What method of filing post cruise complaint most successful

[nycjewlz]

I am a long time cruiser. I started in my 20s when I worked for Micky Arison and went on tons of Carnival. Since I have tried all lines. I prefer Royal but also love NCL. Went on a lovely cruise on the Bliss in Aug. I've never had an issue. Until now. My dec 16 sailing on NCL Epic was SO BAD we literally got off at one port and paid to fly home. I met sat on the shuttle next to a lovely man who was doing the same thing. He was in the Haven suites and had an equally bad experience. When I say bad you have no idea how bad. I was telling him how staff would roll their eyes in front of us when we would ask for help and he said even in the Haven suites they were doing that. Here is just a tiny sampling:

1. We kept saying the water in our shower was so hot it was burning us with no way to make it cold. My husband literally had visible burns. We went 3 days without showers with only eye rolls and patronizing condescending telling us how to use it before someone came in and said oh yeah your cold water line is busted. We literally had no cold water.

2.When we got on the over head light in our room didn't work as in no actual main light before we even started. We had to call twice. You would call housekeeping, front desk etc and it would ring for 20 min and no one would pick up.

3.The spa had no cups one night and the next day. As in you could sit in a steam room or sauna and get dehydrated and they had beautiful containers of ice water but no way to drink them except putting it in your hands. I said there have been no cups since last night they said the staff was too busy they had an inspection coming up. 

4. Despite paying for full drink package my husband asked for a drink. Not even a mixed drink just a diet coke. The bartender cracked the can and poured him a cup. He dumped it in his insulated cup so it would stay colder. She made an "ugh" noise. Why she would care when we are entitled to unlimited drinks I don't know. But she seemed annoyed. He asked for another cup. She ignored him. He said can I at least get the rest of the can. She said last call is over. Now this means she has to THROW AWAY the rest of that can rather than giving it to my husband a paying guest. This is about par for the attitude of the staff on this cruise. This isn't an exception at all. It was so rude we were torn between being outraged and cracking up.

Things I witnessed to other passengers

1. Passengers who were waiting through a singer for a comedy show that had had standing room only earlier in the week were told they would have to leave the room and line up again after the singer. The staff person was not nice about it and even said well if you sit here now the ppl who wait out there will be in front of you because you'll have to go to the end of the line. So since most ppl cared more about the comedian he emptied the room for the poor singer. Then when someone politely asked what time can we start lining up he said 2 days ago for all i care. A larger older man who was a fan of the comedian got in line right away. It was clear he was struggling after a bit and he couldn't stand for the over an hour wait. We asked if we could pull a chair out for him and the employee said no he can stand. Worst part is they didn't even clear the room so the poor man and other ppl waiting ended up in the back of the room anyway. 

 

I felt so badly for first time cruisers or ppl new to NCL. I spent the first few days defending NCL saying this isn't my previous experience but after a while I just decided I wanted to be home in my own bed and not treated so nasty so we bought flights home. I went immediately to the front desk and didn't yell or throw a fit just said it wasn't my trip and we were disembarking at the next port. They said to drop passports off that night so they could process it and we could pick them up in the morning. When we went to pick them up they had NOT processed anything. It took them over an hour at that point and we almost missed our flights. We had to run for the gates. Not just us but everyone trying to leave that day. No one was told the correct procedures for leaving. It was one final sh*t show. We were all happy to get home. I thought about just forgetting it and moving on but I just feel so badly that if no one says anything this will continue. Most of this can be fixed. Most was customer service related. So I want to complain but I want to make sure it is actually listened to so anyone who knows the best way to do that I'm all ears. Thanks!

 

 

[dexddd]

Sorry for such bad experiences.  I don't think much can be done at this point other than to spend money elsewhere.  We had one bad sailing on RCCL years ago, wrote office, nothing.  Never going to spend a dollar with them again.

 

I think your best bet would have to videoed what you could on social media.  From similar stories here over the years there seems to have been little resolution afterwards or if there is, people not sharing.

 

I know on our recent Prima trip a couple was going back and forth about an issue for quite some time with no resolution for what ever their issue was.  Their only take away was documenting names of those at the desk and the time.

 

You did a great job documenting here so ignore those that become defensive.

[Peachypooh]

I had a similar type of experience on a RCCL cruise.  I was in an owner's suite similar to the Haven suites. Overflowing toilet, no cold water, disappearing item in the mini bar, rude staff. I am not saying don't do anything about it I am just saying I did nothing. Probably should have. To answer your question...if you go to the meet and greet they give you a card with all the officer's phone numbers. If you had that card you could have called the head of housekeeping.

[SimplyAlbert]

I've had the best luck with writing a letter.  While I may not get an immediate response, I've always gotten a response.   In your case I'd write the letter, but also take a photo of it and post it to NCL's facebook page.

[RocketMan275]

It's been my experience that NCL won't respond to anything unless you use this form:

https://www.ncl.com/case-submission

 

Even then, it will be two/three weeks.

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, nycjewlz said:

I am a long time cruiser. I started in my 20s when I worked for Micky Arison and went on tons of Carnival. Since I have tried all lines. I prefer Royal but also love NCL. Went on a lovely cruise on the Bliss in Aug. I've never had an issue. Until now. My dec 16 sailing on NCL Epic was SO BAD we literally got off at one port and paid to fly home. I met sat on the shuttle next to a lovely man who was doing the same thing. He was in the Haven suites and had an equally bad experience. When I say bad you have no idea how bad. I was telling him how staff would roll their eyes in front of us when we would ask for help and he said even in the Haven suites they were doing that. Here is just a tiny sampling:

1. We kept saying the water in our shower was so hot it was burning us with no way to make it cold. My husband literally had visible burns. We went 3 days without showers with only eye rolls and patronizing condescending telling us how to use it before someone came in and said oh yeah your cold water line is busted. We literally had no cold water.

2.When we got on the over head light in our room didn't work as in no actual main light before we even started. We had to call twice. You would call housekeeping, front desk etc and it would ring for 20 min and no one would pick up.

3.The spa had no cups one night and the next day. As in you could sit in a steam room or sauna and get dehydrated and they had beautiful containers of ice water but no way to drink them except putting it in your hands. I said there have been no cups since last night they said the staff was too busy they had an inspection coming up. 

4. Despite paying for full drink package my husband asked for a drink. Not even a mixed drink just a diet coke. The bartender cracked the can and poured him a cup. He dumped it in his insulated cup so it would stay colder. She made an "ugh" noise. Why she would care when we are entitled to unlimited drinks I don't know. But she seemed annoyed. He asked for another cup. She ignored him. He said can I at least get the rest of the can. She said last call is over. Now this means she has to THROW AWAY the rest of that can rather than giving it to my husband a paying guest. This is about par for the attitude of the staff on this cruise. This isn't an exception at all. It was so rude we were torn between being outraged and cracking up.

Things I witnessed to other passengers

1. Passengers who were waiting through a singer for a comedy show that had had standing room only earlier in the week were told they would have to leave the room and line up again after the singer. The staff person was not nice about it and even said well if you sit here now the ppl who wait out there will be in front of you because you'll have to go to the end of the line. So since most ppl cared more about the comedian he emptied the room for the poor singer. Then when someone politely asked what time can we start lining up he said 2 days ago for all i care. A larger older man who was a fan of the comedian got in line right away. It was clear he was struggling after a bit and he couldn't stand for the over an hour wait. We asked if we could pull a chair out for him and the employee said no he can stand. Worst part is they didn't even clear the room so the poor man and other ppl waiting ended up in the back of the room anyway. 

 

I felt so badly for first time cruisers or ppl new to NCL. I spent the first few days defending NCL saying this isn't my previous experience but after a while I just decided I wanted to be home in my own bed and not treated so nasty so we bought flights home. I went immediately to the front desk and didn't yell or throw a fit just said it wasn't my trip and we were disembarking at the next port. They said to drop passports off that night so they could process it and we could pick them up in the morning. When we went to pick them up they had NOT processed anything. It took them over an hour at that point and we almost missed our flights. We had to run for the gates. Not just us but everyone trying to leave that day. No one was told the correct procedures for leaving. It was one final sh*t show. We were all happy to get home. I thought about just forgetting it and moving on but I just feel so badly that if no one says anything this will continue. Most of this can be fixed. Most was customer service related. So I want to complain but I want to make sure it is actually listened to so anyone who knows the best way to do that I'm all ears. Thanks!

 

 

Sorry for your experience. As a long time cruiser, you know that these are issues needed to be addressed with the General Manager onboard. Post-cruise, all you’ll do (as you are doing here) is getting yourself upset over and over. 
 

Here’s the post cruise guest services contact link. Don’t expect anything more than a form letter response. 
 

https://www.ncl.com/about/contact-us#

[nycjewlz]

57 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Sorry for your experience. As a long time cruiser, you know that these are issues needed to be addressed with the General Manager onboard. Post-cruise, all you’ll do (as you are doing here) is getting yourself upset over and over. 
 

Here’s the post cruise guest services contact link. Don’t expect anything more than a form letter response. 
 

https://www.ncl.com/about/contact-us#

We did address on board. SO MANY ppl did address on board. There were lines at the desk down the hall even at 1am of people complaining. Passengers saying they Gold (like us) or Platinum or higher and had never seen anything like this. It was falling on deaf ears. I do believe the General Manager was a very large part of the problem. This was definitely something coming from the top down. As far as being upset now you misunderstand maybe because text has no tone. I'm definitely more matter of fact now just listing what happened and sharing a crazy story. I'm not upset now. I was def upset then. Now I'm eating a crepe and watching Emily in Paris. I have no emotions tied up in it as I'm in my comfy pjs and my own bed. I'm just trying to do a good deed spurred on by seeing the roll call for upcoming Epic cruises. I would absolutely not want to be at the mercy of that staff again and feel bad for those ppl knowing for many they don't have the resources to catch a flight home early or chalk it up to bad luck and look forward to the next one. For some people this will be their first cruise or only vacation for the year and for that I feel badly.

 

Personally I'm over it and already excited about my upcoming April transatlantic on Royal!  

[nycjewlz]

Thanks for all the good advice. I'm not expecting anything. I'm home safe and sound and on to hopefully better cruises in the future. I know this can happen on any cruise line. Like I said I've had great cruises on NCL as recent as 4 months ago. And from the sounds of it ppl here have had bad experiences on pretty much every cruise line. 

 

I'm just hoping someone hears it because this felt too wide spread on this particular ship to not be an issue with the General Manager or the people running this crew. We did take pics of name tags of the worst ppl who literally laughing in our faces telling us go ahead take a pic so I'm assuming nothing is going to happen and they know it so I have very little hopes of any change but hey I will feel better having at least tried. 

[zqvol]

8 minutes ago, nycjewlz said:

Thanks for all the good advice. I'm not expecting anything. I'm home safe and sound and on to hopefully better cruises in the future. I know this can happen on any cruise line. Like I said I've had great cruises on NCL as recent as 4 months ago. And from the sounds of it ppl here have had bad experiences on pretty much every cruise line. 

 

I'm just hoping someone hears it because this felt too wide spread on this particular ship to not be an issue with the General Manager or the people running this crew. We did take pics of name tags of the worst ppl who literally laughing in our faces telling us go ahead take a pic so I'm assuming nothing is going to happen and they know it so I have very little hopes of any change but hey I will feel better having at least tried. 

Giving them the names may have more impact than you think, though you may never hear of it. Complaints like yours impact their next contract or lack of one. 

[nycjewlz]

Just now, zqvol said:

Giving them the names may have more impact than you think, though you may never hear of it. Complaints like yours impact their next contract or lack of one. 

We actually passed around the pics of the nametags of the worst people between passengers. Everyone was Silver or above and we all planned to file complaints or write letters including names. We are unrelated but all had stories about the worst of the worst. We figure if they get 5 different stories from 5 different passengers 3 of whom literally got off the ship and flew home about the same ppl it might have some meaning. We can only hope. 

[MagnoliaBlossom]

I August we had horrid dining experiences in almost every single venue.  I wrote Manny,the F&B director, got no response.  When I went to drop my letter off to him the receptionist said I’ll put it in the stack with the rest.  There looked to be twenty or so letters.

 

when I got home I wrote a detailed letter to the address Bird supplied above and received a case number.  In about three weeks we received a letter giving us OBC on our next cruise.  But, it’s a crap shoot whether you receive anything or not.

 

we have only had one NCL cruise that had consistently rude or indifferent staff members, and from listening to the senior officers and the way they spoke to participants at the CC meet n greet, it was obvious where the problem was.  Apparently changes were made with the captain or other higher officers because I’ve read good reviews of that ship recently.

 

so sorry for your ruined vacation, but you are doing the right thing in bringing this to the attention of home office.

[The Traveling Man]

4 hours ago, nycjewlz said:

We did address on board. SO MANY ppl did address on board. There were lines at the desk down the hall even at 1am of people complaining. Passengers saying they Gold (like us) or Platinum or higher and had never seen anything like this. It was falling on deaf ears. I do believe the General Manager was a very large part of the problem.

Do you recall the GM's name? 

[trbarton]

6 hours ago, Peachypooh said:

I had a similar type of experience on a RCCL cruise.  I was in an owner's suite similar to the Haven suites. Overflowing toilet, no cold water, disappearing item in the mini bar, rude staff. I am not saying don't do anything about it I am just saying I did nothing. Probably should have. To answer your question...if you go to the meet and greet they give you a card with all the officer's phone numbers. If you had that card you could have called the head of housekeeping.

I’m new to NCL & am doing a Meet & Greet. Who is giving out the cards with all of the officers numbers?  I’ve done many meetings on Princess so this is new to me. 
 

Tom😀

[nycjewlz]

1 hour ago, The Traveling Man said:

Do you recall the GM's name? 

Kicking myself for not taking it down. I am in touch with others and hoping someone did. It was super clear the staff felt VERY protected by those at the top to do and say whatever they wanted. They literally laughed at the idea of being reported holding out their nametags for ppl to take down. It was so immature. But no fear of consequences at all. Like I said. My trip on Bliss in Aug was amazing so I guess you win some you lose some.

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, trbarton said:

I’m new to NCL & am doing a Meet & Greet. Who is giving out the cards with all of the officers numbers?  I’ve done many meetings on Princess so this is new to me. 
 

Tom😀

A ship's officer, either the GM's Secretary or the Groups Coordinator, will bring them to the M&G.

[casofilia]

@nycjewlz

 

Camp out in the foyer of NCL's head office in Miami till Katty Byrd will actually meet with you.   Prepared for a LOOOOOOOOONG wait!!

[casofilia]

@trbarton

 

There should be the Group Coordinator at a desk where the M&G is being held.   (S)he will have a sign in sheet that requires, CC name, personal name and cabin number and will give out those cards when people do sign in.   This ensures that only CC members are able to attend; I have had walk-up who just want the free feed!!   Or to be a nuisance in asking a very personal question that has NO place at the M&G.

 

I make sure that I have a copy of the list of those who have indicated personally to me that they intend to attend just in case there is a change of time, day or venue and give a copy to her/him so each person can be notified.

 

Mike

Edited December 29, 2022 by casofilia

[ziggyuk]

15 hours ago, nycjewlz said:

I am a long time cruiser. I started in my 20s when I worked for Micky Arison and went on tons of Carnival. Since I have tried all lines. I prefer Royal but also love NCL. Went on a lovely cruise on the Bliss in Aug. I've never had an issue. Until now. My dec 16 sailing on NCL Epic was SO BAD we literally got off at one port and paid to fly home. I met sat on the shuttle next to a lovely man who was doing the same thing. He was in the Haven suites and had an equally bad experience. When I say bad you have no idea how bad. I was telling him how staff would roll their eyes in front of us when we would ask for help and he said even in the Haven suites they were doing that. Here is just a tiny sampling:

1. We kept saying the water in our shower was so hot it was burning us with no way to make it cold. My husband literally had visible burns. We went 3 days without showers with only eye rolls and patronizing condescending telling us how to use it before someone came in and said oh yeah your cold water line is busted. We literally had no cold water.

2.When we got on the over head light in our room didn't work as in no actual main light before we even started. We had to call twice. You would call housekeeping, front desk etc and it would ring for 20 min and no one would pick up.

3.The spa had no cups one night and the next day. As in you could sit in a steam room or sauna and get dehydrated and they had beautiful containers of ice water but no way to drink them except putting it in your hands. I said there have been no cups since last night they said the staff was too busy they had an inspection coming up. 

4. Despite paying for full drink package my husband asked for a drink. Not even a mixed drink just a diet coke. The bartender cracked the can and poured him a cup. He dumped it in his insulated cup so it would stay colder. She made an "ugh" noise. Why she would care when we are entitled to unlimited drinks I don't know. But she seemed annoyed. He asked for another cup. She ignored him. He said can I at least get the rest of the can. She said last call is over. Now this means she has to THROW AWAY the rest of that can rather than giving it to my husband a paying guest. This is about par for the attitude of the staff on this cruise. This isn't an exception at all. It was so rude we were torn between being outraged and cracking up.

Things I witnessed to other passengers

1. Passengers who were waiting through a singer for a comedy show that had had standing room only earlier in the week were told they would have to leave the room and line up again after the singer. The staff person was not nice about it and even said well if you sit here now the ppl who wait out there will be in front of you because you'll have to go to the end of the line. So since most ppl cared more about the comedian he emptied the room for the poor singer. Then when someone politely asked what time can we start lining up he said 2 days ago for all i care. A larger older man who was a fan of the comedian got in line right away. It was clear he was struggling after a bit and he couldn't stand for the over an hour wait. We asked if we could pull a chair out for him and the employee said no he can stand. Worst part is they didn't even clear the room so the poor man and other ppl waiting ended up in the back of the room anyway. 

 

I felt so badly for first time cruisers or ppl new to NCL. I spent the first few days defending NCL saying this isn't my previous experience but after a while I just decided I wanted to be home in my own bed and not treated so nasty so we bought flights home. I went immediately to the front desk and didn't yell or throw a fit just said it wasn't my trip and we were disembarking at the next port. They said to drop passports off that night so they could process it and we could pick them up in the morning. When we went to pick them up they had NOT processed anything. It took them over an hour at that point and we almost missed our flights. We had to run for the gates. Not just us but everyone trying to leave that day. No one was told the correct procedures for leaving. It was one final sh*t show. We were all happy to get home. I thought about just forgetting it and moving on but I just feel so badly that if no one says anything this will continue. Most of this can be fixed. Most was customer service related. So I want to complain but I want to make sure it is actually listened to so anyone who knows the best way to do that I'm all ears. Thanks!

 

 

 

Based on that level of service I would have requested a refund of gratuities (might have got their attention). It's not something I have ever needed to do, but under those circumstances, I would have no hesitation.

[PATRLR]

whatever you do, use a lot less words than you did in your original post.  Like 80% fewer.  

 

No one who can help you is going to read all that.  They just aren't.

[luv2kroooz]

Expect nothing from NCL but a response via email thanking you for choosing them, they value you, they've read your complaint, they will do nothing to help, but hope to see you again onboard

 

We resolve all issues on onboard before departing the ship.

[weltek]

Wow, I cannot imagine anything, aside from a physical assault, being so bad that would make me disembark. I'd sit in my room and be a grump. 🙂 While some of your things seem like one-off bummers, the totality is concerning and it sounds like the ship might have a customer service approach problem.

 

Anyway, I hope you have luck filing a case, particularly if everyone else you talked to follows through and shares similar issues. It makes me sad so many had this out of character experience from NCL, and that should be addressed by corporate if it really is a shipwide issue.  The only time I've seen anything similar was ONE bartender dismissing someone's request for a bartender's suggestion for a drink in a martini glass that wasn't a martini. The bartender, who was otherwise great, literally lied and said, "yeah, there's really nothing if you don't like martinis." False...you are making a choice (which may or may not be supported by management directive) not to go outside of the printed standard drink menu at your venue (an all purpose bar) and fulfil the request. It was awkward to observe the conversation and I felt bad for the passenger who seemed to have an upbeat attitude and was nothing but kind in his approach.  But the rest of that sailing was sort of a customer service dream for me on the Encore. Things I'd never had happen before (a buffet busser offered to get me water when I sat down with my plate...I'm in my 40s and don't look disabled, so I think he was just being nice) surprised me. I do think the GM (Deepak) runs ships very well, so I'm a strong believer in a GM making a big difference. I get why people care who the GM is. 
 

[laudergayle]

There is another active thread about Daily Service being reduced to 1x daily. First ship to do this is Epic on January 8.  This new policy is reducing contracted staff, as well as reducing pay.  I suspect that some of the staff behavior links back to the overall moral on the ship due to these changes.  Sorry your cruise experience was impacted by bad behavior. This perspective may get you a little more sympathy/future credit from corporate NCL. https://crew-center.com/norwegian-cruise-line-reduce-stateroom-cleaning-services Good luck.

[The Traveling Man]

8 hours ago, weltek said:

I do think the GM (Deepak) runs ships very well, so I'm a strong believer in a GM making a big difference. I get why people care who the GM is. 

 

Heartily concur.  Deepak is one of the best.