Beware

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 47

Review summary

On arrival at dock in Seattle all went well, but in the check-in process the person handling our check-in was, to be kind, totally at a loss. She could not get my unlimited American Express card to work on their equipment. After several attempts she stated “don’t worry unless you want to buy something on board you don’t need your ship card, just use your credit card.” With that she gave us our ship cards and on to the ship we went. All went well for the first few times we used the cards for drinks. Then one of the bartenders said that my card was invalid and I should go to Guest Services and find out what’s wrong. This happened a few more times so to Guest Services to find out the problem. After waiting in a line for an interminable period of time and being told by numerous Norwegian employees with “bars” on their blouses that I had to wait, I decided that I could waste no more time and went on my way. Note that the card was “invalid” but even though I had an unlimited drink package, Norwegian still was able to charge me for Washington State sales tax on my drinks. After a specialty dinner that evening at which time I was again told that the card was invalid, I decided to again take on the Guest Services line. To late, Guest Services was closed for the day. Now on to the second day of our trip and into the interminable Guest Services line I went. This time I noticed that people were going into the “concierge” line and being serviced rather quickly. Into that line I went and explained the problem to a helpful person. He took my American Express card and after at least thirty minutes came back and told me all was good, and that the American Express card was registered. This was not to be!!! Shortly after this another bartender told me my card was invalid and I had to go to Guest Services. This is now the second day of the cruise, the day at sea when relaxation was the order of the day. I was certain that the system just wasn’t yet updated so I ignored the bartenders comment and assumed all would be OK later in the day or after an overnight update. Thus, another day of frustration and embarrassment with employees of Norwegian telling me in public that my card was invalid. On the third day my wife got into another line, this one at the jewelry store to secure a free bracelet for one of our granddaughters. I was also waiting in line behind her so I could get a second bracelet for another granddaughter on the trip. (I was traveling with my family, seven people.) The line was long and when my wife finally got to the person handing out bracelets she gave handed over her ship card and received the bracelet. The ship employee, for all to hear, said “your card is invalid, give me back the bracelet”. With that I lost it, telling my wife not give back the bracelet, her ship card was perfectly fine. The discussion with the ship employee got heated, people in line were shocked, and we were totally embarrassed, especially when the ship employee threatened to call security if she did not hand back the bracelet. My wife handed back the bracelet and the ship employee refused to return her ship card, stating it was invalid. (Unknown to us at the time, the manager of the Jewelry shop observed the entire scene, but in no way intervened. I learned this when the matter was finally resolved as pointed out later in this write up.). At that point all I wanted was something to sooth my nerves so off to a bar with my card for two drinks. Not to be, the bartender took my card and refused to serve us, again stating my card was invalid. He would not return the card. Another trip to Guest Services, and another long line. Finally, the matter was resolved by an employee of the ship totally unrelated to Guest Services took it upon himself to take care of the matter. This process took three days, days where I should have been able to enjoy my cruise but instead had to endure endless lines, endless frustration and endless embarrassment, all because Norwegian could not figure out how to use my American Express Card. There was no problem with my credit, there was no problem with my card, the problem was solely due to the incompetence of Norwegian staff and their inability to do anything outside of routine. They could not even figure out how to enter the card numbers manually. I could go on pointing out other problems with the Norwegian staff and process, but nothing would be gained. My wife and I are frequent cruisers but will never travel with Norwegian again. Their staff is well trained on how to handle thousands of guests on a very large ship; however, there is no personal service, no ability to resolve even the simplest matter without higher up approval (even a request for a round table for seven people instead of the rectangular table always assigned required approval of the restaurant manager) and, on the financial side, every facet of the trip seemed to be focused on how to milk as much money out of the guest as possible. Finally, to understand how frustrating this entire trip was realize I was captive on the ship, had prepaid for everything, and the entire problem could have been solved by a phone call to my room with a request for information. This never happened! The Norwegian answer was take away the ship card, embarrass the guest, and send them to Guest Services, a place of interminable lines which was unable to handle the problem.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Ketchikan, Alaska

Juneau, Alaska

SCENIC GLACIER CRUISING

Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), Alaska

Victoria, British Columbia

Disembarkation

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