To-go Food Options on Epic

[PGHCruising]

On the NCL Epic right now, looking for commentary from people who have sailed Epic or NCL before.

 

I had an odd experience at the Irish pub on Epic while looking for dinner around 7pm. For anyone unfamiliar with the Irish pub, it is one of the complimentary options on Epic, and it is also the only 24 hour establishment on board. It was around dinner time when I went, and I asked the hostess if I could order food that I could bring back it to my stateroom. Her answer was an absolute no, with no exceptions. She said the only food that could be brought back to a stateroom was food from the buffet, and that it had something to do with the type of plate from the buffet. I’m not kidding, that was her reasoning.
 

Her answer legitimately caught me off-guard.  

 

It’s our first time cruising with NCL. We have sailed RCL Symphony in the past, and we’ve never had an issue with bringing food back to our stateroom. I’ve never tried it with a specialty restaurant on RCL, but with any quick service/complimentary restaurant on RCL, and even the main dining room, we have brought food back to our rooms.

 

So, my question to seasoned NCL cruisers: was her answer really the NCL policy? I assume that it is, but I want to know if others have ever had a similar experience. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[PGHCruising]

PS: For whatever it’s worth, my personal opinion is that the policy is silly when it’s applied to a quick service restaurant. Especially when it is the only 24 hour restaurant. If it was a specialty restaurant, I could probably understand - quality of service, time for cooking the food, all that.. but the food at the quick service place is exactly that, quick service. The snacks and apps are all precooked and sitting under heat-lamps. We have not yet had an item from there that was served at a fresh temperature.
 

PPS: Enjoying good food is a big part of how we enjoy our vacation (don’t judge!), and it’s really been subpar on Epic across the complimentary restaurants. Unfortunately, I don’t see us sailing with NCL again because we just haven’t had the best experience over the past few days, and we haven’t found the food from the complimentary restaurants to be very good.

[UKWildcatCruiser]

That doesn’t sound right to me. I got to go food the one on Escape a few 

years ago almost every night around midnight. 

[shof515]

it seems to be a policy. i remember i had issue like this 3-4 years ago

 

i think the problem from what i noticed all the times to go the irish pub is that they put the food in those basket things. maybe that could be the reason why you cant bring it to your room. they dont have normal plates

[ziggyuk]

It's always been the case that you are not supposed to take food from the pub.

[seemoreroyals]

If the food is not any good, why do you want to bring it back to your room?

[PGHCruising]

5 hours ago, seemoreroyals said:

If the food is not any good, why do you want to bring it back to your room?

Hey, that’s such a great question. Thank you so much for your valuable contribution to our conversation. Just between us and the internet, I too have a feeling that the food won’t taste any better if we eat it in our room. 

 

While I’m explaining to you why I eat food, I could also explain why I drive my car to work when I am unhappy about the price of gas.

 

The short answer to your question is because we, like many humans, need to eat food to not feel hungry. So whether we eat food in the restaurant, or in our room, we still need to eat the food.

[Yinster]

Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure NCL were stopping people taking food back from any restaurant including the buffet a few years back. When there was an uproar, they let people take food back from the buffet but not anywhere else. For that, you call room service. Or in our case, our butler. 

 

Another way to get more money from you. Perhaps. But after they did this, I saw less plates outside people's doors.

 

Not sure why you would want to take food from a speciality restaurant unless it was a doggy bag as part of the dining experience is eating in one.

 

We were never one for eating in our room until our last cruise. But we use our butler to get our food. Usually we find eating in the room, too small and lack of seating. Plus the smell of food tends to linger 

Edited November 14, 2021 by Yinster

[FreestyleNovice]

3 hours ago, Yinster said:

Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure NCL were stopping people taking food back from any restaurant including the buffet a few years back. When there was an uproar, they let people take food back from the buffet but not anywhere else. For that, you call room service. Or in our case, our butler. 

..

 

Yeah that was quite a thing, the forgotten battle of the food on NCL. People were furious. Funny how things blow over. 

 

OP: IF there's still a menu at Spice H2O at the back of the ship, then there should be afternoon snacks. You can order them with the wait staff. They come in those square sized take out containers/cups. Not many knew/know their existence.

 

It takes forever to get a snack so order wisely/enough, we've enjoyed them on our balcony but it was a while ago.

[ShelleyQT]

I tried once, years ago, to take food "to go" from the Irish pub, but I was told I couldn't.  If the dish is the issue, I wonder if you could show up with a plate from the buffet?  Either they could put the food onto this plate for you, or you could do it yourself.

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

This is the silliest thread since I've been a member.  Does this mean that Covid is fading away??

[dexddd]

On 11/14/2021 at 1:54 AM, Yinster said:

Don't quote me on this but I'm pretty sure NCL were stopping people taking food back from any restaurant including the buffet a few years back. When there was an uproar, they let people take food back from the buffet but not anywhere else. For that, you call room service. Or in our case, our butler. 

 

Another way to get more money from you. Perhaps. But after they did this, I saw less plates outside people's doors.

 

Not sure why you would want to take food from a speciality restaurant unless it was a doggy bag as part of the dining experience is eating in one.

 

We were never one for eating in our room until our last cruise. But we use our butler to get our food. Usually we find eating in the room, too small and lack of seating. Plus the smell of food tends to linger 

This is the closest to answer OP question.  You can thank FDR.