If you actually enjoy reading people’s NCL complaints

[tallnthensome]

I may be the odd man out here but I enjoy reading people’s complaints about NCL and find them entertaining and often laughable. I enjoy reading Consumers Affairs website for the cruise lines. If you want to read about some ridiculous complaints with NCL about pricing, no insurance cancellations and people just not doing their homework you can read them here. Sort  the reviews by one star and most recent. Again, this is just for entertainment value. Some are head shakers. Carnival’s are even better.https://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/ncl_cruise.htm?#sort=recent&filter=1

[SouthLyonCruiser]

Kinda' like watching a train wreck and not looking away. HAHAHAHA

[Joanne G.]

I will confess to being drawn to threads with titles like "Worst cruise ever" or "Cruise from hell", being curious over what triggered such extreme reactions.   That Carnival cruise that drifted for days without power would fit those descriptions, but more often the complaints are about things along the lines altered itineraries or missed ports, which experienced cruisers know is always a possibility, mix-ups on dinner reservations or pre-cruise purchases, a disliked cabin or cabin location that could have been avoided with some research, or an unsuitable cruise line or itinerary  that also could have been avoided with some research - think senior citizen on 4-night cruise to Mexico during spring break time or young partiers on a long itinerary on one of the lines that is known to be more sedate.   Then there are critiques about the food like "I found nothing edible" - really, nothing?  

 

Expecting refunds for cancelations after not purchasing insurance, being angry that the cruise line cares about making money, feeling entitled to adjustments when the cruise price drops but never volunteering to pay the difference if it increases, or expecting a higher-cost experience on a lower-cost line, all show something of lack of understanding about the nature of business.   

 

I don't mean to imply that people can't have legitimate complaints about things that happen on cruises.  I certainly have. Sharing that information can help other cruisers.  But extreme hyperbole is something else.   It makes it impossible for me to take anything they say seriously, even though they may have perfectly reasonable complaints within all the dramatic re-telling.  

[Sweetnspicy]

Thank you for posting this 🤣🤣 I listen to a podcast called “Beach too sandy, water too wet” and they read and laugh over bad reviews. It’s hysterical! 

[4774Papa]

Some of the complaints people post on these boards are so petty, why do they waste their time?

 

We have done 20 cruises (Ocean) as well as 4 River Cruises and never had a bad cruise.  Yes, we have had a couple of times that we had to send an entre back and order another one, but even then the issue was resolved quickly, no big deal.  One entre that I sent back was on NCL and it was Turkey Lasagna.  It was awful.  My wife makes a lot of dishes at home with ground turkey meat instead of beef and it always turns out great, but not this one.  Still, the waiter expedited my replacement and the new dinner was great.  

To me the complaints about people having sewage back up in their cabin or a broken pipe, or even someone next door smoking on the balcony is something that can really put a damper on a vacation.

[RNRcruisers]

Hah that podcast sounds hilarious. I take extreme reviews with a grain of salt. 

[ray98]

I always enjoy them and love debating them if possible.  There is nothing that annoys me more than adults who cannot look at things rationally.

[traveljunkie88]

I'm SO glad I'm not the only one that finds this funny! For those who Reddit, I highly recommend a subreddit discussing the "**** Cruise Critic Says" for your daily dose of complaints from Cruise Critic members.

[david_sobe]

You are not alone.  Each week I go to the reviews section and click on various ships but only read the terrible ones.  Its such good reading.  There could be a best selling book if someone would take the most entertaining of each ship and put them all into a book.  When someone rates their cruise as "terrible", I approach with an open mind and waiting to be convinced how terrible it was.  However, even in their own words there is usually nothing that does not happen on every cruise.  But its so entertaining how dramatic everyone is.  "Honeymoon ruined because a port was missed and the MDR served something they did not like."

 

One recent reviewer could not let this power strip go and it ruined their cruise.  The husband needed an oxygen tank but they forgot a power strip and the tank cord was not long enough to the outlet on the wall.  They waited in a line at the service desk (can you believe there is a line at the service desk) and the people were rude.  However NCL did deliver a power strip to the room that night.  However for the rest of the review everything was ruined because they had to wait in a line for a power strip that they forgot at home.  This power strip came up paragraph after paragraph and just ruined their cruise.

 

Another favorite is the woman who stated their cruise was the worst thing that happened to them in their life.  She spilled water in the MDR and thought the staff was not overly helpful by only dropping towels down to sop up the water.  She complained.  The next night chocolate covered strawberries were delivered to the teenage son's cabin by mistake.  She went down to the service desk to investigate because she wanted to make sure the gesture was not some sexual predator trying to pick up their son.

(Note: that is a true story told in their own words)

Another all time favorite was on the Jewel about 2010 where a woman considered leaving the ship in port because she could not find anything to eat.  She was in tears and stated she could only pick at bread to survive.

 

Another one that I got flamed for here a few years ago was the woman who stated her feet ached after the cruise and it was because of the hard carpet NCL had installed on their ship.

 

Here are a few hints of a whopper of a review.  Anytime embarkation is late.  It sets people off and some cannot recover and it ruins the entire week.  Another is when people start off by stating:  Have taken 26 cruise in my life and this was the worst.

Another is anytime a port is missed even for weather alleging conspiracy theories to keep people on board to spend money.  

 

I knew someone that worked the NCL complaint line.  The stories he would tell me with people demanding a full refund.  A woman took the cruise because there was a singles group.  She did not meet anyone and the people were not her type so she wanted a full refund.

Having said all this, the Carnival cruisers are more dramatic than the NCL ones IMHO.

Edited December 15, 2019 by david_sobe

[April42749]

Those are my favorites too.  I like to meet the Negative Nellies on the ships also.  Last cruise (MSC) a man was complaining on the first sea day about the food being "too Eurooean".  Well,  it's  an Italian ship....what was he expecting???

[macandlucy]

New fave: the guy who writes to Consumer Affairs to complain that "two of the three comedians were not funny".

 

[JimR24]

Unfortunately,  this is the way of the world right now.  Lots of people are feel they are "owed" something, even when they are not.  And if they don't like the answer, they just scream louder until they get what they want.  Sooner or later, they are given something just to shut them up.  Then they will complain about what they got.  

 

I'm going to have to take a peek at the site and read some of the reviews.  The drive by complaints on this board are usually pretty comical.  

[wilmingtech]

Some Excerpts worth Reposting - 

 

"When we got home I sent repeated letters to Mr. Del Rio and in response I received a call from the FBI/ICE Joint terrorist Taskforce trying to determine if I was a terrorist? The local police also visited my home for questioning. Then learned we were banned for life on NCL"

 

"Days at sea were so rough that the water in the pools had to be lowered and were therefore unusable (this included the deck pools and hot tubs and the thermal spa pools and hot tubs) so there was little space left for the massive crowd of people in alternative spaces..."

 

"I would rather paddle on a kayak across the Indian Ocean than cruise with them again! I would rather jump in an ocean full of sharks and take my chance of getting to the other side than cruise with them. I would rather jump off a plank than cruise with them."

 

 

This one was a classic - 

"I reported the fact that my balcony door locks didn’t work 8 times. There are two locks and both didn’t work....I complained that someone could break into my room and hurt my mother and I or steal from us"

From the same Review - 

"The captain was threatening passengers that if anyone who was sick left their stateroom after reported being sick-those passengers would be thrown off the ship...I even know for a fact that the guest in the cabin next to mine were thrown off the ship, at their own expense, because they complained to corporate. They called NCL corporate in the USA and complained about the conditions."

"This older couple also said they were going to report it to review sites and the next morning they were given one hour to pack and get off. They even had security standing at their door not allowing them to talk to any other passengers. They forgot about the balcony. This couple flagged me down on my balcony because they were afraid for their safety due to these threats."

[BirdTravels]

The word “laughable” is good. People book affordable cruises and then complain that they did not get luxury, 5-Star service with 3 crew members per passenger. Not going to get it for the price. Doesn’t work that way. And they have nothing to complain about except that It was unacceptable that they ship did not sail through the hurricane and make her scheduled port calls In the middle of the storm. 

[Sweetnspicy]

****Immediately jumps over to read Carnival reviews***
 

I have yet to see a legitimate complaint from some one on here. I work customer service and have been a retail manager for 5 years and I worked as a head teller at a bank for 4 years before that. In my personal experience it’s people in a certain age range (some people, not all) (55+) that really expect a red carpet treatment for everything in life. 
 

im extremely laid back so maybe I just don’t understand the issues but if you don’t like food in the MDR, go somewhere else. Don’t like a certain dish or drink? Order something else. Don’t book a party cruise that’s 4 days long during spring break if all you want to do is relax, quietly in the sun. Want a super spacious room with butler service? Don’t book an inside stateroom. 
 

I just turned 30 and even I know that my vacations are MY personal responsibility. Go in with a good attitude, roll with the punches and enjoy everyday on that cruise ship! I’m so glad others get enjoyment out of the bad reviews as well. I’m going on the Epic for the second time in January and I am so excited but from reviews here you would think people are being tortured on board. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[ray98]

I also enjoy reading reviews when we get back from a cruise.  Never fails I will find at least one that makes it sound like we were trapped in a floating nightmare for the week.

[Harratine]

Thank you for creating the thread!   Never quite understand the “worst cruise ever” mantra, excepting the Titanic and other true disasters.  
 

A bad day cruising is the best day of work,,,,  

[lyannea]

If someone complains about almost every aspect of their cruise

They just want to be heard- I pity them- they most likely missed out on having a better time 

or

They may not have expected to have a great time because their expectations were over the top

Or

they spent more money than they wanted to on the cruise and expected everything to “be perfect” - whatever that is

 

 

[smplybcause]

1 hour ago, wilmingtech said:

"When we got home I sent repeated letters to Mr. Del Rio and in response I received a call from the FBI/ICE Joint terrorist Taskforce trying to determine if I was a terrorist? The local police also visited my home for questioning. Then learned we were banned for life on NCL"

 

If true I wonder what in the world they wrote in their letters to him! 

[luv2kroooz]

Typical first time cruiser complaints. Surprised...not sure why... at the number of cruise experts on here that find other people's misfortunes funny and laughable. Be cautious. You know what they say about karma....

 

Edited December 15, 2019 by blcruising

[ray98]

When 'misfortunes' are self induced it has noting to do with karma.

[hallux]

I've read a few of those - one was complaining about the cruise being extended and then ending in NOLA, which was BECAUSE OF A HURRICANE!

 

Many of those complaints were because of people that just didn't know what the policies are.  Saw one posted there that was also posted here.

[luv2kroooz]

3 minutes ago, ray98 said:

When 'misfortunes' are self induced it has noting to do with karma.

I see. I don't judge whether something is or isn't self induced. What upsets you, might not bother me at all. Doesn't make me right or you wrong. You don't know my story nor do I know yours.

[ray98]

1 minute ago, blcruising said:

I see. I don't judge whether something is or isn't self induced. What upsets you, might not bother me at all. Doesn't make me right or you wrong. You don't know my story nor do I know yours.

 

.....but here you are judging others in this thread.

[luv2kroooz]

1 minute ago, ray98 said:

 

.....but here you are judging others in this thread.

I see. Whatev...