njkate

1 hour ago, PATRLR said:

I don't think there is any doubt about the things your wrote above.  I have no doubt they have the legal right to do what they are doing.  The fact that they are choosing to do these things and there now seems to be a pattern with no bounds, to me it sends the message that I should be concerned about future bookings, particularly when the itinerary is the primary motivation for selection.

I’m with you! A cheap Caribbean cruise from Orlando or Tampa that is a 5 hour drive yes!! Europe nope I cancelled a cruise next year and opted for a land vacation, I’m also looking at Princess and Celebrity. 
I totally get port cancellations for weather, mechanical etc but lately NCL is pushing the card with vague nonsense reasons

15 minutes ago, complawyer said:

menocchio

 

while your suggestion might be an alternative, OBC would definitely not cover the costs or rearranging flight plans or hotel reservations. remember airline tickets are usually non-refundable, and if you get a credit from the airline ,when will you use it. if they offer you a full refund, then  you're kind of stuck in tokyo. Not a bad place to be stuck in, but certainly what someone hasnt planned to do. by the way, tokyo is one of the most expensive cities in the world. also, flying from tokyo to get to your original flight from manilla, incurs the additional expense that wasnt factored into the total cost of the cruise. i believe it is totally  outrageous for a company to act this way. this, ncl should be on the hook for the cost difference. anyway you slice this, in is completely bad move on the part of ncl

what could their powers that be possibly be thinking. this is a total inconvenience to all the passengers 

 

also, if my original post was misinterpreted, i apologize to all.

 

we are not on this cruise, but after 14 years sailing exclusively with NCL, diamond status, and 30 cruise with them, i believe that they have crossed the line and am truly outraged for what they are doing to the people that are booked. IMHO, they  have absolutely NO EXCUSE for this, and this tactic has me totally p****d off. and p***ing me off is very rare

we are booked onthe 21 day cruise from barcelona to  capetown  nov 5th thru the 26th

had not all our flights, hotel reservations and the cruise being paid  in full, i probably would have cancelled this cruise, leaving me with little or no incentive to use NCL again, 

in the past, i have tried to stick  up for ncl for their apparent shortcomings, but after  this fiasco NEVER AGAIN!

You would be amazed on another forum how many apologists just Pooh Pooh this change! It’s astounding! I believe some of the current tensions between China and Philippines might be coming into play, I truly believe this decision was made before the final payment date and NCL attitude is so sad too bad! If it wasn’t before final the option to cancel with full refund should be on the table 

I truly hope this bites them square in the ass

3 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

The "change" needed here is for NCL to stop treating something like this as negligible and acceptable, and to give passengers an option to cancel for a full refund.  

I don’t know how anyone can think this is ok! That change wasn’t made Willy nilly on the fly, they knew and withheld until after final! Hope the passengers on board that now have to debark hundreds of miles away are very loud and vocal 

25 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Hmmmm. Great line. But what would you expect to change?  Go to Manila??? That is already off the table. 

 

Just stop! This is the straw that breaks the camels back, totally unacceptable unless they pull their heads out of their collective butts and offer passengers to cancel with full refund of to switch to a similar sailing at price originally paid!

I hope this comes back to bite them in the arse big time

39 minutes ago, luv2kroooz said:

.....nice distraction....if someone had wanted better port times in Cadiz, Barcelona, and Cannes, then I can only assume they wouldn't have booked the originally advertised itinerary.

Are you the least bit surprised by that post?

Best wishes for you and your wife

6 hours ago, AlexandNessa said:

Thank you for your review. We are just off the Joy and had it not been for the Haven restaurant and making friends in the Haven, we'd have had very little fun at all.

 

We're not vegetarian, but, like you,  struggled with Cagney's as well. We went one night, and i wish I'd taken a pic. No way were my lamb chops 12 oz like the menu says. It was more like 4.... these 2 teeny medallions .... thankfully i wasn't hungry.  We decided on a do-over another night where i ordered something else and regretted it because i saw someone else order the lamb chops and they looked all their advertised 12 oz. Probably because they were going to a very healthy looking gentleman and not petite me.  We don't really eat until dinner so dinner is a big deal. On the 2nd try, i decided on the fisherman's Platter where the shrimp was too salty. I gave hubs my crab cake as i don't like breaded seafood and he said it was gross. All our sides were served stone cold. Had anyone come by to check on us, I'd have told them, but alas no one did.  After we were done, finally someone came to check on us and i explained the situation. No apology. A simple, "thank you. I'll let the chef know." We're not Ambassadors like you, but we're well into Sapphire territory. We should not have wasted a dining credit. I was disappointed in the response. 

 

I could go on (and on). The cruise was far from perfect, but we made our own fun. We had to. The entertainment was terrible at night. And if it wasn't terrible, it was at a bad time or in too small a venue, so you had to go super early to get a seat. Cruise Next desk was another story. Worst we'd ever dealt with. 

 

In the post cruise survey, i told NCL that it seemed like they were relying heavily on new cruisers who didn't know any better, and i wished them well with that. Those of us who've been around (us 10+ years with NCL) know what it can be. I told NCL i know they can do better. We do have more NCL cruises booked, but the next one is a full year away. We'll be watching reviews and canceling if things don't improve (i told them this; they won't care). Our next cruise isn't with NCL at all, and we let them know that too. NCL isn't cheap booking the Haven outright. I also said for what they were providing at that price point, the opportunity cost was too high for us. They really need a wake up call. Sadly, i don't think people like you or me sounding the alarm will do it. 

I think you hit the nail on the head!! NCL target audience is new cruisers that have nothing to compare it too!!

Like Yvonne I had a favorite ship, the Jade and I sailed on her this past June and August. The decline in food, entertainment and service was noticeable!

Even marketing materials I use to get them several times a month and have not received one piece in the last 8-9 months, not that I miss junk mail it’s just noticeable.

Between the current pricing, decline in food, service, entertainment and for Europe the cancellations of ports willy nilly I’ve opted for a land vaca in France next year!

My 10 year old grandson loves cruising and wants to go to Ireland and Scotland next summer but the pricing on Dawn the only ship that does that itinerary are insane!

Im looking at Princess but concerned there isn’t many kid friendly options, I’ll have to ask Yvonne if she noticed when she was on Princess Regal

I’ve never found your live reviews whiny! I find them informative both good and bad, balanced and entertaining 

I have just finished reading this trip report! Sad to see such a decline in service and food but happy you and Dad still had a good time!

Thank you for taking us all along with you, your photos were top notch! 
You are a most caring fabulous daughter!!!

Oh wow!! Just reading through this thread now! So sorry your cruise is a bust!! Totally different review from your Live from land of Princess review!

I was on a short Jade cruise this month and service and food have declined big time! This is actually the first time I’ve cruised and didn’t buy any cruise next certificates because between their current pricing, decline in service and cancellation of ports Willy nilly im not at all eager to book another cruise with them.

I’m leaning towards trying Princess

3 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

If you think this is awful, come on over to my live thread on the Jewel and we can commiserate on the awful decline in service on NCL.

 

I just disembarked today. We were in a suite and didn’t have working toilets for 5 days. There was a used contact lens on the floor, hair in the bed, hair in the shower, a sports bra and a foam airplane wedged behind a drawer and no conditioner in the bathroom. We just experienced the worst cruise ever on the Jewel with truly horrible food and service. Don’t even get me started on the entertainment.

 

Last year on Jewel we had a non functioning toilet for 5 days out of 7!! It was beyond annoying 

1 minute ago, Panhandle Couple said:

And yet, I have seen the RCL CEO say similar things for several quarters in a row in 2023 on stock shows.  His basic summary was "we will keep increasing prices until the customer stops buying the product". 

I don’t follow RCL so wasn’t aware but that about sums it up. They will keep raising prices and cutting service until the consumer pushes back! I just found his attitude in that video brimming with arrogance

17 hours ago, JIMESOPUS said:

Harry Sommer on pricing - 

 

The arrogance astounds me! 

Ship: Jade

Date: June 15-22 2024

Changes: Switched Key West for Cozumel. Switched Oco Rios for Falmouth 

Reason: The current blurb they now send for guest enhancement based on guest feedback 

Notification: After final payment 

Had no choice at this point except to just suck it up, had no desire for Cozumel or I would have booked a cruise with Cozumel! There isn’t much in Falmouth and it’s a long bus ride to Ocho Rios so just stayed on board!

For this cruise the changes weren’t that big of a deal but had it been Europe and they played the Shell game it would have been. We all get changed or cancellations for weather, mechanical etc but lately this guest enhancement is pure BS imo

Thank you for a wonderful review! I enjoyed it 

1 hour ago, babs135 said:

Cruise ship death plunge in front of family: Shocking moment cruise ship passenger falls into the ocean as horrified couple and child look on | Daily Mail Online

 

When will people realised that it's just about impossible to fall overboard ?  Nevertheless it's very sad.

The article said he lost his footing and fell into sea which is impossible unless he was on railing climbing to something! Yes of course you can loose your footing on deck and fall but not into the sea unless you are doing something you shouldn’t be doing 

9 minutes ago, MyriamS said:

@njkate I think Paris and Brittany are wonderful choices, far better than the overrated Med (imho). Thank you for choosing my country for your vacation, I hope you have a wonderful time. 

 

About cruises being crazy expensive you have to compare everything nowadays: 

- my partner wanted to see Scotland and Ireland. He dislikes driving. In Ireland there are not many trains. In the UK, there are, but the prices can be very high. Accomodation is also expensive. Therefore we opted for a 12 night Princess cruise, and I think we made a good deal. Prices is now 1000€ pp higher than when we booked. 

- we wanted to return to Japan. We checked cruises with Princess, Celebrity and NCL, but Japan has many cheap hotels, excellent and affordable food and a superb train network. A land-based trip won very handily for that one.

 

 

Enjoy Japan!! I’m excited for France, Normandy has been high on my list for years, to also incorporate Paris, Brittany and Loire Valley is a bonus!!

My grandson who will be 11 next summer wants to go to Europe! He is a little mutt with ancestry of Italian, Spanish, Irish, Scottish, French and Swiss, so I’ll let him choose a country, look at cruises, leaning towards Princess, and look at land based and work on booking something! Only leaning towards Princess because if he wants Ireland and Scotland I’m confined to Dawn and I’m not impressed with that ship!

Any suggestions for Brittany?? Normandy and Paris I have covered

9 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

We're doing a long land trip to Ireland this spring too.  Hotel prices and airfare are better than last year and cruise prices in Europe for the coming season are too high.  Agree completely with Joanne G and njkate.  We are walking away from cruises that are no longer good value for money.  We will still take cruises that are fairly priced like Alaska, some transatlantics and last minute bargains from NYC, but doubt we will be booking anything else for a while.  We've also dropped Disney - too crowded, too expensive for what you get now and way too complicated - which is wild for me to say being a major planning type.  Our adult kids now come back from WDW saying it is just not the same as the vacations they remember growing up.  Plenty of lovely places to go that are not a rip-off.

Oh enjoy!!! I did a land vacation in Ireland and Wales many years ago!

Yes when I weighed the cost of cruise versus land vacation the land vacation won! I chose France!

 I’ve had enough of Caribbean, even though I’ve sailed Alaska twice I’d do it again if the price was right! I’d love be to do Panama Canal but again price needs to be right

Enjoy Ireland! Bonus you will not chance a port being cancelled because sea is too rough to tender

1 hour ago, WarfRatWA said:

This is a forum, where people post their opinions about the cruising industry.  Some people are regular folk and have something to say and some people are paid to defend corporations.  Either way, anyone can post what they want and they don't have to defend their motivations.  

Thank you!!!

23 minutes ago, Capitan Obvious said:

 

No need to apologize (does that make you and apologist?). You may have people who you think "defend them to the death", but just because they don't join in with your opinion doesn't mean they ALWAYS feel that way...thus, the adhominem attack is unwarranted. In the same vein, would it be acceptable to simply dismiss your opinion and experience by labeling you an "NCL attacker" or an "NCL hater"?

 

My two cents, but it takes some level of caring to comment...so I can't buy into the "I really don't care", if that were the case, you wouldn't comment at all.

I wish there was an eye roll emoji

You have the option to just scroll on by

24 minutes ago, Joanne G. said:

My recent cruises and searches have been for itineraries in Europe.  Occasionally a friend will join me, but usually I am searching for solo rates. While it's not totally appropriate when looking at different itineraries, I do, like the OP, compare per-day prices before committing. 

 

I sailed on NCL in years past and always had good experiences.   But I have been startled by their recent prices for European itineraries.   In Dec of 2022 (best prices far in advance??), I booked a July 2025 cruise on the Dawn (one of their oldest ships) that circles Ireland, and the price was so high that for the first time in years, I booked an ocean view rather than a balcony.  Earlier this year, I took advantage of NCL offering solo rates on the ships that don't have specific solo cabins, and thus went down a deck for a porthole rather than a window in order to save about $600.   Yet that cabin, on a per-day basis, is about the same as I am paying for a solo balcony on the Celebrity Equinox in the Mediterranean next month.   Yes, I know Ireland isn't the same as Spain, France, and Italy.  But the cost comparison is startling to me, and given that I have retired since booking the Ireland cruise (more time but a revised budget 😏), I am likely to cancel it.  

 

I used to believe that a cruise was a good value in Europe compared to hotels and meals on land.  I am reconsidering that concept now, due to high fares on all the major lines and high cost of excursions.  (Yes, I know there are alternatives to ship-sponsored excursions, but those remain my choice.)   Assuming I cancel the Dawn cruise, I will seriously research a land-based visit to Ireland.  On land, when my hotel isn't floating away at the end of the day, I am open to public transportation and other low cost tour options. And I know how to eat economically when traveling; three sit-down restaurant meals a day aren't necessary to me.

 

Back to the point of NCL's costs compared to the other lines, I figure NCL's "Free at Sea" promotion is a factor.   Nothing is free LOL!  I don't drink enough to make any cruise lines' drink package worth it.  I am not interested in specialty dining, as I am usually solo and prefer more casual dining.  I am not interested in any flight benefits as I want to make my own flight arrangements.   I can pass on those perks, but doing so doesn't lower the cruise fare.  From reading these posts, those benefits are important to many, and they must be popular, as NCL continues to offer them.   But it just doesn't work as well for me.  

 

I sailed on the Getaway in May in northern Europe, and I made good use of the $50 excursion benefit and my Silver Latitudes discount.  So that was good.   A friend joined me on that cruise, so I had someone to share the cost of the cabin.  But I originally booked as a solo and likely would have canceled due to the high per-day cost had she not decided to join me.

 

I will always look at NCL when researching cruises, and I like their refundable deposits, but it's looking less and less likely that they will be my ultimate choice when I am ready to book, due to their prices.   

 

 

All of this and throw in that no port is guaranteed, that’s why I’m not ready to plunk down thousands on a cruise and air fare to find myself just floating around the sea for a few days, it wouldn’t bother me so much in the Caribbean but Europe is a whole different ball game!!

Not sure what I’ll do next summer or fall but Spring is booked for 14 days in France hitting Paris, Normandy, Brittany, Loire Valley and back to Paris for 2 nights

31 minutes ago, Capitan Obvious said:

 

NCL apologists? Not sure why there is a need for the ad hominem attack here. Can't we simply discuss the facts of the situation? The use of demeaning labels doesn't, IMHO, support your position.

 

 

Just my two cents, but when I see one person refer to another in this way (apologist, cheerleader, etc.) it comes across as a sign that the person using the label is doing so because they have a weak argument that they can't support. When I see the labels, I'm more inclined to accept the position of the person being labeled.

Sorry but unfortunately any time someone posts the slightest negativity about NCl that is what happens! You have people that defend them to the death and truth I really don’t care how much weight you give or don’t give to my post! It is what it is

44 minutes ago, luv2kroooz said:

Agree. Disney going through it now as people push back on their ridiculous price increases and cutbacks. It is a cycle. Its coming for the cruise industry, too, but the cruise industry is smartly enjoying it while they can. Not always about affordability, it is about return on investment.

Yep!! The NCL apologists will come back with everything is high blah blah blah

if you read the news consumers are pushing back from fast food to vacations enough is enough! 

IMO it has gotten to the point where eventually

capacity will level off. Looking at 2025 pricing it’s gotten to the point it will be out of reach for the average family.

Take a family of 4, the pricing is high add to that $80 per day for DSC ($20x4)!

Ive looked at Northern Europe, specifically the British Isle’s in 2025, basically the only ship doing that cruise is the Dawn an older blah ship and pricing is outrageous. Add to that some of those ports get cancelled as you can’t tender and it’s a hard no for me! 

As one poster said you may be able to afford it but are you willing to shell out that kind of money? 
 

I forget the exact amount but that cruise was around $18k for a balcony when I priced it. I’m now paying for a balcony or ocean view what I used to pay for Haven, it’s nuts.

I will have to look at next falls west bound trans Atlantics, in the past those cruises have been cheaper

1 hour ago, Barb Nahoumi said:

I'm so sorry to hear about your Mom.

 

The best thing to do would be to speak with NCL.  

I’m sorry you are going through this but as Barb said only NCL can answer your question