Booking cruises from Europe, different from the USA

[tashaaa]

Hi,

So I've booked my first cruise with NCL and I started to follow this forum, which is a big help for me 🙂 

However, there is one thing, which keep bothering me and maybe in this topic we can share some experience which will be helpful.

There is a big difference if you book a cruise from USA and EUROPE and it's really confusing. Some of them:

1. REPRICING: as I read it's super easy to reprice in the USA, in Europe not so much. Some agencies don't want to do it, don't know that it exist. I booked my cruise directly through NCL, and when the price dropped I could upgrade to a better room. Now again the price dropped and they offered me a small refund (there are some charges if you want to reprice), they didn't offer OBC or as I read didn't offer FCC.

2. FAS: in Europe we pay for the FAS, but don't pay for the additional gratuities. First I thought we need to pay additional gratuities but as I see, because we pay for FAS this is included.

3. FINAL PAYMENT: In USA the final payment is 120 days before cruise, in EUROPE is 30 days. Don't understand this big difference.

4. CANCELATION: We can’t cancel a cruise for free, so the option to book a cruise further in advance and then to just cancel it, if you decide otherwise, doesn’t exist. There are always costs if we cancel in Europe.

 

All this differences are really confusing, and maybe I get them wrong, so please feel free to correct me J.

Other cruisers booking from Europe if you have some insider tips and advice mostly on repricing and canceling, please share this with us.

 

 

 

[ziggyuk]

I will add to this, you can reprice without a fee in Europe as long as you are upgrading and pay more than the original booking, even 1€/£1. I once re-priced a cruise and paid £10 a head to go from inside to balcony, the ocean view cost less than the original inside booking and would have involved a fee to cancel and rebook.
Also, after final payment you can get a FCC (as in the US) but only with a full price booking not with a guarantee cabin.

[KeithJenner]

Yes, there are differences between booking in Europe and the US (and other countries have their differences too). Your summary is fairly accurate.

 

I believe that there are also differences within Europe as well. For example I’m in the UK and our final payment date is 70 days out.

 

We had some luck with upgrading over the past few years when prices fell, but generally the reductions are smaller now due to the ships being fuller.

 

Other than that post Covid period price reductions have never really been an issue for us as we book early and the prices almost always increase (sometimes very significantly) as the cruise gets nearer. For that reason I’ve never really worried about price reductions. If you book later than that then you may see the reductions that you are talking about, in such situations all you can really do is call NCL and see if they will offer anything.

 

One bit of advice is to book using cruise next vouchers as your exposure is lower if you ever do need to cancel.

 

I know that some Europeans book via the US to allow themselves to cancel or reprice.

[tashaaa]

29 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

I will add to this, you can reprice without a fee in Europe as long as you are upgrading and pay more than the original booking, even 1€/£1. I once re-priced a cruise and paid £10 a head to go from inside to balcony, the ocean view cost less than the original inside booking and would have involved a fee to cancel and rebook.
Also, after final payment you can get a FCC (as in the US) but only with a full price booking not with a guarantee cabin.

Thank you, super, I didn't know about the FCC and will try it out, after the final payment (if the price is lower).

[tashaaa]

44 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

One bit of advice is to book using cruise next vouchers as your exposure is lower if you ever do need to cancel.

 

I know that some Europeans book via the US to allow themselves to cancel or reprice.

 

I don't know about the cruise next vouchers, I also thought that this is only in the USA.

I didn't see where to buy those vouchers...

 

 

Do most of you use a travel agent for booking or do it via NCL webpage?

 

 

 

[KeithJenner]

4 minutes ago, tashaaa said:

 

I don't know about the cruise next vouchers, I also thought that this is only in the USA.

I didn't see where to buy those vouchers...

 

 

Do most of you use a travel agent for booking or do it via NCL webpage?

 

 

 

Cruise First, which can be bought online are US only, but anyone can buy Cruise Next. However Cruise Next can only be bought from NCL onboard ship (they can be transferred so it is possible to buy them from other people although that market is probably smaller for GBP priced vouchers).

 

If you are planning on booking more cruises I would strongly recommend buying some Cruise Next for the discount if nothing else. Just don’t get tricked into spending the discount onboard. The discount is applied against the cost of the vouchers.

 

I book direct.

Edited March 28 by KeithJenner

[ziggyuk]

2 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

Cruise First, which can be bought online are US only, but anyone can buy Cruise Next. However Cruise Next can only be bought from NCL onboard ship (they can be transferred so it is possible to buy them from other people although that market is probably smaller for GBP priced vouchers).

 

If you are planning on booking more cruises I would strongly recommend buying some Cruise Next for the discount if nothing else. Just don’t get tricked into spending the discount onboard. The discount is applied against the cost of the vouchers.

 

I book direct.

 

Keith the value of a CN is always $250, no matter what currency it is converted into it can be transferred back to US$ then back to a different currency if you wish. I bought some before in Canadian dollars, NCL converted them back to US$ then into sterling for me. Initially they put them in my account as $250 so I had to get them moved to GBP.

There are not so many now that the expiry has been set to 2099 for obvious reasons.

 

@tashaaa They can be bought on social media groups but I can't name them here. They generally sell for half the face value, which s the same as on the ship (better than the ship if buying just one) but you will have to pay any payment fees (paypal etc)

Not many people are aware they can be converted, I bought a load in GBP for a very good price online once because they were in GBP and nobody else wanted them, al the ones in US$ were being snapped up while the others, for lower asking price were being ignored.
 

2 hours ago, tashaaa said:

Do most of you use a travel agent for booking or do it via NCL webpage?

 

 

I use a PCC (NCL Personal Cruise Consultant) and he is great, I got his email and direct number and he looks after all my cruise needs. Some people use travel agents as they can often get some OBC or other perks but I like my PCC.

As you are new, another tip, you can also get up to $250 non refundable OBC as a shareholder perk if you own 100 shares:
https://www.nclhltd.com/investors/shareholder-benefits

Edited March 28 by ziggyuk

[steamboats]

6 hours ago, tashaaa said:

3. FINAL PAYMENT: In USA the final payment is 120 days before cruise, in EUROPE is 30 days. Don't understand this big difference.

 

 

4. CANCELATION: We can’t cancel a cruise for free, so the option to book a cruise further in advance and then to just cancel it, if you decide otherwise, doesn’t exist. There are always costs if we cancel in Europe.

 

German travel law (based on EU law) is limiting the final payment to 30 days. It also allows to claim a cancellation fee with the amount (percentage of the price) depending on the time of cancellation.

 

steamboats

[tashaaa]

thank you all for tips and advice 🙂 

[KeithJenner]

19 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Keith the value of a CN is always $250, no matter what currency it is converted into it can be transferred back to US$ then back to a different currency if you wish. I bought some before in Canadian dollars, NCL converted them back to US$ then into sterling for me. Initially they put them in my account as $250 so I had to get them moved to GBP.

There are not so many now that the expiry has been set to 2099 for obvious reasons.

That’s interesting, thanks.

 

I was just going from what others have said on here, as I’ve never bought or sold them myself, but the impression I got was that they weren’t transferable.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

[Maanio]

Ncl Europe has FAS sales, making FAS cheaper in Europe than in US. 

It's very interesting!

[insidecabin]

1 hour ago, Maanio said:

Ncl Europe has FAS sales, making FAS cheaper in Europe than in US. 

It's very interesting!

FAS 50% UK sale still running 4 days to go.

 

Base prices have not dropped as much so far this year.

[Asawi]

2 hours ago, Maanio said:

Ncl Europe has FAS sales, making FAS cheaper in Europe than in US. 

It's very interesting!

I try my best to take advantage of these sales. They do make the FAS well priced. It is however all or nothing for us: We cannot opt out of any part so for a person that drinks as little as I do and don't value the speiciality meals much it really has to be half price to be good value.  I really only want the WiFi minutes and excursion discount and had I booked through US that would have been "free" (as in "included in cruise price"). Having said that, it does feel very luxurious to just walk up to a bar, get a Coke or a beer and it's all already paid for, And La Cucina is nice. 😄 

 

[ziggyuk]

10 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

That’s interesting, thanks.

 

I was just going from what others have said on here, as I’ve never bought or sold them myself, but the impression I got was that they weren’t transferable.

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

The other interesting thing is they always convert them on the exchange rate of the original purchase, so unless you track back the $/£ exchange rates you never really know the value you will get once converted.
I bought two once with different purchase dates, I was given different GBP values and the explanation was that its based on the exchange rate at date of original purchase.

I historically always bought them on social media as an when I wanted them instead of buying a load on the ship that could expire, now they don't expire I just buy on the ship now and keep a stock of them.