Upgrading room makes you lose your Air package?

[Ms BumbleBee]

I was looking to upgrade my room from a Mini Suite to a Concierge and doing a fake booking and the price difference is $1200 - they are saying that I will lose my airfare price of $224 and will be rebooked at $549 per person.  I am not understanding why this would happen and now I guess I will not bid on an upgrade if this is true.  I do not understand how on earth this makes sense I told her I don’t need the new perks a I am fine with what I have (which is the same other than air).

 

We are passed the 120 days so we have already paid in full - I have never heard of this and did search and cannot find this penalty anywhere - any thoughts?  Seems rather stupid - they have tons of rooms available but I prefer not losing the airfare because its a better deal then if I did it on my own.  

[Ms BumbleBee]

I spoke to another agent - I cannot even cancel my air without cancelling my trip with a penalty!

[Sauer-kraut]

Yes, that would be a cancel and rebook, and you lose what perks you got at the booking time.  If you do a bid for an upgrade you won't lose your booking incentives... 

Did you ask about a complimentary category upgrade?  That would be the safest thing to do but make sure you ask if you keep the perks.

Edited January 19, 2020 by Sauer-kraut

[julig22]

If you bid on an upgrade you shouldn't lose benefits or perks.  If you upgrade prior to final payment they will sometimes rebook and you get the new perks, for better or worse. You can't technically rebook after final payment, so what they are telling you makes no sense.

NCL is notorious for giving out random answers.  I think you were given bad info, although they aren't being very forgiving on those who booked under that promo.  I had to rebook because of changes NCL made to my cruises and they didn't honor the original air price.  I was able to find a better deal on my own so cancelled the air.  I'm booked through a TA so she's been taking care of the details.

You should be able to cancel air unless your ticket has been issued.

[herdingdogmom]

I'd call again in a month or so - if the prices drop, they may upgrade you as Sauer-kraut notes.  You can also bid via the automated program at 80 days and not lose any current perks.  Watch the prices though because they can drop below the minimum bid.

 

Great looking Aussie btw!

[julig22]

Just to clarify, after re-reading your post. Bidding on an upgrade isn't the same as asking to pay the difference for an upgrade. With the bidding process, you get an invitation to bid on an upgrade.  Not everyone is invited to bid and when that happens can be at anytime   I recently got an invite at about 110 days out.  If you win the bid, you keep any FAS perks you had, including airfare.

You can also upgrade by offering to pay the difference between what you paid and the current price.  In that case, they would most likely recalculate air because of how that figures into the overall price.  So a mock booking only gives you an apples to oranges comparison.

[MaryZ]

Just wait til after your air is ticketed.  It's around 49 days out I think.   Call after your air is done.  They can't charge more for it once you are ticketed.

 

[tulch]

We booked a cruise to Europe with air more than a year in advance.  When the price dropped, I wanted to take advantage of the lower cruise price.  However, free air was no longer a perk.  To get the lower price would have been considered a rebooking and I would receive the then-current perks.  Since air as no longer a perk, I would pay the price of air booked through NCL at "regular" price - about $1000 more.

 

I obviously can get low airfares to Europe if I book now.  However, with a cruise so far out, it is not worth it to us to lose the option of full refund at cancellation.  When final payment time comes, I will look at the fares then.  (Incidentally, as of today, the cruise fare is up approx $200 per person!)

Edited January 19, 2020 by tulch
clarification

[Ms BumbleBee]

Thank you all!  I talked to a supervisor and since my air has not been ticketed I can in fact cancel the air portion and purchase on my own.  After looking at the absolutely horrific flight choices I may bite the bullet and do my own air simply because of this - it adds a couple 100  to our flights as AA has 90% of the flights here and so they adore over charging us doe this luxury.

[Ms BumbleBee]

Thank you all!  I talked to a supervisor and since my air has not been ticketed I can in fact cancel the air portion and purchase on my own.  After looking at the absolutely horrific flight choices I Decided to upgrade to the Concierge Villa Suite with Balcony which was actually only $4 TOTAL to move to.  My son now gets the beverage package vs me paying for it so in essence it’s basically no change when that is factored in.

 

I decided to do my own air which added $300 overall but at least now I was able to pick the best of the horrific choices myself.  I now can at least bid to upgrade should I wish but I really wanted to bid to Haven or Concierge and I am there for $4 now and I am super happy with what we have and if I did not have this amazing CC family I would not have been able to figure it out.

[lixogab]

Here is a technical explanation.

When you originally booked NCL ran a "Free Air" promotion on your cruise and now it's gone.

When you do a "pay the difference" upgrade (as opposed to "bid upgrade") you forfeit all offers you originally got  and get the current offers that come with your new fare.

For example, if you had an oceanview with Free at sea (FAS) and upgraded to a sail away balcony (BX), you lose the FAS, but if upgrade to a non sail away balcony (BA, BB, BC, B1, etc) from whatever category you get the current Free at Sea.

Notice that technically you don't keep the old FAS but lose the old and get a new one even though they are the same.

Same way, since the free air is gone for your cruise any "pay the difference" upgrade will lose that.

 

An upgrade via a bid is totally opposite. You keep all perks you have and get only perks that come with the room (Spa access, Heaven  restaurant access, etc)

Happy cruising!

[Shidah]

Glad it worked out!  And with NCL now including the drink package for all people in the room over 21, it is a no-brainer!