LAST STRAW! My Last Cruise With Norwegian!

[mugtech]

The whole world isn't like Canada you know.

 

Best news I heard all day:D

[Rob0519]

Ok, so we were on the 11/14 sailing of the Escape. Margaritaville was still complimentary at that time, but it was so busy that we did not get to try the food. So we did not get a meal to which we were entitled in the cruise fare. I don't see a thousand people complaining they were not able to get what they paid for. Honestly I found only a few items for lunch at Taste and Savor that were edible, dinner was another story. There are many reasons that our first NCL cruise will probably be our last, but this restaurant going from complimentary to ala cart after final payment would not have been one of them.

[sjbdtz]

The whole world isn't like Canada you know.

 

Best news I heard all day:D

 

 

It's the only reason I put up with the cold. Once the rest of the world catches-up, then I can move somewhere warm.

 

 

And yes, there is lots of movement between cruise lines. My fave casino pit boss left NCL and went to Crystal. Others migrate between lines, as they feel the need to. So yes, if one's payment method triggers a tax liability, and the other's does not, there's an incentive to gravitate toward the latter.

 

 

Stevie

 

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[Crusin6]

They could grandfather folks in, like they did with the DSC increases, but I guess they choose not to...their business, their rules, so we either live with the changes or we don't. Even when they grandfathered folks in on the DSC increase, there were still those on here that had a major issues with that change, so there is no win for NCL in their changes, even when they changed the Asian restaurant from a for fee venue to a free venue, there were those with issues.

 

 

They only grandfathered in the dsc because of the huge cash influx that ncl stood to receive by letting pax pay at the old rate.....

 

Of course pax had to prepay dsc In order to get the old rate. Lol

 

 

 

 

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[KeithJenner]

They only grandfathered in the dsc because of the huge cash influx that ncl stood to receive by letting pax pay at the old rate.....

 

 

Do you have any evidence to back that up?

[KeithJenner]

It's a 'hamburger joint' that's occupies the same outdoor deck place as the Flamingo Grill/Uptown Grill on the Away ships. Now that great complimentary option that we enjoyed for casual outdoor lunches is gone. I would rather they take the Margaritaville name off and go back to a complimentary casual lunch place that is NOT a crowded buffet.

 

 

This really is the crux of the problem. Lots of people like an outdoor food place. Because of the popularity of Margaritaville, the Escape doesn't now have one, and it's difficult to see how that can change without getting rid of it totally and going back to the buffet style grill, which they aren't going to do.

 

Other than that, the options seem to be charging for it or leaving it complementary but nobody can actually get into it to eat. Neither of those really meet the need that many people have.

[sparks1093]

Do you have any evidence to back that up?

 

Evidence of motive may be deduced from the actions. Since they could have grandfathered the service charges through a simple computer program but chose not to does speak volumes regarding their motivation. Of course reasonable minds may reach differing conclusions (and it may also be pointed out that allowing a customer to pre-pay at the old rate doesn't really qualify as true grandfathering as their rate should have been protected regardless of when they paid it).

[All-ready2cruise]

Best news I heard all day:D

 

What's with the Canada bashing? I've never known you to be like that, guess some things never change.

 

Enjoy your cruises.

[NLH Arizona]

They only grandfathered in the dsc because of the huge cash influx that ncl stood to receive by letting pax pay at the old rate.....

 

Of course pax had to prepay dsc In order to get the old rate. Lol

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Do you know for sure that is the reason why they grandfathered folks in. Could you provide us with documentation to show us that that is indeed fact?

[KeithJenner]

Evidence of motive may be deduced from the actions.

 

But such deductions tend to result in incorrect conclusions.

 

If NCL only allowed prapayment in order to benefit from a "huge cash influx" then surely they would have actually made everyone pay the DSC at the time rather than adding it to final payment, which in itself will have rather compromised the hugeness of the cash influx.

 

If I were to try to deduce a motive from NCL's actions I would probably suggest that they saw it as a mixture of being able to say that people could protect the old rate, to make it that bit harder for those passengers to adjust the DSC (I believe you have to apply post cruise) as well as to give themselves a small cash flow advantage. I would however acknowledge that this is just a guess.

 

I assumed, from the previous posters assertion with no doubts expressed, that this was the only reason why they had acted as they did, that they would have some form of evidence beyond a deduction.

Edited November 30, 2015 by KeithJenner

[SuiteCruiser]

Do you know for sure that is the reason why they grandfathered folks in. Could you provide us with documentation to show us that that is indeed fact?

 

Can you provide us with documentation to show us that it isn't a fact?

 

Why did they say you could only keep your old DSC rate if you prepaid, if not to get your money earlier?

[SuiteCruiser]

But such deductions tend to result in incorrect conclusions.

 

If NCL only allowed prapayment in order to benefit from a "huge cash influx" then surely they would have actually made everyone pay the DSC at the time rather than adding it to final payment, which in itself will have rather compromised the hugeness of the cash influx.

 

If I were to try to deduce a motive from NCL's actions I would probably suggest that they saw it as a mixture of being able to say that people could protect the old rate, to make it that bit harder for those passengers to adjust the DSC (I believe you have to apply post cruise) as well as to give themselves a small cash flow advantage. I would however acknowledge that this is just a guess.

 

I assumed, from the previous posters assertion with no doubts expressed, that this was the only reason why they had acted as they did, that they would have some form of evidence beyond a deduction.

 

They don't add it to final payment in the US or Canada. You pay it when you decide to pay it, but it needed to be done before boarding if you wanted to keep the old rate.

 

One of their emails said it had to be paid by a certain due date to lock it in, but they didn't actually follow through with that, it was likely another attempt to get cash early.

 

Googled it and it was the first DSC raise, it had to be paid by March 1st in order to lock it in.

Edited November 30, 2015 by SuiteCruiser

[Demonyte]

They don't add it to final payment in the US or Canada.

 

Yes you can.

 

Googled it and it was the first DSC raise, it had to be paid by March 1st in order to lock it in.

 

 

That is incorrect info from the first email that TAs got. Email sent later directly to customers did not have any deadline and I prepaid $12pppd for two of our three reservations (for upcoming January cruise) in October.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Demonyte

[KeithJenner]

They don't add it to final payment in the US or Canada. You pay it when you decide to pay it, but it needed to be done before boarding if you wanted to keep the old rate.

 

 

That isn't what many people were reporting at the time. I queried on here whether it worked differently for people in the US and was told by a number of people that it was added to their final payment.

[KeithJenner]

Can you provide us with documentation to show us that it isn't a fact?

 

 

There is absolutely no need for them to, as they haven't made any claim.

 

For all I know, NCL may have done things the way they did in order to get some quick cash in, but I'm far from convinced that was the case.

 

The poster that I and NHL Arizona quoted had made a claim which we just asked whether they had evidence to back up. It's not up to us to provide evidence one way or another.

 

As I suspected, the lack of any reply suggests that the Cruisin6 was just stating an opinion and doesn't really know.

[SuiteCruiser]

That isn't what many people were reporting at the time. I queried on here whether it worked differently for people in the US and was told by a number of people that it was added to their final payment.

 

You can pay for it if you want to, but it's not automatically added, that was what I was saying..

[abe3]

I will keep going on NCL. I have priced other cruise lines but I still keep coming back to NCL because of the great offers and prices. I have always had great service and an amazing time on NCL. Others might have a different opinion but to me NCL gives me a great value and great service. I might venture to another line sometime but I a very happy customer and will keep coming back to NCL in the future.

[cruise crazed]

NCL will continue to charge what the market will bear. I feel they have a good product even with the upcharges. I also cruise other cruise lines when I want a different experience than NCL offers. However, they all have upcharge restaurants.

[SuiteCruiser]

NCL will continue to charge what the market will bear. I feel they have a good product even with the upcharges. I also cruise other cruise lines when I want a different experience than NCL offers. However, they all have upcharge restaurants.

 

Having upcharge restaurants is not the issue, NCL was the very first line to ever have upcharge restaurants, so everyone here is well used to them. The issue is that the umpteen changes that have been implented and topping it off with the free restaurant that was advertised for a year, becoming a la carte after a month. $6.99 for a burger and another $2.99 for fries, etc.

[sjbdtz]

Can you provide us with documentation to show us that it isn't a fact?

 

Why did they say you could only keep your old DSC rate if you prepaid, if not to get your money earlier?

 

 

A) It seems illogical that the ONLY reason they let people pay $12 instead of $15.50 was because of the huge amount of money they stood to collect. Surely they'd have collect a lot MORE, but not grandfathering.

 

B) Given the state of disrepair on their website, I'd wager that their IT dept. wasn't able to program their computers in such a short time to determine who should pay $12 and who should pay $13.50. So by saying you can have $12 by PrePaying, it let people lock-in where it would have been tougher to do otherwise.

 

 

C) The $6.99 burger (free when I ordered it) came automatically with fries, at the time. Does anybody know for sure that it doesn't, now? It could be that the $2.99 fries are already on the $6.99 burger plate.

 

 

 

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[KeithJenner]

C) The $6.99 burger (free when I ordered it) came automatically with fries, at the time. Does anybody know for sure that it doesn't, now? It could be that the $2.99 fries are already on the $6.99 burger plate.

 

 

You would think that's possible, but the menu doesn't suggest so, as it has the fries listed as sides, and there is no mention of them on the description for the burgers

 

However, knowing NCL it could well be bad wording on the menu. We will have to wait for reports from the ship, but it will make quite a difference to people who are deciding whether it is value or not.

[fshagan]

A) It seems illogical that the ONLY reason they let people pay $12 instead of $15.50 was because of the huge amount of money they stood to collect. Surely they'd have collect a lot MORE, but not grandfathering.

 

B) Given the state of disrepair on their website, I'd wager that their IT dept. wasn't able to program their computers in such a short time to determine who should pay $12 and who should pay $13.50. So by saying you can have $12 by PrePaying, it let people lock-in where it would have been tougher to do otherwise.

 

 

I think you are probably right on with both A and B. When I pre-paid DSC to get the booked-at rate online my card was charged immediately. But, I could have called to have it added to the final payment amount. At the time, the discussion here was that the website couldn't add it to the final payment automatically, so you had to call in. For us, the "time value of money" on interest I could have earned on that $168 is a rounding error, so didn't mind paying it early.

 

I suspect they couldn't reliably get the on-board computers to apply different rates to different passengers with the numerous changes ... you could pay one of three rates time two cabin classes, so they would have six different possible DSC rates being applied daily to the bill.

 

I don't know when NCL has to recognize revenue for tax purposes, but I suspect it's at the time of booking, so they are always paying tax before actually getting the cash. The amount of DSC collected early is miniscule and I can't imagine it being for any reason other than to attempt to placate upset customers.

[nealstuber]

I think you are probably right on with both A and B. When I pre-paid DSC to get the booked-at rate online my card was charged immediately. But, I could have called to have it added to the final payment amount. At the time, the discussion here was that the website couldn't add it to the final payment automatically, so you had to call in. For us, the "time value of money" on interest I could have earned on that $168 is a rounding error, so didn't mind paying it early.

 

I suspect they couldn't reliably get the on-board computers to apply different rates to different passengers with the numerous changes ... you could pay one of three rates time two cabin classes, so they would have six different possible DSC rates being applied daily to the bill.

 

I don't know when NCL has to recognize revenue for tax purposes, but I suspect it's at the time of booking, so they are always paying tax before actually getting the cash. The amount of DSC collected early is miniscule and I can't imagine it being for any reason other than to attempt to placate upset customers.

 

Huh?? My brain hurts. Just wanted to get some munchies at M'ville. This is all way too complicated for vacation. Just tell me where and when I'm supposed to eat and what time my show is. If I'm gonna have more than 8 beers a day, I'll get a package, if not here is my sail and sign card. Now please be quiet.

[sjbdtz]

I don't know when NCL has to recognize revenue for tax purposes, but I suspect it's at the time of booking, so they are always paying tax before actually getting the cash. The amount of DSC collected early is miniscule and I can't imagine it being for any reason other than to attempt to placate upset customers.

 

 

Usually you'd recognize the revenue when the product ships....or in this case, when the passenger ships.

 

So if you had an order you couldn't fulfill, you wouldn't count that as income until you were able to fulfill.

 

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[newmexicoNita]

Why do people seem to think they need to make a public declaration of their intent not to sail on Norwegian ever again???!!!?

 

It seems some people just love to rant, others probably think by coming on CC others will follow and then there are those who make mountains out of mole hills. Anyone who would not cruise because of a small service charge doesn't seem to be the most pleasant person in the world.