Free at Sea question

[sofmall]

We've done many wonderful NCL cruises, are Sapphire level, and were looking forward to once again booking with NCL. We've cruised a lot, with several cruiselines, but NCL is our favourite.
We're in Australia. I was just browsing upcoming cruises as Norwegian Spirit is coming to Australia. Then I noticed the "Free at Sea" promotion can't be removed. I can untick the beverage package and the specialty dining; the shore excursion credit and the wifi package can't be excluded. Even if I de-select dining and beverage, the fare remains the same.
We get 2 specialty dinners via our Sapphire perks. We would prefer these days NOT to have wifi as we enjoy the break from devices, plus we spent so many years cruising and needing wifi due to my husband having to be in constant touch with his business ... so now he's retired and we want to relax.

So what to do? We simply don't want to pay more for a cruise than we feel comfortable with, and in the light of HAVING to take the so called "free at sea" promotion, we'd be paying for things we don't need or want. In effect, we'd be helping pay for others' beverages but getting nothing for our benefit.

 

Thoughts, anyone, please?

[MarkusToe]

Search for different TA....most of them have different promotion.

Edited December 12, 2022 by MarkusToe

[thatjoeguy]

Book a sail away room - those don’t have the free at sea.

[jbcallender]

We just got  off of Spirit two weeks ago.  The wifi did not work half of the time, even though I paid for the next tier above FAS.

[KeithJenner]

40 minutes ago, thatjoeguy said:

Book a sail away room - those don’t have the free at sea.

That isn’t necessarily the case. All these things vary by country.

 

Most of us won’t be able to help the OP as I suspect that very few people on here know exactly how the pricing works in Australia.

[sofmall]

On 12/12/2022 at 5:10 PM, KeithJenner said:

That isn’t necessarily the case. All these things vary by country.

 

Most of us won’t be able to help the OP as I suspect that very few people on here know exactly how the pricing works in Australia.

I've sometimes seen a Sailaway rate, but not often. However our cabin location is important for us; after so many cruises we know what works best for us, and will help me avoid motion sickness. So if my only option with NCL will now be a Sailaway, that's not good enough when we've been frequent travellers on NCL, to be put in the position where we have no choice about our cabin location or our options for add-ons. 
So sadly, it seems we're going to have to give NCL a miss from now on, which does make me sad because I'm pretty sure that more than half of our 32 or so cruises have been with NCL.

I've been looking on the NCL site, and normally any TA's I've used (one being my daughter) have sometimes found me lower fares, but similar promotions as if I booked on the NCL site.

[MeHeartCruising]

In the USA, the only way to totally avoid the Free At Sea options (and the price that goes with them) is the Sail Away rate, which like the OP said, isn't always available.  If you are not willing to accept a Guarantee Cabin, then a Sail Away isn't for you either.  It is a shortcoming of the NCL offering from a customer flexibility perspective.  It is not necessarily a shortcoming from NCL's perspective since it gets them the revenue they apparently are looking for.

[Liljo22]

There is no additional charges for the wifi and shore excursions so that is why they are not able to be excluded.  You are able to exclude the drinks and dining but I believe in Australia NCL is not able to add additional gratuities to the fare.  The fare is the same whether you take the packages or not.  

[TrumpyNor]

From the European version of ncl.com there is absolutely a possibility to book without any FAS and instead choose the "just cruise" category both for the Sailaway staterooms (where the actual stateroom is usually given by NCL at a later time, you can not choose location yourself) and for all other types of cabins - it is possible to choose the "just cruise" category and then get a lower price. But as it is a very small difference in price for the Sailaway "unknown" cabin and the regular "just cruise" cabin, I would of course choose the regular one, as I then would be able to choose a stateroom myself. 

 

 

 

[Liljo22]

1 hour ago, TrumpyNor said:

From the European version of ncl.com there is absolutely a possibility to book without any FAS and instead choose the "just cruise" category both for the Sailaway staterooms (where the actual stateroom is usually given by NCL at a later time, you can not choose location yourself) and for all other types of cabins - it is possible to choose the "just cruise" category and then get a lower price. But as it is a very small difference in price for the Sailaway "unknown" cabin and the regular "just cruise" cabin, I would of course choose the regular one, as I then would be able to choose a stateroom myself. 

 

 

 

 

The OP said the location is very important to them so sailaway is not an option.  She is under the impression that not taking FAS will lower the cruise fare but that is not how NCL fares work.  In the US, gratuities are added to the fare after and if we decline, the gratuities are taken off.  She is getting the rate we would see when those are taken off.  

[TrumpyNor]

1 hour ago, Liljo22 said:

 

The OP said the location is very important to them so sailaway is not an option.  She is under the impression that not taking FAS will lower the cruise fare but that is not how NCL fares work.  In the US, gratuities are added to the fare after and if we decline, the gratuities are taken off.  She is getting the rate we would see when those are taken off.  

I didn't realize that OP had two posts in the thread, so my reply was based on her first post,  where nothing was said about sailaway cabins.

And my entire reply simply showed the options I had on the European NCL web page, as an EXAMPLE,  I said nothing about the way Australian or US gratuities would show or not show. 

 

[Liljo22]

1 minute ago, TrumpyNor said:

I didn't realize that OP had two posts in the thread, so my reply was based on her first post,  where nothing was said about sailaway cabins.

And my entire reply simply showed the options I had on the European NCL web page, as an EXAMPLE,  I said nothing about the way Australian or US gratuities would show or not show. 

 

I am sorry if you felt I was attacking you but all the bolding and capitalizing was not needed.  My post was not about you and more about the OP.  

[Sailing12Away]

There is no charge at all for the wifi or shore excursion credits. So no need to remove something that is free (really free, unlike drinks where you pay the gratuities up front).

[sofmall]

20 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

 

The OP said the location is very important to them so sailaway is not an option.  She is under the impression that not taking FAS will lower the cruise fare but that is not how NCL fares work.  In the US, gratuities are added to the fare after and if we decline, the gratuities are taken off.  She is getting the rate we would see when those are taken off.  

Actually, whenever I've booked an NCL cruise it HAS worked that way here in Australia. 

The last NCL cruise was 14-28 Feb. 2020, just as covid closed everything down. There'd never been a time we couldn't select from Free at Sea or Just the cruise, exactly as TrumpyNor explained they can do in Europe. That's the way it always was here, too.

[sofmall]

21 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

From the European version of ncl.com there is absolutely a possibility to book without any FAS and instead choose the "just cruise" category both for the Sailaway staterooms (where the actual stateroom is usually given by NCL at a later time, you can not choose location yourself) and for all other types of cabins - it is possible to choose the "just cruise" category and then get a lower price. But as it is a very small difference in price for the Sailaway "unknown" cabin and the regular "just cruise" cabin, I would of course choose the regular one, as I then would be able to choose a stateroom myself. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks! Exactly how it worked in Australia too, up until just lately. Occasionally there was a Sailaway, which I never book, but always there were options of Free at Sea OR Just the cruise. 

[sofmall]

20 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

 

The OP said the location is very important to them so sailaway is not an option.  She is under the impression that not taking FAS will lower the cruise fare but that is not how NCL fares work.  In the US, gratuities are added to the fare after and if we decline, the gratuities are taken off.  She is getting the rate we would see when those are taken off.  

From what I've seen, from viewing US sites vs Australian, our fares are no where near the US fares. 😕  We seem to pay more for our cruises here. Currency exchange rate no doubt! And wow, the price on balcony cabins is very high. It often tends to be between $2,000 and $3,000 pp more than an oceanview. 

 
It is only since cruising has come back (and an NCL ship hasn't yet arrived back in Australia) that the option to book the cruise without the free at sea perks has been taken away. It was always there in the past, meaning here in our country, and apparently in Europe too. 

[Liljo22]

59 minutes ago, sofmall said:

Actually, whenever I've booked an NCL cruise it HAS worked that way here in Australia. 

The last NCL cruise was 14-28 Feb. 2020, just as covid closed everything down. There'd never been a time we couldn't select from Free at Sea or Just the cruise, exactly as TrumpyNor explained they can do in Europe. That's the way it always was here, too.

But what TrumpyNor is showing for the Just the Cruise option is a sailaway rate.  

[TrumpyNor]

39 minutes ago, Liljo22 said:

But what TrumpyNor is showing for the Just the Cruise option is a sailaway rate.  

No, this is where you are wrong. I have two screenshots in my reply (one for sailaway rate and one for regular rate) - there is a difference in rates - sailaway shows as €10 less than the "just cruise" rate in my example.....

[Liljo22]

3 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

No, this is where you are wrong. I have two screenshots in my reply (one for sailaway rate and one for regular rate) - there is a difference in rates - sailaway shows as €10 less than the "just cruise" rate in my example.....

I see it now.  My mistake.

[MeHeartCruising]

3 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

No, this is where you are wrong. I have two screenshots in my reply (one for sailaway rate and one for regular rate) - there is a difference in rates - sailaway shows as €10 less than the "just cruise" rate in my example.....

 

Out of curiosity, what is the "benefit" difference between a "Sail Away" rate and a "Just Cruise" rate.  I don't see one.  But maybe I'm missing it.

[sofmall]

6 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

But what TrumpyNor is showing for the Just the Cruise option is a sailaway rate.  

I see it as Sailaway, Just the Cruise, or Free at Sea all listed. Could be wrong as it's hard to read the details, but that's how it came over for me.

[sofmall]

2 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

 

Out of curiosity, what is the "benefit" difference between a "Sail Away" rate and a "Just Cruise" rate.  I don't see one.  But maybe I'm missing it.

 

Speaking only about how that worked in Australia, Sailaway meant you didn't choose your own cabin, but with the Just Cruise option you were able to choose. Just didn't get the perks you get with Free at Sea.

 

[MeHeartCruising]

4 hours ago, sofmall said:

 

Speaking only about how that worked in Australia, Sailaway meant you didn't choose your own cabin, but with the Just Cruise option you were able to choose. Just didn't get the perks you get with Free at Sea.

 

That would make sense.  For TrumpyNor’s screen shots above, it seems that both of them depict a guarantee cabin (i.e letting NCL pick it).  But I may be misinterpreting the graphics shown. 

[fredflint]

On 12/11/2022 at 9:31 PM, sofmall said:

We've done many wonderful NCL cruises, are Sapphire level, and were looking forward to once again booking with NCL. We've cruised a lot, with several cruiselines, but NCL is our favourite.
We're in Australia. I was just browsing upcoming cruises as Norwegian Spirit is coming to Australia. Then I noticed the "Free at Sea" promotion can't be removed. I can untick the beverage package and the specialty dining; the shore excursion credit and the wifi package can't be excluded. Even if I de-select dining and beverage, the fare remains the same.
We get 2 specialty dinners via our Sapphire perks. We would prefer these days NOT to have wifi as we enjoy the break from devices, plus we spent so many years cruising and needing wifi due to my husband having to be in constant touch with his business ... so now he's retired and we want to relax.

So what to do? We simply don't want to pay more for a cruise than we feel comfortable with, and in the light of HAVING to take the so called "free at sea" promotion, we'd be paying for things we don't need or want. In effect, we'd be helping pay for others' beverages but getting nothing for our benefit.

 

Thoughts, anyone, please?

You cannot remove them as they are no cost to you, just do not use the internet but you might need it to get your flight information for your return.  The specialty dining is the same don't  want it just don't book it.  The shore excursion offer is just 50.00 off  when/if you book a tour.  This could be worthwhile  for the end of the cruise.  We never used our credit as the ships offerings were meager and expensive.

 

You might be able to  invite another couple to have diner with you if you meet someone you like 🙂