UKstages

i agree with almost everything you say here. with regard to "six," the thought occurs to me that it may not be NCL's doing. NCL lucked out with "six." their talent team scouted the show, if memory serves, at the edinburgh festival and made a deal with scrappy young kids to bring it to their ships, before it even opened in the west end and long before it ever came to broadway. it was a major coup and a big gamble that paid off... big time. i don't know the details of that deal, how much they paid for the rights, nor the length of the contract. but it is entirely possible that they no longer will have the rights to "six," if the creative team pulled them, now that it's a worldwide megahit. knowing NCL, it's probably a cost cutting measure and has nothing to do with the rights, but it is possible.

i'm usually in the same OBC predicament. my experience has been that the price goes up once you're on board, but they typically have a "special" on days 1 and 2 that comes out to about the same thing as a pre-cruise purchase.

i am unfamiliar with the great magnet fire of 1992. please share all that you know. which city was this? as for magnets, yes, virgina, magnets can cause sparks under certain circumstances and neodymium magnets, in particular can be highly flammable and a magnetic field can indeed influence the power and direction of flames. thank you so much for bringing this important issue to the discussion. this, i'm sure, weighed heavily in NCL's decision to ban door decorations.

perhaps you should speak to a fire chief or fire marshall who can help you feel more comfortable with NCL's policy and explain to you how fires start and how they spread. perhaps you should speak with NCL's risk assessment team to understand how they came to their decision n this matter. perhaps once onboard, you can save your eye rolls for the captain, who ultimately has the authority to enforce the policy or not. i'm sure he or she would appreciate your perspective.

yes, that's correct. that is the concern expressed by NCL. they don't use your words exactly. but, yes, many door decorations are highly flammable and can start a fire or, more likely, help to quickly spread it. people can also trip over the decorations or get entangled in them during an evacuation. it is unlikely that a modern cruise ship will sink because of a fire, but it is possible, if the fire is not contained. fire at sea is dangerous. and precautions must be taken to prevent fire and to contain it. NCL has wisely chosen to ban door decorations. you can choose to express your opposition in an online forum or you can contact NCL to object. or you can keep your decorations inside your cabin or leave them at home. or you can choose another cruise line. the choice is yours and you have many options.

NCL offers biosteel hydration sports drink products for purchase. they are included in the premium plus package. availability may vary.

does this really have to be posted yet again? https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/norwegian-cruise-line-bans-door-decorations door decorations are indeed prohibited by NCL. whether one chooses to follow the rules is up to each individual. as has already been mentioned, enforcement is lax... if you decorate your door, there is a good chance they will be taken down. there is also a good chance they won't. in the case of a fire, your paper and mylar and tape and plastic could help spread that fire more quickly and/or people could trip over your decorations delaying evacuation during which every second counts this question comes up regularly on cruise critic and the same misinformation about there being no rule against it continues to be spread. if somebody wants to know whether door decorations are allowed on NCL, the answer is no.

aye, the rub is if you only use your NCL BOA card for NCL purchases, and you pay your bill in full, your points are not available for redemption typically until after your billing cycle and payment is made. so you can’t really pay down the bill with points. there is also a psychological factor at play… paying down your bill with a points redemption isn’t fun. having a few hundred dollars of mad money (“monopoly money”) to spend onboard is fun. again, I already get comped cabins through CAS. If I didn’t, I’d be using points for upgrades, for sure. for me, though, it’s OBC over statement credits every time.

i am a lot of fun at parties. thanks for recognizing this! two words you’ve chosen to ignore in my post: fire hazard.

it’s been said many times, many ways: they are prohibited. fire hazard. plus, you have no right to visually pollute the hallways with photos and magnets and balloons and crepe paper and mylar and streamers that others are forced to look at every time they pass. no right. and there is nothing worth celebrating that wouldn’t be more fun and provide more continuous enjoyment to you and yours than putting those same decorations inside your cabin, where you can look at them for much longer periods of time. place those decorations outside your door and others see them more than you. and if you have difficulty finding your cabin, math is your friend. cabins are clearly marked with sequential numbers. they were placed there specifically to help you find your cabin!

the viva will have “beetlejuice.” ”choir of man” has not been on broadway, but has been - and is currently - in the west end. it is not a traditional “broadway-style” musical, but neither is “six.” both are perfect for NCL.

NCL does many things poorly. dietary requirements and food allergies they handle exceedingly well.

you can make reservations without being fully paid. at 125 days, specialty restaurants open up.

you might try calling room service, too. on my recent prima cruise, i noticed a "restaurant reservations" button on the phone. it connects with room service. three times on that trip, i used room service to make or change my restaurant reservations.

most ports you will visit are cashless... everything from pay toilets to restaurants to shops. in fact, many retail outlets no longer take cash at all... it's a post covid thing and a security thing. honestly, for the six or seven hours (or less) that you will typically be in port, or the two or three days you'll be in a country, it really doesn't make sense to get notes in each currency. you will rarely need cash. as for tipping tour guides and others... those that work in the tourism industry understand that you may not have local currency and will readily accept US dollars or another currency. they save it up and take it to the bank once a week or once a month or whatever, where they exchange it. i like the schwab idea mentioned above... it's a great idea if you want to use an ATM... but i'll tell ya... i used to fret about having local currency. and i no longer do. i just don't find it necessary. i completed a five night stay in london after my most recent cruise and never once used cash. it's a different world out there... and it's largely cashless. YMMV.

ship - prima deck - 11 stateroom # - 11344 stateroom category – club balcony suite starboard or port side - port, aft quiet stateroom? (with comments on problems) – emphatically no! the room is fine under normal conditions, but at high seas, you will not be able to sleep in this room. i lost three nights of sleep in 11344 until finally being given another room. the problem has been documented in this thread: was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - yes; some noise seeps through from the connecting room. balcony view - give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – good view, no obstructions, proximity to deck 8 pools, bars, seating not a problem for noise. the balcony hangs above deck 8 and the balconies below; it is not on the side edge of the ship. balcony size?normal or oversized for class? - normal was wind a problem? - no If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? yes. this is a known problem on the prima. any specific problems with this cabin? - see linked thread for details of the disruptive and debilitating noise problem in this cabin any other comments? no

no need. viva will be a virtual clone of the prima and there are many reviews of the prima.

I believe all NCL ships offer veggie burgers… you can request at the grill at the buffet. I think they are also available from room service and I THINK you can get them at the local/ o’sheehan’s, but not sure.

yes, but I interpret these proposed changes as meaning they might charge for additional services. you want to choose your airline or want a preferred flight? that’s $75 extra! you want to be able to choose your seats? $25! prepay your baggage fees? twenty bucks!

both hudson's and the commodore room accept reservations on the prima. i assume they would on the viva. reservations are meaningless, however, as you will still have to wait in line in order to get to the hostess desk. i did this several times on a recent 21 day B2B. there was always a line for hudson's and they distributed beepers, even to those with reservations. less so, for the commodore room, which was in fact closed for all of the second leg of my B2B. i have reviews of most prima restaurants in my recent cruise critic review. no problem if you are late or are a no show to a complimentary restaurant for which you hold a reservation.

nope. i use it for OBC (and statement credits) precisely because i've done the math. i'm already comped into club balcony suites or the haven through CAS. so, i can't use BOA points for upgrades. and i only use the card for purchases on NCL, so i get 3% back and chiefly what i charge to my account are downloadable credits in the casino. my convenience charges of 3% are waived based on my casino status level. so, that's a 6% discount on CASH in a casino.

the casino is run in-house... CAS is an NCL operation, both the administration and the actual day to day operations. the casino managers, dealers, croupiers, slot attendants, technicians, servers and hosts are all NCL employees. not sure what you mean by dance shows, but do you mean entertainment like "blazing boots?" and by extension, "six," "elements," "choir of man," "jersey boys," "summer," etc? NCL runs its own entertainment division out of miami and those mainstage shows are produced by NCL and the talent is hired by NCL. shows are rehearsed in NYC or miami. most of the talent comes from new york. they use a booking agency for comedians and some independent cabaret artists, magicians and musicians. the art gallery (park west) is a concession. as is duty free liquor and cosmetics and such.

your fundamental point is well taken, but you've given a bad example because NCL cruise consultants are in fact NCL employees, unless something has changed in the past six months or so. the people who answer the phone and book your cruise at NCL and CAS are NCL salaried employees. while many of them now work out of their homes, they are "based" out of the phoenix and miami offices. they are not independent contractors.

one can hope, but NCL uses a "tiger team" approach to launching a new ship. and that means that key leadership will move from the prima on to the viva, where they will most likely repeat many of the same mistakes. there are plusses to the tiger team approach, particularly if the team has had great success in its most recent effort. that isn't really the case with the prima, so putting many of the same team members in key decision making and leadership positions on the viva is a curious choice. they will undoubtedly deliver more of what they already have.

well, the improv is just a mistake. all comedy performances are now done in the theatre. i don't know if they have a licensing deal with levity, the booking agency, to use "the improv at sea" branding. if so, that aspect of the deal is just a waste of money, as the club is no longer used for comedy performances. (they do put the the improv logo up in the theater when comics perform.) as for the size of the venues... if you're asking if deck 7 has outdoor space that was built out and therefore required these venues to be smaller, the answer is no. the size of the venues was intentional, i beleive... NCL wanted intimate performance spaces, especially for the "syd norman's" brand. (there is a specific problem with syd's, as i understand it, which is that - contractually - performances can only take place in that venue... there is no option to move them to the theater.) but the venues are just too damn small. the only thing they are good for is annoying people who can't get in. not a problem on this cruise, although the final port, southampton, is one in which the issue is known to have reared its ugly head. but i left the ship at 8 am or so... no idea what happened to those who just arrived who wanted a drink later that day.