SHORE EXCURSION CREDIT - FREE AT SEA PACKAGE

[iloveglee]

Does anyone know exactly how this works exactly.  I was under the impression that the $50 (£40) credit was for the cabin.  On trying to book an excursion that costs £23, mine has the credit applied.  The other person in the cabin has to pay the full £23 even though there would be £17 remaining from the credit.  

 

Am I therefore incorrect to assume it's for the cabin.  I admit the free at sea offer is pretty complicated generally, what with all the items currently on it, but then the restrictions that apply.  We have paid £149 per person for this, and again assumed that the drinks, and entry to one speciality restaurant came with no further charge.  I have subsequently read that gratuities are applied to the value of drinks and food in the speciality restaurant.  is this the case?

 

 

[CruiseDealSweeper]

It’s $50 off each excursion you book for the first guest. Second guest pays in full. 
 

If you book more than one excursion through NCL you get $50 off each excursion. So if desired, it can be worth much more than $50. 

[KeithJenner]

37 minutes ago, iloveglee said:

Does anyone know exactly how this works exactly.  I was under the impression that the $50 (£40) credit was for the cabin.  On trying to book an excursion that costs £23, mine has the credit applied.  The other person in the cabin has to pay the full £23 even though there would be £17 remaining from the credit.  

 

Am I therefore incorrect to assume it's for the cabin.  I admit the free at sea offer is pretty complicated generally, what with all the items currently on it, but then the restrictions that apply.  We have paid £149 per person for this, and again assumed that the drinks, and entry to one speciality restaurant came with no further charge.  I have subsequently read that gratuities are applied to the value of drinks and food in the speciality restaurant.  is this the case?

 

 

You don’t pay any gratuities on the free at sea packages. Nothing will be charged on what you get, as long as it is covered by the package (ie drinks under $15 etc).

[iloveglee]

Ah that's good to know.  You read such conflicting reports in various places (not here usually), you never know what to believe.  I have booked our speciality dining, and indeed that did come with nothing to pay, I have the confirmation to prove it. 

[matterdog919]

1 hour ago, iloveglee said:

Ah that's good to know.  You read such conflicting reports in various places (not here usually), you never know what to believe.  I have booked our speciality dining, and indeed that did come with nothing to pay, I have the confirmation to prove it. 

You are probably seeing US Based pricing FAQ. I think the UK has different rules on how items can be considered "Free". For some reason in the US they can still Charge $40 for the Free Specialty Dining, since it is technically a gratuity service upcharge.

 

You are also correct on the $50/40 Pound credit ... if you check your profile you should see it tied only to the first guest in the room. So picking any excursion <$50/40 does leave some of that credit unused. However, it generally still makes for an overall deal when you are essentially getting a Buy One Get One deal.

[iloveglee]

It does seem to be that way.  I contacted them via live chat and she said this was the case.  As it goes we rarely take excursions anyway, we prefer to do our own thing.  There were a couple we may have considered on our cruise, each of them only costs £23.  We only have the one credit, so obviously even though there is £17 remaining, the second person has to pay in full.  But - looking at it positively, it means that each of you only end up paying £11.50, and given that the tour we were looking at could be challenging to do it independently (due to the time the ship leaves), it might be worth it. 

 

On another thread, there are questions about them not serving alcohol in port in greece, which is an issue that probably requires some looking into.!!

[couplelovestravel]

Just took a Greek cruise with these packages.  As someone just said, $50 shore excursion is for the room, not per person.  If you book an excursion that is $25, one person pays $0 and the other $25.  The drink package is not free, you are still charged $20 per person, per day for gratuities.  We paid $280 for gratuities that were added on and I do not even drink alcohol.  We are booking B2B cruises in August and will not do the drink package again.  You pay more for your room and then have to pay gratuities  

[couplelovestravel]

On 5/22/2022 at 5:36 PM, iloveglee said:

It does seem to be that way.  I contacted them via live chat and she said this was the case.  As it goes we rarely take excursions anyway, we prefer to do our own thing.  There were a couple we may have considered on our cruise, each of them only costs £23.  We only have the one credit, so obviously even though there is £17 remaining, the second person has to pay in full.  But - looking at it positively, it means that each of you only end up paying £11.50, and given that the tour we were looking at could be challenging to do it independently (due to the time the ship leaves), it might be worth it. 

 

On another thread, there are questions about them not serving alcohol in port in greece, which is an issue that probably requires some looking into.!!

I took cruise out of Athens on May 1.  If you have a drink package already booked, you can order drinks in port.  If you do not have a drink package, you cannot order until you are out to sea.  

[KeithJenner]

59 minutes ago, couplelovestravel said:

Just took a Greek cruise with these packages.  As someone just said, $50 shore excursion is for the room, not per person.  If you book an excursion that is $25, one person pays $0 and the other $25.  The drink package is not free, you are still charged $20 per person, per day for gratuities.  We paid $280 for gratuities that were added on and I do not even drink alcohol.  We are booking B2B cruises in August and will not do the drink package again.  You pay more for your room and then have to pay gratuities  

We aren’t charged the gratuities on the free at sea beverage package. We pay a fixed fee for the packages instead, which is the £149 that was mentioned in the first post.

[wil e coyote]

Another idiosyncrasy of the excursion credit is that it can also be applied to more than one excursion per day, but again, only for one person. I know it's pretty rare to do more than one excursion per day, but we recently ended up booking two short beach events at the same port, and both of mine had the $50 discount applied, while we had to pay full price for my spouse.

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

We aren’t charged the gratuities on the free at sea beverage package. We pay a fixed fee for the packages instead, which is the £149 that was mentioned in the first post.

Yes, as has been previously posted there are different rules for cruisers from the UK than from the USA due to different laws about what must be included in the stated price.

[MrsTocko]

This is my understanding of the USA rules.  The credit is applied to each excursion for the "lead" passenger only.  If the cost of the excursion is less than the $50 credit, then the amount of the credit is reduced to the cost of the excursion.  For example: Excursion cost is $39.  The value of the credit is reduced to $39. The remaining passenger(s) pay full price of the excursions in their name.

 

After the credit is taken off, then the latitudes discount is applied, if you are entitled to a discount.

 

So in the case of my DH and I on the above excursion. My excursion is free (I'm listed as the lead passenger).  DH is charged full price of $39.  Deduct 10% latitude tier discount = 35.10. Regular full price would be $78. Total Savings = $42.90.
 

Make sense?

 

[julig22]

26 minutes ago, MrsTocko said:

This is my understanding of the USA rules.  The credit is applied to each excursion for the "lead" passenger only.  If the cost of the excursion is less than the $50 credit, then the amount of the credit is reduced to the cost of the excursion.  For example: Excursion cost is $39.  The value of the credit is reduced to $39. The remaining passenger(s) pay full price of the excursions in their name.

 

After the credit is taken off, then the latitudes discount is applied, if you are entitled to a discount.

It actually depends on how you book your excursion.  If you book onboard, the discount comes off before the $50 excursion credit. So booking onboard saves you $5 (10%) or $7.50 (15%) over pre- booking online.