Here is a copy of the letter I sent to NCL's CEO Colin Veitch. My first post, I know, but here it is and you can decide
August 18, 2008
My address deleted
Mr. Colin Veitch
President and CEO Norwegian Cruise Line
7665 Corporate Center Drive
Miami, FL 33126
Dear Mr. Veitch,
Subject: Norwegian Sky (7/18/08)
I am writing to you today in the hope that you will be able to assist me with some concerns I had with my recent cruise on the Norwegian Sky (7/18/08 to 7/21/08). The 3-day cruise from Miami last month was a terrible experience for my family, and me, as the level of service from houskeeping was abysmal.
Our arrival onto the ship was normal and pleasant, the port facility is nice and getting onboard was quick and easy. My family and I had our lunch and spent some time getting to know the ship. After a while, we went to our room, and found it was not ready yet. This is understandable, since there is so much to do that day for the crew. We changed into our bathing suits and spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool. At the time of the ship’s muster drill, we returned to our room to find it was not yet ready, as there was trash from the previous occupants on the desk and the bathroom was not cleaned. After the drill, the door had been closed and the sign taken away that said the room was still being cleaned. I can understand how this might happen, so I called down to the housekeeping department and asked that out room be cleaned while we were out to dinner. When we returned 2 hours later, the room was still not cleaned! This I do NOT understand. We also noticed that the mini bar had not been restocked, so I made another call to the front desk to let them kow that this needed to be fixed and to make sure we were not billed for the previous occupants use of the mini bar.
The next day was spent off the ship and a nice time was had by all. We returned in the early afternoon and started to get ready for dinner. My wife asked if we could get an iron, so I called housekeeping and asked for an iron to be sent to our room. They said “No problem, Mr. C we will get it right up.†We waited in our room for 50 minutes before we gave up and went to dinner. (I’m STILL waiting for that iron to show up).
That night, the ship was having some issues with the plumbing, and our toilet was not working. As a result, there was a sewage back up on our bathroom floor. Again, I understand that these things happen, but how you react to these things is how I judge you as a service provider. Your team did very poorly. I was up in the morning, and called housekeeping to let them know that we had a problem and that there was a backup on our floor. I told them that we would be on the island for the day, but to please take care of it while we were out. We left early and returned on the last tender back, only to find our room in the exact condition we left it. I was upset, so I went to the front desk to “make sure†that they knew the room was in such bad shape. “No problem, Mr. C we will get right on it†was what I heard, so it was off to the pool for a while. We returned to get ready for dinner, and the room was still uncleaned with what was now day old sewage on the floor. At that point, I was walking the hallway asking EVERY crewmember I saw if they could get me a plunger so I could fix it myself (Is this normal?). I finally found a crewmember that came to my room and fixed the blockage. I stood there and watched him so that I KNEW it was fixed. When he was done, I thanked him and asked that the room be cleaned. “No problem, Mr. C we will get right on it†You can probably guess by now that when we returned from dinner, the room was still not cleaned. This was the final straw (or so I thought). I went to the front desk to let them know that we had a real problem. While there, the front desk clerk printed a copy of my bill to make sure the minibar issue was had been taken care of. It had not. “We will call the head of housekeeping and take care of it, Mr. Câ€Â.
Guess what? I spent over an hour standing in line the last morning to take care of an $11 mischarge that I told them about on day one. I have never been treated so poorly on a cruise as this most recent trip.
I want you to know that I am not a frequent cruiser, but I have made five so far, including two with your company. I also made the arrangements for 2 other family’s who accompanied us on this cruise. I was hoping the cruise survey I filled out would have been enough for one of your representatives to contact me after I noted the same facts, but evidently not, thus the letter to you.
My expectation is for you to look into the practices of your crew, and to remedy the situation, and provide me with a full refund in the amount of $-Redacted-
Sincerely,
Name Redacted
