Terrible treatment by crew
Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas
7 Night Bahamas & Florida (New York Roundtrip)
Sail date: November 15, 2015
Ship: Norwegian Breakaway
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 12882
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 8 years ago
Review summary
Breakaway Nov 15 2015
I had sailed 13 times with NCL
1 -2008, 1- 2009, 1- 2010, 2- 2011, 3- 2013, 3-2014, and 3-2015
I have guided many people to sail with NCL due to my experience with your cruise line. I cannot say that now.
On the November 15 cruise on the NCL Breakaway, I had a extremely troubling situation occur.
Ashley the NCL port representative gave the three of us a charm and told us if we came to her talk we would get a bracelet. We went the next day and did not receive the bracelet but was instead told of where to get in on the port ? Truthful ? I don't think so.
Ashley said that interested guests would have to wait on line to get a VIP card to get the discounts she promised. We waited 2 hours and ten minutes. One hour for the talk then 1 hour and ten minutes on line to get the card. While we were waiting other guests came into the theater for a game show deal no deal and left while we were still waiting on that line.
Everyone at the back of the line was complaining about how long it was taking. Many left some went to eat and returned and others stood with complains of aching back foot etc. NO effort whatsoever was made to see how we were doing, if assistance was needed or any update on why it was taking so long to get a VIP card. No one came to explain why it was taking so long.
When it finally was our turn, I saw what was happening. There was not one VIP card there were several. The reason it was taking so long was Ashley had cards for all the stores and she had to sign each card and write what the people were buying. She had to coach guests on what to say about what to buy so she could write more and more.
Tell me is there any reason she couldn't pre sign these card??????
When it was my turn I told Ashley, I couldn't believe it took one hour and 10 minutes standing on line for a card. And that she had several cards not one, and she had to sign all of them. Her answer was "NO ONE TOLD YOU TO STAND IN THE LINE " you could pick up card any time. We told her SHE SAID SHE might run out of card to stay in the line.
I handed her my paper to get my card and she refused to give me a card and returned my paper. She didn't like our complaints so she refused to give us a VIP card. Do u get it? After waiting 2 hours and 10 minutes she refused to give me a VIP card.
Since I didn't need the paper she returned to me , I tossed it on her table saying I don't need this. Ashley preceded to ridicule and mock me to the few guests who were left and they were all laughing at me.
First of all why did she say "NO ONE TOLD U TO WAIT ON THE LINE", in the most snotty childlike tone. What happened to guess experience like Ashley could have easily said I am sorry u had to wait, let me speed u through now, or let me give u something rather than yelling "NO ONE TOLD U TO WAIT ON THE LINE".
I was willing to drop this whole experience but then something more astonishing happened. The next day when my sister a cancer survivor 5 surgeries, 4 rounds of chemo 25 days of radiation, loss of her husband to cancer, and being wiped out by two hurricanes was picked out of boarding guests by site by a crew member.
I cannot remember his name ?steve?john a former cop and scared her not knowing why she was asked to step aside. Apparently the crew captain asked him to look into the disagreement we had with Ashley. The only way he could have found her was with the paper that I tossed on the table. It had my name on it. We were asked to meet with this crew member after 9 pm.
We went to the guest services as instructed he wasn't there we had to wait for him to be called. He took us to a private room to discuss what happened.
I asked him point blank did Ashley report us he said no. He said the captain of the crew asked him to look into this. Again I asked him who told the crew captain he said he didn't know he was asked to investigate this he was a retired cop. He said he knew nothing about it and wanted to get our side. The he mentioned something about paper throwing. As I said earlier Ashley refused to sign the paper gave it back to me and I tossed it onto the table.
We told him what I wrote above I will not explain it again except to say why didn't Ashley simply say I'm sorry u had to wait ? Instead she said " NO ONE ASKED U TO WAIT IN THE LINE" Is that really how u want your employees to speak to guests?
What really troubles me is the way we were treated like criminals. He said he recognized my sister picture ? So my privacy was invaded someone took my name and looked at my information?????? Did he really pick her out remembering her picture or was a copy of our pictures distributed ????
He said no formal complaint was made yet he invaded our privacy looked at our pictures and picked my sister out in front of other guests asked to step aside for what? A questioning ordered by the crew captain about what ? About hearing rumors about what?
This is how u treat guests with 13 cruises up to 3 a year for the last 3 years ??????
This whole incident ruined my vacation that my sister had to be treated this way with all she had been through. I didn't use my free dinner cards for the 4 free special meals I was so upset. I stayed in my room trying to figure out what could have cause NCL to treat all of us like this.
I have seen many horrible behaviors by guests and we were not horrible, we only complained!!!! By the way, I ran into a few of the people who were standing on line with us and told them what happened to us, and they couldn't believe it and were talking about going to guest services themselves to support us.
You should teach your employees to say sorry !!!! That would have been the correct response not set us up for what a investigation? Inquire? What ? For What?
This is the worst I have ever been treated on a cruise ship in all the cruises I've taken. I am going back to work with knee and back pain and will always remember the horrible way you treated my and my family.
Lesion learned you seriously don't care about guests there are just too many of us.
With great disappointment Barbara
PS I voice tapped our interrogation with your officer.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
My tip is don't on on the breakaway you Will loose all your personal privacy and rights.
Ports of call
Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas
14 Comments
TeamAJ 8 years ago
This rant makes no sense. Once you realized the thing they are "giving away" is a teaser or a trap you should have walked away. They don't GIVE you anything on cruises, they try to get your money that's it! We wouldn't waste 3 mins with a bad "shopping" experience even if we believed we were getting something of value for less which is page 1 lesson 1 of ripping people off. Then throwing a paper at an employee, i'd have probably decked you stupid if i was there. Going on a trip and "paying good money" doesn't guarantee you the right to turn off your brain and trust strangers in the sales game.
JusMe 8 years ago
NCL is bottom of the barrel in my list of customer service, service and food of the major cruise lines. I try and pick any other line.
Reviews are to get one persons opinion of the cruise. You can not argue with her saying that NCL is great, it may have been good for you on the ship you were on, but it was not good for her.
I have been on cruises where I had great service and no problems and a friend on the same cruise has bad service, A/C not working in his cabin, sink drain not working well and TV remote not working, his cabin steward did nothing to help when he mentioned it..... 2 people on the same cruise having very different cruises.
noname111 8 years ago
The detail of this write up makes it difficult to follow but it seemed to go from a review to a rant. It also appears to have been written directly to the cruise line toward the end. This is not an NCL-specific or sponsored cruise line group, nor does it have a responsibility to filter complaints like this over to NCL. I suggest if the OP wants this to go to NCL, look up a contact address or email on the NCL website.
It is unfortunate that this situation wasn't handled better but I also question the whole issue of waiting that long in line for a VIP card. We've cruised for years and learned that most of those 'deals' aren't worth the time or energy spent on getting to the venues to use them. Most experienced cruisers figure this out pretty quick.
OldGreyWolf 8 years ago
What I wonder is why one incident warrants an entire bad cruise. You are on vacation to have fun. One bump in the road knocks you off the cart. Get up, brush off the dust and go have fun. File your complaint if you must through the proper channels after your home and do not let someone else's behaviour spoil a perfectly good vacation.
Johngold 8 years ago
I have never had an issue with customer service folks from NCL, and neither has any member of my family. We are booked for July 2016, so I guess we will see. I'm quite surprised though, that NCL did not resolve the issue... Or have they? And we are unaware that the issue is closed....
blc107 8 years ago
Seems like a lot of drama for a VIP card. I suspect based on the post that the writer has several of these overly dramatic stories in her past. The cruise line takes your picture when you board for their use in security and investigative matters. If you are under the impression the crew won't look at it you are living in LaLa Land. I'm sure the employee "Ashley" reported your "incident" to the ship's administration and they are bound by policy to look into the "incident'. My issue in the story is how the writer states that when the incident occurred those in line were laughing at her,(Indicating agreement with Ashley) but later she states she met those people and they said they were appalled by her treatment. So which is it? I'm guessing none of them took her side officially and went to the crew. Seems like the greed of obtaining a likely useless VIP card started this issue, but the writer dwells on the incident for the entire cruise ruining the entire trip even giving up several free dinner deals. With the wait, the argument, and even the follow-up investigation I doubt the entire incident took up more that 3 hours, but the writer allowed several days of the cruise to be ruined. Life is what "YOU" make of it. Congratulations to your sister on her overcoming her illness issues and certainly her inner strength has been tested and she prevailed. Having said that I am sure with her history she had the fortitude to answer some questions from the investigator about the "incident". The VIP issue aggravated you, we get it but "You" ruined the rest of your cruise by allowing that aggravation to overtake you. Solution; Stop cruising and start hiking desolate trails then you have no one to blame but yourself for little aggravations along the way;)
BDRebel 8 years ago
I will agree with the OP that "Ashley" treated the passenger incorrectly (based only upon the OP's post). I will have to disagree on the rest though.
Perhaps (probably) Ashley went so far as to report the incident to her boss, who would in turn be required to report it up the chain of command to the "Crew Captain". In the interest of getting the whole story, he would naturally want someone to look into both sides of the story, hence the "interrogation" (which was probably nothing more than trying to coax the other side of the story from an unhappy passenger). As far as the "invasion of privacy as far as distributing your pictures", your photo is on record and tied to your sail and sign card. Your picture is displayed when you board the ship (in order for security to verify that the person boarding is actually the card holder). The officer (probably the security 2nd officer) was waiting for you to board in order to interview you.
Granted, when something goes wrong, it seems to escalate from bad to worse, however it appears that after the first bad thing, the rest was simply the line trying to find out what went wrong so they could 1) Ensure it doesn't happen again, and 2) try to find out how to make the guest "whole" again.
Ewoodspark 8 years ago
NCL has the WORST customer service - ever. They lost our business a few years ago. Not as drastic as this, but similar staff with attitude.
Quite a damning statement !! I have been dealing with NCL since 2012, and everybody I have spoke to either on-board, check-in or customer services by telephone or E-mail have been exceptionally polite and helpful. Sometimes, I believe the conception of service is borne out by the person making the statement in the first place. Be nice to others and reap the benefits.
Ewoodspark 8 years ago
When I started reading this, I realised half way through that it was a complete joke. This is the longest waffle I have ever heard when there is no real story. What is all the guff about Ashley and a card and waiting 2 hours for her???. It really is so funny. A review about a cruise is supposed to do exactly that, not harp on about something that children squabble about.