Really struggling with NCL ethics and whether I should switch cruise lines

[90scruzer]

2 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

I think you have nailed it!  But, of course, this being Cruise Critic, someone may pop up and insist you define "neat".  Sigh.

AS this is CC -- I thought you would also at least mention need for definition of "covered up". /s  all too often I see tourists trying to go into churches with immodest dress....

 

rocket man - I've heard of this.  fortunately never experienced it.  it would piss me off to no end.  at least before I retire and can be more free spirited!

Edited August 6 by 90scruzer

[PATRLR]

I spend a decent amount of time on the NCL, RCCL, and Princess boards.  I used to spend a lot of time on the Carnival Boards, but, not much since the restart.

I read of far more itinerary changes just after final payment here on the NCL board than those other boards.  Coincidences?  I suppose.  But at some point an accumulation of experiences becomes more than just coincidence.  I for one believe with little doubt that NCL does wait until after final payment to make some (many?) itinerary change announcements.

 

[PATRLR]

On 8/5/2024 at 3:22 PM, Firstin87 said:

In cast this helps - the math for the excursion discount is:

Person 1 (who has the $50 discount): Shorex Cost - $50 - Less x%

Person 2: Shorex Cost - Less x%

 

 

This is one of those things that just makes me laugh at NCL.  They're all proud of their "free" aka $50-off-for-the-first-person-only excursions , but then for their loyal repeat passengers, they don't even get $50 off, they only get $45 or $42.50, or for their most loyal, they only get $40 off.  SMH.  (but don't you dare accuse them of nickel and diming people)

Edited August 6 by PATRLR

[Panhandle Couple]

48 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

There are worse.  A few years ago HAL was selling an entire cruise while another travel agency was selling the same cruise as a charter.  This happened several times.  It's called a contingency cruise.   The travel agency will take over the entire cruise if/when they sell sufficient cabins to make it worthwhile.  And, no, existing reservation sold through HAL were  just out of luck of the contingency was met. In at least one case it was and IIRC the compensation for those who lost their reservation was OTOO $150.  It was an Alaskan cruise.  Bottom line, if you're looking for 'ethical cruise lines' you wil be disappointed.

Princess sells AK inner passage cruises that don't always do the inner passage.

 

Earlier this year, RCL took a few months of Southern Caribbean with Panama Canal partial transit cruises and deleted the partial transit, removing the whole point of the cruise. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

2 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

No whitie tighties to dinner?

 

90% of those dress up folks wearing "slacks" are doing just that.  I read that somewhere....

[ChiefMateJRK]

15 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

This is one of those things that just makes me laugh at NCL.  They're all proud of their "free" aka $50-off-for-the-first-person-only excursions , but then for their loyal repeat passengers, they don't even get $50 off, they only get $45 or $42.50, or for their most loyal, they only get $40 off.  SMH.  (but don't you dare accuse them of nickel and diming people)

That's not true.  The full fifty bucks comes off before the latitudes discount is applied to the remainder.  It's in that formula and exactly how it works on the ship.  At least that's how it worked last week on the Bliss.😎

[Travelling2Some]

2 hours ago, 90scruzer said:

AS this is CC -- I thought you would also at least mention need for definition of "covered up".

Yup, yup.  I considered adding that too (swim covers?  burkas?) but, in a break with CC procedure, figured I'd keep it simple. 

[PATRLR]

2 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

That's not true.  The full fifty bucks comes off before the latitudes discount is applied to the remainder.  It's in that formula and exactly how it works on the ship.  At least that's how it worked last week on the Bliss.😎

Justify it any way that makes you feel good, but at the end of the day the Latitudes member does not save $50 on their excursion the way the non-Latitudes person does.

Imagine a $100 excursion.  Passengers A and B in the same stateroom, both Gold Latitudes: 

 

• Passenger A pays $100-$50-$5 = $45
• Passenger B pays $100-$10 = $90

 

Passenger A, who supposedly gets a $50 discount, only paid $45 less than passenger B.  Tell me again how they saved $50?

Imagine Passengers C and D in the cabin next door go on the same excursion except this is their first ever NCL cruise:

 

• Passenger C pays $100-$50 = $50
• Passenger D pays $100-$0 = $100
  
  Passenger C indeed saved $50 off their excursion cost.

[EtaC]

4 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Any marketing type will quickly tell you that the quickest way to make a sale is to convince the mark they're getting something for free.  Play with dictionaries but Free At Sea is a marketing gimic to make sales.

Always remember  TANSTAAFL!

 

 

 

 

(There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch)

[complawyer]

to beat an almost dead horse, any one who has sailed with ncl more than once is aware (or should be ) that the alleged "free at sea" isn't! i dont mind the gratuities added to the dinner package or the drinks package, although with the drinks package i tend to drink more than i normally would  and without the added gratuities, i would probably tip anyway, I dont use the wifi  EVER, only thing that i believe is total B.S. is the free shore excursions. While its true, any excursion $50 or less would be free to the 1st person in the cabin (and how many $50 or less have you been able to find)? most are not really free!.

 

Even as an attorney, i dont want to take on NCL for false and/or misleading advertising regarding their free shore excursions. im sure their attorney's have gone over the fine print with an extra fine tooth comb to avoid that type of lawsuit. i just wish they wouldnt pull this garbage on their passengers.

 

that being said, ive sailed with NCL 30 x's, and never worry about the excursions, sometimes i book them, most of the time we hire a cab.

 

regardless, im happy to just be on the ship and going to exotic places

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, PATRLR said:

This is one of those things that just makes me laugh at NCL.  They're all proud of their "free" aka $50-off-for-the-first-person-only excursions , but then for their loyal repeat passengers, they don't even get $50 off, they only get $45 or $42.50, or for their most loyal, they only get $40 off.  SMH.  (but don't you dare accuse them of nickel and diming people)

I pointed that out once previously, and for my efforts I got really flamed! 😒

[ontheweb]

10 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

That's not true.  The full fifty bucks comes off before the latitudes discount is applied to the remainder.  It's in that formula and exactly how it works on the ship.  At least that's how it worked last week on the Bliss.😎

On our Prima cruise this past summer, we had an excursion in Alesund that we purchased prior to the cruise. I in effect got $45 off (see the math as done by @PATRLR). On the cruise DW decided we were not going to spend lots and lots of time at the airport, so we bought an NCL excursion that ended at the airport. For this I did get the full $50 off as the 10% was applied first.

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

There are worse.  A few years ago HAL was selling an entire cruise while another travel agency was selling the same cruise as a charter.  This happened several times.  It's called a contingency cruise.   The travel agency will take over the entire cruise if/when they sell sufficient cabins to make it worthwhile.  And, no, existing reservation sold through HAL were  just out of luck of the contingency was met. In at least one case it was and IIRC the compensation for those who lost their reservation was OTOO $150.  It was an Alaskan cruise.  Bottom line, if you're looking for 'ethical cruise lines' you wil be disappointed.

That really sucks!

 

Also, were those who were buying the charter from the travel agency informed that the charter might not happen if not enough cabins were sold?

[drew69]

12 hours ago, PATRLR said:

This is one of those things that just makes me laugh at NCL.  They're all proud of their "free" aka $50-off-for-the-first-person-only excursions , but then for their loyal repeat passengers, they don't even get $50 off, they only get $45 or $42.50, or for their most loyal, they only get $40 off.  SMH.  (but don't you dare accuse them of nickel and diming people)

Not true.  The $50 comes off first, then the latitudes discount every time I have booked

 

 

 

[IAcruising]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

I pointed that out once previously, and for my efforts I got really flamed! 😒

 

Maybe by me. 😆 But I'm a good boy now. 

 

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

That really sucks!

 

Also, were those who were buying the charter from the travel agency informed that the charter might not happen if not enough cabins were sold?

I do not know.  HAL was not informing their passengers of the contingency charter.  I found out about it here on CC when a fellow poster provided the details.  

[Panhandle Couple]

10 hours ago, PATRLR said:

Justify it any way that makes you feel good, but at the end of the day the Latitudes member does not save $50 on their excursion the way the non-Latitudes person does.

Imagine a $100 excursion.  Passengers A and B in the same stateroom, both Gold Latitudes: 

 

• Passenger A pays $100-$50-$5 = $45
• Passenger B pays $100-$10 = $90

 

Passenger A, who supposedly gets a $50 discount, only paid $45 less than passenger B.  Tell me again how they saved $50?

Imagine Passengers C and D in the cabin next door go on the same excursion except this is their first ever NCL cruise:

 

• Passenger C pays $100-$50 = $50
• Passenger D pays $100-$0 = $100
  
  Passenger C indeed saved $50 off their excursion cost.

Yes, and for the frequent posters, we have gone over this before.

$50 discount first, the Latitudes discount. Same way as Kohl's or any other business who does both for marketing and sales.

 

We just booked a Princess cruise for next year, and were shocked at the excursion prices (compared to 2022 prices), and we don't get a $50 discount or a 10 to 15% off either since it is only our 2nd cruise.  Those prices are as high, or higher than NCL.

It is AK, and this will be our 4th time there, so we have been on some of these excursions, and can be a little pickier on what we choose.

[PATRLR]

1 hour ago, drew69 said:

Not true.  The $50 comes off first, then the latitudes discount every time I have booked

What I wrote is 100% correct.  How they do the math is irrelevant.  The point is that Latitudes members do not get a $50 discount they get a $45 discount or less.  See post 207 for a very clear demonstration of this.

[PATRLR]

26 minutes ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Same way as Kohl's or any other business who does both for marketing and sales.

Kohls may do it that way, but most businesses that offer a "dollars off" promotion, they either very clearly state it doesn't apply to a sale prices, or, they give the dollars off after applying sales and other promotions.

[IAcruising]

10 hours ago, PATRLR said:

Justify it any way that makes you feel good, but at the end of the day the Latitudes member does not save $50 on their excursion

 

Well, okay, but let's have a little reality check here. The day I'm worried about $5 on a cruise is the day I quit cruising. (Or $50 or $100 or $300)

 

If money is the concern, go grab a couple tacos and sit in the park. Don't go on a cruise.

 

 

[cruiseny4life]

6 minutes ago, IAcruising said:

 

Well, okay, but let's have a little reality check here. The day I'm worried about $5 on a cruise is the day I quit cruising. (Or $50 or $100 or $300)

 

If money is the concern, go grab a couple tacos and sit in the park. Don't go on a cruise.

 

 

Why do people always think it's money? $5 doesn't matter to anyone's wallet that is cruising. Just like 10% off a cruise fare. It's chump change.

 

There is this thing called having morals, values, integrity, treating valued guests with..value. The right thing to do - I know some people don't understand this concept, but I see it constantly on Cruise Critic where posters (not singling you out on this) make the money argument, when it has absolutely, 100% nothing to do with the money.

[IAcruising]

1 minute ago, cruiseny4life said:

Why do people always think it's money?

 

Because it always is. It can be dressed up in morals, honesty, and integrity, etc, but in the end it's about the money. That makes me sad.

 

[graphicguy]

"Free at Sea"...if no one knows this by now after it being discussed ad nauseum, this is a marketing term.  Just like "good to the last drop"....or, "...the happiest place on earth".....or..."you're in good hands"...etc.

 

None of those are 100% accurate all the time.  We all understand that.  Why NCL's is attacked so much and not the others is beyond me.  It's a marketing tag line.  We all get it.  Somehow "Free if you don't book an expensive excursion, free if you don't want to pay tips on your drinks, free if you only plan to use 150 minutes of internet......" just doesn't have the same ring to it.  It doesn't roll right off the tongue.

 

Heck, you can take that a step further.  NCL calls it "Free at Sea".  Guess if you're sailing a Trans-Atlantic, or in the Pacific or the Gulf area, you don't get Free at Sea, because technically you aren't sailing in the "sea".

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

Maybe by me. 😆 But I'm a good boy now. 

 

🤣 I think once upon a time I had you on my ignore list, but now that you are a good boy again, I can learn from your posts. 🤣

[pghflyer]

Honestly I don't understand how basic math is under debate here. The $50 excursion FAS always comes off FIRST. Then, you get your latitude discount off of the remaining balance. So some of you are correct in that a Latitude member gets less Latitude Discount than someone without FAS excursion credit....but everyone gets the full $50.  See my NCL invoice screenshot from my last cruise (when I used both FAS $50 and Platinum 10%):