NCL Cruise Critic rating is falling.....

[sjbdtz]

I like NCL, but I would say for my taste, that the larger ships have not been as enjoyable as the smaller ones. Yes, they have some more things to offer, but that have a crowded feel that I found to be unappealing. I will not go back on a large ship in the future.

In general I think the quality of the food has gone down over the years. The entertainment is good. The itineraries are very good. Prices are getting to the point where loyalty to NCL doesn’t matter, I will look at others.

 

Conversely, I prefer the larger ships, to the smaller ones....and find that the quality of food has gone UP over the past 10 years.

 

I found the smaller ships to feel far more crowded, with everybody trying to be in the same place (theatre, casino, etc.) at the same time. Whereas on the larger ships, the entertainment is distributed across the ship, and across the week....so just a small portion of the passengers are in any one place at any time.

 

 

Stephen

 

 

.

[sloperate]

We've got ten cruises under our belts, 8 of the last have been with NCL, so I guess I'm somewhat of a fan. Having said that, my guess is one of the best ways to evaluate NCL is to look at their financials and see how they are trending.....regardless of CC reviews.

Third quarter closed out with $1.35 EPS which exceeded consensus. Quarter 4 consensus is projected to be $2.88. Most folks following the stock have it listed as bullish or, at worst, neutral. Stock has been trading around its' higher levels, though it has been taking a bit if a beating lately........today included.

 

My guess is that management is generally pleased with the reception given the company since the merger based on the financials, and generally pleased with the direction of the earnings.

 

That said, I am holding off booking my next cruise in Feb. out of N.Y. on the Gem looking for a better price and deal. I like the mega ships I have been on, but I am really looking forward to viewing the newly remodeled Gem.

 

I do intend to deprive them of every one of my dollars that I can while thoroughly enjoying myself for the ten days we will be aboard.

[barnacle_boy]

Goldman Sachs just downgraded NCLH from neutral to sell. Their reasoning is sound, but I know that there are other bigger, deeper issues with the company's financials. All is not well.

[fin]

What are you talking about? You have been whining about NCL since you got here.

 

Bit of a surprise to read this, actually.

 

My first NCL cruise on the Sky was just weeks after a Panama Canal transit on another line, and it was also the first I ever heard of Cruise Critic, from passengers on the sky who were formulating their own posts of their experience.

 

I wrote my honest appraisal of the differences between the lines (smaller cabin = objective and worse food = subjective). The New Mexico class monitor promptly advised me how wrong I was and likely (though I don't remember) mentioned my post count which was "one".

 

I read a good deal more of the cc website in the next few weeks and then in an almost uncanny series of coincidences, ended up on the 11 night Dawn in truly unusual (good) circumstances, about which I felt reluctant to write, and never did. I had and still have good reasons for not sharing the details of that cruise, the Crown around the Horn and the Sun out of New Orleans, but I will darn well guarantee you that no whining was forthcoming about any of them, nor even the transatlantic which followed later.

 

So I am somewhat confused by your impression, but hey...everyone has one.

 

PS - I see you joined years after I began posting. So did you go back in the 2005 archives to read my original posts, or were you a careful reader for a decade or so before you joined, or something else? No need to answer, because honestly your assertion is so silly I don't care one bit.

Edited December 9, 2015 by fin
for a ps

[sjbdtz]

Goldman Sachs just downgraded NCLH from neutral to sell. Their reasoning is sound, but I know that there are other bigger, deeper issues with the company's financials. All is not well.

 

 

Morningstar still has it as a Strong Buy, with a fair value of $63 (currently $57 & change).

 

What was Goldman's reasoning?

 

 

Stephen

 

 

.

[barnacle_boy]

Morningstar still has it as a Strong Buy, with a fair value of $63 (currently $57 & change).

 

 

 

What was Goldman's reasoning?

 

 

 

Issues with China and the major expense associated with FDR's aggressive refurbishment program, which is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

[fshagan]

Morningstar still has it as a Strong Buy, with a fair value of $63 (currently $57 & change).

 

What was Goldman's reasoning?

 

 

I haven't seen Goldman's analysis, but the stock is still up over 30% for the year, so I suspect it has to do with the expectation that investors will harvest profits in a year when they had enough losses to offset the capital gains impact. NCLH has gone up very strongly so there's always some fall back from those heights.

 

The analysts that Fidelity covers are mostly neutral, with some sell and some buy. This is a change from nearly all buy or strong buy earlier in the year. http://screencast.com/t/Wy2erkTLHWwI

 

EVA Dimensions on that chart has been sell all year, even as it was going up over 30%. They believe NCLH is overpriced for the market segment based on their "PVR" score (Performance, Value, Risk).

[kateg]

As a first time cruiser I have nothing to compare it to but I just got back and I would give my Western Carribean on the NCL Star 5 stars (out of 5). We had a great time. Everything was better than I expected. The staff were so great. Only one employee was rude and she was pretty awful but she was the only one. One time a toilet was clogged and before I even left the bathroom someone was there fixing it. Those employees worked so hard. Everything was spotless. Some areas were a bit threadbare but not terrible. I guess I need to go leave a positive review because we had an amazing trip.

[kenoqueen]

Cheerleader response: I often wonder if there's an organized effort to slander NCL on cruise critic. I see and read all the negativity, and when I step on board the ships I just don't get it. Some of the negativity is so embellished it's humorous (imho).

 

That may be a good explanation. I noticed recently a lot of negative remarks. So much so, I don't log on to CC as much anymore. I have found another outlet on FB and the posts there are informative and mostly positive. The Escape seems to be getting pummeled with negative remarks (mostly over Margaritaville). We've taken numerous NCL cruises and have yet to have bad service. I don't expect to on our cruise coming up Jan. 2nd on the Escape either. Some of the complaints seem petty to me so I've learned to keep on scrolling.

[rg24601]

That may be a good explanation. I noticed recently a lot of negative remarks. So much so, I don't log on to CC as much anymore. I have found another outlet on FB and the posts there are informative and mostly positive. The Escape seems to be getting pummeled with negative remarks (mostly over Margaritaville). We've taken numerous NCL cruises and have yet to have bad service. I don't expect to on our cruise coming up Jan. 2nd on the Escape either. Some of the complaints seem petty to me so I've learned to keep on scrolling.

 

Would you admit it if you did get poor service on the Escape?