Booking a cruise onboard. Are there any extra perks?

[Ken the cruiser]

We are booked on a B2B on the Jade in November. This will only be our second time to cruise with NCL and if we like it, we'd like to be able to reap the benefits of booking onboard, if any, if we decide to book another one once we get back home.

 

On Princess you can buy Future Cruise Deposits for $100 each with the perk being up to $150 OBC on the future cruise you book later on. On Celebrity, we usually book a "refundable deposit" cruise as far out as possible for $100 deposit each, get up to $150 OBC, and then later on have it reconfigured with a new itinerary if we find a better cruise, but the OBC and $100 deposits associated with the initial booking onboard stay with the booking. Celebrity also offers other options, but they have limitations we're not fond of.

 

What does NCL offer in the way of perks if you book something onboard a cruise?

[hallux]

You have two options - CruiseNext deposits or booking an actual cruise.

 

The CruiseNext onboard offer is basically a BOGO deal, so you get $500 in future deposits (two $250 'certificates') for $250.  These can NOT be bought with non-refundable OBC BUT the OBC that is given (that's how you get the $250 back, the CND is charged to your on-board account in the full amount then credited for the deal) CAN be used to offset the cost of one of the CND's.

 

Booking a cruise on board allows you a free one category upgrade (or maybe an upgrade within the category you book).

[cruiseny4life]

@hallux is correct in everything he says. I'd just add that you need to be extremely careful when purchasing Cruise Next or even booking that next cruise. You likely won't get anything in writing from the salespeople. Their job is to sell, so don't take anything they say at face value. Get it in writing. Ask questions. Do your research before purchasing. We asked questions, did research, and saved $1,500 when we did purchase Cruise Next certificates. If we had just listened to the salesperson we would have spent $2,000 instead of the $500 we did spend.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, hallux said:

You have two options - CruiseNext deposits or booking an actual cruise.

 

The CruiseNext onboard offer is basically a BOGO deal, so you get $500 in future deposits (two $250 'certificates') for $250.  These can NOT be bought with non-refundable OBC BUT the OBC that is given (that's how you get the $250 back, the CND is charged to your on-board account in the full amount then credited for the deal) CAN be used to offset the cost of one of the CND's.

 

Booking a cruise on board allows you a free one category upgrade (or maybe an upgrade within the category you book).

Thanks! I just found the NCL link that explains CruiseNext, but your insights definitely add to it. Am I'm guessing correctly that if we don't use the CNDs within 4 years, they will just expire and we will not be refunded the difference between what we paid for them minus the OBC we received for buying them?

 

CruiseNext | Norwegian Cruise Line (ncl.com)

 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

@hallux is correct in everything he says. I'd just add that you need to be extremely careful when purchasing Cruise Next or even booking that next cruise. You likely won't get anything in writing from the salespeople. Their job is to sell, so don't take anything they say at face value. Get it in writing. Ask questions. Do your research before purchasing. We asked questions, did research, and saved $1,500 when we did purchase Cruise Next certificates. If we had just listened to the salesperson we would have spent $2,000 instead of the $500 we did spend.

Would it be possible for you to elaborate a little on your lesson learned regarding the CNDs I highlighted? That's quite the cost difference if you're just buying CNDs!

[hallux]

16 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Am I'm guessing correctly that if we don't use the CNDs within 4 years, they will just expire and we will not be refunded the difference between what we paid for them minus the OBC we received for buying them?

Yes - use it or lose it.  I am also curious what the other poster found out...

[julig22]

Cruise Next purchase in simple terms:

Certificates are worth $250 towards a deposit on a future cruise.  If you buy 2 or more, you will pay $125 each.

 

Cruise Next in NCL speak

Buy 2 CN deposits and get free money!  Pay $500 and get $250 OBC!  or pay $1000 for 4 and get 4 more free!

Translation - You can only buy 8, so the maximum you could actually be charged would be $1000 ($2000 - $1000 OBC which is applied to your account and offsets the $2000 purchase price).  I think the philosophy is that people think they are getting money to spend on the ship, not realizing that they've already spent the "free money" on the certificates.

 

Sometimes you can use 2 certificates on a cruise, usually if it is 6 months in advance and often requires balcony or above.  Again, if you are on the ship and there happens to be a "double-up" promotion they will tell you that you can use 2, not necessarily telling you that the offer is time-limited.

 

You do not have to book onboard, certificates are available after your cruise, are good for 4 years.

Also, if you book onboard they will give you a room upgrade within the same category - so you pay for an obstructed OV and get a picture window instead.  Or a better location on the ship. Not sure if/how it works for categories above balcony.

 

A few months ago they also offered a 10% fare discount - so it pays to ask. On that cruise  they never announced it, never had a presentation because of scheduling difficulties so I only knew to ask because someone had posted about the discount.

[Ken the cruiser]

So in looking at this a little closer, the only perk for buying CNDs onboard is that if you buy 2 or more, you get them for $125 each (net) and can use them in lieu of paying a full deposit when you book a cruise later on after you disembark the ship. Good to know. Thanks everyone!

[spanishguy1970]

For us there is or was. Our Travel agent encouraged us to book on board if we did we would get extra on board credit from her, plus other goodies. The last time we booked on board we received extra 10 off, plus a free upgrade to a higher category. Unfortunately we just had to let go our booking agent because she stopped working for us, and we now have a new agent. We will see what he offers if we decide to book on board on our next cruise.

[Jerseygich]

On 9/2/2022 at 11:52 AM, hallux said:

You have two options - CruiseNext deposits or booking an actual cruise.

 

The CruiseNext onboard offer is basically a BOGO deal, so you get $500 in future deposits (two $250 'certificates') for $250.  These can NOT be bought with non-refundable OBC BUT the OBC that is given (that's how you get the $250 back, the CND is charged to your on-board account in the full amount then credited for the deal) CAN be used to offset the cost of one of the CND's.

 

Booking a cruise on board allows you a free one category upgrade (or maybe an upgrade within the category you book).

I have a question. We don’t really spend much on the ship. Get the shareholder OBC, which we can spend. So if I don’t have any expenses and buy 2 Cruise next certificates, they will charge me $500 and then I can use The $250 OBC to offset that? Then at the end of cruise I’d have no other onboard spending, my credit card should be charged only $250.

Am I understanding this correct?

[hallux]

1 minute ago, Jerseygich said:

Am I understanding this correct?

Correct.  They charge your account the $500 but then issue the OBC to offset part of it.

[ltish23]

Just be careful when booking on board, was promised 10% and a catagory upgrade. Got the upgrade and NO 10%.  Looked when i got home and was the same price i booked on board, so cancelled and booked with an outside agent for like 400 off.  It was the first time booking on board, but the last.  Unless it was just the person doing booking on board.  Its all good, just double check.

[julig22]

1 minute ago, ltish23 said:

Just be careful when booking on board, was promised 10% and a catagory upgrade. Got the upgrade and NO 10%.  Looked when i got home and was the same price i booked on board, so cancelled and booked with an outside agent for like 400 off.  It was the first time booking on board, but the last.  Unless it was just the person doing booking on board.  Its all good, just double check.

When you book onboard, it is just a courtesy (mock) booking - at least if you are buying CN certificates to pay for the deposit, because they aren't actually paid for until the end of the cruise. The 10% off the fare (not the entire amount) is applied after getting home. Promo code CNUD10.  But I was specifically told that it could take up to 7 days for the discount to be applied. So very possible that you just cancelled too early - it worked perfectly for me.

But sadly that promo ended....

[ColdCruise]

Prima is offering the standard up to $500 OBC if you buy 4 CNs, plus an in category cabin upgrade and, of course, the current FAS promotion and pricing.
 

We have plenty of OBC and found out we can’t use it for the daily service fee ($16 pp pd) On Prima the Future Cruise & Latitudes rep are the same team. So the rep said we can ONLY use the OBC for dining, shopping, spa services, and activities/excursions.  So extra OBC would be hard to spend, the rep said we could also just get the 4 CN for $500 if we didn’t want the $500 OBC, need to confirm that tomorrow. 
 

No extra 10% discounts AFAIK, but will ask tomorrow (9/7 a sea day so the desk will be open). 

[Ken the cruiser]

44 minutes ago, ColdCruise said:

Prima is offering the standard up to $500 OBC if you buy 4 CNs, plus an in category cabin upgrade and, of course, the current FAS promotion and pricing.
 

We have plenty of OBC and found out we can’t use it for the daily service fee ($16 pp pd) On Prima the Future Cruise & Latitudes rep are the same team. So the rep said we can ONLY use the OBC for dining, shopping, spa services, and activities/excursions.  So extra OBC would be hard to spend, the rep said we could also just get the 4 CN for $500 if we didn’t want the $500 OBC, need to confirm that tomorrow. 
 

No extra 10% discounts AFAIK, but will ask tomorrow (9/7 a sea day so the desk will be open). 

That's the important thing I would think (see bolded area above). Hopefully, you will get this confirmed for you tomorrow.

 

Question. Is the OBC you're referring to from your TA that you can't use to pay for your daily service (gratuities) fee or from the 4 CNs if you decide to purchase them?

Edited September 6, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[ColdCruise]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That's the important thing I would think (see bolded area above). Hopefully, you will get this confirmed for you tomorrow.

 

Question. Is the OBC you're referring to from your TA that you can't use to pay for your daily service (gratuities) fee or from the 4 CNs if you decide to purchase them?

Agree with your bolded item!

The current OBC is mostly from NCL’s Resolution Department (+ shareholder), so neither, but it came in as an amenity, so similar as if from my TA.

[hallux]

3 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

the rep said we could also just get the 4 CN for $500 if we didn’t want the $500 OBC

How does that work, direct charge to your credit card instead of the on-board account?  As I noted before - when you buy the CND's they charge the full amount to your on-board account and then credit the value of half of them back as OBC that is eligible to use to offset the purchase of the CND's making the net charge for the CND's half of what their value is.

[vacation44]

We just got off the Joy this morning.  I inquired about the extra 10% discount and received it.  If I did not ask, we would of not received it.  

[ColdCruise]

On 9/7/2022 at 4:34 AM, vacation44 said:

We just got off the Joy this morning.  I inquired about the extra 10% discount and received it.  If I did not ask, we would of not received it.  

@vacation44 thanks for that info, will definitely ask while booking onboard. We did not get to making  our next booking yesterday as we were swept up in a pub crawl that consumed our afternoon 😇

[julig22]

On 9/6/2022 at 6:34 PM, vacation44 said:

We just got off the Joy this morning.  I inquired about the extra 10% discount and received it.  If I did not ask, we would of not received it.  

Maybe they do it in odd months LOL.  Got 10% in July, asked in August and got a no. Sailing later this month on the Spirit, any bets??

[vacation44]

3 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

@vacation44 thanks for that info, will definitely ask while booking onboard. We did not get to making  our next booking yesterday as we were swept up in a pub crawl that consumed our afternoon 😇

You are very welcome and have an wonderful cruise.   

[vacation44]

3 hours ago, julig22 said:

Maybe they do it in odd months LOL.  Got 10% in July, asked in August and got a no. Sailing later this month on the Spirit, any bets??

My guess is yes!  My brother-in-law asked for the 10% the week before and was told no.   We have not told him yet he was a week late.