NCL does horrible in 2019 Cruise Critic awards

[david_sobe]

These awards barely get mentioned on the NCL board because NCL is rarely mentioned.  Each year NCL keeps fading away.  NCL used to at least win best entertainment or at least have a ship in the top 10.  NCL is making big profits but it could be a bubble because cruisers have shifted away from NCL.  NCL is non-existent in these awards these days and that should bother NCL executives but until bookings go down, I fear things wont change.  Apparently cruisers don't think NCL ships are innovative, have great cabins, food, or value for the money.  Carnival suffers just as bad as NCL but that sort of always was the case.  Its the disappearance of NCL that is the story IMHO.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm

[Son of a son of a ...]

I agree ... cruising itself is bubbling.  The growth will soon be unsustainable at current pace.

[esm54687]

Whether it's NCL or Carnival or RCCL etc ..... when awards are given out by anonymous voters who aren't even verified cruisers, it is ripe for the results to be tainted and it ends up being a popularity contest or the cruise line marketing department hires interns to vote and vote and vote (wouldn't be the first time fraudulent reviews or votes were cast for a service industry) ......     also, if you look at the dramatic drop in attendance to a Cruise Critic Meet & Greet where NCL puts out a spread and the officers show up and 100 Cruise Critic members commit but only 10 show up..... that type of thing shows the members don't care and probably won't vote 

[sandycruzr]

I was not surprised that NCL did not receive any real

awards this year.  As a longtime. NCL cruiser I can see a big decline in customer satisfaction.   I know some people will be upset with me but I really felt like I was on a

Carnival cruise when I sailed on the Getaway a few weeks ago!  It’s sad really!

the crew seems really overworked and unhappy compared to other ships.  

Maybe NCL should reconsider the whole mega ship program.  Bigger is not always better!

[AdGuyMG]

34 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

Apparently cruisers don't think NCL ships are innovative, have great cabins, food, or value for the money.  Carnival suffers just as bad as NCL but that sort of always was the case.  Its the disappearance of NCL that is the story IMHO.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm

Cruise Critic represents a minuscule sliver of the cruising public.

 

Both NCL and Carnival do much better based on performance and customer satisfaction  in Industry and Trade surveys and publications such as Travel Pulse and Travel Weekly, and more widely circulated national consumer publications such as Porthole, Travel & Leisure, AAA and AARP.

[misguy]

They are going back to smaller ships with the Leonardo class.

 

[Jerseygich]

I found it a little strange that it was almost the same 10 ships in all the categories.

[bonvoyagie]

I have not heard much about the new class of ships being smaller. I would have thought that if the mega ships were not good we would not have so many of them to begin with.. I have really have no desire to be on one of them - I love the Jewel class ships.

[tomservo]

1 hour ago, esm54687 said:

Whether it's NCL or Carnival or RCCL etc ..... when awards are given out by anonymous voters who aren't even verified cruisers, it is ripe for the results to be tainted and it ends up being a popularity contest or the cruise line marketing department hires interns to vote and vote and vote (wouldn't be the first time fraudulent reviews or votes were cast for a service industry) ......     also, if you look at the dramatic drop in attendance to a Cruise Critic Meet & Greet where NCL puts out a spread and the officers show up and 100 Cruise Critic members commit but only 10 show up..... that type of thing shows the members don't care and probably won't vote 

I’m not sure how CC decides these awards, but I think it’s based on reviews. 

[tallnthensome]

What would you expect NCL to win? They are middle of the road at best at pretty much everything. You're premium lines are going to win most everything. Personally, I hope NCL gets horrible marks in every category that way maybe it'll stop their constant price hiking on every little thing. If you give an award to NCL for anything they'll raise their prices because they won. Tell them they are the worst and that might save us passengers a few bucks. 

[tomservo]

I was going to post a thread on this but David beat me to it. 

 

NCL didn’t get a single mention in any of the categories for Large Ships (not even entertainment which is usually a gimme for them), and one single mention in Mid-Sized Ships for Fitness and Req (Sun at #10). 

 

Celebrity S and M class along with the RCL Oasis class ships won most of the categories for Large Ships. I don’t know how these are tallied, but I think it’s a good indicator of cruiser sentiment... 

[tomservo]

4 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

What would you expect NCL to win? They are middle of the road at best at pretty much everything. You're premium lines are going to win most everything. Personally, I hope NCL gets horrible marks in every category that way maybe it'll stop their constant price hiking on every little thing. If you give an award to NCL for anything they'll raise their prices because they won. Tell them they are the worst and that might save us passengers a few bucks. 

I got bad news for you...

 

 

Del Rio’s pretty bullish on the demand for NCL’s product over the next couple of years...

[luv2kroooz]

1 hour ago, sandycruzr said:

I was not surprised that NCL did not receive any real

awards this year.  As a longtime. NCL cruiser I can see a big decline in customer satisfaction.   I know some people will be upset with me but I really felt like I was on a

Carnival cruise when I sailed on the Getaway a few weeks ago!  It’s sad really!

the crew seems really overworked and unhappy compared to other ships.  

Maybe NCL should reconsider the whole mega ship program.  Bigger is not always better!

I totally agree with you about customer satisfaction declining. The onboard programming for the most part feels like it has for the last five years or so. It is stale and their onboard pricing is just astronomical. It is at levels that can easily diminish guest satisfaction and make them reconsider the value they are receiving for what they are paying.

 

However, with the exception of the pool deck and atrium, I think they did a pretty nice job with the Away class ships. I love the Waterfront and how it provides a connection to the sea, which is often missing from many newer ships. I am really concerned about what they are getting with their upcoming class. They are switching from a German shipyard to Italian shipyard. Many of Carnivals ships were built in Italy and I find them unimaginative and very poorly designed.

[tomservo]

5 minutes ago, blcruising said:

I totally agree with you about customer satisfaction declining. The onboard programming for the most part feels like it has for the last five years or so. It is stale and their onboard pricing is just astronomical. It is at levels that can easily diminish guest satisfaction and make them reconsider the value they are receiving for what they are paying.

I got criticized in the thread I linked to above for saying the same thing. 

Edited March 7, 2019 by tomservo

[luv2kroooz]

7 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

What would you expect NCL to win? They are middle of the road at best at pretty much everything. You're premium lines are going to win most everything. Personally, I hope NCL gets horrible marks in every category that way maybe it'll stop their constant price hiking on every little thing. If you give an award to NCL for anything they'll raise their prices because they won. Tell them they are the worst and that might save us passengers a few bucks. 

 

I would nominate them for:

 

Best cruise line for nickel and diming their guests at every possible turn.

 

Cruise line with the most overpriced beverage package in the cruise industry.

 

Cruise line with the highest service charges, fees, and gratuities.

[tomservo]

1 minute ago, blcruising said:

Cruise line with the most overpriced beverage package in the cruise industry.

 

What I don’t get is how they justify the gratuities on the “free” drink package. Isn’t it based on an average of like, 16 drinks a day or something ridiculous? Who drinks 16 drinks a day? How about charging gratuity on the actual drinks that we get on the package? I wonder how they’ll justify it when it becomes based on 30 drinks a day or some number that isn’t humanly possible. 

[tallnthensome]

11 minutes ago, blcruising said:

 

I would nominate them for:

 

Best cruise line for nickel and diming their guests at every possible turn.

 

Cruise line with the most overpriced beverage package in the cruise industry.

 

Cruise line with the highest service charges, fees, and gratuities.

Put it this way, at least in my case. My simple inside cabin for my family of four went up $2500 since I booked it for our upcoming 15 day on the Bliss. I would not pay that difference now ...... I booked the Encore for 2021 back in January only because of an online pricing error where they had balconies and three perks for $500 less than inside cabin with one perk .... They quickly fixed the mistake the next day but I got it .... If it wasn't for that $1500 error I wouldn't be sailing the Encore or NCL. After these two NCL cruises it's bye from me ...... I get better deals on MSC and Celebrity. Del Rio can kiss my rear end .....

Edited March 7, 2019 by tallnthensome

[thetaro]

It's just a popularity contest. NCL would have won the category of nickel and diming you while increasing the base fare.

I can't justify cruising NCL when MCS is 1/2-2/3 of what NCL wants for pretty much the same product.

[DaCruiseBug]

1 hour ago, blcruising said:

I totally agree with you about customer satisfaction declining. The onboard programming for the most part feels like it has for the last five years or so. It is stale and their onboard pricing is just astronomical. It is at levels that can easily diminish guest satisfaction and make them reconsider the value they are receiving for what they are paying.

 

However, with the exception of the pool deck and atrium, I think they did a pretty nice job with the Away class ships. I love the Waterfront and how it provides a connection to the sea, which is often missing from many newer ships. I am really concerned about what they are getting with their upcoming class. They are switching from a German shipyard to Italian shipyard. Many of Carnivals ships were built in Italy and I find them unimaginative and very poorly designed.

 

Thats because Carnival wants them buil that way. The MSC Seaside was also built in Italy and surely you can’t say it’s poorly designed.

[luv2kroooz]

1 minute ago, DaCruiseBug said:

 

Thats because Carnival wants them buil that way. The MSC Seaside was also built in Italy and surely you can’t say it’s poorly designed.

I would love to sail Seaside. I've heard many good things and many not so good. But I'd love to sail on it. 

[tomservo]

1 hour ago, tallnthensome said:

Put it this way, at least in my case. My simple inside cabin for my family of four went up $2500 since I booked it for our upcoming 15 day on the Bliss. I would not pay that difference now ...... I booked the Encore for 2021 back in January only because of an online pricing error where they had balconies and three perks for $500 less than inside cabin with one perk .... They quickly fixed the mistake the next day but I got it .... If it wasn't for that $1500 error I wouldn't be sailing the Encore or NCL. After these two NCL cruises it's bye from me ...... I get better deals on MSC and Celebrity. Del Rio can kiss my rear end .....

My first X cruise is in October, I might be making the switch as well...

[MaryZ]

We looked thru the list of ships today too.  I wasn't surprised NCL didn't win any categories. 
They seem to be lacking in the approach to reaching people's vacation happiness.   A lot of their employees seem either disinterested or overworked. 
I think it's one of those things that when you sail one line too often, you forget how nice it is to see a difference and appreciate each line for not only their uniqueness but their similarities to what you enjoy. 
 

I've noticed that so many people dont' sail on different lines and I have no idea why they do that. 

[need2cruisesoon]

Not one NCL ship beat Regal Princess....wow

[CruisingNole]

Shhhh: in case you haven't noticed, the "awards" are based on advertising revenue.

 

Anyways, NCL is inferior to other cruise lines, especially RCI. It is what it is.

[david_sobe]

When I first started cruising, I was suggested NCL because they were more "upscale" than Carnival.  NCL was a small cruise line that really catered to guests.  NCL has grown so much since then.  NCL used to be all over these cruise critic awards years ago.  IMHO NCL is suffering from the Epic hangover.  Epic was so innovative with single cabins and entertainment but took such a backlash from design.  NCL probably also probably over spent on entertainment in those days. After the backlash,  NCL over reacted by creating fairly sterile ships. While very nice and modern, the other lines became more innovative.  The Bliss and Encore do have an observation lounge which is a nice feature but the new RCCL and celebrity ships are lightyears ahead of NCL with innovation.  Also, NCL is seeking first time cruisers who may never cruise NCL again.  Those first time cruisers may not leave positive reviews from their onboard experience.  In reality, the bottom dollar rules and as long as the new ships are full and booked with many first timers, that is what really matters.