Price drop again

[Trappedontheboat]

1 minute ago, cruiseny4life said:

You used a great example! Phones...we always get a price match for our phones within 30 days of purchase from Samsung. Now had you used a car, I suppose I could understand that. But we all know cars lose whatever % as soon as we sign that paperwork. 

 

For our coffee maker (north of $1,000) we received three price matches. 

 

If we buy something in the store, we can typically take it back, return it, then get a new one at the new price.

 

Back to travel - for hotels, flights, rental cars, etc., provided you purchase a refundable rate/don't lay any cash down, you always get your money back by cancelling and rebooking at the new rate. 

 

So, to answer your rhetorical question, yea, most consumers do expect their money back. 

I cannot agree more. When the time period is short. Some people here mentioned that they booked it last Christmas. Quite a long time ago. Don't you think?!

 

Travelling is a very tricky business. People change plans all the time. All these companies would bankrupt if they return money. That's how NCL tries to sell out their rooms. And it is well-known that most of the time last-minute booking is cheap.

[DCGuy64]

Just now, Trappedontheboat said:

I cannot agree more. When the time period is short. Some people here mentioned that they booked it last Christmas. Quite a long time ago. Don't you think?!

 

Travelling is a very tricky business. People change plans all the time. All these companies would bankrupt if they return money. That's how NCL tries to sell out their rooms. And it is well-known that most of the time last-minute booking is cheap.

Exactly. Seasoned cruisers have told me over and over that if you want a certain cabin on a certain cruise, book early. And many do. But the downside is that if prices drop after final payment, you may be out of luck in terms of refunds or OBC. So that sure-thing cabin may cost you vs waiting until closer to sail date and not getting your pick of cabins (or any cabin at all, for that matter).

[cruiseny4life]

Just now, Trappedontheboat said:

I cannot agree more. When the time period is short. Some people here mentioned that they booked it last Christmas. Quite a long time ago. Don't you think?!

 

Travelling is a very tricky business. People change plans all the time. All these companies would bankrupt if they return money. That's how NCL tries to sell out their rooms. And it is well-known that most of the time last-minute booking is cheap.

Long time ago, until it hits final payment and frankie boy has their cash, so decides to decrease the price. 

 

My husband and I are outliers - for the most part we book our cruises after final payment date. Heck we even canceled within final payment when we found a cruise that was nearly twice as long for just slightly more money (plus the $1,000 will be out after the FCC hits our account). 

 

Frankie boy also claims that prices won't be decreased at the last-minute. Most (I would guess) would consider within the final payment date as last-minute. So...big surprise, frankie boy's a liar if/when the price goes down which means he's unethical. 

 

So yea, I'm going to be on the consumer's side, not the big ole corporate side.

 

[mjkacmom]

But if folks could get the lowest price after final payment, wouldn’t literally everyone who paid more to get the cabin and date they want ask for a refund after final payment? So everyone would be paying the lower fire sale price?

[Trappedontheboat]

I agree it feels unfair that you paid tons of money for the room and now it costs a penny. But let's be realistic: when you are in the stock market and you missed the chance to buy a bitcoin while it was a cent or similar to Tesla or let's take the opposite when a company goes bankrupt. You do not go to Elon (for example) and do not ask for a cheap share/ money back when the company is gone. It is business and unfortunatelly, the consumers are not the ones who create the rules.

[cruiseny4life]

Just now, mjkacmom said:

But if folks could get the lowest price after final payment, wouldn’t literally everyone who paid more to get the cabin and date they want ask for a refund after final payment? So everyone would be paying the lower fire sale price?

Norwegian doesn't have fire sales though. Right? That's what marketing and the C-Suite would have us all believe. 

 

NCL could just stick to their word and not offer sales - then there wouldn't be an issue...now we all know what's going to happen in the real world where ethics mean little. This is why I'll continue to book at the last minute. We're already thinking about canceling our March cruise so we can see what happens with that not supposed to happen sale after final payment. 

[cruiseny4life]

Just now, Trappedontheboat said:

I agree it feels unfair that you paid tons of money for the room and now it costs a penny. But let's be realistic: when you are in the stock market and you missed the chance to buy a bitcoin while it was a cent or similar to Tesla or let's take the opposite when a company goes bankrupt. You do not go to Elon (for example) and do not ask for a cheap share/ money back when the company is gone. It is business and unfortunatelly, the consumers are not the ones who create the rules.

As my favorite econ guy says, the stock market is not the economy. The stock market is also not your vacation. I don't accept your premise. 

 

Except for consumers not creating rules. 

[LisaDee]

On 8/14/2022 at 4:05 PM, kylenyc said:

Does anyone else have this experience? Is the experience different between TA and a PCC?

Even my PCC has had to wait an hour to get an agent to do a price adjustment. Maybe some TAs just don't want to call?
 

As of the last cruise which was month ago, PCC told me any post-final payment credit could be requested up to two weeks before embarkation.

 

I just went through this last week.  We are past final payment, but I regularly check our sailing for pricing.  I saw that our cabin’s price had dropped by $2K (Haven).  I contacted my TA (big box store/call center, not a specific person with whom I have any relationship), she put me on hold and contacted NCL.  She came back and said my options were either to upgrade or request FCC.  I wasn’t interested in an upgrade because I have a great cabin.  NCL told her they had to submit the request to a different department and said I would get a response in about a week.  About a week later I got an email from NCL with the amount of the FCC (100% of the amount of the difference at the time I submitted the request).  The FCC will become available to use after I complete this upcoming cruise and must be used on a sailing taking place within one year.  It’s a one-time gesture, if it drops again I can’t get any more but I’m fine with that because there are only 2 remaining cabins in our category, once they are sold there’s no pricing to compare against.

 

Great move on NCL’s part because although I suggested to my DH that we book a cheap cruise in an inside cabin to use up the FCC, knowing us we’ll end up in the Haven again spending many thousands more than the FCC 🙂 

[Trappedontheboat]

Just now, cruiseny4life said:

As my favorite econ guy says, the stock market is not the economy. The stock market is also not your vacation. I don't accept your premise. 

 

Except for consumers not creating rules. 

hah, if stock market is not the economy. so what do you call all the crysis USA has met for the last 100 years when stock market and Wallsteet is down. Agreed, that you cannot identify economy as a stock market, but it is def a part of it.

[cruiseny4life]

2 minutes ago, LisaDee said:

 

I just went through this last week.  We are past final payment, but I regularly check our sailing for pricing.  I saw that our cabin’s price had dropped by $2K (Haven).  I contacted my TA (big box store/call center, not a specific person with whom I have any relationship), she put me on hold and contacted NCL.  She came back and said my options were either to upgrade or request FCC.  I wasn’t interested in an upgrade because I have a great cabin.  NCL told her they had to submit the request to a different department and said I would get a response in about a week.  About a week later I got an email from NCL with the amount of the FCC (100% of the amount of the difference at the time I submitted the request).  The FCC will become available to use after I complete this upcoming cruise and must be used on a sailing taking place within one year.  It’s a one-time gesture, if it drops again I can’t get any more but I’m fine with that because there are only 2 remaining cabins in our category, once they are sold there’s no pricing to compare against.

 

Great move on NCL’s part because although I suggested to my DH that we book a cheap cruise in an inside cabin to use up the FCC, knowing us we’ll end up in the Haven again spending many thousands more than the FCC 🙂 

That's a fair gesture. Thanks for sharing! And yep, while we might toy with the idea of a spa balcony or club balcony....we'd be getting a Haven room ourselves. 

[Trappedontheboat]

3 minutes ago, LisaDee said:

 

I just went through this last week.  We are past final payment, but I regularly check our sailing for pricing.  I saw that our cabin’s price had dropped by $2K (Haven).  I contacted my TA (big box store/call center, not a specific person with whom I have any relationship), she put me on hold and contacted NCL.  She came back and said my options were either to upgrade or request FCC.  I wasn’t interested in an upgrade because I have a great cabin.  NCL told her they had to submit the request to a different department and said I would get a response in about a week.  About a week later I got an email from NCL with the amount of the FCC (100% of the amount of the difference at the time I submitted the request).  The FCC will become available to use after I complete this upcoming cruise and must be used on a sailing taking place within one year.  It’s a one-time gesture, if it drops again I can’t get any more but I’m fine with that because there are only 2 remaining cabins in our category, once they are sold there’s no pricing to compare against.

 

Great move on NCL’s part because although I suggested to my DH that we book a cheap cruise in an inside cabin to use up the FCC, knowing us we’ll end up in the Haven again spending many thousands more than the FCC 🙂 

That's a nice gift.

@cruiseny4life should take into consideration

[RBrowny]

What happens if you've already paid through an agent, but want to try and get cheaper? Is it possible, baring in mind we have a fly and cruise with overnight stay - does it work different or not?

[Trappedontheboat]

15 hours ago, RBrowny said:

What happens if you've already paid through an agent, but want to try and get cheaper? Is it possible, baring in mind we have a fly and cruise with overnight stay - does it work different or not?

You can try and might be lucky, but there is no guarantee.

[Sim1979]

I always book late and i'm at risk of seeing the cruise increase because it's almost full (it happened and we had to change plans).  It's how it work... would you be willing to pay an increase if the cruise is full and the price goes up?

 

In 2016 we really wanted to go in alaska and we knew the cruise were selling out fast, so we booked 6 months early.... and the cruise price went down big after final payment (like 2k)... but well... the price we paid was worth it when we decided to book, that didn't change after final payment.

[cruiseny4life]

13 minutes ago, Sim1979 said:

I always book late and i'm at risk of seeing the cruise increase because it's almost full (it happened and we had to change plans).  It's how it work... would you be willing to pay an increase if the cruise is full and the price goes up?

 

Nope! Which is why we wouldn't book if there were an increase. Only the same, or lower would we book. 

 

Personally, I book to go on the ship and do nothing, but sweat in the thermal suite. The ship is my destination. My husband does care about itinerary, but not a lot. If there's an itinerary we really, really want to go on, then I suppose we'd book early. But, a cruise doesn't make sense to us if we want to see a place. Unless it's Bermuda, there's just simply not enough time to adequately venture beyond the touristy. 

[mking8288]

For some (if not all) of the upcoming Canada & New England cruises out of the Northeast, mainly NY/NJ - prices for Insides & Oceanviews have been dropping again after a brief increase, the "solo" penalty supplement are still not waived or reduce ... balcony prices & club/mini suites has been holding and now trending on an upward curve.  Haven isn't anywhere close to being sold out or full from early upgrade bids ... it's anybody's guess on true last minute pricing at 5 to 10+ days from embarkation.  Those with flexible time on time and can travel / cruise on short notice should be in a good position to score something.  Itineraries are mostly port intensive, and, Oceanview with reasonable & true bargain sale prices can be enticing to some, not everyone ... 

[scooter6139]

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

Personally, I book to go on the ship and do nothing, but sweat in the thermal suite. The ship is my destination. My husband does care about itinerary, but not a lot. If there's an itinerary we really, really want to go on, then I suppose we'd book early. But, a cruise doesn't make sense to us if we want to see a place. Unless it's Bermuda, there's just simply not enough time to adequately venture beyond the touristy. 

 

This is almost exactly our situation.  I just like being on the mobile resort that gets to visit places, but those places don't really matter that much to me.  It's the ship that matters.  (However, neither wife nor I like to sweat much to the thermal spa is a no-go.)  My wife does like to get off the ship once in a while.  I'd just be happy to wave at her from the Observation lounge as I read my Kindle and drink whatever intrigues me at the time.

[Chasing Summer]

I'm not sure why so many people think other cruise lines are different and why they "deserve" a refund. You booked at a certain price and if you didn't like it, you shouldn't have booked. I understand being miffed knowing someone else is paying less. Been there, done that, literally dozens of times. Of course NCL and any other line is going to try to sell any open cabins at the last minute. We were on RCL in March and after final payment our overpriced inside room was the same as a central park window view. They changed us, but that's all they would do. We were on Princess in July. Our very overpriced inside room was now more expensive than a balcony. I probably tried six times in a month to try to get rebooked into a balcony or get OBC or even FCC. Nothing. Every single time. Nothing. We have high frequent cruiser status on both of those line and I tried to play that card. That didn't work. We have to fly to every cruise we take, so any savings in last minute bookings is gobbled up by very expensive last minute airfare. If we could drive, I would probably wait. We been on 39 cruises, I think about 14 have been on NCL. We've never gotten money back or any compensation from an after payment price drop. Once in a while we've have been able to move to a better cabin for the same price we paid, which is better than Princess last month.

 

The cruise lines are not out to screw you. They are trying to survive and make a profit. They are not non-profit entities and whatever they have to do to dig out of the massive debt incurred from Covid, Godspeed to them. I hope they can survive. If you get anything after final payment, count yourself lucky. And if you are able to cruise at all...count your self even luckier!

[cruiseny4life]

6 minutes ago, Chasing Summer said:

The cruise lines are not out to screw you. They are trying to survive and make a profit. They are not non-profit entities and whatever they have to do to dig out of the massive debt incurred from Covid, Godspeed to them. I hope they can survive. If you get anything after final payment, count yourself lucky. And if you are able to cruise at all...count your self even luckier!

I sure do count myself lucky to be able to cruise, and to do it in a way that I enjoy. 

 

Alas, I can't agree with you. The cruise lines are out to get us - just as is every for profit organization that is doing their job properly. Capitalism means businesses make money, customers lose it. You just hope the value proposition is good enough for the customer. NCL, and the other lines, just have p!$$ poor customer service, ergo they're not doing their job properly.

But don't worry NCL - I'm still coming for you. The value proposition is decent enough for me to continue sailing on you. I just expect you to act like the gangster outfit you are (please don't go under, btw). 

[cruiseny4life]

BTW @Chasing Summer - love your screen name!

[Chasing Summer]

I think everyone's customer service is down the past few years and not just for cruising. We are booked on a NCL cruise out of Tampa for next spring break and it's been a while since we've been on NCL. I HATE their "free" crap. Ever since they added the take the free stuff marketing, they have been consistently higher priced than other comparable cruises. We want to go out of Tampa this year and they are the only ship there that leaves on Sunday. It's the Dawn, so it's cheap because it's old, but still not that cheap. I took off the free dining and free drinks and it brought down the price, but still so much more than they used to be. Our daughter is 11 and she's been on 13 cruises, the first 5 being NCL. Then the free stuff started and we been on other ships since then. Even if you can get the sail away (no perks), it's not a good value. Now, compared to land, it's a great value. A week in a FL hotel is the same as our cruise before we add any food. Still love cruises, just like to "shop around." That's capitalism. 🙂 Show me the deal that's a win-win for both of us.

[freaky_82]

I just checked our cruise price and I could get an obstructed Oceanview for less than I paid for our inside cabin.  We are 1 month before our PIF date.

We booked onboard, so we got that extra 10% off and still the price went down.

 

Who would I have to contact to get a cabin upgrade or an OBC? Can I use the NCL chat, or email, or do I have to call?

[Chasing Summer]

You'll likely need to call. You can. Try chat and they'll tell you whether or not you can do it. I think email would be black hole. If it's before final payment you should be able to change. If there were any special perks like OBC be sure to ask if you can keep those.

[phoenix1181]

4 hours ago, freaky_82 said:

I just checked our cruise price and I could get an obstructed Oceanview for less than I paid for our inside cabin.  We are 1 month before our PIF date.

We booked onboard, so we got that extra 10% off and still the price went down.

 

Who would I have to contact to get a cabin upgrade or an OBC? Can I use the NCL chat, or email, or do I have to call?

In order to “upgrade” after final payment, you have to come up with more $$. In doesn’t have to be much, but they won’t move you to a higher category even if it’s currently selling for less than you paid. 
 

sorry, I misread your PIF. If you’re before final payment, go for it!!

Edited August 17, 2022 by phoenix1181
Correction

[roboref]

On 8/16/2022 at 2:18 PM, mjkacmom said:

But if folks could get the lowest price after final payment, wouldn’t literally everyone who paid more to get the cabin and date they want ask for a refund after final payment? So everyone would be paying the lower fire sale price?

Compare to Southwest Airlines, you make final payment when you purchase the ticket, if you find the fare goes down later, you can reprice and receive future travel funds. BTW, these funds used to expire 1 year later, but just recently Southwest went and removed the expiration date. So, yes, I do expect a lower rate or at least some OBC. NCL has chosen to go a different direction and is continuing to let FCC and Next Cruise expire without refunds, even when other cruise lines refund un-used Cruise Next. NCL gets to make the policy and as a consumer I get to choose if I give them my business. NCL has crossed my threshold, so no more of my business after I use the Cruise Next they won't refund.