOGOs to use up, so it wasn't a hard decision to turn down NCL and use our own BOGOs.

If we didn't have BOGOs, I know I'd need to be prepared for red eyes and dealing on my own with cancelled flights (and possibly having to fight for a refund from NCL, depending on the situation). 

 

After reading stuff on CC, I swore I would never use the free air promo. But there was no way I could get flights as cheap as they were offering with the 2-for-1 deal. We're paying $500 total for flights that would cost $2000+ EACH if I booked on my own. So I'm hoping it all works out. What makes me most nervous is flying in the day of embarkation. We NEVER do that. So I'm hoping we can get a deviation at least for that. If not, getting to LA is the cheap part so we can book our own flights.

[hallux]

3 minutes ago, MyTMo777 said:

What makes me most nervous is flying in the day of embarkation. We NEVER do that. So I'm hoping we can get a deviation at least for that

There should be no "hoping", if you're more than 75 days out you or your TA can call NCL and ask for the deviation to be added.  If you're less than 75 until sailing you can't.  Unless your cruise/ship is one of those mentioned in the T&C's linked earlier in the thread by me, the deadline is noted in those cases.

[victory2020]

On 5/31/2022 at 3:46 PM, hallux said:

That would be a deviation, you have to ask for it 75 days in advance of the cruise, no fewer (except for select cruises or ships called out in the T&C's of the promo, and those are 60 days).  Right now it's actually a $25 CREDIT for taking a flight deviation.

 

Here is the page containing the T&C's for the BOGO flight promo - https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions

 

Share that with your TA, they might be interested in seeing it..

 

Here is the specific part about deviation requests - 

Deviation Requests:

• Deviation requests up to 2 days pre/post cruise will be credited $25 USD per person per deviation for guests 1 and 3-8 on the reservation. No other deviation requests will be permitted.
• Date deviations can be added up to 75 days prior to embarkation; once flight is ticketed, date deviations can no longer be requested.
• Secondary land package must be selected.
• Hotel add-on is not required for deviation request to apply.
• Deviation credit is non-refundable and non-transferable.

 

I'm not sure what the "secondary land package" is, I wasn't required to take one when I used the air promo in 2019.  If you want your deviation longer than 2 days you can't use the promo.

OK, right after the air info was cruise first something that ends in 2 days. Does it mean I can buy one for $150 & get $300 credit?? I'm just about to book a cruise

[jkrislc]

4 hours ago, MyTMo777 said:

After reading stuff on CC, I swore I would never use the free air promo. But there was no way I could get flights as cheap as they were offering with the 2-for-1 deal. We're paying $500 total for flights that would cost $2000+ EACH if I booked on my own. So I'm hoping it all works out. What makes me most nervous is flying in the day of embarkation. We NEVER do that. So I'm hoping we can get a deviation at least for that. If not, getting to LA is the cheap part so we can book our own flights.

We did the same thing for both our New York cruise ($200 R/T from California) and for our Iceland/Greenland/Norway cruise next year. When airfare from California often runs $1200 to $1400 to Europe and the cost usually increases when arriving in one port and returning from another, it was a no brainer to get the one ticket included in the price.

[hallux]

1 hour ago, victory2020 said:

OK, right after the air info was cruise first something that ends in 2 days. Does it mean I can buy one for $150 & get $300 credit?? I'm just about to book a cruise

I believe #3 on this page answers your question (and is the same as #3 in that section on the link you quoted) -

https://www.ncl.com/terms/cruisefirst

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it gets extended (again)...

[victory2020]

1 hour ago, hallux said:

I believe #3 on this page answers your question (and is the same as #3 in that section on the link you quoted) -

https://www.ncl.com/terms/cruisefirst

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it gets extended (again)...

OK, thanks. Looks like i can't buy & use for a cruise next September

[hallux]

6 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

OK, thanks. Looks like i can't buy & use for a cruise next September

why do you think that?