A cruise line CEO walks onto a ship…
Yeah, there’s a joke there somewhere, but what happened when Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. President and CEO Frank DelRio stepped onboard one of his ships turned into a not-so-laughing matter for the company.
Earlier this month, Norwegian made the stunning announcement that cruise passengers would not be allowed to take food from the ship’s many different restaurants and eat it in their staterooms.
Now, we’ve all done it. You’re feeling a little hungry after a hard day of doing nothing up on the lido deck, and you hit the pizzeria for a quick slice to take back to your room. You plop down on the bed, turn the TV on and munch away.
Nothing wrong with that, right?
Wrong said Norwegian.
Once word began to spread about the no take-away ruling, cruise forums such as Cruise Critic were abuzz with disgruntled passengers taking out their frustrations over the new policy. What was the reasoning behind it? Many speculated this was the result of the line now charging a $7.95 service charge for room service.
Norwegian’s senior director of public relations, Vanessa Picarello had a different story. She said the move was made “for our guests’ well-being and to maintain a beautiful clean environment for all of our guests to enjoy.”
Fair enough. But it turns out there’s more to the story. Just yesterday, Norwegian brass reversed their decision and will once again allow passengers to enjoy food taken from onboard restaurants and buffets in their staterooms.
Why was the ban put in place to begin with? Norwegian Cruise Line President and COO Andy Stuart said he had a conversation with DelRio after he sailed on one of the line’s ships and noticed dishes in the hallways, passengers taking food back to their staterooms, and remnants of overflowing plates leaving a mess on the carpets.
In an interview with CruiseCritic.com, Stuart said that after what he called a “two minute conversation” with DelRio, the ban went into effect in an effort to cut back on the unsightliness of dishes left outside stateroom doors and the stains on the carpeting.
When I order room service on a ship or in a hotel, I don’t place the dishes outside my room. I either leave them there for the steward to take when he/she makes up the room, or I call back down to room service to come up and get them.
I do find the practice of putting dirty dishes out in the hallways to be unacceptable. Besides being a safety hazard, who wants to look at a half eaten Ruben or a dried up plate of Mac & Cheese while walking to formal night dinner in a tuxedo and evening dress?
Not me.
When I was on the Carnival Liberty I remarked that I never saw so many trays of dishes in the hallways on a ship before. The corridors are narrow enough, but when you have to dodge trays loaded up with uneaten food and dirty dishes like you would avoid potholes while driving your car, it’s simply not acceptable.
Sure the cruise lines can do a much better job at making rounds and cleaning up, or simply telling passengers not to put the trays out in the hall. While a small percentage will not listen to that directive, more will and it will result in a much better experience for all of us.
I hate to say it, but people are slobs. Besides trays in the hallways, how many times have you gotten into a ship’s elevator and found empty glasses, plates of food… a cookie? Even if it’s just been one time, once is enough. When I see something like that, I usually alert a crew member to have it taken away, or if it’s not totally disgusting, I’ll grab it and hand it to a crew member.
Obviously the decision by DelRio and Stuart was an emotional one, and believe me, over the years I’ve run my own companies I’ve made many emotional decisions that ticked off customers and employees. (If any of my employees are reading this now, they’re probably shaking their head saying, “yes you did!”) That’s why emotional decision making doesn’t work. Again, been there – done that. It’s just unfortunate the decision by Norwegian was not thought out properly given the enormous impact it would have on the thousands of passengers sailing on their ships every day.
If anything, this brief episode will serve as a constant reminder not only to Norwegian’s executives, but to all business owners, that before off-the-cuff decisions are made everyone needs to understand how that decision is going to impact customers first and the business second. Because after all, without customers, there’s no business.