Toby459

Has anyone who is Platinum been on a longer cruise (14-28 days) recently and received multiple bags of laundry free? If so, which ship and how long ago?

Has anyone been charged for a second bag of laundry? Was there any discount for your Platinum status?

I totally agree. I just contacted NCL. I use the email address posted through Facebook and in the past I have gotten a response in about 4 hours sometimes a day. If Jorge is implementing it on his own or is a jewel test then i hope to find out.:D

Please post any response that you receive. I think that there are a few of us interested in what NCL says about the "Washy Washy".

From reading this thread - it still appears Jorge is making up his own rules and coupons. Who do you think prints out the Latitude "Coupons" on the ship but the Latitude Rep. Every other ship that has been mentioned is going by the website - one bag per Platinum member. Only the Jewel appears to be limiting it to one per stateroom. :mad:

I'm about to embark on a 29 day cruise on the Jewel and from all those posting, I can only conclude "Me thinks something stinks on the Jewel".

Last year i used one of my Platinum certificates to eat at the Ginza on the Star. We wanted to take a break from le bistro, sometimes their food gets repetitive :-(...We thought the food in the Ginza was outstanding. We are going on the Jewel this April 18 and we are looking forward to trying the Asian restaurant there, we just hope if they are really free that they wont downgrade the food.

I too ate at the Ginza on the Star and agree with your evaluation. When I was there, there were others in the restaurant and it was perhaps 40% full by 8 PM.

I have had varied experience with laundry over the years. When I first made Platinum, there was free laundry whenever the Laundry Special was offered. It then went to being free whenever you wrote PLATINUM on the laundry slip. This was a 14 day cruise and so I as well as my wife got one bag of laundry. On a recent 28-day cruise, it was the same ... one free bag per platinum member if you turned it in on the Special Laundry Day. During the third week of the cruise, I went to the Registration Desk and asked about Laundry Policies. I was told that how many "free laundries for Platinum Members" was solely up to the Laundry Master. The registration agent called the laundry and they said they would process another bag of laundry for each of us for free. When I got my itemized statement at the end of the cruise, there was an additional charge for the laundry. The Registration Desk said that only the Laundry Master could remove the charge and that he was not in that morning and would not be in until after 1 PM (after we had to be off the ship). I said I would wait and miraculously, the Laundry Master did show up (via phone) and the Laundry Master removed the charge.

We need to remember that the goal here is not to reward those long term NCL customers but to devise ways of getting an extra $5.00/day per guest. Couple this with the new RS "convenience charge" and guess what .... we are getting there.

It's interesting ... some of you are complaining because of the volume of mail that you get from NCL. I have signed up for email from NCL several times. I've NEVER heard from them about anything. I've long filed that under "Customer Service."

Had I of received the email about "taking Mom on a cruise", I would have thought "Yes, I would have liked to take my mother on a cruise. And she would have enjoyed going." Giving that she died years ago, I am left hearing her say what she often did, "Thanks for thinking of me."

Get a grip, people; get a grip!

I just got off the phone with a NCL Personal Cruise Consultant and explained in a much detailed account of why I decided to cancel my Spring Break cruise. It was a very candid discussion and though I can't predict whether she will take it "up the chain"...she does believe that NCL will not do anything to jeopardize new business and their current customers. I told her I am holding to see if all of these fees get ironed out before I make a decision on whether I will try NCL.

 

She'll call me back in a week. She also said that they will know within the next week whether these fees will be implemented fleet wide or whether they will be revised/cancelled etc.

 

Meh, we'll see.:rolleyes:

I hope that when they call back you will post the results here.

When I first started cruising on NCL, I was told of a personal cruise consultant that was just plain outstanding. She was based in Arizona or Nevada as I recall. She had a real knack of personal service. She got moved up to a managerial position and is now out of sales. I hope your PCC is a great one.

but the person seems more credible when they have at least taken ONE cruise. but to have not taken zero cruises, one doesn't have anything to base his opinion on nor dispute another's opinion who have cruised and understand what is actually going on.

 

but whatever.

I prefer to listen to, debate and interact with an individual who has some experience with the subject we are discussing. One of the questions that I try to remember to ask when I hear anyone saying something is "What knowledge does this person have, what is their background or why/how did they arrive at this opinion?" These things lead to a person being "credible" or not. I am reminded of people's comments on some NCL threads that say, "Transatlantic cruises are boring." When I look at some people's experience, they have never been on a transatlantic cruise. Do they have the appropriate background to give this opinion that TAs are boring. Me thinks not. But this doesn't slow them down at all in offering this ignorant, non-experience based opinion. I try not to be disrespectful to them ... but I don't give them much value except to say to myself, "For this person, the thought of a TA cruise equates to 'boring'.

Regarding the RSC, I hope that we will be hearing from NCL in the near future as to whether this will be a permanent change or not. I don't think that we will hear "why" or "how" the decision was arrived at but I hope they will interact enough so we won't have to "read into events" to come to a more credible conclusion than we can right now.

Hi All

 

I'm going to have to go dark for a while, since I leave for OZ in 2 days for 5 days in Sydney before our 27 day cruise on RCI Radiance of Seas from Sydney to Vancuover. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to the 3 1/2 hours of free drinks and hors 'dourves in the private Concierge Lounge every day ............. LOL

 

I may check back in here for one last post when you hit page 100.

 

"Until that time, Eustis, until that time"

Great line from Jackie Gleason to Steve McQueen in "Soldier In The Rain"

 

John

John, it has been a pleasure reading your posts on this thread over the past week or so. I looked up your cruise and it appears to have a few sea days ... which I very much like. Have a good cruise and I look forward to seeing your wake on another thread when you return.

NCL eliminated lobster tails from the MDR menus altogether starting in mid 2014 as they introduced new menus. Looking at your cruise history it appears as though you may not cruised with NCL recently enough to have seen that (the Sun was one of the last holdouts), hence your mistaken statement that I've highlighted in red . I don't know if they finally have introduced the new menus on every ship...for example the POA was reportedly still offering lobster tail relatively recently.

Thank you for your comments. You are right about me being land-locked for about a year.

I've got a cruis'n pal from Texas who has a Texas sized appetite to match. He ordered, received and ate (to a gathering of a dozen or more wait staff cheering leaders) 6 lobsters and 6 steaks.

I get it! That's why there are so many helicopters hovering over the ship.

You might not have said it, but many on here did; that was their way of sticking it to NCL. I was just saying that I don't feel anyone really cancelled. It is real easy to say something on social media, because no one really knows what one does.

 

And the only thing that should matter to you are how you feel about a company and how you will spend your money.

Admittedly, it is anecdotal and not me but I believe it to be pretty close. A good friend of mine has a friend in Europe. Recently, she told him that she will not be following the NCL Boards in the foreseeable future. This is someone that cruised 3-5 times a year on NCL. Her comment was the NCL's cutting back on Platinum's Awards, the increase in nickel and dime charges led her to cancel the three or four cruises she had booked for later this year and next. She indicated that she discussed this with her TA and enough was enough.

For this woman and her husband's loyalty to NCL has been pushed over the edge. So, yes, I think there are people who will see this as one of many (small) changes they view as eating away at their cruise experience. I think that there will be many pauses when people are asked the question, "Just why is it that you like cruising? And why on NCL?" Damming a product or service with "faint praise", if done in large enough quantities, by enough people will change the bottom line.

I will be cruising on NCL in about 10 days. I'm interested in seeing:

1. At the First Meet and Greet is there are any comments about Norwegian's changing policies/test of the room service charge.

2. The staff's attitude. Will it be as friendly and as cordial as in the past?

3. If anything is said at the Latitude's Party (if there is one) about these changes in RSC.

4. If anything is said by the Cruise Consultant about current or future changes in dining options.

5. If there is a clamor for the $250 advance cruise certificates for $100 on board credit.

6. If lobster tails are offered in the main dining room.

And situations like this with other cruise lines make DCL look even better. After all, not only is room service included, but so are non-alcoholic beverages and all entertainment - including first run movies from time to time... oh, and Disney characters... and... I'm sure you all get my drift. ;)

I always thought that some of the "characters" I've observed were right out of Disney. Are you sure the women I observed sitting in the Atrium at 2 AM in their nightgowns were not part of a Disney Fantasy Cruise?

I hope that someone recently cruising that was charged for soup, hamburger and chips for lunch or a garden salad for dinner will post.

Lobster was deleted under Mr. Sheehan's regime and, guess what, he didn't reduce the fares to compensate for this, after all you know darn well that they are saving money by not serving it in the MDR any longer. There were complaints from those customers he cared about, but don't think that changed his mind or maybe I just missed that he reinstated it.

I must have missed this. Lobster tails have been offered in the main dining room as part of a surf and turf on all recent cruises. I've observed some diners eating two or three at one sitting.

We are just off the Star Sunday morning. I wondered if I would hear the NCL Farewell song. I did hear it on the internal channel late Saturday night with scenes of the crew singing and waving goodbye. (I also noted three senior officers/staff on deck as we disembarked. I watched them carefully and wondered what they were thinking.)

 

That said, I have to say that something did feel different. I sense a break and a shift in the loyalty and trust that feels out of the control of most of the crew onboard. I noticed that my own trust and positive feeling about NCL is waning. A slight wariness and suspicion has become an unwelcome intruder. This break in trust comes from how the new management has purposefully implemented and communicated (or miscommunicated) a series of changes very quickly. I have heard these changes characterized here a couple of times as "arrogant". I think this best describes what we are seeing unfold.

 

Most people understand that businesses make changes to increase their profits. But when these changes are implemented in ways that totally disregard and alienate their loyal customer base, they will ultimately hurt the business sooner or later. I keep waiting for NCL to see the signs and to begin to make reparations. I hear a weak acknowledgement that communication has been lacking, but overall, it is full steam ahead with a series of increasing fees and charges with little or no explanation and a seeming assumption that we will not notice or the customer dissatisfaction is just temporary and will soon blow over.

 

This is not the Norwegian Way.

 

If what we are witnessing and experiencing is the new way of NCL, customers will begin to seek out a new family who will take better care of them and who will be more trustworthy. In a few years, we'll be reading case studies of NCL's management errors. Sad.

Your posting reminded me of the demise of Continental Airlines albeit in a different way. I used to fly frequently both domestic and international. Enough so that on one of my routes the flight attendants would say "Welcome Back when I stepped on board. Continental's staff were obviously proud of what they did ... from at least a snack on all flights, to placing your luggage on the belt instead of throwing it.

Then rumors began that Continental was about to be subsumed by United. Then it happened. Immediately after United took over (51%), all meal service (unless purchased) stopped. I used to guess whether flight attendants were "Continental" or "United" based on their personalities. Sometimes, during the inflight introduction, flight attendant would say "You are being serviced today by an all Continental Crew." Proud of their dedication to clean, reliable service. If you haven't read it, Continental's Bethume's book called Worst to First talks about building an airline and what place loyal customers and loyal employees play.

On a recent cruise onboard the Norwegian Star, two team members greeted me within my first hour on board - one of them running up to me at the lifeboat drill. They remembered me and I remembered them from sailing together before. On this same cruise, about a week into it, our cabin attendant came to me and said there was a cabin attendant on another floor that wanted to say hello. Turns out they had been our cabin attendant on another cruise. Another positive interaction for both of us.

Regretably, I have also asked more than one of the crew members whether they had received the letter that I had sent to Norwegian about them and their exceptional service. I had been told on board by NCL supervisors/officers that letters sent to NCL headquarters about team members would eventually make it to the person you were complimenting. With repeated incidences of this happening, I had to believe that telling team members when they were complimented did not always happen.

One of my favorite memories is about a waiter in the main dining room. I first met him when he was beginning training ... yes, carrying trays of food from the kitchen to the serving stand and dirty dishes back to the kitchen. When I first met this man, he spoke very little English. He looked embarrassed when I thanked him for his service at the end of the cruise. All he could say with limited English was Thank You, Thank You. Now, this man is ending a second year and has his own tables as "the waiter". I can see the joy on his face when he has recognized us and comes up and say's "Remember Me?"

I think it behooves all of us to remember that the littlest cog in the wheel may not know what is going on ... but they are working and trying their best. We, as guests, can still give a smile, ask their name, thank them for a job well done with little cost, not even a convenience charge.

Communication to staff and rewarding them for jobs well done is instrumental in building/maintaining the business whether airline or cruising. From what you said (in the quote above), it is yet another example of how the on-board staff did not know what the "head" was doing.

Effective Communication + Strong Public Relations takes the mystery out of what NCL is doing and why they are doing it. And to NCL: "A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine to go down."

Norwegian ran this "test" as if it were being tested on the Mayflower, i.e., 90% of the passengers did not make it and the other 10% were so happy to get there, they vowed never to discuss it.

I'm sure NCL knows how to do a test, you or I might not agree with how they do their test or the outcome of the test, but in the end it is their test.

 

If this "test" is purely to see if there is a market for an upgraded breakfast room service meal, is it how you would do it if you had the authority to plan it and the responsibility of living with any outcome? If you say yes, it says much about your "management style". This is what this thread is about, NCL's perceived management style over the last few years and what appears to be an abrupt deviation by the present "test".

If you were doing this "test", would you implement it without letting the face of the company (your public relations staff) not only know about it but be involved in the implementation?

Would you put your staff out there when they did not have "answers" to questions about the "test"?

When you know that you are irritating your most loyal source of income by the comments made about your "test" implementation, how long do you think you can totally ignore them, not respond to them?

Are you tacky enough to give a public interview and state your major objective is how to get another $5.00 a day out my wife?

I, for one, don't think that NCL has demonstrated that they "know how to run a test."

I came away with this feeling as well.

 

I understand the importance of paying attention to revenue and the need to increase revenue and profits. But I sense a lack of integrity here. Rapid and significant changes. Very poor communication regarding these changes. Breakdown in public relations to a solid customer base. All in all, it does feel slimy.

 

When I walk on an NCL ship for my vacation, I want to have an overwhelming sense of trust about the company and its management. NCL has built up this trust in recent years and has spoken of and communicated a feeling of "we are all family" in its transactions with customers. I can feel this beginning to slip away. If this continues without some significant reparations soon, it will hurt NCL.

As I reread each of your paragraphs, I agreed in both what you say and the way you say it. Thank you.

 

Carnival for instance, still delivered in giving goods and service as promised.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Forums mobile app

Of course, there was that "minor" problem of no water and sewage in the hallways.:eek: How quickly we tend to forget. (Just kidding, Tiffygirl, but that is something that always comes to mind when I hear something good about Carnival.)

Is there a charge to get a refill on the popcorn? This thread's good!!

As my mother used to say..."it is not only what you say but how you say it" S o NCL.."it is not what you do but how you do it"...changes should be made in a way that you respect your loyal and already booked customers and be respectful enough to communicate with your customers what changes are being made (if it were not for CC..I would not have known about ANY of the recent changes/cost increases)

I think your mother must have been friends with my mother who taught me this also. Thanks for this posting.

What if there are three Platinum members sharing a cabin? Do they draw straws and the person with the short one can order room service for a fee?

 

 

Rochelle

What do they call three platinum members sharing a cabin? Two are losers and the third ... well, I was going to say the third is a winner. However, winning is not allowed. I assume the first two will get first choice on the two strawberries.

Happy Birthday Andy!!!

I wish you the best of luck working under this new regime; I know you always had the NCL's customer's best interest at heart.

I hope you are 'allowed' to keep on that path; it appears to be very challenging for a nice hearted person like you in what appears to be a not so customer friendly corporate leadership/management culture. :)

Happy Birthday, Andy. Although I don't know you, my sentiments are reflected in the greeting I quoted.

In another thread entitled Latitude Benefits Reduced in Europe (found further down the same Norwegian Board) mention is made of a new policy to Latitude Members in Europe, i.e., whereas each Platinum Member used to get complimentary tickers for two along with a bottle of wine in LeBistro, this is no longer. According to NCL Europe's webpage, this has been REDUCED to ONE PER STATEROOM. So, if you and your travel mate are both platinum, you will now get half the benefits ... one meal for two instead of two meals for two. This is Europe where NCL has been the Number 1 choice for cruise ships for the past seven years.

Friends of mine in Europe indicate this change is on NCL's European Website today. Tongue in cheek, they say, "Today Europe, tomorrow the USA". These same people who have said for NCL for many cruises for over 15 years say they are done. They gave their loyalty to NCL but with a reduction in Latitude Rewards, it is time for them to move on.