UKstages

for the same reason that many chinese restaurants offer chop suey, which is not a dish that originated in china. these are dishes inspired by the flavors of the home country, but that have been altered to suit american tastes. many americans do indeed travel on NCL. chicken parm and spaghetti and meatballs are two of the most popular dishes on italian restaurant menus in the USA and many folks expect to find them in "italian" restaurants when traveling.

a quick question and a note about upgrading a "free" casino cruise on NCL... are you traveling solo? if so, be aware that, while there is no single supplement or penalty when booking a comped cruise, when it comes to an upgrade bid, your bid will be doubled... in other words, you'll be charged twice the upgrade bid amount, as if you were traveling with a second person, even if you are traveling alone.

they don't have to have an iPhone, but they do have to have an apple device that supports FaceTime. it could be a computer or tablet (iPad) or a phone.

i agree with much of what you say here, as well. we do have a slightly different focus when expressing similar concepts, though. i believe there is indeed an overall lower payout on cruise ships, but i also believe the overall casino experience is pretty much the same on NCL ships as it is on other ships and the cruise ship casino experience is very similar to land-based casinos. in all my NCL gambling related posts on cruise critic i've tried to drive home the same central points... • individual losses in the short term have far more to do with random chance than a "tight" machine, which - the theory goes - has recently had its payback changed to help meet some sort of revenue goal caused by a corporate financial downturn. i see the exact same complaints about poor payback in land-based gaming forums. my belief is the complainer just had a bad run... they weren't lucky. i see handpays taking place on cruise ships all the time, quite often when i'm not winning a damn thing myself. • changing payback is a cumbersome process and, as in a land based casino, a casino is much more likely to have a lower overall payback on newly installed machines rather than machines that have been onboard for awhile. if one believes that NCL has a corporate goal to tighten up machines (i myself don't think they do), then it's more likely to be true for a new ship like the prima... more so than an older ship like the gem. have there been widespread reports of bad runs and increased risk of ruin on the prima? i don't know. but that would certainly be something to look for. those are all newly installed machines which should adhere to NCL's tight payback model, if it exists. if you do see a newer game/machine in the midst of a bunch of older machines on an older ship, yes, that machine is more likely to have been brought onboard with lower payback, absolutely. • choose your game wisely. if you enjoy playing slots, be aware that many of the newer games are highly volatile, particularly those from aristocrat, WMS and konami. when you win, it's a huge payday. when you lose, it's embarrassingly awful. a lot of times, when people are losing big, i get the sense that they are playing "buffalo" and "planet moolah" games and such, which can deplete bankrolls very quickly... unless they are lucky enough to randomly get all the bonus features at once. it's not uncommon, on a penny machine, for a player to go through four, five or six hundred dollars or more without a bonus round. again, this happens in land-based casinos, as well as NCL ships. i don't see any difference in the way gameplay "feels" on NCL than i do elsewhere. • regarding the perceived reduction in NCL comps... when offers are downgraded to inside from balcony, or to club balcony from haven. i have yet to see this myself, but i often wonder if it's a play-based cutback or if it is indeed arbitrary. players are often the worst judges of their own coin-in. invariably, when i talk to friends with this complaint, after a few questions, they admit that they didn't play as much (time, bet level) on their most recent cruises. it's also important to note that qualifications may be higher now... they were more inclined to give away better cabins for "free" after the restart. now that more people are cruising, the inventory if CAS premium cabins may have been pulled back. • as for video poker pay tables... they ain't great, but they are cruise ship playable. i don't see an appreciable difference among all the VP paytables on all the cruise lines, but i haven't cruised every line. while cruising, i'm typically playing multi-line and UX games, which can smooth the variance and mitigate the paytable... if i'm lucky. if i'm gonna play a bit here and there to keep my offers coming, i'd choose to play VP, where i can control part of the outcome, rather than slots. my comment about how "nobody would play" was really meant to suggest that nobody would return. like amusement parks, casinos are judged on a marketing sentiment that factors in how likely a customer is to return for another visit, another cruise. if people see nobody winning, if they themselves don't experience a reasonable "time on device" for their spend, they are unlikely to return. nobody has a reasonable expectation of walking off the ship a winner, but they do want to get value for their money. if they don't, they won't come back. as for being a captive audience, i mentioned that in my post. it only goes so far, however. repeated exposure without sufficient "time on device" will lead people to keep their wallets sealed. i was also a seven stars player with CZR for more than a decade, but have given it up since eldorado took over (due to severe reductions in comps, gifts, rewards and slot play). the "free" balcony cruise benefit from CZR is what got me to return to NCL after a long absence. like you, i've spent a lot of time in casinos, on land and at sea. apart from their ridiculous administrative fee, NCL still provides good value to me and i'll continue to sail.

i've seen "the beatles" four or five times on various ships. yes, it's true... cavern club "sells out" very quickly and queuing is required if you want to get in. personally, i prefer the theatre shows. nearly everybody can get a seat and, when you come right down to it, on close examination (which is possible in the tiny confines of the cavern club), it's quite obvious that these are not in fact (spoiler alert!) the beatles. that is less obvious the further away you're able to sit in the theatre! nor are these guys "an incredible simulation," as the original broadway version of "beatlemania" proclaimed in their advertising in the 1980s. if we're being honest, i haven't seen a complete set of beatles yet on any ship in which all four of them were anything even remotely close to being "fab." on the bliss a couple of years ago, "paul" couldn't sing. if paul can't sing, you don't really have a viable beatles cover band. on the joy a few months ago, "john" was truly sensational and "ringo" was more than competent. "george" and "paul," however would have been laughed at and heckled in a community theatre production. paul didn't even know the set list order. (to be fair, upon returning from an excursion, i heard them rehearsing one afternoon, so perhaps they were putting two new guys into the show and they both needed some "HELP!") look, nothing i say here is going to dissuade anybody from seeing the beatles show, but i recommend going in with very low expectations. it's quite likely that one or more of the alleged lads from liverpool will be absolutely dreadful and that could put a damper on the whole show. also, the production values are quite low for this show, as well. the costumes and wigs are ill fitting and amateurish. the slide projections look like they were designed on a commodore 64 computer. (other than that, how did you enjoy the play, mrs. lincoln?) all that being said, if you can get past the variable quality of the performances, it's a lovely nostalgic show with great music.

the report of one steward having 28 rooms to service seems, well, incredible. assuming a very conservative thirty minutes are spent in the room each day for the initial daily cleaning, that would be 14 hours. assuming another conservative fifteen minutes are spent in the room for turndown/evening service, that would add an additional 7 hours. that would mean that particular steward was working for a minimum of 21 hours. that doesn't seem possible. and, again, these are very conservative time estimates which assume every room takes the same amount of time, not accounting for suites and haven accommodations. even the report of being responsible for 16 rooms seems incredible... the math just doesn't work out.

not so sure of the "data set" you cite here, but, regardless, it's a false equivalency. no state has legalized the recreational smoking of marijuana - in public - in places where cigarette smoking is prohibited. one is generally allowed to smoke marijuana only in one's own home and that's about it. one generally can't light up - legally - in a casino, in a smoking area at a stadium or on a street corner or most other places that aren't one's home.

i travel with my own self-test kits. i don't think it's the cost that prevents people from getting tested on board. it's the fear of having to be confined to a cabin, and that is why, as you theorize in your post, that an awful lot of people are walking around spreading it, perhaps innocently, perhaps not.

no, his all-in fare was as stated, because of the choices he's made. yours would be very different because of the choices you've made. of course, it kind of depends on what the meaning of the words "all in" are. do you mean to actually say "lowest advertised price?" look, as with any vacation, every individual makes choices and every individual plays the cards that are dealt and takes advantage of whatever offers they have... a savvy shopper stacks as many offers as he or she can. it's no different than a supermarket shopper redeeming a $1 off coupon on an item on sale for $1.89 and going on a "double coupon" day and walking out of the store with the item for free. (the "all-in" cost was zero. the advertised price was $1.89. and the suggested manufacturer's retail price was probably closer to $3.00.) some people who cruise are loyal. some have achieved elite status in their preferred program or their preferred casino players' club program. they will exploit that to get a good deal, perhaps one not available to others. elite status usually brings with it some benefits, whether it be a bag of laundry, extra specialty dinners or onboard credit. some travel agents offer special amenities, whether they be OBC, tip rebates or specialty dinners. some credit cards do the same. and some people who cruise own stock in their preferred cruise line and get even more onboard credit. your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to maximize as many offers as you can so as to provide the best value for you personally. don't look at the fellow behind you... it's largely irrelevant. pay attention to what's happening in front of you and make the best decision for you. it's not smoke and mirrors, nobody is playing fast and loose with the facts in an attempt to portray this cruise line or that as superior... it's just people saying, hey, this is what works for me and this is how i maximize my cruise spend... you can do the same if you so choose, although maybe not immediately. you, too, would have to get elite status and you, too, would have to find a TA that pays your tips, and you too, would have to buy stock... if these ideas resonate, then follow their lead. if they don't, keep doing what works best for you. thanks for saying in fewer than 20 words what i tried to say (more or less) in five paragraphs.

appreciate the pun here, whether intentional or not. you seem to be disregarding the studies on pubmed that say that the data on cancer causing agents in marijuana is limited or the data is corrupt, as others have said. as for studies showing "a link between water and cancer"... there are studies that show that drinking water from plastic bottles may cause cancer, that impurities in water supplies may cause cancer, that lead in water may cause cancer. and that's no different than the toxins in marijuana smoke causing cancer. marijuana itself doesn't cause cancer... when you burn it, cancer causing agents and toxins are released... they cause cancer.

do you have access to the google machine? do your own research. come to your own conclusions.

many people do, yes. most? gosh, i don't know about that. i'd have to see the data. i think an extraordinarily large number of people catch it while waiting in line to check in. there are few to no protocols and people are maskless and packed together, virtually shoulder to shoulder. but i have no data on that. except from studies that show when people are packed together and maskless, more people transmit and catch viruses. in my case, i know i didn't catch it on the flight... i live in manhattan and walked to the terminal. THIS. a thousand times this! when i said i got covid after a ten day canada/NE cruise, i should have been more specific. it was actually a back-to-back... five days to bermuda and then a ten day canada/NE. i boarded the joy on 9/1, negative test result in hand from two days prior. i was tested on board on 9/5 and received a negative test result. at some point in the next ten days, i got sick, as did my traveling companion, who was not on the five day bermuda cruise. (she, too, tested negative before the ten day cruise began.) many people on board that cruise got sick. interestingly, while on two bermuda excursions, the otherwise good tour guides announced proudly that even though it was required by law in bermuda that everybody must wear a mask while on the bus, they had no such requirement on their busses. the tour guide at crystal caves had a similar approach, telling those on his tour that they had to wear a mask until they passed the camera at the entrance; then they could take it off. the fact is that many people have a decidedly lax approach to covid protocols now, perhaps correctly rationalizing their actions by saying it isn't a big deal and it is, in most cases, survivable, especially for those vaxxed and boosted. the problem with that, however, is that you have every right to make those decisions for yourself, but not for those around you. so, where covid protocols are still in place, they should be recognized and followed. no one knows where they catch it, that''s true. but most know the risk factors. and know that traveling on a bus or a plane without a mask is a bad idea, that waiting in a crowded terminal with a few hundred other (maskless) people is a really bad idea. and that crowding into an elevator with a bunch of maskless yahoos screaming at the top of their lungs is ill-advised, whether there's a pandemic or not. in closing, let me just say how appreciative i am that so many noted epidemiologists have taken the time out of their busy day to post on cruise critic. we are all forever in your debt. truly.

oh, gosh, forgive me, i didn't realize you yourself were next to frogger22's cabin right now, which i assume you are or you would not have offered your opinion on the matter. i hadn't realized that was the qualifying criterion to opine here on CC; i will make a note of it. a thousand pardons. with regard to "trust," you may wish to look up the various meanings of the word.

on which data are you basing this conclusion? the fact is that secondhand marijuana smoke contains most of the same cancer-causing particulate matter and toxic chemicals as secondhand tobacco smoke, plus a few bonus ingredients, such as tetrahydrocannabinol, which can give you a "contact high" without your consent.

traveling companion and i both tested positive following ten day joy cruise to NE and canada a few weeks ago.

that's simply absurd. it is absolutely my business if i'm in the cabin next door to the kids and the kids are being unruly and the parents are in a cabin down the hall or on another deck providing no supervision whatsoever. that's one reason, as the OP has said , you can't book kids in a cabin without a parent. we've had posts on CC recently that have indicated that indeed was the parents' intent... to book two kids alone in a cabin while the parents enjoyed a "star wars" cabin (one that was "far, far away"). that's selfish and an intentional circumvention of NCL's rules i've spoken here just about noise and inconvenience and unruly behavior. there is another reason why kids can't be booked into their own cabin. in the case of a fire or other onboard emergency, they may not be capable of handling the situation on their own. and that is everybody's business. the OP has indicated that connecting cabins were booked and i don't have a concern whatsoever about that, as i trust that frogger22 is as interested in ensuring her kids behave as the folks in the neighboring cabins on that deck are.

i'm more curious about the sleeping arrangements and whether the parents intend to occupy one room while the kids are left alone in the other. as for the specific question, the restaurant reservations are no problem, just book for four people under one name. then show up and give them your key cards. for a reservation, they only need one name and the total number of passengers dining together. with regard to excursions, i don't know, but i'm sure someone will be around soon to dispense some invaluable advice based on their personal experience.

not necessarily. i have no (dead) horse in this race, i'm just here to report what i saw and smelled. on both the gem and the breakaway, in the past year, i saw someone smoking pot on the pool deck. i could also smell it. i was surprised that nobody on the crew seemed very concerned or did anything about it. apart from it being marijuana, they were in an area where smoking and vaping were not allowed at all. i don't know if they were "caught" later in the week, or what may or may not have happened to them.. all i know is that they smoked pot on board for a half hour or so... and nobody said a word, not passengers, not crew. i'm not advising anybody to bring pot onboard (for all the reasons delineated in this thread), and i'd personally prefer that they didn't (the smell is really unpleasant); i'm just reporting that it has indeed been done. YMMV and, frankly, anybody who does this tempts fate if they bring it on board; it will most likely end badly for them, even if it didn't for these folks.

i'm not from the UK (despite the screen name... long story), but it's not really about the time it's served, but what is served. over the years, the descriptions have been blurred, expanded and simultaneously eroded. what most restaurants and department stores in the UK call "high tea" is really "afternoon tea." a high tea traditionally includes more substantial dishes, those made from meat and fish, as well as scones and pastries and such. but what is often now served as "afternoon tea" also sometimes includes substantial dishes, in addition to the pastries and scones and such. an "afternoon tea" traditionally has scones and cakes and pastries and finger sandwiches... and that's about it. because of the substantial dishes normally found in a high tea, yes, it often is served later in the day. but, again, the distinction has been blurred and there is lots of cross pollination. you can charge more money to tourists for a "high tea," so consequently a lot of ordinary afternoon teas are now billed as "high tea." and this has been going on for decades.

this should probably be merged with the thread on medical marijuana products; i suspect you'd get a very quick answer about the availability of "high tea."

reports differ depending on the cruise, the date and the passenger load; the ship has very little to do with it. but several weeks ago, my experience was that the manhattan cruise ship terminal is still a bit of a cluster, mostly because the contractors who direct the traffic and keep the people moving are on some kind of power trip and they don't understand NCL policies or boarding or check-in procedures. several weeks ago, there were a bunch of haven passengers on the joy who were repeatedly told to wait in the wrong line and not use haven check-in, with one particularly surly contractor insisting "you're not any better than anybody else... everybody waits in the same line under my watch" or some such. the haven concierge had to be dispatched to rescue them. so my advice would be if you have any sort of pre-boarding or check-in privileges (suite, haven, CAS), stand your ground and be aware when you're being given incorrect information or told to go to the wrong line.

but wasn't it disclosed in post #1 of this thread that "bailey's isn't included in [celebrity's] classic beverage package either, which only covers drinks up to $9." doesn't matter what the price is or how much it's inflated on this cruise line or that or what the package price threshold is... if it's not included because it's a $1 more than the threshold.

just to reiterate what birdtravels said above... laundry is not normally included when one stays in a suite, or the haven, for that matter. sometimes people get confused because platinum members will talk about booking a suite and then they'll talk about free laundry in the same post... but that is not a suite amenity, that's a platinum latitudes member benefit.

after the restart, they resumed as before: butler, snacks, concierge, breakfast and lunch in a dedicated restaurant. but a short while ago, maybe two or three months ago, they downgraded the services and amenities associated with the non-haven suites onboard the joy. no butler, an absentee concierge, no breakfast or lunch.

and i would argue that a business that only makes money when it's operating at 90% - 100% of capacity (or even 70% or 80%) is not a viable business. most businesses are profitable at a far lower percentage of capacity than that. i can certainly appreciate how a business might want to always operate full throttle and maximize revenue, but just because it is operating below 100% capacity doesn't mean the business is not making money. making less money is not the same as being unprofitable.