ncl ----WHY

[DMH15]

MichellP-

Thank you for actually responding just as I would have. I think you "get it"!

[Catnip]

[quote name='johnritt']I'm curious. How far back in time do you have to go before an experience one has had is not pertinate to a currant situation?

Sooner or later an experience is just an experience and is no longer relevant.

[/quote]

I'm sorry to not have an exact figure. I guess it really depends on the situation/question/thread topic. And isn't everyone's posts here just from their own "experience"?

[DMH15]

Mr Petey-

One of my college degrees is in Food and Hospitality so I have some credibility on this particular subject... Do you?

Marketing 101... It costs at least double to try and win back a lost customer than to reel in a new one.

What I meant to imply was that I can sense your negative vibe about NCL and I would rather sail with like-minded happy upbeat people. The fact you would come on an NCL board as an anti-cheerleader makes me doubt you could really give them an even shake.

[wg6530]

[quote name='MrPete']If I'm a mass market cruiser, and NCL is a mass market line, I am their target consumer.[/quote]

I doubt any cruiseline simplistically believes that their target customer is any "mass market cruiser." I doubt NCL believes everybody wants freestyle. Watching their marketing, I'd say NCL is targeting both those who have never cruised (especially who were turned off by some aspects of traditional cruising) and established cruisers who'd like a laid-back, flexible cruise. For example, NCL doesn't offer two dining plans as adopted by some lines; if you really want traditional scheduled dining, you are not their target customer. If you want a small ship, you are not their target customer. If you believe NCL you can judge a cruiseline based on an experience from 10 or 20 years ago, you may not be their target customer. JMHO.

[johnritt]

[quote name='Catnip']I'm sorry to not have an exact figure. I guess it really depends on the situation/question/thread topic. And isn't everyone's posts here just from their own "experience"?[/quote]

Well, most posts seem to come from experience, what they have heard others say, what they think should be or could be, or what happened in a bad dream or an old acid flashback.

Sometimes it is hard to tell.

[MrPete]

Mr Petey-

 

One of my college degrees is in Food and Hospitality so I have some credibility on this particular subject... Do you?

 

Marketing 101... It costs at least double to try and win back a lost customer than to reel in a new one.

 

What I meant to imply was that I can sense your negative vibe about NCL and I would rather sail with like-minded happy upbeat people. The fact you would come on an NCL board as an anti-cheerleader makes me doubt you could really give them an even shake.

 

Congratulations! I hope you put it to good use! 32 years in the food and retail industry myself.

 

Point?

 

None of this makes my opinion any less correct, or changes it. It's an opinion based on experience. It's great everyone else can have one too. I shared my thoughts and experience with the OP (except I tried for years to get on the Norway after being on the SS France back in the 60's. Fate took care of that)

 

But if you can read vibes on an anonymous message board, hopefully you put that to good use, too.

 

BTW, I came to the board to read a board "friend"'s review on his Spirit trip to Bermuda.

 

Happy cruising!

[johnritt]

Congratulations! I hope you put it to good use! 32 years in the food and retail industry myself.

 

Point?

 

None of this makes my opinion any less correct, or changes it. It's an opinion based on experience. It's great everyone else can have one too. I shared my thoughts and experience with the OP (except I tried for years to get on the Norway after being on the SS France back in the 60's. Fate took care of that)

 

But if you can read vibes on an anonymous message board, hopefully you put that to good use, too.

 

BTW, I came to the board to read a board "friend"'s review on his Spirit trip to Bermuda.

 

Happy cruising!

 

Ah Pete,

 

I missed sailing the Norway by one week, and have always regretted not being able to sail on her. Sometimes fate stinks.

[Catnip]

or what happened in an old acid flashback.

 

Sometimes it is hard to tell.

 

You got THAT right!!!!! :D :D :D

[DMH15]

MrPete-

 

Maybe I got a clue to your negative vibe that you went on cruise "you absolutely hated" (your words). But hey, no problem. Different strokes. I wish you many happy cruises. The Norway was my first, and yeah, NCLhas changed a lot since then, and looking at those cruise pictures, so have I.

 

Been on a few cruises and hundreds of trips. Just can't say I "absolutely hated" any of them. Maybe I've just been lucky, maybe not.

 

If you ever do try NCL again, I hope you have a nice time.

 

Happy cruising to you too.

[hat776]

Pete - if we were talking about a restaurant I would tell you 'Try it out again - many things will have changed in 20 years.'

But we're talking cruises here , cruises that cost thousands of dollars. I wouldn't risk that amount just to be proved wrong.

If you were to go on NCL, human nature being what it is, you'd be on the look out for any small failings by the line or crew. Subconciously you wouldn't be able to avoid it. You've spent 20 years criticizing the line so it would be pretty difficult to give it another try and board the ship with a happy, carefree mood. You'd be so sure you are going to have a really miserable trip.

I don't know where you live, but manybe you could try one of those 2 day cruises = if you feel you could manage an open mind.

[sjbdtz]

I'm always in the mood for a good ricicule.

 

.

 

You're doing a bang-up job on soliciting it! :rolleyes:

 

I doubt any cruiseline simplistically believes that their target customer is any "mass market cruiser." I doubt NCL believes everybody wants freestyle. Watching their marketing, .

 

If you look at an NCL logo, they show 8 fish swimming in school formation, and a single, highlighted fish swimming counter-current. THAT is the 1/9th of mass market cruisers (my liberal interpretation) which NCL is targeting.

 

if you feel you could manage an open mind.

 

 

Wow.... I think my biggest concern with MrPete is the non-disclosure until recently. I've read an anti-NCL bias for a while, but expected (absent any disclosure to the contrary), that the basis for it was reasonable.

 

With a 20-year history, referring to a ship which isn't even part of the fleet anymore, your sweeping statements which appear aimed at swaying other potential NCL customers to your perspective, seem disingenuous at best.

[uneamie]

Pete - if we were talking about a restaurant I would tell you 'Try it out again - many things will have changed in 20 years.'

But we're talking cruises here , cruises that cost thousands of dollars. I wouldn't risk that amount just to be proved wrong.

If you were to go on NCL, human nature being what it is, you'd be on the look out for any small failings by the line or crew. Subconciously you wouldn't be able to avoid it. You've spent 20 years criticizing the line so it would be pretty difficult to give it another try and board the ship with a happy, carefree mood. You'd be so sure you are going to have a really miserable trip.

I don't know where you live, but manybe you could try one of those 2 day cruises = if you feel you could manage an open mind.

 

This response makes the most sense.....try it out for a one or two nighter and then make your decision based on that. With all the other cruise lines out there why bother with one you already have a negative opinion about.

 

I doubt you will be able to go with an "objective mind".

[goodshiplollipop]

I had a friend who years ago went on NCL. It was an older, smaller ship and cc people gave it 2 1/2 stars. She hated the ship and cruise and hence, NCL. Had she done her homework, she would have booked another ship. The people on these forums are a great wealth of info.They will help give you the pros and cons . We all have our favorites, just read and compare.

[Cruising89143]

To the OP, I suggest that you try NCL. Just came off my second NCL cruise within the last three years and enjoyed both.

 

We have had no issues at all with the Freestyle concept and actually like it. To date my cruise last month on NCL to Alaska was the best embarkation/debarkation that I have ever experienced. Food is just as good as the other mass market lines along with the service except for the food in the buffet. Still no improvement there. Actually the service was more in line with RCI and better than Carnival. NCL also has hands down the best suite amenities and perks of any of the mass/premium market cruise lines.

 

The specialty dining rooms were very good. Ship was very clean and well maintained which is important in my book. I still prefer RCI due to their ships but NCL would be second of my choices of cruise lines. I actually liked them better than HAL. Everyone was under the age of 70.;)

[sottovoce]

Maybe Carnival. I would not put them in the same price and category as Princess or Celebrity.

Never cruised Princess but I'd certainly put NCL "in the same price and category" as Celebrity. Both are mass-market cruise lines, nothing more. Food, service, etc., are comparable as are prices. Some may be easily fooled by the bowing and scraping act put on by Celebrity's crew and perhaps are also snowed by all the rental tuxedos parading together to the dining room like herded sheep, but Celebrity's product is, in fact, no better.

[pepper55143]

I have only gone on two lines. My first was over 10 years ago on RCCL Majesty of the Sea. Everything was fine, but I hated the people at our table. I hated having to run back to the room and dress up just to eat. The buffet was okay but I don't trust people to keep their dirty hands off of stuff, so my only option was the dining rooms or lackluster room service. The staff was great and very attentive. The head waiter had gone to the same university as I was attending and even saved me croissants every morning. Everything was clean, but I absolutly hated it. I remember sitting in port and crying because i wanted to get off now and get in my car NOW.

It took me over 10 years to try cruising again. With Freestyle most of the things I hated about cruising are no longer an issue. (The only thing I can't control is my fellow passengers.)

As a lot of other people have said, Freestlye isn't for everyone but it is for me.

[johnritt]

With freestyle.....

 

If I am traveling alone with my wife, NCL makes it a week of dinner dates.

 

If I am traveling with my wife and girls, NCL makes it a week of noisier dinner dates.

 

I love it either way.

[PangeanSir]

That might be true on the longer (10+ day) cruises, but on the shorter cruises, you will find a much younger crowd. I was on a 7-day HAL cruise and found the median age to be about 40-50. There were plenty of young couples and families with small children.

 

Hello 'Nipper;

 

It must change from cruise to cruise or ship to ship. We were on a short (4 day cruise) and found the demographics vastly different (considerably older) than on recent Princess and NCL cruises that we had been on. We commented on the older clientele to our favourite barkeep and he said, that it was much younger crowd than normal (the Ryndam had previously been on 7 day Mexican Riviera cruises). Other than joking about the "walker races on the Promenade deck" it didn't affect our cruise all that much and we enjoyed the HAL experience overall. Nothing too adventurous, but everything was comfortable.

 

Going on another, slightly larger HAL ship in a month so I'll see if the demographics have changed much.

 

P.

[Carey and Kerry]

Interesting PangeanSir that you brought up the demographics on the shorter cruise being surprisingly older. When I was on the QM2 last year I was talking to one of the spa attendants and mentioned that the "World " cruises of 30 - 100 days must have a majority of older people since only retired people could be gone that long and her response was a real surprise. Turns out the avg age on those is 30's to 50's, primarily executives that can run the businesses by computer and by hopping off in ports for a couple of days and then "hopping" back on. Very few "at lesiure" passengers by comparison she said.

 

Completely off track the NCL discussion, but an interesting tidbit of info in that you can never completely predict who will be on your cruise!

[veggie59]

We sailed on the NCL Star in 2002 when she was in Hawaii. LOVED that ship.....was so said when she was pulled out and refurbed for other markets. :( Anyways, we sailed in late September and the age of passengers were older than us. Probably the time of year with kids back to school. We were alittle worried at first since we were in our 40's and others were 70+. But there were no worries. These people were out and about because they were young at heart and wanted to have fun! The Star was my favorite ship and we had a good time onboard.

 

On other cruiselines we have had so-so luck at assigned dining. We have met really nice people.....and some that were well......not our cup of tea. I like freestyle...but also like meeting new people. If an NCL sailing has an active roll call.....there is a chance of meeting others there too. We like to cruise on various lines....they are all similiar...but different. Any of them are better than none. :)

[momofmeg]

I guess you simply dismiss the opinions of those of us who have cruised with other lines and yet still enjoyed/enjoy our NCL cruises? We do have something to compare it to and we know what else is out there. My DH and I did not think NCL was perfect, but it was perfectly enjoyable. We would cruise with them again, depending on itinerary, fare, which ship, and time of year. My mother felt the same way about her Star cruise a couple of years ago, and she has quite a lot to compare it to because she's cruised with 8 or 10 different lines (of all types) over the years.

 

beachchick

 

I agree, Beach chick, NCL was the 7th line for me and the Pearl my 15th cruise, and I enjoyed her just as well as some ships on other lines, better than some ships on other lines, and not as well as some ships on other lines. I would probably rate the Pearl about number 8 of the 14 ships I have sailed. ( I sailed one ship twice) In other words, my most favorite ship would be a 14, least favorite a 1.

[H82seaUgo]

It seems to be the only line where people say "NCL may not be right for you".

 

That only tells me one thing. I may be the person they are talking to, so, why waste all that money to find out. :confused:

[CC Help Michell]

It seems to be the only line where people say "NCL may not be right for you".

 

That only tells me one thing. I may be the person they are talking to, so, why waste all that money to find out. :confused:

 

Oh please. People on almost every board here tell inquiring posters that the particular line may not be for them -- such as HAL, Cunard, Disney, Carnival, etc. The folks who say that aren't usually intending it as a negative remark -- as in "NCL stinks so it may not be right for you." They are trying to be helpful by saying "NCL is different in some ways and if you don't like those ways, it won't be a good match."

 

If the sight of people in the dining room in jeans makes you crazy, NCL is definitely not a good match for you -- and wouldn't you want to know that before spending your money? On the other hand, I have no desire to try Cunard -- I know from reading their boards here that it's definitely not a good match for me, and that's handy information to have. I've been researching Princess for Alaska, and their board here has about convinced me that (alone among mainstream lines) that line might not be a good match for me, either.

[Catnip]

Hello 'Nipper;

 

It must change from cruise to cruise or ship to ship.

 

Going on another, slightly larger HAL ship in a month so I'll see if the demographics have changed much.

 

P.

 

Hi back! Sorry to be so tardy in responding, but I'm not over on CC all that much. I guess that certainly could be true about different ships on the same line.

My mom and I are going on HAL next April, so I'll let you know about that one. Although it will be a 10-day Panama Canal cruise, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's an older crowd.

Keep us posted on your HAL cruise, too!

[momofmeg]

It seems to be the only line where people say "NCL may not be right for you".

 

That only tells me one thing. I may be the person they are talking to, so, why waste all that money to find out. :confused:

 

Not exactly true-you can find posts telling posters that about every line.