I will NEVER cruise with Norwegian again!

[LAnn]

The final straw was on our last sea day, Saturday, my daughter (6) went to the bungee jumping area to jump on the trampoline and play on the slide. When she arrived it was lined up with kids waiting. I told her we would go back at noon. When we went back it was just closing and I was told they were not letting any more kids jump…I asked if it was opening after lunch and the lady indicated that no, it doesn’t open again until 6pm, I said “Really”, it’s a sea day why isn’t it open all day? She indicated they didn’t have the staff to operate it.

 

I can’t believe on a sea day all activities on the boat aren’t open! The only thing open was the obstacle course and it was so busy it took a 45 min wait to get on. The rock wall opened in the afternoon so that alleviated some of the wait time on the rock wall. I sent my daughter up at 6pm to jump on the trampoline before our 6:45 dinner reservation, well, she waited and waited and at 6:35 we had to leave for our reservation and due to the amount of kids waiting she never did get to jump on the trampoline. As a guest that paid a lot of money for a family of four, I find it hard to believe that activities are not staffed all day for the kids to use.

 

I totally empathize! When you book cruises on ships that offer extra features like bungee jumping it's only natural to assume you'll be able to use them throughout the day on a sea day. A reasonable person would expect these things to be open during times of greatest demand.

 

The same thing happened with us on an RCL ship with a roller-skating facility; my daughter loved roller skating at the time so I planned on taking her there as much as possible. And they closed it during the times when we really wanted to use it -- on sea days!

 

I was so frustrated. Cruise lines do add extra activities to their schedule on sea days, like Bingo, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch to expect them to staff these facilities.

[navybankerteacher]

I totally empathize! When you book cruises on ships that offer extra features like bungee jumping it's only natural to assume you'll be able to use them throughout the day on a sea day. A reasonable person would expect these things to be open during times of greatest demand

 

...

 

I was so frustrated. Cruise lines do add extra activities to their schedule on sea days, like Bingo, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch to expect them to staff these facilities.

 

Of course they are able to staff for Bingo games -- people pay to play Bngo, so the profit motive inspires them to find the staff. On the other hand, trampoline, roller skating, rock climbing, water slides, etc. are all supposedly included in the fare, so the line has no incentive to spend much staff time to make them available.

 

Don't worry, however: it is a reasonable bet that soon passengers will have to pay extra for such activities the same way they now have to pay extra for good food well served.

[NLH Arizona]

I totally empathize! When you book cruises on ships that offer extra features like bungee jumping it's only natural to assume you'll be able to use them throughout the day on a sea day. A reasonable person would expect these things to be open during times of greatest demand.

 

The same thing happened with us on an RCL ship with a roller-skating facility; my daughter loved roller skating at the time so I planned on taking her there as much as possible. And they closed it during the times when we really wanted to use it -- on sea days!

 

I was so frustrated. Cruise lines do add extra activities to their schedule on sea days, like Bingo, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch to expect them to staff these facilities.

I understand the frustration of those that don't play games like bingo, trivia, etc. to want the activities that either they or their children want to use to be open all the time, but one has to remember that there has to be something for everyone and there is no way any cruise line is going to hire 20 activity crew members for each ship. I'm sure bingo players or trivia players (I don't play either) would like more games and would like to have the trampoline or rock climbing wall closed during the hours that they would like to play bingo, but that isn't going to happen either. With a little give and take and understanding by everyone, there will be activities for all.

[bruadhin]

I understand the frustration of those that don't play games like bingo, trivia, etc. to want the activities that either they or their children want to use to be open all the time, but one has to remember that there has to be something for everyone and there is no way any cruise line is going to hire 20 activity crew members for each ship. I'm sure bingo players or trivia players (I don't play either) would like more games and would like to have the trampoline or rock climbing wall closed during the hours that they would like to play bingo, but that isn't going to happen either. With a little give and take and understanding by everyone, there will be activities for all.

 

That is a bit of a red herring. Trivia, bingo, etc. are not affected by the weather. Outdoor activities definitely are. Anything affected by high winds on the outside decks can easily be closed for safety.

 

I can only speak to Carnival in this regard, bingo did not share the same staff as outdoor activities. Bingo, trivia, etc. were generally run by the cruise director and his staff while outdoor activities were run by the kid's club and general pool deck staff. I would expect some similarities. In general, kids and adult "kids" are the ones who will be hitting the waterslides, rope course, trampoline, etc. While more sedentary people will be doing bingo and trivia.

 

I hope our cruise isn't too windy as I want to try all the outdoor activities on the Getaway.

[backsbanny]

Marcar123 have they refunded your dsc yet???Because sth tells me that you will wait a lot time for this

[Love my butler]

Marcar123 have they refunded your dsc yet???Because sth tells me that you will wait a lot time for this

 

With NCL you wait a long time for them to do anything.

[luddite]

With NCL you wait a long time for them to do anything.

 

I don't. But then....I pay my obligations.

I know. weird. Huh?

[KeithJenner]

The smaller ships tend or at least tended to have 2:1 passenger to crew ratio. On these large, newer ships that ratio has increased to 3:1 if not 4:1.

 

 

I know facts are awfully boring things, but on all the crew and capacity numbers I've ever seen, the highest ratio is about 2.5:1 (actually slightly less). Certainly not even close to 3:1 let alone 4:1

[anniegb]

I understand the frustration of those that don't play games like bingo, trivia, etc. to want the activities that either they or their children want to use to be open all the time, but one has to remember that there has to be something for everyone and there is no way any cruise line is going to hire 20 activity crew members for each ship. I'm sure bingo players or trivia players (I don't play either) would like more games and would like to have the trampoline or rock climbing wall closed during the hours that they would like to play bingo, but that isn't going to happen either. With a little give and take and understanding by everyone, there will be activities for all.

 

Sorry I disagree.

 

I think the bean counters are missing a trick here and should conduct a proper cost benefit analysis. Keep the kids organised could generate additional income from the parents.

 

Spend money to make money.

 

They could trial it for say 6 months on the mega ships and analyse the results.

 

Annie

Edited March 12, 2016 by anniegb

[CP3o]

They do heavily market the family activities on deck, they should be open all day on a sea day and frequently on port days for those to use who will miss a port to get away from lines. They build these things, people come, then they are closed or operating at half capacity.

 

I remember complaining about this years ago related to rccl. One of the things drew us to cruising was lack of lines compared to Orlando stay. (With young kids started on dcl). It's sort of come full circle now and a cruise is all about ports and eating and drinking bc who wants to bother about the lines for the "new cool active" stuff?

 

I'm going to be disappointed if Escape has long lines and the hours of operation are short or understaffed. Expect crowds of kids in summer but also expect NCL to staff its newest ship appropriately.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited March 12, 2016 by CP3o

[niclan6]

A note to the Hotel Director is the way to go - they usually have a box for comments etc. near Guest Services (I agree it shouldn't be necessary but...).

 

I wrote a letter to the Hotel Director as we were having major issues getting our onboard credit and never heard a word from him.

[nbsjcruiser]

We were on the private island the next day. We got off the ship with anticipation of a great day in our minds. The weather was hot so we wanted to enjoy our unlimited beverage package, unfortunately, the lines were so long that it took an hour to get a drink! To me, this is unacceptable! To stand in line for an hour just to get one drink because Norwegian won’t staff appropriately is offensive, the last thing I want to do on a beach is wait in line for over an hour for a watered down beverage. Also, we didn’t have one person stop by and take our drink order. This was the case for the entire trip…it seems not all bars were open and when you went to the pool bar it was 8 deep with people waiting to get a drink and two bartenders there to serve the 100 people waiting. There was another bar by the pool but it never seemed to be open.

 

We were on the Getaway last week and while I can't say we had any of the other problems you had (we had great service and food) I have to agree with your sentiments on the drinks. Used to be one time you couldn't hardly walk anywhere without someone offering you a drink. With the drink package, NCL already got their money so there's no incentive to provide an adequate level of bar service. It looks to me like NCL simply thinks if you want a drink then you can damn well go find a bar and get one. For newer cruisers this is probably ok but for cruisers with a few cruises under their belts it probably isn't such a great thing. I know for us we noticed this because we don't get a drink package so when we wanted a drink it seemed odd to me that I'd have to hunt one down.

[SteveH2508]

I wrote a letter to the Hotel Director as we were having major issues getting our onboard credit and never heard a word from him.

 

Possibly not the HD's area of resposibility?

 

Our issue was re service (or rather lack of) in the Blue Lagoon on Jade. He took it seriously and sought us out to discuss it and make it right - good outcome.

[Annmeat]

Yes, that is very much the case.

 

 

 

In regards specifically to bar service, within a 12 month period I was; On the Gem X 2 and bar service was practically non existent. It did not really matter the location although some areas were better than others. In particular I was in Bliss playing a slot machine for 3-4 hours one night and not once was I ever offered a drink. This is a bar!! Then I did the Jade X 2 where I did receive service but it was most often painfully slow. There should be no reason to be sitting in Magnums and it consistently taking over 30 minutes to get a drink between 5 -7 pm in the evening. People have plans for the evening , whether they be dinner or a show etc. and I doubt they factor in it taking this long to get a drink. I did contact management about this and did have a sit down conversation with the Beverage manager. I never saw any improvement on those two cruises but at least I let my concerns be known. My next cruise was on the Pearl and the service anywhere and everywhere, and at any time of day was top notch stellar! We had an end of cruise M & G follow up with some officers and I made sure to compliment them on this side of things. The rest of the fleet could and should take notes on how this ship is run. The very next week I was on the Star and beverage service hit new all time lows pretty much everywhere. It was pretty shameful actually. This is 6 cruises in 12 months and there was clearly no consistency.

 

 

 

The UBP's appear to be here to stay. With the increased stated value and hence the increase in gratuities paid on the promo UBP, NCL needs to ensure that the service matches the 18% gratuities and service fees being charged. I would imagine anyone purchasing the package outright or even when buying drinks on an individual basis would expect the same. It should not matter if you order your drink through a promo UBP or you are a pay as you go guest, the fact is that any guest should be able to receive a drink in a timely manner.

 

 

 

It appears that NCL wants to move up the ladder to a more polished experience does this really equate to now having to get in a long line at the pool bar in order to get a drink?? Oh yeah the sparate shorter line for those just wanting a beer.

 

 

 

In the good old days you were inundated with servers trying to sell you drinks no matter where you were on the ship. Those days are definitely gone. Where did all that crew go? As to earlier comments about cabin space, as far as older ships go, I doubt they removed cabins from the crew areas to reflect the cutbacks.

 

 

 

I believe the accounts of those who had no problems getting a drink and I also believe those who had troubles trying to do the exact same. I have first hand experience of both myself. If NCL wants a more upscale image and a higher price point to match, then they really do need to improve their levels of service and ensure there is consistently good service throughout each individual ship and throughout the entire fleet.

 

 

 

 

 

Rochelle

 

 

Our first few cruises way back when on RCCl- you brought back memories of the happy waiters strolling all over calling out for "Excellent bar service "

 

Never had to even think about a drink!

I sure do miss that enthusiasm .

 

We haven't had any problems getting drinks with the exception of a few times at OSheehans...We were the only two people at the bar. Our kids came over, the bartender got them their sodas and then walked away!we did grab him.

All in all we have been pleased

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[broberts]

Possibly not the HD's area of resposibility?

...

 

So ignore the customer? No "It's not my area, but I will pass it on to . . ." message?

[CP3o]

They do heavily market the family activities on deck, they should be open all day on a sea day and frequently on port days for those to use who will miss a port to get away from lines. They build these things, people come, then they are closed or operating at half capacity.

 

I remember complaining about this years ago related to rccl. One of the things drew us to cruising was lack of lines compared to Orlando stay. (With young kids started on dcl). It's sort of come full circle now and a cruise is all about ports and eating and drinking bc who wants to bother about the lines for the "new cool active" stuff?

 

I'm going to be disappointed if Escape has long lines and the hours of operation are short or understaffed. Expect crowds of kids in summer but also expect NCL to staff its newest ship appropriately.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I just noticed the header on my post picked up OPs header and it makes it sound like I'm not going to sail with NCL again but I'm actually NEW to NCL, but not with issues about waiting on stuff like rockwalls, etc. I just looked at an Escape daily and it shows ropes and slides open 10-6pm on first sea day which seems very reasonable.