They Tried To Steer Me Away From NCL

[funat55]

I am anxiously looking forward to my first NCL cruise next year on the Pearl. I happened to be at the Auto Club today updating my membership and I asked if I could please have a brochure for NCL.

 

They asked me about my plans and I told them I was planning a trip for next year but I did not tell them I was already booked. I mentioned that I had done many Carnival cruises and that I had been on the Oasis of the Seas and was looking for a smaller ship this time.

 

Well, she said, if you've sailed with RCCL, then you are not going to be happy with NCL. The food isn't as good and neither is the service. I just said "really"??? and thanked her for the brochure. The girl tried to talk to me more about the other cruiselines and I got the feeling that she was probably getting a bigger fee for pushing one line over another, but I don't know that for sure.

 

All I know is that I am my own best critic. I will decide for myself what I think about NCL. My nephew worked on the Dawn earlier this year as a DJ and his parents (my brother and his wife) sailed during the time he was working and they said it was the best cruise they had ever been on.

 

I've been lurking around on the NCL boards ever since I booked my cruise for next year, and it seems to me that I have nothing to worry about. Plus I think the NCL alumni that share their feedback are some of the nicest most honest posters I seen.

 

Shame on that TA for trying to sway me.

[emcelh]

I am anxiously looking forward to my first NCL cruise next year on the Pearl. I happened to be at the Auto Club today updating my membership and I asked if I could please have a brochure for NCL.

 

They asked me about my plans and I told them I was planning a trip for next year but I did not tell them I was already booked. I mentioned that I had done many Carnival cruises and that I had been on the Oasis of the Seas and was looking for a smaller ship this time.

 

Well, she said, if you've sailed with RCCL, then you are not going to be happy with NCL. The food isn't as good and neither is the service. I just said "really"??? and thanked her for the brochure. The girl tried to talk to me more about the other cruiselines and I got the feeling that she was probably getting a bigger fee for pushing one line over another, but I don't know that for sure.

 

All I know is that I am my own best critic. I will decide for myself what I think about NCL. My nephew worked on the Dawn earlier this year as a DJ and his parents (my brother and his wife) sailed during the time he was working and they said it was the best cruise they had ever been on.

 

I've been lurking around on the NCL boards ever since I booked my cruise for next year, and it seems to me that I have nothing to worry about. Plus I think the NCL alumni that share their feedback are some of the nicest most honest posters I seen.

 

Shame on that TA for trying to sway me.

 

I've heard the same thing about AAA. I have no idea what's behind it, but I expect you are probably right. They earn more in commissions and overrides by selling other cruiselines. I wonder if the person you spoke to had any first hand experience with NCL. Probably not.

[DMH15]

You sound like someone who will LOVE NCL!

[cruza]

I am anxiously looking forward to my first NCL cruise next year on the Pearl. I happened to be at the Auto Club today updating my membership and I asked if I could please have a brochure for NCL.

 

 

I've been lurking around on the NCL boards ever since I booked my cruise for next year, and it seems to me that I have nothing to worry about. Plus I think the NCL alumni that share their feedback are some of the nicest most honest posters I seen.

 

Shame on that TA for trying to sway me.

 

TA are getting less commisions from NCL/

[funat55]

You sound like someone who will LOVE NCL!

 

 

Lol, Thank you very much. I've watched the MSBC special "Big Money on the High Seas" about 20 times. That Kevin Sheehan seems like a very nice man who cares about our crusing experience. Plus I have noticed that from time to time, someone who actually works for NCL will post on this board. I have never seen that on the other boards.

[cruizinEllen]

NCL is not one of AAA's "preferred providers". I take that to mean that they do not earn as much comission with NCL as they do with other lines, therefore discourage their clients from booking.

 

We are booked on the Epic for next Nov and am looking forward to it. Love to experience all the lines....Have never had a bad cruise yet.

[JohnIreland]

Lol, Thank you very much. I've watched the MSBC special "Big Money on the High Seas" about 20 times. That Kevin Sheehan seems like a very nice man who cares about our crusing experience. Plus I have noticed that from time to time, someone who actually works for NCL will post on this board. I have never seen that on the other boards.

 

Kevin himself has posted here before.

 

As above it's been reported before that the commission is the issue.

[NYGirl1002]

I've been on 4 cruises, all with different cruise lines. I've been on cruise critic since I booked my first cruise..so I've hung around each forum before my cruises.

 

The one thing I noticed that seems to be the constant for NCL is the service. I am really looking forward to cruising with them in November just to meet the staff. I'm a people person so I enjoy chatting with the wait staff and various employees.

[Travelnuts Wife]

We have sailed on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and several cruises on Holland America. We always booked through AAA. When I mentioned we would like to try Norwegian we were told immediately that we would not like Norwegian it certainly was not for us. I booked directly with Norwegian and was so thrilled with the cruise that I booked another cruise a couple of days after we got home. We leave 10/10/12 on our 2nd Norwegian cruise and have booked a third for May 2013. We l-o-v-e free style and not having to dress up or be assigned a time to eat. The entire staff and crew are extremely friendly and helpful. The food and choices are great. What's not to like.

[kylenyc]

Kinda disappointed to hear the auto club do that. Thanks for the post.

 

Bon voyage and hope you have a great cruise.

[xenagurl]

Hearing things like this makes me just want to book with NCL directly all the more. How can someone tell you what you will like when they don't even know you? :rolleyes: Have a great time on your cruise!

[DMH15]

We have sailed on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and several cruises on Holland America. We always booked through AAA. When I mentioned we would like to try Norwegian we were told immediately that we would not like Norwegian it certainly was not for us. I booked directly with Norwegian and was so thrilled with the cruise that I booked another cruise a couple of days after we got home. We leave 10/10/12 on our 2nd Norwegian cruise and have booked a third for May 2013. We l-o-v-e free style and not having to dress up or be assigned a time to eat. The entire staff and crew are extremely friendly and helpful. The food and choices are great. What's not to like.

 

Haha. Jokes on them. Basically they gave up LESS commission to NO commission... Good for you!!!

[Hikini]

I have a friend who is a TA. She said she gets the best commission from HAL, but she brags most about NCL because of her customers happiness after each cruise.

 

We have used her for a total of 46 NCL cruises, counting each person each cruise. We love NCL!

[funat55]

I have a friend who is a TA. She said she gets the best commission from HAL, but she brags most about NCL because of her customers happiness after each cruise.

 

We have used her for a total of 46 NCL cruises, counting each person each cruise. We love NCL!

 

Good for your friend for telling it like it is. Customer feedback is a lot more trustworthy then a TA who gives an opinion based on the commission they will receive.

[latebloomer56]

TA are getting less commisions from NCL/

Guess we are lucky with our TA. Told her we wanted to try our 2013 cruise out of NY ( I love this port). When we said we also wanted to try a suite this trip. NCL was her suggestion. We have cruised once before out of Boston (our home port) to Bermuda, very restful . As I have read here no line does the suite life like NCL :). We generally have a mini on Princess. We sail with a line by where we want to go, so far. Who knows may be spoiled with the suite life in May.

Thanks to all of the CC members who have helped me through the years. Can't even begin to tell you everything I have learned.

Laura

[halos]

NCL is not one of AAA's "preferred providers". I take that to mean that they do not earn as much comission with NCL as they do with other lines, therefore discourage their clients from booking.

 

 

BINGO!

AAA has tried to steer people from NCL for years...many years. This is truly sad for AAA members who take that advice because they're missing out on somethign pretty awesome imo.

[Studebaker59]

This reminds me of the Honda car salesman who had sold me a previous car. When I went back to him a few years later, I asked about a new model, the Fit, that was about to be introduced by Honda.

 

He said "Oh. you wouldn't want that" and showed me other cars.

 

I walked out an bought a Toyota elsewhere. I enjoy my car, but every time I see the Honda Fit, I say that would have been perfect for me.

 

I guess we're not always privy to the salesperson's motives.

[johnsak123]

The Ta probably makes more commission on RCCL

I have sailed on both and prefer NCL. Food is always a matter of taste and just becasue i hate it doesnt mean you wont like it. As for the staff I would say 95% of the time they are just wonderful. There are exceptions. For example the restaurant manager waited on our table becasue there was a mix up and we didnt have a waitperson. I am not a big talker but my friends are and he proceeded to tell us how glad he was that NCL didnt cruise around the waters near Israel and how pro Palestinian he was. Dont know how they got on that subject but my dinner guests were very offended since one of them is Jewish. I on the other hand didnt pay attention because I am not big on small talk especially with a stranger. YES I am polite just not a big talker..... :)

[keystoneboarder]

Whether it's a travel agent, real estate agent, financial adviser, or any type of "Professional", if they're reason for selling you something is because of their commission, you need to find a better "Professional."

 

Beware of agents or agencies who are only interested in their commission. They do not have your interest in mind.

[Tapi]

Well, she said, if you've sailed with RCCL, then you are not going to be happy with NCL. The food isn't as good and neither is the service. I just said "really"??? and thanked her for the brochure. The girl tried to talk to me more about the other cruiselines and I got the feeling that she was probably getting a bigger fee for pushing one line over another, but I don't know that for sure.\Shame on that TA for trying to sway me.

 

We always book our cruises online, but I always walk by our local TA because they have brochures on outdoor racks for people to take :D

 

Anyway, one day, an agent was outside and asked me what I was looking for. I asked her if she had any Carnival brochures and she made a "something stinks" face and said "Oh no, we don't sell Carnival" (somewhat with an attitude). So I asked her why not and she said "our clientele is not interested in traveling on THAT kind of cruise line. We cater to a different demographic." (which I thought was funny since I live in a suburban, family oriented part of town which seems to be one of Carnival's target groups).

 

I just gave her a dumbfounded look and kept walking. I DO think that they get compensated more by specific cruise lines, because for example at this particular TA, most of their cruise posters and brochures are Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Azamara, which leads me to believe that thet DO have something going with the corporation that owns these 3 cruise lines.

 

P.S They DO carry NCL brochures though...:)

[emcelh]

Whether it's a travel agent, real estate agent, financial adviser, or any type of "Professional", if they're reason for selling you something is because of their commission, you need to find a better "Professional."

 

Beware of agents or agencies who are only interested in their commission. They do not have your interest in mind.

 

I have to agree with you. AAA wasn't always this way though. Then again, it might vary from office to office. I worked for them for several years , late 70's to early 80's and, while they had preferred suppliers as all agencies do, we didn't try to steer someone away if they requested something else

[crewser1]

I have know idea what the commission difference is between lines or what incentives the TA's are given during a certain period of time. I would think the standard commission would be less of a factor in trying to persuade someone to a particular cruise line than any current sales incentive a line is providing the TA's, but that is only a guess on my part. I also have never been on an NCL cruise, but have one booked for next spring. In doing research on this board, reviewing various websites ratings/reviews and talking to some TA's, NCL is usually in the mid to lower tier of cruise lines. I used the information below along with what I've read here on CC to make my decision, but somewhere along the line it appears NCL (as well as the other cruise lines) got labeled and sometimes that's difficult to change - and perhaps this is one reason some TA's don't recommend NCL vs the others.

 

NCL listed at bottom:

http://www.galaxsea.com/ratings.html

 

No mention of NCL:

http://www.cntraveler.com/cruises/polls/2012/top-100-cruise-ships-in-the-world

 

Here's one (IMO, a good source) that's really positive towards NCL.

http://www.frommers.com/trip_ideas/cruise/mainstreamlines/norwegiancruiseline/norwegiancruiseline.html

[Cruiser Bruiser]

OP, I've been on the Pearl the past two Mays, and I had a wonderful time on both cruises. I hope you do, too. I'm glad to see Frommer's has an objective view of NCL that is more in line with the opinions of those who have sailed its ships.:rolleyes:

[bonvoyagie]

I just watched an interesting show on the Science channel about preception. In one case they presented the exact same box wine in two different bottles - one with a plain simple label the other with a fancy label and Italian sounding name. Well every person thought the wine in the fancy bottle tasted better than the one in the plain bottle.

 

I think that the cruise industry has developed similar bias over the years - we all think that Princess is the Love Boat, Carnival is the party ship, HAL is for old people, and Celeberty is for movie stars, and NCL is for people who are different :D.

 

As some people try to point out - the mass market cruise lines are more alike than different. That said, I have been loyal to NCL so I can't really comment on what other lines are like.

 

As for TAs, a GOOD one will do whatever it takes to make their customer's cruise a good one - after all they SHOULD be trying to turn a customer into a return client.

 

We now return you to your regular programming :rolleyes:

[emcelh]

I have know idea what the commission difference is between lines or what incentives the TA's are given during a certain period of time. I would think the standard commission would be less of a factor in trying to persuade someone to a particular cruise line than any current sales incentive a line is providing the TA's, but that is only a guess on my part. I also have never been on an NCL cruise, but have one booked for next spring. In doing research on this board, reviewing various websites ratings/reviews and talking to some TA's, NCL is usually in the mid to lower tier of cruise lines. I used the information below along with what I've read here on CC to make my decision, but somewhere along the line it appears NCL (as well as the other cruise lines) got labeled and sometimes that's difficult to change - and perhaps this is one reason some TA's don't recommend NCL vs the others.

 

NCL listed at bottom:

http://www.galaxsea.com/ratings.html

 

No mention of NCL:

http://www.cntraveler.com/cruises/polls/2012/top-100-cruise-ships-in-the-world

 

Here's one (IMO, a good source) that's really positive towards NCL.

http://www.frommers.com/trip_ideas/cruise/mainstreamlines/norwegiancruiseline/norwegiancruiseline.html

When I read the complaints here and in other forums about NCL, it seems that alot of the people who are not satisfied are those who were expecting a more traditional cruise experience. If they have a wait for a table in the MDR (which we never have had) they don't like it. They complain that people are dressed too casually. They didn't have the same waiter so no one knew their preferences in advance. NCL isn't for everyone but then neither is HAL or Celebrity or Disney. A good TA will make sure their client knows the differences and try to find a good match for them.