Can't bring soda on board anymore

[peacefulOR]

If you have the time to post about this issue, please take another few minutes to get your voice out where it's a matter of numbers that Norwegian will note. I wrote to Vivian Ewart (VeWart@ncl.com) yesterday and just posted to Karl Muhlberger (KMuhlberger@ncl.com today. Next, Mark Kansley@ncl.com. Then there's Facebook, Twitter, your roll calls and more.

 

I personally do not carry water aboard but really, really prefer Coke products myself. Regardless of your preferences, a polite request for a better policy, including reasonably priced water and more beverage choices, will help everyone. I believe we can affect Norwegian's policy, one by one. Happy cruising anyway.

[SteveH2508]

OK - How about this . If you recognize how such changes will result in incredible anger , shouldn't you analyse whether making the changes are worth it . A significant minority of the posts here have basically said , get a hold of yourself , you big babies . Well in the words of luvtheships , aren't they morons for not " trying to please the paying customer and not piss them off over a very minor thing " .

 

NCL seem to be getting a track record of ill-considered, short notice changes which p*ss off a section of their clientele.

 

These changes seem to start happening about May/June each year - any connection with the financial forecasts and/or executive bonus and appraisal evaluation time?

[SteveH2508]

I will bet you that someone will try this, whether they make up their own letter or have their doctor sign it.

 

Just trying to help to combat stupidity in the world...:D

[travelbugforever]

We set sail in September on PoA from Hawaii. We had already planned to buy soda and water, to bring onboard. Now with this latest change I probably will NEVER cruise with NCL.

I'm hoping RCL and PCL don't follow NCL policy.

 

Another scam to make you pay for their overpriced bottled water, and soda.

 

Very disappointed, since this is my first cruise with NCL.

 

Discontent.

Gothicreader

 

I totally agree with you. We have completed over 20 cruises and this is our first NCL cruise...Hawaii July 23, 2016. I figured we would try NCL and possibly go on more cruises with them in the future. Now, I am so turned off...I definitely will not consider any future cruises with them.:mad:

[redfantum]

Just got my email. Cruising in August. I have always brought Coke Zero and almond milk before. I wasn't planning to this cruise because it is so short, but this would definitely affect me in the future.

Now, I am a CAS cruiser. Every time they take something out of the base price and make it a la cart, it takes the value out of my comp. When the balance of what I have to pay for outweighs what I get included, I will be looking to different lines or sticking to land. Just got back from Vegas and had a wonderful time. (And bottled water was included in my room.)

[Mr Six]

As much as I would like to have choice of what I can bring on board and have always brought along a case of water, even though I always get the beverage package. I prefer my own water in my cabin and can get a real drink anytime I want but refuse to pay about $60 for the same case of water, (they already got my money for the 18% service charge and higher base fare). On NCL I make sure that it is available as a perk when booking because the "retail" price is absurd. I do pay the retail price on other cruise lines as it is fair and cannot be negotiated into the fare. I suspect that they will leverage this new policy to either eliminate the perk and or try and get you to pay the retail price of the UBP. If they can totally control all beverages on board, they will certainly use this policy to their advantage against us. I am booked on a NCL cruise in November, and will most likely not purchase a cruise next voucher as the game is probably about to change bigtime.

[Diller12]

This is Del Rio's way of softly pushing out the "value" cruisers which NCL hates.

Already have booked and payed for my Next Cruise.

And My Last With Ncl.

[riddle]

How about selling 6 packs of coke products in their ship store for a price close to what you can buy it for on land? No more worries about having to inspect it. People would be somewhat appeased and you could have your drink in your cabin. By the way, other than the occasional insulin user, what is the refrigerator in the cabin for? Will future new ships not have refrigerators?

 

Just speculating. I know they would never go for it.

[Single Cruiser]

How about selling 6 packs of coke products in their ship store for a price close to what you can buy it for on land? No more worries about having to inspect it. People would be somewhat appeased and you could have your drink in your cabin. By the way, other than the occasional insulin user, what is the refrigerator in the cabin for? Will future new ships not have refrigerators?

 

Just speculating. I know they would never go for it.

 

The refrigerator in the cabin is and will always be a mini bar.

 

Norwegian would have signed an exclusivity contract with PepsiCo in the same way as Royal have with Cola so you'll never see them sell the others brands.

[FranknBeans]

If you have the time to post about this issue, please take another few minutes to get your voice out where it's a matter of numbers that Norwegian will note. I wrote to Vivian Ewart (VeWart@ncl.com) yesterday and just posted to Karl Muhlberger (KMuhlberger@ncl.com today. Next, Mark Kansley@ncl.com. Then there's Facebook, Twitter, your roll calls and more.

 

I personally do not carry water aboard but really, really prefer Coke products myself. Regardless of your preferences, a polite request for a better policy, including reasonably priced water and more beverage choices, will help everyone. I believe we can affect Norwegian's policy, one by one. Happy cruising anyway.

 

 

I've emailed these two as well as our PCC and also Denis Prguda at

dprguda@ncl.com as of January he was the Regional VP Fleet Hotel Operations

[SuiteCruiser]

My point was to the poster that there is "gouging" everywhere here in the United States, not just on cruise ships. To me, it doesn't matter if you are somewhere for 5 minutes or 1 month, if $5 for a bottle of water is gouging on NCL, it is gouging at Disneyland, as they are both making a huge profit from selling the water at that price.

 

As I have said, I think the solution is to greatly reduce the cost of water on the ships and to charge passengers the equivalent of what they would pay on the ships for soda brought on board.

 

If you go to stay at a Disney World resort for a week, you can bring as many cases of Coke, Pepsi or anything else you want. It's not the same. In the park is like in the airport, but you're not living in the airport a week.

[Podie]

I have cruised NCL once; I'm usually a Celebrity and Royal Caribbean cruiser. The last time I cruised NCL (and my upcoming cruise in October), I received the beverage package as part of my reservation, and had to pay the gratuities for it. When I was on board, I was amazed to learn that the package did not include coffee (unless I put liquor in it) or bottled water. Celebrity and RCCL do not charge gratuities for any free package - it's actually FREE. Plus all the specialty coffees and bottles of water you want are included. I'm pretty sure this will be my last NCL cruise.

[Sissaaaaaa]

We will be contacting the Florida AG's office on Tuesday, as I mentioned somewhere on CC a while ago. (Apologies if I'm repeating from recently on this very thread.)

 

Some years ago, I saw a clearly fraudulent TV ad, and the business was in Florida (we are not).

So I phoned the AG's office, and they were remarkably interested and took down considerable info.

About a month later, the "troublesome" claim in the TV was gone.

 

Who knows if there was any "cause and effect", but at least the AG's office seemed to "care" (or put on a great act ?).

 

If they hear from several (or better yet, many of us), that should get more attention, as NCL is a big operation (and the fly by night company with the TV ad was not).

 

And because NCL is a large corporation with plenty of business in other states, how about the FTC also?

We'll see what their response is...

 

NOTE: Our biggest complaint right now is that it appears that NCL is ONLY notifying those passengers who have passed into a cancellation penalty phase, when we all know NCL could send out the same blast email to everyone that they use to entice everyone with special offers.

 

That is not okay... to WAIT until reservations pass into penalties...!

Also please note that we ourselves are not (yet) affected by this. All of our reservations are in a "get your refund back" status, although a few of those deadlines are coming up.

This is truly because we object to this type of business practice, which is very different from other "changes" that NCL has made.

-->> At least then, NCL didn't seem to purposefully *wait* until after customers passed into a penalty time before adding them to the notification list.

 

Again, has ANYONE who has a cruise that is *not* yet in a penalty period received notification directly from NCL about this change?

 

Thanks.

 

Just an FYI - the Florida AG is wonderful, and that office takes each and every complaint seriously. I have utilized them several times, and they have always been helpful!

[pokerpro5]

As has already been pointed out, you ARE allowed to bring bottled water into Disneyland.

 

In fact, I did it when I went late last year.

 

NCL is the only business I can think of which PROHIBITS bringing in bottled water.

 

That's downright offensive. You can bring it into Disneyland and ballparks, so why not a damn cruise ship, where you will actually be LIVING for a week or more?

 

You can't even cite the airlines, because they don't allow it due to government regulations, not their own greed.

 

The solution here is to VOCALIZE dissatisfaction as much as possible to NCL. Write e-mails, write letters, tell your PCC, etc.

 

If they hear enough that people are furious, they might very well reverse this or modify the costs of water/soda onboard.

 

Call me an optimist, but I don't think that NCL's "you can't bring bottled water onboard, and you have to buy it at 1000% markup if you want it" is going to fly for very long.

[NLH Arizona]

How about selling 6 packs of coke products in their ship store for a price close to what you can buy it for on land? No more worries about having to inspect it. People would be somewhat appeased and you could have your drink in your cabin. By the way, other than the occasional insulin user, what is the refrigerator in the cabin for? Will future new ships not have refrigerators?

 

Just speculating. I know they would never go for it.

It is the same reason why Celebrity doesn't sell Pepsi products. They can't sell any Coke products, because they have a exclusivity contract with Pepsi. There are many stipulations if one were to break the contract and sell another vendor's products, some are the price is raised, some are the price is raised from the beginning of the contract, etc.

[Aquahound]

We will be contacting the Florida AG's office on Tuesday, as I mentioned somewhere on CC a while ago. (Apologies if I'm repeating from recently on this very thread.)

 

As much as I love Pam Bondi and her hard-nosed approach, I'm not sure the FL AG has venue. For the most part, if not totally, venue is the Southern District of Florida (federal).

[DavyJoneses]

Daaaaaaaaaaang people are going to be PISSED!

 

This may be an understatement.

[Momofcandk]

Per NCL yesterday (when they called me about this/my e-mail on it), it is being done due to the screening of the water/soda to get it aboard being too lengthy to do. So, not so much for "security" but just to "keep those lines moving".

 

 

 

It will be interesting what will happen in the naughty room though (in the beginning of this at least). And, yes, I mentioned that they had better plan on a bigger room since there will be issues (at least at first). LOL

 

 

So then force people to carry it on if time is the issue.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[pokerpro5]

I wouldn't bother with the Florida Attorney General.

 

NCL is not committing a criminal act here.

 

However, a class action lawsuit could be very viable here. (That is, in relation to changing the policy after people's final payment date, as well as intentionally avoiding notifying passengers not yet at final payment date.)

 

Any attorneys in the house?

Edited July 2, 2016 by pokerpro5

[NLH Arizona]

As has already been pointed out, you ARE allowed to bring bottled water into Disneyland.

 

Not entirely true. From their website:

 

Q. Can I bring outside food and beverages into Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park?

A. At the present time, you can enjoy your own food and beverages in an ideal setting at the complimentary picnic area—conveniently located outside the Main Entrance to Disneyland Park.

However, with the exception of food items for Guests with specific dietary restrictions, outside food or beverage items are not permitted in either of the Disneyland Resort theme parks.

The Disneyland Resort features a variety of great dining options for almost every taste and budget—including a wide range of choices to help accommodate Guests with food allergies or intolerances.

 

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/faq/dining/outside-food-in-park/

[dijid]

I have not yet receive notification from NCL. We sail in December.

I contacted NCL regards my daughter's situation and waiting for their response. Thanks!

 

Please post your response. We don't have any cruises planned, but my daughter's doctor has her drink Gatorade daily to ward off migraines. We brought a bunch on our last cruise.

[SeaShark]

I wouldn't bother with the Florida Attorney General.

 

NCL is not committing a criminal act here.

 

However, a class action lawsuit could be very viable here. (That is, in relation to changing the policy after people's final payment date, as well as intentionally avoiding notifying passengers not yet at final payment date.)

 

Any attorneys in the house?

 

A lawsuit would only get you as far as the contract that each guest agrees to:

 

"The Guest agrees that, except as expressly provided herein, this Contract constitutes the entire agreement between the Guest and Carrier, and shall supersede and exclude any prior representations that may have been made in relation to the cruise to the Guest or anyone representing him/her by anyone, including but not limited to anything stated in the Carrier's brochures, advertisements, and other promotional materials, by Norwegian Cruise Line or NCL America employees or by third persons such as travel agents."

 

Unless the contract specifically allows you to bring outside beverages aboard their ship, you won't find an attorney willing to take the case.

[SeaShark]

 

NOTE: Our biggest complaint right now is that it appears that NCL is ONLY notifying those passengers who have passed into a cancellation penalty phase, when we all know NCL could send out the same blast email to everyone that they use to entice everyone with special offers.

 

 

 

I don't think that is entirely true. FWIW, my next cruise with NCL isn't until March of 2017 and I've already received the notice...well outside of the cancellation penalty phase.

 

 

I suspect that many of those who have not yet been notified are those who booked with a TA. Remember, NCL is only going to notify the guests who booked direct. Those who booked with a TA will only receive the notice from their TA, not from NCL.

[tiger-91]

So...I have to buy baby formula at the same time that I buy bottled water before I bring a case on-board?

 

Don't forget to obtain a baby too, or else they'll be suspicious.

[Hunwolf]

Not entirely true. From their website:

 

Q. Can I bring outside food and beverages into Disneyland Park or Disney California Adventure Park?

A. At the present time, you can enjoy your own food and beverages in an ideal setting at the complimentary picnic area—conveniently located outside the Main Entrance to Disneyland Park.

However, with the exception of food items for Guests with specific dietary restrictions, outside food or beverage items are not permitted in either of the Disneyland Resort theme parks.

The Disneyland Resort features a variety of great dining options for almost every taste and budget—including a wide range of choices to help accommodate Guests with food allergies or intolerances.

 

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/faq/dining/outside-food-in-park/

 

 

I've never had an issue taking bottled water into a Disney Park.

 

And ice water is free at any quick service location in the Park, and it's a heck of a lot better than the water on the ships (which makes sense given how the ships have to process the water).

 

At most of the Disney Hotels you can by an 8 pack of bottled water for $16, and in the park the last time I was there they were $2.50. Not great prices but at least not the extortionary rates being charged by NCL.