Horrible experience on Dream

[CaptainMiller]

I was on the NCL Pride of America last week and they apparently had no problem changing ports. All ports were changed the week before we left, and the ports were changed again on the day we sailed. According to several sources, this second change was supposedly done to keep the staff on board on New Years by docking in Kauai and not Maui. (Maui would be too tempting to stay on the island, where Kauai closes down early.) The first change was because they lost their docking spot to other ships. In the end, weather prevented us from visiting Kauai and we had to again change our schedule for another day in Maui and a day at Sea. In my opinion, it appears the POA staff has changing ports down to a science. :)

[JoeJoe1]

I agree with Peg.

 

Most disappointing travel experience that I've ever had.

 

Like being trapped in an old strip mall for a week.

[CaptainMiller]

Sorry, on my earlier post it should have said Pride of Aloha.

[Host CMLA]

I agree with Peg.

 

Most disappointing travel experience that I've ever had.

 

Like being trapped in an old strip mall for a week.

Thanks for the informative post. Our members have learned a lot from this. :rolleyes:

[JoeJoe1]

I spent more time on my posting than they spent on customer satisfaction.

Why waste more time with a lengthy quote when I already wasted a week on the cruise.

[apost10093@yahoo.com]

Hi,

I was on the Sun the same week and our cruise was not very pleasant. The ship was very rocky the first day and more then half the boar was sick. It was cloudy and rainy in Roatan and the same weather in Belize. We were not able to tender into Grand Cayman and had to sit docked outside Grand Cayman until 4:00 waiting for people to arrive who were missed their flight. The only nice day was in Cozumel and 1/2 a day sailing back to Miami.

 

The food was okay-not great and the service seemed to be so, so.

 

I enjoyed my RCI cruises alot more.

 

Adios,

Ellen

[NoPiratesPlease]

It's been a year and a half since we were on the Dream, and it's amazing that it could have fallen so far so fast. We took her out of Dover to the Baltic--she's the only ship that can transit the Kiel Canal because her funnel folds over. The ONLY thing we found was that service in the 4 Seasons was slow and surly (we ate there twice) and service in the Terraces was quick and friendly, everytime. We had a LOVELY trip on her, and the cruise-run tours were fine. We did a private Red October tour in St. Petersburg and got the one tour guide who still thought it was the Soviet-style '70's and was a royal PITA. Oh well....

[TheDivineMsM]

I think we could tolerate the little disappointments we all encounter on any cruise if the customer service (on the Dream) were more sympathetic. As it stands now, the general attitude amoung the staff is "that's-not-my-department-why-are-you-bothering-me???" I have never experienced anything like it- anywhere. Unbelievable.:eek:

[Izzy Bee]

We sailed the Dream on her maiden voyage leaving out of New Orleans. We encountered a 3 hour late departure from New Oleans, No/little air conditioning in our cabin, engine problems, and what I felt was over- crowded, unsafe tendering into Cancun. I wrote a letter to NCL and recd a prompt reply and discount off booking another NCL cruise, which we choose not to use. I had hoped that the maiden voyage problems were an "adjustment" problem and would be corrected over time. The Dream's interior was in good shape when we sailed but obviously the engine wasn't, as we stalled in open water, with Cozumel in sight, for about 2 hours. The Captain so graciously offered free water while we waited for power. Not what I had in mind! Sorry your dream was not a good dream for you.

[Host CMLA]

I spent more time on my posting than they spent on customer satisfaction.

Why waste more time with a lengthy quote when I already wasted a week on the cruise.

Because the point of the board is to inform others to the specifics of what you've experienced, good or bad. Not wanting to waste your time giving any details doesn't help other members. The board isn't a complaint center. It's an education center and most members appreciate the information even if it is all bad news.

[CastorFache]

Again, I will say that I found the staff and crew on board the dream to be excellent, very attentive, friendly and quite sympathetic to the issues of those passengers on board who were complaining.

 

I cannot argue with people who say they did not have a good time. That is a judgement call, and people are allowed to make their own minds up.

 

I can only say that I had a good time on board.

 

As for those people who insist on complaining long after their voyage...perhaps it is time to let it go. If something is not worth remembering...why keep bringing it up? But, to keep things fair and balanced (man Fox News kills me...) I will continue to counter negative reviews of said vessel with positive ones.

[uneamie]

I think we could tolerate the little disappointments we all encounter on any cruise if the customer service (on the Dream) were more sympathetic. As it stands now, the general attitude amoung the staff is "that's-not-my-department-why-are-you-bothering-me???" I have never experienced anything like it- anywhere. Unbelievable.:eek:

While I have no personal experience with NCL ship crew, I do know that some of the customer service reps on the phone lines leave a lot to be desired. :( They should take a page out of the book of "Disney". I have gotten ill informed reps at Disney, but never one that was rude or acted like they hated their job. I think Disney places high standards on their employees customer serivce attitudes. Most of the the time they have gone out of their way to be helpful. I was a customer service rep for many years. It's not an easy job. You have to be the right kind of person for it. I am not...that's why I quit. :D

[CastorFache]

I think we could tolerate the little disappointments we all encounter on any cruise if the customer service (on the Dream) were more sympathetic. As it stands now, the general attitude amoung the staff is "that's-not-my-department-why-are-you-bothering-me???" I have never experienced anything like it- anywhere. Unbelievable.:eek:

You obviously live a very sheltered life...have you recently flown on any major airline?

 

Customer service is something that is disappearing from many service industries. In any fast food joint, gas station, movie theater, department store, or any other place that you expect to get helpful service you are likely to get someone with a somewhat blank look on their face...just the way the markets have taken us.

 

Again, I reiterate that I found the service aboard the Dream to be above average and the crew was extremely helpful with any problems or questions we had.

[RCCLCruiser23]

Let me just say sorry about your cruise expierence I was on the same cruise and had a great time. I was also supposed to be on the garrafon park excursion. Ive been on RCI and Celebrity a total of nine times and ive been on princess once. I would have to say I am glad that they canceled the cancun port because of the weather. I was on the voyager four years ago when I was a junior in High School and they didn't cancel the call at Labadee and the weather was exectly the same has it was in cancun and six crew and a number of passengers got serious injuries. I bet you being saying something completely different if people got injured trying to tender in. What the captain did I believe was for the good of all passengers and the crew. Progress probably was also experiencing the same kind of weather patterns because the ship is after all on an ocean. Also the cruise lines have to have the ships cleared to be able to dock in or by a port. then there actually has to be a space for the ship to dock at the port it could have been full finally. since we where on an ocean the sea was probably just has rough in Progresso. Finally it say right in the cruise brochure in the terms and conditions section that the captain has the right to make adjustments or outright cancel a port of call at any time during the cruise. Also In Hondorus it was not the cruise line that was keeping the shore excursions going for a while it was the tour operators on the land who where doing it. When the ship did cancel out they lost close to 200,000 dollars which they still had to pay the operators a this percentage of the total ticket price. this is because they probably would have still gone if in that nasty whether if it was up to only the local operators. So in that one day they lost the revenue of about fifty cabins. I bet they lost about the same or more in the amount of money and paying cabins when they canceled cancun for our safety. In total thats like about 100 cabins or more sailing completely empty at the being of the cruise. In other words that would mean that the ship would have been only sailing with 75% to 80% of its total capacity. You should be a happy man because NCL could have been like RCI in that situation and made people go. instead they did the right thing and cancelled both cancun and Hondorus because they where looking after us instead of revenue. this revenue they lost and did not gain from us at all. It also says right in the brochure that they only have the le bistro the trattoria and the two main restraunts to chose from. If you wanted more of a choice you should have gone on one of their bigger and newer ships. Finally I disagree with what you said about the childrens program my brother and several of his friends greatly enjoyed the teen center. For those kids who where supposedly doing the cannonballs it is the parents fault and not the crews. For it is them who allow them to be unruly and get away with things. I did witness security people correcting children a couple times during the trip. I am proud to say thay I am going to be taking my 2nd cruise with NCL during my spring break this year onboard the Norwegian Sun

[gofeo]

I am going on the SEA in Feb and is my first time on NCL. I have been on the CC boards for a couple of years now and when I first read some coments about NCL a couple of months ago right after I booked my cruise, I was having second thoughts about it. But then, I noticed that a lot of people really liked what they had to offer and one of them was price, which I booked for also. I also like leaving from Houston because I dont have to fly. ( I retired from an airline on 9/11) I am going to go on this cruise with the attitude that I will probably get what I paid for and probably more. I did not work for Southwest, but I did fly them. On their flights you noticed that people were getting what they expected and were satisfied. I am not saying that my expectations of NCL are going to be low, but I will be very happy to be ''CRUISIN'' Gary o.

[Philip217]

Rick R,

I have been doing things like changing ports on ships since 1974 - for most of the major cruise lines (including RCCL). Yes, the Captain finally does officially make and announce the port change (after getting permission from everybody and his brother in the office), but unless it is a life or death emergency, he cannot arbitrarily change ports without corporate and local port authority permission first.

By the way, on most cruise ships, the Hotel Manager onboard and Shore-based sales and marketing staff have more to say about port changes than the Captain does (unless its an emergency).
Changing ports can have a huge effect on revenues, costs, customer satisfaction, refunds, ship ratings, and lawsuits from guests. The revenue people on shore do not usually trust the Captain to have their best interests in mind when he requests to change ports.

[Rick R]

Philip217 Thank you.
I thought you may have worked for a cruise line and had insider info.

[TheDivineMsM]

Again, I reiterate that I found the service aboard the Dream to be above average and the crew was extremely helpful with any problems or questions we had.[/QUOTE]
And I did not.

And no, I have not led a 'sheldered life.'

And there is no time limit about voicing complaints on this board.

Go bully someone else.

[albertiger]

while in reality it may not be an accurate number, approximately 200 of someones 227 posts seem to be complaints about the same cruise and ship and crew ad nauseum.
PLEASE, take another cruise and PLEASE, have a good time because frankly, it's getting downright painful to listen to! :p

[CastorFache]

[quote name='TheDivineMsM']Again, I reiterate that I found the service aboard the Dream to be above average and the crew was extremely helpful with any problems or questions we had.[/QUOTE]And I did not.

And no, I have not led a 'sheldered life.'

And there is no time limit about voicing complaints on this board.

Go bully someone else.[/QUOTE]
Exactly where does bullying come in? I made a point that I found the service to be excellent. It is contrary to your opinion, and I also pointed out that service in general has fallen off in many industries.

If you took the time to read...you would have noticed that I mentioned that I will counter every negative review with a positive one.

If my saying that perhaps it is best for you to try and forget something that is obviously painful to you is offensive, well then I apologize, but I will not apologize for believing that the Dream is a fine vessel with a fine crew.

[Host CMLA]

Hi guys. Please try and stay focused on the topic. I know that all of us at times can feel great passion for how we feel or what we've experienced. But everyone has their own story to share. If you aren't interested in what someone has to say, you can block them. ;) I love the features of this new board. Thanks!

[kalamari]

Everybody play nicely please!


[quote name='Host Cecilia']Hi guys. Please try and stay focused on the topic. I know that all of us at times can feel great passion for how we feel or what we've experienced. But everyone has their own story to share. If you aren't interested in what someone has to say, you can block them. ;) I love the features of this new board. Thanks![/QUOTE]

[karfest]

But if we all played nicely- what would Cecilia do? She would be out of a job.


I do see that one post on this thread that made me laugh out loud has been deleted, as I knew it would...

The posts I like best are from the people who annoy me the most;)

[Host CMLA]

[quote name='karfest']But if we all played nicely- what would Cecilia do? She would be out of a job. I do see that one post on this thread that made me laugh out loud has been deleted, as I knew it would...The posts I like best are from the people who annoy me the most;)[/QUOTE] LOL I have to agree with you on that one. It's what keeps the board interesting... Thanks for understanding. ;)

[brn2crz]

[quote name='Philip217']Except in the worst of emergencies, the Captain of a cruise ship cannot "just decide" to go to a different port. It is really the same as an airplane pilot "just deciding" to land the airplane at a different airport. No can do.
If the Captain has a VERY good reason to change ports, he must:

Contact his superior at the Home Office to get permission. If it is the Christmas Holiday, his superior is probably on vacation and hard to find.

If his superior agrees to the port change, the cruise line must first contact the new port authority to see if there is room for the ship to dock there, and if the port has staff, tugboats, and officials available to handle this new client. Remember that it is the Christmas Holiday in a third world country, and most of the people who make these decisions - and do this work - are on vacation.

If the port agrees to take the ship, then about a dozen Vice Presidents and Directors of the Cruise Line must be contacted; to re-schedule shore tours, garbage collection, port agents, security staff, buses, water supply, provisions deliveries, crew changes (and flights), Customs and Immigration Officials, and God-only-knows-how-many-other-details. If you are trying to do this in a third world Country on Christmas Holiday - Good Luck.

Finally, assuming all of the above has gone well, hundreds of people at the Cruise Line Head Office - from the telephone operator to the lunchroom attendant - must be fully briefed on the port and schedule changes so they can answer questions and re-direct a million little details to a new location at a new time.

Do you think anyone wants to go through all of this if they do not absolutely have to?
Can you imagine how long it would take to work out all these details - if ever?
Does anyone believe - with nearly every aspect working against them - that the cruise line can pull this off without massive complaints from guests?
Its just not worth all the trouble.[/QUOTE]

Probably true in most instances,however,always an exception.
We were onboard Rhapsody during Ivan,and had a very informative conversation one evening with the Staff Captain.He told us that the Captain was complety incharge of all decissions made,regarding POC (on this sailing)
He himself contacted the National Weather service in Houston every 2 hours during the height and closest contact with the storm (150 miles from center :eek: ) and was in contact with various ports to gain access if needed.
This earned him the new title of Captain Jack Sparrow,as he was described as having donned his Pirate Suit,and was in full control of his destiny :D