ncl. ultimate drink package READ / CALL

[ncldawn]

Feel free to take pics and email them to me and I can spend the time getting them uploaded here. I am beyond curious

 

connied76@gmail.com

 

I'll try to send the photos to you tonight. Hopefully enough people complain, and they reissue the standard options that have been with this line for as long as I can remember.

[KeithJenner]

When you say there are only 10 drinks covered by the UBP, I assume you mean cocktails, and Beers and Wines are in addition to that?

[ncldawn]

I asked if I could 'print' a menu from last week and order a drink <10 and was told no. Not the bartenders fault, but the menu is the menu. I was told specifically, "I would not know what to charge"... When I asked if you could charge what the price was last week, I was told no.

[ncldawn]

When you say there are only 10 drinks covered by the UBP, I assume you mean cocktails, and Beers and Wines are in addition to that?

 

Yes. Correct. As soon as I can send the menu it'll make more sense.

[rpb718]

Is this a GEM thing, or does it include all NCL ships. So far we've only heard about the GEM. I'm curious why I'm not hearing from any other ships yet?

[tel2]

Just a guess, but NCL doesn't usually implement a new policy in the middle of the cruise. The Gem just embarked today. If i am correct, I assume we will hear about it tomorrow and Sunday when The other ships embark for new cruises.

 

Terry

[IrishMoe]

That's crazy to limit cocktail/beer choices to only 10 selections. I hope it is just confusion on the part of the bartenders. We went last July and purchased the UDP and just about everything was covered. With the exception of the souvenir glass drinks. We tried a variety from frozen drinks to martinis. Grey Goose may have been considered a specialty but pretty much everything else was fine. It also did vary somewhat from bar to bar as well. Some served drinks in smaller cups and others in full glasses. We just made our reservations with a group of friends because of the UDP special they were running.

[hpecorari]

That's crazy to limit cocktail/beer choices to only 10 selections. I hope it is just confusion on the part of the bartenders. We went last July and purchased the UDP and just about everything was covered. With the exception of the souvenir glass drinks. We tried a variety from frozen drinks to martinis. Grey Goose may have been considered a specialty but pretty much everything else was fine. It also did vary somewhat from bar to bar as well. Some served drinks in smaller cups and others in full glasses. We just made our reservations with a group of friends because of the UDP special they were running.

 

You mean UBP not UDP.

 

Harriet

[LrgPizza]

All drinks 10 and under, but the drinks that were available on other trips (70 or so) have been wittled down to about 10.. Its crazy.

This is where I'm confused. I've never seen a menu on my cruises that had 70 drinks on it. Most have about 10 to 15. There was a post a couple days ago that drink prices were increasing by about 6%, which would be about 50 cents at the most on drinks, and now we see the UBP as of today covers drinks up to $11 instead of $10. Doesn't this benefit us? I'm really confused.

[LrgPizza]

So ignoring the UBP for a moment... The OP says only about 10 drinks total are available (and only 50%-60% of those for UBP). If the people who don't have UBP and are paying drink by drink have only 10 drinks to choose from, NCL would lose ungodly amounts of money. That just isn't happening. I think there is some major miscommunication somewhere. Like I said, the drink menus in all the establishments I visited on my 2 cruises last year only show a handful of drinks. That doesn't mean that is all that can be ordered! For example, if I walk up and order a vodka cranberry, they will serve me a vodka cranberry, whether or not it is on the menu.

 

I hope I'm making sense, and I hope the OP will post more to clarify this. I don't believe that NCL is in the business of cutting off liquor choices for those who are paying drink to drink. They might as well close down the business.

[jcallcut]

Wondering if maybe they implemented the price increase for the drinks but haven't implemented the new UBP per drink limit that seems to be taking place on March 1 to take the limit from $10 to $11. The 6% drink price increase would take a drink previously priced at $9.90 to $10.50 putting it over the $10 limit.

[Kenlorz]

Since there is a HUGE amount of people that order drinks and DON'T have the UBP, I agree with the other poster who said that there is just NO WAY NCL would limit all of those guests to just a few drink selections and hence cut their alcohol sales across the board. SO...

 

This is my guess...just an educated guess... but here goes:

 

1. NCL is raising drink prices by 6% (fact)

2. NCL is raising ceiling on UBP to $11 (fact)

3. NCL is in a short interval period of raising all the prices and changing all the menus and updating all of the computers, hence none of the bartenders know what the new charge for drinks will be so they are limited to this interum menu while the changes are made. (supposition)

Edited February 28, 2015 by Kenlorz

[rochelle_s]

Also to note the increase in the added gratuity. According to the updated terms and conditions the gratuity that will be added is 18%. I wonder if this will be standard for all drink purchases on the ship. This will ruffle a few feathers.

 

 

Rochelle

[IrishMoe]

You mean UBP not UDP.

 

Harriet

 

Yes typo on my part.

[IrishMoe]

So ignoring the UBP for a moment... The OP says only about 10 drinks total are available (and only 50%-60% of those for UBP). If the people who don't have UBP and are paying drink by drink have only 10 drinks to choose from, NCL would lose ungodly amounts of money. That just isn't happening. I think there is some major miscommunication somewhere. Like I said, the drink menus in all the establishments I visited on my 2 cruises last year only show a handful of drinks. That doesn't mean that is all that can be ordered! For example, if I walk up and order a vodka cranberry, they will serve me a vodka cranberry, whether or not it is on the menu.

 

I hope I'm making sense, and I hope the OP will post more to clarify this. I don't believe that NCL is in the business of cutting off liquor choices for those who are paying drink to drink. They might as well close down the business.

 

What you are saying makes perfect sense. You are correct there is no way a menu would list every type of drink available. I agree I think there has to be a breakdown in communication somewhere.

[aubreyc1988]

It's true. I will post the entire menu when I can upload a photo. It will only consist of 2 photos. :eek:

 

New CEO change perhaps?

 

I felt like the old menu was limited (in terms of giving you help to figure out what kind of drinks to order)

 

But if you arm yourself with information before you cruise, I am sure the bartenders will make you what you want as long as they have the ingredients

[Pikaia]

But if you arm yourself with information before you cruise, I am sure the bartenders will make you what you want as long as they have the ingredients

 

But here's what the original poster said is happening right now:

 

I asked if I could 'print' a menu from last week and order a drink <10 and was told no. Not the bartenders fault, but the menu is the menu. I was told specifically, "I would not know what to charge"... When I asked if you could charge what the price was last week, I was told no.

[mdlex]

Just saw this on another thread. All drink prices going up March 1st.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-27/norwegian-needs-you-to-spend-just-4-more-per-day-on-your-cruise

[aubreyc1988]

But here's what the original poster said is happening right now:

 

wow, thats just ridiculous - if this turns out to be the way it is, will NOT be sailing with NCL. I know that sounds harsh, but that is just crazy.

[Pikaia]

wow, thats just ridiculous - if this turns out to be the way it is, will NOT be sailing with NCL. I know that sounds harsh, but that is just crazy.

Nah, it doesn't sound harsh. I'm not a big drinker, so what's happening on the ship right now wouldn't bother me. But I'm sure it's pissing off plenty of passengers who are on board right now. I suspect this is just a botched roll-out of the new pricing. I hope for their sake that the wrinkles are ironed out as quickly as possible, hopefully overnight!

[conandrob240]

I'll wait for the menus (and I am happy to upload to CC if it's easier for you to just email them) but I just don't understand this at all.

 

Is it that there are now only 10 drinks offered in general or only 10 drinks you can order as part of UBP? How can any bartender not know what to charge? That makes no sense. Even if a drink menu had 1000 drinks on it, there'd still be someone who orders something else and a protocol on how that is rung up- for example, 2 different premium alcohols mixed with a mixer = x price. Any bartender would be trained in how to ring up outlier drinks.

 

Largepizza, I don't know what ship you were on but there were WELL more than 10 drinks on the menus at the bars on our cruise on BA few months ago and back in May. I know because I tried most of them. LOL. The martini bar, for example, probably had 20-30 different martinis and speciality drinks listed. Other bars (such as atrium bar) had a drink menu a dozen pages long. Yes, last few pages were beers and wine but at least first 6-8 pages were all different types of mixed drinks.

Edited February 28, 2015 by conandrob240

[aubreyc1988]

Nah, it doesn't sound harsh. I'm not a big drinker, so what's happening on the ship right now wouldn't bother me. But I'm sure it's pissing off plenty of passengers who are on board right now. I suspect this is just a botched roll-out of the new pricing. I hope for their sake that the wrinkles are ironed out as quickly as possible, hopefully overnight!

 

I mean, the price of the package is already high, considering they don't include specialty coffee or bottled water. The coffee on the Jewel was SO bad I bought coffee nearly every morning, which was an added expense I didn't enjoy, but I had to have it.

 

And on the Jewel 2/7, I felt like after 4 day of drinking, I had tried everything 2-3x and sometimes you just NEED variety.

 

This will be interesting to see unfold - was thinking about booking before final payment to get the UBP for free, but if they have such a limited menu, forget about it.

[John186]

I agree. I'm calling Bravo Siera on this one. Changing the terms of the UBP with no warning or communication to people that already bought the package? NCL would be in for alot of bad press. I'm sailing on the Gem in 3 weeks and the free UBP was the reason I booked. I'll be PISSED if this is actually true. Until more people chime in or I see an official annoucement I'm not believing it.

[LrgPizza]

Largepizza, I don't know what ship you were on but there were WELL more than 10 drinks on the menus at the bars on our cruise on BA few months ago and back in May. I know because I tried most of them. LOL. The martini bar, for example, probably had 20-30 different martinis and speciality drinks listed. Other bars (such as atrium bar) had a drink menu a dozen pages long. Yes, last few pages were beers and wine but at least first 6-8 pages were all different types of mixed drinks.

Yeah, I guess I never visited the Atrium Bar because it kinda reminds me of a counter at a Denny's. :p I had UBP on 2 cruises last year, and drank pretty much everything offered. I'm pretty familiar with the menus myself.

Is it that there are now only 10 drinks offered in general or only 10 drinks you can order as part of UBP?

The OP said 10 drinks total, and 50-60% covered by UBP. That's where I'm calling BS.

 

My main point is that if anyone here thinks that NCL is going out of it's way to stop selling alcoholic drinks, they are out of their minds. That is a huge money-maker for cruiselines. HUGE.

 

EDIT: And I know YOU aren't saying that, ConandRob! :)

Edited February 28, 2015 by LrgPizza

[butabeach]

"Kenlorz" reply to this post seems to make a lot of sense. I can't imagine any cruise line limiting drinks to a selection of 10. Sometimes there are more than 10 types of beer alone.