Does NCL Still Do Upsells?

[ubdkjrb]

Search is down and I'm sure this is not a new subject. We last sailed NCL a few years ago and they had upsells available for most cruises. Is this still an active program for Norwegian?

 

Peter

[chefcaw]

Upsells do happen but it is a case of "NCL fairy will call you, you can not call the upsell fairy"

[Reach]

Yes, they actively did upsells on my upcoming cruise.

 

Not technically true about waiting for the Upsell Fairy to call you; if you book through a travel agent, you can call your TA and ask them to call NCL and find out about upgrades available- there are some deals to be had! BUT, the best deals will always be when the upsell fairy calls you.

[sunluva7]

Being new to NCL, I had never heard of "upsells", only "upgrades". Does this mean that NCL does not offer free upgrades, only "upsells"? How does the dear upsell fairy decide who gets the call? I booked a lowly inside cabin and would love to land in one with a window.

[ubdkjrb]

Being new to NCL, I had never heard of "upsells", only "upgrades". Does this mean that NCL does not offer free upgrades, only "upsells"? How does the dear upsell fairy decide who gets the call? I booked a lowly inside cabin and would love to land in one with a window.

 

A couple of years ago, NCL had a "reaccomodation desk" that you could call (generally after final payment and their cabin inventory was a little more solid) and ask if any upsells were available for your sailing. We were booked on the Hawaii itinerary and had a balcony cabin assigned. They offered me a penthouse suite (aft) for $300 total! Obviously I took it.

I don't know if NCL does the true "free" upgrade fairy routine.

 

Peter

[Cosmopolitan]

Being new to NCL, I had never heard of "upsells", only "upgrades". Does this mean that NCL does not offer free upgrades, only "upsells"? How does the dear upsell fairy decide who gets the call? I booked a lowly inside cabin and would love to land in one with a window.

 

Upgrades are still available especially if you booked a "guarantee".

[beachchick]

A couple of years ago, NCL had a "reaccomodation desk" that you could call (generally after final payment and their cabin inventory was a little more solid) and ask if any upsells were available for your sailing. We were booked on the Hawaii itinerary and had a balcony cabin assigned. They offered me a penthouse suite (aft) for $300 total! Obviously I took it.

I don't know if NCL does the true "free" upgrade fairy routine.

 

Peter

 

They do not accept incoming calls now and haven't since summer of 2006. The reasons are that savvy pax were booking lower categories than they wanted and then calling the Upsell Department daily (and sometimes even more often) starting months before their cruise date to ask/plead for a good deal. The Upsell Department is tiny (one person basically handling all upsells for a ship) and simply couldn't handle the volume, so management changed it to "Don't call us, we might call you, and if you or your TA call and pester us repeatedly, you might end up on our 'Do not call with an offer' list." As well, the Revenue Department wasn't too pleased about pax booking low to try to upsell high for cheap (lots of lost revenue as far as the cruise line was concerned).

 

Being new to NCL, I had never heard of "upsells", only "upgrades". Does this mean that NCL does not offer free upgrades, only "upsells"? How does the dear upsell fairy decide who gets the call? I booked a lowly inside cabin and would love to land in one with a window.

 

Like most cruise lines, NCL typically sails with full ships, so free upgrades are few and far between (just like on many of the other lines). NCL is more likely to offer upsells because they can resell the lower category cabins and end up with more overall revenue. Some of the upsell offers are extremely good deals. The average upsell offer is about 50% of the difference between what you paid for what you have and what the higher category would cost if you paid the current price. But, that's not set in concrete by any means. We ended up with an upsell offer (our third for that cruise) that was 15% of the difference in fare. A very good deal indeed.

 

They decide who to call based on how the ship is selling (or not selling)--if it's a popular time, the cruise might be sold out well in advance with no or few upsell calls, how well specific categories are selling (or not selling), what categories they think they can upsell and then resell the original category, and any number of other factors. There's no way to get yourself placed on a list, and they kind of assume that most people would at least be interested in hearing an offer so saying, "I'd be interested in an upsell" doesn't really do that much.

 

The bottom line is that you have a chance of getting an upsell call, which can happen right after final payment or all the way up until a few days before the cruise. As long as you'll be happy in the inside cabin, then an upsell offer would be icing on the cake. If you truly want an oceanview and won't be happy if you end up in the inside cabin you booked, then you need to bite the bullet and find out how much it will cost to simply pay the difference.

 

Yes, they actively did upsells on my upcoming cruise.

 

Not technically true about waiting for the Upsell Fairy to call you; if you book through a travel agent, you can call your TA and ask them to call NCL and find out about upgrades available- there are some deals to be had! BUT, the best deals will always be when the upsell fairy calls you.

 

Sorry, but it is technically true. I have spoken with NCL employees who work with the Upsell Department. It simply is not a good idea to ask your TA to call NCL to ask for an upsell. What you're describing is something different and is not a true upsell.

 

It is possible for a TA to call the Reservations Department and see if there are any fare drops or specials that you would qualify for or that would allow you to upgrade at a lower rate than you would have paid before. But the actual Upsell Department does not take incoming calls with requests for the upsells (if there are any available).

 

You're quite right that the best deals are almost always when you get "the call" from the "Upsell Fairy." What's always a good idea is simply monitoring fares to see if there are any price drops and then pouncing on one (or calling your TA) if it happens. Up until final payment, NCL will do price adjustments unless the offer is a special "For New Bookings Only" deal.

 

 

Best of luck to all!

 

beachchick

[LegalCat]

Hi there.... Just wanted to post my experience as its contradictory to what people have said on other cruises... A lot of people say you only get the upsell call close to booking, I got mine on Feb 19 for a May 31 sailing.. I had NEVER cruised NCL before.. NCL emailed my TA who thankfully immediately contacted me.. Their email said the upsell had been emailed to several people and it was basically first come first serve.

 

I think I got my upsell because the PoA had been relocated and a lot of people needed to switch over.. I saved almost exactly 50% between the cost I paid for the AE and the cost I would have paid for the AA had I booked it myself originally... We paid $600 each for the upsell which was a bit pricey, but we still saved 50% because we got a great great deal on our AE and then someone else paid for the upgrade to our AD...

 

Here is the timeline:

 

We booked an AE/12008 on December 8 for a sailing date of May 31...

 

On January 29 we received an upgrade to AD/10016 as a gift for our honeymoon....

 

On February 19 we got an email from NCL (through our TA) to upsell to AA/12502

 

On March 15 our final payment was due.

[mylesf]

Being new to NCL, I had never heard of "upsells", only "upgrades". Does this mean that NCL does not offer free upgrades, only "upsells"? How does the dear upsell fairy decide who gets the call? I booked a lowly inside cabin and would love to land in one with a window.

 

 

They offer both but the upsell is on a outbounds basis only, from NCL to either the passenger if they booked directly or the the travel agent, if booked through a TA. They do not take inbound calls for this. Who gets the call is random. The NCL agents gets a sheet for a particular sailing and they may start at the top, bottom or middle.

[mylesf]

Upgrades are still available especially if you booked a "guarantee".

 

 

Beware when booking a "gaurantee" cabin that you may not get an upgrade and if you do not are you going to be happy with that cabin category? If not, book an assigned cabin.

[garycarla]

There was a posting yesterday about somebody that got an upsell offer, and one a few days before that. So, yes they still do it.

 

And yes, they can not call them. If your TA is telling you they are checking on getting you an upsell, beware of the smoke - as in blowing smoke up your.....

[Reach]

I think to the points above, we should refer to it as an "upgrade" if you call and request it, or if your TA does, while an "upsell" is where they call you.

 

I did as was mentioned above. I booked at a time when the rates were rather low. They then went back up. Then, they briefly dipped even further below what I paid. I thought at that time they might be looking to fill the last few rooms so I called and asked for an "upgrade" and was offered a rather cheap one.

 

So, I have not (yet, hopefully) been visited by the upsell fairy, but by monitoring rates and rooms available online, I picked a good time to pounce and request an inexpensive upgrade. It would have cost me ~ 4x additional $ (on top of base suite rate) to get the same room I currently have if I had booked it at the original time of booking.