NCL Sales Cycles

[ocdb8r]

So it seems there are plenty of NCL diehards here on the boards. I'm curious if anyone can give me an idea of how the NCL sales cycles generally go? We're about to do our first NCL cruise on the Jewel and are very interested in following that up with a 12 day on the Jade Sept 5th out of Barcelona, however the OBC offers and rates don't seem nearly as good right now as when we booked our Jewel cabin.

 

Wondering how long we should wait before snapping something up? We're not too particular about our cabin so not sorried about getting a good "choice." I'd just like to save as much $$$ (or get as big an obc) as possible as we have found we like to treat ourselves many nights in the extra fee restaraunts (at least on other lines we have).

 

TIA

 

Charlie

 

Oooh, just edited to add - Any benefits/deals/OBC to being 2nd time cruisers?!?!

[Ms belp]

Hi Charlie,

 

Well, we've done 5 NCL cruises with 2 more booked (Lord willing) and I can't say we've figured it out. We just check the NCL website almost every day and figure out what we want to do next. I saw your postscript; I can't say there are any perks for 2 cruises. However, the best deal is to pay the $250 while on a cruise and get the $100 OBC. You then have time to plan/dream about your next cruise, and even longer to take it. That's about the best info I can offer.

[2Cruise4Ever]

It used to be that NCL would have a "Sale of All Sales" in the beginning of the year. But, that seems to have disappeared. Before the economy downturn, big deals for early bookings would pop up every 4-5 months. But, now, I'm getting the impression that they (along with the entire cruise industry) are doing whatever they can to bring in customers. We saw our sailing (Dawn to Bermuda 06/14/09) drop about 25% in less than 2 months. So, we booked it the last day of that particular sale (12/31/08). And, we received the highest OBC we've ever had. After Jan 1st, the price of the cabin went up about 5% and the OBC dropped tremendously. Now, they are sold out of the category cabin we booked (AB). So, the prices are still very, very low in comparison.

 

So, with the economy being what it is, I'm guessing the sales will continue to come out frequently (over the last quarter of 2008, there was a new saled about every month, depending on the ship).