UKstages

the thread is really about so much more than “the FAQ is incorrect.” i view it as an allegory, a treatise on man’s inhumanity to man and a delicate, yet simultaneously firm and insistent, plea for tolerance and understanding amidst a sea of mediocrity and price consciousness.

i think people book cagney’s because it’s a known commodity, but mostly because they think they get the best value out of cagney’s… menu items are pricey and so their FAS dining credit is easily worth $120 or more for two people. in my opinion, cagney’s is hit or miss, mostly miss. and if you’re in the haven, you can get a quality steak pretty much anytime, so, presumably, there is less appeal to booking cagney’s. i’d much rather book los lobos or Q or something else I can’t get in the haven restaurant.

i don’t have time to go back and read it all, but, yes, i believe you’re missing something in the thread. and that is that, sometime ago (last december, I think), NCL started charging for continental breakfast room service delivery.

really? wow. i mean, i didn’t even think staff was allowed to fraternize with guests and now THIS is an expectation? as my mom used to say, it’s a new world. just kidding. i realize it’s a typo. but, um, yeah… wow. that would be a very special service indeed. i almost feel like they should be tipping me (pun intended).

that’s probably true… but how much of a “VIP” are they if they are not in a suite?

it appears to be some sort of manufacturing defect that took place during the build within the walls and/or ceiling of some cabins… undue pressure at certain stress points during high seas. that’s my layman’s explanation. NCL wont really know unless they rip the cabin open. i would assume they have been in touch with the ship’s builder to make sure it doesn't happen again and/or to seek compensation for the lemon that they delivered.

i echo that statement. i’m thrilled you received some measure of compensation and very glad to hear that NCL acknowledged the problem... to you. i do wish they would publicly acknowledge the problem and announce a plan for fixing it. NCL tends to only solve things in the moment and never investigates the root cause or fixes that underlying problem. they think it is somehow easier to continue to book these rooms and only figure out a guest resolution when and if somebody complains. data point: as a solo traveler, i received $500 for a similar problem. as a cabin of four, you received $2000. NCL may have set the threshold for this sort of disturbance at $500 per person. i personally believe it should be set as a percentage of overall spend, rather than on a “per guest” basis. spend 20K, get $500 per person… spend 4K… get $500 per person… that just doesn't seem right.

while i agree that they are generally not that sophisticated, this isn’t very hard. somebody reports a noise problem of this type, a staff member is sent to verify, and then it gets documented in the database. whether they can pull up a list of all the rooms or whether the problem is just documented individually for each room, i couldn't tell you. i assume the former… how else are they going to fix this in dry dock… assuming they want to fix it?

on the prima, many of the cabins with severe noise problems are aft, including the club balcony cabins and the haven.

i didn’t think so, either, and said so.

it’s known to be on several different decks and includes some haven rooms. I was in a club balcony suite on deck 11. it’s unknown how many rooms have this defect, but we’ve had confirmation from five or six people on cruise critic alone. is it six rooms? sixty? a hundred and sixty? we don’t know. but NCL does. all the rooms are documented in their database, yet they continue to sell these rooms. i was given $500 in OBC after being told I would be receiving a cash credit. it’s all documented in that thread I started which tells the whole story.

well, that's the thing... we just don't know. marketing offers can have a host of different criteria based on number of cruises taken, destinations sailed, closest port, tier status, etc. it could in fact be based on latitudes status... some offers might only go out to silver and gold members. it depends on whom they want to target. their marketing folks might think they don't need to send this or that coupon to platinum or diamond or sapphire members, as they are likely to sail with NCL anyway... without the discount. platinum, sapphire and diamond members may think they should get all the coupons, but NCL's marketing team might look at it differently. they can send an alaska coupon only to people who have never sailed to alaska as an inducement to book. conversely, they could send an alaska discount coupon to those who have sailed to alaska before to get you to go again. some coupons could go to people who live more than 500 miles from any of NCL's ports. a different coupon could go to those who live within driving distance of NCL ports. one thing i'm pretty sure about... the disbursement of coupons is on a rolling basis. they are not going to give everybody the same coupon all at once because the call centers would not be able to handle the influx of calls... all at once. so the coupon disbursement is likely staggered, even if they are sending the same coupon to more than one markleting demographic..

i recently had an extraordinary amount of OBC. i wanted to buy liquor and i did buy one bottle. the problem is duty... many countries have limits on what you can bring in. now, in practical terms, nobody is going to care much if you have two or three bottles when you disembark intended for your personal use. besides, few people are ever stopped when they go through the "green" channel. but, technically, there are limits. and, unless you're arriving in a port that happens to be your home city, you still have to get on a plane, on which you can not take your liquor purchases. so, you have to carefully wrap them in clothing or bubble wrap you've brought along for the purpose and put them in your checked baggage. so, buy liquor onboard? sure... indulge and get a $300 bottle of johnny walker blue or mccallan enigma. but buy six or seven bottles of "regular" spirits... not so much. the logistics are daunting.

ocean blue is a specialty dining restaurant; the dining package can be used there. the pice of the dining package is usually lower online before the cruise, although they have been known to offer a "special" that is about the same price on the first two days of the cruise. as for booking reservations and then changing them, or making new reservations once onboard... that is a personal preference. it is extremely unlikely that you would not be able to book onboard upon embarkation, provided you board fairly early. but some people like to book something, anything, so at least they know they have a reservation in the bag. and while you didn't ask this... you will soon discover that you can't book online for three people. so, book a reservation for four and you'll be fine.

just to clarify... you personally are not going to use NCL because of the miami situation described in this thread? or something else?

NCL makes a boatload (see what i did there?) of money on excursions. they would prefer to visit each port, as scheduled, so as not to lose that revenue. there is something mysterious about their ability to tender that they are repeatedly not disclosing, whether that is a physical restriction, an equipment limitation, or a monetary consideration. but they are horrible at communicating, that's for sure. i'm not sure that NCL told the tour operator they wouldn't be calling on the port. i wouldn't give them credit for that. that information probably came from the port itself.

in my experience, the "special" on meal packages is run only on days 1 and 2. and, again, in my experience, the special equals the pre-cruise price. there is usually a placard advertising this in front of the host stations at the local and the MDRs, sometimes the specialty restaurants.

i have no "hacks," i'm not sure there are any "hacks," but i'm fascinated... please tell us how often you change your underwear... inquiring minds want to know! i'll go first. i change mine once, sometimes twice a day. NCL changes the cruise first/cruise next purchase and redemption rules far less frequently than that, i should think. and how would one leverage a certificate while on board? (i guess we'll have to wait for the hackers to tell us.) not really a hack... but i've had great success buying $250 cruise first certificates when they are available for $125 and then i redeem them, one per reservation, when i book a cruise. works every time.

no, the OP is saying the same thing you are... that you can't use OBC prior to the cruise to pay for things like dinners and excursions. some cruise lines allow you to do this; NCL does not.

cruise FIRST certificates may be for you... they can be used on sailings of six days or longer for all cabin categories up to and including club balcony.

from whom? you’ve received questions offline from fellow cruise critic members? please share how this was accomplished.

you can do that that right here on cruise critic... i address this, if not in this thread, than in another in which this issue came up. i play the same regardless of whether i win or lose. my mood does not alter. oh, of course, winning is more fun, but it doesn't affect my ability to analyze or interpret customer service interactions. it should be noted that i lost quite a bit after i was given a room to sleep in and also on the second leg of the back-to-back cruise. i reported here and elsewhere that the cruise got a lot better and if you read my full review you'll see i gave the ship quite a bit of praise. this thread is not my review... this thread is simply my report of a serious cabin noise issue at sea. the complete review can be found here... though it's been said many times, many ways... a "white noise" machine and ear plugs won't help you if you are unfortunate enough to be placed in one of these cabins. i brought bose noise canceling headphones and bose sleep buds and neither could mask the noise. i hope you have a fabulous cruise and enjoy your time onboard the prima. there are a lot of wonderful things to explore.

if you have "normal" cabin noise, ear plugs may not even be necessary. there are a number of cabins on the prima, however, that have extraordinary noise due to a manufacturing defect during the ship's build. NCL has these cabins documented in their database, yet continues to sell them. these cabins have even been reported within the haven. at high seas, the noise becomes incessant and unbearable to most who have reported hearing it. ear plugs and white noise machines will likely not help to mask this noise. if they do, you probably have a cabin with "normal" cabin noise.

yes, the article came out at the time the policy was introduced; the policy is still in effect. enforcement is somewhat lax and seems to be left to the discretion of cabin attendants and, ultimately, the captain, in extreme cases.

for almost four years, NCL has had a rule that prohibits decorating doors. they say it’s a fire and safety hazard. enforcement varies, but, yes, technically, they can - and often do - take down door decorations. https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/norwegian-cruise-line-bans-door-decorations