What to do when price goes down

[dvond]

Hello,

 

Hoping someone can help,  a week or so ago, I booked a cruise for 4/5 with Vacations to Go and it has now gone down $140,  what is the best practice to address?

 

Thanks!

[MeHeartCruising]

Since you booked with a travel agency, your only option is to contact them and ask them if they can do anything for you.  NCL won't work with you directly as they expect your travel agent to handle all communications.  This close to sailing, it's not uncommon for prices to drop since they are now past the point where cancellations can freely be done without penalty and they are now trying to lure NEW bookings for the sailing to fill the ship.  However, SOMETIMES, NCL will give you some (commonly 25%) of the price change in On Board Credit (OBC).  But it is not required of them to do so, and they may choose not to do it.  Contact your travel agent and explore your options with them.

Edited February 28, 2020 by MeHeartCruising

[tallnthensome]

The reality is no one owes you anything .

[Vyhanek]

You learn from it.

I will never book a cruise now more than 2 weeks out.    

I just got back from the Pearl, booked it 10 days earlier.   I got a great deal.     If you book early you have to expect price drops which are out of your control.    If you book late, you know you're getting the best possible deal.    THat's how it works.   Learn from it.

[Comi.uy]

19 minutes ago, Vyhanek said:

You learn from it.

I will never book a cruise now more than 2 weeks out.    

I just got back from the Pearl, booked it 10 days earlier.   I got a great deal.     If you book early you have to expect price drops which are out of your control.    If you book late, you know you're getting the best possible deal.    THat's how it works.   Learn from it.

That doesnt work for everyone but its indeed the best way, if you are willing to maybe lose the cruise if it sells out and if you dont want any specific cabin.

 

In my currently inc cruise, they had 2 price drops and handled it directly with ncl (there never was a TA involved).

Both times, working with ncl directly was a charm. You have to get a good ncl rep to work with, some are lazy and some are great. In the 2nd and last update, the rep even put us on a even lower fare that wasnt ever in the ncl page. Great deal

[jskinsd]

3 hours ago, dvond said:

Hello,

 

Hoping someone can help,  a week or so ago, I booked a cruise for 4/5 with Vacations to Go and it has now gone down $140,  what is the best practice to address?

 

Thanks!

What kind of help are you looking for?  OBC, refund, a free perk.  Everything is negotiable.  But expect no for an answer.  I will say that past cruise history can help.  The more you have cruise NCL the more flexible they can be with compensation.✌️

[dvond]

I. Contacted. My Ta and received a higher class of balcony, I’m guessing with this virus craziness prices will continue to drop

[julig22]

1 hour ago, Vyhanek said:

You learn from it.

I will never book a cruise now more than 2 weeks out.    

I just got back from the Pearl, booked it 10 days earlier.   I got a great deal.     If you book early you have to expect price drops which are out of your control.    If you book late, you know you're getting the best possible deal.    THat's how it works.   Learn from it.

Or you can book during a sale, get an upgrade through a bid and watch the prices continually go up and perks go down until the cruise is sold out.  Or simply upgrade to a better room.  That's how it's worked for me.  I got a great deal by booking early.  So no, that's not the only way it works. 

 

If I didn't have to fly to the port, I might be more willing to depend on last-minute deals, but because of that, the discount for most last minute fire-sales is lost because of increased air-fare costs.

[julig22]

25 minutes ago, dvond said:

I. Contacted. My Ta and received a higher class of balcony, I’m guessing with this virus craziness prices will continue to drop

While there may be some price drops because people are cancelling, it's always been this way.

[cementhands]

6 hours ago, dvond said:

Hello,

 

Hoping someone can help,  a week or so ago, I booked a cruise for 4/5 with Vacations to Go and it has now gone down $140,  what is the best practice to address?

 

Thanks!

Careful. We had a cruise on the gem at sail away price. Price dropped and I contact NCL and was upgraded to window from inside. Trouble is that they dropped prices again and they wouldn’t budge. Explain the one upgrade only. So push for everything you can get. You only get one shot. Push for room upgrade and obc. Of course if ships sold out certain opportunities are gone.

[dvond]

On 2/28/2020 at 8:37 PM, cementhands said:

Careful. We had a cruise on the gem at sail away price. Price dropped and I contact NCL and was upgraded to window from inside. Trouble is that they dropped prices again and they wouldn’t budge. Explain the one upgrade only. So push for everything you can get. You only get one shot. Push for room upgrade and obc. Of course if ships sold out certain opportunities are gone.

I got a 3 category upgrade , let’s see is the panic makes it go down more

[BusyFLmom]

I have 2  cabins booked on the Encore 5/31.  One spa balcony and one inside.  I booked a year out and now the total cost dropped $1700.  I called and they offered me $230 OBC for the spa room.  I upgraded the inside to the spa balcony next to ours for a minimal price.  I have also canceled our Alaska cruise booked for next year.  I'll wait to re-book when the time nears.

[FranknBeans]

Quit watching the pricing.

[Comi.uy]

21 minutes ago, FranknBeans said:

Quit watching the pricing.

Ignorance is bliss