CruiseNext trying to confirm what I have been told onboard

[Bonthewater]

Currently sailing on the Encore and visited the CruiseNext desk. The individual I spoke to told me I can add 2 $250 to any balcony or higher booked. I can’t seem to find anything that doesn’t say the $500 is only for Haven.  I know they have promotions but he said that it’s always 2x$250 available for balcony and higher. I guess I am somewhat distrustful that he’s not trying to sell me more than I can use. 

[ggTexasGal]

(straight from NCL... currently showing!)

1. CNC ($250 each) and CNHC ($500 each) are valid for sailings of three (3) days or longer. A CNC can be applied as the full deposit for a stateroom up to a Club Balcony Suite or can be applied as partial deposit payment towards a higher stateroom category. A CNHC can be applied as the full deposit for any one stateroom. CNC and CNHC are not available for use on Sixthman sailings.

[Atlgator]

There is a current promotion that you can use 2 CNC for a total of a $500.00 deposit for any reservation cabin  balcony and above.

[mrshilly]

I was on Jade last month and purchased 4 CNC for a total of $1000.00.  Was credited $500.00 on my on-board account, so only cost us $500.00. We booked our next cruise at the time we bought CNC, and they used $500.00 (2 CNC) as a deposit for our balcony (BA category) cabin. We were told by the cruise next consultant that the deposits no longer expire and that you can use 2 on balcony or higher. 

[CaptainBazz]

We are just of the Encore. Cruise Next desk said if we bought 2 CNC we could apply them to our already booked cruise next February. We have an OV room. Bought 2 CNC and by the time we got home they had already been added to our cruise and a new confirmation issued. The current promotion is for any room. They even repriced our cruise as the price had gone down. Buy the CNC and have the Cruise next desk add them to your cruise.

[Ken the cruiser]

When we were on the Jade back in Nov 2022, we bought 8 CNCs for each of us. By default we would have had to pay $4000 for them, with $2000 of that being posted to our shipboard account as nonrefundable OBC. That sounded kind of strange, so we asked if they could not do that, so we only had to pay $2000 for the 16 CNCs. They said yes. Just curious if they still allow you to do that IF you ask nicely?

[zqvol]

2 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

When we were on the Jade back in Nov 2022, we bought 8 CNCs for each of us. By default we would have had to pay $4000 for them, with $2000 of that being posted to our shipboard account as nonrefundable OBC. That sounded kind of strange, so we asked if they could not do that, so we only had to pay $2000 for the 16 CNCs. They said yes. Just curious if they still allow you to do that IF you ask nicely?

It’s the same either way. The OBC offsets the cost so either way you pay $2000

[Ken the cruiser]

4 minutes ago, zqvol said:

It’s the same either way. The OBC offsets the cost so either way you pay $2000

What happens if you don't spend that $2000 of nonrefundable OBC before the cruise ends?

[graphicguy]

8 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

What happens if you don't spend that $2000 of nonrefundable OBC before the cruise ends?

Use it or lose it.

[UKstages]

don't fall prey to the "i must spend the OBC before i leave the ship" ploy. it's what NCL wants you to believe, so you go around buying over priced high margin trinkets and baubles and doodads.  it's what makes a conversation with a cruise next consultant akin to a convo with a time share salesperson. 

 

even though your cruise next OBC is nonrefundable, and even though there are very specific rules for which charges OBC may be applied to,  the full amount of OBC can be applied to the cruise next credits you just purchased. as i understand it, the OBC will be applied to the cruise next purchase before all other charges. it is a very special kind of nonrefundable OBC designed to offset cruise next purchases.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, graphicguy said:

Use it or lose it.

Hence the reason we opted to pay $125 per CNC rather than the $250 they were asking for. Now, if it was refundable OBC that would have been different. At least then we could have used it to pay for the daily DSC.

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, UKstages said:

don't fall prey to the "i must spend the OBC before i leave the ship" ploy. it's what NCL wants you to believe, so you go around buying over priced high margin trinkets and baubles and doodads.  it's what makes a conversation with a cruise next consultant akin to a convo with a time share salesperson. 

 

even though your cruise next OBC is nonrefundable, and even though there are very specific rules for which charges OBC may be applied to,  the full amount of OBC can be applied to the cruise next credits you just purchased. as i understand it, the OBC will be applied to the cruise next purchase before all other charges. it is a very special kind of nonrefundable OBC designed to offset cruise next purchases.

I'm not sure what you mean. If the net cost of a CNC is $125, how will any of the "other" $125 be applied to the CNCs if they have already been paid for?

 

Are you saying at the end of the cruise if we didn't spend any of the excess $125 per CNC, the charge to our credit card would only be the $2000 rather than the $4000 we were led to believe would be the case? 🤔

 

Edited March 12 by Ken the cruiser

[UKstages]

that's exactly what i'm saying!

 

the net cost is half price, but they do that by giving you 50% of it in a special kind of nonrefundable OBC which can be applied to the cruise next purchase you just made.

 

Edited March 12 by UKstages

[Ken the cruiser]

Just now, UKstages said:

that's exactly what i'm saying!

Good to know. Thanks! But since it makes no sense to pay the full $250 per CNC, we will still ask to only be charged the $125 and opt out of the OBC being posted to our account. But if that option is not allowed the next time we buy CNCs, we will definitely verify that is in fact the case.

[zqvol]

31 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

What happens if you don't spend that $2000 of nonrefundable OBC before the cruise ends?

It pays $2000 of the $4000mcost of the CN. NCL is just making things confusing. It’s not really OBC that you should consider having to spend. You already spent it. 

[zqvol]

8 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Good to know. Thanks! But since it makes no sense to pay the full $250 per CNC, we will still ask to only be charged the $125 and opt out of the OBC being posted to our account. But if that option is not allowed the next time we buy CNCs, we will definitely verify that is in fact the case.

You are falling prey to NCLs scheme. Don’t make it so hard, it’s not 

[The Traveling Man]

Essentially it works like this:

You purchase two Cruise Next Certificates with a value of $250 each.

They charge your on board account for $500 (two entries at $250 each).

They immediately issue your on board credit totaling $250.

They automatically apply that credit against the purchase price of the certificates.

That leaves you owing $250, to be paid by any other applicable on board credit you may have, or a charge to your credit card at the end of the cruise.

Everything else the Cruise Next team tells you about it is just smoke and mirrors.

The math is different, but the results are proportional, if you purchase 3,4,5, or more certificates.  You simply get half their value back as credit, effectively reducing the purchase price by half.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, zqvol said:

It pays $2000 of the $4000mcost of the CN. NCL is just making things confusing. It’s not really OBC that you should consider having to spend. You already spent it. 

 

1 minute ago, zqvol said:

You are falling prey to NCLs scheme. Don’t make it so hard, it’s not 

What we learned on our first cruise with NCL back in the Fall of 2022 on a 38-day Jade B2B from Athens to Cape Town is that NCL does not always "write" in complete sentences, just like most of the other cruise lines, when it comes to explaining the details. I know, who knew! 😂

 

Once we came to realized that and started asking more questions to adjust to the NCL way of doing business when something seemed a little odd, we started having a much better time on our cruise. 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

Essentially it works like this:

You purchase two Cruise Next Certificates with a value of $250 each.

They charge your on board account for $500 (two entries at $250 each).

They immediately issue your on board credit totaling $250.

They automatically apply that credit against the purchase price of the certificates.

That leaves you owing $250, to be paid by any other applicable on board credit you may have, or a charge to your credit card at the end of the cruise.

Everything else the Cruise Next team tells you about it is just smoke and mirrors.

The math is different, but the results are proportional, if you purchase 3,4,5, or more certificates.  You simply get half their value back as credit, effectively reducing the purchase price by half.

So if you had an applicable amount of refundable OBC that had been posted to your shipboard account by your TA at the beginning of the cruise, NCL would use that refundable OBC, if it was still available, to pay for the CNCs instead of charging your credit card at the end of the cruise? 

[UKstages]

ordinary nonrefundable OBC, that is to say, OBC that has not been acquired through the purchase of cruise next credits, can not be applied to the purchase of cruise next credits.

 

in. other words, you can't purchase cruise next credits with nonrefundable OBC, exception: the special OBC they issue after you purchase cruise next credits can and will be be applied to that purchase.

 

Edited March 12 by UKstages

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, UKstages said:

ordinary nonrefundable OBC, that is to say, OBC that has not been acquired through the purchase of cruise next credits, can not be applied to the purchase of cruise next credits.

 

in. other words, you can't purchase cruise next credits with nonrefundable OBC, exception: the special OBC they issue after you purchase cruise next credits can be applied to that purchase.

What about refundable OBC your TA gives you to book the cruise through them?

[UKstages]

i'm not an expert on refundable OBC, as i rarely have it. but logic dictates that if it's refundable, it's as good as cash and can be used for most - if not all - onboard charges.

 

but i have no personal experience with this.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, UKstages said:

i'm not an expert on refundable OBC, as i rarely have it. but logic dictates that if it's refundable, it's as good as cash and can be used for most - if not all - onboard charges.

 

but i have no personal experience with this.

No problem. When we found out NCL will not accept nonrefundable OBC to pay the DSC, we asked our TA to issue us a rebate check instead which they did. We rarely have any refundable OBC either, but I was just curious if it was an option. Thanks again for the detailed explanation.

[n4w]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

we would have had to pay $4000 for them, with $2000 of that being posted to our shipboard account as nonrefundable OBC.

 

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

What happens if you don't spend that $2000 of nonrefundable OBC before the cruise ends?

 

You pay $4k to earn $2k.  If you've earned the $2k, it means you've already spent more than enough before the cruise ends.  The $2k nonrefundable OBC earned here CAN be applied against the CruiseNext purchases, whereas nonrefundable OBC coming from someplace else (travel agents or shareholder benefit) cannot be used towards CruiseNext purchases.

[The Traveling Man]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

So if you had an applicable amount of refundable OBC that had been posted to your shipboard account by your TA at the beginning of the cruise, NCL would use that refundable OBC, if it was still available, to pay for the CNCs instead of charging your credit card at the end of the cruise? 

Correct.