NCL Prima - Observation Lounge closed for the entire cruise

[Greener123]

1 hour ago, insidecabin said:

This northern Europe season for NCL is getting littered with issues.

 

The late discounts are great.

 

10n on dawn Copenhagen to Southampton with £440pp can get flight under £100.

Cheap transfer between port airport.

 

 

If they had better wifi I could be tempted by that and take my laptop and “work” remote for 10 days 🤣

[robinium]

8 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

In Europe and the UK those(we can do what we like) clauses are overriden by statutory legislation.

I highlighted this in my follow up to the guest services manager, actually.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, robinium said:

Below is the reply I received back from NCL. For context, I did not ask for additional compensation in my email to them, I asked:

 

1) Whether the cancellation of our Isafjordur port stop was due to an “impossibility to dock”, as claimed by the captain, despite other cruise lines docking in the same port; or, NCL’s reluctance to operate the port as a tender port. [unanswered]
 

2) Whether their admission of making a mistake regarding the Observation Lounge means that I can feel confident that an attempt to hire out a key, flagship venue of the ship for an entire or extended part of the cruise will be attempted again. [unanswered]

 

3) Given they “had to” cancel the Isafjordur port stop on prior Prima voyages to this one, why didn’t they inform passengers in advance of the known cancellation of the port stop? Why were passengers only informed at check in time? [unanswered] 

 

—————

 

Dear X, 

 

Thank you for writing in to Mr. Harry Sommer, President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line. Your concerns were forwarded to the Guest Experience department for review and response, as our department handles customer related issues. We appreciate you choosing Norwegian Cruise Line for your vacation at sea.  

As a company we can assure you, that we do not take itinerary changes lightly and that we would only amend an itinerary when absolutely necessary as we understand the impact on our valuable guests and how much this could affect their plans. 

Such changes are often required in this industry and although we try as much as possible to deliver the initial itinerary, we never can guarantee that it will be 100% delivered.  The terms and conditions regarding itinerary changes are mentioned in our Ticket Contract and we are unable to extend further compensation than what has already been extended.  We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and disappointment experienced due to this matter.  

We appreciate this opportunity to respond to your concerns and hope you enjoy the remainder of your cruise. As always, the onboard staff remains at your service. 

Sincerely,

X
Manager, Guest Experience
Norwegian Cruise Line

That is gobbledygook, and answers nothing.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, MacGuffin3 said:

Cool, I'm number 2 then, do you want to join us?

#3 here from someone who went to college in the 60s and is always ready to start a movement.

 

 

[insidecabin]

1 hour ago, Greener123 said:

If they had better wifi I could be tempted by that and take my laptop and “work” remote for 10 days 🤣

That's not the cheapest the Star Iceland have got lower but Iceland is more expensive that Copenhagen.

Some other that are filled with port days are getting decent rates roaming cover the 9-5 element of a job.

[The Traveling Man]

3 hours ago, robinium said:

Below is the reply I received back from NCL. For context, I did not ask for additional compensation in my email to them, I asked:

 

1) Whether the cancellation of our Isafjordur port stop was due to an “impossibility to dock”, as claimed by the captain, despite other cruise lines docking in the same port; or, NCL’s reluctance to operate the port as a tender port. [unanswered]
 

2) Whether their admission of making a mistake regarding the Observation Lounge means that I can feel confident that an attempt to hire out a key, flagship venue of the ship for an entire or extended part of the cruise will be attempted again. [unanswered]

 

3) Given they “had to” cancel the Isafjordur port stop on prior Prima voyages to this one, why didn’t they inform passengers in advance of the known cancellation of the port stop? Why were passengers only informed at check in time? [unanswered] 

 

—————

 

Dear X, 

 

Thank you for writing in to Mr. Harry Sommer, President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line. Your concerns were forwarded to the Guest Experience department for review and response, as our department handles customer related issues. We appreciate you choosing Norwegian Cruise Line for your vacation at sea.  

As a company we can assure you, that we do not take itinerary changes lightly and that we would only amend an itinerary when absolutely necessary as we understand the impact on our valuable guests and how much this could affect their plans. 

Such changes are often required in this industry and although we try as much as possible to deliver the initial itinerary, we never can guarantee that it will be 100% delivered.  The terms and conditions regarding itinerary changes are mentioned in our Ticket Contract and we are unable to extend further compensation than what has already been extended.  We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and disappointment experienced due to this matter.  

We appreciate this opportunity to respond to your concerns and hope you enjoy the remainder of your cruise. As always, the onboard staff remains at your service. 

Sincerely,

X
Manager, Guest Experience
Norwegian Cruise Line

This appears to be the same form letter they have been using for several years.  You're right, it doesn't directly address any of your specific concerns.  They rarely do.

[ontheweb]

25 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

This appears to be the same form letter they have been using for several years.  You're right, it doesn't directly address any of your specific concerns.  They rarely do.

Makes you wonder if they even read the complaint, or just said it looks like a complaint, send out the letter.

[jlgreuel]

On 6/9/2023 at 10:46 AM, robinium said:

Success! All guests have been given some compensation as a result of the situation… 

 

This letter has been placed outside every stateroom. Now, as to whether it will result in NCL ceasing to hire out key venues, I’m not sure, but getting them to acknowledge that they “got it wrong” is a start!

 

 

2023-06-09 18.40.59.pdf 165.78 kB · 257 downloads

This is a huge win.  Thanks for sharing and keeping us informed.  Our family of four is on the next sailing beginning June 25th.

 

[kitkat343]

On 6/12/2023 at 2:55 PM, ontheweb said:

That is gobbledygook, and answers nothing.

Unfortunately, this has happened before.  In March of 2022, NCL ran a ship aground in the DR.  There was another port, Amber Cove, which can only hold two ships and is owned by Carnival.  If the carnival ships (which include princess and HAL) weren't using both berths, they rented them out to NCL.  People found out about the problems not by being informed by NCL but by the private vendors when they contacted them to inquire about  tours.  The private tour companies asked customers if they were sure they were docking, and told them they'd get full refunds if they don't dock.  There were already 2 carnival owned ships scheduled for our day in the DR, so people were concerned on the roll call.  The DR port was canceled and the morning of another port were cancelled in December of 2022 due to environment reasons.  After the cancellations, NCL continued to market and sell this cruise with the original itinerary.  They refused to let anyone switch to a different date in which the ship could dock in Amber cove, even passengers who purchased their cruise directly from NCL after the DR was cancelled and weren't informed of those changes.  This was a cruise leaving from NY, but it seems like something like this would really run afoul of consumer protections in Europe so I would imagine nothing gets cancelled in advance there.

 

 

 

[Oceansaway17]

after reading this thread, I am glad I have decided to not sail on NCL for a very long time.

1: my POA cruise would not be going down the scenic coast of Hawaii.

2: Perhaps my Epic cruise for summer of 2024 to Greece would also find a way to get cancelled.

 

Say what you want about Carnival, but I am liking them more and more.  NCL has got a lot of bad reviews about corporate decisions due to them badly needing to make lots of money to get out of debt.

They are in the process making a lot of angry customers.  I have other lines I will give my business to but I did enjoy my Bliss cruise back in 2018 through P Canal.  And I enjoyed going to Harvest Cay last year on the Breakaway.

[robinium]

It seems that NCL have stopped responding to my emails, as I haven’t had a response to my follow up with the guest services manager yet. 
 

They had previously been fairly swift at replying on this case. 

[luv2kroooz]

9 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

NCL has got a lot of bad reviews about corporate decisions

This is it, exactly. When things go well, the onboard experience is actually pretty nice. However, the repeated bad corporate behavior has soured us on NCL. Things happen on other lines, too, but with NCL they seem to happen much more frequently. Maybe it is lounge closures last week as in this thread, or unique, confusing tax issues on drinks last month, or port cancellations/itinerary changes up in Alaska on Spirit this week which passengers are reportedly learning out about through unrelated third parties, not NCL....there always seems to be some hiccup.  For these reasons, we will only choose NCL by booking at the very last minute and only when they offer very very cheap last minute cruise rates. We also properly reset our expectations in advance for some degree of unexpected disruption when we sail in NCL. This way we are never too disappointed when the "expected" happens.

 

PS.. We wouldn't hesitate to sail on Carnival. Our caveat is itinerary needs to be 7 days or greater and on a Vista or XL class ship. We would also try the new Italian experience. Hope you consider giving them a try.

[insidecabin]

Been cruising NCL for a long time.

 

I recall the days when something went wrong the  onboard team would do their best to make good, sometimes it would be sorry can't do anything and a gesture would happen.

 

Now it seems onboard is scared senseless and afraid to do anything, the party line is tough and some issues needs pushing hard to get anything done.

 

 

[BirdTravels]

On 6/12/2023 at 12:14 PM, robinium said:

Below is the reply I received back from NCL. For context, I did not ask for additional compensation in my email to them, I asked:

 

1) Whether the cancellation of our Isafjordur port stop was due to an “impossibility to dock”, as claimed by the captain, despite other cruise lines docking in the same port; or, NCL’s reluctance to operate the port as a tender port. [unanswered]
 

2) Whether their admission of making a mistake regarding the Observation Lounge means that I can feel confident that an attempt to hire out a key, flagship venue of the ship for an entire or extended part of the cruise will be attempted again. [unanswered]

 

3) Given they “had to” cancel the Isafjordur port stop on prior Prima voyages to this one, why didn’t they inform passengers in advance of the known cancellation of the port stop? Why were passengers only informed at check in time? [unanswered] 

 

—————

 

Dear X, 

 

Thank you for writing in to Mr. Harry Sommer, President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line. Your concerns were forwarded to the Guest Experience department for review and response, as our department handles customer related issues. We appreciate you choosing Norwegian Cruise Line for your vacation at sea.  

As a company we can assure you, that we do not take itinerary changes lightly and that we would only amend an itinerary when absolutely necessary as we understand the impact on our valuable guests and how much this could affect their plans. 

Such changes are often required in this industry and although we try as much as possible to deliver the initial itinerary, we never can guarantee that it will be 100% delivered.  The terms and conditions regarding itinerary changes are mentioned in our Ticket Contract and we are unable to extend further compensation than what has already been extended.  We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience and disappointment experienced due to this matter.  

We appreciate this opportunity to respond to your concerns and hope you enjoy the remainder of your cruise. As always, the onboard staff remains at your service. 

Sincerely,

X
Manager, Guest Experience
Norwegian Cruise Line

Reality check. 
 

When you email or write to an executive, they will never, ever read it. Harry gets thousands of emails a week to his externally facing email address. All of those messages get routed to the same off shore guest services desk that answers regular electronic messages. And they have a limited number of “canned” (Legally approved) responses they can send back. 
 

Every cruise ship has a different profile (how much surface is exposed to the wind) and propulsion systems to safely dock. And guidelines on what conditions that would be unsafe to dock in.
 

 It’s like an airport,,, just because one plane can land in stormy conditions, does not mean all planes can land. 

Why skip a port on bad weather? Here’s an example of NCL Prima forcing its way to a dock in high winds in Mexico. It took a while to dock. And once docked, there were waves breaking over the gangway. If you ran down the slippery gangway when directed by the crew (we did) you were o.k. If you took too long, you took a wave up side the head, throwing you into the gangway railing. The ship ran its bow thrusters and azipods for the druation of the port call to try and keep the ship against the dock. One big gust of wind could cause the ship to break its mooring lines, drift off the dock, causing the gangway to fall into the water and the loss of anyone on the gangway at the time. Guess what,,,, while we made this port call, there were outcry’s that NCL doesn’t care about the safety of their passengers  

There was a famous crash when the Norwegian Star got hit by strong winds in port on Bermuda, broker her lines, and hit a RCL ship. The Norwegian Escape hit and closed the dock in Harvest Caye for months in high winds in 2020, hit the dock in Rome in high winds in 2021, and ran aground in high winds in 2022. So,,,, with the large surface areas on the bigger ships, you have to be cautious and cancel unsafe port calls. 
 

Just because someone else can dock, doesn’t mean that you can dock or should dock. So, when a Captain makes a decision to skip a port, respect their decision. It is for the safety of the passengers, crew, and ship. 

[UKstages]

Just now, BirdTravels said:

All of those messages get routed to the same off shore guest services desk that answers regular electronic messages.

 

that's not actually true in most customer service organizations i've personally been involved with and i've been in the contact center business for more than forty years.

 

my own experience with executive escalations at NCL, including just a few weeks ago, is that these are handled by staff in miami. handling executive correspondence in an offshore location rarely ends well.

 

i think you're correct that the exec doesn't typically see the message himself or herself on the first pass, but as it becomes a thorny problem, they certainly do. i regularly received emails from the VP of marketing, the CEO and the CFO at my most recent employer, all asking what we're doing with this customer complaint or that. these folks regularly review customer sentiment from online monitoring services (well, maybe not the CFO) and absolutely review customer satisfaction survey scores on an almost daily basis. the CEO actually did receive and read all email addressed to his public-facing email address, although rarely responded personally.

[ontheweb]

52 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Reality check. 
 

When you email or write to an executive, they will never, ever read it. Harry gets thousands of emails a week to his externally facing email address. All of those messages get routed to the same off shore guest services desk that answers regular electronic messages. And they have a limited number of “canned” (Legally approved) responses they can send back. 
 

Every cruise ship has a different profile (how much surface is exposed to the wind) and propulsion systems to safely dock. And guidelines on what conditions that would be unsafe to dock in.
 

 It’s like an airport,,, just because one plane can land in stormy conditions, does not mean all planes can land. 

Why skip a port on bad weather? Here’s an example of NCL Prima forcing its way to a dock in high winds in Mexico. It took a while to dock. And once docked, there were waves breaking over the gangway. If you ran down the slippery gangway when directed by the crew (we did) you were o.k. If you took too long, you took a wave up side the head, throwing you into the gangway railing. The ship ran its bow thrusters and azipods for the druation of the port call to try and keep the ship against the dock. One big gust of wind could cause the ship to break its mooring lines, drift off the dock, causing the gangway to fall into the water and the loss of anyone on the gangway at the time. Guess what,,,, while we made this port call, there were outcry’s that NCL doesn’t care about the safety of their passengers  

There was a famous crash when the Norwegian Star got hit by strong winds in port on Bermuda, broker her lines, and hit a RCL ship. The Norwegian Escape hit and closed the dock in Harvest Caye for months in high winds in 2020, hit the dock in Rome in high winds in 2021, and ran aground in high winds in 2022. So,,,, with the large surface areas on the bigger ships, you have to be cautious and cancel unsafe port calls. 
 

Just because someone else can dock, doesn’t mean that you can dock or should dock. So, when a Captain makes a decision to skip a port, respect their decision. It is for the safety of the passengers, crew, and ship. 

However, the problem in Isafjordur is different. Unless a very small ship, you can only tender. This was supposed to be different by now, but construction is behind schedule. Other ships have chosen to tender, while NCL refuses to tender in this port.

[luv2kroooz]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

When you email or write to an executive, they will never, ever read it.

This may certainly be true as it relates to NCL. Fortunately for the consumer, many companies do not operate like NCL.

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

All of those messages get routed to the same off shore guest services desk that answers regular electronic messages. And they have a limited number of “canned” (Legally approved) responses they can send back. 

Again, sadly, this may be true of NCLs operations.  Fortunately for the consumer again, many companies do not operate like NCL does.

Edited June 14, 2023 by luv2kroooz

[luv2kroooz]

35 minutes ago, robinium said:

I would appreciate if you would familiarise yourself with the extensive context given in the thread and what the contact with executives has achieved for those onboard already, before jumping in with mostly irrelevant and incorrect

commentary. 

This 💯%. Over and again we are exposed to canned rhetoric that is grounded solely in emotion instead of factual reality. Thank you for posting the specifics of your situation and I am glad to read NCL came through for you. Well done.

[robinium]

Another response back from the Guest Experience Manager on my follow up today:

 

Thank you for your email.

 

Due to guests feedback, the Observation Lounge will remain open for our cruises.  Additionally, as soon as the itinerary change for this particular cruise was confirmed, we communicated the change to our guests.  Once again, we sincerely apologize for any disappointment and inconvenience caused.  
 

So while I haven’t received any confirmation on the official reason for port cancellation / why the port couldn’t be tendered, at least we have somewhat firm confirmation that they don’t plan to hire out the Observation Lounge for cruises again. 

[robinium]

Whether the CEO sees the email or not doesn’t matter in the slightest to me. The main aim is to skip the first line support, which is basically chatbot/copy paste responses, and get to someone higher up, for a higher chance of receiving a real, informative response to the problem. In my experience, emailing executives/corporate office is a much faster way to do this than trying to get the chatbot level of support to escalate for you. 

[Jofannie and Mark]

On 6/7/2023 at 6:50 AM, robinium said:

Hi all, 

 

We’re currently cruising on the Prima and having a great time; our only small disappointment is that the Observation Lounge is closed for the entire length of the cruise. 
 

As the main indoor seating / bar area on the upper decks, it would be the best place to take in the views while sailing. The reason for the closure is the booking of a “Private Function” for the entirety of the cruise length. 
 

Is it typical for NCL to rent out large feature areas of the ship for the entire length of a cruise, or did we just get unlucky this time around? It’s our first cruise, so I’m not sure what usually happens. 

We just disembarked this cruise (the easiest and fastest disembarkation in 30 cruises). The Observation Lounge was indeed taken over by Park West Gallery for all but the last day of the cruise. We wrote to the general manager about this and along with some other issues, the captain sent a letter to all of the 3200 passengers apologizing for the things that went wrong. We were all given a $200 onboard credit and 20% off a future cruise. 

[robinium]

19 minutes ago, Jofannie and Mark said:

We just disembarked this cruise (the easiest and fastest disembarkation in 30 cruises). The Observation Lounge was indeed taken over by Park West Gallery for all but the last day of the cruise. We wrote to the general manager about this and along with some other issues, the captain sent a letter to all of the 3200 passengers apologizing for the things that went wrong. We were all given a $200 onboard credit and 20% off a future cruise. 

Thank you for voicing the issues too and helping to secure some deserved recognition of the issues mentioned. 

[mlaw8]

Has/can anyone post the Freestyle Dailies from this cruise?

 

Thanks

[robinium]

4 minutes ago, mlaw8 said:

Has/can anyone post the Freestyle Dailies from this cruise?

 

Thanks

Sorry I can’t be of assistance, I didn’t take them off the ship with me, unfortunately 

[insidecabin]

9 minutes ago, robinium said:

Sorry I can’t be of assistance, I didn’t take them off the ship with me, unfortunately 

Hope you put them in the trash we  don't want another dailies left in cabin post.