NCL to drop groups?? Hmmm.

[BoundForSea]

I just found out (well more accurately was told by a reliable source) that there was a decision just very recently to drop groups at NCL. If this is in fact the case, that’s a huge deal. There’s a lot of speculative inventory sold at 2020 Covid pricing out there. (Like hedging gas prices) I just recently booked a client on a 7ni in Greece using group space, 3k$ lower than the prevailing rate! Almost 40% lower. 
 

I think the next couple years at NCL are going to be very interesting. I just don’t have a warm and fuzzy about it. I hope I’m wrong.  
 

If I find written Conf of the groups I’ll for sure share it. If anyone else has it please share. 
 

Groups is mostly an agent thing, many retail customers may not be aware of the huge benefits it pays out. Probably equates to too much lost revenue, however they will lose a lot of market share if it is in fact what they’re doing. 
 

Time will tell. 

[cruiseny4life]

I haven't heard anything from my BDM about this yet (pretty sure we share the same one). I'll definitely pay attention as I'm getting ready to book a five room group. Yep, I just got that minimum in there, so no 40% savings. 

Edited April 7, 2023 by cruiseny4life

[vacation44]

Hmm....interesting to see what happens.   We have an extended family group booked for June 2024 which has been booked for over a year.  Currently,  it is saving us a decent of money, but it was a struggle getting it set up. Now, I am in the process of setting up another one with my husband's extended family for June 2025 so I will see more about it this week.   @BoundForSea, thank for the heads-up about possible changes.

 

@cruiseny4lifewhat is a BDM?  Are you also a TA in addiction to your HR job?

 

[cruiseny4life]

22 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

what is a BDM?  Are you also a TA in addiction to your HR job?

Business Development Manager...and yep, I am. Just a side hustle for family/friends. 🙂

 

I don't really think NCL is going to get rid of groups. The last time I spoke with our BDM he was selling the groups hard. But hey, maybe they are. NCL's been known to make some odd decisions.

[Oceansaway17]

NCL just keeps getting hard to figure out. oh well.   keep trying.  Meanwhile shop around and see what else is out there.

[vacation44]

On 4/8/2023 at 12:44 PM, vacation44 said:

Hmm....interesting to see what happens.   We have an extended family group booked for June 2024 which has been booked for over a year.  Currently,  it is saving us a decent of money, but it was a struggle getting it set up. Now, I am in the process of setting up another one with my husband's extended family for June 2025 so I will see more about it this week.   @BoundForSea, thank for the heads-up about possible changes.

 

@cruiseny4lifewhat is a BDM?  Are you also a TA in addiction to your HR job?

 

Update on our June 2025 group booking......the group was approved and we saved $697.70 off our already booked cabin plus an additional $100 OBC (per cabin).   Since we are paying for three of the cabins, I am very happy with the discount.   This does not include the additional kickback after final payment.

[Linsuesue]

2 hours ago, vacation44 said:

Update on our June 2025 group booking......the group was approved and we saved $697.70 off our already booked cabin plus an additional $100 OBC (per cabin).   Since we are paying for three of the cabins, I am very happy with the discount.   This does not include the additional kickback after final payment.

I am thinking of setting up a group cruise for our retirement community. I think we could maybe book 10-20 rooms.  I know I will need to call group sales to figure this all out, but could those of you with experience in this situation  answer these questions for me:

   How much of a grace period do you have to sign up everyone in your group? If I book a group cruise today for example, does everyone have to phone in their deposit today? 

    What if more people want to join your group later, do they get a discounted price too, or only the initial group has that benefit?

   I didnt know the groups got significant discounts, I thought the benefit was that everyone was locked into the group rate based off of prices for the day you booked. I thought the conductor of the group ended up with some onboard credit or something.

   

Edited April 12, 2023 by Linsuesue

[Captain-John]

I may be completely calling this wrong, but as someone who has been affected by a charter taking over a whole ship that has reduced my cruise by 1 night, I'd be glad to see the back of group bookings? Or are we talking about two different things here?

 

I am pretty sure my TA adopts a model whereby they give up most of their commission to reduce the fare, and charge a flat booking fee to make their revenue so I never see the benefit of group rates anyway.....

[tonit964]

We have a family group cruise on the Encore to Alaska with about 7 cabins which we booked last summer and it has been a cluster from the very beginning with our group agent or whatever he is called. We can never get a hold of him, he never calls back and some of the cabins qualified for the $100 OBC and some did not?? There are mysterious credits appearing on the payment summary with no explanation to what it's for and we are well past final payment.

 

Just not a good experience at all. Luckily we all don't sail very often together.

[Linsuesue]

Just now, tonit964 said:

We have a family group cruise on the Encore to Alaska with about 7 cabins which we booked last summer and it has been a cluster from the very beginning with our group agent or whatever he is called. We can never get a hold of him, he never calls back and some of the cabins qualified for the $100 OBC and some did not?? There are mysterious credits appearing on the payment summary with no explanation to what it's for and we are well past final payment.

 

Just not a good experience at all. Luckily we all don't sail very often together.

We are experiencing the same thing for our cruise this weekend! We didnt seem to get any price breaks, benefits, or onboard credits.  I guess our travel planner reaped any benefits to be had and sent us each one magnet, and one luggage tag. 🤦‍♀️  Every question our group asked seemed to exasperate her too.  From now on, we will never use a travel planner again, and we will get the benefits of any group booking. Having said that, I think it is still problematic booking a group yourself.

[vacation44]

1 hour ago, Captain-John said:

I may be completely calling this wrong, but as someone who has been affected by a charter taking over a whole ship that has reduced my cruise by 1 night, I'd be glad to see the back of group bookings? Or are we talking about two different things here?

 

I am pretty sure my TA adopts a model whereby they give up most of their commission to reduce the fare, and charge a flat booking fee to make their revenue so I never see the benefit of group rates anyway.....

In my case I am talking about traveling with extended family occupying eight cabins.  This can qualify for a discounted fare.

[vacation44]

1 hour ago, tonit964 said:

We have a family group cruise on the Encore to Alaska with about 7 cabins which we booked last summer and it has been a cluster from the very beginning with our group agent or whatever he is called. We can never get a hold of him, he never calls back and some of the cabins qualified for the $100 OBC and some did not?? There are mysterious credits appearing on the payment summary with no explanation to what it's for and we are well past final payment.

 

Just not a good experience at all. Luckily we all don't sail very often together.

 

1 hour ago, Linsuesue said:

We are experiencing the same thing for our cruise this weekend! We didnt seem to get any price breaks, benefits, or onboard credits.  I guess our travel planner reaped any benefits to be had and sent us each one magnet, and one luggage tag. 🤦‍♀️  Every question our group asked seemed to exasperate her too.  From now on, we will never use a travel planner again, and we will get the benefits of any group booking. Having said that, I think it is still problematic booking a group yourself.

I get it.  As I mentioned earlier in this thread, we have one also booked for June 2024.  That was really difficult setting up.   I was very persistent with the PCC I was then using.   There were certain perimeters that had to be met and not all cabins qualified.    We ended up getting 15% off and each cabin got $100.  It was a real savings as I had already booked the cabins so I had an original price to compare with the new group price.  Now after final payment,  we will also be entitled to around $1500 as a direct cash refund which we will divide up.

 

Now the one I set up for June 2025 was a whole different experience.   I have a new PCC, which I have been using for the last six months, and he is on the ball. He set it up as soon as he had five cabins instead of waiting for everyone to contact him as we have at least two more to add.  

[vacation44]

2 hours ago, Linsuesue said:

I am thinking of setting up a group cruise for our retirement community. I think we could maybe book 10-20 rooms.  I know I will need to call group sales to figure this all out, but could those of you with experience in this situation  answer these questions for me:

   How much of a grace period do you have to sign up everyone in your group? If I book a group cruise today for example, does everyone have to phone in their deposit today? 

    What if more people want to join your group later, do they get a discounted price too, or only the initial group has that benefit?

   I didnt know the groups got significant discounts, I thought the benefit was that everyone was locked into the group rate based off of prices for the day you booked. I thought the conductor of the group ended up with some onboard credit or something.

   

No, everyone does not have to book and pay the deposit right away.  You just need the minimum cabins and passengers booked to create the group.   The sooner the better as the biggest discount is 15% but it needs to be booked by a certain number of days out---well over a year.  Then the additional cabins can be included but the discount might be different depending how far out you are.  I would price check before too so you have a comparison. 

[Linsuesue]

15 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

No, everyone does not have to book and pay the deposit right away.  You just need the minimum cabins and passengers booked to create the group.   The sooner the better as the biggest discount is 15% but it needs to be booked by a certain number of days out---well over a year.  Then the additional cabins can be included but the discount might be different depending how far out you are.  I would price check before too so you have a comparison. 

I cant thank you enough for this information! So a personal cruise planner works for Norwegian and doesn’t get a cut of the sale. We pay for our education, and we got screwed the first time! The vacation planner was a relative of somebody and the person planning the group just went along with it.  I am willing to help our group get booked, because we couldnt be any worse off than the last “helper”. So you are saying that 5 of us can book this 2025 cruise we are looking at online on our own and then call the group department and have them turn it into a group booking? I thought once you booked a room yourself you couldnt be in the group and there would not be any discounts. 🤯 

[vacation44]

4 minutes ago, Linsuesue said:

I cant thank you enough for this information! So a personal cruise planner works for Norwegian and doesn’t get a cut of the sale. We pay for our education, and we got screwed the first time! The vacation planner was a relative of somebody and the person planning the group just went along with it.  I am willing to help our group get booked, because we couldnt be any worse off than the last “helper”. So you are saying that 5 of us can book this 2025 cruise we are looking at online on our own and then call the group department and have them turn it into a group booking? I thought once you booked a room yourself you couldnt be in the group and there would not be any discounts. 🤯 

You are very welcome.   

 

Yes, that is what I am saying.   I would book ahead of calling so you have your starting price to compare with the end price.   Then a group can be created.   

 

For us, we were all on the Epic a few weeks ago.  On that cruise I booked three cabins for two passengers each.   When I got back, I gave the reservation numbers to my PCC and he switched the cabins immediately to qualifying cabins (club balcony suite) as the ones I booked (club balcony suite with large balcony) did not qualify.  He then sent me new confirmations.   Then, I told our extended family to contact him.   Once he had the five qualifying cabins, he created a group booking and sent me new confirmations which had the discounted fare and $100 OBC on each cabin.

 

Also note that the price went down twice for our June 2024 group and I was able to reprice all of the cabins and keep the 15% discount as we were still further than 450 days out.

 

Make sure you buy the cruise next certificates while on board next week for the additional net savings of $250.   Which ship are you on?  Have a wonderful time!

[Linsuesue]

48 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

You are very welcome.   

 

Yes, that is what I am saying.   I would book ahead of calling so you have your starting price to compare with the end price.   Then a group can be created.   

 

For us, we were all on the Epic a few weeks ago.  On that cruise I booked three cabins for two passengers each.   When I got back, I gave the reservation numbers to my PCC and he switched the cabins immediately to qualifying cabins (club balcony suite) as the ones I booked (club balcony suite with large balcony) did not qualify.  He then sent me new confirmations.   Then, I told our extended family to contact him.   Once he had the five qualifying cabins, he created a group booking and sent me new confirmations which had the discounted fare and $100 OBC on each cabin.

 

Also note that the price went down twice for our June 2024 group and I was able to reprice all of the cabins and keep the 15% discount as we were still further than 450 days out.

 

Make sure you buy the cruise next certificates while on board next week for the additional net savings of $250.   Which ship are you on?  Have a wonderful time!

We will be on the Encore starting this Sunday. A couple of months ago I tried to see if I could upgrade to a spa balcony or spa club balcony and our travel planner said there were no upgrades. I tried to get her to submit a price drop but she said after final payment that cant be done. Part of it might be that I originally booked an inside and used the points on my NCL credit card to do a double meta upgrade to a balcony.  Did you find your PCC just by calling up the group department and getting whomever answered, or did you have a referral for somebody?

[vacation44]

21 hours ago, Linsuesue said:

We will be on the Encore starting this Sunday. A couple of months ago I tried to see if I could upgrade to a spa balcony or spa club balcony and our travel planner said there were no upgrades. I tried to get her to submit a price drop but she said after final payment that cant be done. Part of it might be that I originally booked an inside and used the points on my NCL credit card to do a double meta upgrade to a balcony.  Did you find your PCC just by calling up the group department and getting whomever answered, or did you have a referral for somebody?

As long as there is a cabin available, you can request a FCC if your cabin went down in price.   It is an one shot deal so the timing is important.  FCC needs to be approved and is issued after the cruise to be used in 12 months.   

 

Have a wonderful trip!

[sanmardar]

We have a group planned for Alaska 2024.  After we made the group, (so far 6 cabins for a 7 day cruise, and 2 club balcony suites doing 7 day cruise and 7 day post land tour), we were told the 2 cabins doing land tour are not eligible for the group rate. I asked if they would at least give us the discount we would have had with just cruise and they are adamant that they will not.  Even though I am the one that originally booked this for my birthday, they don't care about how much business we are giving them.  Everyone I have talked to gives me the runaround, and the resolutions desk person hung up on me. Really discouraging. 

[PATRLR]

On 4/6/2023 at 9:51 PM, BoundForSea said:

Groups is mostly an agent thing, many retail customers may not be aware of the huge benefits it pays out. Probably equates to too much lost revenue, however they will lose a lot of market share if it is in fact what they’re doing. 

My last couple of bookings have been through one of the larger, cheap, online agencies.  Unbeknownst to me, both bookings were part of some sort of "group" or block, and the reason the bookings were cheaper than NCls advertised retail and/or had extra perks.  

Are these the types of "groups" you are saying will be going away?

[jsn55]

On 4/12/2023 at 1:43 PM, Linsuesue said:

I am thinking of setting up a group cruise for our retirement community. I think we could maybe book 10-20 rooms.  I know I will need to call group sales to figure this all out, but could those of you with experience in this situation  answer these questions for me:

   How much of a grace period do you have to sign up everyone in your group? If I book a group cruise today for example, does everyone have to phone in their deposit today? 

    What if more people want to join your group later, do they get a discounted price too, or only the initial group has that benefit?

   I didnt know the groups got significant discounts, I thought the benefit was that everyone was locked into the group rate based off of prices for the day you booked. I thought the conductor of the group ended up with some onboard credit or something.

   

Two words:  TRAVEL AGENT who is a cruise expert.   A REAL travel agent, not an online booking service.  So much benefit to you and your group.

[cruiseny4life]

On 4/15/2023 at 12:37 AM, sanmardar said:

We have a group planned for Alaska 2024.  After we made the group, (so far 6 cabins for a 7 day cruise, and 2 club balcony suites doing 7 day cruise and 7 day post land tour), we were told the 2 cabins doing land tour are not eligible for the group rate. I asked if they would at least give us the discount we would have had with just cruise and they are adamant that they will not.  Even though I am the one that originally booked this for my birthday, they don't care about how much business we are giving them.  Everyone I have talked to gives me the runaround, and the resolutions desk person hung up on me. Really discouraging. 

I'm not trying to be a jerk, though I'm sure my comment will come across like that. Six cabins/two other cabins (club balconies aren't exactly suites, despite the name) is nothing to NCL. They're not going to give you anything extra, above what is provided for in the group discounts and amenities. 

 

Have you reached out to the Groups Department? I doubt they'll be any more helpful than those you've already talked with, but you might as well try. Good luck and be sure not to expect anything as it's highly unlikely you'll get anything for cabins not eligible for a group rate. Here's the group cruise phone number: 855.625.4768

 

[jules71]

On 4/12/2023 at 2:04 PM, vacation44 said:

Update on our June 2025 group booking......the group was approved and we saved $697.70 off our already booked cabin plus an additional $100 OBC (per cabin).   Since we are paying for three of the cabins, I am very happy with the discount.   This does not include the additional kickback after final payment.

In the process of booking 5 cabins for Feb 25, would you be willing to share the contact info of the person you work with in NCL groups? You should be able to PM me.

[jules71]

On 4/17/2023 at 9:05 AM, cruiseny4life said:

I'm not trying to be a jerk, though I'm sure my comment will come across like that. Six cabins/two other cabins (club balconies aren't exactly suites, despite the name) is nothing to NCL. They're not going to give you anything extra, above what is provided for in the group discounts and amenities. 

 

Have you reached out to the Groups Department? I doubt they'll be any more helpful than those you've already talked with, but you might as well try. Good luck and be sure not to expect anything as it's highly unlikely you'll get anything for cabins not eligible for a group rate. Here's the group cruise phone number: 855.625.4768

 

What cabins aren’t eligible?

[vacation44]

8 minutes ago, jules71 said:

In the process of booking 5 cabins for Feb 25, would you be willing to share the contact info of the person you work with in NCL groups? You should be able to PM me.

Will be more than happy to send you my contact but I have to figure out how to send a PM first.

[PATRLR]

5 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

Will be more than happy to send you my contact but I have to figure out how to send a PM first.

Pretty sure you can't on CC.  They've disabled that feature, unfortunately.