Money grubbing

This was my second cruise on Norwegien.  On a positive note you have outstanding entertainment and service. I have taken 6 cruises on various ships on other cruise lines.  I was really put off by all the ways the passengers were bombarded by the company to part with their money.  I enjoy playing poker.  The last two cruises I was on with other cruise lines, the cost of the poker tournament was $20.  We had full tables every night and a lot of fun.  You charge $60 to enter your tournament.  You had no takers and a lot of grumbling players that wanted to play, but could not afford it.  Paying for internet is a sad way of making money.  If you simply charged each passenger $10 more, you would have happy customers, and could use the "free internet" as a customer relations feature, and make more money to boot!  Your customers are having to use their shore time to find internet cafes because they cannot afford to spend $.75 a minute.  Going around trying to sell lottery tickets before your theatre shows is tacky and degrading to the crew forced to do it!  Soda from a dispenser is certainly cheaper then coffee or juice, and again, would make your younger travelers happy.  Having water available at the exit is nice, but charging $4.50 a bottle is tacky.  You can buy 24 bottles retail for $3.00.  A good portion of your ship's area is devoted to trying to sell something, instead of providing comfortable lounges, indoor game areas, good sized libraries, etc.(new theater seats on the Star).  The other cruise ships had a 4 page news paper, with different papers in 4 or 5 different languages.  I could read the simple news stories, sports and business news from the USA.  It was really nice.  The English version had one from New York and London.  The NBA playoffs were going on, and all I could get were some obscure soccer games from Europe on TV.  CNN or regular ESPN stations should be on your TV.  You have Fox News and MSNBC, the two most extreme news stations in America.  

A good customer service is the key to your profits, by having happy repeat passengers.  We will not be

booking back with Norwegien unless I hear of some big changes.  James and Celia Lettis