DCGuy64

There are plenty of things I can gripe about that I would argue *are* the responsibility of the cruise line, like unsanitary kitchen conditions, slippery decks, poor staffing, long wait times in the restaurants, etc. Not saying these things are easily solved, but at least they're things the line has some control over. But to give a frequent example: it's not the airline's fault if my my Uber driver shows up late, or there's lots of traffic, or there's bad weather, or I don't like the food I order at an airport restaurant. Yet people will fault the cruise line for weather, strikes, CBP officials, and the like. That's totally inappropriate.

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

All reality shows are 'scripted'.  Showing the late-returning guests adds drama. 

My point wasn't that none are left behind.  I was pointing out that if all you watched was these reality shows, you would think the cruise lines will wait on you which encourages late arrivals.

Common sense isn't common, and reality shows aren't real, LOL.

35 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

If NCL really cared about the customer experience (based on all these horrible embarkation/disembarkation stories that are not mine), they would ensure the company running pier services provided a quality experience. 

I always enjoy reading your posts and it's a joy to see what you write. However, this time I can't agree with you. As far as I'm concerned, cruise lines are only in charge of what is actually theirs, meaning their staff, and that's it. Dock workers, pier workers, tugboat operators, customs and border enforcement, and municipal workers do not work for the cruise line, so any delays or bad customer service are NOT the fault of the cruise line, period.

2 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

No one has actually said this on the thread. 

I didn't say anyone HAD. That's why I used the conditional "would be" in my post. 😉 Several posters HAVE suggested that the passengers' advanced age may have been a factor. And maybe it was.

38 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

You might mean "lacking sympathy...", not "lacking empathy...". 

 

If an adult is responsible, willing, and able enough to take an excursion (on their own) in a foreign country, that same adult is responsible, willing, and able to deal with the consequences of their actions. 

 

If the couple in this situation was 75, would that make a difference? How about 55? How about 25? I can't speak for others but my posts probably wouldn't change at all. If anything, the "experienced cruisers" should/would get less sympathy because they know better.

 

What would happen if NCL instituted a policy that anyone over a certain age cannot leave the ship unless on a ship's excursion? People would be up in arms. Posts stating that "age discrimination" is bad and that older people can "still do things..." would flood the forum. 

 

 

 

That's the point that many on the forum have made. These situations happen because of the decisions and actions taken before things go bad. 

Exactly right. We all know those who are saying "oh, they're in their 80's, they didn't know any better" would be screaming age discrimination in case the cruise line took their advanced years into consideration. Classic case of trying to have it both ways...

14 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

it was revealed in post # 9 that this was a group booking and in post #18 it was posited that the inability to remove a component of FAS might be due to a restriction based on the terms of the group booking.

Thanks, yes I read those earlier posts, as well. It wasn't until the last one I saw yesterday that we had actual confirmation that that's what happened.

3 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

Impossible to say which changes came about from folks complaining here on CC

Exactly

There's an old saying "correlation is not causation." If it starts raining every time I wash my car, it doesn't follow that the car washing causes the rain. If people complain on FB or CC and then a cruise line changes something, it doesn't follow that the social media posts were the cause of the change. They might be, but aren't necessarily. It could be hearing from shareholders, it could be as a result of things that were passed along to management in person on a cruise, or a follow-up survey, or something guests mentioned at Guest Services. Unless I have actual evidence of a representative from NCL saying "we changed this because of feedback on Cruise Critic," I'm not convinced. 

43 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

One part of that deal is that all the FAS offers will be included if guests want them, but they can't decline separate parts of FAS (e.g., the Beverage Package).

Well, that's a very important detail that, as far as I can tell, wasn't known from the outset. When people (who I am sure are trying to be helpful) say that the TA just didn't want to deal with declining the FAS or that they were "sure" it could be dropped, it was (I'm guessing) under the assumption that this was a regular booking. Thank you for providing the additional detail. In the future, if I see a similar question from a different poster, I may ask if there's a deal going like this that prevents the FAS from being removed. Good to know!

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

Every day we see posters insist upon being on the ship as soon as possible.  Of course they would complain if the cruise lines enforced the assigned arrival times.     

Yep, which just proves something I've believed for a long time: people will complain no matter what. They'll complain if they have to wait too long (because 90% of the passengers show up at the same time), and they'll complain if the cruise line actually does something about it. Hence why I am very skeptical and frankly dismissive of people who only use CC as their personal whine chamber, even more so if they just joined yesterday and are only here to say "Line X is terrible and I'll NEVER sail with them again!" (Often ALL IN CAPS) 🤣 🤣🤣

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

Only if we also agree that NCL onboard staff are not telling the truth when they claim NCL monitors Cruise Critic and will sometimes take feedback from Cruise Critic into account when making changes. 

I personally doubt whether that happens, but that's just my opinion. But let's say you're right and NCL onboard staff ARE reading CC. Are you aware of any changes that NCL made company-wide that can be traced back to a post on Cruise Critic? I'd be rather surprised to hear of that happening. Not saying it hasn't, just that I'd be surprised if it did.

On 4/26/2024 at 1:09 PM, graphicguy said:

-"I want to get to the pier as early as possible so I can board early."  The expectation is, you get there early, check in, and walk right on board.  Doesn't work like that.

I'd love to see NCL actually enforce the boarding times people are given, since so many people have complained about the long lines. NCL could say something like "we listened to you, our guests. In order to ensure an orderly boarding process and minimize waiting in lines, guests who show up in advance of their printed boarding times will be asked to wait in a separate area of the terminal until their assigned time has arrived." And I 100% guarantee people will find a reason to complain about that, too! 🤣

19 hours ago, JustAPilot said:

I like these threads, from reading the comments here it’s like NCL is paying you to take a cruise with them vs you spending thousands of dollars with them for a vacation and letting things slide vs sharing your concerns and holding them accountable.

 

And yes this is a vacation, so large crowds and over crowded pool bars do affect my vacation. If the pool bars are overcrowded then bring in more bartenders to serve the guests or setup more bar areas around the pool deck. 

As long as we all agree that complaining on Cruise Critic is not what people like me would describe as "holding them accountable." If I have a poor experience at a hotel or a restaurant, and all I do is have a gripefest with my friends, things are unlikely to change. If, OTOH, I contact the businesses (by phone, email, in writing) and share my poor experiences with management, who can actually do something about it, that seems to be more likely to meet with success. 

10 minutes ago, catbro said:

I am considering booking a cruise from Lisbon to Canary Islands and Morocco for Oct 25. The free airfare option for second traveler comes to $1300 for both travelers from PHL or $1200 from EWR, both doable from our home. Google flights looks to be about $830 per person so a bit of a savings. 

 

What has been your experiences with this option. We would want to travel to Lisbon minimum of 2 days prior to embarkation and preferably 3. Can they deny such a request and then you're stuck with the flights? How far in advance are you notified of your flights. The booking also shows $150 for ground transportation is this from the airport to the cruise terminal on arrival and can they remove that if we are arriving two days early. 

 

Would love to hear your experiences good, bad and ugly. Thanks.

We had a great experience and are doing it again. Yes, they'll remove the transfer fees, not only if you do the deviation (maximum 2 days, BTW), but even if you don't. Since they won't allow you to do more than 2 days, I'd look at the cost savings and decide whether it's worth it to you versus flying in 3 days early. That is something only you can decide.

1 hour ago, valentinevar said:

We booked our cruise 2 weeks ago

1 hour ago, valentinevar said:

he won't call me back lol, and it's not like I've been calling him often or anything, I called once to ask about booking excursions and left him a voicemail and he never got back to me

You said you only booked 2 weeks ago, but you also say you called the representative about booking excursions and he never got back to you? How much time had you given him to reply? I am also sorry to hear you were given bad information, but I have to say that $500 FCC is pretty darned generous. I'd take that in a heartbeat! Enjoy your cruise, BTW. When do you sail? Is it soon?

So basically what I'm hearing is this: people who choose to tip bartenders on NCL in addition to the gratuities they paid for the all-inclusive beverage package are to blame when people like me (who DON'T carry around a stack of bills for extra tips) end up having to wait around longer for their drinks. Thanks a lot. In the future, I will be reporting this to management, and on the last night, if serving times haven't improved, I'll be removing the DSC and I'll tell management so in my follow-up survey. It's ridiculous to create a two-tiered system where only the people who bribe bartenders get served. EDIT: this might be an idle threat, or it might not be. But I'm not saying whether or not I will ever do this.

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

As someone who tips for every drink, I’m fine with the situation.

As someone who doesn't, I'm not. Actually, I *do* pay gratuities, I've paid them as part of FAS. I resent being compelled to tip a 2nd time in order to actually get what I've already paid for. Imagine being asked to tip your waiter before you sit down, but to actually get him to bring your food, you have to tip AGAIN. Nope.

25 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

That led to a lot of muttering saying I will never again sail with them.

I wonder how many people actually ever make good on that. Even on this site, I have seen people say such things, only to announce, with great fanfare a few weeks later, "I'm booked on 3 more cruises with them!" I tend to take such comments very much with a grain of salt.

4 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

Actually, isn't this scenario cancelled/delayed flights considered to be trip "interruption" with insurance policies?

Good question. I'd ask Steve, the guy from that insurance store. I need to speak with him, anyway.

2 minutes ago, asctony said:

OMG! I never said all! I said most!

Diamond on MSC and if you are not in the Yacht Club drink service is very slow. Been Cruising MSC since 2009.

OMG I didn't say "all," either. 😉 I said "every." 🤣

58 minutes ago, asctony said:

This happens on almost all cruise lines today. Staff have been cut back. People disregard times, too.

Happy Cruising on any Cruise Line!

Not true of our last cruise. OK, so it was MSC in the Yacht Club, but still: it isn't true that every cruise line has problems with serving drinks in a timely manner. 😉 I *do* think they could beef up the staff to speed up the wait times, though.

35 minutes ago, marrashadow said:

You are waiting at least 20 minutes and even with the signs everywhere you can't get your items ready beforehand? Lines are mostly cruisers fault.

More of the "I'm on vacation, I don't want to think" mentality. 🤣

10 minutes ago, jrt.mom said:

Being a solo on this trip I was elated that NCL gave me 50% off my airfare. And their rate even before the discount was far lower than the cheapest flight I could find. I might be seated on the wing or in a bathroom, but I saved close to $1000...

Thanks for weighing in! To me, $1,000 isn't "a little more" as one poster implied. $1,000 is a LOT more!

The two areas where I can sympathize with @MajSteve are these:

1. Bartender issues

2. Embarkation

It's well known to anyone who uses Cruise Critic that NCL doesn't monitor check-in times. In fact, nearly every time someone asks about 'what time should I show up,' most people on here will say 'whenever you feel like it.' Well guess what? That means EVERYBODY SHOWS UP AT THE SAME TIME. IMHO, NCL should start strictly enforcing the check-in times to stop these bottlenecks.

The bartender issue is a legitimate gripe, and I really think it comes down to poor staffing. It took a VERY long time to get drinks on our last cruise. The Shakers Martini bar had 2 bartenders for about 50-60 guests, maybe even more than that. They just couldn't keep up.

19 hours ago, buddy1755 said:

This matter has now been resolved.  After more phone calls to NCL and Airtransat, i found out that Airtransat actually cancelled the flight, so NCL re-booked thru BA.  When i first called air transat they denied a refund, I called back today and asked to speak to a supervisor they decided to refund me.  took 3 calls to Airtransat but its resolved.  No fault on NCL.

Great! It's nice you took the time to acknowledge that NCL wasn't at fault.

8 minutes ago, dbrown84 said:

yeah, I agree.  but any reason to deny the claim..... 🙂 

Exactly. Although, one could argue that if the insurance company can always find a reason to deny, why purchase insurance in the first place?