Burnt out Staff

[sfaaa]

No one ever says working on cruise ship is easy. If someone can't hack the hours or workload, it's time to find another job.

[FranknBeans]

Just off the Breakaway this past Sunday. This is my sixth cruise with NCL, and was very apparent this cruise how burnt out the staff has become. We heard from numerous staff (spa, room attendant, waiters) that they have to work seven straight days for 8 months, then get two months off. I have never heard so many speaking as loudly about this in past cruises. They were t as friendly or cheerful as in he past. We could see this play out too with lack of service in our room (some days not getting cleaned at all, needing to call for night servicing, etc). The executive housekeeper Carmincita took good care of us and went to lengths to make things right (helps to have her number from meet and greet mingle).

 

Thoughts?

 

We have done 30 plus cruises with NCL and never experienced any of your so called findings.

The staff have the choice to stay or leave but I believe most are happy to be able to send money back home.

[$hip$hape]

We have done 30 plus cruises with NCL and never experienced any of your so called findings.

The staff have the choice to stay or leave but I believe

most are happy to be able to send money back home.

 

On the POA we ran into an American (USA) girl working in the buffet. She looked like she was falling asleep.

I asked what was wrong. She said, "They make us work such long hours!"

 

I agree with you!

It's so nice to know that the workers from foreign countries are so poorly paid,

but still appreciate anything we give them.:cool:

Edited March 8, 2017 by $hip$hape

[CJDepew]

I will be on her in three days. I hope I get the same crew. Did any bartenders stand out?

 

Not particularly, but I only used the Waves bar on Deck 15.

[NikkiD823]

The only time I've ever experienced this on an NCL cruise was on the NCL Spirit. Unprofessional, disinterested, and lackluster all around. So yeah, it happens. Who knows why? It's not my problem to solve.

 

That's sad. Our first cruise was 12 days on the Spirit in 2012. It had the best staff and service that we have seen in the last 5 years. The only time we heard about the staff's lives or jobs were when we or others asked. They enjoyed talking to everyone and telling stories about where they came from but I never felt they were complaining. The captain was amazing as well and everyone loved him.

[wdsted]

Something might have happened since we last sailed on BA (November), but I doubt it. We had consistently good, cheerful service. You do run into the occasional grump or person having a bad day, but that's life. Sorry, this post doesn't resonate with me and we cruise NCL a lot! Maybe too much. [emoji6]

 

 

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[Buford T Justiice]

My guess is the crew is still recuperating from the February school break cruises with all the kids here in the Northeast. Our Gem cruise returning 2/27 was over 114% capacity.

[C-line]

We were on the Breakaway for the first half of January and I remember that any crew members we encountered were fantastic. If any of them weren't it couldn't have been too bad because I don't remember any unpleasant interactions worth mentioning. :)

[clskinsfan]

Maybe you had bad luck and ran into a lot of the staff who were almost finished with their current contracts. At the end of the contract you have to think they are exhausted.

[easyboy]

There are some who seek the pity tip, they think if they tell you of their agony and hard life you will give them a few bucks out of the goodness of your heart. My response is "Hope your life gets better, lucky for you you can work hard and be instantly rewarded." That usually stops the complaining and sighing.

The usual trick!

[riddle]

I just spent two back to back weeks on the Epic. I never encountered anyone who wasn't pleasant and friendly. However, service in the restaurants was generally slower than it used to be. I do not blame this on the staff, I just feel that there are far fewer people staffing the restaurants. O'Sheehans especially was hit hard by this very full cruise and I know people were pulled from other areas to help.

 

Our room steward the first week was very good. Not the best I have had but way above average. The second week, not so much. However, nothing she did was anything to complain about. She just seemed to take a lot longer to get the room done and there were little things.

 

However, once you get home and go to your first restaurant you will realize that seldom does anyone pull out your chair, put your napkin on your lap and proceed to attend to your every wish.

 

It may be a sign of the times, or just changes in NCL but there never seems to be as much staff as there used to be. We just accept it as a fact of life. I still love cruising and still think I get the best customer service anywhere, far better than anyplace at home.

[Sissaaaaaa]

Just off the Breakaway this past Sunday. This is my sixth cruise with NCL, and was very apparent this cruise how burnt out the staff has become. We heard from numerous staff (spa, room attendant, waiters) that they have to work seven straight days for 8 months, then get two months off. I have never heard so many speaking as loudly about this in past cruises. They were t as friendly or cheerful as in he past. We could see this play out too with lack of service in our room (some days not getting cleaned at all, needing to call for night servicing, etc). The executive housekeeper Carmincita took good care of us and went to lengths to make things right (helps to have her number from meet and greet mingle).

 

Thoughts?

 

It's the passengers. Time and time again I have heard from crew how much they hate working on that ship because of the rude, obnoxious passengers in that area. We have lived there our whole lives, and I wouldn't cruise for free out of NY.

[Sissaaaaaa]

I was on the Breakaway from 15 to 29 January. I found the crew very nice and friendly, and most seemed to enjoy their jobs.

 

I will admit that the Breakaway crew do sometimes have to contend with a particularly "tough crowd", (and I'm from NYC), and that could possibly have affected some... although that shouldn't be the case...:)

 

It definitely affects them. Hard not to.

[wolitavgg]

My DH and I were on the Breakaway last September.

All crew members we came in contact with were pleasant and helpful.

Our steward was excellent at his job.

However, I witnessed two situations which may give some insight into some of the crew being disheartened or burned out.

We were at the buffet for lunch one day when a woman,who apparently was a supervisor according to her suit/uniform ,started to reprimand one of the young women who were kept quite busy clearing tables.

I did overhear some of the conversation and it seemed to concern the young woman being absent from a meeting. ....

I was on the Star from Singapore to Hong Kong in December 2016. Als you all may know due to engine failure a lot of seadays and crowded Buffet area all the time :). I was upset with the crew cleaning off our table even if we just left a few seconds for drinks. Not giving you any time for a nice and relaxed eating experience. But I also observed a lot of disturbing, disrespectful behaviour from socalled senior staff in their pretty white uniforms towards the buffet staff. Since the buffet area was almost always full these people were really busy keeping the area clean and cleaning the tables. Most were working really hard. And several times I saw the same "senior" staff members basically just following the crew around and commenting and criticising openly instead of just helping out. These people do not know the phrase "to lead by example". Once you made it into a white uniform I guess you are above the regular staff. Also other "white uniform" staff were just walking around, following and spying on staff and even passengers for no reason at all. I guess they do not have anything better to do. Whenever I see these people parading around I just laugh :).

 

And yes, passengers can be very demanding to put it nicely. Most think that because they payed for the trip they can be abusive and rude towards staff. I could not even deal with what I have seen on some cruise ships for more than a day. So the crew working their butts off 7 days a week dealing with passengers from hell have my utmost respect.

Edited March 9, 2017 by wolitavgg

[ejnsb]

I will be on her in three days. I hope I get the same crew. Did any bartenders stand out?

 

 

Look for Flor in the bar outside Cagney's- she is great.

 

 

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[detroitlions]

For the most part all the workers I encounter are pleasant or outstanding.

I do not pry into there lives or act like I feel sorry for them in any way I find that disrespectful.

When folks do that the person your talking to may feel like your looking down your nose at them. And if the workers are complaining you should just shrug it off I personally have heard a few sob stories but I did not say much it seems like begging to me folks love hearing drama but when your on vacation are you not getting away from,everyday life drama, Do you think those folks on the ship would want to hear all your issues when they are on vacation with there family's I doubt it.

[CruisinHarvey]

I think it's pretty funny. I guess when you're in there, you can't see the forest for the trees. Having been on a couple of NYC cruises, they are different from any other we've been on, and we go a lot. There's that NY vibe, since 90% of the passengers are from the tristate area. I've never seen a guest services desk so packed day after day, with lots of volume, when everyone was saying the cruise was just fine. Nothing wrong with that culture, but it's different from other cruises. It seems like the crew were being assimilated into the Borg. We'll be on in May on the Breakaway again. I'll be interested in seeing it this time. I've talked to a bunch of crew members, over the years, who said that cruising out of NYC is a unique situation. It appears nothing has changed.

Edited March 9, 2017 by CruisinHarvey