missintuitive

Only time will tell if your granddaughter will remember. I took my son on the dream when he as a few months shy of 2 yo. Everyone told me he wouldn’t remember. My stance was that he would live in moment AND I would take a lot of pictures. He’s five now and Believe it or not he remembers. He often asks me to go on the “Mickey Boat” again. He says that we slept in a hotel and had breakfast. He also remembers pirate night.

He went to the nursery and they loved him and said he assisted with other kids when they cried. At age 3, I took him on a NCL cruise and he wouldn’t stay in the club for more than 30 minutes, lol. We have an upcoming cruise so we’ll see how he fairs in the kids club on Disney;)

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I guess you could colloquially call that bait and switch but it is closer to false advertising. Or, in some areas, breech of contract because the contract is more than the "terms and services" and extends to the initial sales offer.

 

So what recourse does a consumer have? You probably aren't going to get a lawyer to represent you in a civil claim because the amount of the harm to you is so low. You could file a Small Claims case in Florida and might even win (I don't know FL law, but often large corporations don't even show up for small case and you win a default judgement). You can make a complaint with the Florida Attorney General so they will follow up on a criminal investigation. You can complain on social media but because the resolution you want is so far more expensive than losing you as a customer you are left with one solution: Never sail NCL again.

 

If you, as some have said, will still sail NCL "for a good deal" even though they engage in bait and switch, false advertising and breech of contract you will never effect change. And NCL knows they can continue violating your principles but a nice shiny nickle will get you back on board. You are then the PERFECT customer for a corrupt organization: no matter what they do, you can be bought.

My recourse is to send a letter to refute the charges (all except the magic show). If I don't get the resolution I want, I will take my cruise dollars elsewhere. I had a great cruise on NCL but I had great cruises on other lines as well without worrying about having to dispute charges. This is MY experience and I'm sharing it.

Bait and switch examples:

1. Promise of free magic show on first night of cruise when I purchased. Changes policy after my final payment.

2. I had UDP and was supposed to get 25% off Carlos, and ocean blue. That didn't happen..$$$

3. Charged me for a service charge that was included in booking promo...more money

I spent thousands on the cruise. Why advertise one thing and supply another?

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Thank you for the info!

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Please report back the menu at O'sheenans. It's been reported that the new menu wasn't going to roll out until January then there were reports that the new menus would be rolled out "early" on the away ships. Let us know! Pot pie or not, lol!

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OP have a great cruise...and ignore the trained seals who spout off.....

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]Now that is funny!

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He just makes stuff up. He sounds all indignant and like he knows better, but he clearly doesn't.

 

 

 

Here's the announcement that Kevin Sheehan made of Margaritaville going on th Escape, that rvsullivan said "Margaritaville and the cost/no cost was not even a glimmer in the eye of Kevin. He was long gone before this was decided"

 

 

 

http://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/Norwegian-Escape-getting-Margaritaville-restaurant

I was also trying to figure out his math. If the burgers/sandwiches are 6.99-10.99, the fries/coleslaw/sides are 2.99 each if you had a mid-range burger, fries, and coleslaw plus the 18% that's $17.70 without desert or apps. That's not much less expensive than the $20 he's claiming a land meal to be.

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So a child with cancer gets an exception. How about death of a spouse? Home fire that destroyed everything? Passenger is deployed? Loss of limbs cased by a hit and run? Death of a child? Heck, after Sandy, there were many folks in the NYC area with homes destroyed, unable to sail.

 

 

 

As a parent, if I lost my cruise payment because my child needed cancer treatment, because I turned down travel insurance, that mo eye would be the least of my concerns.

No just a child with cancer. That pretty rare and a family affair.

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These days, yes, the key to forcing a company into giving you special consideration is to go to the media or try to get your YouTube video to go viral etc. In these cases I suspect that NCL does end up responding, but they may choose to do it discreetly and make the person agree not to blab about the special arrangement they are getting. Because there is a trade-off between the good publicity that they could get by making a big deal out of their generosity, and the risk that this will encourage lots of others to ask for the same (whether sincerely or otherwise). Yes, a child getting cancer is thankfully a rare occurrence, but I am sure that on every cruise there are people who have to cancel at the last minute because of some unforeseen calamity that is also deserving of compassion. But compassion in the true meaning of "heartfelt sympathy", not what everyone actually wants it to mean in such situations (i.e. "free money").

Again, you're talking general calamities and I'm talking specific rare occurrences... Like a child with cancer. We're not talking about calamities that happen on every cruise for certain passengers. We're talking a specific case when a child was diagnosed with a treatment intensive and potentially deadly illness. In the recent case, the parents wanted to postpone, and not cancel, the trip. Was the child to stop treatment to go? Ncl did not make the concession. Another cruiseline's CEO (cough...starts with a R) decided to offer the family a vacation on one of its ships. That's not only compassion but good business.

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Glad to see you can help one customer, but with NCL it would probably be thousands...where do you draw the line. Letting the customer service department use discretion on who they want to help and who they wouldn't, would result in a ton of lawsuits. Why help one, if you aren't going to help all.

 

 

 

You know what they say when you assume!

You ask where should they draw the line? IMHO the line should NOT be drawn when a request to postpone (Not cancel) a trip is based on a child being diagnosed with cancer. This is a rare occurrence. The parents may not have vacation time available to support the child through treatment and take a vacation. I doubt there would be thousands of exceptions of this type requested. In fact, the rarity of the situation is exactly why media picked up the story.

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Great review!

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The point is that a $20 lobster is not a value purchase. Traditionally, cruise ships would give you value for your money in terms of food and drink. That really is becoming a thing of the past little by little...

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Didn't they do the same with the nursery on the escape? Advertise it for free and then decide to charge. It's a slippery slope.

Also, for all the nay-sayers related to the alleged change, there have been many, many changes that were not announced by NCL. Instead, cruisers on this board reported the change and ppl called them liars or trolls. The truth is NCL did charge for room service, they did raise the alcohol prices (twice), they did change the alcohol beverage menu although they still offer the same drink (thankfully I know from this board to go with my own drink list,lol), they did limit some customers to one appetizer in speciality restaurants and charged other upcharges(while at the same time not instituting this on other ships). I tend to believe the "rumors" on this board bc they are more likely than not to be true. I would not want to be surprised in my trip. The high potential for that makes me very uneasy as I prepare bc I am a big time planner. I know my threshold for paying extra $$ and NCL is very close to that for so many things that I enjoy while cruising.

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I'm a little late to this discussion, but are you saying that all the listed cruise lines you've posted include a 1 lb prime rib in their dining rooms every week? I know NCL did and I believe still do in one location, but is is more of a 4-5 oz, big difference. Same thing with lobster, which line is providing a 1.5-1.75 lb lobster in any dining room for any price?

 

I think in completely ok for folks to mention they don't like to see any upcharge items in the MDR, but since they did not remove anything and in fact looks like they improved the choices of "free" items, I don't understand the grief?

I specifically only mentioned the prime rib...not the size and not how often it is offered. I think you should go back and read my original comment so I don't have to repeat the assertion. I couldn't care less about the size of the prime rib bc 16oz is too big and I do not prefer boneless cuts of beef (i.e. I prefer t-bone, bone-in rib eyes, and bone-in prime rib).

I will only care if the prime rib for an upcharge is the only prime rib available on the ship. No one has been able to confirm that it's still complementary on the ship. If it isn't, then imo it's a tacky money grab.

In terms of lobster, I didn't even mention it in my post. However, I'm fine with the smaller and portions that are offered on most cruise lines without an additional charge. The same lines allow you to order more than one. I don't need a 1.5lb whole lobster bc only the tails and claws are edible anyway. It's a waste.

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I'll be honest I don't recall seeing it on Princess except maybe 1 night out of 7 usually first night of cruise. Nor do I recall it as a standard option on RCCL as well although it certainly may have been offered. Then again, Princess also offers lobster (kind of) some nights.

 

That said, every cruise line offers things that others don't included in base fare. Princess for example offers far inferior entertainment and physically facilities in their base package, but they do have traditional dining. They offer free hand dipped ice cream on most ships, RCCL does not. RCCL has flowriders and an aqua theater and an ice rink on some ships, all included, NCL does not, etc. Heck, the lines don't offer the same things on their own ships and there's not always a lot of variance in fares.

 

It's apples and oranges on many levels.

I'll stand by my statement that RCCL, Princess, CCL, Disney, and X all offer prime rib without a charge at some point during the cruise. I never said it was available every night on every ship. I just stated that it wasn't an "up-charge" item in the MDR on any ship except NCL.

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The new dinner menu looks great! When will these changes be implemented in the -away ships? I've heard January fleetwide but some one also mentioned that it would be sooner on the -away ships. Just trying to confirm...

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What's important and favorite food choice for one, is not the same for EVERYONE. And if its that important and serious, you either budget for it or go somewhere else that still has it included in the fare.

That shouldn't be hard. The FACT is that every other commercial cruise line offers prime rib in the base fare. NCL is the only one "up-charging" for it.

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I have a feeling that the "regular" prime rib will still be included in the MDR, which is the same thing you could get at O'Sheehans, which if I remember correctly is about 8 oz, because it is pretty thin.

 

The a la carte is a 16oz Prime Rib for $14.99 (you couldn't get that in a land based restaurant), and a whole lobster for $19.99???? That would be at LEAST $30-40 bucks on land. I'm not overly bothered by these choices....yes choices, not requirements.....actually kind of excited that I don't have to go to a specialty dining venue to get these choices!

You can get a whole lobster for $19.99 on land. It really depends on where you live. If you're from Maine or Rhode Island you can get the same for about $14.99 (for a meal including the lobster) which is what I do every time I visit. It's all relative.

Also, many all-inclusive land resorts usually don't charge for "specialty" restaurants or up charge meals so that's always an option.

Different food items matter to different people I guess, to some people the pot pie is more important than the prime ribs. I don't eat ribs or steak so it's not at all important to me.

Which is why I started with, IMHO...

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I have the original UDP from before they changed the dining plans.

 

Can I use my UDP for prime rib in the main dining room?

Great questions! It is called the "ultimate" dining plan, lol. I highly doubt it though. There could be a big case made for the 25% discount though. I'll just stick to the actual speciality restaurants ;)

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They didn't take out pot pie and mozzarella sticks they took it out from a late night not during the day or dinner time. Shrug

Thanks for the clarification!

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You forgot the rest of the part regarding not seeing that NCL removing couple of other food items that was serve at all hours from O'Sheenan's, but you're too focused on prime rib that gets served once or twice a week there - that's getting a upcharged in the MDR for every night. [emoji57]

 

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IMHO Prime rib is much more important than pub food of pot pie and cheese sticks. The pub food type options come and go (similar to appetizers for lunch/dinner). That type of food isn't "special" to me and is easily replaceable (even though I would have preferred the pot pie to remain it's no biggie).

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Considering Royal been doing selling steak and lobster in their MDRs for awhile - would you call that cruise line tacky too? Besides, at least now people don't have to go to Le Bistro or Cagney now to get lobster every night....

 

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I think that it's tacky and a very obvious money grab. I was researching a cruise for next year on Oasis or Allure and saw the extra charge items on the MDR menu. I said to myself, "oh no! This is the type of thing I was trying to avoid."

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ok, lt me say this, if I didn't already; I am talking mainstream or mass maketed lines which Disney isn' considered one of them; they are also 2 to 3 times more expensive. So yes, you are right and yet, that isn't the type of line the OP or anyone here is referrin to. This does not mean there isn't a line for everyone; heck that is my favorite phrase. My point was in referring to the OPs comment about things in the past compared to now.

Disney is absolutely NOT 2-3 times more expensive. $500-$1k more per cabin, maybe depending on the time of year but my cruise on Disney for 7 days last year was LESS expensive than my NCL cruise this year. We cruised In Early Sept when most kids are back in school ( I have a toddler) and booked early which is a must to get the best rates on Disney.

I don't know why Disney isn't considered mainstream. The itineraries are similar and they are not as pricey as regent, oceania, or other luxury lines. If that were the case, they would not be able to attract families. The cruise is around the price point of a moderate disney hotel for the inside and OV and a higher hotel for the balconies.

My point was that the amenities that OP likes are not a thing of the past for ALL cruise lines. One just has to shop around.

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There is a certain line of land-based casino's that are affiliated with NCL. In that casino line, there are quite a few locally-based casinos (i.e. not in Vegas). At the casino closest to me, there is no smoking inside the casino...which is beautiful. The table games are all on the inside.

However, all of the outside smoking areas have gaming areas with a variety of machines. This layout is a real hit with the smokers because they can still play the games while smoking.