UKstages

thanks. i understand that completely. that was not the issue i was addressing. i was addressing the poster who said that anybody can say they proudly serve starbucks "by using regular old coffee grounds sold by starbucks." and that's simply not the case.

actually, no. anybody who hangs a sign that says "we proudly serve starbucks coffee" has to have a purchase agreement with starbucks for said coffee and be under a licensing agreement. more often than not, starbucks itself provides those signs or approves the signs that others create. you can't just go to the supermarket and buy prepackaged starbucks coffee, grind it, brew it and offer it up for sale at your gas station as "starbucks coffee." the prepackaged consumer goods business for starbucks is actually run by the nestlé group. the "we proudly serve" program is run as a whole separate business by starbucks (through nestlé) as a solution for hotels, the hospitality industry, colleges, the workplace and healthcare. "we proudly serve starbucks®" is in fact a registered service mark. in 2021, norwegian cruise line began a longterm relationship with starbucks that allows the coffee to be sold on its ships, both at dedicated retail locations and in its dining rooms. and if you sell starbucks on your cruise ship or at your gas station or lemonade stand, and are authorized by the company to do so, you need to follow strict company guidelines about how to store and brew the coffee.

the prima had these for sale in the gift shop, as of a couple of weeks ago, so NCL, it would seem, is still committed to making these available for sale. i considered buying one and keeping it around my office for inspiration, much the same way i have window cards for the broadway shows "moose murders," "home, sweet homer" and "carrie," which were also bad ideas, poorly executed. they also had plush prima-shaped stuffed toys.

i actually bought one of those expensive cameras (with bundled accessories) on the prima a couple of weeks ago. i had OBC that had to be spent! the camera wasn't as overpriced as one might think. it was technically "duty free," but it wound up being almost exactly what i would have paid on amazon for the same items, with tax. so... it was not a "deal," by any means, but it wasn't a total ripoff. and since i was using monopoly money that had no value after the cruise, i figured... why not?

the real goal should be to create a superior guest experience (within the limitations of your product category), so that people will pay a premium price. when you raise prices and simultaneously degrade quality, you can't achieve that.

no.

crew members are acting in an official capacity and would not be considered good samaritans. (unless, possibly, they are delivering veuve cliquot to the underserved.)

polaroid and kodak were once the darlings of the stock market.

there is no published policy communicated to latitudes members regarding that, though there may be internal guidelines or policies. most platinum and above members report success at getting additional "free" bags of laundry, generally at least one bag a week.

gosh, one would hope so. but the prima is evidence that, unlike most enlightened companies, they probably don't. if they had, they would have found out that people love the idea of the indulge food hall, but don't like going around in circles for 45 minutes, like planes waiting to land at la guardia, looking for a place to sit. they would have found out that their comedy club is too small, as are all their other dining venues. they would have learned that people hate the idea of one menu in the MDRs. they would have learned that many people are emotionally attached to the fish on the carpet and removing them would pose a risk to guest satisfaction. they would have learned that people enjoy having libraries and card rooms and removing them, too, poses a risk to guest satisfaction. the list is endless. NCL reacts to challenges after they occur. they don't anticipate and they do very little proactively. they are not a progressive company.

well, there should be either a sofa bed or a murphy bed type contraption that pulls down from the wall. my suite on the joy had both.

while the viva is promised to be a virtual clone of the prima, you have a better chance of benefitting from whatever modest improvements or policy changes they put into the viva as opposed to the prima. plus, the viva will still have that new ship smell. other than that, it boils down to the itinerary... spain vs. gibraltar. it's a personal choice of what matters more to you.

my recollection is that it is a true king bed, no splitting possible, that's correct. be aware that on the joy, you don't get real suite benefits. no breakfast or lunch, no butler, if i recall correctly... it's just a really nice oversized room with treats delivered a couple of times during your stay. you get access to an "invisible" concierge. on the joy, suites are very good rooms, but they're really just a larger club balcony room, without the laundry benefit.

club balcony is one bag per cabin. they may give you two for a long cruise, but that's not documented anywhere that i know of. the laundry benefit for platinum and above is listed as being "per member," so that's presumably two more bags. they may give you additional bags for a long cruise as a platinum, people have indeed reported that. but, again, that's not documented anywhere that i know of.

there are good reviews of the prima. there are bad reviews. most are mixed. most seem to agree that the ship is stunningly, though impractically, designed. many state that seating is challenging at the food hall and the MDRs. many praise the cabin design and square footage and the storage space, as well as the size of the bathrooms. many talk about how clueless many of the staff seem to be, while still finding rock stars here and there. many say the entertainment is lacking. some complain of cabin noise unlike anything they have ever experienced before. go and experience the prima for yourself and make up your own mind. search "prima" on cruise critic and other sites and read what folks have to say. no, but nobody expects to get a prize after viewing a broadway show. they do have a reasonable expectation that "the price is right" will offer a similar experience to the popular tv game show. but it doesn't. the show looks like a million dollars, but the gifts are in the under $200 range. and nobody has a realistic chance of winning a car, although it might happen someday. no matter how you slice it, "the price is right" is simply not legitimate cruise ship entertainment. you may enjoy it, four or five people may head home with a set of headphones or a set of luggage or a couple of hundred dollars. but it's atrium entertainment that has been pimped out with flashy lights and bells and whistles. it's hollow, relatively cheap to produce (compared to a broadway style entertainment) and just barely watchable.

well, to be fair, they probably didn't know at the time they sold the cruise. they've certainly known for the past three or four weeks. ísafjörður was canceled, if NCL is to be believed, because the port failed to complete necessary dredging on time. there is some legitimate discussion as to whether or not NCL could tender at this port or whether they have the capability to tender or whether they canceled simply because they don't want to tender. the other port delays and cancellations were weather related. at least they were on the two north atlantic prima cruises i just completed. as for reykjavik, we didn't get in till 3 AM the following morning, the day the cruise ended!

the app has a virtual queue that doesn't require you to wait in a physical line. while the app is wonky for most things, this functionality seems to work pretty well.

yeah, they were dealing with two scrappy young cambridge kids who were naive as to the inner workings of theatre financing, and, honestly, nobody could have predicted the success of this modest little show. they thought at the time that a deal with NCL would be their meal ticket. for anybody interested in how "six" was created and subsequently marketed, i highly recommend reading the linked article in post #9. there's only a fleeting reference to NCL, but there are lots of interesting tidbits for fans of the show.

my understanding is that, while in texas, there is indeed a more limited range of available liquor onboard, as the liquor they sell has to have been acquired/purchased in texas. so there are two things going on... the requirement to use "texas" liquor for all liquor sales and the taxation issue.

no, we can't all like the same things, and cruises and food and entertainment are highly subjective, but a clear trend has emerged from recent reviews of the prima... we see this in review after review (including mine) and in post after post: the ship is ill-suited to cold and inclement weather, some of the food is exceptional, some is not, the staff does not operate cohesively or communicate clearly, embarkation and disembarkation delays are common, ports are canceled cruise after cruise with little accurate or timely information given about those cancellations. review after review. cruise after cruise. "fifty million frenchmen can't be wrong." when enough people say the same thing over and over, there's gotta be some truth to the comments. that doesn't mean you can't enjoy your cruise or aspects of your cruise or the ports or the excursions. it doesn't mean you still can't be a fan of NCL (i am). but it would be wrong to pretend that the prima is, you'll pardon the expression, a well run ship. it is not.

comedians who do more than one show during the course of a cruise do not repeat their material. the show will be largely the same in a 7 PM and 9 PM show on the same night, but if they appear on another night, it'll be - for the most part - material you haven't heard before. comedians are human beings and they might forget if they told a particular joke before and they might repeat the occasional joke, but they generally have two or three "sets" before embarking on a cruise. interestingly, NCL has told me they don't book comedians on itineraries that don't originate in the USA, because "comedy doesn't travel" or some such nonsense. so they will have fewer options and a further hole in their entertainment schedules for cruises that originate outside the USA, once these full scale shows are retired. never say never, but the contract for syd's apparently ties the syd norman concept to that specific venue and NCL is forbidden to move that show (though not the performers) to the theatre. (in other words, the performers in syd's can appear in variety shows or cabarets in the main theatre or elsewhere on the ship; they just can't perform the same show they do in the syd norman space in the theatre.)

"club balcony suites" are not suites and suite benefits do not apply. you get a slightly larger room, to call it a "junior suite" would be generous. the big benefit is a larger bathroom. you also get a free bag of laundry and "treats" delivered to your room once or twice during a week long cruise. these are usually chocolate covered strawberries, plus a tray of cookies or cheese.

it may have debuted on NCL after it opened in the west end, not sure, but the deal was made based on the edinburgh showcase. NCL's head of entertainment saw it there and struck the deal. had it opened in the west end first and been the success that it was/is, i doubt the rights would have been given to NCL. they struck gold with this one. it is most unusual for a show currently on broadway to also be performed on a cruise ship. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/theater/six-broadway.html

generally speaking... rocky. so, you can imagine my surprise when i found apollo creed in my forward cabin once.

in many largee cities, there are street musicians who display venmo codes in their open guitar cases!