I called NCL to book my annual CET seven stars cruise. The first person quoted me a price just for fees and port charges. After deciding that date worked for me I called back and 4 different people told me I would have to pay as the ship was excluded from the promotion. Today I called again and got the original person who booked it with no problems. Anyone else have a similar experience? This was my first time using this benefit but it seemed very odd. Also, just to confirm, the seven stars cruise should work on all NCL sailings right?
which ship are you talking about? I have been told no on several ships, one being the Bliss for Alaska
I have been told that a lot of it depends on what division that agent you get works for. There are (at least) two divisions of agents for NCL. One is Casinos at Sea, which takes the primary burden of booking Casino guests, such as CET. The Casinos at Sea agents are VERY knowledgeable with all of the CET (and other Casinos at Sea) programs and promotions. When the Casinos at Sea agents are fully booked helping customers, the agents from the general pool "try" to help out, but not all of those agents are familiar with all programs/promotions.
Yep... different answers from different folks. AND Different answers on different days as the supply of rooms moves up and down.
True. Many airlines have a limited allocation of frequent flyer seats on fights. Similarly, NCL has a limited amount of balcony cabins they allocate to Seven Stars cruises so when they run out, you are out of luck. So it does make sense to nail down a cruise reservation and later decide if the date really works for you before the 90 day non-refundable date occurs.
The 7* gets you 30% off most cruises, the 7* annual voyage is NOT all cruises, CET states the following rules but says blackout dates apply. Better info on the blackouts from 7*insider: The Seven Stars Voyage must fit certain criteria: Travel in Europe, the Caribbean, Bermuda, Florida, Alaska or the Bahamas. Must be completed by January 31. Last up to seven days. The Seven Stars Voyage may exclude some cruises: Those that overlap with certain major holidays: Easter, New Year’s, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, but there may be others. Cruises to Hawaii. Cruises that last fewer than five days or more than seven days. https://www.caesars.com/myrewards/sevenstars http://www.sevenstarsinsider.com/ncl-cruise-benefit
I’ve been on multiple “free” NCL cruises due to being seven stars. I took the Bliss out of Miami in 2018 and that wasn’t an issue. Also, I’ve been on Europe and alaska cruises. fyi - they do have blackouts for Xmas/NY and Easter, but you can cruise over thanksgiving week. I did that twice. That’s a good way to cruise if you have limited vacation time.
I just booked a Seven Stars cruise today. While the operator did say "Casino at Sea, how can I help you" I was not sure she was really a "Casino at Sea" person as she at first said I did not have any European cruises on my Seven Stars options. Eventually after some prodding, she did find a Seven Stars promo cruise for me on the NCL Epic out of Barcelona. Prior to that she was offering me a $700 credit for using my Seven Stars cruise (presumably out of Florida) for the cruise I wanted. I did also get "complimentary" amenities of Specialty Dining, discount excursions and some free wifi.
Good info, I'll share some more datapoints 1. You can book through your CET host yet it's probably easier to call CAS yourself and later transfer to your host 2. Speaking of #1, it took nearly a dozen emails back and forth with my host to determine the only itinerary and ship that qualified was the West Med on the Epic. I communicated in Dec '18-Jan '19 for a 2019 sail date. 3. When you call CAS, you may receive conflicting info depending who answers. Rumors are when there are too many calls in the CAS queue, calls are routed to general reservations. CAS handles at least handle NCL and CET players, probably a few other partners as well 4. Perks were great, you do have to pay taxes and gratuities on them 5. You can upgrade to unlimited internet from the "internet perk" which is only 250mins, usually around $100-$120 for a 7 night sailing 6. Epic's drydock is Nov, I'd strongly recommend checking out a sailing after dry dock if it works for you; epic is unpopular ship for a variety of reasons. After dry dock it will receive more restaurants, hopefully better menus, more staff training
@VolleyBall thanks for the datapoints. Precisely how and when do I upgrade from the "internet perk" to unlimited? And will "unlimited" be a small bandwidth that will only support email and not streaming videos? Also why was the Epic unpopular "for a variety of reasons?"
For the internet, you log into NCL account and it should but isn't always offered as in upgrade. For the $100-ish amount, it does NOT include streaming, there is the premium option for streaming, I think that was around $250 but don't quote me. Also, it's for one device at a time but you can log in on one device and when someone logs in on another device, it automatically kicks off the other device. I don't mean to scare you with the Epic, there are some strategies you can take to improve your experience and the West Med is an awesome port heavy itinerary. Chief complaint is the bathroom situation, you should watch a youtube video of your stateroom category so you can understand it. It's an extremely crowded ship, nearly everything requires waiting from the elevators (there are no mid ship elevators and Haven keycards receive jump the queue priority), to the MDRs, to the shows. The good news is if you take the stairs the majority of the time and are willing to book reservations including those in the MDR a lot of waits can be avoided. You can (and should) book shows and specialty dining reservations in advance (I think they start 90 days before sailing for non-haven guests) then you can book your France tender and MDR once on the ship. Last I'll mention is a lot of shows/venues don't open until 10pm which wouldn't be a problem if the ship didn't dock so early (as early as 6am but usually 7am).
Last year, when I called to book my Seven Stars cruise, my agent said my cruise was not included, but she went to double check with a supervisor. The supervisor said it WAS included, so I booked the cruise. So, the lesson is, if at once you don't succeed, hang up and call again! Different agent, different answer!