Early Del Rio Legacy vs the Sheehan Legacy

[SteveH2508]

Other than cutting the fireworks show and changing a room service fee - Has NCL actually cut back on services such as the MDR, the buffet, cleaning the staircase, etc since the changes?

 

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They are charging more for the same (DSC increases, 18% grats etc.) and the 'free' breakfast RS menu is severely reduced.

 

Other kids stuff has gone (Nickelodeon, up-charge restaurant costs and probably others - I've not followed them as I do not have kids).

 

I'm sure there is more as well.

 

Claiming they have not cut back or are not charging more for the same is delusional.

Edited August 7, 2015 by SteveH2508

[rydan]

I just don't get how some of you know all this inside info. How could you possibly know FDR is a MUSH at every company he touches.

He happens to have one hell of a resumè. And, just by reading he also is extremely respected in the industry. Please share with us where all the negative info comes from.

[Hendricks Clan]

I just don't get how some of you know all this inside info. How could you possibly know FDR is a MUSH at every company he touches.

He happens to have one hell of a resumè. And, just by reading he also is extremely respected in the industry. Please share with us where all the negative info comes from.

 

Google is a powerful tool. Del Rio himself takes blame for many things that happened at Renaissance Cruises and its demise. He said he learned from many of those mistakes, however it doesn't seem to be the case.

 

For example, Oceania cruises was valued and bought by Apollo for $850 million in exchange for taking on the $660 million debt Oceania owed to creditors. Apollo themselves said they were unable to turn PCH into profitability, thus the reason they decided to offer an IPO but instead decided to combine them with NCL which they already had a majority stake in and who already had offered an IPO.

 

I'll give the man credit, he seems to know exactly what upscale passengers want in a cruise...maybe thats why the passengers of those lines love him so much. However, he's yet to figure out how to make that work in a profitable manner. He also doesn't seem to understand how to run a contemporary/main stream line (NCL). I suspect that many of the measures taken by NCL is his way to offset some of the loss thats acquired by Oceania/Regent by using NCL to keep the combined company profitable.

 

Upon Kevin's resignation, NCLH should have reached out to Carnival Corp (not CCL), and Royal Caribbean Cruises (not RCI). They should have poached someone from one of those cruise holding companies who have experience in running multiple brands.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Hendricks Clan

[maywell]

They are charging more for the same (DSC increases, 18% grats etc.) and the 'free' breakfast RS menu is severely reduced.

 

Other kids stuff has gone (Nickelodeon, up-charge restaurant costs and probably others - I've not followed them as I do not have kids).

 

I'm sure there is more as well.

 

Claiming they have not cut back or are not charging more for the same is delusional.

 

18% grats doesn't bother me because I'm not a heavy drink, so paying an extra $.50 -$1.00 for a tip is not a big deal to me.

 

I don't order the 'free' room service because 1) I like the NCL buffet setup especially the al fresco dining for breakfast and 2) the solo lounge has free pastries anyway.

 

No kids, so Nickelodeon loss is really not a loss to me - Me (and nieces/nephews) prefer Avatar and Blues Clues over Dora and Spongebob anyway...

 

Specialty dining going a la carte is actually a bonus to me since I can't eat a full three course meal anymore (health reasons) and that actually reduces costs to me, not increase.

 

Regarding the DSC, its just $1.50 more per day, which is not a big deal to me for any future trips. That And I'm grandfathered in twice at the old rates for my current trips before final payment anyway. Plus, paying mostly for myself and not having to pay for others is its own beautiful gift, lol.

 

That's the thing - either the changes hurt your wallet deeply to point you need to reconsider cruising with them or it flat out doesn't. And in my case, it just flat out does not - in others case, it probably a dealbreaker to not even go back to NCL, which is fine. The problem here in the CC forums is, majority of the people complaining haven't really travel on NCL with most of the changes happening; maybe one or two changes but NOT all the changes in place at the same time. Those that have travel, haven't really talked about the service in their review - no really mention of genuine service cuts or better service over the summer right now. I, on the hand will be traveling with majority of the current changes in place by end of this November - Basically, I'll find out if there was genuine decline or service has exceed people's expectations. Take a step back and realize all of the changes are not going to be in place until next January when it goes fleetwide.

[mking8288]

+like :)

+like :) joining in (Suitecruiser's comment)

 

Meanwhile, FDR isn't worrying about the nickels & dimes - he's laughing all the way to his own bank - http://biz.yahoo.com/e/150806/nclh8-k.html

 

Form 10-Q just filed, interesting -

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/150807/nclh10-q.html

Edited August 8, 2015 by mking8288

[aubreyc1988]

I so diagree with this: I think CCL, RCI and NCL are much more alike than different. Each has their pros and cons, each has a reputation, but reputations do not tell the whole story. The only think that does stand out about RCI is their top of the line ships are probably superior to CCL and NCL. As for entertainment, I am surprised you would say that. Of course like everything in life, most things are subjective, but one thing most people agree about is: NCL has outstanding entertainment, not just the showrooms but the piano bars, the atruim nightly entertainment and other places around the ship. And what onboard amenities would you like to see on NCL that are not there now? I am just asking this out of curiosity, not argueing about it.

 

 

I have done RCI Allure, new ish ship, monarch which is no longer with the fleet, and Independence which is kind of new-er. So I kinda have a fleet wide sample, so to speak. Let's start by comparing Allure to Getaway. First of all, the diving show on the allure is amazing! Probably the best thing I have seen on any ship! Chicago the musical, also soooo good. They had another cirque show that was amazing as well, can't remember the name. The flow rider, rock climbing wall, zip line, ice skating rink were great active ways to spend sea days! They have a "glow party" and lots of events. On the Getaway, I had to PAY to see Illusionarium, paid extra for premium seats, and got sat in the middle! To me, the food and show weren't that good, but as you said, subjective. But I wish I didn't have to pay for it. Burn the floor was ok. legally blonde was ok as well, but I think the actors were great, it's just a stupid musical. On the getaway there is no ice skating rink, no rock wall, but they do have the ropes course. No flow rider. The H20 deck is no where near as nice as solariums on all RCI ships.

 

On the Ncl jewel I felt the entertainment was actually better than the getaway. But definitely the RCI ship that's comparable to the Jewel, The Independence, is a way nicer ship, amenity, entertainment wise and overall condition of the ship.

 

Now, I'm no cheerleader for any ONE line, there are pros and cons to every line! I like NCL specialty dining and their freestyle cruising and there casino better, and obviously they are cheaper than royal. But my most favorite cruises have been wth royal, because of the overall ship experience

 

But like you said, everything is subjective, but I do believe that Royal spends more time and money creating really awesome shows for their ships.

 

 

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[tartan cruiser]

Just read the article posted in MKing8288 post. What an eye opener. FDR receives more in travel expenses than most cruisers get in wages. No wonder an extra $50 is not a big deal to him. The more he can squeeze from us the more compensation for him and laughing all the way to the bank!

[cruisebie]

+like :) joining in (Suitecruiser's comment)

 

Meanwhile, FDR isn't worrying about the nickels & dimes - he's laughing all the way to his own bank - http://biz.yahoo.com/e/150806/nclh8-k.html

 

Form 10-Q just filed, interesting -

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/150807/nclh10-q.html

 

 

Well, that clarifies some things for me. If I had the potential of a 200% bonus of my 1.5 million salary, I would be cost cutting left & right so the cruise lines would make maximum profit.:D

[halos]

people do have a right to peacefully protest and that is what they did about the "no food" policy. I agree with you there, but it has become a "what can we bitch about now" generation. When I see things like people griping because the port times were changed, or itineraries are being change 18 months from now and the gripe about no fireworks, .

 

I respect you tons Nita but I wanted to share what I posted on a different thread.

 

I'm not THAT attached to any cruise line that I feel bad looking elsewhere. Typically, there is one that meets our needs and that we prefer sailing and that is usually the one we will book with. First CCL had our business...for a very long time, then they made changes (cuts I saw in entertainment) that lead us to start booking mostly with NCL

We were extremely happy with NCL until Sheehan left, then the changes started.

Personally, charging more for things does not ever lead me to leave a cruise line...it's other changes that do. Cuts in food quality or entertainment will make me leave OR in this case, my dissatisfaction with current NCL is their changing and elimination of itineraries that I love. Last year they cancelled our Pearl Southern Caribbean (it was chartered out)...gave us limited options to replace it and then totally pulled all of their 11-14 night Jan/Feb Southern Caribbean cruise out of Florida...and that was something we liked to book every year.

Move on to the present..I had an Oct 2016 Western (10 night) booked and recently found out that too has been cancelled due to all the shuffling of ships. We were given ONE option to switch to and that option was in the next calendar year, and an eastern as opposed to the western I wanted...plus in a month (January) when we prefer to stick to Southern routes to ensure warmer temps. To make matters worse, they gave us a short letter telling us our cruise was cancelled, told us our option to keep our price locked in was that one sailing in January and then didn't even tell us what the itinerary was...only it was an eastern for 10 nights, and the itinerary isn't going to be available (according to my TA...who called NCL for me) until the 17th of this month.

?????????????

Seriously. They want me to rebook and not even know exactly where the dang ship is going.

All these changes in itineraries we enjoy are forcing us to book more with Royal Caribbean.

We still have two Cruise Rewards Deposit things that we will use and we'll see how it goes after that...but in the mean time, I do have a Royal Cruise booked for January to the Southern Caribbean because NCL doesn't offer that any longer.

Again, I didn't mind the increase in the DSC...and any other charges that people complained about didn't bother me. I understand that costs increase...but don't keep pulling my cruises out form under me and then NOT giving me better options to rebook...and don't eliminate great itineraries.

 

 

Prior to that cancellation, we had two cruises cancelled on us last year. Only one was an NCL..the other was Royal. Last year NCL offered us a couple options to choose from and we opted to just cancel because none of them worked for us. I understand this happens. I have been cruising long enough to get it. However, when Royal cancelled our 9 night Mediterranean sailing, they offered us 7 or 8 replacement cruises, ranging from 7 to 9 nights with price protection. We jumped on the 12 night cruise and were thrilled at this 'gift' and ON TOP OF THAT, Royal gave us $200 for the inconvenience (which it was not, as the cruise was cancelled a full year out).

 

Do you see the difference here??

 

I don't expect what Royal gave us. It was way above and beyond...but NCL's compensation and handling of my latest cruise cancellation fell WAY beyond short. Giving me ONE other cruise to switch over to with price protection that is in a different calendar year, in a different season and an eastern as opposed to a western and then to top it off not even letting me know what the exact itinerary IS???

C'mon. I can be patient and understanding, but this is insane.

Edited August 8, 2015 by halos

[nbsjcruiser]

True but at the same time other lines like Carnival have also added things/revamped, to help offset some of the cuts. My problem with NCL is they have yet to add anything to the customer experience to offset some of the changes.

 

You raise a good point but Carnival revamped and added out of self defence. They went too far with the cuts and have backed away. With NCL, their ships already have more of the bells and whistles than any Carnival ship I've been on. So perhaps its NCL lowering the bar a bit to see what happens. Like anything, speak with your wallet I say. We weren't happy with the changes we saw at Carnival so we stopped cruising with them. We went back to RCI, tried Princess and NCL. The benefit to us is that we discovered that NCL (to my surprise) offered a product very similar to RCI and in many respects is superior to RCI. I'm also now considering something I didn't think I would consider - going back to Carnival at some point. I've heard good things about some of the things they've done.

Edited August 8, 2015 by nbsjcruiser

[NLH Arizona]

+like :) joining in (Suitecruiser's comment)

 

Meanwhile, FDR isn't worrying about the nickels & dimes - he's laughing all the way to his own bank - http://biz.yahoo.com/e/150806/nclh8-k.html

 

Form 10-Q just filed, interesting -

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/150807/nclh10-q.html

Mr. Sheehan did very well:

 

http://insiders.morningstar.com/trading/executive-compensation.action?t=NCLH

 

I bet he has a great big smile on his face.

[SuiteCruiser]

Mr. Sheehan did very well:

 

http://insiders.morningstar.com/trading/executive-compensation.action?t=NCLH

 

I bet he has a great big smile on his face.

 

Good, glad he was well taken care of after saving the line :)

 

Thanks for sharing that.

[hypercafe]

+like :) joining in (Suitecruiser's comment)

 

Meanwhile, FDR isn't worrying about the nickels & dimes - he's laughing all the way to his own bank - http://biz.yahoo.com/e/150806/nclh8-k.html

 

Form 10-Q just filed, interesting -

http://biz.yahoo.com/e/150807/nclh10-q.html

 

It's hard to say how good his deal is because I do not know what the industry standard is. However seeing his pay go down while his bonus goes up and he is given a large stock option it's easy to see his job is to improve the bottom line. It was interesting to see talk of their large dept and inability to borrow more cash along with the chance of being asked to repay early. might be a problem as big, new ships comeing. Must take a lot of cash to get one going.

 

I think the PR problem Frank has in all his public remarks is he has just talked about getting more money out of the NCL passangers through a combination of raising fares, new fees, cutting things, unique itenteries. To my knowledge he has never said what he would do to improve the line. I have not seen any changers to Oceania or Regent except the shore trip thing on Oceania. Regent has a new ship comeing and Oceania has a used, referb ship comeing. Maybe he is using the money from NCL to help the other two.

 

Anyway it is what it is, thankfully we all have many choices.

 

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[SuiteCruiser]

It's hard to say how good his deal is because I do not know what the industry standard is. However seeing his pay go down while his bonus goes up and he is given a large stock option it's easy to see his job is to improve the bottom line. It was interesting to see talk of their large dept and inability to borrow more cash along with the chance of being asked to repay early. might be a problem as big, new ships comeing. Must take a lot of cash to get one going.

 

I think the PR problem Frank has in all his public remarks is he has just talked about getting more money out of the NCL passangers through a combination of raising fares, new fees, cutting things, unique itenteries. To my knowledge he has never said what he would do to improve the line. I have not seen any changers to Oceania or Regent except the shore trip thing on Oceania. Regent has a new ship comeing and Oceania has a used, referb ship comeing. Maybe he is using the money from NCL to help the other two.

 

Anyway it is what it is, thankfully we all have many choices.

 

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Agreed. I still have 2 NCL cruises past final payment, so am going to go and enjoy them, and then wait to see if any improvements come along.

 

If not, there definitely are lots of other choices out there and MSC is looking pretty attractive.

[aubreyc1988]

Agreed. I still have 2 NCL cruises past final payment, so am going to go and enjoy them, and then wait to see if any improvements come along.

 

 

 

If not, there definitely are lots of other choices out there and MSC is looking pretty attractive.

 

 

I would like to sail Msc as well! I think they are bet "up and coming"

 

 

I have one FCC I need to use up this fall, not sure if I will buy another on board, hard to say if I will feel compelled to use it, but it is a great value so I go back and forth one whether we should get one on our next cruise

 

 

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[hypercafe]

I am platinum on NCL. MSC gave me black in their club.

[halos]

However, when Royal cancelled our 9 night Mediterranean sailing, they offered us 7 or 8 replacement cruises, ranging from 7 to 9 nights with price protection. .

 

I want to clarify...what RCI offered us were cruises that ran from 7 to 12 nights..not 7 to 9.

[russianmom]

I am platinum on NCL. MSC gave me black in their club.

 

We're look at MSC, I am also platinum on NCL. What hoops did you have to jump thru to do this?

[Hendricks Clan]

We're look at MSC, I am also platinum on NCL. What hoops did you have to jump thru to do this?

 

I'm Platinum on Carnival, and I also took advantage of their loyalty match program. You have to send the a copy of your most recent shipboard card showing your status and they will automatically match your status. Its a great program and one of the reasons why were giving them a try this fall. You have 36 months to take a sailing with them or you loose your match and go to their most basic level.

Edited August 8, 2015 by Hendricks Clan

[cmdchiefthom]

As a stockholder, my assessment is Del Rio will be successful in deconstruction all that I enjoy about NCL, and in very short order. I know which way my shareholder votes will go.:cool:

[CasinoCruzGirl]

What is harming Norwegian the most are the whiners think about it, imagine you've never been on a cruise before and you're thinking about going on Norwegian and then you come on here and see all the people that are cruising Norwegian whining and complaining about everything. Would you want to go on it? I can tell you for certain, before my first cruise if I come on here and see all the supposedly terrible things people say I probably would not have used Norweigian. So I think it's easy to prove conclusively that the whiners and complainers are what's hurting the brand

 

 

That's ridiculous. A very small percentage come here to cc. Your statement doesn't hold water.

[Medtech2]

I am platinum on NCL. MSC gave me black in their club.

I just looked at their benefits. Sounds good and certainly makes them an attractive option!

[Travelcat2]

I have no doubt that FDR will be around through the end of his contract in 2019. Then, I assume that he would retire.

 

As I just posted on another thread in response to a post regarding the fact(?) that only 20% of Americans have ever cruised, there are millions of people out there for NCL to target. Unfortunately, customers that have many cruises on NCL, Carnival or RCCL are not that difficult to replace due to the price point. As difficult as that is to swallow, cruise lines are also aware that there are far fewer customers that are willing to pay $500-$1,000/person/night (Oceania and Regent).

 

I am definitely not trying to put down mainstream cruisers. When we were younger (we are not ancient now), we were not vacationing in luxury. Rather, although we did not cruise, we stayed in Club Meds and other all-inclusive resorts. We had no loyalty whatsoever and stayed wherever the price was right and the amenities were enticing. Now, many years later, we are very committed to Regent and have to put up with very high increases in fares every quarter (note: not on all itineraries -- just ones that are popular).

 

My point is that no one should assume that FDR is going away any time soon (whether you are a shareholder or not).

[swedish weave]

I hope everyone on this board knows nothing is written in stone and things change..and whats true one day is not the next..

Jancruz1

 

This statement explains most of Del Rio's actions recently and in the past !!!

[Jancruz]

This statement explains most of Del Rio's actions recently and in the past !!!

 

Fortunately in this country everyone is entitled to their own opinion..

Jancruz1