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Norwegian Cruise Lines
Norwegian Jewel Cruise Review
Egypt & Greek Isles

Trev
Age: 62
Occupation: Retired
Number of Cruises: 107
Sailing Date: September 27th, 2006

Letter sent to NCL:

I just returned from our second cruise on the Norwegian Jewel. As much as we enjoyed the trip, I regret that I must write to inform you of an embarrassing and awkward situation that occurred, which was not suitably resolved by the onboard personnel.

We had recommended this cruise to two friends who joined us for the trip. About three days into the cruise we had them to our cabin for cocktails before dinner and used items from the mini-bar provided by NCL. Specifically one had a tonic, one had a vodka, and one had a beer. These items were from the mini-bar. One brought a bottle of bourbon from his cabin’s mini-bar. Upon return from dinner we had a bill for the mini-bar that included the three items consumed from our mini-bar AND a charge for a bottle of rum.

I immediately talked to our cabin steward and explained that nobody drank rum and that he was mistaken with this charge. He insisted that he removed an empty bottle of rum and I assured him we did NOT consume this and perhaps it was there from another cabin he had just cleaned. He insisted it was from us. The next day I reported this somewhat embarrassing situation to the front desk and they assigned a ship’s officer, Mr. Ray Williams to investigate. He said he and other staff members “saw” the empty bottle of rum and after I assured him that we absolutely, 100% did not consume this and that it was a simple mistake he said he would review it one more time. The next day he informed me that we DID drink it and that the $6.50 charge would stand. I was flabbergasted! I considered removing the amount from my onboard tip charges ($10 service charge applied daily to all passengers) but decided not to stoop to that level. The situation totally soured the rest of the cruise for me and our friends, with whom we were traveling.

Having worked in an industry where one has to deal with “customers” on a daily basis, I was taught to cultivate our patrons with a the customer is always right attitude, even when you think they may not be. In the long run, it pays back 10-fold. Due to a $6.50 incident, I can only say that I will never sail NCL again, I will tell friends about this and tell them to go elsewhere, and I have informed my travel agent and told them to advise customers of the cruise line’s actions.

I know in my heart that I was right and that nobody consumed the rum for which we were erroneously charged. We spent over $9,000 (our friends a similar amount) for these two weeks. Isn’t it ironic that $6.50 is all it took to make us never to want to return? There are so many excellent alternatives and you have so many patrons who sail with you, that the loss of several customers and a little bad press may not be important to NCL.

A former loyal customer, regretfully.






 

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