NCL Customer Relations

A year ago my wife and I started planning a 50th Wedding Anniversary during a 7 day cruise aboard the Norwegian Sun. With us were 25 other members of our family and a service dog. All reservations were made for 11 cabins, a room for a ceremony, non-alcohol drinks, snacks and a cake plus provision for the service dog. Our Personal Cruise Consultant, Ashley Ish was wonderful and so helpful in setting up our cruise.
`Things fell apart even before we left home. Three days before the cruise we got a call from NCL Inez F. Cortina, a Group Event Coordinator Sun telling us our room for the ceremony was never booked and now there was nothing available that day and we would have to change the date and time for the ceremony. A few panicky phone calls later with our Personal Cruise Consultant, Ashley Ish and she was able to arrange with Inez Cortina and Inez Cortina secured us a place for that day and time in the Las Ramblas room.
On the day our group arrived at the pier, NCL experienced what was a bomb threat that would delay our boarding 2 to 21/2 hours. We were split up depending on how and when we arrived and initially prevented from grouping up. Left in the sun with no provisions (we had planned to join for lunch on board) the only thing we got from NCL was a bottle of warm water. We had to scrounge from our vehicles and luggage for something to eat.
The next day we went to see where our ceremony was to take place. Turns out it is a Tappas Bar and serves as a pass through for passengers going to and from other venues on the ship. The bar opens shortly after our reserved time and certainly would have to be set up in advance to serve food and drink while we were still there. Really, you give me a bar for a celebration that was to have no alcohol and we have a Minster of a non-drinking faith conducting the renewal of wedding vows. What were you thinking or were you thinking. The GOOD NEWS, we met with Bruno Denton, the Group Event Co-ordinator on the ship. He listened, asked what we needed and made it all happen. A quiet and private room, decorated with flowers, and anniversary cake, cookies, munchy type snack and non-alcohol drink service. What we had wanted and thought we had arranged for eight months ago. Bruno has our heart felt Thanks and deserves recognition for a job well done.
Then comes the matter of the Seven Seas dinning room. We were told to contact the Maitre de early to set up a reservation for the 26 of us to sit together banquet style with two tables in a corner. This is so we could gather together at the end of the day and share our experiences. It also would make it easier for the staff to serve our group at the same time. It also would be less disruptive to have us there as we had in our group my Autistic grandson and his service dog. All was well for two days (Sat & Sun evening) On day 3 we arrived at our appointed time and were told there was no reservation and this could not be done. We were told that no one could possibly have made these arrangements. The Maitre de did not believe us and questioned just who, what, where and when this was done. He seemed rather annoyed that he would have to do something. After some discussion he could see we were getting angry and finally decided to do something by at first putting us in tables around the dinning room. Finally he relented and agreed on a late time so they could set up for us. The reservations for the remainder of the trip went fine.
While on the subject of the dinning room, one evening as we sat for dinner and I reached for a roll from the bread basket and what do I come upon? An empty liquor mini bottle stuck in with the bread. It would appear that it was recycled from another diners table that had finished their meal and stashed the empty bottle in the basket to hide it. I called the waiter over to show him and he just took the basket and walked away. Upset again I sought out the Maitre de to tell him what had happened and he didn't believe me "This cannot have happened" He went to the waiter area to find the bottle and the waiter acting as if nothing had happened until I said I have a whole table of witnesses. Nothing happened, not even an apology.
Now we come to the problems in the buffet and deli area, to be brief--empty entree trays for far too long, no lemon for ice tea for one hour after reporting it, no glasses, no cups, no coffee, dirty tables not cleaned for quite a time leaving people to mill about looking for a clean spot to sit and eat. The food in the Seven Seas Restaurant menu looked like fine dining, the presentation was good, but the food was mediocre at best.
I mentioned before that we had a service dog with us. My son had complied with all your requirements including training the dog to relieve himself in a designated area using mulch as the litter. When on board he discovers that there is an area set aside BUT the litter is SAND. The dog was confused at best. You try retraining him in one quick session.
Now we come to the Photographer. My son-in-law went to inquire about a reservation for the group and the costs. It would be the day of our ceremony, myself in a tuxedo, my wife in fancy dress and the 24 others in our party in suits and dresses for the occasion. We were told due to the size of the group it couldn't be done until about 7:30 PM. That was ok, we could work with that. When my son-in-law went to confirm at the guest service desk, he was told they didn't know anything about it and he had to go talk to the photographer again, but couldn't find the photographer that he made the appointment with. He was put in touch with the photo manager Elliot and was told we would have to guarantee the purchase of a number of pictures, sight unseen. This was unusual as we never encountered this arrangement before on any of our other cruises. In the discussion that followed, Elliot made the statement "It's all about the revenue" not customer service, not quality, but solely "Revenue". Conversation over, No Sale! Went to diner, now late because of this.
Elliot proceeds to track down my son-in-law and caught him in the middle of dinner and proceeded to try to sell us a photo package. We had to order him to leave and told him there would be NO photos, we would do our own. He also lost the sale of a picture on canvas that my daughter's family wanted done as our anniversary gift. That now would not happen!
Many of the problems would be considered minor but they were so frequent that it became the norm..Towels not replaced, toilet tissue not replaced, coffee supplies not replaced, food/plates not removed.
This was our 50th Wedding Anniversary and planned renewal abroad ship with a gathering of family from many different parts of the country. A once in lifetime event, meant to be memorable. We had planned 8 months in advance and personally paid for 21 of the 27 in our group. We had 11 cabins and spent over $15, 000.00 with NCL and an additional $5, 000.00 was spent by others in our group.
The general feeling we all got was that the employees on the ship are untrained, indifferent or incompetent and that includes the lower levels of management and supervisors. The staff didn't seem to understand us and management doesn't believe you when a problem was given to them. There is no communication between departments and they didn't know what their responsibilities were and wind up mishandling them.
My wife ad I expect to hear from NCL soon and not a form letter expressing your apology being sent out by a clerk.
This situation should be brought to the attention and reviewed by everyone in the chain of command all the way up to the top.
We are the ones to be contacted, we are the ones angered, put through periods of anxiety, frustration, embarrassment and loss of sleep trying to keep it all together so all of us could enjoy our celebration