HerrTrigger

Western Caribbean: 8/18/19

Original Booking: Spa Mini Suite

Cost: $4,020.00 (Should have been $3,600.00 but gratuities with perks and "airfare taxes" brought it up).

Perks: Wifi, Cruise Credit, Drink Promo, 3 Dinners & Airfare

Booked late received offer to bid a day after reservation made.

Bids: Haven Spa (H9): $750 (minimum $500.00), Haven Balcony Penthouse (H5): $500(Minimum), Haven 2 Family Villa (H4): $800.00 (minimum $750.00).

Won 2 Family Villa on 8/5/19. All perks carried over including airfare. Lost Spa access (as expected, now an additional $400.00 charge).

Not sure I made out in deal. Booked five weeks prior to sailing. Haven two family Villa (H4) $3349.00 at the time but dropped to $3099 when bids were accepted.

Was not informed by NCL until Tuesday 8/6/2019. Accidently found out had winning bid when I called in to purchase upgrade from spa mini-suite to haven spa suite. (The direct purchase upgrade was $800.00/pp on 8/6/2019 and bid was already at $750.00). 

FYI: Prices on all Haven Suites dropped about $250 /pp/week in the two weeks prior to winning bid. (Some rooms a bit more, some a bit less. Best guess availability drove amount of drop).

It seems that if you are waiting for bids to be accepted/rejected they are processed first Monday two weeks from cruise date. (assuming they don't have a bid that they "just can't say NO to".)

JaysMom2, only wish I had read this board prior to using air promo. It has effected my entire cruise planning so far. Not only are flights home crazy (see post above), but even with huge price drops close to sailing date for upgraded rooms, NCL uses the added air promo to raise price of any changes back up to original price negating the drop. What a scam.

drvmywifecrzy ... just saw your post. Wondering when your departure date is. I just called after seeing your post. Trying to go from Spa Mini (M9) to Haven Spa (H9) quoted $999/pp. Sailing on 18th.

jbethel11,

You are right after a certain date the airfare perk does disappear. Which is exactly what happened in the this case.

All I was trying to say with above comment is that the airfare had already been paid when original reservation was made two days prior to looking at change in cabin/stateroom. For the sake of discussion let's say the perk value is built into the cost of the room (nothing is really free). Then that same value is built into any room as two days prior both cabins/suites were offering the  same perk. It was already paid. So my question is, if rooms did not drop in price over those two days (which they did not) why would I now need to pay for a perk I already paid for? There is was no change in the cost of the perk or the cost of the cabin.

To make this even more interesting, when told there would be an additional charge of $600.00 to keep the perk, I requested to just drop the perk as it was not worth $600.00 to me. I could get there much cheaper than that. Perhaps there is a flaw in my logic but if I have to pay for a perk, I should be able to decline it. NCL response was, no cannot drop perk as it has already been booked and paid for. 

We are scheduled to take Caribbean cruise out of Miami in August booked late roughly two weeks ago. Accepted all free perks, Airfare included. Not really impressed....

Flying from Charlotte, NC scheduled to arrive Miami. 19 days out. Received following itinerary information. Leave CLT 7:30 am. Arrival time Miami 9:30 AM. Ship departure as expected 4pm. Not really worried about that as it seems like there is plenty of time to get to ship (with some wiggle room for delays). 

Real heartache is return home on Sunday. Ship scheduled to dock around 7 AM..... departing flight from Miami scheduled for 10:50 PM to Atlanta with 2.5 hour layover. Final arrival time Charlotte - Monday morning 5:50 AM. We can drive from Miami to Charlotte in about 12 hours. Don't see the point in flights taking almost 24 hours. Especially since Charlotte is an AA hub and there are flights to and from Miami virtually every hour.

Called immediately upon receiving itinerary to see if schedule could be changed. "No, sorry. All bookings are final". Not terribly upset by this as I was completely aware of warnings when booking. Just didn't expect scheduling outcome to be quite this ludicrous.

To add insult to injury, called NCL to upgrade to next highest suite two days after making reservation. Quoted the expected additional per person cost PLUS AN ADDITIONAL $600.00 because upgrade would not include airfare perk. ????? 

In the end have used frequent flier miles to travel back on our schedule. Never using airfare perk again.

We are scheduled to take Caribbean cruise out of Miami in August booked roughly two weeks ago. Took Airfare perk. Not really impressed. Flying from Charlotte, NC scheduled to arrive Miami. 19 days out. Received following itinerary information. Leave CLT 7:30 am. No mention of arrival time Miami. Ship departure as expected 4pm. Not really worried about that seems like there is plenty of time to get to ship (about 2 hour flight without delays, assuming it's direct). 

Real heartache is return home on Sunday. Ship docks around 7 AM .... flight from Miami scheduled for 10:50 PM to Atlanta with 2.5 hour layover. Final arrival time Charlotte - Monday morning 5:50 AM. We can drive from Miami to Charlotte in about 12 hours. Don't see the point in flights taking almost 24 hours. Called immediately upon receiving itinerary to see if schedule could be changed. No, sorry. All bookings are final.

To add insult to injury, called NCL to upgrade to next highest suite two days after making reservation. Quoted the expected additional per person cost PLUS AN ADDITIONAL $600.00 because upgrade would not include airfare perk. ????? 

Never using airfare perk again.