Price drop well before final payment but already paid in full?

Our next cruise increased slightly in price but now it offers a considerable amount of onboard credit that drops us below our original price point. More tempting is the "Past Guest Offer" that has now been added also. (Almost platinum)

We paid in full using credit card points months ago and the final payment wasn't actually due until August. Does a payment in full prevent us from taking advantage of price changes? If not, do we need to call our credit card company or NCL to try and switch our rate? Thanks!

Give NCL a call, and they will adjust your price. If they don't just cancel it and then immediately rebook.

Give NCL a call, and they will adjust your price. If they don't just cancel it and then immediately rebook.

Be careful or any cancel and rebook to save $$$ possibly losing perks bennies OBC etc.

Since this is before the Final Payment NCL should have no trouble to adjust its own price.

But do make the call - - -

Be careful or any cancel and rebook to save $$$ possibly losing perks bennies OBC etc.

 

Since this is before the Final Payment NCL should have no trouble to adjust its own price.

 

But do make the call - - -

give them or your TA a call, but from how I understand it, your price didn't drop, only different perks, including a generous OBC is now what they are offering. That means you will literally be getting a new booking. Don't be surprised if the answer is sorry. Let us know how it comes out.

Our next cruise increased slightly in price but now it offers a considerable amount of onboard credit that drops us below our original price point. More tempting is the "Past Guest Offer" that has now been added also. (Almost platinum)

 

We paid in full using credit card points months ago and the final payment wasn't actually due until August. Does a payment in full prevent us from taking advantage of price changes? If not, do we need to call our credit card company or NCL to try and switch our rate? Thanks!

Re-reading this post I realize that my comment from last night is inaccurate. OP does not have a price drop. NCL will likely require OP to cancel and rebook. They might allow OP to pay the higher price to get the new perks, but that is doubtful.

Here's an update to my question a few weeks ago. What happened was different than I explained above due to more changes.

I called NCL and was told to speak with the travel agency. I made the call after another price and promotional change. I'm not sure how travel agency's usually work but with Chase they spoke with NCL on another line for 15 minutes to work it out.

The price had now dropped for our cabin, $100 of onboard credit was added, and we gained all promotions with their "Take 5" promotion. (Yay to the dining package) We should also receive the "Past Guest Offer" though I didn't confirm it like I should have. Instead of keeping our cabin we upgraded from a Family Balcony to a Family Balcony Mini-Suite. The mini-suites are mid ship which is also great for less rocking.

Like I said above, the cruise was paid in full from a few months ago with credit card points. We booked the cruise with Chase Bank Ultimate Rewards who uses a 3rd party travel agency for cruise bookings. When everything was all said and done we only paid an extra $56 but the upgrades and onboard credit far exceed the cost. To clarify, we paid the $56 in cash, as they only allow points redemptions once. Our old cabin would have resulted in about a $150 to $200 savings (not counting the onboard credit). Really pleased!

I will never understand why people want to give their money to ANYONE before it is due. Better off in my pocket then in theirs lol

I will never understand why people want to give their money to ANYONE before it is due. Better off in my pocket then in theirs lol

I suspect, in this case, because they were using credit card rewards points to book the cruise, they had to "pay" in full at the time of booking.

I suspect, in this case, because they were using credit card rewards points to book the cruise, they had to "pay" in full at the time of booking.

If thats the case which it sounds like it is, how do you get a refund for a price drop if paying with points?

If thats the case which it sounds like it is, how do you get a refund for a price drop if paying with points?

You may not be able to. Luckily the OP opted for an upgrade to a Mini-suite, so rather than getting a refund of any sort, they paid the difference in cash for the upgrade, so still got full use of the points they had spent.

You were lucky to gain things. For us to get a small reduction in the cabin pricing before final payment, NCL took back free bottle of wine and strawberries (Platinum). My point of view was that it was worth the give backs since we do not drink and would have given the wine away and we can always get strawberries on board. All of our other perks remained.

To explain fuirther, we have 3rd party insurance which is based upon passenger's age/total cost of cruise. So when the cabin pricing went down, so did our insurance cost. This is another reason why we decided to wait until we are on board to pay the daily tips at the now higher rate so that the tips did not push the cost back up!!!!! Paying the daily tips on board will result in an additional charge of about $6.13 per person. No big deal.

Compared to other cruise lines, NCL's system is more complicated. For them, it is easier to charge Guest 1 for everything rather than splitting the cost among the total guests in a cabin.. On our last sailing, we spent so much time at Guest Services trying to straigthen everything out with the final result being that we needed to work it out between us and pay each other. They either could not or would not billl the charges correctly. Lesson learned, we will wait untill we are on board with separate accounts to book shore excursions with the appropriate discount due me as Platinum and have them post the tips daily. The whole purpose of prepaying the shore excursions, etc. prior to the sailing with a credit card along with the daily tips with each guest being charged accordingly simply doesn't work with NCL.

MARAPRINCE

I suspect, in this case, because they were using credit card rewards points to book the cruise, they had to "pay" in full at the time of booking.

If thats the case which it sounds like it is, how do you get a refund for a price drop if paying with points?

You are correct. For whatever reason, they will only apply points once per itinerary. If I partially used points as a deposit I would be forced to pay cash for the rest. This is the same reason I had to pay $56 cash for the upgrade instead of points.

I can't say for sure how the points refund would work other than what occurred for me on a previous cruise. I booked the trip with points, paid in full, but forgot to apply a CruiseNext voucher. I called NCL directly and they applied it and refunded my credit card on file with them. I did not call the travel agency who handled the points usage.

You were lucky to gain things. For us to get a small reduction in the cabin pricing before final payment, NCL took back free bottle of wine and strawberries (Platinum). My point of view was that it was worth the give backs since we do not drink and would have given the wine away and we can always get strawberries on board. All of our other perks remained.

 

To explain fuirther, we have 3rd party insurance which is based upon passenger's age/total cost of cruise. So when the cabin pricing went down, so did our insurance cost. This is another reason why we decided to wait until we are on board to pay the daily tips at the now higher rate so that the tips did not push the cost back up!!!!! Paying the daily tips on board will result in an additional charge of about $6.13 per person. No big deal.

 

Compared to other cruise lines, NCL's system is more complicated. For them, it is easier to charge Guest 1 for everything rather than splitting the cost among the total guests in a cabin.. On our last sailing, we spent so much time at Guest Services trying to straigthen everything out with the final result being that we needed to work it out between us and pay each other. They either could not or would not billl the charges correctly. Lesson learned, we will wait untill we are on board with separate accounts to book shore excursions with the appropriate discount due me as Platinum and have them post the tips daily. The whole purpose of prepaying the shore excursions, etc. prior to the sailing with a credit card along with the daily tips with each guest being charged accordingly simply doesn't work with NCL.

 

 

MARAPRINCE

I agree that their pricing system is strange. You receive different pricing information all the way to the final checkout where it eventually lays it out correctly. When using credit card points, it makes the most sense for us to prepay gratuities and pick some of their promotions like beverage and dining.

You have me wondering actually if I could have packed a few tours into the bill before paying with points. While the credit card travel agency cannot add the tours directly, I can book through NCL, add all the extras and tours I want, then transfer it as a whole to the travel agency. (Within 10 days I think it is) Maybe next time I'll experiment.

For insurance, my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card provides adequate coverage as a benefit for no extra cost. Sure it's not as comprehensive as travel insurance but it has already covered us for several claims in the past. It's an expensive card, but the perks pay for the card in savings usually in just 1 trip.

For insurance, my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card provides adequate coverage as a benefit for no extra cost. Sure it's not as comprehensive as travel insurance but it has already covered us for several claims in the past. It's an expensive card, but the perks pay for the card in savings usually in just 1 trip.

I have the same card and agree that it is great! I haven't tried to use point to pay for cruise fare though, since it's much more of a hassle than booking other travel options directly through their website. My philosophy has been to use the points on everything else surrounding the cruise (flights, hotels, ground transport). If I get to the point where I have so many points accumulated that it makes more sense to book the cruise itself with points as well, I will be grateful you have shared your experience so I have a better idea what to expect.