LeBistro closed for entire Encore sailing due to private event

[xkritter]

11 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

 

If there is a large group, for us, it is better if they isolate them and lock them up in one restaurant. 

 

We were on the Encore a few weeks ago. There was a Park West private event onboard. They would book 40-50 seats in the specialty restaurants every night. We, unfortunately, were in two restaurants with them. Loud. Obnoxious. And they tied up the tables for most of the night. It would have been better to isolate them in one restaurant and serve them custom meals every night. 

100% agree. I think we were on the same sailing. We were seated next to a large group of 36...spread across 3 tables. They were very loud...going table to table...singing...etc. We couldn't even hold a discussion between our group. And unfortunately our service was very slow as well. We ended up having our desserts sent up to our room because the noise was so loud.

[EllieinNJ]

If anyone is familiar with Royal Caribbean they have a kosher sailing every January.  This year it is on the Odyssey out of NY on the 16th.  They book the Solarium Bistro for the whole week+ (more than 7 days).  The real problem is the hundreds of kids running around without adult supervision.

[commodoredave]

We will be on this sailing (January 19-26) with our extended family in 3 cabins. The closure of the Bistro, which happens to be our favourite restaurant, is disappointing. I do understand that sometimes closing down a restaurant for a charter group is necessary. However, wouldn't it be nice if NCL gave everyone else on the ship a $30 credit for use in other specialty restaurants as a good-will gesture?

I know...why waste money just to keep goodwill with loyal customers.

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, commodoredave said:

We will be on this sailing (January 19-26) with our extended family in 3 cabins. The closure of the Bistro, which happens to be our favourite restaurant, is disappointing. I do understand that sometimes closing down a restaurant for a charter group is necessary. However, wouldn't it be nice if NCL gave everyone else on the ship a $30 credit for use in other specialty restaurants as a good-will gesture?

I know...why waste money just to keep goodwill with loyal customers.

Encore can have as many as 3958 passengers.  Suppose Le Bistro can have 158 Guests.  Your solution would cost NCL $114,000.  

[zitsky]

17 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Encore can have as many as 3958 passengers.  Suppose Le Bistro can have 158 Guests.  Your solution would cost NCL $114,000.  

How much money might NCL lose by canceled future bookings versus what they gain by pandering to these groups?  Seems like ordinary pax are the losers.

[Captain-John]

2 minutes ago, zitsky said:

How much money might NCL lose by canceled future bookings versus what they gain by pandering to these groups?  Seems like ordinary pax are the losers.

 

Or charge it to the group. The group are the one causing the inconvenience, spread the compensation cost amongst them all.

[RocketMan275]

5 minutes ago, zitsky said:

How much money might NCL lose by canceled future bookings versus what they gain by pandering to these groups?  Seems like ordinary pax are the losers.

 

2 minutes ago, Captain-John said:

 

Or charge it to the group. The group are the one causing the inconvenience, spread the compensation cost amongst them all.

The group (which might be a commercial group such as Mark West) is already paying NCL for the priviledge of having Le Bistro all the cruise.  This is fairly common.  For example, HAL allowed a group to have exclusive use of their enclosed observation lounge while the cruise has transiting Glacier Bay.  Another cruise line allowed a group to have exclusive access to the MDR for late seating.  There are other examples.  No compensation given. The cruise contracts do not guarantee access to any onboard activity to any passenger.

BTW, I'm not defending these cruise line practices, only pointing out that this is not a rare thing.

[zitsky]

15 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

 

The group (which might be a commercial group such as Mark West) is already paying NCL for the priviledge of having Le Bistro all the cruise.  This is fairly common.  For example, HAL allowed a group to have exclusive use of their enclosed observation lounge while the cruise has transiting Glacier Bay.  Another cruise line allowed a group to have exclusive access to the MDR for late seating.  There are other examples.  No compensation given. The cruise contracts do not guarantee access to any onboard activity to any passenger.

BTW, I'm not defending these cruise line practices, only pointing out that this is not a rare thing.

 

I was sucked into this thread when one of you linked to the post that linked to this one in the Celebrity forum.

 

We are not frequent NCL cruisers.  But our first cruise was on NCL.  I would be annoyed if I booked another NCL cruise only to find out I was paying for 100% of a ship and only getting access to 80% of it.  Last I checked, I don't get a refund either on NCL or Celebrity because some group takes over a venue.

[commodoredave]

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

Encore can have as many as 3958 passengers.  Suppose Le Bistro can have 158 Guests.  Your solution would cost NCL $114,000.  

Ok.Maybe they give us $15 per cabin, flowers, or a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine. Anything that shows NCL has an interest in goodwill, which they apparently do not.

[cruiseny4life]

11 minutes ago, commodoredave said:

Ok.Maybe they give us $15 per cabin, flowers, or a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine. Anything that shows NCL has an interest in goodwill, which they apparently do not.

They have no interest in goodwill. Only in taking our money and sometimes (ok, in my case, usually) providing the product they promised. 

[RocketMan275]

31 minutes ago, commodoredave said:

Ok.Maybe they give us $15 per cabin, flowers, or a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine. Anything that shows NCL has an interest in goodwill, which they apparently do not.

There is no guarantee that anyone will be able to dine in any restaurant.  Why should they give compensation in this case and not when the restaurant is sold out?  After all, there is little difference between sold out and closed.

[Distinctive-Destinations]

1 minute ago, RocketMan275 said:

There is no guarantee that anyone will be able to dine in any restaurant.  Why should they give compensation in this case and not when the restaurant is sold out?  After all, there is little difference between sold out and closed.

“Sold out” to me means the normal passengers just booked it before I had a chance to. Basically I was behind them in line and it was unavailable by the time it was my turn. If I had gotten there earlier, I’d have a reservation.

 

”Closed” like in this instance means I never had a chance to book it. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

12 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

There is no guarantee that anyone will be able to dine in any restaurant.  Why should they give compensation in this case and not when the restaurant is sold out?  After all, there is little difference between sold out and closed.

For a Platinum or above (some would say "loyal" customer), they are essentially guaranteed a reservation to any restaurant when they are first in line 125 days prior to sailing.  They have five days to wake up and book whatever they would like.  I guess NCL could rationalize this by stating that passengers were notified prior to final payment, so they could cancel the entire cruise and receive a full refund (yes, that would likely be stupid).  As a "victim" of this (that was a joke), I'm mildly glad that LeBistro is only a place I eat when DW and DD make me go.  Now I don't need any excuses OR pants! 🤣

Edited September 6 by ChiefMateJRK

[zitsky]

5 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

There is no guarantee that anyone will be able to dine in any restaurant.  Why should they give compensation in this case and not when the restaurant is sold out?  After all, there is little difference between sold out and closed.

It’s one thing to be the last person at the door.  It’s something else to have a bouncer at the door standing in your way.

[RocketMan275]

15 minutes ago, zitsky said:

It’s one thing to be the last person at the door.  It’s something else to have a bouncer at the door standing in your way.

Bottom line, you still don't get in.

[commodoredave]

26 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

There is no guarantee that anyone will be able to dine in any restaurant.  Why should they give compensation in this case and not when the restaurant is sold out?  After all, there is little difference between sold out and closed.

There is indeed a difference between sold out and closed. Sold out means I missed my opportunity to book it -- fair enough. Closed means I never had an opportunity to book it. As for compensation, none is legally required; but something, however small, would show NCL cares about passengers. Even my small, neighbourhood pub would do something. 

[Distinctive-Destinations]

11 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Bottom line, you still don't get in.

There’s a big difference being striking out at a baseball game and not being allowed to even enter the stadium.

[julig22]

13 minutes ago, commodoredave said:

There is indeed a difference between sold out and closed. Sold out means I missed my opportunity to book it -- fair enough. Closed means I never had an opportunity to book it. As for compensation, none is legally required; but something, however small, would show NCL cares about passengers. Even my small, neighbourhood pub would do something. 

Would you be satisfied if NCL offered the same menu in a different specialty restaurant? 

BUt then I'm on the side of give it to a large group so they won't take over the rest of the ship.

[Menocchio]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

 

I was sucked into this thread when one of you linked to the post that linked to this one in the Celebrity forum.

 

We are not frequent NCL cruisers.  But our first cruise was on NCL.  I would be annoyed if I booked another NCL cruise only to find out I was paying for 100% of a ship and only getting access to 80% of it.  Last I checked, I don't get a refund either on NCL or Celebrity because some group takes over a venue.

Le Bistro isn't 20% of the ship. It's not even 20% of the specialty dining options. 

I get that this is annoying, but let's have some perspective here. This is such a small inconvenience that any goodwill gesture commensurate with the actual cost to guests would just seem insultingly cheap. This isn't even in the same universe as closing the observation lounge during a cold weather scenic cruise. 

[cruiseny4life]

1 minute ago, Menocchio said:

Le Bistro isn't 20% of the ship. It's not even 20% of the specialty dining options. 

I get that this is annoying, but let's have some perspective here. This is such a small inconvenience that any goodwill gesture commensurate with the actual cost to guests would just seem insultingly cheap. This isn't even in the same universe as closing the observation lounge during a cold weather scenic cruise. 

I WANT MY SNAAAAAAILS!!!!!!! 

 

Source: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fknowyourmeme%2Fstatus%2F1451585204406177796&psig=AOvVaw3K3mQLy0cGFldE5bxt3aLh&ust=1725739249178000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBgQ3YkBahcKEwjwu_jrja-IAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQBA

[commodoredave]

4 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Would you be satisfied if NCL offered the same menu in a different specialty restaurant? 

BUt then I'm on the side of give it to a large group so they won't take over the rest of the ship.

I would be very satisfied if the Le Bistro menu was offered in another restaurant. I have no objection to the charter group taking over the Le Bistro location. My issue is that the food they serve is one of my favourites -- not the location. 

[commodoredave]

4 minutes ago, Menocchio said:

Le Bistro isn't 20% of the ship. It's not even 20% of the specialty dining options. 

I get that this is annoying, but let's have some perspective here. This is such a small inconvenience that any goodwill gesture commensurate with the actual cost to guests would just seem insultingly cheap. This isn't even in the same universe as closing the observation lounge during a cold weather scenic cruise. 

Any venue closed for private use should result in an offset for other passengers. There are many creative ways to compensate for it with very little cost. Once again, it's the thought that counts. 

[dlh015]

Be happy they didn't want Cagney's!!!  <duck and cover>

[julig22]

2 minutes ago, commodoredave said:

I would be very satisfied if the Le Bistro menu was offered in another restaurant. I have no objection to the charter group taking over the Le Bistro location. My issue is that the food they serve is one of my favourites -- not the location. 

Then perhaps a simple request to NCL would be appropriate. It never hurts to ask.

[commodoredave]

Just now, julig22 said:

Then perhaps a simple request to NCL would be appropriate. It never hurts to ask.

Good idea. I would also be happy if the Le Bistro menu was available for room service.