Premium all inclusive scrapped?

[BaWBarmy]

3 hours ago, fshagan said:

Looks like the often requested "include all the gratuities in one price" option didn't work out for NCL. Booking passengers seem to prefer to pay the DSC separately just as they prefer to pay the airlines baggage fees instead of choosing an airline that doesn't have them.

 

I think people liked the idea of the DSC and any other gratuities included. The major problem with Premium All Inclusive was that you had to have it. Everybody had to pay the inflated prices unless they booked a 'Just Cruise' stateroom. Many didn't use all that the package offered and as a consequence paid a higher price for very little. Now you can book a stateroom of your choice and it's up to you if you want the £99 at Sea perks or not. The big downside is that the DSC is not included in the quoted price.

 

I've just booked our latest cruise and it is slightly cheaper than before even with the £99 at Sea and pre paid DSC. I too can live without the bottled water, WiFi and speciality coffee with meals, and I get some WiFi and some water through the Latitudes program. :)

[hawkeyetlse]

2 hours ago, ziggyuk said:

 

Guest 3&4 are not required to buy the package.

If guest 1&2 were buying the UBP then everyone in the cabin is required to purchase it, as it's a perk this does not apply.

 

I know they are not required to buy the package; that's not what I meant. What I meant was that if you have 4 adults in your cabin, and guests 1 and 2 want to get the beverage and dining packages with Free At Sea, then all 4 guests have to pay the extra 99 pounds/euros to get Free At Sea, and select the beverage and dining packages. Even though guests 3 and 4 will get absolutely nothing.

 

Of course in this situation it is almost certainly better to pick the beverage package and Extra Guests Free, but again, all 4 guests in the cabin have to take these options. So no one actually gets two perks: the beverage package is only for 1 & 2, and free cruise fare is only for 3 & 4. Depending on the precise numbers, this could still work out to be a good deal for everyone, but this new Free At Sea for UK/EU customers is really best for couples travelling two to a cabin. Which was not the case for Premium All-Inclusive.

Edited April 2, 2019 by hawkeyetlse

[Steff79]

looks like the cruises are now a little cheaper, the cruises i compared.

 

but when i looked at the perks i could never chose the drinking packing and the 50 dollar shore excursion money. is it never possible to combine them or was this only at the cruises i was looking not posible?

[ziggyuk]

41 minutes ago, hawkeyetlse said:

What I meant was that if you have 4 adults in your cabin, and guests 1 and 2 want to get the beverage and dining packages with Free At Sea, then all 4 guests have to pay the extra 99 pounds/euros to get Free At Sea, and select the beverage and dining packages. Even though guests 3 and 4 will get absolutely nothing.

 

No, only guests 1&2 pay the extra for free at sea.

[babs135]

So, if there were three of us sharing a cabin, myself, DH and adult DD and we chose the drinks and dining packages for our 'free at sea', what would DD have to pay to get the same?  

 

Sorry if this question is being asked again, although worded slightly different to others, but I need clarification.  Sometimes trying to work things out makes my head hurt and this is one of those times 🤣

[ziggyuk]

10 minutes ago, babs135 said:

So, if there were three of us sharing a cabin, myself, DH and adult DD and we chose the drinks and dining packages for our 'free at sea', what would DD have to pay to get the same?  

 

Sorry if this question is being asked again, although worded slightly different to others, but I need clarification.  Sometimes trying to work things out makes my head hurt and this is one of those times 🤣

 

I think the UBP is $99 PP PD plus 20% ($20) gratuities so I guess that is what they are looking at, that or pay per a drink.

Edited April 2, 2019 by ziggyuk

[hawkeyetlse]

40 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

No, only guests 1&2 pay the extra for free at sea.

 

Oooh, thank you for that information! That makes much more sense. I currently have a reservation on hold with a European TA, and they are charging us 3×99 euros to add Free at Sea to the booking, so I definitely need to get that cleared up!

[JohnIreland]

Just booked a cruise on Ireland site.  I included UBP and Shore Excursions credit and prepaid my DSC.

 

The extra added was €49 as it was a 3 day cruise.

 

Worked out €60 cheaper than the price last week.

Edited April 2, 2019 by JohnIreland

[KeithJenner]

I just rebooked our Spirit cruise this August. Saving will be about £600 after losing the £150 deposit.

 

I can't say I will be disappointed to see the back of all inclusive. The price increases that it involved took us right to the edge of what we are willing to pay for our cruises. Just looking at the revised prices, I am a bit more confident for next years bookings, when they finally release the itineraries we want.

[ziggyuk]

42 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

I just rebooked our Spirit cruise this August. Saving will be about £600 after losing the £150 deposit.

 

I can't say I will be disappointed to see the back of all inclusive. The price increases that it involved took us right to the edge of what we are willing to pay for our cruises. Just looking at the revised prices, I am a bit more confident for next years bookings, when they finally release the itineraries we want.

 

Wow, thats a good saving.

 

I like it like this as well, for once they did not take the opportunity to jack up the prices which was my worry.

[Misself]

I know I shouldn't have done it......BUT I've just priced up my cruise in June and it would be a lot cheaper today.   I'm in Studio and for  £99 I'd also get dining package.   Worked out £261 less (of course it's closer to sailing so probably would have had price drop anyway perhaps)  .  I would need to add DSC on top but still sure I'd be better off.  Wouldn't bother me not having Wifi or Water.

[Stardust4000]

1 hour ago, KeithJenner said:

I just rebooked our Spirit cruise this August. Saving will be about £600 after losing the £150 deposit.

 

I can't say I will be disappointed to see the back of all inclusive. The price increases that it involved took us right to the edge of what we are willing to pay for our cruises. Just looking at the revised prices, I am a bit more confident for next years bookings, when they finally release the itineraries we want.

That's a great saving!  Hard to know how much is due to the new pricing structure and how much is due the possibility that prices dropped as the cruise date gets closer.   When did you make the initial booking?  Either way though, at least you saved some money!

 

I suspect overall the prices will be similar eventually,  after all, ultimately nothing is 'free' 

 

[KeithJenner]

9 minutes ago, Stardust4000 said:

That's a great saving!  Hard to know how much is due to the new pricing structure and how much is due the possibility that prices dropped as the cruise date gets closer.   When did you make the initial booking?  Either way though, at least you saved some money!

 

I suspect overall the prices will be similar eventually,  after all, ultimately nothing is 'free' 

 

I originally booked last May, but the prices had gone up since then. I last checked about a month ago, and the price for three of us in the cabin we booked has gone down by over £1000 since then (after taking into account the DSC and other changes). It is a 15 night cruise, so there is more scope for big savings, but it is certainly a very significant difference.

 

Personally, I am hoping to see prices stay a bit lower. I think NCL increased the prices with all inclusive by more than it justified.

Edited April 3, 2019 by KeithJenner

[ziggyuk]

6 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

I originally booked last May, but the prices had gone up since then. I last checked about a month ago, and the price for three of us in the cabin we booked has gone down by over £1000 since then (after taking into account the DSC and other changes). It is a 15 night cruise, so there is more scope for big savings, but it is certainly a very significant difference.

 

I have only sailed as a couple, did your 3rd passenger get the AI on the old system? I assume everyone paid full fare and got AI before?

On the new it will only be guest 1&2 that get the perks, if a third and fourth are adults and have to pay for drinks it could be expensive onboard either payg or to purchase an UBP.

Were you able to use your perk to get a free cruise for your 3rd passenger.

[KeithJenner]

9 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

I have only sailed as a couple, did your 3rd passenger get the AI on the old system? I assume everyone paid full fare and got AI before?

On the new it will only be guest 1&2 that get the perks, if a third and fourth are adults and have to pay for drinks it could be expensive onboard either payg or to purchase an UBP.

Were you able to use your perk to get a free cruise for your 3rd passenger.

Yes, the third passenger got AI previously. However, it is our son, so the UBP doesn't come into it. We may buy him the soda package, but they so rarely charge for his drinks even when he doesn't have the package (and he doesn't drink much) that we may not even bother with that.

 

You are correct, if guest 3 was an adult the AI was a very significant benefit.

 

The free cruise perk didn't apply to our cruise. However, I note it refers to "reduced" rather than free, and his cruise cost was only £295 anyway, so I don't think it would have made much difference.

 

One factor which helped us was that we were going to buy 4 meal SDP for the three of us. Now we just need to buy one package, and the promo ones we got were 5 meals, so we do better there.

[ziggyuk]

50 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

Yes, the third passenger got AI previously. However, it is our son, so the UBP doesn't come into it. We may buy him the soda package, but they so rarely charge for his drinks even when he doesn't have the package (and he doesn't drink much) that we may not even bother with that.

 

You are correct, if guest 3 was an adult the AI was a very significant benefit.

 

The free cruise perk didn't apply to our cruise. However, I note it refers to "reduced" rather than free, and his cruise cost was only £295 anyway, so I don't think it would have made much difference.

 

One factor which helped us was that we were going to buy 4 meal SDP for the three of us. Now we just need to buy one package, and the promo ones we got were 5 meals, so we do better there.

 

Thanks, that's really interesting.

I guess 3 & 4 are adults they need to take great care when booking if they like a drink as the UBP is $120 PP PD.

 

I was trying to understand the free additional places last night, although it says reduced, when you start a mock booking its says the 3rd and 4th sail free and only pay government taxes and port fees so it's quite a good reduction if it's available.

[KeithJenner]

16 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

I was trying to understand the free additional places last night, although it says reduced, when you start a mock booking its says the 3rd and 4th sail free and only pay government taxes and port fees so it's quite a good reduction if it's available.

That makes sense.

 

So, if it was offered on our cruise then we would have saved £295 rather than getting the dining package for my wife and I. Considering we were only going to buy 4 meal packages, that would have been slightly better.

[ziggyuk]

1 minute ago, KeithJenner said:

That makes sense.

 

So, if it was offered on our cruise then we would have saved £295 rather than getting the dining package for my wife and I. Considering we were only going to buy 4 meal packages, that would have been slightly better.

 

It would, you could find some very good future deals if you look out for that perk.

 

BTW: your next post is your 10,000th !

[babs135]

Could the 3rd person in the cabin pay the upgrade (like passengers 1 and 2) and therefore be eligible for the perks.  Can't imagine our daughter would be happy if we had the free beverage package and she had to fork out the full price.

[KeithJenner]

9 minutes ago, babs135 said:

Could the 3rd person in the cabin pay the upgrade (like passengers 1 and 2) and therefore be eligible for the perks.  Can't imagine our daughter would be happy if we had the free beverage package and she had to fork out the full price.

No, the only option is to either pay the extra and get the benefits for guests 1 and 2, or not get the perks at all.

 

 

[ziggyuk]

9 minutes ago, babs135 said:

Could the 3rd person in the cabin pay the upgrade (like passengers 1 and 2) and therefore be eligible for the perks.  Can't imagine our daughter would be happy if we had the free beverage package and she had to fork out the full price.

 

No, I'm afraid you can't the only allowed options are $120 PP PD for the UBP or pay as you go.

 

Some might say just order them for her but this is a huge risk and not allowed and you risk having your own UBP cancelled and billed for all drinks.

[ziggyuk]

19 minutes ago, babs135 said:

Could the 3rd person in the cabin pay the upgrade (like passengers 1 and 2) and therefore be eligible for the perks.  Can't imagine our daughter would be happy if we had the free beverage package and she had to fork out the full price.

 

There might be Corks and Caps available which I think is a lot less and only includes limited beer and wine, I think it was about $70 a day including service charge, that might have also gone up a bit though.

I hope I am right about that as I don't know much about it, I think people tend to buy it for family between 18-21 as thats all they can drink with parental waiver/permission due to the US age limits for drinking.

[KeithJenner]

15 minutes ago, ziggyuk said:

 

There might be Corks and Caps available which I think is a lot less and only includes limited beer and wine, I think it was about $70 a day including service charge, that might have also gone up a bit though.

I hope I am right about that as I don't know much about it, I think people tend to buy it for family between 18-21 as thats all they can drink with parental waiver/permission due to the US age limits for drinking.

When I was looking at the costs earlier I did notice Corks and Caps was still available. It is quite a bit cheaper.

 

For my 7 day cruise I have booked, it is £389 compared to £593 for the UBP

 

10,001 posts now. 🙂

 

Edited April 3, 2019 by KeithJenner

[fabnfortysomething]

KeithJenner tipped me off about price reductions but when I priced up our British Isles cruise on Spirit in July it was pretty identical under all inclusive we booked and what price is now under new scheme

 

so obviously depends on sailings  

[KeithJenner]

I have just gone through the numbers in more detail.

 

Our new booking cost (including DSC) was £764 less than our original booking. The dining packages we were going to buy would have cost us £232, so the total saving there is £996.

 

However, we still need to buy a dining package for our son, and the soda package. I have also added a cost for a water package (my wife's insistence, don't blame me) and we have lost $50 OBC. Finally, we were charged £150 lost deposit on the original booking.

 

Therefore, our total saving is about £550, assuming we buy the soda package for our son. We will lose some internet, but we get more meals, so they cancel each other out.

 

As I said earlier, the price for the cruise had gone up since we booked (by about £500 when I last looked), and we are still outside of final payment, so prices haven't usually fallen yet. However, it is possible that there were some reductions in the past few weeks anyway.

 

It is interesting that Lyn didn't see a reduction on her cruise. It does demonstrate that these things can vary from cruise to cruise. I'm pretty sure that we originally booked at about the same time.

 

Out of interest, I did a dummy booking on her cruise, and it is about 15% more than mine is for the same cabin category (based on cost per day). That would suggest that it is selling better than the one we are booked on, which may explain why the savings aren't there.