Black Friday deal?

[keys24]

Does anyone have an idea what this years Black Friday deal will be?

[BirdTravels]

Probably won't be better than Take All 5 (Veteran's Day special). 

[monctonguy]

I am looking at booking a 3nighter in Dec..but going to hold out till Black Friday to see.....cant imagine there would be much if anything offered but hoping its worth the wait.......

 

As long as price isn't higher by then it will be good...but a little extra savings or something would be nice!

[mtsnd1900]

Most likely the (not really) Free at Sea with some added OBC, and perhaps a $1 deposit.  take a look at the price you want today, and do yourself a favor - book it now... if the deal is better moving forward, your agent can always re-book it for you.  for the most part, there are no real good sales offered, just smoke and mirrors making people think they got a great deal (will raise price, then give OBC or another "free" perk.  Book now, can't get todays prices tomorrow, but can get todays price repriced to tomorrows prices tomorrow!

 

[lonzwinery]

6 hours ago, mtsnd1900 said:

Most likely the (not really) Free at Sea with some added OBC, and perhaps a $1 deposit.  take a look at the price you want today, and do yourself a favor - book it now... if the deal is better moving forward, your agent can always re-book it for you.  for the most part, there are no real good sales offered, just smoke and mirrors making people think they got a great deal (will raise price, then give OBC or another "free" perk.  Book now, can't get todays prices tomorrow, but can get todays price repriced to tomorrows prices tomorrow!

 

Agreed. The various different pricing models, OBC credit, "free at sea" offers, etc. all seem to be a shell game... At the end of the day, the pricing really does not change all that much...

[monctonguy]

Yeah.>I should have booked as it jumped almost 20%...but I am hoping that's cause it will go back down with Black Friday....the cruise is 4 weeks out so once I book I cant  reprice or change it.....I normally don't gamble like this when booking....fingers crossed something comes along...lower prices or bigger OBC..

[Shidah]

The current promotion is pretty good.  I had a casino certificate for an inside, upgraded to an aft balcony, but only got one perk (drink package).  I called to change my casino reservation, qualified for an ocean view now, upgraded to the same aft balcony but this time got all 4 perks, and my upgrade fee went down so saved $200.  So pretty sweet deal and kept the same OBC I had.  I think last Black Friday the deal was take all with an ocean view and above, so it will be interesting how the make the current deal even better?..

[rtkenmore]

On 11/14/2018 at 10:10 PM, mtsnd1900 said:

Most likely the (not really) Free at Sea with some added OBC, and perhaps a $1 deposit.  take a look at the price you want today, and do yourself a favor - book it now... if the deal is better moving forward, your agent can always re-book it for you.  for the most part, there are no real good sales offered, just smoke and mirrors making people think they got a great deal (will raise price, then give OBC or another "free" perk.  Book now, can't get todays prices tomorrow, but can get todays price repriced to tomorrows prices tomorrow!

 

 

The BEST deal is typically tax free weekend when they do that as it will save $300-$400 usually.

[tigers317]

Do they ever offer discounts on black Friday for the dinning packages?

[rtkenmore]

56 minutes ago, tigers317 said:

Do they ever offer discounts on black Friday for the dinning packages?

 

On the actual purchase of the dining package, not that I ever recall.  The discounts/perks are usually on the sailing itself and not on the individual packages you can purchase (drink, dining, internet, etc.).

 

I would say typically, the best deals are 3rd/4th guest sail free if you need space for more than 2 or the tax free weekend they usually do around April 15th.  A lot of times, other big "sale" days like Black Friday or Christmas, etc., are done as reduced deposits, "take all 4 or 5" free at sea, maybe free internet packages, etc.

 

If they keep up the free/reduce airfare, take all 4 or 5, etc. through Black Friday next week, I would fully expect the Black Friday sale to be $1 deposits and maybe a wifi package thrown in or something...

[xcell]

Black Friday deal is up -- same promo as before but not sure what the wifi promo is.

 

Share vacation moments while they're happening with Free WiFi. Stay connected with friends and family back home while you're at sea with an Internet Package Time Plan-post, update, tweet, pin and more with WiFi you can use anywhere on the ship. You save up to $130

 

At least, the previous two were clear -- free unlimited wifi, and then the next 250 min free -- this one just says upto $130 off which is less than any of its packages.

 

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, xcell said:

Black Friday deal is up -- same promo as before but not sure what the wifi promo is.

 

Share vacation moments while they're happening with Free WiFi. Stay connected with friends and family back home while you're at sea with an Internet Package Time Plan-post, update, tweet, pin and more with WiFi you can use anywhere on the ship. You save up to $130

 

At least, the previous two were clear -- free unlimited wifi, and then the next 250 min free -- this one just says upto $130 off which is less than any of its packages.

 

 

I don't get it. The current deal is worse than the previous one. At least with the Take All Five, you got all four or five Free at Sea promos PLUS free airfare or a $100 discount per person if you didn't use the airfare. Now you get three promos and no discount for unused airfare....

[mking8288]

The devil is in the details, at least for the "current" WiFi offer - buried under T&C - and I quote:

 

Internet Package (Free WiFi)

• Internet package is based on number of nights.
• 100 minutes per stateroom for 3-6 Day Cruises. 250 minutes per stateroom for 7-11+ Day Cruises.
• One login per stateroom.
• Internet package is not available at Great Stirrup Cay or Harvest Caye.
• Internet package includes activation fee.

As usual, the offer set to expire in 3 days for select sailings only as (re)priced.  Due diligence strongly advised for the "inclusive" package bundled costs. 

 

**** actually, the WiFi minutes "deal" is worst than before for shorter cruises, "adjusted" to just 100 minutes, whereas most promo before were for 250 minutes ... 

Edited November 20, 2018 by mking8288

[xcell]

thanks -- I couldn't find that "fine fine" print...

 

The $50 excursion credit is useless (IMHO) -- I should have booked when it was unlimited wifi -- and 2 choices.

[rtkenmore]

40 minutes ago, xcell said:

thanks -- I couldn't find that "fine fine" print...

 

The $50 excursion credit is useless (IMHO) -- I should have booked when it was unlimited wifi -- and 2 choices.

 

I wouldn't say worthless at all. We have the excursion credit on our upcoming cruise from San Juan.  7 ports plus San Juan on debarkation gives us 8 credits (total of $400).  We also save a % off for our Latitudes level as well.  And since we booked a San Juan excursion once we return back, that includes transfers to the airport too.

 

In all, we saved almost $600 using the excursion credits, discounts & transfers.  I'll take that.

[fstuff1]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I don't get it. The current deal is worse than the previous one. At least with the Take All Five, you got all four or five Free at Sea promos PLUS free airfare or a $100 discount per person if you didn't use the airfare. Now you get three promos and no discount for unused airfare....

wait.. for insides, wasnt it free airfare PLUS a promo earlier this week?

now it's just pick one of the 6 promo choices? 😞

[rtkenmore]

1 minute ago, fstuff1 said:

wait.. for insides, wasnt it free airfare PLUS a promo earlier this week?

now it's just pick one of the 6 promo choices? 😞

 

Did insides include free airfare earlier?  I was thinking free airfare was for ocean view and up only.

[Aflynn2587]

Looking at feb nyc to Bahamas cruise for 3 ppl. Last night that cruise had the take all 5 offer.  Now for the next three days I can pick 3.  I would do the 3rd person free, drinks and dining.    So 3 of us in a balcony about 3,000.  Would you book or wait until Friday and see if new deal is up.   The biggest thing for me is 3rd person free since the 3rd person is my 1 year old so not trying to pay for him 

[JamieLogical]

I just noticed that even though the ad on the home page says "three days left" and it's called the "Black Friday Special", the terms and conditions page doesn't include a booking window and just refers to it as "Free at Sea", so could this actually be a new iteration of the normal Free at Sea promo they run year round? They added airfare as a 6th option and made it pick 3 for ocean view and above permanently?

[xcell]

It's only $50 per cabin and I have 4 in a cabin, so typical cruise excursion will be like $400 + (minus the $50).

 

I'd rather more internet...

[rtkenmore]

3 minutes ago, xcell said:

It's only $50 per cabin and I have 4 in a cabin, so typical cruise excursion will be like $400 + (minus the $50).

 

I'd rather more internet...

 

The internet is only a $130 value.  If you have a cruise with 3 stops (plus debarkation), you get $200 in value...  Not to mention, the debarkation excursion typically includes a free transfer to the airport if you need it which is normally $29/person (or another $126 value in your case).

[DaCruiseBug]

As usual NCL fails. Their Black Friday (non)sale is worst then what they've had for the past month or so. You used to get all 5 offers with Oceanview or higher plus free air on certain sailings...now you only get 3. Also, I just checked a couple of sailings we were looking at for January and they're a bit pricier then they were 2-3 days ago.

 

It's a shame NCL is not offering anything for Black Friday. Most other cruise lines have REAL sales for Black Friday, not give less then before. I swear NCL is making it harder and harder to justify cruising them. They have a good product but all their BS is really bothersome.

[sfaaa]

Nothing to write home about for sure. Then again, it's no secret that NCL's current business model is to move away from bargain hunter and bottom feeder market.

[mking8288]

IMHO, shorex credit is more of spent $$ for one and get the 2nd. (inexpensive) one offered by NCL, almost "free" using the promo ... since they've raised, jacked up those prices quite a bit.  We would never book those NCL tours paying full price, unless it is a simple shuttle/port transfer ... and, even those are very pricey & not price-competitive.  Closer to a discount deal and good luck without paying extra on some of the popular "city highlights" tour for less than $49, $59 or $69 per person, even if it's 2 hours or day at the beach ... good enough to pay for a clam shell at GSC or Coca Beach/Village at Port Canaveral transfer for 2, that's about it. 

 

One of our nephews looking at a mid/late January sailing out of Miami - balcony for 2, with similar perks - priced lowered by about $500 on MSC vs. NCL's mega ships ... needless to say, they are going with a more spacious balcony and $$$ savings will buy plenty of fresh seafood pre- and post-cruise on land.  

[Hammergirl]

How does the free airfare work? Where in the booking does it let you book your flight? I got all the way to the end where it wanted my credit card and there were no air choices that I could see. I am not going to book a cruise with airfare without knowing the flights will work for me.