Breakaway Disappointment

[RNCheryl]

“We teach people how we want to be treated” - Guy Fieri

 

Not saying to be snarky, but you have 6 future cruises booked.  Does NCL have an incentive to improve to measure up to your expectations?

 

Sorry you had a bad experience.  Maybe time to try another cruise line??

[expectthebest]

34 minutes ago, gmbhardy said:

 

Loved your post. At first I thought you might be right, but on further reflection I think what would satisfy our needs is a dependable, well running Corolla.

Lol... you are in luck... we happen to have a  2 year old corolla on the lot out front with low miles ... was a 1 owner car only driven to bingo on sundays...she’s a real ‘bute.... not a scratch on her and the tires still have lots of tread left on them...lmao!!!

[Bluewake]

We are platinum on NCL - it had been our "go to" line for years and Breakaway was our favorite ship.  However, I agree with the posters who are feeling that NCL has been slipping in regard to customer service.  We've gotten the general sense that NCL takes us for granted rather than appreciated  - - and treats us accordingly.   To me, the change in attitude seems to coincide with the departure of Kevin Sheehan and the appointment of Frank Del Rio.  Of course, I am not in a position to be able to conclusively attribute  the change in attitude to the change in leadership. Perhaps my suspicion is misplaced and the timing merely coincidental. Furthermore, we realize that no line is perfect and that  each does some things which align with our expectations and some that do not.  However, based on some unfortunate interactions we've had with NCL reps, and the underlying NCL policies and practices, we've come to the conclusion that we would be happier taking a different cruiseline., at least for the time being.  We have one final NCL Cruise booked, primarily because we had to use a Nextcruise voucher that was about to expire.  After that, we intend to look first at other lines and last at NCL for cruising opportunities.

 

[Oakman58]

1 hour ago, gmbhardy said:

 

Loved your post. At first I thought you might be right, but on further reflection I think what would satisfy our needs is a dependable, well running Corolla.

 

NCL is more like a Corolla that's been stripped down and heading for a demolition derby.

[njkate]

Have a TA booked for April, then 2 cruise next certs to use. I'll see how it goes 🙂Might be time to try a different line. 

I do wish they would eliminate all these "free perks" and lower the cruise fare, let people decide which to buy, because as we all know, nothing is free, those perks are bundled into the cruise fare for all whether you take them or not.

 

Sorry your cruise was not what you are used to o/p, I can understand the frustration as cruising when you factor in all costs is not cheap. 

 

I avoid the mega ships as there are too many people, just as I avoid causing in the summer or when school is out. Last summer cruise was in 2018 to the Baltics on the Breakaway, yikes, was lucky to win a bid to Haven on that one, so did have quiet space

Edited November 17, 2019 by njkate

[graphicguy]

@gmbhardy

 

Well...that’s not good.  Sorry to hear this.  Like you, I’m a fan of NCL’s product.  Have taken serval cruises with them.  

 

Aside for a poor communication issue during the Dorian fiasco (which was inexcusable, and a clear attempt to save the revenue from a sailing, regardless of dire weather warnings) my cruises have all been quite enjoyable.  That includes sailing in a solo cabin, all the way up to Haven cabins, and everything  in between.

 

I do believe the days of Kevin Sheehan’s passenger focused approach is in direct opposition to DelRio’s approach of “the only thing that matters is more profit” will eventually catch up to NCL.  That’s a short sighted view driven by nothing more than the myopic quarterly report.  The long term view is being ignored and will suffer because of the types of things you saw and has been reported by others.

 

None of the cutbacks, either real or perceived, have been visible by me, yet.  That said, I always look at other cruise lines to find better values.

 

There’s no lack of competition.  More of these types of reports, and eventually NCL’S bottom line will be affected.

 

 

 

[NoobCroozer]

On 11/14/2019 at 6:26 AM, Aldeya said:

OP, I feel the same about our recent NCL experiences on Dawn and Escape. The level of service is way down from what it used to be. Those little touches that made cruising with NCL special are dissapearing, little by little. We are also reconsidering our booked cruises with NCL.

We were on the Dawn in April, prior to boarding everyone was raving how great the staff was. For the most part, they were, most knew our names and bent over backwards, but about a quarter of them were downright miserable. Seems the other 3/4’s rotated out since.

 

Hopefully the good ones are rotating to the Encore :))

[Bluewake]

On 11/17/2019 at 10:56 AM, graphicguy said:

@gmbhardy

 

Well...that’s not good.  Sorry to hear this.  Like you, I’m a fan of NCL’s product.  Have taken serval cruises with them.  

 

Aside for a poor communication issue during the Dorian fiasco (which was inexcusable, and a clear attempt to save the revenue from a sailing, regardless of dire weather warnings) my cruises have all been quite enjoyable.  That includes sailing in a solo cabin, all the way up to Haven cabins, and everything  in between.

 

I do believe the days of Kevin Sheehan’s passenger focused approach is in direct opposition to DelRio’s approach of “the only thing that matters is more profit” will eventually catch up to NCL.  That’s a short sighted view driven by nothing more than the myopic quarterly report.  The long term view is being ignored and will suffer because of the types of things you saw and has been reported by others.

 

None of the cutbacks, either real or perceived, have been visible by me, yet.  That said, I always look at other cruise lines to find better values.

 

There’s no lack of competition.  More of these types of reports, and eventually NCL’S bottom line will be affected.

 

 

 

It's my opinion that NCL deliberately misled cruisers such as myself on an upcoming 12 night voyage.  A group of 8 of us (6 of whom had never sailed NCL) chose the cruise because of the itinerary, two ports in particular that are popular and which are not available on many cruises.   (It was not Havana so this had nothing to do with the changes for Cuba)  As time passed, for some reason, excursions for 3 of the ports - including the two that were our primary reason for booking the cruise - were not posted. However, excursions were available for all of the other 4 ports on the cruise.  We thought that was strange and called NCL on three different occasions to ask why the excursions for those 3 ports still were missing.  We were told, all three times, to "hang tight" and that they were just firming things up and the excursions for those ports would be posted in a week.  It never happened. 

 

While we were still waiting, the final payment date arrived.  We could have cancelled the cruise and taken a different one but, based on what we'd been told, assumed that all would be fine.  So, we paid.  Three weeks after the final payment deadline, it was announced that one of the main ports that had attracted us (and many others) to the cruise had been dropped from the itinerary and the dates we'd be visiting those other 2 ports for which excursions had never been posted had been changed.  Of course, the final 4 ports - the ones for which excursions had long been available - were unaffected by the change. 

 

I remain convinced that NCL knew all along that it was likely, or perhaps even definite, that the port that many of us wanted was being dropped and the 2 others adjusted but they held off on making the change public until after final payments were due.   It's just "too fishy" that only the excursions for the 3 ports that were dropped or changed were never posted before the final payment but all of the other ports that were unaffected by the itinerary change were available from the start.   

 

Of course, I understand that there is never a guarantee of a port.  Things happen.  But this situation smacked of a deliberate withholding of any notice of the change until after final payment.   We called to complain about the itinerary change but were told we couldn't cancel without a significant penalty because it was after final payment.   We even spoke with a surly supervisor who told me something I knew was incorrect but refused to acknowledge it.   We were given a slight cabin upgrade but the after the itinerary change became known, the price for the cruise dropped precipitously (I assume because, without that port, interest in the cruise was greatly reduced).  But, it was too late for us. We'd been given that "one bite of the apple" and were ineligible for any further adjustment. 

 

I've learned two things from this experience.  Don't book NCL early and pay those high prices unless there is a particular cabin I want. I've been watching NCL Cruise prices this week dropping as low as $129 for 5 nights and our own cruise dropped by about 50% after the changed itinerary.  FDR's policy of price 'em high at first and drop 'em to bargain basement prices as the cruise nears offers the chance of a much better deal.   Sure, I may miss an opportunity here or there but it's worth that chance.  The second is not to automatically depend on what NCL reps tell me.  Yes, the folks who answer the phones may not have known that this was going to happen but the excursion team certainly would have known or suspected that the circumstances were unusual.  Yet instead of looking into it, they just lied to us.  Okay, losing 8 potential cruisers seems like it isn't going to cause FDR to shed any tears...I understand that. But most of those in our group cruise at least 3 times a year and one couple cruises 5-6 times annually.  That has to add up after a few years.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Bluewake

[Love my butler]

4 hours ago, Bluewake said:

It's my opinion that NCL deliberately misled cruisers such as myself on an upcoming 12 night voyage.  A group of 8 of us (6 of whom had never sailed NCL) chose the cruise because of the itinerary, two ports in particular that are popular and which are not available on many cruises.   (It was not Havana so this had nothing to do with the changes for Cuba)  As time passed, for some reason, excursions for 3 of the ports - including the two that were our primary reason for booking the cruise - were not posted. However, excursions were available for all of the other 4 ports on the cruise.  We thought that was strange and called NCL on three different occasions to ask why the excursions for those 3 ports still were missing.  We were told, all three times, to "hang tight" and that they were just firming things up and the excursions for those ports would be posted in a week.  It never happened. 

 

While we were still waiting, the final payment date arrived.  We could have cancelled the cruise and taken a different one but, based on what we'd been told, assumed that all would be fine.  So, we paid.  Three weeks after the final payment deadline, it was announced that one of the main ports that had attracted us (and many others) to the cruise had been dropped from the itinerary and the dates we'd be visiting those other 2 ports for which excursions had never been posted had been changed.  Of course, the final 4 ports - the ones for which excursions had long been available - were unaffected by the change. 

 

I remain convinced that NCL knew all along that it was likely, or perhaps even definite, that the port that many of us wanted was being dropped and the 2 others adjusted but they held off on making the change public until after final payments were due.   It's just "too fishy" that only the excursions for the 3 ports that were dropped or changed were never posted before the final payment but all of the other ports that were unaffected by the itinerary change were available from the start.   

 

Of course, I understand that there is never a guarantee of a port.  Things happen.  But this situation smacked of a deliberate withholding of any notice of the change until after final payment.   We called to complain about the itinerary change but were told we couldn't cancel without a significant penalty because it was after final payment.   We even spoke with a surly supervisor who told me something I knew was incorrect but refused to acknowledge it.   We were given a slight cabin upgrade but the after the itinerary change became known, the price for the cruise dropped precipitously (I assume because, without that port, interest in the cruise was greatly reduced).  But, it was too late for us. We'd been given that "one bite of the apple" and were ineligible for any further adjustment. 

 

I've learned two things from this experience.  Don't book NCL early and pay those high prices unless there is a particular cabin I want. I've been watching NCL Cruise prices this week dropping as low as $129 for 5 nights and our own cruise dropped by about 50% after the changed itinerary.  FDR's policy of price 'em high at first and drop 'em to bargain basement prices as the cruise nears offers the chance of a much better deal.   Sure, I may miss an opportunity here or there but it's worth that chance.  The second is not to automatically depend on what NCL reps tell me.  Yes, the folks who answer the phones may not have known that this was going to happen but the excursion team certainly would have known or suspected that the circumstances were unusual.  Yet instead of looking into it, they just lied to us.  Okay, losing 8 potential cruisers seems like it isn't going to cause FDR to shed any tears...I understand that. But most of those in our group cruise at least 3 times a year and one couple cruises 5-6 times annually.  That has to add up after a few years.

This happens more often than you know.  NCL's backdoor screwjob that nobody can anything about after the cruise is over.