NCL Bans Food Outside of Dining Areas

[Bree]

Just read this article and was dumbfounded. You can't even go to the buffet and bring food back to your room!

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6346

The $7.95 room service charge was a crazy move, but if this new rule stays I'm not sure I'm willing to give NCL a try.

 

[perditax]

Have been following this drama (and all the other NCL shenanigans--there's been about one per week for like a month and a half). It seems unclear still if buffet is really part of the policy.

I had been considering a cheap solo cruise on either the Breakaway or Getaway sometime soon, but I feel like I'm watching a train wreck, so for now all NCL gets from me is virtual munching of popcorn while I wait to see when they stop making insane PR decisions.

I'm still new to cruising and my first DCL cruise is yet to come, but watching all this upheaval among the mass market lines is making me happy that DCL has only succumbed so far to an uptick in base rates (and the Palo/Remy bump). I guess they are subject to different market forces than a strictly cruise based corp would be. (Plus I believe some of the mass market lines have recently had changes in top tier mgmt, who have vowed to squeeze more dollars per day per passenger via onboard spending.)

 

[karmacats]

I just read this on cruise critic. it's nuts!

combined with the fact that ncl just added that $7.95 room service delivery fee last week, i guess this is an attempt to make people pay the room service fee rather than bring food back to their rooms from elsewhere (or if not, it was really poor planning on their part, because i'm sure i'm not the only one to connect the two).

although i only had a so-so time on my one previous norwegian cruise, i was contemplating trying the breakaway, as i tend to like the bigger, newer ships (previous ncl cruise was on an older, smaller ship). i even priced out some breakaway cruises a few days ago. I'm with you guys for now, though - i'm just going to sit back and watch and see what happens with all the changes before committing to anything. i guess i'll be sticking to my usuals (disney and royal) for a while longer.

 

[tidefan]

I just read this on cruise critic. it's nuts!

combined with the fact that ncl just added that $7.95 room service delivery fee last week, i guess this is an attempt to make people pay the room service fee rather than bring food back to their rooms from elsewhere (or if not, it was really poor planning on their part, because i'm sure i'm not the only one to connect the two).

although i only had a so-so time on my one previous norwegian cruise, i was contemplating trying the breakaway, as i tend to like the bigger, newer ships (previous ncl cruise was on an older, smaller ship). i even priced out some breakaway cruises a few days ago. I'm with you guys for now, though - i'm just going to sit back and watch and see what happens with all the changes before committing to anything. i guess i'll be sticking to my usuals (disney and royal) for a while longer.

Royal is now charging for some Room Service items as well. I believe even Carnival is trying it on a few of their ships. I do not believe that there is a charge on Princess or HAL though...

 

[Thnlk]

RCCL charges for room service from midnight to 0500

 

[MelSpees]

What gets me is not being able to take it from the buffet!?

 

[valgal02]

If it was truly to "maintain a beautiful clean environment", then they would not allow room service either. I think it's an attempt get more of the $7.95 room service fee.

 

[Dug720]

Royal is now charging for some Room Service items as well. I believe even Carnival is trying it on a few of their ships. I do not believe that there is a charge on Princess or HAL though...

I don't know about Princess, but HAL has a surcharge for room service between midnight and 5am.

 

[TestingH2O]

Doesn't Disney charge for some room service too (soda, candy, pre-packaged?) From my reading, the RCCL policy doesn't seem so different than DCL other than the time limits. This NCL charge and food change seems big though.

 

[Weedy]

Just a thought: this may be because of food waste. If this is only for the sits own restaurants. People order a full meal to go after their dinner and then throw it away. With the mentality of "it's free".
On DCL it drives me crazy to see kids at the buffet with 5 donuts on their plates that you know they will never eat or a stacks of cookies on plates outside of cabin doors that people ordered and didn't eat.

 

[gilsan]

We booked a cruise on NCL for Feb 2016 when they had a great promo. We're staying in one of their concierge rooms,(the Haven) and got a promo with free drinks, free upgraded (specialty restaurants) dining for the first 2 guests, tips included for the first 2 guests and $300 OBC, a really great deal. Since we booked in March they have changed a large number of things, most won't affect us since we are in the Haven but some will. I also don't like the way they are handling the changes one day it is one way and the next day it has changed. Why not send out a press release and say as of this date we are charging for room services vs springing it on people already on the cruise? It makes no sense.

As of right now we are sticking with the cruise, my daughter is really looking forward to the water slides and rope course, but I if too much more changes we may cancel and go with a DCL cruise. We are planning to do a B2B on the Wonder before the NCL getaway a sort of B2B2B, so we won't miss out on the Disney magic completely

 

[Autumnslight]

That would make me unhappy. I may want to bring my dessert back to my room to eat later if I'm too full to eat it right after dinner. And I may want to grab something from a buffet or quick service location, that isn't available from room service, and go eat it on my verandah. Or let my kids eat in our room while they watch TV and I take a shower, or pack, or whatever. We also liked to take some cookies or other snacks from the cafe or buffet to a show. All of that flexibility is one of the things about we really liked about our cruise, and losing that would lessen some of the appeal of cruising over other types of vacations.

 

[tidefan]

Doesn't Disney charge for some room service too (soda, candy, pre-packaged?) From my reading, the RCCL policy doesn't seem so different than DCL other than the time limits. This NCL charge and food change seems big though.

Quantum and Anthem OTS are now charging for many items on the room service menu.

 

[havoc315]

So much for "freestyle"

I note that room service remains "free" for suite guests. Honestly, having done DCL balcony, and NCL suite -- I'm convinced that to get a DCL level experience on NCL, you need to stay in a suite.

I took my first NCL cruise about 6 years ago or so.... Since that time, there have apparently been many changes:

-- Kids club used to be open all day, at least on sea days. They changed it a couple years ago, to be closed from 12-2 and 5-7, largely making it impossible to do adult-only activities for much of the day, and really hobbling the usefulness of the kids club during the day. (Long pick up line at 12... long drop off line at 2... At most, you could realistically use the kids club for a couple hours per day. Unless you want to eat very late, forget doing an adult only dinner, etc).
-- Room service fees, unless you are in a suite
-- This new no-takeout policy.

Meanwhile, I note they are "giving away" specialty dining packages as a promotional item, very commonly. On my last NCL cruise a couple years ago, it felt like the specialty dining was going downhill. With them "giving away" specialty dining to so many cruisers, I'm willing to bet they are watering down the quality of the specialty dining. And of course, they are looking for other places to recoup the money lost in specialty dining fees.

Other than having to pay for popcorn on DCL (which doesn't make much sense to me), I feel like DCL is very straight forward... No big hidden charges, you get charged for things that you would expect to get charged for. Yes, it's more expensive... but once all paid and on board, DCL creates an impression that their purpose is to give you a fantastic vacation. On NCL, the constant impression is, "we are trying to give you a good vacation but containing our costs and trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of you."

Also feels like... NCL is simply trying to wow you will massive wonderous ships... Who cares about serving the customers.

 

[momof2n2]

We are booked on NCL next May. I'm watching their garbage like a hawk. Honestly, our deal was SO good it will take a lot for us to cancel. (A family verandah and connecting family mini-suite with verandah for 8 of us for $5500 with free Ultimate Dining). But I'm not happy with the changes they've already made. It's fully 6K less than what we could do Fantasy for, so I'm trying not to grumble. We'll likely still have a great time. But they certainly seem like a company that's lost touch with customer service!!!

 

[bcwife76]

So much for "freestyle"

I note that room service remains "free" for suite guests. Honestly, having done DCL balcony, and NCL suite -- I'm convinced that to get a DCL level experience on NCL, you need to stay in a suite.

I took my first NCL cruise about 6 years ago or so.... Since that time, there have apparently been many changes:

-- Kids club used to be open all day, at least on sea days. They changed it a couple years ago, to be closed from 12-2 and 5-7, largely making it impossible to do adult-only activities for much of the day, and really hobbling the usefulness of the kids club during the day. (Long pick up line at 12... long drop off line at 2... At most, you could realistically use the kids club for a couple hours per day. Unless you want to eat very late, forget doing an adult only dinner, etc).
-- Room service fees, unless you are in a suite
-- This new no-takeout policy.

Meanwhile, I note they are "giving away" specialty dining packages as a promotional item, very commonly. On my last NCL cruise a couple years ago, it felt like the specialty dining was going downhill. With them "giving away" specialty dining to so many cruisers, I'm willing to bet they are watering down the quality of the specialty dining. And of course, they are looking for other places to recoup the money lost in specialty dining fees.

Other than having to pay for popcorn on DCL (which doesn't make much sense to me), I feel like DCL is very straight forward... No big hidden charges, you get charged for things that you would expect to get charged for. Yes, it's more expensive... but once all paid and on board, DCL creates an impression that their purpose is to give you a fantastic vacation. On NCL, the constant impression is, "we are trying to give you a good vacation but containing our costs and trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of you."

Also feels like... NCL is simply trying to wow you will massive wonderous ships... Who cares about serving the customers.

I haven't sailed yet (first one coming up) but can I applaud all of this!!! I'm hoping for Alaska in 2016 and NCL has been ruled out strictly for their kids club policy. When reading on cruise critic about it it didn't seem *that* big of a deal but the way you have put it in black and white - YES deal breaker for me thankyouverymuch. Plus I like the idea of a smaller ship.

 

[perditax]

So much for "freestyle"

...

Other than having to pay for popcorn on DCL (which doesn't make much sense to me), I feel like DCL is very straight forward... No big hidden charges, you get charged for things that you would expect to get charged for. Yes, it's more expensive... but once all paid and on board, DCL creates an impression that their purpose is to give you a fantastic vacation. On NCL, the constant impression is, "we are trying to give you a good vacation but containing our costs and trying to squeeze a few more dollars out of you."

Also feels like... NCL is simply trying to wow you will massive wonderous ships... Who cares about serving the customers.

I'm suddenly wondering if popcorn carries a charge as a kind of 'gating' mechanism--if it was free-for-all popcorn I bet the mess would be considerable.

(Saw multiple spilled entire bags of popcorn during my recent Avengers viewing locally, and people just left them there.)

 

[jdb in AZ]

If it was truly to "maintain a beautiful clean environment", then they would not allow room service either. I think it's an attempt get more of the $7.95 room service fee.

When we cruised NCL the ship wasn't clean to begin with. They need to do more than charge a room service fee. They just don't take the same pride in their ships as DCL.

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

I'm also watching these changes because we just booked our first NCL cruise on the Breakaway for Oct 2016. NCL's newer ships now have oceanview rooms (not the expensive suites) that fit 5 people and are similar to the DCL Category 8 rooms. With the kids sail free special, we are getting a heckuva deal with our 3 kids for free plus a $75 dining credit for each person. Our 7-night cruise is $600 less than a 4-night cruise on the Dream, and we are going to give it a try! We are still cruising on the Fantasy next year and probably the Wonder in 2017.

 

[havoc315]

I haven't sailed yet (first one coming up) but can I applaud all of this!!! I'm hoping for Alaska in 2016 and NCL has been ruled out strictly for their kids club policy. When reading on cruise critic about it it didn't seem *that* big of a deal but the way you have put it in black and white - YES deal breaker for me thankyouverymuch. Plus I like the idea of a smaller ship.

The kids club policy changed between our first and second NCL cruise, and it made such a MASSIVE difference.
1st cruise -- used the club at least 4-6 hours per sea day.
2nd cruise -- used the club 4-6 hours over a whole week!! It was just too annoying to check them in and out, just for a couple of hours at a time. And with such limited use, they never fell in love with it... so they weren't exactly begging to go.
Next cruise: DCL -- Could not DRAG the kids out of the club. "Awww... why are you picking us up?? Can't we stay a few more hours??" "Sure... mom and dad will go have a drink." "Oh.. mom and dad want to have an adult dinner tonight, you guys mind eating at the kids club?" "YES!! Please.... can we just eat at the kids club every night??"

On DCL, had to drag the kids moaning out of the kids clubs to have some quality family time together. On NCL, even the idea of using the kids club was tedious.