NCL Poor Customer Service

[Juissi]

I've been lurking on this forum for some time now, looking for an cruise advice etc. Decided to register after our first cruise.

 

We finally went on our first cruise a month ago. A Norwegian Sky weekend cruise to Bahamas. The cruise itself was good, and it did leave me a spark to go again. However we did have one negative thing on that cruise.

 

The second stop for the ship was at the Great Stirrup Cay, a NCL own private island. We decided to do a snorkeling excursion while there, since there was not much else to do.

 

The snorkeling excursion was marketed with these words, "Enjoy an hour of snorkeling on a beautiful coral reef."

In the end that whole sentence ended up being a lie. First of all the snorkeling was more like 30 minutes, after which the local "guide" decided that the water was too cold, and everyone should get back to boat.

Second, the advertised coral reef was a sandy beach bottom next to the island shore, with some sea weed and no fish to speak of. I saw maybe couple of small fishes, and a stingray.

This was by far the most expensive, and worst snorkeling trip I have ever taken, anywhere. If I would have known how it was, I wouldn't have paid even $20 for it.

 

We were royally pissed about this $60 beach snorkel scam, and contacted the shore excursion desk on the ship. They said they are going to check something and get back to us. Nope, they didn't get back to us.

 

After our vacation, I decided to write an email to NCL. I explained the situation, and asked what they can do about it. There still has not been any answer of any kind from them.

 

So the question is, is this normal behavior for the Norwegian or cruise lines in general?

 

As it is, it has left a really bad after taste of the cruise, and about the NCL in general, and I don't think I will be cruising on NCL again. I did like their freestyle atmosphere, but with this kind of faulty advertisement, and lack of communication, I rather go somewhere else.

 

If your ship stops at the Great Stirrup Cay, don't go to the Reef Snorkeling & Sandbar Getaway excursion, it's absolute waste of time and money. They advertise it as a coral reef, when in fact it's just a sandy beach. You are better off snorkel at the beach (for a much cheaper price), or go snorkel in a place like Key West.

[kirs10k]

I've looked at this excursion as well.

 

Curious, did you stop at the sand bar with the chairs and swim up beach bar that it also advertises? The reviews on the NCL website say the snorkeling part wasn't that great but the floating chairs and swim up bar are worth it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Karmary]

I have sailed a dozen times on NCL. If you can get somebody on the ship to help, you may rectify the situation (thats a big IF). I do not believe you will get any satisfaction from shore side offices. I am treated like ROYALTY on the escape, but dirt on the others as far as solving an issue. Good luck and post again if you hear from NCL.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[khaide612]

Definitely not my experience. We had an issue with a bus going to Universal Studios once - no a/c & the bus was filling with exhaust fumes. We told the excursion desk when we got back and received an onboard credit for part of the excursion almost immediately.

[littlelulu01]

I doubt anything will be done at this point. Did you check back with shore excursions desk to find out what they determined and what they could do for you?

 

I've had one negative experience with a shore excursion and the excursions desk corrected it to my satisfaction. It was a similar situation. Booked an excursion to Oia that advertised one hour in oia. We had about 20 minutes. I told the shore excursions desk and they asked me what group number I was. I gave them the bus number and they verified that we only got 20 minutes in Oia and refunded 1/2 the excursion cost, which I felt fair because we still got some benefit from the excursion.

[Juissi]

Yes, after the snorkel the boat got us to another place, which was the sandbar. They dropped floating chairs from the boat, but there was nothing to do or see. It was just a shallow water and sandbar, nothing else. So all you did was sit on your floating chair on a shallow water for maybe a 20 minutes.

 

No beach bars, no services, facities, or anything. You could have bought some drinks on the boat. Funny thing was that they wereselling some drink package, which someone bought, and the person didn't even have time to drink all of those before the boat left back.

 

The snorkeling is the main draw of the excursion, and for a $60 trip, it's awful.

[MikeBTN]

Sorry to hear. This is why I never take ship excursions - they have very little incentive to make you happy. When you take a private excursion, their reputation is everything. Obviously with it being the private island, you didn't have much choice.

 

I might recommend leaving an honest review on NCL's website by logging in, going to "Learn About Our Cruises", select Excursions, then search for all excursions at GSC, and then click "submit a review" by the snorkel/sand bar excursion. Looks like 4 reviews so far with 3.5/5 stars.

 

Just remember to log in first.

[hawkeyetlse]

We were royally pissed about this $60 beach snorkel scam, and contacted the shore excursion desk on the ship. They said they are going to check something and get back to us. Nope, they didn't get back to us.

Unless all of this happened 30 minutes before disembarkation, you had time to chase them up on this. I know, if they say they'll get back to you, they should do it without any further reminders, but the fact is, it might not happen. And in that case, it's a lot more effective to go back and talk to them again than to sit in your own head fuming about it.

 

It does sound like a terrible excursion.

 

You might get a response from NCL shoreside, but it often takes longer than a month, and it will probably something like "thank you for your valuable feedback which will be passed on immediately to someone", with no compensation attached.

Edited December 14, 2016 by hawkeyetlse

[lee lehman]

I have never had a bad experience with NCL they always treated us very well, on one cruise to the Mediterranean we didn't receive the $300. OBC we were given at sign up, went to customer service with all the original paperwork. They told us that they had to check with Miami and get back to us the next day. Went back the next morning and received all but $25. Plus 2 bottles of wine. Upon arriving home we received a check for $50. from our TA saying the paperwork didn't get sent properly.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[luddite]

A good life is too short.

Move on.

[BirdTravels]

If you had a problem, you should have got it resolved while on board. Coming back and whining on CC won't help get your problem resolved. Bottom line is too late now.

Edited December 15, 2016 by BirdTravels

[sanger727]

OP, I'm sorry you learned the hard way that the ship excursions tend to suck. I agree that if what was advertised was not what you received then it would have been a nice gesture for the shore excursions desk to compensate with some OBC. But after the cruise I doubt you will receive anything. But at the end of the day they can always revert to their Terms and Conditions:

 

"The information provided on this website is designed to help you select the excursions most suited to your interests. The tour descriptions are as current and accurate as possible. Please note that occasionally changes in the descriptions do occur. Some tours will operate in an order that is different from; that presented in the tour descriptions. This helps to alleviate crowding at local venues. The individual tour descriptions include approximate durations and can be found under each tour name. Please note that departure times are subject to change."

 

"NCL makes arrangements for Guests for Shore Excursions solely for the convenience of the Guest; NCL does not act on behalf of or supervise the parties or persons who own, furnish, or operate such excursions, and the same are provided by independent contractors. NCL assumes no responsibility for, nor guarantees the performance of, any such excursion provider, and Guests acknowledge that NCL shall not be liable for losses or injuries arising from the acts or omissions of such provider."

 

I personally prefer booking with island operators independently, then you can research the company on tripadvisor and know who to hold accountable if they don't perform. I understand GSC is a private island and probably doesn't have independent tours. But, yeah, I don't take any description of shore excursions on NCL's website that literally. I expect snorkel and beach stop to include a snorkel stop and a beach stop, but the exact time and "hype" isn't necessarily going to be 100% accurate.

[pspercy]

If you play Facebook try posting your comments there on NCL's page.

Good luck.

[easyboy]

Sorry about your disappointing snorkeling excursion. The shorex desk should have really done something about your complaint. You now know better next time.

[Juissi]

Sorry about your disappointing snorkeling excursion. The shorex desk should have really done something about your complaint. You now know better next time.

 

After they didn't reply to my email, I knew they are not going to do anything about it. But the thing is that I don't really understand why they would act like that. Because as it is, they lost a customer, as I'm not going to sail NCL again.

 

I would think that it's a business 101, that you try to be reasonable with your customers, and make them happy. It's not like my request for compensation was without a base, as they clearly have false advertisement, and the excursion doesn't match the description.

By completely ignoring me, they lost the future sales from me, for a shore excursion price.

 

Next cruise, I will be trying another cruise line, and will not be booking any cruise line shore excursions. I learned my lesson.

[4774Papa]

I always check reviews of the excursions or private tours that I book. Did you do that? If this snorkel tour was done in the past, it would seem like someone would have complained.

[Juissi]

I always check reviews of the excursions or private tours that I book. Did you do that? If this snorkel tour was done in the past, it would seem like someone would have complained.

 

Maybe it was naive for me to actually believe what a company says on the advertisement material, and excursion description. I did expect that the prices would be higher on cruise excursions, but not a blatant wrong descriptions.

At Key West you can get a good 3 hour reef snorkeling for $40. I was expecting that the this cruise line excursion would be on a same level, but for $60 (50% more expensive).

[detroitlions]

I stopped booking excursions on the ship years ago.

The cost was expensive and was my biggest cost of cruising.

Once my son was older like around 5 years ago I cut them out completely and only did local guides or just travel on our own by bus or taxi to where ever we wanted to go.

 

So it is the same for all the cruise lines most of there excursions are not very good they build in shopping and other stuff that no one cares about then they charge you at least double for the same excursion as a private one.

[4774Papa]

I stopped booking excursions on the ship years ago.

The cost was expensive and was my biggest cost of cruising.

Once my son was older like around 5 years ago I cut them out completely and only did local guides or just travel on our own by bus or taxi to where ever we wanted to go.

 

So it is the same for all the cruise lines most of there excursions are not very good they build in shopping and other stuff that no one cares about then they charge you at least double for the same excursion as a private one.

 

I always compare the ship's excursions against local tours and Viator's cruise tours. Frankly, NCL's excursion prices tend to be higher than when we cruise on Celebrity. However, on some occasions, when we are in some countries, especially where the tours involve some bus travel and getting back to the ship on time may be an issue, we go with the ship's excursions.

 

Also, some ports you can DIY, like Athens, Greece, Mykonos, Ketichikan Alaska, etc.

[sfaaa]

I always read customer reviews first before I book anything. It helps to avoid aggregation afterwards.