Staff cutbacks, bad service.

[Carol Dean]

Just returned from Breakaway and overcrowded worst service due to staff crew cutbacks. We cancelled our transatlantic cruise because of the poor service and way too many people. We will stay with smaller ships, and heard several other cruisers complain about the same thing.

[FJB]

On 2/10/2023 at 5:34 PM, Carol Dean said:

Just returned from Breakaway and overcrowded worst service due to staff crew cutbacks. We cancelled our transatlantic cruise because of the poor service and way too many people. We will stay with smaller ships, and heard several other cruisers complain about the same thing.

If more people do the same as you, the cruise lines should get the message and make changes for the better. 

[PaulB]

This is terrible to hear. It goes back to what was discussed on here before in regards to poor customer service and being the norm that we now face. These companies should be ashamed of themselves. Not only going on a cruise should be a treat for people, a lot of expense goes into paying to go onto ships and people deserve and quite rightly expect to be treated right, and unfortunately companies are just cutting costs so that they can make profits and it's the holiday makers or customers that always end up suffering. 

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@Carol Dean I'm saddened to hear about this experience. From what I have seen, Norwegian Breakaway is a beautiful ship! Was this your first time cruising onboard this ship?

https://www.cruisehive.com/reasons-to-cruise-on-the-norwegian-breakaway-cruise-ship/40240

I'm sure all of the staffing cutbacks are negatively impacting the customer experience. What areas of the ship, in particular, were lacking the most?

Norwegian Breakaway has a guest capacity of 3,963 passengers. It's definitely a larger ship, and when a ship it that large, it can get pretty crowded. The elevators always seem troublesome on the larger ships. I usually try for the stairs instead of cramming into one when I can.

@FJB That's very true!

[CaptAng]

Love the Breakaway, sailed her 7 times and never had a bad day.  If you sail on a ship that holds 3900 expect there to be 3900 people.

Crew handled everything well every sailing, entertainment was off the hook.  Do they still do Rock of Ages?  If your new to this ship dont be afraid to book it is a beautiful  vessel and we only had great service and time.

[Kendall James-Vargas]

@CaptAng That's a great point. Usually, larger ships host larger crowds. But as many say, the more the merrier! That's really why cruising is such a personal experience because everyone wants something different out of their vacation experience. Several cruise lines offer more intimate ships and cruising experiences that would possibly better suit @Carol Dean's expectations. What is Rock of Ages? 

[PaulB]

There is a fine line between having large crowds and staff controlling these amounts to staff cuts and companies still getting these masses of customers in to make money without the added staff, and that will always show up and you can tell the difference 

[3Sisters]

@Carol Dean That's no fun! Crowds are oftentimes a good sign for the cruise industry. It means they are meeting their sales goals and financially recovering from the previous year's losses. I'm not thrilled about the staffing cutbacks, but I really hope it all begins to regulate itself. I'm sure it's not an effective long-term plan. Guests like yourself are going to likely notice diluted customer service. 

[LukeJ]

And what happens if you complain.. not a lot. You may get an apology if you're lucky, but an apology does not make up for the bad service etc received during your holiday

[Cruising Caribbean]

@LukeJ You had me chuckling. I agree that an apology does not make up for the bad service. I would imagine that the customer service staff is pretty numb to customer complaints and comments. The best way to truly fix bad customer service is either avoiding it if you know it's going to be bad or trying to fix it on the spot. Complaining after the fact usually isn't proactive enough. That passive approach usually gets a passive response, and by the time you get one, it's likely too late.

[Kat627]

We just came from 12 days on the Getaway.  One steward had 24 rooms to clean every day.  Ours was done around 3pm  There were some done around 6pm  The steward worked hard but it was to much.  It is the first cruise on Norwegian that we didn't even know the stewards name.  I don't mind once a day cleaning but I don't want that to be in the late afternoon.  We had a lot of rude passengers that didn't help.  You could tell not enough staff because the bartenders weren't slowing down the entire time.  Yes Getaway is a big ship but I have been on it before and the Breakaway also with no complaints.  The entertainment was scaled down too.  I met a lot of great staff but it was a frustrating experience  Even though I am platinum, after I use up my cruise next funds I will go to another cruise line.

[LukeJ]

@Kat627 I'm with you on that, I wouldn't be happy to find my room being cleaned so late in the day. I guess we tend to be familiar with that being done in the mornings. And if customers know that a ship is short staffed, it will make the whole experience deflated as you would know that everything will be done at a slower pace than normal.

[Cruising Caribbean]

@Kat627 This just breaks my heart. I hope that Norwegian Cruise Line changes this and makes things right for its housekeeping staff. I don't think anyone should feel so overworked and exhausted to then have to attend to rude cruise passengers. It's just unfair that the cruise line has decided to make cutbacks that are affecting cruise guests but more importantly the crew and the overall well-being of all staff members onboard. You aren't the only loyal NCL cruise guest that has experienced these sorts of issues. It's evident customer service has declined and it's majorly due to the cutbacks. I'm hoping the new leadership changes positively impact all of these issues.