Can't bring soda on board anymore

There is free water. I bring a reusable bottle with me.

Everyone should do this. On each and every ship. From this day forward.

Can you imagine the lines at the beverage stations?

That would be a financial loss, no doubt.

I usually bring unsweetened almond or soy milk with me on cruises. Does this mean I can't bring it anymore?

I only drink the same, no cow milk. You used to be able to bring it (I never bothered to), but no more. Perhaps you can get a medical exemption. Might need a doctors note as the policy isn't too clear on that.

Everyone should do this. On each and every ship. From this day forward.

Can you imagine the lines at the beverage stations?

That would be a financial loss' date=' no doubt.[/quote']

just fill up from the faucet from your bathroom sink.

it's the same water.

 

that's what one of the crew members said in the behind the scene ship tour.

 

now if only NCL would do a pr blitz about it.

bathroom sink faucet water = same water from beverage stations at buffet

just fill up from the faucet from your bathroom sink.

 

bathroom sink faucet water = same water from beverage stations at buffet

Bathroom sink <> beverage station

Bathroom sink + Filter = beverage station

Bathroom sink in April on my NCL Spirit cruise =

That's not what MSC explained to me, and they matched me and I was Black on one cruise already. You just have to rebook within 36 months to maintain the status.

 

"MSC Voyagers Club Membership is subject to a minimum of one cruise every three

years. If the last cruise disembarkation date is over 3 years (36 months) or no cruise

has been completed in 3 years after the enrolment date, membership to the MSC

Voyagers Club program will expire."

Thanks very much for clarifying that info. At this point, I'm just really looking forward to the MSC Experience and hope it will be another wonderful cruise.

Thanks very much for clarifying that info. At this point, I'm just really looking forward to the MSC Experience and hope it will be another wonderful cruise.

It was a great time. It reminded me a bit of a classic cruise experience. I'm looking forward to booking Seaside for the latter half of 2018 when more itineraries open up

However surely there's a loophole. Bottled water can be taken on "for the reconstitution of infant formula". If you also take on some infant formula then what can they say? Their new policy doesn't say that the said reconstituted infant formula has to be consumed by an infant. Sure, they will ask questions if there is no infant in your group, but what can they say? You're abiding strictly to the new rules.

I can see it now, dozens of people showing up with cases of bottled water and a large can of powdered baby formula, but no infants. LOL "No sir, we don't have a baby, but you see I rather enjoy the taste of baby formula myself, so this is for my personal consumption. It's quite nutritious so I use it in my morning cereal, a little bit in my tea and coffee, and I like to dip my cookies in it for a late night snack!"

This thread reminds me of the old saying "Other than the overpriced bottle water and the unfortunate shooting how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"

Why Do Threads Have To Always Go Off Subject? If people want to go off on a tirade about what other people post or ridicule them with snide remarks, please take it somewhere else. It's OK to criticize the subject matter, the cruise line, or its actions, ect. Not everyone who cruises has a bank roll the size of J. P. Morgan. These are hard working family's who save for a year or two or more just to have a week of enjoyment. To those people who choose the path of sad commentary please knock it off. You know who you are, the same ones over, and over again. Thank you.

Do you realize that you are complaining about people who "go off subject" even though your "tirade" has nothing to do with canned soda or bottled water?

You're complaining about other people who complain.

I can see it now, dozens of people showing up with cases of bottled water and a large can of powdered baby formula, but no infants. LOL "No sir, we don't have a baby, but you see I rather enjoy the taste of baby formula myself, so this is for my personal consumption. It's quite nutritious so I use it in my morning cereal, a little bit in my tea and coffee, and I like to dip my cookies in it for a late night snack!"

I had that idea way back in post #4. :p

Thanks for bringing up that video. I listened & watch it twice, just to make sure ... the familial spirit is everyone but the passengers, the customers that pay to sail on the ships. No need to listen to the passengers ... travel agent partners are more important (based on his ranking orders & what was omitted or left out.) Feedback from his audience is everyone but the sheepies sailing on "his" lines.

That's the TakeAway message.

So, each time we fill each one of our 20 oz. water bottle (actually, I think we might just "upsize" ours to 32 oz. ones - that's closer to 1 liter) - we will correctly & use a clean 8 oz. plastic cup to fill it with water from the buffet's beverage stations, without spilling it - hopefully, and, leave the dirty ones aside for pickup & cleaning by the crew, via the dishwashers. That's easily 3 cups per 20 oz. bottles x 3 bottles on each trip to refill x 2 or times a day - boy, oh dear - the computed math is interesting on usage, not to mention the labor involved and extra water usage down in the gallery for washing & rinsing. It's all good in keeping everything safe & clean, I think.

As for the lines at the beverage stations - well, that's just collateral results to be expected. Add more stations if you care about customer satisfactions ... oops. Long lines to fill up water bottles ... well, too bad, that's the problem for NCL to fix and address.

Hell, DW & I will NOT refill our water bottles from the bathroom sink - isn't that freestyle cruising too.

Quite to the contrary, we might - insist on boiling our water first as a matter of personal preference - and, then cool it in the mini-refrigerator before we drink it. Hence, don't even think of locking up or blocking us and anyone else from freely using the in-room mini-refrigerator, or, dare to consider an usage fee. Just saying !

I don't mind drinking either Pepsi or Coke but I love cold water and don't go anywhere without a bottle of water with me. I hope that NCL with sell bottled water at a reasonable price like the supermarkets or drug stores. We can buy 24 bottles for about $3.00 so if NCL could do that it would make a lot of people feel better. I don't really want to have to walk around with one litre bottles that the ship sells now - prefer something smaller.

just fill up from the faucet from your bathroom sink.

it's the same water.

 

that's what one of the crew members said in the behind the scene ship tour.

 

now if only NCL would do a pr blitz about it.

bathroom sink faucet water = same water from beverage stations at buffet

The water from the bathroom sink never runs cold.

The water used in the ice making machines have a charcoal filter to remove the chlorine, so the taste is somewhat removed.

I hope they check and clean the filter periodically.

Years ago, when my disposable income was, well, less disposable, I viewed taxis and bottles of wine purchased in restaurants as luxury items, ridiculously overpriced and exploitative. Over the years my position has changed and, I believe, the relative cost of both has reduced a good deal. However, embarking on this cruise lark for the first time, I am very much put in mind of those years. It's a bit like deja vu. Suddenly I am looking at the drinks packages and equating them to those expensive bottles of wine a hotel or restaurant would tempt us with. We would look at the menu and think: "Wow! The cheapest bottle of wine costs as much as the meal itself!" Worse still, we knew that in many cases what you got was very poor value.

There are many regular (and otherwise) cruise passengers for whom the cost of drinks is no concern - I wish I were one - but equally, there is a large number that surely must wince at the eye-watering prices. Maybe they will 'push the boat out', as it were, and stump up for those costly nice-to-haves, probably in NCL's case (prior to 15th July) consoling themselves with the prospect of at least being able to bring aboard their own soft drinks. I genuinely thought this was a nice touch by NCL, softening the blow in some small way. It's a real shame they have seen fit to withdraw this. I was certainly planning to take advantage of this during our Alaskan cruise, albeit in a limited fashion: we don't drink a great deal of soda, but it's nice to have a small stock; being stung for the alcohol is bad enough without paying silly prices for soft drinks aboard too! Indeed, aside from our evenings, we don't plan on being aboard long enough to make best use of the drinks packages (and unfortunately didn't qualify for any being thrown in with our booking).

I agree with other views voiced here that NCL would do themselves a real favour by coming up with some gesture of goodwill to balance this withdrawal of what for some (many?) is a significant feature of their cruises. From my own point of view, before mid August would be good! ;)

Please share which ...would love to have options..

If they would have an affordable option to add bottled water and specialty coffee to UBP (or other bev pkgs) I would prob would have done so. Like I said, just ordered Bobble filtered water container 32 oz on amazon, bring a couple empty bottles and fill them for other use.

If they would have an affordable option to add bottled water and specialty coffee to UBP (or other bev pkgs) I would prob would have done so. Like I said, just ordered Bobble filtered water container 32 oz on amazon, bring a couple empty bottles and fill them for other use.

The retail rate of UBP is already $79 per day plus 18%. Other cruise lines include bottle water and specialty coffee at a lower price. How much would you propose an "affordable option" be to add these items on? Many think they should be included already.

In fact, I can't think of any additions to UBP since it was priced in the mid 50's per day except they raised the dollar limit on drinks (because they raised the price of drinks).

My concern with this new rule is that I like to drink caffeine-free diet coke and it is not available anywhere on board NCL. If I wanted it, I had to bring it, and that is no longer possible with this new rule!

Based off his responses, I don't think it was a joke.

 

I like your proposal, as long as it would a mutually benefit to both parties..not too expensive for the passengers, but a revenue stream for NCL, since they lose onboard spending when folks are bringing their own on. IMHO, I don't think it is the security costs (even though it takes more labor and time to scan and deliver) that are really an issue, but since that is their reasoning, if the passengers were required to carry it on themselves, it would solve that issue.

 

I don't know if NCL would re-think the policy, but hopefully they will and will come up with something that is a little more palatable than what it is now.

 

BTW, why don't you email it to Andy Stuart as a suggestion to solve this issue. I think when folks offer a solution, rather than just complaining, their letters are read with more interest from a company.

Here are some other ideas that you could present to Mr Stuart and other NCL execs.

They sell cameras and memory cards on the ships, so they could ban cameras or sell you a permit to bring your own.

They sell jewelry and watches so they could ban all those items or sell you a permit to bring your own.

They sell binoculars --- Are you getting the message ????

Of course, I am being facetious, but the stupidity of their new money making scheme is obvious, isn't it ???

Another well thought out reason for the NCL ban is another attempt to discourage frugal cruisers from using their services, but their idea misfired and provoked many of their "more affluent" cruisers who know how to add and subtract.

I also note that some of the supporters of this new ban are not affected because they are cruising free or at reduced rates through CAS and other entities.

My concern with this new rule is that I like to drink caffeine-free diet coke and it is not available anywhere on board NCL. If I wanted it, I had to bring it, and that is no longer possible with this new rule!

Like, go without a caffeine-free diet coke for the duration while onboard another NCL ship & search out for one in the ports. Write/call NCL and tell them - like some of us - that this is a horrible policy and consider taking the business elswhere (others will laugh & poke fun of such "first world problem").

Don't bother posting on their official FB or Twitter accounts as only positive & NCL-friendly messages are welcomed and not deleted by their administrators - and expect it to stay there for long.

Write & contact local/other travel news editors & writers of media outlets to bring up the story instead. CNN just did a piece over the weekend and compared satellite broadband internet costs among the major lines - if they would do one on beverages, water & soda, would put NCL on the hot seat to explain (that WiFi article was over a month's worth of behind the scene editing & story gathering work by the writer with help from CC ... it just didn't happen overnight, I know & believe me)

I agree that the UBP is already high priced if not overpriced on this line. I usually sail Celebrity and aware of the BIG difference with the pkg. I just like my water and specialty coffee but they seem unrelenting with the gouging on bottled water. Just stating I would prob buy a pkg if offered but that is just me. I think our group is not happy about this and prob/already booking "X" for next year. I cant let this bog me down as heading out on Gem in 2 weeks and committed to a good time!!

I was always surprised that they allowed people to bring on their own soda/water in the first place (in unlimited quantities, and not for medical/childcare reasons). And surprised that they allowed people to check in cases of water/soda as luggage.

 

So giving people 15 days notice to go from the "slap a luggage tag on it" mentality to "zero tolerance" is pretty brutal. I think they could let the uproar build for a few days, and then appear to back down by stating some modest allowance for carried-on beverages (like Carnival currently has, 12 cans), and making it a rule that people have to carry it on themselves.

We used to bring a couple of 12 packs of soda, always in a carry on. We heard you could tag them and just have them delivered to the cabin so we tried it. We were told at the port that was not the case and had to hand carry them on. That was not fun since we weren't prepared for it. I believe that was 2013 in Tampa. Not sure how others have gotten them through but we couldn't.

We used to bring a couple of 12 packs of soda, always in a carry on. We heard you could tag them and just have them delivered to the cabin so we tried it. We were told at the port that was not the case and had to hand carry them on. That was not fun since we weren't prepared for it. I believe that was 2013 in Tampa. Not sure how others have gotten them through but we couldn't.

I have seen many posts that Tampa does not allow drinks to be checked in as luggage, some have put it inside the luggage and got it through. I have not had any problems doing so at any of the other port I have embarked at. I haven't seen a comprehensive list posted, but that is a moot point now.

This is really sad and unfortunate. I love how NCL put out the statement lumping water with prohibited alcohol LMAO. Families save a few bucks with carrying on a case of water. You pack them on excursions, go to the beach, etc without being raped with the huge cost of bottled water.

But really this should not surprise anyone. There is nothing that is beyond reach for FDR. There is no fee that cant be raised, service to be cut back, price to go up. It just goes to extreme. The shrimp are getting smaller and so will the glasses. It will be determined NCL can save a nickel if another ice cube is added to a smaller glass.

I was always surprised they allowed soda to come on board. But prohibiting water is just taking nickel and diming to the extreme.

All these changes are visible to the customer. Can you imagine what we don't see? What next? Memos to crew members they are only allowed 2 pieces of toilet paper per day.

FDR is changing NCL and its not for the better. Everything entertainment, fireworks getting removed, perks being removed, portions getting smaller, fees and gratuities going up.

Have fun!

Wow, worked my way through the 44 pages, mine is a little different. Those with diabetes are advised to not take sugar and ncl don't do slimline/sugar free tonic water to mix with gin. They've always advised me to bring it onboard and now I can't. So I'm going to make a plea to the ship to stock some for my cruise.

You can bring it. Just have your doctor write a note for you. Email it to the access desk AND bring it with you to the port.