July 2015 Cruise Critic article says NCL has a reputation for nickel-and-diming

[fstuff1]

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1845&et_cid=2335663&et_rid=87794761

 

Article comparing Carnival vs NCL.

 

Pricing

 

Carnival Cruise Line

•Offers some of the lowest cruise fares available

•Prices include most alternative restaurants on each ship.

•Most entertainment included (exceptions are Carnival Live! concerts and the 3D Thrill Theater, which are only available on select ships)

 

Norwegian Cruise Line

•Has a reputation for nickel-and-diming, but cruise fares are comparable to industry averages and can be lower

•Pricing includes about half of the restaurants offered onboard.

•Most entertainment included (exceptions are lunch and dinner theaters, which are only available on select ships)

•Starting January 2016, Norwegian Sky will offer all-inclusive cruise fares that include all drinks (soft and alcoholic).

 

 

so word has spread!

and it takes a lot to overcome a bad reputation.

 

ie: Carnival's string of preventable accidents in 2014

- Norovirus making passengers sick on multiple ships, ship power failures leading to no working bathrooms for days, ship crashing in Italy + killing a few people, etc

Edited July 26, 2015 by fstuff1

[abe3]

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1845&et_cid=2335663&et_rid=87794761&et_referrer=Contest_NCL_2013

 

Article comparing Carnival vs NCL.

 

Pricing

 

Carnival Cruise Line

•Offers some of the lowest cruise fares available

•Prices include most alternative restaurants on each ship.

•Most entertainment included (exceptions are Carnival Live! concerts and the 3D Thrill Theater, which are only available on select ships)

 

Norwegian Cruise Line

•Has a reputation for nickel-and-diming, but cruise fares are comparable to industry averages and can be lower

•Pricing includes about half of the restaurants offered onboard.

•Most entertainment included (exceptions are lunch and dinner theaters, which are only available on select ships)

•Starting January 2016, Norwegian Sky will offer all-inclusive cruise fares that include all drinks (soft and alcoholic).

 

 

so word has spread!

and it takes a lot to overcome a bad reputation.

 

ie: Carnival's string of preventable accidents in 2014

- Norovirus making passengers sick on multiple ships, ship power failures leading to no working bathrooms for days, ship crashing in Italy + killing a few people, etc

 

 

I have never been nicked and dimed on any NCL cruise and I have been on many. I am an adult and I know where my money goes and how I spend it. Not NCL's fault or anyone else's fault how I choose to spend my money. nickle and diming theory is just for the complainers that are cheap and don't know how to spend their money and or do their research before their vacation.

Edited July 26, 2015 by abe3

[NMLady]

For some reason NCL has always had the reputation of nickel and diming, probably because they were among first with specialty restaurants at extra cost.

Over the years here on CC there have been comments about NCl nickel and diming. Never used to be true.

But now with a la carte dining, room service charges, and an increase in DSC they deserve the reputation imo.

Edited July 26, 2015 by NMLady

[Charlie4]

I like nickel and diming. I pay for only what I want.

[DMH15]

I like nickel and diming. I pay for only what I want.

 

 

agree 100%

[Sauer-kraut]

The article mentions that Carnival has more included dining options, however they don't have as many as on board and NCL ship. It also states that that NCL has 50% restaurant as free options.

[Travelling2Some]

I pretty much agree with Charlie4. I prefer they keep the fare low and I'll just pay for anything extra I want (which works out to pretty much nothing). I tend to view the ship as a really nice ferry that gets me from port to port. BUT I can understand that some are more focused on the shipboard experience. There is something special about cruising. I did always wonder who was buying those overpriced Disney dining packages, lol.

[SwissLe]

I think Carnival invented or at least mainstreamed it, so find it very odd they'd single NCL out for it, but I guess if CC do research by the top posts on this forum at the moment they make be accurate in their impression - especially with some signature of a regular poster.

[luvtheships]

I pretty much agree with Charlie4. I prefer they keep the fare low and I'll just pay for anything extra I want (which works out to pretty much nothing). I tend to view the ship as a really nice ferry that gets me from port to port. BUT I can understand that some are more focused on the shipboard experience. There is something special about cruising. I did always wonder who was buying those overpriced Disney dining packages, lol.

 

Disney frequently throws in the dining packages for free...plus they discount rooms at the same time and I can tell you from several experiences that when Disney combines free dining and % percent off the rooms....usually in late August....the per day food and room price per person can be dirt cheap!!!! The park tix are another thing of course. Lol

 

Anyway after several free dining trips we decided to do Disney in April 2014 the week after Easter when if course there was no free dining but as we were accustomed to using the dining plan ...since we always got it free...I bit the bullet and paid for it that trip.....

 

What an overpriced waste of money!!!!

 

For our June 2015 trip I just paid for each meal as we went along and trust me.....we saved a ton of money.

 

Plus using the Disney credit card at certain restaurants saved us an additional 10% plus earned Disney rewards points

 

Also using a different credit card for those restaurants where we could not get the 10% off earned me double cash back points...which I prefer anyway

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Edited July 26, 2015 by luvtheships

[don't-use-real-name]

I think Carnival invented or at least mainstreamed it, so find it very odd they'd single NCL out for it, but I guess if CC do research by the top posts on this forum at the moment they make be accurate in their impression - especially with some signature of a regular poster.

 

Point well taken - especially with some signature of a regular poster.

 

Some of the times I kind of resemble that position - but for the most part I

do not have the wisdom (whiskers) that posters with 5k or more posts who

have seen more than enough comments and critique about the rise and

fall of various aspects of the cruise industry.

I have been around for short time and I have noticed that the the cruise

industry was rather flat with changes and fees when I first signed on.

Now with the recent management (top echelon) changes and the upheaval

to institute ala carte fees and gratuities changes causing a degree of

unsettling cruise pleasure I wish that the changes were not coming one after

another like machine gun fire at a blind folded revolving dart board.

Some of these changes are hit and miss mostly off target.

Some are granted worth while and yet with some of the others frankly -

"What were they thinking of ?" !

I would suppose that the only way to find out if something works is to use

your customers as trial and error guinea pigs - but caution here adverse side -

effects may be forthcoming - the usual recent fan fare from Cruise Critics notably !

 

WYHPFIWYETG ! What you have paid for is what you expect to get !

 

OK it is the day after tomorrow so our fees will be x2 of the gratuities multiplied

by a factor of PI (3.1459.....) and rounded to the next odd number ! Got that !

Dining in the exclusive paid restaurants will be permitted by even cabin numbers

on even days except during leap year.

The DSC previously could be adjusted or disputed - the direction it is going

now is it is leaning toward being fixed with no customer input required although

you can pay for it in advance or later on your credit account.

No significant discount being offered here and the customer winds up still

paying the bill in the end !

 

So go ahead make a profit - no one is denying that we want you around to

cruise again and perhaps again and you have to have a healthy business to

do just that but please make it worth while to consider returning for more

pleasurable voyages without everyday rapidly changing changes !

 

Everything does not need a price on it ! I favor all inclusive cruises !

 

Now back to this wisdom and whiskers thing it is a fee free thought forum is it not ?

[newmexicoNita]

Having a reputation and having it right are not the same thing. As has been pointed out and one of the first things that came to mind for me was the dining choices: this is why these articles do not necesarry mean much: Yes, NCL has more dining rooms with fees, they have more dining rooms period. Has anyone checked the price of the specialty dining room or rooms on some other lines such as Carnival? Other than a higher DSC I would like to know where the nickel and diming comes from. You pay your rate, you get on the ship; absolutely everything else is up to you. No one has to spend more than the initial cruise fare.

 

Remember, the view of the writer was just his/her view: nothing more. Editors, whatever have opinions just like we do and often don't have much to back their opinions on. The article said: NCL has the reputation: a reputation may or may not be accurate.

Edited July 26, 2015 by newmexicoNita

[Donna_In_India]

I truly just do not get the whole nickel and diming thing. As far as I know the ONLY thing that NCL charges for that other lines don't is room service. Is that correct? Are there any other lines that charge for room service?

 

Anything else? I think most/all lines of specialty restaurants. And while Disney has "free" soda, you pay for it everywhere else. So how did NCL get this reputation (and it pre-dates Del Rio)?

Edited July 26, 2015 by Donna_In_India

[biker@sea]

I like nickel and diming. I pay for only what I want.

 

Yup me Too!

 

Last cruise my tab was $70 with prepaid DSC. :)

.

[Cruise4Real]

One thing I've noticed is that, generally speaking, I trust the information I see on Carnival website more than that on NCL's. Cabin descriptions can be pretty hit-or-miss on NCL and I think NCL "stretches" definitions a bit more than Carnival. If it wasn't for CC it would be quite difficult to pin down definitively what comes with what cabin on NCL.

 

An example: There are 4J cabins on some Carnival ships. These are located forward and have a "picture window" that looks out on a public (though underutilized) deck. You can see the horizon, but other than that, pretty much just sky. Carnival lists these as "Insides" and while they are priced a bit more than regular Insides, they are less than Oceanview cabins. They also have "Obstructed Oceanview French Door" cabins that look out over lifeboats, but have (essentially) opening balcony doors permitting plenty of light and air, and if you pick the right cabin, even a decent view out between two lifeboats.

 

Meanwhile on at least one NCL ship we have "Obstructed Oceanview" cabins that are so "obstructed" that the window is painted over. I have sailed in a Carnival 4J "Inside" but not in one of NCL's fully obstructed "Oceanviews," but I have a pretty good idea which I'd prefer!

[Nola26]

NCL has earned the reputation of nickel and dining. Just as Carnival has earned the reputation for having party ships and some questionable maintenance and management practices. Now they both get to manage with or against those reputations.

[Charlie4]

Charlie4 here again :) Don't get me wrong about nickel and diming. Sometimes my bill is $100 and some times it is $500 at the end of the cruise. I cruise solo a lot of the time. So I pay for what I want, when I want to. I like the choice.

[garnet115]

NCL has earned the reputation of nickel and dining. Just as Carnival has earned the reputation for having party ships and some questionable maintenance and management practices. Now they both get to manage with or against those reputations.

 

Yet neither of those marks against Carnival were mentioned in this comparison article. Have they overcome the stigma?

[motleyfan]

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1845&et_cid=2335663&et_rid=87794761

 

Article comparing Carnival vs NCL.

 

Pricing

 

Carnival Cruise Line

•Offers some of the lowest cruise fares available

•Prices include most alternative restaurants on each ship.

•Most entertainment included (exceptions are Carnival Live! concerts and the 3D Thrill Theater, which are only available on select ships)

 

Norwegian Cruise Line

•Has a reputation for nickel-and-diming, but cruise fares are comparable to industry averages and can be lower

•Pricing includes about half of the restaurants offered onboard.

•Most entertainment included (exceptions are lunch and dinner theaters, which are only available on select ships)

•Starting January 2016, Norwegian Sky will offer all-inclusive cruise fares that include all drinks (soft and alcoholic).

 

 

so word has spread!

and it takes a lot to overcome a bad reputation.

 

ie: Carnival's string of preventable accidents in 2014

- Norovirus making passengers sick on multiple ships, ship power failures leading to no working bathrooms for days, ship crashing in Italy + killing a few people, etc

 

The nickel and diming argument does not make sense to me. Because the only things on the ship there are extra are extra things to do. If you don't want to be charged extra don't do the extra things. I've heard of people who go on Norwegian cruises do not do anything extra and do not have anything extra billed to them. So no its not nickel and diming because you get to choose what you would like to do and not do.

[RLM77]

I'm not sure I buy into the nickel and diming comment, but I can say from direct experience that we end up spending more on NCL ships than on those of competitors. Nor am I particularly happy with the second DSC increase of the past year or the fact that we now pay an additional SC when purchasing a dining package. If we're eating in a specialty restaurant we're not being served by the MDR staff -- why must we tip those who do not serve us?

 

Having said that, we do enjoy the Dawn- and Jewel-class experience. The food in the specialty restaurants is better than on most other lines IMHO and there is usually more (and better) live music. So we will continue cruising NCL, for now. But if the cost gap (fare and onboard spend) between NCL and an equivalent cruise on, say, RCI continues to widen then we will be shifting more toward the competition.

 

Rich

[rvsullivan]

The thing that puzzles me is the CC article itself. They discuss quite a few things with some detail. But in making the nickel and dime comment prominently in the beginning of the article, they neglect to give a single example of the nickel and diming. To me that phrase means you get on board for free (almost free) and then have to pay for everything on board, i.e. nightclub charging a cover charge, nightly shows have a charge, dinner has a charge, etc. With NCL you can sail for a week and never spend a penny more than the DSC. Multiple daily meals, entertainment, cruise ports, snacks, everything is included. They do offer many, many options that do have a charge, but they are OPTIONS!

[Sizzlechest]

The show was free but the meal that comes attached with it, is cost extra

 

So is there an option to attend the show for free if you forgo the meal? No? Then please don't make such statements.

[maywell]

So is there an option to attend the show for free if you forgo the meal? No? Then please don't make such statements.

 

Or you learn to not go to the show at all since they going to serve you dinner there anyway. *shrug* Don't like that added a charge to that - Well, you can 'eat' the charge or go elsewhere that evening for 'free'. Its not that hard...:rolleyes:

[newmexicoNita]

So is there an option to attend the show for free if you forgo the meal? No? Then please don't make such statements.

 

No, tech he is right: the show is free, the meal is extra. Do any of you remember when Vegas shows included dinner for the early show and 2 cocktails for the late show? Now you pay 5 to 10 times more for a show and it includes nothing.

[newmexicoNita]

NCL has earned the reputation of nickel and dining. Just as Carnival has earned the reputation for having party ships and some questionable maintenance and management practices. Now they both get to manage with or against those reputations.

 

The nickel and diming comments have been going on for years. Other than the recent addition of room service charges I wish someone would give us examples of added charges. All lines charge for specialty dining, most more than NCL: all lines charge for spa usage and treatments: all lines charge for Bingo. All lines that have upscale elaborate dinner shows charge. I can go on and on.

[LMaxwell]

Or you learn to not go to the show at all since they going to serve you dinner there anyway. *shrug* Don't like that added a charge to that - Well, you can 'eat' the charge or go elsewhere that evening for 'free'. Its not that hard...:rolleyes:

 

So...that's pretty much the textbook definition of nickel and diming.