Free UBP promo charging me $29/day service charge?

[NLH Arizona]

 

That too many pax are looking at it as though ncl is giving away drinks that cost ncl $11 to $15....

 

Passengers are looking at it as though NCL is giving away drinks and if they didn't have the package they would have to pay $9, $10 or even $15 for that drink, as well as paying an 18% gratuity. Just like any business that gives something away or you purchase 1 and get 1 free, no one looks at the cost the item cost the company, they look at what the cost would have been to them if they didn't have the offer. Edited March 14, 2016 by NLH Arizona

[cheer25mom]

Passengers are looking at it as though NCL is giving away drinks and if they didn't have the package they would have to pay $9, $10 or even $15 for that drink, as well as paying an 18% gratuity. Just like any business that gives something away or you purchase 1 and get 1 free, no one looks at the cost the item cost the company, they look at what the cost would have been to them if they didn't have the offer.

Why does the cost to the company matter to me if I would have purchased the item anyway without the deal??

[triptolemus]

Why does the cost to the company matter to me if I would have purchased the item anyway without the deal??

 

Other posters above were asserting that there was no value to the passenger in the giveaway promotion because a drink costs the cruise line just "pennies". NLH Arizona was attempting to refute that assertion.

[cheer25mom]

Other posters above were asserting that there was no value to the passenger in the giveaway promotion because a drink costs the cruise line just "pennies". NLH Arizona was attempting to refute that assertion.

Sorry, I was agreeing with him in a roundabout manner. Probably shouldn't have prhased it in the form of a question. Maybe I should have said, I as a consumer don't care what the cost to the company was if I deem the item worthy of purchase at the rate they are charging.

[swedish weave]

Why is there no 18% svcg in Haven? We will be paying the extra $2 pp/pd D.Sc...is it an attempt to entice more Haven patrons or to encourage larger tipping of butler/ concierge etc?

 

I was surprised when I booked and there were no gratuity charges on the "free " drinks and dinners.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

The price you pay for the haven lets NCL give you the perks without additional costs.

[NLH Arizona]

Why does the cost to the company matter to me if I would have purchased the item anyway without the deal??

That was exactly my point. You wouldn't be paying 2 cents if you didn't have the package, you would be paying $9, $10 or $15.

 

p.s. I'm a her, not a him.

Edited March 14, 2016 by NLH Arizona

[swedish weave]

Ok. let me address the pennies a pour theory. i buy for a large restaurant chain and our cost, buying in bulk for many locations, for , grey goose vodka , is 1.70 a drink. Hardly pennies. And we are located in a market with lots of competition. Let us now compare to that to a cruise ship... in the middle of the ocean... with no competition.. I think they can charge what they want.

And since you are pouring it at home for pennies a day, I can only assume your are drinking rock gut and pouring 1/4 ounce drinks. And that you should perhaps stay home...

As for the server who will follow you around with a cooler of beer for that price, all day, good luck with that. Even working at the tipped minimum wage of 5, all day would be 90 bucks plus the 18 tip...so youre at 108. But most tip more for a private bartender but I am sure you would not because you drink for pennies. lol

 

Let me address your math !!

 

You can distort statistics for the sake of argument, but there are approx 34 ounces in a liter. If a liter of Smirnoff sells for $13.00 (or less), that equates to 38 cents per ounce (or less). Wholesale prices are far below that. An astute bar manager may use less costly brands therefore lowering the cost even more.

 

As an afterthought, you may want to check the price you are paying for Grey Goose. I can buy it for a lot less, and I am not in the business.

Edited March 14, 2016 by swedish weave

[cheer25mom]

Let me address your math !!

 

You can distort statistics for the sake of argument, but there are approx 34 ounces in a liter. If a liter of Smirnoff sells for $13.00 (or less), that equates to 38 cents per ounce (or less). Wholesale prices are far below that. An astute bar manager may use less costly brands therefore lowering the cost even more.

 

As an afterthought, you may want to check the price you are paying for Grey Goose. I can buy it for a lot less, and I am not in the business.

Smirnoff is closer to $20-25 a liter for me. I think the price varies be country and by region within the US. Still close to $1 an ounce. I don't buy Grey Goose by the bottle so I am not sure about the cost ,but I know it is more than Smirnoff so has to be over $1 a pour.

Edited March 14, 2016 by cheer25mom

[BurtonRiderT6]

Here's a thought.....

 

You get an email from Chili's (or some nationwide restaurant chain) offering you a free dinner for your birthday month. So you go and eat, order a water with your meal even though a soda is included. Server checks on you a few times during your meal, provides good service. They bring the check, $20. You give them the email birthday voucher and they bring back the tab saying $0. Do you get up and leave or do you tip for the service provided?

 

I think the same principle applies with NCL and charging gratuities.

[luvtheships]

I know. Even when I spell it out like I did in the post above yours, there are still people who seem to think I'm paying more than I did 2 years ago. It's hilarious.

 

 

Nope....you just happen to have a cruise booked where it worked out that way

 

I know you are probably intelligent enough to know not all cruises will work out that way....and my experience was different

 

Case in point..... My recent Jan gem cruise $1800 for an inside triple with just a mere $25 obc...because that was all that was offered at the time of my booking

 

 

4 months after I booked they added the perks[emoji79]

 

So I repriced the same cabin category and my my my...$2500 for the free ubp in an inside triple

 

Now that's a "real" deal in my book and when talking to my cabin neighbors they said that's what they paid for the 2 of them with free ubp and were giddy at the deal they got....

 

Then I told them what we paid for our next door triple. [emoji41]

Edited March 14, 2016 by luvtheships

[luvtheships]

Why does the cost to the company matter to me if I would have purchased the item anyway without the deal??

 

 

Because they are not giving you a free drink at retail....they are giving you a free drink at their very low cost

 

It costs Ncl very little to give away the drink package and they allow you to actually cover that very low cost out of your own pocket too...by way of the dsc.

 

But they love that you think they are giving you an expensive drink package.

Edited March 14, 2016 by luvtheships

[LrgPizza]

Nope....you just happen to have a cruise booked where it worked out that way

 

I know you are probably intelligent enough to know not all cruises will work out that way....and my experience was different

 

Not only am I intelligent enough, I also wrote that in my post. I know you're intelligent enough to have understood it when you read it. :)

[luvtheships]

Here's my simple math logic:

 

 

 

2013 cruise with DCL: No beverage package and our on board account for drinks was about $900.

 

 

 

2014 cruise with RCCL: Beverage package cost a total of $730.00 for the two of us including the tax/gratuity added on.

 

 

 

2016 cruise with NCL: Beverage package cost a total of $173.88 in gratuities/taxes.

 

 

 

There is no complaining in my book! I think this is awesome. I will happily pay $172.88 for drinks on the entire cruise for the two of us.

 

 

You need to compare the prices of your cruises to make sense of your numbers not just the drinks numbers

 

The cost of drinks isn't the point

 

The point is when did you book your above cruises....and how much did they did they not go up....if and when they added the free perks or were the perks already in place when you booked initially. Did you receive any price adjustments or paid upgrades

 

More detail is needed to be accurate and that is why is always add this very detailed tidbit about my recent cruise...

 

My Jan 2016 gem 10 day inside triple cost me $1800...true ksf...including port and tax....but only a $25 obc from Ncl....I booked in April 2015 with AARP pricing thru an online Ta

 

Same cruise....same details as above but with 9 months so no aarp of approx $50 ...when they added the so called free perks a few months later and I looked to reprice with a perk .....$2500.

 

So they added the perks but raised the prices making the free perk a $700 cost to me

 

 

A true variance analysis is what is needed just like I provided.....in short form....you didn't provide info details....however more details could well prove 1 of 2 things...

 

You did indeed get a good deal

 

Or

 

Ncl did indeed raise the price of cabins when they added the perks

 

None of this is available to us and it would be impossible to go back to a particular date and see the historical pricing for your above mentioned cruises....unless you happen to have weekly screenshots. Lol

Edited March 14, 2016 by luvtheships

[cheer25mom]

Because they are not giving you a free drink at retail....they are giving you a free drink at their very low cost

 

It costs Ncl very little to give away the drink package and they allow you to actually cover that very low cost out of your own pocket too...by way of the dsc.

 

But they love that you think they are giving you an expensive drink package.

I understand exactly what they are giving me. None of us here are under the impression that the drinks Norwegian (or any other restaurant, bar, resort, or crusline) serves aren't marked up. Of course they are, that's basic economics that anyone should understand. Given the fact that I would buy them anyway and tip my server, they are in fact saving me the retail cost of those drinks. Just because that's not what their cost is doesn't mean that not the amount I am saving by having the UBP. If I didn't have the UBP I would be out of pocket $15 plus tip for every drink, but in reality I am spending much less. I don't really care that they don't spend $15 on the ingredients to make my drink. I am saving around $14 a drink if you factor in a 20% tip not having to pay for it if I average 4 drinks a day. A little less if I am not ordering a $15 drink every time, but still a significant savings. At 3 drinks a day the UBP costs me $3.50 a drink. I would say that is more than reasonable.

 

The argument of them marking up in other areas to make up for it doesn't completely hold water for me either because inflation adjusted figures don't seem to bear that out based on the numbers being reported here.

 

We are not all as ill informed as you seem to think, we have just come to a different conclusion about the value of the UBP. for someone who would be ordering drinks regardless of the cost and typically runs up a $600-$900 or more tab on a week's cruise it makes economic sense. I don't really care what the crusieline's bottom line on it is and I am not naive enough to think that they don't mark things up. What is important to me is that my overall cost is much less with the UBP than without it. That makes it a good value for me.

[Warm Breezes]

Because they are not giving you a free drink at retail....they are giving you a free drink at their very low cost

 

It costs Ncl very little to give away the drink package and they allow you to actually cover that very low cost out of your own pocket too...by way of the dsc.

 

But they love that you think they are giving you an expensive drink package.

 

:confused: You are not picking up the their low cost by paying the dsc on the drinks...you are tipping your server which you should have tipped if the drink were "free" or "charged". I am not getting the UBP because the tips are more than I would pay for drinks on a cruise anyway. But I will purchase a couple drinks on the cruise and pay for it and the tip. People with UBP are not paying for the drinks, which are free, they are paying for the tips on those drinks and hopefully, if they choose UBP, they are drinking enough "free" drinks to make it worth the "tip". There is a point to where those who drink a lot more on a cruise than we do will be at an advantage. We wouldn't get to that point so we choose other free packages.

 

We sailed a 7 day balcony on NCL Jewel in 2013 for approx. $1900. No OBC, no packages, we purchased some Wi-Fi to connect with kids (smallest package they had then), approx. 5 alcoholic drinks total between the 2 of us, and dinner at Moderno for our 25th anniversary (we rec'd free dinner at the Italian Restaurant from past guest party as well). We purchased a FCC on-board and rec'd $100 OBC for that. I just booked 7 day NCL Escape balcony for 2017 with our FCC for $2200(price includes our $250 FCC deposit that we paid in 2013, so we owe a balance now of $1950). We are receiving a $200 OBC (from TA), free internet package (no tips on that), and the free dinner package (price includes $30 tip for dinner package). When all is said and done we will probably in total pay the same for this cruise plus eat at more of the specialty restaurants, get more Wi-Fi time and be on a newer ship with more things to do as we did for the last NCL cruise on Jewel. That is the bottom line I am looking at and it looks like a win for me to get that much more for the same price after 4 years. Now we are paying a bit more for our NCL cruises, then and now, than I have for my CCL cruises....but I am willing to pay slightly more for NCL when they meet other criteria we want out of our vacation. It is choice we all get to make. It is up to the buyer to make the right decision for them.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Warm Breezes

[cheer25mom]

You need to compare the prices of your cruises to make sense of your numbers not just the drinks numbers

 

The cost of drinks isn't the point

 

The point is when did you book your above cruises....and how much did they did they not go up....if and when they added the free perks or were the perks already in place when you booked initially. Did you receive any price adjustments or paid upgrades

 

More detail is needed to be accurate and that is why is always add this very detailed tidbit about my recent cruise...

 

My Jan 2016 gem 10 day inside triple cost me $1800...true ksf...including port and tax....but only a $25 obc from Ncl....I booked in April 2015 with AARP pricing thru an online Ta

 

Same cruise....same details as above but with 9 months so no aarp of approx $50 ...when they added the so called free perks a few months later and I looked to reprice with a perk .....$2500.

 

So they added the perks but raised the prices making the free perk a $700 cost to me

 

 

A true variance analysis is what is needed just like I provided.....in short form....you didn't provide info details....however more details could well prove 1 of 2 things...

 

You did indeed get a good deal

 

Or

 

Ncl did indeed raise the price of cabins when they added the perks

 

None of this is available to us and it would be impossible to go back to a particular date and see the historical pricing for your above mentioned cruises....unless you happen to have weekly screenshots. Lol

But... how can you be sure that added $700 cost is due to the perks and not due to the cruise being closer to sold out? you would need same cruise booked at the same time on different years comparison, one with perks and one without, to have a valid basis for comparison.

[luvtheships]

But... how can you be sure that added $700 cost is due to the perks and not due to the cruise being closer to sold out? you would need same cruise booked at the same time on different years comparison, one with perks and one without, to have a valid basis for comparison.

 

 

Because in April 2015 the price was $1800 with no perks

 

A few months later they decide to add the perks to my cruise and now it's $2500

 

 

The timeframe I'm talking about coincides exactly to when Ncl started adding the perks under fdr

 

Why it went up is anyone's guess depending on how you look at it,....

 

A pax booking this cruise for the 1 st time

 

Or

 

Like me....

 

A pax who was already booked with no perks and now finds out the perks have been added and would like to add them but the prices have risen too much

 

 

Btw if you can find some of those old threads from summer 2015 you might see others comments

 

But the reason posters are still debating the phony free perks is because it was so very obvious how Ncl jacked up the prices at the exact same time they added free perks

Edited March 14, 2016 by luvtheships

[cheer25mom]

I don't think it's as "obvious" or cut and dried as you are claiming.

[LrgPizza]

I don't think it's as "obvious" or cut and dried as you are claiming.

 

It's not, and people have given examples and discussions that contradict that, but he/she has made it clear that he/she will completely discount anything that doesn't support his/her above claim. It's fascinating to watch.

[Crusin6]

I agree 100% about them jacking the prices up last summer as soon as they came up with the so called free perks

 

 

 

I remember the threads and the overwhelming consensus was that they were not free but just added to the base price.

 

In many cases the base prices shot up overnight and at the same time as the free perks started. In some documented situations in the same exact amount that the perk would cost if paid out of pocket.

 

 

Argue all you want but a year later and ncl has won and since many posters did not cruise both last year before the perks AND then again this year after the perks, they just don't see it

 

There are also posters her who will argue that the up charge for cagneys was never $20 or that the up charge was never the tip

 

 

Cagneys was indeed $20 at one time then it was $25 then $30

 

It was also not necessary to tip anything extra at all in cagneys, because the up charge took care of that

 

Few remember that of course and now we gladly not only pay the up charge but tip on top of it too plus still pay the mdr portion of the dsc

 

 

 

It won't be too long until posters will claim that room service was never free either

 

 

Ncl knows exactly what they are doing but so do I

 

Take that any way you want

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[triptolemus]

That sounds like Marxists revisionism and seems somewhat extreme when applied to cruising!

 

And I, too, recall those who insisted that NCL fare hikes were simply a natural increase and had nothing at all to do with the new free stuff.

 

But as has been stated, not ALL prices have been totally jacked up. Some, sure. Most, okay, probably. But some folks are still managing comparable post-promo deals. I would concede this is probably isolated to certain itineraries and booking way early...or even last-minute.

Edited March 14, 2016 by triptolemus

[LrgPizza]

That sounds like Marxists revisionism and seems somewhat extreme when applied to cruising!

 

And I, too, recall those who insisted that NCL fare hikes were simply a natural increase and had nothing at all to do with the new free stuff.

 

But as has been stated, not ALL prices have been totally jacked up. Some, sure. Most, okay, probably. But some folks are still managing comparable post-promo deals. I would concede this is probably isolated to certain itineraries and booking way early...or even last-minute.

 

I agree with everything you've said.

 

I originally booked my Escape cruise (referenced above) in Jan. 2015 for May 2016. The base fare was identical to my 2014 Getaway cruise (same itinerary, same cabin, same week.) I then canceled and rebooked 2 weeks before final payment (just a few weeks ago) because the price dropped to even lower and also had additional promos (KSF plus pick 2). I've said before I got very lucky.

[hawkeyetlse]

I agree 100% about them jacking the prices up last summer as soon as they came up with the so called free perks

 

 

I remember the threads and the overwhelming consensus was that they were not free but just added to the base price.

 

In many cases the base prices shot up overnight and at the same time as the free perks started. In some documented situations in the same exact amount that the perk would cost if paid out of pocket.

As has already been pointed out, it's not that simple to make a fair comparison of cruise deals from year to year, since most of us do not book the same cruise on the same ship at the same time year after year. And any one person can only monitor the 5 or 10 or 15 cruises that they're interested in, which is nowhere near enough to make declarations about what NCL's prices have done or are doing across the board.

 

This graph is based on all of NCL's published prices:

 

 

I don't see evidence of any overnight increase across the board in summer 2015. There are some interesting fluctuations that could support your accusation of NCL raising prices in advance of the introduction of the Freestyle Choice promo, but your memory is off by several months: Freestyle Choice first appeared in late December 2014. And it looks like there was indeed a sharp increase in prices around October 2014. But like you said, no one remembers this anymore.

 

Prices fell steadily in the first half of 2015, and they were in fact at their lowest point last summer. According to the graph, NCL's prices in July 2015 were about the same, on average, as they were in July 2013. (Leaving aside suite prices, which have increased more than lower stateroom categories.)

 

I don't doubt that some cruise prices did go up in summer 2015. But there was not overwhelming consensus about this in the threads at that time, any more than there is overwhelming consensus in this thread.

Edited March 15, 2016 by hawkeyetlse

[triptolemus]

What's the source of that data?

[hawkeyetlse]

What's the source of that data?

It's from a price tracking site that a lot of people here use.