Raising gratuities again!

[gmasters]

The incident that started this: never, ever had a crew member curse at me & take a step towards me! I was shocked.

 

 

Sorry, I totally understand rude service personal, I have fired plenty of them in 25 years. Your right but this being totally wrong but this is only one member of the ship. Removing tip charge has the whole crew at blame.

 

But we would not have let this go, 1 can and will curse with the best of them. I am known for Customer Service that is #1 and nothing comes before that. And our staff TRY to follow my example.

 

I would have focused on the crew member ONLY, not the company or ship, but lets say when I talk people have to hear me. Or I just keep talking and if means loudly or give them the same treatment as I received back, CURSE.

 

I hope that your cruise ended well,

 

Jerry

[LMaxwell]

The incident that started this: never, ever had a crew member curse at me & take a step towards me! I was shocked.

 

 

Sorry, I totally understand rude service personal, I have fired plenty of them in 25 years. Your right but this being totally wrong but this is only one member of the ship. Removing tip charge has the whole crew at blame.

 

But we would not have let this go, 1 can and will curse with the best of them. I am known for Customer Service that is #1 and nothing comes before that. And our staff TRY to follow my example.

 

I would have focused on the crew member ONLY, not the company or ship, but lets say when I talk people have to hear me. Or I just keep talking and if means loudly or give them the same treatment as I received back, CURSE.

 

I hope that your cruise ended well,

 

Jerry

 

The system in place is to have the whole crew work in concert to provide good service. If there is a break in the chain, one person lets down everyone else. It is unfortunate for everyone that one bad apple can do that, but, again, that is the system NCL has put in place. behavior as described by the poster is intolerable by a crew member of any cruise ship, any company, period.

 

We don't know if the poster requested a partial modification of their DSC or the whole thing.

 

The fact that this could not be handled to the posters satisfaction onboard is troubling. Shouldn't the onboard management have the power and discretion to handle these kind of issues without having guests seek satisfaction afterwards off the ship? Why are their hands being tied so much from resolving issues before they grow much bigger? A Director or Manager that can not solve a problem is not much use at all.

[NLH Arizona]

 

The fact that this could not be handled to the posters satisfaction onboard is troubling. Shouldn't the onboard management have the power and discretion to handle these kind of issues without having guests seek satisfaction afterwards off the ship? Why are their hands being tied so much from resolving issues before they grow much bigger? A Director or Manager that can not solve a problem is not much use at all.

But what we don't know is what would have satisfied the poster onboard the ship. Did they ask for compensation for the unfortunate situation? Did they ask that the crew member be fired? Did they ask that the crew member didn't work the rest of the cruise, so they wouldn't have to see them? Maybe the ship resolved the issue, by talking with the crew member and the poster was not satisfied with that. We just don't know the whole story, as far as why it was not resolved to the poster's satisfaction nor have we heard the ship's side of the story. Edited April 6, 2016 by NLH Arizona

[LMaxwell]

But what we don't know is what would have satisfied the poster onboard the ship. Did they ask for compensation for the unfortunate situation? Did they ask that the crew member be fired? Did they ask that the crew member didn't work the rest of the cruise, so they wouldn't have to see them? Maybe the ship resolved the issue, by talking with the crew member and the poster was not satisfied with that. We just don't know the whole story, as far as why it was not resolved to the poster's satisfaction nor have we heard the ship's side of the story.

 

The ships side of the story has been told as much as we will ever hear; that their hands were tied.

 

It is only my opinion that management should always be empowered to resolve issues, not be a roadblock to resolving them. Otherwise they are not really managers; they are just baby sitters for subordinate staff. Sure, they can not give away the Earth and the Moon and the Stars above. But they surely can do more than hand someone a form. The name of the company does not matter; this applies universally.

 

In the hospitality industry customer service is key. Not every customer is always right, but when there is an issue and the guest tries to address it, management should do their best to resolve it, not just punt it down the road with a form. Barbdell is operating within NCL's framework and NCL apparently, at this point, has not been holding up to their end. That is now the issue at hand. Whatever lead to this is not really relevant as it is long past the time where it could have been rectified.

Edited April 6, 2016 by LMaxwell

[NLH Arizona]

The ships side of the story has been told as much as we will ever hear; that their hands were tied.

 

It is only my opinion that management should always be empowered to resolve issues, not be a roadblock to resolving them. Otherwise they are not really managers; they are just baby sitters for subordinate staff. Sure, they can not give away the Earth and the Moon and the Stars above. But they surely can do more than hand someone a form. The name of the company does not matter; this applies universally.

 

In the hospitality industry customer service is key. Not every customer is always right, but when there is an issue and the guest tries to address it, management should do their best to resolve it, not just punt it down the road with a form. Barbdell is operating within NCL's framework and NCL apparently, at this point, has not been holding up to their end. That is now the issue at hand. Whatever lead to this is not really relevant as it is long past the time where it could have been rectified.

I believe that if NCL can not get a passengers money back to them in the time mentioned on the form, they are wrong. They should either change the time frame on the form or abide by what they are saying.

 

Here is what the poster said about the issue: We unfortunately had MAJOR, IMHO, issues on our last cruise. I went to Guest Services to discuss. Issue was not resolved, returned to GS next day and was told "take this form 55, fill it out and send it in". End of discussion/issue as far as GS was concerned. Asked for supervisor, who reiterated their hands were tied, fill out form & send it in.

 

Poster said the issue was not resolved. You are condemning management when you have no idea what the poster wanted for the issue to be resolved. Were management's hand's tied, because the poster wanted some huge compensation or wanted the crew member fired.....we don't know. Did the ship say they wouldn't speak with the offending crew member.....we don't know. Obviously, the poster talked with a supervisor, so they wanted something done, but we don't know what it was. Did they want their DSC given right there and was given the form and talked with a Supervisor who also said they had to fill out the form....we don't know. I do agree that there should have been some resolution, but until we know what the poster was asking for as to what resolution they would have been satisfied with, there is no way to applaud or condemn either party.

 

And, yes, I agree with you customer service is key, but sometimes it isn't enough. Just look at the poster on another thread who choose the wrong cabin, complained and got moved and given $200 compensation, along with free specialty dinner and wine and still was not satisfied.

Edited April 6, 2016 by NLH Arizona

[LMaxwell]

I think you and I are probably about 90% in fundamental agreement.

[Barbdell]

All, let me be clear....this did not start as a way to get out of paying my service charge. this started as mistreatment by a crew member incident and I went to guest services to discuss. Their resolution, both the front desk person and her supervisor was "fill out this form". Name of crew member and my witness were given to them, but apparently made no impact. "Our hands are tied, fill out this form". That interaction spiraled into what followed in receiving no further communication/recognition that I had a problem onboard. The $ was never the issue. The remainder of the cruise, my interaction with the other crew/staff was wonderful, tips were given to those we were able to compensate and, as I said before, we are scheduled to sail again in May.

I posted here in the hope that NCL might peruse some of these posts and take notice, since they did not respond to me or my cc company.

Moving on.......... :D

[LMaxwell]

All, let me be clear....this did not start as a way to get out of paying my service charge. this started as mistreatment by a crew member incident and I went to guest services to discuss. Their resolution, both the front desk person and her supervisor was "fill out this form". Name of crew member and my witness were given to them, but apparently made no impact. "Our hands are tied, fill out this form". That interaction spiraled into what followed in receiving no further communication/recognition that I had a problem onboard. The $ was never the issue. The remainder of the cruise, my interaction with the other crew/staff was wonderful, tips were given to those we were able to compensate and, as I said before, we are scheduled to sail again in May.

I posted here in the hope that NCL might peruse some of these posts and take notice, since they did not respond to me or my cc company.

Moving on.......... :D

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think they dealt with it poorly. You should not have to jump through so many hoops. The onboard managers clearly sound more like the baby sitter type. This sort of customer experience will eventually cause them to lose dollars while they try to hoard pennies....

[NLH Arizona]

I think you and I are probably about 90% in fundamental agreement.

On the timeframe on the form not being adhered to, yes we are in agreement.

 

But after reading the posters last reply, I'm more confused then ever about the issue. This is what I'm getting now. There was an issue (and I agree it was a serious issues, as the poster posted), the poster went to Guest Services, Guest Services ask them to fill out a complaint form with the crew member involved and their witness (by reading the other posts, I thought they just handed them the form to have the DSC removed as resolution). I'm guessing now the poster was not happy because NCL didn't tell them what, if any, consequences the crew member got nor did NCL recognize them for the issue nor did NCL tell them the issue was handled. Then the poster asked to have the DSC removed and they gave them that form.

 

I do not know of any company that is going to discuss a employees disciplinary actions with a customer and for all we know, after NCL looked at all the facts, the crew member was suspended or fired or they felt no disciplinary action was required.

 

A suggestion to the poster, detail your issue on and message to NCL on their facebook page, that usually gets a response immediately.

Edited April 6, 2016 by NLH Arizona

[LMaxwell]

Better yet, try Mark Kansley, Senior VP Of Hotel Operations for NCL.

 

MKansley@ncl.com

[LMaxwell]

On the timeframe on the form not being adhered to, yes we are in agreement.

 

But after reading the posters last reply, I'm more confused then ever about the issue. This is what I'm getting now. There was an issue (and I agree it was a serious issues, as the poster posted), the poster went to Guest Services, Guest Services ask them to fill out a complaint form with the crew member involved and their witness (by reading the other posts, I thought they just handed them the form to have the DSC removed as resolution). I'm guessing now the poster was not happy because NCL didn't tell them what, if any, consequences the crew member got nor did NCL recognize them for the issue nor did NCL tell them the issue was handled. Then the poster asked to have the DSC removed and they gave them that form.

 

I do not know of any company that is going to discuss a employees disciplinary actions with a customer and for all we know, after NCL looked at all the facts, the crew member was suspended or fired or they felt no disciplinary action was required.

 

A suggestion to the poster, detail your issue on and message to NCL on their facebook page, that usually gets a response immediately.

 

You seem convinced they asked for something unreasonable. I am convinced of nothing beyond they wanted to speak with management and management said we can't do anything, so nothing to talk about, here is a form.

[VIPERTRUCK]

These cruise lines keep adding all of these new ships which are just added capacity to sell and at the same time it seems like NCL is trying thier hardest to run off their customer base. :confused: My wife and I already skipped our annual cruise this year and did a land based vacation instead due to things like this happening time and time and time and time and time and time and time again. I do not consider myself cheap or stingy, I will pay whatever it takes to get out there and enjoy life to its fullest, however, we just do not feel that NCL is providing the value and/or service to make us pick them as the destination for our limited vacation time every year. It's a shame to because we are now Platinum in the latitudes program and now it seems NCL has embarked on a path that continues to make them less and less appealing with every change they make.

 

GET YOUR S**T TOGETHER NCL!

[fshagan]

All, let me be clear....this did not start as a way to get out of paying my service charge. this started as mistreatment by a crew member incident and I went to guest services to discuss. Their resolution, both the front desk person and her supervisor was "fill out this form". Name of crew member and my witness were given to them, but apparently made no impact.

 

Well, you don't know, do you? The crew member may be back in their home country right now because they had more than 2 complaints during the cruise. I've been told by a few crew members that complaints are taken very seriously and with more than two on a cruise they are discharged.

 

I'm old enough to have worked in the era where if the customer complained, the manager pulled you aside and, in full view of the customer, dressed you down and threatened you with immediate discharge if you didn't go apologize. It was kabuki theater; no one was ever fired. But it made the customers feel better. They walked out of the store so proud.

 

Today, at least in the American workplace, you can't discuss disciplinary actions against an employee with anyone else. You can't even tell their next employer. You can't humiliate them in front of others. Perhaps NCL also has that ethic now.

[LMaxwell]

Well, you don't know, do you? The crew member may be back in their home country right now because they had more than 2 complaints during the cruise. I've been told by a few crew members that complaints are taken very seriously and with more than two on a cruise they are discharged.

 

I'm old enough to have worked in the era where if the customer complained, the manager pulled you aside and, in full view of the customer, dressed you down and threatened you with immediate discharge if you didn't go apologize. It was kabuki theater; no one was ever fired. But it made the customers feel better. They walked out of the store so proud.

 

Today, at least in the American workplace, you can't discuss disciplinary actions against an employee with anyone else. You can't even tell their next employer. You can't humiliate them in front of others. Perhaps NCL also has that ethic now.

It's not my impression they wanted anything more than to address it with a a manager onboard and the manager didn't want to discuss it. Nowhere do I see they asked for the worker to be dismissed.

 

People here are taking the complaint and fabricating more to go along with it to paint Barbdell as somehow wrong or wanting too much. All they wanted was a manager to listen to the issue.

[terri910]

 

Thank you for explaining :) May I ask what issue it was that NCL could not resolve? Usually, I find they try to bend over backwards to solve problems/issues so I'm really curious as they didn't seem to do that with you.

 

Thanks!

 

Harrriet

 

I wish we had that impression. On our 14-night trans-Atlantic cruise Oct./Nov. 2014, on the Epic, there was a BIG problem with people going out at dawn and "saving" deck chairs by the pool, and then not showing up to occupy them until 11 a.m., or Noon, or later. After a few days of this, we spoke to the crew in charge of the area and were told they couldn't do anything about it because "it would upset those passengers" (by one crew member) and that "they are on vacation" (by another crew member). The fact that others were "upset" and also "on vacation" seemed to escape them. Checking the NCL website at that time, it said they had a policy of any deck chair empty for 45 minutes or more the towels/items on the chairs would be removed by crew. So we went to Guest Services and explained the problem. They took our stateroom number and said someone would contact us about it within 24 hours. Nothing. We went through the exact same scenario the next day. Promised call never happened, and there was no change in how things were handled. It got really bad...people who frequented that area (I think it was called H2O?) were getting really upset. I witnessed a LOT of arguments and yelling. Near the end of the cruise I thought two men were going to come to blows!! Finally, on the last two days, the crew started marking the time on empty chairs.

 

My point is that Guest Services and NCL crew didn't even lift a finger (to dial a phone), let alone bend over backwards to even discuss an issue, let alone resolve it.

[Barbdell]

It's not my impression they wanted anything more than to address it with a a manager onboard and the manager didn't want to discuss it. Nowhere do I see they asked for the worker to be dismissed.

 

People here are taking the complaint and fabricating more to go along with it to paint Barbdell as somehow wrong or wanting too much. All they wanted was a manager to listen to the issue.

 

LMaxwell, thank you for getting it. I never wanted anyone fired and it was NCL's resolution that I fill out a form for a refund....not mine.

Folks are right, I do not know what NCL did, but that is because they never bothered to inform me.

 

This is REALLY my last post..... Safe sailing to all! :)

[fshagan]

It's not my impression they wanted anything more than to address it with a a manager onboard and the manager didn't want to discuss it. Nowhere do I see they asked for the worker to be dismissed.

 

People here are taking the complaint and fabricating more to go along with it to paint Barbdell as somehow wrong or wanting too much. All they wanted was a manager to listen to the issue.

 

I think the OP would have stated that. To me, it read like there was an action or result they were looking for that they didn't get. "It wasn't resolved" indicates it was communicated, but not resolved. I would think "the manager refused to speak to me" would be a huge issue. I believe he or she said the manager said there was nothing more they could do.

 

He or she still has not indicated exactly what they wanted. Maybe they don't know.

 

He or she went back at least once because it still "wasn't resolved", yet it is unclear what "resolution" looks like. Upon learning it was a crew member misbehaving in a manner that should result in disciplinary action, and that she was given a form she used to indicate the crew member by name and the witnesses of the incident, I think there was indeed nothing left to do if the expected result is some kind of disciplinary action. She isn't a party to that action.

 

It could certainly be handled better by the manager, with a full explanation that we take these things very seriously, and have a process to ensure this kind of thing never happens again "for your convenience", etc.

 

What is it, specifically, that he or she wants?

[NLH Arizona]

 

What is it, specifically, that he or she wants?

That is what I keep asking. OP said it wasn't resolved nor where they recognized. They had to have asked for something, whether it be details of what management said to the employee, an apology from the crew member, monetary recognition, etc.

[renata102]

I wish we had that impression. On our 14-night trans-Atlantic cruise Oct./Nov. 2014, on the Epic, there was a BIG problem with people going out at dawn and "saving" deck chairs by the pool, and then not showing up to occupy them until 11 a.m., or Noon, or later. After a few days of this, we spoke to the crew in charge of the area and were told they couldn't do anything about it because "it would upset those passengers" (by one crew member) and that "they are on vacation" (by another crew member). The fact that others were "upset" and also "on vacation" seemed to escape them. Checking the NCL website at that time, it said they had a policy of any deck chair empty for 45 minutes or more the towels/items on the chairs would be removed by crew. So we went to Guest Services and explained the problem. They took our stateroom number and said someone would contact us about it within 24 hours. Nothing. We went through the exact same scenario the next day. Promised call never happened, and there was no change in how things were handled. It got really bad...people who frequented that area (I think it was called H2O?) were getting really upset. I witnessed a LOT of arguments and yelling. Near the end of the cruise I thought two men were going to come to blows!! Finally, on the last two days, the crew started marking the time on empty chairs.

 

My point is that Guest Services and NCL crew didn't even lift a finger (to dial a phone), let alone bend over backwards to even discuss an issue, let alone resolve it.

 

Among some other issues on my cruise. I had the same issue that u described about the pool deck area for 7 out of 10 days in implored on staff and management to enforce it and it was the same.

 

Also I had a very foul smell as I entered the room for the first time (in fact my cabin door was open and a huge industrial fan was on). From the first day I implored to switch me to another cabin. They said they would fix it. I dealt with the housekeeping officer , front desk that something was wrong the first 5 days. They again shampooed the floors 4th day in and we didn't have access to our room on a sea day for a whole day (my son had a headache that day and we didn't even have a room for him to rest in). I implored to give me a anither room bigger , smaller or the same. I didn't care. This was a 10 day sea intensive cruise. So I dealt with not being able or to use my cabin day 1 and day 4 at all and in between days 1 and 5 the smell was unbearable Until the second rug shampoo it was bearable.

 

What was the resolution. A bottle of wine. Lol. I drank it and told them that was for the frustration of just DEALING with them. Not for the issue at hand. By day 5-6 the room was fine. By the time we reached our first port. 5 days of hell.

 

There were a few more minor issues that were resolved on its own.

 

With the towels they were more concerned about the people that left it there and not following policy. That was all cruise long. How did they service me there?

 

Dinners in the complimentary dining. Was edible. But Applebees is better by a long shot. Service was subpar. Again my kids and I had dinner out at a pub like restaurant the other night and they even explained "wow this is how service should be" referring to the horrible service on board

 

Ohh I did bring it up about every other day to head waiter the issues we had in dining. Wayyyy to slow 2.5 hours a few times (food very cold) waiters cold as ice Did it improve ? Nope. And I am NOT going to buffer. It's always a madhouse. And I Am on vacation and refuse to hit the buffet. I work full time and have kids. I am not going through a buffet (only for port day breakfast I will tolerate it)

 

We talked and talked I am not looking for a free cruise but at least fix the issues. But nope zero care was given

 

Service charge my fanny.

 

That's why at our first island when I had access to internet I made a post here to ask about how to change serive charges and I was flamed and then it was deleted. I could overlook minor things. But dining and cabin and pool deck is the major part of the sea intensive cruise.

Edited April 7, 2016 by renata102

[Barbdell]

That is what I keep asking. OP said it wasn't resolved nor where they recognized. They had to have asked for something, whether it be details of what management said to the employee, an apology from the crew member, monetary recognition, etc.

 

What I wanted when I went to GS's was to make them aware of an employees very bad behavior & I thought the front desk would respond with something like "we are very sorry you encountered this problem, we strive to make sure our guests are treated properly. We will speak to our employee & make sure this does not happen again" (or something close to that) I did not expect to be dismissed with a "our hands are tied, fill out this form". I did not ask for $, a dinner, wine or chocolate strawberries. I was asking for recognition & respect! The form was their resolution.

[fshagan]

I could overlook minor things. But dining and cabin and pool deck is the major part of the sea intensive cruise.

 

Those types of things, ones that were not resolved, are the reason to reduce the DSC and write complaints here, on their Facebook page, and to their Customer Service department. The good news is you will have a blast on your DCL cruise coming up soon, so the NCL problems will be a distant memory (and you will probably not return to NCL for quite a while). DCL is miles ahead of NCL in terms of customer service, IMHO.

 

When you post something on an Internet forum that is dedicated to discussion you will get discussion. If you are vague in your "warning" to fellow cruisers they will want specifics so they can judge if it's an issue that they care about and if the warning applies to them. What we get instead so often is like those teasers for the 11 o'clock news: "New research: something in your kitchen may be killing you slowly." Without specifics it's a meaningless warning. How can we tell if perhaps its something so valuable that we will want to make the trade between perfect health and joy (I have Scotch in my kitchen).

[NLH Arizona]

What I wanted when I went to GS's was to make them aware of an employees very bad behavior & I thought the front desk would respond with something like "we are very sorry you encountered this problem, we strive to make sure our guests are treated properly. We will speak to our employee & make sure this does not happen again" (or something close to that) I did not expect to be dismissed with a "our hands are tied, fill out this form". I did not ask for $, a dinner, wine or chocolate strawberries. I was asking for recognition & respect! The form was their resolution.

Sorry, but I just can't wrap my head around the fact that you complained about only one employee and then they gave you the form to have your DSC removed for all employees without you asking for it. That must have been one really bad Guest Services representative or one that didn't want to deal with you for some reason. I would have spoken to the Hotel Director directly with regard to the initial issue like you described.

[LMaxwell]

Sorry, but I just can't wrap my head around the fact that you complained about only one employee and then they gave you the form to have your DSC removed for all employees without you asking for it. That must have been one really bad Guest Services representative or one that didn't want to deal with you for some reason. I would have spoken to the Hotel Director directly with regard to the initial issue like you described.

They tried and management wasn't interested. They just handed out a form rather than addressing the issue. This is very easy to understand.

[NLH Arizona]

They tried and management wasn't interested. They just handed out a form rather than addressing the issue. This is very easy to understand.

No not easy. I understand handing her the complaint form, but unless something was said about the DSC, I don't see why anyone would hand the OP that form.

[renata102]

They tried and management wasn't interested. They just handed out a form rather than addressing the issue. This is very easy to understand.

 

I was presented with a bottle of $20 wine.