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This is not good, folks. And if this trend continues, it will be a major downgrade to the cruise experience. Let me give you some background of what I am talking about — and why I hope this will not become the norm at sea.
One of the biggest draws of a cruise vacation is that it is, for the most part, an all-inclusive style vacation. Once you are onboard and have your key card, you can do most things onboard for free like meals, drinks (if you have a package included) as well as water slides and so much more.
In the evening you can enjoy live music and comedy shows, and, often times, large production, Broadway-quality entertainment. All free — or at least included with your cruise ticket price.
That may be slowly changing for the worse!
NCL, my cruise line of choice, had for quite some time had on the EPIC and BREAKAWAY ships something called the “Spiegel Tent.” It was a smaller venue with a Cirque Dreams dinner show. It was an upcharge but you got a nice steak dinner and the show was impressive. When I was staying in The Haven, I would skip the dinner (having dinner in The Haven) and then have my butler just escort me into the show when the dinner was over (i.e. the dinner was not that great). It did bug me a bit to have to pay to watch any show onboard but it was very impressive.
The BREAKAWAY has recently been to dry dock and the Spiegel Tent is gone and replaced with a movie theater where they have dinner and a movie shows. Not so sure I am impressed with this idea as I can do this at home and it is not like they will be running the latest theater release films. The menu for the show looks underwhelming and as you would expect – there is a steep upcharge of $50 per person to enjoy the dinner and movie show.
Yuck!
As far as I know NCL has been the only cruise line to offer something like this and charging you for entertainment but it seems this very limited ship trend from NCL may be catching on.
Cunard Line, owned by Carnival, is now debuting “three different shows now have fees from $20-46 (USD) per person, with select drinks included” per CruiseHive.com.
Here we go folks….
It seems cruise lines, like airlines, are looking for more ways to nickel and dime us once onboard. Segmentation of the cruise experience is clearly already in place with places like The Retreat on Holland America and upcharges for things like a Starbucks package and so on. But for many the two items just mentioned are just not important and so you are not left out skipping them – but missing shows because you do not want to pay more more more is a big concern for me and especially so if all the “big shows” become a pay per view event beyond your cruise price.
The risk is where does this end? Will daily room steward service go to every other day unless you pay more? How about main dining? Will your cruise fare only include the buffet unless you pay more?
What do you think? Are you, like me, concerned about this growing trend? Are you willing to pay more for shows or other things you now have included in your cruise ticket price? Let us know in the comments below. – René
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Rene, you and everyone else that pays extra for the Haven started this. You told them this was ok. The Haven people let NCL know that it wasn’t enough to just get a nicer room but it was ok to charge for a bubble experience.
@BookGirl305 – The only thing extra Haven guests get for shows is preferred seating but that ends when the show starts and anyone can then sit there (hint hint)!
MSC has something similar, not sure on how many ships but they do on the Meraviglia. The cost is around $15 for the show including a cocktail.
@Jesus – Yet another reason to avoid MSC!
Same thing going on with the ‘deconstruction’ of business class. Best bet is to sit in front of your viewing screen with a nice drink and snacks – and watch the bloggers!
@Tuvia – You are spot on. It really is disgusting.
Anything that makes more smutty movies available is a bad thing. It’s better that people enjoy the cruise without watching TV that they can watch at home (unless, like us and many others of our religion, they don’t have a TV).
I agree with you re business class too.
Rene, I’m with you. Paying extra for entertainment is counter to the experiences of the past. I have cruised Norwegian for 25 years and their quality has diminished a lot over that time. Open dining has turned into long lines to get seated. There are only “productions” on their very large ships and the quality of the entertainment seems to have been downgraded. NCL believes very loud is the rule of the day for music offerings; it’s an assault on the senses. We are going on a Princess cruise in Jan. of 2026. This is to check them out. As a Sapphire Latitudes member I just wish there was a reciprocal to my status like there was with MSC. I haven’t used that status as yet, mainly because of the reviews I read from you. We’ll see what the Princess experience will bring.
@John – I am seriously considering an MSC Yacht Club sailing to see if that makes up for the rest of the MSC failings… Am I nuts?
It’s rather pathetic that cruise lines are ridiculously profitable yet they keep trying to find ways to charge more, offer less, or both. It’s like Marriott is in charge. How about a simple but proven formula of offering good value at a reasonable price and people will line up to spend their money with you?