Will the NCL America operation be slimmed down or scrapped?

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Originally posted by mike sa:
Obviously NCL is hoping that moving PO Aloha to a 10 day route will make some difference...

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The UK NCL web site says that they expect the 10 day routes to be more attractive to UK and European passengers.

I did complain only a few days ago that the NCL UK web site did NOT offer on-line packages with flights included. They now seem to be addressing this.

Hawaii certainly is a long way for a Brit to go for one week. Unfortunately the flights cost more than the cruise.

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Originally posted by mike sa:
They also have to address issues with NCL proper as NCLA is by far not their only problem.

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It's odd, because the new hardware is certainly impressive, it'd their human resources which seem to be suspect at times.

[ 03-03-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

I think NCL may well muddle along for years to come, and always be the also-ran among the major lines. I don't think the line will die from being slowly boiled. I think if anything does it in, it will be a sudden implosion. Some major event, or change in direction by Star.

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Originally posted by bulbousbow:
Malcolm, how well known are NCL in the UK and continental Europe?

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Although NCL have tended to concentrate on American waters, they are still pretty well known in Europe.

NCL send 'Norwegian Dream' each summer to do cruises from Dover UK to the Baltic with some of our cheapest fares offered by any line. However we only see their newbuilds for the occasional promotional cruises.

The SS Norway used to visit the UK each summer for Fjord cruises etc, before she was permanently placed in the Caribbean. The UK has NCL TV adverts and their brochures are in all our Travel Agencies.

NCL newbuilds are currently operating in the Mediterranean and probably doing very well? In fact their recent press release identified European cruise growth but Caribbean decline (or at least stagnation). There's probably easier money to be made in the Med than in Hawaii. I bet they are more able to maintain higher fares.

RCI have probably developed a stronger profile in Europe and the UK than NCL. Sending both the UK and Europe 'Voyager' class ships, show their optimism and commitment.

If NCL want a slice of the worlds second biggest cruise market (the UK), they need to send us a new ship for the summer season.

[ 03-04-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

Eight new ships, more to follow, plus two mega ships by the end of the decade, including a fleet of three NCL America ships, and berthing fees for a couple of rusty old vintage ships.

Why on earth invest in three NCL America ships so quickly, when they could have tested the market with one ship, refined the product and added additional tonnage when they were sure that there was the demand.

In addition there has been criticism of NCL's food, service and efficiency of the 'freestyle' system since its introduction, especially on NCLA ships, but generally across the fleet.

They have some great new tonnage but a lot of issues to address.

[ 03-05-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

It seems like Star has spent too much money too quickly with all these newbuilds, and the rapid expansion has not been a good thing for them. And as you say, with their quality issues still being a problem, not many people, myself included, are finding that they really want to spend the money on one of the NCL ships. The experience is not justifying the cost.

Anyone have a guess as to who will be first in line to claim the spoils of disaster?

[ 03-05-2007: Message edited by: BigUFan ]

I have no issues at all with their newbuilds and I enjoy 'Freestyle', never had a bad meal. In fact on any ship/cruiseline one is fed far better than one could possibly hope to eat out on land for the same cost. There are so many choices of dishes available for every meal how can someone not find anything to their liking?

NCLA may be a different matter, I have not tested the waters. Some of the reviews are however mind boggling in that every little thing is nit picked to death, so one can only take those with a pinch of salt.

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Originally posted by PamM:

NCLA may be a different matter, I have not tested the waters. Some of the reviews are however mind boggling in that every little thing is nit picked to death, so one can only take those with a pinch of salt.

Pam

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Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:
I have also wondered about the poor reports about the poor service and food on NCLA.

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Although I think that some people have jumped on a "lets complain about NCLA" band-wagon, the number of less than satisfactory reports from the outset has fuelled this trend.

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Originally posted by PamM:
If NCL had not embarked on a series on newbuilds everyone would be ranting about their out dated fleet. They have the backing behind them and I doubt there will be any spoils to pick up.

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Understood, but I question the methodology of their bombardment approach. And if their backing is so great, why is it that they appear to be in financial trouble?

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Some of the reviews are however mind boggling in that every little thing is nit picked to death, so one can only take those with a pinch of salt.

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Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:
I have also wondered about the poor reports about the poor service and food on NCLA. It is similar to people constantly complaining about air travel in the States. I use to fly over 100k miles per year for work and rarely had a bad flight or nasty flt. attendant .

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Originally posted by Globaliser:
If you were flying > 100K miles pa for work on domestic US flights, would it be safe to assume that you were in first class for many of them?

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We have cruised on the Norwegian Wind twice in the last two years and we were very happy with both cruises. Although we are not fans of freestyle cruising when the ship is full, we could not fault the service, food or indeed the ship at all. It is a shame that they are in financial trouble as they produce a good product at a very reasonable price.

[ 03-10-2007: Message edited by: borntocruise ]

The is a basic principle at play here....You need to fill berths, with good enough yields, to cover your expenses, which themselves have to be controlled rigidly.
Sounds simple, and yet, NOTHING good happens if this does not play out right.
For NCL // NCLA, expenses have been perhaps a bit uncontrolled, and yields have been notoriously low. The outcome is predictable.
There is no such thing as a bottomless pit of $$$ to ''make up '' for ''occasionnal '' losses.
You can throw all the tonnage you want out there....won't change a thing other than the size of your debacle if you don't have sufficient yields and well managed expenses ( which by the way includes interest on your capital expenditure)..
In a nutshell.

IMO

Star do not own NCLs new ships, indeed once they bought NCL they simply leveraged finance from the banks to build new ships - the banks own the ships and NCL have to pay for them ever month.

The idea was we buy NCL, we build new tonnage we assume we can fill them at fares we can make profit from them (heh everyone else is so how can we go wrong) - they pay for themselves it costs us nothing and we make more money and / or we build a product with decent revenue we can sell and turn a quick few bucks.

Ooops.

If you are going to get into the shipping / cruising business it helps if you have a passion for it rather than a passion for casinos in parts of the world with dodgy partners.

OK I don't know for a fact the Mr H is dodgy but he is certainly not popular in Singapore.

Fact is I am not convinced that the team at NCL really have a passion for doing what they are doing, it certainly seems as if they lack a good plan. Great ships, poor software often, lack of financial controls and I would draw a paralell between Cunard prior Carnival and NCL now.

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Originally posted by mike sa:
.. it certainly seems as if they lack a good plan.

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It would seem that they have underestimated the set-up difficulties, costs and appeal of their NCLA operation.

They obviously wanted to exploit their inter-island ‘monopoly’ as quickly as possible, so deployed three ships in Hawaiian waters at breakneck speed.

It would appear from the recent news about falling occupancy rates that they have over-estimated the strength market. Their 'monopoly' is also being challenged by ships sailing from the west coat to Hawaii and offering lower fares.

Judging from the reader’s reviews that I have seen recently, they have yet to resolve staffing issues, ship cleanliness and quality of food. This can’t help bookings. O.K. it’s not over ‘until the fat lady sings’, but I can here her warming up her vocal chords.

[ 03-14-2007: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

Star is not thrilled with NCL's performance and may be open to selling the brand. MSC is downsizing their North American operation while still growing in Europe and South America.

MSC might benefit from having a more familiar and established brand in the North American market. NCL might benefit from being owned by a shipping company with a passion for cruising rather than casinos.