Norwegian Cruise Line is saying goodbye to one of its most popular offerings, but it’s actually something we think passengers are going to appreciate.
That is, if they are also ok with also paying significantly more in gratuity charges.
For years, NCL’s “Free At Sea” offer has been a staple of the cruise line. Now it’s going away and being replaced with “More At Sea.”
For years, NCL has offered a package offering known as “Free At Sea.” With this offer, you can book the deal and get a number of perks included with your cruise. This includes everything from drink packages to wi-fi, shore excursion credit, included specialty restaurants and more.
Now Free At Sea is going away and being replaced. Norwegian announced that it is rolling out a re-branded offer it calls “More At Sea.”
If we’re honest, the term “Free At Sea” always seemed a little funny. First, it definitely wasn’t free as prices for the package deal were (understandably) higher than if you booked the traditional “Sail Away” fare with no perks included.
As well, gratuities were also added onto the list price of the drink package and specialty restaurants even though you were getting them included. So for a couple sailing on a week-long cruise with a “free” drink package, they would still pay approximately $300 in gratuities. It was still a good deal, but not really free.
In basic terms, this is a new name for the retiring Free At Sea offer. Book the new More At Sea deal and you can get all of the following included with your fare:
- Unlimited Open Bar
- Specialty Dining
- Wi-Fi Package
- Shore Excursion Credits
- Free 3rd/4th Passengers
- Free Airfare for 2nd Passenger
But this isn’t only a renaming. NCL is also enhancing some of the perks with the new More At Sea package. These changes give passengers more benefits in booking the offer.
The upgrades include…
Unlimited Open Bar: With More At Sea, Norwegian is now offering more premium brands with the included drink package. This includes Grey Goose, Casamigos, and Woodford Reserve. It is also removing the $15 beverage cap on drinks included with the offer.
Specialty Dining: Previously, specialty dining was limited to only two meals during a 7-night cruise and one meal for 3-6 night cruises. With More At Sea, that is being bumped up to three meals for a 7-night cruise, two meals for 4-6 nights, and staying at one meal for a three-night trip.
Wi-Fi: Under the old rules, the included wi-fi was for 75 minutes for the first and second passenger on cruises of 3-6 nights or 150 minutes for 7-11 night trips. Now those amounts are being offered for each guest, doubling the total minutes for two people sailing.
The new More At Sea benefits go into effect January 1, 2025. But is appears that so too is a higher cost to passengers.
More (Money) At Sea: A $115 Increase in Gratuities For a 7-Day Cruise?
It’s become common in cruising that whenever there is a change in an offer, there’s often a new price attached. That looks to be the case here with More At Sea.
We priced out several cruises and found that the total price per person is $50 more for the More At Sea offer compared to the standard Sail Away pricing. This is in line with what’s been offered in the past.
However, we’ve also noticed a big jump in gratuity charges for the drink package that will mean considerably more out of pocket.
As mentioned, with these deals passengers get the drink package (Unlimited Open Bar) included, but they still pay a 20% gratuity charge on the list value of the package.
For instance, we priced a 7-day cruise with the current Free At Sea offer. For that, you still pay a 20% gratuity on the $109 list price of the drink package included with your cruise. That comes out to $21.80 per day, or a total of $305.20 for two people on a 7-day sailing.
Take a look:
We then priced the same exact cruise departing in early 2025, after the new More At Sea program goes into effect. For this cruise, the drink package gratuity cost has jumped to $420 for two people on a 7-day cruise, or $30 per person, per day:
That’s an additional $115 over the week. With the traditional 20% gratuity rate, this implies a bump in pricing for the package to $150 per person, per day from the current $109 per day.
We reached out to NCL for some clarity on if this is the case, but didn’t immediately hear back.
Another Change? Premium Plus Package Removed From Website
We noticed that the Premium Plus Beverage Package is no longer listed on the cruise line’s website.
Looking through the cruise line’s drink package options on its website, we did notice that there’s been another big change.
Norwegian had offered two alcoholic drink packages. One was the Unlimited Open Bar Package with the $15 price cap. The second was the Premium Plus Beverage Package that included essentially all drinks on the ship and was priced at $139 per person, per day.
The Premium Plus Beverage Package has been removed from NCL’s website and appears to no longer be offered.
Notably, the regular package is still priced at $109 and mentions still having a $15 per drink cap. With the new changes and gratuities listed with More At Sea, we’re wondering if come 2025 the price cap will go away, but the price will also rise considerably.The post NCL Makes a Major Change to a Popular Program (And You’ll Pay More?) first appeared on Cruzely.com.
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