I wrote one of my Mr. AC Casino columns on this topic earlier this year:
http://www.atlanticcityweekly.com/blogs/how-much-those-free-cruises-actually-cost/article_426d6b88-f110-11e5-8a57-076d111cbb59.html.
This link is also included on my "Making The Most Of Your Annual NCL Cruise
Benefit" item on the Home page of the Seven Stars Insider website:
https://sites.google.com/site/sevenstarsinsider/ncl-cruise-benefit.
Near the end of that item is a reference to NCL's CruiseNext program. If
you are planning to take another cruise within four years, it's definitely
to your advantage to buy two $250 certificates. Basically, it's buy one,
get one. You spend $250 and get $500 worth of value that can be used to
prepay port taxes, gratuities, admin fees, etc. Through March you can use
up to two of these coupons on one cruise, i.e., two per stateroom.
Also, it's my understanding that Princess and Royal Caribbean do not charge
any admin fee, but they also don't offer as many "freebies" as NCL. For
instance, on my last cruise, I got the Unlimited Beverage Package (now
worth more than $600 per person, but with a nearly $100 per person gratuity
that the passenger pays) and the daily service charge package (worth $13.50
per person per day).
With these two freebies and my two $250 CruiseNext vouchers purchased on
my previous cruise, it cost me less than $300 (per person) for a balcony
cabin on a week-long cruise on The Breakaway out of New York. I valeted my
car at Bally's in AC, took a New Jersey Transit bus to New York ($38
round-trip senior fare), stayed with friends in Manhattan (free), and used
public transportation to get from the NY bus station to my friends'
apartment and from the apartment to the port the next day ($1.35 senior
fare for each of two rides). Upon return, I walked back to the Port
Authority bus terminal from the pier (three long avenues and six shorter
streets away), took the next bus to AC, walked to Bally's (it's two blocks
from the bus station), got my car ($2 tip), and drove back to Wilmington.
No one ever said these cruises were "free". . .it's a "complimentary cruise
fare" (and all these other charges are clearly spelled out in the offers,
though you have to call to get the exact amounts because they will vary by
cruise line, ship and itinerary).
Darryl
*Darryl D. McEwen, Publisherhttp://www.sevenstarsinsider.com
<http://www.sevenstarsinsider.com>*
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