missintuitive

Why would that matter? For all my future cruises with Celebrity bottled waters, canned sodas and speciality coffees are included in the cruise price because of a booking perk - all NCL is doing is devaluing their package.

I agree. All lines with an alcoholic beverage packages will offer it as a free perk from time to time. NCL is not unique in this. It really is a marketing technique and NCL is on the record as saying that the FDR "New Deal" approach to NCL management includes continuous marketing campaigns...which means that the free perks on NCL will come every month for the unforeseen future (or until they decrease the value of it to a point that its no longer an attractive marketing draw). NCL is also on the record as saying that they want to appeal to a more affluent customer base who is willing to spend the extra money. With each change they are testing the market to see what it will bear.

At this point the NCL beverage package costs more and includes less than other lines so when this is compared to a free perk offered by the other lines then it doesn't have great value. That's why it's always wise to comparison shop.

I know that Carnival's internet deal of $5 a day for unlimited access to social media sites, $50(or something like that) for email and media and $99 for premium unlimited internet (think video streaming) on a 7 day cruise has caught my eye. That seems to me as a marketing campaign as well and I'm sure the price will eventually go up. But that won't stop me from purchasing the package.

With NCL, I as a customer am so offended by all the changes because they make changes that affect me even after I have paid my last payment (and then don't grandfather me in...think dsc...think no more free magic show the first night...etc.).

I am and will continue to consider other cruise lines. I'm already planning my next on on RCI or Celebrity. And based on the prices I've seen thus far they are comparable to NCL. Even if they were not sometimes you get exactly what you pay for...a cruise that seems less expensive on the surface but will be more expensive in the end...

I disagree with the SDP being better than the UDP. Supposedly, the upcharges are included in the UDP and the free SDP that NCL is now offering is 3 days less than all the 7 day UDPs they gave away.

Personally, if the price of drinks outside of the package was $15, and I didn't get the UBP for free, I wouldn't bother even cruising on the ship. I think its obnoxious for a drink on a cruise to cost more than the same drink on land. And even on land I would only buy 1- or 2- $11 martinis (that's what happy hour is for).

Many land AI resorts feature speciality restaurants that are not even an uncharge and have most of the amenities of a cruise. I'm just going to enjoy my upcoming cruise and evaluate from there...

I'm happy to hear that you were made whole (plus some for the aggravation). Note for the future: On some cruise lines, if you really really like the specific cabin you chose and you absolutely don't want it to change, you have to put a "no-upgrade" note on the account (I read about this on cruise critic).

Kudos to you and your TA.

Have a great trip!

I hate that you are going through this bc each cruise line handles these types of things differently so it does get confusing (however you've been lucky that the normal "ncl is never at fault" folks haven't really jumped on you.

Passenger 1 or 2 has to remain on the booking. I think the only way this would have worked was to leave one of the "original" names and add a 3rd passenger (more $$ but you would have kept your perks). After the three were confirmed wait a week or two to switch passenger 3 and 1 so the "newbies" would get the perks. This may have been cheaper than canceling and rebooking with the current rate. Also, if you are not past payment you can try to transfer to a big box store that starts with a C and ends with an O. Since they book a large volume with the line the TAs are at a better bargaining point. I was worried about two things and my C....O TA got it fixed easily.

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My fiance and I are getting married November 11, 2016 and we are looking to travel on NCL for the first time. He has only been on Carnival and this October will be his 9th Carnival cruise on his biggest ship the Breeze.

 

I have been on the Carnival Freedom and RC Majesty of the Seas.

 

He has been to Belize and Mexico, but not Honduras. I've been to Honduras via plane but not to the others. We know this is the itenerary for us, but would you suggest the Getaway for our Honeymoon?

 

Our other option is Allure of the Seas to Falmouth, Haiti and somewhere else I think.

My hubby and I honeymooned on the Carnival Pride in a Suite with a wrap-around aft balcony. It was great. Two exposures, two rooms, a huge closet, and a vanity area. And it only cost $2400 total in 2007(and I won $1500 in the casino...4 of a kind on poker and won the slots tournament). We spent 2 days at Disney before hand. It was a great trip and I still remember the great feeling of looking off into the sunset on our first cruise together and our first toast as the ship sailed away. My husband was also delighted that we didn't have to stand in the very lengthy security and check-in lines. We did get some stares while being escorted to the front of the line and to the Suite Check-in (I must admit that was pretty much where the perks stopped but it was a great room!!).

Ahhhh...those were the days! Overall, cruising is more expensive now (despite some of the claims that it isn't more than it was 20 years ago). I say to plan a honeymoon but also shop around all the cruise lines...especially if you're planning to book a suite. All of the majors will periodically run free drink or gratuity promotions so if you have a few months to go maybe you can book and change later if need be (before the penalty stage). The OVs and Balconies on the Getaway for my upcoming cruise are running about $2400 on a non-holiday (I know that they include free UBP but the operative word there is FREE). You can imagine how much more we're paying for a Suite in the Haven this time around...

Great review and beautiful pictures!! Looking forward to Day 3[emoji3]

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What I am waiting for clarification about is how they will handle people who have booked further out, like for 2016/2017. If you already have the promotional UBP on your booking, any applicable service charges are already listed in your cruise invoice to be paid by your final payment date. Is that all they mean by "paying" the gratuities? In which case, the UBP price increase does not affect any existing UBP bookings. Or do they actually require people to pay those service charges with a credit card by October 1st, otherwise NCL will issue them a new invoice with higher charges?

Wasn't this the case with the DSC? Prepay by a certain date or you MUST pay the higher rate. This happened to me twice this year. I guess one can argue that DSC is a discretionary charge but it's still the same principle...you are unlikely to be "grandfathered in"

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We did the same. If you book online it will charge you. If you call reservations, they will book it for you for free.

Thank you for the info!!

You'll be charged with the 25% discount. For our tickets for the premium seating, we were charged $26.54 each. Regular seats would cost you $22.12 each with the discount.

This is exactly the option I have now on myncl...22.12 or 26.54...not 10 or 15 which substantiates that UDP will get 25% off the price and its no longer free the first night.

I'm on the fence on whether I'm going to complain about it and attempt to go free the first night. If it's not free, I'm not going. I've paid enough for the cruise and I'm not interested in paying anymore "not-so-hidden" fees.

Perhaps you have been given vlogger status based on your previous post. It' free advertisement for the ship so they might as well treat you right!!

Just because NCL no longer POSTS on the ncl board that doesn't mean they don't lurk, lol!

I did not imply that your comments and reasoning are imaginary. I was responding to the specific statement that I quoted, to point out (for the third time now) that the increases in drink prices that you and others in this thread are assuming will happen, in parallel with this increase in the price of the UBP, have not happened and exist for the moment only hypothetically.

 

People who are cruising in October, November, December, and chose the UBP as a perk, have already paid in full so I don't see NCL asking them for another $1.80 per day in service charges. Nonetheless, I expect they will benefit from the new terms of the package on board, as happened with the previous change to the UBP earlier this year (unless they somehow figure out a way to distinguish different versions of the same package on the same cruise, depending on when each person booked, but they have never bothered to do that, with any package). I don't think NCL can unilaterally adjust the balances of people who have booked further out, either. So they will have to wait until the next promotion is published to start charging the increased service charges for the free UBP (if they continue to offer the free UBP as a promo perk). And at that time, as with each new promotion, people will need to figure out which choice is best for them. Nobody has the UBP forced upon them along with a bill for the service charges.

 

In the meantime, people who have already booked with the UBP will be getting a better deal than what they actually paid for. And I don't expect to hear a lot of demands from people to be "grandfathered in" under the older, less advantageous terms.

Huh? There is no "grandfathering" if the price of all the drinks go up. It's pure math that if ncl raises the avg price of drinks to more than $11 then the package has been severely devalued. None of the drinks would be free at that point and it would be false advertising. At this point we are all speculating. You're speculating no rise in prices and others are speculating the rise. We shall all see.

And I want to say for the record that the avg drink even in the expensive Washington DC and NYC areas are closer to $11 than $15. I would still go on my cruise later this year but would cancel my next trip that's a year out.

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I loved your review. I'm glad that it was balanced. I'm okay if I ml know what to expect up front. It's being taken by surprise that I hate.

I'm also glad you stood your ground on the pricing of the UDP. It's really bad customer service (and illegal) to ignore the printed advertised prices. There must be a culture of ignoring the customer in customer service for you to receive so much push back. At least the hotel and dining managers got a taste of that. It may seem trivial to some but that's 11.80 per person for the overcharge. For a large cruise, that's quite a bit of money.

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I've cruised on the Carnival Pride twice, once leaving from Long beach and the other time from Baltimore. I love that ship. The aft balcony suite was the best! It was just the right size and the food was good! The steakhouse in carnival, David's, is really, really good. The dinner rolls were excellent. I had a cowboy steak and my husband had tuna I believe. We both loved it. We did dress up but it was like date night for us. I've also cruised on smaller ships such as the Fantasy and sensation. The food wasn't great (except the pizza and wok). The worst cruise ship food I ever had was at the comedy brunch on sensation. It was some Mac and cheese with chicken or bacon dish and it was ice cold! Yuck! A young lady came around and asked us how our food was. I told her about the Mac and she said "I'm surprised it was cold" and did little else to alleviate the situation. That was the only time service was subpar. The entertainment is a joke but it's somewhat entertaining to see how amateurish the routines are. You can see the dancers counting in their heads.

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Wow! If this is indeed the case (a press release means little when rules change everyday), Then that means that I will actually SAVE money under the new terms compared to the previous price of $40 with 25% off. It's still an upcharge but I'll probably now book OB since its $18 instead of $32. I finally can give ncl credit for a change that's a win-win for both parties.

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I have the UDP and it says $17.70 for OB on myncl as well. I figured that charge may cover the main entree but there may be a charge for additional courses since it will be a la carte when I sail in Dec. Also, when looking at the terms and conditions it says that a la carte restaurants are not included in the UDP. It's really confusing as to whether ncl is saying that cagney's and or bistro are no longer included when they go a la carte (I've heard reports that they are going a la carte in October for escape and the away ships and then in jan fleetwide). Ugh!

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Whilst some of the back and forth arguments about T&C are correct (some are not) your forgetting one simple thing.. Most companies rely on the addendum/closing clause "we reserve the right to change blah blah" for one simple reason.

 

It gives them a get out not because its a legal solid bookend; but because it has to be challenged in court - and they know most people wont bother.

 

Whilst its highly likely they themselves wouldn't bother to defend it either, the risk to them in cost is practically zero.

Maybe it will be seen as minimum for one person but if a class action is filled then it's not so insignificant. However, I'm sure that somewhere buried in the contract is that we as passengers can not file a class action and will have to arbitrate individually. Also, in question is whether the ship is subject to U.S. Law since its registered in the Bahamas.

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NCL is never going to make every customer happen. This is impossible. So many people have different opinions, expectations either higher or lower. If you believe they are out to screw you then why cruise with them? Cruise lines are out to make money and to me NCL is very cost friendly compared to other lines which makes them very attractive to many people out there. I have never had ill will with NCL and my experience every time has surpassed my expectations. This might not be the case for others, but they are trying to make sure you have a great vacation every time.

I am cruising with them bc I made MY final payment and can not get the money back that I paid for the trip! NCL is not MUCH cheaper than other cruise lines. You must don't shop around much. Most of the major lines are in the same ball park. Moreover, I'm paying more to cruise NCL for seven days than I paid Disney last year. So put that in your pipe. NCL offered and marketed the perks to stimulate new business. They are more concerned with marketing than customer service. This has been demonstrated several times this year. Since I am being held to my part of the deal with non-refundable money at this point, I expect NCL to hold on to their part of the deal. And it will cause ME ill will to be taken advantage of with no way for me to countermeasure their actions.

If your argument is always why do you cruise NCL, you still miss the point. Sad indeed. And if it doesn't both you then why engage in the conversation. It's no skin off your back.

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So as i stated up there, mu husband ordered the "whole main lobster" for an extra 10$. It was tail only no claws. How is that whole?? Now I'm kicking myself for not saying anythng.

Wow, this really is a new low in customer service. I'm praying that they will work out all of these kinks before my upcoming trip because as of late my trust that the vacation I receive is the same one I purchased is being eroded. Plus, I'm sailing at a point on the getaway where the escape will also leave out of Miami and I just hope that there is no funny business planned that they are not telling us about (i.e. closing the splash area to remove the nickelodeon theme). That would be very disappointing seeing that I have a toddler who loves to swim.

^NCL is having record breaking profits this year as a result of the Nickeling and diming (fact--charging for room service has been profitable for NCL as reported by FDR). However, we'll see what will happen next year when the word gets out that NCL doesn't have high customer service standards...and not just by cc members but by word of mouth in general.

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While I have yet to go to Cagney's for dinner, I'd probably go with sliders as starter, strip steak for main course and definitely the Raspberry creme brulee for dessert.

 

Cut of meat is a matter of preference but the creme brulee is to die for and I've heard praises for the sliders too.

I'm always surprised when someone asks for a recommendation and then the first person who basically answers "I haven't had it myself BUT". This is quite popular on the cc boards. Everyone has an opinion but I believe OP was asking for the best meals. How can you measure the best if you haven't had it?

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It just doesn't make financial sense. They add items that are expensive and they are going to give them away for $20 or so. I guess we all see things differently, I don't see how passengers are being nickeled and dimed, since all of the increases, sans the DSC, are for "choice" items, so you don't have to go to specialty restaurants or have room service, etc. You can only be nickeled and dimed, if you open up your wallet.

What's so hard to understand? Certain items that NCL marketed as "included" (as in the case of the subject of this tred) or "complimentary" are in fact only available for a fee. That's clearly nickeling and diming because even if I read the fine print before I purchase the cruise there is no protection against me being "up-charged." The only way for me to enjoy the "choice" selections that I liked forward to when I booked the cruise is to pay, but many ppl only find out about these things on the ship and then through cc. And don't ask me for a list of things bc at last count it was up to 20 or more separate changes that I didn't anticipate since booking my cruise (whether I intend to participate in 0 or 20 the trend is I'm paying more above the advertised price).

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You can order unlimited appetizers. In Cagneys, for example, we would regularly order double shrimp cocktails (6 pieces instead of 3), a salad, soup and sometimes something else (such as the short ribs app).

 

 

 

Part of dining on cruises is the ability to sample and experience different foods.

Is this from recent experience on the getaway or past experience? I ask bc the getaway is typically used for piloting new initiatives. This could be something that is rolled out fleet wide.

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^Exactly. If they are calling it a gratuity AND service charge then it's a gratuity and service charge. It doesn't get any clearer than that. All 18% doesn't go to the wait staff.

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I feel your frustration but it happens everyday in this industry specially with the airlines. I missed out on the NCL Jewel on this month's 10 day sailing. I was wacthing the fares going down and missed out when it bottomed out "thinking" it will go further down. But instead it started to go up and up and I finally gave up.

 

 

 

Then I got a great deal on a repositioning and then book my airfare to come back home. Lo and behold 2 days after I booked my aifare it went down $100pp. Was I upset? Of course. But somehow with the airlines we all take it and accept it. Why is it more acceptable when this happens in the airline industry but not with the cruiseline?

 

 

 

That's the nature of a lot of businesses nowadays. Are you in the stock market?..Prices go up and down within an hour!

 

 

 

Dont let it bother you and enjoy your trip.

 

 

 

Good

I don't think it's acceptable either way. Some airlines will adjust the difference in terms of a "credit." All you have to do is ask. This happened to me on a flight to Jamaica for three. I looked everyday and called when the price dropped, I called and received about $150 credit total and used it for seat assignments and luggage. I must admit that I tried this with a different airline and they didn't price adjust. Different companies have different policies. So I can understand why OP said she would comparison shop. It's what thrifty PPP like myself love to do[emoji56]

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