Best time to book NCL Cruise to get best price.

[MARK1970]

This will be our first cruise and was wondering when is the best time to book.? Right now NCL is offering 60% off is this a good deal or should we wait a little longer to book? The cruise we will be going on is in April. Thanks in advance for any advice. 
 

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

Just book it and pay the deposit.  If the price drops before final payment, you can call them and have them reprice it.

[lgdesign]

54 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Just book it and pay the deposit.  If the price drops before final payment, you can call them and have them reprice it.

Agree... especially if you have a specific cabin/location in you really want.

[tallnthensome]

I still find the best pricing is or at least was came right when bookings opened at two years out. Almost all of my NCL cruises went up in price. 

[MARK1970]

Thank you for the replies. We went ahead and booked 🙂

[julig22]

4 hours ago, MARK1970 said:

This will be our first cruise and was wondering when is the best time to book.? Right now NCL is offering 60% off is this a good deal or should we wait a little longer to book? The cruise we will be going on is in April. Thanks in advance for any advice. 
 

 

Always best to just book and keep an eye on the prices/perks, since you can always reprice/cancel until final payment date (for US bookings - rules are different for other countries).

As a fyi - the 60% off the 2nd guest is the same promotion that they have been running for months - just renamed.  Previously, it was 30% off the overall price.

[foodsvcmgr]

Generally as soon as the books open or after final payment period, otherwise monitor the rates as any cruise line will reduce prices for slow moving dates or itineraries as their internal algorithms dictate.

[Old & Retired]

With covid changing everything we know about cruising, it seems booking last minute will get you the best price.  The exception being the Haven.  Usually within about two weeks of sailing, the Haven is sold out/upgraded, so not available anymore.  NCL has a policy of trying and succeeding in sailing their ships with 100% Haven occupancy.

[Carnac767]

You've mentioned that you went ahead and booked the cabin you want.  That's always worked well for us. Just keep checking prices frequently to see if anything changes.  The current 60% off sale really is a 30% off the fare for double occupancy, and is almost identical to the promotion NCL was running before.  It just sounds more impressive.  We booked an eastern Med cruise on Jade well over a year in advance.  During the year before final payment the price of our cabin dropped several thousand dollars.  For our 2018 TA on Epic, NCL had a Black Friday sale that cut the price of our cabin in half.  Another advantage of booking early is that you have time to plan your pre and post cruise activities, figure out transportation, join the roll call, etc.  Have a great cruise. 

[krittykat]

Was wondering about the same thing.  We are looking at booking a cruise of Spain for next October. Not wanting to do anything but put a deposit since the climate is fluctuating but do want to pick my cabin. My daughter will also be sailing and is picking solo inside. She is hoping for a free solo supplement sale but realizes this is unlikely. We are cruising on our 1st NCL cruise in Dec (was supposed to be April 2020 but you know how that went...)   Would it best to wait until we cruise and purchase CruiseNext certificates?  I have read a little about them but not sure how they work.

[julig22]

43 minutes ago, krittykat said:

Was wondering about the same thing.  We are looking at booking a cruise of Spain for next October. Not wanting to do anything but put a deposit since the climate is fluctuating but do want to pick my cabin. My daughter will also be sailing and is picking solo inside. She is hoping for a free solo supplement sale but realizes this is unlikely. We are cruising on our 1st NCL cruise in Dec (was supposed to be April 2020 but you know how that went...)   Would it best to wait until we cruise and purchase CruiseNext certificates?  I have read a little about them but not sure how they work.

CruiseNext certificates are great for deposits -  if you happen to cancel - they just go back into your account - good for 4 years.  You pay $125 and get $250 toward your deposit.  I believe if you get them after you've booked, you can still use them for payment on a future cruise - at least you could in the past.

 

As to solo, anything is possible.  50% solo supplement for my recent Med cruise, 0 solo supplement on the Gem in late December.  But they aren't well advertised...my PCC is on notice to let me know but I found the Gem discount by accident.  There is a solo-cruise-discount discussion here on CC, not specific to NCL.  According to the rep on the ship, solo deals are usually last minute but I've found them 4-6 months out.

[krittykat]

10 minutes ago, julig22 said:

CruiseNext certificates are great for deposits -  if you happen to cancel - they just go back into your account - good for 4 years.  You pay $125 and get $250 toward your deposit.  I believe if you get them after you've booked, you can still use them for payment on a future cruise - at least you could in the past.

 

As to solo, anything is possible.  50% solo supplement for my recent Med cruise, 0 solo supplement on the Gem in late December.  But they aren't well advertised...my PCC is on notice to let me know but I found the Gem discount by accident.  There is a solo-cruise-discount discussion here on CC, not specific to NCL.  According to the rep on the ship, solo deals are usually last minute but I've found them 4-6 months out.

Thanks for the info.   May benefit us to get some CruiseNext certificates. Would be nice to have some on board credit for our Dec cruise and since we are definitely going on the Spain cruise .... 
As for the Solo supplement, I know that is a long shot.  She is aware but will "take what I can get". 

 

We are sailing in a 2 BR Haven suite coming in Dec - but that is a fluke (from several Covid cancellations and the extra credit they gave us)  She wants her own cabin for the Spain one and inside is just fine for her.

[julig22]

19 minutes ago, krittykat said:

Thanks for the info.   May benefit us to get some CruiseNext certificates. Would be nice to have some on board credit for our Dec cruise and since we are definitely going on the Spain cruise ....

You don't have to get OBC if you don't want it - I just paid outright $125 each so I didn't have to mess with OBC that I might not use.

[id10t]

16 minutes ago, julig22 said:

You don't have to get OBC if you don't want it - I just paid outright $125 each so I didn't have to mess with OBC that I might not use.

Are you talking about buying them on eBay for $125 each?  Or do you pay the $125 on the ship and tell them to keep the credit?  That would blow my mind if you do not take the "free" money they give you.
Edit...  I can be dumb some times.  Now that I think about it you get the $250 cruise credit for $150 if you use the onboard credit for part of the payment. Assuming you can use the onboard credit to pay for it.

Edited October 28, 2021 by id10t

[julig22]

6 minutes ago, id10t said:

Are you talking about buying them on eBay for $125 each?  Or do you pay the $125 on the ship and tell them to keep the credit?  That would blow my mind if you do not take the "free" money they give you.
Edit...  I can be dumb some times.  Now that I think about it you get the $250 cruise credit for $150 if you use the onboard credit for part of the payment. Assuming you can use the onboard credit to pay for it.

I bought them onboard.  I told the guy I wasn't interested because I didn't have any need for OBC - and he said no problem, he would just reverse the OBC.  And I was able to buy an odd quantity - none of the buy 2 or 4 etc.

I seem to recall people saying you can't use the OBC to pay for them but that it is considered refundable, so you can request to get back any excess.  I just skipped all the steps designed to get you to spend more money on the ship -or lose money because you forgot to request a refund.

[aruba9]

As a loyal NCL platinum member , I am extremely disappointed  with Norwegian. They have cancelled several of my cruises , held my credits. I am booked for December 2022 . I had a cruise for January 2022 cancelled  Still  if I don't use  the remainder before that I lose them. Tried to book for January 2023 they said I could not use credits, and they changed the 2 cruise next per cruise to 1. Hope they wake up and start appreciating their customers.

[snorklinbarb]

4 hours ago, krittykat said:

Was wondering about the same thing.  We are looking at booking a cruise of Spain for next October. Not wanting to do anything but put a deposit since the climate is fluctuating but do want to pick my cabin. My daughter will also be sailing and is picking solo inside. She is hoping for a free solo supplement sale but realizes this is unlikely. We are cruising on our 1st NCL cruise in Dec (was supposed to be April 2020 but you know how that went...)   Would it best to wait until we cruise and purchase CruiseNext certificates?  I have read a little about them but not sure how they work.

Another option (I haven't used myself) is Cruise First.  I believe the booking has to be made 120 days out so sounds like your Spain cruise would qualify.