NCL Bad Reviews

[Elvis1209]

I spent 37 years as a police officer.  The last 17 years were spent taking people's complaints over the phone.  What I learned is that a lot of people are not happy unless they're complaining about something!  Most of the time things are not really as bad as they make it seem.  

I've been on close to 20 cruises.  I always read the reviews of my cruises.  Sometimes I find it hard to believe that the person writing the review and I were on the same cruise!

 

Elvis

[phillygwm]

My biggest concern with my upcoming cruise is the cost cutting measures, whether it's eliminating (real) Champagne, once daily cabin servicing, etc.  Unfortunately, I don't think that's an NCL thing.  ALL the lines are trying to dig out of a sea of red ink and there are two ways to do that:  raise prices or cut service.  I personally wouldn't mind paying something extra to retain current levels but presumably NCL has researched what people are/are not willing to pay, so here we are.

 

That said, I'm not cancelling my cruise.  Because of the cuts, I may still cancel FAS+; I'm still waffling on that.  I would think that's a high markup add-on for NCL so it's ironic that their cutbacks will likely result in some people cancelling it.

[BirdTravels]

On 6/5/2023 at 10:58 AM, mcmomny said:

We made the best of it and had a great time but many people were upset and wrote bad reviews due to how crowded the ship was, how hard it was to make reservations, crowded elevators and the small pools.

We were on the Encore during spring break in April. We sailed with 4800 passengers (the ship’s capacity is 4200). Lots of younger passengers. We knew it was spring break and had a really great cruise. 
 

We were on the Escape last month sailing with 4600 passengers (4200 capacity). There were a lot more obnoxious older folks on that cruise. 

The ships are sailing full back to prepandemic levels. The US President and the WHO has said that Covid is over, so all Covid protocols have been removed. Elevators are crowded. And yes, I am older with some mobility issues, so I will take an elevator 1 floor. I will take a cart on the pier. And it is no one’s business to be judging me. 

 

[deliver42]

I've been on over 25 cruises across all the major U.S. cruise lines except HAL. While some cruises are better than others, I can't think of one cruise that I haven't enjoyed, both pre and post Covid. My next cruise will be on the Bliss in Alaska i 2025 and I'm really looking forward to it.

[Asawi]

I haven't read many cruise lines reviews but if I did I think I would use the same "tactics" as when reading book reviews: I'd first focus on 3-star (out of 5) reviews since they are probably kind of "balanced". Some good things, som bad things. (Having said that, I wouldn't be able to resist reading some 1-star ones as well out of curiosity what they thought was so bad. 😄 )

 

[Sthrngary]

On 6/5/2023 at 7:19 AM, dmbcanada said:

Seems like NCL is getting bad reviews lately, booked the Epic for next year cruising to Greece and Italy.   However having second thoughts due to bad reviews, what are the chances things will change for the better in a year?   We have cruised NCL twice in the past and love the itinerary for next year.  

@dmbcanada For the past decade, I have cruised NCL. I know known for my articles, streams and posts on the NCL Haven.  However I have also cruise in the NCL normal balcony staterooms.  Please add to that, prior to retirement, I worked very heavily on survey systems and why folks review the way they do. 

 

With 44 years of cruising, the fact is, every decade or so cruising changes.  From dining, to levels of personalized service to the amount of times a day the cabin steward cleans your stateroom.  These changes usually come when the cruise line has a situation that cost them huge money and can't control it.  To stay in business they have to make changes.  Let me say that again, they can continue to do business with cuts which effect our vacation experience or be out of business.  Not the choose any company wants to make.  

 

From a consumer standpoint, it is up to us to make a decision.  Is the cutbacks enough to keep our business or to lose it.  When negative reviews happen they scare us all.  Cruising is still a significate cost. The best way to look at is is 10% are awful, 10% claim the cruise was perfect. 80% are much more balance.  Take them all in and make your decision.  

 

My opinion know what every says and make your own educated decision.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[phillygwm]

3 hours ago, Asawi said:

I haven't read many cruise lines reviews but if I did I think I would use the same "tactics" as when reading book reviews: I'd first focus on 3-star (out of 5) reviews since they are probably kind of "balanced". Some good things, som bad things. (Having said that, I wouldn't be able to resist reading some 1-star ones as well out of curiosity what they thought was so bad. 😄 )

 

We live in an age of grade inflation and not just in academics.  Professionally, people in my field would have had a lower title 20 years ago than they do today (a Senior Vice President would have needed to manage staff back in the day, for instance.) 

 

With regard to reviews, a 3 used to be average and that wasn't a bad word.  Now, I often get an email or phone call if I give a "3" to determine what went wrong.  It seems that the new "normal" is to start at 5 and knock it down a notch or 4 when things fall short.  

 

It's funny, I'll review hotels and restaurants (Tripadvisor and Yelp, primarily.)  I'd say my average rating is about 3.5 and people think I'm difficult to please.  Not at all; I just think a 3 is the rating that should be used when a place was perfectly acceptable if nothing out of the ordinary.  If someone goes out of their way for me, that's a 4.  Everyone walked on water?  5 star.  I can't remember ever giving 1 star but I've given a fair number of 2s. 

 

To your point, when reading others' reviews I always look at their history.  You live in California, this is your first review and it's a restaurant in Philadelphia?  Probably fake.  Everything always 1 or 5 star with no nuance?  Probably overexaggerated in either direction.  

Edited June 10, 2023 by phillygwm

[ChiefMateJRK]

14 hours ago, SeekingKillerWhales! said:

some, if not most, people make their own bad cruises.

Hear! Hear!

[cruisemom67]

4 hours ago, deliver42 said:

I've been on over 25 cruises across all the major U.S. cruise lines except HAL. While some cruises are better than others, I can't think of one cruise that I haven't enjoyed, both pre and post Covid. My next cruise will be on the Bliss in Alaska i 2025 and I'm really looking forward to it.

We have been on over 25 cruises as well, across the lines.  I have enjoyed every one of them! All the lines have cut back. We have cruised for 30 years and it is incredible how much has changed.   However, the prices for what you get are still very reasonable.   I think many people want champagne but have only paid for Bud Light.   I take the reviews with a grain of salt. I can make my own fun and will ALWAYS enjoy myself on  cruise. Maybe I have low expectations,  but much of a cruise is getting me from point A to B to C....at a reasonable cost so that I can experience the world!

[mugtech]

We stopped taking the short cruises out of New York, and NCL has cut back on some of the cruises out of NYC.  We had our worst cruise on 7 days to the Bahamas when way too many people took advantage of the "free" drinking package.  Unlimited drinking is a terrible spectator sport, and a few jerks even interrupted the Second City improv classes. We now only take 10 day or longer cruises, a lot less insolent drunks.

[ChiefMateJRK]

41 minutes ago, cruisemom67 said:

I can make my own fun and will ALWAYS enjoy myself on  cruise.

Amen!!!!

[BermudaBound2014]

On 6/5/2023 at 9:51 AM, graphicguy said:

Although, I will say that after sailing just about all the other major cruise lines (including some minor ones like MSC),

MSC is far from a minor cruise line. They are about the same size as NCL.

MSC currently captures 7.2% of the market. NCL captures only 9%. MSC will surpass NCLs load capacity in the next few years.

 

To the OP- I have zero brand locality. I recently sailed Celebrity where cost cutting measures were evident. I have a NCL, CCL, and HAL all booked within the next year. I expect cost cutting measures on each and every sailing.
 

It’s a post covid reality. You can’t shutter an industry for 18 months and expect things to just carry on. All of these cruise lines are in insurmountable debt (except MSC which has extremely wealthy Parents).  
 

That doesn’t mean cruising isn’t a wonderful experience, but it’s different post-covid. No matter what cruise line you select, I believe adjusted expectations are warranted. 

[ExpatBride]

On 6/5/2023 at 2:19 PM, dmbcanada said:

Seems like NCL is getting bad reviews lately, booked the Epic for next year cruising to Greece and Italy.   However having second thoughts due to bad reviews, what are the chances things will change for the better in a year?   We have cruised NCL twice in the past and love the itinerary for next year.  

 

I cruised on the Epic in 2015 and it was an epic mistake back then. I loved my other NCL cruises, but that one was just... regrettable. With that said, it was a bad choice of ship for me. If it seems like a good choice for you, it'll probably be fine. I just prefer small to mid-sized ships, and I've moved on from NCL.

[DrUrsula]

OP:

 

We have sailed Epic twice in Europe. We were fortunate to be in the Haven . I say this because the one thing that would give me trepidation about Epic is the bathroom setup in the non-Haven rooms.

 

I want my privacy and I want privacy from whomever is using the bathroom as well. I'm not camping, I'm cruising.

 

This is my only dealbreaker with NCL.

All the lines are cutting back. We did a Celebrity cruise last year on a ship that got terrible reviews. It was our best cruise to date out of 30 plus on various lines.

 

Even cruises that I have booked spur-of the moment without research have turned out fine. We have had two "meh"  cruises and reviews wouldn't have helped. Both were RCL. One was 18 years ago and one last summer. Last summer was to Bermuda. Ship was fine but a super obnoxious guest mix of really loud and continually drunk or puking passengers -some sick due to weather . That did not bother us as much as not really being impressed with Bermuda.

 

 

Good Luck!!
 

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by DrUrsula

[Peachypooh]

I have had only one really bad cruise with NCL and I am sapphire and yes, it was a bad cruise that almost everyone on the ship I met complained about.  HOWEVER all the issues I encountered I knew were going to be an issue ahead of time  and I went anyway because family picked the cruise based on their schedules so that's on me. President's week out of NYC. LOL  Planning a cruise for either  the first week of December or first week in September which we have always had no trouble with.

[UKstages]

On 6/10/2023 at 7:52 AM, BirdTravels said:

The US President and the WHO has said that Covid is over...

 

more accurately, they said the covid-19 "emergency" was over, which translates into relaxed and largely voluntary protocols at most pubic gatherings and on cruise ships. 

 

biden actually urged congress to '“remain vigilant” and said that “we still need to monitor dozens of variants and support new vaccines and treatments." so... it's far from "over."

 

nearly every roll call on cruise critic contains after-cruise reports of a small number of people who contracted covid. anecdotally, on my most recent B2B, which ended last week, this was a very hot topic for discussion, with many expressing concern, although i'd say fewer than 5% wore masks.  the familiar "covid cough," however, could be heard throughout the ship and on all excursion busses. (and, no, i have no way of verifying whether those folks had covid, but i'm hearing this same cough in every public gathering... and i never used to hear it prior to 2020.)

 

covid-19 and its variants will be with us for a good long while, and even though more than 1,000 people continue to die each week (worldwide), it should not be a major obstacle for most people considering cruising.

 

it has, however, had a major impact on the talent pool available for hiring in the hospitality sector, including cruise ships. many, including me, believe that has affected the quality of service on board NCL ships. and that may indeed have a knock-on effect in reviews of NCL cruises.

Edited June 11, 2023 by UKstages

[complawyer]

i agree 100% with seeking killer whales. my wife and i have been on roughly 25 cruises since 2010, all with ncl. we have also sailed on the majority of their ships. havent been on breakaway, encore, escape joy, prima or poa. these are the only ones to date we havent as yet been on.

that being said, i can honestly say, we have never had a "bad" cruise, even the ever dam**d epic (sailed on her twice) .

 

to me, what is the most important for a successful trip is the itinerary and of course the price. most on the cabins we have stayed in are more or less similar (even the haven 2 bedroom suites) 

i believe there is a simple joy in merely sailing from port to port.

 

to date, i really have nothing to complain about for any of the past cruises we have taken. we have an additional 4 booked thru 2024. again, it's the itinerary that has interested me.  we're going to capetown next march, and another on the DAWN next oct the stops in egypt. some of the shore excursions have already been listed, and one is to the pyramids (definitely a stop on mybucket list)

 

so please pay no attention to either the man behind the curtain, or any of the negative reviews. go, sail, enjoy. youre on a floating luxury hotel, quoting my sainted gramma, "dont sweat the small stuff"

[Doug_S]

On 6/5/2023 at 8:57 AM, dmbcanada said:

Yes that is a good point, some of the bad reviews were due to silly things like rough towels.

And likewise, there are probably many more that had a bad time who don;t have access to an avenue to complain, or simply decide to take their business elsewhere.

[MCMC100]

Complainers complain….happy people just book another cruise.
 

I’ve traveled for years for both business and pleasure. Has every stay at a Marriott or Hilton been an unforgettable, life changing event?  Nope- stayed at a few over the years that had staffing problems, maintenance issues, annoying people running around all night, lousy bars and horrible food. However, for the most part, you know what to expect when you stay at certain places and usually they meet or exceed expectations. Sometimes they blow it, but it’s not corporate policy to screw things up. 
 

Same with cruising. Cruise lines target a demographic and advertise a level of service, amenities, and overall experience they feel their customers are interested in. Do they hit  their mark all the time? Nope…..

 

Most times they get it right. NCL, in my opinion, has never failed to meet my expectations. Have they screwed things up on occasion, of course.  Have I received a meal that could have warmer?  Did the waiter bring the wrong wine?  Did a room steward forget my request for an extra towel?  Probably, but who keeps track of  life’s little glitches?  Have I been inconvenienced to a level that ruined my vacation or made me look elsewhere? Nope.  Is it possible that my next cruise in August is an unmitigated disaster? Yep, but that’s not the way to bet. If history is a guide I bet we have a great time. 
 

Go enjoy your cruise. I bet the food is delicious, the beer is cold, the entertainment is top notch, the ship is sparkling clean, the staff is amazingly friendly and helpful and you have a great time…...

[complawyer]

again, the only thing that p***es me off on an ncl cruise (and i've posted this before) is that the hamburger buns always seem to fall apart before im done with the burger  LOL!

[insidecabin]

1 hour ago, MCMC100 said:

Complainers complain….happy people just book another cruise.
 

I’ve traveled for years for both business and pleasure. Has every stay at a Marriott or Hilton been an unforgettable, life changing event?  Nope- stayed at a few over the years that had staffing problems, maintenance issues, annoying people running around all night, lousy bars and horrible food. However, for the most part, you know what to expect when you stay at certain places and usually they meet or exceed expectations. Sometimes they blow it, but it’s not corporate policy to screw things up. 
 

Same with cruising. Cruise lines target a demographic and advertise a level of service, amenities, and overall experience they feel their customers are interested in. Do they hit  their mark all the time? Nope…..

 

Most times they get it right. NCL, in my opinion, has never failed to meet my expectations. Have they screwed things up on occasion, of course.  Have I received a meal that could have warmer?  Did the waiter bring the wrong wine?  Did a room steward forget my request for an extra towel?  Probably, but who keeps track of  life’s little glitches?  Have I been inconvenienced to a level that ruined my vacation or made me look elsewhere? Nope.  Is it possible that my next cruise in August is an unmitigated disaster? Yep, but that’s not the way to bet. If history is a guide I bet we have a great time. 
 

Go enjoy your cruise. I bet the food is delicious, the beer is cold, the entertainment is top notch, the ship is sparkling clean, the staff is amazingly friendly and helpful and you have a great time…...

Expectations set them low enough they can always be met.

 

It's one of the reasons the feedback from reviews, CC, youtube, FB etc. is very useful to keep updated with what's going on fewer surprises on what's changed from last time. 

 

Early post covid cruising in 2021 was a walk into the unknown as there was nothing  go on.

 

Things could change quickly, we had three covid rules changes while on a 2021 cruise needing new testing(in a foreign country) and effected transport arrangements .

 

2022 things began to settle down but a lot could change between booking and actually cruising.

 

One of those was upping passenger capacity ahead of the crew numbers service would slip, venues would be on short/no hours as the crew was needed elsewhere. 

 

2023 we are now pretty much back to full capacity. 

Still have the issue book with one set of expectation, turn up and its not what was expected.

 

The day to day stuff is expected but if it becomes endemic that lots of little things are happening all the time it gets tedious and more difficult to just brush off, issues need raising, they need to get fixed.

 

Then throw in some, like poorly/not explained deviations, public spaces shut, paid packages not fulfilled as bought.......

 

Many are still coming back and not realizing a lot has changed.

Many still do post booking research, I booked a cruise what's the ship like.

 

 

 

[DCGuy64]

On 6/10/2023 at 2:27 PM, BermudaBound2014 said:

MSC is far from a minor cruise line. They are about the same size as NCL.

MSC currently captures 7.2% of the market. NCL captures only 9%. MSC will surpass NCLs load capacity in the next few years.

 

To the OP- I have zero brand locality. I recently sailed Celebrity where cost cutting measures were evident. I have a NCL, CCL, and HAL all booked within the next year. I expect cost cutting measures on each and every sailing.
 

It’s a post covid reality. You can’t shutter an industry for 18 months and expect things to just carry on. All of these cruise lines are in insurmountable debt (except MSC which has extremely wealthy Parents).  
 

That doesn’t mean cruising isn’t a wonderful experience, but it’s different post-covid. No matter what cruise line you select, I believe adjusted expectations are warranted. 

You are so right about that. Some people have such incredibly short memories, it seems. There was effectively no cruising in 2020 (apart from just a handful, really), and even in 2021 things were only slowly returning to normal. It's only 3 years since the global pandemic really hit, and as you say, the cruise lines have huge debt to deal with. To assume that everything will be exactly as it was in 2019 is just ridiculous. I am hopeful that things will gradually improve, but even if they don't, we continue to think cruising is a great way to spend a vacation and still (for us) a good value. I don't know about where other people live, but in the DC area where we are, inflation is incredibly palpable. Restaurants that used to offer lunch for under $10 are now charging $15-20 for the EXACT SAME FOOD. Bars here charge $15-20 for cocktails that are literally cheaper onboard a cruise ship! So anyone who trashes the cruise industry for understaffing or service cutbacks must be a chronic complainer or someone wealthy enough to be insulated from the effects of higher prices.

Edited June 12, 2023 by DCGuy64

[Doug_S]

I see a lot of cheerleaders on this thread, but few that will acknowledge that some complaints a very justified. For example, last October we traveled on three consecutive European cruises on NCL. In every one they cancelled a port. On the first they cancelled an entire country (Scotland). They postponed departure, and caused all kinds of havoc with pre-booked excursions, and in adding ports, had little capacity for any excursions. On the third cruise they lost our dining reservations and pre-booked excursions, requiring a manager to "find" our excursion bookings, but still lost the dining. 

In my mind, this compilation of failures justifies complaints, but NCL did nothing. The lastest is they cancelled a 2024 cruise we booked this past January so they could charter the ship. While they claim they offer a 10% to book another cruise, booking the same cruise on another of their ships departing 5 days later than the original, now costs us more. Any they could care less, and won't make any adjustment. So again, complaints are justified, and these are not about food, or service, but corporate policy and customer goodwill!

[mugtech]

55 minutes ago, Doug_S said:

I see a lot of cheerleaders on this thread, but few that will acknowledge that some complaints a very justified. For example, last October we traveled on three consecutive European cruises on NCL. In every one they cancelled a port. On the first they cancelled an entire country (Scotland). They postponed departure, and caused all kinds of havoc with pre-booked excursions, and in adding ports, had little capacity for any excursions. On the third cruise they lost our dining reservations and pre-booked excursions, requiring a manager to "find" our excursion bookings, but still lost the dining. 

In my mind, this compilation of failures justifies complaints, but NCL did nothing. The lastest is they cancelled a 2024 cruise we booked this past January so they could charter the ship. While they claim they offer a 10% to book another cruise, booking the same cruise on another of their ships departing 5 days later than the original, now costs us more. Any they could care less, and won't make any adjustment. So again, complaints are justified, and these are not about food, or service, but corporate policy and customer goodwill!

Get ready to have the cheerleaders tell you to look forward to your next cruise, forget the past.

[ontheweb]

58 minutes ago, Doug_S said:

I see a lot of cheerleaders on this thread, but few that will acknowledge that some complaints a very justified. For example, last October we traveled on three consecutive European cruises on NCL. In every one they cancelled a port. On the first they cancelled an entire country (Scotland). They postponed departure, and caused all kinds of havoc with pre-booked excursions, and in adding ports, had little capacity for any excursions. On the third cruise they lost our dining reservations and pre-booked excursions, requiring a manager to "find" our excursion bookings, but still lost the dining. 

In my mind, this compilation of failures justifies complaints, but NCL did nothing. The lastest is they cancelled a 2024 cruise we booked this past January so they could charter the ship. While they claim they offer a 10% to book another cruise, booking the same cruise on another of their ships departing 5 days later than the original, now costs us more. Any they could care less, and won't make any adjustment. So again, complaints are justified, and these are not about food, or service, but corporate policy and customer goodwill!

I don't think the corporate bean counters take into account the negative reaction they get when they charter a cruise. Yes, there is obviously a short term gain, but I don't think they realize the pissed off people who would have been passengers are serious when they say we are never going to cruise with you again. 

 

I know we once had a river cruise chartered out from under us well past final payment. (Returning your money is definitely not a priority of theirs.) I eventually told them quit sending your spam advertising on line and by real mail, because we will never ever consider your cruise line again.This was about 20 years ago, and thinking about it, I am still pissed at them.