On Board Experience Poll

[sparks1093]

Okay, Del Rio has been at the helm of NCL for a while now and while we all know about the changes it would be nice to see how close Del Rio is to achieving his vision of moving NCL up into the realm of the premium lines. So this poll is to try to gauge how things are on board, the quality of the food and entertainment and the level of service provided by the staff since these items strike at the heart of the on board experience (to me). (I don't really want to re-hash the changes since the vast majority of them I feel neutral about.)

[rvsullivan]

Where are the poll questions??

[sparks1093]

Where are the poll questions??

 

I had to write those after posting the thread, which was weird. But this is the first poll I've ever done so I might have missed something.

[weltek]

Tough to answer because there are some aspects that are better, and some that are worse. It all depends on what your priorities are.

 

Improvements: The UBP as a freestyle choice promo has dramatically enhanced our onboard experience. The Escape has really captured our demographic well food/beverage/entertainment wise. We love it. Not sure how much of the Escape choices were made under Del Rio vs. planned for years, so I can't give him credit for that without a better understanding. The Cruise Next program has ended up more lucrative for us under Del Rio. There seems to be more opportunities to call and request an upsell offer under him. That's a good thing. In my experience, the main dining room food seems to be back on course after a few years of silly small portions and poor quality.

 

Complaints: some diminished "free" food offerings (no lobster, my afternoon fancy cheese option is gone from the buffet), musicians aren't as good as I've seen in the past (I'm talking about the ones that play in the evening in the atrium/pubs/etc), drink prices rising.

 

I don't really care about not bringing on soda/water. I hope there's less plastic water bottle waste do to the new policy. The water is great on board.

I didn't care much about the room service changes, but I do understand how a lot of people were upset. And that blip about not bringing food back to cabins from restaurants was ridiculous and am glad that was reversed quickly.

 

I don't feel the service level has changed. I've always generally had great service, with a few exceptions.

 

I think if we didn't experience and enjoy some of the new "premium" changes like the included UBP and newer ships restaurant/entertainment choices, I'd feel like things were going in a negative direction.

[cruisin07family]

I voted the onboard experience has declined because we just returned and there seemed to be a real shortage of bartending staff. There were many days that the Bliss lounge never had an open bar. There were several days that Sugarcane Mojito bar was either closed or empty. Most annoying was the the Whiskey, Martini, and Champagne bar areas (they all connect) often had one or two bartenders in the evenings. Where is the staff? I have to guess DelRio has cut staff to save money.

[sparks1093]

Tough to answer because there are some aspects that are better, and some that are worse. It all depends on what your priorities are.

 

Improvements: The UBP as a freestyle choice promo has dramatically enhanced our onboard experience. The Escape has really captured our demographic well food/beverage/entertainment wise. We love it. Not sure how much of the Escape choices were made under Del Rio vs. planned for years, so I can't give him credit for that without a better understanding. The Cruise Next program has ended up more lucrative for us under Del Rio. There seems to be more opportunities to call and request an upsell offer under him. That's a good thing. In my experience, the main dining room food seems to be back on course after a few years of silly small portions and poor quality.

 

Complaints: some diminished "free" food offerings (no lobster, my afternoon fancy cheese option is gone from the buffet), musicians aren't as good as I've seen in the past (I'm talking about the ones that play in the evening in the atrium/pubs/etc), drink prices rising.

 

I don't really care about not bringing on soda/water. I hope there's less plastic water bottle waste do to the new policy. The water is great on board.

I didn't care much about the room service changes, but I do understand how a lot of people were upset. And that blip about not bringing food back to cabins from restaurants was ridiculous and am glad that was reversed quickly.

 

I don't feel the service level has changed. I've always generally had great service, with a few exceptions.

 

I think if we didn't experience and enjoy some of the new "premium" changes like the included UBP and newer ships restaurant/entertainment choices, I'd feel like things were going in a negative direction.

 

Thank you for your thoughts.

[sparks1093]

I voted the onboard experience has declined because we just returned and there seemed to be a real shortage of bartending staff. There were many days that the Bliss lounge never had an open bar. There were several days that Sugarcane Mojito bar was either closed or empty. Most annoying was the the Whiskey, Martini, and Champagne bar areas (they all connect) often had one or two bartenders in the evenings. Where is the staff? I have to guess DelRio has cut staff to save money.

 

Thank you.

[sparks1093]

Interesting so far.

[sparks1093]

63 responses so far.

[sparks1093]

74 so far. I am surprised that the number of people voting declined is as high as it is, I really expected more saying it has stayed the same.

[cruizinwithkids]

I participated in the poll because I really like the subject and am looking forward to the results. I went with the onboard experience being the same. But I really have no idea. I'm definitely a person who sees the world through rose-colored glasses and I've been fortunate to cruise enough that they all kind of blend together.

 

Excluding the Sky, my last 4 NCL cruises have been 2 times on the Getaway and 2 times on the Breakaway. I remember having a really great bartender and waiter (same bar), but couldn't remember what ship it was. Then I remembered that we were watching a football game so it had to be the Getaway since we didn't sail the Breakaway during football season.

 

I just hope that people can keep in their minds the difference between on-board experience and corporate experience. My PCC is awesome, but over the years we have had less than stellar corporate experience.

[sparks1093]

I participated in the poll because I really like the subject and am looking forward to the results. I went with the onboard experience being the same. But I really have no idea. I'm definitely a person who sees the world through rose-colored glasses and I've been fortunate to cruise enough that they all kind of blend together.

 

Excluding the Sky, my last 4 NCL cruises have been 2 times on the Getaway and 2 times on the Breakaway. I remember having a really great bartender and waiter (same bar), but couldn't remember what ship it was. Then I remembered that we were watching a football game so it had to be the Getaway since we didn't sail the Breakaway during football season.

 

I just hope that people can keep in their minds the difference between on-board experience and corporate experience. My PCC is awesome, but over the years we have had less than stellar corporate experience.

 

Yes, there is a difference between the onboard experience and the corporate experience which is why I focused on the quality of the food, service and entertainment in setting up the poll. For most of us those three things are what really determine the quality of the cruise.

[biker@sea]

Sorry! can't do this poll.

We will not sail NCL with Del Rio at the helm.:(

[sparks1093]

Sorry! can't do this poll.

We will not sail NCL with Del Rio at the helm.:(

 

Understood.

[Sissaaaaaa]

Not sure what the last two questions has to do with the first 3. I voted, but I think the last two questions are taking away from the real issue, which is has service declined, improved, or stayed the same. JMO!

Edited August 10, 2016 by Sissaaaaaa

[sparks1093]

Not sure what the last two questions has to do with the first 3. I voted, but I think the last two questions are taking away from the real issue, which is has service declined, improved, or stayed the same. JMO!

 

The last two questions I threw in because they relate to Del Rio's goal of turning NCL into a premium line. I thought it would be good to see how NCL is doing in that area. (That's also why I allowed users to make more than one choice, presumably they could answer questions in both areas if it applied to them.) (Now that I think of it I could have done two polls but this way at least doesn't take up as much space on the forum.)

Edited August 10, 2016 by sparks1093

[Sissaaaaaa]

The last two questions I threw in because they relate to Del Rio's goal of turning NCL into a premium line. I thought it would be good to see how NCL is doing in that area. (That's also why I allowed users to make more than one choice, presumably they could answer questions in both areas if it applied to them.) (Now that I think of it I could have done two polls but this way at least doesn't take up as much space on the forum.)

 

I totally missed the "making more than one choice" option! My bad! :o

[sparks1093]

I totally missed the "making more than one choice" option! My bad! :o

 

Since this was the first poll that I've created I didn't think to mention it in the intro, so it's my bad too.

[shipfriend_max]

We have been sailing on NCL Getaway in Jan 2014 (Sheenan at the helm), and we found it to be surprisingly good, especially the food in MDR andd at the buffet, and also the service.

The same was true for NCL Jade in April 2016 on TA (Del Rio as new CEO), and to be honest, there were nearly no differences compared to Celebrity, who are considered as a Premium line,c the service was even a little better.

 

Here in Germany we have the all-inclusive-pricing ,sadly the fares are higher now... :-(

 

Nevertheless, we would sail NCL again without hesitation, if price and itinerary are appealing to us.

And we found NCL to be WAY WAY [...] WAY WAY BETTER than RCCL. :)

Edited August 10, 2016 by shipfriend_max

[Annmeat]

I totally missed the "making more than one choice" option! My bad! :o

 

Me, too. Oops'

[Annmeat]

Since this was the first poll that I've created I didn't think to mention it in the intro, so it's my bad too.

 

It's a great idea! Thanks for doing this-

[sparks1093]

We have been sailing on NCL Getaway in Jan 2014 (Sheenan at the helm), and we found it to be surprisingly good, especially the food in MDR andd at the buffet, and also the service.

The same was true for NCL Jade in April 2016 on TA (Del Rio as new CEO), and to be honest, there were nearly no differences compared to Celebrity, who are considered as a Premium line,c the service was even a little better.

 

Here in Germany we have the all-inclusive-pricing ,sadly the fares are higher now... :-(

 

Nevertheless, we would sail NCL again without hesitation, if price and itinerary are appealing to us.

And we found NCL to be WAY WAY [...] WAY WAY BETTER than RCCL. :)

 

Thank you for your thoughts.

[sparks1093]

It's a great idea! Thanks for doing this-

 

You are most welcome.:)

[sparks1093]

I set up this poll in response to a question that I asked in another thread, specifically has the onboard experience improved to the point where I would be willing to spend $1800 more to sail on the Gem than I did the last time. I think NCL needs more time to make improvements first.

[jayjay10704]

Impeach Del Rio! :D