Is it true? NCL gives no service?

[Millie6]

PPS - Sansouci, I hope that NCL is reading these posts!! They certainly should if they're not!!

[smeyer418]

NCL does read these posts. The American flagged Prides have not been highly rated although NCL claims that they have improved and some reports indicate some improvement. I have been on three other lines besides NCL and I like NCL the best. I only had bad service at one restaurant one night in all the time on the ships. Yes some lines do some things better and some lines do something worse. It is also true that the traditionalist(set meals set tables) hate freestyle which is of course their right. One thing that NCL does that I love is they allow you to stay in your cabin on disembarkation day until you are called to leave and you don't have to wait in some public room....

 

PS I think the service on NCL in general is better than Celebrity and it generally is much less costly. The food and service on the QM2 was no better than NCL in my judgement.

[Sansouci]

Well, that's a relief ;) and good news too!

Did you try the Tapas?

If you liked the Sun, just wait for the Dawn

 

Sorry, but as I mentioned in my last post, we're pretty jaded diners! Yes, we tried Las Ramblas and loved the ambiance and the sangria, but it was not one of the highlights of our cruise. Fortunately I have a very international circle of friends who are great cooks, one of whom -- a woman from Spain -- makes a wicked Spanish tortilla.

 

I am, however, looking forward to next year's cruise on the Dawn.

[Sansouci]

Wow, Millie's experience on Pride of America makes my trip on the Pride of Aloha seem like a walk in the park! I didn't know about the NCLA training program in Kentucky, but I was ready to write to NCLA to suggest that they contract with Disney to do their guest services training (I live in Orlando). It obviously needs an overhaul and so does the crew hiring process, I think.

 

I forgot to mention the entertainment aboard the Sun. In addition to going to the jazz concerts (most of which were private and not open to the ship's other passengers) we also attended the ship's shows. I was prepared for the usual, somewhat mediocre shipboard entertainment. But apparently NCL has contracted out some of the entertainment on the Sun to a fabulous professional dance troupe. Instead of the normal showtunes, etc. this troupe did three shows during the week which were simply breathtaking. The last show on the next to the last night of the cruise was especially fun and exhilarating. Entitled "Pan Cirque," it was a very well done take-off on the Peter Pan story done Cirque de Soleil style. We found out after the show that the most skilled dancers in the troupe are transplants from Eastern Europe. The shows done by this troupe put the regular shipboard shows to shame. I hope NCL does more of this type of spectacular programming.

[Sansouci]

PS I think the service on NCL in general is better than Celebrity and it generally is much less costly.

 

You raise a good point: NCL cruises are generally less pricey than Celebrity. The OP does not indicate whether cost is a factor in the decision.

 

My take on the inconsistency of NCL's reviews is that they lack the quality control of their competitors, so maybe you'll have a nice cruise with great service, but then again, maybe you won't! I was extremely anxious about booking this NCL cruise because the family members with whom I was traveling are diehard Princess fans (with one Celebrity cruise in the mix). After my terrible experience on Pride of Aloha in May, I had warned them to lower their expectations. But much to my surprise, they loved freestyle dining (we like to eat early, so no waiting in line), found the crew to be delightfully engaging, and thought that the Sun was a beautiful ship.

[cruise_lover]

Our last cruise (January 2007) was aboard the NCL SUN out of the New Orleans. We had a Jr. Suite and our cabin stewards were Pam and Leslie (a very big guy that made Paul Buyon look like a midget). They were wonderful. Spoiled us twice a day and always made it a point to look us up in-between to see if we needed anything.

 

We ate in the specialty restaurant (Italian - forgot the name) one night and the service and food was excellent. The service in the buffet area was just as good. Everyone of the servers or people clearing the tables always greeted us with a smile on their faces. The food could have been better but we learned a long time ago that when you are cooking for several thousand passengers and crew members you can not please everyone.

 

The entertainment lacked a little but I figured that it wasn't to my taste in music but someone who liked that era would enjoy the shows. Like I said you can't please everyone.

 

Would I sail on NCL again. Yes I would. Don't listen to everything you read. For every complaint that we read there is probably 10 good reviews out there that people decided not to take the time and write about. If you want to sail on NCL go and "make up your own mind."

[fayce2b]

I have to think that the service is not up to par on the POAm and POA due to their monopoly on the only cruises in Hawaii starting and ending in Hawaii. My husband and I debated sailing from the the west coast but did not want to be on the ship for 4 days before Hawaii. Also, it appears that you stay longer in each port with the NCLA ships. Just hopping service and food improve before April.:rolleyes:

[cruise_lover]

We also had a great time on the NCL Sun this past January (2007). We not only saw both our room stewards (Pam and Leslie) every morning and every evening but they made it a point of telling us hello if we happened to be in the same area at same time throughout the day.

 

 

As far as the main dining room - we never had a problem getting a table. Probably because if we noticed that the lines we a little long we took a walk around the ship and then went back about 20 minutes later.

 

 

We ate in the Italian restaurant once (sorry the name escapes me right now) and the service and food was better than 4-star restaurants that we use to eat at in New Orleans.

 

 

I would not hestitate to recommend NCL to anyone who asks. But I am a firm believer in telling people to try something and to make up their own mind. What doesn't work for one person does not mean that it won't work for you.

 

[Essiesmom]

My only experience with NCL was a one night cruise to nowhere on the Spirit out of NYC. We thought the ship was quite attractive, and the cabin adequate, but other than a refill of our ice bucket, we did not get turndown service or towel animal. On those mini-cruises, there is no room service, either. We found the food in the dining room to be quite acceptable, but others in our group at different tables felt it was definitely sub-par, and served lukewarm rather than hot. While I realize that a booze cruise is not representative of a regular cruise experience, I think NCL should consider that it might be a passenger's first exposure to cruising, or to that cruise line, and offer the same experience/product as on a full cruise. As for me, I am willing to five NCL another try if the occasion arises, for a cruise of no less than a week. EM

[mdwest75]

I have been on 3 NCL cruises and loved the food and had wonderful service. Been in an oceanview, balcony, and a suite. Same service no matter what. Loved it. Going again in April. We never had to wait in the dining room. We went about 6pm and never waited. We had 7 people in our group. would recommend NCL to anyone who enjoys relaxing and good shows and good food. Our ages range from 67 to 6. No problems with NCL.

[cruisnpat]

We were on the NCL one time and didn't care for the anytime dining and the food wasn't that good either.

[want2cruiseagain]

We had a great cruise on the Jewel. Granted, it was our first with nothing to compare, but we thought everyone was very attentive and the bartender and waiter remembered our names, which I found amazing!! Great cabin stewards!

 

We are going on the Princess Dawn in 12 days, so then we will have something to compare to.

[burchan]

I know some won't like this, but rather than cruise NCL, I would stay at home. Service just wasn't there!!! Long waits for the dining room, whether we went to main or smaller dining rooms. The waiters knew they would be getting their tips, so they didn't care whether they refilled your glasses, were not pleasant, seemed annoyed if you asked questions, etc. We thought perhaps the first NCL "freestyle" cruise we did was a flook...so we tried again, and then gave them a 3rd chance. Nothing improved...our last cruise on NCL was dubbed "The McDonald's of Cruising". We have done 19 cruises and several were on NCL before "Freestyle" and it had been our favorite cruise line....but....enough is enough.....NO MORE. We enjoy RCI, Celebrity, Princess, Cunard but NCL is a definite no, no, no!:mad:

We have cruised Pride of Hawaii 2006 and Norwegian Wind 2007 and it could not have been better. The idea of dining when you are ready is much better then having set times hungry or not. We also cruised twice on RCI and it was also good but at times I would have preffered to delay dinners. Cunnard I would not even consider. To many sea days on their cruises.

[h20cruzer]

I have not read all of the posts here, however in my opinion Celebrity far exceeds NCL. I have sailed with NCL probably 10 times, the last 2 times made me NEVER want to sail NCL again. We went to Alaska out of Seattle, there were problems with the ship and they made us all go to the convention center to wait, we finally boarded the ship at 11:30pm. Food and water had run out at about 2pm, they made announcements about near by restaurants where you could go. There were not enough chairs people sitting everywhere, enough said, it only got worse.

I have sailed Celebrity around 15 times always with a good experience. My last cruise was Vancouver Bc to San Francisco Sept 07 14 nights, it was fantastic.

If you have decided on NCL good luck, anytime dining is anything but a pleasant experience.

h20cruzer

[NowVoyager908]

I've sailed on two NCL cruises and never encountered an issue with service. Both the cabin stewards and the wait staff were great. In fact, one morning in the buffet, the friends I was traveling with couldn't find a highchair for their baby; all were being used. One of the staff went out of her way and found a highchair in one of the specialty restaurants and brought it up for us. They didn't ask her to get them a chair, but she saw my friends struggling a bit and acted . . . they were quite appreciative.

 

I found the food to be quite good, though I've never been on any cruise expecting 5-star dining. Personally, I don't think any kitchen churning out 1,000+ meals at a time is capable of that feat. Freestyle worked perfectly for us; we rarely had to wait to be seated and even then, it was only for a few moments. Perhaps we were just lucky, but I doubt it.

 

Sometimes I wonder if the lack of "bowing and scraping" by the wait staff on NCL is sometimes perceived as a lack of service. Some folks put so much stock in having the same waiter and having the waiter know what they like before they even know what they like, etc., etc. That just "ain't" happening with freestyle. It's just a theory.

[rman738]

We did our first and only NCL cruise several years ago. The main dining room experience left so much to be desired. We couldn't buy a refill of water or ice tea and forget about additional butter above the 1 or 2 pats in the container. The wait staff could care less about you as they knew they would never see you again. We went to other restaurants, however, one of them was always booked. I must amend my first sentence, that NCL cruise several years ago was our first and our last. Service, dining experiences, etc. have been so much better on other ships.

[bar_20]

I know some won't like this, but rather than cruise NCL, I would stay at home. Service just wasn't there!!! Long waits for the dining room, whether we went to main or smaller dining rooms. The waiters knew they would be getting their tips, so they didn't care whether they refilled your glasses, were not pleasant, seemed annoyed if you asked questions, etc. We thought perhaps the first NCL "freestyle" cruise we did was a flook...so we tried again, and then gave them a 3rd chance. Nothing improved...our last cruise on NCL was dubbed "The McDonald's of Cruising". We have done 19 cruises and several were on NCL before "Freestyle" and it had been our favorite cruise line....but....enough is enough.....NO MORE. We enjoy RCI, Celebrity, Princess, Cunard but NCL is a definite no, no, no!:mad:

 

Well I say NCL is a definite yes,yes,yes!:)

I found nothing wrong with NCL's service, it was the same as I have found on other cruise lines. As far as freestyle meals, on our 10 day NCL cruise that was sold out we ate about 6 PM each night and never had to wait. We were always seated right away. The food was good, not outstanding. I would compare it to Chili's or the Outback. There was no fancy presentation on fancy china, but both my wife and I enjoyed the food.

I have not sailed on Celebrity but am booked on two of their cruises. The negative with NCL is their constant anouncements for something they have on sale on the ship or bingo. You learn to listen to who's talking and that will tell you if it's important, like the Captain as opposed to the cruise director staff. I would sail on them again but have not found an itinerary that I have liked over others.

[QueenLatonka]

IMHO ncl is okay, BUT okay is not outstanding. DH and I were hard pressed to think of 1 thing that stood out during the cruise. We found nothing free nor stylish in "free style" cruising. We have sailed with Celebrity, Carnival and Norwegian... sorry to say this, but we won't be sailing with NCL again unless it's a remarkable deal. The only part of the ship where we felt recognized and pampered was in the casino! We tried to dine at various times of the day, 6 pm - 9 pm and we ALWAYS had at least a 45 min wait. I felt that was unacceptable for mediocre service and food. The Bistro specialty restaurant wasn't worth the surcharge, service was horrible and the food was very bland. The Italian restaurant was passable with a saving grace from the excellent waitress with a superior personality. I know some won't agree with me, but I take care of my family 50 weeks a year and for 2 weeks.... I expect the best level of personal pampering I can get. I am very disappointed with NCL and I told them so. I'm not upset, but just disappointed.

[*Luv2Cruz*]

;) We've enjoyed all our cruises and plan on enjoying more in our retirement!:cool: :cool: :D ;)

[Abear2]

In my opinion a cruise is what you make it. I know some of you have had good experiences and some of you bad. I have been on several different ships and have nothing negative to say about any of them. I just love cruising and it would have to be something really terrible before I would complain. I personally love the freestyle dining on NCL and never once had to wait in any line to eat at any restaurants. I guess I am just easy to please when it comes to cruising. LOL :D This is my most relaxing vacation out of all the vacations I take.

[Bold Spirit]

We were disappointed with the service and food on the Pride of America, but may try NCL again since the other ships do not have all-American staff. However, if we were to cruise to Hawaii again, we would probably do Pride of America. If you only have a week, it's your only choice. The ship is beautiful and the islands are too. Just don't expect great dining and service -- I didn't gain a pound.

[*Luv2Cruz*]

In my opinion a cruise is what you make it. I know some of you have had good experiences and some of you bad. I have been on several different ships and have nothing negative to say about any of them. I just love cruising and it would have to be something really terrible before I would complain. I personally love the freestyle dining on NCL and never once had to wait in any line to eat at any restaurants. I guess I am just easy to please when it comes to cruising. LOL :D This is my most relaxing vacation out of all the vacations I take.

 

Ditto. We've never had a bad cruise on any cruise line and freestyle with NCL is great!:D

[grandmaR]

In my opinion a cruise is what you make it. I know some of you have had good experiences and some of you bad. I have been on several different ships and have nothing negative to say about any of them. I just love cruising and it would have to be something really terrible before I would complain. I personally love the freestyle dining on NCL and never once had to wait in any line to eat at any restaurants. I guess I am just easy to please when it comes to cruising. LOL :D This is my most relaxing vacation out of all the vacations I take.

 

I wouldn't be that much of a cheerleader. I love cruising and do have a good time regardless, but I also believe that it is unrealistic not to notice differences and prefer one ship above another.

 

We have done cruises on NCL, HAL and RCI. We have not done Disney (too expensive), Celebrity or Carnival. We prefer the smaller ships which Celebrity doesn't seem to have as a general rule. We also like to cruise from somewhere on the mid-Atlantic coast and we haven't found many Carnival cruises that do that.

 

I liked RCI the least. I liked the ship the least of all the ships (too big and with depressing decor) and I thought the food and service was uneven - sometimes good and sometimes bad. One of the men at our table had been on 19 RCI cruises, many of them on that ship, and he said he felt like the service and food had gone downhill in the last year.

 

I liked HAL the best as far as the ship (except for the theatre) and food. I didn't like the front desk people or the cruise director too much but the other service people were fine. It was a very relaxing cruise(s).

 

We have had good and bad experiences with the traditional dining. Mostly good, but one really sour experience with some strange people. We didn't find out how strange until a couple of days into the cruise so we really couldn't request a change.

 

As others have mentioned - we had the $10/day tips with all three cruise lines. I liked least the way they did it on RCI. I didn't want to have to deal with envelopes. I'd rather just have it automatic and give the people that did extra something extra.

 

I like the freestyle dining, although I can do traditional too. IMHO the bigger the ship, the more problem there will be with the food and food service. Mostly I like small portions of plain food, and NCL usually gives me that.

[iheartbda]

We didn't find out how strange until a couple of days into the cruise so we really couldn't request a change.

 

I liked least the way they did it on RCI. I didn't want to have to deal with envelopes. I'd rather just have it automatic and give the people that did extra something extra.

 

You can always request a change.

 

Strange about the tips since we did not deal with envelopes on RCCL last year.

We did exactly that, tips were automatic and we gave extra cash to those we felt deserved it.

[tip]

That being said, "The One Who Must Be Obeyed" and I have been on sixteen cruises:

 

• 5 on NCL
  
• 5 on HAL
  
• 2 on RCCL (with another booked for 2/09)
  
• 2 on Carnival
  
• 1 on Princess
  
• 1 on the now defunct Premier Cruise Line

If you read the boards on the various cruise lines, there is always not only a great deal of both cheerleading, but also bashing of cruise lines. To read some, one would think that passengers on Carnival and NCL are nothing, but lowlifes!

 

We most certainly enjoyed our five cruises with NCL which were chosen because of destination (Bermuda, Alaska, and Baltic Capitals). We found the service comparable with other lines. We enjoyed the convenience of free style dining. Those who whine about having to wait a few minutes for a table are the same who don't mind being locked into a fixed time each night or don't mind taking part in the cattle herd mentality that exists when the dining room doors open on other lines. The "anti" folks are also agast that someone has the audacity not to wear a tux or a floor length gown! I also get a charge out of those who insist that they "get to know" a waiter. My wife and I take a cruise to get to know each other!

 

We all certainly have our preferences, but don't sell NCL short!