Held Hostage by Cigarette Smoke

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 51

Review summary

My wife and I were supposed to be celebrating our anniversary upon the Norwegian dawn. We were in room 8050. The first day we arrived, our room was filled with cigarette smoke. My wife made a phone call down to the front desk and was told that the staff would do something about it. That night, smoke from the adjacent room, 8032, which we share an adjoining door, was billowing between the door and the frame of the door into our room. We had to open the balcony that night to get relief. My wife then complained the next morning. We were told that passengers were not allowed to smoke in their staterooms and it would be rectified. The next night, the same thing happened. We then opened up the balcony door again, this time they must have also moved to the balcony and there was no relief from the second hand smoke. We complained again the next day, we were then told that passengers were not allowed to smoke on their balconies. We were also assured that something would be done. The next night, again our room filled with cigarette smoke. My wife made another call, obviously very upset. She was told, “there is nothing we can do, you have to wait till the end of the cruise to make a complaint.” I found this incredulous. I then asked to see a manager. I was told I had to speak to someone at the desk first. So I went to the desk and asked to speak to a manager. The person deflected the issue and did not call a manager for me to speak to. However, she said that she would send someone right up to rectify the issue. Needless to say, it seems like all that person did was spray something in the air in the cabin to mask the smell of the cigarette smoke. Mind you I am a physician and am well aware of the issues with 2nd hand smoke. Spraying a freshener does not dissipate those issues. Each night, the same thing happened. We were being held captive in a room that filled with smoke. We complained, each time we did, we were told that they had a record of our complaints. We never had a manager try to contact us at all. Clearly the chain of command was absent. On the last night, my wife actually called down at 2 in the morning. The cabin smoke was suffocating. They offered to send a workman to our cabin at 2 am to assess the issue. That was ridiculous. On the last morning I went down again to speak to the hotel service desk. I immediately asked to speak to the manager. I ended up speaking with Yunita Wahid, a guest services supervisor. I told her I wanted to speak with Tony Winkler, the head person. She told me that he was not available. I also asked about all our complaints to show nothing was done. She went on the computer at the desk and informed me that only the last complaint from 2 in the morning was there. Obviously all the previous complaints were erased. She refused to give me the contact information for Mr Winkler, only that he can be contacted at extension, 8888. Well that is useless after we disembark. I left a message for Mr. Winkler at the extension asking him to call my cell. Have never heard from him or the cruise line after complaining via email. Frankly we are unbelievably disappointed with the service we received. I have been on at least 15 different cruises. This was my second cruise on Norwegian, the other being the Norway back in the 1990’s. I am aware of smoke on cruises and have never needed to make a complaint. The second hand smoke in our cabin was not only insufferable, I am quite certain it would even be an issue by most health standards of most countries. Our vacation for our anniversary was ruined. NCL's response to our complaints were obviously ignored. The ships management was unresponsive. Clearly an attempt to erase our complaints was performed. Furthermore, they seem to not consider cigarette smoke an issue since most of their health related activities and talks were held in the Gatsby Lounge which is adjacent to the constant smoke filled casino, and the cigar smoking room. To suffer an entire week, being held captive in a smoke filled room is torture.

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Ports of call

Port Canaveral, Florida

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

Nassau, Bahamas

Disembarkation

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