It is the end of an era. After years of offering variations on its Free at Sea Booking Perks promotion, Norwegian Cruise Line is offering its signature inclusive drink packages, Wi-Fi, shore excursions and specialty restaurant dining.
But don’t be sad. The cruise line wants to offer “More at Sea” to its guests.
That’s right, as part of a broader brand repositioning, Norwegian is embracing the concept of MORE: more to do on board, more to see and more value on vacation.
As part of this rebranding, NCL is swapping its long-running Free at Sea booking promotion for the More at Sea booking promotion, which offers guests the same range of freebies but now includes more.
But is there a catch?
More on sea benefits
“Free at Sea has long been part of our lexicon; it has served us well,” David Herrera, president of Norwegian Cruise Line, told TPG in an exclusive interview. “This is the next evolution. This is an opportunity to upgrade from Free at Sea.”
That upgrade translates into more complimentary amenities included with every booking, starting Oct. 1 for cruises departing on or after Jan. 1, 2025. Starting from bookings made on 1
Now, when you book a cruise, Norwegian Cruise Line will include the following More on sea benefits:
- An upgraded beverage package, which will cover premium beverage brands and over 100 specialty cocktails. The cruise line is ditching the existing Unlimited Open Bar and Premium Plus beverage packages for a new drink package featuring 45% more beverage brands across all beverage categories.
- Additional specialty dining on weeklong or longer cruises, including three appetizers and three desserts per person per meal. Passengers booked in a balcony cabin will receive one meal on a three-night voyage, two on a four- to six-night cruise, three on a seven-night cruise, four on an eight- to 11-night voyage and five on a 12-night cruise. Guests inside and outside the cabin will receive a small number of meals.
- More Wi-Fi minutes for a total of 150 minutes of Starlink Wi-Fi for each passenger.
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Norwegian will continue to offer a $50 shore excursion credit per port for the first guest on a reservation, complimentary airfare for the second guest and free third and fourth guest fares on select voyages when sharing a cabin with two paying guests.
Passengers can opt out of beverage packages and specialty restaurant meals if they prefer.
(Pro tip from Herrera: “If you’re having more than two drinks a day, it doesn’t make sense [to opt out of the drink package]. You should take the More at Sea Beverage Package; It’s a better deal.”)
Guests booked on cruises through 2024 will receive their Free at Sea perks before that offer disappears. Passengers previously booked on 2025 sailings will receive free At Sea perks when they deposit but will be upgraded to the new More at Sea beverage package at no additional cost.
More than just More at Sea
Other changes will help travelers get more out of their cruise experience while making the pricing structure (and your bottom line) more transparent.
For example, specialty dining fees will revert to a flat-fee cover charge from a la carte pricing, beginning January 1, 2025.
“It’s just simple,” Herrera says. “It’s obvious. If you want to go back to the same restaurant you went to two nights ago, you know exactly what you’re paying for.” You don’t need to add up the separate prices of appetizers, entrees, and desserts to figure out how much you’ll spend on a meal.
Drink prices will be standardized across drink types, so one glass of wine will cost the same as another and there won’t be a wide range of cocktail prices.
To give guests more to do on board, Norwegian is revamping its entertainment offerings to focus on musical productions with mass appeal, whether new or reimagined shows, and increasing entertainment and activity options outside the theater.
The line will also introduce a new mobile app before the end of 2024. The app should simplify the cruise check-in process and provide easy-to-access onboard bills and restaurant, show and shore excursion bookings.
Want more travel options? In 2026, NCL will deploy its 20-ship fleet to Europe on a wide variety of shorter cruises and a greater range of cruise lengths. It will offer plenty of warm-weather beach cruises and trips to far-flung destinations such as Alaska and Asia.
Does more at sea mean more expensive?
You don’t need a business school degree to know that if a cruise line is adding more to its base price, its cruise fares are likely to increase.
When asked how the More at Sea rebrand will affect vacationers’ bottom lines, Herrera said NCL cruisers are more concerned with value and convenience than nickel and diming.
“When people look at Norwegian Cruise Line as an option, they’re not looking for a low-cost provider,” says Herrera. “They’re looking for an elevated experience, and they want ease of use. They want price transparency, and part of our strategy is not just to be genuine and transparent, but to reinforce that there’s value. This is literally the direction that our A lot of travel partners asked us to take it: make it more inclusive, charge a little more, but people will pay for it.”
How much more the sea fare will cost is yet to be determined, as pricing was not available at the time of publication. But Herrera is optimistic that today’s travelers prefer the ease of knowing how much they’re spending over adding up separate trip costs to save a few dollars. That transparency and simplicity is as much a part of the value proposition as all the included features.
“Everyone feels good when they come off a great vacation, but they feel even better when they feel like they got a great value,” Herrera said.
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