Ziplocks, NCL is turning cruisers into squirrels

[skeeter195]

I cannot believe how many people are commenting on bringing ziplock bags to put food into for use later on.  I get the frustration over no late night grab and go options but I just can't bring myself to take food away from a place in a ziplock bag.  To me it would feel cheap.  Yes NCL is depleting their brand quite a bit lately with these little things but we all are still paying a lot of money to go on a cruise and want a nice experience.  Taking food away in a ziplock is just lowering yourself down to NCL's level, IMO.  Some may disagree but I think it looks cheesy.    

[Two Wheels Only]

Personally, I don't do it but I'm not paying enough attention to what others are doing at their table to notice. 

 

It's like people taking pictures of their food/drink when it arrives at their table. If they want to do it, I have no problem with it. 

Edited January 24, 2023 by Two Wheels Only

[Cruise5life]

8 minutes ago, skeeter195 said:

I cannot believe how many people are commenting on bringing ziplock bags to put food into for use later on.  I get the frustration over no late night grab and go options but I just can't bring myself to take food away from a place in a ziplock bag.  To me it would feel cheap.  Yes NCL is depleting their brand quite a bit lately with these little things but we all are still paying a lot of money to go on a cruise and want a nice experience.  Taking food away in a ziplock is just lowering yourself down to NCL's level, IMO.  Some may disagree but I think it looks cheesy.    

Taking cookies away in a ziplock 

is much better than taking a plate of food away and going into the elevator.   
call it what you want but it’s anything but cheap.   It’s being creative.    And sanitary.   

[Cruise5life]

2 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

Personally, I don't do it but I'm not paying enough attention to what others are doing at their table to notice. 

 

It's like people taking pictures of their food/drink when it arrives at their table. If they want to do it, I have no problem with it. 

I take pics of my food.  Lol. I use them to show others what our meal looked like for future reference Lolol 

pic of last nights buffet grab lololol 

[BirdTravels]

4 minutes ago, skeeter195 said:

I cannot believe how many people are commenting on bringing ziplock bags to put food into for use later on.  I get the frustration over no late night grab and go options but I just can't bring myself to take food away from a place in a ziplock bag.  To me it would feel cheap.  Yes NCL is depleting their brand quite a bit lately with these little things but we all are still paying a lot of money to go on a cruise and want a nice experience.  Taking food away in a ziplock is just lowering yourself down to NCL's level, IMO.  Some may disagree but I think it looks cheesy.    

NCL has always provided late night dining (24/7 - but not really) that is far superior to Royal (we sail multiple times a year on both lines). Royal does not provide a late night buffet, they provide pizza that some rave about (but I think is really bad - cheap slap and go). 

 

Like the old midnight buffet, and the old chocolate buffet, if a restaurant is under utilized and the majority of food gets ground and thrown out as fish food nightly,,, maybe it is something nice for a very few, but not worth the money. At the end, 10's of thousands of pounds of chocolate were being fed to fish each week across the NCL fleet from the chocolate buffet... and creating the chocolate master pieces took hundreds and hundreds hours of labor to prepare. And the select few complained when it went away. 

 

Yup, we used to stop by the late buffet and pick up some food just before closing, then were sad to see trashcans brought out and can after can of food be thrown out (no you can't take left overs and feed it to the crew or put it in the freezer for left overs). The change to the late buffet occurred between our October and December NCL cruise. But we just shifted to wings at The Local. 

 

Smart business to eliminate something that served a very, very few across the fleet each night. 

[9tee2Sea]

2 minutes ago, Cruise5life said:

I take pics of my food.  Lol. I use them to show others what our meal looked like for future reference Lolol 

pic of last nights buffet grab lololol 

no offense, but that does not look very appetizing.  But that what makes a buffet grand.  Something for everyone.  Please, no nasty remarks.  Don't people take pictures of their plates for comments?

[Cruise5life]

7 minutes ago, 9tee2Sea said:

no offense, but that does not look very appetizing.  But that what makes a buffet grand.  Something for everyone.  Please, no nasty remarks.  Don't people take pictures of their plates for comments?

The pizza was very good.    The rice not so much.  The chicken was good as was the pasta.      And the roast beef was also very good.  
that’s the good thing about the buffet.  
you don’t like something you get something else.  
this is on MSC right now.   

Edited January 24, 2023 by Cruise5life

[Envelope21]

I bring ziplocks all the time. If I want a late night snack, my only option is  O'Sheehan's and I don't feel like fighting the crowd or dealing with the noise from the Atrium

[PATRLR]

26 minutes ago, skeeter195 said:

 To me it would feel cheap.  Yes NCL is depleting their brand quite a bit lately with these little things but we all are still paying a lot of money to go on a cruise and want a nice experience.  Taking food away in a ziplock is just lowering yourself down to NCL's level, IMO.  Some may disagree but I think it looks cheesy.    

NCL has brought this on themselves.  They have lowered their standards to that of low end national chain restaurants and lodging.  This is the clientele you get when you lower your quality - it's no secret.  

If you want better, you'll need to move to a higher end line.  No different than if you want good food, you need to stop going to Applebees and consider checking a Capital Grille, if you want decent lodging, skip the Ramada and head to the Westin.  

[Cruise5life]

14 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

NCL has brought this on themselves.  They have lowered their standards to that of low end national chain restaurants and lodging.  This is the clientele you get when you lower your quality - it's no secret.  

If you want better, you'll need to move to a higher end line.  No different than if you want good food, you need to stop going to Applebees and consider checking a Capital Grille, if you want decent lodging, skip the Ramada and head to the Westin.  

Funny.  I’ve never eaten at an Applebees 

and I found the food very good.   And what I did t find good I got something else.   Both in the MDR and the buffet

[Cruise5life]

16 minutes ago, Envelope21 said:

I bring ziplocks all the time. If I want a late night snack, my only option is  O'Sheehan's and I don't feel like fighting the crowd or dealing with the noise from the Atrium

Just got off the Joy.  Never a line at the local.    And I always sat in the back. Away from the noise.    
but yes the atrium noise can be a bit loud. Even at 10-11pm.   

[rxlowry]

31 minutes ago, Cruise5life said:

The pizza was very good.    The rice not so much.  The chicken was good as was the pasta.      And the roast beef was also very good.  
that’s the good thing about the buffet.  
you don’t like something you get something else.  
this is on MSC right now.   

Pizza on msc is awesome!!  And the fresh mozzarella made on board

[SeaShark]

20 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

NCL has brought this on themselves.  They have lowered their standards to that of low end national chain restaurants and lodging.  This is the clientele you get when you lower your quality - it's no secret.  

If you want better, you'll need to move to a higher end line.  No different than if you want good food, you need to stop going to Applebees and consider checking a Capital Grille, if you want decent lodging, skip the Ramada and head to the Westin.  

 

But...it isn't the quality of the food that is at question here, the "issue", fwiw, is people ordering food in a restaurant, and instead of eating that food in the restaurant, the want to put it in a ziplock bag so they can take the food and eat it somewhere else.

 

People aren't putting the food in a ziplock because its low quality food.

[Cruise5life]

Just now, rxlowry said:

Pizza on msc is awesome!!  And the fresh mozzarella made on board

It’s good but just wish they would cook it more.      I had some lastnight that the bough was raw still.     

[trivimp]

I guess we've been squirrels for years.  We always seem to have a few ziploc bags of cookies from the afternoon buffet for late night snacking, for long excursions, for the plane ride home... The white chocolate macadamia ones are the best 🙂 

[rxlowry]

1 minute ago, Cruise5life said:

It’s good but just wish they would cook it more.      I had some lastnight that the bough was raw still.     

Give it another go.  They had such great variety on Grandiosa.  Hopefully it was a fluke. 

[Cruise5life]

1 minute ago, SeaShark said:

 

But...it isn't the quality of the food that is at question here, the "issue", fwiw, is people ordering food in a restaurant, and instead of eating that food in the restaurant, the want to put it in a ziplock bag so they can take the food and eat it somewhere else.

 

People aren't putting the food in a ziplock because its low quality food.

Yup. Quality is good.   Heck. I had prime rib 5 nights on my 15day Panama cruise last week in the buffet
Personally I wouldn’t put food from my plate in a ziplock.  
I only use ziplocks for cookies. Or maybe some watermelon.    

[Cruise5life]

1 minute ago, trivimp said:

I guess we've been squirrels for years.  We always seem to have a few ziploc bags of cookies from the afternoon buffet for late night snacking, for long excursions, for the plane ride home... The white chocolate macadamia ones are the best 🙂 

I like the double chocolate.  Lol. 
I had a separate ziplock bag for my room steward.   Lol. He really appreciated the cookies in the evening.  Lol

 As he doesn’t have access to cookies.    
 

[SeaShark]

1 minute ago, Cruise5life said:

Yup. Quality is good.   Heck. I had prime rib 5 nights on my 15day Panama cruise last week in the buffet
Personally I wouldn’t put food from my plate in a ziplock.  
I only use ziplocks for cookies. Or maybe some watermelon.    

 

Exactly...people need to resist that "drive thru lane" mentality and just order and eat their meal at the restaurant. 

[uneamie]

55 minutes ago, Cruise5life said:

Taking cookies away in a ziplock 

is much better than taking a plate of food away and going into the elevator.   
call it what you want but it’s anything but cheap.   It’s being creative.    And sanitary.   

 

1 hour ago, skeeter195 said:

I cannot believe how many people are commenting on bringing ziplock bags to put food into for use later on.  I get the frustration over no late night grab and go options but I just can't bring myself to take food away from a place in a ziplock bag.  To me it would feel cheap.  Yes NCL is depleting their brand quite a bit lately with these little things but we all are still paying a lot of money to go on a cruise and want a nice experience.  Taking food away in a ziplock is just lowering yourself down to NCL's level, IMO.  Some may disagree but I think it looks cheesy.    

NCL lowered the bar by charging for "room service".  Room service was always free and a good alternative in case you did not have a dinner or maybe you weren't feeling well that day and skipped a few meals but are hungry later in the evening. We pay a hefty price for our cruises. Taking some fruit or cheese or cookies back to the room hardly seems like one is lowering themselves. I personally do not take notice of what other people are doing and rarely ever care what anyone thinks. It's several days at sea without our kitchen to go to for a snack.  I will take the cheesy path and bring my liplocks and tupperware and make the most of my vacation. 

Edited January 24, 2023 by uneamie

[Cruise5life]

3 minutes ago, rxlowry said:

Give it another go.  They had such great variety on Grandiosa.  Hopefully it was a fluke. 

Oh I will for sure.   I’ve struck up a conversation with the pizza maker and I’m sure if I ask he will help me out.   
being born and raised in a NY pizza place I’m kinda a pizza snob lol. Always searching for the best pizza.   
just has Frank Pepe’s ina new spot in Florida.  Was amazing 

[Cruise5life]

Just now, uneamie said:

 

NCL lowered the bar by charging for "room service".  Room service was always free and a good alternative in case you did not have a dinner or maybe you weren't feeling well that day and skipped a few meals but are hungry later in the evening. We pay a hefty price for our cruises. Taking some fruit or cheese or cookies back to the room hardly seems like one is lowering themselves. I personally do not take notice of what other people are doing and rarely ever care what anyone thinks. It's several days at see without our kitchen to go to for a snack.  I will take the cheesy path and bring my liplocks and tupperware and make the most of my vacation. 

Fight fire with fire.    They charge.   I order multiple items on one ticket last me a few days.   

[DCGuy64]

People do all kinds of things I don't agree with on cruises, but I just let it go because, who really cares what OTHER people do? If people want to take food in Ziplock bags, I say let 'em. Personally, I'd prefer someone take food with them that they're likely to eat later rather than pile their plates high and dump 1/2 of it in the trash when they got full (which I've seen 100s of times).

[PATRLR]

21 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

But...it isn't the quality of the food that is at question here, the "issue", fwiw, is people ordering food in a restaurant, and instead of eating that food in the restaurant, the want to put it in a ziplock bag so they can take the food and eat it somewhere else.

 

People aren't putting the food in a ziplock because its low quality food.

I wasn't talking about the food in the post you quoted.

 

[PATRLR]

30 minutes ago, Cruise5life said:

I’ve never eaten at an Applebees 

and I found the food very good.

If you've never eaten at an Applebees, then how do you know the food was good?

Or, are you saying you found the food on NCL to be very good?  If that's the case, then I'd suggest you probably would find Applebees to be very good too.  Enjoy!