NCL's current strategy: Raise prices and lower quality

[spanishguy1970]

On 1/1/2020 at 10:04 PM, ColeThornton said:

The solution is simple.  If you don't like a product whether it's a cruise line, airline, hotel, etc, grab your wallet, put on your walking shoes and take your money elsewhere.

we are taking our last 2 cruise on NCL then taking our money elsewhere...

[spanishguy1970]

On 1/1/2020 at 10:07 PM, fstuff1 said:

 

not that simple for me.

my land casino gives me free ncl cruises.

i tried talking to the promotions mgr about switching to Celebrity cruises but the decision makers are waaaaaaaaaay above his head. 

completely get it, we have only cruise NCL for the past 10 years and we definitely see the difference in quality. We saw the difference not only in quality but service on our last cruise on the Getaway. Some people just say cruise something else but it seems is happening with other cruise lines as well.

[spanishguy1970]

On 1/1/2020 at 11:48 PM, mianmike said:

 

Exactly.  Thanks to Frank Del Rio we have starting cruising other lines.  Before Frank we were pretty much loyal to NCL.  

same here.

[G-DawgMN]

1 hour ago, don't-use-real-name said:

No M&Ms or snack cheese - small oversight remind the Butler !fff

NOW HOWEVER - I disagree about asking the concierge to deal with an in-room issue is certainly outside his scope. 

Your cabin attendant takes care of the cabin

Your Butler takes care of the beverages food snacks dining

THE CONCIERGE oversees your total experience on board

 

Report your problem/issue with the appropriate level person

It does not hurt to follow up with the next level about the

issue service and how it was handled good bad or otherwise

Nothing is outside of scope in reporting a problem - if it is not

fixed to your satisfaction and not corrected - the next guest

may not be so forgiving and the Concierge needs to be in

loop on this - an ongoing problem is not good for all.

If you attend the Meet & Greet event the Host usually the

Hotel General Manager reminds everyone that if something

is not right to let them know - don't go away sour & mad. 

 

 I do agree with involving the Concierge as an escalation point, but you should start with the Room Steward/Butler/Maintenance first and escalate as you said if you're not getting results.

[NLH Arizona]

8 minutes ago, spanishguy1970 said:

we are taking our last 2 cruise on NCL then taking our money elsewhere...

You might want to try Crystal, because IMHO, they haven't changed that much over the years.

[spanishguy1970]

3 minutes ago, NLH Arizona said:

You might want to try Crystal, because IMHO, they haven't changed that much over the years.

thanks we are trying Celebrity first then going from there...

[NLH Arizona]

4 minutes ago, spanishguy1970 said:

thanks we are trying Celebrity first then going from there...

Hope you like Celebrity, I've also cruised them for years and have always had great cruises.  Be warned many long time cruisers are complaining about them raising prices and a decline in services, food, etc., but you being new to them, you probably won't notice.  

[spanishguy1970]

6 minutes ago, NLH Arizona said:

Hope you like Celebrity, I've also cruised them for years and have always had great cruises.  Be warned many long time cruisers are complaining about them raising prices and a decline in services, food, etc., but you being new to them, you probably won't notice.  

Thank you, years ago a lady used to recommend to us Celebrity ( she is long gone now) she went by the screename Parrotmom. She loved Celebrity so we will see.

 

We have never been really picky when it comes to food. I can't eat shellfish so i don't care for lobsters. I always find decent food to eat in the MDR etc. I figure if i want fine dining i go to a restaurant here in DC. My problem with NCL is the depletion of the latitudes perks etc I find that the service has declined immensely but i agree with what someone else said  it probably has to do with all the changes and staff not happy about them.

Edited January 7, 2020 by spanishguy1970

[NLH Arizona]

2 minutes ago, spanishguy1970 said:

Thank you, years ago a lady used to recommend to us Celebrity ( she is long gone now) she went by the screename Parrotmom. She loved Celebrity so we will see.

 

We have never been really picky when it comes to food. I can't eat shellfish so i don't care for lobsters. I always find decent food to eat in the MDR etc. I figure if i want fine dining i go to a restaurant here in DC. My problem with NCL is the depletion of the latitudes perks etc I find that the service has declined immensely but i agree with what someone else said  it probably has to do with all the changes and staff not happy about them.

I've always found the food in the MDR on Celebrity fine, but like you I'm not very picky.

[Zippeedee]

38 minutes ago, spanishguy1970 said:

completely get it, we have only cruise NCL for the past 10 years and we definitely see the difference in quality. We saw the difference not only in quality but service on our last cruise on the Getaway. Some people just say cruise something else but it seems is happening with other cruise lines as well.

I am really hoping the Getaway "fiasco" was an aberration. The 21 day Bliss Panama Canal will be make or break for me. I have a 9 day Japan cruise on the "new" Spirit booked for November but I'll cancel it if the Bliss is anything like the Getaway nightmare.  If they partial charter it to that huge group again I'm gone.

[spanishguy1970]

12 minutes ago, Zippeedee said:

I am really hoping the Getaway "fiasco" was an aberration. The 21 day Bliss Panama Canal will be make or break for me. I have a 9 day Japan cruise on the "new" Spirit booked for November but I'll cancel it if the Bliss is anything like the Getaway nightmare.  If they partial charter it to that huge group again I'm gone.

LOL we are doing that same 21 day Panama canal in April on the Bliss and then the Jade Transatlantic in October. We still have 2 cruise next certificates that will expire on Nov 5 2021 we don't know whether we will transfer them or sell them. We tried to sell them here but no one wanted them...LOL now you can't do that according to the guidelines.. We were NCL loyal customers mostly due to the freestyle, we did not want to dress up, we don't look like bums by any means but we like casual wear, now it seems other cruise lines are doing freestyle as well or starting to. We did the Getaway this past October and it was bad really bad...

Edited January 7, 2020 by spanishguy1970

[EllieinNJ]

21 minutes ago, spanishguy1970 said:

LOL we are doing that same 21 day Panama canal in April on the Bliss and then the Jade Transatlantic in October. We still have 2 cruise next certificates that will expire on Nov 5 2021 we don't know whether we will transfer them or sell them. We tried to sell them here but no one wanted them...LOL now you can't do that according to the guidelines.. We were NCL loyal customers mostly due to the freestyle, we did not want to dress up, we don't look like bums by any means but we like casual wear, now it seems other cruise lines are doing freestyle as well or starting to. We did the Getaway this past October and it was bad really bad...

Hi.  We are also on your Bliss cruise.  We are also booked on the Getaway for Jan. 2021 NY to Miami.  What was so bad about the Getaway?  We did the Breakaway and liked it so thought the Getaway would be the same.

 

Now we decided to look for another cruise between them in Sept. NCL's prices are off the wall.  So started looking at Carnival and MSC because we wanted something out of NY and not too expensive.  Reviews of both lines are crummy. 

[spanishguy1970]

3 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

Hi.  We are also on your Bliss cruise.  We are also booked on the Getaway for Jan. 2021 NY to Miami.  What was so bad about the Getaway?  We did the Breakaway and liked it so thought the Getaway would be the same.

 

Now we decided to look for another cruise between them in Sept. NCL's prices are off the wall.  So started looking at Carnival and MSC because we wanted something out of NY and not too expensive.  Reviews of both lines are crummy. 

We did the Transatlantic back in October. We missed a port ( which was ok) but they began running out of supplies, food etc. We had to do customs in Miami and everyone had to get off the ship. Getting off the ship was not the problem, is waiting in the Terminal for about 2-3 hours to get on board, no water, no seats, people sitting on the floor and mind you a lot of people using walkers, when the time came to get back on board it was a stampede, people pushing, it was just a mess. As i said before we are not picky with food but they were so understaffed that at dinner time we had  long wait  in between plates for our food to be brought to our table, so imagine having your appetizer then waiting 20-25 minutes for the entree then  same amount of time for our dessert  etc...It was our first time experiencing how disorganized everything was, we can go on and on. We did have a great room steward though :-)...

[luv2kroooz]

5 hours ago, Newleno said:

I go with the best deal, not married to a cruise line, the food on ncl meh, however i got a deal, solo room for $250 for 11 days new Zealand on dec 11.  the last few years ncl has provided some great last minute deals otherwise I would not have cruised. 

Good deal!! Have a great time.

[April42749]

2 hours ago, Zippeedee said:

I am really hoping the Getaway "fiasco" was an aberration. The 21 day Bliss Panama Canal will be make or break for me. I have a 9 day Japan cruise on the "new" Spirit booked for November but I'll cancel it if the Bliss is anything like the Getaway nightmare.  If they partial charter it to that huge group again I'm gone.

May I ask...what kind of group?

 

I'm going on the Bliss in May.  We booked right before the huge price increase.  I'm very concerned that there will be a huge inventory at the end and they'll sell those cabins at rock bottom prices to groups that don't know stuff such as proper buffet etiquette. 

 

 

[April42749]

2 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

Hi.  We are also on your Bliss cruise.  We are also booked on the Getaway for Jan. 2021 NY to Miami.  What was so bad about the Getaway?  We did the Breakaway and liked it so thought the Getaway would be the same.

 

Now we decided to look for another cruise between them in Sept. NCL's prices are off the wall.  So started looking at Carnival and MSC because we wanted something out of NY and not too expensive.  Reviews of both lines are crummy. 

LOL....ignore those crummy Meraviglia reviews.  It was the nicest ship with the best entertainment and the best "at sea pizza" ever.  As a native NYer.....I know my pizza!  It's a completely different experience than NCL and Carnival.

[Zippeedee]

sorry, wrong place...

Edited January 7, 2020 by Zippeedee
needed to add quote.

[Zippeedee]

11 minutes ago, April42749 said:

May I ask...what kind of group?

 

I'm going on the Bliss in May.  We booked right before the huge price increase.  I'm very concerned that there will be a huge inventory at the end and they'll sell those cabins at rock bottom prices to groups that don't know stuff such as proper buffet etiquette. 

 

 

All I am going to say so that I don't get attacked here is that "proper buffet etiquette" was the least of the problems. Pushing, shoving, putting one person at the head of a line and calling in all of the friends as the line starts to move, food hoarding, filthy bathroom habits that the staff could not keep up with in the public bathrooms, it was a nightmare. Then to find out the group paid about $800 each was just adding insult to injury.

[April42749]

3 minutes ago, Zippeedee said:

All I am going to say so that I don't get attacked here is that "proper buffet etiquette" was the least of the problems. Pushing, shoving, putting one person at the head of a line and calling in all of the friends as the line starts to move, food hoarding, filthy bathroom habits that the staff could not keep up with in the public bathrooms, it was a nightmare. Then to find out the group paid about $800 each was just adding insult to injury.

I'm reading between the lines....and taking an educated guess.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but this was not a group of Americans.  I had a typo...I'm going in March, and if this happens it's "bye bye" NCL.  I can deal with paying more but for more but not for what you experienced.

[Zippeedee]

1 minute ago, April42749 said:

I'm reading between the lines....and taking an educated guess.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but this was not a group of Americans.  I had a typo...I'm going in March, and if this happens it's "bye bye" NCL.  I can deal with paying more but for more but not for what you experienced.

You are an educated guesser.

[fshagan]

On 1/7/2020 at 9:18 AM, luckyinpa said:

i didnt read the thread but this is another example of more for less...who would pay 200 more for NO offers. why do they do this even?

 

Depending on the offers, paying more each for the cabin might be worth it. The required service charge on the beverage plan adds $140 per person. The required service charge on the free meal plan adds $14 per person, I think. So you're really close to the $168 (I don't know if any other offers require a service charge).

 

Usually the sail away price is less than the lowest price with offers. Sometimes significantly so. If you did the math involved knowing those costs you would still pick the mid-ship inside in the example above. But usually you can definitely save money taking the sail away rate.

Edited January 9, 2020 by fshagan

[draxnair101]

On 1/7/2020 at 1:59 PM, Zippeedee said:

I am really hoping the Getaway "fiasco" was an aberration. The 21 day Bliss Panama Canal will be make or break for me. I have a 9 day Japan cruise on the "new" Spirit booked for November but I'll cancel it if the Bliss is anything like the Getaway nightmare.  If they partial charter it to that huge group again I'm gone.

I mistakenly booked a partial charter with The Trailer Park Boys and wasnt too upset with the situation. They mostly used the theatre during the day... I think it may just depend on the partial charter but imo the room prices on those are quite a steal. You may want to give it another shot.

[mugtech]

1 hour ago, draxnair101 said:

I mistakenly booked a partial charter with The Trailer Park Boys and wasnt too upset with the situation. They mostly used the theatre during the day... I think it may just depend on the partial charter but imo the room prices on those are quite a steal. You may want to give it another shot.

Was it The Trailer Park Troubadors with Antsy McClain?  Did they sing about a house ain't a home until you take the wheels off?

[marazad16]

On 1/7/2020 at 1:33 PM, NLH Arizona said:

Hope you like Celebrity, I've also cruised them for years and have always had great cruises.  Be warned many long time cruisers are complaining about them raising prices and a decline in services, food, etc., but you being new to them, you probably won't notice.  

Isn't that the truth! 

[trummy]

On 1/7/2020 at 1:36 PM, EllieinNJ said:

Hi.  We are also on your Bliss cruise.  We are also booked on the Getaway for Jan. 2021 NY to Miami.  What was so bad about the Getaway?  We did the Breakaway and liked it so thought the Getaway would be the same.

 

Now we decided to look for another cruise between them in Sept. NCL's prices are off the wall.  So started looking at Carnival and MSC because we wanted something out of NY and not too expensive.  Reviews of both lines are crummy. 

Carnival is a fun cruise, as long as it is not a short 3 day booze cruise. We have cruised Carnival 9 times and have another one booked. Carnival is not crummy. If you go to their CC sections, you will see that their cruisers are a lot happier and have a lot less complaints than the cruisers here in the NCL section.

Edited January 9, 2020 by trummy