More at Sea

[BirdTravels]

https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/1813003-MAS Flyer.pdf
 

 

I found this interesting. 
 

Additional dining night packages will no longer be offered for purchase, however any previously purchased dining nights will be honored onboard. Guests who would like to dine at specialty restaurants beyond the number of dining nights included with the More at Sea™ or guests who are not taking advantage of More At Sea™ can eat at specialty restaurants by paying the cover charge at the respective restaurants.
 

All specialty restaurants will have a cover charge. Cover charges are as follows:

Steak, Teppanyaki, French, and Seafood have a $60 cover charge.

Brazil, Asian, Food Republic, and Sushi have a $50 cover charge.

Italian, BBQ, Pincho, and Mexican have a $40 cover charge.

[BirdTravels]

2016 prices

 

Edited October 1 by BirdTravels

[UKstages]

not to bury the lede... but they sure did.

 

this nugget, hidden in the FAQs, is very interesting:

 

"US sales / VAT taxes will be waived on both food and beverage purchases while in port, spanish/italian waters, and full EU sailings. this will apply to all guests, regardless of their selected promotions, and will go into effect for sailings 1/1/25 forward."

Edited October 1 by UKstages

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

Here in NZ we can still remove the dining and beverage BUT we still wouldn't get a decrease in price.   The description shown it to be the "More at Sea offer:

 

 

For this cruise we paid NZD3972 each but the price today for 2 is 

 

 

I hope that this is a one day thing with NCL trying to stop bookings and that they prices today drop overnight.

[Asawi]

EU site is a mess! No MoreAtSea information. Screenshot from a 2025 mock booking. Both Free and More At Sea are options, but both at the MoreAtSea price (FreeAtSea would have been 249, not 349). Although it says "customize" on FreeAtSea no customization can be done.

 

(I happen to have this cruise booked already without any package and there is currently no alcohol drinks package at all listed in the app. FWIW, I booked before the current useless "sale" for a less high price than this) 

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

@BirdTravels

 

Your quote of the 2016 Cover Charge; what did it actually mean?   Like going into a bar, a charge to get in?   Or the minimum you could spend at "a la carte" prices?   Or the cost of the meal whatever you ate?

[KeithJenner]

I’ve bought the two extra meals on my 11 day cruise in an inside cabin, which currently has just one meal through free at sea. As I booked that during a free at sea sale it would cost £150 each to upgrade to More at Sea for one extra meal. Hopefully the extra two meals will not be removed (BirdTravels post above suggests it won’t).

 

We will wait and see the details before it becomes clear how much of an issue this will be for us. We upgrade to FAS+ for better wine, pelegrino and coffee. We can buy a couple of bottles of water and a couple of coffees for less than the upgrade price, but it’s less clear what the wine situation will be (my wife drinks champagne when it’s available - I suspect that these will be restricted or unavailable with More at Sea).

 

Overall I think we may well spend less, but it’s nice not to have to think about cost when onboard.

[KeithJenner]

7 minutes ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

@BirdTravels

 

Your quote of the 2016 Cover Charge; what did it actually mean?   Like going into a bar, a charge to get in?   Or the minimum you could spend at "a la carte" prices?   Or the cost of the meal whatever you ate?

It was total cost of the meal. I think there were sometimes upcharge items, but that was basically what it cost.

 

From memory there only restriction on number of dishes was just one entree, although even that may not have always been the case.

Edited October 1 by KeithJenner

[Anoynmous Phoenix]

Now all we need to know is how NCL are going to define their "Cover Charge" in "More at Sea" and the costs involved..

 

As often happens some material is released that causes far more questions than it answers.

 

That is typical NCL material.

[david_sobe]

Its 3:48 in the morning and I just woke up so please forgive me if I sound confused.  I understand the new cover charges and the previously booked FAS perks remain.  Yesterday someone posted the More at Sea offer was going to get 3 specialty dining meals for a balcony or higher.  Yet with the photos people are posting it no longer mentions a number of meals?  How many specialty meals do guests 1 and 2 get for 7 nights in a balcony or higher?

Since the steak house/French are up to $20 more than some other specialty dining, wont everyone just flock to the more expensive ones for the bang for the buck if they get a few specialty meals included with More At Sea?

 

Edit:  I just answered my own question.  They flyer states you get 3 specialty dinners for 7 nights balcony or above.

 

I still want to know what the catch is?  On another note Royal customers are furious that they dropped Starbucks from their standard beverage package.  Call me a skeptic but I say a realist that there is something we are missing.

Edited October 1 by david_sobe

[Mr_Indecisive]

I'll throw my own comparison in between yesterday and today.
For a 13 night balcony sailing, the total fee increase is $56.
Open bar: $283.4 to $299
Specialty dining: $19.80 (3 meals) to $60 (5 meals).

Apart from the reduced internet, sounds fine to me.
I've already booked, so the decision will be around re-pricing for the extra meals, and losing internet.

[KeithJenner]

3 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Its 3:48 in the morning and I just woke up so please forgive me if I sound confused.  I understand the new cover charges and the previously booked FAS perks remain.  Yesterday someone posted the More at Sea offer was going to get 3 specialty dining meals for a balcony or higher.  Yet with the photos people are posting it no longer mentions a number of meals?  How many specialty meals do guests 1 and 2 get for 7 nights in a balcony or higher?

Since the steak house/French are up to $20 more than some other specialty dining, wont everyone just flock to the more expensive ones for the bang for the buck if they get a few specialty meals included with More At Sea?

The first post on this thread shows the number of meals under free at sea compared to more at sea.

 

It will be interesting to see how the difference in pricing affects people’s choices. For us, as there is now no longer any packages available then we will use our more at sea or latitudes in places like Cagneys and consider paying the cover charge in the Italian, but yes I’m sure others who aren’t going to pay extra will just go for the more expensive places.

[insidecabin]

UK web site is a mess.

 

Some cruises no options

Some have both FAS and MAS

 

No headline for the change.

 

More at sea link goes no where

 

Latest T&C for the 1Oct promo still has FAS at old prices.

 

Not seen the full price list but looks like £50 more for each range.

(UK it's fixed price not by grats added)

 

FAS was already overpriced and put on offer at 50% every few weeks in the UK

 

We have not done any NCL this year as Princess out priced NCL by a significant margin with fully AI cruises under $100pppd

 

There were some late NCL deals that we would have booked but Princess had offers  back in Feb and June for the rest of the year.

Need to do the research on the new offering.

Might do a table of the price increases by cruise length (it varies)

[Luffe]

With the removal of buying extra dining packages this makes our life bit harder. 2 Adults and one kid that does not eat much. So previously we would have bought 1-2 credits for the kid and payed ala carte price for certain places. Now if the kid pays full coverage charge for munching few deserts and nibbling on the main course I am not happy. And the kid is not under 12 so no children menu either.

 

Removal of the extra shore ex credit -> less NCL shorex bought.

 

And I am very sure  that in the future the drink package will change. More basics included but then there will be a limit or some "small" change that will bring NCL more money. See the Celebrity cruises classic package limit pricing for an example (ie drink price limit 10, but drink costs 12)

 

On the bright side we just saved lots of money as with these changes: no Free Sea Plus, not buying extra meal credits nor shore excursions. 

[vacation44]

2 hours ago, UKstages said:

1:25 AM  on the east cost of the USA and "more at sea" is live.

 

banner on the homepage links here:

 

https://www.ncl.com/cruise-deals/more-at-sea

 

it appears as if they will be honoring FAS benefits for all cruises booked prior to 10/1/24, with the addition of the new MAS beverage package benefits. in other words, you'll get the standard FAS package you booked, but you'll also enjoy the expanded beverage package. if you purchased additional specialty dining, you'll get to keep that, too. (although, it appears the new "cover charges" [tee hee] may be less than the previous fees for additional specialty dining!)

 

they are, however, introducing something they are calling "the connoisseur collection," i kid you not. and that will be, you guessed it, for drinks costing more than $15. MAS customers will get, a $15 discount off those rinks, just as you do now with FAS.

 

the restaurant "cover charges" (tee tee) will be different depending on venue/cuisine, but they will be USD $40, $50 and $60 for those wishing to purchase additional specialty dining. cagney's and le bistro at $60... los lobos at $40... and the asian restaurants at $50, which is a big mistake, if you ask me (they didn't ask me.) the other "cover charges" (tee tee)  seem reasonable. (hey, I call 'em like I see 'em.)

 

their cursory mention of faster speeds for wifi is laughable. they detail the costs for longer wifi packages and mention the speed... either 1.5 or 5 mbps. and that is not competitive with other cruise lines that have switched to starling. 

 

they have not yet updated the casinos at sea benefits page, which still shows "premium plus" as a benefit for "elite" gamblers. 

 

Thanks for the quick summary!   It is much easier to understand at 4:00 a.m. then working through the NCL website.

 

Still interested to know how they are going to handle booking Platinum reservations.   Ours open up in 6 days and wondering if I have to prepay the coverage charge then get reimbursed or the system will acknowledge the Platinum vouchers.

[nimbex1970]

50 minutes ago, vacation44 said:

Thanks for the quick summary!   It is much easier to understand at 4:00 a.m. then working through the NCL website.

 

Still interested to know how they are going to handle booking Platinum reservations.   Ours open up in 6 days and wondering if I have to prepay the coverage charge then get reimbursed or the system will acknowledge the Platinum vouchers.

It sure does make more sense for IT to set up the system to recognize the platinum vouchers in advance, similar to my CAS meal program.  I did giggle as I typed this though.  But seriously as you are allowed to book 125 in advance, this would be a very easy programming issue to prevent having to charge/credit back in comparison to folks like me who have to wait longer.  Ok, I laughed again at myself.  Please let us know what happens in six days

[mistertomatoe]

Hmm, so the charge for the (more-on) open bar isn't gratuities. I bet people will feel like they have to tip per drink. More tips for bar people!

 

I never liked paying 20% gratuities on $109/day. It made less sense when drinks were overpriced and I didn't drink anything near $109 for the day.

[hallux]

I just did a mock booking for a cruise I have my eye on for next year - no appreciable change in the fare and I can deselect the beverage package.

[Asawi]

Seems like us non-drinking EU people are the big losers here. €100 extra (compared to FAS) on for example a 9 day cruise and no option to deselect drinks package.

/I have to let my PCC check un US prices on upcoming bookings (he has indicated I can book under US conditions through him).

[mistertomatoe]

 

17 minutes ago, mistertomatoe said:

Hmm, so the charge for the (more-on) open bar isn't gratuities. I bet people will feel like they have to tip per drink. More tips for bar people!

 

I never liked paying 20% gratuities on $109/day. It made less sense when drinks were overpriced and I didn't drink anything near $109 for the day.

 

 

More-On pricing and details:

 

• Price for the More At Sea Beverage Package listed below per person 21 years of age or older, per day.

  

• Prices indicated are subject to change. This Package does not include:

Bottled Water/ Bottled Wine
Connoisseur's Collection
Designated Super-premium brands (list subject to change)
Energy drinks or vending machines 
Freshly squeezed Juices
Ice Bars
Mini-Bar purchases
Package Sales
Room Service
Ship-specific promotions or beer buckets
Starbucks
Wine dispenser
Wine & Spirit Experiences, tastings or Flights 

[CWMixer]

9 minutes ago, hallux said:

I just did a mock booking for a cruise I have my eye on for next year - no appreciable change in the fare and I can deselect the beverage package.

I just did the same for a 7 day for 2025: no real change in fare, taxes or pre-paid svc charges, but the prior "FAS gratuities" of $345 have been replaced by $540 for "Open Bar $420" and "Meal Package $120". 

$195 increase/57%.

 

 

[kitkat343]

The good news is they are no longer calling the package "Free at Sea" since the name confused the heck out of all the new customers, who seemed to post on these forums frequently that they were confused about paying for a "Free" package.

 

 

[mistertomatoe]

Dining (No more gratuities nonsense! Of course the additional cost is "more" with the justification that you get more meals and the option of up to 3 apps and 3 desserts. Will they be the same as before? Why do I think there will be more upcharge entrees? Time will tell.) 

 

What it was when it was referred to as gratuities:

1 meal - $11.80

2 - $19.80

3 - $27.80

 

Specialty Dining Package - Available Fleetwide:  
New Prices on reservations on or after October 01, 2024 for Sailings departing on or after January 01, 2025.

 

 

[mistertomatoe]

WiFi: Less is More! I'm guessing the More-On version is more since it applies to ALL guests in the stateroom when it was only 1st and 2nd guests before. Starlink is faster so you can do more with less time.

 

Reservations on or after October 01, 2024 for sailings departing on or after January 01, 2025.

Reservations before October 01, 2024, departing anytime from October 01, 2024 to December 31, 2024 that depart before January 01, 2025

[mistertomatoe]

20 minutes ago, mistertomatoe said:

More-On pricing and details:

 

• Price for the More At Sea Beverage Package listed below per person 21 years of age or older, per day.

  

• Prices indicated are subject to change. This Package does not include:

Bottled Water/ Bottled Wine
Connoisseur's Collection
Designated Super-premium brands (list subject to change)
Energy drinks or vending machines 
Freshly squeezed Juices
Ice Bars
Mini-Bar purchases
Package Sales
Room Service
Ship-specific promotions or beer buckets
Starbucks
Wine dispenser
Wine & Spirit Experiences, tastings or Flights 

 

It says no corkage fee if you have the package as part of More At Sea. Is this new?

Edited October 1 by mistertomatoe