Bad Crew or Bad Company?

cruisecouple · 02-20-2008, 09:44 PM

I have been reading reviews about bad experiences on the Pride of Hawaii. Now that it is changing to the Jade I am wondering if any of the problems will carry over. Many people claimed it was the American crew creating the problems but others claim it's cost cutting. Does anyone know anything about this? Also, any word on what type of crew the ship will have? I am sailing on Jade on Feb 29.

**Norman** · 02-21-2008, 04:25 AM

Passengers cruising around the Hawaiian Islands have complained about the condition of the Pride of Hawaii and the attitude of the crew. Firstly when a ship sails solely in American waters it has to be registered in the USA. It has to conform to the industrial laws of the country. Mainly set hours, time off, holidays and paying the American minimum wage. These have proved to be cost effective to the company, and are the main reason NCL are withdrawing two ships from the region. As far as complaints of the staff, I have worked at two companies where we hear a rumour, read about it in the paper, then the firms issues a bombshell it is going into liquidation. Attitudes change, the thought of losing your job, uncertainty of your future, naturally your attitude to your employment is going to change.

I have little doubt the registration of the ship, on the change of name is the Bahamas, or some other country where a more relax term of employment is acceptable and a more International employees can be employed.. I call it slave labour, signing a contract for ten months without any time off.

The ship yesterday and today is in Acapulco, where it has cruised down the Mexican Riviera from Los Angeles. This is a repositioning cruise with a difference, no passengers, so I presume a refitting operation is in place. The NCL Gem is a new ship, yet talking to crewmembers; quite a few have filled in application forms to transfer to the Jade. A new term of contract is available and I expect a new non-salaried crew.

The ship is scheduled to transit the Panama Canal on Sunday, then a slow ride and possibly another port before arriving to pick us up in Miami. Possibly our cruise will be like the one Ally and Co had when they did a shakedown cruise on the Jewel and Gem with crew learning about the ship.

We stay in many hotels, and reading the reviews we honestly believe we are visiting the dirtiest hovels on earth, they have all been wonderful, with the exception of London. Judge for yourself, and please don’t look for faults,(they can always be found) I expect to join a very nice ship, and enjoy my cruise.

Norman

**Ally** · 02-21-2008, 05:38 AM

The main difficulty Pride of Hawaii had (along with her sisters Pride of America/Pride of Aloha) is the US flagging needing to have US workforce on the hotel/housekeeping side. When POA first began service she was losing crew at a rate of tween 100 and 400 per cruise. The huge turnover continued aboard POAh & POH. NCLA even got special dispensation to allow international crew to join POA to assist the US housekeeping crew. The problem, as far as most have seen it, is that some of those who applied to work on the ships expected alot more than they actually got by way of free time and they just were not expecting it to be such hard work....thus they literally walked off the ships and they often reflected their bad feelings towards the passengers...which is where the bulk of the bad reports stem from.

Jade is now an international ship, with an international crew, she will be well kept and have a very friendly/efficient crew who on the whole earn much more on the ships than they ever would in their home countries. There lies the rub. International crews earn low wages in our terms but not in theirs, NCLA paid wages that were of the legal level for the US, but that fell short of what the workforce wanted.

Jade and her crew will give you a wonderful cruise, one to remember for all the right reasons. Jade's days of bad reports and problems are behind her.

cruisecouple · 02-21-2008, 12:42 PM

Thanks, that's good to hear and what I was expecting.

We are not real picky but some conditions sounded so bad I was almost ready to complain before boarding!

However, any reviews found online have to be scrutinized lest we fall into the trap of exaggeration. So, I am reading them with that in mind.

**Ally** · 02-21-2008, 12:51 PM

One thing that also has to be taken into consideration is that regardless as to whether you have an international or home crew, everyone is given board & lodgings as part of the deal. There are no monthly bills such as water, electricity, gas etc as you have at home.

The international crews usually send a fair chunk of their wage back to their families at home and the standard of living on a ship is far superior to that in, say, parts of the Philippines or India where the bulk of crews come from.

American-Hawaii went out of business in 2001, they cited 9/11 as the main cause...but if you research the firm, they were having financial and manpower troubles long before that. Even the more established US lines like MAL, Cruise West have a certain amount of problem in keeping their staff. In some respects it is the fault of the country...people expect...demand...high standards of living and wages in the US. That is all well and good but materially countries that supply the international crews set their sights lower...lower to us, perhaps, but to them, the wages and working conditions on a cruise ship far outweigh what they could dream of at home.

Happy staff, great cruise atmosphere. Bad tempered/unhappy staff, well...you get the negatives that have been a regular problems on NCLA.