Is the outside beverage ban making you look elsewhere??

[boatseller]

To answer the specific question: No, not one bit.

 

Why: the whole concept of lugging around cases of water seems quite absurd. My luggage is heavy enough with 18 different outfits :).

 

Also, this shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. NCL is following the pack on this one.

Edited July 11, 2016 by boatseller@hotmail.com

[pspercy]

Is the outside beverage ban making you look elsewhere??

 

No more than usual.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

It will, and has, affected my future booking choices. I was looking at fall transatlantics for 2017 and was comparing Epic/Getaway, and waiting for Jade to be available before deciding.

 

The Beverage ban, along with all the other consumer unfriendly changes in the last 18 months, have made us reconsider NCL for future vacations. I worry that there will be too many changes before I were to sail. It's a shame as my experience on the Escape last fall was positive enough to make NCL my "first look" recently - we are booked for the Epic transatlantic this fall.

 

I went ahead and booked on the Regal Princess transatlantic for October 2017 instead of NCL. It was slightly more expensive per day but I am getting a better inclusive beverage package as part of their sip-n-sail promo and I feel more valued as a consumer on Princess.

 

When NCL starts treating customers with respect again, rather than as floating ATM machines, I will give them another look.

Edited July 11, 2016 by AtlantaCruiser72

[LrgPizza]

No. I don't carry on any beverages anyway, regardless of cruse line.

[Envelope21]

Yes. If nothing else, just for the annoyance factor. The thing that put me over the edge was the room service charge actually. Also, turning the large lounge on top of the ship into suites turned me off too. It gave us one less public venue to go to. Now that most cruise lines have some sort of "Freestyle" dining, NCL's uniqueness is only in the negatives.

 

I don't like the marketing ploy of saying things are FREE when they aren't.

[Envelope21]

To answer the specific question: No, not one bit.

 

Why: the whole concept of lugging around cases of water seems quite absurd. My luggage is heavy enough 18 different outfits :).

 

Also, this shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. NCL is following the pack on this one.

 

Are you saying you pack 18 different outfits? You're kidding, right?

[ejnsb]

No.

[UPNYGuy]

The beverage ban doesn't affect me per se, but the sheer number of changes and the way they have been implemented is encouraging me to look at other lines. My upcoming cruise is booked on Princess. If NCL is looking to drive customers away, they are doing a bang up job of it.

 

 

That really is what is doing it for me. The sheer volume of changes in such a short timespan. Even though this one doesn't affect me, it is making me look elsewhere

[NLH Arizona]

Are you saying you pack 18 different outfits? You're kidding, right?

What is wrong with that. On a 7 day cruise, with day before and day after stay in the port city, I will have a minimum 16 outfits.

[anonmom]

No. I love my cans of sparkling water (La Croix, etc.) at home, but I have no interest in carrying any on board a ship, to a resort, etc. In any restaurant, at sea or on land, I just ask for a seltzer water (from the gun) with a wedge of lime. In hotel rooms I just drink tap water. In my cabin, I drink water from the buffet or seltzer water from the last bar I was at.

 

Both of our cruises have been with NCL because when you compare the price for 2 adults plus 1 child, in a balcony cabin, with a drink package for both adults, NCL is cheaper than any other cruise line. If stopping other passengers from bringing beverages onboard saves/earns them the money they need to keep prices low, I'm fine with that.

 

I do hope they modify the policy to allow us to bring on an unopened carton of soy milk for our morning coffee. If smuggling alcohol is really the issue then unopened cartons and cans should be fine. But I'm certainly not going to pay a lot more to cruise with another line just because I'll need to ask for soy milk 1 glass at a time from the buffet. I did that a few times on our last cruise and it really wasn't a big deal.

 

That said, I'm absolutely not the kind of person who considers themselves "loyal" to a corporation. MSC has had some rates/specials that are close to NCL in price and include a drink package. If MSC comes out cheaper than NCL when I'm pricing out our next cruise, I won't hesitate to book with them.

[Heather1972]

Not at all. I thought it was in affect on our last cruise. I was quickly trying to get my kid to drink his water after coming back from a port. My mouth dropped as he handed me the water bottle as we went through security. They didn't say anything. Ooops, I confused NCL rules with Carnival's rules about drinks.

[lgfromdg]

I have been very loyal to NCL, probably to the point of being a cheer leap. I love FreeStyle cruising and have always thought the crew was the best. In talking to crew members on my last cruise,it seems as though s lot of them sent happy with the way FDR is running things. I feel like it's not the same NCL that it used to be. Dropping the champagne, one box of Godiva per room, not per guest, making the specialty restaurants a la carte - those changes have made us consider switching lines. Now with not being able to bring pop and water onboard, we may just shop around. So many changes have changed my feelings about the line that I loved so much.

 

 

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[blackwing]

Are you saying you pack 18 different outfits? You're kidding, right?

I don't see anything wrong with this. I'm a guy, and have no issues re-wearing clothes on a cruise, but I can fully understand why many bring lots of outfits. This is their vacation and they love to dress up and feel glamorous.

 

Likewise, there are apparently people who are vowing to write off NCL because they can't bring on their bottled water and Diet Coke.

 

One thing I've learned from these boards... what seems "ridiculous" to one is perfectly normal to another. People are different.

[xriva]

The water/soda ban made no difference to me, in fact, it made me like NCL more, since I hated being in line with a bunch of people carrying cases of bottled filtered tap water on a ship so they didn't have to drink non-bottled filtered water. Get a Brita bottle and call it a day, people. If you read some of the parallel discussions, apparently this new policy is going to keep some chronic complainers away.

 

I was looking around just because the Breakaway-class ships don't really do it for me, and we've been pretty much everywhere the Jewel-class ships sail - and I'd like to sail from Galveston (we went on the Jade twice before she left Houston "for good"). My wife is a loyalist, do it will take a lot to get her off NCL - even though MSC is status-matching, so we're both MSC Black now.

 

So, we may do Carnival (who called me just after the NCL rule change - I've been in their database for years, and now, they call), just to sail from Texas or MSC to try our new status, but I like Freestyle.

 

The number of changes has been alarming, but the core of Freestyle hasn't really changed.

 

 

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[calmpets]

Not only am I not bothered by the ban, I don't actually have any understanding of people who are up in arms over it. When I'm out at home, I typically drink Captain Morgan and diet coke. I don't care for diet pepsi, so when I'm onboard I switch up my drinks and get things I don't normally order. Bringing diet coke onboard would not occur to me, and even if I thought of it, I would decide that it was a hassle. And for the overpriced bottled water available onboard, I've never had any problem with the purified water you can get for free. Just bring a refillable water bottle and call it a day. It's vacation - break out of your normal routine and try something new!!

[luddite]

Nope.

Water is water. Carrying bottled water onto the ship is........not a good form of exercise. If I drank enough pop that the actual brand mattered.....I'd quit drinking pop.

[Two Wheels Only]

I'm always looking elsewhere, anyway.:D

 

I booked another Escape before the water/soda policy.

I booked MSC for the first time as soon as Seaside bookings opened for "normal" (non-MSC loyalists) people.

Harmony OTS (finally) has an itinerary that I would like at the time that fits (haven't booked that, yet...need to decide on room type/location).

I looked at Vista for a time and the Aruba, Curacao, etc. Itinerary looks appealing but I don't think I'll pull the trigger. Havana on Vista can't match Haven on NCL.

 

There are too many options out there to be tied to one line. I think everyone should "look elsewhere" just to see what's out there.

[boatseller]

Are you saying you pack 18 different outfits? You're kidding, right?

 

Actually, on my last sailing I took 20 specific purpose outfits, 3 reserve outfits and a few replacement pieces. I have pictures.

 

I only have to move the bag once so it's not really that big a deal.

[janpo]

Maybe the better question would be,

 

Have any of the changes made you look around, instead of limiting it to just beverages brought onboard.

[Annmeat]

I read a lot of posts that include "disrespect" or a cruise line that " respects" me.

 

The employees on the phone and the kazillionaires in corporate can act however they want. I don't care. But when I arrive on the ship ...well, that is the place that I want to be treated well.

 

But most of the disrespect type posts are not even referencing an interaction. The policies implemented are deemed" disrespectful" and the way that the changes are announced. I take nothing personally from the sometimes-obtuse way NCL or Disney parks or RCCL implement changes .

The in-person service and treatment that my family receives while vacationing are what matters.

 

It is not disrespectful to me that the beverage policy changed or that there is a room service fee or that they changed the menu in O'Sheehans. NCL does what is best for NCL and the shareholders. Every company does.

 

If I get on board and my cabin is left dirty or I wait 3 hours for dinner or the pool staff laughs at my bathing suit- that is different.

 

I like how I am treated on NCL, RCL, Disney.

[SuperCrewBear]

Yes. Definitely. In our normal, every day life we are constantly squeezed in various ways. At work, taxes, restrictions, laws, etc. When I'm at my house or on a vacation that I'm paying my hard earned money for I do not want to be told what I can or can't do. I'm an adult. I'm not a child. If they want to micromanage and stick their noses into what a person drinks, that's gone too far IN *MY* OPINION. I want to enjoy my time away from the real world, not be irritated by something I find annoying. When a mosquito bites you, you will stop and slap at it. This drink policy is causing me to stop and slap back...with my wallet.

[Two Wheels Only]

...or the pool staff laughs at my bathing suit- that is different.

 

If it makes you feel better, I doubt that they would be laughing at the suit....:p (j/k)

[Viva_la_Vida]

Yes. I have always heard of people swelling on cruises and thought that was crazy. . .until I was miserable with swollen feet and hands coming back from my recent cruise on the BA where I drank a lot of the tap water. I am super healthy, active, and was in my 20s on that cruise. I have never my life had an issue with swelling from eating or drinking anything. I would imagine the food is just as salty and unhealthy on other cruise lines as NCL and this has never happened before to me on Celebrity or Carnival. The only difference was the water. I drank exclusively bottled on the previous cruises.

 

I refuse to be taken advantage of with their exorbitant water prices. The NCL product is not so much better for us that it justifies paying that much for bottled water, or suffering with swollen extremities.

[eatdrinkfly]

doesn't really change things for me, but it is an inconvenience as i liked bringing on a couple bottles of water & sparkling water for enjoying in the cabin. we're not soda drinkers, so i don't care about that side, but i dislike that the NCL beverage package doesn't include my faves like San Pellagrino. Celebrity's does and i definitely get my money's worth when i cruise with them ;)

[sjbdtz]

No.

 

 

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