Breakaway Semi Live: Oct 29 - Oct 5, 17 Halloween Storm Special, Take #2

mking8288 · November 8, 2017

Post Cruise Review - (continued - section 3)

Just a quick note about dining before the next sub-topic:

MDR has a daily feature breakfast section, with 3 different choices in addition to the regular choices - nothing exceptional, but nevertheless, good to see ... unlike the MDR lunch menu, which remained fixed, not even a single daily feature or chef's specials. To deal with this, we ate once in O'Sheehan's and once in the Garden Cafe ... also, Moderno served a (free) buffet lunch on certain days (for those planning ahead) so that it's not as boring ... , for example - get tired of Chicken Pho soup every day.

Stateroom/Cabin - we upgraded, without extra perks, for $55 x 2 = $110 from Oceanview (OC) - Deck 5 Midship to a Balcony (BD) - Deck 9 AFT almost by the elevators & staircase, very convenient and a quiet location, with the beds near the sliding balcony door, sleeping up to 4 ... for just 2 of us, thankfully. It was spacious enough with plenty of open shelves & closet storage, under-bed storage was generous ... no problems with a 25" rollerboard, The small balcony is as expected, room for 2 chairs and small end table.

We sailed from NY against a tropical storm heading north, so there was a fair amount of cabin squeaks and metallatic noises inside the wall & overhead in the ceiling, as to be expected - which also masked the sagging conditions of 1 o fhe 2 main mattress's springs/coils ... you can see the depressions in the middle of the mattress, it is overdue to be replaced with a new, firmer one. Suffice to say, it's a housekeeping matter unresolved - without getting into details ... less than excellence, IMO. The balcony curtain is a little worn out & one of the eyelet torn, not a big deal - but, short of 5 stars lodging standards. 2 bandage-sized clear adhesive/residue left on the sliding balcony door - easy fix with remover & a little elbow rubbing to get it off. Ditto for the clear/frosted plastic panel for the shower with several discolored stain marks and the shower floor leaked water into the other side, carpet mat soaked up most of the runoff ... could use a little waterproof caulking to seal it up, a potential safety hazard for slip & fall.

The interactive TV is in fine working condition, as were the electrical outlets - showing signs of normal wear & tear, as expected. TV functions integrated with the iConcierge App, learn to use it to book shows, dining and check onboard charges - it's a good tool to have. No points taken off. Wall panels were metallic and good enough for heavy duty magnets to hold things up.

# of TV channels seemed to be cut again (did not check PPV options & fees, this time) - inow down to the usual NCL-Info Channels, Navigational, Live webcam view, BBC World News, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News, Sports, Favorite Shows and Favorite Movies - where you can sometimes find children's programming. No cartoon channel, sorry !! ... saw tennis, ping pong and golf events being shown, however.

We've seen Burn The Floor 3X already, skipped it but went to Rock of Ages on Day 6, followed by the Farewell by officers & crews on stage; and, also the Crew's Talent Show on the afternoon of the last Sea Day. Never made it upstairs to H2O during the day or evening.

Public area: in years past, we're accustomed to seeing crew members regularly cleaning, polishing and disinfecting elevator buttons, stair railings and other high traffic public area - none that we recalled or observed. It's a good thing that their infection control measures were adequate to keep norovirus incidents away ... knock on woods. Smoke & odor spilling beyond the Casino ... well documented & debated, what more can we say, aside to NCL - do something about it. Mrs. M gave up going there by Day 3 to "donate".

This brings up a related observation, repeated on 2 to 3 different days, less than "best practices" for cleaning, sweeping and basic disinfecting the tabletop surfaces, using only a dry wiping cloth, folded over & re-used without dipping into a diluted bleach solution and/or using any approved cleaning spray ... in the buffet, especially when it was busy. As soon as the crew cleared the table & chairs, someone else sat down ... for 20+ minutes, an officer dressed in white uniform was cleaning & taking dirty dishes and cups away so that others can sit down to eat, while crew members assigned were nowhere in sight.

Customer Services & Wow Factors:

Most of the crew working the MDR and buffet were smiling and cheerful, acting happy and sounding positive - but, more than a few "trainees" were obviously feeling not confident, moving about sluggishly and not acting their part as goodwill ambassadors. F&B supervisors, where is the coaching and mentoring, and supervision and training for these newly hired from overseas ... working onboard the BA (mostly Chinese nationals, Mandarin speaking - we also met several Asian Indians being trained on this ship ... we noticed this back in April/May sailing on the Gem, but their presence were in smaller number). Our BIL/SIL has a Chinese speaking Room Steward, who ... apparently wasn't thrilled about working hour hours with a 8 month contract. Michael, our RS from the Philippines were cheerful and happy, even he joking said - embrace sleeping for 3 hours in between work,to be able to rest or whatever.

The difference between meeting standards and exceeding expectations & going above & beyond, can be described as attention to details, anticipating customer needs and going those extra yards ... not necessary for miles, just one more step - is often in making a difference. Well, points deducted for it - MDR server teams were missing little details, itself and alone aren't a big deal - add them up & repeated on different days and at different venue, then ... you begin to wonder, is anything doing QA and cross-checking the jobs being done for excellence.

Bring a coffee cup without a spoon, pouring coffee & forgetting to bring creamer or milk, then not making sure we have sugar ... and, not checking to see if the food items ordered are not mixed up when in a hurry. These are some of the examples of what we observed - it's the faults of the trainees learning on the job, but ... someone higher up is responsible to supervise, coach & do QA, failing in our scorecards after 3 to 4 times for the week. NCL can do better than this, not expecting perfections - but.

Thus, our initial comment on the review themed ... this cruise is less than excellent. Rather than finding and recognizing one or more Vacation Hero & filling out the card ... we're not pleased enough to reach for a blue Comment Card to start writing on it, especially when we're dining onboard.

Onboard communications - Alvin, the CD is fine - he's been on the ship for a whle and seemed energetic, doing his part to engage and bond with passengers - lively on stage. We had Dan Dan previously and frankly, didn't matter one bit of who's on vacation/away and who's working the week. But, being Platinum & sailing the BA for a 4th time ... we felt somewhat invisible and brushed aside, difficult to quantify and qualify - we had our dinners planned and certainly wasn't to change to just attend the Latitude Reception for all inside the Spiegel Tent, 7 PM - on "Nassau" Day ... and leave/run early from our Moderno dining, just to see/hear & meet others - announcement via Cabin Messaging & Robo-VoiceMail left 2 or 3 days before. Last time, it was held outdoors at H2O at 7:30 PM - another time, inside Fat Cats ... based on # of Latitude members on a given sailing, I guess.

Cruise Critic's Meet & Mingle, as scheduled - conflicted & overlapped with the Platinum Behind The Scene Tour, held one hour earlier on the morning of Day 2. Try to do both was "no can't do" - take it or leave it, pick one or the other ... well, the formal part of M&G with some of the senior officers & department heads being represented lasted at most 10 minutes, actually less and they then marched out & left us alone - despite a great turnout of 60 to 70+ attendees. Richard / Tralfie - kudo to organizing it and making it fun and laughable, everyone stayed around to mingle & I even won a colorful shopping bag - gifted to Mrs. M.

As for unacceptable passenger behaviors and manners onboard the BA last week, we definitely saw it - the bad ones, unfamiliar with how to's ... should and can be educated and better informed, advised, cautioned on what to and not to do ... except, you can't communicate with them in a foreign language that clearly some of them do not understand, failed to recognized, or perhaps acted "dumb" and got away with it. If they can find someone to make announcements & reminders during the cruise in their native language - they can translate some of that info (like not dumping "objects" into the toilet to cause blockage ... in writing.) That crowd, largely hanged out morning to late night in a corner of the buffet with some scattered nearby ... thankfully, most did not find their way down to the MDR or even OSH. They made other fellow passengers who looked like - coming from the same part of the world - a bad reputation.

Not even a pro forma "Welcome" abroad letter to Latitude members, inside the staterooms on embarkating, outlining the schedule and "extras" for Gold/Platinum members (like GSC tendering & "priority" disembarkation - as procedures are new & been changed since we last sailed in 2016 :confused: :rolleyes: ) ... we simply, did NOT, feel the same way when sailing the Gem, just 6 months ago - a smaller ship, which seemed far more friendly and attentive toward repeat customers.

Limited "Conciege" services - LOL, ha ha - for Platinum members, "forgetabout" it - not even a telephone extension # given to dial onboard ... want something done with show/dining reservation, go downstairs instead & (good luck) stand in line (do it early, during posted office hours) and ask the CruiseNext rep. behind the counter/desk. For the average NCL cruise passengers - this isn't an important element for an excellent cruise experience ... fellow CC'er with similar status, just set your expectations accordingly and do not allow yourself to be disappointed.

We saw & recognized one of the concierge onboard, obvious to us - she was very busy and probably overwhelmed, running around to get things done - not easy to keep all those Haven folks wow and happy, let alone have time to deal with us "downstairs" with the kettle/herd.

Embarkation was quite smooth, but, boy - oh dear, disembarkation was not quite the same as before - procedures changed, it seemed like everyone is steered toward the Fwd Gangway, including us with Yellow tags - a much longer walk. Yet, Haven guests who opted to not rush off were also coming down into the BA Theater on Deck 7 via the Fwd Service Elevators, joining the line ... not sure if they're escorted thru, I think most of them were gone by 8:45 AM. AFT gangway was apparently reserved also, for Haven & Special Needs ... otherwise, grossly under-utilized; or, should I dare say, off-limits to everyone else. End results - the line to get off the ship start somewhere on Deck 7 Fwd, at OSH - loop around pass the casino atrium, just before the bar/Shanghai Noodles - reversing and then the other direction into the BA Theater, eventually off the gangway and into the terminal building's escalators and single elevator for accessible passengers - down to luggage hall. This is worst, much worst than before - staterooms, public area, down to the gangways to get off the ship - is - within NCL's control, regardless of issues on the pier, which seemed to be rather smooth. NCL, you missed the high marks for this - not acceptable.

Pier 88/Cruise Terminal - CPB has a total of 8 lanes opened when we did our fast track porter's trick ... my estimates, easily 30+ minutes to get thru passport inspections. Foot traffic inside the pier was backed up prior to the calling of our color - around 8:30 ... an hour after the Express Walkoff was announced. Translations, anyone with domestic flights before 12 noon and not among the first 250 to 500 off the ship could be at risk - depending on the airport ... bus & rail, 11 AM scheduled departure should be "safe" - not advisable to book anything for 10 AM, except for car service pickup at Pier 88/across 12th Avenue ... downstairs pickup directly in front of the ship was allowed, except it was badly clogged up & congested.

To wrap out:

Well, we did and still had a good time, maybe not a great or excellent time sailing the BA last week - and, it was good to be back at home on NYC Marathon Sunday at 10:30 AM ... to attend to other matters waiting for us,

This, more of less, wrapped up our review for last week - leaving room for quite a few hot topics ...

happy to take questions and further discussions.

Coming up - uploading the Freestyle Dailies,

standby for those, later tonight or tomorrow for those "planners" sailing soon.

Gershep · November 9, 2017

Thanks for the great post cruise review.

e150club · November 9, 2017

Mking Thanks for your post cruise review. after reading it I now understand what Thumper was trying to say in his thread. A lot of little mistakes/mishaps that should not happen happened. I hope the crew does a better job next week. All the cutbacks on CCL made us try NCL. We enjoyed our last two w/NCL now I'm a little worried.

LeDemonBlond · November 9, 2017

Solution to play your own contents - bring a HDMI extender (easier to connect/disconnect) & a small LED flashlight (easier to see the HDMI ports, it's facing downward, behind the LED/LCD panel of the Sole TV ... along with a 6' HDMI cable, should be just long enough, although a 10' cable is even better. Make use of that "semi" secret inside the cabinet door outlets with a non-surged power tap/connector

Enjoyed reading about your trip and your helpful suggestions. Thanks for bringing us along! Sometimes one just wants to veg in the room but cruise ship TV is just not good enough. I often preload my tablet with content but watching on the TV versus an 8" inch screen would be way better. Thanks for the insight.

mking8288 · November 9, 2017

Here are the Freestyle Dailies, Day 1