NCLH Laid off all the Ship and Land IT depts

[The Traveling Man]

23 hours ago, SRQMom said:

My neighbors son "was" part of the IT Team in Miami that handled the email servers on all the ships for internal communications.  He got laid off on Thursday with the entire department.  Even his bosses, bosses, boss was let go.  Totally unexpected.  All got severance so no official word needs released yet to comply with the required notice when a large % is laid off.  So, my thoughts still remain, since this isn't a "little here, little there" type layoff, is NCLH going under? What affect will this have on operations, etc.

Thank you for posting this.  My previous response was based solely on the text of the press release.  Your specific knowledge of personnel actions taken within the NCL IT department is most illuminating, and sadly disturbing.  I wonder, though, if the entire IT staff were fired, or if the terminations were exclusively in that section of the IT department "that handled the email servers on all the ships for internal communications."  What about those who handle the NCL website, the Norwegian App, accounting records, passenger records, etc?

[The Traveling Man]

10 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

At least get the cocktail right. Watermelon skins from the MDR trash, discarded cucumber guts, discarded almond croissants from the Haven breakfast buffet,  bell pepper tops found in the MDR trash, coffee grounds from Haven stateroom Nespresso machine pods, rotten bananas from the Haven stateroom fruit bowls, flat champaign from the Atrium bar (i.e., prosecco not Veuve), and pineapple skins from the Garden Cafe. All sold for top dollar.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah,,, and they serve flights of the sustainable drinks to the Diamond and Ambassador members. 

 

I actually enjoyed some of these concoctions when we did the Diamond / Ambassador "Sail and Sustain Cocktail Experience" on the Pr1ma a few days after its inaugural voyage.  For some of the others, though, after one sip I couldn't force the glass back to my lips even if I used both hands and a crow bar. 😝

[Mike07]

19 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Let’s just hope they don’t establish a contract with the people that developed Princess’ app.

 

 

Carnival/PCL contracted Accenture to build and deliver that app. While I'm sure Accenture could have given them a quote for American/Western labor, Accenture usually sends the good looking MDs and consultants to meet with PCL in SoCal and then all build and design requirements might be gathered and sorted out. The actual production of the app likely went to the Philippines or India. That is why the app was so awful.... You have a bunch of people that are being asked to build an app with certain requirements and all of them likely have never been on a cruise ship. If they have, not as a passenger.

 

FYI - legal costs are built into every Accenture quote in the event that a lawsuit emerges over the delivery.

 

 

[detroitlions]

NCL simply went to cloud based services eliminating some local serviced jobs.

This has been going on for a while I do not get some of the comments on here that have nothing to do with what is going on.

[davencl]

It seems the move was to Amazon Web Services.  This moves all the processing to that platform.  This should be a great improvement.  The press release doesn't mention if the web design etc is moving too.  So no NCLH has not eliminated the IT departments based on this press release.

Edited Tuesday at 05:32 PM by davencl

[roddy good boy]

1 hour ago, davencl said:

It seems the move was to Amazon Web Services.  This moves all the processing to that platform.  This should be a great improvement.  The press release doesn't mention if the web design etc is moving too.  So no NCLH has not eliminated the IT departments based on this press release.

I’m sure the OP’s neighbor’s son knows!

[Oceansaway17]

On 6/24/2024 at 12:00 PM, schmoopie17 said:

Actually, I'm a steerage kind of guy. Plus, I'm too frugal/cheap/miserly to do the Haven.

As I've said before, the whole ship is going to the same places. No need to spend more than is necessary to get there. 

I agree we all can stand and watch the same ocean no matter what kind of room we have.

We can all walk off the ship in each port no matter what room we have

etc etc etc.  Never will I pay for the Haven

[SRQMom]

3 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

Thank you for posting this.  My previous response was based solely on the text of the press release.  Your specific knowledge of personnel actions taken within the NCL IT department is most illuminating, and sadly disturbing.  I wonder, though, if the entire IT staff were fired, or if the terminations were exclusively in that section of the IT department "that handled the email servers on all the ships for internal communications."  What about those who handle the NCL website, the Norwegian App, accounting records, passenger records, etc?

The Entire IT team that handled the "Backbone" of the administration of the servers that handle all the apps (email between ships and shore for docking, etc) were laid off.  The press release addressed the Server move to AWS (aka the "Cloud") which was basically the hardware/servers, not the "people" who take care of them.  As I've learned, the IT team of people who administer them was cut to the bone and replaced with a fraction of employees from another country who were even "semi-trained" by the very NCLH employees they replaced, and are woefully unskilled to handle any real issue that comes up.  That seems like a knee jerk corporate reaction to cut costs which is typically followed by a "learning" experience.... which on a cruise would be delays and missed ports.  Plus, I already dealt with an airline that went bankrupt and getting refunds on that was a nightmare, so that was my initial question and NCL's solvency.    

[Mike07]

1 minute ago, SRQMom said:

The Entire IT team that handled the "Backbone" of the administration of the servers that handle all the apps (email between ships and shore for docking, etc) were laid off.  The press release addressed the Server move to AWS (aka the "Cloud") which was basically the hardware/servers, not the "people" who take care of them.  As I've learned, the IT team of people who administer them was cut to the bone and replaced with a fraction of employees from another country who were even "semi-trained" by the very NCLH employees they replaced, and are woefully unskilled to handle any real issue that comes up.  That seems like a knee jerk corporate reaction to cut costs which is typically followed by a "learning" experience.... which on a cruise would be delays and missed ports.  Plus, I already dealt with an airline that went bankrupt and getting refunds on that was a nightmare, so that was my initial question and NCL's solvency.    

 

 

 

It's typical 21st century company think. IT is viewed as a cost center b/c servers cost money. Servers get old and have to be replaced/upgraded. Servers have to be stored in a cool environment. The IT people that tend to command a higher salary, cost money.

 

But, Sales is a wonderful department b/c they're the ones that bring in the revenue.

 

What is the first interaction going to be in 2024 between NCLH and its brands and the customers? More than likely, the website. How does an NCL ship run in 2024? A lot of computers, a lot of email... the entire engine room and ship is likely outfitted with sensors and computers to ensure a safe operation.

 

So, IT is a cost center, but IT is also the only way NCLH can make money. That being said, the Titanic, Olympia, Rotterdam, Queen Anne, and many historic ships were built before the dawn of the transistor age. So, it's certainly possible to do a cruise in 2024 without computers if they are really that much of an expense.

[pcakes122]

12 hours ago, DominicAUS said:

Just because a company outsources/offshore work doesn’t mean they’re going under, just means they can get similar results with less cost.

 

They have to answer to shareholders on their profit results each year, how they do it is to find cost savings as we’ve all seen and some behind the scenes. 

It may even mean they can get BETTER results with less cost. I'm sincerely sorry for all those who lose their jobs as a result of business moves such as this, but it truly is smart business. NCLH is a cruise and travel business - NOT an IT business. Why does it make sense for NCLH to dilute their focus and spend significant capital $$ building and maintaining an IT infrastructure and workforce (especially in this rapidly changing digital landscape) when there are companies (such as AWS and many others) who are experts in the IT and digital technology field and are on the cutting edge of it all. As an NCLH shareholder, I say go ahead and let the specialists do the IT work and focus on enhancing your cruise/travel product.

 

Also, outsourcing and off-shoring are two completely different things. I work for a company that outsources MANY functions, but the work is still performed by vendors in the US.

[Mike07]

9 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

It may even mean they can get BETTER results with less cost. I'm sincerely sorry for all those who lose their jobs as a result of business moves such as this, but it truly is smart business. NCLH is a cruise and travel business - NOT an IT business. Why does it make sense for NCLH to dilute their focus and spend significant capital $$ building and maintaining an IT infrastructure and workforce (especially in this rapidly changing digital landscape) when there are companies (such as AWS and many others) who are experts in the IT and digital technology field and are on the cutting edge of it all. As an NCLH shareholder, I say go ahead and let the specialists do the IT work and focus on enhancing your cruise/travel product.

 

Also, outsourcing and off-shoring are two completely different things. I work for a company that outsources MANY functions, but the work is still performed by vendors in the US.

 

 

Companies are doing cost calculators and after moving everything to the cloud, suddenly on-prem pricing and infrax isn't as high or problematic as previously thought.

 

The backlash for moving everything to the cloud has been a slow, but growing movement, if you really want to discuss the bleeding and cutting edge of it all within IT enterprise space.

 

One of the things Amazon did with AWS was run it at a loss to pull corporate customers in.... and then jacked up the pricing once they had them hooked and said customers old servers were decommissioned and sold off. The companies made a deal with the Devil.

Edited Tuesday at 08:41 PM by Mike07

[roddy good boy]

17 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

17 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

Also, outsourcing and off-shoring are two completely different things. I work for a company that outsources MANY functions, but the work is still performed by vendors in the US.

Outsourcing is basically contracting out services. However, for instances similar to what occurred with NCL, the two terms are used interchangeably.

Edited Tuesday at 08:48 PM by roddy good boy

[pcakes122]

4 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

Companies are doing cost calculators and after moving everything to the cloud, suddenly on-prem pricing and infrax isn't as high or problematic as previously thought.

 

The backlash for moving everything to the cloud has been a slow, but growing movement, if you really want to discuss the bleeding and cutting edge of it all within IT enterprise space.

It's not so much "moving everything to the cloud." It's more involved than than just storage solutions, and there are more benefits to outsourcing than simply cost. The best of the best talent is not looking to work in an IT department in a non-IT business - they want to work for the digital industry leaders (and they do.) We're getting off topic, but back to the point - I think this AWS partnership is a very smart move for NCLH.

[julig22]

50 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

What is the first interaction going to be in 2024 between NCLH and its brands and the customers? More than likely, the website. How does an NCL ship run in 2024? A lot of computers, a lot of email... the entire engine room and ship is likely outfitted with sensors and computers to ensure a safe operation

Just a wild - but somewhat educated - guess. The ship operations, like engines etc, are in no way connected to the IT folks that handle the business side of NCL.

[pcakes122]

2 minutes ago, roddy good boy said:

Outsourcing is basically contracting out services. However, for instances similar to what occurred with NCL, the two terms are used interchangeably.

AWS has dozens of data centers in the US. Do we know the NCLH work went off-shore?

[roddy good boy]

2 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

AWS has dozens of data centers in the US. Do we know the NCLH work went off-shore?

According to info posted by the OP, yes.

[pcakes122]

5 minutes ago, roddy good boy said:

According to info posted by the OP, yes.

Nothing indicated in the press release that the work was moved off-shore, although I'm sure some of the work may have been.

 

Many assumptions in this discussion.

[roddy good boy]

19 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

Nothing indicated in the press release that the work was moved off-shore, although I'm sure some of the work may have been.

 

Many assumptions in this discussion.

Read the original post and post #58. This whole thread started because the OP reported that her neighbor’s son had just been let go due to outsourcing! The article was posted, subsequently.

Edited Tuesday at 09:26 PM by roddy good boy

[Mike07]

31 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

It's not so much "moving everything to the cloud." It's more involved than than just storage solutions, and there are more benefits to outsourcing than simply cost. The best of the best talent is not looking to work in an IT department in a non-IT business - they want to work for the digital industry leaders (and they do.) We're getting off topic, but back to the point - I think this AWS partnership is a very smart move for NCLH.

 

 

You can only hope the transitions is seamless, the costs are lower, and the results improve. That's what an EY, KPMG, Deloitte, BAH, Accenture, etc. MD would promise the NCLH board. Then, reality may strike.

Edited Tuesday at 09:21 PM by Mike07

[schmoopie17]

If NCL is going under/out of business, someone better tell the stock market. Stock is up over five percent today. 

[luv2kroooz]

17 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

If NCL is going under/out of business, someone better tell the stock market. Stock is up over five percent today. 

Sure it is. It isn't NCLH, but the entire cruise industry. CCL just hit all 2Q metrics out of the park. The bump in NCLH today is the result of the CCL reporting. The underlying fundamentals of NCLH today are effectively the same today as they were yesterday.

[MoCruiseFan]

40 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

If NCL is going under/out of business, someone better tell the stock market. Stock is up over five percent today. 

 

 

While I highly doubt that NCL is going to file for bankruptcy, or that outsourcing IT is even a slight indication of that happening, one day of stock pricing is of no relevance.

[Distinctive-Destinations]

5 minutes ago, MoCruiseFan said:

 

 

While I highly doubt that NCL is going to file for bankruptcy, or that outsourcing IT is even a slight indication of that happening, one day of stock pricing is of no relevance.

Especially when the increase isn’t even related to anything mentioned in this thread. The stock is up because…Carnival…beat earnings.

[EngrJones]

A rising tide lifts all boats (ships in this case).

[Panhandle Couple]

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

Just a wild - but somewhat educated - guess. The ship operations, like engines etc, are in no way connected to the IT folks that handle the business side of NCL.

Most ship operations are run by firmware, not software. The firmware is created by the device manufacturer and NCL couldn't change it if they wanted to.

Try putting bootleg firmware in your car engine controller and see what happens to your warranty.