Unhappy staff?

[luckynumber6]

Any chance the good bartender was at the Atrium Bar - we spent most of our time there?

[mill4023]

We just returned from a 7 day on the Epic. Our only previous cruises were a 7 day on the Ruby Princess a couple of years ago and a 4 day on RCL many years ago. We didn't encounter any rude staff, but we did notice that overall, there wasn't much friendliness either. We did have a great server one night in the Manhattan room. He was super nice and friendly, but he was the exception. Overall, based on our admittedly limited experience, we found the service much better on Princess and RCL.

[rwslv]

Everyone so far on the Breakaway has been very nice and helpful. We are on the ship now and are having a great time!

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Karysa]

I think it could be more a case of a short trip equals more work (e.g. 2 cabin turnarounds a week instead of 1) and probably less extra tips (due to less engagement between passengers and staff).

 

This is very true. The SUN does 10 and 11 day cruises so in 21 days the SUN has 2 turn around days and the Sky which does 3 and 4 day cruises would have 6 turn around days.

 

The turn around days are only one thing to consider though. There would be many more names to learn and many more personal preferences. It would be much more difficult working on a ship that has 3 or 4 day cruises.

 

Also the ports are so much more interesting on the SUN compared to the same old ones over and over again on the SKY.

[lanceholt]

We just got off the 14 day repo cruise on the Dawn. Service was excellent and professional as well as friendly. In fact, I was impressed with the professionalism of the staff after the disaster in the Phil. Some of the people we interacted with had families who were affected, but they did their job so that you would never know unless you asked. We only asked our Butler, Concierge, and the hostess at Cagney's since we had so much interaction with them. 44% of the crew on the Dawn is Filipino btw.

[northed]

This is my first post,but a seasoned cruiser with NCL. It is very true that many of the crew are unhappy & looking elsewhere. Recently, the Court of Appeal in Abraham Wallace et al v NCL (Bahamas) ruled against the Seafarers on the claim for penalty wages. (Oct 3, 2013)

 

Just before the typhoon. These senior crew members are like family & openly admitted they need to look at their options. NCL, take note.

[boaterette]

Based on my two seven day cruises on NCL unhappy workers seem to be the norm. I even commented tot he ones I was cruising with that it was an oddity to have no one smile. And I have sailed on multiple lines. NCL just doesn't seem to me to be a happy place to work. But I am glad hat yu have had better experiences in the past.

[newmexicoNita]

Problems with management? Maybe, or maybe not since every company has those complain about their employer. I only say that because last month on the Gem we had some conversations with one of the bartenders who happened to remember us from the previous cruise almost a year prior. He had been with NCL for over 10 years and one of the reasons he stays is because of the way they treat their crew.

 

I'm not concerned that OP's experience might indicate a trend of unhappy crew members. There will always be a few bad apples but our experience last month was quite the opposite with prompt service and a lot of interaction with the crew, just as it's always been.

I agree, there are always a few who are not as pleasant as we would like, but it has been our experience, when talking to crew members, most of them have been with NCL for many years and most seem to love their job. I will report back, after our cruise in 3 weeks about the crew. I have a feeling, part of the problem the OP ran into had to do with the tragedy back home, because so many of the crew are from the Philipines. (spelling)

[halos]

I hope the OP writes corporate and tells them that staff members are "out of the blue" telling passengers how they hate their job. That is totally unprofessional. That kind of negativity spreads in companies.

 

I personally think it's good to write to corporate after every cruise on every line...the good and the bad.

I know with NCL, they really appreciate the feedback. Unlike some cruise lines that send a form letter in response, NCL writes back with direct responses to your comments.

 

It's not good enough to complain here or to your frineds/family...and NO company wants that!!! They want to hear from you, so if possible, they can fix the issues. It's only fair to them. :) jmo

(for the record, I don't think I have ever had a major complaint to send to NCL. The only thing I did say to them that was not glowing was that I absolutely HATE the fact that their bar waiters now have sections that they must stay in. They can no longer roam. If you have a favorite server and are hanging out at the pool and are not in their section, they can't wait on you, you have to move to their section.)

I wish they'd have left things alone. They have made a few changes (like that one) and I wonder if these changes are what's making the crew unhappy.

If something isn't broke, you shouldn't fix it :mad: It was perfect before.

 

Based on my two seven day cruises on NCL unhappy workers seem to be the norm. .

And see, that has never been my experience at all....just the opposite.

Something is up.....I am not feeling good about this.

NCL crew are the main reason I cruise NCL. If that changes I will be very upset.

Edited November 20, 2013 by halos

[johnsak123]

I think if a cruise ship has over a thousand employees on it you will definitely come across a few disgruntled employees. We actually came across a waiter in the MDR of the Gem who was rude, condescending and rather disrespectful to us and you can tell he didn't want to be there. We didn't complain but the next night we went to the MDR to eat and when the hostess went to sit us in the same section as the night before we asked not to be and told her we had bad service. The Assistant maître d heard us and personally escorted us into the same section and assured us the service would be impeccable and it was. We were cracking up because we had the same waiter as the night before. Go Figure

[Andoria]

I was on the NCL Dawn in August and I did find the crew to be unhappy. No one was downright rude but I did get a sense that many of them didn't like their jobs. Everyone in my family had the same opinion.

[Tiggertastic]

what a shame for the OPs experience, we have been on many NCL cruises and mention that their staff have been the happiest. We saw a stark difference when we did a week on RRCl then the following on NCL and have to say it was a joy to be with the NCL staff after the misery of the RCCL staff the week before.

 

Everyone has bad days and right now with what is happening in the Philippines there are a lot of stressed and worried staff who just can't take the week off like we do

[poffles]

I just got back from a 7 day on Epic and found staff to be a bit indifferent. Some were great but there was still and underwhelming feeling with regards to service but thankfully nobody being overtly rude. Hard to really explain but it was my experience on this ship for this sailing with the other 4000 I was sailing with, just as it was the OPs experience who seems to have a good history to compare against.

 

Sometimes things are just not 100% rosy and, I can't speak for anyone else but, I want to hear the good and the bad ... otherwise this site would get a little boring and useless :)

 

Sucks when the experience just doesn't live up to expectations, which is why I bought a Future Cruise Credit so I can check out another ship/another sailing/another crew ...LOL Tough life.

[opalinem]

What must be really tough for staff is that they have no day off in between weeks, the new passengers get on board practically as soon as the others leave. No wonder some "crack" at times. They just don't have time to "re-boot". + not sure how much they're paid but wouldn't be surprised if it was not much. I'm all the more impressed at how nice the ncl staff has always been on my previous cruises. I haven't had 1 bad experience with staff on ncl so far. Judging by what others post, I must have been lucky.

[sebas030]

Just back from the Breakaway on the 17th.

 

I didn't tell my GF about the negative reviews on the staff of the ship because I wanted her to have her own opinion.....

 

....on day 2 she gave it to me " what is wrong with the staff here, nobody smiles and nobody says hi ! "

 

Of course when we say " nobody" we don't mean no one, but a very large group of staff. She made a lot of comparison to the Gem that we sailed last March...the Gem is happy...the Breakaway...not :mad:

[sebas030]

We took advantage of "easy walk-off" when we got off the ship last week and we were actually the 2nd in line and we saw many many staff and crew show up on the wrong side of the ship to get cleared by customs and get off the ship because they were wrongly informed by the ship. A lot of them were production cast members ( about all of Rock of ages, a few of cirques and a few from burn the floor ) and one comment that grabbed my attention was from a Rock of ages cast after he was told crew were to meet on the other side was: " man, when will this sh*t stop..f**k"....so I guess it was not the first time they faced that sort of irritant :(