Norwegian NEXT

[swedish weave]

So this NEXT program is similar to how Celebrity "Solsticized" their older ships, Carnival's 2.0, or how RCI is adding Oasis features to their fleet? If so, it's a good idea. I don't think NCL has been nearly as innovative with ship revitalizations as the other cruise lines have been. If fact, I sorta think they went backwards with Dawn and Star. Good for NCL.

 

Not sure what you mean by "backwards" on the Star and Dawn.

 

The new suites and cabins where the Spinnaker was are very nice. Those who book them seem to be very pleased.

 

The Spinnaker was a dead zone most of the time, and NCL turned it into a revenue generating area.

 

I think that is a move forward instead of backward.

[orangegrove]

The glow party on Breakaway wasn't anywhere as good as white hot party. They had crew dressed in "morph" type outfits that looked ridiculous..

 

That is stupid! :eek: I like my neon idea a whole lot better. Oh, and they should have black lights with cool neon drinks that glow!

[Hendricks Clan]

The Epic currently has the new menus. Food was excellent on transatlantic cruise.

 

Dang it...missed the new menus by two weeks. Oh well I get them in 40 days on the Getaway!

[BuffetPantsPls]

I'm disappointed witht he wine menu personally

 

it used to be 15%-30% mark ups from what you can get retail

 

now it's 200-300% markups

 

And teaming up with mondavi means that there's just more low range, generic crap they're trying to peddle on the boats at larger mark ups. You'd figure teaming up with a wine producer will see lower prices on the mondavi wines at least.

 

guess I'm sticking to bringing my own wine aboard.

[Linda the Book Lover]

I'm disappointed witht he wine menu personally

 

it used to be 15%-30% mark ups from what you can get retail

 

now it's 200-300% markups

 

And teaming up with mondavi means that there's just more low range, generic crap they're trying to peddle on the boats at larger mark ups. You'd figure teaming up with a wine producer will see lower prices on the mondavi wines at least.

 

guess I'm sticking to bringing my own wine aboard.

 

I admit Mondavi is not even close to one of my favorite wines (we attend events at the Mondavi Center - so we are used to a glass of Mondavi on occasion) Last cruise we chose Mondavi Private Collection Chardonnay and it was fine for lunch and balcony sitting. I wasn't thrilled but it was ok. There will be other offerings on the wine list so I will test them out (a rough job but I am taking one for the team--LOL) prior to the cruise and decide if there may be any we would be happy with drinking.

[SissasMomE]

I'm disappointed witht he wine menu personally

 

it used to be 15%-30% mark ups from what you can get retail

 

now it's 200-300% markups

 

And teaming up with mondavi means that there's just more low range, generic crap they're trying to peddle on the boats at larger mark ups. You'd figure teaming up with a wine producer will see lower prices on the mondavi wines at least.

 

guess I'm sticking to bringing my own wine aboard.

 

Agreed. The wine selection leaves MUCH to be desired.

[ttnc4me]

Almost the whole NEXT thing leaves much to be desired.

 

Better food? Subjective. Different? yes. Better? We were happy with the current offerings.

Wine? Not really an upgrade

New Shows? It's about time. Not really an upgrade, just a change.

New free dining venue? Yes, this is good.

New Belize location? This is just a ploy to keep people on ship's property to make more money. Might as well just add another stop to their private island.

H20 party? Same party, different name

Interactive digital displays? Yes, this is good

Internet bow to stern? Doesn't matter since it's too expensive & slow as dirt

Gas scrubbers? Ummmm, ok? How about recycling all over too? That would have a bigger impact IMO.

 

I'm not seeing anything exciting making me wanting to jump back on another ship due to it alone.

[eptice]

I will he on the Jade early in October and I am trying to figure out if any of these changes will happen for us? Mainly, I am interested in the dining menus, iConcierge app, and the H2Glow party... but any and all insight is welcome :)

[Mrs. Squirrel]

I like the sound of, "fresh and relevant experiences." Time will tell, I guess.

[sebas030]

Almost the whole NEXT thing leaves much to be desired.

 

Better food? Subjective. Different? yes. Better? We were happy with the current offerings.

Wine? Not really an upgrade

New Shows? It's about time. Not really an upgrade, just a change.

New free dining venue? Yes, this is good.

New Belize location? This is just a ploy to keep people on ship's property to make more money. Might as well just add another stop to their private island.

H20 party? Same party, different name

Interactive digital displays? Yes, this is good

Internet bow to stern? Doesn't matter since it's too expensive & slow as dirt

Gas scrubbers? Ummmm, ok? How about recycling all over too? That would have a bigger impact IMO.

I'm not seeing anything exciting making me wanting to jump back on another ship due to it alone.

 

Well I did listen to the Ncl channel on the stateroom tv while GF was preparing herself for dinner a few times and I have to say they DO recycle and dehydrate all of the leftover food and burn and do whatever they have to do to be a "clean" cruise line.

[Demonyte]

Yep, pretty much everything that can be recycled on NCL ships is already recycled - lot of the trash is sorted by hand in order to separate bottles, cans/metals, etc that can't be burned, most food waste is grinded and dumped to the ocean to the various sea creatures to eat, when for example CRT TV's are replaced with flat screens, the old ones are disassembled still onboard, etc, etc.

 

Their enviromental department and what they do is quite amazing actually, visit there is a one good reason to pay for the Behind the Scenes tour.

Edited May 22, 2014 by Demonyte

[Medtech2]

However, just to be clear, installing gas scrubbers on this or any other line is not some progressive whim on the part of the cruise line but in response to tighter port pollution regulations! If the Feds weren't requiring it, it wouldn't be one.

 

It's kind of like when we have employee meetings and some bigwig says we are doing "what the law requires." I always have to fight the urge to jump up and yell "How about doing more? Now THAT would impress me!"

[chengkp75]

Almost the whole NEXT thing leaves much to be desired.

 

Better food? Subjective. Different? yes. Better? We were happy with the current offerings.

Wine? Not really an upgrade

New Shows? It's about time. Not really an upgrade, just a change.

New free dining venue? Yes, this is good.

New Belize location? This is just a ploy to keep people on ship's property to make more money. Might as well just add another stop to their private island.

H20 party? Same party, different name

Interactive digital displays? Yes, this is good

Internet bow to stern? Doesn't matter since it's too expensive & slow as dirt

Gas scrubbers? Ummmm, ok? How about recycling all over too? That would have a bigger impact IMO.

 

I'm not seeing anything exciting making me wanting to jump back on another ship due to it alone.

 

As others have posted, nearly everything used onboard is recycled. Glass, metal, even old dishes are ground up and recycled ashore. Paper and cardboard is either recycled or incinerated onboard, and the ash is recycled ashore. Chemicals are all recycled, batteries as well, even the deep fryer oil is recycled to make biodiesel. On nearly every cruise ship working out of the US, the only thing that goes over the side is food waste.

 

While not something that you would think of as an improvement, the exhaust gas scrubbers are going to affect your cruising bottom line. As of Jan 2015, all ships, within 200 miles of US, Canadian, Puerto Rico, USVI, Hawaii shore will be required to burn 0.1% sulfur fuel, which means low sulfur diesel fuel, which is nearly twice as expensive as the current residual fuel oil used. The alternative is to install scrubbers, at $1-1.5 million per engine, that will allow the ship to return to burning high sulfur residual fuel (even cheaper than the low sulfur residual fuel they have been using for the last couple of years), so this fuel savings will keep your ticket prices from rising.

[chengkp75]

However, just to be clear, installing gas scrubbers on this or any other line is not some progressive whim on the part of the cruise line but in response to tighter port pollution regulations! If the Feds weren't requiring it, it wouldn't be one.

 

It's kind of like when we have employee meetings and some bigwig says we are doing "what the law requires." I always have to fight the urge to jump up and yell "How about doing more? Now THAT would impress me!"

 

Quite correct that if it was not a new requirement, it wouldn't be done, but the US is just pre-empting the IMO fuel requirements by a few years. Actually, fitting scrubbers is not required. The ships can choose to burn low sulfur diesel fuel, which is more expensive, and also requires more energy to refine than the high sulfur heavy fuel oil that the scrubbers will allow to be burned. The scrubbers reduce sulfur and particulate emissions more than what is required by the EPA.

[jdvmd]

That's funny how the cruise lines go back and forth copying each other. First, RCI copied NCLs white party....but then they went an extra step and made it a glow party a couple years ago...and now it's come full circle to NCL copying RCIs thing. :D

I was thinking the exact same thing.

[SissasMomE]

[quote name='ttnc4me']Almost the whole NEXT thing leaves much to be desired.

Better food? Subjective. Different? yes. Better? We were happy with the current offerings.
Wine? Not really an upgrade
New Shows? It's about time. Not really an upgrade, just a change.
New free dining venue? Yes, this is good.
New Belize location? This is just a ploy to keep people on ship's property to make more money. Might as well just add another stop to their private island.
H20 party? Same party, different name
Interactive digital displays? Yes, this is good
Internet bow to stern? Doesn't matter since it's too expensive & slow as dirt
Gas scrubbers? Ummmm, ok? How about recycling all over too? That would have a bigger impact IMO.

I'm not seeing anything exciting making me wanting to jump back on another ship due to it alone.[/QUOTE]

I was glad they added a private island to Belize. In the past, that was a wasted port to me due to the crime there. I will not have a problem getting off the ship there now.