Yesterday, I posted a few details on the new all-inclusive packages being offered by NCL. The packages are available on 2015 cruises from 3 to 14 nights and include:
- Ultimate Dining Package
- Ultimate Beverage Package
- Bottles of water for your vacation
- Gratuities associated with package and Service Charges
- Shore excursion credit of $200 per person on 6+ day cruises (or $100 per person on 3-5 day cruises)
- 250 Minute internet package
- 10% off cruise fare
- 1 Bottle of wine
- Bingo session (3 games)
- 20 Photos, any size
- Chocolate covered strawberries
That’s pretty good, and I quite like the option of having this available. Whether I would buy it or not depends on my plans for the cruise, and that’s an individual decision. All of those things (minus bingo and pictures) are things that I am very likely to buy during a cruise vacation. But let’s take a look at the cost. The cruise I selected to test was a 7-night Caribbean itinerary departing Miami aboard Norwegian Getaway, the line’s newest vessel. I selected an aft balcony stateroom and added the “ALLIN” promo code when selecting stateroom options.
NCL’s website then gave me the price comparison, $1239 for the normal fare, or $2011 for the all inclusive rate.
There are some taxes and port charges to work in here too, but the price difference works out to roughly $800 per person, or $114.29 per person, per day. For many cruisers, that is a price point worth considering. For this cruiser in particular, who tends to frequent the specialty restaurants and up charge offerings as well as the bar, this could work out in my favor. At the very least, I’d be breaking even, and I’d go into the cruise knowing what what my final cost would be.
Like most things cruising, this is an individual decision. It can work out if you are one who takes advantage of the things offered in the package. If not, you’re probably better off without it.
-MJ, August 10, 2014
Wow Dan, that is annoying. An activation fee?
I know this is an old post but I justed booked a 3 night “booze cruise” on NCL Sky for October 2015. We booked an Ocean View room and you get one of the “Freestyle” choices. I was surprised that the service fees on this are so high. Seems like a bit of bait and switch or nickel and dime
Here was are offer after we booked:
Your Freestyle Choice option includes one of the follow. Please respond to me with your selection.
The Ultimate Dining package with a onetime activation fee of $10.62. This is a per person charge for the 1st and 2nd guest in the cabin. The ultimate dining package allows you unlimited dining at the specialty restaurants. However this does not include the beverages or the gratuities. This does not interfere with your regular dining. The additional cost will be added to your existing balance, or the cost will be charged to the credit card you have on file.
The Ultimate Beverage Package with a onetime activation fee of $31.86. This is a per person charge for the 1st and 2nd guest in the cabin. The ultimate beverage package includes sodas, a variety of spirits and cocktails, wines by the glass and bottle or draft beer up to $11.00. The additional cost will be added to your existing balance, or the cost will be charged to the credit card you have on file.
250 Minute Internet Package or
A $75.00 Per Port Shore Excursion Credit.
I figure if I’m adding it up for myself, I’d tell others. All depends on what you’d really do if it is worth it. For my husband and I, it is. The $899 is pp and the savings and figures are pp as well. I know NCL puts something like $2,400 savings, but that is per cabin (assuming 2). I wish I could get paid to travel and do reviews, but alas, I teach and go back in two days. BOOOOOOO!
I really do appreciate… sorry, I don’t know why my last comment reflected someone else’s name…a tech glitch I suppose. That was awesome analysis and very useful. Good luck this school year!
Wise2u…I’ve been adding this up to see if it is worth it. I’ve also included a basic review of Norweigian’s newest ship, the Getaway from this perspective.
My husband and I just returned last month from the Getaway on a 7 day cruise. We didn’t drink very much at all and had the dining package somehow thrown in with our balcony room (We cruised with NCL one before…I think that helped), the dining package also included one dinner show ($29.99 value/per person) on the FIRST NIGHT ONLY of the cruise. We did not gamble, play bingo, or buy pictures. We did, however, eat at a different specialty restaurant for 6 nights and one again the last night we would have spent $154.99 per person (pp) if we paid the cover charges individually for the restaurants we ate at. If we didn’t have the package thrown in, we would have only paid $119 for it anyway, so avoiding the crowds, the convenience of making reservations and being seated right away, avoiding the 15% gratuity added to the cover charges, and eating at 6 different restaurants for dinner was well worth it. If we would have eaten at Cagney’s every night, well that would have been $210 for 7 dinners.
Here are the Getaway’s restaurant cover charges pp:
Cagney’s-$30
Illusionarium-$29.99 (first night of cruise it should be free)
La Cucina-$15
Le Bistro-$20, Dressier
Moderno-$20
Tepanakyi-$25
Children 12 and under eat for ½ the cover price.
Ocean Blue-not included in dining package $39
Ala Carte-not included in dining package
Shaghai’s
Wasabi
The three above—if you have the dining package, you save 20% there
Wine Lovers the Musical- not included in dinner package-$25
The dinning package is well worth it if you go! Otherwise, you will be waiting for dinner at Taste, Savor or the dressier attire Tropicana for an hour more than likely or be stuck eating in the buffet. Tropicana did have entertainment (dancing or a band or both around 6pm every night, BUT if you eat at Cagney’s or Moderno which are above the Tropicana, ask to be seated on the inside wall since you have a better view of the entertainment anyway. The restaurants on deck 8 all have outside seating as well…so neat! I know you said before about strawberries and if you tell them about an anniversary, they usually do something for you…maybe…I do know that a 8 piece cake was brought out at Tepanaki’s for someone mentioning their birthday. A smaller restaurant is O’Sheehan’s. O’Sheehan’s is open 24/7…even while in port. This is a free restaurant for everyone. So there are 4 free restaurants and a buffet. They do enforce the dressy attire. We saw a man wearing really short, tight shorts, a white Haines t-shirt, and flip flops and he was shocked that Le Bistro wouldn’t let him in…I’m thinking…what the hell do you even think appropriate casual attire is for dinner? Jeans (un-ripped), nice flip flops, and a nice shirt were fine for most restaurants. The others, khakis and a polo would do, so you still aren’t wearing suits. There was a Glow party (used to be the white-hot party) and one Norwegian’s night out (dress up if you want).
I loved eating at the buffet for breakfast, or for a quick snack or lunch. So many people kept going in for ice cream or drinks. You can do room service during most NORMAL hours for FREE. It was midnight to 5am where they charged a flat fee of $3.95 for room service. The only think on the room service menu that costs was a $5 brick oven pizza. Tea, lemonade and water (not bottled) are free…and you can do Arnold Palmers to switch it up.
To compare for the $899 all-inclusive deal (that’s the 6-8 day cruise all-in fee), here’s what you’ll pay for a la carte:
*Gratuities $12 per person, per day -$84
*Strawberries-$12
*Bottle of wine-I saw anywhere from $22 up…so safely estimate $22 value.
*Dining package-$119
*$200 shore excursion credit
*Bingo-$10 per game was the budget bingo…you get 1 session, three games, so let’s say $30
*Water-6 bottles at $4.50 per bottle- $27
*Internet 250 minutes-$100
*There is a $3.95 one time user name fee per person, not sure if that is thrown in or not….
*Photos-I found in my Freestyle Dailies, that it is a $274 value, but who is going to pay that normally for 20 photos?!
*7 day Drink package with gratuity added in value-$434.70 (would have been $474.95 if not purchased before getting on the ship).
*The 10% off comes off of the ROOM FARE, so it doesn’t come off of the additional taxes and port charges…right now balcony rooms are 879-979, so say $88 per person.
The above value totals up to $1,390.70
Something to know about packages (dining, and drink packages), you should buy them before you get on the ship. The prices go up about $5 per day when you are on the ship, and they are only available for purchase the first two days of your cruise. There is a corks and caps package for just wine and beer (see links below) and there are daily drink specials for the budget-conscious. The other thing is that if one person in your cabin has the package, then ALL OTHERS IN THE CABIN need to purchase the package (as long as they are of age). My husband and I inquired about this, cause we thought I was pregnant when booking, so we didn’t buy the drink package, but what if he wanted it and I couldn’t drink?! They wouldn’t allow just one person to buy it according to one representative, and according to another: there were special cases.” It seemed a bit annoying since I don’t drink to get drunk anyway (I had a bad experience with blacking out on Pinnacle that has scarred me and since I’ve not gotten that tipsy and don’t ever plan to again in my life!) I can’t tell you how many times I saw someone with a drink package keep going to the same bartender within a minute of just putting a drink down to go get another drink to give to someone else…so what they are worried about with a wife that doesn’t drink more than two drinks a day is beyond me.
Bahama Mamas were the cheapest mixed drinks at $7, many were $8. Beers $5.95 and up. Some nights they had pitcher deals at the buffet. There were also nights they had tastings or social hours where drinks might be as low as $5 if you wanted to drink. If you are in port…how much are you going to drink on the ship that day?…something to think about. Plus a lot of times you find cheap drinks ($4 mohitos in St. Maarten near the pier). IF YOU BUY DRINKS A LA CARTE: the bill you get to sign has a tip already on it (15%). If you drink on the ship while it is in port, you are also paying fees associated with where you are in port…so drinks on the ship are more while you are docked. The Freestyle Daily the night before clues you in on all of the drinking tastings and such…I’d plan your dinners around 6 so you can fit some of these things (4-6 is when they usually were) in and then shows after too (7:30 shows).
Here are some links to check out:
http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/cruiser/cmsPagesPopup.html?pageId=bonusdaysterms
https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/gifts-and-more
We ended up loving our experience, but felt we couldn’t really enjoy the idea of drinking, cause what if we drank enough for the cheaper corks and caps package instead of the ultimate drink package (). Although with a balcony room…is it safe to be tipsy anyway?!
We loved the cruise so much and don’t want the thought of what is our bill going to be looming over us…just want to let loose and have fun, so we might actually do this “ALLIN” option. If you are doing the dining package, shore excursions, want to save 10%, have access to the internet, and you have to pay for your service charges no matter what (the inclusive pays it), well you are up to $591 anyway for a 7 day cruise…so $308 left for the rest (photos, Bingo, strawberries, wine, 1st night dinner show, 6 bottles of water), even if you look at it for just drinks alone is worth it for the average person if you drink 6 of the cheaper drinks a day. This is easy to do if you drink mixed drinks, ‘cause I swear, they have little alcohol in them.
If you go…BOOK EVERYTHING BEFORE YOU GET ON THE SHIP! Cruise excursions, dinner shows, entertainment (comedians, shows, any packages you are going to get, cause when on the ship they go up in price). You would be amazed how quickly everything books up and how many people already took care of that before they even set foot on the ship!
We so wanted to play mini-golf, but it wasn’t monitored and people kept playing the 9 holes over and over and then not putting the balls and putters in the barrel, so we never did get to play. I was amazed at how this was unregulated and people couldn’t be civilized or courteous enough to see a couple was waiting 30 minutes to play and didn’t give us our chance. The other thing that surprised me was Spice, H2O, the adult-only area in the day. I saw so many parents who had their teenagers with them in there. Why NCL doesn’t patrol this and the mini-golf is confusing.
The plank was awesome! I’d buy a picture of that…and the ropes course was well worth the experience…same with all of the slides, but I’d do those at night when there are no crowds.
Extras I was interested in, but too pricey: $180 I think for ACCESS to the spa’s special areas: lounging, steam room, dry heat room, plunge pool. I remember thinking, well if it were $100, I’d do it.
Vibe…a dance club way up top deck, forward that is VIP..they only sell so many passes in to it, just like access to the spa’s special areas–only so many passes sold. Not sure how much Vibe was. There are other places to dance if that’s your thing though…Vibe is just for the Miami, VIP club feel. Bliss and Spice, H2O are the dancing locations at night for adults. There was a really cool ice bar, but unfortunately they take only so many people in every hour and I believe it was $20 to get in (they provide the coats).
One last thing I learned the stressful way: DO NOT schedule dinner reservations so close to when you have to be back on the ship…especially if you are on a tour. If you are in port from say 8-6, you are supposed to be back on the ship at 5:30. My husband and I scheduled a 2 hour tour on a bus that had stops and a rum tasting. I made the mistake of selecting a level one tour that did not have much walking. I was trying to avoid my husband being out in the sun since he was battling a bad sunburn after not listening to me asking him to put sunscreen on (made two of his days and nights trying to sleep [and mine] miserable when 30 seconds of spraying on SPF 45 could have avoided that…). So we selected a tour out of the sun with a level 1 (not much walking). What that translates to is you need an AARP card to join ‘cause if you are in your 30s, you will be the youngest on the tour! Next time I’m purposely scheduling one that says “lot’s of walking”! The get off the bus, get on the bus, walk around for “15 minutes” turned into a 30 minute affair at all three of our stops, and then the two additional stops out bus driver decided to add for rum cake and to get out and put your feet in the sand, so our 2 hour tour turned into a 3+ hour tour due to one block of festival traffic (30 minutes-gone), and older people, and with dinner reservations, we literally had to run back to the ship to make them. I would have been able to relax and laughed it off if we would have had reservations an hour later. If you are going to use your all-in credit for shore excursions wisely, do some shopping ahead of time to compare. Maho Beach did not cost us $55 pp to get there on our own and that’s what NCL wanted! Although the extra $10 pp for our Catamaran to St. Johns was worth the no-hassle transportation to the Cat from the ship and then back.
Bon Voyage!
Stacy,
You’re awesome!
show the full value…how much is the ultimate drink package? $20 upcharge for specialty dine? tips and service charges? bottle of wine sounds a little vague, how much $$$ of a bottle? how much is a 250 internet package worth?….if you tell them its your anniversary, sometimes you get strawberries for free, but how much are they valued at?
I bet if you add them all up, even the 10% discount on the cruise price, you still are overpaying by a few hundred bucks….unless you get 20 8″X10″ photos that you put a VERY high value on you won’t get close to breaking even…its just another gimmick to make people buy things they wouldn’t normally (bingo? really, how about slot credit?) and pretend the convenience factor is worth the price of the package. Some people have more money than sense and fall for the marketing ploys.