New Dining Policy -- Official as of 4:20 EST

[bingo3]

I guess it is safe and healthy to leave your room service dishes in the hall....:rolleyes:

I only sailed NCL once, last year, and that will be the last if this is a true policy. This is beyond silly IMHO and I want a vacation, not a prison experience! I am not one to take a lot of food out, but I do take a few things out to snack on later in my cabin. I already pay for food in my fare, I am not paying for room service beyond the tip.

 

If this is the way all cruise lines go, then land based all inclusives look better and better. :)

[NLH Arizona]

There's no way this works, NCL. You have too many events/products/opportunities that require/allow eating in your room or outside of the restaurants for this to work. All it's going to do is make people angry.

 

Big mistake.

Here is a post from someone who is currently on a ship, so based on the many responses like this, I really don't think the buffet or other venues except for the restaurants are involved and that every restaurant will actually abide by this new rule....but just my opinion.

 

I am currently on the Jewel and have brought meals from the buffet to the room. I also wanted a salad from Moderno for dinner one night and went and fixed one and brought it to my room. Not a problem with either restaurant.

Edited May 7, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[kismet618]

I am currently on the Jewel and have brought meals from the buffet to the room. I also wanted a salad from Moderno for dinner one night and went and fixed one and brought it to my room. Not a problem with either restaurant.

 

 

Thanks for sharing your onsite account. Enjoy your cruise.

[bacardi1224]

I agree with those that think this is an effort to get people to pay the $7.95 charge for room service. We get tired early and enjoy watching some TV in our room with a snack and drink. If we have a balcony, we really enjoy a drink and snack, or sometimes even a meal from the buffet, sitting out on our balcony. Often at busy times, you can't even find a table in the buffet! Our experience with room service is that orders are often wrong, missing something, or cold. And if it's about dirty dishes outside stateroom doors, they should post a message inside staterooms asking passengers to leave dirty dishes on a table or counter in the room. This is a deal breaker for us. Never again on NCL!

 

On my March Breakaway cruise, when our steward introduce himself/showed us the room/how to reach him if need be, he specifically told us to please leave any dishes in the room and not in the hall. With the exception of one room (one of the spa suites), our hall was always clear. Not so true for other areas. Haven't read the rest of the thread yet, but hopefully they so allow snacks to be brought back from the buffet and HOPEFULLY more stewards request dishes be left in the room- and people actually listen.

[mking8288]

To keep my comments short and on point (already noted in a related thread) - dishes, plates & cups in the especially narrowish *AWAY class ships in the fleet is a management problem in NOT staffing the crew for cleaning duties - pick them up and remove them from the corridors - there is no reason for it to be left unattended for extended periods of time.

This isn't your cafeteria or mess hall and WE are paying a DSC for & shared by most of the crew, aren't they supposed to be doing their jobs and clearing those finished items away as quickly as possible. This is different than food that's wasted and/or barely edible, etc. and not consumed.

And, whatever happened to recycling and feeding the re-processed leftover to the fishes in the ocean's food chains.

RS at the finest land-based hotels would gladly come up immediately to pickup the food cart & plates/dishes/cups, etc. when we are done - a simple call is all it take and housekeeping is always clearing them away quickly.

Purely rubbish talk on the part of NCL and insult to the passengers as being so foolish.

[Snowrose]

Here is a post from someone who is currently on a ship, so based on the many responses like this, I really don't think the buffet or other venues except for the restaurants are involved and that every restaurant will actually abide by this new rule....but just my opinion.

 

I am currently on the Jewel and have brought meals from the buffet to the room. I also wanted a salad from Moderno for dinner one night and went and fixed one and brought it to my room. Not a problem with either restaurant.

 

I see your post and raise you this post, from the other thread...

 

My wife was told this afternoon on the Epic by one of the managers in O'Sheehan's that she couldn't take food back to the room. She had asked the waiter for a fruit plate with just watermelon, and he delivered a pile of watermelon slices.

 

So, the extra got thrown away. This is a waste of food. There is a fridge in the room - waiters have been wrapping cheesecake at Cagney's for years, because she's not ready for dessert immediately after finishing a steak.

[jaja]

I am currently on the Jewel and have brought meals from the buffet to the room. I also wanted a salad from Moderno for dinner one night and went and fixed one and brought it to my room. Not a problem with either restaurant.

 

Thanks for the first hand report....hope more recent cruisers will also tell us their experiences...

[SeaShark]

To keep my comments short and on point (already noted in a related thread) - dishes, plates & cups in the especially narrowish *AWAY class ships in the fleet is a management problem in NOT staffing the crew for cleaning duties - pick them up and remove them from the corridors - there is no reason for it to be left unattended for extended periods of time.

This isn't your cafeteria or mess hall and WE are paying a DSC for & shared by most of the crew, aren't they supposed to be doing their jobs and clearing those finished items away as quickly as possible. This is different than food that's wasted and/or barely edible, etc. and not consumed.

And, whatever happened to recycling and feeding the re-processed leftover to the fishes in the ocean's food chains.

RS at the finest land-based hotels would gladly come up immediately to pickup the food cart & plates/dishes/cups, etc. when we are done - a simple call is all it take and housekeeping is always clearing them away quickly.

Purely rubbish talk on the part of NCL and insult to the passengers as being so foolish.

 

What you are missing is that the crew shouldn't have to clean items from the hallway.

 

When you are done with your towels, you leave them on the bathroom floor INSIDE your cabin. When the steward comes, they know to take the used towels away.

 

When you are done eating food in your cabin, you should leave the soiled dishes/glassware on the counter INSIDE your cabin. When the steward comes, they know to take the used dishes/glassware away.

 

You DON'T simply toss your used towels into the hallway, and you DON'T stick your dirty dishes out there either.

 

If, for some reason, you need the dishes/glassware (and even the towels) removed sooner, you simply contact guest services and someone will come to remove the items.

 

But only the inconsiderate among us put stuff out in the hall.

[NLH Arizona]

I see your post and raise you this post, from the other thread...

The point is, that folks are getting all upset over something that many are reporting isn't happening and that they are taking food away from the buffet without any issues and at least for this poster, the restaurant allowed the poster to take a salad out.

[tarps14]

What's amazing to me is the number of folks getting upset over something posted (and highly edited) by Cruise Critic. What the representative of the CRUISELINE said is rather different. The Sr Director of HR for NCL said "ask", not "banned". Play whatever word games you like, but, the word "banned" was used by the Cruise Critic writer, not Vanessa Picariello.

 

About the only thing NCL has said definitively is that they are now charging $7.95 for room service deliveries and that you can still get a continental breakfast delivered for free. They also would ask that you eat your meal in the restaurant. I am completely missing what is out of line with this request. They haven't mentioned the buffet AT ALL. I have no clue what "policy" Brittany Chrusciel (i.e.Cruise Critic Assoc Editor)is referring to but it clearly wasn't "confirmed" by Ms. Picariello's statement.

Edited May 7, 2015 by tarps14

[NLH Arizona]

And in defense of NLH Arizona, where have we seen "the actual stated policy of NCL"? No where. What we have is the edited account of a Cruise Critic writer. If you read Ms Picariello's "quoted" statement (and I put that in quotes because of the original writer's questionable editing abilities), no where does it say that removing food from the buffet area is "banned".

Thank you. I did get a response to my email to Cruise Critic asking them to check out if the buffet was included, since it was not mentioned in NCL announcement and they said they would check into it.

 

I happen to believe those that have stated that they have not had an issue taking food out of the buffet, just as I believe those that say they have be told no when they wanted to take food from MDR or specialty restaurants or O'Sheehans. But the one thing I'm not going to do, is get upset over something that I can't control. I'll continue to cruise with NCL and, as I have done in the past, enjoy every one of them. If other choose not to cruise with NCL because of these changes, then that is their opinion and I would never try to change their thinking.

[Sandman799]

Here is the article

 

(4:20 p.m. EDT) -- Norwegian Cruise Line has banned "takeaway" food from its ship restaurants, main dining room and buffet areas.

 

The new policy was confirmed in a statement by Vanessa Picariello, senior director of public relations for Norwegian. The line also posted it on the Cruise Critic message boards.

"For our guests' well-being and to maintain a beautiful clean environment for all of our guests to enjoy, we ask that they enjoy their meals while dining at one of our many restaurants."

 

Also key to the discussion: How the line will enforce the policy. "Guests will be asked to enjoy their meal in the restaurant," Picariello said.

 

Hmmm... Trying to understand how both of these statements tie in with the recent service charges for room service. Apparently taking food back to the cabins in some way has a negative effect on guests' well-being while detracting from the beautiful clean environment we enjoy.

 

Effect on Guests' well being: Huh? My well-being is best assured by not standing in the way of me enjoying a meal in my cabin if that's what I choose to do! How is my well-being affected by others taking food back to their cabin? It isn't going to disturb me to see others do it. I know there will be those who simply want to take back a desert, snacks for later that day, breakfast for DH or DW, or someone who's ill and prefers to eat in the cabin, all very sound reasons for taking food back to the cabin. Many would continue to do this themselves even if room service were still free simply because it's convenient to be able to make your own selections, get the portion size you want, and have a greater variety than on the room service menu. As for myself, even if what I wanted were the exact same thing as what's on the room service menu, I don't think it's worth paying a $7.95 "convenience fee" to have it delivered. Convenience for me is getting it myself, while pocketing that $7.95 to spend elsewhere! So, how does someone taking food back to their cabin affect my well being? I suppose it would somewhat anger me to see so many people doing that, but not because I object to the practice, but because I object to NCL making them feel the need to do so due to the new charges for room service. So, ok, I guess what NCL is really saying is they don't want us taking food back to our cabins because that would serve as a constant reminder that we're not alone in our dislike of the room service charge, and would frequently spark resentment for NCL having imposed the charge.

 

To maintain a beautiful clean environment for all of our guests to enjoy: Somehow that environment is marred by people taking food back to their room? Well, maybe we may spill it occasionally. Actually that's probably pretty rare. These ships are BIG! I wouldn't trudge all the way from wherever I got the food all the way back to my cabin if I weren't sincerely interested in having it arrive intact. After all, what good does it do me to be careless and spill it, then either have to make that trip all over again, or do without? That doesn't make a lot of sense, so if something does get spilled, it has to be by pure accident by people who're truly trying NOT to spill it. In my opinion, this is a rare enough occurrence that cleanliness of the hallways can't be the driving factor here. Trays left in the hallways? Yes there will be that, but you have that with room service as well, which will continue, so that can't be the issue.

 

We ask that they enjoy their meals while dining at one of our many restaurants: Really? But what about that room service menu you provide and now charge for? Does this mean the real reason for the $7.95 convenience fee is to intentionally discourage us from eating in our cabins, so we will eat in the restaurants instead? It's pretty inconsistent to say you'd rather we eat in the restaurants and at the same time encourage use of room service. If you really don't want us to eat in the cabins, you shouldn't provide a room service at all, at any cost. Yet you do, and a recently enhanced room service menu at that, simply to make it more enticing. So, you DO want us to eat in the cabin? Could it be that you just don't want it to be US bringing it there but would prefer your room service staff did instead (for a $7.95 convenience fee)?

 

No, none of this makes any sense. Citing guest well-being or maintenance of a clean beautiful environment doesn't really stack up as convincing arguments for not allowing guests to take food back to their cabins. If those were really such a big issue, why is it just now being addressed in this manner, and why only by NCL? Surely the effect on guest well-being or the environment guests enjoy would be the same on all other cruise lines as well, wouldn't it? How have the others been dealing with the tragic consequences of guests being allowed to take food to their cabins all these years? How is this just an NCL issue, and why is it just now being addressed?

 

Here's the answer (Hint: Think about what else NCL does differently from most other cruise lines) - they charge for room service! The timing is too coincidental with the new convenience fees, and so far seems to be an issue only on NCL, which so far, also coincidentally seems to be the only one charging for room service at all hours, not just after midnight as most other cruise lines do. Do they think their guests are so gullible as to buy those silly excuses and that we don't see the correlation between fees for room service quickly followed up with not allowing guests to transport food back to the cabins themselves (but room service delivery is perfectly fine)? Please..... Don't pee down my leg and tell me it's raining.

 

While the NCL explanation makes no sense at all, what does make sense is that they want us to use room service so they can profit from the "convenience fee". The only avenue guests have to get around that fee is to get the food themselves rather than have it delivered, and the only way NCL can get around guests getting their own food is to make it so they're no longer allowed to.

 

Here's how I see the conversation in the board room:

FDR: We spend too much money on room service!

Board Member #1: But the guests really like the convenience of room service. We can't just do away with it.

FDR: Ok, then if they like it so much, let's charge them for it

Board Member #2: We've already increased the Service Charges from $12.00 per person, per day to $12.95.

Board Member #3: And increased gratuities from 15% to 18% and made them Auto-Gratuities so they have to pay them. What would we call this new fee?

FDR: You said they like the convenience, so we'll call it a "convenience fee"!

Board Member #4: But if they don't want to pay it, they'll just go get their own food and bring it back to the cabins themselves. How will that make us any money?

FDR: Then we can't allow that! We have to stop allowing them to bring food to their cabins, so we can charge them for us to bring it to them!

Board Member #5: But how would you get them to agree to that?

FDR: We'll tell them it's really for their own good. Tell them it's for their own well-being, and to maintain the beautiful clean environment all of our guests enjoy.

Board Member #6: You've found yet another way to get more money from them after boarding, while making them think you're doing them a tremendous service!

Board Members in unison: Brilliant idea Sir!!!

FDR: Yes, they're so gullible, aren't they....?

[cruiserninja1]

Will poolside BBQs be a thing of the past too? These involved people waking around the top decks with their plates . Some people like eating outside .

[newmexicoNita]

Here is what NCL posted:

 

For our guests’ well-being and to maintain a beautiful clean environment for all of our guests to enjoy, we ask that they enjoy their meals while dining at one of our many restaurants. Every ship in the Norwegian fleet offers dining at any time day or night for guests to enjoy, with a wide variety of options and cuisines available complimentary.

 

Cruise Critic posted this: Norwegian Cruise Line has banned "takeaway" food from its ship restaurants, main dining room and buffet areas.

 

yep, this is like the headline somthing we might see in our newspaper or a blog: it is an attention grabber. I think some are taking what NCL said out of context. I am almost certain they are not going to ban taking food from the buffet to the pool area. I also think we are talking 2 different things: I doubt any attempt will be made to stop people from taking a couple cookies to their cabin or a cup of coffee out of the buffet, it is comments like some are making: I will take a plate of food that might be an issue.

Edited May 7, 2015 by newmexicoNita

[pieshops]

I also posted this to another thread:

as much as everybody is taking this as the gospel - I do not see it anywhere on the NCL site under the press releases. Is this confirmed or is everyone flipping out about something that may not be true

 

http://www.ncl.com/nclweb/pressroom/pressReleases.html

[Dr. Cocktail]

Does ANYBODY here remember that CC is owned by Royal Caribbean??? They *love* to create negative publicity for Norwegian by stirring the pot like this (ban vs. ask).

 

Um, actually they're not owned by RCI.

 

CruiseCritic is a division of TripAdvisor.

 

No offense, but this is how rumors and hearsay get out of hand. It's not really that hard to check your facts before posting.

[Single Cruiser]

Does ANYBODY here remember that CC is owned by Royal Caribbean??? They *love* to create negative publicity for Norwegian by stirring the pot like this (ban vs. ask).

:confused:

 

Cc is owned by independent traveller inc which is a subsidiary of trip advisor listed on Nasdaq.

 

Where does RCCI feature in that?

[ohiogymrat]

:confused:

 

Cc is owned by independent traveller inc which is a subsidiary of trip advisor listed on Nasdaq.

 

Where does RCCI feature in that?

 

Actually Expedia owns cruisecritic and tripadvisor

[ColinIllinois]

Actually Expedia owns cruisecritic and tripadvisor

 

 

 

 

TripAdvisor was spun off from Expedia in Dec 2011 in a public offering. Cruise Critic is one of TripAdvisor's many brands. Actually Cruise Critic started as a feature of AOL according to their Wiki page.

[Beaver1975]

TripAdvisor was spun off from Expedia in Dec 2011 in a public offering. Cruise Critic is one of TripAdvisor's many brands. Actually Cruise Critic started as a feature of AOL according to their Wiki page.

 

Correct. Cruise Critic was created in 95 or 96 on AOL. It went Internetwide in 2000.

[Niquein99]

My first NCL cruise is coming up on the Getaway, so I will get to see first hand if all these things are actually true and being enforced by the staff. I always enjoy going to the buffet and taking my food back to my cabin. Never had a problem doing this on Carnival or Royal Caribbean. I'd like to see a staff member try to stop me from leaving the buffet with a plate of food....22 days till Getaway and counting! :D

 

OK.....back to this exhaustive topic....

Edited May 7, 2015 by Niquein99

[I'manewbie]

I'm beginning to think that NCL is leaking these very unpopular trial balloons to pave the way for some moderately unpopular policy decisions. By letting the CC community believe for 24-48 hours that food may not be removed from the buffet , it will make the eventual clarification of buffet is ok but no doggie bags from mdr or specialty restaurants seem like a bargain.

 

I like to vacation and like a variety in vacations, so I'm not tied to cruising. What I like about cruising is the fantasy that the ship is mine and NCL is there to serve me. My next cruise is in June and this time I'm feeling more concerned about what NCL will let me do or not do, than having them serve me. I spent years in Catholic school with the same feeling, I don't want that feeling on my vacation!

Edited May 7, 2015 by I'manewbie

[NLH Arizona]

You may be correct. But what would be the rationale for permitting food to be removed from the buffet and not another venue such as O'Sheehan's for example?

I wish I had the answer, but I don't. The only thing I can think of, is that they can enforce food being taken away from the restaurants in most cases, but with the buffet it would probably be impossible.

[johnlatte]

I never use room service, so I don't really care that much about the fee. Being in the hospitality business for years, I can partially see why charging for RS would make sense in some regards. It takes labor that can't be planned for. Its nice for the customer, but a nightmare at times for the staff. Clean-up either from the hallways or by the stewards is time consuming and inefficient. Our housekeeping crew hated when our guests left their dishes in their room, because their carts weren't set up to handle them and they had to make sure they got scraped and stacked before getting them back to the kitchen. In many cases that was completely on the other side of the hotel. That said, NCL should be providing customers the convenience and the luxury (albeit) a small one that free RS provides. I don't believe that this is necessarily a dollars and cents move, although in the annual report it will be noted that the room service fee is a new revenue stream and that will make the BOD and share holders appreciative.

 

Taking food away (or takeout) is a different animal and is a logistical and PR nightmare. You are putting the responsibility of enforcing this "rule", on the very people you have charged in making the customer the happiest. This is a no-win for the customer, the staff and ultimately the line itself. It gives their competitors an edge in a market that is overly saturated with product. It won't be long before other lines either follow suit (which is possible) or tout the fact that room service is free and take away food is readily available. Freestyle cruising is going to have non-takeaway pie all over its face it this "rule" is fully implemented and enforced by an already overworked and underpaid staff.

 

Lastly as a consumer, vote with your purse and pocketbook. If takeaway food and free room service is important to your overall vacation experience, which is a legitimate want, then seek lines that offer that. It it isn't, then NCL is still a considerable value. At the same time, voice your opinions directly to NCL. Venting on these boards is fine, but unless NCL hears it directly from a mass of customers, nothing at all will change.

[jaja]

One of the biggest consequences of this (if true) would be the inevitable confrontations between staff and pax . I have seen other times when pax were approached by staff about some behaviors and loud (on part of pax) "discussions" followed. It was certainly uncomfortable to witness and not conducive to a relaxing vacation for all.