UKstages

interesting perspective. i dislike the show, but thought it was too short! it ran nearly two and a half hours on broadway (with an intermission), so they cut about a half an hour for the prima. even with the creative team doing the cuts, how do they decide what to cut? i think the show would have been more meaningful in its original form. for instance, as i recall, there is a photo montage at the end which just sort of passes by on the prima. on broadway, it packed a real emotional punch because these were all the people donna lost to AIDS. and that's not even really mentioned in the prima's truncated version of the show. stories should take as long as they take to tell. i get they want to do two shows a night. i get that it would be difficult to perform without an intermission. but it's honestly better, in my opinion, to not do the show at all than do it in a lesser version that doesn't serve the vision. (all that being said, i thought it wasn't very good on broadway, either. the point is, it was better and made more sense.)

commodore room was never open on one of my prima sailings, either. it was used as a private dining room for a rather small group onboard, many of whom chose to dine elsewhere. as far as "sharing a table" at hudson's... i did that... once. and that's enough. when they ask you that, you assume you'll be at a table for three or four, with another couple or a couple of solos. what they don't tell you is that it's actually a huge table and you'll have to struggle to make conversation with a bunch of folks who lack social skills and don't seem to know how to talk to others. that's all well and good; it simply becomes like a business dinner where you have to work the room. but the real problem with sharing a table is that service takes considerably longer at a large round table of 8 or 12 or whatever. the servers typically wait till everyone arrives to take orders. then they wait for everybody to finish each course before bringing the next. i shared a table at lunch one day in husdon's and service took nearly two hours... without dessert.

well, if you're checking the actual schedules of the ports on their independently operated websites, and you believe the ship was listed there previously on all those sites/schedules, but it's now gone from all those ports' websites/schedules, then i'd say, yes, there is a good chance that itinerary has been canceled.

there really shouldn't be any conflicting information about whether butlers are compensated from the "onboard service charge." people may express their preferences about tipping the butler and concierge and they may express differences in their willingness to tip, but NCL outlines in their FAQs quite clearly that butlers are not part of the "onboard service charge" pool: "certain staff positions (e.g., concierge, butler, youth program staff and beverage service) provide service on an individual basis to only some guests and do not benefit from the overall service charge. we encourage those guests to acknowledge good service from these staff members with appropriate gratuities."

i think what the bird says is pretty much the same thing, but it doesn't tell the whole story. the bird explains the way messaging works within NCL's app. she makes a distinction between the "intranet" and the "internet.' i do, too, but explain it by saying you have to be connected to the ship's wifi but don't have to be using your plan or "minutes." what specifically is it you feel is in conflict? or what specifically is it that you need to know? please be aware that many of the disparate responses come from people who are not on the apple ecosystem so they know nothing about the backend loophole among iOS devices. or they are attempting to text folks using android devices, in which case, there is no backend loophole and you have to pay NCL to text onboard. the experience they relate is correct... for them. any response to this question that mentions "free texting" but makes no distinction between texting to android devices and apple devices is not worth reading.

the answer the bird gives above is the official line. it is correct to a degree. NCL would prefer you pay $9.95. there are, however, backend holes and workarounds for iMessage texting between iPhones. at the present time, you will be able to send and receive text messages (iMessages) to and from iPhones and other iOS devices while onboard, provided they are all connected to the ship's wifi. you do not have to be using your wifi minutes in order to use this service. iMessages (but not photos) can also be sent and received among iPhones and iOS devices not physically located on the ship, such as those belonging to friends and family back home.

while general boarding often begins around 11:30, in-person checkin usually begins at 9 AM or so. times may be adjusted depending on the time of your departure. the times quoted above are for a 4 PM or 5 PM sail away.

it appears so. i haven't received an official announcement about that, but the expiry dates have disappeared in my online account. somebody posted something in another thread about an official announcement coming, perhaps, in january.

indeed, when originally conceived, the prima was supposed to have four game shows, but, in the end, they opted for just one... the price is right. i'm not sure the original plans were ever publicly announced. the cruise director on my may prima sailing confirmed that they had initially planned for four when i was providing feedback to her about the price is right,. essentially, i told her the price is right was very well done, but it wasn't really cruise ship entertainment. and her response was, "well, you have no idea how bad it could have been. there were originally supposed to be four game shows on board." i don't remember them all, but i think i posted them in my prima review. one was "press your luck." i think another might have been "wheel of fortune." sadly, they are slowly introducing these shows on other ships.

um, i hate to be a curmudgeon, but where are the hash browns? cutbacks at your humble abode?

they pretty much always do it for holidays. if you're signed up for their emails, they will let you know. it usually says something like "$250 free" in the advertisements. otherwise, just keep checking the website, or keep your eyes on cruise critic, where some kind soul usually shares the news.

'the standard deal is $150 for $300 value. periodically, they will have two choices available... the $150/$300 virtual certificate, as well as one for $250/$500. you can buy them at the time of booking, provided the sail date of the cruise is at least 120 days out. or you can stockpile them in your account. a recent change removed the expiration dates... they are now good forever, or - technically - for how ever long NCL continues to exist or how ever long they continue to operate the cruise first discount program.

i am a gambler and this is new to me. what do you mean by "cash out" your mostly nonrefundable OBC?

i can confirm the joy was scheduled a couple of months ago to dock at TB, but on the day, it was announced we'd be docking at amber cove. no reason given.

oh, i'm not really worried. it is indeed cyclical. but this is a very real world example of how their website may interfere with them achieving their revenue goals. as for my certificates, i have one banked, so truly not worried. but i was going to buy two more. and i will soon be up against the 120 day deadline for some planned april cruises. so here is a very real world example of how their bungled IT and website infrastructure issues interfere with guest satisfaction.

the posters above are correct... no problem bringing a drink into the dining room or a specialty restaurant. remember, though, that the casino bar is only open while at sea. so, availability of casino "free drinks" for dinner may depend on when you're dining and when sail away is in each port. interesting comment about the corkage fee! as you may know, those with a drink package are not charged a corkage fee. but i think you are correct in that you technically won't have a drink package, so a corkage fee may apply. personally, i think there is some wiggle room there. at the very least, NCL should clarify in its terms/policies whether a free drink card in the casino can exempt a guest from corkage fees. as it stands now, sadly, i don't think it will. it's not an official "drink package."

i've had a few days to reflect upon it and i now realize this was done for my convenience, of course.

because the call center was closed at 11 PM, 12:30 AM and 2 AM ET. that's why they have a website... to meet the customer in his or her preferred communication channel at whatever time the customer likes. at least that's the way it's supposed to work.

if NCL had truly intended "free" to refer to the "freedom" that they believe NCL cruising represents, they would have called it "freestyle at sea." but that doesn't rhyme and is a lousy marketing slogan.one of the most powerful words in the english language is "free." and the tag is clearly meant to imply that you get free stuff while cruising with them (even though many of these allegedly free things come with fees, taxes and gratuities), not that you are free to do what you like, when you want. anybody at NCL who suggests that the meaning of the tag is "freestyle cruising" is monday morning quarterbacking and trying to weasel out of legitimate criticism about fees for the allegedly free items. the EU has it exactly right. there should be no hidden fees. NCL knew exactly what it was doing by calling it "free at sea." it's a great slogan/tag line. much better than their original line: "want a good time? give us a nickel, give us a dime!"

that is absolutely true about the excursions... my voyage on the joy last month unexpectedly docked at amber cove instead of TB and all excursions went as planned from the alternate location... they are actually not very far apart, by land or sea.

NCL has a set of criteria for rating players on its ships. CZR has a set of criteria for rating players in its casinos. they are not the same criteria. are you talking about an NCL offer made to your friend by CZR? if so, a strong CZR player will almost always get a better offer directly from NCL, once having played on NCL, whereas CZR may only award an NCL certificate for an inside or oceanview.

i refer to it as "for a small fee at sea." as for EU regulations... much stricter on this sort of stuff and, yes, they are likely in violation. the reason it continues is that nobody has likely sued. somebody should.

i understand carnival has added escape rooms. they are apparently located in a gazebo. and yet, somehow, the passengers still can't figure out how to escape.

respectfully, i think you're missing the point. the point is not that one can not have a dissenting opinion... that's not the point at all. the point is that one should generally refrain from doubting or criticizing the experience of others and questioning the validity of a first person report, unless one has a strong reason to do so. so far, your reason seems to be that there must be another side to the story and we don't have all the facts because there's always another side to the story and we haven't heard from management and other posters on cruise critic often don't tell us the whole story. but we're not dealing with other posters, we're dealing with a report from this poster, who has already shared that NCL largely corroborates the story as reported here. we can accept that or not, but waiting for "management" to post their version of this story is futile. NCL is unlikely to comment. so, we're left with the first person account of the OP, which seems quite credible to me. each individual is always free to judge the credibility of cruise critic reports and reviews. if you disagree with the opinions or reports of the OP, please state why. in my opinion, just stating that there must be another side to the story, when the OP has already indicated that "management" has admitted that there is a legitimate and chronic problem, makes no sense whatsoever. we are not blindly accepting all the claims of the poster... we're reading a report and making a judgment as to whether or not it sounds credible. it certainly does sound credible to me. it may not to others. but, generally, if it doesn't sound credible, people state why. and that's where the pom poms come in. many would conclude that somebody who questions the credible report of another poster without stating why might sorta kinda be a cheerleader for NCL.