Another cutback: no more theme nights at buffet & o'Sheehan's

[DZcreature]

15 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

Dawn (Sept 2019):

No more seafood,asian,Italian,BBQ,etc theme nights at buffet.

 

No more specialty baskets (ribs & shrimp, seafood,etc) at o'Sheehan's for dinner

😞

I do not think no theme nights in the buffet is necessarily a cut back. I am not a big fan of the theme nights in the buffet. I prefer to have more of a variety of types of food when I go to the buffet. I also like being able to get some of the same food that is being served in the MDR, without having to take all the time it requires to eat in the MDR.

[graphicguy]

They still had the poolside BBQs on the GEM, too.

 

Not sure this is true (if it’s true) across the entire fleet.

 

Could be the provisions available (or lack of availability) when they stock for each cruise, too.

[MNcruisingcouple]

Just off both the Star and Epic; both ships had theme nights and they were advertised at other dining locations.

[spanishguy1970]

14 hours ago, hladygirl said:

Unfortunately NCL has cutbacks every couple of months. It is getting ridiculous. No towel animals, no ice buckets, no theme nights in free restaurants and no drink specials( I noticed that last cruise where I did not have the drink package). It keeps you wondering what will be cut next. The NCL cruise experience is getting less appealling. Looking at other cruiselines. I am platinum and never sailed anything but NCL. Looking now to see if I have been missing out on better products.

 

us too, we only sail NCL and have 4 certificates left. When we use those certificates we will start looking at other cruises lines. Is probably time to give NCL a rest. NCL people say they look at cruise critic for feedback well at times i feel that they don't or they will see the amount of complaints they get.

[ColeThornton]

It's a buffet.  They have pretty much every and any kind of food you could want, and then some.  As far as buffet food goes I've found NCL's to be quite good with few exceptions.

 

Regardless, looks like from most responses regarding the OP's experience the lack of theme nights doesn't seem to be the norm.

[The 4 of Us]

Just got off the Joy and there were theme nights in the buffet and The Local.  Though we didn't eat in either location, they were well publicized in the Freestyle Daily and with signs around the ship. 

[graphicguy]

22 minutes ago, The 4 of Us said:

Just got off the Joy and there were theme nights in the buffet and The Local.  Though we didn't eat in either location, they were well publicized in the Freestyle Daily and with signs around the ship. 

Thinking the OP has no idea what s/he’s talking about and/or is making things up!

[PelicanBill]

19 hours ago, Starry Eyes said:

I rather like the theme nights, but I suppose opinions vary.  Imagine the person with a seafood allergy would really hate to see a seafood theme night at the buffet...they might argue for a mixture of offerings rather than having a dominant one.  Maybe that is the logic behind the chef’s choice?

There was still a ton of non-seafood choices these nights.

[Newleno]

18 hours ago, hladygirl said:

Unfortunately NCL has cutbacks every couple of months. It is getting ridiculous. No towel animals, no ice buckets, no theme nights in free restaurants and no drink specials( I noticed that last cruise where I did not have the drink package). It keeps you wondering what will be cut next. The NCL cruise experience is getting less appealling. Looking at other cruiselines. I am platinum and never sailed anything but NCL. Looking now to see if I have been missing out on better products.

 

We are platinum as well, lately ncl has been the cheapest and most convenient,  however we  are not married to them and have over 365 days of cruising, unfortunately not with one cruise line so very limited perks across.  We are active so carnival, royal, and ncl work best, funny though the most points we have is  with HAL and there aint nothing to do on HAL.  Oh the fajitas at osheans, our favorites!

Edited September 18, 2019 by Newleno

[PTC DAWG]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

Thinking the OP has no idea what s/he’s talking about and/or is making things up!

It happens quite often, and folks run with the info...

[lanceholt]

3 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

It happens quite often, and folks run with the info...

We are just off a 14 night cruise on the Spirit and there were theme nights in the Buffet every day....and along with the theme food, they had a section of other foods, so no one was disappointed.  Actually their buffet was very good.  We didn't eat at O'Sheehans.

[Huntingdon1701]

Someone's been live posting a Gem cruise, and they've had several themed nights. So this sounds like an exception on one particular ship, and probably won't be the case once they've resupplied. 

Edited September 18, 2019 by Huntingdon1701

[disneylover89]

7 hours ago, The 4 of Us said:

Just got off the Joy and there were theme nights in the buffet and The Local.  Though we didn't eat in either location, they were well publicized in the Freestyle Daily and with signs around the ship. 

Does the Joy have BBQ setups by the pool area?  If so, what are the offerings?

[newmexicoNita]

15 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

It happens quite often, and folks run with the info...

There will always be those who will find fault with anything just to prove a point or they have an agenda to push. There are also those who hear something and pass it on as fact without really checking further. I guess many have found the topic not true. We will be on the Breakaway in 3 weeks. Guess we will find out then. Of course even if it is true I guess I don't see why it is a big thing. Of course that is just me. I know others seem to really enjoy those nights. 

[bkrickles1]

1 hour ago, newmexicoNita said:

There will always be those who will find fault with anything just to prove a point or they have an agenda to push. There are also those who hear something and pass it on as fact without really checking further. I guess many have found the topic not true. We will be on the Breakaway in 3 weeks. Guess we will find out then. Of course even if it is true I guess I don't see why it is a big thing. Of course that is just me. I know others seem to really enjoy those nights. 

I agree it wouldn't be a big deal if it was true.

When I was getting ready to go on Escape in July, 2018, I had read on the forums here about the seafood night in the buffet and the prime rib night at O'Sheehans and had planned on trying those out, but once we got on board and into a groove it kind of fell by the wayside.

I hope it is still available on the Encore in January as I'd like the option of trying it out (maybe for 2nd dinner, lmao!) as it's always nice to have options.

[BirdTravels]

11 hours ago, disneylover89 said:

Does the Joy have BBQ setups by the pool area?  If so, what are the offerings?

None of the big ships do the poolside BBQs. The Joy does serve hot soup poolside (in Alaska) as does the Bliss. 

[BirdTravels]

21 hours ago, spanishguy1970 said:

us too, we only sail NCL and have 4 certificates left. When we use those certificates we will start looking at other cruises lines. Is probably time to give NCL a rest. NCL people say they look at cruise critic for feedback well at times i feel that they don't or they will see the amount of complaints they get.

 

On 9/17/2019 at 7:14 PM, hladygirl said:

Unfortunately NCL has cutbacks every couple of months. It is getting ridiculous. No towel animals, no ice buckets, no theme nights in free restaurants and no drink specials( I noticed that last cruise where I did not have the drink package). It keeps you wondering what will be cut next. The NCL cruise experience is getting less appealling. Looking at other cruiselines. I am platinum and never sailed anything but NCL. Looking now to see if I have been missing out on better products.

 

 

If you are Platinum, you know that this is mostly Fake News. 

 

There are still theme nights/specials in the buffet, O’Sheehan’s and even the MDRs. 

 

We we are just off the Joy and they had a drink special of the day (at least at the pool bar). Same list as always. As you point out, the vast majority of people could care less because they have a drinks package and don’t care about the price of a drink. 

 

NCL continues to evolve to meet the demands of the contemporary cruiser. There were many threads complaining about the removal of chicken fingers from the lunch menus and chicken noodle soup. And three cheese ziti from the Haven. And the chocolate buffet at night.  NCL looks carefully at war is selling and what ends up thrown overboard each day as fish food. The fish fingers were replaced with poached salmon which costs an order of magnitude more.  The soup was replaced with a Pho. Chicken fingers became rotisserie chicken (less fried foods) which costs an order of magnitude more. 

 

Toward the end the interest  in the chocolate buffet had diminished to the point where 10,000 pounds of chocolate was being thrown overboard each week with very few people actually eating the chocolate dishes. Nice displays that Only a few people cared about. 

 

Evolution to keep up with the demands of the millennial cruiser who are the customers for the decades to come.  

[newmexicoNita]

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

 

If you are Platinum, you know that this is mostly Fake News. 

 

There are still theme nights/specials in the buffet, O’Sheehan’s and even the MDRs. 

 

We we are just off the Joy and they had a drink special of the day (at least at the pool bar). Same list as always. As you point out, the vast majority of people could care less because they have a drinks package and don’t care about the price of a drink. 

 

NCL continues to evolve to meet the demands of the contemporary cruiser. There were many threads complaining about the removal of chicken fingers from the lunch menus and chicken noodle soup. And three cheese ziti from the Haven. And the chocolate buffet at night.  NCL looks carefully at war is selling and what ends up thrown overboard each day as fish food. The fish fingers were replaced with poached salmon which costs an order of magnitude more.  The soup was replaced with a Pho. Chicken fingers became rotisserie chicken (less fried foods) which costs an order of magnitude more. 

 

Toward the end the interest  in the chocolate buffet had diminished to the point where 10,000 pounds of chocolate was being thrown overboard each week with very few people actually eating the chocolate dishes. Nice displays that Only a few people cared about. 

 

Evolution to keep up with the demands of the millennial cruiser who are the customers for the decades to come.  

You are so right about all the above. Most things in life do change and businesses regardless of what kind they are know how to keep up with changes. I think the example of the chocolate buffet is the perfect example. First it was the basic midnight buffet that was phased out due to lack of participation. They NCL went to the chocolate buffet: it was pretty and fun, but mainly just for show and picture taking. They cut it out, and saved money as fewer and fewer people bothered attending. Now we have 24 hour pub food. That was added in 2006 when the Jewel was launched. 

[billslowsky]

23 hours ago, PelicanBill said:

There was still a ton of non-seafood choices these nights.

I hate seafood but had plenty to choose from as well.  And the displays of the seafood were impressive. 

 

As was watching people stack it on their plates like they do pancakes at breakfast.