Free at Sea dinners

[bbnmom]

I am sure this has been discussed but the search feature isn't working at the moment and I am wondering why on a 14 day trans-atlantic they still only give you 2 free meals for 2?  You would think since it is basically twice the cost of a 7 day they would give you twice the percs.

 

[ColeThornton]

According to the T/C's of the current promo 12+ days in a Studio, Inside, Oceanview get two meals, Balcony and above get 3.

[shof515]

earlier this year NCL changed the number of meals with the free at sea perks. with these changes, the number of meals is now based on the cabin you have and cruise length

 

on a 7 day cruise in a studio, inside or oceanview now only gets 1 meal . on a 14 day cruise, you are getting an additional meal

[cruiseny4life]

13 hours ago, bbnmom said:

I am sure this has been discussed but the search feature isn't working at the moment and I am wondering why on a 14 day trans-atlantic they still only give you 2 free meals for 2?  You would think since it is basically twice the cost of a 7 day they would give you twice the percs.

 

I can only guess as to why...

 

1. NCL wants more revenue, so they're pushing people to purchase additional specialty dining packages.

2. Specialty restaurant were jam packed, cruisers were missing out on some of their meals due to reservations not available, so NCL pared back the offering.

3. A mixture of 1 and 2.

4. Some other reason completely.

 

Unless you're on the inside, not sure anyone can tell you the real reason. I'd love to hear others conjecture on this. 🙂

[UKstages]

personally, i think specialty dining was actually designed - in the Before Times - to help steer people away from the crowded buffet and MDRs. yes, of course, it makes the ship seem more appealing... so many choices (!)... OMG, y'all... crab cakes and lobster (!)... but the primary thing it does is alleviate crowding in the "free" buffet and MDRs. i believe the revenue from additional specialty dining meals was a secondary benefit to NCL, but i don't think it was their primary focus.

 

now things are different... and reducing the number of specialty dining credits you get in their "for a small fee at sea" program is a revenue grab, for sure. on most sailings, the MDRs and buffet are not as crowded as they once were. this will change as overall occupancy increases.

 

but there is one other factor. coming out of the pandemic, there were many double and triple point promos. heck, there still are! (i just got off a ten day cruise on the joy and received 40 points.) the point promos have greatly increased the number of platinum latitudes members, who each get coupons for two free specialty dining meals. THAT, more than the number of specialty meals awarded in the "for a small fee at sea" program, may have caused overcrowding in the specialty restaurants, at least the specialty restaurants that accepted the coupons. (a few days ago, NCL expanded the list of restaurants that accept those platinum dinner coupons, which may have a further knock-on effect of reducing the dining demand in cagney's and le bistro.)

Edited September 20, 2022 by UKstages

[BermudaBound2014]

2 minutes ago, UKstages said:

personally, i think specialty dining was actually designed - in the Before Times - to help steer people away from the crowded buffet and MDRs.......

 

The purpose of specialty restaurants was to generate revenue from the onset.  If for any other reason, they would have been complimentary.

[PATRLR]

28 minutes ago, UKstages said:

personally, i think specialty dining was actually designed - in the Before Times - to help steer people away from the crowded buffet and MDRs. yes, of course, it makes the ship seem more appealing... so many choices (!)... OMG, y'all... crab cakes and lobster (!)... but the primary thing it does is alleviate crowding in the "free" buffet and MDRs. i believe the revenue from additional specialty dining meals was a secondary benefit to NCL, but i don't think it was their primary focus.

 

I'm obviously not inside NCL so I don't know for certain, but I'd be shocked if the Specialty Restaurants were not intended to be profit centers from Day 1.  And crab cakes and lobster were always available in the MDRs.  Moving them to Specialty Restaurants can't be anything but a revenue generating move.