Room service and to go food

[Wendy&Grumpy]

Can you imagine the discomfort to guests if NCL decides to police this BS by stationing blocky-blocky crew at elevators and stairways?

 

Nevermind the increased cruise prices due to increased staffing needs...

[Freckle53]

Just so you guys all know I just took it upon myself to call NCL directly.

 

I got a very rude phone agent mind you, but this is what she said:

 

You will not be able to take ANY food out of public ares (restaurant or buffet). There will be NO exceptions for people who are sick and/or people with small children who prefer to eat in rooms for convenience. She even suggested that this shouldnt be a problem unless your kids are not well behaved in which case they shouldnt be going on the cruise anyways and then preceded to say "What, you dont take your kids to restaurants back home?". I dont even have kids, I was just asking. Then she said, "If a person is sick they shouldnt be eating because that would just make them more nauseated". Seriously, NCL? I hope this is not what youre getting phone agents to tell people?

 

AND IT DOES APPLY TO DRINKS ALSO! She said ANY drinks from the bar cannot be taken back to enjoy on your balcony!!

 

I told her that made no sense because what about those who order bottles of wine and they get delivered to the room itself. She said bottles of wine would be an exception but drinks ordered one at a time from the bar must stay in public areas!

 

This is ridiculous. If im walking around with a glass of wine how are they going to know if i poured it in my room or got it from the bar? No way to enforce that.

 

I am an avid NCLer and will be a Platinum member after our next cruise. I have gone out of my way to defend them in the past but this is just getting insane.

 

I pay extra to have a balcony and now youre telling me i cannot BUY a Martini from the bar and bring it back to my room?! Why am I paying extra for a balcony?

 

Not happy.

 

We were thinking of leaving the stroller at home for our 3.5 year old on Feb. cruise, but if this ends up being true, I will be dragging that puppy with us and will unabashedly use it to smuggle food from the buffet. As many mothers of toddler/preschoolers can attest, you spend most of the meal time procuring plates for your kids, cutting things up for them, and by the time you're done doing that, they've decided they are done eating and done sitting. Last time, I grabbed a plate with pizza or a sandwich for me and we'd go back to the room for the little one to decompress and run around and only then would I get 10 minutes to eat.

 

Having worked many years at the end of a 800 number in customer service, I can't believe any agent would give an answer like that. We were trained that when there were rumors or customer's had strong opinions to listen and validate their feelings and give non-committal answers if we didn't have specific verbiage for their issue and offer to fill out a feedback form for them over the phone. An agent commenting about even a hypothetical kid's behavior and discipline would get an agent pulled right off the phones if that call had been monitored, and likely given a box for their belongings and be escorted from the building.

[TheManitoban]

The no drinks is a bit odd to me. I think id challenge that one if I had a pepsi or beer and walked back to my room with it.

[SAILPRO]

Can you imagine the discomfort to guests if NCL decides to police this BS by stationing blocky-blocky crew at elevators and stairways?

 

Nevermind the increased cruise prices due to increased staffing needs...

 

Beside hiring more crew at elevators and stairways, they need to hire more staff at guest services to handle complaints these nonsense 'policy' changes lately. :D

Edited May 8, 2015 by SAILPRO
edit

[CavalierX]

I know everyone is hitting them up in "chat" on their website and they are all being told that they can not talk about it because there has not been an official announcement yet so they can't discuss it. :rolleyes: Someone did comment to me that "I am sure however based on the social media response,..that there will be one soon that will clarify it."

 

Here's what I fear. There will be an official announcement that will make it sound "not so bad*" and will reassure everyone that it's only "requested" that guests eat in the dining venues and not in their rooms unless they order room service. A lot of people will complain on message boards. Some people will cancel, but not too many. Some people will decide not to sail with Norwegian after their next cruise, but not too many. By next year, NCL will quietly begin to fine guests who take plates to their cabins at any point during the trip, charging a small "cleaning fee." Some more people will leave NCL... but not enough to matter. Within 3-4 years, this will be standard policy on all cruise lines, and what we now think of as normal will be just a fond memory of "how things used to be," the way long-time cruisers now speak of the excellent food, spacious accommodations and personal service that they used to enjoy on cruises long ago.

 

* Bonus points for anyone who recognises the quote "Nothing is the world is so bad as something which is... not so bad."

[Wendy&Grumpy]

I just figured this whole mess out!

 

We all expect changes over time, but NCL needed to figure out how to turn those changes into charges.

 

Due to budget cutbacks, they weren't able to purchase a new r... so they took the one from Freestyle.

 

#feestylecruising

[newcruzer2]

Well I just cancelled my January cruise and rebooked on Royal Caribbean. As a person who has been one 3 ncl...then rc allure.... then back to ncl just this past april. I can say without a doubt, they will enforce there new rules, not with100% accuracy but things had discretely all ready begun to change, when I was on the jewel 1st week of April. Goodbye freestyle.

[LMaxwell]

Post seem to be vanishing all over the NCL boards today.

[mking8288]

So, who has sailed recently and ordered hot breakfast items paying the $7.95 convenience fee - would be interesting to read about it to see how long it took for them to deliver - since you can't just hang the "free" order form outside the door knob the old way ??

• Threads getting moderated and abstracted ... their rules, so ;)
  

Edited May 8, 2015 by mking8288

[SAILPRO]

Here's what I fear. There will be an official announcement that will make it sound "not so bad*" and will reassure everyone that it's only "requested" that guests eat in the dining venues and not in their rooms unless they order room service. A lot of people will complain on message boards. Some people will cancel, but not too many. Some people will decide not to sail with Norwegian after their next cruise, but not too many. By next year, NCL will quietly begin to fine guests who take plates to their cabins at any point during the trip, charging a small "cleaning fee." Some more people will leave NCL... but not enough to matter. Within 3-4 years, this will be standard policy on all cruise lines, and what we now think of as normal will be just a fond memory of "how things used to be," the way long-time cruisers now speak of the excellent food, spacious accommodations and personal service that they used to enjoy on cruises long ago.

 

* Bonus points for anyone who recognises the quote "Nothing is the world is so bad as something which is... not so bad."

 

 

There will be an official announcement that will make it sound "not so bad*" and will reassure everyone that it's only "requested" that guests eat in the dining venues and not in their rooms unless they order room service.

 

Like some of us said and don't need to be a 'rocket science' to figure this out, "It' all about the $7.95 RS fee (see hightlight in red)" :D :mad:

[kessdarln]

There will be an official announcement that will make it sound "not so bad*" and will reassure everyone that it's only "requested" that guests eat in the dining venues and not in their rooms unless they order room service.

 

Like some of us said and don't need to be a 'rocket science' to figure this out, "It' all about the $7.95 RS fee (see hightlight in red)" :D :mad:

 

 

Eh, I saved hundreds and hundreds of dollars with my lower cruise rate at NCL over other lines and even more with my UBP that $166.95 is no big deal if I decide to order RS for each meal for a week. Besides, perhaps they will change it before 6 or 18 months from now when I cruise - plenty of time. :D

[kessdarln]

There will be an official announcement that will make it sound "not so bad*" and will reassure everyone that it's only "requested" that guests eat in the dining venues and not in their rooms unless they order room service.

 

Like some of us said and don't need to be a 'rocket science' to figure this out, "It' all about the $7.95 RS fee (see hightlight in red)" :D :mad:

 

 

If you haven't seen this one... It gives the email address and recap about a conversation with NCL

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2205902

[NLH Arizona]

So, who has sailed recently and ordered hot breakfast items paying the $7.95 convenience fee - would be interesting to read about it to see how long it took for them to deliver - since you can't just hang the "free" order form outside the door knob the old way ??

• Threads getting moderated and abstracted ... their rules, so ;)
  

Pambo posted this on the thread about only getting two items from room service: We just got off the Getaway yesterday and had ordered breakfast twice from room service. There were two of us in the cabin....we had eggs, bacon, potatoes, grilled tomatoes, fruit plate with yogurt dip, toast, danish, coffee, and juice. Each day it was only one fee of $7.95 and we certainly had more than two items each.

 

Possibly you could find Pambo and ask your questions. This is the only post that I remember reading about someone getting breakfast from room service.

[mistshar]

They seriously would not have enough "man power" to enforce this. For instance if you are out at the pool bar and order a drink. Are they going to follow each person with a drink in their hand to see if they sat out there? Are they going to follow you back to your chair by the pool? I doubt it. How will they know where you went? If I brought soda on board with me and I get the soda package (as I always do) and get a soda from someplace to drink, how do they know if I actually got it from my package or from my room? I ALWAYS take the glass back with me, use the ice in my room, and pour myself a drink from "my stash". There's no way to police this. They are crazy! :rolleyes:

 

I have a feeling the next thing to go will be allowing passengers to bring soft drinks or water onto the ship. They are really cutting their own throat.

 

As far as I am concerned this takes a lot of the pleasure we get from our cruise away from us. Someone has no idea what all people enjoy on their cruises. We aren't able to do a lot of the activities on the ship or do excursions. We consider these few extras as a major part of our cruise enjoyment.

 

I don't think they care but I bet they will eventually when they don't have a job because they have hardly any passengers.

[hpecorari]

I have a feeling the next thing to go will be allowing passengers to bring soft drinks or water onto the ship. They are really cutting their own throat.

 

I agree. NCL is losing a LOT of money with people bringing on their own water, juice, soda, etc. OTOH, I don't being any of that onboard so this wouldn't bother me at all!

 

Harriet

[sparks1093]

I agree. NCL is losing a LOT of money with people bringing on their own water, juice, soda, etc. OTOH, I don't being any of that onboard so this wouldn't bother me at all!

 

Harriet

 

Not to worry, eventually Del Rio will change something that will bother you. ;)

[mistshar]

Not to worry, eventually Del Rio will change something that will bother you. ;)

 

I agree. It looks like they are trying to do something to bother everyone. If not, you may have the ship to yourself.

[gcdogwalker]

What's going to happen to the mini bars in the rooms? Does this mean we can't buy a bottle of wine and bring it to our room? We can't bring a simple glass of milk with a couple of cookies back to our cabin? They have a room service for that? Give me a break! I think it's time for us to start looking for a different vacation.

[hpecorari]

Not to worry, eventually Del Rio will change something that will bother you. ;)

 

LOL - He already has.

 

My comment about 'OTOH, it doesn't bother me because I don't bring any of that stuff onboard'.......was said because that's what a lot of other people have said about the changes that have already happened. And my reply back to them was exactly what your reply was to me! :)

 

Harriet

[js]

I go to the buffet at lunch and bring my food to the deck outside. Cant do this? Oh my!

[emcelh]

I go to the buffet at lunch and bring my food to the deck outside. Cant do this? Oh my!

 

You still can. sissasmomme was able to confirm with NCL.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I often get a plate of cheese and crackers, or a piece of fruit or two to bring back to my room in the afternoon while I am dressing for the evening. Most mornings my partner will bring me a coffee and Danish when he comes back to the cabin. To say that I must now pay $7.95 for any food enjoyed in the privacy of my cabin is utter crap! There have been too many petty charges/changes at NCL this year, and I have almost ZERO confidence that what I currently think is included in my fare will still be included by the time I step foot onboard one of their ships.

 

I'm seriously thinking of calling and seeing what the cost to change my airfare for my fall Escape Transatlantic will be and switching to RCCL or Princess.

Edited May 9, 2015 by AtlantaCruiser72

[EaglesWin]

I go to the buffet at lunch and bring my food to the deck outside. Cant do this? Oh my!

 

The pool deck is not your cabin.

[sparks1093]

LOL - He already has.

 

My comment about 'OTOH, it doesn't bother me because I don't bring any of that stuff onboard'.......was said because that's what a lot of other people have said about the changes that have already happened. And my reply back to them was exactly what your reply was to me! :)

 

Harriet

 

LOL, it is hard to remember who is on which side of the river on this one:o. We are all in the same boat whether a change affects us individually or not.

[schwesterellibelli]

So we will not sail with NCL anymore. There are enough better cruise lines out there. And I will tell you they will have less European customers....

Just my 5 cents.