Another Way for NCL to Nickel and Dime

Just came off the NCL Spirit on a cruise to Morocco and Canary Islands. NCL started two new programs of interest. One new program is for $150 you can eat in a specialty restaurant each night of the cruise. Can you go to Cagney's (steak house) each night? Not sure.

The second new wrinkle is that now in Le Bistro (French restaurant) if you want a second entre it will cost you an additional $10 on top of the $20 cover charge. (This is similar to Cagney's where if you wanted a second entre there is an additional charge.) I like to order the duck but like to accompany that with the vegetable napoleon. Since both are considered an entre they wanted to charge me $10 additional. (I complained and they did not charge me.)

While they changed the menu in Cagney's a few months ago; Le Bistro's menu has not changed but the price has. They raised the cover charge in Cagney's to $30 but the quality of the meat is hit or miss. The Maître'D showed our "fatty and tough" steaks to the chief, the reply came back, "That is what they sent to the ship."

So on one hand NCL is trying to get more people to eat in the specialty restaurants and the other they are looking for ways to nickel and dime the customers.

If no one utilized the "specialty" restaurants, they would get rid of them, and serve better food in the MDR, like they used to! Just saying!

When I started working on cruise ships many, many years ago, we charged an absolute fortune for passage.

On my first ship, a 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise in an ocean view cabin (no balconies in those days) was the same price as a new Buick automobile.

Today a 7-day Cruise in a mini suite with a balcony is less than a monthly payment on a new Buick automobile.

So we no longer make any profit selling cruises to the public. In fact, cruises are often sold at a loss.

So how do the cruise lines stay in business?

They think they need to make a profit selling as many things as they can to the people who could never even afford to cruise 30 years ago.

Making a profit - positively un-American. They ought to make it illegal.

When I started working on cruise ships many, many years ago, we charged an absolute fortune for passage.

On my first ship, a 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise in an ocean view cabin (no balconies in those days) was the same price as a new Buick automobile.

 

Today a 7-day Cruise in a mini suite with a balcony is less than a monthly payment on a new Buick automobile.

So we no longer make any profit selling cruises to the public. In fact, cruises are often sold at a loss.

 

So how do the cruise lines stay in business?

They think they need to make a profit selling as many things as they can to the people who could never even afford to cruise 30 years ago.

 

Making a profit - positively un-American. They ought to make it illegal.

Excellent point BRUCEMUZZ. I also think people haven't caught on that "everything" isn't included in their cruise fare, and now their specialty restaurant meal doesn't have an all inclusive cover charge anymore either. I also think the cruise lines, NCL in this case, got tired of people going to the specialty resturants and ordering several appetizers, steaks or other premium entrees and desserts just because they could. I've heard people brag about "putting a hurting" on the specialty restaurants, and it looks like the cruise lines have had enough of that.

I mean no offense to the OP who was only trying to do what they have done in the past, it is not my intention to judge you personally. I'm more referring to people like the woman on our second cruise who bragged she, her husband and her son could go to Cagney's and eat two or three Ribeye steaks each at one meal, and she was just elated about that. That's kind of gross. That was before they started charging people $10 for each steak ordered after the first one. Maybe you undertsand now why they are making people pay for more entrees. A specialty restaurant is not an "all you can eat" buffet. :eek: And it only makes sense that if you want something extra, you are going to pay extra, because in the long run it costs the cruise line to give us "extra." That's a reality of business and the economy. People should learn to accept that, and if they don't like the rules, don't play. Eat somewhere else that's included in your fare. We have had 4 cruises with NCL, and now we are trying a different line because we didn't mind paying extra for the specialty dining, but we weren't happy with the quality of the food or the service on our last cruise. So we are taking a break and trying something different.

For the people telling those of us who enjoy the variety of the specialty restaurants that if we didn't dine there the MDR would be so much better - wishful thinking. Taking out the specialty restaurants would mean less revenue for the cruise line, and where do you think the money for your "better food" would come from? My bet would be they would have to raise the fares considerably to account for that lost revenue. I try to not begrudge any business their need to make a profit, because if they are unable to make a profit they are no longer in business. That's the real world for you.

Lorie

The most famous specialty restaurant in the cruise industry was on a little ship called "Titanic".

The restaurant was the First Class Dining Room, but better known as the "Ritz Restaurant".

Food there was sold at ala carte prices. The more you ate, the more you paid.

Average check for dinner was US$100 per person.

That was in 1912, when the average American earned $300 per YEAR.

A First Class ticket for a 5-day passage on Titanic from Britain to New York started at US$2,100 per person (7 years salary for the average American).

For that kind of money, you actually got to have a real bathroom (and a fireplace) in your cabin.

Second Class tickets started at US$1,800 per person (6 years salary for the average American). Those people could not get into the First Class Dining Room, and had to use the bathroom down the hall.

Strangely, nobody complained about nickel and diming in those days.

Considering the generally incredible value for money that cruisers get today, it is hard to understand how they have any reason to complain about nickel and diming.