NCL depriving us of simple pleasures

[PhDUnderTheSea]

We are a well traveled couple; DINK's. We traditionally do longer voyages multiple times per year. When we are not cruising, we select land based vacations that involve physical activity, exploring, etc.

 

We recently sampled Royal Caribbean and had a very good time staying in a suite. Not perfect, but very good. We have also traveled on Holland America, Princess, Celebrity, and numerous times on NCL. We have found different things on each line to like.

 

Due to what appeared to be a good deal (at the time of booking) we booked a standard class balcony cabin on Breakaway for this summer. Now we are beyond final payment period and I was shocked this morning to come on to Cruise Critic to brush up on ship info and find so many changed and revised policies. I have heard of none of these changes from NCL directly. In fact, I find many of these changes to be offensive out of principle alone.

 

I am a very early riser and go to exercise. I then either go to the MDR or buffet for breakfast and always have a plate to go for my wife. We will be cruising over her birthday this summer and I always love to bring her a big birthday treat in the morning. It is nice for her. It feels good for me. We sit outside and have a wonderful, leisurely, relaxing, quiet breakfast enjoying each others company and the beautiful scenery one sees from a ship. It is private. It is wonderful

 

Now NCL are telling me they do not trust us to be able to handle such a fait accompli. Maybe others will not care, but this will impact our enjoyment of our vacation. Due to our hectic work schedules there are times we are not together for extended periods of time, and the ability to prepare a special breakfast in bed for my honey does not regularly present itself "in the real world".

 

I have seen the new room service menu and there is nothing on there worth paying for, so I shall not partake, and it is besides the point. NCL are treating us like children.

 

For what it is worth, if anyone from NCL here are reading this, we have cruised the mass market lines, we have toured the world. We have stayed at some of the finest hotels and resorts in many different countries and we have always felt welcomed and that hospitality was extended. We have enjoyed many years of cruising with NCL and felt similarly; that we were welcomed and that hospitality was extended. For the first time ever I now feel differently about NCL. It is too late to make alternate plans for our upcoming trip, and we do plan to enjoy ourselves together.

 

But you have taken the luster off NCL and it will not be easy for us to consider NCL against the competition in the future. We traveled four times on NCL in the prior three years, with three of those times in the Haven. We have traveled, altogether, an average of 15 weeks per year for the last 10 years and spend a considerable amount on these travels and expect certain experiences.

 

NCL apparently no longer consider us guests. They consider us marks. And they have made vacation feel like the day to day regular world.

 

I hope some of these changes are rescinded but I will not hold my breath for them. Looking forward to our final NCL trip, but I am sad that it will be our last. This is just my opinion / rant and I must say I feel better having shared my thoughts.

 

Best-

 

Steve

[cliffd64]

I appreciate your feelings, but as you no doubt suspect, we are all wearing choir robes here. The best thing for you to do in this case is to write NCL, and inform them as to why they have lost your business, and then actually follow through with it.

 

The only thing that matters to most businesses is the bottom line... so the only effective way you can impact that is to take your business elsewhere.

[Envelope21]

I agree with you completely. We've cruised 7 times with NCL (and over 30 times over all) but I really have no desire to go back now. We did make a deposit on a future cruise on our last outing a month ago, and now I wish that we hadn't.

[PhDUnderTheSea]

I appreciate your feelings, but as you no doubt suspect, we are all wearing choir robes here. The best thing for you to do in this case is to write NCL, and inform them as to why they have lost your business, and then actually follow through with it.

 

The only thing that matters to most businesses is the bottom line... so the only effective way you can impact that is to take your business elsewhere.

 

Yes, we plan to. We have the discretionary income and the time to sample the best of what the world to offers, and we will continue to do so.

 

We have enjoyed our time with NCL until now.

 

Like I said, we will enjoy what will be our final trip with NCL and then take our annual travel budget elsewhere altogether. I do appreciate feeling like a valued guest, I now sincerely doubt if NCL has any concern over what I value at all. If enough another people feel similarly alienated NCL may have some bottom line concerns. You can not be in the hospitality business by taking such strong stances against your clients.

 

Best-

 

Steve

[SAILPRO]

We are a well traveled couple; DINK's. We traditionally do longer voyages multiple times per year. When we are not cruising, we select land based vacations that involve physical activity, exploring, etc.

 

We recently sampled Royal Caribbean and had a very good time staying in a suite. Not perfect, but very good. We have also traveled on Holland America, Princess, Celebrity, and numerous times on NCL. We have found different things on each line to like.

 

Due to what appeared to be a good deal (at the time of booking) we booked a standard class balcony cabin on Breakaway for this summer. Now we are beyond final payment period and I was shocked this morning to come on to Cruise Critic to brush up on ship info and find so many changed and revised policies. I have heard of none of these changes from NCL directly. In fact, I find many of these changes to be offensive out of principle alone.

 

I am a very early riser and go to exercise. I then either go to the MDR or buffet for breakfast and always have a plate to go for my wife. We will be cruising over her birthday this summer and I always love to bring her a big birthday treat in the morning. It is nice for her. It feels good for me. We sit outside and have a wonderful, leisurely, relaxing, quiet breakfast enjoying each others company and the beautiful scenery one sees from a ship. It is private. It is wonderful

 

Now NCL are telling me they do not trust us to be able to handle such a fait accompli. Maybe others will not care, but this will impact our enjoyment of our vacation. Due to our hectic work schedules there are times we are not together for extended periods of time, and the ability to prepare a special breakfast in bed for my honey does not regularly present itself "in the real world".

 

I have seen the new room service menu and there is nothing on there worth paying for, so I shall not partake, and it is besides the point. NCL are treating us like children.

 

For what it is worth, if anyone from NCL here are reading this, we have cruised the mass market lines, we have toured the world. We have stayed at some of the finest hotels and resorts in many different countries and we have always felt welcomed and that hospitality was extended. We have enjoyed many years of cruising with NCL and felt similarly; that we were welcomed and that hospitality was extended. For the first time ever I now feel differently about NCL. It is too late to make alternate plans for our upcoming trip, and we do plan to enjoy ourselves together.

 

But you have taken the luster off NCL and it will not be easy for us to consider NCL against the competition in the future. We traveled four times on NCL in the prior three years, with three of those times in the Haven. We have traveled, altogether, an average of 15 weeks per year for the last 10 years and spend a considerable amount on these travels and expect certain experiences.

 

NCL apparently no longer consider us guests. They consider us marks. And they have made vacation feel like the day to day regular world.

 

I hope some of these changes are rescinded but I will not hold my breath for them. Looking forward to our final NCL trip, but I am sad that it will be our last. This is just my opinion / rant and I must say I feel better having shared my thoughts.

 

Best-

 

Steve

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Steve!

Please write to FDR and the board of directors and let them know your thoughts.

[smartpeach]

Well said. You've stated my sentiments exactly.

 

It's too late to cancel our plans for our Epic Med cruise this summer, but this may be our last with NCL. Although we are not saying will never sail NCL again (as never is a very strong word), but given a choice between sailings with similar price, itinerary, ship and price we would definitely choose another cruise line. In fact we were about to book the Escape for our 2016 vacation, but chose to go with RCL's Allue of the Seas instead.

 

It's just too many changes all at once: increased gratuities, full prices for kids at specialty restaurants, loss of the Cirque show with the UDP. The most irritating part is that none of these changes were NOT emailed to me by NCL. I wouldn't have known these things had I not been checking with CC regularly.

 

Anyway, just wanted to vent and let out my own rant.

 

 

 

:mad:

[mom2tcdx2]

I have to say I thought the policy was ridiculous, I only learned of this yesterday. We have a group of 9 sailing in September and I think this policy is absurd. My husband quite often goes up and has an early breakfast and would bring me back something. We too would also occasionally just relax in the room with lunch and watch a movie. Sometimes it is just nice to have that little bit of alone time. My daughter also loved to be able to go out and get mozzarella sticks and bring them back to the cabin. My son also has asperger's syndrome so he isn't always comfortable around people. To then take away his right to be able to have his breakfast or lunch and a little time to himself is crazy.

 

My sister and her husband also spend more time in the cabin than others might. We also like to be able to take our lunch out on a deck, maybe play cards.

 

I at this point don't think I would consider NCL for a cruise again. Way too many lines to pick from to put up with for this type of nonsense.

 

They are willing to offer for free all you can drink packages, but then not allow us to then eat freely. Personally I think it is very strange.

 

I think writing NCL is really a waste of time as I doubt they will really read individual letters though I would bet they do have someone monitoring these boards.

Edited May 8, 2015 by mom2tcdx2

[norway olin]

I think writing NCL is really a waste of time as I doubt they will really read individual letters though I would bet they do have someone monitoring these boards.

 

Maybe so, but I just listened to yesterday's Frank DelRio conference call and he mentioned that he had very little negative feedback about the institution of the $7.95 room service fee. Comments here and in other social media fall on deaf ears.

[TheManitoban]

I wont be concerned until I see at least 12 more threads started about the same topic. Then I know it's serious.

 

To be fair, the only thing this might make me do is look at my overall spend on vacation and consider testing out another line either because the price is the same or to see if a cheaper line is "good enough" for my needs.

 

NCl should have grandfathered some changed and made announcers farther in advance. other than that, nothing is really overly negative here. And given FDR's remarks about future bookings and revenue growth, they arent seeing a decline. Vocal minority.

[mom2tcdx2]

The problem I think will be that most people will have absolutely no idea of the policy. In all how many on say a ship with 4000 passengers are on cruise critic - I wouldn't bet more than a couple hundred at best. My cruise in September has 9 going, at this point I am the only one aware of this policy and just told my husband last night. No one else is aware nor do any of them visit these boards. If it wouldn't be for me telling them, they would be pissed once on board to find this out. I think that is where the problem is going to come, once they start enforcing and people aren't aware then I think they will start to see a decline.

 

Personally I don't see where NCL prices are all that fantastic in the first place. I have gotten much better prices from Carnival and have had better cruises on Carnival. All lines are a bit different. With the changes NCL is going farther and farther down on my list of ones to look at when I choose to book a vacation. As for the room service I don't usually use that anyway, nor would I ever pay any kind of fee to use it.

 

This would be like Disney telling you that you can walk around the park carrying food or taking your refillable drink mug back to your hotel room. I think in the end NCL will find out they are making some stupid mistakes.

[swilliams1660]

We are a well traveled couple; DINK's. We traditionally do longer voyages multiple times per year. When we are not cruising, we select land based vacations that involve physical activity, exploring, etc.

 

We recently sampled Royal Caribbean and had a very good time staying in a suite. Not perfect, but very good. We have also traveled on Holland America, Princess, Celebrity, and numerous times on NCL. We have found different things on each line to like.

 

Due to what appeared to be a good deal (at the time of booking) we booked a standard class balcony cabin on Breakaway for this summer. Now we are beyond final payment period and I was shocked this morning to come on to Cruise Critic to brush up on ship info and find so many changed and revised policies. I have heard of none of these changes from NCL directly. In fact, I find many of these changes to be offensive out of principle alone.

 

I am a very early riser and go to exercise. I then either go to the MDR or buffet for breakfast and always have a plate to go for my wife. We will be cruising over her birthday this summer and I always love to bring her a big birthday treat in the morning. It is nice for her. It feels good for me. We sit outside and have a wonderful, leisurely, relaxing, quiet breakfast enjoying each others company and the beautiful scenery one sees from a ship. It is private. It is wonderful

 

Now NCL are telling me they do not trust us to be able to handle such a fait accompli. Maybe others will not care, but this will impact our enjoyment of our vacation. Due to our hectic work schedules there are times we are not together for extended periods of time, and the ability to prepare a special breakfast in bed for my honey does not regularly present itself "in the real world".

 

I have seen the new room service menu and there is nothing on there worth paying for, so I shall not partake, and it is besides the point. NCL are treating us like children.

 

For what it is worth, if anyone from NCL here are reading this, we have cruised the mass market lines, we have toured the world. We have stayed at some of the finest hotels and resorts in many different countries and we have always felt welcomed and that hospitality was extended. We have enjoyed many years of cruising with NCL and felt similarly; that we were welcomed and that hospitality was extended. For the first time ever I now feel differently about NCL. It is too late to make alternate plans for our upcoming trip, and we do plan to enjoy ourselves together.

 

But you have taken the luster off NCL and it will not be easy for us to consider NCL against the competition in the future. We traveled four times on NCL in the prior three years, with three of those times in the Haven. We have traveled, altogether, an average of 15 weeks per year for the last 10 years and spend a considerable amount on these travels and expect certain experiences.

 

NCL apparently no longer consider us guests. They consider us marks. And they have made vacation feel like the day to day regular world.

 

I hope some of these changes are rescinded but I will not hold my breath for them. Looking forward to our final NCL trip, but I am sad that it will be our last. This is just my opinion / rant and I must say I feel better having shared my thoughts.

 

Best-

 

Steve

 

Like

[luvtheships]

The op said it perfectly.....

 

Ncl no longer appreciates us as their guests

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[KateQ22003]

Steve, the title of this thread says it all to me: NCL depriving us of simple pleasures. This sums up what I have been thinking and feeling since all of these changes have been rolled out on NCL. Are these changes life and death? Earth shattering? End of the world? Of course not. But simply stated, NCL is depriving us of the simple pleasures that make cruising what it is to us. Simple pleasures. it doesn't cost NCL ANYTHING to allow us to bring food back to our cabins. It costs them nothing for something that means a great deal to us. I just don't get it. I want my simple pleasures!

[abbyar]

The funny thing is, if there were "no complaints" as per the call - then why did they institute to "no food back to cabin" rule? If people were willingly paying $7.95/room service delivery, the new rule wouldn't be necessary.

[ronandannette]

I wont be concerned until I see at least 12 more threads started about the same topic. Then I know it's serious.

 

To be fair, the only thing this might make me do is look at my overall spend on vacation and consider testing out another line either because the price is the same or to see if a cheaper line is "good enough" for my needs.

 

NCl should have grandfathered some changed and made announcers farther in advance. other than that, nothing is really overly negative here. And given FDR's remarks about future bookings and revenue growth, they arent seeing a decline. Vocal minority.

 

I agree. No thinking person would be pleased to begin paying for services that were once included, or having options limited by what appears to be cost saving measures, and I certainly am not. However, I still want to take my upcoming NCL cruise because I like their over-all product for the price. In general, the only other mass-market line that is consistently less expensive (not including the occasional anomaly) is Carnival, where, by the way, room service is still free and nobody cares where you take your buffet food. Those factors would never, ever be important enough to me to sail them again though because the things that DO matter to me (evening entertainment, dining choices, thermal spa) are completely unacceptable on that line.

 

Also, let's all remember that "guest" is a double-speak way of saying "revenue-generating unit". Loyalty-club members often sound as their feelings are hurt by this.

[david_sobe]

Steve, the title of this thread says it all to me: NCL depriving us of simple pleasures. This sums up what I have been thinking and feeling since all of these changes have been rolled out on NCL. Are these changes life and death? Earth shattering? End of the world? Of course not. But simply stated, NCL is depriving us of the simple pleasures that make cruising what it is to us. Simple pleasures. it doesn't cost NCL ANYTHING to allow us to bring food back to our cabins. It costs them nothing for something that means a great deal to us. I just don't get it. I want my simple pleasures!

But from NCL it DOES cost them something. Its not about food waste. Its not a coincidence that this change happened just weeks after the room service fee was added. In their minds people are avoiding room service (and their fee) by bringing food back to their cabin.

The new CEO of NCL made it clear several months ago that he wants to squeeze another $50 from every passenger on board. With no food allowed back in the cabin will probably make many order room service to get that food they want in their cabin ;)

Edited May 8, 2015 by david_sobe

[mking8288]

That's part of FDR synergies mission to sound upbeat about, keep in mind despite the positive spin on last quarter's earnings, its operating revenue is sugar-coated with red ink - without the GAAP tricks. This is pretty simple math and he's doing both on the balance sheets : additions - increasing revenue; and, subtractions - cut expenses, i.e. reduce staffing level.

-

I would "argue" that NCL isn't depriving us of simple pleasures" when we cruise - he is simply raising the costs and convenience for doing so - (humor & sarcasm mode off again :D) - whether we like it or not. Guess which side I'm standing on ... :p

 

Unlike the legacy airlines, when flights are not filling up, they can easily cancelled scheduled flights and/or downsize to a smaller aircraft, re-route passengers, etc. - you simply cannot do that so easily with a floating city of 3,000+ sheepies ... Among the choices, drop prices last minute in hope of filling those unsold cabins or sail with dozens of vacant cabins, and, still need to provide the bare minimum under the contract to the crews onboard.

 

Don't be surprised to see more FCR being offered for private resale & transfers in the coming months - we are way outside our cancellation deadline for a December 2015 booking, the shrunken Platinum perks alone are not worth the aggravation to us.

[gwsster]

This would be like Disney telling you that you can walk around the park carrying food or taking your refillable drink mug back to your hotel room. I think in the end NCL will find out they are making some stupid mistakes.

Thought you should know.....This is from Disneys website. We didn't purchase the refillable mugs because you need one for the parks, one for the water parks and one for the resorts. Yeah Disney has the "magic" all figured out.

 

The prices of the mugs will vary based on Guest preference for number of days for refills:

$8.99 for 1 day

$11.99 for 2 consecutive days

$14.99 for 3 consecutive days

$17.99 for length of stay (up to 14 consecutive days)

 

Rapid Fill mugs may only be purchased at Walt Disney World Resort hotels with self-service beverage stations. The resort refillable mugs are not refillable in the theme parks or at the water parks. While the water parks do have a refillable mug system, currently the water park mug is only valid in water parks. Because of the RFID chip embedded in the Rapid Fill mugs, they cannot be microwaved. With this program, any old mug from a previous vacation will not work to activate the new soda machines. Guests must purchase new Rapid Fill mugs for each Walt Disney World visit.

Edited May 8, 2015 by gwsster

[Cloudyrain]

I think it's probably likely that they haven't had much negative feedback because a lot of people will possibly be first time cruisers on NCL/ever, OR don't use room service, OR don't care enough to complain. There may have been pages of it on here, but for the majority of guests it will probably be a non-issue.

 

With regards to the "no take out food" issue: no one really knows how firmly it will be implement until we get there. Hotels and bars in Spain have signs saying people need to be over 18 to purchase alcohol - yet they knowingly/naively serve people well under that age on a (often) regular basis.

 

I'm not bothered or upset by any of the new changes, but maybe if someone was to rugby-tackle me for walking out of the buffet with a piece of cake and a coffee then maybe I would have something to say about it. Although in the past when I have brought some cake or fruit back I generally don't bring it back on plates, I just wrap it up in a serviette and put it in my bag.

 

It's highly possible that this new rule may be loosely applied. For example, they may "turn a blind eye" to people only taking a few bits, or may stop housekeeping collecting peoples dirty dishes etc. If they do enforce it, as long as they are polite and reasonable about it I can't see most people having much of a problem. However, as is often said on here: the service levels on-board is often miles ahead of that people get from Land-based NCL.

 

I think if these changes do upset people enough to put them off pre-cruise then maybe people should write in to NCL, and put it as elegantly and politely as the OP has here.

[Cloudyrain]

Oh.... DINKs!!! I thought it meant you were really small in stature until my brain kicked in - my excuse: I'm in holiday mode :D

[YankeeFan4Ever]

Very well written post OP and I share some of your sentiments.

 

Please take the time to show your displeasure with this new policy by writing to NCL corporate.

 

Good luck!

[BayouDoc]

Norwegian Cruise Line reserves the right to charge a taco supplement without prior notice should the closing price of West Texas IntermediateTacos increase above $0.65 per taco on the NewMEX (New Mexico Taco Exchange Index). In the event a taco supplement is charged, Norwegian Cruise Line will have sole discretion to apply the supplementary charge to both existing and new bookings, regardless of whether such bookings have been paid in full. Such supplementary charges are not included in the cruise fare. The taco supplement charge will not exceed $7.50 per passenger per day.

 

 

You must always read the fine print on the contract!!!!

[Diver2014]

You ought to read about all the complaints on the Royal Caribbean and Carnival boards. People just can't be happy going on a cruise. Too bad.

[4774Papa]

We are a well traveled couple; DINK's. We traditionally do longer voyages multiple times per year. When we are not cruising, we select land based vacations that involve physical activity, exploring, etc.

 

We recently sampled Royal Caribbean and had a very good time staying in a suite. Not perfect, but very good. We have also traveled on Holland America, Princess, Celebrity, and numerous times on NCL. We have found different things on each line to like.

 

Due to what appeared to be a good deal (at the time of booking) we booked a standard class balcony cabin on Breakaway for this summer. Now we are beyond final payment period and I was shocked this morning to come on to Cruise Critic to brush up on ship info and find so many changed and revised policies. I have heard of none of these changes from NCL directly. In fact, I find many of these changes to be offensive out of principle alone.

 

I am a very early riser and go to exercise. I then either go to the MDR or buffet for breakfast and always have a plate to go for my wife. We will be cruising over her birthday this summer and I always love to bring her a big birthday treat in the morning. It is nice for her. It feels good for me. We sit outside and have a wonderful, leisurely, relaxing, quiet breakfast enjoying each others company and the beautiful scenery one sees from a ship. It is private. It is wonderful

 

Now NCL are telling me they do not trust us to be able to handle such a fait accompli. Maybe others will not care, but this will impact our enjoyment of our vacation. Due to our hectic work schedules there are times we are not together for extended periods of time, and the ability to prepare a special breakfast in bed for my honey does not regularly present itself "in the real world".

 

I have seen the new room service menu and there is nothing on there worth paying for, so I shall not partake, and it is besides the point. NCL are treating us like children.

 

For what it is worth, if anyone from NCL here are reading this, we have cruised the mass market lines, we have toured the world. We have stayed at some of the finest hotels and resorts in many different countries and we have always felt welcomed and that hospitality was extended. We have enjoyed many years of cruising with NCL and felt similarly; that we were welcomed and that hospitality was extended. For the first time ever I now feel differently about NCL. It is too late to make alternate plans for our upcoming trip, and we do plan to enjoy ourselves together.

 

But you have taken the luster off NCL and it will not be easy for us to consider NCL against the competition in the future. We traveled four times on NCL in the prior three years, with three of those times in the Haven. We have traveled, altogether, an average of 15 weeks per year for the last 10 years and spend a considerable amount on these travels and expect certain experiences.

 

NCL apparently no longer consider us guests. They consider us marks. And they have made vacation feel like the day to day regular world.

 

I hope some of these changes are rescinded but I will not hold my breath for them. Looking forward to our final NCL trip, but I am sad that it will be our last. This is just my opinion / rant and I must say I feel better having shared my thoughts.

 

Best-

 

Steve

Steve, my feelings are similar.

We will still look at NCL, but consider this new policy in our decision. Like you, I routinely take a small breakfast to my Wife. She usually wants Yogurt, perhaps a banana and coffee.

 

It seems that NCL is taking the meat ax approach, instead of the surgical approach.

 

Not sure if the policy was to enhance revenue, or keep people from spilling food around the ship, or leaving dirty plates in the hall. A more well thought policy would address the real problem, if a problem was the issue. Or, it may be to enhance revenue.

[teriwinkle]

Steve, the title of this thread says it all to me: NCL depriving us of simple pleasures. This sums up what I have been thinking and feeling since all of these changes have been rolled out on NCL. Are these changes life and death? Earth shattering? End of the world? Of course not. But simply stated, NCL is depriving us of the simple pleasures that make cruising what it is to us. Simple pleasures. it doesn't cost NCL ANYTHING to allow us to bring food back to our cabins. It costs them nothing for something that means a great deal to us. I just don't get it. I want my simple pleasures!

Ditto, Kate and Steve!