If you actually enjoy reading people’s NCL complaints

[Zippeedee]

Just now, hallux said:

To be fair - if the excursion is listed with a high difficulty due to terrain or extensive walking, people with known mobility issues should not book those excursions.  I'm not saying they shouldn't be allowed to enjoy their cruise like everyone else is trying to do, but they need to do so sensibly and with consideration for others trying to enjoy their cruise and excursions.

 

I was impacted by one of these in October - it was a non-cruise excursion, the listing clearly stated that people with mobility issues should not book the trip yet a family showed up with one person in a wheelchair and another that could have used one, FOR A GLASS-BOTTOM BOAT TOUR!  Both of them had difficulty getting on and off that boat, not to mention that they were over 30 minutes late because they had trouble with tendering, not understanding they needed to pre-register for a tender time, then not realizing the tender for those with mobility issues was loading in a different place.  Several stops on that trip were cut short because of them.

I understand that people do overestimate their ability to handle some excursions. I just read the review I quoted as pretty ageist and selfish. There are very few accessible tours offered so it does make the problem worse. Add in a family group that doesn’t want to miss out on something even though someone in the group has a mobility issue and you have a disaster.

[OhioCraig]

I remember my very first cruise back in 1996.  It was the NCL Leeward. A lifeboat by today's ship standards. We hit a very bad storm off the coast of Cuba on our way back from Cozumel. It was so bad the decks were closed off.  They had huge punch bowls full of Bonine tablets set out as well as barf bags hanging from the stairwells. At dinner I was the only one to show up at my table and dishes and silverware were falling off the tables. I never let it get to me. I have been on over 25 cruises since. Nothing is ever perfect in life. People who expect perfection will always be disappointed. 

[david_sobe]

A floating prison.  Just like the hotel in the movie The Shining

I had not done an Alaskan Cruise, so I chose it for my mom and me. My family and I have done lots of cruises. We go cruising at least twice a year, usually 7 days cruises. We have gone on over a dozen cruises. We just got back from cruising with the Norwegian Pearl last Sunday, and we are not to happy with it. My mom stated that she was on a paid floating prison. The captain and cruise director were horrible. There was no clear itinerary. We could not understand the captain and the cruise director over 95% of the time. I was in the dinning room, the Summer Palace, this last Saturday, 07/15/17, and even the staff did not understand him when I ask her what he was trying to announce. The cruise had no festivity atmosphere, we felt like we were on a dead boat. It reminded me of the movie, The Shining, Steven King's horror movie. A lots the time, the boat would come into port late in the day, so we could not really do anything on our own, and they would try to sell you these overpriced excursions. The last port we docked was Victoria, Canada, which we did not get in until 8pm and were told that the ship would disembark by 11:30pm. Where would we go in that space of time and lateness in a strange city? The captain of the ship never announce when we were to reach port the day before. The cruise staffs were disorganized. I have cruised with Carnivals and Royal Caribbean, over a dozen cruises, especially living in the Houston-Galveston area, where the cruise ships come in every week; this is my first time with Norwegian. However, I would never cruise with Norwegian again. I would warn other not to cruise with them.

 

Chicken from the bar?

My mom is disabled and this was her first cruise and last cruise with Norwegian. We experienced several issues on this cruise line. The first day they lost my luggage which didn't arrive to the room until 10 pm. When inquired about my luggage staff members were very nonchalant. In the casino my mother and I was asked by waiters on two different occasions if we wanted to order chicken from the bar. The bar did not serve chicken they only served liquor. We had to educate the waiters that not African American people eat chicken. The entertainment was awful. The food was okay. A piece of hair was found in my food at the Garden buffet. They only catered to a certain genre of music. Also, pay close attention to your receipt upon checkout because they will apply many unauthorized charges. Cruise with Norwegian at your own risk. Not worth the money.

[GettotheSun]

11 hours ago, david_sobe said:

The cruise had no festivity atmosphere, we felt like we were on a dead boat. It reminded me of the movie, The Shining, Steven King's horror movie.

 

No festivity atmosphere = killing stranger, and trying to kill wife and son in a haunted hotel.  Same.

 

It's the hyperbole that I really find the funniest in these review...maybe they do it on purpose for comedic effect?

[ScottnBobbi]

I have to say that being able to get some time with no activity is what I look forward to most.  I love the activities and have never been disappointed for a lack of things to do.  The issue is with people who need to be distracted.  Everyone has attention deficit to a point, but the cruise lines are the cause of their lack of stimulus.  Enjoy the view, the sun, the wind...  Now I wish I was on a cruise right now!

[RedwingHockeyFan]

Oh! someone deleted the "Cruise Critic making it difficult" thread.  That one was turning into a doozy and I didn't get a chance to read the latest posts.

[ColeThornton]

8 minutes ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

Oh! someone deleted the "Cruise Critic making it difficult" thread.  That one was turning into a doozy and I didn't get a chance to read the latest posts.

 

That was a really good Troll thread.  It's funny when people take those seriously.  🙂

[Mr.AgentMan]

On 12/26/2019 at 9:23 AM, fendawg42 said:

My favorite one so far--

 

"We hated both our cabin (we had a jacuzzi in the middle of the room) and the ship (very crowded with no places to just sit and relax without having to buy something). The ship was obscenely large and crowded. It was embarrassing every time we docked in one of the Mediterranean destinations and the ship dominated the harbor."

Don't they know, it's not about the size of the ship, it's about the motion . . . oh, nevermind.

[GA Dave]

This is not cruise-related, but shows how crazy people can get.  They have done this "numerous times" over the past five years, but keep booking trips!!

 

WDW Hotel Conditions

Edited January 9, 2020 by GA Dave

[Sweetnspicy]

7 hours ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

Oh! someone deleted the "Cruise Critic making it difficult" thread.  That one was turning into a doozy and I didn't get a chance to read the latest posts.

I was in that one 😈 🤣🤣🤣 He called me a troll 3 times. 

[david_sobe]

This is one of the more recent favorites of mine.  When the author calls this the worst experience in their life and has caused tremendous stress on their family.  OMG, was the ship hijacked by Pirates and stabbed them with a sword and they were locked in a dungeon for several days.  Well not quite.  Water spilled on the table and their kids could not be in the same group in the teen club.

I should have known that this experience was going to be atrocious when the booking and check in process was so terrible. Our two kids are 12 and 15 and very shy. One of my concerns was them being allowed to be in the same club (our prior experience with Disney allowed them to be). One of the Norwegian reps assured me they would be able to be in the same club so I went ahead with the booking. Onboard we found out that they are NOT allowed to be in the same club. Another reason we wanted the kids to be together was that the NCL app does not allow anyone less than 14 to use it so the 12 year old couldn’t communicate with us if she needed but could contact us if she was with her brother. The club manager assured me she would be able to call our app anytime she wanted. She went once and asked a counselor to let her call us but the counselor WOULDN’T let her. Instead, the counselor called the kids' room asking us to pick her up instead of reaching us with the app we PAID EXTRA for (see below). We got her an hour later and she wouldn’t go back.

We had to pay almost $10 each phone to communicate onboard and the app worked 3/5 times. Either the notification wasn’t going through (even though the notification was turned on) or you could see you got a message but when you opened it up to see the message there was no message. The internet options were vague and my husband purchased a 50 minute usage thinking it was for 50 minutes total but didn’t realize it was a continuous 50 minutes so he used it up in the shower (and this was $100!).

There were too many people onboard. We couldn’t see a show, sit to eat dinner or enjoy any of the things on board because they were all booked up. WE ATE IN OUR ROOM FOR BREAKFAST almost every day. People were reserving rows of seats in the observation lounge and in the theatre and were not told by staff it was not allowed. Also in this regard, people were smoking in the Cavern Club but the waiter serving them drinks didn’t kick them out!

We were able to get a seat at Savor one evening but it took 2 hours to eat. I accidentally spilled my water and informed the waiter but he turned away and ignored me and went ahead to serve two tables. The assistant plopped down two napkins 20 minutes later and we had to clean it up ourselves. It took 40 minutes to get the kids sodas after asking 3 different people. And we were asked by three separate people if the $2.50 upcharge was ok for the wine we chose. We barely saw the actual waiter. Being busy on the ship is no excuse – you know how many people are on there and need to staff it appropriately. The next day someone sent chocolate covered strawberries to our kids' room (12 and 15 as above) with a creepy message from a male asking if they received the strawberries without mention of what they were for. I had to wait 15 minutes in guest relations line (because there was always a line) to make sure some creep wasn’t trying anything funny with our kids and found out it was an apology about the dinner. Seriously?

We tried il Bistro with not much success. The waitress had no idea what a sommelier was when I asked her to speak to about someone about pairing wine with the escargot. The bartender came and bluntly just asked what I wanted to drink. The scallops were inedible – like rubber. Note that this restaurant was not complimentary and we had to pay extra.

We left our bag at the Whiskey bar one evening so we checked with guest services to see if anyone turned it in. They said no. I asked the next day just in case and it had been there the ENTIRE time but the first person didn’t even look.

Overall, this was the worse experience of my life, put a ton of stress on our family, and ruined our entire summer.

As a follow-up, the only way to leave a complaint is an online process. I did this and received an email apologizing and was offered a free "welcome aboard" package on our next trip, which is a joke because I will NEVER sail with Norwegian again. I called Guest relations trying to speak with someone about the response and was on hold for 20 minutes just to get transferred to a voicemail. Please share and stay away from Norwegian.

[April42749]

About the above post....when my son was that age...if he wasn't happy I wasn't happy.

[HowardK]

No cruise is perfect- a cruise ship is like a small city- any time you visit a city for a day or a week you are bound to have some sort of trouble. I think I've had minor things on most of my ships- in fact it isn't a vacation until I had one.

Some of my famous examples:

 

1. I sat at OShennans in Epic at the bar to eat- because other people would pass by and join me. The place was empty and the bartender didn't want me at the bar because I wasn't "drinking". I complained and it was resolved.

 

2. They unplugged a piano while I was playing (and had permission to play from the bandmaster) I simply wrote a letter at the front desk saying if it wasn't on by 10am I would cancel my next cruise.

 

3. Couldn't get my room cleaned or get towels- wrote- and people higher up actually took care of it  -cleaning and towels- wrotea nice thank you

 

4. Fake charges on my account (pre UBP days) stating I purchased several beers at GSC. Front desk wanted to argue with me- I said fine- show me the receipt with my handwriting and I'll pay double! 

 

5. Took Sea and See excursion- the Sea part was awesome the "See" part saw being stranded in a straw  market with big scary hungry looking dogs. Got half a refund for my trauma lol.

 

 

[AKR2011]

One of my all time favorite reviews that gets bumped every once in awhile - not because of the outlandish complaints, but because of everything that happened: 

 

[RedwingHockeyFan]

11 hours ago, Sweetnspicy said:

I was in that one 😈 🤣🤣🤣 He called me a troll 3 times. 

I was trolling that one bad.  He was all over the place, I couldn't actually tell what he was complaining about.

[david_sobe]

9 hours ago, AKR2011 said:

 

Now we know Kevin Sheehan was fired.  He put corn in the soup!

FIRE THE C.E.O., KEVIN SHEEHAN
I wish we had looked at CruiseCritic.com before we took the NCL Jewel. If we had, we would have not gone. The buck has to stop somewhere. Fire Kevin Sheehan.
When he was on Undercover Boss, he professed to investigate NCL problems so he could provide his passengers with an unforgettable cruise. It was unforgettable to be sure. It was awful. Seeing this show repeated daily on the ship TV made me sick.
My wife and I checked in on Sat, Oct 15, 2011. Got to the terminal at 12:30 PM. We were put into the check-in line, and then the computers went down. In the next 30 minutes, the lines got long. Then I see a stocky short guy, about 300 pounds, bright green slicker hanging on his shoulders, chewing gum, walking back and forth from the lines to the check-in counter. He looked like Barney Rubble with a crew cut. I thought he was security; but he had a strange look. He was always on the phone, and looking back and forth as he walked. He waddled when he walked.
Next, I see him take 2 people behind us, opened the crowd rope and walked them to the counter; and put them beside an existing customer. The guy in the group gave him money. He looked back and forth before he put the money into his pocket. WHY ? The computer was broken. During the 45 minutes I was there, he did this for 4 groups of people. Getting paid each time. He was helping people jump the line !! By the way, he wore a union tee shirt. I brought this to the attention of a lady working our line, after his second trip. Expecting her to do something, I was surprised when she said
½ Better be nice to him or you might not get your luggage. SHE KNEW WHO HE WAS, AS WELL AS WHAT HE WAS DOING ! HE WAS A LONGSHOREMAN !! I then brought this to another lady's attention. She said I should tell the boss, and pointed to the lady I had just talked to. I HAD ALREADY TOLD THE
BOSS ! She could care less.
On board, no one directed us anywhere. We sat in a lounge, till another passenger told us about the buffet on 12th fl. Up we went. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean do the same thing, but we were directed there by their staff.
Our first food was horrible; an inkling of what was to come.
The food for the entire cruise was horrible. I think this is the reason passengers went to the restaurants with additional fees; to find good food. This was useless. It soon became evident that ALL the food was the same. Azure and Tsar had the same menus as well as the same drab food. FYI: The deserts in ALL restaurants were the same for the entire cruise. They were marginal at best.
By the 2nd day, most of conversations among passengers were about the bad food. Knowing that the crew ate the same food, surprised many passengers. About 50 % of the crew I spoke with said the food was bad, and some just smiled and said nothing. I knew they already knew.
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs were tasteless, as well as overcooked. FYI: ALL THE FOOD WAS OVERCOOKED. The only bright spots were the hand made egg stations. There were 2; for 2,000+ passengers!! Everything sat out for 3 hours, and you can just imagine what it tasted like.
Lunch and Dinner: Buffet was still the tasteless overcooked food. We went to other places, but in desperation we looked everywhere. By day 3, we knew we had been had. There was no good food anywhere. We despaired together with numerous other passengers. The bad food actually bonded us together. We were all trapped.
An example: Our last night, Azure and Tsar had the beef stroganoff on the menu; remember, these 2 places always had the same items. It was listed as Beef Stroganoff with Mushrooms , sub-title description: Egg noodles, Beets and Sour Cream . I asked for no beets. I was greeted with the following: Red Peppers, Green Peppers, Onions, and PICKLES !!, and a half tea spoon of Sour Cream. You had to be kidding. I took pictures. The egg noodles were dry and hard, and the 3 small strips of beef were tough. I filled up half a small plate with the extra crap that had no business in this dish. I have pictures.
PICKLES ?? PEPPERS ??
Ribs at Mexican place and Chen Chens were the same with different toppings. Both were like a stringy pot roast. One of my ribs was 100% fat.
Chen Chen serves an egg drop soup. Some idiot thought it was a good idea to add CORN !! Yes folks, corn !!. Even our server thought is was a bad idea. Chef said the corn recipe was directed by the Corporate Office; back to Kevin again.
Important: FOUND OUT THAT ALL FOOD DECISIONS WERE MADE BY CORPORATE, INCLUDING RECIPES AND PRESENTATIONS. Someone in the CEO's office complex makes up these menus. THIS IS WHY THE FOOD IS BAD ON ALL THE NCL SHIPS.
About 80 % of the salt grinders did not work. They were in all the restaurants except the buffet and the pool deck. The pool deck had those little salt and pepper paper packets, which blew everywhere.
Our cabin had no bar soap or lotion for my wife. There was a shampoo and shower gel dispenser in the shower. Every time I used the shower gel, I could not get it all rinsed off. Bought soap in Nassau; as well as had a real lunch at Atlantis.
The pool was overcrowded as was stated by others at Cruise critic.com. There were some good servers, but most just stood around doing nothing. We got most of our drinks at the bar ourselves.
The casino was the only place that was run superbly. They took our money, but all casinos do. The bar was efficient and the staff was excellent. The managers, Danela, Pearl, Toni and Moxie should be running the rest of the ship. No unhappy people here. It was refreshing.
The entertainment was lame except for the theater. The 70's Review Show was very good. There was a band at the pool one day that was good, but way too loud. Then we saw them do a totally Spanish show in the main lobby; this was awful.
There was someone trying to sell you something 24/7. After a while, you blocked it out, but it was always annoying.
Our room steward literally stunk. Our entire hallway stunk for that matter from body odor. When the ship was docked, this was almost unbearable. We also experienced this on another floor when we visited some friends. Some other staff also thought there should be a hygiene class for the crew, especially the stewards. They said there were some bad smells in the crews living quarters as well.
Cell phone solicitations came at least twice a day. One was at 6 AM when we were at the private Island. 6 AM !! ANOTHER CORPORATE DECISION !!
Leaving the ship took 2 extra hours. We were happy just to get off. There needs to be more work done on this. It's not the extra time, but they did not manage the remaining passengers.
Almost forgot: The TV in our room was an old 19' RCA tube set. It was hard to see since it was placed way toward the balcony window. We enjoyed an episode of the Nanny. Little did we know that this SAME EPPISODE would be repeated 100 times; THE SAME EPISODE !! A Damon Wayans sit com did the same thing: 100 times and THE SAME EPISODE !! I called the person in charge and he told me the shows were picked out BY THE CORPORATE OFFICE. He did the best he could with what he had.
We canceled our next 2 cruises with NCL, when we got home. We were to take the Epic out of Miami. We did this because THE SAME CORPORATE PEOPLE WHO MADE UP THE MENU ON THE JEWEL, ALSO MAKE UP THE MENU ON THE EPIC !
Kevin Sheehan should be fired. Leadership starts at the top, and here at NCL, there is none. I know our entire crew knew about the food and attitude problems. THEY WERE NOT HAPPY WITH THE FOOD EITHER ! This is a much bigger problem than you might realize. NCL needs a total cleaning of both their ships and corporate offices, starting with old Kevin.
I also think the health department should take a closer look into NCL. We knew of many people who were made sick by the food. I am sure there were many more. Buffet food at both the Garden Cafe and by the pool, sat out FOREVER. I am sure food sits out in the kitchen also.
NCL will help you have a new appreciation for your favorite restaurants once you get back home. We feel sorry for those stuck on the Jewel now, somewhere on the high seas.
I DID HEAR THAT Kevin Sheehan, the CEO, was on the previous cruise on the Jewel. Oct 8 to 15. I hope he had the same food we had. I'm sure he brought his own soap.
We are already booked on Royal Caribean for our next 2 cruises. Like many of the passengers said on Cruisecritic.com We will never travel on NCL again.
NCL was a good cruise line years ago, but now, it's just a mess. The other good companies are coming out with a lot of new ships, and I am sure they will put NCL out of business. It will be a blessing to all the unsuspecting passengers.
They added $ 12 a passenger per day for additional tips. I wish we had them removed like I read other passengers did. As I finish this, dozens of other horror stories come to mind, but this should give you an insight into what to expect.
In closing, the reason for the firing of Kevin is this: He either knew these multitude of problems and did nothing; or his staff lied to him. If he went on the Jewel, like he did, HE KNEW. Why he does nothing is a mystery. I think the bad food adds to the unhappiness of the crew, which they are all to ready to share with the passengers, in the form of bad service and some attitude.
90 % of the problems I mentioned were listed on cruisecritic.com. All Kevin had had to do was read this web site. Someone in the Corporate had to see this.
I think the Jewel and NCL have so many deep problems, it will be almost impossible to fix.
 

• Read more Norwegian Jewel Reviews

Edited January 10, 2020 by david_sobe

[GettotheSun]

Wow that was exhausting to read.

 

I don’t think Barney Rubble was any where close to 300 lbs.

[Twipenne]

On 1/8/2020 at 6:44 AM, david_sobe said:

A floating prison.  Just like the hotel in the movie The Shining

I had not done an Alaskan Cruise, so I chose it for my mom and me. My family and I have done lots of cruises. We go cruising at least twice a year, usually 7 days cruises. We have gone on over a dozen cruises. We just got back from cruising with the Norwegian Pearl last Sunday, and we are not to happy with it. My mom stated that she was on a paid floating prison. The captain and cruise director were horrible. There was no clear itinerary. We could not understand the captain and the cruise director over 95% of the time. I was in the dinning room, the Summer Palace, this last Saturday, 07/15/17, and even the staff did not understand him when I ask her what he was trying to announce. The cruise had no festivity atmosphere, we felt like we were on a dead boat. It reminded me of the movie, The Shining, Steven King's horror movie. A lots the time, the boat would come into port late in the day, so we could not really do anything on our own, and they would try to sell you these overpriced excursions. The last port we docked was Victoria, Canada, which we did not get in until 8pm and were told that the ship would disembark by 11:30pm. Where would we go in that space of time and lateness in a strange city? The captain of the ship never announce when we were to reach port the day before. The cruise staffs were disorganized. I have cruised with Carnivals and Royal Caribbean, over a dozen cruises, especially living in the Houston-Galveston area, where the cruise ships come in every week; this is my first time with Norwegian. However, I would never cruise with Norwegian again. I would warn other not to cruise with them.

 

Chicken from the bar?

My mom is disabled and this was her first cruise and last cruise with Norwegian. We experienced several issues on this cruise line. The first day they lost my luggage which didn't arrive to the room until 10 pm. When inquired about my luggage staff members were very nonchalant. In the casino my mother and I was asked by waiters on two different occasions if we wanted to order chicken from the bar. The bar did not serve chicken they only served liquor. We had to educate the waiters that not African American people eat chicken. The entertainment was awful. The food was okay. A piece of hair was found in my food at the Garden buffet. They only catered to a certain genre of music. Also, pay close attention to your receipt upon checkout because they will apply many unauthorized charges. Cruise with Norwegian at your own risk. Not worth the money.

 

Between you and me, I wanted to like this review. But I would give it zero stars if I could. 

 

For starters, no mention of a demand for a full refund. That cost me my bingo. And the lack of mentioning it was a zero star experience cost me a double bingo. I have read reviews on Cruise Critic several times, and this is not what I have grown to expect from the CC Reviewer community. People trust reviewers to tell us exactly how the sailing was the worst possible waste of money ever. Theres supposed bad grammar and random capitalization to accentuate the fact that theyr REALLY PISSED OFF.  Reviewer completely wasted my time and should be fired from ever writing reviews ANYWHERE! THEY NEED TO BE BLACKLISTED! I am demanding compensation for my time for reading that, in the form of $25 in OBC for my next cruise (which I'll probably hate as much as reading this).

 

Ok. How was that? This is my first time giving a negative review on anything.