NCL's false advertising (-40/50%)

[koreakruiser]

4 hours ago, roger001 said:

"All items up to 40% off" .   All that means is we will never discount more than that and may not discount any at all. 

That means they only have to actually have one cabin on one cruise on one ship at 40% off to satisfy the offer.  And NCL won't even tell you the port fees and taxes until you are ready to purchase.

[pete_coach]

1 hour ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

They do drop prices, but you'll need to rely on CruisePlum (or similar) to find those, not NCL's website splash screen.

I beg to differ.
I have kept very close tabs on the cost, hoping for a price drop. I used CruisePlum as well.

Since last June, there has been no price drop on our Jan Panama cruise in a Family Balcony cabin, regardless of the numerous 1/2 off, 2nd passenger free or whatever else they have had on sale. When I do the trial booking, the price has been identical.

So, I am quite sure the price does not go down

Edited November 26, 2023 by pete_coach

[ChiefMateJRK]

32 minutes ago, pete_coach said:

So, I am quite sure the price does not go down

I never said that all prices go down!  Yikes!!  

Edited November 26, 2023 by ChiefMateJRK

[pete_coach]

1 minute ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I never said that all prices do down!  Yikes!!  

Not playing word games with you.

You did say "They do drop prices" when I spoke of my specific case in post #49 and I gave you my specific results.

[ChiefMateJRK]

14 minutes ago, pete_coach said:

Not playing word games with you.

You did say "They do drop prices" when I spoke of my specific case in post #49 and I gave you my specific results.

Well, to be fair, I stated that "they do drop prices" and you begged to differ.  That would suggest that you were taking the position that they never drop prices.  So, do they drop them or not?🤣

Edited November 26, 2023 by ChiefMateJRK

[pete_coach]

1 minute ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Well, to be fair, I stated that "they do drop prices" and you begged to differ.  That would suggest that you were taking the position that they never drop prices.  So, do they drop them or not?

You win 🤔

Edited November 26, 2023 by pete_coach

[graphicguy]

Even on their WEB site they show the discounts.  Just looked….

[cruiser2015]

42 minutes ago, pete_coach said:

I beg to differ.
I have kept very close tabs on the cost, hoping for a price drop. I used CruisePlum as well.

Since last June, there has been no price drop on our Jan Panama cruise in a Family Balcony cabin, regardless of the numerous 1/2 off, 2nd passenger free or whatever else they have had on sale. When I do the trial booking, the price has been identical.

So, I am quite sure the price does not go down

Can't speak about the one you are checking, but my Club Balcony has been price dropped at least twice. I originally booked in early July. Later that month it dropped by $600. It recently dropped again, but at this late stage the comp is against my booking which includes a vet's discount, so there is almost no benefit to me - but would be a substantial drop if I did not have that discount and I would score a FCC for several hundred dollars.

[cruiser2015]

7 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

the amusing thing about this thread is this:  everyone, while complaining about the sales that aren't sales or the % discounts, is overlooking the most deceptive and misleading practive of them all.  "Free at Sea" isn't 'Free'.  It is 'included' but never 'Free'.  You are still paying for all that 'Free' stuff.  The reason marketers use the term 'Free' is because the easiest and quickest way to make a sale is to convince the buyer that the buyer is getting something for 'Free'.

Are you forgetting about the free meals?

And free entertainment?

And free cabin cleaning (daily!)?

[cruiser2015]

3 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

They do drop prices, but you'll need to rely on CruisePlum (or similar) to find those, not NCL's website splash screen.

While i do agree that Cruise Plum is a great tool - that I just learned about a few days ago on this board; and it might be the most efficient method, I found my price reductions by simply doing a mock booking, as I have done for many years.

I think that this method works most effectively when tracking one cruise and even one cabin category.

But the Plum is now on my radar.

[graphicguy]

Being a proverbial cruise shopper, a little while ago I was cross shopping a Celebrity Cruise to an NCL cruise.  “ALL INCLUDED” perks on Celebrity vs FAS on NCL.  Similar itineraries…both newer ships!  Perks were similar but not identical.

 

The big difference was the fare between the two.  The delta was 4 figures…Celebrity being much more expensive.

 

Point being, the Celebrity ALL INCLUDED fare is much higher than the “normal” fare.

 

Celebrity advertises the “unincluded” fare prominently.  Only when you try to book the ALL INCLUDED fare do you get the much higher fare!

[ChiefMateJRK]

3 minutes ago, cruiser2015 said:

While i do agree that Cruise Plum is a great tool - that I just learned about a few days ago on this board; and it might be the most efficient method, I found my price reductions by simply doing a mock booking, as I have done for many years.

I think that this method works most effectively when tracking one cruise and even one cabin category.

But the Plum is now on my radar.

I do both.  In fact, if the Plum suggests a price drop, I really don't know for sure until I do the mock booking.  At times, the price drop on the Plum will correlate with an NCL toggle to guarantee only rooms (which I generally don't want unless the price drop is huge).

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, cruiser2015 said:

Are you forgetting about the free meals?

And free entertainment?

And free cabin cleaning (daily!)?

I'm sure some think those are free too.

[cruiser2015]

2 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I do both.  In fact, if the Plum suggests a price drop, I really don't know for sure until I do the mock booking.  At times, the price drop on the Plum will correlate with an NCL toggle to guarantee only rooms (which I generally don't want unless the price drop is huge).

Good point.

[fshagan]

23 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

Yeah, it's only been going on since the day cruising began. So deceptive, unless you can read.

 

 

Yes, they have been using deceptive pricing since the beginning. Salesmen have also been lying since the beginning too.

 

The length of time they have been lying doesn't matter.

[DI9]

7 minutes ago, fshagan said:

The length of time they have been lying doesn't matter.

 

Doesn't matter how?

[koreakruiser]

They are already advertising their CYBER MONDAY sale with 50% off all cruises.  Supposed to end at 11 pm Eastern time Monday.  But we all know what will happen.....

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, koreakruiser said:

They are already advertising their CYBER MONDAY sale with 50% off all cruises.  Supposed to end at 11 pm Eastern time Monday.  But we all know what will happen.....

Yes, there will be a BIG news flash that it is extended.

[azappraiser]

On 11/25/2023 at 10:04 AM, graphicguy said:

Car sales ads are similar.  Invoice pricing suggests a price that the dealership pays for the car from the manufacturer.  In truth, it’s not even close.

Actually, the dealer does pay "invoice" to the manufacturer; there are "incentives" that are paid  to the dealer after the vehicle is sold within 90 days.  If the car sits on the lot too long, it begins to cost money (interest payments) for flooring until it is eventually sold.

 

MSRP is the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price, just like Published Full-Fares for cruises.

[RocketMan275]

6 hours ago, koreakruiser said:

They are already advertising their CYBER MONDAY sale with 50% off all cruises.  Supposed to end at 11 pm Eastern time Monday.  But we all know what will happen.....

I have a cruise booked for jan 2025.  The Cyber Monday price is $2000 more than the price I paid.

[david_sobe]

Like most cruise marketing, this is not geared for us on this board (the seasoned cruisers).  We know what a good deal is or a fair price.  Most of the cruise line marketing is for luring first time cruisers. They may not care to ever get their business again but they want their first cruise.  They know the majority of us here will always cruise.  So this slick marketing is sadly misleading people that are not aware.   Many years ago the NCL rep in charge of marketing to travel agents was speaking and it was captured on youtube.  NCL had just started their "free at sea" program.  She had a slip of the tongue and was saying how successful the program was because the customers thought they were getting stuff for free.  Once she realized what she said, she tried to clarify but we all knew she spoke the truth for a second 😆

[graphicguy]

28 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Like most cruise marketing, this is not geared for us on this board (the seasoned cruisers).  We know what a good deal is or a fair price.  Most of the cruise line marketing is for luring first time cruisers. They may not care to ever get their business again but they want their first cruise.  They know the majority of us here will always cruise.  So this slick marketing is sadly misleading people that are not aware.   Many years ago the NCL rep in charge of marketing to travel agents was speaking and it was captured on youtube.  NCL had just started their "free at sea" program.  She had a slip of the tongue and was saying how successful the program was because the customers thought they were getting stuff for free.  Once she realized what she said, she tried to clarify but we all knew she spoke the truth for a second 😆

Good point.

 

I think the naive look at that marketing (or, the marketing for new cars, or for a host of other goods and services that are perpetually on sale) and see the “regular” pricing and think “great deal” for Black Friday, or Cyber Monday, or Labor Day, etc) and book the fare.

 

For good or ill, a little shopping reveals the “real” deals. If you’re not willing to do that, or expect a gov’t entity to shop pricing for you, take what they offer.

 

Me?  I love the hunt!  I love shopping fares and get a little bit of a thrill when I find a real deal.

 

Again, if you see a fare on a cruise you like and believe it’s a good deal for you, book it.  To hand wring about pricing after the fact is a fool’s errand.

Edited November 27, 2023 by graphicguy

[RocketMan275]

57 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Like most cruise marketing, this is not geared for us on this board (the seasoned cruisers).  We know what a good deal is or a fair price.  Most of the cruise line marketing is for luring first time cruisers. They may not care to ever get their business again but they want their first cruise.  They know the majority of us here will always cruise.  So this slick marketing is sadly misleading people that are not aware.   Many years ago the NCL rep in charge of marketing to travel agents was speaking and it was captured on youtube.  NCL had just started their "free at sea" program.  She had a slip of the tongue and was saying how successful the program was because the customers thought they were getting stuff for free.  Once she realized what she said, she tried to clarify but we all knew she spoke the truth for a second 😆

I've had several posters explain that since they don't get an itemized bill showing the Free At Sea items, then it is obvious that those items are, in fact, free.

[PhillyTravelBug]

10 hours ago, koreakruiser said:

They are already advertising their CYBER MONDAY sale with 50% off all cruises.  Supposed to end at 11 pm Eastern time Monday.  But we all know what will happen.....

Exactly.  They ran the same deal as their Black Friday deal. Which one is it? Make up your minds. 😜

[schmoopie17]

On 11/26/2023 at 11:26 AM, ChiefMateJRK said:

Actually, I doubt our friend @schmoopie17was fooled a first time.  I'm sure there are a handful of extremely naive/stupid cruisers who are deceived by this marketing, but I highly doubt that there are any among the fine experienced cruisers on this fine forum.

 

Anybody is welcome to raise their hand if I'm mistaken.🤣

I'm old enough to remember The Who. Apparently he's not...or it went right over his head.