pghflyer

I have never booked direct with any line and always receive substantial OBC (ex. MSC) or free gratuities or benefits not available direct. Usually to the tune of about 7-9% of my cruise package price.

I just find their whole program structure really amusing and random.  So I get no points spending money with them on board but I do get points for happening to book 3 months after my birthday or updating my demographics prior to 72 hours of a cruise? What if my cruise is 3 years out - do I get those points every year if I keep updating once a year? 

Plus I get the same number of points for a 10-night sailing as I get for a 26 night sailing? WTH!!!

So I understand that prebooking is how to get the "best" rate on Internet. I was just looking in my 2026 cruise planner and saw they were selling package rates of "1 Person/2-devices" (best value for a couple) at $7.20 per day per device for Browse and $10.40 per day per device for Browse+Stream.  They had this marked as 20% discount from onboard, but I have no idea if this will have better sales before we depart?  And it sounds like I might should wait for a coupon?

Great to hear no problem with refund, less than a month is very reasonable.

Does this my time dining also mean a get a table just for your party? This having to hustle and hope and I can get moved from a table of 8 to a table of just 2 is one reason I am leery of MSC, otherwise had good experiences

hmmm most the cruise line policies I have seen don't include CFAR clauses by default.....IDK how they do their pricing either....but otherwise good points.  I don't think I have ever seen a cruise line (any of them) policy that could not be easily beaten (price/ features) by an independent insurer

@Ellis1138 is right on, as long as you bought a package fare that included wifi minutes.....the best deal you will get is 2+ days into your cruise (depending on length), but I've never been able to get lower than $11/$12 per day (additional to upgrade minutes to basic unlimited).....

A few more comments:

- Both adjoining doors are right by the bed of this cabin, and right by the front door of all the cabins.

- Staff were uniformly excellent

- Sliding balcony door was old had a lot of gaps that we had to fill with folded up Freestyle Dailies and Shopping Solicitations.

- 2 of 26 mornings we awoke to find toilet not pressurized, but it was fixed within 10 minutes of calling guest services.

- Nice refrigerator (which you need to keep the cabinet open for it to work properly).

- We asked for a coffee maker and received one, which they provided fresh grounds for every day.

General comments:

- Formal evening shows were sparse but that is a NCL issue fleet wide.  Music was pretty good.

- Main dining room was better than we have had in the last 2 years so improving.

- Honestly, we loved the small size of the ship and the lack of frills (no TV by the pool, no water slides, no go-cart track)

- She was kept clean but does feel like an old ship in general, no $100M Spirit style refit  for this one (which has been sold and will be transferred in 2027)

I just got out of that exact cabin after spending 26 nights in March / April.  The new pictures on cruisedeckplans are mine:

https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/ships/stateroom-details.php?ship=Norwegian-Sun&cabin=1002

Great location for access to the gym and pool deck and the gorgeous 12th floor lounge.  No noise from below or above.   No bathtub, just the old small shower with a curtain. The outside balcony is the stuff of dreams - huge with cover and uncovered, looking straight ahead like the captain, honestly probably the best balcony we will ever have (we can't afford suites). 2 chairs and a lounge chair and small table.  Inside there is a small table and sofa but no chairs. Large cabin with lots of room.

We are booked on Sun again in the future and we will definitely NOT be booking this cabin. Why? well, I was so lost in the glory of that big balcony that I overlooked the 2-cabin adjoining doors, one to each cabin on each side of this room.  One of which is an owner's suite that was booked with large families/ children every leg (customer service said families usually book those rooms).  It was SO loud between yelling kids and people having parties and people playing on Bluetooth speakers.  The connecting doors are VERY VERY thin and have about 1-2 inch gap under them, so you hear everything from sneezes to conversations to the butler taking their breakfast order.  We tried asking the people on the first leg if they would help keep the noise down, but they felt like they paid for an expensive room and had the right to use it however they wished.  The second leg group was a little better but at some point, 3-5 people in one room is just noisy when there isn't much barrier.

You may get lucky and have a small group that is conscientious and tries to be quiet....but I am not gambling on this one again, in spite of the lovely balcony.

3 hours ago, Meggy68 said:

Hi,

Maybe a stupid question,

Do i have to look at this price?

Or should i calculate guestfare minus savings (50%) while compare with price that is showing in Pricealerts

Yeah it is a little problematic using the fake discount invoices from NCL. In that case, you should add up everything EXCEPT gratuities (or "gross total" minus "prepaid gratuities") and use that as your "fare" for CruisePlum (CP) purposes. I think that would be about $3,438.....so if it was me and there was still some time until sailing, I would probably set an alert in CP for that room category (ex. inside, balcony, etc) at around $3,300.  Just remember, CP currently alerts based on the cheapest cabin in the category. So you may have bought a BA balcony but CP will send you an alert on the BX price normally (cause it is usually the cheapest).  Honestly, I sometimes set my alert based on the current BX price and then just know that when I get an alert, I need to double check my particular cabin category price.

love love love cruise plum and visit it every day and have maxed out my watch list and alerts....plus the folks doing it are just enthusiasts and very nice

We just put a deposit down for Opera sailing out of Durban South Africa and were a little surprised that they had NO packages at all for our initial booking (literally the only rate available was "EZAT
ESCAPE TO SEA CRUISE ONLY".  Agent said we would book internet/ drink packages in Cruise Planner or onboard.  So logged in today and while they have excursions and Internet packages and spa packages.....literally still no drink packages at all.

Anyone encountered this before?

@kjquilts curious if you ended up taking the Opera and what you thought? 

3 hours ago, dexddd said:

 Surprisingly I love the Spirit which is older but much better in most aspects.

To be fair, Sprit received an unprecedented $100M+ refurb in 2022 while Sun received a more standard refurb (probably 10-20% of that cost) in 2021.

Spent 28 days on her in March / April..........staff are great, food was better than NCL was doing last year.....bathrooms are small (even many around the ship are single occupant) and old....if you are truly in it for the ports, you will have a great time and enjoy yourself.  Remember, the ship is part of the journey and not the whole destination.

Copying some comments I made on another thread in the forum when we returned:

.....we just got back from the Sun and loved it as it was small(1,936 if filled to double occupancy) and the Spinnaker Lounge (up top) was super chill and great views.  Staff were wonderful.  Main dining food was great. Nice wide fully walkable promenade deck. Nightly shows are sparse and not that great.  The bathrooms feel like they are straight out of the 1970s.  The rooms and public spaces aren't modern but are relatively updated and clean.  Pool is relatively small and the pool deck has a real "Love Boat" vibe.  We are actually fans of this ship having no giant TV screen on the pool deck, nor any crazy slides or go-carts or other extravagant extras.

FWIW I resubmitted this morning in the portal and referenced my previous case number....and had my credit confirmation in less than 2 hours. 🙂 Thx everyone

I submitted via the "new" online form and got the standard email reply with a case number and instructions to wait 7 business days. It has been 10 business days and no response.  Who do you follow-up with via email?  The automated response came from  DO NOT REPLY with [email protected] so guessing I shouldn't write there. The only other one I have is the old [email protected]

Just curious where people are finding success with follow-up

I previously stacked AARP and Healthcare on a booking made in March 2024 for a sailing in January 2026. Because of notices on this forum (thank you, not sure how anyone would know that any of these require renewal!), I renewed both... got confirmation emails...waited a few days.. and this week booked a December 2026 sailing. The AARP applied automatically, but my healthcare is still missing. I contacted my agent who said HAL advised them that the healthcare credit is only good for sailings through 12/31/2025.... which is not mentioned anywhere, nor true based on it being applied already on a January 2026 sailing. 

Anyone else seen this? 

Separately, I was planning to submit for shareholder credit closer to sailing. Is the above saying you have to renew every 3 months to keep it on a reservation after it has been applied OR that you have to have renewed within 3 months to be able to apply to NEW reservations?

Definitely the occasional vibration in the aft of this classic older ship

Yeah, I don't think most of these guesses are accurate as I am not a big spender either, in fact, with the packages we get and having to pre-pay excursions, I am usually standing in line at the end of cruise getting my agent's OBC returned to me. I also currently have 3 cruises booked......I don't think this is a personal slight on anyone, just random targeting for whatever small additional volume they were looking to fill on these traditionally slower selling routes. Honestly, this is the first one I have EVER received that wasn't given to everyone else.

@Anoynmous Phoenix unfortunately IDK but I'm guessing just another way of saying "not a group reservation"

@vacation44 I had big hopes when I saw it but all those I might have been interested in are already priced over double what I normally pay.....so 25% wasn't enough. Vacation time is always the other ugly limiter!!!

Hmm that is odd, it works on my other devices where I haven't logged in. Maybe it is a regional restriction (I am USA).

Sailings: https://www.ncl.com/cruises-to/repositioning-cruises

Was surprised to find this in my Latitude Account this morning (didn't get an email or notification). "Just For You! Additional 25% off Repositioning Sailings"

https://www.ncl.com/content/exclusive-coupon-details-repositioning-cruises-terms

Do the cruise compete and definitely don't book direct....but in general, I feel like NCL has boosted their advance booking prices 20-30% in the last few years.....and then about 120 days out and closer start severely discounting.  Yes, if you can't live without a specific cabin on a particular itinerary and have the means, you should book in advance....but for the rest of us, it usually pays to wait until closer.

Not disagreeing with you, it was a good point.....I just thought the (old) official guidance had some good details. This also doesn't even factor your particular agents economics either, as I almost always get a few hundred in OBC and free gratuities from my agents.....which they may not want to give at a lower price point