changes `since 2019 - 20?

[trish1c]

So what have I missed?  What's new?  

 

DH & I last cruised over the holidays in 2019/20.  Then the world changed.  

 

I already stuck my foot in my mouth not realizing that the UBP now covers corkage.  What else is new in the past 3 years?  We're thinking about a cruise around Valentine's Day 2024. 

[mking8288]

A lot has changed since 2019 ... Latitutdes new tier pins, collect them ahead when you sailed.  Housekeeping is now once a day except for Haven (and full suites).  Coffee/hot water maker, ice bucket and robes are on request only for balcony & even club balcony (formerely "mini") "suite".  Luggages are now often delivered later in the afternoon as staterooms (aside from Haven) aren't often ready until 3 to 4 pm with reductions in housekeeping services, not necessary b/c of crew shortage as on 2 of our recent 2023 cruises, GM (formerly the HD) reported that ships are "fully staffed" but maybe they are counting based on the reduced headcount census.  Onboard entertainment undergoing major changes this year, fewer production shows in the main theater & toward lounge/comedy solo/duo acts.  Shorex prices has gone mad, IMHO, grossly over-priced but sweet deals can still be found for solo cruisers.  Specialty Dining package & add-on prices skyrocketed as well, in part, to boost that 20% gratitude charge automatically added.  

 

Upgrade Advantage bidding are sometimes live bids for Haven, winning bids nowadays are possible at 7 to 8 plus weeks out and no longer cutoff at 48 hours, processed as late as embarkation day (afternoon ... onboard, due to last minute no-shows/cancellations).   Ships are basically sailing full these days, but not for Alaska sailings, apparently ... last minute deals plentiful.  

 

DSC has gone up quite a bit by percentage.  Non-refundable OBC cannot be used to buy CruiseNext Certificates, unlike then.  Just one ship this coming winter out of  NY, the Getaway & fewer sailings with stops in PC and/or GSC and even Nassau (fewer chats of "tired of the old milky runs") whereas Dockyard is now almost a year round stop and/or overnight stays for shorter sailings, even into late November ...  Closer to south Jersey, Baltimore got one of the older mid-size ship doing (seasonal ?) runs out of there (haven't really look closely at availability schedule) so those in MD/DE & PA might find it attractive.  Parking & ground travel costs in NYC in 2024 is going to go up higher with congestion pricing.   Out of NY's Pier 88, embarkation day remains sometimes chaotic and disorganized, but facial recognition now used for disembarkation do seem to help on the morning rush ... scheduled sailing time are now moving toward later in the day at 4 to 5 pm, as late as 6 pm on a routine basis as turnaround time are taking longer.  

 

Last but not least, satellite WiFi onboard NCL ships remained being the "leader" 😳🙄😳 in being among the slowest and most expensive across cruiselines in the U.S. market, only the Breakaway gotten upgrade to Starlink earlier this year with the rest of the fleet's "announced" roll-out stalled in pilot & testing phrase, until 2024 for select ships only ?? - starting with the newest ships (Viva, soon to join the fleet ... next month) and the Prima said to be among the worst.  

 

That's more than a handful, I am sure that a few other notable changes are missed & omitted, and some will have their own spins & impressions of the changes, for the better or ... 🤔  To each her/his own, decide for yourself - out of NY, you are just as likely to find old CC friends over at MSC and Princess, along with Royal & possibly even the Carnival vessel now homeport in NY.  One of our nieces hopped over to Cunard's QM2 ... their food, goodness 👌 

 

Should get you going to research.  Cheers ! 

[NYcruzzer]

Great job mking8288 explaining all the lovely changes that NCL has instilled...lol

I guess NCL figures they only need 1 ship out of NYC this Winter with MSC and Carnival both Homeported year round in NY and doing those "milky runs"  

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, trish1c said:

So what have I missed?  What's new?  

 

DH & I last cruised over the holidays in 2019/20.  Then the world changed.  

 

I already stuck my foot in my mouth not realizing that the UBP now covers corkage.  What else is new in the past 3 years?  We're thinking about a cruise around Valentine's Day 2024. 

 

The cruise industry was shut down for a year and a half accumulating debt trying to keep their businesses from going bankrupt. They are now faced with finding ways to repay that debt while providing outstanding service to their customers. 

 

Is there cost cutting,,, "Yes"

Would you notice it if you had not cruised before,,, "No"

Is cruising still a wonderful way to take a vacation,,, "Most Definitely"

Do I miss everything that has been downsized,,, "Not really". 

 

So,,, consider what has changed at home...

 

Dining 

 

Food prices at home have gone up, and so are the specialty restaurant prices on ships. (e.g., by percentage, the cost of my Big Mac has gone up more than specialty dining on a cruise ship). (e.g., for a while, eggs here at home were nearly $6/dozen... and a ship uses 80,000 eggs a week.) So with increased specialty dining prices, the SDP package prices have gone up and so has the gratuities on the "free at sea" dinner. The FAS dinners are still the best deal in town (beyond the free platinum dinners).

 

Some delivery charge is applied to all room service orders now.

 

Hours at some venues have been reduced (e.g., the buffet closes at 9:00 versus 11:30 since there was very low volume after 9:00 pm and most of the food was being thrown out).

 

Complimentary food is still free and you can enjoy a cruise without spending a dime on food or drink and there is always a restaurant open 24/7. 

 

Room Stewards

 

Staffing shortages across the entire hospitality industry have affected the level of service. We travel several times a month and land-based hotels we stay at either don't clean rooms at all or only clean every  4 or 5 days.

 

NCL has reduced housekeeping to once a day both to relieve some of their staffing challenges, but also to reduce cost. Personally, having sailed a few times since the change, we really like once a day cleaning. In the past, we would be rushing in from a day ashore, showering and changing for dinner, and then having to cleaning up our room/shopping/clothes/mess so that the cabin steward could "turn down" the beds... now we just drop our stuff everywhere and run to dinner. 

 

However, the additional cabins assigned to each steward means that rooms are available later (2:00-2:30 pm) on embarkation day. And, since they can't start cluttering the halls with luggage until cleaning is done (same as before), bags are getting to rooms later. 

 

Shore Ex

 

The land-based shore excursion vendors have had an equally hard time staffing their positions and providing reliable service. The vendors have cut service/offerings, significantly increased the price of those services, and cancel on no-notice "because they don't have bus drivers". That increase in price has been passed on to people buying excursions from all cruise lines. And like every department on the ship, Shore Ex is faced with cutting costs (reducing the number of staff working shore ex). So, more and more is being done online (app, room TV). NCL still has more staff than say, Royal Caribbean - who is mostly online), but if you want someone to hold your hand, there are fewer people there. 

 

Entertainment 

 

Post-pandemic, all cruise lines had challenges keeping entertainment going. It was no longer a sprained ankle taking one cast member out,,, it was COVID taking an entire production out. And like all other positions, it was becoming increasingly hard and expensive to staff big productions. NCL has made a conscious cost-cutting decision to temporarily remove some of their big Broadway shows and use guest performers to provide entertainment on ships. We are reverting to the good 'ole days of cruising with the not-so-good magician and not-so-funny comedians. They also are taking some of their small-venue acts (which people incessantly complain about) and having them preform in the theater once or twice during a cruise (e.g., comedians, Beatles, Syd Norman). They continue to keep at least one "big show" on their big ships... filling the second slot with guest performers. Personally, we prefer having entertainment in the theater almost every night (like the old days) versus the two-shows-a-week in the theater and maybe a talent show on the last night. 

 

Overall

 

Enjoy your cruise. Don't get trapped by all of the whiners who want to compare cruise experiences from the past to the present. As you pointed out, the world has changed. Entitled people would rather Zoom into work than come to work. I see the exact same thing at my work where we tried, as a company, to keep most of the staff on the payroll during the pandemic, even when there was nothing for them to work on. And we continue to make financial adjustment/changes to help recover from that and keep the business afloat (pun intended). 

 

I started cruising when you had to rent hard wooden pool deck loungers and tip a pool attendant to set them up. I started cruising when we just had a wet room with a shower, toilet, and sink in a tiny space and you had to wipe off the toilet seat from the shower water to use it. I started cruising where the entertainment of the night was a string quartet playing in the atrium. I started cruising when a gown and tux were required to have dinner.  And I never want to go back to those "good 'ole days". 

[RocketMan275]

2 hours ago, trish1c said:

So what have I missed?  What's new?  

 

DH & I last cruised over the holidays in 2019/20.  Then the world changed.  

 

I already stuck my foot in my mouth not realizing that the UBP now covers corkage.  What else is new in the past 3 years?  We're thinking about a cruise around Valentine's Day 2024. 

Emusters have replaced the old muster system.  Watch a safety video.  After boarding, report to your muster station.  Get your card scanned.  You're done.  No more wasted time.

[mcmomny]

Our March Escape cruise we had in person muster drill but for my upcoming Jade cruise we were given the Emuster drill.

 

So I guess not all cruises are emuster yet?

[schmoopie17]

If you or your husband is a veteran, you can enroll in the new NCL Veteran's program to save 10% of the base cruise fare. Although, it never seemed to come to 10% for my last two cruises. NCL math can be fuzzy.

[davencl]

There have been changes as noted.  However cruising is just as great today as it was in 2019.  I have enjoyed all my cruises just as much as back then.

[vacation44]

2 minutes ago, mcmomny said:

Our March Escape cruise we had in person muster drill but for my upcoming Jade cruise we were given the Emuster drill.

 

So I guess not all cruises are emuster yet?

They temporarily switched back to the in person muster in March.   I think it lasted a month or two then switched back to the video.

[ChiefMateJRK]

52 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Enjoy your cruise. Don't get trapped by all of the whiners who want to compare cruise experiences from the past to the present. As you pointed out, the world has changed. Entitled people would rather Zoom into work than come to work. I see the exact same thing at my work where we tried, as a company, to keep most of the staff on the payroll during the pandemic, even when there was nothing for them to work on. And we continue to make financial adjustment/changes to help recover from that and keep the business afloat (pun intended). 

Amen!!!😎

[trish1c]

Thanks all 

 

e*muster sounds good. 

 

I'll look into the veteran's discount.  It used to be retired only.  Princess gave $100 off. 

 

When the cruise industry 1st had to deal with Norovirus we got sneeze guards at the buffet & the people who spray your hands when you walk into the buffet.  Are there any other visible health initiatives?  How are they checking vaccination status or did that stop?  Do you still have to produce a negative Covid test to board? 

[hallux]

10 minutes ago, trish1c said:

Do you still have to produce a negative Covid test to board? 

I didn't in March.

[mcmomny]

They have installed hand washing stations at the entrance to the buffet and also have employees standing there with spray sanitizer bottles.

 

In March we were able to serve ourselves in the buffet

 

Honestly the only difference I noticed from before Covid to now was the handwashing stations and once a day cabin cleaning, neither of which bothered us!

 

Our cabin steward Juan was wonderful and always available for us whenever we needed him! 

 

On a side note, make sure to let Guest Services know just how much you appreciated your room steward or anyone who helps to make your cruise that much more enjoyable! They deserve a pat on the back, plus we always tip extra to those who go out of their way to help us. 

[azappraiser]

21 minutes ago, trish1c said:

 

I'll look into the veteran's discount.  It used to be retired only.  Princess gave $100 off. 

 

 

Easy to use, they use IDme for verification.  Pretty significant amount on a Haven suite... enough to convince DW to book it now.

[shof515]

1 hour ago, trish1c said:

Do you still have to produce a negative Covid test to board? 

Testing and other covid things was removed last year 

[trish1c]

I was looking through some sample menus.  Did they bring back actual duck breast at Le Bistro?  What happened to the chocolate fondue / fountain?  

[meglet]

13 minutes ago, trish1c said:

I was looking through some sample menus.  Did they bring back actual duck breast at Le Bistro?  What happened to the chocolate fondue / fountain?  

Unfortunately the fondue is gone. It was my absolute favorite.

[KKB]

Sailed NCL 1st time Dec. 2018. Getaway.

Sailed her again for 2 weeks last summer & noted not discerning differences.

Sailed Encore in Dec & REALLY noticed staffing shortages.

Sailed Breakaway next week...hoping that noticable shortage was a glitch...

Sad about the dropping of many production shows.

Edited July 27, 2023 by KKB

[AstoriaPreppy]

On 7/26/2023 at 10:56 AM, BirdTravels said:

Entitled people would rather Zoom into work than come to work.

Zooming in for a meeting from an NCL ship isn’t an option using the onboard internet… that still hasn’t changed 🤣

[BirdTravels]

1 minute ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

Zooming in for a meeting from an NCL ship isn’t an option using the onboard internet… that still hasn’t changed 🤣

Hmmm... I have run/attend a lot of zoom meetings while onboard NCL ships since the pandemic restart. I find a quiet spot in the Observation Lounge and sit there with a coffee and a plate of cheese in the morning,,, making sure that my phone camera catches some of the outside scenery. I have even done it from the Vibe bar (before it is open). 

[BirdTravels]

On 7/26/2023 at 12:15 PM, mcmomny said:

In March we were able to serve ourselves in the buffet

NCL really never went to crew served food. From cruise 1 after the pandemic, the buffet was self serve. (Yeah, there are still times, esp if there is Noro on the ship that they will serve food). They are still swapping serving utensils out every 15 minutes. But on our May cruise, there were no spray bottles at all. 

[hallux]

8 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

But on our May cruise, there were no spray bottles at all. 

On my March cruise the spray bottles were soap, then you went to the sinks to wash up...

[cruiseny4life]

12 hours ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

Zooming in for a meeting from an NCL ship isn’t an option using the onboard internet… that still hasn’t changed 🤣

I agree with @BirdTravels. My husband has joined several Zooms as he sometimes works while we cruise. He sometimes isn't able to join by video, but can always share his screen, hear audio, and see his coworkers. By him not being on video, I'm able to distract him more easily from his meetings that he SHOULD NOT BE ON while cruising! 🐧

[davencl]

14 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

SHOULD NOT BE ON while cruising! 🐧

Added additional bolding to emphasize.  🙂 🙂 

[AstoriaPreppy]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

I agree with @BirdTravels. My husband has joined several Zooms as he sometimes works while we cruise. He sometimes isn't able to join by video, but can always share his screen, hear audio, and see his coworkers. By him not being on video, I'm able to distract him more easily from his meetings that he SHOULD NOT BE ON while cruising! 🐧

 

Compared to every other cruise line we've sailed on since the restart (Carnival, Celebrity, Princess, and Royal), NCL internet is staggeringly poor. If you can't video chat clearly or stream music without buffering, it's not proper internet in 2023, full stop.

 

Also, I'm with your husband! The ability to take a meeting or stay on top of things from a cruise ship is far better for me than coming back to an inbox full of follow up work and missed opportunities. Taking 30 minutes for a conference call poolside reminds me why technology should exist in the first place.