Room Service No Longer Free - NCL Starts $7.95 Charge Per Order

[Toby459]

You might not have said it, but many on here did; that was their way of sticking it to NCL. I was just saying that I don't feel anyone really cancelled. It is real easy to say something on social media, because no one really knows what one does.

 

And the only thing that should matter to you are how you feel about a company and how you will spend your money.

 

Admittedly, it is anecdotal and not me but I believe it to be pretty close. A good friend of mine has a friend in Europe. Recently, she told him that she will not be following the NCL Boards in the foreseeable future. This is someone that cruised 3-5 times a year on NCL. Her comment was the NCL's cutting back on Platinum's Awards, the increase in nickel and dime charges led her to cancel the three or four cruises she had booked for later this year and next. She indicated that she discussed this with her TA and enough was enough.

 

For this woman and her husband's loyalty to NCL has been pushed over the edge. So, yes, I think there are people who will see this as one of many (small) changes they view as eating away at their cruise experience. I think that there will be many pauses when people are asked the question, "Just why is it that you like cruising? And why on NCL?" Damming a product or service with "faint praise", if done in large enough quantities, by enough people will change the bottom line.

[Burgmeister]

But you didn't cancel and that is my point. NCL had no financial negative impact from those on here that were yelling that they were going to cancel because NCL was ripping them off, double dipping, triple dipping, screwing their customers and crew, etc. and, you can bet your bottom dollar that NCL knows that. For every "loyal" customer that leaves, NCL will entice a new customers (with their price and promotions) to become the next generation of "loyal" customers.

 

What else are they gong to do - everything and anything that they feel can garner them extra revenue.

 

Yes you are correct, I didn't cancel because if I did NCL would be even better off having taken my deposit and then reselling my cabin.

 

What I can't understand is the attitude of people on here who seem to think that advertising something and then not providing it is OK. I guess there is something different in the attitudes to these sort of things between Americans and Brits. We are used to being given what we are told we will be given thanks to consumer law and Advertising Standards Agency etc.

 

I have emailed NCL UK to try and get them to allow me to cancel without penalty due to them unilaterally breaking the implied terms of our contract.

[NLH Arizona]

 

At least Del Rio has been completely upfront about wanting to increase the bottom line, like it or not.

And folks say they don't trust Mr. Del Rio because he was honest and upfront about wanting to raise NCL's revenue. I guess it is more trustworthy if a CEO doesn't say a word and just raise prices, make changes and makes the customer think that he thinks so highly of them, all the while having a big grin on his face (and a huge paycheck/bonus in his pocket), because he just made the company some extra profits.

[camper06]

Has anyone posted an image of the new room service menu yet?

 

This thread is over 90 pages long and I can only skim so much :)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2192103

 

Triptolemus got these from someone onboard now and made them larger for us. Teamwork at its best!

[Uniall]

Lobster was deleted under Mr. Sheehan's regime and, guess what, he didn't reduce the fares to compensate for this, after all you know darn well that they are saving money by not serving it in the MDR any longer. There were complaints from those customers he cared about, but don't think that changed his mind or maybe I just missed that he reinstated it.

 

I must have missed this. Lobster tails have been offered in the main dining room as part of a surf and turf on all recent cruises. I've observed some diners eating two or three at one sitting.

 

Toby

 

You don't seem understand, unlike you and me, those are on a holy mission as to defend the indefensable NCL, don't let truth and reality interfere with their zealotry. They make it up as they go along but don't even realize it. They have become so indoctrinated by the Corporate Kool Aid and PR propaganda, they could pass a lie detector test when asserting a total fabrication or falsehood as truth.

 

 

You and I know that NCL still serves lobster but it isn't always the first night, as before. Under Kevin Sheehan's regime, it was switched to put more people in specialty restaurants on first night.

 

I've got a cruis'n pal from Texas who has a Texas sized appetite to match. He ordered, received and ate (to a gathering of a dozen or more wait staff cheering leaders) 6 lobsters and 6 steaks.

Edited April 8, 2015 by Uniall

[Cuizer2]

What I can't understand is the attitude of people on here who seem to think that advertising something and then not providing it is OK. I guess there is something different in the attitudes to these sort of things between Americans and Brits. We are used to being given what we are told we will be given thanks to consumer law and Advertising Standards Agency etc.

 

I have emailed NCL UK to try and get them to allow me to cancel without penalty due to them unilaterally breaking the implied terms of our contract.

 

It is not Americans that believe this is okay, it is the NCL cheerleaders who believe that NCL can do no wrong. Look at the ones who said it was okay for NCL to charge $7.95 for coffee then said it was a good idea when NCL backed off of that.

 

Go back a few years and NCL sent three ships to Hawaii, and the NCL cheerleaders were RA RA RA!!!

 

Then things didn't work and NCL removed two of the ship and the NCL cheerleaders were once again RA RA RA!!!

 

In their eyes, NCL can do no wrong, so anything NCL does is okay.

Edited April 8, 2015 by Cuizer2

[camper06]

Confirmed, where?

 

There have been a lots of "facts" stated here that have not been confirmed.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2192062

 

From a review someone posted.

[mking8288]

Granted that for now, it's just a charge for non AM Cont'l Breakfast - we all can somewhat agreed that the testing are far from over.

 

Taking pages from the legacy US carriers for ideas. All of you who enjoy the perk of Express Self Walk-Off, it could be next for the privilege of standing in line at 6:45 AM - for a convenience fee of xxx and with enhanced mobile technologies, you get a digital # and swipe your barcoded passes to easily walk off the elevators or stairs and be granted access to the gangway to disembark ... Dick Tracey science fiction stuff, not really.

 

Early boarding, premium main pool reserved seating, and windows@ MDR or front row seatings inside the theater, etc. - the sky is the limit. Oh, :rolleyes: I know - nothing is fair in life nor comes with non-revokable guarantees. That's how I would think in their shoes - you ain't see nothing yet.

 

One luxury hotel that we stayed often at just changed their protocol on Guest's Room Keycards using RFID - waving the card in front of the door will unlock it for entry - and if you popped the mini-bar, the sensors will activate (you get the ideas on how future a la carte schemes can easily roll out) ...

 

Those of us that sailed within the 30 days & came back - IMO, possibly do see things rather differently than our cyber-CC yet to go onto a Norweigian ship lately before these changes, but feel free to post again if you remained firm on your beliefs. The world isn't a matter of plain black & white, rather a sea of greys & shades and stories with more than two side, a multi-dimensional universe that beg the question of "Can We All Get Along"

 

It's funny that "our" BA crew seemed no happier than in past sailings, and with all these "positive" changes and dipping, it would be not unexpected to see them highly motivated and singing the Washy, Washy, Happy, Happy tunes - the only ones dancing & waving in public to us were the gallery crew on the gangway as we disembark - the Cruise Director was nowhere to be found, let alone the pin stripes or uniformed white officers on that final mornning - too busy to implement more test changes mandated from Miami HQ. I don't believe any one of us "get it" but it is not the same old "Norwegian Way" as any fellow cruisers just wrote up on their post-cruise review. And, I will spare the trouble for a response - we are the minority here on CC.

Time for afternoon high tea w. pastries (we liked that on CCL & might just ...)

 

send from my Google Nexus 5/7 via Tapatalk

Edited April 8, 2015 by mking8288

[Toby459]

I've got a cruis'n pal from Texas who has a Texas sized appetite to match. He ordered, received and ate (to a gathering of a dozen or more wait staff cheering leaders) 6 lobsters and 6 steaks.

 

I get it! That's why there are so many helicopters hovering over the ship.

[Jancruz]

It has to be suites also, however, since they're talking about the Breakaway and the Getaway those ships have no suites....only Haven.

 

Both suites and Haven use Butlers so if it goes fleet wide I'm guessing it has to be both.

 

Harriet

 

You are correct in your assumption

Jancruz1

[Jancruz]

NCL UK is not NCL USA, so I'm still not convinced. Maybe NCL decided they couldn't get away with this underhanded crap in the UK as mentioned by many UK posters.

 

NCL in the USA has sent this out also...

Jancruz1

[Jancruz]

Harriet

 

NCLs use of the term "Haven" still leaves some unanswered questions. There are three + classes of ships in the NCL Fleet.

 

Epic, Breakaway, Getaway & Escape all have "Havens".

Some Suites are physically located IN the Haven and all the other suites, which are on seaparate decks, have access to the Haven. All suites regardless of where they are located are "Haven Suites"

 

Jewel, Jade, Gem & Pearl, when built had a "Courtyard" which has been renamed "Haven".

But, only the suites physically located in the Courtyard/Haven (And Owners' suites) have access to the Haven.

The question is: do suites, which are Non Haven suites, have to pay the new room service convenience charge?

So far, NCL has not answered that question.

 

Sun, Sky, Dawn, & Spirit Do NOT have Courtyards/Havens.

The question is: do suites on ships with No Haven, have to pay the new room service convenience charge?

So far, NCL has not answered that question.

 

John

 

Yes they have, NO SUITES will be paying the convenience charge..

Jancruz1

[motleyfan]

I mentioned on Twitter that I'm going to be on the Norwegian escape and I actually got a shout out from Norwegian. idk I just thought this was kind of cool

[SteveH2508]

I will be cruising on NCL in about 10 days. I'm interested in seeing:

 

1. At the First Meet and Greet is there are any comments about Norwegian's changing policies/test of the room service charge.

 

2. The staff's attitude. Will it be as friendly and as cordial as in the past?

 

3. If anything is said at the Latitude's Party (if there is one) about these changes in RSC.

 

4. If anything is said by the Cruise Consultant about current or future changes in dining options.

 

5. If there is a clamor for the $250 advance cruise certificates for $100 on board credit.

 

6. If lobster tails are offered in the main dining room.

 

#5 could have been a significant metric in the BA and GA test to measure the 'piss-offedness' of the guinea pigs (sorry cruisers:D) from last week. We shall never know the true numbers though.

[spanishguy1970]

What's even more ridiculous in the fact that now we are getting the "Sheehan cared about the customers" line. It's a non-provable statement if you are objective.

 

Nobody here can prove or disprove that these changes wouldn't happen anyway if Sheehan was still at the top. To say otherwise is an opinion and not a fact.

 

 

At least Del Rio has been completely upfront about wanting to increase the bottom line, like it or not.

 

 

 

 

Happy Sailings,

 

 

TheCapt

 

Maybe just maybe that is why Sheehan is no longer with the Company. The executives wanted to implement these changes and Sheehan was against it but Mr. del Rio was not..Oh my! am i speculating like some on here? ;):) LOL

Edited April 8, 2015 by qtaromar1970

[old sole]

Yes they have, NO SUITES will be paying the convenience charge..

Jancruz1

 

What you say with such conviction does seem plausible, but how are we to reconcile that policy with this bullet point in the FAQ on what is (not) included in the cruise fare? "Convenience Charge for Room Service on non-Haven Suites" That bullet was added at the same time as the new FAQ on charges for room service.

 

http://www.ncl.com/faq/cruise-fare-includes

Edited April 8, 2015 by old sole

[njhorseman]

Toby

 

You don't seem understand, unlike you and me, those are on a holy mission as to defend the indefensable NCL, don't let truth and reality interfere with their zealotry. They make it up as they go along but don't even realize it. They have become so indoctrinated by the Corporate Kool Aid and PR propaganda, they could pass a lie detector test when asserting a total fabrication or falsehood as truth.

 

 

You and I know that NCL still serves lobster but it isn't always the first night, as before. Under Kevin Sheehan's regime, it was switched to put more people in specialty restaurants on first night.

 

I've got a cruis'n pal from Texas who has a Texas sized appetite to match. He ordered, received and ate (to a gathering of a dozen or more wait staff cheering leaders) 6 lobsters and 6 steaks.

 

NCL eliminated lobster tails from the MDR menus altogether starting in mid 2014 as they introduced new menus. Looking at your cruise history it appears as though you may not cruised with NCL recently enough to have seen that (the Sun was one of the last holdouts), hence your mistaken statement that I've highlighted in red . I don't know if they finally have introduced the new menus on every ship...for example the POA was reportedly still offering lobster tail relatively recently.

Edited April 8, 2015 by njhorseman

[jaja]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jancruz View Post

Yes they have, NO SUITES will be paying the convenience charge..

Jancruz1

 

What you say with such conviction does seem plausible, but how are we to reconcile that policy with this bullet point in the FAQ on what is (not) included in the cruise fare? "Convenience Charge for Room Service on non-Haven Suites" That bullet was added at the same time as the new FAQ on charges for room service.

 

http://www.ncl.com/faq/cruise-fare-includes

__________________

 

 

yup--I am confused:mad:

[Toby459]

NCL eliminated lobster tails from the MDR menus altogether starting in mid 2014 as they introduced new menus. Looking at your cruise history it appears as though you may not cruised with NCL recently enough to have seen that (the Sun was one of the last holdouts), hence your mistaken statement that I've highlighted in red . I don't know if they finally have introduced the new menus on every ship...for example the POA was reportedly still offering lobster tail relatively recently.

 

Thank you for your comments. You are right about me being land-locked for about a year.

[PelicanBill]

#5 could have been a significant metric in the BA and GA test to measure the 'piss-offedness' of the guinea pigs (sorry cruisers:D) from last week. We shall never know the true numbers though.

 

I was also on the Breakaway last week. The Meet n Greet had a nice showing of Officers introduced but they would not take questions... they told us there are other opportunities scheduled later in the week.

[thecaptain1969]

Toby

 

You don't seem understand, unlike you and me, those are on a holy mission as to defend the indefensable NCL, don't let truth and reality interfere with their zealotry. They make it up as they go along but don't even realize it. They have become so indoctrinated by the Corporate Kool Aid and PR propaganda, they could pass a lie detector test when asserting a total fabrication or falsehood as truth.

 

 

You and I know that NCL still serves lobster but it isn't always the first night, as before. Under Kevin Sheehan's regime, it was switched to put more people in specialty restaurants on first night.

 

I've got a cruis'n pal from Texas who has a Texas sized appetite to match. He ordered, received and ate (to a gathering of a dozen or more wait staff cheering leaders) 6 lobsters and 6 steaks.

 

 

 

Something being "indefensable" is subjective. I could say it's indefensable for NCL to charge you for losing a towel. What is defensable is to have an opposite opinion over a policy/procedure change.

 

 

Calling it cheerleading, being an NCL zealot and assuming that the "oposition" thinks NCL can do no wrong adds zero valie to the discussion/debate. It only makes it appear that those doing so are lessening the value of an opposing viewpoint.

 

 

I'm not married to NCL. This is my and DW first cruise and it was the line and itineray that fit the 30 of us as it's an "extended family" venture. Maybe I will sail with NCL in the future and maybe not. I will however continue to enjoy everyones opinion/viewpoint on various aspects of cruising and NCL.

 

 

 

Happy Sailings,

 

 

TheCapt

[England Ray]

I keep checking MyNCL to see if I can advance book the URSP. It's sure to be there soon. $10 per person per day and the Ultimate Room Service Package allows unlimited room service throughout the cruise!:D

[thecaptain1969]

I keep checking MyNCL to see if I can advance book the URSP. It's sure to be there soon. $10 per person per day and the Ultimate Room Service Package allows unlimited room service throughout the cruise!:D

 

 

That's funny, but I would not be surprised in the least to see it at all.

 

 

 

 

Happy Sailings,

 

TheCapt

[Love2Cruz2015]

It's also equally naive to believe that this will kill NCL as a cruise line. Companies don't just throw new polices against the wall randomly to see if they stick. Hence the "trial run" on the BA and GA with two different price points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Sailings

 

TheCapt

 

Can you please find the post where I said this will kill NCL? I never said that, so please don't be dishonest just to protect this company that you clearly love.

This will, however, no doubt hurt them, their reputation and future business. IF THEY ARE SMART, they will listen to this backlash and adjust accordingly. The BEST businesses have made mistakes and were smart enough to listen to their customers and make changes as necessary to remain solvent and profitable.

 

Although I cancelled my cruise, I am still open to re-booking for 2016 (possibly on the Escape) if they turn back or revise this policy to what I find acceptable. I'm not married any cruiseline.

[thecaptain1969]

Can you please find the post where I said this will kill NCL? I never said that, so please don't be dishonest just to protect this company that you clearly love.

This will, however, no doubt hurt them, their reputation and future business. IF THEY ARE SMART, they will listen to this backlash and adjust accordingly. The BEST businesses have made mistakes and were smart enough to listen to their customers and make changes as necessary to remain solvent and profitable.

 

Although I cancelled my cruise, I am still open to re-booking for 2016 (possibly on the Escape) if they turn back or revise this policy to what I find acceptable. I'm not married any cruiseline.

 

I give you that you inparticular didn't say it would kill NCL, so my apologies. What I won't give you is you presuming to know or believe that I'm "defending a company I love" It's fairly obvious that you have clearly not paid attention to the majority of my posts by making such a statement.

 

 

Because my or anyone elses opinion/view on the changes is opposite of yours or those that agree with you doesn't indicate that I or others think NCL "can do no wrong" it only indicates that we don't see the issue the same.

 

We may see a different issue the exact same way, one never knows. Because I disagree with you and others on the issue doesn't mean I'm going to put you on ignore or blow off any other discussions/debates on future topics.

 

 

 

Happy Sailings,

 

TheCapt