First Time Cruiser Question

[Zhoen]

First of many, many, I am sure...

 

There is a timer ticking down on the front page of NCL that ends tonight... I just want to make sure I'm ok ignoring it.  We are looking at the Greek islands/Ialy cruise in summer of 2025. What they are advertising right now strike me anything to jump on, I just want to double-check.

 

- we are very unlikely to book airfare through NCL even at BOGO

- we are looking at 2 cabins and only one will accept the "free open bar" (with $400 gratuities extra). --DD will be 18 then, and I can pay OOP for my couple of umbrella drinks.

- $50/stateroom would be nice for excursions, but let's be honest, hardly a drop in the bucket and not a deal breaker

 

My reasons for wanting to wait is that $500/$250 cruise first deal you guys were talking about -- I want to hold out for that if possible, especially if there is the possibility of the "double up" promotion. We also are booking the 2 rooms separately and using a military 10% discount for each. 

 

I am thinking I will be better off waiting for holiday deals (y'all have been talking about black friday, among other things...) Opinions?

 

[Liljo22]

Usually you do not need to work about the countdown but the $500/$250 cruisefirst deal ending last week.  Its back to $300/$150.  The other offers will just be extended as usual.  

[JGmf]

Your cruise is forever from now. 

 

Put a deposit down if you really want to so early.  Keep checking prices as the time passes.  If they go down, call up and have them rebook it.  When/if the $500/$250 CF thing returns, you can buy them and apply them to chip away at your cruise costs.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

[Ellis1138]

Most of the sales never end, so the countdown means very little. I just check and do mock bookings to see if the cruise I want is in my budget range. If there's a $250/500 Cruise First certificate, I tend to grab one of those to use as the deposit.

[ChiefMateJRK]

32 minutes ago, Zhoen said:

I am thinking I will be better off waiting for holiday deals (y'all have been talking about black friday, among other things...) Opinions?

I am not aware of a single instance of NCL offering a "holiday deal" that is in any meaningful way different from their ongoing pricing.

[MoCruiseFan]

Usually you can ignore it, as the sales go on and on.  However the caveat is that from time to time the individual items that are offered as freebies, discounts, or add ons can change.  If what you see offered is exactly what you want and you want to be 100% sure you get those specific offers, go ahead and book the cruise now.  You do not even need to put down a deposit to lock in the offers and out the cruise on hold fro 24-48 hours.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

1 hour ago, Zhoen said:

First of many, many, I am sure...

 

There is a timer ticking down on the front page of NCL that ends tonight... I just want to make sure I'm ok ignoring it.  We are looking at the Greek islands/Ialy cruise in summer of 2025. What they are advertising right now strike me anything to jump on, I just want to double-check.

 

- we are very unlikely to book airfare through NCL even at BOGO

- we are looking at 2 cabins and only one will accept the "free open bar" (with $400 gratuities extra). --DD will be 18 then, and I can pay OOP for my couple of umbrella drinks.

- $50/stateroom would be nice for excursions, but let's be honest, hardly a drop in the bucket and not a deal breaker

 

My reasons for wanting to wait is that $500/$250 cruise first deal you guys were talking about -- I want to hold out for that if possible, especially if there is the possibility of the "double up" promotion. We also are booking the 2 rooms separately and using a military 10% discount for each. 

 

I am thinking I will be better off waiting for holiday deals (y'all have been talking about black friday, among other things...) Opinions?

 

There is a website on major social media where you can buy CruiseFirst certificates at less than you would pay through NCL.   I cannot tell you the site but Google is your friend.   I know there are some $500 CF  cents for sale.

Edited May 22, 2023 by MagnoliaBlossom

[complawyer]

ignore the timer completely. whenever  the offer changes, if you check the prices they stay more or less the same 70% 2nd person in cabin, price  didnt change. 50% off,price didnt change. other than the bogo airfare, the perks dining, drinks, wi-fi, shore excursions, have stayed more or less the same for the past few years.

 

many posters, have already stated that they are unhappy with ncl booking their flights. i have personally posted that i prefer to book on my own so i can pick and choose dates, seats and times.

 

i assure you, if you watch the time tick down to zero and  you check the next day or the day after, you'll see a brand new timer with more or less the same offers. check the cabin prices currently offered, then check in a few days. i think  you'll end up agreeing with me.

 

in the immortal words of me: Y'all ain't missing' nuthin'

[Sailing12Away]

If you're looking at 2025, but the cabin you want now with the minimal deposit. If you have a cruise next certificate, even better as you can use that to reserve your cabin with no OOP expenses (depending on category of cabin booked).

So long as you are before final payment, which for you would be sometime in 2024, you can reprice your cruise as often as you want with any new promotions that pop up which may be better. But if you wait to find one and miss out on a particular cabin or location you wanted, well that's on you. 

We always book as early as possible and I price check every few weeks. This gives us the cabin we want at the best possible price. I book with a number I'm comfortable with, and then sit back and use those 'savings' to book the next one after.

[Zhoen]

Thanks, everyone!  I am waiting to be accepted/joined onto a cruisenext resale group on that "major social media site..." aside from that, there is nothing I am set on regarding cabin location or anything.. I realize that the cruise first sale was just last week, which is how I heard about it (a day too late, of course...)

 

Thank you all for the reassurance... I just wanted to hear it from the experienced folks 🙂