You're the owner of NCL and can make ONE change....

[pizza123]

Quit adding more ships to the fleet until there is enough crew to staff all of them. It seems to be becoming a bigger problem all over all the lines. All the ships are short staffed so service has fallen off and they can't find enough great entertainers to make cruising enjoyable like it used to be. But they continue to add more ships every year....

[newmexicoNita]

On 12/16/2018 at 6:38 PM, HowardK said:

Get a better CEO that actually cares about the product - customer retention is important not just raising prices.

This post is a fun one and not one meant to blast! As for customer retention I don't see the ships going out 1/2 empty do you? 

[newmexicoNita]

17 hours ago, CruisingNole said:

Add specialty coffees and bottled water to beverage package like every other cruise line does. 

that was going to me my suggestion as well, but you beat me to it. 

[Linda the Book Lover]

On 12/16/2018 at 12:47 PM, Two Wheels Only said:

• Eliminate the bid process for suites/Haven to prevent direct bookings from subsidizing bids.
• Make travel insurance an option that is easily seen on every booking on the website. 
• Eliminate the DSC and just add it into the cruise fare.
• Show every available stateroom when booking.
• Make every new build after Encore smoke-free....then make each ship smoke-free after it's refurbish. 
• Built a +200K GT class to compete with all of the other lines that have/will have ships of that size. 
• Always have at least 1 ship of the newest class sailing out of Miami.
• General website improvement.
• More knowledgeable PCCs.
• Increased go-kart speed. 

...I could probably do this all day...

 

Eliminate the bid process for suites/Haven to prevent direct bookings from subsidizing bids.

Definitely my #1

[SouthLyonCruiser]

Make the reservation portion of the site more like Princess when it comes to specific cabin reservations. Princess allows you to see cabins that are not sold. That way you can contact your travel agent, if you have one, and specify a particular cabin.

[willsears94]

19 hours ago, ebay33 said:

I'd hire a customer service staff to monitor Cruise Critic 24 hours a day.  I've seen a few NCL staff responses on CC, but they should be on here full-time monitoring posts and topics for questions and correcting misinformation.

 

Hey! This is a great idea  🙂 

[willsears94]

Let me say first that I really enjoy NCL. That being said, I think their biggest flaw right now is the ever-chasing of the dollar. It is what keeps companies in business. Yet, I think it will probably hurt them and cheapen the product over the long-run. 

 

One example would be the adding of circus-type attractions on ships. You know, I get it. CCL is adding a roller-coast; NCL has a race-track. Those things are great, but the top of the ship needs to mainly be used for sunbathing people watching, and views. Now, NCL wants to add a huge laser tag arena to the aft of the lido on Encore which is prime real estate for sunbathing and views. 

 

Focus on creating an adult-product like Celebrity and Virgin, and that's how NCL will gain the best reputation in the sea 🌊 

[VtMac]

23 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Actually, since the itineraries are closed loop, a foreign flag ship would only have to call at any foreign port, not a distant foreign port.  The closest foreign port to Hawaii is Fanning Island, in the Republic of Kiribati, 700nm south of the Big Island.  Norwegian Star used to do this itinerary, alternating 10 and 11 day itineraries that included 2 days each way to Fanning.

 

For MarkTwoThousand:  In order to do the all Hawaii itineraries that the POA does, it needs to meet the PVSA requirements of being: 

1.  US built

2.  US owned

3.  US flag

4.  US crewed

 

Any ship that does not meet all of these requirements cannot sail strictly between US ports.  Canada has similar cabotage laws called the Coastal Trading Act, which limits sailings between strictly Canadian ports to Canadian flag vessels.

 

Escape or any other NCL vessel, doing a Hawaiian itinerary would either have to start/end in Vancouver, or on the West Coast of the US and include a port call in Canada or Mexico, or go to Fanning Island.

Chief, what percentage of the crew must be US citizens?  Would that then fall into a work Visa program for foreign nationals?  BTW, thanks for all your insight.

 

[heelfan94]

On 12/16/2018 at 4:30 PM, saintsfan777 said:

Change from Pepsi to Coke

I feel more strongly about this than I'm willing to admit or deal with.  

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, VtMac said:

Chief, what percentage of the crew must be US citizens?  Would that then fall into a work Visa program for foreign nationals?  BTW, thanks for all your insight.

 

All deck and engine licensed officers must be US citizens.  The crew must be 75% US citizens, and the other 25% must be Green Card holders (US Permanent Residents).  This has been modified for NCL through an act of Congress to allow NRAC (Non-Resident Alien Crew), to be a part of the 25% non-citizens.  These people have to have been employed by NCL for a minimum of 10 years prior to applying for NRAC status, and they must undergo the full background check that all US mariners must undergo.  They are also given a H-1B work visa, which means that NCL is fiscally responsible for them while in the US.  These people are paid US wages, but must also have US FICA and taxes withheld.  POA is the only ship under US flag that allows NRAC crew, all other ships must have either citizens or resident aliens.

[newmexicoNita]

On 12/16/2018 at 11:44 PM, marktwothousand said:

Eliminate the whole DSC system.

Eliminate 4 PM sailaways and push it to 5 or so. It can be a bit of a rush to make the ship on time.

Add happy-hour bars to the studio lounges on all ships.

put one of the nicest newest ships on the Greek side.

phase out the Epic. Perhaps it would

be better as a replacement, bigger version of “Pride of America”. 

The DSC is the fault of cheap cruisers. In the days of doing the tipping the last night you would be amazed at how many did not show up for dinner. It was also a pain in the you know what to have the right $ amount for tipping: this person the suggested tip may be $4.00 a day, this one $3.75 etc. The reception line went for ever the day or so of the cruise, just with people trying to have the correct change. It was another line that added DSC and it happened o be a slightly upscale line. They added it after than had a no tip policy or a policy without a suggested tip. Too many were not tipping at all. So don't blame the cruise lines, blame cheapo neighbor or whomever. 

 

As for leaving before 5pm: I don't understand. Most of us fly in the day before cruising or take a very early morning flight unless we are driving. How often do we actually see many show up after about 2pm for boarding? 

Oh and BTW I think this has been answered but the ship doesn't have to American built as far as we were taught, just American flagged with I think 75% of the crew being American citizens. 

[newmexicoNita]

On 12/17/2018 at 6:13 AM, PATRLR said:

Eliminate the DSC, add it to the fare and promote NCL as the "no tipping" cruise line, ala HAL in the 80s.

and HAL was the ship that started and then stopped the no required tipping: it wasn't really a not tipping. The had tip jars etc all around the ship and everyone had to option to tip. Too few did, that was the end of the NO TIP policy. 

[DirtyDawg]

If I was the owner of NCL I'd raise the price of cruising until the ships didn't sail full anymore.

 

If the ship is sailing with insides selling at $2 grand for a week, I'd raise the price to $2.5 grand, and then to $3 grand.

 

Then I'd really start nickelling and diming.

 

Want a lounger by the pool? $100 buck a day!

 

Want a beer? $20 bucks......... plus a 50% service charge! 

 

Want anything other than gruel in the MDR? It will cost you $50 per head. 

 

And with all that extra money in MY pockets I'd  cruise on my own MEGA, MEGA YACHT!! 

[xenagurl]

Better on-board App, similar to the one that RCCL rolled out.

[VtMac]

52 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Thank you.  I never knew it was so detailed with some of these laws

 

 

[Barb Nahoumi]

Allow passengers to bring their own bottled water and canned soda again.  

Eliminate the DSC.

Bring back the "Cooking Light" options on MDR menus.

[coscab]

If you add the DSC to the price of the cruise and you buy insurance that does not cover "cancel for any reason" then if you do have to cancel for a reason not covered you will be responsible for the DSC that is included in the price of the cruise.  We always buy insurance but not "cancel for any reason".

I would like to see the casino smoking policy enforced, many times I would like to play a machine but someone is just sitting there smoking, not actually playing, although I wouldn't want to be the employee confronting them with the rules😱

 

[perkydebrajean]

Do away with all of the "free at sea" perks that have been going on for years now and drop prices back to reasonable.  

 

We sailed an 11 night Southern Caribbean in a one bedroom Haven suite on the Pearl in 2014 for a total of $5,500.  That was before they started offering the "free at sea" perks.  Since then that cruise now (or one just about like it) runs just shy of $12,000 for 2 people.  Guess they have to make up for those "free" perks that they are giving away. 

Edited December 18, 2018 by perkydebrajean

[17cruisesnsl]

agree with what has been said  - thank you Two Wheels Only -

Plus:

add solo cabins to the Haven

Have a separate shower or Escape mini-suite type shower stall in all Haven cabins - the tub/shower combo is dangerous and difficult to access in rough seas.  The Haven convenience is fabulous when traveling with an elderly parent, but the need for an accessible but not handicapped shower has resulted in us booking the 2 bedroom (H4 ) cabins.  My mom is now spoiled but the H4  has become cost prohibitive 

Purchase more comfortable couches for all staterooms -- there has to be a better option than what is offered with the additional egg crate over the mattress

 

[Two Wheels Only]

34 minutes ago, 17cruisesnsl said:

The Haven convenience is fabulous when traveling with an elderly parent, but the need for an accessible but not handicapped shower has resulted in us booking the 2 bedroom (H4 ) cabins

 

Take a look at the H6 shower on the BA/BA Plus Class. A simple walk-in shower and separate tub. Plus, they usually go for less than the H4.

[AlaskaAtLast]

I'd ban the jerk who thinks he can book an inside cabin and still be entitled to eat in the Haven because he has a little vlog with 6,000 followers.

[DMH15]

On 12/16/2018 at 3:00 PM, GeezerCouple said:

 

"Eliminate the bid process for suites/Haven to prevent direct bookings from subsidizing bids."

 

This has really killed most of our interest in suites/Haven on NCL for us.

We don't mind paying for something that is of value to us, but to know that many/most others are paying far less... but this new approach started annoying us more and more, as we learned that more and more of the suites/Haven were being sold this way, for much less than we were paying.

(No, we wouldn't want to cruise in a regular sized cabin on NCL, so "trying to bid" is out, lest we don't get it.)

 

We've since switched to Oceania, and for a similar price (or less), we  can get a lovely PH suite, and enjoy the ambiance of the entire ship much, much more.

If we take the kids/grands again, we'll probably switch back to NCL for just that cruise.

 

NCL beancounters are in charge here, but if there are enough others like us (and there may not be, of course), then the "full price" suite cruisers will, well, keep jumping ship.

 

GC

I agree with you and Two Wheels Only.   NCL's Priceline-esque bid system is just disrespectful to those who choose to book suites.   I am booked on MSC Seaside in YC in May.  

[Deck boy Dave]

I agree with the poster who mentioned adding bottled water and specialty coffee to the UBP.

 

 

[Casino Comp Chick]

Bring back smoking on balconies.

😘

[newmexicoNita]

12 hours ago, Barb Nahoumi said:

Allow passengers to bring their own bottled water and canned soda again.  

Eliminate the DSC.

Bring back the "Cooking Light" options on MDR menus.

water and soda I agree with; the DSC i do not unless it would be worked into the overall price of the cruise. I do love tipping the way it used to be, but the crew got shafted too often.