District Brewhouse on Escape

[LoveyHowell]

My TA is currently on the Escape preview cruise and emailed me to let me know that NCL is considering removing the District Brewhouse from the UBP and making all beers served there be pay to order. The first few cruises will be run with it included in UBP for more data, but depending what that says it could be excluded in the near future. The reason being that they simply can not maintain a high enough stock of some of the smaller craft beers and the high cost of procuring those brews versus the relatively low menu pricing. She said that likely the only beers to be covered by UBP in the future will be "standards" that are fleetwide such as Bud, Heineken, Corona, etc.

 

Please don't kill the messenger.

[LrgPizza]

I hope they don't do this. I think if they run out of some, they run out, and you pick something else. They have 60 varieties of bottled beers and 24 beers on tap. Just like some of the brew houses around here that have loads of beers (The Yard House, etc.) sometimes they run out of certain varieties. That is nothing unusual, and I hope they don't knee-jerk react that way.

[LMaxwell]

Will the turnstyles to get on the ship accept coins or do you need your keycard?

[ulster-cruiser]

Not surprising if it does happen. I can't see NCL getting the more unique brews at a discounted rate so surely they would be at a loss on these given the wide use of the UBP.

[sha32]

They ran out of over half of the draft beers by day 8 of the transatlantic, we just ordered something else, just like we did in the rest of the bars on there. I hope they keep it in the UBP too.

[SteveH2508]

Will the turnstyles to get on the ship accept coins or do you need your keycard?

 

I'd worry about the turnstiles to get OFF the ship!:eek:

[deladypilot]

It will be very disappointing if they do but it surely wont be a deal breaker

[bzzltyr]

I don't see this one being realistic to be honest. Beer at keg sized volumes is extremely cheap compared to some of the other alcohol options onboard. Not to mention labor wise you can serve a lot more customers with less labor costs by pouring a beer than you could making them individual mojitos, etc. I'm betting this is an example of over panic after the margaritaville rumors.

[LMaxwell]

I don't see this one being realistic to be honest. Beer at keg sized volumes is extremely cheap compared to some of the other alcohol options onboard. Not to mention labor wise you can serve a lot more customers with less labor costs by pouring a beer than you could making them individual mojitos, etc. I'm betting this is an example of over panic after the margaritaville rumors.

 

A lot of the smaller brewers don't provide kegs; bottle only. And they surely can't provide thousands of bottles at a clip.

 

On Royal Caribbean a handful (less than 10) of the specialty beers served at the pub are marked as not being in a package.

[darn88]

I could see this one going either way for some folks...some will see it as another case of nickel and dimeing considering all of the talk regarding Margaritaville. Others will see it from a financial/supply perspective. NCL could get hammered either way if this is true. Escape is sailing 7 night cruises starting at the end of the week. Considering the selection of beers they seem to be offering, I can't imagine supply is going to be a huge issue for them. If people find that their favorite if gone, they will find another one to try. Next thing you know..no more drink packages...

[LrgPizza]

If this happens, The District will be a ghost town. As it stands, it was used more as a library by people lounging around all day reading, and not having a single drink (annoying as hell.) Of the handful of people who were actually in there to drink, many of those would simply go elsewhere if this change happened.

[LMaxwell]

If this happens, The District will be a ghost town. As it stands, it was used more as a library by people lounging around all day reading, and not having a single drink (annoying as hell.) Of the handful of people who were actually in there to drink, many of those would simply go elsewhere if this change happened.

 

Do you think the people that have been clamoring for specialty beers and microbrews are going to happily go drink Budweiser or Heineken? I don't. I think they will be really mad about this change.

 

I'm not a big beer drinker so this change has no major impact to my enjoyment, but I support anyone who is against the change because it is a material change in what they had bargained for.

[Loonbeam]

I could see something in the middle. A few varieties not included, a few being upcharged IF they are having supply issues (which is not infeasible on some of the brands there). Some of the really high ABV ones are pretty pricey. If out of 84 beers they limited this to 10 or so, there would still be a pretty good variety on the UBP.

[TheDougOut]

If this is really being considered, I sincerely hope it's not an all-or-nothing type of thing. After years of ordering mass-market beers on NCL, I was thrilled with the possibility of the District Brew House. Supply shouldn't be an issue - there's enough quality beer out there at reasonable prices for them to stock accordingly.

 

I'm fine with some specialty beers being excluded or served with an up charge.

[bzzltyr]

A lot of the smaller brewers don't provide kegs; bottle only

 

Yeah but it's a hugely competitve industry and there's a million brewers who do keg. I agree, I could see the bottle service moving or going away. But that place has a ton of taplines, and a beer out of any of those is going to be a lot cheaper to Norwegian both labor and beverage wise than a Mojito.

[tartan cruiser]

Just posted about the Margaritaville rumor and that more changes were sure to be on the way and sure enough not an hour later the District Brew house rumor is posted. My cruise looks nothing like when I booked back in February. Besides all the monetary changes, Spongebob is gone(grandkids love him), Tortola hours changed (not for the better in my opinion) no free prime rib (can live without it) but the list just goes on and on. This stuff makes me mad. No way will I pay for something that was originally complimentary when I booked. Hadn't cruised NCL in a few years and decided to give them another try on their new ship. Kinda seems like a mistake now. Not a good way to start a vacation. Just can't believe this will be good for business or their bottom line. IMO

[bzzltyr]

Just posted about the Margaritaville rumor and that more changes were sure to be on the way and sure enough not an hour later the District Brew house rumor is posted. My cruise looks nothing like when I booked back in February. Besides all the monetary changes, Spongebob is gone(grandkids love him), Tortola hours changed (not for the better in my opinion) no free prime rib (can live without it) but the list just goes on and on. This stuff makes me mad. No way will I pay for something that was originally complimentary when I booked. Hadn't cruised NCL in a few years and decided to give them another try on their new ship. Kinda seems like a mistake now. Not a good way to start a vacation. Just can't believe this will be good for business or their bottom line. IMO

 

 

I completely relate. I talked my big family into an upcoming escape cruise, we've got 5 rooms and 18 people booked for the Escape Jan 2. A lot of little ones and people who like a good meal. A big part of my pitch was "pay for this now, and then everything is included once you get on the ship, we wont have to worry about splitting up bills, etc". Since we booked this trip here's what's potentially changed off their advertisement off the top of my head:

 

-Room Service now charged

-Margaritaville possibly going away from complimentary

-Lower priced cover charge specialty restaurants are now a'la cart (which adds up to much higher rates)

-Adding pay items to free restaurants

-Getting rid of Prime Rib night (which moved to pay option)

-Removing separate kid prices from a few restaurants

-Getting rid of Carlos bake shop, replaced generic.

-getting rid of Nickelodeon characters

-Getting rid of ninja turtles mini golf (crushed my son)

-not replacing it with anything close to equal

 

I dont see what's improved since then but a lot has taken away to me. I dont see this as the value I used too and will be surprised if we take another cruise.

[sixesandeights]

Semi-off topic but related to this announcement. I am on the NOV 28th cruise. We had to purchase the UBP for one person in our group. If we get on board and they have excluded TDB will they refund that UBP? The other 2 people in the room are on the promotion. This person only drinks beer, and would much rather pay by the beer then have the UBP if TDB is not included.

 

6&8

[Son of a son of a ...]

Unlike 90% of passengers, I don't have UBP so I don't care. The beer prices looked very reasonable for quality brews.

[MAPCruises]

This was one of the MAIN reasons we booked this cruise with the UBP. My husband is an avid IPA drinker and was so looking forward to this. Hopefully they don't change it before the 11/28 sailing... But yet another change to the cruise experience we have thought for months we were going to get and now finding out we will need to pay additional money to get it.

[NoahtheRed]

Sure, NCL, customers love exclusions to all-inclusives. As much as I love NCL, I'm wondering what life is like on RCCL or Carnival.

[weltek]

This was one of the MAIN reasons we booked this cruise with the UBP. My husband is an avid IPA drinker and was so looking forward to this. Hopefully they don't change it before the 11/28 sailing... But yet another change to the cruise experience we have thought for months we were going to get and now finding out we will need to pay additional money to get it.

 

Ditto.

[SeaShark]

If this happens, The District will be a ghost town. As it stands, it was used more as a library by people lounging around all day reading, and not having a single drink (annoying as hell.) Of the handful of people who were actually in there to drink, many of those would simply go elsewhere if this change happened.

 

 

And that, in all of this, is the red flag statement. :eek:

 

 

The District's space on Escape was cabins on the -away ships. NCL made the change thinking that this would be a better generator of revenue for the space. However, if this ends up being a lounge, reading room, hang-out, etc where people sit around all day, a UBP change is going to be the BEST outcome.

 

If this space tilts more toward a lounge and the revenue numbers fall short, it will be much more likely that a) future ships will not have this space, b) existing ships will not be getting this space added, and c) the space will be repurposed on the Escape (think Dawn/Star Spinnaker) to a different space designed to generate the desired revenue levels.

 

 

NCL is going to follow the dollar...our actions (spending habits/patterns) will dictate their reactions.

[NoahtheRed]

Honestly, as much as I like the idea of a craft brew pub.....if they just had better options all around, it'd be worth it. Even if it meant hunting around the ship for the beer I want, I'd be fine with that. Instead of dedicating a whole bar to it, why not just have better options at all your bars?

[sixesandeights]

And that, in all of this, is the red flag statement. :eek:

 

 

The District's space on Escape was cabins on the -away ships. NCL made the change thinking that this would be a better generator of revenue for the space. However, if this ends up being a lounge, reading room, hang-out, etc where people sit around all day, a UBP change is going to be the BEST outcome.

 

If this space tilts more toward a lounge and the revenue numbers fall short, it will be much more likely that a) future ships will not have this space, b) existing ships will not be getting this space added, and c) the space will be repurposed on the Escape (think Dawn/Star Spinnaker) to a different space designed to generate the desired revenue levels.

 

 

NCL is going to follow the dollar...our actions (spending habits/patterns) will dictate their reactions.

 

Nothing you said made any sense. If it was already slow with the UBP included why would a change make any difference. If it is underutilized then a change will be made in the future. Why you think removing it for the UBP will change that, and the reasons you gave make no sense.

 

6&8