When cruise lines start charging for specialty food items in the main dining room, the knee-jerk reaction is to think they’re getting just like the airlines, charging for everything but crackers, cramped seats and authenticating your ticket.
The knee-jerk reaction is that customers shouldn’t have to pay for anything in the main dining room. Some traditions — like unlimited free food on a cruise ship — should always remain.
On ships, it’s mainly because of the meat.
Two years ago, Royal Caribbean introduced steak-for-a-price in main dining rooms, and cruisers apparently complained in loud voices if not big numbers. Now Carnival is trying it (as a trial) and the response will almost certainly be the same.
Whether it’s the start of something designed to go deeper into the pockets of the people or not, the Carnival experiment deserves at least an objective examination.
First of all, it’s being done on three ships that don’t offer the quality of beef (and oh yes, lobster) that’s accessible at the steakhouses where diners pay a $25 or $30 surcharge. The three ships — Inspiration, Paradise, Triumph — don’t have the upscale restaurants. So Carnival is really trying to offer a service that’s otherwise available on most of its ships.
Secondly, prime rib and lobster tails are served at least once per voyage.
And thirdly, it is a three-month trial. By the first day of 2011, Carnival will know if it makes sense to continue. Whether it makes sense will be a dollars-and-sense decision, not how many people complain. If the number of steaks and lobsters sold justifies whatever additional investment there is, it will continue. With Royal Caribbean, it did continue.
In a specialty restaurant on one of our recent cruises, there were more maitre d’s, sommeliers, waiters and busboys than there were customers. Maybe it was just a slow night. If that were always the case, it wouldn’t make enough “cents.”