I went to a job fair on 10/9/07, the recruiter told me that i have to many criminal convictions, i asked her if there was a chance that they might consider hiring me since i have 14 convictions on my record, i already have the actual mmd card, she said i doubt it. She told me that it was norwegian cruise lines america policy that if you have more than 1 criminal conviction that you do not qualify for employment with them. During the presentation she told everyone that if you loose your mmd card for failing a drug test that you would not be able to get it back, i told her that i lost my mmd card for failing a drug test in the past, i went through a drug rehabilitation program, changed my life, on 5/13/08 it will be 5 years since i have done any illegal drugs, the coast guard reinstated my mmd card, i currently have the actual mmd card. Can you please tell me to your knowledge if it is norwegian cruise lines america policy that if a person has more than 1 criminal conviction that they do not qualify for employment with norwegian cruise lines america, if that is not true can you tell me what there policy is. Do you think that she was lying since i already caught her in 1 lie, do you think that they will give me a call to hire me after they review my application at the corporate office. Please Reply A.S.A.P. Sincerely, Slowjoe

Oh my gosh 14 Convictions. Maritime vessels are very close quarters I'm wondering if this is a joke of some kind, A crew member must be of high caliber, Trust worthy to the core and respectful of Ship board rules. Maritime law is strict and on a persons best day they can run afoul of the stringent rules. Jeees are you serious??

On NCLA they are in need of a constant replacement of staff. They have the highest turnover of crew members in the industry. I didn't know they had such a rule in place but am actually relieved they do. I was kind of under the impression that the only requirement was that if they put a mirror in front of your face and it fogged up you were hired. To the best of my knowledge they still won't hire you if you're dead, but that may change.

Good luck and I'm happy to hear you've turned things around in your life. You wouldn't by chance be a Celebrity or former pro athlete we know would you?

Cheers, Neil

thanks.

I've read Utility Galley POH comments about this chat site, I starting to agree with my former employee and shipmate. This site with it's slander against NCLA is set up with an agenda of badmouthing NCLA or some other Cruise lines. NCLA operates the newest vessels and highest standards in the Cruise industry. If you want to sacare people. that convicted fellons with 14 convictions work on our vessels that is slander and totally inaccurrate. I am in charge of the 312 members of the sanitation dept on the POH. I insist on high standards and the best job performance out of my dept. There is an agenda on Cruise chat to push customers from NCLA tword other cruise lines.

Edited to remove offensive and racist comments.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jim C.,

Darren1st-

Its not cruise chat that is bad mouthing NCLA, it is the folks that are posting to the site. Its true that there are several posts that complain about NCLA but the same thing happens for the other cruise lines. Typically there will be someone that felt mistreated on a cruise and they will come here to vent their anger. Historically, we do not filter these out unless they are very bad. If you feel that this site is biased against NCLA, then you are welcome to that opinion. But don't come onto this site and acuse us of things that are not true. Note that it is ONLY the NCL forumn that has crew memebers and future crew members that seem to feel it is ok to disucss their issues with NCL. We have crew memebers from other cruise lines that come on here and answer questions and talk about cruising. But only the NCL section has the complaints. There are current and former NCL members on cruise chat that are great contributers too. So you can choose to be one that comes in and make false comments about cruise chat or you can help NCL-NCLA and provide honest input.

So its your choice. I'd start by asking if the person claiming 14 felony convictions (which seems ludicrous) could actually be hired by NCL?
Even I doubt they would. I would hope that the person could change their life and live within the laws, but there are certainly jobs that they would not be able to hold with a record like that.

Darren1st, as Jim pointed out, it is not Cruise-Chat that bashes NCL. All of us on this site wishes that everyones experience on any cruise line is a wonderful one. However, no matter what industry you work in, you can never please everyone. Therefore, you will always have negative comments or attitudes from someone, somewhere. Not all of us have cruised with NCL, or NCLA, those that have are able to post their experience. This forum is run by it's members, the moderators try to insure that there is no offensive material allowed. We all truly wish that employees were happy with their jobs. Anyone who has ever cruised knows how hard the staff works and how demanding the jobs on board are. Please note what Jim said, it is usually the employees or soon to be employees that are posting the most complaints against NCL, not the cruising members. I do hope you heed Jim's challenge, you can lead the way for a positive position on NCL/NCLA employment.

For the record, I want to make it clear that we don't decide what the topics are, or what is posted here. The last time I looked, slowjoe was not a staff member of this forum and therefore to state that this forum is "set up with an agenda to bash NCLA" is actually doing what you claim we are doing to NCLA.

I am happy that you have the highest standards for both you and your department. Given the comments from our members and from former NCL employees, I suggest you spend less time attacking this forum's administration and more time coaching your fellow supervisors on how to raise their standards. Maybe then the negative comments would become less frequent.

Darren, I hope you didn't take to much offense at my comments. Much of my post was obviously with tongue planted firmly in cheek although I do book cruises for a living and am very famillar with not only NCL/NCLA's strengths and weaknesses but those of other lines as well. I don't hold back criticism of other lines when I believe there is great room for improvment.

Surely you won't deny that there has been a problem from day on with turnover with NCLA. Surely you know that there have been serious issues with the Hawaii product in the area of service as a result of the turnover and some other things. I'm booked on NCL Gem this December so I obviously don't have serious issues with NCL overall. I get among the best reports back from Pearl of any ship I represent. I do however have a conversation about the "Pride of" ships with clients before finalizing their booking and posting payment. Part of the conversation is about what a great value the ships are for a week in Hawaii with a lot of port time on various islands. There is no better way to see the islands without spending significantly more $$$.

BUT...the service onboard these ship is not up the the standards that many people who cruise regularly expcet. Is NCL to blame for that? They have tried hard to correct the issues and nobody has a more vested interest in seeing it improve so, no, I do not place the majority of the blame on NCL. It goes back to the contract they made with the State Gov't of Hawaii. It requires different staffing, flagging and other restriction. The union is also an issue. Other ships don't have to accommodate union rules and regs for cabin occupancy for crew, hours and break times, pay structure, etc.

At the pricing NLCA has had available the past few years I've encouraged many clients to cruise Hawaii with them. When I set proper expectations I get many very good reviews. Some do not and the reviews suffer. Look at other cruise chat and review sites. Look at star ratings, look at any of the objective indicators in the industry and see the same results. "Pride of" ships are a great value but even with the slow and steady progress they still lag behind most other mainstream ships in the area of service, even other NCL ships.

Sorry for such a long post but I am not pushing clients away from NCL. Just the opposite, I make my living only if I book cruises. I'm among the top booking agents in the country for NCL and many other lines. My trip in December is as a result of them offering me a free cruise to see their beautiful new ship. I'm looking forward to it and have won digital cameras, mp3 players and a lot of other items from NCL for the amount of volume I produce for your company each year. So please don't think when you read a criticism of any line on here that it's a blanket indictment of that line. Just an area that needs improvement. Knowing everything good and bad about the NCLA product I'd get on Pride of America tomorrow if I had the vacation time. I'm very anxious to get back to the islands in the near future and can oly take a week of vacation at a time without being burried at work.

Cheers, Neil

none of my convictions are felonies, and Darren1st you need to go back to spelling school.

I don't speak for NCLA. I am an employee of NCLA. Very proud of our vessels and crews. Every time I walk up the gangway to enter the POH I'm very proud of her. Hawaii is like heaven on earth. I hope Slow Joe gets to see the Islands someday.

hi darren nice to see you on here