A free trip I just can’t afford

[Matt]

When it hit my inbox, I was pretty excited by my latest free offer from NCL. But with some hindsight, I’ve decided to pass on it. I know for some this would enter Prima Donna status, but in reality, you need to be able to both work out the math, the alternatives, and know what matters to you in life… let’s have a look at this one, and see if you would do the same:

Freeee!
The Free Stuff (part 1)

• Free Cruise for 2 pax
• Free Airfare to Cruise for 2 pax
• Free Airport to Hotel Txf
• Free Hotel for 2 nights
• Free (pick 2 from list) ‘offers’
  • Free WiFi
  • Free Dining Package (speciality restaurants)
  • Free Ultimate Beverage Package (booze)
  • Shore Excursions ( $50 per port credit)

The Free Stuff (part 2)

• Free Booze (the good stuff)
• $100 Dining Credit (full credit triggers on one purchase of speciality dining)
• $125 Spa Credit
• Stateroom Goodies
  • Bottles of wine, 1 or 2 per cruise
  • Fruit Plates
  • Chocolates
• Other stuff

The Free Stuff (part 3)

• Free Bottle of wine to stateroom
• Free Dinner with wine at speciality restaurant
• Free laundry service
• Other stuff

As I’ve mentioned in the past, NCL offers ‘Stack’. Free stuff 1 comes via the email, Free stuff 2 comes from NCL Casino Status, Free stuff 3 comes from NCL passenger status (gained from free cruises..) it becomes hard to pick the free ‘offers’ onboard since the booze package is covered already, and there is 1 dinner plus $100 comped… we end up with free Internet and slip in a bonus offer of ‘Free Dylan’ these days.

At this point, you’re probably thinking it is a pretty good week right there.. but since Free stuff part 2 and part 3 are there on any offer, it really comes down to the components of the offer for us:

• Stateroom
• Flight
• Hotel

I’ve never been offered a free flight or hotel to the cruise, but now I have, I have to say I’m not that fussed. The flight is in economy, and it might not be direct. The hotel choices were some obscure brand if we depart BCN, and the Hilton Garden Inn from Rome.

Then the Stateroom.. an inside cabin… oh the horror!

I asked about upgrades. Coming from an inside cabin to what I deem workable (a Mini Suite) would cost a total of $2850 ($1150 per adult, and $550 for child). For the flights, perhaps we could upgrade the fare, but being out of control of the route and booking class would complicate things.. and economy isn’t ideal (possible, but not desirable). The hotel.. without looking it up, I guess it wouldn’t be a fit.

Time and comfort matter


We actually came back from a cruise almost the same as this one a few months ago, where we did 10 days from Barcelona on the same ship, the NCL Epic, and we did enjoy the vast majority of it. We’d go back to BCN, but we wouldn’t accept just ‘accommodation’. The point of travel hacking at our level has gone beyond ‘freeee!’ and entered ‘wow that’s really nice and I couldn’t afford it’. The distinction is that we get a little say in things. That said, if I got serious about this offer, I would look at the hotel, and if the location worked, we’d likely go for it. What I wouldn’t accept is losing time by being stuck at a ‘free’ location far from anything that made Barcelona, Barcelona, or Rome, Rome.

I just can’t afford it.


That’s the irony here… I can’t justify the expense of this vacation vs what we could build with real hacking. Never mind the upgrades of $2850+airfare upgrades.. if we went low end, and didn’t upgrade the room we could pay about $1200 for the entire trip for 3 people… but the problem with that is that we would fly in coach and sit in a tiny inside cabin for 7 nights. The ‘free’ wouldn’t be fun, I’d be cranky, and I’d still be out $1200, which I still can’t afford. $1200 is a shit ton of money to spend on a vacation. Especially one that has a few perks, but an underlying flavor of ‘average’.

3 More Strikes and we’re out


I’ve bought a few ‘coupons’ for future cruises with NCL. They are valued at $250 and can be used 1 per cruise (generally). I forget my basis in these right now, but they were pretty highly discounted. While we have to burn them up, with some timing pressure since the ‘great’ offers are going to dissipate soon…

Editors note


I wrote this post some time ago, and didn’t post. I was reminded of it by a comment by Dia on our latest Vegas trip. She recommended staying at the Golden Nugget, and the irony of it all is that we just can’t afford it. Sometimes, the free stuff you see isn’t that free, and sometimes the great deals that people leap on cost a ton of money.

Embedded into this is something really important… a lot of the time when you see someone push a ‘great deal’ they are actually getting paid for it, and find any way they can to justify your expense.

Oh.. and the good news here, we ended up with a much better ‘free’ cruise with a little more mlife magic… more to come on that in the future.


The post A free trip I just can’t afford appeared first on Saverocity Travel.

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[smittytabb]

I get this logic. I am at a different stage of life but I too would prefer to not take the chance on coach if I could fly business and an inside cabin is something I have never and likely will never do on a cruise! So now I am wondering if your Crystal cruise is the freebie...if so, that is very cool. Now if I could just morph myself into a young male Brit and run the tables...

 

[Matt]

I get this logic. I am at a different stage of life but I too would prefer to not take the chance on coach if I could fly business and an inside cabin is something I have never and likely will never do on a cruise! So now I am wondering if your Crystal cruise is the freebie...if so, that is very cool. Now if I could just morph myself into a young male Brit and run the tables...

Yep. Crystal is free, and much more 'free' than the NCL offer here..

 

[knick1959]

An inside cabin would not matter to me, although my wife has refused to agree on the 2 cruises we've taken. The Alaska cruise sorta-kinda had a view (but not really noteworthy ... I'll explain) but seeing water all around in the Caribbean was not a thrill for me.

If you had fewer-to-no days at sea, the inside cabin would matter even less. We didn't spend much conscious time in our cabin; the view was always better from a deck and even when the Alaska weather wasn't so hot, we still were well prepared for a deck spot or could find a public window to hog. When it's dark, there's little to see out of a window. Cabins are for sleeping IMO. I know not everyone shares this view (or lack of view, puns intended).

It is kind of nice to wake up and look out a room window to see your new port. Still, I don't recall seeing anything that was worth the additional cost, tho. Nothing a visit to the deck couldn't replace.

But you're spot on with the "free" logistics; one reason I don't pay attention to things with "airfare included". I've seen some of these arrangements, and there is a reason they are giving them away . Lodging included is also a crap-shoot.

 

[SanDiego1K]

I don't even enter sweepstakes any more where the prize is coach to an international destination. I've moved on to a stage in life where comfort is essential to the pleasure of the trip. Heck, I'm having trouble using my masses of ClubCarlson points because free often means a tiny room and that just doesn't suit.

 

[smittytabb]

I don't even enter sweepstakes any more where the prize is coach to an international destination. I've moved on to a stage in life where comfort is essential to the pleasure of the trip. Heck, I'm having trouble using my masses of ClubCarlson points because free often means a tiny room and that just doesn't suit.

Ha ha. You sound like my husband

 

[heavenlyjane]

Wow. I am so not in the same place as any of you. We travel all the time and have huge buckets of credit and points but I am not yet at the point where I can just toss in extra points for more leg room or a fancier rooms. To me the of traveling is to be in a place. I am thrilled when I get a complimentary upgrade, but I'd never pay extra for it.

Flying economy is fine with me. I can tolerate a few hours in cramped quarters, as long as I can secure a window seat. I consider most of the action of interest is not inside the airplane but in the sky outside my window. Sleeping in an interior stateroom is also fine with me. I luxuriate in the deep darkness that an interior room brings - something my own bedroom at home cannot achieve. It's like sleeping in a sensory deprivation tank.

I wouldn't take up this offer for a different reason: I dislike cruises and the whole see-a-city-in-less-than-a-day concept. We did a tour like that years ago and to this day, I cannot remember if the fabulous ruin pubs were in Krakow or Budapest.

 

[smittytabb]

Wow. I am so not in the same place as any of you. We travel all the time and have huge buckets of credit and points but I am not yet at the point where I can just toss in extra points for more leg room or a fancier rooms. To me the of traveling is to be in a place. I am thrilled when I get a complimentary upgrade, but I'd never pay extra for it.

Flying economy is fine with me. I can tolerate a few hours in cramped quarters, as long as I can secure a window seat. I consider most of the action of interest is not inside the airplane but in the sky outside my window. Sleeping in an interior stateroom is also fine with me. I luxuriate in the deep darkness that an interior room brings - something my own bedroom at home cannot achieve. It's like sleeping in a sensory deprivation tank.

I wouldn't take up this offer for a different reason: I dislike cruises and the whole see-a-city-in-less-than-a-day concept. We did a tour like that years ago and to this day, I cannot remember if the fabulous ruin pubs were in Krakow or Budapest.

I've already been in your place and when I was, I was also content to fly economy and did so for literally decades. I also backpacked around the world and stayed in youth hostels and pensions and slept in campsites and on people's floors. To me the traveling is to be in the place as well. I would never have done this when I was younger either. I have done both and and both have had their place in my life. Glad I did what I did when I did it. Comfort means more to me now than it used to and I've only been flying business and first for about a decade since I became a devotee of this game. But I still fly coach if it makes sense. Just flew on IcelandAir in coach and it was fine. But 6 hours is about as much as I want to do that way anymore.

As for cruises, I don't really like the quick stops either, but it can be a good way to see a lot of more obscure and hard to reach parts of the world. I have cruised the entire West coast of Africa from Cape Town to Barcelona along the Spanish coast and seeing some parts of Africa by sea rather than overland was totally worth it. I have also cruised from Cape Town to Singapore taking in places along the way that would be major trips each in their own right. I think cruising has its place. Cruising made sense to travel in the Galapagos, to Antarctica, the Volga River in Russia, on the Nile River, through the Panama Canal, the Society Islands, among others. I think a lot of people have a vision in their minds about what cruising is. There are lots of different kinds of cruises, just like there are different types of hotels or resorts. There is not one best way. There are lots of ways to travel, all valid and individual.

 

[MickiSue]

I've been there, too, Jane. But these days, I want the trip itself to be as comfortable as a ride in a flying bucket can be. I've yet to take a cruise, so have no informed opinion on interior vs a porthole. But I lean toward having a window.

I'm OK with coach for shorter flights. But I still pay to get in the A line on SW, it pretty much assures a little more leg room and a window for Husband, and an aisle for me.

If there were not different desires for travel, then who would bother to read the trip reports about Etihad Suites?

 

[heavenlyjane]

If there were not different desires for travel, then who would bother to read the trip reports about Etihad Suites?

I agree completely. I love staying in aspirational hotels, we have a trip next summer to France and Switzerland, where we are staying 5 nights at the Park Hyatt Vendome, then 2 nights at the Waldorf Astoria Versailles and then topping it off with 4 nights at the Fairmont Le Montreux Palace. It will be epic and I hope for upgrades at most of the stops.

I stop short of paying extra for these luxuries however. To me, they are all the more sweet for being free.

 

[SanDiego1K]

It was and is all about the destination no matter the budget. I have some funny stories about some seriously grotty places we stayed when that was what we could afford. We stayed in a 5th floor walkup on the Isle de la Cite (Paris) for $12/nght in the early 80s. It's fortunate that the light was dim because I doubt I would have stayed had I truly been able to see the dirt. We had a marvelous week in Paris and we flew over and back in coach. Last year, we stayed in some marginal properties in Uzbekistan because that was all there was. We checked out six rooms in one hotel because the mattresses were broken. Literally. The sides would collapse on putting any weight on them. But oh, the view of the city fortifications. The trip was fantastic and the memories of the sights will stay with us for years to come. And now as life is steadily marching on and I don't have the ability to dash up 5 flights of steps, I'm glad that budget, miles and points permit better accommodations and flights. In the first decades of travel, flights and hotels were a means to the end of seeing the destination. Now they are part of the travel experience.

 

[MickiSue]

SD1K: you are a poet, you know.

 

[MickiSue]

No, really. I meant it. That was beautifully written.

 

[SanDiego1K]

It's a lovely compliment. Thank you. I wish I were more fluent, but once in awhile, it flows.

 

[cavil]

I agree completely. I love staying in aspirational hotels, we have a trip next summer to France and Switzerland, where we are staying 5 nights at the Park Hyatt Vendome, then 2 nights at the Waldorf Astoria Versailles and then topping it off with 4 nights at the Fairmont Le Montreux Palace. It will be epic and I hope for upgrades at most of the stops.

I stop short of paying extra for these luxuries however. To me, they are all the more sweet for being free.

Even without upgrades that is a sweet trifecta of hotels!

 

[Hanoi IG]

Hoping I haven't erred in not quoting or whatever. I'm old and not at all a techie. I love reading these various philosophies of travel!

I've just been looking over notes from our trips of the past 35 years or so. We were never "poor" but felt we had to be frugal as I always worked for myself while my wife had a teaching job in public school so always had a good salary(at least since we have been married) and benefits, but we still weren't splurging a lot.

I noticed we stayed in Red roof Inn, Knights Inn, bleeding Days Inn if you can imagine but the worst of all(my selection) the Conoco Motel.

We always flew coach, even China Airlines 10 across to Hong Kong via Taipei. Our epiphany came in 1992 when my wife saw in a news article that unrest had caused the venerable Oriental Hotel in Bangkok to have less than 33% occupancy rates. I wrote to them asking for a good rate and got one. While there we had a breakfast at the Indra Regent where we had been booked. OMG! Could we have stood it for 4-5 nights?

Now that we are retired and the great rise in the economy during the Obama years has given us some breathing room and my wife has been collecting her pension, we are in a different situation.

I know there are two schools of thought on hotels. It is (1) a place to sleep; (2) part of a travel experience; (3) Us! A hotel is a home away from home where you are often welcomed as family.

We have been fortunate that we lived in Hanoi for two years and my wife's squeamishness led us to stay in a serviced apartment in a Sofitel. I negotiated for points which were really not part of the deal and we began using them in Sofitels once we moved back to the US.

One thing led to another and the GM knew other GMs who knew other GMs so now I check the rate on Accor site and, unless it is really good or multiple points, I write to the hotel directly, introduce myself and see what we get.

Now we are well known at Sofitels in NY, Philly, DC and Chicago, not to mention Berlin and Munich though I just did. We always get considerable upgrades including the Presidential Suite in New York which is bigger than our condo!

When we go back to Hanoi every year, the staff chat with me in Vietnamese and often take us out for drinks etc. We reciprocate of course but some won't accept tips, though we can usually leave them with a manager to dole out once we have left.

I like a deal as much as anyone and free is the best deal, unless it's a chain restaurant or inside cabin. However for us it is about the experience so why would I book a points hotel in New York or search websites for the absolute lowest price when I have a place where I am known?

Having "been there" I understand that for many people price is the primary object and the back of the plane does arrive the same time as the front. Except for Asia, we would fly economy with possible exception of US to Europe which should be sleepy time.

Food is our biggest indulgence and if there were points we could use at Michelin starred restaurants, I'd sure go for them! At least I can get points for the indulgence.

Bottom line: no matter how you travel, it's always great! If more Americans left the country and saw how the world lives, we'd not have the spectre of Trump lurking.

 

[smittytabb]

I completely agree that if more Americans traveled it would be a very different political atmosphere. You and your wife are very fortunate to have had the terrific experience living abroad and no one would argue that having an insider track with a hotel chain is a serious benefit. It's really nice also to see you enjoying your retirement and changing your style of travel to one that is more comfortable. I think often younger people don't really understand that as you age, travel is not as easy and lucky are those who have the pensions and savings to do it! Enjoy your world cruise and all the other adventures down the road...Oh, and a linguist by training here...it's very cool you speak Vietnamese. Did you learn it while living there? If so, kudos as not everyone bothers to do that while being an expat.