Best guess of upcoming sales

[cruiseny4life]

27 minutes ago, BamaCruiser39 said:

Yup. For a nearly identical 7-night itinerary this upcoming February, Celebrity fully comped me an aqua class balcony cabin on the Apex (room rate only) on less theoretical and actual loss than my last NCL cruise where they are offering me an all-inclusive oceanview on the Encore.

 

Even after paying separately for the upgraded "premium" drinks and "premium" wifi  packages on Celebrity, it's costing me over a thousand dollars less than it would cost to upgrade to a regular (NOT spa) balcony on the Encore - not even including the price I would have to pay to upgrade the wifi on NCL which I have to have when I am out of the office.

 

If NCL wants me to continue to sail with everyone else (including more "premium lines"), I'm more than happy to oblige if it saves me thousands of dollars a year lol

Hey...Frankie boy Del Rio knows what's best for his business. That's why NCLH is currently trading at $11.74. Though to be fair Carnival is at $8.47. Been a tough few years for them, but NCLH's debt to equity is pretty terrible. They gotta bring in more revenue just to survive and I'm sure Frankie's got a golden parachute that's got to be funded too. 

[GALSews]

The sale did change a little in the last 4 years as it used to be 30% instead of 35% for each (or the infamous 70% for the second passenger), because that is how much off we got. But since the "base" price was lower, even with the 30% off, the price we are being has not been matched and we have the 3-meal package, not the 2.) 

Still almost a year until we take that cruise.

 

BTW, NBC was talking today about how low cruise fares can be, especially when compared to airfares, forgetting that a large number of Americans are not exactly close to cruise ports! Scotty is not going to be beaming these people to the ports of Miami and Port Canaveral, nor are they all going to book inside rooms which I am sure have the rates they quoted.

[aubreyc1988]

1 hour ago, BamaCruiser39 said:

Yup. For a nearly identical 7-night itinerary this upcoming February, Celebrity fully comped me an aqua class balcony cabin on the Apex (room rate only) on less theoretical and actual loss than my last NCL cruise where they are offering me an all-inclusive oceanview on the Encore.

 

Even after paying separately for the upgraded "premium" drinks and "premium" wifi  packages on Celebrity, it's costing me over a thousand dollars less than it would cost to upgrade to a regular (NOT spa) balcony on the Encore - not even including the price I would have to pay to upgrade the wifi on NCL which I have to have when I am out of the office.

 

If NCL wants me to continue to sail with everyone else (including more "premium lines"), I'm more than happy to oblige if it saves me thousands of dollars a year lol

It's just unfortunate because I love the overall vibe on NCL. Idk what it is, the people, the bars, restaurants, I just always have a blast on NCL. But they are going to have to start actually competing with other cruise lines pricing

[tallnthensome]

2 hours ago, njkate said:

I'll have to check as I'm sure a cruise like that on Carnival isn't like the "party" cruises from NY or Fl. My loyalty is pricing and itinerary I don't get caught up in that Latitude BS.

Same here.... not interested in achieving any status by purposely sailing any line to do so. Carnival is a bottom choice for me usually but when the itinerary and price fall in line I'm all in . Not worried about a party ship sailing from London/Dover. 

[tallnthensome]

47 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

It's just unfortunate because I love the overall vibe on NCL. Idk what it is, the people, the bars, restaurants, I just always have a blast on NCL. But they are going to have to start actually competing with other cruise lines pricing

Yup, me too but I have to find some value in the booking.  I can't feel like I got robbed when I book and feel that way even before boarding the ship. NCL is not competitive at all right now . 

[G-DawgMN]

12 hours ago, aubreyc1988 said:

 

Other cruiselines idk. I am eyeing some of RCI lower fares...

 

 I don't know...Royal is only offering 30 percent all guests.....

[complawyer]

i may be mistaken, but when ever ive checked celebrity or royal, regardless of price, i have noticed their cabins are smaller. i looked at a jr suite on royal, and its about the same size as the club suite on ncl.

 

celebrity suites seem to be more expensive than ncl also.

 

again, i concede that i havent prices either of these cruise lines out lately, but i find that for price and itinerary, ncl has always given me more bang for my buck. 

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, GALSews said:

BTW, NBC was talking today about how low cruise fares can be, especially when compared to airfares, forgetting that a large number of Americans are not exactly close to cruise ports! Scotty is not going to be beaming these people to the ports of Miami and Port Canaveral, nor are they all going to book inside rooms which I am sure have the rates they quoted.

Wall Street Journal had an article this week about how a room on a cruise ship could be less than a night at Motel Six.  The prices quoted were for an inside.  

[aubreyc1988]

2 hours ago, KSSS2013 said:

 

 I don't know...Royal is only offering 30 percent all guests.....

I only look at itinerary, overall price, and I also factor in money for drinks, hotel, etc and have all this on a spreadsheet. Right now on Sept 4th I can sail on Symphony for 1300 in an inside for two people. The Sky, which is the ONLY ship on Sept 4th sailing to the Caribbean is 1535 for two people in a sailaway inside.  The rate with the perks is 2,000, a 700.00 difference from Symphony. This might be comparable to RCI pricing if the Sky was a newer ship but yeah, just not feeling NCL's pricing to be honest. Hoping it changes for the better soon. My husband however is overjoyed, he likes RCI better and I like NCL better 😛

[G-DawgMN]

11 minutes ago, aubreyc1988 said:

I only look at itinerary, overall price, and I also factor in money for drinks, hotel, etc and have all this on a spreadsheet. Right now on Sept 4th I can sail on Symphony for 1300 in an inside for two people. The Sky, which is the ONLY ship on Sept 4th sailing to the Caribbean is 1535 for two people in a sailaway inside.  The rate with the perks is 2,000, a 700.00 difference from Symphony. This might be comparable to RCI pricing if the Sky was a newer ship but yeah, just not feeling NCL's pricing to be honest. Hoping it changes for the better soon. My husband however is overjoyed, he likes RCI better and I like NCL better 😛

 

 

 I was being sarcastic....:). All cruise lines do their "great" sales but in the end their price really doesn't change a lot.

 We totally look at overall price, we've cruised Royal before (and will be in September), due to some fantastic prices they have offered. We once had a 17 day Transpacific booked for only 1800 bucks for both of us including gratuities....of course Covid came along....

[spanishguy1970]

20 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

The same sale has been running every day but just renamed for the past 4 years. 

gone are the days of the free daily gratuity perk..

[spanishguy1970]

18 hours ago, The Shrike said:

The best deals I've gotten have been from having four cruises booked and paid for, then a pandemic hits which cancels all of them and they give me a 20% future cruise credit, which I use on other cruises which get cancelled and they give me another 20%...I tell you, I was only about a year or so from being able to book an entire ship for just for me and my wife, our family, and friends just on the FCCs they kept giving us.

😜

Lol us too..we haven't sailed since 2019 and we took FCCs...after two of our 2020 cruises were canceled.

[spanishguy1970]

13 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

When the NCL CEO comes out publicly and says NCL will take the approach of not discounting their current cruises prices and in fact will charge the maximum that the market can handle one should take that as a notice to not expect a real "sale". To me its been obvious with their horribly high cruise prices this year and looking forward it's just as bad. 

We have been looking into some Celebrity cruises and MSC as an alternative to NCL. NCL prices have  gotten ridiculously high.

[spanishguy1970]

7 hours ago, njkate said:

NCL just regurgitates the same sale over and over with different verbiage, like one poster said you see a sale where third and fourth sail free or for $99, when you look at price breakdown they aren't free or reduced as they upped the price for first and second passenger.

 

Even the Trans Atlantic's which used to be pretty reasonable are through the roof.

I have 3 adults and one child in a club balcony on Saturday on The Bliss, if I opted for a 2 bed Haven it would of cost me 20K, yes 20K for a 7 day cruise. Was hoping once I knew my bid wasn't accepted I could try for a solo or inside for myself, nope not paying over 2k.

Sadly I have a cruise booked for March out of Tampa after that for next summer or the next Trans Atlantic I may take a cue from other NCL cruisers and really shop at other lines. NCL is becoming very pricey.

Yes, transatlantics have always been our choice, now you can pay prices that just does not make any sense.

[complawyer]

ncl has a trans atlantic  on the star from lisbon to rio this november. a 2 bedroom suite is $7500.

 

i think 14 days in a suite (with butler and concierge) with all food and drinks included, is one h**l of a bargain, no matter how you look at it.

 

even if the star has no "haven" per se, you still get all the perks of a suite.

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, complawyer said:

ncl has a trans atlantic  on the star from lisbon to rio this november. a 2 bedroom suite is $7500.

 

i think 14 days in a suite (with butler and concierge) with all food and drinks included, is one h**l of a bargain, no matter how you look at it.

 

even if the star has no "haven" per se, you still get all the perks of a suite.

Great price for two! Definitely not going because the primary reason I do Haven is the restaurant. My husband and I are too enamored with the food but that is a bargain.

[complawyer]

you still get breakfast and lunch in either cagney's or moderno

[amyh13]

I am waiting on the $1 deposits!

[complawyer]

amyh13 sorry darling, even if you ever get the $1.00 deposit, all that means is that you'll just owe that much more when the final payment comes due. think about it in those terms. if you book a haven suite for $10,000 and need to ante up $1750 as a deposit, would it matter at the end that you still owe $8250, or you just put down the dollar and at the end owe $9999.

 

same with an indoor cabin. if you book for 1200 and deposit $250 you'll owe $950 at the end. if you pay a dollar, you'll owe $1199 at  the final payment.

 

regardless of the offer, (and i always sail ncl, have been for 12 years now) ive always maintained that ncl doesnt give away ice cubes in winter.  if you ask why i keep sailing with them, ive commented before that my criteria is price and itinerary, i have always found that ncl always gives me the best bang for my buck, so i can ignore most of the annoyances, real or imagined

 

on all their alleged "sales", free at sea promotions, 3rd &4th guest fly free, if you look closely at all of them, you'll quickly understand that ncl has us coming and going either way.  by the way, the current sale has been going on in one form or another for over 3 years

 

ncl could actually waive any and all deposits. you get all your previously paid out sums if you cancel before final payment is due, or you pay it all at once (or in increments) before final payment. either way ncl doesnt really lose anything, they just dont get the free loan

[G-DawgMN]

30 minutes ago, amyh13 said:

I am waiting on the $1 deposits!

 

 

 I have seen TA's offer no deposits to book. 

[andychris]

I just spoke with an NCL rep and was told that the “new sale” is only going to be 40% off the second guest. Not 70% like it is now. 
I don’t know if she really knows or just wants me to book tonight. 
any thoughts?
Thanks

[complawyer]

if youve been following these amazing (sarcasm intended) sales for the past few years, you will notice that any amount off doesnt change the cost of the cruise. they just jack up the price and claim it's a sale. for the generous 3rd and 4th guests are free, ncl just redistributes the costs between the 1st 2 people and calls it a sale.  

[ChiefMateJRK]

4 hours ago, andychris said:

I just spoke with an NCL rep and was told that the “new sale” is only going to be 40% off the second guest. Not 70% like it is now. 
I don’t know if she really knows or just wants me to book tonight. 
any thoughts?
Thanks

Believe it (or not), NCL website is now showing 40% off all cruises (not 35%, not 70% off second guest).  I was actually in the process of making a few bookings, and their system is all gummed up.  Prices change from screen to screen and when you get to the end, no matter what you do, it craps out and says "previous selection is no longer available."  It's just after midnight Eastern time, so likely some system maintenance/changes going through.  I'm curious what I'll find in the morning when I make another attempt.

[andychris]

Well it looks like the rep was incorrect. 
yes it is 40% off which is slightly better than 35%. 
I priced my cruise today and it’s slightly cheaper. I guess I’m glad I waited lol

[cruiseny4life]

@ChiefMateJRK, I priced out a cruise to the Western Caribbean about an hour ago and got to the screen where I would normally see the summary of charges - alas, I received a similar error message as you. NCL must really not want to give that extra 5% off. 

 

@andychris, I was not able to price out the above cruise, but my husband was. He told me the cruise is $200 cheaper than when we looked at it a few days ago so this sale is providing a little extra oomph to our purchasing power.