ColdCruise

Its not THAT old 😏 but I really enjoy the Prima class ships . I hope you love the new ship design! And i think the cabins are Fantastic. Im very disappointed with the Aqua’s itineraries because i was looking forward to sailing a “stretched” version of Prima, alas those ports @ those orices are too much. our next NCL is going old school - we board the Sky in 2 days - it was our 1st NCL ship

There are sort of theme night. On several evenings they turn the Viva theater into a night club type arrangement (push back most seating, leaving majority of the theater as an open floor. How often that occurs may vary by itinerary length, check the many trip reports to see what cruisers posted and check any of the Dailies after 10pm. That said, when they do this rearranged seating, they have a semi themed party but it’s not like a ton of people are dressed per theme. I think we had a disco theme, an 80s prom theme (with music by the team from Syd’s) and maybe a couple others. I typically just stopped by en route to bed as I’m normally an early riser (due to my internal “clock” corrupted by the need to rise at 5 for work) so not really a late night party animal.

I believe the IATTO regulations stipulate that Ships over 500 passengers are not allowed to disembark passengers on Antarctica or surrounding islands. There are also rules concerning how many passengers from smaller boats can be ashore at a given time and in the course of a day … this to avoid negative impacts to wildlife and environment.

Last February our expedition ship was only doing top speed of around 18mph and the expedition crew discussed changed being made to protect the wildlife. The rules get decided or change but they don’t always take effect immediately..much like government made laws, which might be passed and signed but not go into effect for X months, or Jan 1st,,or the start of the FY. So I suspect (while admitting I’m too lazy to research the truth … not unlike most speculation and assertions on Cruise Critic 😜) that IATTO (a self-regulating Antarctic tourism operator group) passed the new rule and gave the ship owners/operators a number of years to adjust their operations before they had to implement the new standards. unlike when we were in Antarctica and informed about IATTO rule changes that were made that season to protect the Antarctic bird population from potential bird flu that was identified in Chile. Unfortunately that meant non of those cute photos where people sit down and wait for the penguins to come over and check out the interesting new criteria.

@bkrickles1 My experience with MSC leads me to favor them for European cruises, esp in the Med. It’s their backyard after all, and I really appreciate the way the spread the embarkation points for their “circle” itineraries since we can board where we can get the best airfare + cruise fare combination. Also I found their ship excursions better in price and quality. As for MSC in the Caribbean- it was comparable to NCL but not especially great. I’d choose them over NCL based on price, but would need to add loss of platinum benefits into that calculation. to answer the original question, we’ve “cheated” on NCL by sailing on MSC, Princess and the now deceased CMV, plus some niche lines that offer what the mainstream ocean cruise liners don’t - polar exploration with landings and river cruises. All of which I’d happily repeat. For future ‘Cheats”, we’re considering Oceania, Celebrity, Aida, Tui and some expedition providers as well as a river or barge cruise in France. At the end of the day (or sailaway) it boils down to itinerary & price/value ( or rather, what we get for our money)

@Epic_Bear I’m on that trip too. Not my home port but lots of family with a short drive. Are you interested in joining the Roll Call for the September sailing?

@alfaeric thanks for the scoop - reassuring the ship’s in good shape ! and like @Engineroom Snipe i enjoy the traditional touches like some well maintained teak! my last 3 cruises have been on new builds within the first few months of their sea lives NCL Viva (Nov 22), World Explorer (Feb 23) & NCL Prima (Sep 22). Plus i have booked Icon OTS and World OTS end of 24. Vision & NCL Sky the only “mature” ship on the schedule. My recent sailings aboard all these new build are ironic - my favorite ship was the 50+ year old Marco Polo (her destruction was IMO a real tragedy sacrificed to chasing big ships-big money 💰 ) 😭

@Engineroom Snipe Thanks for offering:) It is what it is, as long as they don't drop my Greenland ports, I’ll deal with it. Chose the itinerary not so much the ship. As far as I can tell fr videos there’s not much difference between Grandeur & Vision (68 pax & 5Tons). However if you notice anything unique or quirky, that would be interesting to read. enjoy your cruise

Right @Hoopster95 - thanks for the non-judgemental correction - not always how it’s done on CC unfortunately. Went back to my source to verify and found i mixed Jewel with Vision. Royal swapped our cruise from Grandeur to Vision and I’d just been comparing those.

The port is at the city, you just walk past the local boats and you're in the city center. No more than 10 minutes if your a slow walker 😀 we just walked to the end of the pier and picked up a taxi, then on return had him drop us off in front if the main square. Unfortunately most businesses were closed when we were there (Saturday), so we just looked at outside of buildings popped in a grocery for wine and then ate a late lunch before reboarding.

Gosh, this thread is making me doubt my first cruise on Royal - a 15 day cruise on Jewel with only 6 scheduled ports, some of which I doubt will happen based on the odds and weather patterns. Jewel is only 2 years younger than Grandeur (1998 vs 1996) - I hope these photos aren’t indicative of the state of all those older ships. The cruise was originally planned for Grandeur and would be after the pending dry dock, but I believe RCL is “redeploying “ Grandeur to either the Asian or Australian market this fall. OP - those photos are pretty disgusting. sorry you were subjected to those conditions. I sailed on the now destroyed Marco Polo in 2017….soon after it celebrated its 50th birthday (launched in 1965). While the stylistic choices (and some furnishings) were definitely dated the ship was … clean and ship-shape. Crew were observed doing exterior maintenance, bedroom and bath linens were perfectly fine (not threadbare, stained or torn), mattress comfortable and pool and exterior teak work in good condition.. So it definitely is possible and logical to keep older ships in good condition.

@BirdTravels The point of the post was to let people know that the ships’ crew do not all deduct the upcharge or otherwise not charge passengers for leaving off the foie gras from the steak. Many many people report not having to pay the $10 or $12 (with tax) upcharge for the filet sans foie gras in Le Bistro. That can lead to false expectations. Personally I think foie gras is an unneeded addition to the dish - Le Bistro’s filet mignon is on of the best on board and doesn’t need to addition. And, again personally, I think foie gras is gross both in taste/texture and, once I discovered how it’s produced, what many consider to be an inhumane process. I also don’t eat veal FWIW, having personally seen how “milk-fed veal” is raised. Others may think otherwise, it’s their choice of what food they eat and how it’s raised. I eat meat - there are people who are vegetarian or vegan who might say the same about eating and animal product. Eating foods like foie gras and veal does not make a person more sophisticated or cosmopolitan, just less caring about food sourcing and production. Again, IMO. That is a topic for another, non-cruising forum discussion though…l

Viva left off the foie gras as I requested BUT still charged me the upcharge for it — what ? Another case of YMMV the NCL way. i thought of asking for the foie gras when they brought the bill and wouldn’t remove the upcharge….

Thank you!

I may never finish the final days, but heres an Index to different venues and events! I will update if I add more content but we’re almost 2 months post cruise snd planning the next in February, so unlikely … sorry 😞 Almost Live Viva Maiden Trans-Atlantic 2023 Page 1 - posts 1-26 Page 2 - posts 27-50 Page 3 - posts 76-101 Page 4 - posts 101-125 Freestyle Dailies Post #34 - Day 1, 16 Nov - Embarkation, Post #173 - Day 2, 17 Nov - Sea Day Post #nn - Day 3, 18 Nov - Punta Delgada Post # - Day 4, 19 Nov - Sea Day 1/5 Post #nn - Day 5, 20 Nov - Sea Day 2/5 Post #46 - Day 6, 21 Nov - Sea Day 3/5 (sunrise #50) Post #58 - Day 7, 22 Nov - Sea Day 4/5 (sunrise #56) Post #85 - Day 8, 23 Nov - Sea Day 5/5 (sunrise #84) Post #100 - Day 9, 24 Nov - St Thomas Post #112 - Day 10, 25 Nov - Taino Bay (Puerta Plata) (sunrise #111) Post #145 - Day 11, 26 Nov - Sea Day Post # - Day 12, 27 Nov - Miami (debark) Menus Cagney’s lunch #45 (embarkation day was shorter menu) Cagney’s breakfast 147 Food republic 151 Indulge 142 (insidecabin post), 160 Meals Hudson (MDR) dinner 60, 174 Cagney dinner 74/75, 76, Cagney breakfast 88 Cagney’s lunch 134, 170 Palomar 128 Misc food pics & food info 82, 113, 162, 172 Wine info Comprehensive 140 Misc posts Ships officers #49 St Thomas USVI 95, 104 Mandara Spa 55, 138 Customs processing 86, 102, 106, 86 Mil appreciate 175 TAP airline 9, 10, 13, 15, 17, 25-27 (thanks to @mking8288 & @PATRLR for good tips) Parke West 83, Taino Bay (Puerta Plata DR) 115, 121 Cabins Inside 23 SJ 35-38 Cabin issues (resolved) 19, 21 Exterior Slides’ location irt cabins & encroachment 57 Entertainment Latitudes gathering 29-32 Cc m& g Press your luck 52, 64, 69, 71 Wines around the world 59 Deck & engines q&a 66-67 Beetle juice 94, 120 Lisa Lawton 129 Need to fix photo in post 43 44 52 125

@CanadianBurger May I ask who you booked your snorkeling trip through and whether you´d book again? Planning for an upcoming Caribbean 14 island cruise…. And as you noted in an earlier post, ship excursions are underwhelming and overcrowded tia

@Laszlo makes that Rumors show an expensive ticket - 🤣 The Rumors set was good but not mind blowing, definitely not as good as the original tour. And that entire concert was about the price of lunch at a chain restaurant today - inflation !

Unfortunately passengers can’t always DO what needs doing themselves… on line or in the app 🤔

Forgot to mention …. I would definitely sail either Pr1ma or V!va again and wanted to book Aqua, but the Aqua itineraries suck, and esp for the prices - very boring and repetitive. That’ll have to wait till late 2025 at the earliest and only if the itinerary gets more interesting than what’s on the books now. and found @JIMESOPUS ‘s trip report -

@ZsaZsa2019 We sailed on Vi!va’s maiden transatlantic in Nov and really enjoyed the ship. The only area we had issue with was getting a seat in the Indulge Food Hall for lunch - it was very crowded. However that was our experience. If you look at ParaDeeJay’s V1va YouTube videos, you’ll notice that they ate at Indulge a LOT. Since we were on the same cruise with us, I think the issue might have been our timing. I was a bit disappointed as we ate at Indulge several times on P1ma (Sep 2022) and loved the concept and the food, but it didn’t ruin the cruise for me or disappoint me enough to make a huge effort to get in there. I wrote an extensive “Almost Live…” report (petered out at the end - it was 11 days) BTW, not me in the first picture - someone in the roll call posted a photo first and semi-hijacked my report, kind of irritating as I am not a man and I had planned the 1st photo to be V!va docked in Lisbon for the cover photo! (Lesson learned, now I just use a stock ship’s photo or the itinerary map) @JIMESOPUS did a back to back starting in Italy ((I think) all the way to Miami. His Live Report was very thorough- if I find the link I’ll post it here.

You just have to be prepared to wait in the often long line and …just as you get to the number 2 spot in the line, 2 or the 3 people working on the CruiseNext desk leave for the shift. Oh and the person talking to the single remaining CN agent doesn’t understand theCN purchase process and takes 25 minutes.

When we sailed Prima in September 2022 we could never get into Syd’s. In November 2023 on Viva, we were alble to get in to any show at Syd’s we wanted. Both 11 days. weird

Hi @davdenwa when you say you paid $700 more than current rates… 1 - are you within the final payment window? 1a - if you are within final payment (ie all paid up), can you request either option 1 - an upgrade to a cabin that is selling slightly higher than what you paid so that you get a better cabin and recoup your $700 but you sweeten the deal for Royal by also giving them a bit more $$ that what you’ve already paid? Option 2 - will Royal leave you where you are but give you some OBC or FCC equal to the difference between what you paid & current selling price? As a predominantly NCL cruiser, I’ve exercised both option 1 and 2 with NCL when I was in that same type of situation (ie cabin is selling for less than I paid & within final payment so can’t cancel without loosing $$) 2 - if you haven’t paid the full fare yet, can you cancel and rebook? I noticed RCL deposits aren’t refundable unless you pay a significantly higher rate for the cabin (NCL deposits ARE refundable up till final,payment, one of the reasons we prefer them). appreciate answers - by some weird circumstances, I find myself with my 1st ever RCL cruise in Sept, followed by cruise 2 in Nov and cruise 3 in December (sure hope I like the Royal product!)

And often people reach top tier status because they can cruise often due to living in close proximity to the cruise ports. It’s not being rich, trying to pass as rich, or even prioritizing cruising over other things, but opportunity. On a northbound Alaskan cruise out of Vancouver, we shared a table at a wine tasting with a couple at the highest Princess loyalty level. The host went through a spiel to identify the people with the most days at sea with Princess. As the number of days went up, the hands fell. Finally it was down to our couple and another man. When his hand finally fell, I was amazed at the number of night this couple had sailed (around 2k if I recall). I asked and she said it almost always comes down to them and that man, and they liked topping him because he tried to lord it over crew how many days he’d sailed. They said they had so many night because they live in Vancouver, they have friends in Anchorage, and they only sail when the cruise is $300pp or less - it was cheaper than a weekend anywhere else. They stay with their friends in Anchorage on the one ways until they can catch a cheap cruise south.

@Minuet888 I’d suggest you contact Royal ahead of time and request special accommodation. Your autistic son should qualify the same as a person in a wheel chair, mobility device or using a rollator. I doubt you’d be the first person to inquire.