Are Free Perks really Free?

I am new to cruising and I just have to ask this question, are "free perks" really "free"? I booked

a cruise that was offering a selection of various free perks such as free internet, free drinks, free gratuities, and $150 free onboard cash. I was given a choice to add two of the above perks. I then went on to price out the balcony cabin which added $960 to the cruise price. If the perks are free how come we have to pay $960?

Nothing in the world is free.

Even the love my wife has for me is conditional.

They are not "free."

We generally spent $X on a cruise. When our favorite cruise line first offered "perks" like open bar for a fee, then $49 pp per day, the price of our cruise went to $X + 1. We didn't buy the package because it didn't include things we liked to drink and it would have cost more then what our bar bill generally was. When the cruise line started to offer the "free" perks including the open bar, we jumped on it. Our cruise was about the same price $X +1 but even though we are pretty big partiers, both of us had a hard time drinking enough to make the package worthwhile. This year we looked into another cruise, granted it was over an expensive time period but the same cruise was $2X, even factoring in the time of year and our previous pay as you go bar bill.

The cruise lines used to be able to offer low fares because they made their profits on the bar bills. Now that the alcohol is included, the only way they can break even is to charge more.

These perks are sales promotions. You can be sure that the cruise line expects to recoup the cost of these "giveaways"

Find the best price a cruise line is offering, then go to a TA, brick and mortar or online, and look for added perks such as pre paid grats, specialty dinning, matching OBC if you have already booked with a cruise line. If the TA has the same price as the cruise line then the hundreds of free perks you get are... free. Most cruise lines give you 30-60 days to transfer to a TA and still honor whatever perks they have already given you. Whoever you book with make sure to keep looking at your cabin category price for sales, find a better price before final payment date and a quick phone call will get you repriced.

The extra $960 was likely the service charges or gratuities (different names on different cruise lines) if you chose the specialty drink package or dining package. The drink package service charges are the ones that really get you.

The other way that the perks are not free is that you can book the same category of cabin without the perks for less money. Generally if you do that, you can't select the exact cabin you want; you just get a guarantee of a cabin within the certain cabin category. If you go for a guaranteed cabin rather than selecting your own, you don't get the perks, but you pay less for the cabin. We've done that on all 3 cruises we've taken. For the first time, we've now booked a cruise that we wanted to select our cabin for, and with that, we got two perks. We had to pay more for the cabin than if we'd just gone for a guaranteed one, and we had to pay the service charges for our drink package. If we'd purchased the drink package ourselves, we would've still had to pay those service charges, so in that sense, the package was free.

Free is subjective. if Princess has Itinerary A for $1,000 and Celebrity has identical Itinerary A for $1,000 are the included drinks on Celebrity free? If you drink $100 a day between the two of you and adding a drink package adds $300 to your 14 day cruise are you getting 11 days of drinks for free?

Only you can do the math

I am new to cruising and I just have to ask this question, are "free perks" really "free"? I booked

a cruise that was offering a selection of various free perks such as free internet, free drinks, free gratuities, and $150 free onboard cash. I was given a choice to add two of the above perks. I then went on to price out the balcony cabin which added $960 to the cruise price. If the perks are free how come we have to pay $960?

:D Of course not. In order to receive the perks one has to book the cruise.

The $960 is likely made up of port fees, taxes, and when certain "free" perks (beverage package) are selected a service charge on the theoretical value of the perk.

In marketing "free" means free to give the company more revenue.

Of COURSE they're not "free"...you're paying for them, one way or the other...just like ANYTHING in this world. If you're not paying for it...someone is....Nothing is free...you can't get something for nothin'.....(I'm sure you've heard these sayings somewhere!)...and the sayings are true!

I am new to cruising and I just have to ask this question, are "free perks" really "free"? I booked

a cruise that was offering a selection of various free perks such as free internet, free drinks, free gratuities, and $150 free onboard cash. I was given a choice to add two of the above perks. I then went on to price out the balcony cabin which added $960 to the cruise price. If the perks are free how come we have to pay $960?

It's really hard to answer this without knowing what you are looking at.

I assume you are talking about celebrity?

Celebrity offers a variety of promotional rates. Somewhat similar to hotels. Like a hotel may offer a breakfast included rate and a cruise and snooze rate vs an early booking or a "member" rate. Celebrity also offers a variety of rates. Sometimes, especially if you book early, the "go big/go better" rate is the only one available. At that point, yes, the perks are free. Often as the sailing gets closer they will begin offering more promotional rates like resident rates, senior rates, and guaranteed cabin rates. Promotional rates are not combineable, so you can either get the perk rate or the promotional rates. What varies is how good a deal those promotional rates are. It really comes down to when you book and what rates are offered.

We are booked on a celebrity cruise in April. When we booked, over a year ago, the perk rate was the only one available, and it wasn't until after final payment that the other rates started popping up. Obviously, you can't switch down to one of those rates post final payment unless you upgrade to a higher level cabin so we were stuck with the rate we had. However, even the promotional rates were only $250 or so less pp than the perk rates. And this was on a 12 day cruise, so for $20 pp pd getting two perks would still be a decent deal.

The extra $960 was likely the service charges or gratuities (different names on different cruise lines) if you chose the specialty drink package or dining package. The drink package service charges are the ones that really get you.

 

The other way that the perks are not free is that you can book the same category of cabin without the perks for less money. Generally if you do that, you can't select the exact cabin you want; you just get a guarantee of a cabin within the certain cabin category. If you go for a guaranteed cabin rather than selecting your own, you don't get the perks, but you pay less for the cabin. We've done that on all 3 cruises we've taken. For the first time, we've now booked a cruise that we wanted to select our cabin for, and with that, we got two perks. We had to pay more for the cabin than if we'd just gone for a guaranteed one, and we had to pay the service charges for our drink package. If we'd purchased the drink package ourselves, we would've still had to pay those service charges, so in that sense, the package was free.

Not all cruise lines charge gratuities for thbeverage packages that are included as perks. We have the Premium Beverage Package on Princess for 48 days starting the end of May and are not charged gratuities.

lol, nothing is free in this world.

The extra $960 was likely the service charges or gratuities (different names on different cruise lines) if you chose the specialty drink package or dining package. The drink package service charges are the ones that really get you.

Not all cruise lines charge gratuities for thbeverage packages that are included as perks. We have the Premium Beverage Package on Princess for 48 days starting the end of May and are not charged gratuities.

Same with Celebrity. The beverage grats are included in the price of the package, so no extra fees are charged either at booking or on the ship board account. Member MyTMo777 appears to only cruise NCL, which does charge gratuities extra.

Posters should be reminded that not all cruise lines do things the same way as the cruise line they cruise with all or most of the time. When giving advice, or answering questions, it is important to state which cruise lines your advice is based on.

Of course those perks are "free" - the same way you get four "free" wheels when you buy a Ford.

It takes a lot of research and a lot of checking rates with and without the 'free' perks to figure out if those perks are actually a good deal.

A lot depends on whether the perks are something you'd use or not. For instance, included drinks, for us, is a waste as we rarely drink. Internet is an ok perk for us, specialty dinners, ok, the best is OBC.

We have gotten great deals where the perks were actually 'free', that is, the price of the cruise was not raised when the perks were added. This is hard to find and takes a lot of work comparing and checking and some luck. A good TA can be helpful, but mostly I do the work myself.

So, we have gotten cruises where the cost before free perks was, say $1000 and the cost with free perks was still $1000. A couple of times the price even went down.

I don't consider something to be free if the cruise itself costs more than if the perks weren't added.

We have the Princess alcohol package for our upcoming b2b2b. We had booked the cruise before the special Sip & Sail event started. We were able to add the package with no change in price.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

That $960 extra charge is to help cover those perks that are being offered. Nothing is free.

This question reminds me of people who choose $3000+ per person cruises and mention all of the free stuff it includes as to why it's better. Or people who get mad that Spirit Airlines charges $100 for fare and $60 for baggage. So next time, they fly Southwest for $300 because they have "free baggage".

Bottom line: nothing is free. No business is going to give you anything out of the kindness of their heart. Maybe I lied a little, sometimes you may get a free sample as a form of advertising in hopes you buy something. You are not getting free food, entertainment, or drinks though, period. You are paying for them.

OP must be asking about an NCL cruise .

The choice of the Free Drinks as one of the 2 for Free choices is why an additional charge

is soooo much . It is the gratuities for the drink package . Choose another option and that extra charge will go way down , like Shore Tours add nothing and Speciality Restaurants very little Gratuity .

So choose something other than the Free Drinks and it will be 2 for Almost Free .

Nothing on a cruise ship is 'free. ;)

OP must be asking about an NCL cruise .

The choice of the Free Drinks as one of the 2 for Free choices is why an additional charge

is soooo much . It is the gratuities for the drink package . Choose another option and that extra charge will go way down , like Shore Tours add nothing and Speciality Restaurants very little Gratuity .

So choose something other than the Free Drinks and it will be 2 for Almost Free .

The gratuities for the drink package on NCL are aprox. $17 pp/pd so for the OP to be paying an extra $960 they'd have to be going on about a 30 day cruise.

Lois

The gratuities for the drink package on NCL are aprox. $17 pp/pd so for the OP to be paying an extra $960 they'd have to be going on about a 30 day cruise.

Lois

Based on the OP description, the $960 most likely includes taxes and port fees.

Tanstaafl

They are as much free as are the 50/60 percent off sales on mattresses, furniture, jewelry, and ladies clothing. An illusion designed to make you feel good, feel smart, and buy the product.

There is no such thing as a free lunch!

"Included" is much ore accurate adjective.