Cagneys/Le Bistro: HUGE price increases!

[Bonobochick]

30 minutes ago, PortFees45 said:

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

I had a sailaway cabin for my last cruise so I paid a la carte for a lunch at Food Republic. I have SDP on my upcoming cruise, though. Otherwise I am all about vouchers and MDR for meals. 

[Son of a son of a ...]

We usually need a reason to use OBC so we will “pay” a bit more for extras.  However, we are folks pretty content with the MDR.  

[alreadypacked]

42 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.

 

I too expected specialty restaurants to be packed on our May 2019 Dawn cruise, because when I went online to make our reservations at 120 days prior, I could only book space for a party of 1 at two of the venues. I thought, "Wow people snagged up the spots really quick!" And I was reserving the very day the dining reservation system opened for our sailing.

 

Reality on our sailing was that the specialty restaurants were EMPTY!

 

Maybe people are making reservations and not showing up?

 

MDR food was so bad on our sailing that we tried to make an additional reservation for Bamboo, but were told it was sold out. Later in the cruise, we went to the reservations desk again, and they had a slot available for like 8:30 pm the last night of the cruise, so we said ok.

 

That evening we were so hungry by 6:30-ish, we decided to drop by Bamboo to see if they might be able to take us early...

 

They did!!!

 

The place was empty.

 

On our sailing, Bamboo and Moderno were very good; Los Lobos was excellent! La Cucina: Well, DH liked his steak, but my Carbonara was tasteless. :(

 

MDR food at breakfast was terrible. For example, the Bircher Muesli (a healthy dish I have thoroughly enjoyed on NCL) contained exactly 3 blueberries, 3 raspberries, NO orange segments, hardly any raisins or nuts and NO fresh mint leaves.

 

We spent more money eating breakfast OFF the ship than ever before (and I've been on almost 40 cruises!)

 

DH and I still had fun on the cruise because entertainment was stellar and we met some really nice people, but... I don't like paying a lot of money for a cruise and getting a lot of bad food! So I promptly canceled my Oct Breakaway that I had booked for me, my sister, and our best friend. We're booked on Regal Princess for our annual girls' cruise now. I hope it'll be good (read bad food reviews on Princess board recently too).

 

I jumped ship from Carnival a few years ago, because their food reached such deplorable lows (for the price point, their food had been so good back in the day... 2002 - 2009-ish). We rediscovered NCL in 2016, after first sailing on the Sky in 2011 with bad food. Now I'm done with NCL too.

 

We may soon be done with cruising altogether if things don't improve.

 

I'm probably in the minority here, but I wish all the cruise lines would drop all the gimmicks (ropes course, go carts, zip lines etc) and get back to providing the great [included] MDR food and great nightly entertainment like they used to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Son of a son of a ...]

8 minutes ago, alreadypacked said:

 

I too expected specialty restaurants to be packed on our May 2019 Dawn cruise, because when I went online to make our reservations at 120 days prior, I could only book space for a party of 1 at two of the venues. I thought, "Wow people snagged up the spots really quick!" And I was reserving the very day the dining reservation system opened for our sailing.

 

Reality on our sailing was that the specialty restaurants were EMPTY!

 

Maybe people are making reservations and not showing up?

 

MDR food was so bad on our sailing that we tried to make an additional reservation for Bamboo, but were told it was sold out. Later in the cruise, we went to the reservations desk again, and they had a slot available for like 8:30 pm the last night of the cruise, so we said ok.

 

That evening we were so hungry by 6:30-ish, we decided to drop by Bamboo to see if they might be able to take us early...

 

They did!!!

 

The place was empty.

 

On our sailing, Bamboo and Moderno were very good; Los Lobos was excellent! La Cucina: Well, DH liked his steak, but my Carbonara was tasteless. :(

 

MDR food at breakfast was terrible. For example, the Bircher Muesli (a healthy dish I have thoroughly enjoyed on NCL) contained exactly 3 blueberries, 3 raspberries, NO orange segments, hardly any raisins or nuts and NO fresh mint leaves.

 

We spent more money eating breakfast OFF the ship than ever before (and I've been on almost 40 cruises!)

 

DH and I still had fun on the cruise because entertainment was stellar and we met some really nice people, but... I don't like paying a lot of money for a cruise and getting a lot of bad food! So I promptly canceled my Oct Breakaway that I had booked for me, my sister, and our best friend. We're booked on Regal Princess for our annual girls' cruise now. I hope it'll be good (read bad food reviews on Princess board recently too).

 

I jumped ship from Carnival a few years ago, because their food reached such deplorable lows (for the price point, their food had been so good back in the day... 2002 - 2009-ish). We rediscovered NCL in 2016, after first sailing on the Sky in 2011 with bad food. Now I'm done with NCL too.

 

We may soon be done with cruising altogether if things don't improve.

 

I'm probably in the minority here, but I wish all the cruise lines would drop all the gimmicks (ropes course, go carts, zip lines etc) and get back to providing the great [included] MDR food and great nightly entertainment like they used to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well ... to heck with you 😁 

[Alatraveler1]

Celebrity

[FredT]

Speaking of specialty venue's, we are booked on our first NCL cruise in over 20 years, so the whole specialty restaurant thing is confusing me.  We are on the Spirit (Small ship) and of their 4 specialty restaurants,  only two are listed in the "dining packages" on the NCL site.  (The others are all a la cart???) 

 

On a 21 night cruise I have no problem buying a package, but is it worth it?

 

[david_sobe]

Does anyone know if you currently have the dining package, are you grandfathered in or will you pay the difference?  If they make people pay the difference, there are going to be lots of angry people.

[Nola26]

1 hour ago, PortFees45 said:

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

I did on Bliss in February. One meal at Los Lobos. Shared entree and extra side for about $30. SDP on next cruise as a perk. Both are Specialty firsts for us. We are pretty content with the complimentary options on NCL, so paying extra for dinner isn't a great value for us. I have a chance at Platinum in the next year or so so we will enjoy the Specialty perks of the level, but not more often than that.

[shof515]

17 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Does anyone know if you currently have the dining package, are you grandfathered in or will you pay the difference?  If they make people pay the difference, there are going to be lots of angry people.

 

there is no difference, at the end of your meal your receipt should still show a 0.00 balance.

[hallux]

2 minutes ago, shof515 said:

 

there is no difference, at the end of your meal your receipt should still show a 0.00 balance.

I think the person you quoted intended the difference as a difference in the cost of the plan, or the gratuities on the included plan as a perk.  To answer THAT - I doubt that will be needed, once booked the price shouldn't go up unless there is a change in the booking that requires a "re-fare"...

[HowardK]

5 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

*****! 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 ....... 

I just saw on mine the $94 was still for 3 and $112 for 4- I am wondering if I should lock in the $112 for 4 - I was going to wait and use forthcoming NCL credit from the NCL card for it though.

 

Its becoming disparaging how there is an angle for everything. Anywhere they can make a $1  

[mugtech]

29 minutes ago, HowardK said:

 

 

Its becoming disparaging how there is an angle for everything. Anywhere they can make a $1  

How amazing that they make a dollar any legal way they can!  What do they think they are, a business?

[Alatraveler1]

1 hour ago, hallux said:

I think the person you quoted intended the difference as a difference in the cost of the plan, or the gratuities on the included plan as a perk.  To answer THAT - I doubt that will be needed, once booked the price shouldn't go up unless there is a change in the booking that requires a "re-fare"...

I realize that dining is probably quite different, but on the Bliss this year when the go-karts went from $10-$15, there was no grandfathering for those embarking then or that had already paid for their cruise in full.

 

 

[perditax]

All I can really say is, “LOL”.

 

At this point, I’m starting to price out Oceania, but of course that’s rewarding the same parent company. Disney’s concierge class seemingly still delivers the service I expected to get in Haven and didn’t, but Disney’s concierge prices are insane. (Oceania is cheaper in many instances.)

 

If Virgin caves to full “unbundling” by the time they launch (as opposed to the relatively inclusive experience they’re advertising, which includes all specialty restaurants), I guess my brief (four year) fling with this industry will be done. And yes, I know they won’t miss me. 

[hallux]

30 minutes ago, Alatraveler1 said:

I realize that dining is probably quite different, but on the Bliss this year when the go-karts went from $10-$15, there was no grandfathering for those embarking then or that had already paid for their cruise in full.

 

 

The difference with the go-karts is that they hadn't yet paid for the activity. If the SDP has gone up in price (someone earlier said it has for their cruise) if I had booked a cruise last week, selecting the dining as my perk (I sail Studio, only get one perk) I would have paid gratuities based on the old cost of the SDP.  If I book now, I pay gratuities on the NEW price of the SDP.  People booking before an increase in price are usually not expected to cover that increased price.

 

That said - a "mock booking" for the cruise I'm looking at still has the 3-night SDP (7 night cruise) at what appears to be $79, $15.80 in gratuities so my point may be moot for now...

[HowardK]

43 minutes ago, mugtech said:

How amazing that they make a dollar any legal way they can!  What do they think they are, a business?

There is also something called customer retention.....

[smithop]

Let's face it, the recession is over, discretionary spending is rising and all travel choices are reflecting that in price increases.

CA just signed the budget with a 21 Billion surplus. All austerity measures have been rolled back.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[perditax]

44 minutes ago, mugtech said:

How amazing that they make a dollar any legal way they can!  What do they think they are, a business?

 

Some businesses manages to make huge profits while not aggressively eroding the customer experience with every change. Maybe the the NCL folks at the top lack the necessary skills or foresight to pull this off. 

 

In any event, folks, vote with your wallet. And remember that last-minute price drops happen even in peak season. 

[mugtech]

3 minutes ago, HowardK said:

There is also something called customer retention.....

There are plenty on here bragging about the great increase in their stock values over the past decade, customers come and customers go.

[RNCheryl]

Thinking Princess and Celebrity...

 

[mugtech]

2 minutes ago, perditax said:

 

Some businesses manages to make huge profits while not aggressively eroding the customer experience with every change. Maybe the the NCL folks at the top lack the necessary skills or foresight to pull this off. 

 

In any event, folks, vote with your wallet. And remember that last-minute price drops happen even in peak season. 

I agree, we are Platinum Plus, won't be cruising on NCL until October of 2021 at the earliest.  Taking 7 other cruises next two years.

[perditax]

Just now, mugtech said:

I agree, we are Platinum Plus, won't be cruising on NCL until October of 2021 at the earliest.  Taking 7 other cruises next two years.

 

I’ll be platinum when I burn off my last two certificates (upcoming cruise). And that will be the end of me and NCL. (And this subforum, likely.) I have a suite cruise on Virgin booked for Oct 2020, although I may also jump on an earlier solo sailing after they launch. As I said in an earlier post, I’m also pricing other lines. I did have a very nice experience on Princess, but their willingness to keep dumping sewage even when they’re on legal probation for it is holding me back from looking at them again. So mostly my eye is on Virgin and any other “disrupters” who choose to join the fray. 

[perditax]

10 minutes ago, mugtech said:

There are plenty on here bragging about the great increase in their stock values over the past decade, customers come and customers go.

 

The economy has been in a record-long increase for the last decade. I’m kind of curious how things will shake out when the next recession hits and the oceans are full of newly built megaships. (I wasn’t cruising during the last real crash, but I assume there were some great deals to be had.)

 

It’s only recently clicked for me lately that the loudest cheerleaders here aren’t necessarily shills, they’re actually stockholders.

[willsears94]

I may have 2 of the 3 next cruises booked on other lines, but increases aren't going to push me away. I'm not a cheerleader, just someone who understands basic economics and how corporations work (I don't love it, but that is the way of Corporate America). Plus I always book on Celebrity as a switch to NCL on my 2 cruises/year. 

 

When the next recessions hits, NCL will feel it, but only because they are entry-market competing against CCL and RCCL. They all will. 

 

 

 

 

[hallux]

Look at some of the other line's forums.  Royal is apparently increasing excursion prices.  Someone even used a similar phrase to that used in the thread on the Vibe expansion on an NCL ship, something about feeling out what the market will bear.  It seems NCL isn't alone, but NCL may be the most aggressive.