Long Summer for NCL

[BuckeyePat]

Let me first say I have not cruised on NCL, [nor any other line except as a 'youngster' on Cunard 25 years ago] but am sure looking forward to my first one at the end of the month:p . That said, I have to wonder if the summer has been a little long for NCL and the crews.

 

Since booking my first trip I have spent hours and hours on Cruise Critic. It appears---and I stress appears----that many more people have recently expressed "disappointment":everything from never again, poor service, tired ships, bad food, nickle and dimed --- by now, you get the picture.

 

So, my questions to you experienced cruisers:

Do you think people have unrealistic expectations?

Do you think as summer goes on, and ships have fuller capacity, and kids are all over, that the crew becomes burned out?

Do you think that the focus on the SKY by NCL regarding all its serious issues[no plumbing is serious to me] has caused other areas/ships to slip?

 

I am just curious as to what others may think, because whether here or on the Review page,for many of the ships it appears the summer has been mighty long....

[Addictedtwo]

Let me first say I have not cruised on NCL, [nor any other line except as a 'youngster' on Cunard 25 years ago] but am sure looking forward to my first one at the end of the month:p . That said, I have to wonder if the summer has been a little long for NCL and the crews.

 

Since booking my first trip I have spent hours and hours on Cruise Critic. It appears---and I stress appears----that many more people have recently expressed "disappointment":everything from never again, poor service, tired ships, bad food, nickle and dimed --- by now, you get the picture.

 

So, my questions to you experienced cruisers:

Do you think people have unrealistic expectations?

Do you think as summer goes on, and ships have fuller capacity, and kids are all over, that the crew becomes burned out?

Do you think that the focus on the SKY by NCL regarding all its serious issues[no plumbing is serious to me] has caused other areas/ships to slip?

 

I am just curious as to what others may think, because whether here or on the Review page,for many of the ships it appears the summer has been mighty long....

 

To answer some your questions:

 

We are avid NCLrs with next to no complaints with 6 cruises under our belt.

You have to remember that the average passenger capacity is 2000 ppl.

so when when your looking at the good and bad it's all a small %. And maybe if I was new to cruising and reading some of these reviews I too would maybe check out other lines. Having said that all lines are not with out their issues as well.

 

As for kids I have heard on past cruises the number of kids on board to be around 200 to 300 (this is not during summer or school break) I find that with 2000 ppl on board we don't get the feel that there are that many ppl. I guess because the ships are so big and there is so much too. We rarely see the same ppl. twice.

 

It took us a long time to make the plunge to cruising because I for one hate "cattle herding" but we have found it to be the opposite.

 

As for the "Sky" i'm sure it has been loaded with kids but I haven't been reading any negatives on the subject. Who wouldn't jump at the "kids go free" deal. And no having kids ourselves we chose to go on the Sky in Sept when the kids are in school.

As for all the negatives with regards to a/c and plumbing/slash toilets these have been ongoing issues since the ship was originally the sky and continued when it was moved to Hawaii.

While they seem to have the a/c issue resolved i will hold back on commenting on the plumbing issues because personally I dont believe it can be fixed while ship is sailing and there have been some minor plumbing issues that seem to be isolated ie: no hot water etc.

But I will say that at least NCL is bending over backwards to accomadate those individuals how have been inconvienced.

 

As for nickel and dimed to death, it's all a matter of choice, you can choose to eat at the surcharge restaurants or you can stay with the cafes and other no charge places that are just a good. And of course food comments all boil down to personal choice and taste. I may try something and don't like so i'll go back for something else but that rarely happens

And I always remember that my wife has bad days at cooking too.

 

I also think that a lot of people have high expectations and expect the world on a platter.

 

The bottom line I still think cruising is the best way to go these days, with the cost of traveling I feel you get a bigger bang for your buck,can do more and see more.

[Addictedtwo]

Let me first say I have not cruised on NCL, [nor any other line except as a 'youngster' on Cunard 25 years ago] but am sure looking forward to my first one at the end of the month:p . That said, I have to wonder if the summer has been a little long for NCL and the crews.

 

Since booking my first trip I have spent hours and hours on Cruise Critic. It appears---and I stress appears----that many more people have recently expressed "disappointment":everything from never again, poor service, tired ships, bad food, nickle and dimed --- by now, you get the picture.

 

So, my questions to you experienced cruisers:

Do you think people have unrealistic expectations?

Do you think as summer goes on, and ships have fuller capacity, and kids are all over, that the crew becomes burned out?

Do you think that the focus on the SKY by NCL regarding all its serious issues[no plumbing is serious to me] has caused other areas/ships to slip?

 

I am just curious as to what others may think, because whether here or on the Review page,for many of the ships it appears the summer has been mighty long....

 

 

I forgot to comment on ship capacity! The ships almost always run at full capacity as they can not afford not to and that is why you see comments about the upsell fairy etc. They will move pax around, lose a little on the larger suites and get next to full price for the more popular cabins.

[CastawayCruiser]

I know that some of the recent reviews are probably unsettling but don't worry. Especially because you are a first time cruiser I think you will have a great time. I think sometimes people who have done traditional cruising have certain expectations then try NCL and it just isn't for them. We have done 6 NCL cruises and loved every minute. The relaxed, casual style is perfect for us. As far as nickel and diming - I have never gotten a good explanation of this complaint. There is nothing NCL charges for that other lines don't. You just have more options for surcharge restaurants than on any other line. The Dawn is a beautiful ship and you will have a fantastic cruise! Enjoy...

[DMH15]

Yes, no, no.

 

There are always more people who give negative feedback. This is true in all marketing.

 

Even if one or two things go wrong on a cruise I would still have a wonderful time. I really wonder about people who go on and on with one thing after another that they hated and can't find one good thing to say.

 

My experiences have always been 100% positive on NCL. I have enjoyed Celebrity and RCCL too. Tried Carnival and did not like their eggs benedict and thought it was a younger party crowd, so I doubt I would cruise them again. But it was just that they did not appeal to me... they would certainly to others.

 

Keep an open mind and you will enjoy!

[greywillow]

Glass-half-empty view of things, I'd say. Recent threads here about cruises on both Sky and Dream have been very positive.

[watchdiva]

We've been sailing NCL for a long, long time and have never, ever had a bad cruise. I've read negative reports from pax on the same sailing that we were on and I wonder if we were even on the same boat?!

 

As for expectations, we all want/expect different things from our cruise - DH and I go expecting to have a great time and we do! We're together, someone else is doing the cooking/cleaning, etc and as an added bonus, we get to wake up in ports that we may not have been before. For us, the ship (and our suite) is actually the destination and where it ports is often secondary. I surely don't expect perfection on NCL - I wouldn't get that on Silversea, Crystal, HAL, Cunard etc eiher (just read their boards sometimes!). I expect that there may/will be bumps but it's up to ME how I handle them and I choose to NOT allow them to mar/ruin my cruise.

 

Have a great cruise........we always do!

[Toyz711]

as far as crew burn out...every cruise there are many going on vacation, getting transferred to another ship or ending their contract. on my last cruise, over 100 crewmembers were getting off and 100 new ones were getting on..including the captain. if you meet a crewmember who seems "burnt out" then just wait a week, they may be going on vacation:D

[terrymtex01]

OP.. you have to take MOST of the completely negative reviews with a grain of salt. For instance.. If you go the review of the NCL Star by "Jean" date of 07/08, either this person is insane, or just never has been on a cruise in her life. Read her review and see if something doesn't stand out to you as being a bit rediculas. She mentions they had hot wings in their stateroom one night they got from Blue Lagoon. She claims the next day when the room steward removed the used plates, leftover food, etc, that the room steward dropped one of the bones from the chicken wings and it remained there until she stepped on it days later. Ok.. how did she know that the steward dropped it? Did she see it fall as they were taking the stuff away? How does she know she didnt drop it? Did she see it on the floor and she is so nasty a person she left it there for the days she claims it was there? If not, and if she did not see it until she stepped on it, why blame the room stewards for not seeing it and picking it up? Hope you see my point that there are just some horribly miserable people in this world, like the "Jean" that wrote that review. IF she did actually go on the cruise, I doubt any thing would have satisified her. When you read stuff like she put in the review about the hot wing bone, that is when you know to just discount the whole review and move on. There are just some people who live to be negative. I don't understand that or what horrible things happened in their lives to make them that way, but you just have to ignore them, let them live in their misery and move on.

[jkrislc]

First off, keep in mind that people are more likely to criticize than they are to praise. In addition, I personally discount any negative review that doesn't substantiate the criticism in some way. If someone says service was poor, but doesn't give an example, I discount it.

 

I also think NCL is prone to negative reviews because of the Freestyle concept. More often than not in the reviews I've read that have been critical, the reviewer has been on a few cruises, but never on NCL. As a result, I think they have certain expectations that simply aren't reasonable on NCL. For example, the waiter isn't going to know your name from night to night more than likely and you wont have your Diet Coke waiting for you at dinner. You might also have to ask for coffee rather than have it delivered automatically.

 

I've now cruised on Carnival, RCI, Princess, and NCLA and really thought they were all comparable with pluses and minuses for each of them. Have we had problems/complaints? Yeah, little glitches here and there on most of them. Did they ruin our trip or cause me to write a negative review? No. However, I'm an overplanner so I often know what to expect so I'm rarely surprised.

 

One last thought. With the addition of the TexMex restaurant to the fee-based restaurant list, I do believe you're going to see more negative reviews from people claiming NCL is nickel and diming them to death onboard. I also expect to see more complaints about service, dining reservations, etc. with the implementation of Freestyle 2.0 as those in balcony cabins get additional privileges compared to those in OV and insides. While suites always received extra perks, I don't think this was seen as a problem because of the substantial increase in fare and the relatively few cabins. Now that more cabins are added to the mix, it could get interesting.

 

Just my thoughts!

[ohioNCLcruiser]

I have a feeling over the next few days another issue will be coming up :(

[michigan tim]

I have a feeling over the next few days another issue will be coming up :(

 

OK, spill it.

[watchdiva]

Give it up James.........I'm an inquiring mind and I definitely want to know.

[melthemadhatter]

I am a first timer too, and I think it's all about what you make of it. I have seen plenty reviews complaining about things I wouldn't even complain about.

 

I guess there are people out there that just can't be happy anywhere, even on vacation.

 

Have a great time, and don't sweat the small stuff!

[seastheday]

I have a feeling over the next few days another issue will be coming up :(

 

Oh No. Please don't tell me the Sun has sunk. :eek: :confused: :cool:

[bluesea777]

About nickeling and diming - sometimes to "death" - well, there are people who do not drink and do not care for specialty restaurants, preferring to eat in dining room and there are people who DO drink and like to go to different restaurants each night including specialty ones.

 

When I went shopping for cruise for us I often find other lines to be *much* pricier than NCL ... and learnt why when we went on our first NCL cruise.

 

Also I have learnt that *some* other cruise lines offer drinks at *slightly* lower prices than NCL but their cruise prices are higher than NCL's and they do not offer much dining choices.

 

Bottom line: we, drinkers and gourmet-food-eaters prefer to pay lower cruise prices and spend money on what we want to eat/drink - in the end NCL comes out cheaper overall than other cruises. And the "non-drinking traditionalists" will find NCL an excellent deal for them.

 

NCL's itineraries are often EXCELLENT and their ships and cruises very enjoyable. Their Freestyle dailies offers so *many* activities that we *always* manage to find one or two or some that interest us!! We were never bored on NCL on sea days.

[bluesea777]

You must be wondering why we cancelled the Sun cruise around the Cape Horn and booked the Mediterranean cruise - well it's nothing to do with the NCL cruise prices - it was the airfares. Unfortunately AA deceived us die-hard AA-travellers by continuing to display the cheap fares on their web-sites WEEKS after their sold-out date (yes, I did blast them via email and told them we were forced to cancel the SA cruise).

 

Fortunately we got the Med cruise at the same price and were able to buy cheap tickets to Barcelona on AA.

 

This is life. We'll plan a SA cruise in the future - on one condition - we must book early!!

[bluesea777]

Oh No. Please don't tell me the Sun has sunk. :eek: :confused: :cool:

 

 

Please don't tell me Jade has been sunk either!

[BuckeyePat]

I have a feeling over the next few days another issue will be coming up :(

Oh, do tell???? Is it the Spirit?

[Azure Moon]

I have a feeling over the next few days another issue will be coming up :(

 

Don't tell me, the fate of NCLA and the lone remaining ship only an Hawaii itinerary is going to be told.

I hope NCLA continues. Not everyone can cruise more than 7-8 days at a time. And I'd hoped to get back to Hawaii again before retirement gets here.

[doitallWMB]

Aren't rumors fun? I tend to agree that we will see a change with NCLA. NCL is getting close to beginning it's Caribbean season and it seems unlikely they would cancel cruises inside the final payment dates. Stating the obvious...sometimes people say things just to read the reaction. Whatever the issue, it will pass.

[Azure Moon]

Buckeye Pat, you'll have a great time on your cruise!

Yes, I've thought the same about NCL having a lllooonnnggg summer. In my opinion, the NCL board activity seemed to be lower for a while compared to a couple of other boards.

I think some of the complaints came from people with unrealistic expectations, but some of unhappy posts come from being with old expectations. Cruiselines and ships are going through some changes and not everyone is keen on change. Then throw in change that costs them more money, and we're more apt to hear from some unhappy people.

I haven't the foggiest idea how crew members think or feel about the summer season, but if I were a crew member, I'd be thrilled to see the end of the season :D . Perhaps that's why hubby and I sail in the early spring and fall ;) .

In my opinion (again :p ), I think NCL/NCLA brought the customer relations/complaints on themselves by not taking care of problems the Pride of Aloha/Sky ship had from the very beginning. Air conditioning in the summer and decent, working plumbing is a must on my vacations, so I don't blame others for expecting the same on theirs.

[ohioNCLcruiser]

No nothing to do with NCLA. Nobody posted here will care what the news (I checked to see your pasts posts to make sure) is but I'm sure it will be out soon.

 

And yes the end of summer/spring break is great for crew!

[coaster]

No nothing to do with NCLA. Nobody posted here will care what the news is but I'm sure it will be out soon.

 

And yes the end of summer/spring break is great for crew!

 

Could it be about Apollo? Recent private equity buyouts not working out?

 

http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/13/news/companies/apollo_boyd813.fortune/?postversion=2008081315

[doitallWMB]

No nothing to do with NCLA. Nobody posted here will care what the news (I checked to see your pasts posts to make sure) is but I'm sure it will be out soon.

 

And yes the end of summer/spring break is great for crew!

Will it be considered negative as so many recent stories have?