Crazy pricing

[Sailing12Away]

Well a miracle has happened because @complawyer and I finally agree on something for a change (the N&D'ing, not the mozzarella sticks. I've already told my travel companions that a week from now I'm getting them once we're on board the Joy for our next trip). 

 

Regardless, it's all about perspective which every one of us is coming at from a different angle.

 

Some folks think that $70 for a specialty meal is no bargain, some of us easily drop $200+ on a meal at restaurants near us. I would definitely not equate the specialty restaurants with being on par with an Applebees though, so not quite a fair comparison there.

 

Some people care about crepes, and some of us will be wearing this t-shirt just to prove a point that some of us don't. 

[complawyer]

RIGHT ON SAILING 12 AWAY!!!!!!

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, PATRLR said:

Yeah, I understand exactly what you are saying.  The reason I don't consider it NCL nickel and diming is because all the lines are doing it.  And that is what I was discussing in the previous reply.

That's fair! Thanks for clarifying what I probably should have understood.

50 minutes ago, complawyer said:

cruiseny4life.

 

while i would love to enjoy the pleasure of your company at breakfast in the haven, i would never, ever presume to bore any one with stories of prior cruises (unless it was reciprical)

OH complawyer, I want to hear them. You can have a scotch (I think that's what you enjoy) and I'll have drink du jour. 🙂 I can reciprocate some great explorations in Yellowstone, not sure I have enough cruises under my ever-growing belt to wax poetically.

[cruiseny4life]

46 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

(the N&D'ing, not the mozzarella sticks. I've already told my travel companions that a week from now I'm getting them once we're on board the Joy for our next trip).

You'll enjoy them! They're not my favorite, even though I keep going on about them, but they are very good, and slightly different than the normal frozen fare. Can't wait to hear how your cruise goes!!

[n4w]

1 hour ago, PATRLR said:

With the rollout of the single, static menu in the MDRs, soon you are going to need to hit the Specialty Restaurants not only for fine dining but for variety.  Again - variety, something I used to get for free, but now I'll have to pay for.  I believe NCL is leading the way with the static MDR menus, but, I expect all the other lines to follow suit soon.

 

Do we know if the MDR static menus won't be expanded static menus?  The specialty dining menus are static, but I haven't seen many complaints regarding lack of variety there.

[RumRunner2021]

1 hour ago, Sailing12Away said:

 I would definitely not equate the specialty restaurants with being on par with an Applebees though, so not quite a fair comparison there.

Ambiance?  No.  Food quality?  Maybe.  I've had some fantastic stuff at Applebees and some not so good stuff at Ocean Blue and Cagneys.  

[complawyer]

cruiseny4life, i think breakfast is just a bit to early for a scotch. im happy ordering eggs benedict and a glass of champagne.

 

that being said, however, we've been on roughly 19 ncl cruises since 2010, and i'm afraid any discussion of my many misadventures (lol) would either bore you to tears, or put you to sleep. id feel terribly guilty if you fell face down in your french toast. 

regardless, i would consider it a great honor to have you and your spouse join us for any haven meal and possibly a shore excursion. usually i'm extremely anti-social, and a self proclaimed grumpy old man.  so let me know (if you wish) what cruises you have planned. we're on the star from southampton to copenhagen next month, the trans-canal on the jewel in jan, and plans for the dawn in june for the baltic cruise.

 

see you on board.  "the love boat, soon will be making another run"  Oops, wrong ship.

[The Shrike]

1 minute ago, complawyer said:

cruiseny4life, i think breakfast is just a bit to early for a scotch. im happy ordering eggs benedict and a glass of champagne.

 

When you want Scotch with breakfast you just stay up late...very late.  Then it's socially acceptable.  😄

It makes me think of my first time in Vegas several decades ago when us young bucks were hungover and heading to the breakfast buffet at 0830 and passed several gaming tables where guys were drinking whiskey already.  I couldn't imagine...

[uneamie]

I just booked the new Prima for a Bermuda 7 day cruise in May. I booked a family balcony cabin. It was a total of $4000 for 2 of us with the currant bonuses...including prepaid tips. I am not going for the free drinks due to the fact that hubby does not drink so the cost of just the tips which is not included is way too high for just me drinking even though the package itself is supposedly free. That said, I wanted to try this new ship so I thought the cost was worth it even though I paid less for an 11 day Caribbean cruise on the Breakaway awhile back for a balcony. It's not likely I would pay this much for 7 days if it were not the "new ship". Next cruise I will be shopping around more. 

[complawyer]

even though it's a new (and allegedly) superior experience, after 19 cruises with only ncl, the prima has completely priced me out of sailing on her

[julig22]

Here's crazy.  Several months ago I booked a cruise that's about 6 months from now.  Going solo, booked OV, planning to use points to upgrade. Well there is a reduced solo supplement on GTY balcony (BF, not sailaway) making it cheaper than the OV ( which doesn't have solo discount).  Maybe they need solos to even out the balconies?  I dunno but it works for me - I've never had a balcony I couldn't live with.

[PATRLR]

10 hours ago, n4w said:

 

Do we know if the MDR static menus won't be expanded static menus?  The specialty dining menus are static, but I haven't seen many complaints regarding lack of variety there.

 

Someone posted the Prima menus on Facebook.  Maybe somewhere here too.  They are definitely expanded with, I'd guess, about double the choices of the rotating menus.  

Regarding the Specialty menus being static, yes they are static but you don't eat in the same specialty restaurant every night like you would if you wanted to eat in only the restaurants that were included in the cruise fare. 

[bianks]

On 8/27/2022 at 2:50 PM, complawyer said:

knowing ncl and it's pricing tendencies, once youve booked the cruise and the day after your final payment was due, and you can no longer cancel,  then you can bet the prices will go down(lol)

Check out my most recent thread, I’m growing curiosity over this…. 

[S4POPO]

On 8/27/2022 at 6:09 PM, tallnthensome said:

When a CEO says he's going to charge you as much as possible that doesn't sit well with most people and they don't embrace it. 

Hmm, isn't that every CEO's job? 😄 The cruise lines have taken different approaches to coming out of the pandemic.  You should do what's best for you, but criticizing a company for trying to maximize revenue is just silly.  Look at how much debt they (the big 3) have racked up in the last couple of years.

 

BTW, I don't think the prices in the cruise industry have kept up with increases in almost everything else since 2019.  If you are seeing deals out there now (on any cruise line), take it because they will not last.

[Red-Sol]

10 hours ago, complawyer said:

even though it's a new (and allegedly) superior experience, after 19 cruises with only ncl, the prima has completely priced me out of sailing on her

I believe from seeing in some of your other posts that you book through CAS. I also believe that you always/usually stay in Haven. I agree that Haven prices on Prima are priced way way too high but if you can consider other alternatives you might find something affordable. Keep in mind that we are definitely not high roller types but do get some type of comps through CAS. I called to see what they would offer us on a 7 day Bermuda cruise out of NYC to Bermuda on Prima. They comped us an inside which we upgraded to a Balcony for a total price of $2k combined for both of us. That's a price I can live with to sail on the new ship and visit one of my favorite places in Bermuda. FWIW

[kirtihk]

On 8/27/2022 at 7:22 AM, AnitaVacation said:

Well... they do have a lot of revenue to make up... a lot of people are cruising on 'covid credit' from previously canceled cruises, so there is no money coming in there....

Isn't it the same for the majority of businesses across the globe?  To me, it was so predictable in March 2020.  I have no idea why most people seem surprised (I know a certain official group pretends being surprised).

[debenson0723]

Saw earlier today...9 night Getaway cruise, leaving this week, $1209 p/p for the Haven. If you are flexible, there are deals. 

[Trimone]

I first cruised on NCL in 2005. Then the food in the MCR was exceptional, in fact I think we only had two speciality dinners, since then the quality of the food has slowly fallen short of what I would call special, that I expect on a cruise, since 2018 I have either travelled Haven or suite, on our last cruise in July on the Jade, the quality of meats had detreated to an all-time low.

Its okay NCL flag wavers saying its the supply chain, but so is my cash, we are interested in doing the canaries but who would spend silly money on a rust bucket like the Sun, I may wait for the viva? 

[Travelling2Some]

10 hours ago, Trimone said:

. . . we are interested in doing the canaries but who would spend silly money on a rust bucket like the Sun, I may wait for the viva? 

Hmm . . . maybe somebody who (1) got a fantastic deal on the 18 day Sun transatlantic, (2) doesn't care about bells and whistles and pampering - I'm happy reading a book no matter what ship I'm on, (3) isn't food focused - I can eat fine cuisine at home and the gin & tonics are the same on any ship (4) is mainly interested in post-cruise in Lisbon with the Canaries, Azores and Spain being bonuses. 

 

I've already booked the Viva and the Bliss BUT we are about itinerary and the "rust buckets" tend to get the best ones.  I'll book any ship that's going where I want to go and I think I just proved it by booking the Carnival Pride (horrors!) to Iceland out of London.  Definitely a major "old tub" but so port intensive that it's a non-issue - besides we'll likely get a kick out of it being a fun "retro-nostalgic" blast from the past.  Maybe we'll think we're still 25 if we don't pass any mirrors, lol!

[roboref]

On 8/28/2022 at 1:05 PM, Sailing12Away said:

It all depends on what is important to you. If you're talking about extra charges for fancy coffee or bottles of water, ok, you got NCL there. For those of us who bring our own refillable water bottle and are fine with whatever regular coffee is free... it's no upcharge for us at all. Every time I've priced out a cruise on Celebrity and a comparable cruise with NCL, Celebrity always comes higher in price when we add in what is important to us. If I cared about unlimited wifi or fancy coffee, maybe it would swing the other way around but for us we haven't found a reason to try Celebrity yet.

 

Is Celebrity really luxury? I honestly don't view them like that at all. Maybe "mainstream plus" if I had to put a label on it, but I think it's still a far cry from the Oceana, Reagent and such. Those true luxury lines are much smaller passenger counts, every room is the equivalent of a suite, true formal nights, truly free excursions, etc. 

 

As for the crepes... the ones in Cocoa's are not the same as the ones from the buffet. Cocoa's is an overpriced fancy ice cream shop which has never been included on NCL. The ones from the buffet were way more simpler and not the monstrosities that is being served at Cocoa's, so hard to say they're equivalent and one was free and the other no longer.

 

That's like saying ice cream is no longer free because now you can only get it at Cocoa's which charges, meanwhile before you could get your own self-serve at the buffet for free. Again, the milkshakes at Cocoa's are enormous and stuffed to the gills with things that would take at least 2-4 people to eat. Not even close to the same thing as the simple cone you made at the buffet.

Your kidding, right? You haven't been on Celebrity, but you can determine whether they are, luxury or not? Celebrity is night and day different from NCL. I have been on both multiple times and NCL has to be considerably less expensive before I would choose NCL. The food in the main dining room is not comparable at all. Entertainment is much better on Celebrity. Don't compare Celebrity to Oceania or Regent, not even the same product. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

11 minutes ago, roboref said:

Celebrity is night and day different from NCL.

According to your signature, you've been on two NCL cruises in the last ten years.  Is that accurate?

[Sailing12Away]

14 minutes ago, roboref said:

Your kidding, right? You haven't been on Celebrity, but you can determine whether they are, luxury or not? Celebrity is night and day different from NCL. I have been on both multiple times and NCL has to be considerably less expensive before I would choose NCL. The food in the main dining room is not comparable at all. Entertainment is much better on Celebrity. Don't compare Celebrity to Oceania or Regent, not even the same product. 

So educate me then. It was truly a question as to whether it was considered a luxury line. I never considered it as such, so explain to me how it is.

 

Food and entertainment are subjective to what one particular person likes. Having seen menus for both Celebrity and NCL, the ones from NCL offer more choices that I would personally enjoy. That doesn't mean they're fancier or better - just something that's better for me.

 

We've been trying to find a cruise on Celebrity that works for us, but when we find an itinerary that we want - apples to apples NCL Haven has always been a better deal than Celebrity Retreat. Even when trying to match similar ships (NCL Jewel class to non-Edge class ships on Celebrity). Hence why we haven't gone yet. It may be fancier with more included for 'free', but many of those things are stuff that are not important to us so not a true value add (wifi). 

[The Shrike]

2 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

According to your signature, you've been on two NCL cruises in the last ten years.  Is that accurate?

...and the last one was six years ago.  Surely his opinion on the food in the MDR and the entertainment is more valid than yours, I say, sir!

😲

[DrSea]

On 8/27/2022 at 3:55 AM, tallnthensome said:

The real truth is NCL went from one of the best values in crusing to one of the worst values in just a short amount of time  ....it's simple as that. They raised prices significantly and their CEO has come out publicly and more or less stated that they are going to squeeze every last dime out of you and won't take the approach other lines have taken where they have discounted theirs. The cruises I just took and also have booked are at rates half of what NCL wants for a comparable apples to apples cruise. I suggest you look at other lines as I have dumped NCL for now. 

This...it pains me to admit it. And I love NCL. It's my top 2 favorite lines. But the facts are the facts (even though values are subjective, lol)

[roboref]

4 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

According to your signature, you've been on two NCL cruises in the last ten years.  Is that accurate?

Yes, that is accurate. 2016 NCL Jewel to Alaska was so nice I purchased 2 Next cruise certificates. Used the first one in 2018 on NCL Epic. It left a lot to be desired in Food, entertainment, ship customer service. Asked for a refund on the other Cruise Next but was told NCL doesn't refund these. However, every other cruise line during COVID refunded without asking or calling any future cruise deposits, but not "No Service NCL". So, we booked NCL to Iceland from the UK in July 2020, then Covid hit, rescheduled for a TA on NCL pearl in 2021, cancelled again, rebooked on Escape for March 2022, but cancelled on Tuesday for a Saturday sailing. Your point is that I don't have much experience on NCL, that just isn't true. I loved it enough in 2016 to buy 2 future cruise certificates, it changed so much for the worse, that once my Cruise Next  and the 50% credit for the cancelled NCL Escape are used this coming March, if I go at all will be my last on NCL. So, your point about going is moot as NCL hasn't been able to accommodate any of the last 3 years bookings I have made. NCL has had plenty of opportunity to "wow" me over the last 6 years, but have just left a bad taste in my mouth. I will go to cruise lines who care about me as a customer.