PortFees45

Still waiting for a recent Gem cruiser to please confirm this. 

On Deck plans for other Jewel-class ships, that little tiny upper sundeck on Deck 15 is now labeled a "Haven sundeck." There would be no way to limit access to that little sundeck without also limiting access to the Deck 14 forward area that you use to get up to that little platform. 

I can't re-iterate how disgusting this is. The deck 14 forward areas on Jewel class ships are rarely crowded. To take that away from general pax, when the Haven (which is tiny on Jewel ships) ALREADY HAD THEIR OWN SUNDECK is just beyond the pail. 

1 minute ago, Warm Breezes said:

Research...doing exactly what you are doing here.

If it is in fact true that the front of the ship on the GEM is now closed off to non-Haven pax, there would be literally no way to research that. NCL made no announcement about it, and there have been no changes to the deck plans (the private Sundeck the haven ALREADY HAD is labeled "private sundeck", but the forward area is just labeled "sundeck"). 

This is literally a deal breaker for me ever booking the Gem again, and if I'd not read about this HUGE change on these message boards I'd have had absolutely no idea. 

Okay just looked at the current Gem deck plans on NCL.com. 

Haven clearly has a "private sundeck" port side on deck 15 like I remembered. 

If they've closed off the front of Deck 14 in ADDITION to that, then Royal Caribbean just earned itself a new customer. 

Someone in another thread mentioned there is "no forward deck access due to the Haven." 

Can anyone confirm if this is accurate? I recall the Gem ALREADY HAD a private sundeck for the Haven on the port side. Is the entire front part of the ship on Deck 14 really off limits to general passengers now? It's not clear from the current deck plans. 

If they're closing off the front parts of Jewel ships to non-Haven pax, I am officially finished with Norwegian. Done. That is a firm red line with this platinum cruiser. 

2 hours ago, hladygirl said:

I have sailed on the Spirit and the Dawn multiple times. These ships are small and have no haven or vibe. Never felt like the area around the pool was over crowded. Just took a cruise on the Gem. No forward deck access due to the haven. The pool area was ridiculously crowded. Same size ship but I noticed a huge difference in the outside deck atmosphere and it was not to my liking. I understand why people who do not book haven get upset about areas being taken away. It does lessen the cruise experience for those of us who choose not to book the haven.

No forward deck access on the GEM? What?!? The Haven already had their own private sundeck on the Gem!

9 minutes ago, richstowe said:

What will it take to get you to do more then seriously consider it ? Make the gangplanks part of Vibe ?

Truth is that RC seems to watch NCL to see how far they can push the envelope . If it flies , then they will introduce it on their ships . 

If the only ships sailing out of NYC have the new public deckspace limitations, I won't sail on them.

I'll sail the Jewel class ships (or the Dawn), and I'll sail the Breakaway and Escape which still have public access to H20 and the public sundecks at issue (for now). I will never, ever sail the Bliss, Encore, Joy or now the Getaway. 

33 minutes ago, CookieShip said:

Congrats, it seems balcony bids are easy to on the Escape because there are so many of those on that ship. 

 

I hadn't considered that upgrade game... It didn't show the option when it was assigned a Studio? Did you get assigned an Inside room or was it still on Inside guarantee?

I booked an Inside Sailaway...they put in a Studio, and I demanded to be changed to at least the lowest category inside. Studio is a separate lower category than inside....nobody who books an inside should be booked in a studio unless they request it. 

5 minutes ago, Kingkonig said:

 

I would assume because he’s saying that comparing racial segregation (that wasn’t even a generation ago - many people who are alive today lived through that) to different perks for passengers who pay different amounts of money to cruise is absurd

Please show me where anybody in this thread compared closing off formerly public sundecks to Jim Crowe laws. 

If NCL is going to do this, they need to EXPLICITLY make clear that studios are a higher category than an Inside.

Right now it's the exact opposite. They line up the cabins studio, inside, oceanview, balcony, mini-suites, suites/haven. If you can (correctly) infer from how they present those options that a mini-suite is a higher category than a balcony, then the same should be true for studios vs. insides. 

Has NCL pushed back against other people who like me demanded to be switched out of the studio? 

7 minutes ago, boatseller said:

What bothers me most about these posts is the trivialization of terms like "class" and "segregation".

We don't live in a cast system and no one is forced to the 'back of the bus'.

The only differentiator is the money you pay, which is a choice everyone can make (yes, some easier than other, so just don't).

And it goes both ways.  I can afford The Haven, but have no desire to because everything I like about cruising happens outside the bubble.  Even sitting on my balcony, I get terrible FOMO.  I get what I pay for and don't get what I'm not willing to pay for.  Everyone's happy.

 

Of course someone can afford the Haven thinks "we don't live in "caste" system.

I'm assuming the property taxes where you live are high, so the public schools around you are comparatively well funded. Compare that to public schools in poor rural or urban areas that get substantially less funding, and the children who go to school there get a far less effective education. No you're not ascribed a formal label like the classic Indian system you seem to be invoking, but only someone with the privilege to sail in the Haven would think a very real caste system doesn't still exist in this country.

Also not sure why you put back of the bus in quotes...since that was literally something happening to people just one generation ago in this country. 

"a company, which has no personal loyalty to you"

This sums it up...100%. Some people like doing business with companies that do express loyalty to their customers for the business...or at least do a good job faking it. 

1 minute ago, cruisekitty22 said:

You got lucky. Enjoy your cruise.

To be clear I had to pay to bid on an upgrade, but its' still a hell of a lot less than a solo balcony over the 4th of July would normally cost

No. All you can assure with a Sailaway is the lowest category you'll be assigned to. Within that category (or higher) you can be in any stateroom on any deck in any location, and you have zero control over it whatsoever. You could wind up in adjoining rooms...you could be 5 decks apart. 

1 hour ago, Twipenne said:

 

 

No, what will save him are the group who have been complaining for the past 5 years, but refuse to change cruise lines because the meaningless trinkets that come with Platinum Plus keep them coming back year after year.

Has little to do with the trinkets. I sail out of NYC, and NCL is the only line with year-round cruises.

But to contrast, last year I'd been on 6 NCL cruises at this point. This year I've been on 1. And whereas I never paid any attention to the beautiful Anthem of the Seas across the river in New Jersey, I'm now seriously considering booking it this fall instead of NCL. 

I booked a Sailaway Inside for the Escape Bermuda cruise this Sunday at a bargain basement rate, and they stuck me in a studio. I complained, and people posted I should be grateful for access to a sad windowless lounge with stale cookies and the privilege of showering in my bedroom. 

Well I made NCL switch me to an actual inside booking, AND I JUST GOT UPGRADED TO A BALCONY which would have been impossible if I'd kept the original booking. 

Well THANK THE CRUISE GODS I got upgraded to a balcony. Made a $150 bid (so $300 total), which comes out to $999 for a solo balcony on the Escape to Bermuda over the 4th of July holiday. Throw in the CruiseNext voucher I used, and it's $750. Tough to beat that!

2 minutes ago, Kingkonig said:

 

Yes, because trying to appeal to the growing discount-cruise market in the United States is completely the same thing as trying to enter a new market entirely.  You’re right, and probably a genius.  Why didn’t NCLH hire you to be their CEO?

Again, you're totally right. CEO's are never wrong and all got to those positions by being geniuses. 

To quote David Letterman (deadpanning) about the top brass at NBC..."Don't kid yourself folks...if those guys didn't know what they were doing, they wouldn't be there." 

I've 

3 minutes ago, mgasaway said:

 

Hey!  I booked a GTY Sailaway for my upcoming Alaska cruise and got assigned a deck 8 Oceanview near O'Sheans.  Give me 'steerage' any day!

I've gotten aft and spa balconies off Sailaway bookings. 

4 minutes ago, Warm Breezes said:

I'm sure NCL has done a lot more research on what the current cruising market is and what their current targeted customer base is looking for than you have.  It appears that you may not be the targeted customer base that NCL is looking at for their current dry docks and new builds.  That doesn't mean that targeted customer base is not out there and willing to spend money on what NCL is currently offering.  It just means you are not part of it.

 

You are not happy because they currently are not catering to your wants and needs on their future dry-docks and new builds.  So make yourself happy and find another ship or line that better suits you.  It makes no sense to me why someone would rather waste their time complaining that they can't get what they want from some company rather than going out and finding a way to get what they from another.  It is not NCL's job to make YOU happy.  That is your job.  It is NCL's job to find a strong target market, try to make the majority of them happy with what they offer, and make a profit for their shareholders.

Totally agree...it's not like corporations have ever made stupid mistakes before in a short-term push for higher profits. And Norwegian never makes mistakes analyzing the cruise market, either. After all, NCL Joy is selling out all those Chinese cruises...oh...wait. 

13 minutes ago, perditax said:

 

Some of them also have stockholder syndrome. (“I own enough stock in this company to get my OBC, therefore I am in favor of any short-sighted decision that keeps the company profitable for now.”)

For now being key...FDR is adding too much new capacity and relying too heavily on a demographic whose interest in cruising is ephemeral at best. 20 somethings Instagram posts aren't going to save him if the economy goes south in the next year or two...

10 minutes ago, mugtech said:

There are other cruise lines.  Being platinum plus on NCL does not stop me from taking a better deal on another line.  Balconies on RCI Quantum class ships are only a few hundred dollars more than inside, nothing on NCL compares.

If NCL wants me to start looking at the Anthem of the Seas across the Hudson (which I hadn't previously because of loyalty to NCL) I'm happy to oblige them. 

And once Frank Del Rio runs off people like me, he'll be sailing verrrry empty and verrry big ships once the economy crashes ant the Instagram Millennials he has such an ephemeral fetish for stop cruising en masse. 

"No one forces any of us to spend more than we feel comfortable with spending. "

Not really true. Look at the Encore. NCL is obviously making the decision to make the (tiny) amount of public upper deck space SO overwhelmingly crowded and unpleasant that pax who would never have otherwise opted for a Vibe pass now have to. 

For God's sake, look at the overhead visual of the Encore with the color-coded sections. I've been on Breakaway and Escape many times. The midship pooldeck area is always a ZOO except for maybe on port days mid-day, and that's WITH a free H20 and more public sundeck space. Take those away, and that tiny sliver between the stack and the forward stairs is going to be INSANE. So are you face with being told to buy a Vibe pass or get thrown off the ship? No, but NCL is still applying substantial "force" to get you to buy them. 

6 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

Another VIBE thread started less than an hour ago. If NCL read CC it's very clear to them that VIBE is a good opportunity for them.

 

 

The glee with which some of you people will cheer for a shameless money grab that reduces the quality of life on the ship for so many passengers. It's like you have corporate stockholm syndrome. 

2 hours ago, nafanny29 said:

Bit OT, but there is a great docu on the QE2 ship, ( called QE2 the world's greatest cruise ship)  which basically defied all predictions about huge passenger ships demise as the jet age begun, and she basically became the model all modern cruise ships still follow to this day.  Well worth a watch!

Not to quibble but the QE2 was an ocean liner, not a cruise ship

10 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

I knew there was a boat load of balcony rooms on a ship...that is the bread and butter.  (pun intended)

It is interesting how cruise ships have evolved over the last 25 years. 

When you're docked next to RCI or Carnival boats with few balconies (or none) you know they're much older ships. The industry clearly saw the demand for balcony access and adjusted accordingly. 

That said, a change like that doesn't impact the rest of the passengers like the ones being discussed here. It's not like that space on the side of the hull was being used for anything before, whereas the public sundecks now blocked off on the Getaway, Bliss, and Encore absolutely were.