asctony

2 hours ago, zitsky said:

I suppose people who don’t like Luminae have been in suites on other cruise lines with better food and service.  Everyone I’ve talked to in the trailer park really enjoys it.  

 

I’ve been in the Retreat twice.   I like it but I don’t think it’s worth the price compared to Aqua.  
 

Don’t get me started on the folks who say “I love the Retreat, but the OVC is soooo much better.”

Got my popcorn. Go for it! LOL

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

The OL on Prima is smaller because the ship is a lot smaller with 25% fewer passengers. 

Just now, DCGuy64 said:

Not true of our last cruise. OK, so it was MSC in the Yacht Club, but still: it isn't true that every cruise line has problems with serving drinks in a timely manner. 😉 I *do* think they could beef up the staff to speed up the wait times, though.

 

More of the "I'm on vacation, I don't want to think" mentality. 🤣

OMG! I never said all! I said most!

Diamond on MSC and if you are not in the Yacht Club drink service is very slow. Been Cruising MSC since 2009.

I believe the reduction of space in the OL began with the Prima. The Viva is also the same as the Prima. NCL uses the OL  for many functions and restricts passenger usage during all times.

8 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

The two areas where I can sympathize with @MajSteve are these:

1. Bartender issues

2. Embarkation

It's well known to anyone who uses Cruise Critic that NCL doesn't monitor check-in times. In fact, nearly every time someone asks about 'what time should I show up,' most people on here will say 'whenever you feel like it.' Well guess what? That means EVERYBODY SHOWS UP AT THE SAME TIME. IMHO, NCL should start strictly enforcing the check-in times to stop these bottlenecks.

The bartender issue is a legitimate gripe, and I really think it comes down to poor staffing. It took a VERY long time to get drinks on our last cruise. The Shakers Martini bar had 2 bartenders for about 50-60 guests, maybe even more than that. They just couldn't keep up.

This happens on almost all cruise lines today. Staff have been cut back. People disregard times, too.

Happy Cruising on any Cruise Line!

On 1/4/2024 at 3:24 AM, zackarykeef said:

Everyone sees the negative reviews and gets nervous and starts posting about cancelling, but no one sees the positive reviews and gets excited and starts posting about packing.

 

If you look on the posts here that may be a negative review, or the posts on another popular social media website that are negative reviews, there are hundreds of comments from people saying the opposite. People tend to read the main post but fail to read the comment.

 

Literally, on the other site, there will be one long, negative review, and all the comments underneath are "disagree," "we had the opposite experience," "it was awesome," etc.

 

People are more likely to post when they had a negative experience...we know this. People with positive experiences only tend to comment/post when they are opposing something negative.

 

Don't cancel or be nervous about something because of what people you have never met think. They function/like/need things that are completely different from you.

 

I sailed on Prima and loved it. Extremely upscale, modern ship design with good food, drinks, and service. That's all I need, and there was nothing to complain about. Viva is the same, and I can't wait to board un 3 days!

Why not be more explicit on your positives?

'Extremely upscale, modern ship design with good food, drinks, and service.'

TIA

FYI to all.

2 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Hmmm you asked if you can still get the HH drinks in the other venues.  Answer-yes

 

you speculated that they reduced HH by 3 nights on a 7 night cruise and more on longer cruise.  Answer- they did not

 

my answers were specific to tge Happy Hour changes.

Thank you. I appreciate your answers. If you would have said this before your other posting, I would have accepted it without my comments. 

Happy Cruising & Happy New Year! 

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

The Captains Club Elite and above HH is from 5 -7 each evening except on embarkation night and the night of the Sr Officer gathering.  Drinks from the HH menu are available in most bars, but not dining rooms or restaurants.

 

The  2 of 3 HHs referred to in the video are held in a central location and is restricted to Elite and above, I believe there will be some appetizers on those evenings.

Details on the times and location will be included in the Captains Club events flyer that will be in your cabin on embarkation day.

The new HH. 

DOES 2 or 3 nights in a Central Location only apply to the Central Location? The other nights excluding embarkation night and the night of the Sr Officer you can still get HH at the bars?

If not, they reduced HH by 3 nights on a 7 day cruise and more on 8 or greater day cruises. 

17 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

I don’t pay near that…usually. 

So, what do you pay?

Before you could get all: tips, Classic pkg & WiFi.

Now, they cut out tips & you only get Classic & WiFi. 

27 minutes ago, CruiseRQA said:

Why do people think that the retail price of an Invicta watch is really, for example, $300, yet you can buy it for $79.99? 

We all know. They are On vacation so price doesn't matter. LOL

13 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Happy hour for me is every hour…rolling with the premium package..

$84 per day is more than HH.

Enjoy rolling! 

What are the new Happy Hours, places & frequency?

I just viewed a video that stated on 3 to 7 day cruises there are 2 HH nights. On 8 day or more there are 3.

On 12/27/2023 at 7:25 PM, TheSaxGuru said:

Just cruised onboard Carnival Sunshine and purchased an R2-D2 Invicta watch with leather band. Paid $169 tax free. I like it and Invicta’s retail site said $520 so I figured “why not?”

Do ships still match prices? They use to!

My experience: ships totally overpriced! 

I found this on another site. FYI:

20 hours ago, cruise*enthusiast said:

I was reading the description of the Reserve Collection Mini Suite and the benefits associated with it.  Has anyone chosen this and, if so, is it worth the additional cost to upgrade from a standard Mini Suite?

What are the additional perks you would get?

What is the difference in the cost?

Would you use the additional perks?

Identify the above and then determine if it is worth the additional cost. Only you can determine that. 

12 hours ago, LeeW said:

We've never had a problem getting the same table and wait staff each night in normal Anytime dining.  Tried what is now call Reserve once and the extra menu item never appealed to us and still got the same table each night.  At one point they used half the single Anytime dining room for fixed first seating and then also cut out another quarter for Club (Reserve) Class.  With only 1/4 of the dining room left for Anytime it was slower to get in.  Now it doesn't make much difference since Princess no longer has fixed seating dining.

Totally agree with you. We were on the Enchanted out of Barcelona and we had Anytime dining. We had the same table for 2 by the window with the same waiter for 22 days. On the other side of that MDR was the Reserve Dining. We walked over there one night to see what the difference was. We could see no difference. Maybe they had one extra item on the menu for that Reserve Dining. However, we never had a problem with any of the food selections without the one extra item. When we walked out of the Reserve Dining we did see a line of people waiting to get in. That was about 6 - 630PM. Even in the morning and lunch time, we saw people waiting to get into the Reserve Dining. JMHO! 

3 minutes ago, zitsky said:

What people are missing is that I didn’t say “it was a long time to embark and it’s all the fault of the terrible employees”.  But it was a bad experience with no apology from anyone.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Happy Holidays

Happy Cruising 

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

I see you’ve proved my point.  😂
 

No one visits South America or Southeast Asia? The people who live there may not appreciate your perspective.  😂

FYI - Sorry to disagree with that OP.

I have been to South America Valparaiso back in 2009.

Been to SEA many times. Just got back from the Med, Barcelona. There are many people who cruise who have visited these areas. Yes, have met many of them. 

Boarding in Barcelona was very easy & fast.

Getting off the ship in Barcelona was the worst we had in years. Cruise ship personal were totally confused. Another story. May never happen again. 

6 minutes ago, zitsky said:

Do you think other people might be interested in the boarding experience?

 

I see in 2025 X is using the Equinox on a round trip from Buenos Aires that goes to the Falklands and Montevideo which aren’t on this cruise from Valparaiso, Chile.

I already answered your question before I read this. 

59 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I’m sorry.  I didn’t realize this was a competition.

No seriously, this is not a competition. You stated you cruised on three different cruise lines. So, I was just asking, in a funny way, which cruise lines and how many times have you cruised. If I offended you, Sorry.

I was just trying to find out what cruise lines and your experience to make a statement in regards of boarding a ship can be very stressful at times. Many things come into play at each port. The port team is not the cruise lines employees. They are subcontractors. 

You can go out of a port today and have a great experience and the next cruise can be terrible. Been there and done it. 

So, it is your choice to answer what lines and number of cruises.

22 minutes ago, zitsky said:

I’ve been on three cruise lines.  Never saw it so disorganized.

OMG, only 3? How many cruises? SMH

Just read an article that only

31.5 million people cruises in 2023.

WOW - that's a bunch! It can't be that bad 

I'm glad it is XMAS as everyone is so Happy!

Nothing but complains today,

Food, drink up charges, boarding the ship.

You can tell we all are not from Jamaica. LOL If we were, we all would know 'poo poo happens. '

How can all those cruisers who cruise each week allow these problems. Maybe they change cruise lines after ever cruise?

Happy Holidays & if your don't complain, Happy Cruising! 

Food is very subjective as you are expressing  your disappointment.

Read some of the postings on here. Some people have complained about Blu and went to the MDR.

Lucky you, you have a choice of Cruise lines to cruise on. 

8 hours ago, restasured said:

Supply and Demand.  Very simple.

Wrong. I posted the reason days ago.

REFUNDABLE

            vs

NON REFUNDABLE

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!