PATRLR

No real chef will ever serve a prime piece of steak with a sauce. They all know that the sauce simply takes away from the flavor and hides the lack of quality of the beef. It has noting to do with tastes, it has to do with quality. That is one reason you never see steak sauces in a quality restaurant.

These statements are way wrong. I am sure there are some chefs who are beef purists who would say such things, but, they are the minority. All of the finest steak houses offer very high quality sauces to accompany their steaks.

Ridiculous. :rolleyes: I prefer all meats to be accompanied by a sauce of some kind and I greatly enjoy trying different flavor profiles. I don't "need to", I want to and have done so in some very fine establishments as well as at home after having purchased and prepared AAA Certified Angus.

 

Typical mediocre steakhouse mentality: ever hear of sauce bernaise or red wine sauce which top-of-the-line restaurants serve on their top-of-the-line beef?

 

You folks are missing the point. There is a big difference between "needs" and "wants". The original statement talked about beef that needed something added to be edible:

 

 

Not to criticize, but to point out a difference. IMO if you have to put any sauce on a steak, then the steak is low quality, and probably not prepared correctly. A good steak should be eaten rare to med rare with nothing but salt and pepper and melt in your mouth. If it can't be eaten like that it is simply not a quality piece of beef.

 

I am well aware of various sauces that the finest steak houses serve. They always offer them as an option because their steaks are good quality and can be eaten without any sauces. They offer them as an option because some people simply like their steak with a sauce.

 

Dishes like Steak Diane, served in mass quantities are likely prepared to cover up for low quality beef. Steak Diane was originally invented to be prepared table side where the preparation was a significant part of the dish. The only reason to abandon the "show" would be to use its sauce to dress up the meat.

 

To each his own, but enjoying a sauce on a steak because you choose to does not say anything about the quality of that steak. Adding a sauce to a steak because you have to or need to in order to eat it does say a lot about the quality of the steak.

Don't forget they have to cook for the masses, and a lot more people prefer "bland" food to food with even a little "kick". Sorta stinks, but that is how it is.

That's a cop out. There is no difference between cooking for 400 or 4000, so long as your facility is sized properly. In the 80s on HAL and RCCL, ships carrying well over 1000 passengers, we experienced fine dining in the MDRs. It could be done today too, if the lines wanted to. Unfortunately, they chose not to.

 

This is sad. [emoji30] I'm beginning to think its a conspiracy by the cruise lines. "Let's make our food so bad that people who actually like good tasting food will be forced to buy a dinner package"

I don't think it's so much a conspiracy as it is a business/marketing decision. There is so much volume available in the industry that they have to lower fares to fill and pay for the ships. Obviously they then need to cut expenses and food quality is just one of many places they do it. But that poses a problem for attracting the big ticket spenders who don't want to pay big bucks for their suites and then eat Golden Corral and Dennys quality food. Solution: specialty restaurants with high quality food for a nominal fee.

 

I just wish people would be more honest about it so that people like the OP can plan accordingly.

 

Ridiculous! Most cuts of steak need assistance. There is far more chuck, bottom round and even top round than there is decent sirloin, rib or strip.

 

The majority of beef served is tough and of mediocre flavor - and needs disguise or enhancement. Anything below prime or choice - even if it is sirloin - is of lower quality.

Why did you write "Ridiculous"? You've pretty much restated his point. Most beef sold or served in the US is low quality, and therefore you need to add to it. The point is 100% correct - a good piece of beef shouldn't need anything added to it.

Do you really think NCL is going to serve even choice if they are trying to economize? Of course everything they serve in MDR will be of low quality.

I must have missed the memo. I didn't realize it was known that NCL was trying to economize by lowering the quality of their food, even in the MDR. My experience on the Dawn a couple weeks ago supports that assertion, I just wish people would acknowledge it more openly. The fact of the matter is, if you want decent food, you need to pay the extra $ for specialty restaurants, and you need to factor that cost into your budget. If not, be prepared to be eating "Golden Corral" quality meals during your cruise.

Yes you have paid a gratuity on the package but so has everyone else. No need to flash cash but a couple dollars every round goes a long way and the waiters/bartenders etc. will get to know you and continue to come around and ask if you need anything.

 

My experience suggests this is a very true statement. A buck or two per round goes a long way. That and just being friendly and treating the servers with respect and dignity.

Maybe it was an elderly person who thought she could make it back on time, but took a little longer than thought it would.

 

This is a cruise ship taking people in vacation, not a bus taking people to work on a schedule.

 

1/2 hour is perfectly reasonable.

I understand what you are saying and I agree that 1/2 hour is reasonable. However, I stand by my original statement that a cruise line needs to post a time and stick to it or risk more confusion and more problems.

1/2 hour seems reasonable.

Disagree.

 

State a time, stick to it. Anything else is asking for more problems.

On the Dawn, a couple weeks back, no problem.

 

You have to be smart about it. On sea days, the pool bar is going to be crowded, and it will take some time to get a drink. The servers will be busy and it might take some time before they get to you. So, go up to the Bimini, or go into the station in the Garden Buffet. Not a big deal.

 

We also added tip (just $1 for a couple drinks) *and* engaged the servers with friendly conversation. They eventually knew us and what we liked. That helped I am sure.

 

MDR we ordered with our server immediately when we they greeted us and I never recall a significant delay getting drinks.

As long as there's people that stay blaming others

Who is blaming others?

 

I mean - I didn't know a TV promo program from like years back would trump up dailies,

Does that TV program announce itself as being from "years back" and outdated? How is a passenger supposed to know that she shouldn't trust what's on that program?

 

What happens when that TV promo info gets updated - What will people here blame next for 2 people each week, lateness /tardiness?

Well, I won't blame anyone because so far in this thread I haven't blamed anyone for anything. If thye update the TV program AND they deliver consistent information to the passengers then I will stop saying that NCL has some responsibility here.

I'm confused as well. You are assuming that those two passengers used the time on the TV and that is why they were late.

Please don't put words in my mouth (or my posts ;)) I made no assumptions about what any passenger did or didn't do.

 

Take the boarding time, the port, the ship, etc out of it. My statement comes down to ... so long as the cruise line publishes bad information, the cruise line has some responsibility for any use of that information. How can that not be true?:confused:

Announcements are made at the start of exiting the ship via cruise director its a must and it's in his commentary.

 

The announcements could not be heard in my stateroom on deck 11. I heard absolutely none of the announcements when I was in my stateroom a couple weeks back on the Dawn.

 

Personally I believe it's up to the passengers to check times just like you do for any other appointments in your life including flights.

Of course it is. But just for my own curiosity, how many times should one check the departure time? Apparently in the mind of many people on this board, while on an NCL ship you need to check multiple times in multiple locations because some of the published times might be wrong and it's up to you, the passenger, to figure out which one is correct.

 

Wouldn't it be a lot easier if NCL simply didn't continue to publish the wrong time? How can it possibly be OK to publish the wrong time?

So you mean to tell me - you can't folded up a daily with the day's departure time in your pocket / wallet/ purse/bag? Interesting.....

 

What does that have to do with what I wrote?:confused: You obviously missed my point or more likely don't care to accept it.

 

Sure, any one of us can put the daily in our pockets. But what if someone doesn't want to? After all, this is freestyle cruising, maybe they don't want to schedule their day. Maybe they spend every working day following a schedule of events and they don't want to do that on vacation????

 

Maywell I have a direct question for you: Can you accept that some people on the ship don't care one bit about the scheduled activities and therefore have no reason to even look at the dailies? Can you accept that or is it just to far fetched for you to accept?

 

But back to my point....

 

For those who have difficulty comprehending what I wrote, my point is that as long as NCL publicizes wrong information, they have someresponsibility if passengers have the wrong boarding time. Notice that this time I emphasized "some". Notice that I didn't say it's entirely NCL's fault, I didn't say the passengers don't have some responsibility as well. All I am saying is that NCL has some responsibility for publicizing the wrong boarding time.

 

Why is that so hard to accept?:confused:

 

Maywell, let me turn it around another way. I infer that you feel NCL's publicizing the wrong on board time in just one place does not mean NCL has any responsibility for passengers who might see that one time and get back to the ship late. What if NCL stated it in two spots (let's say the video and a cruise staff announcement that was corrected 10 minutes later). Does NCL have any responsibility now? How about 3 places? 4? At what point, in your opinion, would NCL be responsible?

Does NCL have a Butler?!

:D They do, of course, but they don't THAT Butler.

If 4,000 passengers can make it back on time and 2 can't, it seems like the information regarding the time to get back is clearly stated so that the responsible passengers knew it.

What you don't know is, how many of 3998 who did get on board were surprised to see the ship leaving an hour earlier than they expected.

And what if NCL stop playing the video and 2 people still winded up taking a pilot boat back to the ship - what are you going to blame next for the lateness? Hmm....What are you going to blame next that? The signs? The daily? The shore excursion desk? When does it end?

Why is it so hard to acknowledge that as long as there is misinformation being made available that the source of that misinformation (NCL) has some responsibility?

 

Believe it or not, some people don't schedule every last second of their cruise, they don't study every piece of paper that gets dropped in their cabin, they don't focus on reading every little sign, and they tune out the annoying cruise director announcements. All they need to know are a few key pieces of information, such as when to be on the ship, and do the rest spontaneously (It's called freestyling). They see what time to be on the ship on their TV, commit it to memory, and plan accordingly. Why look anywhere else?

 

Why is it so hard to accept that?

I agree, flying the flag would be tacky and inappropriate, especially when in port.

 

I wonder what you might think if I was flying my Patriots flag while you were trying to get your picture?

 

What if everyone started flying flags from their balcony?

Have a 21 day repo booked for 2016 and my promo was the UBP. Even with just 2-3 drinks per day I think it will be worth it!

Of course the OP was asking about purchasing the package. I assume you don't think it would be worth purchasing if you only drink 2-3 drinks per day.

I would cruise Carnival for that and that only. Just one time. And I might even bring pool officer FranknBeans and a drunk chairhogging motleyfan with me. Heck, we could make it a charter cruise! :D

FWIW, on my Carnival cruise last summer, the staff was actively enforcing their empty chair policy. The had a place set aside for belongings and it was getting a lot of use. I always manage to find a spot, so, not a big deal to me, but it was still refreshing to see the rules being enforced.

While underway, you can smoke occasionally on the balcony. No one cares unless there are multiple smokers or you are running like a chimney. Just shut your balcony door and stay behind the dividers. Of course, don't smoke while you neighbor next door (down wind) is out unless they are cool with it.

 

I know that others have pointed out that smoking on balconies is against the rules.

 

This post is directed to smokers who think that while underway you can smoke on your balcony and not bother anyone else. I assure you that is far from true. The airflow on balconies is not what you might think. While on the Dawn our neighbors were smoking a lot on their balcony. We experienced:

 

1. Smoke smell in our balcony after they had left theirs. Long after they left (at least 15 minutes aft they'd left). To the point where I couldn't spend time out there.
   
2. Smoke in our room if we happened to have our door open when they decided to smoke.
   

I truly believe these folks were trying to be mindful of us much the way Bosox312 describes. I know a few times they came out on their balcony, knew we were on ours (because I'd make noise), and they did not lite up. But what they didn't realize (and I don't think Bosox312 and others realize) is that the smoke and smell lingers long after you put out your butt.

How important is it for you to be sitting right around the perimeter of the pool? Those will be the difficult spots to get. Especially if you don't go up top till later in the morning.

 

We typically didn't get up top till 11 or later, we prefer shade which there is far, far, far less of, and we were still always able to find a spot. We may have had to walk around for a few minutes looking, but, we were able to find a spot.

You can order unlimited appetizers. In Cagneys, for example, we would regularly order double shrimp cocktails (6 pieces instead of 3), a salad, soup and sometimes something else (such as the short ribs app).

 

Part of dining on cruises is the ability to sample and experience different foods.

 

And it used to be that dining on cruises meant high quality meals in the MDR, not just in specialty restaurant for an extra fee.

To go to horseshoe bay, we took a taxi just off the ship. There is an open awning on the right when you get off the ship. There is a Bermuda official that signals the taxi and it costs 8$ per person.

My experience was the taxis charge ~$32 one way. For 4 people it's $8 pp. However, if you are less than 4, then they are going to still charge you ~$32. If you are a party of 4, then as I understand it, you are just as well off to take a taxi instead of the vans.

 

The taxis and vans are pretty easy to find. The pier is "T" shaped (kinda), we were berthed on the right upper part of the T. As we started walking "down" the T, the vans were parked right there. I don't think it's possible to walk off the pier without walking by the vans. If you get there and aren't sure, just ask any driver for the $7 vans to Horseshoe Bay and they will point you in the right direction.

If you are in New Bedford, short of getting someone to drive you, just drive to the pier. Parking really isn't that bad compared to other ports, plus, when you get back, you get in the car and go.

I have to say, driving there was downright easy. Set your GPS for Black Falcon Pier and it will take you right to the line up to drop your luggage. Then drive 100-200 yards to the parking lot and walk back.

 

Cost is $140 to park for the week. I guess you need to way that cost, vs the cost of trains and buses and then factor in the hassle factor which of course is different for everyone.

Thanks for the suggestions. Fortunately I found my copy so I won't need to be working this through NCL.

did you go to beaches near the ship or venture to others?

Snorkel Bay is walking distance. Other than being close to the ship, we found nothing nice about this place. I would never recommend it to anyone. I wrote a review over in the Bermuda forum if you want to see more detail.

 

The $7 van rides to Horseshoe Bay are convenient and my recommendation for going to a beach. We had one van driver (Louis Carter) give us a real nice tour of the local sights on the ride home.

I apologize if this is posted somewhere, I did a few searches and couldn't find it.

 

I need to get a copy of my OB charges (essentially, the summary of charges we get at the end of the cruise). The final bill I got at the end of the cruise has been lost. Anyone have any experience getting a copy?

 

I logged into my account on the web site but that doesn't help. Can't even find a "contact us" info. My plan is to call them Tuesday (figuring it will be easier after the holiday) but thought I'd ask here if anyone has had to do this.

 

Thanks.