Bad treatment aboard Enchantment bt Next Cruise Manager

[next cruise]

Next cruise manager went ballistic when we questioned policy around why he allowed non-reservation guest to book but would not take us earlier in day. We left and returned at time of our appointment and he said he would not provide service. He did in very agressive manner in front of other guest. I asked to see his manager. He stated he was in charge and called secuty to have us leave. This action cauzed us to loose additional freeplay benefi from casino voucher. He made up stories about us breaking in line and not respecting him. Absolutely not true.

Went to customer service and they stated no control over Nextcruise manager. Offered us some forn we could submir even though the CS tean had documented.

Does anyone have suggestions how to directlt handle with Nextcruise mabagemwnt? No phone number availavle.

[Pattycruise]

Not that this will help but you could have purchased a reservation via the app, then contacted casino Royale to complete your booking.  Sharing so you’ll know next time you cruise. 
i have no info on how to escalate your complaint  maybe use the post cruise survey comment section?

[King of Wales]

What a first post I work in customer service and have all my life.  It’s always interesting  to hear one side of a story and wonder what’s missing.  So basically your saying that a cruise  ship employee just completely lost their mind and was 100% wrong and they were completely unprovoked to have a reaction like they did.  Ok. 
 

I have to ask the group, has anyone else see a ship staffer just lose their mind with nothing to prove them in any way shape or form? We’ve cruised a dozen or so times dating back to the 1990’s and have not. We’ve seem over reactions, and some questionable behavior, but never anything even close to this story.

Sorry if this come across confrontational in anyway, it’s honestly not intentional if it does.  It’s just wondering what might be missing.

[PG Cruiser]

… and they call themselves “next cruise.” Interesting

[Ray]

Ok so you had an appointment booked but tried to get seen earlier? 

This was refused because you already had an appointment booked.

Someone else appeared without an appointment and got seen and you questioned why he  had allowed someone without a booking to been seen instead of someone who had a booking later in the day! 

I guess the question is how you went about questioning him? 

 

[Pattycruise]

10 hours ago, Ray said:

Ok so you had an appointment booked but tried to get seen earlier? 

This was refused because you already had an appointment booked.

Someone else appeared without an appointment and got seen and you questioned why he  had allowed someone without a booking to been seen instead of someone who had a booking later in the day! 

I guess the question is how you went about questioning him? 

 

You can have an appointment booked and still show up at any time to be on the “wait list”.  
The problem is sometimes the staff doesn’t work the waitlist properly, or there is no list (usually smaller ships “who’s next?” )

 Other times you are signing up for a specific person, so each next cruise person has their own list-but people on the wait list can be called ahead of you  because your own person is stuck with that passenger  who plays 20 questions or perhaps is booking 3 cruises…..so you wait and wait and wait while others get taken care of. 

I’ve had all of the above happen to me.  
 

[Xaa]

14 hours ago, King of Wales said:

Sorry if this come across confrontational in anyway, it’s honestly not intentional if it does.  It’s just wondering what might be missing.

I think it probably is intentional, but I understand why.  A first post complaining and as you put, of course only giving their own side of the story.  As they were participants, that is the only story to them.

• Go to NC made an appointment
• Returned at agreed upon time coordinates
• Appointment not honored in favor of other guests
• Verbal confrontation about the appointment time where each side likely believes the other was rude and/or aggressive

@next cruise, I doubt you'll get any satisfaction by continuing to pursue it, but you should do what your heart tells you.  Good luck and sorry you had a poor interaction.  I understand why you took the appointment time to be a commitment.

[twangster]

1 hour ago, Xaa said:

I think it probably is intentional, but I understand why.  A first post complaining and as you put, of course only giving their own side of the story.  As they were participants, that is the only story to them.

• Go to NC made an appointment
• Returned at agreed upon time coordinates
• Appointment not honored in favor of other guests
• Verbal confrontation about the appointment time where each side likely believes the other was rude and/or aggressive

@next cruise, I doubt you'll get any satisfaction by continuing to pursue it, but you should do what your heart tells you.  Good luck and sorry you had a poor interaction.  I understand why you took the appointment time to be a commitment.

I think there is more to this story.  When I read their story this is how it appears to me: 

• Guest made an appointment in NC reservation book for later that day
• Guest witnesses another guest walk up and see a NC agent
• Guest asked to see a NC agent right then and there since another guest was able to
• At that point all NC agents are working with a client so they are unable to be serviced right then and there
• Guest becomes upset that another guest was able to see a NC agent without an appointment but they were not
• Guest starts complaining loudly that another guest was serviced
• Entitled guest behavior escalated into a full blown altercation with NC manager
• NC manager asks entitled guest to leave
• Entitled guest returns later at appointment time and refused service by NC manager
• Entitled guest does not leave but continues to complain loudly
• NC manager forced to call security when entitled guest refuses to leave and continues to behave poorly
• Ship security team arrives
• Entitled guest escorted away by security

The circumstances by which the other guest was able to be seen by an NC agent are not known.  It is not of the business of this entitled guest how another guest was able to be serviced by the NC department. 

Doing anything that escalates into an argument with a crew member is not the proper way to handle the situation.  It takes time to call security and for security to show up but apparently this entitled guest stayed there and continue to engage in a loud argument with the NC manager for as long as it took for security to appear. 

Doing anything that requires security escort you away is not acceptable behavior regardless of the circumstances.

This entitled guest behaved so poorly that the NC manager would not subject any of his or her employees to this abusive guest resulting in the NC manager refusing to service this entitled guest at any point during the cruise.

From what this user has posted I applaud the NC manager for standing up to this poorly behaving guest.  In the end they got what they deserved.  Nothing.

[Ray]

24 minutes ago, twangster said:

I think there is more to this story.  When I read their story this is how it appears to me: 

• Guest made an appointment in NC reservation book for later that day
• Guest witnesses another guest walk up and see a NC agent
• Guest asked to see a NC agent right then and there since another guest was able to
• At that point all NC agents are working with a client so they are unable to be serviced right then and there
• Guest becomes upset that another guest was able to see a NC agent without an appointment but they were not
• Guest starts complaining loudly that another guest was serviced
• Entitled guest behavior escalated into a full blown altercation with NC manager
• NC manager asks guest to leave
• Entitled guest returns later at appointment time and refused service by NC manager
• Entitled guest does not leave but continues to complain loudly
• NC manager forced to call security when entitled guest refuses to leave and continues to behave poorly
• Ship security team arrives
• Entitled guest escorted away by security

 

 

This is also how i see it happening! 

Would love to see the CCTV of it to see who became argumentative 1st! 

[teddy]

My first thought was “what happened that the Next Cruise manager felt the need to call Security?”  This is a red flag saying we aren’t getting the complete rundown. 
 

That being said, I’ve interacted with enough customers over the years to know that some are absolutely certain they have “rights” that just don’t actually exist.  I’ve seen people escorted out of supermarkets by local PD because of their behaviors, so I can only imagine how difficult a customer can become in an environment such as a cruise ship. 

[wordell1]

1 hour ago, teddy said:

My first thought was “what happened that the Next Cruise manager felt the need to call Security?”  This is a red flag saying we aren’t getting the complete rundown. 
 

That being said, I’ve interacted with enough customers over the years to know that some are absolutely certain they have “rights” that just don’t actually exist.  I’ve seen people escorted out of supermarkets by local PD because of their behaviors, so I can only imagine how difficult a customer can become in an environment such as a cruise ship. 

I work in retail and some customers are just bullies. They believe that the best way to get what they want is to cause a scene and berate employees, who in most cases are not making very much.

As a manager, I will never give these types of people anything more than I must.  

 

[Xaa]

2 hours ago, twangster said:

I think there is more to this story.  When I read their story this is how it appears to me: 

On this we can certainly agree  Always more to the story when we hear only one side.

• Guest made an appointment in NC reservation book for later that day
• Guest witnesses another guest walk up and see a NC agent
• Guest asked to see a NC agent right then and there since another guest was able to
• At that point all NC agents are working with a client so they are unable to be serviced right then and there
• Guest becomes upset that another guest was able to see a NC agent without an appointment but they were not

They do mention that they left and returned presumably at their agreed upon time coordinates

• Guest starts complaining loudly that another guest was serviced

Probably

• Entitled guest behavior escalated into a full blown altercation with NC manager

Your use of the word entitled here while assuming the manager behaved reasonably and without any rudeness indicates the bias with which you read the complaint.  You're entitled to that and I'm sure it's built from seeing hundreds of thousands of interactions across hundreds of cruises.  Those interactions don't mean that this one couldn't be different.  It could be

• NC manager asks entitled guest to leave

I also assume this happened

• Entitled guest returns later at appointment time and refused service by NC manager
• Entitled guest does not leave but continues to complain loudly

You've placed the label of entitlement on this person and it may fit, but the entitlement may be an entitlement they believe was bestowed upon them when they left the first time with an agreed appointment time.  

• NC manager forced to call security when entitled guest refuses to leave and continues to behave poorly
• Ship security team arrives
• Entitled guest escorted away by security

That sounds like what happened but with your adjectives about the consumer and no possible negative adjectives assigned to the manager who is also a human being capable of escalating when they should de-escalate, capable of making errors but belidgerently standing their ground like all humans.

The circumstances by which the other guest was able to be seen by an NC agent are not known.  It is not of the business of this entitled guest how another guest was able to be serviced by the NC department. 

Doing anything that escalates into an argument with a crew member is not the proper way to handle the situation.  It takes time to call security and for security to show up but apparently this entitled guest stayed there and continue to engage in a loud argument with the NC manager for as long as it took for security to appear. 

Doing anything that requires security escort you away is not acceptable behavior regardless of the circumstances.

I agree in principle, but that is like saying doing anything to be arrested is not acceptable behavior when there are countless videos and tales of those in authority escalating and then using their authority to remove or take into custody those without the same authority.  You're essentially saying the manager is always right, 100% of the time.  That can't be reality even if it were in these circumstances

This entitled guest behaved so poorly that the NC manager would not subject any of his or her employees to this abusive guest resulting in the NC manager refusing to service this entitled guest at any point during the cruise.

From what this user has posted I applaud the NC manager for standing up to this poorly behaving guest.  In the end they got what they deserved.  Nothing.

From what the user posted or from what they posted along with your creation of what must have been the real story and must have been the behavior of the manager and the poster?  A poster you have chosen to refer to only as entitled.  

 

My post was in response to another and specifically noted the only side of the story we know.  The side of the poster.  I'm sure there's more too it, but you aren't even entertaining the idea that the poster may have been treated badly.  They may have been and expressing displeasure about that may have pushed an ego driven manager to have them removed.  That is also possible.  I don't know, but neither does anyone else here.

[smokeybandit]

I was at NC once and while waiting for an agent, I watched a guy berate the agent because his D+ discount made his cruise more expensive than the fare with the current promo since they aren't combinable.

[twangster]

12 minutes ago, Xaa said:

 

My post was in response to another and specifically noted the only side of the story we know.  The side of the poster.  I'm sure there's more too it, but you aren't even entertaining the idea that the poster may have been treated badly.  They may have been and expressing displeasure about that may have pushed an ego driven manager to have them removed.  That is also possible.  I don't know, but neither does anyone else here.

Neither of us was there so none of us know the truth.

Having sailed many times and interacted with NC many, many times there is one thing that I do know.  The NC team is a sales force.  They are sales people.  This isn't a cabin attendant or crew member manning the doors of the theater.  The types of people that gravitate into sales have usually proven themselves to be very good at customer service and interacting with the public.  To make it to the manager position further requires a number of years proving themselves capable of dealing with all sorts of guests over time.  These are not the types of people to have a sudden outburst for no reason.  

OP states "Next cruise manager went ballistic when we questioned policy..."

OP should not be questioning why another guest or how another guest was received at NC.  That is not their concern.  However for a trained and proven manager to go "ballistic" tells me the OP didn't just ask a simple question, they likely went on and became aggressive and abusive in the process. 

To your point we will never know and entitled people rarely see themselves or their abusive behavior as entitled and abusive so it's unlikely we will get an accurate accounting from the OP.  There is more than what they are saying.  Managers don't just go ballistic without provocation.  

[TXcruzer]

One and done “drive by posting”; does not lend much credibility to an already unbelievable accounting of events. 

[Ray]

24 minutes ago, Xaa said:

 

My post was in response to another and specifically noted the only side of the story we know.  

Your original reply was not the same as what the OG poster wrote, your timeline of events was not the same as OG poster. 

[Xaa]

32 minutes ago, twangster said:

OP states "Next cruise manager went ballistic when we questioned policy..."

OP should not be questioning why another guest or how another guest was received at NC.  That is not their concern.  However for a trained and proven manager to go "ballistic" tells me the OP didn't just ask a simple question, they likely went on and became aggressive and abusive in the process.

I think you and I generally agree here @twangster.  The point of my initial post was that we don't know and sometimes consumers are treated poorly and sometimes managers are power driven.  We've all seen that too.  It's one of the possibilities here.  Probably not a likelihood, but a certain possibility

I think the part where we might disagree is that I think a trained manager can escalate quickly if they perceive disrespect even if that disrespect wasn't present.  Once manager escalation occurs the likelihood that the manager continues to flex to the point of removal would drastically increase.  

 

[Xaa]

13 minutes ago, Ray said:

Your original reply was not the same as what the OG poster wrote, your timeline of events was not the same as OG poster. 

 It was my attempt to present it as I understood it. I don't know if it's right or not

[tjcruisers]

I've held a few positions where I've had to do investigations on complaints (probably pushing close to triple digits). My one takeaway is there is always 3 sides to every story. Side A, Side B and the truth (somewhere between them, usually closer to the one having the complaint against them)

[Sunny_D]

Sorry for going (somewhat) off topic, but what is the benefit of going to the Next Cruise desk? Are there usually specials/discounts that are better than RCCL’s website or using a TA?

[Matt]

11 minutes ago, Sunny_D said:

Sorry for going (somewhat) off topic, but what is the benefit of going to the Next Cruise desk? Are there usually specials/discounts that are better than RCCL’s website or using a TA?

Same price at NextCruise vs booking at home. The advantage of NextCruise is lower deposit amount and extra onboard credit.

[Sunny_D]

Thanks!

By the way, I agree with the general sentiment here—used to work customer service at an electronics store in the 90’s. Hell hath no fury like a self righteous parent attempting to return a VCR with their kid’s grilled cheese sandwich jammed in the slot.

[wordell1]

6 hours ago, Xaa said:

 

My post was in response to another and specifically noted the only side of the story we know.  The side of the poster.  I'm sure there's more too it, but you aren't even entertaining the idea that the poster may have been treated badly.  They may have been and expressing displeasure about that may have pushed an ego driven manager to have them removed.  That is also possible.  I don't know, but neither does anyone else here.

Even though we were not there, those of us who have cruised a lot on Royal can recognize that something is off with the OPs description of events.

I have a hard time seeing a crewmember or supervisor making a decision to have security called and a passenger removed without good cause. 

 

[ChessE4]

On 11/19/2022 at 12:12 AM, next cruise said:

Next cruise manager went ballistic when we questioned policy around why he allowed non-reservation guest to book but would not take us earlier in day. We left and returned at time of our appointment and he said he would not provide service. He did in very agressive manner in front of other guest. I asked to see his manager. He stated he was in charge and called secuty to have us leave. This action cauzed us to loose additional freeplay benefi from casino voucher. He made up stories about us breaking in line and not respecting him. Absolutely not true.

Went to customer service and they stated no control over Nextcruise manager. Offered us some forn we could submir even though the CS tean had documented.

Does anyone have suggestions how to directlt handle with Nextcruise mabagemwnt? No phone number availavle.

If you have a valid complaint, you can email the CEO; the address has been posted in other threads.

[Ampurp85]

So, I actually had something similar occur during my Next Cruise appointment. I had a reservation at 2:30, I got there around my time and the lady said I missed my appointment as she just took a 3:15 reservation. She looked at her watch and realized that she had skipped the other appointments because a guest was loudly demanding to be seen because "no one" was there and she was, so to take her now. She apologized and I waited for the next person. While I was waiting a lady walked up, looked around and took some of the brochures. We got called and she just started talking over us and asking questions. The NC manager actually had to come over and tell her to stop talking so loudly and bothering the rep while she was helping us. She then said she was standing there before us, so she had every right to ask questions. Even after she learned we had an appointment, she kept saying she wasn't trying to book just ask questions. People are entitled, I am sure OP felt like since there was "an opening" they should have had it even though they had made an appointment. 

[MTNeedsAVacay]

Just providing a bit more context, while I did not witness the exact scenario OP described, I was on the Enchantment last week and can attest that the reservation book for NC had slots available for 3 separate NC reps in 30 minute time slots from just about 9am-9pm at least for the last 2 days (didn't look back in the book at the earlier days when I signed up). When I arrived for my afternoon appointment, there were only 2 reps available (I got the impression the 3rd rep was sick), leading to many more people with appointments than there were available reps. It was about 20 min after my appointment time that I was able to sit down with NC, but I can definitely see how that might have led to some unhappy people. However, I felt absolutely terrible for the 2 reps who were there, because they seemed like that hadn't had a break in hours and the rep who I saw was apologizing profusely when he stated he needed to run to the restroom before he sat down with me. 

[MrMarc]

If they refused service and called security on a passenger, I would guess that the person is probably banned from RCCL, so it does not really matter anymore.

[King of Wales]

One and done.