UKstages

it’s also typically available at guest services.

clever indeed, but I don’t think you’d ever find me in mr. todd’s tonsorial parlor. “he trod a path that few have trod, did sweeney todd.” with that name, do they have any customers at all? i can’t imagine so; my best guess is that they’re running on a razor thin margin.

this is largely a question of semantics… paying the current price for the cabin isn’t really an “upgrade”… you’re moving on up, but you’re paying the current full price. you’re purchasing whatever accommodation you prefer to be in rather than participating in a bidding process for an upgrade. NCL agents have no wiggle room to negotiate fares… it isn’t a marketplace bazaar in istanbul.

NCL itself doesn’t manage the upgrade offer process. it’s done by an outside firm. so, that wouldn’t really work. you can monitor prices in the months and weeks leading up to your departure to see if it makes sense to outright “buy” the upgrade by booking the desired room, independent of the upgrade process. you can do that by making mock bookings online and by calling NCL. saying “i can pay this” is essentially what the upgrade process is about. it’s done online, however. and there may be others who are willing to pay more. the online upgrade process, with its bids from many hopefuls, is designed to maximize revenue. a phone call with just one passenger is designed to maximize revenue, too… but just from that one passenger. also, the way the upgrades are managed isn’t all about what you will pay… it’s also about which room you’ll be vacating… part of the process is upgrading others into the room you just gave up to move into another room. if you have a club balcony and move to the haven, that then gives them a club balcony that they can sell (upgrade) somebody else.

you do indeed have to complete online checkin for the second cruise, assuming they were booked as two separate cruises. this includes being sent umpteen email invitations to watch the muster drill video! once onboard, a day or two before the second cruise begins, the reservations will be merged within the NCL app and your folio will then be able to include charges from both cruises. If you have unused OBC, it will be carried over to the second cruise. if you’re changing rooms, you'll have to get new key cards.

they switched to rotating menus more than two months ago. (i was on the 5/14 sailing and it had already started a few weeks earlier.)

it’s a much more complex issue than just the dredging of the port. NCL keeps saying “maybe next week” for stopping at isafjordur… they have been saying that since mid-may… for two months, they have skipped that port. each cruise, they wait until the last minute to inform guests. meanwhile, other ships have stopped there regularly, so NCL saying the port isn’t ready doesn’t really tell guests the whole story. something else is at play - either an NCL preference or self-imposed limitation - and NCL won’t divulge to guests what that it is.

yeah, that’s me. nailed it. i’ve been played. i probably shouldn’t even leave my house in the morning without a name tag affixed to my clothes. and I should definitely not let decades of experience dealing with other human beings influence how i interpret the words and actions of those around me. i’m always fascinated when people with no experience with this problem hold court and attempt to minimize the problem and second guess those who have actually experienced this problem… onboard the very NCL ship(s) being discussed. here’s the thing… it’s always the same four people… every thread.

the bird is correct. i would add that you should wait till the last day or so of your cruise to have them reverse the “convenience fees,” which is what they euphemistically call these charges. ditto having them evaluate your play… you’ll want to wait until you’re done playing for the cruise because once they credit you out, you’re done. they won’t typically go back and do additional credits. keep in mind that, depending on itinerary, the casino may not be open the last night of the cruise or may close early. so, plan accordingly. also, if you’re expecting discretionary comps, try to settle your account earlier in the evening of the last day the casino is open, so you have time to shop in the onboard stores. (unless you want all your discretionary comps to go to charges you’ve already accrued, such as excursions, dining, spa, etc.) as a sapphire, you’ll also get three special treats delivered to your cabin. you get to choose from a list of five or six things, including a bottle of wine, deluxe chocolates, a cheese plate, a shrimp cocktail and the ubiquitous chocolate covered strawberries. these are in addition to whatever the casino normally sends. typically, a host will find you on your first night of play, welcome you, hand you a card and ask you to tick the boxes next to the amenities you prefer.

great review and a fine read… thanks for sharing. i dunno, i may have somehow missed all the bad reviews, but my impression is that the joy gets pretty consistent good reviews… and deservedly so… it’s a well run ship. the manhattan cruise ship terminal often gets lambasted and embarkation and disembarkation is often said to be sub par, but the joy itself usually gets good reviews. NCL policies and cost cutting measures are often cited as problems, but that has nothing really to do with the ship. i’m back on the joy in october and looking forward to it.

while I can appreciate that you have it in writing… this will end badly. not for you… you’re smart and have it in writing and can probably fight the good fight. but I am almost 2000% positive that a solo passenger will not get an additional $50 excursion credit. honestly, apart from the fact that you have it in writing, what’s your level of confidence that you will be given an additional excursion credit? go back and read post #39. my point being… it’s going to take a lot of legwork on your part, starting with spirited discussions with the excursions staff onboard when you don’t get that second excursion credit, then guest services, then the GM, then finance, then a letter to corporate in miami. is it worth it? only you can decide. if you think the unlimited wifi is what you need and you upgrade on that basis and that is worth it to you, along with the upgraded drinks package and additional meals… then, sure, go ahead. you may have a $50 bonus to boot. but i don’t think you should have any realistic expectation of getting that additional $50 excursion credit. you may if you make enough noise, but i’d be shocked if it was given to you as a matter of course or if the email you received accurately described the program. i think whoever wrote that doesn’t understand the services provided or missed the part where you clearly stated you were traveling solo, even though you mentioned it no fewer than three times!

oh, geez. if the viva is lighter, we can only hope they didn’t remove additional seating from the indulge food hall.

oh, no! when did the gem, the jade, the jewel, the pearl, the dawn, the spirit, the sky, the star, the sun and pride of america leave the fleet? such a loss for NCL! they were good solid ships, every one of them, and i will miss them. all the suites on those ships featured butler service, along with the prima and the forthcoming viva. we were talking here about non-haven suites, not non-haven cabins. the breakaway, breakaway plus and epic class ships don't have any non-haven suites. can we agree that NCL can't have a suite with butler service if they have no suites?

that is great. i’m so thrilled to hear that the ship is exceeding your expectations and you’re having a wonderful time. there is much to recommend on the prima! have you considered that those “people who want to complain about everything” are simply sharing their truth? their experience may have differed considerably from yours. not all prima defects or faults or inconveniences impact all passengers. for the record, even on the worst posts and reviews about the prima, i have found that most people have many good things to say, even as they “complain” about other things. I have not seen much prima content that is all negative.

its actually quite common for suites to have butler service. more suites have butlers than do not. the joy is a notable exception.

well, I can meet you in the middle… it is indeed a “permanent” sound… that only manifests in bad weather/high seas. until and unless they rip the walls open and take the beast, it will always be there… in bad weather, which is a pretty frequent occurrence. as I said in my cruise critic report on the issue, and, i think, also in my review… you could stay in one of these cabins and never know there was any problem at all, if the seas are calm throughout the entire cruise. thank you for your thoughts. but, nope, it’s a dedicated list of prima cabins that have this unusual condition, the cause of which may still be unknown. the list - and the notes in each room’s data set, which they can see when they pull up a guest’s account or the cabin’s “file” - are used to verify the veracity of the guest’s complaint. if somebody complains about this noise, everyone in a customer service capacity can easily see that the cabin has already been identified as having this issue. also, and this is key, since they are providing many people with “sleeping cabins,” they need to make sure that the next room they put you in doesn’t have the same condition. how can they do that if they don’t have a list of problematic cabins? in fact, I was in a club balcony on the prima that had this condition. when they gave me a balcony sleeping cabin, the assistant GM told me they didn’t have any club balconies to put me in… then she corrected herself… she said they did, but that those rooms had the same problem that I was already experiencing. she wasn’t guessing… she looked in the database. also, they likely deal with this issue on almost every cruise… and it’s been going on for almost a year. of course they have a list! the peril is self evident. if you book a room on the prima, especially at the back of the ship, you will be subjected to a hellish nightmare from which you may not be able to escape, especially if the ship is sold out. i’m always fascinated when people with no experience with this problem hold court and attempt to minimize the problem and second guess those who have actually experienced this problem. go ahead and ignore the warnings. there’s a chance you’ll have a lovely cruise. there’s also a chance you’ll be kept awake all night long and won’t be able to concentrate while in your cabin throughout the day. imagine the worst sleep disruption you can possibly imagine… then multiply it by a factor of 10X. that’s what this is like. and people who book the prima, and presumably the viva, need to know.

if you’re only bidding on haven rooms, all descriptions should mention a butler. but if you’re currently in a “regular” balcony, the screen is most likely also displaying options for a “club balcony suite” (which isn’t really a suite) and an actual non-haven suite, in addition to haven suites. here’s where the fun begins… on most NCL ships, a non-haven suite will indeed come with a butler (but no access to the haven, if the ship has one). on the NCL joy, it won’t. they have lots of non-haven suites on the joy that are lovely large rooms, but they don’t have butler service. also, many “haven” suites are not actually located in the haven complex. they carry all the benefits, but may be located a deck or two below. (this often makes them a bit more affordable.) you can tell these rooms because the description usually says something like “includes full access to haven facilities and services” or some such verbiage. the descriptions for the haven cabins actually located in the haven proper say they are located in the haven and often say something like you’re only “steps away…” from this or that haven amenity.

oh thee of little faith. the list exists. everybody from the assistant GM to guest services reps to the engineer who visits your cabin to the cabin attendants to corporate folks in miami acknowledge the existence of a list. and that suggests it’s more than just a handful of isolated incidents/cabins. this happens so often that there’s a list! they have a process for cabins on the list and a process for cabins not yet on the list. if you report this problem in a cabin not yet documented on the list, they send an engineer to your cabin to verify. please note that not once did somebody tell me “we've entered the information onto our list/database.” this is not about placating customers or making it seem as if problem resolution is their top priority. instead, they will say something like “oh, yes, I see that here.” or they will say, “hmmm… that cabin is not on my list. let me send somebody to check that out.” the list exists. nobody knows how many cabins are on that list… it’s gotta be more than seven… we’ve had more than that many reports in this forum. is it seventy? a hundred and seventy? nobody knows, except… much like the shadow… NCL knows. this is the best kept dirty little secret in cruising. (other than where all the veuve cliquot went virtually overnight.) that’s a sucker’s bet. i would not take that wager. of course they are not going to give out a number. they believe it is in their best interest to pretend the problem doesn’t exist… the first rule of the noisy prima cabin club is that there are no noisy prima cabins. unless, of course, you’ve experienced them. the bottom line is… you sail on the prima in high seas, you run the risk of encountering a hellish cacophony that may ruin your vacation or a good portion of it. people can refuse to believe this, but they do so at their own peril.

see? this is what I mean! haters always be like “norwegian don’t have no entertainment.” (grumble, grumble, moan, moan.) here, they’ve apparently hired lady gaga not just for one of the smaller ships, but to play on a tender! way to go, NCL… bravo! what a special treat that must’ve been! did she do an acoustic show or did she have a whole big band? (in which case, did people complain about having fewer seats on the tender? haters gonna hate!) you’ve mentioned this a couple of times and this appeals to me tremendously. i only sail the newer ships specifically because they have non-smoking casinos. my understanding was that the older ships all have 100% smoking casinos. i’m surprised to learn that’s not the case.

because staff onboard repeatedly mentioned they have a list and that it is noted in NCL’s database. every cabin has a record and a notes field within the database. all issues and all maintenance performed are documented there.

”jackhammering with a click click noise in between the jackhammer sound” is an accurate and spot on way of describing this noise. they haven’t fixed this issue onboard the prima. at least they hadn’t as of six weeks ago. the only way to fix it is to tear the cabins apart in dry dock. their way of fixing it in the short term is to maintain a list of affected cabins, then offer a sleeping cabin (if the ship is not sold out), then provide $500 compensation per person if guests continue to express their concerns. if the ship is sold out, there is no place else to put you. all hotel operations staff onboard know about this… GM, assistant GM, guest services, cabin attendants… when i played a recording of the noise for my cabin attendant, he said “oh, yeah, sure… i hear that all the time when i’m in there making up the room.” when you report to your “sleeping cabin,” that cabin attendant knows exactly why you’re there… he’s seen it all too many times. when you go to guest services, they know precisely what you’re there to report. and yet, many in supervisory or management roles pretend like the problem is unique and needs to be investigated. and many guests are very understanding and somewhat timid in reporting the problem… they think it must be unique… there couldn’t possibly be seven or seventy or a hundred and seventy cabins with this problem… who builds a ship like that? NCL continues to book these cabins even though they know they will have problems with most guests in these cabins once onboard. there have been reports of this noise in cabins all over the ship, but the majority of the problems have been reported aft, including haven rooms. the biggest marketing problem with the prima is that they built a dud. you don’t have a viable product if a certain number of your guests are kept awake every night. i can appreciate the predicament that they’re in… but they need to come clean and disclose these cabins to potential guests at the time of booking and deeply discount them, the same way obstructed view seats are sold in a theatre or arena. or they should simply not sell them.

i had to look it up! that was sooooo six weeks ago. avoid club balcony cabin #11344 at all costs. full details here: again, NCL has a list… all the cabins are noted in their database… they are just not sharing that list with their customers.

well, that didn’t take long. congrats, folks. this somehow rapidly turned from a straight up legit platinum dinner benefit query to an SAT question. (for our overseas friends: the SAT is a college readiness assessment taken by most high school students in the USA to measure proficiency in math, reading, writing and language.)

most people refer to the “voucher” as the tearable coupon that comes in your benefit packet. you get one platinum (or above) benefit packet printed on lightweight card stock, which is folded. contained within that benefit packet are two vouchers… each is good for one meal for two people. (one of those meals can include a bottle of wine, should you so desire.) what you said was that that “if there's one platinum member in the cabin you get one voucher for 2 people.” if you think that means you get two dinner vouchers good for two dinners for two, no harm, no foul… but it doesn’t actually mean that. “one voucher for two people” means, well, that you’d get one voucher to be used for one meal for two people.