NCL Sky - Feeling Used

[ColinIllinois]

I love posts like this when it is their first post with a "woe is me" attitude. I always think it's just a fish hook being thrown out to see who bites. :)

[wordsjustfly]

When we cruise we always ask those kinds of questions before we book a cabin. In fact one year, when we went to Alaska, we were told when we booked that it was going to be partially a kosher cruise. This meant that half of the ship would be kosher food only and we were welcome to partake in that food but there would be a kosher area where there was no dairy.

 

We also don't cruise during spring break because we know it's going to be mostly college kids. Just ask a lot of questions ahead of time.

 

 

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[swedish weave]

I love posts like this when it is their first post with a "woe is me" attitude. I always think it's just a fish hook being thrown out to see who bites. :)

The same fish Bite:) every time :').

[Blondie008]

I think if you go on the Sky at ANY time of year you need to be prepared for a booze cruise.

I have experienced the joys of the sky - :') laughed our way through the endurance test that it was. I was having precious time out with my daughter - so we didn't care and we did laugh at the sights.. Just too much fun - The people watching was amazing.

You don't want to know what we saw in the pool at 11am one morning :eek:

We were on it prior to the recent refurb (and pre open bar) as well - Nasty nasty haha!

We affectionately call it "ScabbySky" -

We did complain on board (wont go into detail on here) and we then had an endless supply of strawberries and wine + they compd us for our specialty meals (which we had every night of the cruise). They actually offered us an additional extra cabin too which we turned down as all we cared about was time out with one another. My belief is if you have a grievance - deal with it there and then - no point in closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

We went on to cruise NCL again, and book a further four cruises after the Sky. It Is what it is - and I can only imagine what Spring Break and an Open Bar would mean on her - oooooooh hilarious!

Aaaah fond memories - The ScabbySky - Aye - takes a bold man to walk that gangway!;p

[mjkacmom]

So NCL marketed their product to consumers who would be a great target for their product? One of the biggest spring break weeks of the year (both of my college kids were on break, different schools), short cruise, old ship, alcohol included... You couldn't pay me to take this sailing, I'd know the vibe without even getting on the ship!

 

Would you blame WDW to marketing to famies to vacation at Christmas? You couldn't pay me to go to WDW Christmas week either.

[AnitaVacation]

Sometimes education can be expensive....live and learn...

[MrJulius]

Last month a couple that we are friends with invited us to go on a short cruise that they had planned.

 

It is a 3 day cruise on the Sky which is coming up in 2 1/2 weeks. Right away I understood that this is a "booze cruise" considering the time of year, short itinerary and drink package. We are all in our fifties and have cruised many times with many cruise lines.

 

So I started doing my research on the Sky. I came across a (U)tube video of Great Stirrup Cay. In that video there is a thousand or so college kids whooping it up on the island. Not the normal mix of folks on a cruise by any means. I was thinking that the video was a normal day on Great Stirrup Cay. Everybody looked like they were having a great time, but they were all college age. No old farts to be seen.

 

If you go to (U)tube and put in "GREAT STIRRUP CAY 2016" it should be the first video to come up. Fast forward to about the 8 minute mark and you will see what I saw. Made me feel every bit of fifty something :o

If that was a true representation of Great Stirrup Cay I was going to need much darker sunglasses :cool:

About a week later I stumbled on the website that advertised the spring break cruises. They did three on the NCL Sky this year. You can Google "college party cruise" and it should come up first.

So I guessed that the video was made during one of those cruises. It is not the cruise that I'm on in a couple weeks. What a relief...or what a shame. I haven't decided yet.

[NancyW12]

Thank you to the OP. I never would have considered even thinking about spring break before this thread and might have made the same booking.

[david_sobe]

I think some are piling on the OP unnecessarily. Unless you have cruised Spring Break (I have) then you don't have something to compare it to. These kinds of threads are common this time of year. Let people vent and share their experience without the ridicule. I swear some will never post anything unless its making fun or attacking another person's post.

[sunny2runner]

I am sorry you had a crappy cruise but you are asking us to blame the wall that you walked into even though you knew the wall was there and you walked into it anyway,

 

Best response!

 

Blaming NCL for your lack of vacation planning is cra cra!

 

4 day cruise on Carnival/NCL, free alcohol, during Feb through March = College Kids!! Lots of them!

 

You won't find that crowd on Princess, Disney or Celebrity during spring break so you might want to do your homework before you book a cruise to ensure not only the price is right but the people you want to travel with are a match for your needs.

[sunny2runner]

I think some are piling on the OP unnecessarily. Unless you have cruised Spring Break (I have) then you don't have something to compare it to. These kinds of threads are common this time of year. Let people vent and share their experience without the ridicule. I swear some will never post anything unless its making fun or attacking another person's post.

 

I get that and normally never would respond but the fact that the OP blames NCL for their lack of travel planning/research is what gets me. I can't fathom not looking into most aspects of your vacation to ensure it was a match before booking.

 

Yes, that would suck to be on a booze cruise with young adults/college kids having a great time especially the noise factor at nights. I get that and wouldn't want to do that myself but it is not NCLs fault that is the mix of their crowd that time of year.

 

Pointing the finger at NCL and not going hmhm..that was an interesting experience and I will not be doing a booze cruise at spring break again - my bad :-) Most of us here don't want to hear someone blaming an entity for something that was their our making.

Edited March 20, 2017 by sunny2runner

[biker@sea]

Just returned from a 4 day run to the Bahamas on Norwegian Sky. We expected SOME college kids, having cruised at this time in previous years, but it turns out that NCL worked with a "company" to market this cruise on campuses. It was 80% college kids! We would never have booked with them if we had been made aware of this. Non-college cruisers are used to offset the costs, and are not warned in advance. Extra security to keep the staterooms quiet at night might have helped but NCL didn't appear to care too much. Won't be going anywhere with NCL again... they ripped us off and knew about it. Am I right to be upset?

 

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:) Welcome to Cruise Critic :)

 

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[hawkeyetlse]

I think some are piling on the OP unnecessarily. Unless you have cruised Spring Break (I have) then you don't have something to compare it to. These kinds of threads are common this time of year. Let people vent and share their experience without the ridicule. I swear some will never post anything unless its making fun or attacking another person's post.

This is not the warmest, fuzziest forum on the Internet, but generally the OP sets the tone for the thread. "They ripped us off and knew about it" is not just venting and sharing; it's an accusation of fraud or other deliberate commercial malpractice.

[April42749]

Stupid question here:

 

But if the drinking age is 21, and most college students are under 21.....where are they getting all this free booze?

[mjkacmom]

Stupid question here:

 

But if the drinking age is 21, and most college students are under 21.....where are they getting all this free booze?

Most college students turn 21 junior year. Plus, if they have parents onboard, they can sign a bee and wine waiver.

[Vyhanek]

Oh good lord, yes a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas in March with NCL having included alcohol. Avoiding this cruise, if you aren't into the drunk college crowd, would be something that is basic common sense.

[Laszlo]

Just returned from a 4 day run to the Bahamas on Norwegian Sky. We expected SOME college kids, having cruised at this time in previous years, but it turns out that NCL worked with a "company" to market this cruise on campuses. It was 80% college kids! We would never have booked with them if we had been made aware of this. Non-college cruisers are used to offset the costs, and are not warned in advance. Extra security to keep the staterooms quiet at night might have helped but NCL didn't appear to care too much. Won't be going anywhere with NCL again... they ripped us off and knew about it. Am I right to be upset?

 

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Its SPRING BREAK, smaller ship, shorter cruise....What did you expect? :'):'):')

[Quilting_Cruiser]

People on CC are far more educated about cruising than most travelers. If you've never cruised before (OP doesn't say) then you don't know what you don't know. Our very first cruise was in 1997--it was a four-day cruise that went to Catalina and Ensenada and it was during March. It was a crazy time! We had our toddler with us and we still had a great time despite how noisy it was at night and we were severely sleep-deprived. Back then, it wasn't so easy to do research and we certainly learned a lesson! But, to blame the cruise line seems a bit naive, especially when it's so easy to do research now.

 

I also find it humorous that. some think Princess is exempt from this type of behavior. That certainly wasn't our experience on our Princess cruise. LOL.

[ColinIllinois]

People on CC are far more educated about cruising than most travelers. If you've never cruised before (OP doesn't say) then you don't know what you don't know. ...................

 

 

From the OP: "Just returned from a 4 day run to the Bahamas on Norwegian Sky. We expected SOME college kids, having cruised at this time in previous years"

[newmexicoNita]

Just returned from a 4 day run to the Bahamas on Norwegian Sky. We expected SOME college kids, having cruised at this time in previous years, but it turns out that NCL worked with a "company" to market this cruise on campuses. It was 80% college kids! We would never have booked with them if we had been made aware of this. Non-college cruisers are used to offset the costs, and are not warned in advance. Extra security to keep the staterooms quiet at night might have helped but NCL didn't appear to care too much. Won't be going anywhere with NCL again... they ripped us off and knew about it. Am I right to be upset?

 

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why in gods green earth would you feel used or think this in NCLs fault? The job of any Sales dept is to see the product. NCL was selling thier product. The first 2 weeks on Mar is almost always Spring break for colleges and a 4 day cruise will be the perfect Spring break. Would you go to Cancu or Ft Lauderdale or South Padre Island during spring break? I am guessing not. It is sad your vacationed was ruined, but I don't think you should be even a bit upset with NCL.

[newmexicoNita]

I can sympathize with the OP. I've sailed on the Sky in March and it was not filled with spring breakers to a noticeable degree, nor did I expect it to be, but then again there wasn't a free drink program then. I think it's one thing if there are some spring breakers on a cruise, or at a hotel during the spring break period, it's quite another for NCL to specifically try to attract that crowd and not make it public knowledge. I mean, is there really anyone that's not a spring breaker that wants to be surrounded by that crap? NCL and anyone with a brain would not think so. Which makes it rude by definition to not tell someone, oh, btw, your vacation will be ruined by drunks behaving badly and making tons of noise and ruining the whole thing so maybe you'd like to choose a different date or ship. I don't think most people associate cruising with hard partying style spring break. That is much more associated with places like Cancun. So don't treat the OP like a moron for not expecting it.

sympathy maybe but still anytime there is a short affordable vacation and it is anywhere near a college break time, one has to realize college age kids will take over. Then for a person to say, I will never use that product again cause the company wasn't fair to me is way over the top. That would be like one of us griping because there were too many people with kids cruising during Thanksgiving week or the cruise line was trying to sell the Feb cruise to seniors and after we got on the ship we learned there were 200 wheel chairs being used. Knowing we were in our 50s we should have been forewarned the ship would be filled with seniors or a huge group of Asians were going to be on board and they didn't speak English so we couldn't even communicate with them? Add to this, free booze!!!!

[Tiggertastic]

We did a spring break cruise a couple of years ago on the Gem. Being from the UK we were not aware of spring break, U.K. Universities don't have a reputation of going on cruises, so it was a surprise to us. We definitely know now and plan carefully. It was enlightening and a lesson. Our main issue was that they suspended the drinks package because the college kids and we wanted the package. That was an expensive trip

 

 

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[Quilting_Cruiser]

From the OP: "Just returned from a 4 day run to the Bahamas on Norwegian Sky. We expected SOME college kids, having cruised at this time in previous years"

 

Thanks. Reading it once was enough--wasn't going to go back and read it again to check.

[newmexicoNita]

People on CC are far more educated about cruising than most travelers. If you've never cruised before (OP doesn't say) then you don't know what you don't know. Our very first cruise was in 1997--it was a four-day cruise that went to Catalina and Ensenada and it was during March. It was a crazy time! We had our toddler with us and we still had a great time despite how noisy it was at night and we were severely sleep-deprived. Back then, it wasn't so easy to do research and we certainly learned a lesson! But, to blame the cruise line seems a bit naive, especially when it's so easy to do research now.

 

I also find it humorous that. some think Princess is exempt from this type of behavior. That certainly wasn't our experience on our Princess cruise. LOL.

you are right, most of us are more savvy about cruising but the point still remains: OP admitted knowing it was a spring break cruise and yet wants to blame someone else for their bad experience. Had the OP simply come on to report their experience and warned others it would have been different. Had they spent time on CC before cruising instead of going out of their way to suddenly find it to make a rediculous claim they had been used, posters would not have been taken back as much.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

you are right, most of us are more savvy about cruising but the point still remains: OP admitted knowing it was a spring break cruise and yet wants to blame someone else for their bad experience. Had the OP simply come on to report their experience and warned others it would have been different. Had they spent time on CC before cruising instead of going out of their way to suddenly find it to make a rediculous claim they had been used, posters would not have been taken back as much.

 

 

I agree. I wasn't defending the OP and I wasn't piling on--he was getting enough of that already :) I did say it was naive to blame the cruise line since OP could have done some research. Personally, I don't like to travel over spring break because of what the OP experienced. We experienced the same thing in 1997 and made the best of it and had a great cruise. It was our first and despite the atmosphere on the ship, we were hooked on cruising! We recognized that it was our fault since we traveled during spring break (we had small kids and that's the only time we could travel) and we certainly didn't blame the cruise line. Our second cruise was to Alaska and it was a dramatically different experience despite being the same cruise line. :cool: