NCL? Tips?

[Girl of the South]

Just read this about new policies for NCL:

“The cruise operator will now be charging an extra $5 for any additional entree ordered in the main dining rooms. And it will be restricting those who order room service to two meals per person — as opposed to the previous no-limit policy.

Finally, starting next March, Norwegian will no longer extend its onboard drinks package, which allows passengers to order unlimited alcoholic beverages each day, to those traveling to Great Stirrup Cay, its private island in the Bahamas. That means cruisers will have to pay an additional fee for their cocktails, wine and beer once they step off the ship. Up until now, those drinks have been included as part of the island experience, provided passengers opted-in for the onboard package.”

 

[dreamer17555]

Just read this about new policies for NCL:

“The cruise operator will now be charging an extra $5 for any additional entree ordered in the main dining rooms. And it will be restricting those who order room service to two meals per person — as opposed to the previous no-limit policy.

Finally, starting next March, Norwegian will no longer extend its onboard drinks package, which allows passengers to order unlimited alcoholic beverages each day, to those traveling to Great Stirrup Cay, its private island in the Bahamas. That means cruisers will have to pay an additional fee for their cocktails, wine and beer once they step off the ship. Up until now, those drinks have been included as part of the island experience, provided passengers opted-in for the onboard package.”

I saw that and not a fan of nickel and dime-ing but even if I ordered 5 extra entries and 5 drinks on the private island (neither would happen) I would still be WELL under half the price for DCL. I say that as someone who generally loves DCL and often points out that for two cruisers it is a good deal to the newer Royal ships (not for a family but for 2 its around the same). I will happily report back after the sailing if I still feel if it was worth the money but I suspect NCL would have to be absolutely miserable for me to be unhappy to pay under $500 for 4 nights with an upgrade dining, drink package, tips, and everything. I can't get a room at a Fairfield Marriott for 4 nights under $500 let alone drinks and a beach visit.

 

[Girl of the South]

No plans to sail with NCL - it just popped up in my news feed and thought I would share. Is room service free like on DCL? (Unless, in the future, you order 3 entrees?)

 

[DCLMP]

Just read this about new policies for NCL:

“The cruise operator will now be charging an extra $5 for any additional entree ordered in the main dining rooms. And it will be restricting those who order room service to two meals per person — as opposed to the previous no-limit policy.

Finally, starting next March, Norwegian will no longer extend its onboard drinks package, which allows passengers to order unlimited alcoholic beverages each day, to those traveling to Great Stirrup Cay, its private island in the Bahamas. That means cruisers will have to pay an additional fee for their cocktails, wine and beer once they step off the ship. Up until now, those drinks have been included as part of the island experience, provided passengers opted-in for the onboard package.”

I've never ordered two entrees or two meals from room service and I'm not a day drinker. I would rather pay less for my cruise then pay for things I don't need.

I kind of get it though the amount of food that gets wasted on a cruise from people just wanting to try things is kind of ridiculous. Food prices have gone up so much if this keeps the cruise fare down I don't have a problem with it.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

I saw that and not a fan of nickel and dime-ing but even if I ordered 5 extra entries and 5 drinks on the private island (neither would happen) I would still be WELL under half the price for DCL. I say that as someone who generally loves DCL and often points out that for two cruisers it is a good deal to the newer Royal ships (not for a family but for 2 its around the same). I will happily report back after the sailing if I still feel if it was worth the money but I suspect NCL would have to be absolutely miserable for me to be unhappy to pay under $500 for 4 nights with an upgrade dining, drink package, tips, and everything. I can't get a room at a Fairfield Marriott for 4 nights under $500 let alone drinks and a beach visit.

This part. When you do the math, you're still way under on NCL a lot of the time, especially when taking the beverage package into consideration.

When I last sailed on Royal, the option to add the beverage package was over $100pp a day. When I did Virgin, their drink packages were only like... a 20% savings off buying the drinks one-by-one. Disney we all know is a-la-carte on top of their insane prices. So I don't think paying for 2 drinks on NCL's island is going to the other options suddenly a better value.

 

[DCLMP]

To be fair to Disney you can bring your own beer and wine on at every port. I don't think many people take advantage of this but I do. When I first started sailing Disney you could bring any kind of alcohol on and as much as you wanted. That changed in 2015.

NCL drink packages are very reasonable in price. Royals are outrageous. I couldn't drink enough to break even especially since I'm mostly a beer and wine drinker. I'll bring my two bottles of wine on Royal and pay one-by-one like I do on DCL. Even with the refreshment package, internet and all the speciality dining I'm not coming near the DCL price.

I debated between DCL and NCL in Europe. Shockingly prices were the same except NCL included the drink package. The NCL itinerary was the deciding factor not the free drinks.

 

[mjkacmom]

To be fair to Disney you can bring your own beer and wine on at every port. I don't think many people take advantage of this but I do. When I first started sailing Disney you could bring any kind of alcohol on and as much as you wanted. That changed in 2015.

NCL drink packages are very reasonable in price. Royals are outrageous. I couldn't drink enough to break even especially since I'm mostly a beer and wine drinker. I'll bring my two bottles of wine on Royal and pay one-by-one like I do on DCL. Even with the refreshment package, internet and all the speciality dining I'm not coming near the DCL price.

I debated between DCL and NCL in Europe. Shockingly prices were the same except NCL included the drink package. The NCL itinerary was the deciding factor not the free drinks.

If you take the MAS package on NCL, and most drinkers do, you can bring on unlimited bottles of wine. If you don’t have the package, you pay $15 per bottle, but still unlimited.

 

[DCLMP]

If you take the MAS package on NCL, and most drinkers do, you can bring on unlimited bottles of wine. If you don’t have the package, you pay $15 per bottle, but still unlimited.

Can you bring it on in port?