Norwegians shocking demise of quality on all fronts

[UKstages]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

Removal of straws...

 

this didn't upset me, because before they removed 'em, they replaced them with paper straws which i abhor. but i soon started carrying onboard my own straws.  i have on my last few cruises, but it's become unnecessary. NCL is now using either really good coated paper straws that hold up to the beverage. or they are back to using plastic straws. probably the former.

 

in any case, straws are back, baby!

 

2 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

That's like saying Burger King should make their burgers bigger.

 

no, not at all... that's like saying that burger king should conduct focus groups to see how consumers feel about the size of their burgers to see if what they've read online (people complaining about their burger size) is widespread. and then they should conduct competitive research to see how big wendy's and mcdonalds burgers are. and then they should do surveys on online platforms to test consumers' response to a bigger burger with a new name and a playful tag line and accompanying advertising campaign.

 

and then they should go to franchisees in columbus, ohio and peoria, illinois to conduct an A and B test with two versions of their new burger concept with actual consumers. and then they should take the findings from those two tests and refine their burger and then go to two different cities to test the new burger once again. and assuming it's successful, and the data shows that the new burger will satisfy consumers and make the company more money, they should then launch the winning bigger burger nationally.

 

that's what that's like saying.

[kalypso333]

This thread is a psychotic spiral.

 

I have cruised a lot. From recent experience I can say cruising with NCL and Celebrity has given me less enjoyment and value. My concerns are not ROI, capitalism, or their stocks. 
 

Because NCL owes me a lot of credits, I’m going with them next month. But despite even more leftover credits, I’m looking elsewhere to spend my vacation dollars. It’s seems easy to lose $500 in credits to not spend thousands in a futile attempt to rekindle my past experiences. 
 

The drama exhibited here just seems to be social media vitriol. 
 

Make your decisions and move on. 

[laudergayle]

2 minutes ago, kalypso333 said:

This thread is a psychotic spiral.

 

I have cruised a lot. From recent experience I can say cruising with NCL and Celebrity has given me less enjoyment and value. My concerns are not ROI, capitalism, or their stocks. 
 

Because NCL owes me a lot of credits, I’m going with them next month. But despite even more leftover credits, I’m looking elsewhere to spend my vacation dollars. It’s seems easy to lose $500 in credits to not spend thousands in a futile attempt to rekindle my past experiences. 
 

The drama exhibited here just seems to be social media vitriol. 
 

Make your decisions and move on. 

First off…I agree with you completely.  Move on…yes…until someone decides to quote you with a comment/s that doesn’t represent what your position is or what you are saying.

[JamieLogical]

13 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

Feature…that’s a great word.  A feature of cruising… and an “unexpected” surprise.  Love you DHs humor.

 

 

I think I will keep him.

[laudergayle]

12 minutes ago, UKstages said:

2 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

That's like saying Burger King should make their burgers bigger.

 

no, not at all... that's like saying that burger king should conduct focus groups to see how consumers feel about the size of their burgers to see if what they've read online (people complaining about their burger size) is widespread. and then they should conduct competitive research to see how big wendy's and mcdonalds burgers are. and then they should do surveys on online platforms to test consumers' response to a bigger burger with a new name and a playful tag line and accompanying advertising campaign.

 

and then they should go to franchisees in columbus, ohio and peoria, illinois to conduct an A and B test with two versions of their new burger concept with actual consumers. and then they should take the findings from those two tests and refine their burger and then go to two different cities to test the new burger once again. and assuming it's successful, and the data shows that the new burger will satisfy consumers and make the company more money, they should then launch the winning bigger burger nationally.

 

Yes, yes, yes.  There is a lot of research, analytics, testing and more analytics…not to mention operational feasibility before successful brand changes are introduced.  Thank you for your insightful contribution to this thread. 

[laudergayle]

21 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I think I will keep him.

So I found one of my pics from 2007 where, in a White Elephant exchange, I gave a towel origami book with an elephant towel complete with shades.  Unfortunately the recipient, as well others st the party, had no idea about towel animals.  See, those of us who cruise(d) have a different connection to those silly features.  
 

I often wished I kept that book as I would make towel animals for our room stewards,

[EngrJones]

3 hours ago, gmbhardy said:

My father gave me some sage advice when I was growing up - never trust anyone who doesn’t drink. Amen.

I believe that was attributed to Winston Churchill.

[gmbhardy]

37 minutes ago, EngrJones said:

I believe that was attributed to Winston Churchill.

He was my grandfather.

[UKstages]

widely attributed to both churchill and john wayne, but it was actually w.c. fields who said it first.

[EngrJones]

20 minutes ago, UKstages said:

widely attributed to both churchill and john wayne, but it was actually w.c. fields who said it first.

Well, whoever said it was certainly on to something.  And, like the other poster, I agree 100%.

 

So, we have a great world leader, a great comedian and a great actor all agreeing on this.  Must be valid!

 

I wonder what Groucho's position would be?

 

"My Doctor told me I had to give up wine, women and song."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find a different doctor."🤣🐀

Edited March 9 by EngrJones

[EngrJones]

3 hours ago, UKstages said:

NCL is now using either really good coated paper straws that hold up to the beverage. or they are back to using plastic straws. probably the former.

They've had straws on all of my recent NCL cruises.  I have no idea what they are made from, as nobody drinks Whiskey or Beer with a straw.

[birdie16]

We just booked our first NCL cruise in years and after reading this thread I’m wondering if we are making a mistake. We have cruised over 35 cruises, 3 on NCL. Our experiences on NCL we would rate good, horrible and good, in that order. Even on the horrible cruise, POA, we still had a good time.

 

All the cruise lines we’ve been on have gone down hill after Covid. Making cuts and charging more. The most shocking to me is how much the gratuities are on NCL! In fact, we probably wouldn’t have booked NCL because of that, but we just got a deal on the Breakaway we couldn’t refuse.

 

We love being on a ship and enjoy the entertainment and the food. The ports are kind of secondary for us. For the most part, if you really want to experience a place you need to be there more than a few hours.

 

 

[UKstages]

2 hours ago, birdie16 said:

All the cruise lines we’ve been on have gone down hill after Covid.

 

2 hours ago, birdie16 said:

We love being on a ship and enjoy the entertainment and the food.

the answer to your dilemma is in a close examination of these two statements.

 

enjoy your cruise.

[laudergayle]

3 hours ago, birdie16 said:

We just booked our first NCL cruise in years and after reading this thread I’m wondering if we are making a mistake. We have cruised over 35 cruises, 3 on NCL. Our experiences on NCL we would rate good, horrible and good, in that order. Even on the horrible cruise, POA, we still had a good time.

 

All the cruise lines we’ve been on have gone down hill after Covid. Making cuts and charging more. The most shocking to me is how much the gratuities are on NCL! In fact, we probably wouldn’t have booked NCL because of that, but we just got a deal on the Breakaway we couldn’t refuse.

 

We love being on a ship and enjoy the entertainment and the food. The ports are kind of secondary for us. For the most part, if you really want to experience a place you need to be there more than a few hours.

 

 

Even with all the changes, you will still have a good time.  Heck…you’ll be on a cruise.  Enjoy!

[RocketMan275]

12 hours ago, UKstages said:

no, not at all... that's like saying that burger king should conduct focus groups to see how consumers feel about the size of their burgers to see if what they've read online (people complaining about their burger size) is widespread. and then they should conduct competitive research to see how big wendy's and mcdonalds burgers are. and then they should do surveys on online platforms to test consumers' response to a bigger burger with a new name and a playful tag line and accompanying advertising campaign.

 

and then they should go to franchisees in columbus, ohio and peoria, illinois to conduct an A and B test with two versions of their new burger concept with actual consumers. and then they should take the findings from those two tests and refine their burger and then go to two different cities to test the new burger once again. and assuming it's successful, and the data shows that the new burger will satisfy consumers and make the company more money, they should then launch the winning bigger burger nationally.

 

that's what that's like saying.

Good explanation of how a business should proceed.

However, that's far different than the calls for NCL to increase spending to improve the cruise experience.

[UKstages]

10 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

However, that's far different than the calls for NCL to increase spending to improve the cruise experience.

kindly reread post #365.

[birdie16]

2 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

the answer to your dilemma is in a close examination of these two statements.

 

enjoy your cruise.

Hopefully we will be able to enjoy the food and entertainment on this ship. At least we will be on vacation. Lately we have been enjoying our RV more, but we are looking forward to being in the beautiful Caribbean waters again.

[NikiPinkston]

20 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

This thread saddens me. First, simply because I can't trust NCL to provide the product I book. I've spent too much time discussing that here. 

 

But more importantly, because some folks think we "whiners" are looking for compensation or are just complaining about little things. I know that I have not demanded NCL compensate me for anything in this thread. I don't need anything from NCL. My previous vacations were fine. Actually they were great! 

And that's the issue. I had great experiences onboard NCL ships. The crew were wonderful. They provided lovely service. I learned about their lives, their families, and what motivates them through long days for months at a time. The food was (mostly) good. I enjoyed my experience in the thermal suites, on the sundecks, and in the pools. Entertainment was good, some of it being great. We went to almost all the ports we were supposed to get to. Weather caused a couple port cancellations. Bad planning, leading to port congestion, caused one cancellation. 

 

I've written a review or a live on all of my cruises onboard NCL. I think from the tenor of those posts the reader will see that while trivial matters have cropped up, the overall experience was that of a very good to great vacation. Nothing written above by those that come to these boards and constantly bash those who are disappointed or had a less than good vacation is true when it comes to my experience. And yet, they will continue to claim that, since they didn't experience something or don't care about other things, the onboard experience just cannot be degraded. And I call a whole bunch of hooey on that. All the hooey.  

 

I have this nagging feeling that if I book a cruise right now for two months from now or two years from now, I won't have such a great cruise. Throughout all these conversations I have maintained a position of being grateful for the experience I had on NCL. Now, the company has made decisions that just don't give me the confidence to know if, moving forward, I can say that I'll be grateful for the expenditure of money a NCL cruise costs. 

 

I'm not even going to list the cutbacks and there have been cutbacks, despite what a few folks continue to claim. Sorry, not sorry. 

 

I'm also sad because a few people I know through these boards are actively looking to leave NCL. Not really because they want to. The ones that don't care about NCL leave. They might leave a flaming review of horrors which we all know is untrue. But no. These people who are exploring other options are the ones who love NCL. Who enjoyed the really hard working and wonderful crew. Who get the "freestyle" life. Yet, now they are being cast aside by an immovable corporation insistent on degrading what was a great experience. And we sit here on the side writing these depressing posts, hoping that NCL isn't shooting itself in the aft. 

 

I hope not. I hope I'm wrong. And that in a year from now I'll be posting a live, sipping a capt. and coke while I watch the sun set on another glorious day onboard Norwegian V!va, Bliss, Jewel, or Getaway. Instead, I'm kind of cueing up the funeral dirge.  

 

Ok, uncue the drama. I'm done with this post for now (and I bet you were hoping I'd say bye bye). Let the bashers carry forth telling me that my opinions are wrong, because their experience is so vastly different or that I'm ignorant. I can take it - it's a cruise forum where all we do is talk about our vacations. A place where everyone can share their experiences, opinions, and adventures. I do love those lives! Just not quite so much as before.

I love this post @cruiseny4life as you've expressed exactly how I feel. (Also, kudos to you for your fun “lives,” which are always entertaining!) We are huge fans of the freestyle life and have, so far, been very happy with our experience on NCL. Has every cruise always been perfect? No, of course not, but when I look at other lines and I see assigned dining times and how much their drink packages cost, we keep coming back to NCL, who delivers the ports and onboard experience that we’ve come to love (and we have tried those other lines).

 

To be honest, most of the “reductions in service” don’t affect us and I realize that YMMV, so I’m not criticizing others' priorities, just expressing my own opinion.

 

We did enjoy the Broadway productions but, once you’ve seen them, how many more times do you need to do so? We’ve actually been extremely pleased with most of the production shows by the NCL onboard entertainment staff, whom we’ve found to be incredibly talented. Also didn’t like the paper straws onboard but they’re now made of agave, which holds up a lot better.

 

Everywhere we go these days, the economy is tight and we’re getting less for our money, and I understand that companies have to make hard business decisions and raise prices & eliminate expenses where they can, as much as we may not like it. To us, cruising is a privilege and we feel blessed to be able to do so. We have another cruise on NCL coming up soon and I’m confident and hopeful that we’ll have another wonderful experience.

[dexddd]

16 hours ago, ChiCruzr said:

What I wonder is how a lack of towel animals constitutes a "reduction in service"?  Towel animals are not a service.

Well, they just don't make themselves so somebody who made them provided a service.

 

Heck, we have a DVD from years ago and DD would brush up and make some for room steward.  Steward never tipped her for her....service in making it?

[EngrJones]

3 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Well, they just don't make themselves so somebody who made them provided a service.

 

Heck, we have a DVD from years ago and DD would brush up and make some for room steward.  Steward never tipped her for her....service in making it?

You gave your room Steward's DVD's?  Of what?

[RocketMan275]

16 hours ago, UKstages said:

no, not at all... that's like saying that burger king should conduct focus groups to see how consumers feel about the size of their burgers to see if what they've read online (people complaining about their burger size) is widespread. and then they should conduct competitive research to see how big wendy's and mcdonalds burgers are. and then they should do surveys on online platforms to test consumers' response to a bigger burger with a new name and a playful tag line and accompanying advertising campaign.

 

and then they should go to franchisees in columbus, ohio and peoria, illinois to conduct an A and B test with two versions of their new burger concept with actual consumers. and then they should take the findings from those two tests and refine their burger and then go to two different cities to test the new burger once again. and assuming it's successful, and the data shows that the new burger will satisfy consumers and make the company more money, they should then launch the winning bigger burger nationally.

 

that's what that's like saying.

Excellent discription of how a corporation might do some marketing analysis.

However, I will point out that it's entirely possible that NCL has done such an analysis and that analysis concluded that it would be cost effective for NCL to make the cutbacks others have described.  It would be unwise to assume that such analysis would only point in one direction, ie, increased spending.

[Martink45]

WOW!  I guess I am glad I just got home from my first ever cruise, thus, I have no historical data to compare against my week on Prima.  So I will relate my experience against a couple of things that I heard about in the weeks prior to boarding.

The continual and relentless announcements to buy this or that such as photos etc.   I spent most of my time on board, just a couple of hours walking around to stretch my legs while in port and I heard maybe a handful of announcements.  Certainly not enough to bother me and I was listening for them.

The nickel and dimeing thing.  I expected to see numerous instances for additional charges but I didn't pay extra for anything other than what I already knew carried an additional charge.  The $15 bar limit was more than generous as I found their drinks, wines and beers to be quite in line (price wise) with any nice bar in San Antonio.

I did not encounter one crew member that was not smiling and was willing to go out of their way to accommodate me.

But, not everything was perfect.  I always wondered how they could store and prepare all of that food to mouthwatering perfection and the answer is: they can't.  My dinner at Cagney's was lackluster (good service though).  Le Bistro was better but nothing memorable (great service again).

In summary, I guess I am glad I didn't have the "good old days" in my memory and I certainly don't doubt that on some ships things have degraded more than on others but my experience on Prima was really good; I am already researching for my next NCL trip later this year.  However, I must admit, I hear the siren song of Oceania calling me in the not too distant future.

Happy trails to all!

[PATRLR]

20 hours ago, birdie16 said:

Hopefully we will be able to enjoy the food and entertainment on this ship. At least we will be on vacation. 

I'm sure you will find the cuts and decreases on NCL are similar to what you experienced on the other lines.  

Despite what some on this forum think, it is possible to discuss cuts and decreases and yet still enjoy the experience.  I'm sure you will enjoy your cruise.

[Barb Nahoumi]

On 2/28/2024 at 1:04 PM, JerseyHorseLover said:

I was on the Joy in October and the food quality was excellent.  The coffee is good also. No complaints here. 

I agree.  The food on the Joy was very good.

[UKstages]

i was also on the joy in october and i concur. the food was, for the most part, great. MDRs, buffet and specialties... and even room service!

 

but i was on the getaway in january and february and the food was not. it's difficult to say whether that's because the joy is a well run ship and the getaway is in need of improvements, or if there has been a precipitous decline in NCL's food and beverage product across the fleet in the past six months.

 

based on reports in this thread (and other threads), it's looking increasingly like the latter. and that's the thing... it's no longer good enough to evaluate data points from posters here who think NCL is providing great or substandard service... we need to know when their most recent experience was. if it was a year or two years ago, people tend to have a much more favorable view of NCL and likely haven't experienced many cutbacks or declines in service or food. that may account for some of the more favorable comments in this thread 

 

but those who have traveled recently, in particular those who take three or four or more cruises a year, seem to have noticed a sharp decline in the product, especially within the past six months or so.

 

as i said upthread, i'm one who still finds value in cruising on NCL, even as i've noticed the continuing decline in the product. but i typically travel on a casino comp. so there would have to be even more severe cutbacks before my value prop is so tilted as to make me abandon ship, so to speak.

 

Edited March 10 by UKstages