Hope Princess does not begin doing this ...

[Ombud]

I want them to cut waste & (as a shareholder) want them to continue with a healthy bottom line. Pays my dividends & shareholder OBC. Now if they choose to delete military OBC I'll raise a fuss but I sincerely doubt anyone goes hungry on as cruise ship 

[kennicott]

Are you going to dump your cruise line because they charge for an extra entree?

 

I personally regard the issue as pretty much inconsequential, in other words a non-problem. So I thought it rather silly that someone would suggest that a life-long HAL loyalist find another line just because HAL decided to charge ten bucks for another lobster. LOL

 

Therefore, the other day I was curious as to how the HAL faithful were taking this news so I looked at one of their forums. About as one might expect, most were not happy, but the topic was drawing more posts that I would have guessed. Some read like this: "Hotel ServiceCharges (HSC)----You are charging me 10, I’ll just remove 10 from the HSC,----- That's not very fair is it? This restaurant has the audacity to charge me extra for ordering extra food, let's punish the waiter".  

 

Truth may be that more are displeased due the mere idea of the new rule, not that they are stuffing their faces with double entrees.

One area of suggestion(s) really got my attention though. Some commentators recommended that HAL guests look at other cruise lines and dump HAL. Of course, most of those had their favorite line so the remainder of their harangue dealt with the perceived virtues of said line. Isn't that what "trolls" do?

 

However, I was aghast when reading what those who were pushing Oceania, big time, had to say. Now, I've never been on Oceania or NCL but have almost 150 sailing days on Regent, their sister line. So here are posters advocating FDR's Oceania over HAL for charging a couple of bucks for an extra entree, at a time when FDR is making worldly pronouncements like this: "So we’re focusing on price; we’re pushing price higher everywhere we can both in 2019 and 2020,” “While we still have a lot of cabins to fill, the emphasis will be on raising prices across all three brands.” If you will recall, he did the same in September 2018 too.

 

What gripes me in this regard is that we just finished up last cruise year with two cruises, one on Princess and one on Regent. Princess was 29 days and Regent 22, both trans-oceans. On Princess we had a full suite, an Owners Suite, on the Mariner we had a Concierge Suite. The Owners Suite including balcony was about 1000 square feet, the Concierge Suite was 301 sq. ft including balcony. With the Princess Suite we received "Club Class" dining plus exclusive breakfasts in one of the specialty restaurants.

Shore excursions were about equal, although most Regent shore excursions were included and we paid separately for the Princess excursions. From a food and dining quality standpoint Princess had a significant edge at breakfast and a slight edge at dinner. Obviously, from a cabin standpoint the Princess accommodations were far better. Regent had the edge in on board ambience. The Princess vessel, Pacific Princess, had 670 guests, the Regent Mariner had 700. The Mariner is 48,000 gross tons, the Pacific Princess is 30,300 gross tons.

We paid $530.00 per person per day on Princess which included about $3,000 in excursions and Business Class Air, Seattle to Venice, was also included in the Princess price. We paid our own air on Regent this time. Total we paid $631.00 per day per person on Regent. 

By coincidence, I just recently calculated expenses for a 28 day cruise in North America on the Oceania's Regatta in the exact same Owners Suite as we had on the Pacific Princess (Note: The Pacific Princess is the R-3 from the defunct Renaissance Cruises and the Regatta is the R-2). This Oceania cruise would run us $957.00 per day per person. Compare this to what we paid on Princess during a 29 day cruise a few months ago, $530.p.p.--p.d. In addition, the Regatta charges are going to be even more as we get no free internet, plus we get 7 shore excursions each on the Regatta but any more we take will be an additional charge. We do get a butler if we choose to use the Regatta. But been there done that, the Butler isn't worth it and we must pay for one like it or not on Oceania.

In summary, Oceania will cost us $1000. “more” per day for the same cabin and about the same cruise experience as we had on Princess.

 

[Kingofcool1947]

40 minutes ago, kennicott said:

 

 

 

 

However, I was aghast when reading what those who were pushing Oceania, big time, had to say. Now, I've never been on Oceania or NCL but have almost 150 sailing days on Regent, their sister line. So here are posters advocating FDR's Oceania over HAL for charging a couple of bucks for an extra entree, at a time when FDR is making worldly pronouncements like this: "So we’re focusing on price; we’re pushing price higher everywhere we can both in 2019 and 2020,” “While we still have a lot of cabins to fill, the emphasis will be on raising prices across all three brands.” If you will recall, he did the same in September 2018 too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is FDR?

 

King

Edited March 8, 2019 by Kingofcool1947

[FTBLCOACH]

"All The Way" my brother eagle...RVN 1969-70 at Phu Bai.

[BCCRUSINGCOUPLE]

Are you going to dump your cruise line because they charge for an extra entree?

 

I personally regard the issue as pretty much inconsequential, in other words a non-problem. So I thought it rather silly that someone would suggest that a life-long HAL loyalist find another line just because HAL decided to charge ten bucks for another lobster. LOL

 

Therefore, the other day I was curious as to how the HAL faithful were taking this news so I looked at one of their forums. About as one might expect, most were not happy, but the topic was drawing more posts that I would have guessed. Some read like this: "Hotel ServiceCharges (HSC)----You are charging me 10, I’ll just remove 10 from the HSC,----- That's not very fair is it? This restaurant has the audacity to charge me extra for ordering extra food, let's punish the waiter".  

 

Truth may be that more are displeased due the mere idea of the new rule, not that they are stuffing their faces with double entrees.

One area of suggestion(s) really got my attention though. Some commentators recommended that HAL guests look at other cruise lines and dump HAL. Of course, most of those had their favorite line so the remainder of their harangue dealt with the perceived virtues of said line. Isn't that what "trolls" do?

 

However, I was aghast when reading what those who were pushing Oceania, big time, had to say. Now, I've never been on Oceania or NCL but have almost 150 sailing days on Regent, their sister line. So here are posters advocating FDR's Oceania over HAL for charging a couple of bucks for an extra entree, at a time when FDR is making worldly pronouncements like this: "So we’re focusing on price; we’re pushing price higher everywhere we can both in 2019 and 2020,” “While we still have a lot of cabins to fill, the emphasis will be on raising prices across all three brands.” If you will recall, he did the same in September 2018 too.

 

What gripes me in this regard is that we just finished up last cruise year with two cruises, one on Princess and one on Regent. Princess was 29 days and Regent 22, both trans-oceans. On Princess we had a full suite, an Owners Suite, on the Mariner we had a Concierge Suite. The Owners Suite including balcony was about 1000 square feet, the Concierge Suite was 301 sq. ft including balcony. With the Princess Suite we received "Club Class" dining plus exclusive breakfasts in one of the specialty restaurants.

Shore excursions were about equal, although most Regent shore excursions were included and we paid separately for the Princess excursions. From a food and dining quality standpoint Princess had a significant edge at breakfast and a slight edge at dinner. Obviously, from a cabin standpoint the Princess accommodations were far better. Regent had the edge in on board ambience. The Princess vessel, Pacific Princess, had 670 guests, the Regent Mariner had 700. The Mariner is 48,000 gross tons, the Pacific Princess is 30,300 gross tons.

We paid $530.00 per person per day on Princess which included about $3,000 in excursions and Business Class Air, Seattle to Venice, was also included in the Princess price. We paid our own air on Regent this time. Total we paid $631.00 per day per person on Regent. 

By coincidence, I just recently calculated expenses for a 28 day cruise in North America on the Oceania's Regatta in the exact same Owners Suite as we had on the Pacific Princess (Note: The Pacific Princess is the R-3 from the defunct Renaissance Cruises and the Regatta is the R-2). This Oceania cruise would run us $957.00 per day per person. Compare this to what we paid on Princess during a 29 day cruise a few months ago, $530.p.p.--p.d. In addition, the Regatta charges are going to be even more as we get no free internet, plus we get 7 shore excursions each on the Regatta but any more we take will be an additional charge. We do get a butler if we choose to use the Regatta. But been there done that, the Butler isn't worth it and we must pay for one like it or not on Oceania.

In summary, Oceania will cost us $1000. “more” per day for the same cabin and about the same cruise experience as we had on Princess.

 

I really enjoyed reading your post. From what I have read you have done well for yourself and the 10 fee is really nothing. Now to be honest it does not break the bank for me however the real issue here is they are nickel and dime. Now let’s face it how many people really eat two meals maybe 20 percent so very low really. So let’s say they go with this next if is something else like oh yeah raise then gratuity charge raise the drink fee. I think we need to voice our concerns for the line we love. I am actually glad to see other lines coming on board that are not owned by CCL so this might balance the field with more choice


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kingofcool1947]

34 minutes ago, FTBLCOACH said:

"All The Way" my brother eagle...RVN 1969-70 at Phu Bai.

 Phu Bai 👍👍 “No  Slack” my brother eagle.

Edited March 8, 2019 by Kingofcool1947

[Skai]

“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche”

 

Simple Plebs...🧐

[Colo Cruiser]

7 hours ago, Kingofcool1947 said:

 

What is FDR?

 

King

CEO of NCL Frank Del Rio.

parent company of Oceania Cruises and Regent 7 Seas Cruises.

[kennicott]

On ‎3‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 9:53 PM, BCCRUSINGCOUPLE said:

Now to be honest it does not break the bank for me however the real issue here is they are nickel and dime. So let’s say they go with this next if is something else like oh yeah raise then gratuity charge raise the drink fee. I think we need to voice our concerns for the line we love. I am actually glad to see other lines coming on board that are not owned by CCL so this might balance the field with more choice  Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

What exactly is the difference between the nickel and dime cruise experience and the all-inclusive type; which is better for you?

 

My take on this is that this all stems from the bottom line and the profit margin which investors in the cruise line business have a sole interest in. In my opinion the best way to understand it is to recognize that  the industry confronted a situation years ago wherein it faced the dilemma of how to increase volume, if not, stagnate on Wall Street.

 

Problem was, most folks could not afford to cruise, simple as that. So the answer to getting them on board was to charge them only one low basic fee which gave them passage, a simple cabin, food in a common dining room or buffet and freedom to roam about the ship taking in a show or two, but not much else unless they wanted to pay extra. In addition, were shore days, shore sightseeing adventures were expensive so during the port days they could get by with taking a free shuttle into the nearby town or walking there. That was pretty much it, bottom line, they love/loved it. To the point the industry has introduced gigantic ships to compensate for the demand brought on by those who desire a simple affordable cruise on the sea. Today we have nine of these lines classified as majors (Those with 10 ships or more). Some label these as "Mainstream".  

 

However, for the days of yore crowd and for the all-inclusive cruise lovers, there were problems. Except for a few very expensive all-inclusive lines or a couple or more trying to squeeze in between by offering an on board experience a notch above mainstream, all of which offered smaller vessels but more extravagant on board ambience, amenities and service, those voyagers were being left out of cruising boom.

 

So, the big boys compensated for that too. On board the giants they came up with all sorts of extra charge venues, in particular, extra charge specialty restaurants which blew away the ever increasing degradation of service and cuisine quality in the free main dining rooms by offering exquisite gourmet meals and super service. Commensurate with not only the addition of decent extra charge eateries, almost everything else in the form of service and on board programs capable of being extra charged were enhanced in quality.

 

Actually, those marketing tactics might be irritating but are pretty ingenious, as one can pay for all the extras desired, cuisine, better cabins, balconies, deluxe shore excursions, top quality booze, spa treatments and on and on but still rubbing elbows on the main deck with those paying for a lesser class of cruise on a bare bones budget.  However, at the same time beating the expense of a similar itinerary with like or better service, meal quality and cabin size as to what one gets on the so called “luxury lines” for about one half to two thirds the total cost. 

 

As far as the all inclusive's, ever been on one? We have, a lot. Free booze?--Except many who don't drink (as much as I do anyway) constantly complain they are subsidizing alcoholics. Lobster, Steak, escargot and caviar?---You constantly hear complaints from those on restricted diets etc. that they don't like these extravagances included in the overall price of the cruise. Shore excursions are included--Except many don't want to take those and suggest extra charges for shore excursions would be appropriate. Evening entertainment---Many don't like the theatre shows so prefer to not pay for such up front. Anyway, you get the drift.

 

But oh wait, haven't we heard this before? Yet some still wonder why the industry has gravitated to an extra charge policy on most stuff! Enjoy your nickel and dime cruise folks.

Edited March 9, 2019 by kennicott

[Mike_DeA]

On 3/4/2019 at 2:05 AM, caribill said:

 

I am one of those who was unhappy with the change.

 

Usually I go to the buffet and bring breakfast back to the cabin for the two of us to eat. With the bigger platters, I could do this in one trip. With the smaller plates, it takes two and sometimes three trips.

I have seen post on CC where people mention bringing their own cafeteria-type tray with them on the cruise.  Which may be something to consider for your situation. Doesn't take up much luggage space.

[caribill]

6 hours ago, Mike_DeA said:

I have seen post on CC where people mention bringing their own cafeteria-type tray with them on the cruise.  Which may be something to consider for your situation. Doesn't take up much luggage space.

Or, if you have ordered something from room service, keep the delivery tray in your cabin and use it when you go to the buffet.

[Mike_DeA]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

Or, if you have ordered something from room service, keep the delivery tray in your cabin and use it when you go to the buffet.

I thought of suggesting that, but there are a few issues:

- The poster would want to use it the first morning and would therefore need to have ordered (and paid for) room service the prior evening or got the free continental breakfast earlier that morning to have the tray in hand,

- all of the room service dishes/utensils would be loose and not easy to carry for the attendant/steward to collect, and they msy inquire about the tray,

- there is a limited supple of trays on board, so if others followed suit it could be an issue,

- the cabin steward may collect the tray if it's lying out.

 

So I stick to my suggestion of bringing your own.

[pamwigs]

I do think its a bad idea. We have seen a lot of waste and its sad? It is an option. If you don't want it, you don't pay.

[kywildcatfanone]

Princess has been doing this in the specialty restaurants for a while now.  Part of why I don't go anymore.