USA Today article on new food policy - post your comments there!

[newmexicoNita]

has any one either been stopped or seen someone stopped taking food from the buffet?

 

From all that has been posted here, no one has been stopped. I really doubt it will ever be a huge problem. Yes,we might hear about a few cases where people are not allowed to take huge amounts of food out of the buffet or restaurants but I am not going to lose sleep over it.

[old sole]

From all that has been posted here, no one has been stopped. I really doubt it will ever be a huge problem. Yes,we might hear about a few cases where people are not allowed to take huge amounts of food out of the buffet or restaurants but I am not going to lose sleep over it.

 

Which begs the question - If the restriction on food being taken from the buffet to the cabins is 1) not on the website, 2) not printed in the dailies, 3) not announced via signage, and 4) not brought to passenger's attention by crew - then how are passengers to know it even exists? And why are NCL public relations and customer service telling people that it does?

Edited May 19, 2015 by old sole

[mkdreams]

Ever heard that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" Nita? Sometimes it doesn't hurt to let your dissatisfaction be known. Everyone has the right to express their opinion, since it affects their wallets. This matter is still news to some that don't spend much time on the boards.

The press release makes NCL sound lame, as if they are grasping at "reasonable" reasons to make more juvenile rules that take away more of their guests choices.

Worried about a clean environment? Either have stewards pick up dirty dishes on a regular basis (yes I've seen them sit for much longer than the should in the same spot), or post that passengers will be charged for leaving dishes in the hallway.

 

Well said NCL acts as if we are blind to what they are doing.

[TheManitoban]

I look at this as mostly a "no big deal" thing but let's not kid ourselves, this was done in conjunction with the Room Service charge to generate more revenue.

 

I think it was a pre-emptive measure to stop some people from doing exactly what some people here said they would do - bring full meals back to their rooms rather than order room service.

 

I also think it might be enforced strictly at first and then less so as time goes on. It's not to stop every single person from taking some left overs back to their room once in awhile. Its to stop the people doing an end run around room service to a ridiculous degree. My opinion.

 

But the "health and safety" excuse is designed to quiet the professional critics and media. It's nonsense. Everyone who orders room service who doesnt receive a piping hot meal should send it back until it comes piping hot. Also, what prevents me from ordering room service and letting the meal sit for three days before I order it? There is no difference between room service and take out.

[old sole]

I actually like the policy and hopefully it will help get rid of some of the plates sitting around the pools that i have seen with half a burger on it, or also clean up the hallways in the middle of the night, which I have seen on numerous occasions with food and plates on the floor. It's not going to solve everything, but just like the smoking policy, which I was in favor of and also was very unpopular on these boards, just like the food issue, is another example how people get so up in arms and say they are not going to cruise on NCL anymore, but the bottom line it never had an effect on their bookings. Cruise critic posters are a very small percentage of the cruising population and to think you are going to change their minds because of what you say on here is completely ludicrous.

 

Sorry to disappoint, but THERE IS NO RESTRICTION on taking food from the buffet to the outdoor seating around the pool. And the claimed increase in plates in the hallways (even if true) was caused by the imposition of an $8 charge for room service, and could easily be solved simply by informing people via in-cabin printed cards that plates should not be placed in the hallway but will be retrieved from the cabin during twice daily cleaning. This instead of having the steward tell guests to put them outside, as has happened to me.

[NLH Arizona]

Which begs the question - If the restriction on food being taken from the buffet to the cabins is 1) not on the website, 2) not printed in the dailies, 3) not announced via signage, and 4) not brought to passenger's attention by crew - then how are passengers to know it even exists? And why are NCL public relations and customer service telling people that it does?

Didn't someone on one of the threads (there are so many on this subject, that it is hard to keep up with them all) report that NCL told them they had not formalized the policy. When I called when it was first announce, that is what they told me as well.

[MrYellowDuck]

Alternatively charge $5 each time plates have to be collected from outside a room. Make this $50 if someone claims it was not their plates and the security video is reviewed and this is seen to be false. Make it $100 for those identified by the security video as being the ones who left their plates outside the wrong room (with a $25 credit for those who were inconvenienced by having to say it wasn't them). This would solve the mess issue and attribute the cost of keeping the ship clean to those causing the trouble.

 

Having a room service charge works pretty well too - it attributes a cost of the extra work involved in keeping the ship clean to those who are causing extra mess and it makes it easy to work out where to go looking for dirty plates.

[fishin' musician]

There has been a few post where people have complained about being stopped. SNACK or FULL plates does NOT matter NCL should not be policing people over food. If someone enjoys eating in their room while on vacation then so be it, that should be their choice.

 

One man's snack is another man's full plate!

[abe3]

Alternatively charge $5 each time plates have to be collected from outside a room. Make this $50 if someone claims it was not their plates and the security video is reviewed and this is seen to be false. Make it $100 for those identified by the security video as being the ones who left their plates outside the wrong room (with a $25 credit for those who were inconvenienced by having to say it wasn't them). This would solve the mess issue and attribute the cost of keeping the ship clean to those causing the trouble.

 

Having a room service charge works pretty well too - it attributes a cost of the extra work involved in keeping the ship clean to those who are causing extra mess and it makes it easy to work out where to go looking for dirty plates.

 

Fantastic post. Love this idea.

[fishin' musician]

I actually like the policy and hopefully it will help get rid of some of the plates sitting around the pools that i have seen with half a burger on it, or also clean up the hallways in the middle of the night, which I have seen on numerous occasions with food and plates on the floor.

 

AHH HAA! Another revenue enhancer for NCL revealed (man these guys are sharp!) With no plates to clean up in the pool area and the hallways they can further cut crew members who formerly had to pick these up!

 

Brilliant!!! How's that stock doing today?

[Irene7]

This policy is about money and nothing more, NCL thinks cruisers are fools. To those that think this will stop plates in the hallway, yeah right. NCL has no problem with people leaving trays and plates in the hallways as long as you pay their 7.95 room service fee. Wow I wonder why.

 

I agree with you!

[canadianeh934]

AHH HAA! Another revenue enhancer for NCL revealed (man these guys are sharp!) With no plates to clean up in the pool area and the hallways they can further cut crew members who formerly had to pick these up!

 

Brilliant!!! How's that stock doing today?

 

 

Except they are allowing food by the pool.....

 

This is only about money. If it was for sanitary reasons they would stop people eat around the pool which is a huge health risk.

[emcelh]

AHH HAA! Another revenue enhancer for NCL revealed (man these guys are sharp!) With no plates to clean up in the pool area and the hallways they can further cut crew members who formerly had to pick these up!

 

Brilliant!!! How's that stock doing today?

 

But there will be plates around the pool and the stock closed up. Not that that means anything though.

Edited May 19, 2015 by emcelh

[abe3]

AHH HAA! Another revenue enhancer for NCL revealed (man these guys are sharp!) With no plates to clean up in the pool area and the hallways they can further cut crew members who formerly had to pick these up!

 

 

 

Brilliant!!! How's that stock doing today?

 

 

You probably already know that NCL is a business. And I assume you already know that businesses are in it to make money. If you want to believe that this new policy is about to make money then you might be right, but I hope that it does help with some of dirty dishes and cups all over the ship.

[NLH Arizona]

You probably already know that NCL is a business. And I assume you already know that businesses are in it to make money. If you want to believe that this new policy is about to make money then you might be right, but I hope that it does help with some of dirty dishes and cups all over the ship.

When all is said and done, does it really matter why they make any rules. Maybe they should have just made the rule and not given an explanation as to why, because people will think what they want, no matter if they say anything or not.

[abe3]

When all is said and done, does it really matter why they make any rules. Maybe they should have just made the rule and not given an explanation as to why, because people will think what they want, no matter if they say anything or not.

 

 

You are right. They are not going to make everyone happy with their decisions. Let's say they raised the DSC one penny and you will still have people complaining about that also.

[knight2096]

You probably already know that NCL is a business. And I assume you already know that businesses are in it to make money. If you want to believe that this new policy is about to make money then you might be right, but I hope that it does help with some of dirty dishes and cups all over the ship.

 

Yes they are a business and as a business they should be making sure that their customers are happy. When a company is just in business to make money and cares nothing about walking all over its customers, then they just went from trying to make a profit to just being GREEDY. This has NOTHING to do with plates in the hallway, this is about GREED. There are good business practices and there are bad ones. This is a very bad one.

[LASilva]

Which begs the question - If the restriction on food being taken from the buffet to the cabins is 1) not on the website, 2) not printed in the dailies, 3) not announced via signage, and 4) not brought to passenger's attention by crew - then how are passengers to know it even exists? And why are NCL public relations and customer service telling people that it does?

 

EXACTLY. As far as I am concerned, unless it is posted, and communicated during the sailing and then subsequently enforced, the rule regarding taking food from the buffet does not exist. I am scouring the threads to find someone who was stopped taking food from the buffet because I spent a lot of time watching how this "rule" would pan out while on the Getaway and I didn't see anything (only in the restaurants they did confirm and enforce the policy). I was so upset about all that I was hearing in these endless threads about this topic before I left for my cruise, especially considering it was my first time on Norwegian. I really do like taking some snacks back to my room and coffee etc. and and from what I experienced there was no communication of any rule on board the Getaway regarding taking food from the buffet. No one was "sneaking food" or trying to get away with breaking a rule because no one I spoke to aside from CC members from the meet and greet were aware of any such rule. If there was a rule communicated on board about not taking anything from the buffet (and they were following through) I would have been really upset because I actually had a serious injury and was stuck in the room more than I wanted to be.

[sjbdtz]

I just corrected the logic of a post that said it was about litigation as to the reason as to why NCL is not permitting plates of food to be taken back to their rooms....

 

It is not about a cleaner environment, as that does not pass the same logic....so it really only leaves one reason and it is money!

 

But that's not what happened.

 

What happened is you gave your OPINION that it was not about litigation. Unless you were party to the discussions which resulted in the new charges and policies, then you don't know.

 

Maybe it WAS in response to litigation. One thing about litigation - is mitigation.

 

The cruiseline may well be reacting to a litigation by taking steps to ensure the situation is harder to replicate.

 

They may institute a policy which would (if enforced) result in a lower likelihood of whatever was being litigated.....and use that policy to show that they were not negligent.

 

Whether they enforce or not remains to be seen....but the policy itself could EASILY be reactionary.

 

 

.

[flag fan]

I look at this as mostly a "no big deal" thing but let's not kid ourselves, this was done in conjunction with the Room Service charge to generate more revenue.

 

I think it was a pre-emptive measure to stop some people from doing exactly what some people here said they would do - bring full meals back to their rooms rather than order room service.

 

I also think it might be enforced strictly at first and then less so as time goes on. It's not to stop every single person from taking some left overs back to their room once in awhile. Its to stop the people doing an end run around room service to a ridiculous degree. My opinion.

 

But the "health and safety" excuse is designed to quiet the professional critics and media. It's nonsense. Everyone who orders room service who doesnt receive a piping hot meal should send it back until it comes piping hot. Also, what prevents me from ordering room service and letting the meal sit for three days before I order it? There is no difference between room service and take out.

 

I agree entirely with this post. (I wish I had written it because it summarizes what I've been thinking.)

[01 Cobra]

I was a first time NCL cruiser and on the NCL Sky 1-4 May. I did not know about the room service fee before boarding. I only found out when I went looking for the menu and breakfast order form and noticed the comments about the $7.95 fee for room service. We were on vacation and look forward to breakfast in our room... it's our wake up call. So we ordered our breakfast and paid the fee.

 

We don't hate NCL for doing this, and we are going on another cruise in June with them. I did feel a little duped though because I keep up with the cruise news... but obviously not close enough. They did make it seem like they were just trying it out, as if it would not be permanent. I wish I had kept the menu and one of the daily activity brochures because they talked about it on both. This is obviously going to be permanent...

 

I did see two glasses in the hallway near a room across the hall from us. Otherwise, they were keeping an eye on the dishes I think.

 

As for food leaving the dining room... I don't recall carrying anything out from the buffet or main dining room myself. However, I saw at the entrance way of each dining venue a person spraying the hands of guests coming and going, and there was a sanitizer machine at every dining entrance. Now, maybe that person was not just there to spray hands...perhaps the person was also there to monitor food leaving the dining venue???? :D :D :p

 

There was a ton of food on the ship and the pool areas were littered with cups, plates, bottles and left over food day and night. There just wasn't enough crew to handle the debris.

 

And on a crazy note, not once during the entire cruise did any single person who worked for NCL ask me or my DH if we wanted a drink. NOT once. So if you are looking for a cruise line that isn't hounding you to buy a drink every five minutes NCL is the ticket! HOWEVER, if you want a drink, good luck! You'll be chasing down a server or standing in line for at least 20 minutes!!! (no, we did not have the UBP) Maybe without that little sticker on our card we were at a disadvantage... not sure though.

 

So anyways, after all that...if you are still reading, yes I think $7.95 is too much for room service!!!! And now do I still need to tip the delivery person! Confused.

Edited May 19, 2015 by 01 Cobra

[tvguy72]

Yup, many of us know that this is all about money forcing people to pay for $7.95 RS fee and nothing else, period. Summer sailing with lots of kids and teens is around the corner, can't wait to see how it all played out. :D

 

 

I disagree, you will still be able to do this. There is no way NCL or any other line will be able to effectively enforce this ban.

 

However, simply by just placing it in writing ( and this will appear on the updated NCL passenger ticket contract) that you may longer remove MOST food items from there immediate serving area.

 

Removes the line from possible litigation in the future. Same as posting "no lifeguard on duty, swim at your own risk"

[Travelcat2]

There will definitely be passengers that follow the rules. And, as new people cruise NCL, they will not even think about going against them. Old timers that believe that rules are made to be broken may receive dirty looks but will keep on doing their own thing. Eventually, there will be few passengers carrying food around the ship - dropping bits and pieces around (especially children). Speaking of children, assume that those that are old enough to understand the new rules will not be taught by their parents that they should be ignoring NCL's policies as I also assume that most of you are good parents!

[klingoncruiser]

Wow, this PR nightmare just keeps getting better and better. I think I will find out in a few weeks how all this pans out for myself on the Sun. Lots of questions at this point how it can be enforced and just how testy some of the pax will get about it who have no idea is is going to happen. (Most of the people on board are NOT on CC.)

[Travelcat2]

AAAAA, NO, BUZZ, WRONG, M-CAY.

 

The idea of not taking food back to rooms was brought up by the KS administration.

It had an anticipated roll out date of 1st quarter 2015. When KS abruptly left NCL, other items pushed it back to 2nd quarter 2015.

 

But, who am I to tell you. Just another anonymous face. Hiding behind a self imposed anonymity.

 

Very interesting information. I certainly believe you as I cannot imagine the new CEO coming up with this idea. However, it makes sense that the current president would follow through with what the old CEO was planning. Puts a different spin on the whole subject. However, I have no doubt that many will not believe you :rolleyes: Thank you posting -- it makes a lot of sense.

Edited May 20, 2015 by Travelcat2