Entertainment Cutback Concerns and Real Disappointment

[omahabob]

5 hours ago, MsTabbyKats said:

I agree....but everyone cruises for their own reasons.  If you take "those reasons" away....what's left?

I know most people don't care about entertainment and buffet...we do.  People care about drinks ....we don't.  If there were cuts for bar hours or offerings...there'd be a lot of "lowering of expectations".

 

Buffet, yes. Drinks and entertainment, not so much. We don't cruise for those things, though we partake in them to a slight degree. But everyone has their priorities.

 

Cutting bars or drinking from a cruise ship would be like cutting football from high school. Ain't gonna happen.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, RB9643 said:

 

This makes sense, to an extent. If you have low expectations, you will certainly find things that meet those lows. But you will also find many things that exceed "the worst" and are enjoyable and perhaps a nice surprise.

 

On the other hand, I think it's worse to go in with high expectations that are rarely or ever met, let alone exceeded. If your expectations are too high to be met, you will have nothing but a disappointing experience.

 

Perhaps it's best to go in with NO expectations, take everything as it comes, and enjoy yourself regardless.

 

 

Or your low expectations can become a reality as you keep expecting to find things go wrong and react to everything that is not perfect.

[RB9643]

2 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Or your low expectations can become a reality as you keep expecting to find things go wrong and react to everything that is not perfect.

 

I think we're talking semantics. Things going wrong IS reality and should be expected. Reacting to everything that is not perfect means having high expectations that are never met.  I'll take the low expectation route every time.

 

 

[jcscv]

I have an 11-day cruise coming up next month on NCL, and I'm a little nervous I'll be bored at night.  There is only one main theater show. The second show, when I reserved the cruise was canceled, and in it's place they're trying to pass off a game show in the theater as a main show (sorry, not a game show fan, nor do I feel they are a 'theater' show). I guess there will be a few comedians, but it just seems like a waste of a theater, and not sure what there will be to do at night.  I'm looking forward to Syd Norman's shows, but will have to get in line at least 1/2- to an hour prior to the show. NCL's entertainment is what drew me to them years ago....lack of entertainment could drive me away pretty quick. 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, jcscv said:

I have an 11-day cruise coming up next month on NCL, and I'm a little nervous I'll be bored at night.  There is only one main theater show. The second show, when I reserved the cruise was canceled, and in it's place they're trying to pass off a game show in the theater as a main show (sorry, not a game show fan, nor do I feel they are a 'theater' show). I guess there will be a few comedians, but it just seems like a waste of a theater, and not sure what there will be to do at night.  I'm looking forward to Syd Norman's shows, but will have to get in line at least 1/2- to an hour prior to the show. NCL's entertainment is what drew me to them years ago....lack of entertainment could drive me away pretty quick. 

Are you on the 11 day Prima cruise starting August 6th. 

 

We book for itinerary, but I have to admit that our previous NCL cruises had better entertainment than any of the other lines we have sailed. What they have done disappoints me greatly. In a competitive environment one should push what gives you an advantage, not give it up.

[UKstages]

regarding comedians… do you have an itinerary that does not begin or end in the USA?

 

NCL makes it a practice not to book comedians on many “international” itineraries because they believe there are language and cultural barriers… comedians don’t play well with an international crowd, they believe.

 

i think that’s wackadoodle nonsense, but there it is.

Edited July 13, 2023 by UKstages

[jcscv]

37 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Are you on the 11 day Prima cruise starting August 6th. 

 

We book for itinerary, but I have to admit that our previous NCL cruises had better entertainment than any of the other lines we have sailed. What they have done disappoints me greatly. In a competitive environment one should push what gives you an advantage, not give it up.

 

Hi ontheweb, I'm on Prima, but not until the August 27 cruise.  I so agree with you, why mess with something that has made you successful.  I hope there's enough other entertainment going on around the ship to keep us happy. Oh well, let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best! 🤞

[RB9643]

3 hours ago, jcscv said:

 I'm a little nervous I'll be bored at night.  There is only one main theater show. ... and not sure what there will be to do at night.  I'm looking forward to Syd Norman's shows but will have to get in line at least 1/2- to an hour prior to the show. ... lack of entertainment could drive me away pretty quick. 

 

We were lucky enough to see the beatbox show (Hit the Floor, or something) before it was cancelled. It was a great show, but only 45 min on a 7-day cruise. Not a deal breaker by any means.

 

Don't miss the Syd Norman's shows, but you will need to be in line at least 45-60 minutes to get a seat, and an hour plus to get a good seat. Again, it's only about an hour long, so standing isn't that bad, especially if you're old enough to remember general admission concerts in the 80's.  🙃

 

If you get bored at night on an NCL cruise:

a) You're doing it wrong

b) You're not drinking enough

 

 

[NW Pacific]

Have the same sentiment as roger001!!!  We are Diamond on NCL, reminiscing about the good ole days, nothing comparable to what it is now.  We have been on 19 day cruises with different entertainment in the Main theatre every night, this was on Jewell Class Ships.  (sigh) went with 2 other couples in April on the Bliss, everyone had already seen the two shows available.    We all went once to the lame Comedy Show, that was it for entertainment.    Obviously loyal NCL cruisers, BUT like everything else times have changed, so sad.  Use to be just getting onboard was a luxury.  And yes we go with a positive attitude obviously or wouldn't go, . New cruisers will not experience the let down, but us old fogies sure have!

[ontheweb]

19 hours ago, jcscv said:

 

Hi ontheweb, I'm on Prima, but not until the August 27 cruise.  I so agree with you, why mess with something that has made you successful.  I hope there's enough other entertainment going on around the ship to keep us happy. Oh well, let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best! 🤞

Actually, at one point earlier this year, DW thought we should change dates to the cruise you are on. I called our TA and he thought it would be no problem, same itinerary, same ship. But, he came back to us and said it would be significantly more expensive, possibly prices had gone way up since we booked way back in 2021 before the ship was even built. So we stayed on the August 6th cruise.

 

When we picked which date DW was pretty sure she would be a retired rather than active elementary art teacher by the summer of 2023, but not 100% positive. I also like the 8/6 sailing because our wedding anniversary falls on the sea day between Norway and Iceland.

[mugtech]

19 hours ago, RB9643 said:

 

 

you get bored at night on an NCL cruise:

a) You're doing it wrong

b) You're not drinking enough

 

 

Those of us who don't drink gonna get bored, watching drunks is not very entertaining.

[RB9643]

18 minutes ago, mugtech said:

Those of us who don't drink gonna get bored, watching drunks is not very entertaining.

 

No.

 

"a)" applies to you.

 

 

[RocketMan275]

On 7/13/2023 at 4:09 PM, bedfordmom said:

Also noticed the severe cutbacks on the Getaway in  February. As one that likes to make their own fun, we try to bring books, cards, games etc. (I know I am boring). But there is a limit to how much self entertainment. Its not like we can get off the ship to see a movie like on land so I feel like the cruiseline has responsibility to provide some entertainment. I don't understand why they can't do more movies on deck or in the theater.  I remember Carnival did that years ago and even provided popcorn which was a lot of fun.  I was told that the cruiselines only want to provide entertainment where they can make money like in the bar, bingo etc.  .  

IIRC, NCL served drinks in the theater during bingo.  Why not serve drinks during movies shown there?

[firstimer2009]

On 7/13/2023 at 6:13 AM, MsTabbyKats said:

We were totally spoiled by MSC Yacht club in April (no...Haven doesn't offer what we liked about YC...so Haven isn't an option).  What we like about NCL is entertainment and buffet.  We have our annual "Canadian Voyage" booked on the Escape in Sept....and I'm really afraid it's going to be a huge disappointment.

I'm looking at Escape for Barcelona Sept 2024 and now I am very worried reading some of those reviews about Ecape plus NCL in general.  No Half and Half creamer for coffee?  Come on man!

Edited July 14, 2023 by firstimer2009

[MsTabbyKats]

2 hours ago, mugtech said:

Those of us who don't drink gonna get bored, watching drunks is not very entertaining.

And...."Choir of Man" is the only show on my upcoming cruise.  Boring........

[complawyer]

last year on the bliss, we saw jersey boys. we walked out, sound was bad, and frankie valli he aint!.

 

2 nights later we saw "6"  amazing show.

that being said, i usually dont  care about the entertainment. we've had drinks in the lounge and the singers were awful. with enough liquor in me they still sounded bad.

 

i cruise for the joy of cruising, and the ports of call. it isnt unusual that for an entire cruise, i may not even bother with any of the shows. thats just me, and the entertainment or lack thereof, doesnt bother me in the slightest.

 

i really hope you dont book  a cruise, based on the shows

[MacGuffin3]

6 minutes ago, complawyer said:

i really hope you dont book  a cruise, based on the shows

Like I mentioned earlier.  The problem is obvious.  Not enough mimes.

[chillyw]

On 7/12/2023 at 10:17 PM, cusematt4 said:

I hope NCL reconsiders these entertainment cutbacks and they are noticable and many are frustrated at the decreased product from NCL.  I know we can stick with other lines, but we enjoy the variety that RCL and NCL each provided.

 

I had a very similar experience on the Encore last week. I ended up killing them on the post cruise survey.

 

It was, in short, boring. The ports in Alaska were great, but I can only drink and gamble so much over 7 days for downtime. Literally the only good show was Choir of Man.

 

I'm taking a port intensive cruise on the Prima next, then thinking about jumping ship to Virgin.

[graphicguy]

(Knock wood) I haven’t experienced any of the supposed cutbacks reported.  Maybe I’m lucky.

 

Aside from some liquors that aren’t available, still a good product to me.

 

Last Fall on the Bliss, nothing seemed amiss at all, entertainment, service, etc was all great.  

 

I’ve had my issues with NCL, mostly surrounding their policies during the restart.  But none of it really had anything to do with entertainment, food or service.

 

That said, entertainment for each ship is advertised on that ship’s WEB site.  Are you saying they advertised a particular show(S) and then didn’t offer it?

 

MSC has beautiful ships.  Entertainment?  Not their strong suit.

 

Royal was just coming back up to speed after the restart, so there were pretty big holes in their food and entertainment offerings.  That was offset by the fact I got a really good fare.

 

Speaking of fares, given the coupons NCL has been sending out, their fares are great if you’re going to Alaska and/or Europe.

[KKB]

On 7/13/2023 at 5:21 PM, jcscv said:

I have an 11-day cruise coming up next month on NCL, and I'm a little nervous I'll be bored at night.  There is only one main theater show. The second show, when I reserved the cruise was canceled, and in it's place they're trying to pass off a game show in the theater as a main show (sorry, not a game show fan, nor do I feel they are a 'theater' show). I guess there will be a few comedians, but it just seems like a waste of a theater, and not sure what there will be to do at night.  I'm looking forward to Syd Norman's shows, but will have to get in line at least 1/2- to an hour prior to the show. NCL's entertainment is what drew me to them years ago....lack of entertainment could drive me away pretty quick. 

I LOVE to be busy on a ship. 

I learned on another line this summer to be prepared JUST in case. LUCKILY I had prepared & loaded numerous movies & books on my iPad. 

Beauty of a cruise--you can do everything...or nothing at all.

 

Regarding Syds--it is WORTH IT to be in line early. Every night...(if you like 80s hits...)

It is my absolute FAVORITE NCL offering (well, might be tied with Waterfront--sitting on comfy chairs reading or eating dinner out there on sailaway...ah....)

[MacGuffin3]

Sorry, in my circles, "cruise ship entertainment" has always just been viewed as an oxymoron. Pablum for the lowest common denominator, and like parsley on my plate, it's something I have no interest in. But whatever 'floats your boat."  On my boat, I'd just prefer the resources for "entertainment" be allocated elsewhere.

 

If I get bored, I plan to focus on two things - eat, drink (and be merry)

[graphicguy]

40 minutes ago, KKB said:

I LOVE to be busy on a ship. 

I learned on another line this summer to be prepared JUST in case. LUCKILY I had prepared & loaded numerous movies & books on my iPad. 

Beauty of a cruise--you can do everything...or nothing at all.

 

Regarding Syds--it is WORTH IT to be in line early. Every night...(if you like 80s hits...)

It is my absolute FAVORITE NCL offering (well, might be tied with Waterfront--sitting on comfy chairs reading or eating dinner out there on sailaway...ah....)

I agree.  Syd's house band is probably my favorite show on any cruise line.  And, you do indeed have to be there early (at least 30 mins...45 mins is better) to get a good seat...or any seat for that matter.

 

It's really fun and well worth the wait.

[graphicguy]

15 hours ago, MsTabbyKats said:

And...."Choir of Man" is the only show on my upcoming cruise.  Boring........

As they say...different strokes....

 

I really liked Choir of Man.  Get there early enough and share a beer with the cast as part of the show.

[KKB]

6 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I agree.  Syd's house band is probably my favorite show on any cruise line.  And, you do indeed have to be there early (at least 30 mins...45 mins is better) to get a good seat...or any seat for that matter.

 

It's really fun and well worth the wait.

We sit at the bar right outside Syd's nursing a drink, about an hour before show time.

As soon as ONE person gets in line, we get in line too!

 

[graphicguy]

1 minute ago, KKB said:

We sit at the bar right outside Syd's nursing a drink, about an hour before show time.

As soon as ONE person gets in line, we get in line too!

 

Good plan!  That way you can take turns getting drink refills at the bar while in line.