WHAT IS UP WITH NCL?? AUG 3 Sailing

[Down-Unders]

The part of the OP's post that jumped out at me was the excursion that everyone was complaining about.

 

If I book my (overpriced) excursion through NCL I would expect it to be a top quality, well run, excursion. It sounds like this was not the case. Why would NCL continue to lend their name to an excursion that doesn't measure up? And don't we as pax have the right to request satisfaction?

 

If I book independently and it's a lousy excursion then I only have myself to blame but if I book through NCL I expect that they have done the research and their excursion should be equal to the quality of the cruise line.

 

 

Well said!

[honeymooners08]

I was on that cruise as well and also went to the night snorkel. We did not go expecting to see ANYTHING (because we know that sea creatures will not come to us on command!)...however, we found that the excursion was not well run. We had a "leader" from Fantasea take 3 of us out into the water at night (my husband and I and another woman). The "leader" swam so fast, we couldn't even look down and actually snorkel...we spent our night snorkel swimming to catch up with the leader because it was dark and we didn't know where we were going. We all asked him to slow down three times...he did not. My husband and I told the head employee at Fantasea what had happened and he apologized. We later shared our concerns with the NCL shore excursions desk and they were very helpful and wanting to hear about our issues with the excursion. We ended up recieving 20% off of the excursion. We basically had the attitude of "well, we won't do that excursion again!"...we were on vacation and the excursion couldn't ruin that for us!!

 

By the way, Donnar, I am very sorry to hear about that happening to your family member, but I am glad he is ok!

[greywillow]

...there really needs to be a substancial increase of food quality in those venues to justify the addional charges..

Really? Has the quality of corn gone up along with the price? Gas? Heating oil? Everything else we buy? You've got to be kidding. You're saying the cost of cruising should stay the same forever unless they increase the quality commensurately? Have you heard of inflation?

 

Look, if you don't think it's worth the surcharge, DON'T GO. How simple is that?

[Cruzin2paradise09]

The part of the OP's post that jumped out at me was the excursion that everyone was complaining about.

 

If I book my (overpriced) excursion through NCL I would expect it to be a top quality, well run, excursion. It sounds like this was not the case. Why would NCL continue to lend their name to an excursion that doesn't measure up? And don't we as pax have the right to request satisfaction?

 

If I book independently and it's a lousy excursion then I only have myself to blame but if I book through NCL I expect that they have done the research and their excursion should be equal to the quality of the cruise line.

 

I agree, to a certain extent. I will explain. I do agree with the expectation that booking through the cruiseline should have some assurance of a better excursion. And I agree that if you book a private excursion and it's horrible, that you 'only have yourself' to blame.

 

Now, here's the BUT . . . the cruiseline contracts with the companies that provide the excursion. Nothing is ever fool-proof - ever! Things can and do go wrong. In the case of the OP, it didn't necessarily 'go wrong' as nature was just what it was. Nobody can control the amount of fish - it happens. As for the coral, that's one of those things where you have to be careful.

 

I only say this because of a couple of things. Last summer we were on a wonderful cruise. Some people we met took an excursion in, I believe, Puerto Rico. They went snorkeling. They got 'beat up' by coral. They didn't blame anyone - it does happen - unfortunately - I know they were in pain and it hurt, but stuff happens - it really does. On the same cruise, we were on an all day catamaran sail in St. Thomas (went to St. John's). The cruiseline contracted with a company for this excursion. Something had occurred and the original company they contracted with couldn't take us so another company stepped in. We had a great time - but we got back late - the captain of the catamaran had too much sea air between his ears. 49 of us kept telling him we had to be back by 2:30 pm as the ship was supposed to depart by 3 pm. He kept saying (for real) 'no problem mon.' Well, we didn't get back to the dock until 3:20 - it was not pretty. Point - stuff happens. This in fact, was the company running the excursion's fault. In OP's case, is there really 'fault' in an unenjoyable excursion? Blame mother nature I suppose.

 

As for the diabetic issue - the way it was handled sounds horrible! Write letters - lots of letters!

[Cruzin2paradise09]

I was on that cruise as well and also went to the night snorkel. We did not go expecting to see ANYTHING (because we know that sea creatures will not come to us on command!)...however, we found that the excursion was not well run. We had a "leader" from Fantasea take 3 of us out into the water at night (my husband and I and another woman). The "leader" swam so fast, we couldn't even look down and actually snorkel...we spent our night snorkel swimming to catch up with the leader because it was dark and we didn't know where we were going. We all asked him to slow down three times...he did not. My husband and I told the head employee at Fantasea what had happened and he apologized. We later shared our concerns with the NCL shore excursions desk and they were very helpful and wanting to hear about our issues with the excursion. We ended up recieving 20% off of the excursion. We basically had the attitude of "well, we won't do that excursion again!"...we were on vacation and the excursion couldn't ruin that for us!!

 

By the way, Donnar, I am very sorry to hear about that happening to your family member, but I am glad he is ok!

 

Thanks for giving a little more detailed explanation. Good for you that were able to get compensated for the lack of excursion (not to sound sarcastic at all - I'm being totally honest).

[CanadianTwosome]

I am Diabetic, so I'll share an important practice I learned from the Joslin Diabetes Center for those who might need to respond to a low-sugar incident. Candy, orange juice or other fluids, etc. aren't the best thing to help a Diabetic in this case. The Diabetic should always have a small tube (about 2 or 3 inches long) of cake frosting on them. It's pure sugar, easily transported, but most important it can be "squirted" into the mouth of the Diabetic and he won't choke on it (unlike hard candies and fluids). As a Diabetic's sugar levels drop to dangerous levels they will become disoriented, argumentative and even combative/resistant (it would take too long to explain why this happens) - so the cake frosting dispenser is perfect, just insert the nozzle in their mouth, hold their lips closed (if necessary) and squeeze. Hold their lips closed so they don't spit it out (accidentally or otherwise), the sugar will start being absorbed through their mouth immediately.

 

PS: I've never reached the point of going into Diabetic shock, but I've been very close. I'd like to think that if I ever DO have a medical emergency like this (particularly one which if addressed PROMPTLY will likely be inconsequential) the ship's crew has some very basic training and is prepared to respond promptly. The OP's report of calling 911 and being asked "20 questions" is unacceptable, get the basic facts and dispatch trained staff to the location IMMEDIATELY.

 

What a fantastic tip!!! Thank you!

 

I think there has been a bit of confusion regarding the ship's response to the emergency. From what I've read, the 911 response was good. I'm a little foggy on the details - family members were apparently running up and down the hall yelling (looking for the pens I think) and when they dialed the infirmary it was busy, but that was because other passengers had heard the commotion and were tying up the line calling already. The young man was treated promptly and was fine.

 

The issue was with the desk personel who seemed unable to figure out that the situation was an emergency and other family members needed to be paged. I was in an emergency room in Quebec once, with a huge swelling on my elbow where I'd been hit accidentally by a baseball bat. My elbow looked like there was a baseball attached to it - both size and shape wise - and it was really painful, and they insisted on asking me all kinds of questions before they would treat me. It was very frustrating, especially since the person asking the questions did not speak English at all. My situation clearly was not life threatening, but it just illustrates that sometimes (especially with a language barrier) people just follow protocol, which often means asking questions first. I think it's important to note that while obviously locating the boy's mother and aunt was important, there really may have been some confusion regarding why that particular part of the situation was being considered an emergency. They may have been asking the questions trying to determine if the infirmary had already been notified and that the boy was receiving some kind of medical attention. The most important thing was that he was treated promptly by the medical staff - which he was.

[ce2000]

donnar, I would recommend that you try another cruiseline, I'm not saying that you will prefer another line over NCL, but you might. I think that you miss a lot if you don't experience what other lines have to offer. All of the major cruise lines are similar, but they each have their own "feel". I am not loyal to any cruise line, I like them all. May I suggest Celebrity or Princess Cruise lines, these are two of my favorites.