Ignore this post if you are not cruising with more than two people.
Cruising With More than Two People
Your Seven Stars benefit is for one or two people.
But that's not practical for everyone. Perhaps you want to go on this cruise with other family members or friends, and will have more than two in your party. How does NCL handle that?
Can you combine other NCL free cruise certificates you received throughout the year to bring additional people? No, you can't, and they will NEVER make an exception to this policy. This will only work if the certificates are in the name of others you want to bring aboard. Basically, the person holding the certificate can only be booked once on the ship, so if you're already booked under your Seven Stars benefit, you can't occupy a second room simultaneously. It's not a like a hotel where you can book an unlimited number of rooms in your name.
So what do you do?
Well, first off, do NOT simply add additional people to your room! This is a big mistake most people make, and they are literally flushing money down the toilet by doing so.
Why?
It is almost always cheaper to get a second room for these additional people than to add them to your own room.
You read that right. Buying a second room will cost you LESS money than cramming additional people in your own room. Nobody ever thinks that would be the case, because it is completely opposite from the way hotel rooms work.
First off, you will get a 10% discount on whatever additional rooms you buy. This is the standard way they handle second rooms purchased through their Casinos At Sea group, which will be handling your Seven Stars reservation. It's not actually a full 10%, because they don't discount the "non-commissioned fees" or "taxes" part of the fare, but it will still typically give you something like a 7% discount when it's all said and done.
If you have an odd number of people in your party, such as 3, there is a huge benefit you can use that is barely known by anyone. What is that benefit? The odd-numbered person can get their own room without paying any surcharge for having a private room! On cruises, they typically DOUBLE the fare (or something very close to it) for people staying in their own room without a second person. This is because space is at a premium on these ships, so you're really paying primarily for the room, and not everything else. When two people are in a room, if the cost per person is $600, you should really think of it as a $1200 room. Again, this differs from a hotel, where they don't care if there's one or two people in the room. On a cruise, it's a huge difference, and they will charge you very close to the 2-person rate if you're just one person. This is not the case with "casino" bookings. You can buy an additional room for the "odd" person, pay only the normal "per person" rate, though you will NOT get the 10% discount discussed above!
Keep in mind that you CANNOT do the above more than once per cruise. That is, if you have 4 people, you are not allowed to book two additional rooms and give the 3rd and 4th person their own rooms. This will only work with odd-numbered parties, and only one person can stay by themselves at this discount.
But what fare will you be paying for these additional rooms?
Well, aside from the 10% discount and the odd-numbered trick describe above, you will be paying what everyone else pays. However, there is a lot you can do to bring your fare down for the additional passengers.
Finding the Cheapest Fares for Your Extra Rooms
Cruises fares vary wildly, even for the exact same ship on the exact same sail date. Like airline tickets, the big difference is when you book. However, unlike airline tickets, the cheapest fares tend to be closest to sail date, and there is a long window when you can cancel and rebook with no penalty!
First, unless it's less than 75 days to the cruise date, just book the second room. You can get a full refund if you decide you don't want it, or if the price changes (prior to 75 days out) and you want the better deal. You also won't be required to pay in full when you book. You will have to give a deposit of like $125, which again is fully refundable before 75 days out.
Next, take a look at how much you were charged for "fees and taxes" for your first (Seven Stars benefit) room. You will want to break that down into what is actually the fees, and what is actually the taxes. I'll explain shortly why this is necessary.
Consult the PDF file they sent you for that first reservation. Find the portion where it shows the Guest Fare, which is near the top:
Notice that the above is for 2 guests on a Seven Stars cruise.
Let's break it down per person, as seen in the second column.
"Guest Fare" is listed as $175. These are the "fees" (actually the non-commissioned portion of the cruise fare, which you don't get covered.)
"Government Taxes/Fees" are listed as $99.38. These are the actual taxes and port charges.
Each person paid a total of $274.38.
This is important to understand because the fees portion is included in the regular fares on ncl.com, while the taxes are not.
You will need to use this information when examining NCL.com for better prices after you booked your second room.
So let's say, in the above case, you booked and were quoted a total of $800 per person (including taxes) for your second room.
You need to figure out the actual fare at the time of your booking. To do this, do the following:
1) Take the full amount, and subtract the TOTAL of fees and taxes from your own reservation. In this case, it would be $274.38, so subtracting that from $800 would make $525.62.
2) That's the portion where you got the discount, so un-discount it by multiplying that amount ($525.62) by 1.1, giving you $578.18.
3) Now add the "fees" portion (NOT the taxes) back on. It was $175 in this example, so $578.18 + $175 = $753.18.
So when you booked the second room, the standard going rate was $753.18 per person. This is important to know.
Now, repeatedly visit the NCL website (I'd say once per week), look up your cruise date, and see if the fare they're currently offering is less than when you booked -- $753.18 in this case. If it is, call back, cancel, and rebook immediately. They will adjust your fare lower.
If somehow the fare went up (or stayed the same), do nothing. You are locked in at the rate you were quoted until you take action to change it.
Confused by this? Bad at math? No problem. Just call back every so often and ask if the fare has changed, and they will adjust it for you if it has gone down. But it's always better to know exactly what you have seen and what you're entitled to.
You can REPEATEDLY do this with no penalty up until 75 days before the cruise.
Also, as stated in the other post, you will qualify for any promotion that is currently running. The one exception is the odd-numbered room (the one with one person occupying it), as they don't give you additional promotions since you are already getting such big savings. However, the room price can still be adjusted in the same way as described above.
If it is closer than 75 days, you can still call up and try to ask for a free upgrade or on board credit, if the price has dropped. They may or may not do this for you. It's sometimes better to try this a few times, as each representative varies in what they will do for you. Some will deny they have the power to do that, but it's BS.
If you really want to gamble, you can simply wait until VERY close to the sail date (1-2 weeks out) and buy a second room then. You will usually get the best rate at this point, but you are also risking the ship selling out, so closely monitor the situation on the website, and even call up and ask how many rooms are still available. You will usually have very little selection as to where the room is located, though. One trick is to add the people to your room, and then remove them when you find a 2nd room price you like. You can get a full refund for people added to your room up until 14 days before the sail date, which differs from the refund policy of the 1st and 2nd people in the room, which is 75 days.
How do I handle it if I'm cruising with two adults and two minors?
Cruise ship policies state that one adult (over 18) must be registered in each room. So if you are a family of two adults and two kids, don't panic. Book your Seven Stars room for you and one of the kids. Then book the other room for the other adult and the other kid. You can put the two kids together in the second room, and no one will care. It's a policy they never enforce beyond booking.
What if you are totally okay with other people in your room and don't want a second room?
Get the second room anyway.
First off, as I already stated, it is likely to be cheaper.
Second, the "additional person" rates don't tend to go down much as it gets closer to cruise time, while the second room rates do. So you'll have a better shot at the price going down and being able to rebook.
Third, and most importantly, nobody is forcing you to actually use the extra room. Let it sit empty. No one will care. Or use it for additional storage (trust me, you'll need space for storage, as cruise rooms are quite small.) Or use it as a quiet place to nap when everyone else is awake during the day. Even if you absolutely never set foot in that other room, it's worth getting for an equal or lesser price than adding people to your room. It's not like the cruise staff will prevent anyone from spending time in your first room.
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