Premium Plus worth it?

[phillygwm]

3 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

I just went online and the document I came up with is different then yours.  I have attached it.  Interesting.  My document came from my online Joy reservation under, upgrade to Premium Plus Beverage Package.  

premium-plus-beverage-package.pdf 723.29 kB · 3 downloads

This is a 2019 list.  I posted the 7/21 list earlier in this thread which I'd think would be the current one unless it varies from ship to ship.

[graphicguy]

5 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

I just went online and the document I came up with is different then yours.  I have attached it.  Interesting.  My document came from my online Joy reservation under, upgrade to Premium Plus Beverage Package.  

premium-plus-beverage-package.pdf 723.29 kB · 3 downloads

I should have been clearer.  My list comes from the Premium Beverage Package included.  Sorry for the confusion.

[Sthrngary]

23 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

This is a 2019 list.  I posted the 7/21 list earlier in this thread which I'd think would be the current one unless it varies from ship to ship.

@phillygwm and @graphicguy, this is very interesting.  Here is why.  @phillygwm is correct, his document says updated 07/21.  @graphicguyyour link was correct and showed the same document.  So your link was the premium plus package.  My upload was completely wrong and from back in 2019.  YET, I just downloaded it moments before I posted it.

 

So here is what I think is happening and I am sharing this with everyone because I find it interesting.  The Joy website needs to be updated and since it is not sailing until thanksgiving, I think it is not a priority for NCL.  That is why the document is wrong.  It is also why only three restaurants and no entertainment is showing on the website. My explanation is not verified but now it makes logical sense. 

 

I want to thank @phillygwmfor clarifying  the correction.  I like your list better then mine.  Thanks everyone.

 

Cruise well.

[fstuff1]

50 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

I just went online and the document I came up with is different then yours (GraphicGuy).  I have attached it.  Interesting.  My document came from my online Joy reservation under, upgrade to Premium Plus Beverage Package.  

premium-plus-beverage-package.pdf 723.29 kB · 5 downloads

 

yeah, i posted the 2021 version and graphicGuy quoted that post with my Premium Plus link then proceeded to list items from the lower level beverage package.

 

no clue what he was trying to do?

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by fstuff1

[Selion]

52 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

when you get onboard, when you check in, ask to upgrade one or more of your party.  

Good to know.  Thanks! @Sthrngary

 

A somewhat related question to that though.  We are a group of 4 booked into 2 cabins.  If just one of us upgrades to PP+ onboard, does NCL allow bottles to be ordered during meal time to be shared among the table?

 

Booked on 7-night itinerary with 4 sea days.  Seriously considering PP+, but upgrading all 4 of us (with 2 very light drinkers) would be cost prohibitive.

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, Sthrngary said:

First, thanks for the shout out.  Second, you can get the Premium Plus for just one person in your party.  A real world example so some other whom think I am telling a tall tail can chill.  I am on the Joy, end of November 2021.  Four folks (used to be 5) in our DOS for the cruise.  All legal age to drink.  Everyone has the perk (Ha, ha; perk that costs a bit still cool though) of the Premium Beverage Package.  My wife and I have the Premium Plus Beverage Package.  Interesting right.

 

Two ways to do this.  First, if you have FCC and you have booked all the future cruises you want OR excursions with those FCC for your upcoming cruise OR the upgrade for the internet for that cruise.  So you still have FCC left.  You can have NCL upgrade one or more of your party to the Premium Plus package.  Second, when you get onboard, when you check in, ask to upgrade one or more of your party.  

 

I hope that helps you and others.  The NCL app is completely not flexible.  They force all or no one to get this package.  Took a while for me to figure this out but happy I did.

 

Cruise well everyone. 

Thank you, as always, @Sthrngary. I really enjoy reading your posts, ever thoughtful and always informative. I decided not to pursue the option of upgrading once onboard because I was really happy with the included choices, but when we sail next April to Japan, I may try it. It may depend on what's offered, although perhaps NCL offers the same choices fleetwide, perhaps not. 

One side note is that I wasn't charged for the sparkling wine I had at Cagney's, it was more expensive than $15 so I should have been charged extra, but wasn't. However, my filet mignon was a bit dry, which I brought to the attention of our waiter, so they may have comped me due to that. 

[Sthrngary]

16 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Thank you, as always, @Sthrngary. I really enjoy reading your posts, ever thoughtful and always informative. I decided not to pursue the option of upgrading once onboard because I was really happy with the included choices, but when we sail next April to Japan, I may try it. It may depend on what's offered, although perhaps NCL offers the same choices fleetwide, perhaps not. 

One side note is that I wasn't charged for the sparkling wine I had at Cagney's, it was more expensive than $15 so I should have been charged extra, but wasn't. However, my filet mignon was a bit dry, which I brought to the attention of our waiter, so they may have comped me due to that. 

I don't eat in Cagney's, ever.  When I go out of Miami, I have made it a tradition to come in the night before, take my family to the Capital Grille to get the need for steak out of their minds.  I really have never had a great steak in this specialty steakhouse on any ship.  Not just NCL.  Others disagree but to each his own.

 

Thanks and cruise well. 

[DCGuy64]

8 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

I don't eat in Cagney's, ever.  When I go out of Miami, I have made it a tradition to come in the night before, take my family to the Capital Grille to get the need for steak out of their minds.  I really have never had a great steak in this specialty steakhouse on any ship.  Not just NCL.  Others disagree but to each his own.

 

Thanks and cruise well. 

The steak was OK but a bit dry, as I said. Everything else was quite good, especially the tiger shrimp cocktail and the lettuce wedge. I would agree that Cagney's isn't as good as some landbased steakhouses, in fact I made a pretty nice filet on my own a few weeks ago. In any event, I watched the TV monitors every day seeing what specialty restaurants had availability, and Cagney's was consistently the most in demand. I really liked Moderno but La Cucina was my favorite. We were just in Italy last month and La Cucina's food was on par with what we had over there. 😃

Edited September 29, 2021 by DCGuy64
misspelled Moderno

[complawyer]

we never minded cagney's, always enjoyed it, although teppanyaki is our favorite.

 

for issues too numerous to mention, i hate le bistro, and avoid it as intensely as dcguy64 avoids cagneys.

[Sthrngary]

2 minutes ago, complawyer said:

we never minded cagney's, always enjoyed it, although teppanyaki is our favorite.

 

for issues too numerous to mention, i hate le bistro, and avoid it as intensely as dcguy64 avoids cagneys.

Interesting.  I loved the presentation in Le Bistro and thought the food was just ok.  Except I liked the desert ice cream.

[phillygwm]

3 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

Interesting.  I loved the presentation in Le Bistro and thought the food was just ok.  Except I liked the desert ice cream.

I enjoy Cagney's but if you give me a choice of Morton's, I'll stay on land every time.  But I always order very close to the same thing every time:  8 oz filet.  

 

I like Le Bistro as well.  I went originally while taking a niece on her graduation cruise.  She's very "meat and potatoes" so I forced her to expand her horizons (I had the Filet de Boeuf.  Do as I say...) but I find that service to be top notch regardless of ship.  My niece's friend had scallop appetizer but she'd never had scallops before.  Didn't like them.  Based on his reaction, we joked that the waiter was going overboard because she didn't finish them.

 

La Cucina is perhaps my least favorite.  I LOVED it on the Epic but just meh on the other ships.

 

Teppanyaki food is good but it's a bit kitchy for my taste.  And Moderno is wonderful, but not on the newer ships.

 

My other niece is vegetarian.  I'm leaning toward 7 nights of Cagney's for her cruise 🙂

 

[Calvin]

3 minutes ago, phillygwm said:

I enjoy Cagney's but if you give me a choice of Morton's, I'll stay on land every time.  But I always order very close to the same thing every time:  8 oz filet.  

 

I like Le Bistro as well.  I went originally while taking a niece on her graduation cruise.  She's very "meat and potatoes" so I forced her to expand her horizons (I had the Filet de Boeuf.  Do as I say...) but I find that service to be top notch regardless of ship.  My niece's friend had scallop appetizer but she'd never had scallops before.  Didn't like them.  Based on his reaction, we joked that the waiter was going overboard because she didn't finish them.

 

La Cucina is perhaps my least favorite.  I LOVED it on the Epic but just meh on the other ships.

 

Teppanyaki food is good but it's a bit kitchy for my taste.  And Moderno is wonderful, but not on the newer ships.

 

My other niece is vegetarian.  I'm leaning toward 7 nights of Cagney's for her cruise 🙂

 

I'm finding it interesting that so many enjoy a filet, as do I. But it seems every single video I watch, with various chefs, insist the best steak is a ribeye.  I enjoy virtually any steakhouse but, weirdly enough, I actually enjoyed the steak at LeBistro even moreso than at Cagneys, go figure! Ofc, I'm not mad at either restaurant.

[complawyer]

well,  the last time i ate at le bistro, the waitress spilled a try of drinks on me. i had to go back to the cabin and put on a fresh shirt. in and of itself, this might not have been a big deal, but i had just come back from my cabin from changing shirts because my 1st one was collar less.

[lmschwabby]

So what kind of energy drinks are offered onboard? 

[chillyw]

Does anyone know which Whistle Pig they're referring to in the premium plus package?  Is it the 10 year?  That would make it a must buy for me.

[REV_Cruiser]

Trying to think back to December of 2019 in the Haven on the Joy.  I had the Premium Plus and was drinking Whistle Pig all week.  I know that it wasn't Piggyback and pretty sure it was the 10 year.  Probably can't remember really well since the bartenders told me I had finished a bottle and a half by the end of the week. And to the point of the package upgrade being worth it, heck yes it is to me (and my daughter).We will be upgrading for our cruise on the Bliss in December (Haven once more).

[Calvin]

11 hours ago, lmschwabby said:

So what kind of energy drinks are offered onboard? 

FWIW, someone nicknamed Bird posted some menus from the Encore and I noticed on The Local menu:

 

ENERGY $5

Red Bull

Red Bull Sugarfree

Red Bull The Yellow Edition - Tropical

[DCGuy64]

22 hours ago, complawyer said:

we never minded cagney's, always enjoyed it, although teppanyaki is our favorite.

 

for issues too numerous to mention, i hate le bistro, and avoid it as intensely as dcguy64 avoids cagneys.

Where did you get the idea that I avoid Cagney's? I never actually said that. Our cruise on the Gem last week was the 1st time I'd tried it. I actually liked the food a lot, but the steak was just too dry for me. I ordered it medium rare and there should always be some juice at that temperature. Maybe it sat under a heat lamp. By no means was it inedible or lack taste. Perhaps I should have sent it back, but I didn't. There were lots of other steak options, but they were too large and I have a rule about finishing whatever I order. I hate wasting food (yes, EVEN on vacation). We loved the baked potatoes and the bread there, too. We also had outstanding service, we chatted with the maitre d' (Rhea Ramos) and she ended up giving us a free bottle of wine AND sent us chocolate-covered strawberries to our room. Wow! Now we're hooked on NCL .😁

[complawyer]

dcguy64: sorry for the confusion, i was actually responding to sthnrgary where he indicated he never goes to cagney's. your response was directly beneath his.

 

1st time in all these posts i totally disagreed with him. my wife and i make sure we go to cagneys at least once during the cruise, probably more than that if possible. 

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, complawyer said:

dcguy64: sorry for the confusion, i was actually responding to sthnrgary where he indicated he never goes to cagney's. your response was directly beneath his.

 

1st time in all these posts i totally disagreed with him. my wife and i make sure we go to cagneys at least once during the cruise, probably more than that if possible. 

Thanks for the clarification. I was like "what? I don't remember saying I avoid Cagney's," so I re-read my comments to make sure. All good. 👍

[Sthrngary]

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

Thanks for the clarification. I was like "what? I don't remember saying I avoid Cagney's," so I re-read my comments to make sure. All good. 👍

@DCGuy64I am the bad guy here.  My post was that when I go out of Miami port, I fly in the night before and stay in a port hotel.  I then take my family as a tradition to "The Capital Grille" Miami.  The Capital Grille has a very special place in my heart because of an experience I had their at the beginning of my career.  I love the beef there and the "Stoli-Dolie's" (Infused Vodka Martini).

 

This becomes our Cruise Beef Feast instead of Cagney's.  That opens up the other Specialty Restaurants when cruising on NCL.  My last Cagney's was on the Getaway out of New Orleans November 2019.  It was good but definitely not great.  Just me, not being critical. 

 

Cruise well. 

 

[phillygwm]

On 9/29/2021 at 11:26 AM, Selion said:

A somewhat related question to that though.  We are a group of 4 booked into 2 cabins.  If just one of us upgrades to PP+ onboard, does NCL allow bottles to be ordered during meal time to be shared among the table?

I don't (yet) have firsthand experience but I think that one would be tough to police and I don't think anyone would really care.  It's your bottle and you could just as easily take it back to your room and share with your roommates there.  So there are 4 of you, you'd have one bottle and the other 3 would have the basic package. 

 

Where you'd obviously run into a problem would be if you were passing per glass drinks to others without the package.

 

[complawyer]

im not sure if this will help, but as platinum + we get a free bottle of wine at either cagney's or le bistro.

 

our last cruise we took my grandson and his friend.  not being much of a wine drinker, i let my grandson's friend order a bottle. no one seemed to mind that there were  4 of us sharing the bottle

[Happycrafter123]

Hi, I am a first time cruiser and am wondering about a couple of items listed on the premium plus  add on.  

 

From what I can see of the menus most breakfast options on the ship allow orange juice etc with breakfast as an included item.  The PP add on notes access to fresh juices as part of extra benefits, so what are the incremental juice options?

 

also, for the mimosas with breakfast if you have the PP add on can you specify to have the higher quality champagne used in the mimosa?

 Can you get a glass of veuve with your breakfast?

[DCGuy64]

16 hours ago, Sthrngary said:

@DCGuy64I am the bad guy here.  My post was that when I go out of Miami port, I fly in the night before and stay in a port hotel.  I then take my family as a tradition to "The Capital Grille" Miami.  The Capital Grille has a very special place in my heart because of an experience I had their at the beginning of my career.  I love the beef there and the "Stoli-Dolie's" (Infused Vodka Martini).

 

This becomes our Cruise Beef Feast instead of Cagney's.  That opens up the other Specialty Restaurants when cruising on NCL.  My last Cagney's was on the Getaway out of New Orleans November 2019.  It was good but definitely not great.  Just me, not being critical. 

 

Cruise well. 

 

Oh, I've been to the Capital Grille here in Washington, DC (I don't know if it's a chain or not), and I'd agree that their meat bests Cagney's. I'm also a big fan of Morton's and Ruth's Chris. So I'd 100% agree with a land based steakhouse being better than Cagney's (at least based on my 1 experience, so far). I look at it from 2 angles: 1. A cruise ship is very different from a land based restaurant, so I have to take that into consideration. 2. I PAY a lot more at a restaurant on land. Cagney's is a la carte but we used one of the Free at Sea offers to pay for it, so it was basically free (yes, I know the cost is already sort of baked in to the cost of the cabin and you have to pay gratuities.) But given those caveats, I think it was an excellent restaurant. But as good as one on land? Nope. And I wouldn't expect it to be. We also really enjoyed Moderno, but candidly, it wasn't quite as good as one of the Brazilian churrascarias around DC. But for a cruise ship, it was damned good! Now, if a steakhouse on land could give me 360 degree views of the ocean and free booze, you'd have a fair comparison! 😁