Everything.. ESCAPE (live 29 Oct 2015!)

[Lily815]

Bummer. So NCL's biggest ship has 3 complimentary restaurants:

- main dining rooms

- buffet (Garden Cafe)

- O'Sheehans

 

Compare that to RCI's biggest class. On the Oasis of the Seas, the following are complimentary:

- main dining rooms

- buffet (Windjammer)

- Park Cafe

- Sorrento's pizzeria

- Cafe Promenade

- Vitality Cafe

- Wipe Out Cafe

- Boardwalk Dog House

- Solarium Cafe

 

And Johnny Rockets has free breakfast. Some of the venues I listed above on RCI are not open for dinner (or there is a fee for dinner like the Solarium) but I was thinking along the line of what is available for lunch. I considered Margaritaville a lunch type of place.

 

This is exactly why, after 8 years with NCL, we are heading back to Royal. :(. Just way too many changes on NCL. Also, IMO, the MDR choices and quality were better under Sheehan. When the new menus were rolled out on Getaway (when the ship first started sailing), the choices and quality were amazing. I just don't think it's as good now as it was. It's hard to justify all of these price increases now.

Edited November 28, 2015 by Lily815

[Buccaneergirl]

Leaving on Escape today and I got the email about Margaritaville late yesterday. So, less than 24 hour notice and I think the whole thing stinks! We probably would have eaten there once while on board, but now, not at all.

This is my first NCL cruise and I have to say that since I booked this cruise, there have been so many changes at NCL.

 

Can't wait to get on board today and see what an NCL cruise is like!:)

[hpecorari]

Well don't worry they're still many more complimentary place to go on the ship

 

FYI -

 

Escape, 4,248 Passengers - 5 complimentary venues:

Manhattan Room, Taste, Savor - only Taste/Savor open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

 

Getaway, 3,969 Passengers - 7 complimentary venues:

Tropicana Room, Taste, Savor - only Taste open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

Flamingo Bar and Grill - Breakfast and dinner

Shanghai's - Open for dinner only

 

Breakaway, 3,963 Passengers - 8 complimentary venues:

Manhattan Room, Taste, Savor - Only Savor open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

Uptown Bar and Grill

Shanghai's Noodle Bar

Sabrett's Hot Dog Stand

 

Epic, 4,100 Passengers - 7 complimentary venues:

Manhattan Room and Taste - Only Taste open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

Great Outdoors

Spice H20

Shanghai's Noodle Bar

So basically, on the Escape, which has the most passengers, you can:

Have free breakfast at Taste/Savor, O'Sheehan's and the Buffet

Have free lunch at Taste/Savor but only when at Sea, O'Sheehan's or Buffet

Have free dinner at Manhattan Room/Taste/Savor, O'Sheehan's or Buffet

 

Just a quick show of the different ships, the amounts of passengers on the ships and the complimentary venues now available.

 

Harriet

Edited November 28, 2015 by hpecorari

[Lily815]

FYI -

 

Escape, 4,248 Passengers - 5 complimentary venues:

Manhattan Room, Taste, Savor - only Taste/Savor open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

 

Getaway, 3,969 Passengers - 7 complimentary venues:

Tropicana Room, Taste, Savor - only Taste open for lunch when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

Flamingo Bar and Grill - Breakfast and dinner

Shanghai's - Open for dinner only

 

Breakaway, 3,963 Passengers - 8 complimentary venues:

Manhattan Room, Taste, Savor - Only Savor open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

Uptown Bar and Grill

Shanghai's Noodle Bar

Sabrett's Hot Dog Stand

 

Epic, 4,100 Passengers - 7 complimentary venues:

Manhattan Room and Taste - Only Taste open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Great Outdoors

Spice H20

Shanghai's Noodle Bar

So basically, on the Escape, which has the most passengers, you can:

Have free breakfast at Taste/Savor, O'Sheehan's and the Buffet

Have free lunch at Taste/Savor but only when at Sea, O'Sheehan's or Buffet

Have free dinner at Manhattan Room/Taste/Savor, O'Sheehan's or Buffet

 

Just a quick show of the different ships, the amounts of passengers on the ships and the complimentary venues now available.

 

Harriet

 

Thank you. This breaks it down nicely.

[FreestyleNovice]

Nice job Harriet, thanks.

 

Seems NCL is steering towards more revenue gain from the specialties, but we all knew that was coming. :D

[shauncruises]

Just got off the Escape! It was a wonderful cruise. Did not attempt to go to Margaritaville... it is just food, IMO. Although the wings at O'Sheehan's were incredible! The entertainment was fantastic! The ports were good, although that is not why we picked this ship. We wanted to go on the newest ship. We always get a balcony. We were in 11214. Originally we were on the deck 9 and then realized it was above many entertainment venues! So glad we changed! Deck 11 is so quiet! The room is more than large enough. The bed is near the balcony. The bathrooms are fairly roomy and the shower was wonderful!

 

We loved walking around the Waterfront on deck 8! It was very relaxing. The way the Garden Cafe is designed is genius! The food area is all in the center and the seating all around with lots of window seating! Also genius is having a bar located in the cafe for quick access to a cocktail!

 

All this being said, we enjoyed sailing on the Allure so much more and will probably stick with RCCL. It will really depend on the itinerary.

 

For everyone still preparing to cruise... Enjoy! I feel so blessed to be able cruise! Cannot wait until the next on!

[Dave85]

Actually, the 'aways have 5 complimentary dining spots vs. just 3 now on Escape, because the 'aways also have Shanghai Noodles.

 

 

 

 

Just a quick show of the different ships, the amounts of passengers on the ships and the complimentary venues now available.

 

Harriet

 

 

Thanks to both of you, the disparity is worse than I initially thought!

[Minoushka]

FYI -

 

Escape, 4,248 Passengers - 5 complimentary venues:

Manhattan Room, Taste, Savor - only Taste/Savor open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

 

Getaway, 3,969 Passengers - 7 complimentary venues:

Tropicana Room, Taste, Savor - only Taste open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

Flamingo Bar and Grill - Breakfast and dinner

Shanghai's - Open for dinner only

 

Breakaway, 3,963 Passengers - 8 complimentary venues:

Manhattan Room, Taste, Savor - Only Savor open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

Uptown Bar and Grill

Shanghai's Noodle Bar

Sabrett's Hot Dog Stand

 

Epic, 4,100 Passengers - 7 complimentary venues:

Manhattan Room and Taste - Only Taste open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

Great Outdoors

Spice H20

Shanghai's Noodle Bar

So basically, on the Escape, which has the most passengers, you can:

Have free breakfast at Taste/Savor, O'Sheehan's and the Buffet

Have free lunch at Taste/Savor but only when at Sea, O'Sheehan's or Buffet

Have free dinner at Manhattan Room/Taste/Savor, O'Sheehan's or Buffet

 

Just a quick show of the different ships, the amounts of passengers on the ships and the complimentary venues now available.

 

Harriet

 

The buffet choces are very limited and Sheehans is a greasy spoon IMO .i hope they bring back another free venue ...too many have fees plus lunch is the same in restAurants all week ....same repeated menu ....come on NCL ...do not disappoint ..step up .we paid for our cruise ...please deliver good food all the time everywhete not just specialty

Your nickel and diming is going to send you out to play alone

You are my favorite so fix this ....after I pay for my cruise ...not that cheap anymore .i really wAnt something good for my money ...come on you can do better

[motleyfan]

FYI -

 

Escape, 4,248 Passengers - 5 complimentary venues:

Manhattan Room, Taste, Savor - only Taste/Savor open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

 

Getaway, 3,969 Passengers - 7 complimentary venues:

Tropicana Room, Taste, Savor - only Taste open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

Flamingo Bar and Grill - Breakfast and dinner

Shanghai's - Open for dinner only

 

Breakaway, 3,963 Passengers - 8 complimentary venues:

Manhattan Room, Taste, Savor - Only Savor open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

Uptown Bar and Grill

Shanghai's Noodle Bar

Sabrett's Hot Dog Stand

 

Epic, 4,100 Passengers - 7 complimentary venues:

Manhattan Room and Taste - Only Taste open for lunch & only when at sea

O'Sheehan's

Buffet

Great Outdoors

Spice H20

Shanghai's Noodle Bar

So basically, on the Escape, which has the most passengers, you can:

Have free breakfast at Taste/Savor, O'Sheehan's and the Buffet

Have free lunch at Taste/Savor but only when at Sea, O'Sheehan's or Buffet

Have free dinner at Manhattan Room/Taste/Savor, O'Sheehan's or Buffet

 

Just a quick show of the different ships, the amounts of passengers on the ships and the complimentary venues now available.

 

Harriet

 

Yeah but the for fee restaurants are just better.

[Loonbeam]

A couple of notes -

 

1> Given the apparent cause of the issues with M'Ville, namely the size of kitchen, which cannot be easily adjusted, they could have sold me on a small cover charge in the name of demand management. Wouldn't have been thrilled, but I would have understood and still probably went there once or twice if it was like $5.

 

With that said, the sudden change to A La Carte cannot be spun any way but as a money grab to capitalize on demand. I'm not arguing they can't do it, or its not a good business decision but I do have to wonder how well it will do given the posted prices and if we will see a future adjustment.

 

Also with that in mind, one thing we don't know is how much influence BuffetCo has over it, for example could they have nixed the cover charge idea? We won't know that, but it is important to remember that unlike some other similar venues, NCL may not have complete control of the operation.

 

2> To me, the bigger issue here is there is now no complimentary waterside/outdoor dining, something pretty much every one of their competitors (and their other ships) have. Somehow, this will need to be rectified (my guess would be adding a patio feature to the buffet perhaps with another type of food during drydock, if physically possible.

 

3> Following all the threads, one thing I have noticed is that NCL REALLY hamstrings themselves with the Haven concept. Having a haven suite booked upcoming, I am personally thrilled with it, but it ties up so much real estate on these new builds that it limits their other outside options such as lets say a pizza venue or comp burger joint (if they had a 'standard' burger joint in addition to M'Ville, no one would care).

 

4> This leads me to another thought, which is that NCL isn't quite sure what it wants to be right now. Do they want to be a family focused line like RCCL, with ropes courses, etc? Or a foodie oriented line, with the SDP, or attract a luxury market with the Haven, or a mass market line with big ships, or.... And I think we are seeing that reflected in a ship design that tries to be everything to all people, which rarely goes well.

 

5> Circling back around, does anyone know if the complimentary venues on the escape are the same size as on the Aways. It's not a huge deal to have less of them (except for variety) if there are more available seats.

 

6> BTW, I am giving them a pass on the casino mess. It was obviously their clear intention to go non-smoking, so the design was not a build-time issue. It didn't work and while they could have handled the change better (seems to be a theme), there apparently was enough pressure from high rollers and their casino partners that they needed to make the switch back before they could do it properly. The eventual inclusion of a smoking area should help (if they drop that idea, I withdraw this statement entirely).

Edited November 28, 2015 by Loonbeam

[cruisegirl1963]

Just off the ship too.. We got into Margaritaville on a port day. No wait..had a burger that was just as good as my burger at O'Sheehans. If I had paid I'd feel a bit ripped off. Hope that helps some of y'all. :|

[motleyfan]

Thanks to both of you, the disparity is worse than I initially thought!

 

I think disparity is a bit of an over reaction. That's the thing cruising is optional nobody has to go on a cruise. Just like there are different options on different ships.

[bottoms up]

SO MOTLEYFAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you went out today and bought a V8 vehicle and then were told next week the day before you picked it up that it was a V6 and could not get your money back, HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?

[aubreyc1988]

 

6> BTW, I am giving them a pass on the casino mess. It was obviously their clear intention to go non-smoking, so the design was not a build-time issue. It didn't work and while they could have handled the change better (seems to be a theme), there apparently was enough pressure from high rollers and their casino partners that they needed to make the switch back before they could do it properly. The eventual inclusion of a smoking area should help (if they drop that idea, I withdraw this statement entirely).

 

Can someone tell me what the current casino situation is? I was looking forward to a truly non smoking casino section. You can't simply say a "Side" of the casino is non smoking because there are no ashtrays on the machines - the smell of the smoke is EVERYWHERE and you can smell even in LeBistro and other floors on the Getaway. Was hoping the completely separate room would make things a little better.

Edited November 28, 2015 by aubreyc1988

[LoveyHowell]

I think disparity is a bit of an over reaction. That's the thing cruising is optional nobody has to go on a cruise. Just like there are different options on different ships.

 

It just means there is a difference between something. It's not an emotion, or reaction, or really even subjective. Look at A, look at B, measure the difference. that's the disparity.

 

Motley, if I advertised a free bag of popcorn with a movie ticket, and you paid for the movie ticket, and were then charged $5 for the popcorn would you pay for it, or would you say "I was told that was supposed to be included with the ticket price"?

[motleyfan]

SO MOTLEYFAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you went out today and bought a V8 vehicle and then were told next week the day before you picked it up that it was a V6 and could not get your money back, HOW WOULD YOU FEEL?

 

I think is the difference between buying a car and simply going on a vacation. It's a vacation to relax have fun and please don't sweat the small stuff.

[stevehank]

Comparing the change in a restaurant to the purchase of a car? Really? One is something we do several times a month or year and the second is the second most expensive purchase you will most likely make in your life, behind a home. Let's not blow this out of proportion.

 

NCL clearly has not managed the change effectively, but the change has been made and debated to the ends of the earth. Please send an e-mail to management if you do not agree.

 

I for one am looking forward to our Escape cruise in January. Choosing to find a reason to enjoy it, rather than reasons not to...

[LoveyHowell]

I think is the difference between buying a car and simply going on a vacation. It's a vacation to relax have fun and please don't sweat the small stuff.

 

So if you pay for a spa haven suite and you get on the ship and NCL says no access to the spa unless you spend an additional $200, but you don't HAVE to, and there's no refund for the premium you paid for a "spa suite", would you think that is a fair deal and that you got what you had paid for?

 

Yes or not?

[sjnyc323]

Margaritaville now ala carte pricing as of 11/28/15

Edited November 28, 2015 by sjnyc323

[stevehank]

LoveyHowell,

 

If you did not have another spa to go to, yes, you should get a refund. There are other choices. There are other dining alternatives on the ship. You are not making an apples to apple comparison.

 

Also, there is a big difference between $20 and $200.

 

Yes, they screwed up. As popular as the Margaritavilles are on land, they should have made it ala carte from the beginning. Demand in a fixed area was easy to foresee. Their fault is in trying to make in complimentary at the outset and poorly managing expectations.

[motleyfan]

So if you pay for a spa haven suite and you get on the ship and NCL says no access to the spa unless you spend an additional $200, but you don't HAVE to, and there's no refund for the premium you paid for a "spa suite", would you think that is a fair deal and that you got what you had paid for?

 

Yes or not?

 

Now you are just pulling things out of the sky, for example I had a spa Haven suite and the spa was unavailable and they gave me a $100 onboard credit and I was happy with that. I heard some of the people mumbling and groaning about it but I said come on hey it's A extra hundred bucks

[Loonbeam]

That's not an entirely correct analogy, although I get where you are coming from.

 

NCL is obligated by contract to provide certain things. If you book a cabin where Spa access is given, Spa access is required or an acceptable substitute or compensation. It's what is known as a fixed benefit.

 

When it comes to dining, its a bit squishier. NCL is obligated to provide complimentary dining, 3 meals, but what those are is not defined in the T+C, but would be reasonably considered to be a buffet and MDR option capable of servicing all passengers. No one could argue they are not doing that.

 

The M'Ville issue is one of marketing, not obligation. The venue was marketed as complimentary. However, the T+C allows NCL to make any non-substantive (and even some substantive) changes they want without obligation or legal liability, and that certainly applies in this case. A type of cabin is substantive and cannot be changed in this manner.

 

From a marketing/custrel situation the right thing to do would be to backdate the change somehow (logistically this could be done by flagging accounts booked before a certain date and automatically backing out M'Villle charges for example - or even giving a couple of vouchers - the vast majority of people wouldn't eat there more than 3-4 times on a 7 day), but they have chosen not to do that at this point, so the reaction is warranted on an emotional level if not legal.

 

 

 

The

So if you pay for a spa haven suite and you get on the ship and NCL says no access to the spa unless you spend an additional $200, but you don't HAVE to, and there's no refund for the premium you paid for a "spa suite", would you think that is a fair deal and that you got what you had paid for?

 

Yes or not?

[50PlusBrowns]

Does anyone have specific info on the size of the suite and the balcony for aft-facing balcony Category B1 on Decks 9 - 15?

 

I am seeing some info here that the aft-facing balconies may be larger on Deck 9 than some of the other decks above it.

 

Anyone stay in one of these aft-facing B1 balconies and can give me specific square footage for the suite and the actual balcony, please.

 

Thanks

[motleyfan]

Does anyone have specific info on the size of the suite and the balcony for aft-facing balcony Category B1 on Decks 9 - 15?

 

I am seeing some info here that the aft-facing balconies may be larger on Deck 9 than some of the other decks above it.

 

Anyone stay in one of these aft-facing B1 balconies and can give me specific square footage for the suite and the actual balcony, please.

 

Thanks

 

There's a balcony it's big you'll enjoy it.

[happy cruzin]

There's a balcony it's big you'll enjoy it.

Nevermind....deleted

Edited November 28, 2015 by happy cruzin