Explain free at sea to me…

[RocketMan275]

19 hours ago, david_sobe said:

None of it is free.  I heard someone call it Tax At Sea because all these offers do is surcharge your base cruise price.  But don't believe me believe NCL.  Many years ago the head NCL employee in charge of working with TA's was talking about the new "Free at Sea" offers.  She was saying what a big success they were because customers "think" they are getting stuff for free.  Its all a gimmick.  Yes, If you drink like a fish then yes you can make out on the deal.  Yes the specialty dining is more if you pay ala carte.  However NCL is not losing a dime because all of your meals and drinks are already baked into your base fare.

You don't have to take the offers.  I am not trying to start a debate on the value of the offers but just reminding people that nothing on a cruise ship is free.  Its all a marketing campaign.

Many years ago when the "Free at Sea" offers started, they would take a break for a week or so and then come back.  When I was pricing a cruise during the week of no "free at sea" offers, the cruise price went down $200.  The next week when the offers came back, the cruise price went up $200.

I rest my case.

🙊🙈🙉

It upsets some for someone to point out that nothing is free.  

Any marketing expert will tell  you the quickest way to make a sale is to convince someone they're getting something for free.  

[Menocchio]

19 hours ago, david_sobe said:

 Yes, If you drink like a fish then yes you can make out on the deal.

Like a fish? If you mean ahead of the charged gratuity, two cocktails a day or two beers and a soda will get you ahead of the curve. That's hardly "like a fish" for a cruise. 

[Liljo22]

48 minutes ago, hallux said:

Unless you take a (increasingly rare) sail-away rate where you don't have to decline the offers in order to not get them.

Sure but just about all mass market cruise lines have these rates that are discounted because you are giving the line the ability to stick you where ever they have space.  On a cruise I am tracking with RCCL, they give you a $257 per person discount for this pleasure.  

 

[hallux]

2 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

Sure but just about all mass market cruise lines have these rates that are discounted because you are giving the line the ability to stick you where ever they have space.  On a cruise I am tracking with RCCL, they give you a $257 per person discount for this pleasure.  

 

Yup, that's one of the things you give up with NCL when you go from a FAS rate to a sail-away.  The difference is that with the FAS rate on NCL you get much more than just the ability to pick your room (on sailings where it's possible), you're also getting the excursion credit, beverage package (for $21.80 per day, try THAT on Royal!), some internet minutes and specialty dining for around $10 per meal.

[DCGuy64]

13 minutes ago, hallux said:

for $21.80 per day, try THAT on Royal!

100%! The one cruise we did with Royal, their beverage package was VERY expensive (even when we had a 30% discount). NCL's offer is one of the best bargains out there. We did Oceania once and the selection was very limited and only in the dining rooms at mealtimes.

[Liljo22]

31 minutes ago, hallux said:

(for $21.80 per day, try THAT on Royal!)

The Harmony OTS cruise I mentioned above currently is $87.99pppd plus 18% for the drink package.  That's almost $1,500 per couple added to the cruise.  The base fare is also $200pp more than the Prima on the same itinerary(Prima adds HC) with an Oceanview Balcony on both.  

 

At that price, the drink package is no longer worth it.  

 

Edited May 20 by Liljo22

[Russiamomm]

7 minutes ago, Liljo22 said:

The Harmony OTS cruise I mentioned above currently is $87.99pppd plus 18% for the drink package.  That's almost $1,500 per couple added to the cruise.  The base fare is also $200pp more than the Prima on the same itinerary(Prima adds HC) with an Oceanview Balcony on both.  

 

At that price, the drink package is no longer worth it.  

I completely agree.  We did one short RCL cruise a year or so ago.  The drink package was something like $110 pp/pd.  We declined it.  The first drink on the pool deck was almost $18!  All I could think was this would have been almost a whole day of drinking on NCL.  Similarly, we did a Carnival last August.  It was a casino comp and we drank free in the casino.  Again, we declined the package, which was pricey.  Needless to say, we didn’t drink much on either of those trips.  And I’ll never set foot on another Carnival ship again - for completely different reasons.  😂

 

[DCGuy64]

13 minutes ago, Liljo22 said:

The Harmony OTS cruise I mentioned above currently is $87.99pppd plus 18% for the drink package.  That's almost $1,500 per couple added to the cruise.  The base fare is also $200pp more than the Prima on the same itinerary(Prima adds HC) with an Oceanview Balcony on both.  

 

At that price, the drink package is no longer worth it.  

 

I would love to have this graphic to show people when they say the $21.80 pppd for gratuities on NCL is a rip-off. RCCL is much more expensive (and, at least in my experience, the rooms aren't cheaper enough to make up the difference.)

[Liljo22]

3 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I would love to have this graphic to show people when they say the $21.80 pppd for gratuities on NCL is a rip-off. RCCL is much more expensive (and, at least in my experience, the rooms aren't cheaper enough to make up the difference.)

Someone figured out a hack that allows you to see what the extras pricing is for RCCL and Celebrity before you reserve the cruise.  They created a google doc where you can enter the cruise information and it pulls the links for you.  I don't know if this will allow you to get in without going directly through the link on the message board.

 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ukT6gOPcu7coL92LuDcyDaWXQfO88u5kN9FEdHRj5bM/edit#gid=0

[david_sobe]

4 hours ago, Menocchio said:

Like a fish? If you mean ahead of the charged gratuity, two cocktails a day or two beers and a soda will get you ahead of the curve. That's hardly "like a fish" for a cruise. 

You missed the point completely but that is ok.  You believe you are not paying for drinks and only paying for gratuities that you already paid for with your base cruise price.  
Enjoy your cruise!

Edited May 20 by david_sobe

[Liljo22]

32 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

You missed the point completely but that is ok.  You believe you are not paying for drinks and only paying for gratuities that you already paid for with your base cruise price.  
Enjoy your cruise!

He did not miss the point.  You just made a bad argument.  

[david_sobe]

6 minutes ago, Liljo22 said:

He did not miss the point.  You just made a bad argument.  

If you truly believe Free at sea is free.

Bless your heart.

😆

 

 

Edited May 20 by david_sobe

[schmoopie17]

5 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

If you truly believe Free at sea is free.

Bless your heart.

😆

 

I agree that Free at Sea is a misnomer.

It's not Free...and half the time you're not even at Sea.

How about "Not Really Free and sometimes you're Docked"?

Nah, doesn't flow off the tongue.

But, it's still better than paying by the drink (especially if you're like us and one of the main perks of cruising is the drink package.) Trust me, we get more than our money's worth.

[jrt.mom]

It's weird NCLonomics, they allowed me to drop the drink package, but wouldn't give me the soda package in its place. But even after paying for the soda package I'm coming out ahead without having to pay for the "free" drink package tips.

[hallux]

2 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

The one cruise we did with Royal, their beverage package was VERY expensive (even when we had a 30% discount). NCL's offer is one of the best bargains out there.

 

2 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

The Harmony OTS cruise I mentioned above currently is $87.99pppd plus 18% for the drink package.  That's almost $1,500 per couple added to the cruise.  The base fare is also $200pp more than the Prima on the same itinerary(Prima adds HC) with an Oceanview Balcony on both.  

 

How DARE we counter those saying NCL's free at sea isn't worth it by posting actual facts?  haha  I'm not a drinker and haven't sailed Royal since 2018, but I peek at the board periodically and see comments about them from YouTubers - their drink packages and dynamic pricing at Coco Cay put NCL's "nickel and diming" to SHAME...

[Russiamomm]

7 minutes ago, hallux said:

 

How DARE we counter those saying NCL's free at sea isn't worth it by posting actual facts?  haha  I'm not a drinker and haven't sailed Royal since 2018, but I peek at the board periodically and see comments about them from YouTubers - their drink packages and dynamic pricing at Coco Cay put NCL's "nickel and diming" to SHAME...

Thank you!  I’ll never understand the complaints about “Nickle and Diming” on NCL.  To me they are much more transparent than the other lines.  Is Free at Sea free?  No.  Is it a good deal?  Absolutely.  I also like that they treat like an adult and allow you to get two drinks at once and you don’t have to sign for every drink with the package.

 

[Liljo22]

1 hour ago, david_sobe said:

If you truly believe Free at sea is free.

Bless your heart.

😆

 

 

The goal of businesses are to operate at a profit so of course we are paying for it just like we are paying for the salaries of the corporate employees or the utilities of their buildings.  It’s a bad argument because you can’t tell me what the gross profit per passenger is or what it was before they added the perks.  You can’t tell me what the gross profit of their competitors are compared to theirs.

Did NCL gross up their fares when the perks were added?  If so, what was that gross up?  Was it 1 to 1 or was it 1 to 1/4?  How do you know NCL didn’t give up gross profit to attract more customers?  They are in a competitive market place so prices need to reflect that.  
 

Let’s throw some easy numbers out there.  Let’s say before the perks fares were on average $1,000 a passenger and they made a gp of $500 per passenger.  After the perks, the fares stayed $1000 but the gp is now $300.  The passenger count increased and NCL actual makes more revenue overall.  Yes you are paying for them in the sense that they are included in your fare but are you really paying for them if the company ate the costs?

Edited May 20 by Liljo22

[Two Wheels Only]

2 hours ago, jrt.mom said:

It's weird NCLonomics, they allowed me to drop the drink package, but wouldn't give me the soda package in its place.

 

Substituting the PBP promo for the soda package promo isn't an option unless you are under 21 years-old. 

 

 

3 hours ago, jrt.mom said:

But even after paying for the soda package I'm coming out ahead without having to pay for the "free" drink package tips.

 

Well, it depends on how you look at it. If NCL had already earmarked part of your fare to cover some of the PBP, NCL came out ahead. The fact that you purchased the soda package swings it even more in NCL's favor. 

[Menocchio]

2 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

The goal of businesses are to operate at a profit so of course we are paying for it just like we are paying for the salaries of the corporate employees or the utilities of their buildings.  It’s a bad argument because you can’t tell me what the gross profit per passenger is or what it was before they added the perks.  You can’t tell me what the gross profit of their competitors are compared to theirs.

Did NCL gross up their fares when the perks were added?  If so, what was that gross up?  Was it 1 to 1 or was it 1 to 1/4?  How do you know NCL didn’t give up gross profit to attract more customers?  They are in a competitive market place so prices need to reflect that.  
 

Let’s throw some easy numbers out there.  Let’s say before the perks fares were on average $1,000 a passenger and they made a gp of $500 per passenger.  After the perks, the fares stayed $1000 but the gp is now $300.  The passenger count increased and NCL actual makes more revenue overall.  Yes you are paying for them in the sense that they are included in your fare but are you really paying for them if the company ate the costs?

It's also fallacious to state that the cost of the drinks is exactly built into the fare cent for cent. It's a promotion. It makes the cruise more attractive. If it has a free (well, relatively low-cost) unlimited drink package included then more people will buy in. They can eat some of the revenue lost by not selling (more expensive) packages or drinks a la carte, because they have more sales by volume. 

 

I mean, of course it's not free. You need to buy a whole darn cruise to get it! I can buy a case of beer and a handle of jack and drink it at home for much less than even the cheapest fares NCL offers.  

[kelkel2]

On 5/19/2024 at 12:43 PM, PartyPlannerLady said:

 

We get several hundred minutes free every cruise and have yet to ever log in.  I am on a cruise.  The LAST thing I want to do is have my nise stuck in a computer.  We run a computer - /internet - web design and hosting business but we are smart enough to have folks who can run things for a week without us like most good business people do.  No one NEEDS to be on line during a cruise.  Unplug and enjoy the real world that is out there!

Well in this case, my kids are going to be at home with their grandparents. So I absolutely need internet access to keep in touch and make sure they’re ok. So it’s wonderful that you can check out and turn everythign off, that’s just not where I’m at in life. I absolutely wouldn’t be able to do that. 

[kelkel2]

21 hours ago, graphicguy said:

 

Thank you!! I really appreciate the break down. 
We’re extremely interested in this cruise, most of the short cruises are on smaller older ships with not near as much to do. So obviously this cruise being short and on the Escape, clearly that’s a huge plus. We know we like carnival, we’ve always had a good time. But we’re just thinking of trying something new and the free at sea is definitely intriguing. 
The only thing that really appeals to me about carnival’s drink package is that it includes specialty coffee, Gatorade, bottled water, and energy drinks as well as the 15 alcohol drinks a day. 

[DCGuy64]

28 minutes ago, kelkel2 said:

So I absolutely need internet access to keep in touch and make sure they’re ok.

With respect, you don't "need" to do it, you just very much want to. As a human being, you need oxygen, water, food, clothing, and shelter. That's it. Everything else falls under the hierarchy of wants.

[IAcruising]

8 hours ago, kelkel2 said:

The only thing that really appeals to me about carnival’s drink package is that it includes specialty coffee, Gatorade, bottled water, and energy drinks as well as the 15 alcohol drinks a day. 

 

A nice package, but what's the cost difference? NCL is $22/day -- all in -- unlimited alcohol, and 2 drinks at a time.

 

[klfrodo]

Gotta love all the hardcore apologists coming up with any defense imaginable with their unwavering support NCL. Or any other cruise line for that matter.

NCL's Free at Sea is nothing more than a marketing tool. Just as Carnivals "Fun Ships" is a marketing tool.

NCL's drink package works for some but not all. Carnivals drink package works for some but not all. RCCL's drink package, same as above.

The sycophants need to give it a break. NCL may be good, but they are not the best to all.

[IAcruising]

On 5/21/2024 at 4:04 PM, klfrodo said:

 

The sycophants need to give it a break.

 

 

You don't know the actual definition of that word, do you....