Thanks for all your comments.
I don’t really want to pay any more, it seems like a farce anyway as it doesn’t seem to guarantee anything. I think I’ll just be checking in as early as possible. Does anyone know if you can check-in online for flights from NCL? And if I were to check-in at the earliest possible time would I be in the first boarding group?
In regards to when to book, I got this NCL-FAO flight the day they were released by easyjet last year. I paid about £60 for a return, including the extra £5 tax. At the moment the same flight is about £60 one way.