I have given up on the Sky.

I had been trying to make up my mind about whether or not I should cancel my cruise on the Sky. I finally just broke down and called NCL hoping they would reassure me that everything was being worked on. As soon as I told the represenative that I was booked on the Sky she let out a long sigh. I asked about all the problems that I had read about on here. At first she claimed she had no idea what I was talking about. As soon as I brought up that the problems seemed to be the same as the Pride of Aloha she informed me that everyone that has a cabin affected by this problem was being contacted. Then very rudly she told me that was all the information she had and if she could help me with anything else. I am sure she has been fielding calls all week regarding the Sky. I believe this is just the overall attitude of NCL. Facts are - They are still trying to sell this ship. They have known about the plumbing and A/C issues since 2004 when it was the Pride of Aloha (good luck finding a good review then) RCCL backed out of buying the Sky. (wonder why?) They are only planning on sailing through spring of next year. Sounds like to me they are attempting to squeeze every cent out of the Sky. Sounds like someone should teach them the lesson of stepping over dollars to save cents. I will never use their product again. They should be ashamed of what they are doing. Its one thing to have unforseen problems and quite another just to overlook them. I recommend to anyone that can afford or still has time to CANCEL their cruise. I am already looking at Carnival and Rccl. Good luck

I had been trying to make up my mind about whether or not I should cancel my cruise on the Sky. I finally just broke down and called NCL hoping they would reassure me that everything was being worked on. As soon as I told the represenative that I was booked on the Sky she let out a long sigh. I asked about all the problems that I had read about on here. At first she claimed she had no idea what I was talking about. As soon as I brought up that the problems seemed to be the same as the Pride of Aloha she informed me that everyone that has a cabin affected by this problem was being contacted. Then very rudly she told me that was all the information she had and if she could help me with anything else. I am sure she has been fielding calls all week regarding the Sky. I believe this is just the overall attitude of NCL. Facts are - They are still trying to sell this ship. They have known about the plumbing and A/C issues since 2004 when it was the Pride of Aloha (good luck finding a good review then) RCCL backed out of buying the Sky. (wonder why?) They are only planning on sailing through spring of next year. Sounds like to me they are attempting to squeeze every cent out of the Sky. Sounds like someone should teach them the lesson of stepping over dollars to save cents. I will never use their product again. They should be ashamed of what they are doing. Its one thing to have unforseen problems and quite another just to overlook them. I recommend to anyone that can afford or still has time to CANCEL their cruise. I am already looking at Carnival and Rccl. Good luck

I can't blame you one bit. They should have reassured you or redirected you to another ship. It sounds like they did neither. I recommend Carnival. Looking back, I had a way better time on the Fascination than I did on the Sky. Good luck!

We just cancelled our September Sky cruise and I have no second thoughts. Too many other choices out there for short cruises from Florida. We can sail from Tampa on Carnival which is hours closer to us than Miami anyway. NCL should of learned from the Norway not to cut corners on maintenance. The money NCL spent on the Sky's new casino should of been directed towards fixing the Sky's infrastructure.

I had been trying to make up my mind about whether or not I should cancel my cruise on the Sky. I finally just broke down and called NCL hoping they would reassure me that everything was being worked on. As soon as I told the represenative that I was booked on the Sky she let out a long sigh. I asked about all the problems that I had read about on here. At first she claimed she had no idea what I was talking about. As soon as I brought up that the problems seemed to be the same as the Pride of Aloha she informed me that everyone that has a cabin affected by this problem was being contacted. Then very rudly she told me that was all the information she had and if she could help me with anything else. I am sure she has been fielding calls all week regarding the Sky. I believe this is just the overall attitude of NCL. Facts are - They are still trying to sell this ship. They have known about the plumbing and A/C issues since 2004 when it was the Pride of Aloha (good luck finding a good review then) RCCL backed out of buying the Sky. (wonder why?) They are only planning on sailing through spring of next year. Sounds like to me they are attempting to squeeze every cent out of the Sky. Sounds like someone should teach them the lesson of stepping over dollars to save cents. I will never use their product again. They should be ashamed of what they are doing. Its one thing to have unforseen problems and quite another just to overlook them. I recommend to anyone that can afford or still has time to CANCEL their cruise. I am already looking at Carnival and Rccl. Good luck

I was aboard July 18th to July 21 and think you are making a wise decision not to board Sky. There are 2 other ships doing the same IT, so why chance it? For an educated consumer, this isn't a wise mini vacation choice right now.

I was aboard July 18th to July 21 and think you are making a wise decision not to board Sky. There are 2 other ships doing the same IT, so why chance it? For an educated consumer, this isn't a wise mini vacation choice right now.

I haven't been able to find the same itinerey. I know carnival and royal carribean have cruises out of Miami but I thought the sky itinerey was much better which is why I booked it initially (before I knew of these problems).

Is there one I'm missing?

Thats something i don't quite get, they are still selling cruises on the ship :confused: . I mean, would it not make sense to hold the bookings until it is decided what ya gonna do with the tub?....If your gonna have to send it to drydock soon to resolve these things or if ya can keep sailing it and fix these things at sea. I don't think they quite know what they are doing, sounds to me like a really bad case of mis-management where nobody wants to make the actual decision. I mean, they cannot be making any money off the ship when you figure that they are refunding cruises left and right also offering OBC above that plus are not sailing full. That brings up another point, the first cruise that went out it was said that they were only sailing at 80% capacity for if any issues were to arise. Thats not a normal thing just so everyone knows, ships come out of drydock all the time, including new builds and sail at capacity all the time. I think NCL had a strong feeling this was going to happen therefore held back capacity to be able to move people out of troubled rooms. Shame on you NCL. Forgive post not broken into paragraphs, using a computer terminal at work, they wont let ya start a new paragraph, strange, i now :p

For a short cruise the Carnival Imagination out of Miami, and the Carnival Inspiration out of Tampa have both been through 25 million dollar refurbs adding an adult serenity area, a water park, and all of the staterooms have been overhauled. They seem to be getting very positive feedback on the Carnival boards.

RCI's Sovereign while she doesn't have the issues of the SKY, she will be leaving the fleet in the fall and will be a bit rough around the edges.

MAC

I haven't been able to find the same itinerey. I know carnival and royal carribean have cruises out of Miami but I thought the sky itinerey was much better which is why I booked it initially (before I knew of these problems).

 

Is there one I'm missing?

Majesty and Fascination (Carnival name may not be correct) sail a Fri-Mon Bahamas trip out of Miami. If you want to get to Nassau, these ships will get you there. Funny thing is though both of these ships have extremely limited balcony staterooms, which is irritating.

As soon as I told the represenative that I was booked on the Sky she let out a long sigh.

 

I asked about all the problems that I had read about on here.

 

At first she claimed she had no idea what I was talking about.

 

As soon as I brought up that the problems seemed to be the same as the Pride of Aloha she informed me that everyone that has a cabin affected by this problem was being contacted.

 

Then very rudly she told me that was all the information she had and if she could help me with anything else.

 

I believe this is just the overall attitude of NCL.

 

I will never use their product again. They should be ashamed of what they are doing. Its one thing to have unforseen problems and quite another just to overlook them.

Please don't take this as an attack on you as it is not, but I would like to use you as an example of what this situation is doing to NCL.

As usual, NCL is trying to hide the problems that they are having. On Cruise Critic, it is being well documented and people like this poster are calling them INFORMED. NCL can't hide from them (that is why the rep changed her tune...she knew that he knew.) BUT what about all those people who are not part of CC and have simply heard "rumors" of problems. They call in, get assured by NCL customer Service that it is a MINOR problem or that there are no problems and they go on their merry way... all the way until the cruise when they are hit in the face with the problems that, according to NCL's reps, don't exist.

Now that person is going to be FURIOUS and will probably demand financial compensation and probably never sail with NCL again.

What NCL should be doing is acknowleding the problems when people call in and then offer to change the person's reservations to another ship. (perhaps waving penalty clauses for canceling if the person rebooks on another ship??)

By trying to hide this, they are just going to make people doubt them and their product and they are going to lose these people's business in the future. I would be more likely to return to a company that I have had a problem with if they are honest and forward about the situation. If they deny the problem, try to hide it or flat out refuse to talk about it, I would have serious reservations about continuing to have a relationship with such a company.

This is one example of a customer that NCL has lost because of their attitude and the attitude of their rep. Now, he will tell his friends how he was treated and they most likely will not sail NCL either. More customers lost.

To the OP, I do hope that you will reconsider not sailing NCL. In spite of the fact that NCL has long had the worst customer service in the industry and that they have an inept President and corporate office, their ships and crews are really great. May I suggest the Dawn or the Star in the future??

(You know, I remember a poll on this board about 2-3 years ago... "If you could change one thing about NCL to make them better what would it be?" (or something like that..) The overwhelming winner: "improve NCL Customer Service and inaccurate information given by them." So this problem has long been an issue....)

I am sailing on her 8/8 and I have spoken to someone who works for NCL and was told that she was not in dry dock but wet dock and they are not able to the same repairs while in one and not other. They stated that they have put two upper management on the ship full time to resolve the issues. But it is correct they are refunding the cruise fares and give OBC. They are hoping it will be resolved soon.

I hope so. My DH has already checked flights back from Nassau if it so bad.

The person who called me (Annette) was up front with me. She didn't deny there were problems. I'm going to return her call tomorrow and see if I can get more details.

For a short cruise the Carnival Imagination out of Miami, and the Carnival Inspiration out of Tampa have both been through 25 million dollar refurbs adding an adult serenity area, a water park, and all of the staterooms have been overhauled. They seem to be getting very positive feedback on the Carnival boards.

 

RCI's Sovereign while she doesn't have the issues of the SKY, she will be leaving the fleet in the fall and will be a bit rough around the edges.

 

MAC

The sad part is we were originally booked on the Inspiration before NCL announced the Sky was moving to Miami. The renovation of the cabins and addition of the water slides was my main reason for trying Carnival for the first time with our children. We cancelled Carnival and booked on NCL as soon as I heard about the redeployment of the Sky to Miami because our past cruises have been great with NCL on 4 nighters from Miami on the Sunward, Seaward, Leeward and Majesty. Should of stayed with Carnival all along. I just figured a ship that is much younger than the Inspiration would not have so many problems.

I just spoke to someone working on the sky and she said that the cabins affected are a very small % and they are having no issues moving people to different rooms because the ship isn't sailing full. Some people who moved to a smaller cabin even got $100 obc and thats a really good deal considering its a 3 day cruise.

I just spoke to someone working on the sky and she said that the cabins affected are a very small % and they are having no issues moving people to different rooms because the ship isn't sailing full. Some people who moved to a smaller cabin even got $100 obc and thats a really good deal considering its a 3 day cruise.

This is what I've suspected all along, and what I've found in the endless customer survey experiences I've had. You either hear *rave* reviews, or *horrible* reviews after the fact. Folks that had exactly what they expected rarely go out of their way (i.e. posting on a message board) to talk about their experience.

I've seen less than 20 separate posters from *three* returned cruises that probably sailed with more than 1500 people each. Granted, several of those had multi-cabin experiences, but even that - fewer than 50, total. Yeah, some of those experiences were considered pretty bad by the posters (Yes, non-functioning toilets is not OK. IMO, non-functioning AC is not the stuff of lawsuits, though).

Yeah, denying the problems isn't helping NCL at all. But it appears they ARE trying - albeit later than they should have, but it's something. Is it too little, too late for some? Sure. Will they undoubtedly make up for that by selling those rooms to someone else? Sure. It's a mass-market cruise line - losing a few hundred customers (or potential customers) is a drop in the bucket. What they lost in them, they'll make up for in others looking for a cheap cruise (like me).

As for not putting any money into repairs because the Sky is up for sale..... I call BS. Anyone who's watched HGTV has seen the "pre-sale makeover" shows. Fixing it up BEFORE selling is a *far* easier sale than after.

Someone else had posted that they suspected NCL tried to do *something* but perhaps inadvertently made it worse. I would be inclined to suspect the same thing. Bad CEO or no, no cruise line *wants* to deal with this nonsense. If they knew plumbing was going to be a problem, they would have taken care of it. It's costing them FAR more to deal with it than it would have to repair, and even the dumbest of CEOs recognizes that.

I can also confirm that NCL sunk a lot of money into the transformation to the Sky from the Aloha.

I can also confirm that NCL sunk a lot of money into the transformation to the Sky from the Aloha.

I suspect they'll be sinking at least a bit more in. ;)

Thanks for posting what your friend currently working on the Aloha (er Sky) said.

BTW-I don't recall the photo you now have in your sig...but maybe I wasn't paying attention. Anyhow-great picture!

It's a great picture of the Jewel, my favorite NCL ship. Thanks for posting it. I always wondered what it looked like at night; I've always been onboard so can't see it. It's really beautiful!:)

What a way to start a new job.

Dennis Nau (dnau@ncl.com) started as Hotel SVP last week, he along with Crane Gladding (cgladding@ncl.com) who is Passenger Services VP, will have positively heaving email inboxes by now.

Probably why they called a meeting on Friday about the Sky and her multitude of problems and have been scratching heads all round as to the best way to deal with it all.

This will take time to sort out...especially as Star own the ship and have backleased it to NCL...lots of red tape and nightmare there, especially as Sky wasn't a part of the big money injection to NCL from Apollo.

So through all the poop we have call center staff still being treated like mushrooms (kept in the dark and fed on s**t)...although i suspect that they are getting wise to it by now and going to a quiet corner of the room and screaming blue murder every time anyone rings up and asks about the ship.

The top brass are probably putting together a game plan that will cure the ship without it costing an arm and a leg but that will make everyone happy.....oh how I wish I could be a fly on the wall there ;)

At the end of this...Sky will either be sold at well below pricetag with all the faults still in situ...or she can be cured of all her problems, command great reviews and a higher pricetag.

Logic says the latter, but reality will be the former ;)

Please don't take this as an attack on you as it is not, but I would like to use you as an example of what this situation is doing to NCL.

 

As usual, NCL is trying to hide the problems that they are having. On Cruise Critic, it is being well documented and people like this poster are calling them INFORMED. NCL can't hide from them (that is why the rep changed her tune...she knew that he knew.) BUT what about all those people who are not part of CC and have simply heard "rumors" of problems. They call in, get assured by NCL customer Service that it is a MINOR problem or that there are no problems and they go on their merry way... all the way until the cruise when they are hit in the face with the problems that, according to NCL's reps, don't exist.

 

Now that person is going to be FURIOUS and will probably demand financial compensation and probably never sail with NCL again.

 

What NCL should be doing is acknowleding the problems when people call in and then offer to change the person's reservations to another ship. (perhaps waving penalty clauses for canceling if the person rebooks on another ship??)

 

By trying to hide this, they are just going to make people doubt them and their product and they are going to lose these people's business in the future. I would be more likely to return to a company that I have had a problem with if they are honest and forward about the situation. If they deny the problem, try to hide it or flat out refuse to talk about it, I would have serious reservations about continuing to have a relationship with such a company.

 

This is one example of a customer that NCL has lost because of their attitude and the attitude of their rep. Now, he will tell his friends how he was treated and they most likely will not sail NCL either. More customers lost.

 

To the OP, I do hope that you will reconsider not sailing NCL. In spite of the fact that NCL has long had the worst customer service in the industry and that they have an inept President and corporate office, their ships and crews are really great. May I suggest the Dawn or the Star in the future??

 

(You know, I remember a poll on this board about 2-3 years ago... "If you could change one thing about NCL to make them better what would it be?" (or something like that..) The overwhelming winner: "improve NCL Customer Service and inaccurate information given by them." So this problem has long been an issue....)

I do not take your response as an attack. I think alot of what you say makes perfert sense. However, I believe NCL hasn't any sense. Please read all the reviews regarding the pride of aloha. You will see that these are the exact complaints regarding the plumbing and a/c. That was in 2005. What year is it now? 2008? So if they havnt fixed the problem in 3 to 4 years. Why would you think they would fix it in 3 to 4 weeks. As far as the great crew and great ships. NCL is not a great ship, if it was it would not smell of urine (just my opinion). Crew - Dont know???? I do feel sorry for anyone that has to work under those conditions. So I will be making their job a little easier as I will not be there. I have already rebooked on the RCCL Freedom.

I haven't been able to find the same itinerey. I know carnival and royal carribean have cruises out of Miami but I thought the sky itinerey was much better which is why I booked it initially (before I knew of these problems).

 

Is there one I'm missing?

Majesty of the Seas (RCCL) has the same itinerary out of Miami: Private Island (CocoCay), Nassau, and back to Miami.

This is what I've suspected all along, and what I've found in the endless customer survey experiences I've had. You either hear *rave* reviews, or *horrible* reviews after the fact. Folks that had exactly what they expected rarely go out of their way (i.e. posting on a message board) to talk about their experience.

 

I've seen less than 20 separate posters from *three* returned cruises that probably sailed with more than 1500 people each. Granted, several of those had multi-cabin experiences, but even that - fewer than 50, total. Yeah, some of those experiences were considered pretty bad by the posters (Yes, non-functioning toilets is not OK. IMO, non-functioning AC is not the stuff of lawsuits, though).

 

Yeah, denying the problems isn't helping NCL at all. But it appears they ARE trying - albeit later than they should have, but it's something. Is it too little, too late for some? Sure. Will they undoubtedly make up for that by selling those rooms to someone else? Sure. It's a mass-market cruise line - losing a few hundred customers (or potential customers) is a drop in the bucket. What they lost in them, they'll make up for in others looking for a cheap cruise (like me).

 

As for not putting any money into repairs because the Sky is up for sale..... I call BS. Anyone who's watched HGTV has seen the "pre-sale makeover" shows. Fixing it up BEFORE selling is a *far* easier sale than after.

 

Someone else had posted that they suspected NCL tried to do *something* but perhaps inadvertently made it worse. I would be inclined to suspect the same thing. Bad CEO or no, no cruise line *wants* to deal with this nonsense. If they knew plumbing was going to be a problem, they would have taken care of it. It's costing them FAR more to deal with it than it would have to repair, and even the dumbest of CEOs recognizes that.

But have you seen ANY posts saying wow, it was wonderful? I haven't.

But have you seen ANY posts saying wow, it was wonderful? I haven't.

Actually yes there are some positive reviews. Click on these 2 links to start.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=815696&highlight=sky+awesome

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=812087&highlight=sky+awesome

not 100% perfect but both of these OPs had a good time.

I haven't been able to find the same itinerey. I know carnival and royal carribean have cruises out of Miami but I thought the sky itinerey was much better which is why I booked it initially (before I knew of these problems).

 

Is there one I'm missing?

We came back from a three day cruise on the RCCL Majesty of the Seas on July 7th. Great ship, same itinerary, different private island.

The ship has been fully remodeled and so has RCCL's private island. Great three day mini-vacation.:)

I just looked at thoose 2 threads. Neither of them were in cabins affected by no A/C or non-working toilets. Neither of them described a "good" cruise, just OK. The first one mentioned the warmth throughout the ship and the poor service, even though they were trying very hard (which they were). All the responses were "thanks for the information." Those are not accurate threads for someone looking to cruise the Sky should look at to make a choice. Ask your friend who works on the ship if there was a flood on the second and third decks were on Tuesday the 22nd night. That was when the toilets had the most problems. I heard from one guset and one crew member comfirmed it, but, I do not know for sure if there really was a flood.

NCL/NCLA/Star have known about problems from at least 2004. The ship was a part built hull when purchased, it had sat in the shipyard for 4 years before building started under the ownership of Star Cruises/NCL.

During the time it was sat redundant and unwanted, the elements would have made merry hell with it. The original Queen Mary also had this problem due to the economic woes of the day, she, however, was brought back from the brink and is still in existance now. She didn't suffer the problems that Sky has. Build quality was probably better in Queen Mary's day, materials etc probably better too.

Sky has been a problem ship since long before NCL got their hands on her.

The plain fact is that Star want to get shot of her asap. She has not improved with age, she has caused headaches left right & center. NCL have tried their damndest to ignore the problems, hoping no doubt they would fade away.

No such luck.

With all due respect, she is a wreck, she has always been so...and no matter what anyone does she will probably always be a sows ear made into a silk purse.

The best thing NCL could do is drop future cruise plans, refund all fares and lay her up til sold.

She is good only for static use as a casino or hotel ship at best.

Ohio...I know you are a company man and you are doing a wonderful job of trumpetting Sky as OK...but please do not insult the intelligence of those who have been on her in recent weeks and found her to be anything but OK.

Sky is a mess, she was a mess as POAh and as Sky before that and no amount of taking the company 'everything is hunky-dory' will change that...especially to those who have had a miserable cruise on her.

This is why I posted the email addresses of those at the top, so that people who have had a torrid time can get the message across to NCL in a way that will get noticed and hopefully taken seriously.

NCL is a business and all businesses need good reviews of their product and until NCL do something contructive about the condition of Sky and they get the call center staff up to speed and telling people the truth about her instead of fobbing people off with absolute rubbish....then NCL will suffer as a whole from this one ship and her apparent difficulties.

Sky is not performing properly and it is time someone had the sphericals to deal with it.