Need some quick advice NCL Breakaway or NCL Star transatlantic Copenhagen to NYC

[goodluckman66]

I have about 2 hours to decide and pay the non-refundable deposit.Here are my concerns:

weather in Oct - Breakaway - Copenhagen to NYC

weather in Dec -Star - Barcelona to Tampa, FL

Will one month be much colder than than other?

Is the ocean very violent in these months?

On a transatlantic do they still give good service like on a vacation cruise?

Any help will be appreciated

[jrlamour]

I’ve been on a few transatlantic cruises and I think the service is just as good as any other sailing.

 

I’ve also been on transatlantic cruises in both of those months and the October one definitely had better weather.

 

About the deposit, as far as I know it is refundable and/or transferable up until final payment.

[goodluckman66]

Hello jrlamour

Thank you for your reply much more positive than some of the other post which I am sure they were trying to be helpful. As I have mentioned I have only done 2 short cruises so this would be very big for me. I am still so new at buying a cruise so I have no reference on pricing and if I am getting a good deal? I guess $1713.00 for a 14 night cruise seems ok?

Thanks again

[jrlamour]

You’re welcome!

 

As to the price it depends, it’s not a bad price depending on what type of cabin is it? Is that per person? One person or more than one person in the cabin? I generally get a balcony cabin, so I kind of use that as a base for looking at price. I’ve paid less that what you have there and I’ve paid more, just depends on the sailing.

 

 

Hope this is helpful :)

[newmexicoNita]

You’re welcome!

 

As to the price it depends, it’s not a bad price depending on what type of cabin is it? Is that per person? One person or more than one person in the cabin? I generally get a balcony cabin, so I kind of use that as a base for looking at price. I’ve paid less that what you have there and I’ve paid more, just depends on the sailing.

 

 

Hope this is helpful :)

I too am wondering what type of a cabin the OP is looking at and wondering why the deposit is non refundable. Edited February 28, 2018 by newmexicoNita

[newmexicoNita]

I have about 2 hours to decide and pay the non-refundable deposit.Here are my concerns:

weather in Oct - Breakaway - Copenhagen to NYC

weather in Dec -Star - Barcelona to Tampa, FL

Will one month be much colder than than other?

Is the ocean very violent in these months?

On a transatlantic do they still give good service like on a vacation cruise?

Any help will be appreciated

Weather: it will not be warm with a lot of outside time by the pools, but Oct shouldn't be too bad either, In fact it might be relatively nice and what a fun place to fly out of:Copenhagen. We sailed out of Dover several years ago in Sept. The weather was chilly to mild and seas were not too rough. I realize that is a month before you will be sailing.

 

As for Breakaway versus the Star for a transatlantic cruise I would take the Breakaway. There will be so much more to do and I am a huge supporter of smaller ships in most cases.

 

pricing: We paid a lot less, if I remember right, but that was about 12 years ago and only 11 days. So, if the price includes taxes and port charges it is probably not bad. Why is the deposit non refundable?

 

Hope this helps you some.

[goodluckman66]

You’re welcome!

 

As to the price it depends, it’s not a bad price depending on what type of cabin is it? Is that per person? One person or more than one person in the cabin? I generally get a balcony cabin, so I kind of use that as a base for looking at price. I’ve paid less that what you have there and I’ve paid more, just depends on the sailing.

 

 

Hope this is helpful :)

 

This is for just one person an inside cabin on grantee. This is for the Oct 2 on Norwegian Breakaway. I do not know how to get a balcony which I would really like. Do you use a good travel agent?

[jrlamour]

This is for just one person an inside cabin on grantee. This is for the Oct 2 on Norwegian Breakaway. I do not know how to get a balcony which I would really like. Do you use a good travel agent?

 

It seems a little high for an inside but it just depends on the sailing. Are there any studio cabins available? They don’t have a single supplement while I think the inside cabins do. Being on Breakaway could be a factor in the higher price. I’ve never used a travel agent, I’ve always booked directly through NCL so I can’t make any travel agent recommendations.

[goodluckman66]

No there are no studios left. But they seem so small. To be honest after seeing that you tube video of the Breakaway caught in that storm because of the captain's poor judgement I actually called NCL and asked who would be the captain of this sailing. They said 30 days before the cruise they could tell me. So I still have a few hours left to decide on this cruise.

I was very hot on taking Celebrity Constellation from Abud Dhabi to Rome 14 days suppose to to be a good company. Well for just me it was $2020 inside cabin mid ship about a month ago now they dropped the price to $1500 because the sailing date is April 22. I am committed to 2 months in Italy and Greece and I bought a killer price on flights from the best airlines.This I know how to do flights yes cruises not yet...ha ha

Really enjoying our emails back and forth

Thanks

[cruisinreunion]

Unless you are super particular, hold off and book closer to the cruise. We are doing a transatlantic in April my sister and niece paid 849 per person( plus fees) for an inside guarantee. As of today, balconies are less than that. And now they have two perks added with more onboard credit!!

 

Inside cabins are even less now. I think with one perk it is only 699 so even if you had to pay double that as you are alone it’s still less than what you were looking at

Edited February 28, 2018 by cruisinreunion

[goodluckman66]

I too am wondering what type of a cabin the OP is looking at and wondering why the deposit is non refundable.

 

I do not know what "OP" means but I do know that the cruise industry is heading in the non refundable deposit especially as they get closer to their sale days. What I see them do is offer a low non refundable price and if you want a refundable price its 300 to 500 more. They are starting to look like a used car salesman

[bottomfeeder]

Unless there is some reason why you must book now, such as that you have to request the time off from work this far in advance, the advice to wait until closer to the date is good. I have been cruising solo for years now, and especially on transatlantics the ship often has trouble filling all the cabins and the price drops as you get closer to sailing.

 

If you wait until soon after the final payment date (when people let their deposits expire and back out of their booking) the prices tend to drop as well. Now that cruise lines are moving towards non-refundable deposits it is possible that will change, but I don't think so--they are also running $25 deposit specials and I don't think losing $25 is enough to make anyone decide to take a cruise if they change their mind about it!

 

But with refundable deposits, lots of people reserved multiple cruises far in advance and then canceled all but one of their reservations as time got closer and they decided which cruise they wanted to take--so typically lots of cabins on a "fully booked" cruise came open again just after final payment date (which has increased from 75 to 90 days pre-cruise for most cruise lines in the last couple of years). The move to non-refundable deposits may make the "put down a deposit on multiple cruises and then cancel all but one" technique less common but I still think people are likely to use the $25 deposit sales to put deposits on 2 or 3 cruises just like they did with refundable deposits.

 

So, short answer, don't book now unless you need to, especially for a transatlantic. Hold off until you're closer than 90 days to sailing and look for bargains. When I'm searching for a cruise I look every day, but certainly check prices on Saturday and again on Tuesday each week as it seems that's when many cruise lines drop their prices. CruisePlum has also been recommended by lots of solo cruisers as a good site to look for solo bargains, though I find it more helpful to use online travel agency sites and/or the cruise lines' own sites to check.

 

I love the "game" of finding a good deal on a cruise! Can't wait until I'm retired and can take lots more cheap cruises every year. :)

[goodluckman66]

Unless you are super particular, hold off and book closer to the cruise. We are doing a transatlantic in April my sister and niece paid 849 per person( plus fees) for an inside guarantee. As of today, balconies are less than that. And now they have two perks added with more onboard credit!!

 

Inside cabins are even less now. I think with one perk it is only 699 so even if you had to pay double that as you are alone it’s still less than what you were looking at

Now that is how I like to buy a cabin! Inmy short time of looking for a cruise I have never seen a balcony less than a inside cabin. But I have seen a $500 drop in price on a celebrity re positioning cruise I was interested in. Have you sailed on the Breakaway or The Star?

[goodluckman66]

Unless there is some reason why you must book now, such as that you have to request the time off from work this far in advance, the advice to wait until closer to the date is good. I have been cruising solo for years now, and especially on transatlantics the ship often has trouble filling all the cabins and the price drops as you get closer to sailing.

 

If you wait until soon after the final payment date (when people let their deposits expire and back out of their booking) the prices tend to drop as well. Now that cruise lines are moving towards non-refundable deposits it is possible that will change, but I don't think so--they are also running $25 deposit specials and I don't think losing $25 is enough to make anyone decide to take a cruise if they change their mind about it!

 

But with refundable deposits, lots of people reserved multiple cruises far in advance and then canceled all but one of their reservations as time got closer and they decided which cruise they wanted to take--so typically lots of cabins on a "fully booked" cruise came open again just after final payment date (which has increased from 75 to 90 days pre-cruise for most cruise lines in the last couple of years). The move to non-refundable deposits may make the "put down a deposit on multiple cruises and then cancel all but one" technique less common but I still think people are likely to use the $25 deposit sales to put deposits on 2 or 3 cruises just like they did with refundable deposits.

 

So, short answer, don't book now unless you need to, especially for a transatlantic. Hold off until you're closer than 90 days to sailing and look for bargains. When I'm searching for a cruise I look every day, but certainly check prices on Saturday and again on Tuesday each week as it seems that's when many cruise lines drop their prices. CruisePlum has also been recommended by lots of solo cruisers as a good site to look for solo bargains, though I find it more helpful to use online travel agency sites and/or the cruise lines' own sites to check.

 

I love the "game" of finding a good deal on a cruise! Can't wait until I'm retired and can take lots more cheap cruises every year. :)

Such good information thank you.

[newmexicoNita]

I do not know what "OP" means but I do know that the cruise industry is heading in the non refundable deposit especially as they get closer to their sale days. What I see them do is offer a low non refundable price and if you want a refundable price its 300 to 500 more. They are starting to look like a used car salesman

OP stands for original poster which is you. I am sorry, just used to using these terms. as for the non refundable, yes some lines are using this but your sailing is so far off, NCL will not have that restriction as far as I know. We have been cruising 30 plus years and never had a situation with a non refundable deposit. We cruise quite often. I can only think of one line that does apply a non refundable deposit, for all their cabins. Regardless, I do not see a reason for you to book this far out, at that price. No, you do not want to wait until the last minute, too much a chance the ship will be totally sold out, but 7 or 8 months out, I would play it by ear for a month or so at this stage.

[bottomfeeder]

OP stands for original poster which is you. I am sorry, just used to using these terms. as for the non refundable, yes some lines are using this but your sailing is so far off, NCL will not have that restriction as far as I know. We have been cruising 30 plus years and never had a situation with a non refundable deposit. We cruise quite often. I can only think of one line that does apply a non refundable deposit, for all their cabins. Regardless, I do not see a reason for you to book this far out, at that price. No, you do not want to wait until the last minute, too much a chance the ship will be totally sold out, but 7 or 8 months out, I would play it by ear for a month or so at this stage.

 

You're absolutely right if you are set on getting a particular cruise and/or a particular cabin--in that case, best to book earlier. If what you want is a bargain, especially if you are going solo, you need to be more flexible about what cruise, maybe taking a guarantee cabin, and book generally after final payment after watching prices for a while so you know when there's a good price and it's time to book. Only the OP knows what's most important to them. :)