$7.95 Room Service Fee Rolled Out Fleetwide

[Dave Beers]

Say adios to 'free' room service* on all Norwegian Cruise Line ships. The brief test run they did just two weeks ago on Getaway and Breakaway has already been made permanent on all ships. The line claims the fee allows them to have a more extensive room service menu. So now, if you want a sandwich and salad you'll have to sign a receipt for $7.95.


*Coffee and continental breakfast items are still no-charge, and the fee is waived for all room service orders from suites and The Haven guests.

[Travelbuggs]

Originally Posted by Dave Beers

Say adios to 'free' room service* on all Norwegian Cruise Line ships. The brief test run they did just two weeks ago on Getaway and Breakaway has already been made permanent on all ships. The line claims the fee allows them to have a more extensive room service menu. So now, if you want a sandwich and salad you'll have to sign a receipt for $7.95.

*Coffee and continental breakfast items are still no-charge, and the fee is waived for all room service orders from suites and The Haven guests.

Most people I talk to would greatly prefer that NCL would take a hint from Carnival and just charge a small per item fee for the new hot breakfast and main course dinner items and leave the delivery "free". On Carnival, everything that was complimentary before is still complimentary with no delivery fee. They only charge a fee for the new special items. From what I hear it has hardly caused a stir there.

Now contrast that to NCL, who initially, under the trial on Getaway and Breakaway, decided to get the most bang possible and charge 7.95 for every single order, even coffee for two. All individual items would remain "complimentary", but a $7.95 "convenience fee" would be added to each order. After the crap hit the fan on Facebook and elsewhere, they eventually backed off the 7.95 for delivery of a coffee and Danish if ordered before 10:00 am, I believe it is.

Now that the roll out to other ships has begun ( through 5-11 ) a few reports have come in that people are restricted to two items only. A cabin with 4 booked would be allowed to order a total of 8 items per order for example, but 2 in a cabin could only order a total of 4 items which is not much when you are possibly talking about a 3 course dinner for 2. Now this may be a simple misunderstanding of what a passenger was told, time will tell. I sincerely hope so. But, it is interesting to note that many people stated, especially those with kids or who use room service extensively, that they intended to order "extra" for later to prevent a second or 3rd 7.95 fee later. They may now have seen this loophole and decided to close it.

Also interesting, is that on the exact week that the roll out began on the first ship after the trial, there are many reports of passengers being stopped from taking plates from places like O Sheehans and the Specialty restaurants with "health" issues cited as the reason. Strange that it was never a health issue before a 7.95 room service charge was instituted. And presumably food delivered to a cabin by room service staff, where it can remain uneaten for days before being consumed continues not to be a health issue. Now they do not appear to be messing with people who carry food out of the buffet, at least so far. So apparently that is not a health issue. We often take dessert with us from a specialty to store in our fridge for later. We are usually too stuffed to enjoy it at the time, but it sure hits the spot at 10:30 on our balcony. I have paid for that dessert with my cover charge and I would like to enjoy it, but this is no longer allowed and it has been verified by many cruisers this past week. Is there anyone who does not believe that the desire to have you order the food from room service instead and incurr a $7.95 fee is the reason?

So Carnival charges a per item fee for the "new" choices but no delivery, so the majority of the menu remains totally complimentary. Royal I believe has no room service fees except on the two newest ships, but I am not sure how they charge. Presumably still complimentary on the other ships. Not sure about the other cruise lines but it sounds like it is mostly still complimentary, and something cruisers have come to expect as part of the cruise fare. It will be interesting to see if the other cruise lines follow suit or if NCL will be the only one out there.

[TimmyK]

I am leaving tomorrow to sail NCL Jade. I will let you know what the deal is with taking food and room service charge. will be back on 25 May; and will post a report to include everything about the ship, ship charges, excursions, crew, etc. Cheers

[Travelbuggs]

Originally Posted by TimmyK

I am leaving tomorrow to sail NCL Jade. I will let you know what the deal is with taking food and room service charge. will be back on 25 May; and will post a report to include everything about the ship, ship charges, excursions, crew, etc. Cheers

Have a great trip!

[Moiraine]

Yes, have a great trip.

As for the room service fee, I'm thinking they can keep their food. I'll fetch my own....until I can't.

[Travelbuggs]

Originally Posted by Moiraine

Yes, have a great trip.

As for the room service fee, I'm thinking they can keep their food. I'll fetch my own....until I can't.

Well it is now official as of yesterday afternoon. "For our guest's well-being and to maintain a beautiful clean environment for all our guests to enjoy, we ask that they enjoy their meals while dining at one of our many restaurants." From Senior Director of Public Relations at Norwegian. Still unclear whether or not this includes the buffet. Of course it says, "we ask" so how stringently will it be inforced? But, anecdotal reports say that already Specialties are refusing requests of a to go dessert for guests who have paid the cover charge for a 4 course meal and passengers have been stopped from leaving various venues with plates.

And we thought the "bacon police" at Carnival were bad!

[Moiraine]

My my! I wonder how many customers will rethink sailing with them?

[Trip]

These new rules would certainly not dictate me, sailing another line, if I enjoyed my cruises.While,we have enjoyed room service before, we could do without it and not starve. Lol.

With all new regulations, the masses seem to adapt...if you love the ships,and it's itinerary, these food related rules don't seem to matter very much..jmho.

[Travelbuggs]

Originally Posted by Trip

These new rules would certainly not dictate me, sailing another line, if I enjoyed my cruises.While,we have enjoyed room service before, we could do without it and not starve. Lol.

With all new regulations, the masses seem to adapt...if you love the ships,and it's itinerary, these food related rules don't seem to matter very much..jmho.

I don't know Trip, "food" related issues seems to be at the top of the list for most cruisers. You would think the majority on any cruise line you can name have never had a square meal before boarding the ship, and little hope of another from the time they leave, judging by the focus and attention they give it.

If it were just one issue, like adding a $7.95 delivery fee, most could live with it, but throw in the fact that you can't get around it by bring food back from the buffet or easily eaten desserts and leftovers like pizza from the specialties and it starts to become a bigger issue, especially for those who have young kids needing naps and downtown, or people who spend a lot of time in the cabin due to health or mobility issues. Then the related costs and inconvenience can start to become significant.

And it significantly alters the cruise experience for some people who just love breakfast and lunch on their own balconies but don't wish to spend an extra $16 a day to limit themselves to a meager room service selection when they otherwise could have brought anything they desired back from the buffet or elsewhere, all included in the fare. The lack of respect for our intelligence is enough to make me want to never cruise with them again. FDR has referred to us as a "captive audience" which he apparently feels will take anything he cares to dish out in the form of fees and increases. He is either completely unaware of the utter disdain most regular NCL customers hold for him ( and by extension, NCL ) or he just doesn't care.

I listened to the 1st Quarter teleconference with Brokers held on 5-7, and FDR was asked how the $7.95 Room Service fee was received by customers. He response was that they heard "no complaints". Really, Frank? I think your nose grew a little there. Considering that it was sprung unannounced on the passengers on 2 ships who did not know WTH was going on, and then rolled out fleetwide 2 weeks later, who exactly did you poll to find out what exactly people WERE thinking? What surveys did you conduct? Social media went nuts trying to figure out what was going on, as there was NO information on the NCL website. Thousands of posts to social media, the vast majority negative. They backed off the charging of fees for delivery of a coffee and Danish after the backlash. Yet they heard "no complaints"? I am sure the analyst knew the true answer to that question when he asked it and was not fooled by the BS answer.

[Moiraine]

Yeah, well, I hope FDR gets the boot quickly before he does too much more damage.

[Travelbuggs]

After many complaints about the carry out ban, and an article in the Travel Section of USA Today, the carry out ban has been completely lifted by NCL.

[rollerdonna]

I completely forgot to mention this $7.95 room service fee when I wrote my review of the Getaway. It didn't affect our cruise one way or the other, we seldom use room service anyway and when we do, it's only because "it's there".
With this new fee, we saw no reason to order from room service.


donna

[Bruce Chafkin1]

Originally Posted by Moiraine

My my! I wonder how many customers will rethink sailing with them?

It's amazing to me that the cruising public cannot grasp that the cruise lines are instituting these new charges to accomplish exactly that result.

The Revenue Model is constantly changing. Now that the North American economy has stabilized a bit, the cruise lines need to revise their fare structures and onboard revenue streams. Over the past 4 or 5 years, heavy discounting has attracted an undesirable element of the population. Onboard spending has decreased significantly - and profits along with it.

How do you gently and politely persuade the low spenders to go elsewhere without creating bad PR?
Slowly price them out of your market.
Make it appear to be their decision rather than the cruise lines'.

[Hpine1]

Bruce Chafkin 1 You are so right .

[Travelbuggs]

Originally Posted by Bruce Chafkin1

It's amazing to me that the cruising public cannot grasp that the cruise lines are instituting these new charges to accomplish exactly that result.

The Revenue Model is constantly changing. Now that the North American economy has stabilized a bit, the cruise lines need to revise their fare structures and onboard revenue streams. Over the past 4 or 5 years, heavy discounting has attracted an undesirable element of the population. Onboard spending has decreased significantly - and profits along with it.

How do you gently and politely persuade the low spenders to go elsewhere without creating bad PR?
Slowly price them out of your market.
Make it appear to be their decision rather than the cruise lines'.

I hardly think a $7.95 room service delivery charge is going to dissuade the "low rollers" as it is completely optional. If this is their goal, then offering freebies with bookings such as unlimited alcohol packages or unlimited dining in speciality restaurants is hardly a deterrent. In fact, many "low rollers" probably booked for just that reason. And those free packages has eliminated the need for some people to spend any extra dollars on the cruise at all. If eliminating those low rollers is their intent, then they had better go back to the drawing board.