Cruise ships are known for offering plenty of food. From traditional buffets and casual poolside restaurants to main dining rooms and specialty restaurants, cruise ships provide passengers with plenty of dining opportunities at any time of day.
Norwegian Cruise Line and its luxury sister cruise lines Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises are no exception. Offering more variety and more options for all types of travelers is a great goal for Norwegian and it shows in its dining options.
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Norwegian Cruise Line's fleet features more than 80 restaurants serving classic and modern dishes and a wide variety of cuisines, from French and Italian to Asian-Latin fusion. Some Norwegian cruise ships even feature a Brazilian steakhouse where waiters carve endless skewers of slow-roasted meats tableside.
While Norwegian's brand positioning focuses on helping guests experience more during their cruise vacation, the cruise line's CEO has shared his insight into one part of the dining experience that the company has found less it's more.
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Image source: Norwegian Cruise Line.
Norway CEO says smaller restaurant menus a win
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings CEO Harry Sommer explained in an interview with Travel weeklyThat the company has done a lot of research recently to figure out what its passengers like so they can do a better job of balancing financial metrics with guest experience metrics.
Sommer used restaurant menus as an example of an area where offering less has improved the passenger experience as well as operations across all Norwegian brands.
“We found that having a slightly smaller, simpler menu was a plus,” Sommer said. “No one ordered the bottom third of the menu items. Removing them from menus did not diminish the guest experience because no one was ordering those items.”
Related: Norwegian Cruise Line Passengers Rate Their Dining Options
Sommer explained that removing menu items that no one was ordering helped staff do a better job of delivering dishes that passengers ordered.
“It allowed us to focus more of our time and attention on the two-thirds that ordered,” Sommer continued. “We did it fleet-wide on all 32 of our ships and it has been a great victory. “We have the highest guest satisfaction scores for food we have ever had.”
Less can also be more for cruise entertainment
Sommer also noted that the cruise line came to similar conclusions about entertainment.
At the CruiseWorld cruise industry trade event in November, Sommer discussed how Norwegian's guest satisfaction scores showed that passengers liked shorter, simpler shows developed in-house better than elaborate shows straight from Broadway that the cruise line brought aboard its ships.
“Our highest-rated entertainment was the one that cost us the least,” Sommer said at CruiseWorld.
As a result, the cruise line revamped its entertainment in 2023, shifting its focus from Broadway-style musicals to more original, Norwegian-produced, shorter shows.
Related: Norwegian Cruise Line to Celebrate a Global Music Icon
“Norwegian ship guests don't want to spend two hours in a theater,” Sommer said. “They want to spend 30 to 40 minutes in a theater and then they want to enjoy the casino; “They want to enjoy the rest of the entertainment we have on board.”
Now, the cruise line is focused on rolling out original productions at sea and original programming across its fleet. Its newest ship, Norwegian Aqua, will debut the first Prince tribute show at sea when it sets sail in April. An hour-long show, “Revolution: A Celebration of Prince,” will be an in-house production and concert experience celebrating the music, energy and life of Prince.
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Norwegian will also introduce a new movie and dining experience, Silver Screen Bistro, aboard Norwegian Breakaway, a ship that will soon undergo upgrades. The immersive cinema and dining venue will feature oversized recliners and retractable tables for passengers to enjoy shareable menu items on handheld devices, including select dishes from the cruise line's global fusion specialty restaurant , Food Republic.
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