Have you/ are you going to cancel your NCL bookings

[HUNKY]

So, as I have no NCL cruises booked, I have nothing to cancel. I was unaware of these changes. I've always thought that having an a la carte restaurant would be a great idea. As long as the quality matches the price. As far as the gratuity percentage and DSC increase, no big deal. I'll still lay down some cash when getting drinks, or dining in the specialty restaurants. From what I can tell, my other half is allergic to paper money and requires me to get rid of it whenever it is near.

 

I also like the idea of a hot room service breakfast brought to my inside stateroom! $8 be damned!

[newmexicoNita]

I agree and I've been saying that. I think they want to weed out the vets, bring in the new crop of fresh young cruisers

 

have you read all the responses? Most who are vet cruisers do not intend on changing lines. The ones that do are the ones who do the most gripping period, with few exceptions. Yes, there are some that will leave or say they will. I wonder how many really will follow through after they adjust to the changes? I am sure the idea from the top is to weed out those who do not want to spend a penny extra, but if you check, you will find most lines have added extra charge items, in one way or the other. The exception are the luxury liners, but they already have a price tag that puts them out of the market for most cruisers.

[Shayneele]

Honestly these changes do seem a little shady but I normally don't cruise NCL. A good Deal is a Good Deal in my opinion. We got Free unlimited drinks on this cruise that is the ONLY reason we even booked NCL. For me I am not a fan of anytime dining I like to know where and when I am sitting and eating.

 

Just my thoughts

 

Shani

[spookyfudge]

There are too many cruise lines to choose from other than ncl, avoid all this slick SHADY b.s.!

 

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[sparks1093]

NCL cancelled my cruise because of government rules, I was not going to. As for the changes, I'll put it like this- let's say you buy a particular brand of shirt because you like the style and the fit of the shirts. Then one day there's a shake up at corporate HQ and a new designer is brought in. The new designer makes changes to the way the shirts are made and although the changes are subtle they do change the way the shirts fit and you feel that they don't fit as well as they used to. You'll still buy the shirts but only if you can get a really good price on them since another company's shirts fit a little better. (And of course you recognize that there are other people that either don't care about the new fit and others still that greatly enjoy the new fit, and that's okay.)

 

That pretty much sums up my view of NCL at the moment, it doesn't fit the way that it used to and they are no longer my first choice.

Edited July 19, 2015 by sparks1093

[Crusin6]

No I am no fool.... I am not canceling my dirt cheap true ksf deal I have

 

And I am prepaying my dsc at the first increase rate just prior to final payment

 

But I have decided to follow thru with something I have been planning on all along

 

I do not plan to give out any extra cash tips

 

18% is more than enough for specialties and drinks

 

My rate of $12.95 per pax per day is also more than enough

 

I don't have any guilt complex nor do I have the need to throw cash around to be a big shot

 

 

And yes I know the stewards have families..... Just like me.....

 

 

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[hpecorari]

Honestly these changes do seem a little shady but I normally don't cruise NCL. A good Deal is a Good Deal in my opinion. We got Free unlimited drinks on this cruise that is the ONLY reason we even booked NCL. For me I am not a fan of anytime dining I like to know where and when I am sitting and eating.

 

Just my thoughts

 

Shani

 

You still can know where and when you are dining. You can make reservations online for where you wish to dine on each evening and at what time you wish to dine, including any restaurant and MDR on the ship.

 

Harriet

[bobg529]

It's pretty simple to me. I like to cruise a lot. I always have a good time and it has become my favorite type of vacation, though I do enjoy a land base trip too when occasion arises. The high end lines, which to me include RCCL, Celebrity, and Holland America, are all too pricey for my tastes. Carnival prices are reasonable, but they are not any better that it would convince me to switch loyalties. With ALL the changes that have come down so far, I'm STILL convinced that NCL gives you the most bang for your buck, affording me the chance to take multiple cruises in a year. Besides, prices are going up everywhere. Have you noticed what's going on in your cart at the supermarket lately? For now I will grin and bear it, until it becomes impractical. Either that or if I stop having fun! :)

[emcelh]

NCL cancelled my cruise because of government rules, I was not going to. As for the changes, I'll put it like this- let's say you buy a particular brand of shirt because you like the style and the fit of the shirts. Then one day there's a shake up at corporate HQ and a new designer is brought in. The new designer makes changes to the way the shirts are made and although the changes are subtle they do change the way the shirts fit and you feel that they don't fit as well as they used to. You'll still buy the shirts but only if you can get a really good price on them since another company's shirts fit a little better. (And of course you recognize that there are other people that either don't care about the new fit and others still that greatly enjoy the new fit, and that's okay.)

 

That pretty much sums up my view of NCL at the moment, it doesn't fit the way that it used to and they are no longer my first choice.

 

Have you cruised on NCL since all these changes were implememted? From you cruise history it looks like you haven't in over a year. My last cruise was in November before the new management was in place so, other than knowing its costing a little more in gratuities, I can't say if I'll like the new fit or not.

[sparks1093]

Have you cruised on NCL since all these changes were implememted? From you cruise history it looks like you haven't in over a year. My last cruise was in November before the new management was in place so, other than knowing its costing a little more in gratuities, I can't say if I'll like the new fit or not.

 

No I haven't sailed with them but as I have said, if the price is a good one I'll still cruise with them, but they'll have to get me onboard with the price alone. I'm not going to swayed by a bunch of "free" stuff that I wouldn't have purchased in the first place. (And one needn't put on a shirt to know if the fit will work or not, sometimes one can tell from looking at it that it won't fit right and with the direction NCL is going that is the feeling that I am getting.)

[jm485]

We have a reservation on the Pearl for August 2016. It's a suite, booked during the March promo, so gratuities were one of the included perks, along with UDP, UBP and excursion credit.

 

I don't think the changes so far will really impact us, but I'm hoping that they won't decide to change the perks offered to those not in Haven suites on ships that have them. That might drive us to another decision. We're looking forward to giving NCL a try, so I hope nothing happens to impact our trip.

[Kingmaker_inc]

Welcome to Norwegian! In spite of its present, idiotic campaign to reinforce every negative perception of NCL...

 

 

I love this preamble. :)

 

To the OP and his questions: Of course not.

 

I bought a product I like, from a company I have previously enjoyed, at a price I like; and nothing that has happened has amounted to a hill of beans by my math.

[emcelh]

No I haven't sailed with them but as I have said, if the price is a good one I'll still cruise with them, but they'll have to get me onboard with the price alone. I'm not going to swayed by a bunch of "free" stuff that I wouldn't have purchased in the first place. (And one needn't put on a shirt to know if the fit will work or not, sometimes one can tell from looking at it that it won't fit right and with the direction NCL is going that is the feeling that I am getting.)

 

I hear you. We're not swayed by the free stuff either. Everyone has to do the math to see if it's an added value. On this next cruise, for us, it was.

 

I'm trying very hard to reserve judgement until after our next cruise which, at times, is difficult with all the negativity on here lately. Hopefully none of us will be disappointed.

[Beaver1975]

Nope, I don't see any reason whatsoever to cancel any of the five I have booked.

[fiftyguy]

No reason to at the moment. We have several planned. In fact can't wait for Labor Day weekend sailing to Bermuda.

[halos]

In light of the overwhelming changes in such a short span is it enough to get you to cancel your current bookings?

 

Personally for my family and I the answer is YES, 2 Suites Cancelled and I'm not looking back at this train wreck until they realize constantly changing the product makes people feel uneasy and abused.

 

No

The changes don't have me exactly happy, but they aren't enough to make me cancel AND, I just got off the Breakaway where I bought 2 cruise deposits.

 

Being uneasy about changes is normal, I would think....jumping ship before you even see if the changes impact you all that much is possibly cutting off your nose, to spite your face.

I feel like I have to experience the changes before I can make a decision on if they are going to impact my cruise or not.

Edited July 19, 2015 by halos

[motleyfan]

Honestly these changes do seem a little shady but I normally don't cruise NCL. A good Deal is a Good Deal in my opinion. We got Free unlimited drinks on this cruise that is the ONLY reason we even booked NCL. For me I am not a fan of anytime dining I like to know where and when I am sitting and eating.

 

Just my thoughts

 

Shani

 

Really? that's one of the things that stops me from crusing other lines.

[numberguy]

You still can know where and when you are dining. You can make reservations online for where you wish to dine on each evening and at what time you wish to dine, including any restaurant and MDR on the ship.

 

Harriet

 

But, you most likely will not have the same server every night. Not sure if that's important to you or not, but just thought I'd point out that servers bounce all over the ship from meal to meal. At least that's been my experience.

 

You can ask for the same waiter, but you might not be at the same table, or even the same MDR (several ships have two).

 

Just further information for those who like the same table, same tablemates, same server kind of dining. I'm with Motleyfan, though; I did that once on RCL (my one non-NCL cruise), and I'm REALLY not a fan of assigned dining.

 

--Michael

[numberguy]

And to answer the OP's original question, no, I do not plan to cancel my one upcoming cruise on NCL.

 

I'm not a stockholder, I'm very low maintenance, rather introverted. Letting me decide what I want to do on a cruise and when I want to do it (and how much I want to pay to do it) are all part of my cruise experience. Sometimes it's a game of "let's guess what time the red bars go to on the restaurant readouts for Moderno." Sometimes it's "screw the cost, I'm asking my partner to marry me tonight" that points me to Le Bistro. Sometimes it's "I don't want to change into long pants, so let's hit the buffet."

 

I *do* agree with a lot of people that the PR department at NCL HQ needs a serious reshuffle and self-examination as to their notification policies, but I think even that is improving.

 

--Michael

[OceanDreaming2]

 

That pretty much sums up my view of NCL at the moment, it doesn't fit the way that it used to and they are no longer my first choice.

 

I like your analogy. NCL used to fit us like a "T". Now either we've outgrown them or the fit has changed. We found Celebrity to be a good match. And we're soon to try HAL. Princess is good as is Carnival. But NCL used to be the best fit overall.

[Shawnino]

No.

I am much more likely to reduce my DSC.

[zeppgirl]

Maybe someone can help me..I did not read through all of the pages, only the first few.

 

We booked our first cruise for next December (2016) and are doing a suite for our family, plus suites for a few other family members. The increased daily fee doesn't matter much to me, since it's just a few $ in the long run. But with the line discontinuing Nickelodeon...does anyone know if they will be replacing it with anything, or how the kids program will look? We aren't huge Nick fans or anything, but did book partly because I was told Norwegian was great for kids and had a nice program. Now I'm hesitating. We have time to do research, and if we did cancel/change, it would affect a lot of people, so I wouldn't do it unless it was a big difference, but I want to make sure we aren't going to be disappointed. This is pretty big for us.

[legion3]

No.

I am much more likely to reduce my DSC.

 

Back to the $12 a day it was when booked?

[Shawnino]

Back to the $12 a day it was when booked?

 

Likely less.

This nickel-and-diming stuff needs to stop.

[Nolesfan]

"Mr. Del Rio we understand there's talk on message boards that some customers don't like spending more money once they get onboard and are considering canceling their cruises and switching to other cruise lines "