Purchase Air Through NCL

[DCGuy64]

9 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

The responses were very clear and numerous.  The most common was that the cruise line was doing her daughter a favor by arriving the day before.  The mother's response was that if the cruise line thought her daughter should arrive the day before they should have paid for the hotel, meals, etc.  It was one of those 'the cruise line is at fault and they owe us' responses.

And, no doubt, had the daughter been booked on a flight by NCL that arrived the day of the cruise, but said flight was delayed or cancelled and daughter missed embarkation, mom would have said "that's too bad for you, dear, it's not the cruise line's fault." No doubt. 🤣

[RocketMan275]

9 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Huh?

You pay the same base price for your cruise, whether or not you choose the flight option.  A popup would only exist IF you had already chosen to take the airfare. And they actually pay you to choose a deviation.

Yes, the price of the cruise itself is the same but the total price of the cruise vacation is increased by the cost of the hotel and the cost of multiple meals.  This costs could easily exceed several hundred dollars for a family.  This could discourage those looking for an inexpensive vacations to look elsewhere.  Also, younger passengers may not have an extra day of vacation.  

[RocketMan275]

18 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

And, no doubt, had the daughter been booked on a flight by NCL that arrived the day of the cruise, but said flight was delayed or cancelled and daughter missed embarkation, mom would have said "that's too bad for you, dear, it's not the cruise line's fault." No doubt. 🤣

Of course not.

[ontheweb]

57 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Huh?

You pay the same base price for your cruise, whether or not you choose the flight option.  A popup would only exist IF you had already chosen to take the airfare. And they actually pay you to choose a deviation.

Yes, a $25 credit, but not to the second passenger (who is "free").

[SimplyAlbert]

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

Yes, the price of the cruise itself is the same but the total price of the cruise vacation is increased by the cost of the hotel and the cost of multiple meals.  This costs could easily exceed several hundred dollars for a family.  This could discourage those looking for an inexpensive vacations to look elsewhere.  Also, younger passengers may not have an extra day of vacation.  

 

Although I wouldn't do it, I can see someone taking a chance on a same day flight if (1) they had the option of driving to the port, even if it were a long drive, or (2) the airport they are flying out of has multiple daily flights to their destination, i.e. NY to Miami.  I imagine if your flight was cancelled there would be a good possibility of getting another flight out that day and making the trip.

 

There's no way I would chance a same day cross-country flight with connections.  Way too many ways for it to go wrong.  If I couldn't take the extra time or afford the extra money to go in at least a day early, I would pick a different vacation.

[DCGuy64]

I agree with @SimplyAlbert, a cross-country trip is long enough as it is, without taking into account the same-day arrival. However, full disclosure here: my wife and I flew to Europe twice for cruises (the first being our honeymoon) where we arrived the same day as the cruise. We were not delayed, and I did not purchase travel insurance ahead of time. We were fine. Had I spent the money on insurance, it would have been wasted. I'm not advocating this method, but only saying to those who fall back on the "you ALWAYS buy insurance and ALWAYS arrive a day early" that that doesn't work for everyone. The insurance industry makes profits by convincing people they need to spend money for something they hope those people don't need to use, and/or they find crafty ways of not paying. In short: there's no one-size-fits-all solution. I buy travel insurance now only for expensive vacations, but not for cheap domestic ones.

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, SimplyAlbert said:

 

Although I wouldn't do it, I can see someone taking a chance on a same day flight if (1) they had the option of driving to the port, even if it were a long drive, or (2) the airport they are flying out of has multiple daily flights to their destination, i.e. NY to Miami.  I imagine if your flight was cancelled there would be a good possibility of getting another flight out that day and making the trip.

 

There's no way I would chance a same day cross-country flight with connections.  Way too many ways for it to go wrong.  If I couldn't take the extra time or afford the extra money to go in at least a day early, I would pick a different vacation.

You're assuming that your flight wasn't cancelled for reasons affecting all other flights.  

A major snow storm can shut down an entire region.  

 

We had the opposite happen.  Our flight to Tampa was cancelled and AA offered us another flight.  The cancelled flight was arriving the day earlier (friday) and the offered flight arrived the day of (saturday).  We found out the cancellation early on friday.  We opted to take the flight refund and drove.  We spent the night about two hours short of Tampa and drove the rest of the way the morning of the cruise.  We've driven to florida cruises several times often stopping to spend the night and then completing the drive the morning of the cruise.  It's worked fine for us.

 

We're getting too old for those 14 hour drives and we're flying in the future.  Even six hours to NOLA is too much now.

[julig22]

6 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

 Had I spent the money on insurance, it would have been wasted. I'm not advocating this method, but only saying to those who fall back on the "you ALWAYS buy insurance and ALWAYS arrive a day early" that that doesn't work for everyone. The insurance industry makes profits by convincing people they need to spend money for something they hope those people don't need to use, and/or they find crafty ways of not paying. In short: there's no one-size-fits-all solution. I buy travel insurance now only for expensive vacations, but not for cheap domestic ones.

I've done quite a few same day arrivals but most were before the airlines became so unreliable.  But a couple of cruises I've taken either have a pre-cruise tour or stay overnight in port, so I use that as my safety net. And then there is driving to port - seems like there have been quite a few freeway closures due to accidents on the route I take - really got me to thinking about that one before my last cruise!

 

As to insurance, I've gone to an annual plan that should cover a missed cruise and added expenses. The annual missed cruise benefit isn't huge but would be sufficient to cover 1 "lost" cruise, the other benefits are per trip. Cost is about what I'd pay for coverage on a single cruise.  Well worth it to me, since it's covering a number of cruises - and would cover any travel I might do. But I'm also fully prepared to self-insure my cruise fare - it's the associated expenses of a cancelled or delayed flight that I want covered.

[DCGuy64]

17 minutes ago, julig22 said:

As to insurance, I've gone to an annual plan that should cover a missed cruise and added expenses.

I took a gander at the Allianz annual plan and the benefits seemed rather paltry. Maybe it's something to consider for the future, but only if the price is right and the benefits generous enough.

[SeaWatcher65]

I never booked flights with NCL but wondered how much choice I'd have.  I want to fly in a few days before and definitely want non-stop flights.  I suppose with NCL, there's no guarantee or much choice about flights.  Any positive experiences?

[julig22]

1 hour ago, SeaWatcher65 said:

I never booked flights with NCL but wondered how much choice I'd have.  I want to fly in a few days before and definitely want non-stop flights.  I suppose with NCL, there's no guarantee or much choice about flights.  Any positive experiences?

You can choose the day you arrive. No choice of flights, so if you want non-stop you should just pass on the offer.

As to positive experiences, I have saved a considerable amount of $$, especially international trips, but I'm not picky about my flights.  I fly from a small airport so my situation is different than those who fly from a large hub for example.  Because of their air standards, I often seem to get direct long-distance flights because it takes a couple of hops to get to an airport with flights overseas.

[Uff da]

After spending much of the afternoon reading find details of travel insurance as research for an annual policy I planned to buy next year, I'm not sure insurance would have saved this family. Once they left for the trip, all "cancel for any reason" insurance went out the door. The flight delays would probably not have been covered either under the regular cancellation clause. They might have gotten a little from trip delay like the Colorado family, but that's a drop in the bucket.
The "covered reason" clauses in those policies are limited. Unless someone gets really sick or dies, it's hard to cancel and get money back. Their only hope for any recovery would have been from an NCL policy that had a "cancel for a non covered reason" clause that would have given them back 75% of the cruise fare as a FCC. No taxes, fees, FAS, air, transfers or anything else, just the room cost basically. Since they were in a Haven suite, that may have been a good benefit to have. 
I think insurance gives people a false sense of security. Reading the fine print is eye opening.
We have an annual plan for medical care and evacuations since our medical plans do not cover us overseas. I was going to upgrade us next year, but I'm not sure it's worth it. It's all kind of scammy if you read the fine print. Easy to pay for, hard to collect on. Maybe the doctor can recoup a little money from his credit card insurance. 

[julig22]

1 hour ago, Uff da said:

After spending much of the afternoon reading find details of travel insurance as research for an annual policy I planned to buy next year, I'm not sure insurance would have saved this family. Once they left for the trip, all "cancel for any reason" insurance went out the door. The flight delays would probably not have been covered either under the regular cancellation clause. They might have gotten a little from trip delay like the Colorado family, but that's a drop in the bucket.
The "covered reason" clauses in those policies are limited. Unless someone gets really sick or dies, it's hard to cancel and get money back. Their only hope for any recovery would have been from an NCL policy that had a "cancel for a non covered reason" clause that would have given them back 75% of the cruise fare as a FCC. No taxes, fees, FAS, air, transfers or anything else, just the room cost basically. Since they were in a Haven suite, that may have been a good benefit to have. 
I think insurance gives people a false sense of security. Reading the fine print is eye opening.
We have an annual plan for medical care and evacuations since our medical plans do not cover us overseas. I was going to upgrade us next year, but I'm not sure it's worth it. It's all kind of scammy if you read the fine print. Easy to pay for, hard to collect on. Maybe the doctor can recoup a little money from his credit card insurance. 

If you actually cancel, port fees, FAS gratuity, DSC, transfers, etc. would be refunded by NCL as far as I know. So no, not covered by insurance, not necessary. Not sure of the policy if you no-show.

[DCGuy64]

5 hours ago, julig22 said:

If you actually cancel, port fees, FAS gratuity, DSC, transfers, etc. would be refunded by NCL as far as I know. So no, not covered by insurance, not necessary. Not sure of the policy if you no-show.

Is that true? I didn't know that. I'm currently shopping for travel insurance and wasn't aware those items would be refunded. Thanks for pointing that out!

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Is that true? I didn't know that. I'm currently shopping for travel insurance and wasn't aware those items would be refunded. Thanks for pointing that out!

Yes, you do not have to count those things in the amount of money you insure because they are refundable, not at risk.

[Uff da]

2 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Is that true? I didn't know that. I'm currently shopping for travel insurance and wasn't aware those items would be refunded. Thanks for pointing that out!

It depends on when you cancel and why. You can cancel any cruise for a full refund up until final payment. After that you enter "penalty phase" for cancelling and that's when insurace kicks in. You have to know what your policy does and does not cover as a reason for cancellation. Then you also have to know what the cruise line policy is. Trying to figure it all out is like a full time job! 😉

[schmoopie17]

8 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Yes, you do not have to count those things in the amount of money you insure because they are refundable, not at risk.

Agreed. This topic has been discussed ad infinitum on this board and the consensus is that port fees, gratuities, etc., are refunded if you cancel and the advice is not to include them in the cost of your trip for insurance purposes.

 

Having said that, this appears to be conjecture without anyone ever posting that this was the case when they canceled. It would be nice to have someone verify this was, indeed, the case, so the precedent has been set. Otherwise it's just conjecture.

[Uff da]

This is the NCL cancellation fee schedule. It appears to include penalties for all "add ons" which are not fully explained and I'm sure are buried in another document. I'm not convinced you get anything back if you don't have the right insurance and cancel for a covered reason. 
https://www.ncl.com/about/cancellation-fee-schedule

Here are the conditions of their Book Safe Travel Protection plan. 
https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/booksafe
 

[julig22]

55 minutes ago, Uff da said:

This is the NCL cancellation fee schedule. It appears to include penalties for all "add ons" which are not fully explained and I'm sure are buried in another document. I'm not convinced you get anything back if you don't have the right insurance and cancel for a covered reason. 
https://www.ncl.com/about/cancellation-fee-schedule

Here are the conditions of their Book Safe Travel Protection plan. 
https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/booksafe
 

They can't keep fees for taxes or additional services that they don't provide and those are not included in the cancellation fees. So no refunds on cruise fare or airfare, as they have provided the ticket for those.  Certainly any excursions would be fully refundable. Since the FAS package is optional and you aren't obviously eating/drinking, those gratuities would also be refundable, as would the daily DSC if you prepaid.

But from some of the stories I've heard about refunds, it does possibly depend whether or not you actually cancel or are just a no-show.

 

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, Uff da said:

Then you also have to know what the cruise line policy is. Trying to figure it all out is like a full time job!

Boy, you said it! I really need to hire an insurance agent to go through everything with me. Most of the policies are 50pp + long. And it can be difficult to figure out how much insurance you need. A few examples from our upcoming cruise to Italy:

1. Cruise fare, paid in full, but that includes 2 spa passes, port fees, specialty dining fees (and I upgraded to 2 MORE meals), and gratuity on drinks.

2. Airfare. We got a good deal so they're non-refundable, non-exchangeable and non-transferable. BUT: the airline will refund us if we have to cancel for a medical reason and have a doctor's note to that effect.

3. 2 excursions bought, one of which is allegedly refundable.

 

We have really good medical insurance which would cover us abroad, but it's a very high deductible for out of network (which an overseas trip would definitely be), so do we pay out of pocket and have travel insurance reimburse us, or use our insurance and then have travel insurance pay us what we paid the insurance company? Insurance companies don't cover accidents while engaging in high risk behavior like drag racing, sky diving, etc. But what about the donkey that takes me from the port in Santorini up the hill to the town square? Is that covered? Who knows?

 

[Uff da]

4 minutes ago, julig22 said:

They can't keep fees for taxes or additional services that they don't provide and those are not included in the cancellation fees. So no refunds on cruise fare or airfare, as they have provided the ticket for those.  Certainly any excursions would be fully refundable. Since the FAS package is optional and you aren't obviously eating/drinking, those gratuities would also be refundable, as would the daily DSC if you prepaid.

But from some of the stories I've heard about refunds, it does possibly depend whether or not you actually cancel or are just a no-show.

 

Excursions are ticketed also. Just like Viator, if you don't cancel far enough in advance, no money back. Penalty phase...

[Uff da]

5 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Boy, you said it! I really need to hire an insurance agent to go through everything with me. Most of the policies are 50pp + long. And it can be difficult to figure out how much insurance you need. A few examples from our upcoming cruise to Italy:

1. Cruise fare, paid in full, but that includes 2 spa passes, port fees, specialty dining fees (and I upgraded to 2 MORE meals), and gratuity on drinks.

2. Airfare. We got a good deal so they're non-refundable, non-exchangeable and non-transferable. BUT: the airline will refund us if we have to cancel for a medical reason and have a doctor's note to that effect.

3. 2 excursions bought, one of which is allegedly refundable.

 

We have really good medical insurance which would cover us abroad, but it's a very high deductible for out of network (which an overseas trip would definitely be), so do we pay out of pocket and have travel insurance reimburse us, or use our insurance and then have travel insurance pay us what we paid the insurance company? Insurance companies don't cover accidents while engaging in high risk behavior like drag racing, sky diving, etc. But what about the donkey that takes me from the port in Santorini up the hill to the town square? Is that covered? Who knows?

 

Exactly how I felt yesterday. More confused than ever. The devil is in the fine print.
I see you ran across the high risk clause. I saw that too. Every vendor of these activites requires you to sign a waiver, so you aren't covered at all. I think many would be surprised at what is not covered if they actually read a policy like that. 

[julig22]

1 minute ago, Uff da said:

Excursions are ticketed also. Just like Viator, if you don't cancel far enough in advance, no money back. Penalty phase...

Yes, and the cancellation time frame for excursions is 48hours so if you miss your cruise, most if not all of your excursions would be refundable under that theory alone.

[Uff da]

4 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Yes, and the cancellation time frame for excursions is 48hours so if you miss your cruise, most if not all of your excursions would be refundable under that theory alone.

Again, it is dependent on your insurance, if you have it, and if you cancel for a covered reason. They don't just refund out of the kindness of their heart. 
We can debate this all day long, but the only one who can answer it is NCL and even they don't always tell you the right answer. 

[yakcruiser]

If you go to forums at the top of the page there is a thread where Steve from Insurance Store answers questions. He seems to be very knowledgeable about cruise trip insurance. Maybe he has actually read all 150 pages of fine print. I can't seem to get past page 7.