NCL Air - Option to reject offer

[Sailing12Away]

Our next cruise is February 24th out of Miami. Just got an email today from NCL with our proposed flights. There was an option to accept them, or reject them. If you reject them then you get refunded what you paid for flights, but you're on your own for finding air.

 

First time using NCL flights since last year so not sure if this is just new to me or new in general. But figured it would make folks happy who love to complain about the fights NCL books them on. Seems like this is a win-win because you can take them off you like them, but you're not out anything if you think you can do better.

 

For us, it's a win. The fights they picked are perfect for us. We paid $250 total, pricing it out with those exact fights would be $240 each. So for folks afraid of NCL air promos, don't be.

[cruiseny4life]

Is this through NCL Premium Air or a part of NCL's Buy One-Get One (BOGO) Airfare promotion? I'm thinking the BOGO doesn't get an option to reject the flights, but would be happily surprised if you say it is the BOGO.

[Sailing12Away]

Buy one get one. That's why it cost us $250 total for two people to fly.

[reeinaz]

This is definitely new.

[cruiseny4life]

18 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

Buy one get one. That's why it cost us $250 total for two people to fly.

Thank you! I love this email and sure do hope it's going to continue for all upcoming flights. I was confused with the $250 as our airfare is $732 using the promotion...gotta love flying out of small airports. 

[SusanLINY]

It's nice to hear a success story!

[Sailing12Away]

8 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Thank you! I love this email and sure do hope it's going to continue for all upcoming flights. I was confused with the $250 as our airfare is $732 using the promotion...gotta love flying out of small airports. 

Yeah, being 15 mins from JFK (1000% dependent upon traffic) has its advantages sometimes. We haven't had a truly bad flight from NCL yet. Worst was a return from Miami that left at 6pm. We went to an animal sanctuary that allowed us to store our luggage in their office while we played with lemurs and sloths for a few hours to kill time. 

[adamnoone]

44 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

Buy one get one. That's why it cost us $250 total for two people to fly.

You're lucky. I got my confirmation for my January cruise on 11/26 with no offer to decline. I paid well over the actual cost of the flights and the flights they chose are garbage. Boston to Orlando. Plenty of good options available too. Very frustrating.

[laudergayle]

Wow what a great option.  We got our air itinerary last week and there was no such option.  I hope this is the direction that they are moving in for all air promo reservations.  I had read somewhere on CC that NCL was working to make air travel  easier…this a huge step in the right direction.  Yay!

[9tee2Sea]

I have a cruise booked For Feb 2023 ( Dubai-Athens) and opted for the BOGO airfare from Los Angeles.  Any body know how far out from sail away they assign the flights on International?  I know they usually start around 45 days from sail away, but I am hoping to get the flight info soon.  Im sort of an impatient person, and just waiting is not in my make up.

[laudergayle]

10 minutes ago, 9tee2Sea said:

I have a cruise booked For Feb 2023 ( Dubai-Athens) and opted for the BOGO airfare from Los Angeles.  Any body know how far out from sail away they assign the flights on International?  I know they usually start around 45 days from sail away, but I am hoping to get the flight info soon.  Im sort of an impatient person, and just waiting is not in my make up.

We are flying Atlanta to San Juan for Feb 5 cruise and we got ours on 12/5…do right at the 60 day mark. 

[kitkat343]

58 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

Yeah, being 15 mins from JFK (1000% dependent upon traffic) has its advantages sometimes. We haven't had a truly bad flight from NCL yet. Worst was a return from Miami that left at 6pm. We went to an animal sanctuary that allowed us to store our luggage in their office while we played with lemurs and sloths for a few hours to kill time. 

What’s the name of the animal sanctuary?

[sassycruiser]

I will keep my fingers crossed for our Detroit to San Juan on 2/25/23.  We paid $538 and pp from Detroit it is 1100 and up.   

[zmmrzm]

1 hour ago, 9tee2Sea said:

I have a cruise booked For Feb 2023 ( Dubai-Athens) and opted for the BOGO airfare from Los Angeles.  Any body know how far out from sail away they assign the flights on International?  I know they usually start around 45 days from sail away, but I am hoping to get the flight info soon.  Im sort of an impatient person, and just waiting is not in my make up.

We are doing Panama Canal in February and just got an email saying we won't see flight info until 30 days out.

[kdmbluerzr]

Wow.  I just received our air itinerary for our Feb 18th cruise out of Miami. Used BOGO air promo offer. MSO to Miami. 2 day deviation. NCL booked us on a red eye, leaving Missoula at 5:30 pm, arrives in Fort Lauderdale at 5:30ish am next day. Did not have that new option to reject.  UGH!  The price we paid using the BOGO promo is outstanding, no way I could beat it if I was doing it on my own, however, there were several other options on 3 different airlines that could have us flying into Miami and not on a red eye.  Can't ***** a whole bunch about it, you know when you book your cruise details this way you can end up with less than desirable flights.  Be interesting to see if NCL transitions to the Accept or Reject options for all their air bookings. 

[SunshineGal2022]

3 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Yeah, being 15 mins from JFK (1000% dependent upon traffic) has its advantages sometimes. We haven't had a truly bad flight from NCL yet. Worst was a return from Miami that left at 6pm. We went to an animal sanctuary that allowed us to store our luggage in their office while we played with lemurs and sloths for a few hours to kill time. 

Do you remember the name of the sanctuary?  I would LOVE to go here!  Did you rent a car for the afternoon or Uber??

[SeaShark]

Just an FYI...

 

This is a new program option that NCL is TESTING. Right now, this option is only being offered to guests on the 2/24 sailing of the Joy and the 2/25 sailing of the Bliss. If you aren't on one of those two sailings, you won't see this option until/if the program becomes permanent.

[Sailing12Away]

3 hours ago, 9tee2Sea said:

I have a cruise booked For Feb 2023 ( Dubai-Athens) and opted for the BOGO airfare from Los Angeles.  Any body know how far out from sail away they assign the flights on International?  I know they usually start around 45 days from sail away, but I am hoping to get the flight info soon.  Im sort of an impatient person, and just waiting is not in my make up.

We're currently 73 days out from sailing, so the rule about 45-60 days is just a 'suggestion' I suppose. After accepting the flights the email said the actual record locator won't come for about another 10 days, so I guess that would put us at the 60 day mark.

 

2 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

What’s the name of the animal sanctuary?

 

42 minutes ago, SunshineGal2022 said:

Do you remember the name of the sanctuary?  I would LOVE to go here!  Did you rent a car for the afternoon or Uber??

We took an Uber/Lyft from the port to the place. It's about a 15 min ride from the port, so close by. They offer a bunch of different animal encounters you can do, so we sent them an email ahead of time to see if storing our luggage was an option. They said no problem and let us bring it to the manager office and we picked it back up when we were ready to catch our Uber/Lyft to the airport. We did both the lemur encounter and the sloth one. Nice little park/zoo place to walk around and kill some time at. https://www.jungleisland.com/

 

[Diver2014]

Jungle Island is on the MacAuthur  Causeway next to the cruise port (but on the other side of the road from the ships).  They used to be in south Miami on Red Road and were called Parrot Jungle for years before they sold the land and moved right near the entrance to the Dodge Island tunnel.  They have good animal shows.  The Miami Childrens Museum is just across the highway from them and of course, Miami Beach is at the opposite end of the McArthur Causeway.  If you have a day to kill, good places to go.

[Sailing12Away]

Got a phone call today from NCL confirming my choices in flights, and they said I would get an email with my ticket numbers later. By lunchtime I had the email with my record locator numbers for each flight.

 

On both flights they put each of us sitting twinkie in the main cabin area. At a minimum, I immediately moved us so we were next to each other (free to do). When I got home from work we sorted out the particulars.

 

AA outbound flight to LAX we paid a total of ~$150 to move from coach into comfort plus (exit row with only 2 seats in the row). 

 

Delta flight home we could have upgraded all the way to first class if we wanted. For a short 3 hour flight the extra $700/person wasn't worth it. But for again ~$150 total we gladly moved into comfort plus.

So all in, for 2 people it was roughly $550 total for comfort plus for each of us. Booking the identical flights now on our own would have us at those prices for main cabin. We're in the AA advantage program, so automatic complimentary upgrade request is in our account once I added our numbers, and on Delta I get free checked bags with my skymiles card account so for us - again, big win with the NCL selected flights.