Haven Pricing and timing...

[MacII]

Hello,

 

I think almost everything about Haven is great, except that once you cruise Haven, it ruins you for regular cruising. Anyway, my family and I are planning a cruise and several months ago we booked a spring cruise in the Haven on NCL. The price was very high (in my opinion) when I booked but my NCL rep told me that if the price went down, I could get the lower price anytime up to the PIF date and, if it never went down, I could cancel with no penalties. So also I signed up for a site which allegedly tracks cruise prices and emails you when they change. This site emails me regularly saying the cruise is gone or back, sometimes up or down but whenever I check the NCL site, the price is exactly the same as when I booked and I've never seen it gone.

 

My PIF date is rapidly approaching (two weeks as of this posting) and the price hasn't moved. What's the expectation? Does the price only change after the PIF date as a way to lock people like me into the higher prices? Personally, I can cancel and rebook only if the price comes down but the rest of my family doesn't want to do that, they are too invested in going on the cruise. And what happens after PIF if the price drops, do I pay a penalty to get the lower price? I feel like there are pricing games that I simply don't know how to play.

 

If anyone has any smart strategies for how to play the pricing game with Haven on NCL I'd greatly appreciate your advice.

 

Thank you,

 

MacII

[gma_pat]

What I have noticed is that since the upgrade advantage program has gone fleet wide, there has been very little movement in the price of Haven suites as they will be filled with the upgrades rather than by lowering prices.

[Two Wheels Only]

You're best option is to not play the game.

 

Book at a price that you feel comfortable with (difficult with current Haven prices) and don't bother to look at prices after you're booked.

 

If it doesn't go down, you won't care.

If it goes up, you won't care.

If it drops, (unlikely) it's probably just trying to fill the last few suites before the bid process begins.

 

Book what you want, pay what you want, and enjoy your cruise.

[BirdTravels]

PENALTIES!

 

119 - 90 days to cruise

Cruise/CruisetourCancellation Fee 25% (or deposit, whichever is higher)

 

89 - 56 days to cruise

Cruise/CruisetourCancellation Fee 50% (or deposit, whichever is higher)

Air Cancellation Fee $100USD

Add-On Cancellation Fee 10%

 

55 days or less to cruise

Cruise/CruisetourCancellation Fee 100%

Air Cancellation Fee 100%

Land Cancellation Fee 100%

Add-On Cancellation Fee 100%

[BirdTravels]

What I have noticed is that since the upgrade advantage program has gone fleet wide, there has been very little movement in the price of Haven suites as they will be filled with the upgrades rather than by lowering prices.

 

The Upgrade Advantage is just the automation of the prior Upsell department. The Upsell department ensured that the Havens were full on every cruise with discounted upgrades. Since NCL has been launching one new megaship a year, the old telephone system with thousands of new guests sailing/calling each week was no longer scalable.

[Bootman4U]

An empty cabin that sails costs more money than one which is filled with people who SPEND MONEY on board. This is the same reason the ship will sometimes wait in Miami and elsewhere for some late-arriving aircraft holding passengers. The Haven for our upcoming Escape cruise was not even close to being full a few weeks ago but it pretty much is now probably due to either discounts or "upgrades" to what might have ended up being an empty cabin. That vacated cabin was easier to re-sell than the Haven one.

My advice mirrors that of Two Wheels Only except for one thing:

 

Never pay the brochure price if you can get it through a discounter of which there are many.

[Two Wheels Only]

My advice mirrors that of Two Wheels Only except for one thing:

 

Never pay the brochure price if you can get it through a discounter of which there are many.

Sure, do the research before booking to find the best price but once the trigger is pulled.....don't look back.

[MikeBTN]

Unless a ship is selling very poorly there is no need for them to drop prices before final payment date. Otherwise all they’re doing is costing themselves revenue.

 

If your sailing is during peak times, like Spring Break, prices may drop after final payment, but likely not by much (if at all). Off-peak times (like early December, and mid-late January) you will see more price reductions. I’ve found the floor for a retail Haven Penthouse to be around $2,499 per person lately. Holiday sailings that same category is $6,000+ per person.

 

Our Escape sailing on 1/13/2018 started with Haven Penthouse at $2,999 per person. There were 14 cabins still available at final payment and the price never altered before final payment. Price is currently $2,499 and there are 4 cabins left - I suspect many of those were sold via Upgrade Advantage as the price hasn’t moved from $2,499 is over a month.

 

You have two options - stuck with what you have knowing it’s a good room and a price you’re willing to pay or cancel and take the risk that it sells out or you don’t get quite the choice of room you want. For a few hundred bucks, I’d probably stay put.

[Chips Mom]

Booked a haven and approx 5 days after PIF the price dropped by 1k. I got a whopping $250 back from NCL in form of onboard credit (their 25% rule) Sucks. If I had to do it over I would have canceled and played the odds. There were many open cabins at the PIF date in Haven, so I should have seen the price drop coming.

[DeltaOne]

If anyone has any smart strategies for how to play the pricing game with Haven on NCL I'd greatly appreciate your advice.

 

In March 2017 we booked a Haven room for March 2018. We passed final payment about two weeks ago. Between booking and final payment the price went down $1,550 and we picked up $400 in on-board credit. So, a total savings of almost $2,000.

 

The pricing variations were interesting. The initial booking included $899 for the third fare. Then one price drop included the third person for free. Then the third person went back to $599. Then a Beverage service charge appeared, then a Dinner service charge appeared. One needs to be careful and only consider the bottom line, the total price. That's the only number that matters.

 

I checked for price drops at least once or twice a week. That's the only strategy I know of...just keep checking and when the price drops give NCL a call.

[garycarla]

The final payment date (assume PIF mans paid in full) is there so they can lock things down and begin the final steps of filling the ship.

 

If they think they can sell at full price, they leave it. If they think they will be empty the lower.

 

Sort of a game, but just the way things go in the business world. You can wait and MAYBE get a lower price. Or see it sold out. Or even a higher price. Your choice.

[garycarla]

The Upgrade Advantage is just the automation of the prior Upsell department. The Upsell department ensured that the Havens were full on every cruise with discounted upgrades. Since NCL has been launching one new megaship a year, the old telephone system with thousands of new guests sailing/calling each week was no longer scalable.

 

I would guess that the volume was an issue - lots of manpower. The new system is better for them even if they had less ships.

 

A well run bid system will generate way more dollars in increased revenue at a lower cost to process them.

 

In the old system, they came up with a price and made phone calls and waiting for answers. They did not call the masses as they could not do it.

 

In the new system, they offer upgrades to large amounts of people. Way larger. They even can offer them for cabins that are sold out and might never even come available. Not available in the old system.

 

They can also figure out who will pay the most $$. In the old system, for example, they could offer an OV to Balcony offer for $200 with no idea of other people were ready to pay $300, or more. With the new system they just pull up the computer screen and pick the highest offers. Done. Over. Complete. With a push of the button they have the HIGHEST bid and instant money into NCL account.

 

Cost per transaction went WAY DOWN. Average boost in revenue for sure went up - guessing way up.

[MacII]

Some excellent tips and advice, thank you everyone.

 

One issue raised a few times is that of capacity or rather, how full the ship is at the final payment date. The service I signed up for has some calculations for that but honestly I don't trust it. Is there any way to know how full a ship - or rather how full Haven on this sailing is?

 

I suspect that if it's very close to full, NCL has little incentive to discount.

 

Thank you,

 

MacII

[MikeBTN]

Some excellent tips and advice, thank you everyone.

 

One issue raised a few times is that of capacity or rather, how full the ship is at the final payment date. The service I signed up for has some calculations for that but honestly I don't trust it. Is there any way to know how full a ship - or rather how full Haven on this sailing is?

 

I suspect that if it's very close to full, NCL has little incentive to discount.

 

Thank you,

 

MacII

 

No, because the NCL page will show a maximum of 15 available staterooms in any given category. The service you use shows how many of the total categories are available to book, not quite the same thing.

 

Haven inventory is easier to track because of the limited number of rooms.

[jdvmd]

Macil, when are you sailing? Is is a peak time?

[MacII]

My Sailing is April 15th 2018. It's a Haven room, though we are doing the "Aft facing" room on Deck 9 which has that enormous deck. It was less costly than a two-bedroom which we had last time. I realize it's not on the courtyard but the deck is monster sized. We are 3 people and the price is $8,906 all in. Has been the same since the first day I looked at it (which was late summer.) My wife is sold. I wish it was about $1,500 less. Then I'd feel like the cost/value relationship was in check.

[sanger727]

Yes, if they need to discount to sell rooms they will likely wait after the final payment date so that they don't need to re-price current bookings. You really shouldn't ever book with the expectation that the price will go down. it sound likes you are probably locked in at this point anyway so I would just stop checking once you get past the final payment date.

[Boatingmom]

My Sailing is April 15th 2018. It's a Haven room, though we are doing the "Aft facing" room on Deck 9 which has that enormous deck. It was less costly than a two-bedroom which we had last time. I realize it's not on the courtyard but the deck is monster sized. We are 3 people and the price is $8,906 all in. Has been the same since the first day I looked at it (which was late summer.) My wife is sold. I wish it was about $1,500 less. Then I'd feel like the cost/value relationship was in check.

 

 

 

I have an aft haven booked for June. I booked in April and prices have only gone up. Same cabin is now over 10k. Seems to be a lot of inventory though. I keep checking

 

 

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[Ktuluorion]

From what I can tell you really can't even get in the Haven for the most part for under 3k/head anymore for 2018 sailings. It's 5-6k minimum for a lot of the kind of "different" cruises i'm looking at any more after doing many cruises.

 

I can't see any good strategy at this point.. I think i'm probably going to end up being one of those people who either gives up the haven or gives up NCL. It's not really that I can't afford it, it's just that the value isn't there any more. I could do an awful lot elsewhere for 10-12k on vacation. When the proposition was 5.5k for 2 people it made sense for the array of benefits.

[Enavigo]

Perhaps we just lucked out on our fall 2018 Bermuda cruise on the Escape, but I'm actually paying less for a DOS on this upcoming trip then I paid on my last two cruises to Bermuda on the Breakaway in a DOS.

 

 

 

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