NCL guest relations- what is your experience?

[cliffd64]

We are veterans of five NCL cruises now, and we have never had a bad experience with any of them.

 

Granted, we have rarely had to call NCL directly ( except for straightening out latitude membership details ) so maybe that is our secret to success. I guess we handle every other contact off the ship through our travel agent (and even THAT is online).

 

So, while we have nothing personally to complain about, we can sympathize with people who have had bad experiences.

 

Cliff

 

 

Carnival Holiday November 2001

Norwegian Sky 11/4/2002

Norwegian Sky 11/11/2002

Norwegian Wind 10/11/2003

Norwegian Dawn 12/14/2003

Norwegian Sun 02/08/2004

[gardencat]

I'm back from my Hawaii vacation and was checking out some things on the boards. I got to wondering if any of the people posting here have had their problems resolved. Flydude or JDMor for example?

[cmitch9999]

Hi

I would give NCL a solid "D" for my recent experience with them. I had sent a fax to guest relations and then a certified letter to Colin Veitch asking them to address my concerns about the problems on the Norwegian Crown. I followed up with a phone call to guest relations 2 weeks later and they told me the problems on the ship had been 'resolved and passengers compensated' and that I would be getting a written response within 2 weeks. I just got my emailed response this week. I was told the ship was in good condition and I wouldn't have anything to worry about. Then they pasted in a press release about all of the dry dock renovations that had been done to the ship. Did not address the very specific concerns that I had laid out. I hate that corporate B.S. At least I have an email address, phone number and contact name for any future 'concerns' not sure if it will be worth anything tho.

 

Chris Mitchell

 

16 Voyages completed 1999-2004, 81 wonderful days at sea

dreaming of ....

Norwegian Crown 8/04

Carnival Fascination 11/04

[JDMOR]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by gardencat:

I'm back from my Hawaii vacation and was checking out some things on the boards. I got to wondering if any of the people posting here have had their problems resolved. Flydude or JDMor for example?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

From JDMOR - We completely scrapped the whole Hawaii trip after the AMERICA replacement cruise on STAR got cancelled. It was even a hassle to get the appropiate refunds, and still no "promised" 25% future cruise offer "scam!". NEVER AGAIN, NCL!!!

 

JDMOR - Beautiful Central Oregon

 

‘89 STARDANCER (Viking Seranade-Alaska); ‘90 CUNARD PRINCESS (Canary Iles); ‘92 CROWN ODYSSEY (Royal-Scandinavia/Russia); ‘93 SKY PRINCESS (Panama Canal); ‘94 MAASDAM (S. Carib); ‘95 CROWN ODYSSEY (Royal-Brit Isles); ‘95 ZENITH (W.Carib); ‘95 OCEANIC (Big Red Boat-Bahamas); ‘96 REGAL PRINCESS (Alaska); ‘96 WESTERDAM (E. Carib); ‘98 STATENDAM (S. Carib); ‘99 NORWEGIAN WIND (Hawaii); ‘00 NORWEGIAN CROWN (Crown Odyssey-South America); ‘00 NORWEGIAN SKY (Alaska); ‘00 VOYAGER OF THE SEAS (E. Carib); ‘01 PRINCESS JEANNTE (China); ‘01 RADIANCE OF THE SEAS (Hawaii); ‘02 RIVER ODYSSEY (Europe); '02 INFINITY (Hawaii); '03 NORWEGIAN SKY (Panama Canal); '03 MARINER OF THE SEAS (E. Carib); Planned: '04 NCL STAR (Hawaii to Vancouver)(NCL Cancelled);'04 HAL ROTTERDAM (Transatlantic); '04 QUEEN MARY 2 (Canada)

 

[misguy]

I would have to say my experience has been mixed at times I have called and talked to people that just wanted me off of the phone.

 

Other times I had individuals that went out of there way to find the information I needed. We set up a Cruise Critic meeting on our sailing, and had good help in getting it done when I called coordinator for the ship. She didn't respond well to email, but was quite helpful over the phone.

 

Till we sail on the Norwegian Spirit \Leo

[shirleygr]

Our first cruise, for our honeymoon, was with NCL, five and a half years ago. Our TA was also our best man at the wedding. He and his wife worked hard to find us a nice cruise. We weren't sure we would like to cruise (yea, I know, stupid me) so we decided on a 4 night just to make sure we would like it. We decided on the Leeward but when we arrived at the port, we were amazed by the length of the line and the information being given. The Leeward had engine problems and instead of a 4 night Western Caribbean, we were going to Nassau for the entire cruise. They were offering to change passengers to the Majesty, same West Carib itinerary. The process was horrible and we didn't get on the ship until after 4:00. We had additional problems with getting gifts that were supposed to be delivered, as well as our promised honeymoon package. The actual cruise, though, was pretty good.

At any rate, I wrote to NCL when we returned home. My TA, who felt terrible since he had steered us to NCL instead of RCI or Carnival, also contacted NCL. Neither one of us received any replies to our complaints. I wrote several more letters and made numerous phone calls and never received any satisfaction for all the trouble we went through.

Now I know stuff happens that no-one has any control over, but I felt the whole process could have been handled better. A couple of years later, we were looking to cruise again and decided to give NCL another shot. Our sailing was cancelled out from under us because a company decided to charter the entire ship for that week. We had bought our air fare seperately, so we couldn't change our dates. All NCL offered us was a $50 shipboard credit if we sailed the next week, take it or leave it. Less than a satisfactory resolution.

Needless to say, it has taken me a long time to decide to give NCL another try. I am disappointed to read the level of customer service doesn't seem to have improved much, if at all, since our first cruise in 1998. My dh was rather apprehensive about booking the Dawn for next spring, but it seemed the best cruise for us this time. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly and we don't have to deal with the home office at all.

 

Shirley

cruising-courtesy-kindness

 

3-Night Anniversary Cruise on Majesty of the Seas . . . January 7, 2005

 

Cruising with my girls from NY on the Dawn . . . May 1, 2005

 

NCL Majesty 11/98

CCL Ecstasy 1/01

CCL Fascination 11/01

CCL Fascination 4/03

RCI Majesty of the Seas 8/03

CCL Imagination 12/03

CCL Fascination 5/04

[gardencat]

Shirleygr

I wish you the best on your next cruise.

I think you have it right, as long as the home office doesn't need to get involved it should probably be fine. I have heard some disappointing reviews on the Sky recently but I think the Dawn is still providing great service and great cruising.

[shirleygr]

Thanks, gardencat.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The idea of Freestyle seems to make the most sense for our family as we are taking our little girls who will be 3 and 5 next year. I've heard pretty good things on the kids program and being able to work dining around nap schedules, etc is really appealing. I hope your problems with NCL get sorted out sooner rather than later.

 

Shirley

cruising-courtesy-kindness

 

3-Night Anniversary Cruise on Majesty of the Seas . . . January 7, 2005

 

Cruising with my girls from NY on the Dawn . . . May 1, 2005

 

NCL Majesty 11/98

CCL Ecstasy 1/01

CCL Fascination 11/01

CCL Fascination 4/03

RCI Majesty of the Seas 8/03

CCL Imagination 12/03

CCL Fascination 5/04

[gardencat]

This is a thread that was meant to give a chance for people to relate their NCL guest relations experiences both good and bad. I can't guarantee that everyone will like all the posts but, as far as I am concerned, this thread is not meant to be limited to only one type of experience.

[Fran Lewis]

This is for cmitch 9999: Please share your contact!!! Need e mail address, phone # and contact's name. We also sent two certified letters, one to Colin Veatch and another cc. to the lady in charge of customer service. Did you get any responce from Mr. Veatch? Don't believe that we will, but at least we are lucky in having an attorney in Tallahassee, Fl.!!!! Maybe he will have better luck in helping with some of our concerns. My e mail is: weenameit@adelphia.net. Thanks for info. Fran

[bigsweeps]

I guess I've been lucky. I've had excellent experiences with guest relations. Once cruise about 4 years ago on the Majesty, we had some issues. We wrote a nice letter and stated our disappointment but also praised most of the crew for the good aspects of the cruise. We received two $500 gift certificates towards a future cruise (no limitations other than a year to use it). Then last year we were in the Owner's Suite on the Dawn and they keycard wouldn't work in the door - so for about 4 days we couldn't get into our room without the room steward or engineer opening the door for us (which became a real hassle as you often had to wait 15-30 minutes in the hall.) We met with the senior officers onboard to address this problem, but other than treating us to dinner in Le Bistro and a couple bottles of wine, they said there was nothing they could do. We didn't let it ruin our cruise (because the room was spectacular!) but it was a major inconvenience. Again, I wrote a letter (kept it brief and to the point) and to my amazement, received a FULL refund for the cruise about 3 months later. If that isn't customer service, I don't know what is. That is why I stay with NCL.

 

I think the key things are as follows:

If you have an issue onboard, try to elevate it as high as you can and get it documented. I'm not talking about petty stuff (like my lobster tasted like rubber). If you have an issue with your room steward, try to talk to the Hotel Manager and see if he corrects the problem. If not, ask for his supervisor and so on. Each week, the senior officers send a report of all incidences to headquarters and if there isn't something in this documentation about your problem, NCL's customer service isn't as likely to respond. When something is in the report, customer service puts more priority in handling those issues. Also, those reports are read by several individuals - and action is taken appropriately. But if it isn't in the report - how is anyone to know it really happened?

 

Don't be hostile or rude since this is a surefire way to have someone not want to rectify the situation - be as polite as possible and treat others as you would want to be treated. Would you rather help someone who is yelling and screaming at you or someone who is almost in tears but very nice and understanding?

 

Keep any letters you write brief and to the point. It should not be more than one page. I was told by my TA that they will ignore letters longer than that. I never sent mine registered - so I don't think that is a necessity.

 

July 10th NCL Spirit

[Luanne]

I haven't had to call NCL for any complaints on the two cruises we have already taken, because everything about them were great. I have called NCL to book a cruise, do a birthday package, to make sure that they got our shore excursions, to make sure that my online reservations were received and all calls were for 3 different cruises. Each CS rep was friendly and curteous and answered my question within a matter of minutes. Everything was taken care of and we will see how this 3rd cruise goes. I don't see any problems as it looks like everything has been done so now to enjoy Alaska.

 

Norwegian Star June 20,2004

[gardencat]

Luanne,

Glad everything is working out for you.

Your cruise is sooo close! Hope you have a great time and will post a review when you get back.