just returned from 1-13-07 spirit

[peachcrek]

Just returned from a 10 day cruise. Hoping the one I booked in May is going to be better then this one, what a disappointment altho we as a group had a good time but the service sucked big time the fine dining was great but all the buffet and stewards we had were not the best. we were a group of 40 and almost all will be writing letters to NCL

[gcjstri]

Hi Peachcrek, please give specifics on how it was so bad.

thank u

minimom:) :) :)

[newmexicoNita]

it is important to explain in a little more detail what was really wrong. The service sucked is a pretty strong statement. Did all 40 of you have bad cabin stewards? This certainly is possible but not terribly likely. What about the food and entertainment, was it awful? You said you had a good time, that seems like the most important thing. Are you going on the Spirit again in May? If things were as bad as you are making them sound maybe it isn't too late to change ships or cruiselines> NMnita

[pgh]

Hi Peachcrek -

 

I spoke to you briefly on the Roll Call and passed by your cabin on Deck 11 everyday, where you proudly posted your cruisecritic memebership!

 

I was hoping you could give specifics on the not so good service you and your group received. We definitely had some interesting and unusual moments on this cruise, which ultimately led to some unpleasant experiences. Personally, disregarding those moments, I only had one bad experience with a crew member in Windows.

 

Pam

[annie m]

Just returned from a 10 day cruise. Hoping the one I booked in May is going to be better then this one, what a disappointment altho we as a group had a good time but the service sucked big time the fine dining was great but all the buffet and stewards we had were not the best. we were a group of 40 and almost all will be writing letters to NCL

 

Love to hear details - we leave in a week.

[Cosmopolitan]

Just returned from a 10 day cruise. Hoping the one I booked in May is going to be better then this one, what a disappointment altho we as a group had a good time but the service sucked big time the fine dining was great but all the buffet and stewards we had were not the best. we were a group of 40 and almost all will be writing letters to NCL

 

 

Please elaborate.

 

Why do a buffet when you can be waited on:confused: ...on vacation?

[Don Haynes]

Forty is a large group. Did you expect any special service being in a group? Keep in mind there are more than 2000 other passengers aboard.

 

You must have encountered the chair hogs and line cutters. They are expected on a cruise, showing the worst of ugly human nature.

[Dolphins]

We had a great cruise on the Spirit in October and are looking forward to returning next month when many of the wonderful staff willl still be on board. Awaiting the details of the poster's terrible cruise?

[Beachbum1944]

We were on the 1/13/07 Spirit cruise also. We had a great time. Our cabin steward Hasan was very helpful and did a good job with the room. He got us everything we asked for with a smile. Service in Windows was OK, nothing to complain about. I have to say service in the Garden Room was exceptional. We had breakfast almost every day at the buffet and it was just fine. Sure it was a bit hectic at times, but nothing to get upset about. The entire crew was extremely friendly to us. The entire cruise was a pleasure, although there was that little incident of the blackout. Even that wasn't so bad, all things considered.

 

We're working on our full trip report and will post shortly.:cool: :)

[peachcrek]

we did have a nice time on board but these annoyances that we encountered, I can not speak for the rest of the group but there were other complaints, I tend to make the best of it, I just think Ncl should be made aware of these annoyances to better thier cruise staff training and try to upgrade thier customer service, as these cruises are not cheap, plus all the extra stuff you have to pay for on board at least they can smile and acknowledge you are on board, mind you we were probably the small minority that had sucky stewards, as The opposite side of our ship had great friendly stewards, I am cruising on the Dawn in May my experience with the NCL seas And the spirit are done, I cruised the Sun and had a absolute great crew and time and food was super, so it is a handful of employees that either make or break your vacation!!!!

I want to repeat I will not rebook the spirit once was enough, I am going on the Dawn in May so this will be a deciding cruise On whether to use NCL for future trips I am willing to try them again, I am hoping to experience the same as the NCL SUN gave us.!!!

 

 

 

 

Dear Sirs,

I recently was on your spirit Cruise ship January 13, 10 day cruise, I have used your line twice before, and will be on the Dawn in May 2007. I was first on Norwegian seas, not impressed with the customer service on that ship, but thought I would try you a second time, went on the Sun out of miami was thrilled with the help and customer service was it because we were in Pent House suite or just a regular pax, this last cruise we were lucky to be upgraded to deck 11 from 9 which I thought was great, but I have to say that was the only good thing that happened on this cruise, The Steward never came to introduce himself to us in fact I did not see him till the 3rd or 4th day of the cruise, I did not know who our steward even was for that matter, we did pass a few workers in the hall on the 4th morning who were cleaning cabins in our area so I assumed that they were our stewards but they never addressed us with good morning greetings or afternoon or even good evening, when we seen them, I accidentally went down the other side of our deck in the other hallway and every steward I ran into said good morning and greeted us and we were not even on their side of the ship I wanted to move to their cabins they were tending, what a difference, the second or 3rd day our cabin mate was in the cabin, and they came to clean and told her mind you!! Rule #1 you have to get out of cabin so they could come in and clean, she watching tv. and hanging out on the balcony, so she preceded to leave at their request he stopped her and told her rule # 2 shut the balcony door, is that the way you train your folks to talk to pax.??

There was one night when I had to come back to my cabin to use the Bathroom, I needed to be in my bathroom, and the 2 cabin stewards were in the cabin getting it ready for night, I asked them if they were going to be very long as I needed to get in my cabin, and they were laughing and talking and told me it would be a few minutes so I stood out against the wall for maybe a minute or so then ask again if they were almost done, that I had to use the bathroom, the one fellow told me I could go ahead and go in while they were there, which I felt uncomfortable with as I wanted my privacy in the bathroom and the cabin, so I waited another minute then I could not wait no longer and asked them where the nearest Ladies room was and they told me Deck 12, and still did not surrender my cabin to me, there was no reason they could not let me in to do what I had to do and come back after I had left they could have moved onto another cabin, and finish our cabin later.

 

Now as for other things that I have fresh on my mind , I had them bring up extra cushion for the beds they were so bad I woke up with backaches every morning the beds were just awful even my cabin mate in the bed next to me had problems sleeping on the mattresses I have been on 9 cruises 3 with you 6 on Carnival and never experience such bad mattresses on this trip I could hardly walk in the morning or even get out of bed, the Buffet was the worst I ever had compared to your other ships, every thing was not HOT, luke warm and things were tasteless, dry like cardboard, we also went to the chocolate Buffet First One I ever went to on all the cruises I was ever on and if that's a great thing I will be glad to skip them on any other cruise on your line. The deserts tasted freezer burnt and old, and had no flavor at all so I shall probably pass on them in the future. I will compliment the Dining rooms and the specialty restaurants, as the experience there was very very good.

 

We had booked 2 tours I did them weeks ahead on line. One was for Sat. Tortola sightsee and beach break and one for Jolly Roger, I understood the jolly roger cancel as we had engine trouble in St Thomas and we were late getting in but still we missed out on two tours that we were so geared up to go on we had been looking forward to the jolly roger for weeks, never understood the reason tortola was canceled, we did go down and Book a Catamaran on the golden eagle and even had problems there a tour guide was not watching her charge and he slipped into the water behind her back and almost drowned they rescued him and give him cpr and got him to shore and the emc took him back to the ship and we just floated for 2 hours by the beach area not allowed to get off the boat to go to beach may sound callous, But 5 of us paid 80.00 each to go to the beach and wound up sitting on the boat I could have done that on your ship, for FREE!! and when I returned I ask for compensation and they gave us 20% off big Deal!!, we already lost 2 tours through your bookings leaves a very bad taste in my mouth if you want referrals for future cruises, I was looking forward to my May 19th Cruise on the Dawn, but now I do not know what to expect after this cruise. I am beginning to WORRY that the service will be going downhill there too. I was very unhappy with the service and I did request most of the gratuities back and even got an attitude from reception about that. Believe me I tip extra on my cruises when we are treated well, so I thought long and hard before I decided to cut the gratuities. I know how hard the crew works but if you ask me when they know its prepaid it seems like they just do not care one way or the other about the pax. at all.

Oh an after thought!! our steward finally said good morning the Sunday we were at sea coming home could it be he was looking for something extra it was then he decided to acknowledge we were on board!!! in his section

[Guava26]

My husband and I were on and feel exactly the same way you do, it was terrible, staff food and all.

[Guava26]

My husband and I were on and feel exactly the same way you do, it was terrible, staff food and all.

[Don Haynes]

If it is so important to see your cabin steward, and you see them nearby, why not greet them instead of waiting for them to greet you. Do they have to say good morning first?

 

Yes, you could have used the rest room or asked them to leave. But you didn't do either, you just assumed they would move on. Maybe it is you who has a communication problem.You don't have to have the room cleaned everytime. You can easily use the do not disturb sign at any time if you do not wish to have the room cleaned or your bed turned.

 

If the movie on the tv was that important, I would have used the do not disturb sign. I can turn my own bed.

 

If you had introduced yourself to the cabin steward and asked for the egg crate mattress you may have slept better. Then again, did you leave a message for the cabin steward?

 

Frankly I don't like the cakes either in the buffet. However, I do enjoy the ice cream. Ice cream even makes bland cakes taste better.

 

As for your shore excursions, that is why I NEVER book mine in advance. At tender ports I always book through the ship on the first sea day, and usually book an excursion at the dock at ports with docks. Booking in advance never takes into account weather conditions or sea conditions. You never know if the bus or boats will break down. You can overplan a cruise and be very disappointed when your plans go awry.

 

Its not a crime to bend to the cruise lines way of doing things a bit. Don't expect the cruise line to bend to you all of the time, its give and take.

 

I always have to ask for an ash tray. I always get one quickly. If a bed is too uncomfortable, I have never failed to get a egg crate mattress either. I ask the very first day or sea day. I also always flash a $5 bill in my request.

[CPT Trips]

We were on the Spirit the cruise prior and had excellent cabin stewards. My cooler was always kept full of ice - all I did was ask the steward for extra ice once. No tip involved with the request, I just gave him extra the last night.

 

I too found the service in the Garden Room to be much better than the service in Windows . . . I don't know what it was, but they were just more attentive. Actually, I do have a thought as to why - two of the head waiters (they could have been brothers) were always walking around, chatting with the cruisers and with the waitstaff. They also were quick to give the waitstaff a hand. Nothing like good "bosses" to lead a good team.

 

The buffet was . . . well, it was OK. NCL really does need to stay on top of temperature control.

 

The beds . . . two main ones were OK, but the sofa bed for DD was awful!

[rcriley]

The two poster on this thread that are saying they were on the trip and didn't enjoy themselves, have the same writing style. Also, one joined CC this morning and started another thread that said the exact same thing and in same way (see the tipping comments). Validation of the comments seems to be suspect.:confused:

 

RCR

[cruisingfromMN]

Whether their complaints are real or not. Their letter in my opinion will go no where at NCL Headquarters.

[cruisingfromMN]

Whether their complaints are real or not. Their letter in my opinion will go no where at NCL Headquarters.

 

I should explain: The letter won't intentionally be ignored by NCL, it's just one of those letters that we've talked about here before... too long, not much good to say, there should be some balance between positives and negatives. Short and sweet and to the point is the saying! Oh, and as Shoreguy always likes to add from Mr. Veitch, "reasonableness".

[greenie]

I don't think that letter will help matters at all--for you or anyone else. I'm a sympathetic person, but I couldn't even finish reading the thing. Apart from the fact that there appears to be no period on your keyboard :eek: (which makes it seem to go on and on and on and on), it was just too negative. Everything was negative--one complaint after another until any sympathy I started out with was beaten out of me until it lay in a bloody numb mess on the floor by my impatiently tapping foot.:(

 

If it turned me off, I'm betting NCL will be tossing it and how could you blame them if they did?

 

If you have a problem with your room steward, you should speak to Housekeeping. If someone's cleaninng your cabin and you want very much to go in and use your own toilet, tell that person firmly "Please leave for a few moments. I need to use my cabin, and I want some privacy."

 

If your food at the buffet isn't hot, either chalk it up to the buffet having some dishes that aren't hot--no surprise there--and get on with your cruise, or speak with the manager and ask to have your plateful of food heated up.

 

What is the point of doing nothing about any of your complaints and then hoarding them all and getting more and more complainy and negative .. only to get all riled up all over again as you write a letter to someone who probably won't even read it?

 

I don't get it.

 

Oh well. I'm sorry you had so many sucky aspects to your cruise.

[peachcrek]

I did get egg crates for the beds, and I did say good morning to the stewards the first morning and got no response, did not know if they were our stewards but they were in the corridor by the elevaters with thier cart, still if they were our stewards, I would not have known. as for my puncuation I do suck and I don't need you to tell me it is bad english I just write what I feel, so go pick on a student somewhere that does not write english, I did not come here to be crucified on this board some people asked what My gripes were and I complied, I did use the do not disturb signs when I needed them but there are times when some of us need to use our own cabin for a bathroom and the public one won't do, I should not had to demand for them to leave, they should have been sensitive to my needing my cabin and stepped out. I really don't care what others think about my writing to ncl. I also filled out the comment cards on board and they do read those. It will be read, as I have written praises to the lines and complaints, I just hope that your future cruises are all super and never have a bad one, and when you do have a bad one I will not bad mouth you I will hold sympathy for you, welcome to the real world even cruise line screw up once in awhile

[Don Haynes]

I still think you have a communication problem. No one can read minds.

[old faithful]

To the OP - I am sorry to hear about your bad time on the Spirit - I sailed her in April 06 ~ had a great time - but if you didn't that stinks

 

Thank you for posting - I am now more than ever looking forward to my Jewel cruise in April and my Preal Cruise in July ... I hope to face the challendes you wrote about and get through them with a smile and enjoy the many pleasures of just being on board...

 

Life is what you make it ;)

 

Old Faithful

[Stillfloatin']

Whether their complaints are real or not. Their letter in my opinion will go no where at NCL Headquarters.

 

Spellcheck and a little better use of syntax and grammar might help also.

[jmcdon7230]

......I just hope that your future cruises are all super and never have a bad one, and when you do have a bad one I will not bad mouth you I will hold sympathy for you, welcome to the real world even cruise line screw up once in awhile

 

If what you have described is the definition of a "bad" cruise......sheeesh, let me take all your bad cruises for you.

[peachcrek]

you were not there and not in my shoes and I did speak with reception twice and got nowhere so stop judging me and get a life and pick on someone else

[cantwaitt]

Can you wear jeans in the inclusive dining rooms these days?

 

The policy always seems to change.

 

Thanks.