Thank you, misscraps, for the detailed response -- the offer is part of a NCL promotion, as they will be at the St. Louis Harrahs the two weekends the offer is valid, and the offer appears to be one of the better ones -- up to seven days, balcony cabin, can choose Caribbean, Bermuda, Bahamas, Europe (Jade or Epic) or Alaska (ocean view cabin). The latter two intrique us, although of course the airfare will be pricey. Have to book by the end of September and must take cruise by the end of June, 2012. We do like the apparent flexiblity. There is a 75 day cancellation requirement, and you lose 25000 RC if cancelling after that point.
----- Original Message -----
From: misscraps@aol.com
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 4:25:52 PM
Subject: [vpFREE] re NCL cruise certificates from St. Louis or anywhere
The NCL cruise certificates you may be offered from any Harrah's location
are easy to use. However, there are various certificates, some for 4 night
cruises, some 7 night, some are for oceanview, some inside, some balcony.
Some may have limits on which cruises you can take, for example, they may
be good for Caribbean only, or for other locations, or good or not good on
the Epic, good or not good for Alaska, etc.
So the first thing you might want to do if you get an offer and think that
the certificate is one of the reasons to go, is to check and try to find
out which certificate they are giving you. Often the basic information will
be on the offer itself in the fine print, such as good for a balcony cabin,
or 7 day cruise or whatever. But sometimes the information you need is
missing. If missing, contact your host or contact the Marketing Dept. of the
casino.
Secondly, NCL certificates are not entirely "free". You will need to pay
some fees such as port taxes and NCF. These usually add up to anywhere
from $300-600, for 2 people in 1 cabin, depending on the exact cruise. The
better the room quality or the cruise quality (such as Alaska cruise versus
Mexican), the higher the costs. Also you will have to pay the gratuities,
which are currently about $12 per person per day. In addition, you will pay
your airfare, costs to transfer from an airport to the port, any shore
excursions, cost for "premium" restaurants, incidental expenses, and costs for
soda and booze (not included).
The good news - the booze and soft drinks in the casino and at the casino
bar are free.
The NCL certificates basically give you a much lower overall cost than if
you had paid for the cruise yourself. Unfortunately you will be sailing on
NCL, which in my opinion, is not nearly as good a cruise line as something
like Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, or Princess. But the price will be a lot
lower.
You will also only have a couple of months to book the cruise, and the
certificates generally must be used within a year. Check the expiration dates
on the certificate when you receive them.
You cannot transfer the certificates to anyone else. The named person on
the certificate must sail. You can pay and upgrade to a higher quality
cabin and often can upgrade and add a couple of people to the room to sail with
you. But if the person who the certificate is made out to doesn't sail,
all your companions may end up being charged more. So make sure you are
sailing.
NCL has now apparently changed the rules, and married couples, both of whom
receive certificates, cannot each bring another person with them. (We did
this in the past and took friends with us.) If you are in that boat,
check with NCL to find out if husband and wife can both have cabins and bring
friends. I do think that husband and wives can combine 2 of the same
certificates together to get a 1 category upgrade (such as going from 2
oceanview into a balcony, or 2 balconys into a mini-suite).
Note that the NCL certificates being given out to 7 star members are
basically the same sort of certificates, and you must pay those extra fees.
Also, I do not believe you can otherwise combine 2 certificates or pay to
change a 7 day into a 12 day cruise, or so on. It never hurts to ask, but
in the past this was the case.
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