On the BA now just an update on the UBP

[jkneern]

I know there was a post last week about the UBP and will try to clarify. We are on the Breakaway now and have the UBP, drinks are up 7% this started when we boarded 3/1. The auto gratuity is now 18% and the limit on drink purchased is $11.00. Bartenders are somewhat confused, depending on what you order some will ask if you want premium liquor (if it stays under 11.00) others refuse to use premium and you get Smirnoff . Prices will vary too- ex. Bloody Mary w/grey goose $10.93, 10.56, 9.72, 8.26 all purchased on the same day. Hope this helps all who were wondering. Haven't read any posts so not sure if others may have already posted.

Oh I'll through this in too- No more show reservations are needed all are 1st come 1st served- get there early as seats are all taken in 10 mins, theater opens 45 mins early. Lots of people upset having made reservations and seats were all taken when they arrived. Kinks still need to be worked out on this.....

Reservations only needed for 2nd city comedy show- and these shows have never been full, just walked right in 5 mins before show started.

I'll post a review when we get back- nice ship but......fill Ya all in later.

[cage keeper]

Can't wait to hear all about your cruise. Someone posted the new drink menu earlier today. There has to be more. Please post if you can. That's strange on the shows when the theatre is so small. Not used to making reservations for these anyway and don't plan on seeing too many. How about Rock Of Ages? We are on there in two weeks.

[rochelle_s]

Thanks for taking the time to update us. I look forward to your review when you get back. Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

 

 

Rochelle

[elliemaej]

Do you know if the prices of the Margarita and/or Martini tasting went up with the price increases?

[hawkeyetlse]

Bartenders are somewhat confused, depending on what you order some will ask if you want premium liquor (if it stays under 11.00) others refuse to use premium and you get Smirnoff . Prices will vary too- ex. Bloody Mary w/grey goose $10.93, 10.56, 9.72, 8.26 all purchased on the same day.

Really seems like NCL did a lousy job of preparing this changeover. What a mess.

[aquarianne11]

No more show reservations are needed all are 1st come 1st served- get there early as seats are all taken in 10 mins, theater opens 45 mins early. Lots of people upset having made reservations and seats were all taken when they arrived.

 

Wow, what's up with that???

 

Thanks for the updates. Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

[PelicanBill]

Wow about the shows. Thanks for posting. We sail on Breakaway in 3 weeks.

Edited March 7, 2015 by PelicanBill

[Kenlorz]

WOW is right about the shows!!! And since I'm an Uber Planner and already have all my shows reserved, it's not making me happy to know that it might now be first come, first serve and my reservations a moot point. If this is the new norm, it just seems like chaos waiting to happen on the Breakaway class ships. It will force people to line up earlier and earlier to get a seat in the small theaters. Time will tell, hopefully I'm wrong, but now a tad bit concerned.

[LrgPizza]

Prices will vary too- ex. Bloody Mary w/grey goose $10.93, 10.56, 9.72, 8.26 all purchased on the same day.

 

 

That part isn't new. I had the same thing happen on Epic in Nov. Three cherry limeades purchased at the exact same bar within a 2 hour period (when it was the DOD) were all rung in at different prices. I posted the receipts here. It was funny.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

That part isn't new. I had the same thing happen on Epic in Nov. Three cherry limeades purchased at the exact same bar within a 2 hour period (when it was the DOD) were all rung in at different prices. I posted the receipts here. It was funny.

 

Seems like they have a lousy setup on their POS system. There should not be THAT much room for error / discrepancy for drink pricing.

[mking8288]

Oh mine, boo !! Thanks for the heads up - we leave for the BA in 2 weeks - especially on the changes with open seating, FCFS with the shows. Just logged into MyNCL and still showing our pre- Reserved time/date for ROA & BTF on our 2nd. sailing with the ship.

Will share this with folks on our Roll Call sailing her the first time, there is going to be some very, very interesting Q&A with ship's senior officers at the Meet & Greet ... which they will most typically & likely defer to corporate or HQ policy guidance, LOL.

Talk about let's Rock the Boat instead, huh :rolleyes:

[karensletsgotravel]

I am a travel agent and have a lot of people booked on the Breakaway so when this came to my attention, of course I was concerned. Since last night, I have spoken to 3 land based Norwegian reservation agents and all got the same answer - yes, you can still pre-book entertainment reservations onboard the Breakaway and that it is not a free for-all. I have also emailed a few departments in the company just as a back up in case these agents I spoke to aren't 100% up to date on major changes. I have also directly sent a message to a close friend of mine who is one of the head pursers onboard the Breakaway as we speak. She, of all people onboard, will know the answer to this because when people are upset about something, the first place they go is the pursers desk/guest services. I, too, have sailed twice on the Breakaway and found no problem with the reservations OR the pricing of drinks. I am sailing with a large group in April to Bermuda so for my own personal and professional reasons I wanted to get clarification on this. So far, the only thing i've been told is that on the Epic, the Blue Man Group reservations were changed on the April sailings. BUT Norwegian emailed all the travel agents and guests who had reservations for that show and asked if they wanted to be re-accommodated to the Burn the Floor show for their sailings. Please know that there is a specific department in Miami that handles all of the entertainment reservations that you pre-book. I'm not saying something went wrong on this guys sailing last night, but be careful how much you take for real. Instead of heresay, pick up the phone and call Norwegian, or better yet, book through a travel agent who can always get you the facts! I will be posting back on this thread as soon as I receive any more confirmation from my contacts in Miami and my friend who is onboard in Guest Services. And to mking8288, i also checked my NCL reservation and my show reservations are still showing confirmed too. hang in there people, I will get the answers.

[*Luv2Cruz*]

Thanks for the update? :)

 

Sent from my QMV7B using Tapatalk

[JJS329]

Having sailed on both BA and GA I think there is a misunderstanding about reservations. If the theater is not fully reserved, which occurs often, then the crew allows last minute people to enter. That's probably what was seen.

[RuthlessBoss]

I am a travel agent and have a lot of people booked on the Breakaway so when this came to my attention, of course I was concerned. Since last night, I have spoken to 3 land based Norwegian reservation agents and all got the same answer - yes, you can still pre-book entertainment reservations onboard the Breakaway and that it is not a free for-all. I have also emailed a few departments in the company just as a back up in case these agents I spoke to aren't 100% up to date on major changes. I have also directly sent a message to a close friend of mine who is one of the head pursers onboard the Breakaway as we speak. She, of all people onboard, will know the answer to this because when people are upset about something, the first place they go is the pursers desk/guest services. I, too, have sailed twice on the Breakaway and found no problem with the reservations OR the pricing of drinks. I am sailing with a large group in April to Bermuda so for my own personal and professional reasons I wanted to get clarification on this. So far, the only thing i've been told is that on the Epic, the Blue Man Group reservations were changed on the April sailings. BUT Norwegian emailed all the travel agents and guests who had reservations for that show and asked if they wanted to be re-accommodated to the Burn the Floor show for their sailings. Please know that there is a specific department in Miami that handles all of the entertainment reservations that you pre-book. I'm not saying something went wrong on this guys sailing last night, but be careful how much you take for real. Instead of heresay, pick up the phone and call Norwegian, or better yet, book through a travel agent who can always get you the facts! I will be posting back on this thread as soon as I receive any more confirmation from my contacts in Miami and my friend who is onboard in Guest Services. And to mking8288, i also checked my NCL reservation and my show reservations are still showing confirmed too. hang in there people, I will get the answers.

 

I'm surprised there have not been other threads about this. There have been no complaints yet. I wonder if it was a computer glich.

[Dorhead1230]

I am a travel agent and have a lot of people booked on the Breakaway so when this came to my attention, of course I was concerned. Since last night, I have spoken to 3 land based Norwegian reservation agents and all got the same answer - yes, you can still pre-book entertainment reservations onboard the Breakaway and that it is not a free for-all. I have also emailed a few departments in the company just as a back up in case these agents I spoke to aren't 100% up to date on major changes. I have also directly sent a message to a close friend of mine who is one of the head pursers onboard the Breakaway as we speak. She, of all people onboard, will know the answer to this because when people are upset about something, the first place they go is the pursers desk/guest services. I, too, have sailed twice on the Breakaway and found no problem with the reservations OR the pricing of drinks. I am sailing with a large group in April to Bermuda so for my own personal and professional reasons I wanted to get clarification on this. So far, the only thing i've been told is that on the Epic, the Blue Man Group reservations were changed on the April sailings. BUT Norwegian emailed all the travel agents and guests who had reservations for that show and asked if they wanted to be re-accommodated to the Burn the Floor show for their sailings. Please know that there is a specific department in Miami that handles all of the entertainment reservations that you pre-book. I'm not saying something went wrong on this guys sailing last night, but be careful how much you take for real. Instead of heresay, pick up the phone and call Norwegian, or better yet, book through a travel agent who can always get you the facts! I will be posting back on this thread as soon as I receive any more confirmation from my contacts in Miami and my friend who is onboard in Guest Services. And to mking8288, i also checked my NCL reservation and my show reservations are still showing confirmed too. hang in there people, I will get the answers.

 

Thank you for your practical and proactive response to this. I assumed this was probably a misunderstanding, but the NCL customer service people seem to give a million different answers to the same question. It is very helpful that you have higher-up, better-informed contacts at NCL. I look forward to learning the information that you receive as a reply.

[mking8288]

Good morning & thanks, Karen, for making good use of an outside TA's resources & sharing with us all. I just posted a heads-up for our M&G group, we have a fairly large gathering and we will wait to hear, and the sailing this Sunday on its return should be further validation as there are a good # of pro-active CC's on that sailing just ahead of us.

We saw both BTF & ROA last year but reserved it again, if we can't get it - not a big loss to us, plenty to do & our sailing isn't full yet, plenty of mini-suites & Haven cabins available for booking $$$. UBP isn't for us and OBC will take care of any & all beverages, old or new prices, don't matter as we got enough to cover (I think ...)

We CC's helped each others & share, we will sort all these out - unfounded rumors keep some of all these postings going, including the never-ending questions on water & wine, and, of course, the passionate subject of "lobsters" Time to go into Tapatalk again as that was useful on the go to post quick update, even when sailing or at the ports with slower WiFi/internet.

Edited March 7, 2015 by mking8288

[karensletsgotravel]

Ok this is a follow up to a post i replied to earlier today about the reservations for entertainment on the Breakaway. I did receive thismessage from my friend who is a head purser in Guest Services on board the Breakaway right now. This was her response to the post from cruise critic member who said that reservations were no longer valid and that second city comedy just walked right in 5 mins before the show started..... what you see in the photo below is her response to the bottom of the post that i pasted into her messenger app. So, remember folks, investigate what you hear before overreacting to someone else's experience. And as far as the beverages, everything in life goes up in price. If you have the UBP, don't complain about the price of your drinks. Just make sure when you're ordering that your bartender knows you have the UBP so that he's mixing you a drink that is covered in your package. Any questions, feel free to send me a message. :)

 

[karensletsgotravel]

I'm surprised there have not been other threads about this. There have been no complaints yet. I wonder if it was a computer glich.

 

There is, and that's why I posted this. I'm not versed so well in cruise critic posting or else I wouldn't directly replied to that persons post. sorry!

[karensletsgotravel]

Thank you for your practical and proactive response to this. I assumed this was probably a misunderstanding, but the NCL customer service people seem to give a million different answers to the same question. It is very helpful that you have higher-up, better-informed contacts at NCL. I look forward to learning the information that you receive as a reply.

 

I'm not so well versed on how to post here, but i did put an update on.

[karensletsgotravel]

Good morning & thanks, Karen, for making good use of an outside TA's resources & sharing with us all. I just posted a heads-up for our M&G group, we have a fairly large gathering and we will wait to hear, and the sailing this Sunday on its return should be further validation as there are a good # of pro-active CC's on that sailing just ahead of us.

We saw both BTF & ROA last year but reserved it again, if we can't get it - not a big loss to us, plenty to do & our sailing isn't full yet, plenty of mini-suites & Haven cabins available for booking $$$. UBP isn't for us and OBC will take care of any & all beverages, old or new prices, don't matter as we got enough to cover (I think ...)

We CC's helped each others & share, we will sort all these out - unfounded rumors keep some of all these postings going, including the never-ending questions on water & wine, and, of course, the passionate subject of "lobsters" Time to go into Tapatalk again as that was useful on the go to post quick update, even when sailing or at the ports with slower WiFi/internet.

 

Yea i never come in cruise critic, specifically for this reason. I spend so much time correcting and defending. no time for that! But one of my friends/clients brought it to my attention and I needed to investigate it. I did post another update and confirmed that this was a test run for this past week's sailing only. Direct words from a head Purser onboard.

[bangzoom6877]

We will not have the UBP on our July Breakaway cruise (inside cabins), and I'm concerned about the differences in price for the exact same drinks. I hope they work this out by then!

[karensletsgotravel]

And i'd like to add to my other posts about the increase in service charges and drink prices...

 

IF you work with a good travel agent (such as myself) you would've been notified about the increase in service charges. We found out that they were being increased from $12 per day to $12.95 per day back in the middle of February. I immediately emailed my clients and notified them of this. Norwegian was giving anyone who was already booked prior to the increase of March 1st, the opportunity to pre-pay their gratuities before their sailing. So, if you weren't notified by your travel agent, then shame on them and if you didn't take advantage of pre-paying your gratuities, then don't complain when you get onboard and they've gone up. Just sayin... :cool:

 

As far as drink prices, again, prices go up. Cruise prices have remained steady over the past 20 years. They make their money on drinks and casino. You're on vacation - have a drink and if you can't afford the increase, then stay home :D

 

I went to my local pub last weekend (i don't go out much) and was shocked that I'm paying $5.50 for a Corona. Same price as a ship. Go figure!!

[Kenlorz]

Thanks Karen for getting to the bottom of the reservations posting. I hope that this "Test Run" doesn't indicate a future change to this way of attending shows. I much prefer the reservations option. I'm guessing the test has something to do with the amount of people who complain that the need for reservations is counterintuitive to the "Freestyle" concept. I'd be interested to know the results of this trial run.

[SissasMomE]

"A test for this cruise only" is a joke. It will be implemented. Not really a bad idea, IMO. How may people have reservations and don't show?