Very disappointed in NCL customer service

[sue2002]

First time cruiser back in May with NCL.  Was unfortunate enough to get a room with a toilet that did not work the whole week!  On second day of cruise went to guest services and asked if they could possible change our room after several attempts to fix toilet.  Was told ship is booked so no.  Went back to guest services on day 6 to complain again and was told they could switch our room an offered us $100 obc.

Interesting how room became available in middle of cruise and $100 for 4 people is a joke.  I have written NCL twice now with no response.

Is this generally thee case...not to hear back from anyone?  Folks might complain about Carnival but have never been treated so poorly like we were on this NCL cruise.  Any suggestions to get them to answer me?  TIA

[mugtech]

4 minutes ago, sue2002 said:

 Was told ship is booked so no.  Went back to guest services on day 6 to complain again and was told they could switch our room an offered us $100 obc.

Interesting how room became available in middle of cruise and $100 for 4 people is a joke.  

Perhaps they threw some people off the ship or had them in the ship's brig.  Smart money says they lied to you.  Stick with Carnival.

[JOHNHOWARTH2]

1 hour ago, sue2002 said:

 Went back to guest services on day 6 to complain again

Just wondered what you did on days 3, 4 and 5?

[sue2002]

Toilet did not work the whole week.  We assumed since they told us there were no available rooms we had to use public restrooms.

[rachiem]

3 minutes ago, sue2002 said:

Toilet did not work the whole week.  We assumed since they told us there were no available rooms we had to use public restrooms.

Really?? That's totally unacceptable! 

I gave some feedback when I got home from our last cruise. They emailed back after about a week to 10 days (I'd totally forgotten I'd sent the email) This is the UK centre though

[Two Wheels Only]

Can you tell us the ship and stateroom number?

 

There is another "toilet" thread with some info from a former cruise ship chief engineer that might help others with toilet issues.

[sue2002]

It was on the Breakway - room 8764

[Heronymous]

In the past when a family member had an issue with us on this ship, it was booked solid but had a few no shows. They had to wait until the end of the first stop to ensure the missed travelers weren’t  going to fly to the destination and join the cruise at that point until they’d release the room to swap for room issues like this. This is what they told us 2 years ago anyway.

[bonvoyagie]

Well usually the toilets on these ships are connected in blocks so more than likely others also had issues. We have been on cruises where we have been warned that they were going to be working on the toilet system for a few hours and usually have the issues resolved within the day. Even on our last cruise we had issues with the hot water supply in the bathroom - we mentioned it to our room steward and the issue was resolved while we were off on a port day. The steward made a point to look us up when we returned to make sure everything was resolved. I have never had to go to guest services to get resolve. It has always been handled by the room stewards and engineering.

 

As others have said, it is possible that someone missed the ship and was going to join at the first port. If that did not happen then they would have an empty cabin. They might have had to accommodate another toilet issue that beat you to the desk.

 

Another hint - if you or someone else has a similar problem and don't get satisfaction from front line staff - go to either the housekeeping or hotel manager - they will get things done.

[casofilia]

An even better answer; if you are on Cruise Critic (as you are) make sure you go to the Meet & Greet and get the "Officer's Card".  Forget Customer Services, phone the Housekeeping Manager and state you got his number from the Meet & Greet card and then explain the problem.   I have found that you will have someone at the door in minutes.

[myra711]

Sorry to hear that you had such an unpleasant issue to deal with.  I just want to say that on my cruise last week, at least 1 room became available on day 4 when a passenger was thrown off the ship.

 

[casofilia]

We actually had a flood from a water pipe next to the cabin and the steward found it before we did.  When we got back to  he room there were 3 people there with 3 machines.   We were immediately offered a fresh cabin, which we took for the night, till the cabin was dried.   Perfect service and also "little gifts".

[Peachypooh]

 

On NCL Jade  once a gentleman said that he had requested a handicapped cabin for his wife but I guess 

he didn't realize that it meant a raised toilet.  Anyway  she couldn't get onto the toilet by herself and he

couldn't lift her.So in effect she had no toilet in the room to use. They told him they were full up and

she would have to use the public restrooms. I suppose this was partly his fault but he didn't seem

like a seasoned cruiser and one that would know to ask such things when booking.

I think there are only a couple of restrooms on the Jewell class ships that are one stall so he could help her

in the women's room. Never heard what happened. He seemed ready to cry at guest services.

 

[newmexicoNita]

18 hours ago, sue2002 said:

First time cruiser back in May with NCL.  Was unfortunate enough to get a room with a toilet that did not work the whole week!  On second day of cruise went to guest services and asked if they could possible change our room after several attempts to fix toilet.  Was told ship is booked so no.  Went back to guest services on day 6 to complain again and was told they could switch our room an offered us $100 obc.

Interesting how room became available in middle of cruise and $100 for 4 people is a joke.  I have written NCL twice now with no response.

Is this generally thee case...not to hear back from anyone?  Folks might complain about Carnival but have never been treated so poorly like we were on this NCL cruise.  Any suggestions to get them to answer me?  TIA

Unfortunately there is probably nothing that can be done now. It is too late to say, what you should have done, but in the future think seriously about attending the M&G as someone suggested. That way you know who to go to when there is a problem. If you had reported this, in person to the hotel manager or even the house keeping manager you may have gotten better results. Guest services is not always the dept that will address concerns like yours. I would certainly be upset if this happened to me. Luckily we have had very few problems on any cruise and usually been satisfied with the solution. The few times we have not and there have bee a few, we look back and realize what we should have done. 

[tomk3212]

Once you got back how did you lodge your complaint with NCL?  There's a link on their website:

 

https://www.ncl.com/case-submission

 

I've used this a number of times & someone has always gotten back to me within 72 hours.  If you haven't then try this link.

 

If you've already tried this & received crickets chirping as your reply try "elliott.org" and query "NCL executives".  Once you've gotten an email of someone higher up in the NCL executive food chain then email them.  Elliott.org has some excellent advice on how to go about filing complaints with large corporations with some useful feedback from people who've used their resources with good results.

 

One word of advice; start LOWER in the NCL executive list (Senior VP or some such) & work your way up to the President/CEO level.  Escalate your complaint using their "chain of command"; it usually works better.

 

Good luck!  I'd be pretty upset if this happened to me, too!!

[sue2002]

Thanks to all for taking time to reply....I will certainly give all suggestions a try.  I know they can’t unfix the problem but an acknowledgement would be nice.  Thanks again