Please explain Cruise Next vs. Cruise First.

[KeithJenner]

5 hours ago, Jacobs Ema said:

Lots of good info here. Can you purchase and use cruise next for Haven category cabins? I had heard somewhere you can’t, and I’m planning 2 cruises for next year.

There are specific Cruise Next Haven vouchers. Which I believe are £500 rather than £250.

 

I don’t book Haven so don’t know the details.

[dbrown84]

7 hours ago, Jacobs Ema said:

Lots of good info here. Can you purchase and use cruise next for Haven category cabins? I had heard somewhere you can’t, and I’m planning 2 cruises for next year.

You would have to purchase the cruise next haven cert.  I don't have those prices handy, but it's on the NCL website 

[Asawi]

39 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

You would have to purchase the cruise next haven cert.  I don't have those prices handy, but it's on the NCL website 

As I understand it you can use the regular CN for Haven as well, but it  won't cover the whole deposit. The Haven certificates will though if I understand it correctly. A Haven certificate is $500 but it still only gives you $150 OBC, so same dollar discount as the regular ones.

Discalimer: I have never and more than likely will never book a Haven. The above is my understanding of terms and conditions.

[dbrown84]

30 minutes ago, Asawi said:

As I understand it you can use the regular CN for Haven as well, but it  won't cover the whole deposit. The Haven certificates will though if I understand it correctly. A Haven certificate is $500 but it still only gives you $150 OBC, so same dollar discount as the regular ones.

Discalimer: I have never and more than likely will never book a Haven. The above is my understanding of terms and conditions.

You are correct.  But you might as well go ahead and buy the haven cert if you know you will book it so that it serves as the full deposit 

[ChiefMateJRK]

I don't understand the Haven CNs at all.  Why would I pay $500 for $100 "free" OBC when I could pay that same $500 for 2 regular CNs and receive $250 OBC?  The Haven CN costs me $400 while the 2 regulars cost me $250.  I can still apply both to my Haven booking during the next double up promo, which happens about once a month these days.

[smillerholmes]

On 12/28/2023 at 9:00 AM, phillygwm said:

I have similar issues.  I usually just upgrade my cabin accordingly 🙂

 

Amex just ran the $200 refund on $1000 spend promo for some of us.  Same challenge:  I found myself booking my FAS+, prepaying DSC, and booking an excursion, despite it being 9 months before sailing, just to hit the threshold. 

For the first time I FINALLY received this offer on my AMEX Cash Magnet card.  At first I was going to just pay off all my currently booked cruises; that wasn't ideal, because I like to use my BofA card so I can save my points for cabin upgrades, but then I ran across the most recent iteration of the Refundable VS Non Refundable OBC board.  Apparently, you can buy OBC (which I did), choose the day it becomes available (I chose the last day of my upcoming cruise) and walk off the ship with the cash because it is REFUNDABLE.

🤞

I'll be interested to see if it's really that easy.

[phillygwm]

2 hours ago, smillerholmes said:

I'll be interested to see if it's really that easy.

Please give us an update.  I know they flag the NCL reservations merchant ID, which is how you receive the $200 credit in the first place.  I only wonder whether they'll give you cash rather than a credit back to the card used for the purchase.  I wouldn't think that NCL would do that (what if Aunt Sadie put an OBC gift into your account?  Would she get the funds returned?) but you'll find out soon enough, I suppose.

[Asawi]

On 12/29/2023 at 11:23 AM, dbrown84 said:

You would have to purchase the cruise next haven cert.  

 

Replace "have to" with "can" and we are in agreement. 😄 
 

17 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I don't understand the Haven CNs at all.  Why would I pay $500 for $100 "free" OBC when I could pay that same $500 for 2 regular CNs and receive $250 OBC?  The Haven CN costs me $400 while the 2 regulars cost me $250.  I can still apply both to my Haven booking during the next double up promo, which happens about once a month these days.

 

Well, you could of course buy two Haven certs for the same OBC as two regular ones. But I agree! Unless you plan on using them real soon, why let NCL hold more of your money hostage? (Could it maybe be that your deposit using Haven certs would be less than using "money"? That's the reason I can think of.)

[laudergayle]

8 hours ago, phillygwm said:

Please give us an update.  I know they flag the NCL reservations merchant ID, which is how you receive the $200 credit in the first place.  I only wonder whether they'll give you cash rather than a credit back to the card used for the purchase.  I wouldn't think that NCL would do that (what if Aunt Sadie put an OBC gift into your account?  Would she get the funds returned?) but you'll find out soon enough, I suppose.

The cruise ship doesn’t credit back to a credit card.  It will be refunded in cash available the day before the morning of departure.

[smillerholmes]

2 hours ago, laudergayle said:

The cruise ship doesn’t credit back to a credit card.  It will be refunded in cash available the day before the morning of departure.

The day BEFORE the last day - hmmm...I just tried to change it, but I couldn't.  I guess I'll actually have to use the phone.  I need to contact them anyway as I need new amenity statements for multiple cruises.  Thanks for the info!

[dbrown84]

6 hours ago, Asawi said:

Replace "have to" with "can" and we are in agreement. 😄 

Thanks for the English lesson 

[retiredyoungLV]

On 12/28/2023 at 10:14 AM, ChiefMateJRK said:

I have never used Cruise First, but have used Cruise Next a lot.  The $250 per CN comes off the total, which includes base fare, taxes, port fees, etc.  Is there such a thing as a seven day NCL cruise that has out the door pricing of less than $500?  According to CruisePlum, the cheapest total price booking currently available on NCL is a 12 day Orlando - Rome inside cabin for one passenger at $1210.

You're right. I wasn't adding port charges.

 

[wally4ever]

On 12/27/2023 at 11:08 PM, UKstages said:

conversely, my understanding of cruise next certificates is that the cruise you book must be 120 days out from the day you book the cruise, not the purchase date of the certificates. 

 

for this reason, i prefer cruise first.

 

I got off the Escape yesterday.  While onboard, I purchased four Cruise Next certificates and immediately applied those four certificates to a cruise leaving December 2024 and another leaving December 2025.  

[KeithJenner]

On 12/29/2023 at 5:08 PM, ChiefMateJRK said:

I don't understand the Haven CNs at all.  Why would I pay $500 for $100 "free" OBC when I could pay that same $500 for 2 regular CNs and receive $250 OBC?  The Haven CN costs me $400 while the 2 regulars cost me $250.  I can still apply both to my Haven booking during the next double up promo, which happens about once a month these days.

My understanding (which may be wrong) is that Haven CruiseNext act as a full deposit on a Haven cabin, whereas if you use normal ones then you will still need to use cash to top up the deposit.

[ChiefMateJRK]

11 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

My understanding (which may be wrong) is that Haven CruiseNext act as a full deposit on a Haven cabin, whereas if you use normal ones then you will still need to use cash to top up the deposit.

Well, maybe?  If they have a double up offer, you should be able to use those two CNs.  Otherwise, just cash up to $500 and wait until the next double up offer (likely next week).  The math is compelling here.

[KeithJenner]

1 hour ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Well, maybe?  If they have a double up offer, you should be able to use those two CNs.  Otherwise, just cash up to $500 and wait until the next double up offer (likely next week).  The math is compelling here.

I think that the deposit for a Haven room can be quite a lot. If you are just using normal CruiseNext then you may have to pay extra cash as well as your deposit (even if there is a double up). CruiseNext Haven removes that problem.

 

I think - As I say, I don't actually book Suites, so I'm just going on what I've picked up in discussions on here. CruiseNext Haven are not something I would ever buy myself. Just trying to explain why others may value them.

[ChiefMateJRK]

5 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

I think that the deposit for a Haven room can be quite a lot. If you are just using normal CruiseNext then you may have to pay extra cash as well as your deposit (even if there is a double up). CruiseNext Haven removes that problem.

 

I think - As I say, I don't actually book Suites, so I'm just going on what I've picked up in discussions on here. CruiseNext Haven are not something I would ever buy myself. Just trying to explain why others may value them.

Aren't the Haven deposits just $500 (party of two)?  Somebody may need to help me with the math here.  Why would I pay $400 for a $500 deposit when I could just pay $250 for two CNs?

[KeithJenner]

32 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Aren't the Haven deposits just $500 (party of two)?  Somebody may need to help me with the math here.  Why would I pay $400 for a $500 deposit when I could just pay $250 for two CNs?

Because the deposit for the Haven is so much more. I just did a quick google and the page which came up said that the deposit required for the Haven is 10% of the fare (I have no idea if that is current or not). Given the cost of Haven rooms, that deposit could easily be in the thousands of dollars.

 

Therefore, if you are using two CN vouchers you may also have to come up with quite a bit of cash to secure your room (this may happen a couple of years out, if you are booking early).

 

Meanwhile, one $500 CN Haven deposit will do the job.

 

I suspect that is why some people buy Haven vouchers.

[KeithJenner]

I’ve just done a dummy booking, to give a better idea.

 

This is in the UK, so the booking terms are  different to the US, but I’m sure the principle is the same.

 

Looking at an 11 day cruise in August 2025 on the Prima in an aft penthouse. The cost is around $20k for two people, and they actually want a 20% deposit. So, if I was to book this now, using two normal CruisNext vouchers I would also need to pay about $3,500 to NCL now (a year and a half out).

 

Alternatively, if I was to use Haven CruiseNext then just $500 would secure the room, meaning I can keep hold of the other $3,500 for a year and a few months. Even if I use two of them (assuming you can double up Haven CruiseNext) then I’m still holding on to $3k for that time.

 

This makes the fact that the discount is at a lower percentage of the voucher value irrelevant.

[dbrown84]

45 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Aren't the Haven deposits just $500 (party of two)?  Somebody may need to help me with the math here.  Why would I pay $400 for a $500 deposit when I could just pay $250 for two CNs?

you actually save the same dollar amount either way, it's just that you're not comparing apples to apples.  You're right, if you bought one $500 deposit, you save $100.  That is also the same amount you'd save if you bought one $250 regular cert.  If you buy 2 $250 certs, you save $250, which is the same amount you'd save if you bought 2 $500 certs.  So if you were apply two regular certs, you'd also have the ability to apply 2 Haven certs.  Either way, you'd save $250, and with the Haven certs, you whole deposit is covered.  If you use the two regular certs, you still have to make up the difference int he deposit amount.

[ChiefMateJRK]

29 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

Because the deposit for the Haven is so much more. I just did a quick google and the page which came up said that the deposit required for the Haven is 10% of the fare (I have no idea if that is current or not).

Thanks.  I did not know that.  For some reason, I thought it was just twice a normal deposit.

[ChiefMateJRK]

18 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

you actually save the same dollar amount either way, it's just that you're not comparing apples to apples.  You're right, if you bought one $500 deposit, you save $100.  That is also the same amount you'd save if you bought one $250 regular cert.  If you buy 2 $250 certs, you save $250, which is the same amount you'd save if you bought 2 $500 certs.  So if you were apply two regular certs, you'd also have the ability to apply 2 Haven certs.  Either way, you'd save $250, and with the Haven certs, you whole deposit is covered.  If you use the two regular certs, you still have to make up the difference int he deposit amount.

Thanks.  I really didn't understand Haven deposits (likely because I'll never make one).  I did just, for the first time in my life, mock a Haven booking and I'm seeing a >$500 deposit for a cheap, off-season Haven cabin.  Now it makes sense why somebody would buy a $500 Haven CN.😎

[CRUIS4ME]

We cruise with Royal and NCL.  We try to plan a year out.  This past summer, I purchased a Cruise First certificate  before we went on our two NCL cruises.  We talked to the Cruise Next folks extensively gathering information and analyzing how to spend our dollars to our best advantage.   They will not combine a Cruise first certificate with a cruise next certificate for a booking.  Since we had already invested $250 we could not understand why we would want to buy four $250 cruise next certificates only to use two of them on a booking, have two for a future booking, and still not be able to use the Cruise first certificate…and it would tie up about 1K of our funds on a cruise we may or may not take this next year.  We booked our next cruise, applied the $500 from the $250 cruise first certificate and kept our 1K in our pockets.   I am not sold on NCL’s cruise next program at all.   

[dbrown84]

Just now, CRUIS4ME said:

We cruise with Royal and NCL.  We try to plan a year out.  This past summer, I purchased a Cruise First certificate  before we went on our two NCL cruises.  We talked to the Cruise Next folks extensively gathering information and analyzing how to spend our dollars to our best advantage.   They will not combine a Cruise first certificate with a cruise next certificate for a booking.  Since we had already invested $250 we could not understand why we would want to buy four $250 cruise next certificates only to use two of them on a booking, have two for a future booking, and still not be able to use the Cruise first certificate…and it would tie up about 1K of our funds on a cruise we may or may not take this next year.  We booked our next cruise, applied the $500 from the $250 cruise first certificate and kept our 1K in our pockets.   I am not sold on NCL’s cruise next program at all.   

I use cruise first, too.  Mostly because I book inside cabins and I don't want to hope for a "any cabin" double up before final payment.  By using cruise first, I always have $500 in credits (I buy when the $250/$500 certs are available and let it season in my account).  I also book within final payment anyway.  As long as you understand the restrictions of the cruise first vs cruise next, you're good to stick with cruise first.  Now they have started periodically offering a triple up on the cruise next which can make them more valuable, but I've never seen the triple up offered on anything below balcony

[ChiefMateJRK]

4 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

I use cruise first, too.  Mostly because I book inside cabins and I don't want to hope for a "any cabin" double up before final payment. 

I'm the opposite.  I stock up on CNs and apply them during double ups to my many future inside bookings.  They have double-ups for insides like every month.