Norwegian Cruise Line fans cry foul over new beverage policy
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Not cool, Norwegian Cruise Line.
That’s the reaction this week from Norwegian fans to a new rule forbidding passengers from carrying any beverages onto the line’s ship, even a single bottle of water. The policy has sparked a firestorm of complaints across social media and at cruise fan sites such as CruiseCritic.com. At CruiseCritic, the griping has filled nearly 70 pages of a message board discussion, with more than 1,300 comments.
“This absolutely infuriates me,” wrote one CruiseCritic member who posts under the handle pokerpro5.
“This stinks … how much more can they squeeze people?” wrote another Norwegian fan who posts under the handle janpo.
The rule, which takes effect July 15, will put an end to what has become a common practice among frequent Norwegian cruisers: Bringing a case or two of bottled water or soda on board at the start of a voyage to drink while in cabins or while touring on shore. If passengers want to stockpile bottled water or soda, even for touring, they’ll have to buy it from Norwegian at a ship bar or order it from room service.
Norwegian fans say the line’s beverage prices are just too high to make that practical, and some are threatening to drop the line. Norwegian charges $6.49 for a large bottle of water, including an 18% gratuity and service charge. Passengers also can pre-order a 12-pack of large water bottles delivered to their cabins for $47.14, including an 18% gratuity and service charge.
The ban comes just three months after Norwegian significantly boosted the cost of beverage packages on its ships.
“Won’t cruise with them anymore! No one wants to pay $5 for a bottle at the ports!” tweeted a fan who posts under the handle @marydiane7.
“When my cruise certificates are used, I am done with NCL,” tweeted another Norwegian cruiser who posts under the handle @lettienets.
Not all the complaints are about the new rule’s impact on the cost of sailing with Norwegian. Some upset cruisers say their frustration centers more around the limited choice of non-alcoholic beverages on Norwegian ships. Many note that Norwegian only sells Pepsi, for instance, and not Coca-Cola.
It’s not a money thing,” one CruiseCritic member who goes by the handle NCteacherlovescruising wrote on the site’s message boards. Bringing soda on board is “just the only way for me to get my Diet Coke on the ship. Looks like this will be our first and last cruise with them unless they start serving Coke products.”
In a statement on its website, Norwegian blamed security concerns for the ban.
“This revised policy brings the company in line with other best practice travel security protocols and reduces the need for individual time consuming screening and package inspection of large volumes of beverages,” the statement said.
There will be an exception to the policy for passengers who want to bring bottles of wine on board for personal use as long as they pay a corkage fee. Purified or distilled water in factory-sealed containers to be used with infant formula or medical devices also will be allowed.
The furor over the new policy recalls a similar reaction a year ago to a Norwegian ban on taking food out of ship buffets and other shipboard eateries to consume in cabins. That ban soon was reversed.
Norwegian’s new policy puts it at odds with rivals such as Carnival, Princess and Holland America, which allow passengers to bring water, soda and other non-alcoholic beverages on board ships. In Carnival’s case, beverages must be in cans or cartons (no bottles) and in limited quantities. Royal Caribbean also bans passengers from bringing bottled water and soda aboard ships.
USA TODAY Cruise in October received exclusive access among U.S. media to Norwegian’s newest ship, Norwegian Escape. For our ‘first look’ tour of the vessel, click through the carousels at the top and bottom of this story.
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