SeaShark

Honestly...what did you expect? You could be on a cruise with a bunch of people who like to go to bed early OR you could be on a cruise with a bunch of boisterous frat-boys who love to jump up and down and hoot n'holler. There is NO WAY that we can guess what will happen on a future cruise. The folks in the lounge could be enjoying quiet meditation or they could be holding a rave. Might as well try guessing the weather.

I've been in quite a few observation lounges and have never been affected by cabin noise. As with any other cabin, when it comes to noise, be aware that others may hear you. If the cabins around you aren't complaining about the noise, then it is unlikely that you'll be bothering anyone in the observation lounge.

As long as we're reopening old threads to ponder, ponder this: It isn't how a General Manager treats Haven Guests (who paid for the treatment) or high-level Latitude guests (who earned the treatment) it is really how they treat everyone else. Show me a General Manager who treats guests in Steerage well, and I'll show you a future VP.

Glass half full or half empty As always, depends on whether you're drinking or pouring...

We may be thinking of different cruises, AFAIR, you were not solo that cruise...but, as noted, the Vibe was fun as always.

If I can share some insight from a different viewpoint... Reread these issues and note the commonality...people. All of your complaints are centered on people and their behavior. With the exception of the MDR food, none of this is really about cruising. IMHO, I'm betting your best experience will come from ANY options where "people" are minimized. Despite "ship within a ship", you are still on a very crowded ship, and eventually you have to leave the enclave. Perhaps a more remote vacation experience might be better suited to getting you to your happy place. I can help here as well. What you are describing above is "familiarity breeds contempt"...the idea that extensive knowledge of or close association with someone or something leads to a loss of respect for them or it. IOW, the "ship within a ship" concept isn't new and shiny anymore and thus it becomes easier to see the faults. You can watch the other guests and see this in action. People will have the same Haven experience on the same cruise and react differently...the people sailing the Haven for the first time are overjoyed and in awe, however, Mr & Mrs Been-There-Done-That just don't react in quite the same way. And this isn't a Haven-thing...this affects everybody. Nothing is as good as it was the first time, back in the good-old-days, back when we enjoyed the experience and weren't yet trying to pick the nits. It takes work and effort to maintain that enjoyment. Something very hard for most people to do. If you don't mind my saying so, I'll bet that even your first time in the Vibe was better than your most recent experience. It is pretty impressive that first time, but after a while...well, if you remember the Norwegian Viva we had a pretty lively crowd in the Vibe. A pretty good CC crowd as well...even if Bill and Mary kept moving things to the FB group. As I recall Gary, you spent much of your time in the Vibe in front of your open laptop...not that you weren't doing exactly what you wanted to do, but IMHO you miss out on (and thereby lessen) the Vibe experience by, well, focusing elsewhere. (and now you are realizing that we've sailed together 😉). Is it shot o'clock yet?

Q: Would you coordinate this through a Facebook Group? 😕...sorry, I had to.

The Butler takes care of your needs inside your room. The Concierge takes care of your needs outside of your room. While much more personalized, the Concierge does for you what Guest Services does for those in steerage. Don't overthink things...just follow the directions in the email or give them a call. Try not to create stress. Lastly, don't call them the "Suite Concierge", just use "Concierge" instead. As there is only one, you don't need the descriptor to differentiate.

Might want to read it again. Nobody said Prima was small. The reference was to ships that could access "smaller ports", not to small ships.

NCLH stands for "Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings" which is a publicly traded financial holding company. Norwegian Cruise Line (which is the topic of this forum) is a cruise line operator that is owned by NCLH. Norwegian Cruise Line does NOT have any subsidiary companies. I don't have to be there. I recognize drama when I see it. The port established visitor limits. Only when those limits are exceeded can there be "overcrowding". You've shown nothing to indicate that the visitor limit was exceeded. Instead you try to use dramatic language (hence, the drama) such as "massively overblown" to make it appear that the numbers were far greater than they actually were. Reading this thread, it would seem that the REAL issue here is that you found yourself in a situation where you had to wait in line or wait your turn and you simply unhappy with the fact that you should have to wait.

I don't know if two ships really counts as an "absolutely massive percentage". That sounds more like overblown drama. BTW...you lost the point when you presumed that Regent was a subsidiary of Norwegian. They are not. Norwegian has no subsidiaries. Both lines are actually equal subsidiaries of NCLH. However, the number of ships, and the number of visitors allowed in a port is determined solely by the port. Your ire is misdirected. You might as well try blaming the passengers themselves for choosing to go on those ships and therefore causing overcrowding in the port. (Is it really overcrowding, if the number of visitors is allowed by the port?)

Ah, the innocent "it was just a question" comment. But wasn't their post "just an answer"? Why is it OK for you, but "snarky" when they do it?

How did you see that, yet you the following from the top of that same page: If traveling internationally, the countries you are flying to and/ or connecting through may have different visa or travel requirements, while we attempt to provide you with most up to date information below, we encourage you to visit the government and airport websites of every country you will be traveling to throughout your journey to familiarize yourself with their requirements. Does it make sense that NCL would tell you to visit the government websites of every country if, in fact, the passport requirements were nothing more than a cruise line policy? Please tell me you're just looking for an Internet argument and that you don't actually believe that a cruise line has any right to set passport requirements.

You likely were unaware because NCL has no such rule. Rules for required travel documentation and the validity of those documents are determined and set by each individual country. Just like the guest, NCL is required to follow those rules. If a country wants 6 months validity, then NCL will verify that before allowing you to board. Same if the country only wants 3 months validity.

There isn't just the issue of which embassies would be listed, but you also have to remember that, unless you are visiting the capital city, there likely wouldn't be a local embassy office for all the different ports. Guessing that the US Embassy to Mexico isn't in Cozumel, Costa Maya, or Cabo San Lucas.

No. What I think is being said here is that if you show up to your cruise with a passport and the expiration date on the password is more than 6 months past the end of the cruise you intend to board, that you will avoid the possibility of a travel document issue.

Reference? Even the CBP says "Apply early for your passport, or make sure your current one will be valid at least six months beyond your travel dates and has two or more blank pages. Your cruise company may also require you to have a passport even if U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) or foreign port of entry does not. " Nothing on their page for cruise ship passengers mentioning any sort of closed loop exception.

Sorry, but this seem to be an odd concern. Do you have some reliable reason to believe that the meat would be fatty and undercooked? (Forget that "undercooked" is subjective. A steak cooked medium would be undercooked for someone who prefers well done, but overcooked for someone who prefers rare). Don't get me wrong, I do understand not wanting undercooked and fatty, but why the concern over just this restaurant? Seems like you'd want to ask the exact same question about every restaurant on board. I definitely don't see how very fatty and undercooked would be acceptable in any restaurant.

If the expiration date on your passport is in August, then your passport is already "expired" as you'll need 6 months remaining on your passport to sail. IOW, you lost the ability to use this passport for cruising back in February. You might as well renew it now...you gain nothing by waiting.

Well, taking the class does not guarantee that the student retains working knowledge. You don't have to spend much time on these boards to see just how few people actually understand the economics of cruising.

?? How can I look at a menu and know that your "old favorites are gone"? Besides, you put 2000+ people on a ship and every menu item is bound to be somebody's favorite.

Great story...thanks for sharing. I remember a time when nobody even knew what Vibe was. Then, as the word got out, more and more people would show up early to the port to participate in the mad dash for passes. This drove up demand...and the price of Vibe soon followed. It went up...and up...and up. Yet, the demand doesn't slow. These "here is how I got my pass" stories are just going to give people ideas and make the demand even worse. Imagine working at Guest Services once all the Karens figure out that if you pester them enough you might get a pass. Fun. You have to wonder how NCL will respond. Perhaps the whole selling Vibe passes online first come, first served isn't the best way from a business standpoint. People know they can bid for stateroom upgrades, why not bid for Vibe passes? Instead of selling ### passes online, NCL could just allow you to bid on a pass. Then, a couple of days before the cruise, they could just award the passes to the top ### bidders. Guarantees maximum income and allows them to take advantage of the "I'd have paid double for a Vibe pass " crowd. Either that or they'll start dividing the entire top deck into sections, each with its own pa$$ that you can buy. We'll all miss the time when nobody even knew what Vibe was.

If people here are annoyed by complainers, is that also valid? ...asking for a friend.

IMHO, that is the wrong way to look at it. It isn't "added work", this is the job and function of the access desk...it is what they are there for. Let them do their jobs. The staff would rather you be happy and safe while enjoying your vacation.

Wouldn't be hard at all. In fact, they could tell every single employee in every single department onboard that the menus exist. However, given the procedure in place...which the guest would be fully aware of if they properly contact the access desk...one has to ask how hard would it be to just ask the correct person?