Sigyn

I've cruised NCL but I won't be on Celebrity until July 7. I'll let you know!

24 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

You’re making me want to cruise Prima again!! 

I'm making myself want to cruise Prima again! 😂

9 hours ago, toyotamom said:

Actually, we are Boomers.  Born 1957 and 1959.  We love cruising and have cruised Carnival, Princess, Royal, Holland and Norwegian.  Since first cruising NCL in 2007 it has become our go to.(As stupid as it sounds I never wanted to cruise them because I thought the outside of their ships were ugly.  A travel agent convinced me to give them a try for my husbands 50th birthday.)  We have traveled some of the other lines since then but always compare them to the rooms and service we have on NCL.  We haven't found anything to compare.  We have had great cruises on some of the other lines though.  Cruising is definitely our happy place.

You're young boomers tho, so it doesn't count. 🙂

10 hours ago, RB9643 said:

 

I have heard HAL is changing. We'll be taking our first cruise with them next year.

 

I think as we Gen-X'ers start pushing 60 and are looking for that more subdued type of cruise, they are changing some of their more "rigid" policies, especially concerning dress code. I still believe pants and a collared shirt should be prerequisites for any line's MDR, but you can throw out the tie and/or sports coat.

 

We ain't Boomers.

 

 

We ain't Boomers. 🤣

That's the best line I've seen on CC!

I'm 55, so an older Gen X, and I'm tired of my teenage son calling me a Boomer, damn it! 😜

We definitely have our own style of dress and preferences to older generations, and the younger generations coming after us. The Breakfast Club is real!!!!!

14 hours ago, seemoreroyals said:

 

Enjoyed your comments as we will be going on the Prima or the first time later this year.  In regards to breakfast at Indulge Food Hall.  Did you have any issues with having to wait?  Also, the only menu I have seen for Indulge  has mainly continental and breakfast sandwich type items.  What's a must try there?  The Tex Mex Bowl looks interesting.  

We tried a lot of different things in the Indulge food hall. We never had to wait for breakfast. That's what made it handy. It seemed a lot of people didn't think about going there for breakfast. I saw that one person mentioned people taking it back to their cabins. I'm sure some did, since it was an option with sandwiches wrapped in paper. We didn't, we ate there. We wanted to try different things, sit and enjoy our coffee while it was hot, and soak in the scenery. Indulge Food Hall has a great atmosphere.

We found Indulge at breakfast busy, but not too busy. It moved fast, and the food was always replenished and was being made as you watched and put on the shelves, so it was very fresh. I liked the breakfast sandwiches like the egg and cheese croissants, the different bowls with eggs and potatoes, including the tex mex bowl, the English muffins with eggs and cheese, etc. there were always meat free options and variations with sausage and bacon and ham to please everyone, and stations with fruit and cereals and oatmeal and pastries. It wasn't anything super fancy, but it was good and we loved the setting and it was easy and fast. As others have said, the buffet doesn't have tons of seating, so we preferred Indulge rather than fight the crowds in the buffet at breakfast or the long waits in the main dining room once you order off the menu and have to wait to be served. Indulge suited us. The decor is awesome and the view of the ocean out of every window is gorgeous. That's the great thing about the Prima. They have a spot for everyone. 

Another good place for breakfast is The Local. You order off the menu there, but the food is great. We ate there our last morning, before debarkation. I wish we'd discovered it sooner for breakfast. We did eat lunch there several times, and we had snacks there quite a bit. We loved the bar side of The Local and the sit-down restaurant side. Oh, and the hot fudge sundae. My son and I had one of those every day, and my husband indulged quite a bit too. Again, cozy decor, awesome staff and just a great atmosphere overall. 

One of our favorite bars was the Soleil Bar which is on Deck 8, I believe. It was a favorite hangout when we wanted to be outside, while we loved the Penrose bar on Deck 6 indoors. There was a guitarist who we really enjoyed every afternoon. The Penrose bar is in the atrium, so it's a great spot for people watching. You'll find other people naming other great bars as their favorites, like the Metropolitan, or the Whiskey Bar, or the Belvedere Bar. They're all unique. That's what NCL has done with the Prima - created individualized spots to suit every taste. 

I would cruise on the Prima again. It was a great ship.

14 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

That is so awesome, but like I said going on deep water snorkeling excursions is not a requirement. However, it did remind me of a story another guest told us on our initial Galapagos cruise regarding an advanced snorkeling excursion they went on. Among other cool experiences, they had blue footed boobies diving for fish all around them while they were snorkeling in deep water! 😂
 

 

This is fantastic! I love it. 

Just a thought for those who aren't good swimmers - I'm 55 and I'm taking swimming lessons now. I took them as a kid, but always just paddled around in the pool. But I decided to brush up on my swimming skills through private lessons and after four lessons I'm already swimming laps. It's amazing how easy it's been to pick up on basic skills I thought I'd never truly learn. 

As for Galapagos, this is a dream trip that I will definitely do one day.

I wouldn't consider it a big loss. We didn't like Palomar much when we were on the Prima in December. We loved Onda the most, Le Bistro second, Food Republic third, Cagney's fourth and Palomar most definitely came in fifth place. It tasted fine, but it wasn't anything special, whereas Onda blew us away and so did Le Bistro, and Food Republic was just fun and delicious with lots of things to try. Cagney's was a typical steakhouse with well prepared steaks but nothing different than what you get at any steakhouse. Palomar didn't seem to have a strong identity. It wanted to be fancier than it really is, or something like that. We went in expecting to be impressed and found it sorely lacking. None of the dishes were particularly flavorful or standouts. 

Overall, we found the Prima to be a wonderful ship and we had a great time, despite rainy, cold weather during part of our Caribbean cruise. It's a beautiful ship. My husband, teenage son and I were on it from 12/23 -12/30. Don't listen to the naysayers. It's a fun ship for a vacation. We really loved the Indulge food hall. We had breakfast there most mornings. The bars are fun places to hang out, and the crew is so friendly. 

I booked our cabin for a March 2024 cruise. We're in the Haven. We are bronze as far as loyalty goes. How far in advance can we book dinner reservations for specialty restaurants and entertainment? 

I think Princess or HAL sound like good options for you. I had a friend take the Norwegian Bliss to Alaska and while she normally likes NCL, she said that particular cruise was the worst she'd ever taken. 

@kitkat343 I'm not worried about the taxes on free at sea, and as for ports, any cruise line has the right to change or cancel ports. When we were on the Prima in December, the ship couldn't make it to two of the four ports due to weather, and at the third port (Cozumel) it was pouring down rain on Christmas Day and winds were gusting at 25mph, so we opted to stay on board. Yet we still had a fantastic cruise on a beautiful ship. We try to go with the flow. We're lucky enough to be able to do this cruise in the Haven, so that will be amazing, no matter what else happens. 

3 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Yikes.  Was your ex not a nice, understanding, forgiving person?  How would the clerk know what address was on the credit card?  I would think that a "profuse" apology from the manager would be enough for most of us.  I must have been mistaken.

No, he was not particularly forgiving. Hence the fact that he became an ex. He would get very angry and upset over such situations. Stress was not his friend. He died from a stroke at age 49. 😞

Sounds like quite a mess on NCL's part. I see where the names were confusing to NCL, but you were there in person, they had dealt with it the first time, they'd said it was resolved, and yet it came up again. That's their fault. Terrible customer service. 

My ex-husband ran into that one time at Sears. He had a credit card that said Joe. He had to show his driver's license which said Jose. The sales clerk said he couldn't accept the credit card because it was a different name. Despite the fact that the Sears credit card was under the same address as what was on the driver's license. This was in California, where everyone knows that Joe/Joseph is the English version of Jose. The sales clerk was Latino, too, so he likely knew that. A lot of Latino kids had opted for Americanized nicknames of the names their parents gave them. My ex was so annoyed. He called the manager and the manager apologized profusely and accepted the credit card. My ex made the sales clerk carry his purchase to his car and put it in the trunk. 

15 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

What you quoted is for "I. CONFIRMED BOOKINGS (SPECIFIC SHIP AND SAIL DATE SELECTED ONBOARD)".

 

You booked under "II. NONREFUNDABLE DEPOSIT NEXT CRUISE OPEN BOOKINGS (SHIP AND SAIL DATE NOT SELECTED ONBOARD)".

 

I. & II. have different terms for Changes.

Interesting. When I made the deposit on the ship, the Next Cruise representative told me that there was no difference if I booked then, or once I was home. 

I get the feeling there's no risk of going hungry in Vancouver!

I was able to switch to Glacier Winds. They had a cancellation. Super happy!

Just an FYI for anyone curious. I cruised on April 1 on Royal Caribbean and paid $200 for a Next Cruise deposit. A couple weeks later I booked a cruise for March 2024. I decided to cancel it yesterday. Turns out that despite what I read here, I couldn't move the Next Cruise deposit to another cruise. It was forfeited. I'm surprised given that it says you can move it to another sail date within two months. Anyway, just wanted to share:

2 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

As a parent of 5 I agree, my kids loved to meet others, sit in hot tubs, and eat for free.

Yes! The late night free pizza was a huge hit! And the ice cream. And milkshakes. I think my son lived on that stuff on our spring break cruise. He also felt like a big shot buying milkshakes for his friends who didn't have the money on their cards. I would add to his card and he could get them stuff. Small price to pay for teenage happiness. (On the Harmony, everything was free except the milkshakes at Johnny Rockets. We didn't have that package.)

58 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

This is a no brainer.  $6K for the Haven Cabin vs $7K for a balcony Cabin on Royal?  Haven  Restaurant, Butler, Concierges, Haven Bar…..etc.

 

Joy has lots for your son to do…..Laser Tag, Go-CArts, Galaxian Pavilion, great shows.  

 

Easy decision!

It was actually $7K for the Haven cabin. I think $6,700 to start, but then all the fees, etc. There was one for $6K, but it was the smallest Penthouse and I wanted the forward facing HG category penthouse with two rooms, hence the $7K price tag. (We get 10% off for military pricing since my husband is a veteran, so it's slightly higher if you look at that cruise without that discount.)

I'm sure we'll all have a great time. And this incudes the basic drink package, whereas you don't get that with your $7K on Icon. That's another $1,400 or so for two people. Yikes. I didn't buy the drink package before on Royal. It's just not worth it. I don't drink that much! But it's fine when it's included. 

10 hours ago, scooter6139 said:

Lol, we have that same suite booked for 2025.  Enjoy!

I'll give you all the details next year, if I don't forget! Unless you've already been in that room before. 🙂

Looks amazing! I'm booked with them for July, thanks to recommendations from this group. 

2 hours ago, MaryZ said:

We love the Oasis class ships with kids.  We don't bother taking our grandkids on NCL. 

Royal offers so much more for kids.  We are leaving in a few days on the Oasis with family.

 

I would pick Icon over the Joy.  Just the fact that it's a brand new ship completely and absolutely geared to kids of all ages is why I'd choose it. 


 

I'm sure it all depends on what the kids like to do. My son loves to surf, scuba dive and go boardsailing, but it turned out the Flowriders on Harmony didn't interest him much. He finally did them the last day and said they were fun, but I picked the ship in part because it had two Flowriders and he loves water sports. Yet, he did it once for a half hour. Same with all the slides on Harmony. Once each. My son and his friends were more about walking around, hanging out, sitting in the hot tub, sitting in the lounge with virgin drinks and feeling more grown up than they actually are, and going to the outdoor parties in the evenings and watching the adults act ridiculous. 😂

40 minutes ago, RB9643 said:

 

 

That's disappointing to hear. We're on the Encore repo next April. With 9 seadays, fewer kids, and less than capacity, I was hoping to get a pass and ride the heck out of those things.

 

Guess I'll just shell out the $15 the first time and see how it goes.

 

 

Definitely try them once before getting the pass. Even if you like them it would be difficult to ride them enough to get your money back from the pass. They're only open certain hours, and if it rains, they shut down since you can't do them on a wet track. You also have to make reservations to use them, and the reservations are tough to get. At least, they were on the Prima. Maybe the folks with the unlimited pass get easier access, not sure. Something to check. I offered to buy my son as many rides as he wanted, but he rode once when his dad did it, and once when I did it, and that was it. He wasn't interested in going again. And he's a 15 year old boy who loves cars. So go figure. He thought they were just kinda meh and not nearly as fun as go karts on tracks at home. 

I just booked the HG category, the Haven forward-facing penthouse on deck 12, cabin 12108, on the Joy, for next spring. Thanks for all of the help!

I booked the Haven forward-facing penthouse on the Joy. Cabin 12108. Done! Thanks for the input. 

Funny enough, the go-karts on the Prima weren't that appealing to my son during our December cruise, and my husband really didn't like them because of how they randomly gave speed boosts to some drivers and not others. He hated being passed by people not driving as well as he did. 🤣

My son loved hanging out (napping) in the observation lounge on the Prima, and the Galaxy Pavilion. We all enjoyed the specialty restaurants on the Prima. They were amazing!