UKstages

you do realize that people who post positive reviews also comprise a tiny fraction of those who've sailed? just checking. wow. a lot to unpack there in just a couple of sentences. one can't simultaneously say that bad reviews on cruise critic have never been typical of the average cruise passenger and are "unrepresentative" while simultaneously placing great confidence in the positive reviews on cruise critic, as has been expressed. the source of both the good reviews and the bad reviews is the same user base! as far as more people going online to write negative reviews than positive, that is absolutely true... but, again, it's the same user base who write these reviews. and, anecdotally, there sure do seem to be a heckuva lot more bad reviews of the prima than any other ship. and, again, we're not comparing negative reviews with the big wide world of cruisers outside of cruise critic... we're comparing cruise critic apples to cruise critic apples. the data set, regardless of whether it is representative of the cruising public at large, is a repository of cruise critic reviews! the point of my previous comments is that the negative reviews should not be summarily dismissed as the work of curmudgeonly malcontents... both the good reviews and the bad reviews presumably represent the actual experience of cruise critic members. if one believes that those who post reviews have an agenda or an axe to grind, they must believe that is the case for both the positive and negative reviews... the reviews are from the same set of users. as for how representative cruise critic is of the average cruise passenger... it's pretty darn representative. six million people a month visit cruise critic. a little more than twenty million people cruised last year. even if it's the same six million people visiting cruise critic every month (it's not), that's still a number close to a third of the number of people who sailed last year. most people have never heard of cruise critic, that's true. most people who have sailed and who have researched their cruising options online have heard of cruise critic, although they may not be active users or forum participants. this phenomenon is known as cognitive dissonance.

it is a glitch, as you later stated and has to do with the first cruise not being resolved and closed out in the system, but i can assure you that the reservations have not actually been canceled. you just can't see them in the app... they do indeed "disappear" in that sense. whenever i have reported this on the first day of the second leg of a B2B, the people i consulted to "rebook" my reservations have all confirmed that they were already in the system. it makes it incredibly inconvenient, especially if you have reservations on that first day, but, typically, they will show up again later that day or early the next day, once the first cruise has been closed out... and they will show up without any rebooking whatsoever.

quite often the sensor works, but there is no soap in the dispenser. that's also a problem.

your butler can bring a cheese tray as one of the "treats" he or she provides to the room. cheese trays are also available on the standard room service catering menu (for a fee). with a day's advance notice, i feel pretty confident the haven restaurant can serve you a selection of your favorite cheeses. i haven't seen cheese served in any specialty restaurant as an option, but i'ver never asked. oh! la cucina does have a burrata on the menu as an appetizer, but i don't think that's what you're looking for.

there are no discounts, but if you have platinum status (or above) or elite casino status, you will - in most cases - receive benefits for each cruise... laundry, two dinners, OBC from the casino, etc.

yes, indeed. completely out of their control. but not something they don't have full knowledge of. yet they often act like they have little knowledge of the situation and that they don't have decades of experience with such matters so as to be able to predict whether a port visit is likely - or unlikely - for a particular journey. some might argue that they are indeed doing what they like... not informing guests that the ship they've booked has no tendering capability of its own, and making it appear that a visit to the port is likely, even when they know it is unlikely and hasn't taken place for months. if the port is not being entirely forthcoming with NCL with regard to their construction schedule, that is information that NCL has, as well, to be able to make a determination about future port visits. if the port does not communicate reliably, NCL should know that - with great consistency - the information they supply to their guests has been wrong. i don't think anybody is lambasting NCL for skipping the port that the ship can't visit. what NCL is rightly receiving criticism for is fudging of the truth, denial of the reality of the situation and consistently poor communication (which seems to be getting a bit better). they are also criticizing NCL for apparently building a ship without tenders... the only way the prima can tender is if tenders are provided by the port. in most cases here, the prima would have been able to visit isafjordur if the ship had its own tenders. as for pier work... my understanding is that the port is being dredged... they are removing built up sand and silt and other accumulated "stuff" from the bottom of the sea to allow for access by larger ships. that would extend well beyond the pier. if there are no visible signs of this work taking place, it is entirely possible that the work will not continue until after the season is over... in which case, NCL might consider canceling all future port visits for this season.

well, there's revenue and there is indirect revenue. guest satisfaction leads to a guest's intent to return (sail again) and that is most definitely revenue-producing. while some never visit the space at all, the observation lounge is rated highly by many guests. my own opinion is that the OL generates strong indirect revenue.

well, first off, i think it’s likely that rob and buddy and sally would be doing a musical revue onboard. as part of the entertainment staff, they’d probably have an ocean view cabin on a lower deck. unless they were on a sixthman cruise, in which case they’d probably already be in the haven, all of them… along with their respective guests/spouses. sally is a perennial solo, natch. so that leaves mel and jerry and millie. mel can afford to pay for the haven, for sure. jerry and millie are wild cards… unless millie won the cruise on a game show or redeemed four million myvegas points, i just don’t see them going on a cruise at all, frankly. the real question is… where is richie? does he have his own cabin or is he staying with his parents?

i know, right? i pointed this out in my review on cruise critic, too. arguably, the most elegant restaurant on the whole damn ship and 60% of the seats have lifeboat views! what were they thinking?

just as a belated point of clarification… the prima (and presumably all prima class ships going forward) has no library or public meeting rooms.

fascinating video. for better, for worse, it really is an almost exact clone of the prima, right down to the jewel encrusted spatula chandeliers in hudson’s and the lifeboat views in le bistro. thanks for sharing the video!

points are awarded to people who sail, not to people who book or pay for rooms. your kids either have latitudes accounts already if they’ve previously sailed or will have accounts by the end of your upcoming cruise, if they haven’t. if you intend to sail over and over again with NCL, this is important, as your kids will eventually have status in the program and will get tier benefits, along with you.

it’s great that is what can easily be understood because that is precisely what was meant. book the prima and you do indeed have a better than average chance of getting a cabin of doom, with strange and extraordinary noises that will prevent most people from sleeping. all the armchair mathematicians in this thread seem to be of the mindset that the phrase “better than average chance” refers to a dataset of prima cabins only. this is a comparison thread with another ship and you are indeed much more likely to get a noisy cabin on the prima than any other ship. but even if you only consider the prima when booking, you still have a better than average chance of getting one of those rooms. again, all the armchair mathematicians seem to think that means more than half the rooms on the prima have this problem. it doesn’t mean that at all. oh, gosh, i haven’t seen that. have you really seen that? or does that just fit the narrative of what you think you’ve seen? most of the reviews I’ve read offer a strong mix of praise of the prima, together with their pans and are written by well respected forum members with good track records. the “bad reviews are all from curmudgeons who never have anything good to say about anything” narrative is disproved by the reality of most of the reviews. many of these folks, myself included, love NCL, which is why they have a specific frame of reference and why they were so disappointed by their actual experience on the prima.

no, not really. I bought a bottle of liqueur that was $24 on board, but $19 at the duty free shop in the airport. you should expect to pay about $70 for a quality sweatshirt or hoodie with an NCL logo, about $45 - $50 for a tee shirt. I bought a camera onboard that was being offered at a “discount.” with the lower price, it was almost exactly the same price as shopping online at amazon, including tax. you want to get the most bang for your bogus buck (OBC) to be sure, but when you consider this is monopoly money, a few bucks here and there shouldn’t make a difference… the merchandise is - essentially - “free.”

regarding the prevalence of duos and trios and quartets in the lounges, atrium and elsewhere… cover bands are extraordinarily popular in the phillipines, so many of these acts are hired outright and not cast and put together by NCL... they are existing acts.

the big band era was long gone when I was born. i love the big band sound, as well as what would be described as “crooners,” the era for which had also long since passed by the time i was born.

syd’s is a concept that was developed at NCL’s request, yes. and it is unique to NCL ships. but they went to the team behind “rock of ages” and said - essentially - give us something like that. hold the plot, we just want a musical revue that evokes the same feelings in a club space in the spirit of CBGBs and the fillmore east. so it was created by the rock of ages team and not by NCL’s internal talent team, but NCL did ask them to create it. i believe the original cast members also appeared in “rock of ages” on the breakaway and the entire club concept is a tribute to the grandfather of the guy who wrote “rock of ages.” (not sure if his grandad’s name was actually syd or not. I doubt it. in any case, “syd” is like tommy bahama… no such person apparently exists.) here’s an old casting notice that mentions the “rock of ages” affiliation: https://www.backstage.com/casting/syd-normans-pour-house-2556300/

there has been, for a very long time, a one year limit to reporting a missing cruise.

oh, gosh, no… “better than average” has a very specific meaning. and some people do indeed get it, while others clearly do not. and those who don’t invariably become keyboard warriors ready to defend straw man arguments and tilt at imaginary windmills.

there are misunderstandings here about how shows are “developed,” created and licensed. NCL didn’t develop “choir of man,” they bought it and licensed it for NCL ships. its journey was very similar to that of “six.” NCL scouted it at edinburgh, made a deal and got in on the ground floor. the syd norman concept was developed by the “rock of ages” team. while unique to NCL, it is a licensed property. NCL has its own in-house production company that, for the most part, produces shows created by others. they cast the shows, they direct the shows, they light and costume the shows and build the scenery, but they don’t own the shows. (there are exceptions, such as “elements”). in the case of an existing property like “summer” or “six” or “jersey boys” or “beetlejuice,” any changes made to the script (chiefly to shorten the show) are done with the permission of the original creators. NCL also books independent contractors/solo acts such as comedians, and lounge performers.

the “smoking rooms” in some NCL casinos are small enclosed rooms in an otherwise non-smoking casino. yes, smoking is permitted in there, but it’s not designed as a smoking room for anyone who wishes to go in there and smoke. it’s not a smoking emporium… it’s a casino and the smoking privilege is intended for active players.

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?