lanceholt

We are about to take cruise #10 on NCL and have had a PCC starting with #2 I believe...there is some turnover and we have had some outstanding people (the one we have now for example) and have had some medium people but they have all been helpful.   Just my 2 cents.

We ALWAYS buy trip insurance via insuremytrip.com and it will make you whole in the future.....it leaves nothing to chance.  Not helpful right now but no matter what cruise line you take it is an important expense to not skip.

54 minutes ago, dexddd said:

The direction, IMO, is coming from Miami whether explicit or implicit.

You mean to say that company headquarters give the orders to serve bad food with minimal service?

21 hours ago, david_sobe said:

OMG, that looks like one bite of steak 😲

The reviews of Cagney's have been declining over the years.  With everyone having the meal package, its become a mad rush MDR.  I remember the days when paying a cover charge in a specialty restaurant was worth the service and atmosphere alone. Now shrimp is not even included and is an upcharge item.  I said it before that if 3 shrimp are an upcharge, it shows what lack luster ingredients they must use because shrimp are not that expensive.
Cagney's used to be the flagship restaurant on NCL ships.  All the good appetizers were removed or now an upcharge. I had the soup back in 2015 and while ok, it tasted like soup you would get from a can or at Denny's.  It was not what I expected from Cagney's.  Sadly, I don't think we are all getting that bang for the buck anymore with everyone having the UDP.

No excuse for a server not checking on you, even in the MDR.  You wonder where all your gratuities are going.  You could score better macaroni and cheese at the buffet at closing hour.  What a disgrace.  The restaurant manager on this ship should hang their head in shame for serving this.

The restaurant manager, and the Hotel Director have to hear about it first and complaining on Cruise Critic after the fact just doesn't do it.  If/when you have a complaint, then ask that the manager and Hotel Director contact you about it.  Send the message and see what they might have been willing to do.

On 4/1/2019 at 12:13 PM, thetaro said:

She said that so she can pocket all the gratitude. This is probably violating the company's policy and could get her fired.

 

I would just say that I am not comfortable with doing that.  End of conversation.  I don't think I would have left an extra tip after that either.  

On 3/28/2019 at 7:57 AM, kochleffel said:

Signing out of this thread. Too much anger about everything.

Thank you, my thoughts exactly.  

3 hours ago, Captain_Morgan said:

Just for the record, very few passenger ships have the capacity to have a helicopter land on deck, therefore the most common practice is a hover and hoist.

 

Furthermore, the ship itself is certainly the best 'lifeboat' given the fact its not a Concordia situation where the ship is sinking, and with all due respect i think the mention of future cruise credits as a concern is a bit callous but maybe that just me🙄

AGREED....Please stop such comments.

Seems to me that a docking time of 12 noon in Reykjavik would be more correct, what do you think?

Seems to me that the customer service supervisors (I spoke to one a few days ago) don't have the ability to get this straightened out, but obviously also don't have the ability to kick it up a notch to get it all straight so that they don't get a lot of people angry.  The email received was an email to let us know that arrival time in Dublin would be 1 hour late and explained why.  No mention of arriving in Reykjavik 10 hours late, so most people didn't even catch that  including me. 

We are sailing from Geiranger at 5pm on Sept 6 to arrive in Reykjavik on Sept 8.  While our documents still say we will arrive at 8am in Reykjavik, there is some info that we will arrive at 6pm and it has been impossible to get an answer from anyone in upper management who knows the answer.    Making plans is impossible at this time.  I am just wondering if it actually could take 19 hours to sail from Geiranger to Reykjavik.  6 pm would put us into port on a Sunday when nothing is open at that hour....ugh.

Cagney's can be very crowded on embarkation days and it wouldn't be fair to the other suite guests to do this.  The main dining room is great on that first day, never crowded, and great atmosphere for all of you if you want to lunch together.

In Dublin it is really a half day, we weren't bothered by that as we had been there twice already, but at least we knew about it going in.

Months ago we booked the Spriit on the Sept 1 Iceland Ireland and Norway cruise which included 2 days and 2 nights in Reykjavik as the highlight.  Come to recently find out our time in Reykjavik has us docking at 6pm on Sunday and then leaving at 6am Tuesday.  So it has 1 day and 2 nights.  They sent an email re a 1 hour delay in docking in Dublin but didn't have the Reykjavik change highlighted so most missed.  I only found out when I tried to book a private tour for early the first morning and was told the dock schedule said 6pm.  On the website 6am docking is still listed along with some excursions which would not fit anymore or would have you on a 4x4 at night. 

I just spoke at length to a woman in Passenger Services about the docking time on the 8th in Reyjkavik.  She spoke to three different supervisors, first told me it IS 8am and when I pressed her further re what the port says in Reyjkavik, she talked to MORE supervisors and ended up saying they are docking at 6pm.  The Oct 23 email from them intended to inform us of that fact.  I did say well then you needed to put some words re that change in it and also highlight the change, then change it on the website, and also change the excursions listed for that day as your are heading for some upset passengers.  No one knew why it had a 12 hour change which is huge.  I rarely and I mean RARELY complain about anything on a cruise; my husband worked for Marriott for most of his career so we well know how hard the hospitality business is, but this is an error which needs to be corrected all the way through and immediately.  Any cancellations or changes need to be made by passengers at the 120 day out point and we are at 185 right now.  I did say that they need to then quit selling excursions on the 8th which are 6 hours long or what end up being through the city or countryside in the dark.  Customers do tend to accept changes more when they #1 know about it in detail  #2 know why it has to be made and #3 there is follow-up all the way through so there is no confusion.  Nuff said.  This should NOT be sold as a 2 days in Reykjavik cruise.

We will still take this cruise but this is a big disappointment....we would feel much better if they can explain it better and send out a more specific email and have correct info on the website.  Otherwise they are selling something people won't get.  This is our 10th cruise on NCL and the first big screw up like this....we had to miss the Edinburgh port at the last minute on our last cruise due to high wind but that was understandable and explained that day.  We've had some small docking time changes emailed to us on previous cruises but not something as big a change as this.  

On 2/11/2019 at 9:33 AM, Travel Junkie Judy said:

 

Concerning the crew on the JADE:  

If Efrin is your concierge, this is great news.  He was our Butler a couple of years ago and he was amazing.  I would think that he would be an awesome Concierge.  Congratulations to him!

Efrin was our concierge on the Jade British Isles cruise last fall and was superb.....we all thought he was on his way to becoming a concierge.   We still talk about the great service and his sense of humor on that cruise.  Congratulations and more luck to Efrin, well deserved!!

I've already gone on our Roll Call, someone called NCL Corporate and they confirm it is the 8th at 8am but still no excursions start till after 6 on that day...

We will be on the NCL Spirit on Sept 8 when our schedule says we will port in Reykjevic at 8am, and will be there till Tuesday at 6am.  We noticed today that there are a couple of sites that say we will port at 6pm...BIG DIFFERENCE....will contact our CC and see if he knows or can find out.  Any other suggestions?  A tour planner in Reykjevic emailed today that she called the Port Manager and was told 6pm for the first day.  No notification from NCL.  

On 1/8/2019 at 8:06 PM, cloud_nine said:

I have to agree about Messina! I'm also not fussed on Vigo. I found it very lack-lustre after all the hype about the "amazing shopping", but I also found this to be the case with St Thomas. Everyone said that St Thomas was a shoppers paradise, but clearly only if you're in the market for diamonds and expensive jewellery - which I wasn't.

I agree re Vigo but we took an excursion from there to Santiago de Compostela which was one of the most amazing memorable places in all our cruising, so sometimes a place you don't want to see can be a jumping off place to somwhere enchanting!

We will take the ship shuttle....think it will be the best for us.

We are on the NCL Spirit docking in IJmuiden in early September....can take the Amsterdam On Your Own to get there but that is not very flexible re timing.  Are there any other shuttles running etc?  I understand it is 45 minutes from Amsterdam so taxi is most likely prohibitive.  We have been in Amsterdam a couple of times already so don't want an excursion.

My daughter and I were in an aft on the Sun a few years ago.  One day I was at the railing and noticed torn up pieces of paper floating down....looked at the next balcony and there was an elderly gentleman totally naked standing at the rail throwing the paper.  I told the steward about it and he teased us the rest of the cruise.  

We just got home from a wonderful 12 day British Isles cruise on the Jade. The ship was to stop in Edinburgh but that port was skipped due to the waves that day. We asked about getting our port fee refunded and were told that headquarters said no. There were 3 of us in our suite and the ship was full. I know it is not a huge amount of money but right is right if this is indeed wrong to do!! Otherwise this cruise was absolutely perfect!!

Unfortunately we had a bad experience with a ship's transfer a few years ago organized by a Cruise Critic member.....and at the last minute thank heaven an NCL bus had room for us. SO we feel your pain but glad the day worked out well for you!

We were in an aft mini on the Sun for a 15 day transatlantic, biggest mini we have ever been in....VERY comfortable.

We've been on the Jade twice, both in the Med and loved it so much we are booked on her for 12 day British Isles in Sept.

We were on the Dawn in a Family Suite a few years ago and it was wonderful...highly recommend!