I keep reading bad things on NCL, how true are they

[dwrist]

An opinion without detail is pretty useless.

 

Not useless to the poster, only designed to create arguments and chaos on internet message boards.:D

[Host CMLA]

An opinion without detail is pretty useless.

While it doesn't give a lot of detail for members to think about, it is, nonetheless, what someone else thinks. I'd like to see member ndrtn post a full review because the food topic has become prevalent recently. I'd like to know more of what's going on with the food even if food is subjective.

[Zeno]

I'd like to see member ndrtn post a full review because the food topic has become prevalent recently. I'd like to know more of what's going on with the food even if food is subjective.

 

So would I! Even if they don't like the changes.

[alwaysoverpack]

I have cruised several times with RC and Celebrity. Loved every minute! so I was also concerned when I saw negative remarks. But, I thought hey, I'm easy to please, how bad could it really be? Well............ it can be bad! I just got back from my first NCL criuise on the POA. It was the worst trip of my life!! The food actually was not bad. The service is really really bad. I guess I am spoiled the service the other cruise lines give you. The American crew is lazy and have the "it's not my job attitude". They were not helpful at all. At dinner we were taling to a very nice waiter about the way they receive thier tips, etc.... he said they have no incentive to go above and beyond the call of duty. And it shows.

 

Thanks god the Islands were beautiful. I felt I was in paradise staying on a Motel 8 floating motel.

 

I will never cruise with NCL again.

I agree about the service. We just came off of the Spirit. By having auto gratuity on the stateroom credit it removes all incentive. We did have a couple of waiters that did provide good service. But it was the exception rather than the rule. We decided to remove the auto gratuity and tip the old fashioned way. The crew members seemed to really appreciate it. After all, they did not have to split it with the lazier coworkers.

 

Additionaly, I was told by a stateroom attendant that NCL has recently doubled the number of cabins the attendants are servicing. That certainly hampers the service you have previously come to expect.

[Host CMLA]

I agree about the service. We just came off of the Spirit. By having auto gratuity on the stateroom credit it removes all incentive.

On the contrary, there is just as much incentive or more. First, the auto gratuity is there as a convenience for you. It doesn't change the service. It's just a way to make it easier for you to tip people. Second, the tips go in to a big pool and the cruise line divides it up based on seniority, comment card comments, etc. The incentive is to do a good job and be noticed and get more of the tip pool. Those that don't perform well or get bad remarks get smaller portions of the tip pool or are fired.

We decided to remove the auto gratuity and tip the old fashioned way. The crew members seemed to really appreciate it. After all, they did not have to split it with the lazier coworkers.

I'm sorry to tell you that even if you tipped directly, those staff members are required to give that money to the tip pool and have it divided up with the rest of the tips. They don't keep that money.

[mec55]

I'm sorry to tell you that even if you tipped directly, those staff members are required to give that money to the tip pool and have it divided up with the rest of the tips. They don't keep that money.

 

Say it ain't so.... In addition to the auto gratuity, we tipped our waitress (we requested to be seated at her tble every night) and our cabin steward, a little extra, for their wonderful service. Please tell me they get to keep it...........

[alwaysoverpack]

That's a shame and upsetting. Tipping is, historically, a very personal thing. I found there to be huge differences in the service we recieved on the ship. Some were very disappointing. some did shine. As a former bartender (in my youth) I never liked a job that required splitting tips. Salary/wage is under the control of the employer., tips should never be. Just my humble opinion.

[mec55]

That's a shame and upsetting. Tipping is, historically, a very personal thing. I found there to be huge differences in the service we recieved on the ship. Some were very disappointing. some did shine. As a former bartender (in my youth) I never liked a job that required splitting tips. Salary/wage is under the control of the employer., tips should never be. Just my humble opinion.

 

Always - Have you read the other posts regarding the difference between NCL and NCLA? I apologize if I am repeating what you already read. Apparently NCLA (with the American crew) does not compare to NCL ships. I returned Oct 19 from the Spirit and, while I was apprehensive after reading some of the negative posts, I thoroughly enjoyed the ship, crew, food and itinerary. Please give NCL a try.

[Retired not Expired]

I agree with Cecilia on this. For every crew member, there are dozens, if not hundreds waiting to take their job. Pretty good incentive when you know you are easily replaced. Removal of the tips can be a big strike against you as can be complaints.

 

On the other hand, those lines without the auto-tips know there are a certain percentage of people who will stiff the crew on tips and that number seems to be growing. It can be very disheartening for those crew members. I look for other lines to go to auto-tips or some type of it to combat this problem.

[alwaysoverpack]

Always - Have you read the other posts regarding the difference between NCL and NCLA? I apologize if I am repeating what you already read. Apparently NCLA (with the American crew) does not compare to NCL ships. I returned Oct 19 from the Spirit and, while I was apprehensive after reading some of the negative posts, I thoroughly enjoyed the ship, crew, food and itinerary. Please give NCL a try.

I was on NCL Spirit Oct 19 (not NCLA) and have posted my most upsetting cruise experience. I do not mean to "beat a dead horse" or continue to upset those with upcoming bookings on the Spirit (it was never my intent). We are not new to cruising. And I do not feel as though we are hard to please or are whiners. We have wonderful cruise experiences on so many other ships/lines. But our experience on the Spirit was one that has left us with no desire to return to NCL. I hope that it was isolated, but it is not what I believe.

[Horn]

no most people do not cruise on a 7 dayer for $500 per person. Those rates are rare to be honest. Nita

 

My cruise was $449 pp to the Caribbean in February on NCL. I am glad to see it was rare! Say hello to a good buy! :p

[mec55]

I was on NCL Spirit Oct 19 (not NCLA) and have posted my most upsetting cruise experience. I do not mean to "beat a dead horse" or continue to upset those with upcoming bookings on the Spirit (it was never my intent). We are not new to cruising. And I do not feel as though we are hard to please or are whiners. We have wonderful cruise experiences on so many other ships/lines. But our experience on the Spirit was one that has left us with no desire to return to NCL. I hope that it was isolated, but it is not what I believe.

 

I am sorry about your bad experience. I returned to NY on the Spirit Oct 19 (we probably passed on the dock) and had a great time. it was my first NCL cruise, after cruising Celebrity and Royal Carib. I can't imagine how disappointed you must feel. Perhaps our paths will cross on some dock in the future.:)

[alwaysoverpack]

I am sorry about your bad experience. I returned to NY on the Spirit Oct 19 (we probably passed on the dock) and had a great time. it was my first NCL cruise, after cruising Celebrity and Royal Carib. I can't imagine how disappointed you must feel. Perhaps our paths will cross on some dock in the future.:)

Thank you. I am happy that you enjoyed your first NCL experience. I would have to say I am a bit more angry then disappointed though.

[mbisson]

My cruise was $449 pp to the Caribbean in February on NCL. I am glad to see it was rare!

 

Not me. I'd like to see it more!

 

Actually, that's about what we've booked for on Dec 10 sailings on the Sun & Jewel for the last 2 years ;)

 

-Monte

[jerseygirl31]

I also was on The POA Oct-7-15. We had excellent service in all the restaurants we ate at and our room was kept spotless, with turn down service everynight but 1. We have been on Carnival, Costa and Disney, RC and found POA with the same service and kindness by the crew. , but I often wonder if we were on the same cruise ship (Moondoggies response) when we could of been treated so differently by the crew. I know this is not the forum for POA but I had to respond....I travel frequently as I am a TA and the crew on our cruise was terrific and kind and worked hard to give you good service...no complaints here...

[Host CMLA]

Say it ain't so.... In addition to the auto gratuity, we tipped our waitress (we requested to be seated at her tble every night) and our cabin steward, a little extra, for their wonderful service. Please tell me they get to keep it...........

On NCL ships, if you remove the auto tip and tip manually, those staff members have to turn over the tips. It's my understanding that they can keep anything above the $10 pp per day that you give. NCLA is a whole other animal and I'm not set to sail on one of those ships until next summer.

[Rafaella]

I am leaving 11/19 on Jewel, and I hope, I will not be disapointed by the "freestyle" thing...

I got spoiled by HAL services, and I do enjoy to have "people"waiting for me ....

On the other hand, I guess, I can deal with a little waiting and a "different" waiter every time I eat, I just hope, I wont have the feeling of a "fast fod" restaurant where you have to stay in line, choose from pretty much"bitten up" menu, and just "enjoy the special of the day."

I am not picky, yet, nice service is something you would defenately expect on such a great event, such as cruise.

Wish me luck.;)

[newmexicoNita]

I am leaving 11/19 on Jewel, and I hope, I will not be disapointed by the "freestyle" thing...

I got spoiled by HAL services, and I do enjoy to have "people"waiting for me ....

On the other hand, I guess, I can deal with a little waiting and a "different" waiter every time I eat, I just hope, I wont have the feeling of a "fast fod" restaurant where you have to stay in line, choose from pretty much"bitten up" menu, and just "enjoy the special of the day."

I am not picky, yet, nice service is something you would defenately expect on such a great event, such as cruise.

Wish me luck.;)

Whle you are concerned about service after sailing HAL we are doing the opposite: we are concerned about sailing HAL after doing freestyle so much. I do not think the personal service on NCL is quite as good in the dining room as traditional dining options. This doesn't mean it isn't good but you will find good and bad wait persons. There are a few that know they will get thier tips regardless. That being said, other than getting to know the people waiting on you everything is about the same. We usually ask the wait people something about themselves and they love to share Of course they miss their families and home country. Don't worry, the service is fine, the food, usually quite good and most of those who do the complaining have set thier expectations too high. NMNita

[Rafaella]

Thanks,

I believe that I will have a greatest time of my life LOL

As I said, got spoiled by HAL, love them, but , I would like to try some different lines too. What ever it is there- still fun- it is a vacation and I will make the best of it.

[coka]

Thanks,

I believe that I will have a greatest time of my life LOL

As I said, got spoiled by HAL, love them, but , I would like to try some different lines too. What ever it is there- still fun- it is a vacation and I will make the best of it.

 

 

Rafealla,

Are you coming to our cruisecritic gathering on the Jewel...Monday, 11/20, 11am at the Star Bar? Check out our roll call board again! See you soon!

Coka

[Rafaella]

Thanks, Coka,

Will have to read it most defenately!

See you there.

[mtchg]

..I went into my first Freestyle with low expectiations.....it was cheap and

hey it's a newer ship going to great ports......we would have fun regardless of mediocre food and ho hum service....

 

 

Wow.....the Star food was just as good as Carnival's and a tad better than RCI's. The staff was VERY responsive, pro active and cheerful..the C.D. (Simon) was fun, friendly and ACCESSIBLE....and the ship, while somewhat

"uneven" design wise..was generally lovely and comfortable.

 

Main weakness? Slow service in the main (free) dining rooms. Traditional dining rooms on other lines are superior in this area.

 

But overall, NCL's Star put out a great product at a very competitive price...

so I will be doing "Freestyle" again sometime in the future.

 

Mitch

[Atomica]

I am leaving 11/19 on Jewel, and I hope, I will not be disapointed by the "freestyle" thing...

I got spoiled by HAL services, and I do enjoy to have "people"waiting for me ....

On the other hand, I guess, I can deal with a little waiting and a "different" waiter every time I eat, I just hope, I wont have the feeling of a "fast fod" restaurant where you have to stay in line, choose from pretty much"bitten up" menu, and just "enjoy the special of the day."

I am not picky, yet, nice service is something you would defenately expect on such a great event, such as cruise.

Wish me luck.;)

 

I'm a huge fan of HAL, but I have to add that on my NCL Sun cruise last year there were staff members who went above and beyond for us. My sister is big on the root beer floats NCL offers, and one of the staff from the Champagne Bar went all over the ship looking for ice cream so she could have her float. After about 10 minutes he came back, having found some up at the topsiders bar. Now that's good service!

 

In short, NCL gets a bad rap a lot of the time because it's 'different', and because it does offer a different cruise experience. But that's not a bad thing.

[Cruise_Monkey]

We sailed on the Sun last October and had no problems with the food. Then again you havent tried my wife's cooking. Anything is an improvement.

Dave

 

Now THAT'S putting things into perspective!!:rolleyes:

[moondoggie21536]

I also was on The POA Oct-7-15. We had excellent service in all the restaurants we ate at and our room was kept spotless, with turn down service everynight but 1. We have been on Carnival, Costa and Disney, RC and found POA with the same service and kindness by the crew. , but I often wonder if we were on the same cruise ship (Moondoggies response) when we could of been treated so differently by the crew. I know this is not the forum for POA but I had to respond....I travel frequently as I am a TA and the crew on our cruise was terrific and kind and worked hard to give you good service...no complaints here...

 

I am glad to hear you had equally good service from all cruise lines including the POA. I WISH I would have had the same experince. I had really exceptional service on RCCL and Celebrity and just assumed I would receive the same. Oh well..... I guess you have to expect the good with the bad. Just bummed I got the bad last time.