projectorguy1

I would suggest not bringing glass bottles, glasses, etc. in the spa area but yes to both your questions.

 

Harriet

Good advice....Definitely won't bring glass! As a matter of fact, we may carry them in our insulated Margaritaville tumblers! :)

Woo-hoo!!! Great news!!

Thank you!!!

Greetings fellow cruisers!!

My wife and I will be sailing on the Escape in a few weeks, and have booked the thermal spa for the cruise...

First... I was wondering if outside beverages were allowed and/or tolerated in the lounger area. We wouldn't take them anywhere else.

Also... Can you come and go to/fromvthe spa area with your provided robe, or do you have to change to go get a drink or run back to your room for something?

Thanks in advance!!

I would prefer not to bring my son to an adult venue so I'm glad to hear there are options to watch our team make the Super Bowl. But if district were the only place showing a playoff game then in my opinion the ship turned it into a family venue for 3 hours.

I understand and agree totally...

I don't understand why they never play mainstream sports at the "sports club" venues. They do show a little NFL, and soccer, but little else.

I'm sure the games will be playing in a number of venues...

With all of the kid friendly options on these ships, I really don't understand why parents feel they have to take the kids absolutely everywhere they ever go onboard...

Do you take your 8, 10, or 11 year old kids to bars on land?

That's what these are ...straight up bars.

It wouldn't get old and they wouldn't through it out. It would be transferred to another venue.

 

Besides, do you really think they have X amount of FRESH MADE burgers just waiting? They're frozen just like their meats, fish, and chicken.

 

Harriet

This discussion is getting ridiculous... They have to thaw the meat, bread, whatever to prepare it to cook ... They have to prepare fresh ingredients for the dishes...They have conch fritters...do they just take them ready made from the freezer to the microwave?? Sauces?? Salsa?? Come on - Based on reviews we've all seen, the food is really good...comparable to land based Margeritaville restaurants.

Are you really saying that a handful of diners per hour makes this place profitable for the cruise line??

Most importantly, the folks NOT eating here, eat SOMEWHERE...This costs them money too, as well as space, and labor...

Sorry, I misinterpreted your post. You're right, on SDP it makes very little sense to waste a meal at Margaritaville.

No problem...didn't mean to sound harsh. If I did...I'm sorry.

I did mean that whether I go a la carte at Margeritaville, or use a SDP credit, I'm looking at 20 bucks or more for a full meal, with Apps and dessert. Even a burger, fries, and a drink would run 15 bucks with gratuity.

I don't know if you've sailed on Escape yet, but you'll be paying way more than $20 per person for filet or lobster with an appetizer and desert with the new a la carte pricing.

I thought I was clear...I can add days to my SDP for roughly 20 bucks if I want additional premium meals. My point, is that eating a full course meal at Margaritaville costs about as much as Le Bistro or Cagneys on the dining plan...

Margeritaville is a SDP option, according to a number of posts I've seen.

$22 in revenue, and drastically reduced food costs, and the ability to probably re-allocate labor elsewhere too.... AND they get to claim they have this brand on board.

 

It's not their fault if you choose not to eat there.

 

 

I have a friend who is an author (NY Times bestseller - 11 times over), who is fond of (jokingly) saying "I don't care if you READ my books - just buy them!". :D

 

 

Stephen

 

.

That's just the point...No one is buying it. I doubt VERY strongly, that this venue remains as a selling point for cruises on this ship. An empty restaurant RIGHT NEXT to the main outdoor area of the ship could not possibly be deemed a success in anyone's book.

Lets see...I can book a specialty restaurant, for fine dining, including Filet, Lobster, etc., for roughly 20 bucks a head per night, on the SDP, or I can spend 20 or so on burgers and fries at this place...Hmmmmmm.....tough one.

And yes, they MUST prepare food for their own venue. I can assure you that they probably don't go get hamburgers off the buffet to serve...they cook their own, have their own salad fixings, desserts, fritters, etc. This food has to be prepared each day, in anticipation of some business, if they're open...

If you look through the dailies posted you can see when the dinner events are.

Another great food event was the Wine, Water, and Food tapas dinner at Cellars. Reasonably priced, delicious and informative...I only dropped in on that one due to other plans, but I had a few tastes and the reviews were all positive.

That sounds interesting! Do you remember the cost?

It's a success for the investors and their bottom line. I don't agree with the charge for the restaurant, but I probably would pay once on the cruise to try it. I have always enjoyed margaritaville and have been to many and would give it a try for the fee.

It's not a success if they're paying 10 crew members to sit there and do nothing...and throw out fresh food that they can't sell. It costs them money to operate the restaurant, customers or no.

I tried to try the nachos once on the Breakaway, only to find out that the late night dining menu was in effect. You know what's worse than O'SheeWhos nachos? The plate of dry tortilla chips that were offered by the server.

 

I gotta say... UBP combined with limited late night dining options is a frightening combination. I debated swimming to shore.

Now HOLD ON THERE:

If you read NCL's Guest Ticket Contract, you'll realize we're all getting WAY MORE than what we paid for, and agreed to. Life would be a lot easier if everyone could comprehend this reality.

Just be aware - I am on the line with NCL customer service right now about the Margaritaville change.

 

The supervisor I was speaking to can't find anywhere in the contract nor in the terms and conditions that states they have the right to change a complimentary venue to a pay venue after we make final payment. I pointed out a few lines in the T&C that state that my cruise fare is subject to change prior to final payment, but that I couldn't find anything about their ability to make arbitrary changes to the product promised without compensation AFTER final payment. She spent 45 minutes reading everything she had - and agreed with me that it isn't there.

 

She's now on the phone with the executive office ... start calling - BUT BE POLITE. I WILL get some kind of compensation here - and I'll post what I get when I do. Another cruiser posted (on Facebook) that they had emailed DelRio's office and received a $100 OBC after they complained - if they sent that to one person they'll bend to more of us. I would recommend that as many of us complain as possible - even if you never planned to eat there .... you can use the OBC elsewhere.

anybody have the corporate email or phone number?

As I've said before I've been called many more names, why is it ok when people call me names but when I retaliate I'm the jerk? Some people say a $5 charge would be the difference maker I say it wouldn't because it's still too cheap personally I would be okay with a $20 cover charge but Ncl has made it clear they're done with coverage charges and are moving on to ala carte

Here's a neat little feature I found...

If there are particular members that bother you and you do not want to see their posts or receive Private Messages and Emails from them, then you can add these members to your 'Ignore List'. There are several ways to do this:

Through your User Control Panel: User CP, Settings & Options, Edit Ignore List. Then, click on their name and choose: User List, Add to Ignore List

Well that does me no good I am cruising in a week :rolleyes:

And that's the frustrating part in this...the folks who have to deal with it until it settles out, and NCL may be losing customers over nothing...I bet none of this (or much less at least) would have been stirred up if they had simply instituted a 4.95 or 5.95 cover charge to reduce crowds... But instead, they overreached ...as many companies do...Hopefully, they will fix it quickly.

I have said a million times I am supportive of this decision because of the next time I cruise the escape I would like to not have to wait in line for hours. If it takes a cost to do it then that's completely fine.

Well...I said the same thing a few posts back...And I did it without calling anyone a whiner or wrong for disagreeing with me. I simply stated what I thought might work, and where I thought things might settle out. A few folks stated their agreement...Great! I'm sure some didn't agree...also Great!

That's not a fair comparison. There many places to eat free and it's not like you're on the ship now and suddenly found out. Anybody that's really really upset about this and not in their final three months and chooses not to cancel has no right to complain. I do however understand if you are in your final 3 months and cannot cancel being upset. Not upset enough that this earns 2 million threads because like I said there are still free options. Your scenario would have been better suited if you got on the ship and all the restaurants were pay.

And you are right back to your pointless, off topic arguing...I tried to be nice. If people want to discuss this, why can't you let them, without picking arguments, about how they SHOULD feel??

I'm sorry, but someone who continually picks arguments in multiple threads on a forum, is typically just trolling...Are there not rules against that here? These types of back-and-forth exchanges are of NO interest to those not involved...Could you take it offline to PM please??

This is the response I got when contacting NCL guest relations

 

"I am truly sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you. No compensation is being given for this change. I am sorry. There are venues in which you do not have to pay for meals on board."

 

 

To me just seems like they don't care either :(, they just want your $$

Give it time...took them a while to gage the reaction on their "No food in the room" edict, and reverse it...

My thought exactly. I'd like to see a $6.95 cover charge. At that price, I would expect a decent % of passengers justifying a visit for their group. Hopefully there's a sweet spot where everybody wins...

 

WAIT A SECOND, did NCL just successfully get us excited over a cover charge for Margaritaville??

Bingo!! Brilliant move by them!!

Actually, they did, along with all the people wanting to eat there, creating the demand. If few went, it would have stayed complimentary. Hard to imagine how they can not anticipate these kinds of things better, however...At Disney, they are constantly getting guest feedback on a variety of things...It doesn't seem all THAT hard to do...

Well I guess by alienating some of their customer base NCL solved their problem.

This is interesting...wouldn't surprise me to see them settle somewhere in the middle here...Similar to RCL and Johnny Rockets, with a nominal fee of 5 to 8 bucks. I wouldn't mind paying 6 bucks to eat there, all inclusive, during a cruise, but 15-20 bucks for a complete meal including apps and dessert, no way!

They most certainly did too. We were given a pager, and so was everyone else in line. The pagers worked on the entire ship. You did not have to stand there and wait.

I hate to make this my first post, but I've been reading this board for a while to learn as much as I could before we sail on the Escape in January...

Motleyfan seems like a decent person, but he is beginning to derail thread after thread with his not very helpful, sometimes nonsensical, posts.

Motleyfan...You are embarrassing yourself on this forum...please read more, and post less. Your posts are frustrating to weed through, and take away from the usefulness and flow of this place.

You can respond to me, and be defensive, or take this message as intended, which I believe would be beneficial both to you, and the other posters here.

I actually believe you are primarily trolling the board for your own amusement, but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt with this post...