NCL Ranks Bottom 2 In Customer Satisfaction Survey

[Highboy90]

JD power does or did customer surveys regarding new car owners. Rated the FIRST 30 DAYS of ownership in one particular instance that I recall. Worthless in MY book.

 

I don't put much stock in this survey either. :p

[kylenyc]

Found this... Penn State University sample size margin of error (1.8% for a sample size of 3000)

https://onlinecourses.science.psu.edu/stat100/node/17

 

The JD Powers survey had 3003 participants so the error rate is 1.8%. So yes, the sample size is too small except to identify Disney as "Better than most" for the purpose of licensing that result. This means NCL's score can be 817 plus or minus 1.8% (range of 802 to 832) which also means they could have scored higher or lower than all cruise lines in the survey except Disney.

 

Surveys can also be subject to the follow problems:

Quote:

1. Using the wrong sampling frame. This problem is also called selection bias.
   
2. Not reaching the individuals selected.
   
3. Getting “no response” or a “volunteer response.”
   

[fshagan]

I like Kylenyc's quote above, based on what I know of JD Power and statistics.

 

The sample size is larger than most, and a good sample size. I'm not an expert on statistics, but you have to remember we determine the unemployment rate of 300 million people based on 60,000 households and 550,000 employers that are surveyed each month.

 

JD Powers is a marketing firm for companies who want data on how their customers feel about them, not a "consumer's report" type of organization that intends to inform or educate the public.

 

So their mission is very different than what we are thinking. Answering the question "what do our customers think of us?" is very different than "what cruise line do I want to cruise?"

 

Having been in the position of using data from surveys for customer service purposes, I can tell you it has very little to do with overall customer service. It has to do with specific, below the fold issues that you have to address either by some corrective action (rare), marketing (much more common), or persuasion (most common).

[newmexicoNita]

NCL also has the lowest rated ships on Cruise Critic (of the major cruise lines).

 

Not sure I understand why though. Royal gets upper 80%, and even the much older Carnival Liberty gets 80% while NCL Breakaway gets 67% and most other NCL ships are in the low 70% range.

 

Absolutely not true. .Where did you get that information?

[newmexicoNita]

The survey asked 3,003 participants - barely one ship's worth of passengers. In 2010 alone, there were 14,300,000 cruisers.. you can use statistics to show just about anything I guess!

 

Not to mention it was just one poll and the difference between the top and the bottom were so close, this means absolutely nothing. I wonder, when someone chooses to come to a thread and post something like this, what their true motive is, don't you?

[newmexicoNita]

Interesting. Thanks for posting.

 

Out of curiosity was there any reason for you to even post this, especially on the NCL board?

[Cruisercl]

First of all, let me thank all of you for this great discussion. I love this!

 

My 'stats' opinion/take on the sample size.

 

It is not just the number (3003). It is about the number of known possible survey responders (population), JD Power gave this number, 14,000,000, compared to the actual amount that completed the survey. 3003 cruisers that completed the survey is 2-3% of the total known population.

 

If someone did a survey of 100 people (known population) and only 3 people answered would you consider these results a good representation? It is only 3%. (This is really the easier aspect of stats.)

 

In my corporate/marketing experience this type of information is used in marketing and often are very biased (for or against). It really is too bad that people are lead to believe these types of things; I guess it really is buyer beware. :D

 

Thanks again!!

[sail2sea]

The ranking doesn't surprise me. But I would have had Carnival further down in score. That's all.

[kylenyc]

First of all, let me thank all of you for this great discussion. I love this!

 

My 'stats' opinion/take on the sample size.

 

It is not just the number (3003). It is about the number of known possible survey responders (population), JD Power gave this number, 14,000,000, compared to the actual amount that completed the survey. 3003 cruisers that completed the survey is 2-3% of the total known population.

 

If someone did a survey of 100 people (known population) and only 3 people answered would you consider these results a good representation? It is only 3%. (This is really the easier aspect of stats.)

 

In my corporate/marketing experience this type of information is used in marketing and often are very biased (for or against). It really is too bad that people are lead to believe these types of things; I guess it really is buyer beware. :D

 

Thanks again!!

 

Hi Cruisercl!

 

Yeah, not just caveat emptor but caveat ad hominem.

 

All this talk of stats and surveys reminds me of this commercial ... "

"

 

:p:D

[OceanBlue123]

NCL also has the lowest rated ships on Cruise Critic (of the major cruise lines).

 

Not sure I understand why though. Royal gets upper 80%, and even the much older Carnival Liberty gets 80% while NCL Breakaway gets 67% and most other NCL ships are in the low 70% range.

Absolutely not true. .Where did you get that information?

 

His numbers look similar to the ones I found here:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=360

and here:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=642

 

In fact, those links show you that the Liberty is still at 80% but the Breakaway has gotten WORSE and is now at 64%. This shows that the recent reviews have NOT gotten better.

[Cruisercl]

Hi Cruisercl!

 

Yeah, not just caveat emptor but caveat ad hominem.

 

All this talk of stats and surveys reminds me of this commercial ... "

"

 

:p:D

 

 

No kidding!!:p:p

[KeithJenner]

It is not just the number (3003). It is about the number of known possible survey responders (population), JD Power gave this number, 14,000,000, compared to the actual amount that completed the survey. 3003 cruisers that completed the survey is 2-3% of the total known population.

 

If someone did a survey of 100 people (known population) and only 3 people answered would you consider these results a good representation? It is only 3%. (This is really the easier aspect of stats.)

 

Unfortunately that is totally wrong.

 

When you are looking at sample sizes, the number which really makes the difference is the sample size. Only at the extremes does the population size make a real difference/

 

In your example, no I would certainly not trust a sample which includes three people from a population of 100, it has a margin of error of 56%.

 

But, to look at your example another way, would you trust a sample of 50 out of 100 people more than one sampling 3,003 people out of 14 million? I suspect many people would, but they would be incredibly wrong. It would give a margin of error of 9.85%, compared to the 1.79% MOE which the 3,003 sample from 14 million gives.

 

In fact, for a sample of a population of 100 people to be as accurate as the sample of 3,003 out of 14 million, you would need to survey 97 of them.

 

I know that doesn't sound logical, but it is a fact.

 

Honestly, criticise this survey as much as you want, but 3,003 people out of 14 million is not the problem.

[SuiteCruiser]

Unfortunately that is totally wrong.

 

When you are looking at sample sizes, the number which really makes the difference is the sample size. Only at the extremes does the population size make a real difference/

 

In your example, no I would certainly not trust a sample which includes three people from a population of 100, it has a margin of error of 56%.

 

But, to look at your example another way, would you trust a sample of 50 out of 100 people more than one sampling 3,003 people out of 14 million? I suspect many people would, but they would be incredibly wrong. It would give a margin of error of 9.85%, compared to the 1.79% MOE which the 3,003 sample from 14 million gives.

 

In fact, for a sample of a population of 100 people to be as accurate as the sample of 3,003 out of 14 million, you would need to survey 97 of them.

 

I know that doesn't sound logical, but it is a fact.

 

Honestly, criticise this survey as much as you want, but 3,003 people out of 14 million is not the problem.

 

There were 3000 people surveyed, were there 375 for each line surveyed, or were there proportionately more for Carnival and Royal since their market share is higher, could only 100 people have been surveyed for NCL? I guess these are the things that really make me question it. Normally following a survery all of the data is also disclosed or it can be manipulated however they want to manipulate it.

[KeithJenner]

There were 3000 people surveyed, were there 375 for each line surveyed, or were there proportionately more for Carnival and Royal since their market share is higher, could only 100 people have been surveyed for NCL? I guess these are the things that really make me question it. Normally following a survery all of the data is also disclosed or it can be manipulated however they want to manipulate it.

 

Absolutely, this point was raised last time we had this same discussion. We don't know the details and there is potential for significant margin of error issues here.

 

I think that it is generally accepted that this is potentially a deeply flawed survey, and I imagine that there are significant issues with it.

 

I have in the past done a lot of analysis of polls, and I'm afraid I can get quite pedantic about it. The only point I am making here is that the constant references to the 14 million population as being the issue are totally wrong. A sample of 3,003 people in a population of 14 million is only slightly less reliable than if the population was only 20,000.

 

Unfortunately, we have no idea about the selection criteria and the number of people who travelled on each line, so we can't actually assess the poll. That is nothing to do with 14 million people being in the population though.

[SuiteCruiser]

Absolutely, this point was raised last time we had this same discussion. We don't know the details and there is potential for significant margin of error issues here.

 

I think that it is generally accepted that this is potentially a deeply flawed survey, and I imagine that there are significant issues with it.

 

I have in the past done a lot of analysis of polls, and I'm afraid I can get quite pedantic about it. The only point I am making here is that the constant references to the 14 million population as being the issue are totally wrong. A sample of 3,003 people in a population of 14 million is only slightly less reliable than if the population was only 20,000.

 

Unfortunately, we have no idea about the selection criteria and the number of people who travelled on each line, so we can't actually assess the poll. That is nothing to do with 14 million people being in the population though.

 

I totally understand that. I just think with all so close and like Kyle pointed out, the margin of error makes the results useless. I would hope someone wouldn't see them and make an important decision based on them.

[KeithJenner]

I totally understand that. I just think with all so close and like Kyle pointed out, the margin of error makes the results useless. I would hope someone wouldn't see them and make an important decision based on them.

 

Actually, I think it is even worse than Kyle's posting suggests. He assumes that the score of 817 equates in some way to a percentage of 81.7% (and I can see why he has), but I don't actually think this is the case. It is some sort of contrived score. You can only really use MOE calculations on a base percentage (i.e. if it said 81.7% said they thought NCL were good).

 

We basically know nothing about how they have come up with these scores so there is huge potential of error in the analysis of the data.

 

I will point out that I haven't looked very hard at the little data they have supplied. You don't need to look very hard to realise that looking harder isn't going to help much.

[SuiteCruiser]

Actually, I think it is even worse than Kyle's posting suggests. He assumes that the score of 817 equates in some way to a percentage of 81.7% (and I can see why he has), but I don't actually think this is the case. It is some sort of contrived score. You can only really use MOE calculations on a base percentage (i.e. if it said 81.7% said they thought NCL were good).

 

We basically know nothing about how they have come up with these scores so there is huge potential of error in the analysis of the data.

 

I will point out that I haven't looked very hard at the little data they have supplied. You don't need to look very hard to realise that looking harder isn't going to help much.

 

So true!

[david_sobe]

Boy this thread keeps going and going. It really has the cheerleaders up in arms. I think the survey could be an accurate reflection because the lines that are at the top are known for their customer service. For example, Holland of America has servants wearing white gloves while serving your cocktails. They are known for that kind of service.

I have been sailing NCL at least one or two cruises a year since March 2009. The service has been fine. However, the last 2 cruises since 2010, I have seen the service slide considerably. We brushed it off on Epic this year because we thought they took all the experienced crew to the Breakaway. But who knows? I do agree there has been a slide. As long as NCL comes ahead of Carnival, everything will be fine. But lets hope the next survey does not have Carnival beating NCL. Time for NCL to step it up a notch or two.

 

But let me give you a good example how clueless some NCL managers are. We sailed Epic for the second time this past February. We sailed with inlaws from Argentina who were not experts in the English language. Epic sails from Miami and Barcelona so we thought there would be no problems getting some menus in Spanish. We went to the Epic club - could not find them (although they said they had them), went to Cagneys - could not find them, went to La Cucina - they found them but it took so long and we translated everything already. So each night was a burden with the staff looking at us like we had 2 heads asking for a menu in spanish. I was at the front desk and I was wasting time on the internet but I wanted to bring it to the attention of the Epic restaurant manager - NOT as a complaint but to make sure the menus are available for the next customer. I mean really, Miami and Barcenlona are the 2 biggenst spanish speaking cities in the world. Anyway, the restaurant manager was very nice and was surprised to hear the difficulty we were experiencing. He then offered me a bottle of wine. I declined and I was making it clear, I was not complaining. But he seemed so out of it and almost thought the wine was going to solve everything. I was NOT trying to score free cheap wine. I was doing what I THOUGHT was a favor and service to NCL and their customers.

This is how a REAL and experienced cruise line restaurant manger would handle a situation like this.

Manager: Sorry for the inconvenience but give me a list of all the restaurants you had trouble in and I will make sure they find the menus or get them. This is not acceptable for us.

 

Later that night was the Latitudes party. The crew took the stage at Bliss but made sure NO handshaking (ok germs) but also NO questions were allowed to be asked. I mean really NCL, you have the most loyal customers in your lounge and you wont even engage them in conversation?

 

IMO the customer service management team at NCL is very disconnected. We only experienced bad customer service on NCL a few times of all the times we sailed. But no doubt IMO, the customer service is slipping on NCL. Look at the Breakaway reviews. People love the ship but state how bad the customer service is. Look at Gambee's review. He is probably the nicest person on these boards and even he was taken aback how bad and rude some of the customer service is on NCL. Dont even get me started with the call center ;)

 

C'mon NCL. Step it up a notch or two ;)

[ClaireAndMike]

Yes, that is interesting but like others have pointed out, there isn't a huge different in the numbers.

 

I am relatively new to cruising, two taken, two upcoming and I plan to take at least one a year in the future, but I have never had a problem so I haven't really experienced customer service from a problem solving point of view. The normal, day to day interactions (stewards, dining staff, recreation, etc) have always been wonderful. Although, I require very little and am always so happy to be on vacation so I'm likely more low maintenance compared to some.

[Cruisercl]

Unfortunately that is totally wrong. Wow, a bit of respect would be nice.

 

When you are looking at sample sizes, the number which really makes the difference is the sample size. Only at the extremes does the population size make a real difference/ Not really true in my research experience.

 

In your example, no I would certainly not trust a sample which includes three people from a population of 100, it has a margin of error of 56%.

 

But, to look at your example another way, would you trust a sample of 50 out of 100 people more than one sampling 3,003 people out of 14 million? I suspect many people would, but they would be incredibly wrong. It would give a margin of error of 9.85%, compared to the 1.79% MOE which the 3,003 sample from 14 million gives. We do not only look at MOE for good data.

 

In fact, for a sample of a population of 100 people to be as accurate as the sample of 3,003 out of 14 million, you would need to survey 97 of them. Agreed.

 

I know that doesn't sound logical, but it is a fact. ????

 

Honestly, criticise this survey as much as you want, but 3,003 people out of 14 million is not the problem. It appears to be your opinion.

 

 

It appears we do stats in research differently; I do not do marketing research so maybe that is the difference. Marketing research tends to be less rigorous. Scientific vs marketing? Inferential vs descriptive???

If our rate of return on a survey was only 3% we would not bother to publish the results. We would be laughed at.

 

I think this is a really good example to how 'stats' rigorous or not can be biased and skewed depending on the perspective.

 

Again, thanks for the discussion! :)

[SuiteCruiser]

Boy this thread keeps going and going. It really has the cheerleaders up in arms. I think the survey could be an accurate reflection because the lines that are at the top are known for their customer service. For example, Holland of America has servants wearing white gloves while serving your cocktails. They are known for that kind of service.

I have been sailing NCL at least one or two cruises a year since March 2009. The service has been fine. However, the last 2 cruises since 2010, I have seen the service slide considerably. We brushed it off on Epic this year because we thought they took all the experienced crew to the Breakaway. But who knows? I do agree there has been a slide. As long as NCL comes ahead of Carnival, everything will be fine. But lets hope the next survey does not have Carnival beating NCL. Time for NCL to step it up a notch or two.

 

But let me give you a good example how clueless some NCL managers are. We sailed Epic for the second time this past February. We sailed with inlaws from Argentina who were not experts in the English language. Epic sails from Miami and Barcelona so we thought there would be no problems getting some menus in Spanish. We went to the Epic club - could not find them (although they said they had them), went to Cagneys - could not find them, went to La Cucina - they found them but it took so long and we translated everything already. So each night was a burden with the staff looking at us like we had 2 heads asking for a menu in spanish. I was at the front desk and I was wasting time on the internet but I wanted to bring it to the attention of the Epic restaurant manager - NOT as a complaint but to make sure the menus are available for the next customer. I mean really, Miami and Barcenlona are the 2 biggenst spanish speaking cities in the world. Anyway, the restaurant manager was very nice and was surprised to hear the difficulty we were experiencing. He then offered me a bottle of wine. I declined and I was making it clear, I was not complaining. But he seemed so out of it and almost thought the wine was going to solve everything.

This is how a REAL and experienced cruise line restaurant manger would handle a situation like this.

Manager: Sorry for the inconvenience but give me a list of all the restaurants you had trouble in and I will make sure they find the menus or get them. This is not acceptable for us.

 

Later that night was the Latitudes party. The crew took the stage at Bliss but made sure NO handshaking (ok germs) but also NO questions were allowed to be asked. I mean really NCL, you have the most loyal customers in your lounge and you wont even engage them in conversation?

 

IMO the customer service management team at NCL is very disconnected. We only experienced bad customer service on NCL a few times of all the times we sailed. But no doubt IMO, the customer service is slipping on NCL. Look at the Breakaway reviews. People love the ship but state how bad the customer service is. Look at Gambee's review. He is probably the nicest person on these boards and even he was taken aback how bad some of the customer service is on NCL.

 

C'mon NCL. Step it up a notch or two ;)

 

I'm sorry you had problems with the menus on Epic. It should have been easily resolved and it wasn't. I've seen you post that story several times, so I know it's something that really bothers you.

 

Like I just said in another thread, why don't you read the more recent reviews of BA, they are mostly all positive. The first month or so, I'm not surprised there are issues. The more recent reviews say the staff are amazing, which is more in line with the experiences I've had over the last 8 years sailing with NCL.

[david_sobe]

I'm sorry you had problems with the menus on Epic. It should have been easily resolved and it wasn't. I've seen you post that story several times, so I know it's something that really bothers you.

 

Like I just said in another thread, why don't you read the more recent reviews of BA, they are mostly all positive. The first month or so, I'm not surprised there are issues. The more recent reviews say the staff are amazing, which is more in line with the experiences I've had over the last 8 years sailing with NCL.

You misunderstood my post completely. I am not saying the service is bad. The story of the menus does not bother me. Only used it as a reference since it was the ONLY time to ever meet and talk to a member of the mangement team on a NCL ship. Just trying to get a point across. My wife is a regional manager of several restaurants. We know the challenges of customer service.

Just our opinion that it is not as good as it once was (but few things are these days).

In 2010 the Epic Club had their own staff and they were amazing. They called you by your name and it floored me everytime. Now, they pull wait staff from all other restaurants and there were new people writing things down, repeating them 5 times over, and still gettting the orders wrong. We would NEVER complain and feel sympathy for the new workers. But things definately changed.

Yes of course there are wonderful reviews of Breakaway. Love them all. And YES I know people complain about trivial things. HOWEVER, if you read back ALL the reviews of NCL ships, usually the service is not one of the complaints. Suddenly things are changing.

Another fact is the Breakaway is a new and popular ship. They have them packed in like sardines. That can always create a bad environment for a cruise.

[SuiteCruiser]

You misunderstood my post completely. I am not saying the service is bad. The story of the menus does not bother me. Only used it as a reference since it was the ONLY time to ever meet and talk to a member of the mangement team on a NCL ship. Just trying to get a point across. My wife is a regional manager of several restaurants. We know the challenges of customer service.

Just our opinion that it is not as good as it once was (but few things are these days).

Yes of course there are wonderful reviews of Breakaway. Love them all. And YES I know people complain about trivial things. HOWEVER, if you read back ALL the reviews of NCL ships, usually the service is not one of the complaints. Suddenly things are changing.

 

I get that. I just think that they are also changing back. Maybe not to 2005, but the bad service reviews on Breakaway are not happening as much, which tells me that they've corrected the behaviour. (as they should!)

[triplett]

Last year I cruised on Disney in May and then NCL in November. It was my first cruise on both lines.

 

I agree Disney is the best cruiseline. The staff is amazing. I also think free soda has a lot to do with it. Also the fact that you can bring on your own wine and booze too.

 

That being said I LOVED the staff on NCL. I can honestly say I have no complaints about either cruise line. I will note, however, that I was in a penthouse on NCL and now I'm wondering if that had anything to do with it.

 

I will reserve my opinion until I go on the Breakaway in a balcony in August.

 

I have been on 2 NCL cruises, both balcony rooms ~ At least 5 CCL cruises, some inside and some outside rooms ~ and I have stayed at the Grand Floridian at WDW in Orlando, FL. (I know it isn't a cruise)

I had fantastic service at each level of the vacation experience. I find that my attitude and treatment of others is a better indicator of my vacation experience than anything else.

[NH Cruisers]

I would love to sail on Disney and then give a comparison. But they are way more expensive, by many hundreds even thousands of dollars. Free sodas dont make up for that. Especially since I never drink soda.

 

I have sailed Holland America, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Celebrity and Norweigian Cruise Line. None seemed heads up best all around. Each had their good points. Yes... I even liked Carnival. I bet Disney isn't way better. The folks I know who have sailed them liked it but they didn't like them better than NCL in all respects. Diney ships I feel are the most beautiful of the new builds IMO.