UKstages

oh, dear deity. the phrase “better than average chance” is used when one wants to indicate that something is occurring at a rate greater than what is “normal” or “standard.” in the case of the prima, there are a number of reports in this very forum of cabin noise so disturbing that it causes severe sleep disturbance and has prompted NCL to compensate those unfortunate enough to sail in those cabins by offering as much as $500 per passenger. we don’t generally see or hear reports of this unique cabin noise from any other ship. therefore, you have “a better than average chance” of getting a cabin of doom on the prima than on any other ship. the actual number of cabins is meaningless within the context of this discussion; we have already established that this happens on the prima far more than on any other ship in the fleet. the frequency of occurrence of this problem on other NCL ships appears to be next to zero.

some might say the prima was actually purpose-built for warm weather itineraries, but thoughtlessly and carelessly scheduled for cold weather itineraries.

nor would i. i would, however, characterize saying that there are those who revel in criticizing the prima as bashing the naysayers. and i would say that hoping those folks who offer criticism have calmed down is also bashing the naysayers. suggesting that those who offer criticism are somehow reveling or delighting in offering that criticism implies that the sole point of the criticism is to criticize… that there is some sort of anti-prima agenda. from what I’ve seen, these folks are offering a legitimate perspective based on their personal onboard experience. suggesting that prima critics need to “calm down” implies that the passion expressed in their critical comments is somehow unwelcome or inappropriate. they’re speaking their truth, just as the passionate prima proponents are. nobody is telling the passionate prima praisers to calm down. as for the criticism of the prima being “unrelenting,” discounting the fact that more people take to social media to pan than to praise, there are, apparently, a heck of a lot of people who have found their prima experience to be sub-par. i myself don’t think they have an agenda or are somehow misrepresenting their experience and I don’t think they should relent.

all this fuss and waste of energy (passenger and employee) to maximize benefits. wouldn’t it be loverly if NCL were to simply award status benefits per person rather than by cabin?

they have cruise critic for that… no name tag required.

the OP’s play sounds similar to mine. I put on 30K tier points on my most recent cruise and am ruby in the CAS loyalty program. i, too, have received haven and suite comps and i, too, have been disappointed when i get downgraded to a club balcony or a balcony and i, too, feel that it sometimes doesn’t correspond properly with my play. here’s what i can add based on my experience: CAS sends play-based offers… sort of. they send email and snail mail offers, but they almost never tell you what level of accommodation the offer is good for. you have to call or email your rep, if you have one. this is really annoying. there is a 30 - 60 day delay (from the date of your last cruise) until your new offers are generated in the “system.” if your play was strong, but your cruise ended at the beginning of the month, it won’t be reported until the end of the month, which means it won’t be reflected in your offers until the month after that. if your cruise ended at the begging of june, for instance, you can’t expect your offers to be impacted until august (they could be better or worse, depending on your play). offers were richer immediately after the post-covid restart. some decline in the level of accommodation may have nothing to do with your play, but more to do with the fact that many have returned to cruising and they can fill the haven and club balcony rooms with cash paying customers. there may be a bit of misunderstanding about “hosts” in this thread. the folks that you call at CAS are not hosts. they are cruise consultants. in ordinary times, with manageable call volume, you will be directed to a rep who only handles CAS customers. even so, most of them can not generate custom play-based offers. some can, and the ones who can’t will usually put you on hold and come back with an an answer or a proposal in five or ten minutes. the hosts onboard are not traditional hosts in that NCL is not really concerned with player development in the same way as a land-based casino. they can look after you while you’re on that cruise, but that’s about it. they rarely volunteer services or comps (except for ruby and above tier entitlements), so to make the most of your relationship, if you have strong play (like the OP), ask them for something as you go along… a comped meal, a spa visit, a go kart ride… they will most likely come through. they typically will come by and ask if you need anything… that’s your cue to ask for whatever it is you want. and, of course, a night or two before your cruise ends, settle your account… have the host credit your convenience charges and evaluate your play. he or she will award you discretionary comps, usually equal to 5% - 6% of your loss. (this is different than a land-based casino, which awards as much as 15%, and which usually takes into account your “action” and not just your loss.) settle early enough so that you have time to use your OBC in the shops. as far as the chicken and egg debate as to whether status or play is more important. in this case, it’s both. in the case of the OP, he played like a demon and earned 35K or more tier points on a 14-day cruise. we can infer from that that he has high ADT. as mentioned above, not all players who share status carry equal weight. there are ruby players who have 37K points and other ruby players who have 98K points. in addition, some people earn ruby status in 14 days of play and some earn their status in 60 days… or whatever. also, there is some anecdotal evidence to suggest that they don’t really use an ADT metric, but an ACT metric… average cruise theoretical… the amount of money you’re expected to lose during your entire cruise… it’s not quite the same thing; it’s similar to ADT, but takes into account the fact that the casino is closed for much of the day in most ports and that cruise ship gaming is very different… it’s rare that somebody would visit a land-based casino for 14 days in a row, yet it’s quite common onboard a ship. with regard to that pesky and senseless “admin fee”… there is one way around it or at least some of it, sorta kinda… if you have a percentage-off coupon in your account, it can be applied to the admin fee. it won’t reduce any of the other components of a fully comped cruise, but it will reduce the admin fee.

i’m not a fan of mentioning a rules violation to another guest. you know why? ninety-nine times out of a hundred, they know exactly what they’re doing and have made a conscious choice to violate the rules. it’s not my job to confront them or educate them. i’m a big fan of calling security… you know why? it is their job to confront them and educate them. as for vaping… i have two things to say… the first is that there are hundreds of chemicals in vapor, including cancer causing agents, as well as metal compounds. the second is that the last discussion here in the forum of whether vaping on NCL ships can cause harm was shut down.

you can order food on the bar side of the local on the prima, just as you can at any bar in any local on any other ship. the servers at the local on the prima, however, seemed to be very slow and very forgetful, based on my recent experience. just to clarify, are you saying that the prima no longer has rotating menus, as the other ships do? they introduced rotating menus in late april or early may to much applause… are you saying they have gone back to the same “standing” menu every night? if so, that is breaking news… and not good news in my view. i agree that it’s good to hear positive things about the prima. i am always glad to hear that somebody has had a great cruise and feels they have received value for money spent. but this bashing of the prima “naysayers” really should stop. reasonable people can have differing opinions of time spent onboard the prima, even on the very same cruise. i myself haven’t seen anybody reveling in criticizing the prima. what i have seen is a bunch of people file what they believe to be fair and accurate reports of their time on the prima. they are sharing their truth. when I went onboard, i was sure that all the harsh criticism of the prima was poppycock. after having sailed, i realized it wasn’t harsh enough. to be sure, it is often more entertaining to read a negative account simply because there is so much more to say and so many more details to report. but most of those negative reviews, including my own, also contain lavish praise of aspects of the trip. i loved the comedians, most of the food, most of the staff, housekeeping services and also the decor in the staterooms, which I praised for being quite spacious. but i also panned some things… the lack of seating at dining and entertainment venues, the surplus of outdoor space on cold weather itineraries, the crowding in public spaces, etc. that doesn’t mean i’m bashing the prima, especially since most of the positive reviews mention the very same things! (including the one above.) look, i take no delight in expressing my disappointment, I am not reveling in anything… i’m simply sharing my experience with the good members of this forum, explaining what they might experience once onboard and setting realistic expectations. so what separates the good prima reviews from the bad, since most of them mention the very same things? in my opinion, the difference is whether the posters encountered a showstopper of a problem, which was not resolved and which overshadowed everything that was enjoyable on their cruise.

great idea, but impractical. the space is not large enough to accommodate even half of the number of food stations in the current incarnation of the indulge food hall. and it would leave virtually no room for seating… and we know how committed NCL is to providing seating for anybody who wishes to indulge.

i haven’t seen anybody complaining about people smoking or vaping in a designated smoking area. i’ve seen people complaining about smoking marijuana in a designated smoking area. and smoking in areas of the ship where it is expressly forbidden. (or do you mean that smokers themselves are complaining about being confined to designated smoking areas?)

“a better than average chance” does not mean “over half.” so that’s what that is! honestly, I was pretty sure that it was a problem with the plumbing in the public restrooms.

cigarette manufacturers and air filter manufacturers (for both commercial and residential use) readily admit that air filtration only addresses the sight and smell of cigarette smoke. it does virtually nothing for removing the thousands of chemicals and carcinogens, especially since most of these are prominent in the initial exposure, before the filtration system even has a chance to work. but even after it does, it only addresses the odor and the visibility of the smoke. if your concern is the carcinogens in second hand smoke, air filtration won’t help on NCL ships, or anywhere else.

gosh, i don’t know anyone who’s complained that it’s new and different and that’s why they hate it. pretty much everybody loves that it’s new. the different part… in my experience, and my experience with reading reviews of the prima… it’s not the different stuff that’s the problem. it’s that they failed in the execution of most of those different things. add in an apathetic senior management team, not enough seating in key dining and entertainment venues and a better than average chance that you’ll get stuck in a cabin with insistent and disruptive noise emanating from deep within the walls, and you have a fair number of unhappy campers.

they could easily make the american diner a complimentary venue, but they would likely have to change the menu, eliminating some of the items with a higher food cost. outdoor burger, fries and hot dog joints already exist on several NCL ships, albeit without the kitschy decor and branding. oh, I suppose they’d also have to figure out what to do about haven restaurant overcrowding on embarkation day.

I share your assessment. i find cagney’s is hit or miss, depending on the ship…. It was mostly a miss - for me - on the joy.

fewer than 15% of americans smoke. and smoking is declining worldwide. these filters are great at removing odor… they fail at removing the carcinogens in second hand and third hand smoke.

i think you’d be much better off on the breakaway. Here is my review of the prima…

hmmm… many smokers on the ships I’ve been on do not. they smoke on their balconies, they smoke at the pool, they decide somehow to extend the area of the designated smoking section all on their own and smoke outside the periphery of that section. and they smoke in the cigar room, which is prohibited. (the reason this matters is because it leads to more frequent opening of the doors through which the smoke escapes and spreads to the adjacent areas.) cigarettes, marijuana and e-cigarettes. vaping is quite common throughout all ships, indoors and out, even though it is allowed only where smoking is allowed.

add to the list that headphones/earbuds must be used with audio/video devices. i continue to be amazed at the number of people who think it’s appropriate in a shared public space to binge watch a tv series, a ball game, a zoom call or endless facebook or tiktok videos without headphones, subjecting all around them to that auditory nonsense.

not terribly difficult, but there have been reports of cruise ship surge pricing. for less congestion and to make it easier to find your driver, have them meet you across the street on the southeast corner of 48th street.

no, because the service (the excursion) will be consumed in hawaii. when you sit at home and buy the excursion in advance, you’re also more than 3 miles away, but you’re still charged the GET. drinks and goods and retail purchases are treated differently because it is assumed that you are consuming them at the time of purchase, even if you save your bag of M&Ms to be eaten later.

i don’t have a hearing aid and I’m not in the market for a hearing aid. but from recent research for somebody who is in the market, my understanding is that the lower cost of hearing aids is due to a new law, and not poor quality. the FDA issued a final ruling a couple of years ago that essentially changed the definition of “hearing aids” and enabled access to over-the-counter hearing aids. and, just to get this back on topic, assisted listening devices such as these will definitely lead to lower guest satisfaction on the prima, if guests find themselves in one of these cabins.

i like NCL. even though i do find fault with them from time to time and can be among the first to point fingers when they distort the truth or hide behind corporate mumbo jumbo. however, i gotta believe that if there were an infestation of bed bugs on the island, they would be all over that in a new york minute, doing everything they can to eradicate the threat, including canceling port calls (something they have a lot of experience doing). bed bugs are insidious and NCL could not possibly risk having the critters get a free ride back to the ship, ultimately affecting tens of thousands of passengers and wreaking havoc on a number of its ships.

another vote for a tour out of akureyri that includes godafoss.

regarding comedians… do you have an itinerary that does not begin or end in the USA? NCL makes it a practice not to book comedians on many “international” itineraries because they believe there are language and cultural barriers… comedians don’t play well with an international crowd, they believe. i think that’s wackadoodle nonsense, but there it is.