When did Margaritaville become a specialty on Escape?

[hpecorari]

Don't do it Harriet!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

My messenger does not have my photo, therefore, no need to send message.

 

Besides, I'm a married women with three children......and my husband wouldn't appreciate another man telling me I'm beautiful like he tends to do from time to time to other women :)

 

However, one of my hands is in the CC photo attached to my posts :)

 

 

Harriet

Edited November 30, 2015 by hpecorari

[Crusin6]

My messenger does not have my photo, therefore, no need to send message.

 

Besides, I'm a married women with three children......and my husband wouldn't appreciate another man telling me I'm beautiful like he tends to do from time to time to other women :)

 

However, one of my hands is in the CC photo attached to my posts :)

 

 

Harriet

 

 

Never know. He might just sweep you off your feet!! Sweet!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[rochelle_s]

My messenger does not have my photo, therefore, no need to send message.

 

Besides, I'm a married women with three children......and my husband wouldn't appreciate another man telling me I'm beautiful like he tends to do from time to time to other women :)

 

However, one of my hands is in the CC photo attached to my posts :)

 

 

Harriet

 

I can confirm that hand belongs to the person she says it does! ;)

 

 

Rochelle

[HoopTroop]

It should be noted that Jimmy no longer owns the restaurant chain

 

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2014-04-24/business/os-margaritaville-sold-expanding-20140424_1_olive-gardens-red-lobsters-restaurants

This kind of makes sense now with the Margaritaville partnership, when that short term President and COO Drew Madsen was with NCL, he came from Darden aka Olive Garden etc. Hmm...

 

HoopTroop

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

[tjt87]

For what it's worth I was on the 1st full Caribbean loop and MV was included. We got a buzzer and went back to our loungers, so the wait time was irrelevant, The food was OK, not great apart from the Key lime pie which I thought was pretty good.

But here's the thing, do people really go to MV for the food? I've always gone for the good time atmosphere! Which was non-existent in MV at sea. There was a distinct lack of fun, music or any other kind of the stuff you get in a standard land based MV.

The 5 O'clock somewhere bar was better but only because the wait staff (Curly and his pal) made it that way, and the only time they could play music was via a passengers phone and a Bluetooth speaker. Which was of course dependant on the passengers choice of music and how long they stayed at the bar.

 

I would have been quite happy to pay say a $5 cover if the experience was anything like the land based one. On my cruise it was not.

[torgotom]

The new menu with pricing was just posted on another site. Burgers $6.99, most sandwiches between $6.99 - $8.99, margaritas $10.95, key lime pie $3.99.

 

Tracy

 

Wow, that is really disappointing. I can't say I'm impressed with the way Norwegian operates it's dining options. It was the only problem with my recent cruise - lack of food options, long lines, bad buffet. Boo!

[motleyfan]

Wow, that is really disappointing. I can't say I'm impressed with the way Norwegian operates it's dining options. It was the only problem with my recent cruise - lack of food options, long lines, bad buffet. Boo!

 

Well right now they're trying to take care of long lines lol. That's why they are doing this.

[Laszlo]

Well right now they're trying to take care of long lines lol. That's why they are doing this.

 

Thats a hell of a way to take care of something. Next they'll be charging $25.00 a day for a lounge chair:eek:

[motleyfan]

Let me think on that.

 

Okay, I thought -

 

even if I send you a message the photo you see is not of me -

so you still won't see me.

 

Harriet

 

Yeah I've noticed a lot of people do that. I don't get why people make a Facebook profile and don't put a photo of themself in it. It's like some people are wanted by the federal government and don't want to be seen lol. If you choose not to send a picture its not a big deal, but would your husband really be that upset if I called you beautiful? That's a little too over jealous right there most men are complemented somebody calls their wife beautiful. I do tend to compliment but I'm very respectful about it when the woman is married.

[janpo]

Yeah I've noticed a lot of people do that. I don't get why people make a Facebook profile and don't put a photo of themself in it. It's like some people are wanted by the federal government and don't want to be seen lol. If you choose not to send a picture its not a big deal, but would your husband really be that upset if I called you beautiful? That's a little too over jealous right there most men are complemented somebody calls their wife beautiful. I do tend to compliment but I'm very respectful about it when the woman is married.

 

 

You need help.

[motleyfan]

You need help.

 

Yes I agree respectful compliments can be terrible lol. Life is too short to worry about my little opinions lol.

[LrgPizza]

Yeah I've noticed a lot of people do that. I don't get why people make a Facebook profile and don't put a photo of themself in it. It's like some people are wanted by the federal government and don't want to be seen lol. If you choose not to send a picture its not a big deal, but would your husband really be that upset if I called you beautiful? That's a little too over jealous right there most men are complemented somebody calls their wife beautiful. I do tend to compliment but I'm very respectful about it when the woman is married.

I can't speak for Harriet, but I know my husband wouldn't be thrilled if I was sending pictures of myself to a random I met on the internet. :rolleyes: But keep on asking. Maybe it will get you suspended or banned again.

[torgotom]

Well right now they're trying to take care of long lines lol. That's why they are doing this.

 

I'm sure there were complaints about long lines, but there were also more than enough people willing to make that wait - why change it then? This change isn't likely to please anyone but the overworked staff and the corporate bean counters. The hours are pretty silly, too - noon till five pm?

Before you savage me yes I enjoyed my cruise. Just had come to imagine my dining options would be easy. It was never easy to get fed on Escape. I should have planned for non complimentary venues. I will plan better on the Constellation.

[paulh84]

Any reports of how the crowds have been now that they are 2 days into the cruise with the new pricing?

 

We're not really ones that would go to a Margaritaville on land but would have gone for lunch or a snack on board had it been included. From the reports of the cafeteria quality burgers and the lack of any fun atmosphere, it will be interesting to see how the crowds pan out over time. A family with 2-3 kids would easily drop $50+ for lunch. While thats not much considering the total expenditure for the cruise, for people on a budget or families...it adds up very quickly.

 

I do feel sorry for the staff left to deal with the fallout!

[LoveyHowell]

If I were running things I would have done the following

 

Breakfast free from 8AM - 10:30 AM

 

Closed 10:30AM - 11:30AM for changeover.

 

Lunch free from 11:30AM - 5:00PM.

 

Closed 5:00PM until 6:00PM for changeover.

 

Open for Dinner, with a charge, and more upscale menu than lunchtime nachos and burgers from 6:00PM - 10:00PM.

 

I also would have scaled back the free items on Breakfast and Lunch to help with kitchen production speed and reduce waste.

 

Then you would go from 5 hours per day open, to stretching it out to 12 hours a day. You can have a nicer menu at night worth paying additional for, but still have complimentary meals twice a day. This would probably alleviate a lot of lines and keep most, if not all, people reasonably happy. If they introduce dinner for a charge I'd say yes, that is an additional option to consider. But removing breakfast entirely and making lunch a la carte was a very bad move. NCL could easily have made these changes and shown they cared about the customer experience. But they only want the money. All they are going to do is increase lines everywhere else.

 

If charges cut down on lines, then when are they going to start charging at O'Sheehans? Let's have the armchair MBA;s in here answer that.

 

*IF* we go and bring kids they can order the FREE kids menu cheeseburger and fries that NCL says all kids under 12 can order at any specialty restaurant. And maybe we will just sit and order drinks from the UBP...

[hpecorari]

Yeah I've noticed a lot of people do that. I don't get why people make a Facebook profile and don't put a photo of themself in it. It's like some people are wanted by the federal government and don't want to be seen lol. If you choose not to send a picture its not a big deal, but would your husband really be that upset if I called you beautiful? That's a little too over jealous right there most men are complemented somebody calls their wife beautiful. I do tend to compliment but I'm very respectful about it when the woman is married.

 

The reason I, as well as other women, I'd think, don't put their photos on the Social Media page or here on CC is because there are a lot of men who would comment.....some nice and some not so nice comments, other men are simply pigs and say some naughty things.

 

Besides, that's the fun of Meet and Greets. We finally get to see whom we're cruising with that we've been talking to.

 

Harriet

[hpecorari]

I can't speak for Harriet, but I know my husband wouldn't be thrilled if I was sending pictures of myself to a random I met on the internet. :rolleyes: .

 

Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner!

 

Harriet

[hpecorari]

Thats a hell of a way to take care of something. Next they'll be charging $25.00 a day for a lounge chair:eek:

 

True, sometimes the pool area is VERY crowded. Maybe they need to charge a la carte for that. X amount of money for X amount of time. That should help with the crowd.

 

Harriet

[RiotAct]

well, this thread took sort of a creepy turn...

[janpo]

well, this thread took sort of a creepy turn...

 

Consider the one who turned it creepy.

[SuiteCruiser]

If I were running things I would have done the following

 

Breakfast free from 8AM - 10:30 AM

 

Closed 10:30AM - 11:30AM for changeover.

 

Lunch free from 11:30AM - 5:00PM.

 

Closed 5:00PM until 6:00PM for changeover.

 

Open for Dinner, with a charge, and more upscale menu than lunchtime nachos and burgers from 6:00PM - 10:00PM.

 

I also would have scaled back the free items on Breakfast and Lunch to help with kitchen production speed and reduce waste.

 

Then you would go from 5 hours per day open, to stretching it out to 12 hours a day. You can have a nicer menu at night worth paying additional for, but still have complimentary meals twice a day. This would probably alleviate a lot of lines and keep most, if not all, people reasonably happy. If they introduce dinner for a charge I'd say yes, that is an additional option to consider. But removing breakfast entirely and making lunch a la carte was a very bad move. NCL could easily have made these changes and shown they cared about the customer experience. But they only want the money. All they are going to do is increase lines everywhere else.

 

If charges cut down on lines, then when are they going to start charging at O'Sheehans? Let's have the armchair MBA;s in here answer that.

 

*IF* we go and bring kids they can order the FREE kids menu cheeseburger and fries that NCL says all kids under 12 can order at any specialty restaurant. And maybe we will just sit and order drinks from the UBP...

 

This sounds far more sensible to me too.

 

The amount of "knee jerk" reactional changes made make it clear that they really have no idea what they are doing or where they are going. I sit on several Board of Directors, and if I saw that happening in any of those companies, it would be a major red flag.

 

How about taking the time to plan properly, look at what you have, and what you need and review it, discuss it, prepare your customers for the changes, and put it into action.

 

The initial rule of not allowing people to bring food back to the their cabins was due to FDR seeing some plates in the hallway. His immediate reaction was to penalize the passengers, and implement it immediately with no warning. Where was the planning committee, to review the options and determine that it would be a marketing nightmare since it happened in conjunction with instituting a fee for room service. No, instead they just did it and then had to reverse it due to backlash in the media.

 

Here we are again. Margaritaville, as a brand new venue that they've been advertising for a year, does as planned and attracts people to eat there. No planning for crowds, the actual physical set up of where they put the check in kiosk means anyone waiting is a) outside and b) on the jogging track, which is dangerous, and the solution to this is to immediately go to $6.99 a burger? Where was the planning committee for this one? How about reviewing other options like slight menu reduction or a couple of more staff, or extending the hours, or requiring reservations.

 

It just shows that they are not taking the time to think things through. Being reactive instead of proactive in dealing with challenges, and in the meantime, annoying their customer base over and over.

[Loonbeam]

I think you have hit on the crux of the matter. In the grand scheme of things, the Margaritaville issue is insignificant. BUT its beginning to speak to a larger way of doing business that has people concerned as to what else may be coming down the pike and how much they can depend on the brand which is a big big issue.

 

The more I see, the more I realize the M'ville changes are a symptom of a larger problem...

 

This sounds far more sensible to me too.

 

The amount of "knee jerk" reactional changes made make it clear that they really have no idea what they are doing or where they are going. I sit on several Board of Directors, and if I saw that happening in any of those companies, it would be a major red flag.

 

How about taking the time to plan properly, look at what you have, and what you need and review it, discuss it, prepare your customers for the changes, and put it into action.

 

The initial rule of not allowing people to bring food back to the their cabins was due to FDR seeing some plates in the hallway. His immediate reaction was to penalize the passengers, and implement it immediately with no warning. Where was the planning committee, to review the options and determine that it would be a marketing nightmare since it happened in conjunction with instituting a fee for room service. No, instead they just did it and then had to reverse it due to backlash in the media.

 

Here we are again. Margaritaville, as a brand new venue that they've been advertising for a year, does as planned and attracts people to eat there. No planning for crowds, the actual physical set up of where they put the check in kiosk means anyone waiting is a) outside and b) on the jogging track, which is dangerous, and the solution to this is to immediately go to $6.99 a burger? Where was the planning committee for this one? How about reviewing other options like slight menu reduction or a couple of more staff, or extending the hours, or requiring reservations.

 

It just shows that they are not taking the time to think things through. Being reactive instead of proactive in dealing with challenges, and in the meantime, annoying their customer base over and over.

[motleyfan]

I'm sure there were complaints about long lines, but there were also more than enough people willing to make that wait - why change it then? This change isn't likely to please anyone but the overworked staff and the corporate bean counters. The hours are pretty silly, too - noon till five pm?

Before you savage me yes I enjoyed my cruise. Just had come to imagine my dining options would be easy. It was never easy to get fed on Escape. I should have planned for non complimentary venues. I will plan better on the Constellation.

 

Maybe because the complaints far outweighed the people willing to stand in line all day looking special

[motleyfan]

Consider the one who turned it creepy.

 

Look back I wasn't the one who first mentioned things that I have said on Facebook. That was when started getting creepy I just simply wanted to see the people who were talking about me. Think about it if somebody started randomly quoting back to you things you post it on a completely different site you would wonder too lol.

[mollydogsmom]

True, sometimes the pool area is VERY crowded. Maybe they need to charge a la carte for that. X amount of money for X amount of time. That should help with the crowd.

 

Harriet

 

All they have to do is realize that they are leaving untapped revenue on the table and you just might see this happen, for our convenience of course!