Anyone try the MDR upsells?

[kazu]

25 minutes ago, caviargal said:

 

Interesting.  Is this written somewhere?  Is it specific to a certain level and above? 

 

Lisa is referring to the mariner discount.  If you are 3* it’s 25% off.  If you are 4 or 5*  it’s 50% off.  

[westcoastsue]

12 hours ago, mr. godfredo said:

We were on a cruise on Eurodam a few years back and there was a small fire in the Tamarind galley that caused an alarm to go off. The Captain came on the PA and announced that there was a "small fire in the galley in Tamarind that caused the alarm and that it was distinguished and all was safe and clear." 

 

[westcoastsue]

I was on that cruise also. We were at dinner in the MDR when the alarm went off and remember being relieved that the fire was on a high deck.

[Caribbean Chris]

20 hours ago, atexsix said:

…I really hate the way the deck plans now just show one large space, I liked the more detailed ones that depicted all the tables and chairs and even galley layout.

You could check Halfacts website to see the MDR table & chair layouts by ship.

[Evilmuffin]

14 hours ago, kazu said:

 

A clarification on your question - an upsell is an offer to upgrade your cabin choice at a discounted price (but still costs).

 

An Up Charge - which people are talking about here are items on the specialty dining menus and the MDR menu which you can order if you want to pay extra.  Hope this helps. 🤞 

@kazu

 

Thank you Kazu for clarifying.  Since the title of the post read “Upsells in the MDR” I wasn’t 100% on what they were referrng to.   

 

 

 

[Petrocelli]

15 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We hear you and continue to have mixed emotions.  Having been cruising for over 45 years on mostly mass market lines (with a few luxury lines mixed in the bookings) we have long been very comfortable with the mass market lines (such as HAL).  But lately (in the past 5 years) we are starting to understand the big advantage offered by the premium and luxury lines.   On our recent Seabourn cruise we had many tender ports. . . 

 

 

Hank:

 

Have you done an apples to apples comparison that attempts to calculate how much more per day Seabourn costs than Hal.  I have tried to calculated it out and it looks like Seabourn costs at least $300-$400 a day more than HAL if I make some reasonable assumptions.  Do you have any thoughst on this?

 

Thanks!

 

Edited August 30, 2021 by Petrocelli

[Hlitner]

44 minutes ago, Petrocelli said:

Hank:

 

Have you done an apples to apples comparison that attempts to calculate how much more per day Seabourn costs than Hal.  I have tried to calculated it out and it looks like Seabourn costs at least $300-$400 a day more than HAL if I make some reasonable assumptions.  Do you have any thoughst on this?

 

Thanks!

 

As you say it is a tough Apples to Oranges comparison.  But when looking at HAL you would need to factor in a small suite, premium drink package, no cost for alternative restaurants, unlimited decent caviar, no gratuities, etc.  DW and I actually discuss this issue on a regular basis when we decide what cruise line to book and for how long a cruise.  Just consider that the space ratio (a common calculation of the size of a ship to the number of passengers) is nearly twice as much on SB then on HAL.   There is no doubt that one can cruise on HAL for less money then on SB (or other luxury lines) but I am talking about value more then real dollars.  As to myself, we will continue to cruise on luxury lines (such as Seabourn), premium lines such as "O" and perhaps Viking, and also mass market lines such as HAL and Princess.  We love it all :).

 

As to the cost of a line like SB it really varies depending on itinerary (and shopping around).  On some of the exotic itineraries one could easily pay $700 per passenger day.  But on other itineraries the cost can be below $400 per passenger day which is when we think it is an amazing value.  As to HAL, when I look at the more popular itineraries such as the Voyage of the Vikings (we love this cruise) the cost can easily exceed $300 per passenger day for a regular cabin.

 

 

Hank

[Petrocelli]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

There is no doubt that one can cruise on HAL for less money then on SB (or other luxury lines) but I am talking about value more then real dollars.  As to myself, we will continue to cruise on luxury lines (such as Seabourn), premium lines such as "O" and perhaps Viking, and also mass market lines such as HAL and Princess.  We love it all :).

Thanks for the response.   Next year, I will have my first cruise to Alaska on HAL, so I am learning alot.

 

My verandah room on HAL, with a "Have it all" package, tips, and Club Orange is about $6,000.  on Seabourn, a 7 day Alaska cruise in the worst room  (no verandah and probably not in the best location) is about $10,000.  So the cost difference is about $600 per couple per day in my calculation.  Does that sound about right to you?

Edited August 30, 2021 by Petrocelli

[Hlitner]

36 minutes ago, Petrocelli said:

Thanks for the response.   Next year, I will have my first cruise to Alaska on HAL, so I am learning alot.

 

My verandah room on HAL, with a "Have it all" package, tips, and Club Orange is about $6,000.  on Seabourn, a 7 day Alaska cruise in the worst room  (no verandah and probably not in the best location) is about $10,000.  So the cost difference is about $600 per couple per day in my calculation.  Does that sound about right to you?

Haven't looked at pricing but that sounds about right.   Perhaps a better comparison would be to price out a small Signature Suite on HAL since SB does call all their cabins "Suites" although I think of them as large cabins :).   But you might consider that a SB bathroom has both a shower and a tub, double sink, and plenty of space.  But no doubt if money is the overwhelming consideration then HAL is certainly less money as would be Princess and the other mass market lines.

 

I should be clear that DW have primarily (we are talking over 100 cruises) cruised on mass market lines and loved just about every day.   We also have no doubt that the luxury lines now better meet our wants of avoiding queues, better food, no nickel and diming, etc.  I know it is silly but one thing I really love about luxury lines is that they generally do not have any photographers or anyone trying to sell us anything.   And life without tender tickets is nice.

 

One other factor which is really impacting all the cruise lines are the huge number of Future Cruise Credits out there (as a result of cancelled cruises due to COVID).  This has created a situation where cruise lines have generally increased their prices for the next year to 18 months to essentially devalue the FCCs.  Folks who jumped at FCCs of 125% (or higher) of cancelled cruise prices are now often finding that they cannot even buy the comparable cruise at 125%.   Like everyone else we are looking carefully at future cruise prices.  In fact we are now thinking that next summer we might just spend a couple of months in Europe with a leased car since it seems to be a better option then most cruises.   The cruise market is really weird.  We recently looked at booking a 2023 cruise on Oceania (with a long exotic itinerary) and it is already sold out with a wait list.  Another situation where there are a lot of FCCs with folks looking to lock in future cruises.

 

 

[Petrocelli]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

Haven't looked at pricing but that sounds about right.   Perhaps a better comparison would be to price out a small Signature Suite on HAL since SB does call all their cabins "Suites" although I think of them as large cabins :).   But you might consider that a SB bathroom has both a shower and a tub, double sink, and plenty of space.  But no doubt if money is the overwhelming consideration then HAL is certainly less money as would be Princess and the other mass market lines.

 

 

Thanks for the comprehensive response.  As I said earlier, I am new to cruising and trying to learn the ropes.

 

When I travel, as a general rule, I try to budget $1,000 a day for everything.  This would include hotels, airfare, transportation to and from airports, meals, excursions, etc.  In have always been able to stay within budget while staying at very nice hotels (usually around $300 a night), eating and drinking  very well, and paying  for extra legroom on my flight.  My trip a couple weeks ago to Boston and New York was well under that, and my trip to Scotland two years ago was $988 a night.  

 

My cruise to Alaska with HAL is currently projected to cost about $1,300 a night, which will make it the most expensive vacation (per day) I have ever gone on.  So I really can't see myself paying more for extra luxury.  In my experience, there is always something  better out there.  The key is finding something nice enough for your budget.  With HAL I think I am about there.

 

Thanks again for your thoughtful responses.

 

 

[Hlitner]

5 minutes ago, Petrocelli said:

Thanks for the comprehensive response.  As I said earlier, I am new to cruising and trying to learn the ropes.

 

When I travel, as a general rule, I try to budget $1,000 a day for everything.  This would include hotels, airfare, transportation to and from airports, meals, excursions, etc.  In have always been able to stay within budget while staying at very nice hotels (usually around $300 a night), eating and drinking  very well, and paying  for extra legroom on my flight.  My trip a couple weeks ago to Boston and New York was well under that, and my trip to Scotland two years ago was $988 a night.  

 

My cruise to Alaska with HAL is currently projected to cost about $1,300 a night, which will make it the most expensive vacation (per day) I have ever gone on.  So I really can't see myself paying more for extra luxury.  In my experience, there is always something  better out there.  The key is finding something nice enough for your budget.  With HAL I think I am about there.

 

Thanks again for your thoughtful responses.

 

 

Completely agree :).  We also habitually look at the overall cost per day when we plan trips be it cruise or land.  I think it is a great way to measure travel costs and do true cost comparisons.  We used to be able to do lengthy European driving trips for about $500 per day (total cost) and we have actually taken some cruises where our cost was less than $200 per day (per couple) because of some fantastic last minute deals (often involving transatlantic repositioning cruises.  Unfortunately, the secret of repo cruises has been discovered by many (especially fellow retirees) which has made finding those kind of bargains difficult.  While we are now in a better position to do things on a more luxurious level we still jump at bargains (especially with cruises).   Interestingly, your cost of $1300 per day for Alaska is actually more then we spent 2 years ago on a 14 day Alaskan cruise on the Sebourn Sojourn.  That cruise priced out about $800 per day (per couple) which is an all-inclusive price other then what we spent in the ports.  As you already noticed, future prices are somewhat higher.

 

By the way, one of our long term tricks to keep down overall cost per day is to generally avoid cruise line excursions in favor of Do It Yourself and private tours.  Many years ago we got turned off to large group excursions because of an awful experience on a Princess excursion from the Turkey port of Izmir.  That put us on a course where we really got hooked on DIY in just about any place around the world where we could reasonably achieve our goals without large group tours.  These days our general rule continues to be that we generally consider excursions if they deliver something we want to do that we cannot reasonably do on our own.  

[caviargal]

8 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Lisa is referring to the mariner discount.  If you are 3* it’s 25% off.  If you are 4 or 5*  it’s 50% off.  

 

Got it.   Thx.

[rkacruiser]

22 hours ago, Aquahound said:

I've been behind the scenes on MANY cruise ships; not as a passenger, but in my USCG role.  Yes, in many cases, specialty restaurants have their own kitchen.

 

Certainly have not been in your position (and thanks for your service to our Country), but that is what I have observed.  I don't understand why there are others who fail to accept what we know is correct information.  

[rkacruiser]

3 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We also habitually look at the overall cost per day when we plan trips be it cruise or land

 

This has been my standard of comparison of cruise pricing on cruises of the same duration for many years.  

 

My ability to cruise is coming to an end.  I don't care anymore about the per day cost.  If I can afford it; if the ship and itinerary is one that I want to book:  the cost per day will not be a factor in my decision making.  

[AncientWanderer]

1 hour ago, rkacruiser said:

 

This has been my standard of comparison of cruise pricing on cruises of the same duration for many years.  

 

My ability to cruise is coming to an end.  I don't care anymore about the per day cost.  If I can afford it; if the ship and itinerary is one that I want to book:  the cost per day will not be a factor in my decision making.  

 

I'm glad you said this, so I know it's not just us.  We used to look at cost per day carefully in an attempt to make valid comparisons, but now we tend to look at the final figure and ask ourselves, "Is this experience worth this much to us?"  

The luxury lines never seem to hold up to that standard.  Probably because we don't drink much and eat rather sparingly, too.  Cost per day was probably more meaningful when we were younger and could avail ourselves of all the fine offerings.

[Boytjie]

On 8/29/2021 at 9:16 AM, MikeD4134 said:

You think they have a separate kitchen to prepare meals for the specialty restaurants?

 

They do! I have been in them. 🙂

[zgscl]

I posted in depth on my live from thread but I tried several of the upsell options. No regrets pretty much everything was good. PG included steak was better than either of the steaks I tried from the MDR. PG $20 lobster was also better than the lobster that came with the MDR upsell. 

 

Breakfast was not really worth it IMO. I couldn't taste the lobster over the hollandaise and the steak for the steak and eggs was relatively thin and came out closer to well done than the medium rare. 

 

MDR upsell was a nice option to have when nothing on the standard menu was exciting to me, but I would definitely say paying for Canaletto or PG would be a better value. If you go to Canaletto you absolutely should get the crab risotto. Fantastic dish and most worth it of anything we tried. 

 

Pinnacle grill - Lobster tail add on

 

 

Lobster Benedict - Pinnacle Grill (should be same in MDR)

 

Steak and Eggs - Pinnacle Grill (should be same in MDR)

 

Crab Risotto - Canaletto (best dish I had onboard hands down. Extremely flavorful and in addition to the generous crab serving on top there is a lot of crab mixed in. 

 

 

Land and Sea - MDR

 

Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail - MDR

 

Tomahawk Steak - MDR (enough for 2-4 people to share depending on appetite and how many starters you order). It takes about 45 minutes to prepare. We had fixed seating and we told our water we wanted it the next night. The head waiter confirmed and they started it early so the timing was perfect. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[VMax1700]

Gotta say that a lot of those platings are pretty unimaginative.  Also some of the food looks really unappetizing.

[Colleen @ Sequim]

On 8/29/2021 at 8:06 AM, atexsix said:

 

I think there's this outdated idea that it's all the same food coming from the same place and maybe back in the day it was, long before the specialty restaurants became the new thing.

On my last cruise, I did a "Kitchen Tour".  Yes, indeed they have a special kitchen which adjoins the regular kitchen.