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Kudos and Anti-Kudos to NCL

luddite

By luddite,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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luddite

luddite

Posted
Posted

I just returned from the Spirit and felt the need to mention a few things.

 

Kudos first:

 

Orange juice-they have gotten rid of that vile juice cocktail nightmare that they were serving for a couple of years, both in the MDR and the buffet.

 

The yard-sale atmospere in the grand atrium on sea days has been diminished greatly. They still had a few tables of things but they were sequestered and didn't take over the whole floor like in years past.

 

The photographers were not blocking all reasonable passage through the atrium as in years past.

 

LeBistro. Well, just...LeBistro.

 

Ship pins.

 

Horace Mann in the MDR. Probably the happiest man ever born.

==============================================

Anti-Kudos:

 

The lamb shank in the MDR. Yikes.

 

The fixed lunch menu.

 

The soup choices in the dining room.

 

The absolutely abyssmal beer list. There is more to beer than American Standard Light Lager. Please, throw us a bone. Anything. Oh goody! They had San Miguel!!:eek:

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SuiteCruiser

SuiteCruiser

Posted
Posted
I just returned from the Spirit and felt the need to mention a few things.

 

Kudos first:

 

Orange juice-they have gotten rid of that vile juice cocktail nightmare that they were serving for a couple of years, both in the MDR and the buffet.

 

The yard-sale atmospere in the grand atrium on sea days has been diminished greatly. They still had a few tables of things but they were sequestered and didn't take over the whole floor like in years past.

 

The photographers were not blocking all reasonable passage through the atrium as in years past.

 

LeBistro. Well, just...LeBistro.

 

Ship pins.

 

Horace Mann in the MDR. Probably the happiest man ever born.

==============================================

Anti-Kudos:

 

The lamb shank in the MDR. Yikes.

 

The fixed lunch menu.

 

The soup choices in the dining room.

 

The absolutely abyssmal beer list. There is more to beer than American Standard Light Lager. Please, throw us a bone. Anything. Oh goody! They had San Miguel!!:eek:

 

Interesting to hear they also have a fixed lunch menu now, I knew it for Cagney's but didn't know the MDR had it too. You learn something new every day.

 

I'm not a beer connoisseur, but hear often enough on the boards that it would be a good addition for NCL to set up a beer bar with micro brews available.

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che5904

che5904

Posted
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May I Kudos and Anti-Kudos to NCL your sailing as well?

 

I just received a phone call this afternoon from a relative that just got back from that sailing as well.

 

She is a first time cruiser and was very excited at all the info I could share with her about NCL and expectations she should have. She is a very seasoned traveler and has always wanted to try cruising.

 

Kudos - almost everything.

Crew were fantastic (mentioned numerous times in the conversation)

MDR staff were fantastic

Food was great except she claims to have ate too much ;)

Chocolate buffet was terrific

Jogging/Walking track at 5 am in the morning was fantastic and the sunrise over the ocean was incredible.

Her inside cabin was just fine and the bed was very comfortable.

The shows were great except she did not enjoy 2. (explained in the ante-kudos)

Casino great

The crew show finale was fantastic

The list was very extensive and I have only noted the ones I remember.

 

Anti-kudos

There was one show in the evening that did not meet her tastes but I couldn't quite figure out which show it was by her description.

There was also an afternoon magician or comedian that again she did not care for, apparently this performer spent most of the show pushing their CD/DVD.

Her vacation was too short ;)

She would have loved a few more sea days.

 

She was traveling with 5 other people (2 of which had sailed previous on other lines). They all were very pleased with NCL and everything they experienced.

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luddite

luddite

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The beer choices on the Pearl a couple of weeks ago were pretty good. They had Blue Moon and Labatt's.

The lamb shank was the best thing on the menu at dinner.

 

Not all NCL ships are created equally it seems;)

 

Labatt's is another American Standard Light Lager. They keep about 25 kinds on the ship.

 

I gotta say, you have my sympathies if the best thing you had was that shank. :eek:

I enjoyed pretty much all the food. The shank was dreadful.

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SuiteCruiser

SuiteCruiser

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Oh yeah.

You didn't have a shirt with flamingoes by any chance?:)

 

Oh I wasn't there and wouldn't touch lamb with a ten foot pole, I'm just enjoying the fact that you & Beaver were on the same sailing and had such a vastly different experience with the same dish. :)

 

And, no, I'm more of a lemming girl, I find flamingos a bit too showy.

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luddite

luddite

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Oh I wasn't there and wouldn't touch lamb with a ten foot pole, I'm just enjoying the fact that you & Beaver were on the same sailing and had such a vastly different experience with the same dish. :)

 

And, no, I'm more of a lemming girl, I find flamingos a bit too showy.

 

I met a fellow from Canada who had a wonderful shirt covered in Flamingos. I thought it might've been you. Trust me, I've no problem snarfing down a lamb, we were just not fans of the shank. Cost-cutting in re the menu has been an issue for us and I'm guessing that ain't gonna change.

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HppyCamper

HppyCamper

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Does anyone know if they cook a dish like the lamb individually or do they cook up a batch ahead of time in anticipation.

 

I have no idea, but if they do it like the South Shore Room at Harrah's in LT, they cook each dish individually. The different experiences could be attributed to that.

 

Just a guess tho.

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SteveH2508

SteveH2508

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Does anyone know if they cook a dish like the lamb individually or do they cook up a batch ahead of time in anticipation.

 

I have no idea, but if they do it like the South Shore Room at Harrah's in LT, they cook each dish individually. The different experiences could be attributed to that.

 

Just a guess tho.

 

Lamb shanks are cooked long and slow so are 'ideal' for a large kitchen. None of this rare-medium-ruined lark you get with steaks/beef etc.!

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Beaver1975

Beaver1975

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Over-cooked gelatinous mess. But I'm gussing it's cheap to produce.

 

Didn't see anything gelatinous about it. Maybe you got one served cold? I thought they were perfectly, fall off the bone tender, cooked and seasoned. Vive la difference.

 

 

 

 

 

P.S. I want to thank you for making our group so welcome at the sail away and meet and greet.

 

Not!

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njhorseman

njhorseman

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Interesting to hear they also have a fixed lunch menu now, I knew it for Cagney's but didn't know the MDR had it too. You learn something new every day.

 

I'm not a beer connoisseur, but hear often enough on the boards that it would be a good addition for NCL to set up a beer bar with micro brews available.

 

The fixed MDR lunch menu has been in place for some time. More than a year...maybe going on two years.

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che5904

che5904

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The fixed MDR lunch menu has been in place for some time. More than a year...maybe going on two years.

 

Oh yes at least one year for sure. I know it was fixed on our cruise in Feb 2011. I actually thought it was fixed on our cruise Feb 2009, but that was a very long time ago and my memory just isn't what it used to be. ;)

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sparks1093 Great Review Rare

sparks1093

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Labatt's is another American Standard Light Lager. They keep about 25 kinds on the ship.

 

I gotta say, you have my sympathies if the best thing you had was that shank. :eek:

I enjoyed pretty much all the food. The shank was dreadful.

 

Labatt's is American in the sense that it comes from North America, but Labatt's is made in Canada:) (although there is a difference between what they brew for Canadians and what they brew to be exported south of the border). As I understand it, anyway.

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njhorseman

njhorseman

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I guess I hadn't noticed from the ivory tower (Cagney's) :)

 

Yeah...you know some of us commoners only book suites upon occasion and are forced rub elbows with the huddled masses. ;)

 

On our most recent cruise, which was in a suite, we ate lunch in the MDR one day because we had run out of things we like to eat in Cagney's.

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luddite

luddite

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Labatt's is American in the sense that it comes from North America, but Labatt's is made in Canada:) (although there is a difference between what they brew for Canadians and what they brew to be exported south of the border). As I understand it, anyway.

 

Labatt's used to be a Canadian product. Now it's part of AB-InBev.

It is still an American Standard Light Lager. Just like Sapporo,Kirin,San Miguel,Corona,Heineken......et al.

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luddite

luddite

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I'm truly saddened by the fact that even though you were not pleased with some aspects of your cruise, no one will be able to accuse you of being a one post wonder troll, followed by a few posts by others who will accuse your critics of being cheerleaders.

 

You've violated Rule 23A of Al Gore's best seller "Rules For Posting on the Internet I Invented".

 

Try to do a better job next time...

 

Hey now. We had a fine trip. We met up with some old friends, made some new friends, saw fellows from NCL that we knew from previous cruises.

The menu reductions have certainly been an issue for us going back to when they went to the fixed-menu concept. Lotsa things got dropped.

I ate the lobster/snapper combo thing this time. It wasn't over-cooked, which did surprise me.

 

I didn't know that I had critics. :eek:

I sure hate to think that I did something that the AlGore doesn't approve....

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