Is the outside beverage ban making you look elsewhere??

[UPNYGuy]

Please read this entire post to get what this is about.

 

I am asking this because there are MANY of us (including myself, a Latitudes Platinum) that have stood by Norwegian as all these changes rolled out. We have said time and time again how they do not affect us, and witnessed others complain.

 

Now, I will freely admit that this does NOT directly impact me, as my wife and I always sail in cabins that have included the UBP, and prefer Pepsi if we drink soda (which is very rarely).

 

However, it is making me question more than ever what other motives are behind the changes (the security screening 'story' is BS), and what else is coming down the pipeline.

 

DW and I have a cruise coming up in October, and three more booked with Norwegian after that. Needless to say, I saw the change on the Ts and Cs...

 

We have been looking on and off at MSC for some time now, and saw that they had a new ship coming to Miami when we had an NCL booking. So needless to say, we booked a Yacht Club cabin on MSC Seaside. We figured we'd give them a go in Europe as well on Splendida, as they are basically kingpin there. If we didn't really care for them, it'd still be a great experience ;). Not to mention that the Yacht Club was considerably less than The Haven, which has been reported here before.

 

I am not saying DW and I will ACTUALLY leave Norwegian, but this may backfire on them, as there are MANY people that will not drink Pepsi. But with us, it gave me enough of a push to actually give MSC a shot. If we like the Yacht Club, we may take our business there instead...and we LIKE Pepsi!!

[ColinIllinois]

No.

[4774Papa]

We try to look at the overall picture and pick the best value for our next cruise, price, service and quality. Of course, the new beverage ban will be a negative in that process.

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

We try to look at the overall picture and pick the best value for our next cruise, price, service and quality. Of course, the new beverage ban will be a negative in that process.

 

 

We're in this category, too!

 

While we have always preferred NCL, we pick our cruises by other factors which are more important to us than brand loyalty (like cruise destination, ports visited, and availability at the time of year we want to cruise, etc.)

 

Cruise lines that can meet those needs will then be looked at for "overall best value". Bringing water, soda, and mixers on with us always seemed to be part of that value in the past...

 

:(

[Nola26]

Not at all. NCL has been good value and onboard experience works for our 3 generation group.

[KeithJenner]

However, it is making me question more than ever what other motives are behind the changes (the security screening 'story' is BS), and what else is coming down the pipeline.

 

 

We all know that the security story is not the truth, but I don't see that this makes NCL any different than most other big companies.

 

If they had said that they were stopping allowing people to take water and soda onboard in order to get more people to buy the drinks from them then that really would be a story. I don't recall many other companies doing that either.

 

The "for your convenience" line isn't one that NCL made up.

[GrabMyWrist]

No.

[jakesnana]

It will DEFINITELY impact our decision. My DH is only supposed to drink diet, decaffeinated beverages (diabetes and heart condition). His drink of preference is caff. free diet Dr. Pepper, which is not readily available. When we dine out he WILL drink diet Coke for a meal, but WILL NOT drink diet Pepsi. We actually know (and avoid) restaurants that do not serve Coke products.

 

He won't drink caff. soda for a whole week and DEFINITELY will not drink diet Pepsi for a whole week, so if he can't bring decaff. diet drinks onboard, we will not be sailing NCL. We have a $200 gift card from our daughter, so I will wait a little bit and see how this plays out, but I may be selling it :(

[bam1957]

No.

 

I like the Haven experience and Freestyle cruising too much.

[mom2tcdx2]

Overall for just myself and my husband the answer would be no as I drink Mtn Dew which is currently offered on NCL. If however for any reason NCL chose to stop offering it and I couldn't bring it onboard then I would probably choose to not sail with them.

 

For now I am not loyal to any particular cruise line. We factor in the weeks that we are able to vacation, what cruises are available, ports of call, total overall cost - including flights, hotels, drink packages, etc. However I will say that NCL isn't my first choice when I am looking.

 

We do have future cruises booked on Carnival, Disney, Royal, Princess and MSC. Each offered something different and unique that fit our needs for the times we have the trips booked.

[cruizinwithkids]

Yes, I am booked on the ESCAPE for October and the EPIC for next spring.

 

I started cruising on NCL in 1988 and 29 of my 36 cruises have been on NCL. Not positive of those numbers but the NCL website says I have 29 cruises and I can think of 7 others.

 

Since 2009, most of my cruises have been with my male best friend, who is gay. I am a married straight female. He never cruised before cruising with me.

 

Our first cruise together was on the Sky before they removed Latitudes perks. Every day when we returned to the cabin, there would be invitations and/or snacks, wine, etc. He kept commenting on me being a celebrity.

 

On our next cruise, NCL had the welcome aboard champagne. My friend doesn't drink at all, but he was very, very impressed. Every time we board a ship, he says, "Where's the champagne?" It's a joke but there is still something to it.

 

A couple of years ago, I had the brilliant idea to bring diet coke and caffeine free diet coke. I packed it in my suitcase and as we unpacked I was so proud of myself to have it for him.

 

Do any of these things make or break a cruise. No, but it's the little things.

 

So for the October cruise, I did look at some options. I am an accountant and analyze everything to the nth degree. My schedule is pretty flexible. There is a great price on a Disney cruise 3 weeks prior to our selling. I considered that, but it's in September and a bit too close to hurricane season. I looked at a terrific itinerary on Carnival for the same week we are sailing. And I looked at MSC. To be honest, I'm just too lazy to put a lot of work into researching. So for this October cruise it will be the Escape.

 

The part that is killing me is that we are now going to add the "free beverage" package, so NCL is getting it's desired result. They are getting more money from us. I did warn my friend that he better not do the Bon Voyage package or spend money on anything else. We're still on the fence for Vibe, but in the end, that will most likely sell out so NCL doesn't suffer. We do.

[Cruzncutie]

No. I have a B2B in October on the Getaway and booked August 2017 on the Escape. I never bring water or soda onboard, so this new policy doesn't have a direct impact on me. Even if it did, that alone wouldn't be enough to make me jump ship. Pun intended...

 

 

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Edited July 11, 2016 by Cruzncutie

[bam1957]

No.

 

I like the Haven experience and Freestyle cruising too much.

[Annmeat]

No.

 

Also no. We will look at multiple options when we cruise, but if NCL has the availability and price, we will go NCL. Our teens love the big ships, love them more than the big RCCL ships.

 

We have cruised RCCL, DCL, NCL only in the past 20 years. Too old for Disney, RCL has priced us out of their suite market. And their unite experience for us as a family does not compare to the Haven in a favorable way.

[janpo]

We don't have a cruise planned this year. It's Disneyworld this year with the grandkids.

 

I'm interested to see about MSC cruises. They look very interesting.

 

The water and or pop bringing on board does not effect me since we never do it, but this rollecoaster ride with FDR is too much. I dont see the value I did a couple of years ago. Time to check another line out.

Edited July 11, 2016 by janpo

[UPNYGuy]

We don't have a cruise planned this year. It's Disneyworld this year with the grandkids.

 

I'm interested to see about MSC cruises. They look very interesting.

 

The water and or pop bringing on board does not effect me since we never do it, but this rollecoaster ride with FDR is too much. I dont see the value I did a couple of years ago. Time to check another line out.

 

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Why-MSC/MSC-Yacht-Club.aspx

 

That is about the Yacht Club ob MSC

[jimp1266]

Yes

[janpo]

https://www.msccruisesusa.com/en-us/Why-MSC/MSC-Yacht-Club.aspx

 

That is about the Yacht Club ob MSC

 

 

Ty for that link!

 

Looks very interesting to me. We don't sail in suites but...there's always a first time.

Edited July 11, 2016 by janpo

[erocrobro]

No. We look at the ship, itinerary, and overall cost. So far NCL has been the best value for us. We don't carry on an drinks and my kids will drink any kind of soda.

 

 

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[Warm Breezes]

I am not loyal to NCL. Having said that this ban will have absolutely no impact on my decisions on which ships to sail in the future. I personally prefer diet pepsi and have no problem drinking water from the lido or MDR. Since we have UBP on our next NCL cruise due to the promotion (first time for us having UBP), we had already decided before the ban that we would not need to carry on any beverages with us. This was a plus for us. As it was, we rarely carried much on even without the UBP, usually just a few liter bottles of pop for DH, if anything, since we were both fine with the ice tea and lemonade that was included in the fare.

[NLH Arizona]

No. I've also been through a lot of the changes and none have affected me adversely and actually some have been beneficial to me. I drink Coke products at home, but would never let something as small as a soda product stop me from doing something I like doing with a company. I cruise on three lines and each one for different reasons and they have all made changes, raised their prices, etc. If NCL or Celebrity or Crystal fail to be cost effective or enjoyable to me, I won't be complaining about them, I'll just stop cruising on them, because I understand that they are not making changes to suit me, they are doing what they feel is best for their company and if it were my company, I would do the same.

[Mistizoom]

No, we haven't brought on water or any other beverages on our prior cruises, so it doesn't affect us. I can see why some people are upset, though.

[cruisebie]

The beverage ban doesn't affect me per se, but the sheer number of changes and the way they have been implemented is encouraging me to look at other lines. My upcoming cruise is booked on Princess. If NCL is looking to drive customers away, they are doing a bang up job of it.

[Warm Breezes]

No. I've also been through a lot of the changes and none have affected me adversely and actually some have been beneficial to me. I drink Coke products at home, but would never let something as small as a soda product stop me from doing something I like doing with a company. I cruise on three lines and each one for different reasons and they have all made changes, raised their prices, etc. If NCL or Celebrity or Crystal fail to be cost effective or enjoyable to me, I won't be complaining about them, I'll just stop cruising on them, because I understand that they are not making changes to suit me, they are doing what they feel is best for their company and if it were my company, I would do the same.

 

Exactly. Each vacation for us is a new decision based on what we want out of that vacation. We look at the ships that will give us what we want out of a cruise vacation we are planning for the price we are willing to pay for it. Sometimes NCL makes the cut, sometimes they don't. As the consumer I am responsible for finding the vacation that best fits our wants...it is not the cruise lines responsibility to fit my specific wants and I don't expect one cruise line to meet our wants every single time we are looking for a cruise vacation.

[richg35]

If there are actually people out there who are so entitled that they can't drink Pepsi for a week instead of Coke, then I have no idea what to say to that.