Karaboudjan

I believe that is what I saw for the status when I won a bid. I got the email a bit later.

I think (not sure) that they did have a 'Dress up or not' night on Escape in January.

I believe there was some discussion on one of the other Prima report threads a week or two ago about the lack of a mojito bar and maybe what the other bars were able to come up with.

I don't know. Placing a shop across from a bar seems like a pretty crafty move to me. How much money does a bar make on a ship where most people have a drink package? Less than the jewelry store I expect.

I don't know but it is probably a lot less likely now with all of the consolidation. If Cunard wanted to do a partnership to market a multi-cruise package they would not need NCL; they could just use one of the other Carnival brands and keep it more or less in-house.

Did you inquire about the Signature Taste? I believe on the menu for the trade inaugural it showed the item with an upcharge.

Live bidding builds engagement and might increase bids, but it also can ensure that nobody over-bids. With the classic sealed bid method someone could bid far more than they really need to. NCL may only be invoking the live bidding when they get multiple initial bids in the same range.

If it's like the Escape (which I think it is*) that is not a big balcony. I guess you could fit a lounger but it would have to go more or less sideways and you might have to remove one of the chairs. *The web site says the Escape 2BR is 48 sq ft and Breakaway is 39-50, so Breakaway could potentially be even smaller and possibly only a very little bit bigger.

Nice! This seems to be an open forum now, but an occasional Bailey's reference probably wouldn't hurt.

You're being humorous (I think) but that's really the essence of it - they made choices about how much space to devote to each venue. There's no way this was just someone not paying attention. Every ship cannot be everything to everyone. People will adjust. I for one have never been to Syd Norman's so this in no way deters me from sailing Prima. People who value live entertainment will lean toward other ships.

Yes, I understand the NEA, JVs and alliances and how airlines are different, but I was just pointing out that I don't see any reason why cruise lines could not do something similar if they felt it was beneficial.

I stopped following the main upgrade thread a while back, but it seemed like the live bidding is something fairly new and may not be used for all cruises. Do you have to actually make a bid before you see the live bidding? I don't see anything about live for my upcoming cruise but I have not made any bids either...

You will be able to do your online check-in 21 days out and that includes selecting a check-in time. Some people think you need to get into the system right at midnight the day it opens to get the best (earliest?) times but I can't confirm that.

If that's the proper pour they really need to find a more suitable glass. I look at that and think the bottle ran out and the bartender didn't want to take the time to dig out another.

I can book a flight on the jetBlue website from where I live to Columbus. One leg is on jetBlue but the other is on American, yet they are certainly competitors in the overall market. I see no reason why two cruise lines could not make similar arrangements if they felt it was in both of their interests.

Those are often 'Bermuda cruises' with 2-3 days there so switching to a different port defeats the whole purpose. But they did start dropping shorter Bermuda stops on TAs.

I don't believe the times ever changed even with all of the testing so I think 'same as it ever was' is the answer. They still need just as much time to clear the ship so getting people through check in quicker doesn't make a difference.

Being different corporations doesn't preclude an agreement. NCL offers cruisetours that partner with Alaska Railroad, and there are plenty of joint ventures in the airline industry. But I still have not seen any evidence that there is some agreement here.

We must have 'Frankie Boy...' in here somewhere. No thread can go this many pages without him showing up...

I don't think that Prima does either.

Since this thread is hopelessly off topic I'll ask - what ship(s) have Le Bistro on the Waterfront? I have eaten there on several ships and it always seems to be tucked away in one of the most remote locations of any of the restaurants...

I would not assume that your experience proves how the algorithm works. Having a sold out category does not necessarily make it more desirable. If it's a lower category they could choose to reject your bid, keep it sold out and make any new customers buy a higher category.

Yes, but that is fairly simple and probably would not require a full-blown third party software solution. Look at all of the partners that Plusgrade has. They must have something more to offer. If you read their literature you get the sense that this is about more than just the one cruise.

I understand that IF this was a package offered jointly by Cunard and NCL, but I have not been able to find any evidence of that. Can you point me to some documentation to support that? Otherwise I have to think that this is just a sort of B2B that happens to work for people (and maybe travel agencies are selling) but that NCL (or Cunard) is not taking any responsibility for beyond the standard terms and conditions.

That may be. I was not on your cruise. My take, though, is that this thread is encouraging people to talk about their bad experiences more than their good ones. I was just advising someone not to take this as a 'how is NCL food' thread since I do not believe it represents the overall customer experience.