Complaint Review:
Norwegian Cruise Lines
Nowegian Jewel 1/28/12 - 2/4/12
My husband and I wanted to make our 40th anniversary celebration memorable and unforgettable! As NCL silver latitude members, we decided to take our children, their spouses and all of our grandchildren on an NCL cruise to celebrate this milestone, since all our previous cruises with them were a very positive experience. Instead of booking our usual economic inside cabin, we busted the budget, reserving a penthouse on the 11th deck with an adjoining suite. NCL representatives told us that the penthouse came with numerous perks, including bathrobes, that would be ours to
keep as a special souvenir. We believed the total of cost of approximately $7,000 would be well worth it, since it was a once in a lifetime celebration.
Everyone counted down the days until we sailed.....the grandchildren could hardly contain their excitement, since this was to be their 1st cruising experience. For the first time ever, a limousine was booked to transport us roundtrip to and from the pier in NY. Finally, our much anticipated dream cruise was about to begin.
After boarding, we opened the door to our penthouse and were greeted by an overwhelming, foul, obnoxious sewer
stench coming from the master bathroom. Garbage was found in a pile on the balcony deck and the windows of the balcony railings were obscured by salt spray. We reported these issues to the reception desk hours before departing the port. Unfortunately, the childrens' view of the Statue of Liberty, bridges and the NY skyline was blocked by the balcony windows, still covered with salt spray, as our ship sailed past. The sewer stench continued, requiring a second trip to the reception desk before dinner. The second steward, Devon Bedward, was dispatched to the room to solve the problem.
After returning to the room at about 10:30, the disgusting stench was now permeating the entire suite, necessitating yet another trip down to reception. We were impatiently informed by reception that it was documented by Devon Bedward at 7 pm that the stench was gone, problem solved. I left a written complaint in the box for the hotel director, Hugo Vanosmael, about this horrendous situation. Mark Anthony was now sent to the room, who confirmed the stench was definitely still present. He left to find someone to help him get the smell under control and at 11 pm, something was put into the toilet and air freshener was sprayed in the room, with a promise that a plumber would arrive in the morning. Now, the entire family, 6 adults and 4 children, 8 yrs. old, 6 yrs., 3 yrs. and an 8 mo. old
infant were forced to sleep in a room that smelled like a sewer, accompanied by a sickening sweet air freshener scent.
The problems continued to multiply. A pack & play requested when we made reservations had not been delivered. Another call to reception finally resulted in one being set up in the room, however it was stained and dirty. Needless to say, my granddaughter was not allowed to sleep in it, and she was required to sleep in the bed with her parents. Housekeeping skills were severely lacking, even with the personal supervision of the second steward, Devon Bedward. No promised bathrobes, slippers or toiletries in the suite. It took 2 days of requesting these robes, through our concierge, Ryan Rabe, before they were delivered to the suite.
A large scissor, used by the room steward when setting up the nickelodeon bedtime kits the first evening, was left on my 3 yr. old grandson's bed and he was found holding it. The following morning, nauseated by the sewer stench throughout the night, he threw up in the shower. Remnants of this remained on the shower floor throughout most of the cruise. A dirty sock from a prior passenger was found under one of the beds. The hair dryer was falling off the wall in the penthouse. Credit card receipts from the previous weeks' passenger were found in a drawer, containing his name, address and confidential credit card information. I photographed proof these incidents, and will be contacting the prior week's passenger, David Burke, from Newmarket, NH so that he is aware that he must now monitor his accounts for possible fraud, due to the negligence of NCL. Obviously, housekeeping is not capable of properly maintaining the penthouse suites or properly inspecting and cleaning them thoroughly during the ship's turn around.
Just when we thought things were finally improving, the saga continued. Toilet backed up in 2nd bathroom, sewer stench in master bathroom continued to arise through entire cruise, however not as severe. Sheets on master bed, stained by formula since the baby was forced to sleep in that bed, were not changed when stewards cleaned the
room. Electical problems resulted in doorbell and 2nd bathroom light not working. Turned down couch bed in penthouse was discovered to be saturated directly under the pillow when my 8 yr. old grandson went to bed, after we returned to the cabin late one night. Housekeeping came immediately, with another mattress and changed all the bedding. The next morning, we learned from our concierge, they reported that milk had been spilled on the bed. That definitely did not happen. All the children were changed and put to bed within minutes of arriving back in the room. No one had drinks in the bed. If there really had been an accidental spill, why would we lie about it? Furthermore, whatever had saturated the bed was not milk. Hopefully, what we imagined could have been the cause, is not true.
After to speaking to Hugo, the hotel director, at the latitudes reception on sunday, he offered us an additional balcony suite, at no charge, that could be used by the family. I thanked him for the offer, but told him that we most probably would not take the offer, since the whole purpose of this cruise was for the family to be together. We did accept his offer of dinner for 2 nights at any specialty restaurant, which we enjoyed. A credit of $200 per room was issued to my
onboard account. I told Hugo that I appreciated what had been offered, but I did not feel it was adequate. We refused an offer of another specialty restaurant dinner and an additional onboard credit of $200 for each room, as still not sufficient.
At lunch on the final full day of the cruise, Alfie Barrete, guest service manager, presented me with a letter from NCL customer relations, offering a future cruise credit of 25% for the family. I thanked her, but told her anything less than a 50% credit was not acceptable for what had transpired. After all, we had already been offered a free balcony suite.
It should not matter whether we accepted the offer for a free balcony suite on that cruise or a future one. One free balcony suite, and an additional suite puchased at full fare, would equal a 50% reduction of the total fare for a
future cruise. Since the ship was returning to port the next morning, she said I would hear directly from customer relations the following week. Little did I know what was in store for us the next day!
Late friday afternoon, my husband packed our luggage and placed 3 suitcases, 2 large ones and 1 smaller one, outside the door before we left for dinner. An additional 8 suitcases were placed outside the adjoining penthouse later that night. The following morning, my daughter received a telephone call, informing her that our rooms had been "randomly selected for a routine security check" and a member of our party needed to be present before the suitcases could be opened and inspected. A crew member was immediately outside the room and my son, who is also a police officer, agreed to accompany him for this "random, routine search."
Assuming that he was going to a custom's office, my son was surprised to be taken to a security office onboard
the ship. Once inside, Devon Bedward and the executive housekeeper demanded to know where the bathrobes were. My son explained that we were told by NCL, prior to the cruise, that the robes were ours to keep. Why else would we
have continuously asked for these robes to be delivered to our rooms for the first 2 days? Only 3 large bags, out of our 11 total suitcases, were present in the room, all containing "missing bathrobes." How were they able to correctly
pick only the 3 suitcases that had robes in them? Do NCL crew members have ESP? I think not! They lied and stated that only the 3 suitcases placed outside our room were brought in. However, we had only 2 large bags, the 3rd
large suitcase present in the security office, containing a bathrobe, was my son's, which had been placed outside the penthouse later that night. This proved that all 11 suitcases had been opened and searched previously, without
our presence or permission! How else could they have possibly picked the 3 correct suitcases?
On my way to get juice for my grandchildren, I saw my son returning down the hallway, with Devon Bedward and
the executive housekeeper in hot pursuit. They confronted me in the hallway, as other passengers passed, demanding to know where any other bathrobes were. My son told me what had gone on in the security office and that the robes had been left there. During the heated conversation that followed between us, I was told that the cabin stewards "noticed" the robes were missing when they turned down the cabin friday evening. If that were true, they must have x ray vision to have been able to see through closed closet doors and dresser drawers! It was obvious that they had searched our room while we were gone. They "noticed"....truly pathetic liars! I repeated what we had been told by an NCL representative regarding these robes, which was exactly what my son had told them. I also informed them I did not appreciate being called a thief, out in the hallway, as other passengers went by. Several minutes later, Devon and his
supervisor were at the door, still looking for robes. They were again told that they already had them and I put the slippers from our room, under Devon's arm, while stating that no one accuses me of being a thief and a liar!
As we were leaving the room, my husband found a slipper in the room. Hoping to see the "robe police" on our
way to the gangway, he put it in his pocket. When we got to the gangway on deck 7, our cards were swiped and we were told that we needed to remain there. After several questions, it was obvious that some type of hold was put on us because of the bathrobes. My 8 mo. old ganddaughter was in her stroller on the open deck, in the cold and wind. We asked to go back inside in order to keep her warm. The 2 men at the podium demanded that we stay right there. My husband dropped the slipper onto the podium, telling them that since they still believed we were thieves, he wanted them to have it. One of the men, from Nepal, India, picked up the slipper, threw it at my husband, hitting him in the arm. When I returned it to him, I was ordered off the deck before I was able to report this incident or write down their names. Once we were off the ship, I found Bill Mearns, the pier supervisor for Intercruises, explained what had happened and
asked him to file a report with NCL. A few hours later, after arriving home, I tried to call customer relations, but the office was closed until monday. I did speak to someone at NCL's toll free number but was told that they are available until midnight on weekdays and 9 pm weekends, but only for pre-cruise issues. It's like when you buy a car.....while you're purchasing it, everyone trips over themselves to serve you, but once you drive it off the lot, you can't get anyone to answer questions, return phone calls or help with any problems!
The following monday morning, my telephone calls to NCL customer relations began. It took 11 telephone calls
over the course of 2 days, to various high level NCL executives to finally receive any response. You consider this customer service? Like I said before, my experience proves that dealing with NCL is like buying a new
car.....what a way to conduct a business! I was informed by Paula Ponder, a supervisor in customer
relations, that security, the cabin steward, Devon Bedward and the executive housekeeper followed "acceptable protocol" regarding the bathrobes! They denied confronting me in the hallway. We were treated like criminals over bathrobes....outrageous! It is NCL "acceptable protocol" to search passenger rooms while they are still on board, search all checked luggage without passenger presence or permission? When I asked why the stewards didn't just ask about the bathrobes, or leave a note in the room, requesting that the robes be left on the bed or in the bathroom, I was told they didn't want any confrontation! No confrontation, are you kidding me? You don't consider what went on to be confrontation?
After 3 days and numerous requests to have customer relations check the video that was recorded in the hallway saturday morning documenting the confrontation, Paula informed me that the video did indeed prove Devon Bedward and the executive housekeeper lied, but since the video did not contain any audio, it did not prove what was said. She
also informed me that security claimed no report was never filed by Bill Mearns about the assault on my husband. I immediately contacted Mr. Mearns personally, and he told me that he most definitely had filed this report with NCL and
security would have received a copy....proof of more NCL lies!
I sent faxes to NCL executives, Anne Marie Mathews, Crane Gladding, Michael Flesch and Andrew Stuart about our cruise and requesting a return call from someone directly in their office about all the incidents. As usual, no response directly from any of them, despite a subsequent telephone message left for each. The issue was passed back down to Alice Kain Moore, Paula Ponders' supervisor. NCL had not changed its position and still believed the dinners, room credits and 25%
discount for a future cruise was more than sufficient for what we went through.
That offer was made prior to the outrageous occurences of 2/3 & 2/4/12. Your crew members searched our suite and closed luggage, publicly accused me of being a thief and a liar, told numerous lies in attempts to protect themselves,
assaulted my husband and they don't feel that anything additional is justified.....completely unacceptable and totally i really stands for....Nightmare Cruise Lies!