Terrible customer service

Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 19

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Dawn

7 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 29, 2013

Ship: Norwegian Dawn

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: GTY

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 10 years ago

Review summary

The only reason I give the cruise such a low score, and rate them so harshly is because this was my vacation, and I expect to be given even a little bit of respect. The crew on this ship seem disgruntled, and clearly hate their jobs.  It shows in their work performance and the way they treat customers.  First of all, their billing was messed up.  We bought a romance package several months prior, and for some reason they weren't reflecting that properly on our bill.  When we got massages that were on the prepaid romance package, the spa charged us for the massage again and we had to go through an ordeal to get it fixed.  Also, the guest services desk was always packed and there were only ever 2 representatives helping customers at a time.  There were 5 slots with computers for representatives. Piss poor planning on their part!  Our biggest ordeal was how the shore excursions staff handles problems.  The night before our arrival in Belize where we were scheduled for two boat dives, everything seemed fine.  We returned to our room at about 11:30 and wanted to get to bed for an active day following.  We woke up bright and early, dive gear in hand, and on our door was a note notifying us that the tour was cancelled due to mechanical issues.  We were upset of the late notice, because that drastically changes our day, we had nothing planned and everything was booked up.  So we went to the shore excursions desk making sure we got a refund and explained how poorly this was handled.   They didn't even try to help us set something else up. We were banking on two dives!  (Which by the way, once we were in Belize city all of the dive shops were already booked out for the day, so no diving was possible).  Ok, so when we showed that we were disappointed the staff simply said "what am I supposed to do about it?" And she continuously sighed and acted as if irritated with our interaction, and we weren't yelling or carrying on, we were calmly asking questions and showing that we were disappointed.  No help was given.  We complained to customer service, and got all call from the shore excursions desk a day later.  The manager was also defensive and asking "what can I do?  I can't do anything!"  I told her that we weren't upset because of the tour being cancelled, we were upset with the treatment we were receiving from the shore excursions desk.  She said sorry and after I gave her a long speech about being patient with customers and not acting inconvenienced when someone asks a question, she felt guilty for her behavior and said "I will credit you $10 to your account so you can use the 75cent per minute computer lab to research dive shops in your next port of call."  Gee thanks.  A bottle of wine and an apology would have sufficed.  Then she says, "here's tickets to a beach in Cozumel.  You have to pay your own transportation, which is $35 per person round trip.  Also, if you want to do anything there it's extra."  It was garbage.  Really?  That's what you offer?  There's nothing free about it.  We pay $70 + for something we don't want to do?  Thanks for nothing!  Needless to say, we are truly unhappy with what happened.  We loved cruising prior to this experience, but we won't be going on a cruise for our next vacation.  They actually turned us off from cruising!  And it's a shame, because the food they had was wonderful.  Very well done in the restaurant and bar category.  Anyways, if you consider Norwegian, don't!  Go to the cruise line that gives a hoot if you enjoy your vacation, Royal Caribbean International!  The best!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

Eating breakfast early at the Venetian was great. Much quieter, and you don't eat too much lol. Avoid booking excursions through the cruise line. Book your activities locally, support the local international economies!

Ports of call

Tampa, Florida

5 out of 5

Coxen Hole, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

5 out of 5

Belize City, Belize

1 out of 5

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

3 out of 5

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

Traveler Photos

Romance package
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