More changes...effects on Breakaway

[dcollette]

Ok, so I almost can't even keep up with all the crazy changes that seem to come out almost weekly. ( a slight exaggeration, I know :p ) So, they roll out these new promos, which for the UDP started off as for the first two people, then extended to all the passengers in the cabin. I'm not even sure if they changed it back again. :p

 

Then they decided to increase the DSC. Nothing terrible, but keeping it to a whole dollar amount would have been better, IMHO. (who wants to calculate 12.95 per day?)

 

Then they decided it would be a good idea to be food ****s and try to not allow food in the rooms and change the way room service is done. Now, I have only used room service when my girls were little and one was napping and I was in the room with a 3 year old that was hungry. We got sandwiches and fruit delivered. Generally, I run and fetch food from the buffet and bring it back to the room. I do not believe in the whole leave the dirty dishes in the halls, that is just gross. With the design of the new ships, the passages are far too narrow, especially when you add the carts to the mix. We just simply left the tray/plates neatly in our room and they were taken care of. Go ahead and try to stop me, that was my attitude when they first announced this new "change". Well, they have since rescinded that one. (no big surprise there :eek::eek: )

 

Now, they have upped the DSC again (how many cruises even paid the first increase??) I think there should be a discount if you prepay them prior to your cruise, no matter what the charge might be. That would probably get more people to prepay.

 

So, now they want to change some of the specialty dining to a la carte. In case they haven't noticed, the a la carte options that are already in place aren't that busy--what would make them think doing this in the dining venues would be a good idea?? No more Zakarian doesn't really affect me one way or another, the cover charge was ridiculous in my opinion anyhow.

 

Breaking ties with Nickelodeon raises some very interesting questions---will they redo the water park to remove the Nickelodeon theme??? That will take time and more money. They have not (to my knowledge) announced a replacement for Nickelodeon. That is a shame, there should be some theme for the younger guests. Perhaps they don't care about the kids that look forward to seeing their favorite characters onboard.

 

All these changes make me question the stability of the leadership, it almost seems like they have no idea what they are doing, what guests really want nor what direction they want to take.

 

All this and the prices of the cruises keep going up. Even 65 days out, if I try to do a "mock" booking, the cost is around $300 more that what I paid! I understand that more than one cruise line has stated they will no longer slash the prices last minute, to try to get those last minute cruise bookings to be at the same rate, but most of them are also done as guarantees, not as actual rooms so the cruiser really has no idea what they are getting. Seems like the company has really taken a turn for the worse. All the hard work Sheehan put in to make the brand positive and successful as a competitor are being undone faster than you can make a cup of coffee.

 

As a loyal NCL cruiser, I am certainly going to be looking at other options for our next cruise, sad to say. :confused::confused:

[garnet115]

My questions/comments are below in red. Sorry you are not happy with NCL and hope you are happy wherever you ultimately cruise.

 

I must say, though, that I am truly baffled by the amount of complaining and number of threads devoted to this topic. We are all consumers, and those on CC tend to be more educated cruise consumers. Gather the information and make a decision where to spend your dollars. I've become a cruising devotee - for me, it's the easiest way to vacation. So far, I've been happy with NCL. Should that change, I'll look elsewhere, but I won't be on here trying to disparage the company as if they owed me the status quo for all eternity. They are a business, and will make changes in hopes of increasing/enhancing their business. Why would I expect otherwise?

 

Ok, so I almost can't even keep up with all the crazy changes that seem to come out almost weekly. ( a slight exaggeration, I know :p ) So, they roll out these new promos, which for the UDP started off as for the first two people, then extended to all the passengers in the cabin. I'm not even sure if they changed it back again. :p

 

Promos change all the time and are always subject to different terms and conditions. There has always been a gamble that if you wait, you won't get as good a deal, or that something better might come along after you book. How is this a "crazy change"? Seems to be business as usual to me.

 

Then they decided to increase the DSC. Nothing terrible, but keeping it to a whole dollar amount would have been better, IMHO. (who wants to calculate 12.95 per day?)

 

Then they decided it would be a good idea to be food ****s and try to not allow food in the rooms and change the way room service is done. Now, I have only used room service when my girls were little and one was napping and I was in the room with a 3 year old that was hungry. We got sandwiches and fruit delivered. Generally, I run and fetch food from the buffet and bring it back to the room. I do not believe in the whole leave the dirty dishes in the halls, that is just gross. With the design of the new ships, the passages are far too narrow, especially when you add the carts to the mix. We just simply left the tray/plates neatly in our room and they were taken care of. Go ahead and try to stop me, that was my attitude when they first announced this new "change". Well, they have since rescinded that one. (no big surprise there :eek::eek: )

 

I was not a fan of the room service/cabin restrictions, but since the ban has been lifted, why would this deter you from booking in the future?

 

Now, they have upped the DSC again (how many cruises even paid the first increase??) I think there should be a discount if you prepay them prior to your cruise, no matter what the charge might be. That would probably get more people to prepay.

 

Agreed, it is a bit strange that they had 2 DSC increases in such a short time period. A discount incentive to prepay would be nice. Maybe someone at NCL will see your suggestion and take note.

 

So, now they want to change some of the specialty dining to a la carte. In case they haven't noticed, the a la carte options that are already in place aren't that busy--what would make them think doing this in the dining venues would be a good idea?? No more Zakarian doesn't really affect me one way or another, the cover charge was ridiculous in my opinion anyhow.

 

What, other than sushi, currently has a la carte pricing? I know that Ocean Blue was not part of the dining plans, but it was still priced with a cover charge. I'm not sure that you can make blanket statements about the success or failure of a la carte when it has yet to be implemented in any meaningful way. I am not thrilled about the a la carte pricing, but it will probably just push me to buy a dining package to avoid uncertainty in pricing. I still have lots of questions about how the pricing and the new SDP will work, so only time will tell there.

 

Breaking ties with Nickelodeon raises some very interesting questions---will they redo the water park to remove the Nickelodeon theme??? That will take time and more money. They have not (to my knowledge) announced a replacement for Nickelodeon. That is a shame, there should be some theme for the younger guests. Perhaps they don't care about the kids that look forward to seeing their favorite characters onboard.

 

Eh. This is not a dealbreaker for me, and I suspect not a meaningful difference for most. As long as they offer quality kids programs, I don't think the theme much matters. Yeah, it's nice to have something that the kids recognize, but in the end they just want to have fun. So long as they are entertained, they won't complain. I don't see them taking the time or expense to remove existing themes (such as the splash parks and mini golf) from existing ships, but will probably change on future builds. I don't know why everyone keeps asking about replacement themes. I thought I saw something about the change prompting use of a new vendor for running the programming, not a new gimmick or characters.

 

All these changes make me question the stability of the leadership, it almost seems like they have no idea what they are doing, what guests really want nor what direction they want to take.

 

All this and the prices of the cruises keep going up. Even 65 days out, if I try to do a "mock" booking, the cost is around $300 more that what I paid! I understand that more than one cruise line has stated they will no longer slash the prices last minute, to try to get those last minute cruise bookings to be at the same rate, but most of them are also done as guarantees, not as actual rooms so the cruiser really has no idea what they are getting. Seems like the company has really taken a turn for the worse. All the hard work Sheehan put in to make the brand positive and successful as a competitor are being undone faster than you can make a cup of coffee.

 

I'm not sure that I understand your point here. How does increases in pricing and failure to "slash" prices at the last minute damage the brand? If anything, wouldn't it enhance the brand if they are seen as being able to generally sell at a higher premium and not need to cut prices to fill the ships?

 

As a loyal NCL cruiser, I am certainly going to be looking at other options for our next cruise, sad to say. :confused::confused:

[SeaShark]

GREAT POST...allow me to expound on a couple of good points that you made.

 

 

Now, they have upped the DSC again (how many cruises even paid the first increase??) I think there should be a discount if you prepay them prior to your cruise, no matter what the charge might be. That would probably get more people to prepay.

 

 

The cruise line really doesn't need to offer a discount to get more people to prepay...they simply have to make prepayment mandatory. They aren't going to put themselves through the accounting nightmare that discounts would bring when a much simpler solution is available.

 

 

So, now they want to change some of the specialty dining to a la carte. In case they haven't noticed, the a la carte options that are already in place aren't that busy--what would make them think doing this in the dining venues would be a good idea?? No more Zakarian doesn't really affect me one way or another, the cover charge was ridiculous in my opinion anyhow.

 

 

 

Most likely this is being done in response to the amount of food wasted by passengers. Waste costs money and is a cancer to a restaurant. Just look at these boards...how many posts have there been that are some version of "how many appetizers can I order", "how many entrees can I order", or "is there a limit to..."?? Likewise, when the UDP was first offered, how many people focused on whether they could eat at more than one restaurant on the same night?

 

...And we Americans wonder why we're obese. :(

 

 

Breaking ties with Nickelodeon raises some very interesting questions---will they redo the water park to remove the Nickelodeon theme??? That will take time and more money. They have not (to my knowledge) announced a replacement for Nickelodeon. That is a shame, there should be some theme for the younger guests. Perhaps they don't care about the kids that look forward to seeing their favorite characters onboard.

 

 

Should be a theme? Why? Kids live all the time without a theme. NCL had kids clubs and kids activities for YEARS before Nickelodeon was put on ships.