Here's a picture

They do not, however, add swimming pools or restaurants, so people are packed in
tightly around the pool, and tables for 8 are seating 10 people, tables for 6 are seating 8,
and so forth. In my case, the renovations were a bit more personal. They came into my room
one morning when I was out and caulked my bathtub. I had to put up with stink of caulking
for two days. We had an $8000/week penthouse suite with a balcony looking over the stern of
the ship. Our room vibrated so badly while the ship was under power that we found it difficult
to read. One night the vibrations were so bad that the pipes in the ceiling were clanging,
and we couldn’t even sleep. The last full day of the cruise found us anchored at the NCL private
island. Since there were no vibrations, we settled down for a nice afternoon of reading on our
deck. Not to be... early in the afternoon the crew moved everyone from the restaurant area to
one side,  brought out two industrial floor sanders and started to sand the floors. That area was
two floors below us, but directly in our sight, and only about 75  feet away. Needless to say,
the noise and the dust made it impossible to use the deck for the afternoon.

There were a lot of other things about the cruise that were irritating, but to a lesser degree.
The Norway never docks at a port... they anchor in the bay and tender you back and forth to
land... a time consuming and irritating process, since you can't come and go at will. The
elevators were frequently out of order. In fact, one of the two elevators that serviced our
section was out of order from the first day, but they never posted a sign  until the second
last day. Since the restaurants were six floors ... twelve flights of stairs... below us, a
lot of the older folks were dependent on the elevators. With hundreds of people trying
to use these elevators, it meant a substantial wait, or hoofing it. We always hoofed it, since
we needed the exercise, but there was a lot of grumbling from the older folks.
The halls and decks of the ship always smelled of paint or varnish, since they were constantly
painting something or other. The decks were not exactly filthy, but there was always dirt to
be seen no matter where you were. The rooms, even the penthouse suites, were extremely
run down: we had bed spreads that were worn thin and stained, a lamp shade that had been
splattered with coke or something, and was badly stained, and portions of our walls were
falling off. Some closet doors had to be padded with rags to stop the rattling,
and the carpets were a mess.

This ship had not been cut in half for more space, but rather it had two new decks added to
the top. That made things very crowded at meals, especially dinner. And the pool area was
a laugh. It was absolutely wall to wall people... getting in to and from you pool chair
(if you were luckly enough to get one) was worse than moving around at a movie.
Hell,  I could go on for ages... I guess I already have... but you get the idea...

The really interesting thing about this is that NCL regards these things are
“industry standards". Kriste Mesa of their customer relations department writes:
NCL  REALLY SUCKS
“the vibrations in your room are quite normal on our ships...  this is a common occurrence.”
Maybe with NCL they are, but not with any other cruise line.
 NCL SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS
 And with regards to the caulking and sanding, again, this is too bad... but we gotta do what
we gotta do...  I was amazed that anyone at NCL would actually put these things in writing.
I contacted the personal secretary of Geir Aune (Former president),
Roseanne Kruger (Former secretary), and she confirmed the
statements. All of their ships have severe vibration problems. And as for the on-going
maintenace, she said “wouldn’t you be more unhappy if we didn’t do it?” “Let me get this
straight” I asked, “if you were in a five star resort, and they went in to paint your room
while you were in it, this would be okay?” She hung up.
NCL IS A NIGHTMARE
Since this cruise, I’ve done a bit of reaseach on NCL. I wish I had done this before I booked...
NCL SUCKS THE MOST
NCL faced a class action suit for repeatedly sending ships out with faulty air conditioning.
Passengers were forced to sleep on mattresses amid cots on deck because the cabin temperatures
were over 100 degrees. “ It was terrible, the ship from hell” said Tom Kowicz, a doctor from Alberta.
“It wasn’t just the air conditioning. It was everything.” NCL initially offered an apology, then a
50% rebate on their next cruise, and, finally, a full one week refund to some. Any reputable
cruise line would have made a full refund offer immediately. Hell, any reputable cruise line wound’t
have sent the ship out with faulty air conditioning in the first place...
Read:Unbearable cruise ends in Houston port (Corpus Christi Caller Times (97/12/30)
Read:                 "Voyage of the damned": the sequel (Houston Chronicle 97/12/28)
NCL AIN'T WORTH IT
After repeated outbreaks of gastroenteritis on April 14, March 4, March 14, and again on
March 25, 1997, NCL was finally forced to shut down one of her ships for a major cleanup.
NCL IS A NIGHTMARE
Recently, an NCL liner was involved in a collision  off the coast of Europe.
All passengers were evacuated. Great way to spend a holiday...
NCL WILL TAKE YOUR MONEY
And more recently, (September 25, 1999) the Norwegian Sky ran aground
on a sandbar at the St. Lawrence River/Saguenay River junction.
Again, all passengers were returned home early.
 NCL DON'T CARE
Actually, it’s not that NCL can’t deliver a decent cruise. The problem is that they have
an absolutely ironclad rule about no compensation for their screw-ups and, as I’ve found,
they have a  multitude of those. ALL of the passengers on our deck complained about the
vibrations and renovations. None received a dime of compensation.
FORGET NCL
Still planning on taking that cruise with NCL?   Well, here is some information
you may need when you get back to shore.
CHOOSE ANOTHER CRUISE LINE
      President of NCL:       Colin Vietch
Colin’s private phone number: (305)436-4909
Colin’s private fax number:      (305)436-4140
CHOOSE CARNIVAL
Actually, like the president of any second rate firm with constant customer complaints,
Colin will never personally answer your calls or your mail, no matter what.
You’ll have to deal with Ada, his secretary.
NCL STILL SUCKS
NCL is a publicly owned corporation, but the stock is not sold in North America,
only on the Oslo stock exchange. I called NCL in Norway to get a list of the board
of directors, but was refused. You can try them yourself:
DON'T CHOOSE NCL
NCL Oslo:   Voice:   22 51 09 50
                  Fax:    22 73 11 27

email me if you get anywhere...
NCL WON'T DELIVER
You can get more information on NCL by going to deja.com and searching on NCL.
Complaints, complaints & complaints.
NCL WON'T CUT IT
A few websites dedicated to NCL's poor customer service...
The unsuspected tourist
The Norwegian Cruise Line Sucks Homepage
Norwegian Cruise Lines Ruined Our Honeymoon
NCL HAS NO MORALS
Click here for a few reviews and letters found on the Internet
NCL IS YOUR WORST CRUISE NIGHTMARE
Remember that motto... we’ve got the cash, now take a dash...
DON'T GIVE YOUR CASH TO NCL
Have a web page you'd like linked to this one?
Have a story you'd like to share?
contact me at:
DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT NCL
phdewar@my-deja.com
FORGET NCL

visitors since last
updated on
00/04/04
 
 

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