Cruise price takes a tumble

[pumpkinbread]

NCL have gone down 1,500$ per person on the price of our cruise.  The getaway leaving from Copenhagen May 24th.

This is a lot of cash as we are 4 people. We paid the final payment, following the rules and they will NOT refund our money!

What are we to do?

They are offering 25% off a future cruise that has to be taken in a year! We are seasoned cruisers it is the way we travel! Why would anyone pay the final payment on time?

We always go with cruise critic!

I would appreciate any thoughts anyone might have!

Pumpkinbread (Barbara)

 

[pumpkinbread]

If you want to answer not on the forum...

peaceablehillrd@hotmail.com

 

[mjkacmom]

You are a seasoned cruiser but don’t know that they owe you nothing if cruise prices drop after final payment? After final payment, if they still have cabins available, they have a fire sale to unload them (usually the most undesirable cabins). If prices went up (as they also sometimes do), would you be willing to pay more? Prices are fluid, but usually can be modified before final payment, but not after (it’s in your contact).

[cementhands]

1 hour ago, pumpkinbread said:

NCL have gone down 1,500$ per person on the price of our cruise.  The getaway leaving from Copenhagen May 24th.

This is a lot of cash as we are 4 people. We paid the final payment, following the rules and they will NOT refund our money!

What are we to do?

They are offering 25% off a future cruise that has to be taken in a year! We are seasoned cruisers it is the way we travel! Why would anyone pay the final payment on time?

We always go with cruise critic!

I would appreciate any thoughts anyone might have!

Pumpkinbread (Barbara)

 

I feel your frustration. Contact Ncl for upgrade on the rooms you have. Ask for free specialty restaurant. 

Once back in 2013 we were going as a family reunion during thanksgiving week on the Epic. All had inside rooms. 9 rooms 17 family members. I called our travel agent about price dropping and nothing. I asked for room upgrade and got one for myself. Then I thought about it and got back to TA and requesting all upgrade. Low and behold we all enjoyed balconies. A few were back of ship.

It might have been because of thanksgiving week and prices drop.

But the squeaky wheel gets the oil!

[mdsgu]

They owe you nothing after final payment.  And you want to pay your final payment on time or they will cancel your cruise for lack of payment.

 

That said, I feel your frustration.  Same thing happened to us -- Jade out of Rome May 23, though not as dramatic a price drop.  I got with our travel agent and she got them to give us $175OBC, even though the price drop was about $700.

[fshagan]

Some things fluctuate in price. When buying those things you have to decide if the price is worth the value you receive from the "thing". If it does, it's a good price. If you don't receive enough value, it's a bad price. NCL pricing seems to be higher before final payment on some cruises. Not all, but some. Should you have waited until now to book at the lower price?

 

You may have your flights already because you booked the cruise when you did. Check and see what the same flight would cost you today. We have found that usually the flight cost goes up so much right before the cruise that it offsets the higher price we paid for the cruise. And we have more than middle seats to choose on the plane. For this reason, we do not worry too much about the price of the cruise after we book it. We check before final payment a few times, but the price we pay is the price we thought was fair at the time we paid it, and we were able to choose things like lower priced airfare, our cabin on the ship, etc.

[phillyguy31]

Cruise lines at least allow you to cancel and rebook up to final payment date with no change fees, try that with an airline!

[clivep]

25 minutes ago, phillyguy31 said:

Cruise lines at least allow you to cancel and rebook up to final payment date with no change fees, try that with an airline!

Although not if you are booking in Europe. Over here we lose the deposit. Also the cancellation charges after final payment are usually higher for us.

 

[luv2kroooz]

Aw man, sorry to hear this. Lesson learned. You can often do better with NCL by booking last minute and always after final payment. You lose out on specific cabin selection but can save big bucks. You could offer to pay NCL for a cabin upgrade at this point. So if you are in an Oceanview and paid $2,000 and now Oceanview is $1,000 maybe a balcony only costs $2,100 now. So pay $100 to get a balcony. Make sure the new room still has the perks that you want. It is amazing to mehow many people are getting burned by these last minute price drops when they find out they can't price match after final payment. Try to enjoy your cruise.

[rmurray847]

5 hours ago, pumpkinbread said:

 

They are offering 25% off a future cruise that has to be taken in a year! We are seasoned cruisers it is the way we travel!

 

Have you tried calling more than once?  I've had some luck not taking the first thing offered to me, and calling again.  Some reps seem more inclined to stick with their guns than others.  But there is no way (that I can imagine) that you'll get a refund.  At best, some OBC, maybe a cabin upgrade, perhaps some freebies.  

 

It's unfortunate...but at one time, you were okay with the price you paid, so you need to comfort yourselves with that.  And, presumably, you got to pick a cabin you were happy with, which if you had waited for a lower price, you might not have been able to get.  (Not to minimize the level of suckiness having your price drop this dramatically causes.)

[pumpkinbread]

3 minutes ago, rmurray847 said:

Have you tried calling more than once?  I've had some luck not taking the first thing offered to me, and calling again.  Some reps seem more inclined to stick with their guns than others.  But there is no way (that I can imagine) that you'll get a refund.  At best, some OBC, maybe a cabin upgrade, perhaps some freebies.  

 

It's unfortunate...but at one time, you were okay with the price you paid, so you need to comfort yourselves with that.  And, presumably, you got to pick a cabin you were happy with, which if you had waited for a lower price, you might not have been able to get.  (Not to minimize the level of suckiness having your price drop this dramatically causes.)

Thanks Murray...

I did, I spoke to quite a few people, including corporate headquarters in Fla. tel#  305 436 4000. No budging !

5,000 is quite a hunk of change!

I will never pay the full final payment again. If we all don't put up an uproar they can get away with anything!

 

 

[rmurray847]

Just now, pumpkinbread said:

 

I will never pay the full final payment again. 

 

 

Not sure what you mean?  If you don't make final payment on the due date, they'll cancel your reservation.  Are you meaning paying in full in advance of that final date?  I agree with that!

[StolidCruiser]

OP: Under what theory do you feel you are owed a refund for a drop in price after your final payment date?  Is it stated somewhere that such a policy exists?  We all know the answer is "no" but I'm curious why you are so outraged about not getting something that you aren't entitled to.

 

If you were offered 25% off a future cruise, you should have taken it with a "Thank You" because, again, you weren't entitled to anything.  Speaking to several other people trying to get something you aren't entitled to only wasted your time and theirs; I applaud them for sticking to their policies.

 

Others have said in some cases a small amount of OBC is offered or a cabin upgrade could be arranged (and NCL is under no obligation to offer either)... but no refund.   They fact you were offered 25% off a future cruise is pretty generous.

 

Please let us know how failing to make your final payment on future bookings when due works out for you in achieving some price concession after the fact.  The outcome will be fascinating.

 

A seasoned cruiser would understand pricing and cancellation policies - especially on itineraries that notoriously plummet in price after final payment date.  Someone needs to do some more homework before committing to a significant expenditure.  I would be curious as to what the original fare (and stateroom category) per person was to have dropped by $1,500 each (or a total of $6,000 for a party of four). 

 

 

 

 

 

[vince_g]

30 minutes ago, pumpkinbread said:

If we all don't put up an uproar they can get away with anything!

 

 

Sorry but your belief that they owe you a refund is the real problem here.  They are not getting away with anything.  How long did you think NCL would honor price drops?  Right up until sailing?

[Cruiser1862]

I just booked a cruise for a 2020 sailing. Ok price, not great, some perks. But, we wanted to make sure we got the special our TA offered.  If it goes down prior to final payment, great. This happened to us once years ago. Think I changed twice due to better offers. But, I am perfectly fine if after final payment the price drops and I miss out. It’s a gamble. A choice we made. I’d chalk it up to “sometimes you win, sometimes you lose”.  

 

 

[pumpkinbread]

4 hours ago, vince_g said:

Sorry but your belief that they owe you a refund is the real problem here.  They are not getting away with anything.  How long did you think NCL would honor price drops?  Right up until sailing?

Right up to sailing no, this is a 5,000 drop for us. Why should you do a final payment 2 months in advance?

If this is their policy , I would cancel and then put again a 50$ deposit!

[pumpkinbread]

4 hours ago, rmurray847 said:

Not sure what you mean?  If you don't make final payment on the due date, they'll cancel your reservation.  Are you meaning paying in full in advance of that final date?  I agree with that!

You take the chance that you won't get the cabin you want. If that is not a problem, I would cancel it and re-book it at a later date. They are giving us 2,500 for a future cruise, and keeping our other 2,500!

[phillyguy31]

If you want my guess you won’t get your future cruise credit if you cancel.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Georgie562]

This topic has been the norm lately on NCL forum.

They are not entitled to give you anything. Some have had luckgetting something from NCL like $175 OBC and some have not.

I went through this last year with Norwegian and they would not give me anything AT ALL and I spoke with more than one rep so consider yourself lucky.

Lesson learned: always book after Final payment with NCL unless it is a unique itinerary, then I will book early.

[luv2kroooz]

Exactly. Book after final payment when prices are much lower. You might see a fifty or one hundred dollar decrease, but it won't be able to drop by one thousand or they'd be paying you to cruise.

[sjbdtz]

23 hours ago, pumpkinbread said:

Right up to sailing no, this is a 5,000 drop for us. Why should you do a final payment 2 months in advance?

If this is their policy , I would cancel and then put again a 50$ deposit!

 

That wouldn't be the best move either....you'd lose your entire deposit, plus final payment is DUE on final payment day (2+ months before sailing).    They have to buy food, fuel, port charges, etc. before sailing - why wouldn't it be with the customers' money instead of having to borrow?    So the costs become non-refundable around the 90 day mark (depending on cabin category)....and any unsold cabins will sometimes drop in price.

 

As others have said:  if the price had gone up, you wouldn't be waiting in line to offer the difference to NCL...you'd be laughing about what a bargain you got, buying early.   In this case, the bargain was to be had by waiting until the last minute.

 

That's not always the case.  Sometimes the cruise is sold out.  Sometimes the cabin you want is gone, and the only thing left is right under the buffet AND above the night club  (that's a joke) so that you'd get no sleep. 

 

You buy early, which lets you get the best deal on hotels, airfare, booking vacation time, choice of cabin, etc.    The downside is that someone else might get a better deal than you on the fare, but then has to pay last-minute airfare, hotels, etc.

 

 

Stephen

 

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[zqvol]

On 3/25/2019 at 5:43 PM, pumpkinbread said:

Right up to sailing no, this is a 5,000 drop for us. Why should you do a final payment 2 months in advance?

If this is their policy , I would cancel and then put again a 50$ deposit!

As a seasoned cruiser you don't seem to understand the booking process. After teh final payment date, you don't get the option of putting down a $50 deposit. You pay in full at the time of booking.

[Missymo]

Had this happen a couple of years ago with Celebrity  Our final payment for our sold out sky suite was made and the very next day, 5-6 upper  suites came available for a much lower price than we paid.  This is where our TA came in.  He understood,  and had  some connections with management.  Won't bore you with details but end result is we were upgraded to the Celebrity Suite for the same money we already paid.  Sometimes it pays to have a good TA.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Missymo

[adam_s_allen]

3 hours ago, sjbdtz said:

So the costs become non-refundable around the 90 day mark (depending on cabin category)

I believe they changed it to 120 days across the board.

[kodesthemoose]

I get that you're upset, but the point everyone is making is that this policy is not new, it ought to be well understood to 'seasoned cruisers', and you can complain heartily with no change and probably not even much empathy around here.  Now you know for next time  that booking last minute might save you a whackload of money.