Have NCL passengers gotten more rude?

[purplecow15]

Last week a woman at the dessert station took a piece of pie from behind the glass partition, brought it up to her nose. Gave it a noisy sniff, and then put it back. A man stuck his finger in the potato salad to check temperature. People sat on stairway steps 3 across eating and on their phones. People seem to be in their own little self centered world. 

[expectthebest]

10 minutes ago, purplecow15 said:

Last week a woman at the dessert station took a piece of pie from behind the glass partition, brought it up to her nose. Gave it a noisy sniff, and then put it back. A man stuck his finger in the potato salad to check temperature. People sat on stairway steps 3 across eating and on their phones. People seem to be in their own little self centered world. 

This. Exactly!!!

Its a race to the bottom!!!

 

I did hear through a reliable NCL Insider (and by insider I mean they always book an inside cabin) that NCL was going to offer as part of their free at sea program a “manners at sea” where most of the ships officers will teach you how to act in public spaces on your current cruise. Expect to see the rollout in the beginning of September 2024.

[blackwing]

20 minutes ago, purplecow15 said:

Last week a woman at the dessert station took a piece of pie from behind the glass partition, brought it up to her nose. Gave it a noisy sniff, and then put it back. A man stuck his finger in the potato salad to check temperature. People sat on stairway steps 3 across eating and on their phones. People seem to be in their own little self centered world. 

I saw a kid reach in, grab a muffin with his hand, squeeze it, and put it back.  Then he did the same with a croissant before settling on a chocolate croissant.  I saw a woman put some watermelon on her plate (which had other food on it) and then pick up with her hands and throw it back.  Always take food from as far back as possible!

 

What's up with the kids sitting at the top and bottom of the stairs.  One side had a kid that stretched her legs all the way out.  The other side had three or four kids sitting next to each other.  There was a pathway that was the width of one person to get through.  I actually told them all to move.  I said "kids you are blocking the entire stairs, you can't sit here, you have to move".  They actually did.  I'm sure if their parents were around, I would get yelled at for talking to their kids because apparently, in today's age, there is a certain class of parents who don't teach their children who also think it is taboo for adults to talk to children who are not their own.

 

The long lines at the water stations and people sighing and getting upset when others fill multiple cups or large water bottles.  Why is there only one water and ice dispenser at each beverage station?  Why are there only four beverage stations at the buffet and why is there only one available late at night?  I learned to get water before the buffet closes because otherwise you're in a line of people trying to get water from the one dispenser.  And you have to wait for each person to try and get ice even though the ice is long empty at that hour.

 

 

[MagnoliaBlossom]

56 minutes ago, expectthebest said:

This. Exactly!!!

Its a race to the bottom!!!

 

I did hear through a reliable NCL Insider (and by insider I mean they always book an inside cabin) that NCL was going to offer as part of their free at sea program a “manners at sea” where most of the ships officers will teach you how to act in public spaces on your current cruise. Expect to see the rollout in the beginning of September 2024.

It will be mandatory, right after you check in at your muster stations.  Those who do not comply will be locked in their cabin for the duration of the voyage. 😉

[LongIsland-Cruiser]

4 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Manners are no longer taught.

 

I mean, I find quite a bit of rudeness in the older generation too.  Supposedly raised in the time that manners were "taught".

 

I have noticed more rudeness in people, but to be honest....I think COVID broke some people's brains.  I think the pandemic was so traumatic to some people that they went off the deep end.  They live in a constant state of anxiety, view everything thru a political "us vs them" lens, and it just makes them on edge and very quick to snap.  There were always self absorbed "do you know who I am???" people with short tempers before COVID.  That's just humanity.  But boy...did I notice a marked uptick after COVID.  During the pandemic some people went out of the way to act foolish, and they haven't stopped.

 

I also think a lot of people were always kind of rude, but they would try to hold back because they were afraid to be punched.  I think we spend so much time online now where someone can't physically punch you, and that has made a lot of people a lot more mouthy than they would be normally.  People talk to you in real life like they are still behind the keyboard.  I don't advocate violence by any means......but people acted a bit less foolish when they thought there was a chance they would get socked in the nose.  

 

As far as the children/parent example in the OPs story....almost all parents I see on cruises are frazzled, at their wits end, and ready to snap.  They feel people judging them for their children's behavior.  After a week or so of constantly feeling judged as a mother, you are ready to throw down with anyone.  It's just a fact that children are naturally noisy and fidgety and constantly in motion.  That's just being a kid.  But it is usually annoying to adults who are not related to the kid.  And nothing drags a person down more than figuring out that no one else besides you thinks your kid is a wonderful angel.

[LongIsland-Cruiser]

2 hours ago, HowardK said:

"you can't come on as it would exceed the weight limit"

The person proceeded to curse me out in front of his 2 young children.

 

This is a disturbing trend I have noticed.  No one likes to be told no...but I honestly encounter so many people now who seem to have never been told "no" in their life.  There seems to be no previous experience they can latch on to in order to help them deal with being told "no".  

 

I have never seen people freak out so quickly then when being told "no, you can't smoke there.", "No, we aren't open yet".  "No, there are no substitutions to the menu".  Etc etc.  "No" seems to be the magic word that sets off huge swaths of the population.  Indignant Anger.  

[ChiefMateJRK]

16 minutes ago, LongIsland-Cruiser said:

I also think a lot of people were always kind of rude, but they would try to hold back because they were afraid to be punched.  I think we spend so much time online now where someone can't physically punch you, and that has made a lot of people a lot more mouthy than they would be normally.  People talk to you in real life like they are still behind the keyboard.  I don't advocate violence by any means......but people acted a bit less foolish when they thought there was a chance they would get socked in the nose.  

A lot of truth here.😀

[expectthebest]

Speaking of elevators.. this happened to me and my DW on a 15 day Princess cruise to Hawaii.

 

Now at the time we were in our early 30’s and it was our first time on a 15 day voyage. Median age on this cruise had to be upper 70’s so come 9pm we would have almost the entire ship to ourselves.

 

Anyway.. it was the first of the two formal nights on the cruise and yes you had to dress up and yes it was just divine having an entire ship looking their best.

We were getting on the elevator when the doors open and a couple was exiting the elevator leaving one couple still in the elevator with us.

 

Well there stood a man and woman in a tux and a cocktail dress. They had to be in their late 70’s he strongly resembled Paul Newman and she Diane Keaton.

 

We step in with them and say good evening.. they smile and he turns to his wife and says..go ahead.. tell this nice young couple how the two passengers who just got out of the elevator insulted me. My wife and I said oh my god, what happened ??
 

The wife proceeds to tell us that the couple got on the elevator and took one look at her husband and said.. wow.. great tux.. you look like a million bucks!! She paused.. and her husband says.. can you believe it??? So I said to his wife.. I don’t get it.. (looking at the husband) I said, you do look like a million bucks. She looked at us deadpan and replies “He’s worth seven !!’

 

You can’t make this stuff up. My wife and I still laugh when we relive some of our best times we have had at sea.

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, expectthebest said:

The wife proceeds to tell us that the couple got on the elevator and took one look at her husband and said.. wow.. great tux.. you look like a million bucks!! She paused.. and her husband says.. can you believe it??? So I said to his wife.. I don’t get it.. (looking at the husband) I said, you do look like a million bucks. She looked at us deadpan and replies “He’s worth seven !!’

They must have been in the Haven.

[Turtles06]

9 hours ago, blackwing said:

If this is the same cruise I think I am remembering, on the formal-suggested nights I think I remember the dailies saying that if you want to dress casual to eat dinner at the buffet.   

Certainly not the case on NCL ten years ago. 

[david_sobe]

11 hours ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

I’ve said for quite a few years now that the Miami airport staff (customs in particular) is consistently the rudest group of employees around, at least domestically in the US. However, I’ve also flown into there dozens of times so maybe I’m just perpetually unlucky.

 

 

Without a doubt they are.  Miami is like an entirely different country and not part of the United States.  What tourists see is not real Miami.  We have the largest percentage of uninsured motorists.  Every day on the news is another hit and run.  People run over people and never stop.  Its every day.  I went over to introduce myself to new neighbors (how I was brought up) and they looked at me like I had 2 heads and looked like I had suspicious motives.  Many years ago people would say New Yorkers were rude.   When I went to NYC I found the people very friendly and even very flirtatious.  Miami is in a class of its own.

[roger001]

13 hours ago, blackwing said:

I don't know if it was a strict formal night or if it was formal-suggested, but 10 years ago I definitely brought two suits and two ties, which makes me seem to think there were two formal or formal-ish nights.  I also remember wearing a dress shirt to dinner for every other night.  

Was "Dress up or not" I believe.

[Capitan Obvious]

1 minute ago, roger001 said:

Was "Dress up or not" I believe.

 

Yeah, but isn't every single night a drss up or not night? I mean, NCL allows you to dress as you want, so you could be elegant every single night, casual every single night, or mix it up as you please. As far as I know, there are no venues onboard that require a different level of dress and would turn you away for not meeting it. Which begs the question: what is/was the difference in these "dress up or not" nights?

[KeithJenner]

Just now, Capitan Obvious said:

 

Yeah, but isn't every single night a drss up or not night? I mean, NCL allows you to dress as you want, so you could be elegant every single night, casual every single night, or mix it up as you please. As far as I know, there are no venues onboard that require a different level of dress and would turn you away for not meeting it. Which begs the question: what is/was the difference in these "dress up or not" nights?

Regarding the dress code you are absolutely right. There was no difference between that and any other night.

 

Dress Up or Not night (and Norwegian Night Out) basically served two purposes:

 

They were something of a theme night with things like staff available for pictures and some themes parties.

 

They were a bit of a help to those people  who are used to being given a night to dress up, without being a problem

to those of us with no interest in such things.

 

Personally I thought that it was a bit against the freestyle spirit where we are able to decide for ourselves which days we want to do things. I’m sure that people still dress up now without being told which night.

[floridafish]

14 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Everyone has gotten more rude.  Manners are no longer taught.  But to my surprise my co-worker originally born and raised in Miami (the rudest city in the USA) took a European cruise and came back complaining how rude people were. I wont mention the country that had his biggest complaint but he said he was routinely shoved out of line in the buffet and physically pushed all the time.  I was watching the Ben and David cruising vlog and even before their MSC fiasco they were mentioning how different the European crowd is on MSC.  They also mentioned rude kids and adults pushing and shoving.  So its not just Americans that are savages 🙈🙊🙉

About 10 years ago I took an NCL out of Venice. A fair percentage of the passengers were southern European. Many of them were incredibly rude and never got the memo on what waiting in line is all about. 

[bkrickles1]

11 hours ago, purplecow15 said:

A man stuck his finger in the potato salad to check temperature. 

Lol 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 

I need video proof of this!

And, if this really happened, I hope you said said something. 

[purplecow15]

5 minutes ago, bkrickles1 said:

Lol 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 

I need video proof of this!

And, if this really happened, I hope you said said something. 

My adult son had some words with him😐 

 

Another thing I’ve noticed numerous times is people blowing their noses with the cloth napkins . Saw a visibly ill coughing,  sneezing , sniffling guy give it a good blow in O’Sheann’s . Disgusting 🙄 

[RedwingHockeyFan]

I've always wondered why people who choose to go on vacation with 4000 other people on a moving vessel can behave like they are the only ones there.

 

I once witnessed an elderly man punch another elderly man in the face because he bumped him with his mobility scooter.

 

My last cruise I witnessed a family of four cutting their way down the stairs in a shoulder-to-shoulder line waiting to disembark at port.

 

I once had an older Indian immigrant woman from New York block me from getting Indian food at the buffet. lol

 

I once had a man pounding on the stall door in a public restroom wanting me to hurry up, as if one can.

 

Countless times I've seen people rush to an open elevator when there was clearly a line there before them.

 

And then there are the people who decide to sunbathe on the pool benches when there are people who want to sit there.  We got her back though by telling everyone they cannot enter the pool unless it is via a cannonball 😄

[Menocchio]

The airlines would sure agree that something has changed. There's been a definitive uptick of disruptive passengers- not just rude but abusive and sometimes violent in recent years. Some airlines are adding reminders to be nice to the safety briefing. With tones ranging from "please respect the flight crew and fellow passengers" to "we will tie you to the chair and send you to jail" depending on how cheeky the airline's branding is and how much of a problem they've experienced. 

[Capitan Obvious]

Yep...very much a case of reaping what you sow.

 

Seemed pretty harmless in the begining to make a mantra out of "the customer is always right". I mean, how could THAT go wrong? Fast forward to today and we find Karen running amok through the town faster than the villagers can gather up their pitchforks and torches.

[mjkacmom]

18 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

You are certainly getting past cruises mixed up. 10 years ago on NCL there would have been a “dress up or not” night or “Norwegian night out” which was only ever a suggestion that many people ignored. The actual dress code was always exactly the same and I have never seen a suggestion that people eat in the buffet due to dress on NCL.

 

The lack of those sort of restrictions is the reason we selected NCL for our first cruise over 20 years ago,

Our first cruise was NCL in 2016, at the time I had no idea there were two cruise ports less than 20 miles from my home, had zero interest because I thought you had to dress for dinner and eat with strangers. Someone told me about NCL and I was sold.

[mjkacmom]

8 hours ago, david_sobe said:

Without a doubt they are.  Miami is like an entirely different country and not part of the United States.  What tourists see is not real Miami.  We have the largest percentage of uninsured motorists.  Every day on the news is another hit and run.  People run over people and never stop.  Its every day.  I went over to introduce myself to new neighbors (how I was brought up) and they looked at me like I had 2 heads and looked like I had suspicious motives.  Many years ago people would say New Yorkers were rude.   When I went to NYC I found the people very friendly and even very flirtatious.  Miami is in a class of its own.

I live close to nyc, I follow a nyc tourist page on Facebook, almost all report back on how kind and helpful locals are, which I agree with.

[floridafish]

1 hour ago, Menocchio said:

The airlines would sure agree that something has changed. There's been a definitive uptick of disruptive passengers- not just rude but abusive and sometimes violent in recent years. Some airlines are adding reminders to be nice to the safety briefing. With tones ranging from "please respect the flight crew and fellow passengers" to "we will tie you to the chair and send you to jail" depending on how cheeky the airline's branding is and how much of a problem they've experienced. 

At least the FAA has a "no fly" list.

[JGmf]

Regarding the notion that passengers have become more rude over the years....

 

I'd say yes.  Starting with the advent of social media, turbocharged with the nastiness of 2016-on politics, exacerbated by the Pandemic, and now cemented in place with high demand for cruising with more crowds and less relative space.

[dlh015]

57 minutes ago, JGmf said:

Regarding the notion that passengers have become more rude over the years....

 

I'd say yes.  Starting with the advent of social media, turbocharged with the nastiness of 2016-on politics, exacerbated by the Pandemic, and now cemented in place with high demand for cruising with more crowds and less relative space.

Agreed...but I would add cell phones to the list...right in front of social media...