Cagneys/Le Bistro: HUGE price increases!

[fstuff1]

i just boarded the Dawn for the July 4th cruise.

 

here are the prices (around +$10 more for each dish!):

 

Ribeye $32 

no more surcharge for shrimp at cagneys?

 

and limit upped to $35 for platinum dinners:

 

but it doesnt cover the Dover Sole ($39) at Le Bistro! :o

 

Edited June 29, 2019 by fstuff1

[Bonobochick]

Wow. They must be crazy. 🤨 I was just on the Escape 2 weeks ago with the $25 limit and average pricing. How quickly and without notice things change with NCL.

 

Outside of using my Platinum vouchers or if I happen to have the SDP perk, I will be dining at MDR or OSheehans. Or even the buffet. This is just OTT greedy so I will be keeping my wallet closed regarding NCL specialty restaurants and save my money for many of NYC's fine steakhouses and French restaurants. 

Edited June 29, 2019 by Bonobochick

[tallnthensome]

*****! My Encore cruise just went from $94.80 for a three day SDP to $130.80! Glad I already had it as a perk and got it for the kids a while back for $94. $523 now to buy for a family of four for three dinners. They can kiss off ....... 

[mking8288]

Well, this is or isn't a pilot or trial to test ... just steamrolled or deep dived right in.  I will give them the benefits of my own doubts - lots of wealthy folks that rather sail NCL than go with Princess, MSC, Royal or other upscale lines and don't mind.  Crew members and rank-n-file employees at NCL gotta be loving this, lifting them higher up once they get allocated their share ... or, not.  

 

Just wait till we hit more headwind.  OK, let loose those pom poms 

Edited June 29, 2019 by mking8288

[hallux]

After my trip earlier this year I was ready to go all-in on considering NCL for 1-2 cruises a year, I was really sold on the solo program and studio cabins.  NCL really seems to be pricing into a high-end cruise line now.  Unless I get the SDP as a perk I guess it's a studio cabin, MDR food (and the service the go with it, which was mediocre to poor on my trip in April) and relegation to the main pool area if the recent changes to some ships carry to all of them.  I might reconsider my vacationing choice...

[Birdie And Sue]

22 minutes ago, Bonobochick said:

Wow. They must be crazy. 🤨 I was just on the Escape 2 weeks ago with the $25 limit and average pricing. How quickly and without notice things change with NCL.

 

Outside of using my Platinum vouchers or if I happen to have the SDP perk, I will be dining at MDR or OSheehans. Or even the buffet. This is just OTT greedy so I will be keeping my wallet closed regarding NCL specialty restaurants and save my money for many of NYC's fine steakhouses and French restaurants. 

 

 

Without notice / quickly,  brought to you by the department of redundancy department.

[mugtech]

Looking like bay scallops for my Platinum Plus meal, refuse to pay anything extra.

[mugtech]

Not like I needed another reason to not sail on the Dawn.

[don't-use-real-name]

Instead of soft selling it -

 

Understand that inflation cost of living fair market pricing global warming and a myriad of other circumstances

have resulted in our having to raise prices:

 

"These changes to be made effective 90 days from now - grandfathered prepayments accepted in advance as usual" !

 

Radical NCL Ultimatum - The price changes are foisted henceforth:

 

" IMMEDIATELY ONCE ONE CROSSES THE THRESHOLD OF THE GANGPLANK" !

No further advisories will be announced - Oh and enjoy dining at your new  'Fee'Style  menu !

 

Another fine example of shooting oneself in the foot before considering the after effects of such action !

[phissy]

This is one thing that really bothers me about NCL.  No heads up, no warning....quietly overnight making big changes and hoping no one will notice or quietly accept it.   This seems to be their MO now.

[ColeThornton]

15 minutes ago, phissy said:

This is one thing that really bothers me about NCL.  No heads up, no warning....quietly overnight making big changes and hoping no one will notice or quietly accept it.   This seems to be their MO now.

 

 

No one likes price increases but do grocery stores warn you when prices go up?  Gas station?  Airlines?   Hotels?   Cable company?

Edited June 29, 2019 by ColeThornton

[don't-use-real-name]

3 minutes ago, ColeThornton said:

 

 

Does grocery stores warn you when prices go up?  Gas station?  Airlines?   Hotels?   Cable company?

On a cruise ship one is a CAPTIVE to the pricing - the others (noted-quote) you are free to change course

and opt out move on - but here you are sitting at the NCL  'Fee'Style  dining table and that dining package

is not all it was cut out to be whether it was by perk or paid program.

Your options well you could go to the MDR - Buffet - hot dog kiosk - so much for the perks and paid programs !

 

I feel that slowly the cruise industry is getting away --- far away from the All Inclusive features and drifting in

a Sargasso Sea of picky petti individual pricing per items right down to the number of olives in a martini like

a certain major airline.

[david_sobe]

I was going to post something similar last night.  I believe ALL Specialty Dining has went up.  How did I find out?  I have the 3 day specialty as a perk.  I was going to buy it for the other 2 guests when my cruise got closer to being paid off.  I remember something with saving $8 per person if I booked the dining package before sailing.  I remember it being somewhere around $82 which would be $25 x 3 = $75 + 20% =$90 - 8 = $82.00

Last night the discounted specialty 3 night plan was $97 I believe.

Its hard to keep track of everything that keeps going up with NCL.  Typical FDR move.  No announcement about increase in serving size, restaurant ambience, better ingredients, etc.  Just keep raising the price.  To think it was not that long ago there was no 20% tacked on to the price not to mention the base price for several of the restaurants have went up in price.

Now if you already have the plan are you grandfathered in?  Or do they surcharge you?  With the Cagneys increase are they still charging extra for shrimp?

 

When the meals on cruise ships start to charge the same or more than excursions maybe its time to skip them.

Edited June 29, 2019 by david_sobe

[teachberry]

Our last cruise was South America in March. We were really surprised at the lack of diners in all of the specialty restaurants. 

[Steff79]

if less people are going to the specialty restaurants the others get more crowded.

at my last getaway cruise, i think, the speciality retaurants were not very much in demand. only one time, at opening hour, i got a table without waiting time.

 

and don´t forget, you paid with your cruise fee an evining meal, so the price for the speciality restaurants comes on top to that.

Edited June 29, 2019 by Steff79

[Bonobochick]

2 hours ago, Birdie And Sue said:

Without notice / quickly,  brought to you by the department of redundancy department.

 

False. Things can change quickly with notice... or without. But I would rather discuss the actual topic. 

Edited June 29, 2019 by Bonobochick

[jaja]

WOW--just WOW....Big  jumps...it will be very interesting to see how all the specialty do now.  🤔  Last cruise they were not crowded at all...and now this....

Edited June 29, 2019 by jaja

[tallnthensome]

The restaurants were already dead on my Panama Canal trip on the Bliss in April. 

[david_sobe]

How are you guys saying the specialty restaurants are dead when most people booked with the specialty dining perk?  I would imagine they would be packed.

[tallnthensome]

15 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

How are you guys saying the specialty restaurants are dead when most people booked with the specialty dining perk?  I would imagine they would be packed.

Well, no one knows how many people have the UDP and not everyone does nor does it come with every cabin category nor chosen as the perk. We spent a lot of time on the Bliss and the deck 8 Waterfront where the restaurants are located and simply looking inside it was empty table after empty table in most all of them. Could it be busier on shorter cruises? Maybe .... This was a 15 day ..... 

[PortFees45]

Did anyone pay a la carte for specialty dining? I assumed the vast, vast majority of diners has SDP or Platinum. 

[FLAHAM]

3 hours ago, Bonobochick said:

Wow. They must be crazy. 🤨

 

Outside of using my Platinum vouchers or if I happen to have the SDP perk, I will be dining at MDR or OSheehans. Or even the buffet. This is just OTT greedy so I will be keeping my wallet closed regarding NCL specialty restaurants and save my money for many of NYC's fine steakhouses and French restaurants. 

Flemings, a steakhouse chain that is good, but not top tier, has a restaurant here in Dayton, OH.  Its minimum ribeye is $50 with each side at $10-$13. 

[PortFees45]

6 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

Flemings, a steakhouse chain that is good, but not top tier, has a restaurant here in Dayton, OH.  Its minimum ribeye is $50 with each side at $10-$13. 

The economics of a land-based steakhouse and a a cruise ship operation like Cagneys are not comparable. 

[roger001]

It's NCL's prerogative to price up to whatever the market will bear.  And apparently they are doing it.   However, it's my prerogative to no longer purchase their product when to me the price no longer justifies the product offered.   We've done 22 NCL cruise.  The last 6 have been in suites.  However, NCL suite prices have skyrocketed and we are now no longer consider them a justified product (we will miss them).  Instead, our next booking is an MSC Yacht Club cruise.  The price I booked it for was approximate $3500 less than an NCL comparable offering (a Haven selection).  But...although I am locked into the MSC cruise at this very good price, their prices now seem to be headed waaaay up for something similar in the future.   So....this MSC might very well be our last cruise.  We will look for another type vacation instead.   Did enjoy it though.    NCL owes me nothing.   Price on as high as you think you can.  That's what it's all about.....corporate businesses.   

[PortFees45]

2 minutes ago, roger001 said:

It's NCL's prerogative to price up to whatever the market will bear.  And apparently they are doing it.   However, it's my prerogative to no longer purchase their product when to me the price no longer justifies the product offered.   We've done 22 NCL cruise.  The last 6 have been in suites.  However, NCL suite prices have skyrocketed and we are now no longer consider them a justified product (we will miss them).  Instead, our next booking is an MSC Yacht Club cruise.  The price I booked it for was approximate $3500 less than an NCL comparable offering (a Haven selection).  But...although I am locked into the MSC cruise at this very good price, their prices now seem to be headed waaaay up for something similar in the future.   So....this MSC might very well be our last cruise.  We will look for another type vacation instead.   Did enjoy it though.    NCL owes me nothing.   Price on as high as you think you can.  That's what it's all about.....corporate businesses.   

Frank Del Rio is going to miss customers like you when the economy slows down and the "millennials" he has such a fetish for disappear.