My NCL Email

I highly recommend people put their contact phone numbers in their emails. You should receive a phone call back if you do. I received an auto-response from public relations yesterday that just torqued me off, but today I received a very nice, lengthy and detailed phone call from a very nice lady from the executive offices and resolutions department. Supposedly social media and public relations departments are not allowed to address these issues (hence the auto responses) and they forward your emails to this department. It was a 45 minute conversation, so I will try to condense as much of it as possible here. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with anything written below. I'm just relaying what was spoken to me. What was said may differ from what you personally have experienced on a ship before, I'm just putting out the information I received. So...YMMV:

 

1. All email complaints (whether sent to public relations, social media or an executive officer) are sent to this department and are read by this department. No email is making it to an executive officer personally. These people read the emails, contact the passengers and the OVERALL feedback from the masses is then sent up the chain.

 

2. From her 19 years of service in this department, all major changes go through a transition period where mass complaints are sent in, but then people calm down and end up seeing the good of the changes. (my interpretation: they are not at all surprised by the complaints, but expect them to settle down soon).

 

3. Take away from specialty restaurants has never been an option, so she was confused as to why so many people are complaining about that portion of the policy. The main problem that caused this new policy to go into effect was the buffet. People over pile their plates so they won't have to make a second trip and the food overflows onto the marble floors causing slip and fall hazards or grinds into the carpets causing damage.

 

4. Proper disposable take away containers is not an option or a potential solution due to the way garbage is disposed of on a ship, it would be too much refuse to handle.

 

5. Those who have disabilities that require them to eat in their cabin will not be discriminated against. Those people can still have their traveling companions get their food for them. They must be allowed to do so under the disability and discrimination laws that are currently in place.

 

6. Royal Caribbean will soon be following suit and adding a convenience fee to all of their Room Service orders. Convenience fess are here to stay in the cruise industry.

 

7. If a child is melting down around you in a restaurant and the parents won't remove the child because they can't take the food with them, the maitre d' will gladly move you to a different table away from the child.

 

8. When I asked if any word has come down from the executives regarding this policy and if it would change, the answer she stated was that with over 6,000 employees they don't hear back until official changes are ready to be implemented. She could only speak to the current policy as it stands.

 

9. Everything is subject to change. Every new policy is a work in progress. Del Rio is new to them, too, and they are also getting used to his way of doing things and they, too, are in a growth period.

 

10. Nothing about this policy is set in stone permanently . Every complaint is being read and filtered through. They cannot personally form opinions regarding those complaints (though she did mention that some people are just being down right nasty in their emails, which is a shame). Their job is to make sure that the executives are getting the overall feedback of the passengers on this policy. If enough people are unhappy about it, who knows, something may change in the near future.

Wow so basically every complaint goes in one ear and out the other? Basically they used the sandwich method on you :

bun- address the problem but offer no solution

meat- tell you about policy / how problem is being handled but not solved / don't take responsibility

Bun- thank you for reaching out /give hope without promise / offer no solution.

Wow so basically every complaint goes in one ear and out the other? Basically they used the sandwich method on you :

 

bun- address the problem but offer no solution

 

meat- tell you about policy / how problem is being handled but not solved / don't take responsibility

 

Bun- thank you for reaching out /give hope without promise / offer no solution.

the reality of the customer service world is that the higher up's tell representatives what the changes they decided will be, and now it's their job to communicate it to you. They may take notes and provide feedback to their management when they hear complains from you, but honestly it's not going to accomplish too much. Thinking a CR rep is going to be able to flip the decisions for you just isn't realistic

the reality of the customer service world is that the higher up's tell representatives what the changes they decided will be, and now it's their job to communicate it to you. They may take notes and provide feedback to their management when they hear complains from you, but honestly it's not going to accomplish too much. Thinking a CR rep is going to be able to flip the decisions for you just isn't realistic

I'm not stupid , I wasn't expecting a resolution .I've worked in customer service myself . I've used that same method to tame the masses .

I was just expecting the courtesy call to be , I don't know ,more courteous .

I think I would have been satisfied with a standard response ( one that all reps could use) as to why these changes were put into action without notifying the general public first . Maybe because that's my biggest concern and I feel bad for all the cruisers who still don't know about the recent changes .

I'm probably still being unrealistic to you but that's just my opinion, I apologize if it offends , bothers or angers you.

I'm not stupid , I wasn't expecting a resolution .I've worked in customer service myself . I've used that same method to tame the masses .

I was just expecting the courtesy call to be , I don't know ,more courteous .

I think I would have been satisfied with a standard response ( one that all reps could use) as to why these changes were put into action without notifying the general public first . Maybe because that's my biggest concern and I feel bad for all the cruisers who still don't know about the recent changes .

 

I'm probably still being unrealistic to you but that's just my opinion, I apologize if it offends , bothers or angers you.

haha i think the only angry one here is you. I was just trying to adjust your expectations on what kind of response a cruise line is going to give you. They're not going to have a huge press release or send out a mass email to all booked cruisers letting them know about small, negative, relatively nominal changes that most people aren't going to be happy with. best of luck

haha i think the only angry one here is you. I was just trying to adjust your expectations on what kind of response a cruise line is going to give you. They're not going to have a huge press release or send out a mass email to all booked cruisers letting them know about small, negative, relatively nominal changes that most people aren't going to be happy with. best of luck

Not angry at all . I was notified by email regarding the DSC going up and I feel they could have done the same with the rest of the changes .

I highly recommend people put their contact phone numbers in their emails. You should receive a phone call back if you do. I received an auto-response from public relations yesterday that just torqued me off, but today I received a very nice, lengthy and detailed phone call from a very nice lady from the executive offices and resolutions department. Supposedly social media and public relations departments are not allowed to address these issues (hence the auto responses) and they forward your emails to this department. It was a 45 minute conversation, so I will try to condense as much of it as possible here. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with anything written below. I'm just relaying what was spoken to me. What was said may differ from what you personally have experienced on a ship before, I'm just putting out the information I received. So...YMMV:

 

1. All email complaints (whether sent to public relations, social media or an executive officer) are sent to this department and are read by this department. No email is making it to an executive officer personally. These people read the emails, contact the passengers and the OVERALL feedback from the masses is then sent up the chain.

 

2. From her 19 years of service in this department, all major changes go through a transition period where mass complaints are sent in, but then people calm down and end up seeing the good of the changes. (my interpretation: they are not at all surprised by the complaints, but expect them to settle down soon).

 

3. Take away from specialty restaurants has never been an option, so she was confused as to why so many people are complaining about that portion of the policy. The main problem that caused this new policy to go into effect was the buffet. People over pile their plates so they won't have to make a second trip and the food overflows onto the marble floors causing slip and fall hazards or grinds into the carpets causing damage.

 

4. Proper disposable take away containers is not an option or a potential solution due to the way garbage is disposed of on a ship, it would be too much refuse to handle.

 

5. Those who have disabilities that require them to eat in their cabin will not be discriminated against. Those people can still have their traveling companions get their food for them. They must be allowed to do so under the disability and discrimination laws that are currently in place.

 

6. Royal Caribbean will soon be following suit and adding a convenience fee to all of their Room Service orders. Convenience fess are here to stay in the cruise industry.

 

7. If a child is melting down around you in a restaurant and the parents won't remove the child because they can't take the food with them, the maitre d' will gladly move you to a different table away from the child.

 

8. When I asked if any word has come down from the executives regarding this policy and if it would change, the answer she stated was that with over 6,000 employees they don't hear back until official changes are ready to be implemented. She could only speak to the current policy as it stands.

 

9. Everything is subject to change. Every new policy is a work in progress. Del Rio is new to them, too, and they are also getting used to his way of doing things and they, too, are in a growth period.

 

10. Nothing about this policy is set in stone permanently . Every complaint is being read and filtered through. They cannot personally form opinions regarding those complaints (though she did mention that some people are just being down right nasty in their emails, which is a shame). Their job is to make sure that the executives are getting the overall feedback of the passengers on this policy. If enough people are unhappy about it, who knows, something may change in the near future.

You did an excellent job touching on so many direct subjects that have been discussed here recently. They actually stated that RCCL will be implementing the same service charges. Guess they would like some of the heat directed elsewhere. It makes it all OK if everyone else is doing it.

I think the solution to move guests away from a child having a meltdown isn't really a helpful one. Someone will still be subjected to an unpleasant meal. Seems ridiculous to make a family remain in the dining room instead of allowing their meals to be packed up and sent to the room. Common sense, no?

I know it's all subjective right now and we'll have to wait and see how it all unfolds. Thanks for sharing.

This is relatively vague in my opinion and fails to point out exactly the "changes" you are unhappy with and the exact "demographic" you fit that you believe no longer applies to the demographic NCL goes after. After reading it, I knew you were upset but honestly didn't feel that it was communicated clearly what you would like to see changed or what it was that was bothering you

Thank you jamesg588 for your critique and feedback. In retrospect, I agree that there should have been more specifics.

DW missed a call from someone at NCL. Will call them back tomorrow. I realized after sending that I did not leave a phone #, only my Latitudes #, so it took a modicum of effort to look up our listed phone number.

I sent a fairly short e-mail in to the three e-mail addresses provided earlier in this thread, simply to register my concerns over the take-out policy with regard to O'Sheehan's and the buffet. Based on the fruitless phone calls being reported on here, I didn't bother providing my phone number or Latitudes number. I only signed with my first and last name. I missed a call today from NCL public relations while at work, so they are definitely putting in some degree of effort to contact people personally by phone. I don't wish to have a lengthy phone conversation that simply rehashes the same ideas they are stating over and over, but I will probably return the call tomorrow, as the message was quite courteous and they did make an actual effort to communicate with me.

Well the good thing is NCL is at least listening.

We cancelled our NCL cruise a few days ago, today we got a call from an NCL rep. The rep told me about a promotion that they had, I told her I just cancelled my cruise because of the 7.95 room service charge and the new rule about not taking food back to the cabin. She then told me the main reason for the call was because of the cancellation and they wanted to see what they could do to bring us back to NCL.

I went on again about the new policy changes. She said that NCL was listening to everyone's concerns and that the policy was not set in stone and it is possible that NCL could roll it back. She said repeatedly that she would make sure that our concerns were sent to higher ups. She also said that she hopes that we would return to NCL if the policies are removed.

She was very sweet and very courteous. Oh yeah she also said to go to NCL's website and post my complaints. I have never posted on NCL's website so I'm not sure where on the site to post, I should have asked but I did not think about it until I had already hung up. It should be easy to find, hopefully lol.

NCL is hearing us, maybe this will change things, maybe not. One thing is for sure people need to keep letting NCL know they are not happy with the changes. I know Disney cruise line has rolled back changes before they even started because of massive complaints. Maybe NCL will do the same and realize they have made a mistake. Good luck people.

Meanwhile, don't forget to hit that Facebook share button & Twitter as well - oops, been busy ourselves :D in sharing. Are they listening, really, or pretending to listen :confused: For their own sake, I hope it's the former.

Surely, someone isn't laughing after the USA Today article yesterday ... quite frankly, it sounded like a typical damage control ops at best to diffuse & let out some steam. The upcoming stockholder's meeting (the non-Apollo's) might be more interesting to track, especially if the analysts on Wall Street are haven't a second look at the financials again.

I too, sent a detailed complaint letter to the 3 addresses posted here. I only signed my name and gave no phone # or latitudes #. Guess What?? They called me within 36 hours. They must have cross-referenced my email account to get my phone #. I didn't speak with her, she left a message and said they were evaluating all the complaints and thanked me for my detailed email.

Here is my email to Andy Stuart:

Mr. Stuart,

As a past NCL "guest", I would like to convey my great displeasure with your cruise line's most recent policies. You have recently implemented an 18% gratuity for beverage purchases as well as a new 18% gratuity for specialty dining. You have also put in a $7.95 charge for Room Service. Under the guise of assuring a clean environment, you have implemented a new policy of no food brought to the stateroom from the various food venues.

This policy, brought under the guise of health and safety issues, is in reality a new money grabbing scheme by the cruise line. Do not take your passengers for an idle bunch of ignorants! As a former guest, and one having two future cruise certificates, I am more than frustrated by these new policies that take away from my enjoyment of a cruise. I ask that you reconsider and rescind these ignominious new policies.

Best regards,

This is an email I just sent -

 

My husband and I have cruised with NCL 3 times, Carnival 3 times and Royal Caribbean 3 times. Our most recent cruise was this past March onboard the Breakaway which we enjoyed immensely. NCL was becoming our favorite line and we have been looking to cruise again this summer with our entire family on the Gem. However, we have become aware of several new policies being implemented that may have us return to other lines. In particular the $7.95 room service fee coinciding with passengers not allowed to bring food back to their rooms. We always bring food back to our room for a variety of reasons. We like to have dessert late at night in our cabin so we bring plates back during the day from the buffet and put them in the fridge to enjoy later. On occasion one of us has not felt well enough to go to a meal so the other would go get a plate and bring it back to our cabin. A few other times we brought snacks back from the buffet during a football game we were watching in our cabin. Sometimes we just have a lazy day and want to stay in our cabin or be out on our balcony. Whatever our reason is, it was a given on any cruise ship that we could bring food back...after all, this is our vacation to enjoy how we want. To have this policy begin very soon after the new room service fee began is devious to say the least. This may not seem like a deal breaker to the powers-that-be at NCL but it is weighing heavily on my mind and will most certainly influence who we cruise with in the future. Please reconsider these new policies and go back to the way it was a few months ago.

Like

Well the good thing is NCL is at least listening.

 

We cancelled our NCL cruise a few days ago, today we got a call from an NCL rep. The rep told me about a promotion that they had, I told her I just cancelled my cruise because of the 7.95 room service charge and the new rule about not taking food back to the cabin. She then told me the main reason for the call was because of the cancellation and they wanted to see what they could do to bring us back to NCL.

 

I went on again about the new policy changes. She said that NCL was listening to everyone's concerns and that the policy was not set in stone and it is possible that NCL could roll it back. She said repeatedly that she would make sure that our concerns were sent to higher ups. She also said that she hopes that we would return to NCL if the policies are removed.

 

She was very sweet and very courteous. Oh yeah she also said to go to NCL's website and post my complaints. I have never posted on NCL's website so I'm not sure where on the site to post, I should have asked but I did not think about it until I had already hung up. It should be easy to find, hopefully lol.

 

NCL is hearing us, maybe this will change things, maybe not. One thing is for sure people need to keep letting NCL know they are not happy with the changes. I know Disney cruise line has rolled back changes before they even started because of massive complaints. Maybe NCL will do the same and realize they have made a mistake. Good luck people.

Seems they listen best when you cancel... How do we get them to weigh "Not Booking" against "Cancelling"....

Spoke to NCL this morning, and it pretty much went exactly as described in earlier posts on this thread. My favorite moment was when she tried to insinuate that other lines may follow these new policies, as has happened in the past. Nice attempt at deflection. Otherwise, they reassure you over and over again that these views are being conveyed to the company's leadership.

I politely informed her that I will be canceling my NCL cruise for next May if this policy is not rescinded or substantially curtailed in the very near future and will not consider NCL again as an option going forward. Only time will tell whether any changes will be made. Not a huge deal for me either way, I have 3 other vacation options ready to go for next May if I have to cancel my NCL cruise.

Thanks for that link. The "reasons" NCL is giving for the no-food-to-cabins rule are such utter b.s. they really make NCL look foolish. Maybe they don't care. It amazes me at times at how bad so many corporations can be at communications.

They also said in the link-

Picariello later added that the policy only applied to full plates of food. Passengers still can take small items like a box of cereal or a piece of fruit out of buffets to eat elsewhere, she said.

I hope this is their way of backpedaling...

I highly recommend people put their contact phone numbers in their emails. You should receive a phone call back if you do. I received an auto-response from public relations yesterday that just torqued me off, but today I received a very nice, lengthy and detailed phone call from a very nice lady from the executive offices and resolutions department. Supposedly social media and public relations departments are not allowed to address these issues (hence the auto responses) and they forward your emails to this department. It was a 45 minute conversation, so I will try to condense as much of it as possible here. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with anything written below. I'm just relaying what was spoken to me. What was said may differ from what you personally have experienced on a ship before, I'm just putting out the information I received. So...YMMV:

 

1. All email complaints (whether sent to public relations, social media or an executive officer) are sent to this department and are read by this department. No email is making it to an executive officer personally. These people read the emails, contact the passengers and the OVERALL feedback from the masses is then sent up the chain.

 

2. From her 19 years of service in this department, all major changes go through a transition period where mass complaints are sent in, but then people calm down and end up seeing the good of the changes. (my interpretation: they are not at all surprised by the complaints, but expect them to settle down soon).

 

3. Take away from specialty restaurants has never been an option, so she was confused as to why so many people are complaining about that portion of the policy. The main problem that caused this new policy to go into effect was the buffet. People over pile their plates so they won't have to make a second trip and the food overflows onto the marble floors causing slip and fall hazards or grinds into the carpets causing damage.

 

4. Proper disposable take away containers is not an option or a potential solution due to the way garbage is disposed of on a ship, it would be too much refuse to handle.

 

5. Those who have disabilities that require them to eat in their cabin will not be discriminated against. Those people can still have their traveling companions get their food for them. They must be allowed to do so under the disability and discrimination laws that are currently in place.

 

6. Royal Caribbean will soon be following suit and adding a convenience fee to all of their Room Service orders. Convenience fess are here to stay in the cruise industry.

 

7. If a child is melting down around you in a restaurant and the parents won't remove the child because they can't take the food with them, the maitre d' will gladly move you to a different table away from the child.

 

8. When I asked if any word has come down from the executives regarding this policy and if it would change, the answer she stated was that with over 6,000 employees they don't hear back until official changes are ready to be implemented. She could only speak to the current policy as it stands.

 

9. Everything is subject to change. Every new policy is a work in progress. Del Rio is new to them, too, and they are also getting used to his way of doing things and they, too, are in a growth period.

 

10. Nothing about this policy is set in stone permanently . Every complaint is being read and filtered through. They cannot personally form opinions regarding those complaints (though she did mention that some people are just being down right nasty in their emails, which is a shame). Their job is to make sure that the executives are getting the overall feedback of the passengers on this policy. If enough people are unhappy about it, who knows, something may change in the near future.

I tend to believe that NCL believes that RCL and others will follow suite based on the following article from March. The second paragraph below is quite compelling.

http://www.worldcruiseindustryreview.com/features/featurethe-big-interview-frank-del-rio-4536927/

“You can be sure that del Rio's peers in the industry will be keeping a close eye on developments. He seems genuinely touched that MSC Cruises' Pierfrancesco Vago and members of the Royal Caribbean leadership team were among the first to congratulate him on his new appointment, and believes there are areas in which industry leaders can work together for the collective good.”

"We're fierce competitors; put us all in a room together and we wouldn't even be able to agree on where to have lunch," he says, clearly relishing the competition. "But some challenges are definitely better met as allies, rather than competitors. We're currently working with two other lines on joint port development, and CLIA has done a great job consolidating different voices and advocating for the industry as one."

I would send an email, but I really don't want a phone call to have to listen to their "reasons" or to have to defend my position.

However:

NCL, if you're reading this, I am booked on an Alaska cruise in June 2016. (my 6th or 7th with NCL, out of 20 or so cruises, total). In the past, I have always enjoyed my NCL cruises. I have even gone as far as defending you when others have criticized you for "nickle and diming" your customers.

I am, however, entirely open to changing my 2016 cruise to another cruise line if I am not allowed to take food to my cabin. I can actually understand implementing some room service fees - charges for late night deliveries or pizza spring to mind. Also Carnival is implementing a charge for certain specialty items, such as wings. Those charges seem pretty reasonable and, therefore, acceptable.

Implementing a ban on "take-away" food, at the same time as adding a charge for , essentially, all RS (an excessive charge, at that, without notice), and then making all sorts of excuses trying to say the policy is not related in any way to that change is attempting to play us all for fools, which we are not. Experienced cruisers have been on many ships, including yours, on which we've been allowed to bring food back to our cabins for, well, pretty much forever, without causing the issues you're using as reasons. In the past, I've been invited by my waiter to take a dessert to my stateroom "for later", when I've expressed that I was too full to order it. I've never seen any significant spillage in hallways or elsewhere, and, since we're all adults here, whether or not we eat any food in a timely manner to avoid spoilage is on us. (To that point, how will you monitor if RS food is being eaten immediately?)

NCL, I am keeping my eye on you. If I feel as though I'm being taken for a fool, and that my enjoyment of my vacation will be lessened, I will take my business elsewhere, without hesitation.

I received my return phone call. Mostly my conversation was regarding the changes made that would impact the way we enjoy cruising. We discussed the fact that I am in cancellation and that these changes were made after my final payment was made. I said it would have been nice to set a start date in the future that would allow people to have a choice.

I want the option to take my dessert back from specialty dining. I want the option to fill a plate with fruit, crackers, and cheeses for a mid-day snack on my balcony as we enjoy some quiet privacy. We paid for the specialty dining package. I may want my pizza wrapped to take for a late night snack, I paid for it. And, I have done so on past cruises. I asked if I would be able to have anything from a specialty restaurant sent back to my cabin and she said, no. Not by me, not delivered. Not an option.

I told her that it was an insult to implement the RS charge simultaneously with not allowing food to be brought to your cabin. This is where the canned health concern response was inserted. I asked her is she was buying that excuse. She actually said, no! She said there has been mounting complaints of dirty dishes left in hallways and this is a way to curtail that.

She was kind but it was obvious she was repeating the same responses we keep reading about here. I didn't get the "other lines will be doing this too" spiel. She stated I would be able to take my 'snacks' from the buffet to our cabin. I asked if she would please put that in writing and email it to me. "oh, that won't be necessary." I guess that's a no.

I told her the jury was still out on booking future cruises with them. She questioned what other lines we considered and if we had sailed with them already. I told her that we have been an NCL repeat client since 1993 but that we also sail RCCL and Princess. I also said that right now so much is unknown and I anticipated the changes would take a while to iron themselves out and get them implemented. What they appear to be may not be what they actually are. She agreed and added that it was possible to reverse or change some of these decisions but it was too soon to say.

Lastly, we discussed that they needed to work on their communication skills and how that would have saved all this nonsense and speculation. I said with the numerous emails I receive from them it would have been easy to inform of changes if they wanted to and that they obviously did not want to. I asked if I could find updates and changes on their website. She said they were working on that. She thanked me for my concerns and assured me that all emails and calls were being taken seriously. She also asked that I call when we return to let her know how we enjoyed our cruise. That was nice.

Oh I wanted to add, she asked if I was on Cruise Critic! lol We are the squeaky wheel.

Let's hope the noise from the squeaky wheel will be too much to endure and that grease, meaning rescinding these ridiculous policies, will soon be applied.:)

Let's hope the noise from the squeaky wheel will be too much to endure and that grease, meaning rescinding these ridiculous policies, will soon be applied.:)

Hillary Clinton will be crowned Miss America before NCL rescinds their new policy. :p

Hillary Clinton will be crowned Miss America before NCL rescinds their new policy. :p

I don't know about that. I think the room service charge is here to stay but I can think of any number of reasons why they may abandon the food carrying policy,examples being impracticality of enforcement, passenger discontent / cancelled bookings, crew / officer complaints.

I received my return phone call. Mostly my conversation was regarding the changes made that would impact the way we enjoy cruising. We discussed the fact that I am in cancellation and that these changes were made after my final payment was made. I said it would have been nice to set a start date in the future that would allow people to have a choice.

 

I want the option to take my dessert back from specialty dining. I want the option to fill a plate with fruit, crackers, and cheeses for a mid-day snack on my balcony as we enjoy some quiet privacy. We paid for the specialty dining package. I may want my pizza wrapped to take for a late night snack, I paid for it. And, I have done so on past cruises. I asked if I would be able to have anything from a specialty restaurant sent back to my cabin and she said, no. Not by me, not delivered. Not an option.

 

I told her that it was an insult to implement the RS charge simultaneously with not allowing food to be brought to your cabin. This is where the canned health concern response was inserted. I asked her is she was buying that excuse. She actually said, no! She said there has been mounting complaints of dirty dishes left in hallways and this is a way to curtail that.

 

She was kind but it was obvious she was repeating the same responses we keep reading about here. I didn't get the "other lines will be doing this too" spiel. She stated I would be able to take my 'snacks' from the buffet to our cabin. I asked if she would please put that in writing and email it to me. "oh, that won't be necessary." I guess that's a no.

 

I told her the jury was still out on booking future cruises with them. She questioned what other lines we considered and if we had sailed with them already. I told her that we have been an NCL repeat client since 1993 but that we also sail RCCL and Princess. I also said that right now so much is unknown and I anticipated the changes would take a while to iron themselves out and get them implemented. What they appear to be may not be what they actually are. She agreed and added that it was possible to reverse or change some of these decisions but it was too soon to say.

 

Lastly, we discussed that they needed to work on their communication skills and how that would have saved all this nonsense and speculation. I said with the numerous emails I receive from them it would have been easy to inform of changes if they wanted to and that they obviously did not want to. I asked if I could find updates and changes on their website. She said they were working on that. She thanked me for my concerns and assured me that all emails and calls were being taken seriously. She also asked that I call when we return to let her know how we enjoyed our cruise. That was nice.

 

Oh I wanted to add, she asked if I was on Cruise Critic! lol We are the squeaky wheel.

I appreciate your relaying the conversation. I cannot see them changing anything especially since they appear to be aligning themselves with other industry leaders on some of the changes that we are seeing. I am an old Star Trek fan and it feels like" Resistance is Futile". We can only continue to moniter and modify accordingly. If the industry adopts all of the same policies, it won't matter which line that you cruise only whether the policies are an acceptable part of that vacation. We also enjoy all inclusive resorts as well as other land based destinations. Pluses and minuses to both options.

Just got my call! Mine was short , the rep kept trying to cut the call short asking me if those were all the concerns and questions I had after every sentence .

Based on what I've learned on here , I had a comment to return ready for every comment she made regarding the new policies and changes and even something for when she tried to talk about their competitors.

I was always polite , kept my voice calm and even constantly let her know that I knew it was not her fault and that I very much appreciated the call .

I think that she eventually got fed up with me though and finally said that as an avid cruiser I should know that they reserve the right to make changes at any given time. I told her that I would appreciate if she notated that one of the biggest concerns was the fact that they capitalized on being Freestyle but I felt like many people did not feel they had the freedom to cancel their booking as many of the changes took place after final payment or worse , when they were already on board without previous notification from NCL. I also mentioned that notifying us would not have been difficult as I DID receive a notification when the DSC went up , they could have done the same with everything else. This must have been the final straw for her as she told me that she needed to send my feedback to upper management .

I thanked her for the call and apologized if I made her feel bad ,that I knew her job was stressful and I hoped she didn't take anything personally as again I knew it was not her fault . She said she could not help but take it to heart because I was talking about her product which is very good and stands out against the competition because they offer incomparable services .

She mentioned once again that all feedback is being taken seriously and that she hopes we still have a great time on our upcoming cruise .

I want to add that I also thanked her for contacting me as I did not put my phone number in the email and she called someone who is sailing with us (different reservation # same sailing ) who then gave her my actual phone number .

I don't know about that. I think the room service charge is here to stay but I can think of any number of reasons why they may abandon the food carrying policy,examples being impracticality of enforcement, passenger discontent / cancelled bookings, crew / officer complaints.

I just can't see how they can enforce this policy. The $7.95 for room service stinks but the no food from any venue to your room is ridiculous.