suecruises

I'm on Harmony of the Seas. Doing a live review if you'd like to join me. We're having a ball!!! While planning, I could not figure out the "retail" price of the drink package. And it kept changing in my planner. Did I get a good deal??? Who knew!!! Well the answer is YES!!! I paid $45 for deluxe drink package and if appears to retail for $60 per day. I paid $18 for the refreshment package and it sells onboard for $26. Here's the pic.

 

 

 

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Did both parties have to order the drink package? My husband doesn't drink so that's why I'm asking - thanks!

We're sailing our 3rd time on Oasis on 4/8 - heard there was a Beatlemania show - does anyone know if it will still be going on for our trip? Thanks

Lobster night is the second formal night - for our Itinerary it was San Juan (Thursday) since we were back on the boat at 2 pm.

Great review so far - sailing on Oasis on 4/8 - do you know if Beatle Mania will still be playing? My husband LOVES the Beatles - thanks.

I absolute LOVE your review and pictures but had a quick question for you - I am not purchasing the beverage package since my hubby does not drink - AND we got such a great price on a balcony guaranty (without freebies) so I was wondering if they had any "happy hour" deals throughout the day (beer only) like other ships we've been on. We had a not so stellar experience on the Getaway and are looking forward to giving NCL another shot on 10/15. Thank you and you are a great son!

That's what my husband said and we will be celebrating our 44 year wedding anniversary so we're going on the Royal for 10 days. Thanks for your input!

I should add that the 10-day is a balcony gty and the 7-day is a DE balcony (chosen)

As for the ships, love them both...basically same difference. For me it would be the 10 day for sure! Enjoy.

Thank you! Of course parking and gratuities would be a little more but our only other Princess was the 10 day Panama Canal on the Island Princess

I know this is probably a dumb question - sorry ahead of time - choice of 10 day Caribbean on Royal Princess or 7 days on Regal Princess - basically same price (give or take $100) - same time frame - which would you choose?

And with that, we now all understand the problem. "the Maitre d' - Anna Marie" has a very specific job to do. Do you have any idea of what it is?

 

I've only cruised 4x's on NCL (have 3 more booked) but b/c I've read this forum and asked some questions and while I'd never consider myself an experienced cruiser, I do know the difference between speaking to a Maitre'd and a CD. Unfortunate that you didn't take the time to research your ports and the cruise line.

 

Sorry that you basically wasted your money when your experience could have been so much better.

 

I hope your next cruise will be better and much more enjoyable with whomever you choose to cruise.

Gee I never knew that -wow, a CD - you would have been so helpful on my cruise - thanks so much for the education - such hateful, oops, helpful people on these forums

As I've repeatedly said "Anna Marie" and all of the other staff on the ship are abused 3rd world citizens, perhaps if you would show a little respect then we wouldn't be having this thread.

 

 

Thankfully you're leaving NCL so all NCL cruisers can cruise safe in the knowledge that you won't be there.[/quote

 

What a nice person you are - 3rd world citizen - you are a joke - she was as American as apple pie - you don't know the meaning of respect - thank God I won't have to read any more from you

Just curious to you let officers know of all these situations while on board so they could fix them or did you wait until you got home to complain on cruise critic???

We complained to the Maitre d' - Anna Marie, repeatedly. So to answer your "question" - we did not wait until we got home to complain on cruise critic????????????? - and now realize what a waste of time it was to post anything on these boards as all it does is open you up to attack. Some forum.

You describe this as your worst cruise ever, but the jist is:

 

cold food

1 hour to eat in Savor

10 minute wait to order in a restaurant

lack of towel animals

lack of bar service

didn't get a steak knife in O'Sheehan's

didn't research Tortola so inexplicably wasted that port looking for bandaids that are readily available on the ship

crowded pool deck

Pool towels can be exchanged on the pool deck (just like RCCL) or on the dock prior to boarding the ship.

Someone was apparently sick outside of a restaurant and you saw the crew cleaning it up. (Would you prefer they left the mess?)

 

 

I was on Getaway the week before you. I never experienced any cold food unless it was meant to be cold and my baked potato was perfect the two times I had one. Everything was cooked to order and perfectly - especially in Cagney's and Le Bistro. The wait in restaurants is about normal for a land based restaurant. We don't expect fast food in the dining rooms. Every bar we went to the waiters rushed to take our order. Sometimes they were so quick, we had to ask them to give us a few minutes so that we could peruse the drink menu. They were also quick to bring the drinks back to us. In fact, overall the customer service was very good.

 

I'm sorry you didn't research Tortola. If you had, you would have known that the best place to go is The Baths on Virgin Gorda. We went there and it was the BEST shore excursion we've ever done in the Caribbean. EVER! A little research beforehand can go a long way towards having a much more enjoyable trip. You REALLY missed out on what might have been one of the memorable days of your lives.

 

It occurs to me that this is 19 or 20 cruises for you. Perhaps the REAL problem is that you are burnt out on cruising. It does happen.

You are so right - the cruise on Getaway convinced me that I am burnt out on cruising. Thank you

When someone complains about receiving poor level of service - I would never argue with that, you can't know unless you were there. But complaining that the deck got hot (in the Caribbean!), the port call to the Bahamas was too short (it was on the itinerary that you read prior to booking!) and that someone on shore in Tortola gave you crappy directions - that basically removes the credibility from your other complaints and moves the post to the category of "whining".

I'm sorry I was such a whiner - as I said before - I thought these forums were for opinions and discussions - not attacks like yours -

and I suggest, which I always do, people read all reviews, not just ones like yours. Have you read the Cc reviews on the Getaway? I see so many flaws in your review, not to mention I see,like the OP your favorite line happens to be the same as hers.and you happen to live in the same general location. That seems very interesting to say the least.If you have cruised before and obviously you have, you know all lines have a problem with the pool chair issue. Heck,I have rarely been to a hotel in a resort area where this isn't a concern. I certainly can not comment on your experience with the food, I wasn't on your cruise,but I can say, I was on the Pearl last month and the meat was actually cooked very well. I asked for rare and that is just what I got. Was it top quality? No, but I don't think most of us expect top qualty meat on any ship in the main dining room. I have cruised almost so many times I have lost count and with the exception of the specialty dining rooms I have yet to get great meat. Even going back 30 years ago. You were a cook while in college,I have a degree in foods and am considered a blue ribbon or gourmet cook. I still dont' expect top of the line on a cruise ship. Not to mention food is very subjective.

 

I understand your disappointment on not getting your OBC you expected, but knowing a lot about cruising and advertising my guess is: the ad you say said something like: up to $200 OBC. I am still wondering why you didn't question the invoice when you recieved one and yes, NCL always sends invoices to either the cruiser or the TA, so I am sure you did get one.

 

I do sympathize with you on the shower problems, I too would not be very happy if I had to call several times just to get someone to respond. Other than that, I don't think your complaints are terribly legit. Are you sure you are not the OPs friend? LOl

Ha ha - "Are you sure you are not the OPs friend? LOL - you are so funny - what a self righteous person you are -

Not to mention, she says Princess is her favorite cruise line but her bio says differently. HELLO!!!

My most recent cruise on the Island Princess WAS my favorite cruise - however - my favorite cruise line still is Royal Caribbean. HELLO

So did ya liked the big balcony ??

As I said before, the balcony and the cabin were great.

Sue, I feel your pain. I had one very negative experience on an NCL ship also (Epic). When more and more things go badly with no one caring to correct them, it is hard to maintain a positive attitude. God forbid you ever write about it on Cruise Critic!

 

We were just on the Star a couple of months ago. We did have a great time, but it is true that the bar service was miserable. The UBP has them all so swamped, that you have to go to them (and wait in a iine), they rarely came to you. We did not have the UDP, but we heard many people complaining that it was very difficult to get a reservation because there were so many with the package.

 

I like NCL well enough and it won't stop me from cruising with them. (Although this whole 'paying-for-room-service' thing really bugs me.) I think if I had had your same experience, I would have been upset too.

Thank you.

My mistake - Island Princess

I was very sympathetic, even with my reply. At this point though I find it interesting that you won't reply to any of the friendly responses. It's as if you are only here to argue with those that are being confrontational. It kind of makes me sorry I bothered. Not that I cared about getting a reply, but you are making a point of swinging the other way. It's just kind of weird.

I've tried to reply to all reasonable responses - sorry if I didn't address your comments.

I never understood these "everything was horrible" reviews. Nothing at all was good? We've never had an issue, thankfully. The crew are what has kept us coming back to NCL. They have gone above and beyond on so many of our cruises. The food issue is unacceptable though. That's a shame, and there's no reason at all for that.

I didn't say everything was horrible - the ship itself is beautiful, our aft-balcony cabin had the largest balcony I have ever seen and it was wonderful. Thank you.

I can certainly back up sue's experience.

 

I was also on this cruise the following week (5/16-5/23) and just returned Saturday. I do not have the same amount of cruises under my belt as many of you, but I have been on 5 separate cruises on various lines.

 

I had heard many positives about NCL and noticed on their webpage a promo for $200 on-board credit. When purchasing this promo in late 2014, there was no mention of a stateroom classification requirement. Simply, either $200 on-board credit OR the ultimate dining promo. Our week started with us inquiring as to why we did not have the credit and the staff was extremely rude. My wife and I found this very odd given the fact we didn't expect the credit immediately, just wanted it to post before the end of the cruise. We were told we would be contacted once they received notification on why the credit had not applied. Fast forward three days and still no contact. We requested to speak with anyone who has a supervisory role in guest services. We were flat out told "No, you cannot speak to a supervisor"... What?

 

Not until later in the day did I actually have to track down an officer who would get me in touch with the supervisor of guest services. That supervisor confirmed neither of those promos are eligible for oceanview rooms. Only balcony and suites. The supervisor confirmed they were getting dozens of complaints PER cruise about this issue. While 200 dollars may not be much to some, the fact NCL promotes and distorts this promotion on their own website is very troubling. This is a complaint I have also seen on here now as I go through archived threads.

 

As sue mentioned, Steaks and prime rib were often either overcooked or undercooked. My medium rare prime was always well done (not medium well). While some of you have stated you think Sue is nitpicking, she isn't. I am very understanding with food services as I worked my way through HS and college as a cook. I also hate returning food to those who handle my food.. but I was a bit surprised a cruise line that spends so much promoting their culinary options that the food could be so inconsistent. With that said, I wouldn't classify these dishes as "cold", just poorly prepared or the inability to distinguish how to prepare a particular dish.

 

As far as the room goes, my wife had to call 4 times to notify guest services the toilet wasn't flushing and the shower would fill with water up to and past our ankles. I am assuming the prior guest had children (because the fridge was locked) and their children stuffed the plumbing with some type of foreign objects. Nevertheless, not a fault of NCL. However, calling them 4 times absolutely was.... On the 4th time, we asked the maintenance supervisor why we had to keep calling to get this issue resolved and we were told the service tech kept clearing the job as "complete" when the first three times, no one even showed up. He was actually putting in their system he responded and cleared the system each time while never showing up once.

 

I don't consider myself a nitpicker. Human error occurs. Accidents happen. However, I was rather taken back by the unwillingness to offer assistance by the front line personnel of guest services when that is their ONLY job in that capacity.

 

Last, for anyone planning on sailing on the getaway, I suggest you evaluate what you intend to do on this ship. If you want to be on the sports court, slides, or ropes course all week.. great. Otherwise, you will be sharing two very small pools and about 2000 chairs (only 200 in the shade) with 3,500 other guests. If you were to wake up after 0900am on a day at sea, you won't have a chair. However, that again isn't an isolated issue for NCL, but a common theme that seems to be occurring for the mega ships. A fraction of the shade (for those of you who need it) on the lower deck is dedicated to smokers. The odor of cig smoke has never bothered me, but the complaints you have read here regarding deck 6-8 being influenced by it, are very true.

Thank you.

Not saying that what happened to the OP did not happen - "BUT" it is almost

like a dark cloud hung over this cruiser with the expectation that the worst

would happen no matter what.

Indeed wonder if the Breakaway was having a shakedown cruise of sorts trying

to iron out all the bugs that bug people but then this sort of invisible cruiser

came along and the forest could not be seen for the trees slipping through the

cracks ?!?

Perhaps after the first few expectations failing to meet the OPs expectations a

visit to the Hotel Director (#2 in the ships crew) would have been in order !

When all is NOT going RIGHT I would not turn the other cheek getting slapped

in the face wave after wave of this incredulous substandard service - but then

to having exceptional par excellence service on another cruise line may have

upped the expectation that all cruise lines fit the mold.

One could expect the universe on Cunard; Regent; Crystal and other notables

but certainly you are not going to get that fare on the likes of NCL and Carnival.

If you did expect that maybe perhaps one is cruising on the wrong boat.

BUT indeed bad service from the get-go is not an excuse !

 

Regarding making the onion complaint to the CEO of NCL - call the Customer

Relations 800 number (someone here at CC should have it) or call the

reservation 800 number and request it or be transferred to that line.

Make the complaint as plain and factual with details of how and what you

did to get the complaint addressed. To be fair if you did not contact anyone

about it offer an explanation as to why. Being spiteful and making threats

is not the atmosphere you want here. Demanding money back or other

compensation is not productive if you are not going to cruise with NCL another

time.

A company worth its salt will listen to your complaint and take note to follow

through with a letter of apology and if the complainant is interested in cruising

NCL in the future perhaps an incentive to do so.

 

On a closing note two other methods of redress are to be mentioned:

 

1) the Better Business Bureau if they handle such issues ?

 

2) an Ombudsman service such as Chris Elliott - LINK:

http://www.chris@elliott.org

First of all, we were on the Getaway - not the Breakaway - second of all - there was no dark cloud hanging over the OP - we just expected superior service and received substandard service - if you don't mind bad service - good for you and have fun on your next Norwegian cruise. As for this "dark cloud cruiser" - we will stick with Royal Caribbean or Princess - just trying to save someone a headache and not have their cruise ruined as our's was - thanks for your comments.

As a fellow Ocalan I am sorry you were not happy with your cruise. We are headed out on the sixth and I hope it is much better than your experience was. I will try to keep my expectations low and hope that execution is high.

I hope your experience is better - good luck if you are going on the Getaway

You certainly are not going to take reviews like this too seriously I hope. To get a cross section check the overall review section of Cruise Critic.

Read the reviews - think twice about Norwegian

We got off the Getaway May 9th. It was our second time on the Getaway. We had great service and had a very enjoyable cruise. I think we have been on around 60 cruises with most on Royal but in our case right now NCL is our favorite cruise line. If NCL isn't for you so be it that's why cruising is great there are many choices. Have fun with whoever you choose.

Thanks for not attacking - just stating facts - and in fact, I left a LOT of other problems out of my original post - Norwegian is not for me - just feel that if they had proper training for their staff that it would have gone a lot better -