klcardella

I wholeheartedly agree, but in this situation, waiting until we returned would have meant paying for drink package, etc. again, then hoping for reimbursement. We were not confident that would happen, and considering we never got our excursion credit, I think it was wise.

We were on the May 7th cruise to Bermuda, and this is my first of 10 cruises with NCL that I was disappointed. I liked the new layout with exceptions. As said, there are more intimate seating areas around the ship, but there are several very popular spots (Penrose, Syd Normans), that are simply not large enough, making a ship with supposedly 36% more space pp feel very crowded. We never got into Syd Normans, even with standing room. The space holds a total of 70 people with 3200 on board. Doesn’t make sense. We were able to enjoy the Penrose bar from a distance, but my husband did not like that we could not see the entertainment in the atrium from the upper levels, but I liked that there was more seating in the atrium overall. If you are a pool person, you will most likely be disappointed on this ship. Besides the main pool closure, the area is just small, plus shaded in large part by the racetrack. The small pool areas on the sides of the ship are nice, but we had to go down there at 5:30 am to get a lounge chair near either of them. It’s always a problem with people saving chairs, then leaving, but with fewer staff to remove these items, it seemed worse. That being said, I enjoyed the outdoor areas of this ship the most of any other NCL ship as there are lots of seating areas not near the pools that were great for hanging out. Another disappointment was the food, plus early closures. Tried Hudson’s twice; abysmal service both times. Food came out cold, no sauce as stated on the menu, fish tasted old, and it took more than 30 minutes to bring us new plates that were no better. The service was great in the Commondore, so not sure if it’s just management of the spaces that is different? Had a great meal in Onda, but for the first time at Le Bistro, we did not enjoy it. The duck, which I always look forward to, was overcooked, tough, and the skin was not properly rendered, so it was thick and rubbery instead of thin and crispy. Dessert was pretty, but inedible. They also forgot a birthday that was set up in advance (2 separate occasions), and their response was it was our fault for not setting it up when we booked the cruise? If that was necessary, we should have been informed the other 2 times we set it up. Inexcusable customer service. The limited hours in the venues also did not help with crowds, etc. For the 1st time, there were several blocks of time where there were no options for food. We tried to grab a bite before heading out to an excursion and NO venue was serving, and we asked. We even sat down in the Local, but were told we had to wait until noon to order, but our excursion was at 12:30, so it just didn’t work. Some of the bars (inifinity pool deck) that never opened the entire cruise, so the Local was the only bar serving inside and out, resulting in huge waits at the bar for a drink. Same with poolside service, or seating areas outside of the immediate bar. It was non-existent, or extremely slow. We routinely waited in excess of 30 minutes for drink orders in The Local, so we mostly just stood in line and ordered from the bar. We were sitting there one night, and watched the bartender tell a passenger seated IN the bar but not AT the bar that he could not take a food order because it was not his job. The passenger had been waiting for service for 45 minutes. This is a HUGE departure from previous NCL cruises where service was always friendly and prompt. Entertainment was also lacking on this trip. We enjoyed Donna Summer show, but the 10pm show time with no other option, was too late for a long show. I actually fell asleep. Price is Right was well done and a lot of fun. We tried to go on the go-carts, but the open hours never worked out for us. We did the mini golf, but it looked run down, and the area was dark and dingy. The VR area seemed cool, but $8 for a 2 minute game seemed excessive. You can buy a 1 hour or daily pass, but there was not enough variety to justify that expense for us. We also love trivia, but the venues were small and crowded, so we only went once. We NEVER saw our cruise director except introducing the shows, whereas on previous cruises, the CD was everywhere, getting people excited about activities, etc. We did enjoy the comedians very much. The reduced cabin service was fine, and our room steward was great, as was the cabin overall (balcony). More space, and the bathroom was very comfortable. This was also the first cruise that I was forced to use the elevators most of the time due to an injury, and the waits were very long a lot of the time. It may be the same on other ships, but I used the stairs a lot before, so cannot comment. Last but not least was Guest (I hate to say Services). For reasons still not explained, ALL of our amenities (dining, drink pkg, etc) were removed from our reservation sometime between final payment and embarkation. We first noticed when we tried to get a drink right after boarding when we had to sign for drinks. When we went to GS to update what we thought was a mistake on our key card, we found out we had nothing we had already paid for. We had paid for an upgrade through NCL, and apparently that was when our paid-for amenities were removed. GS pulled up our final payment receipt from December, and the receipt for the upgrade, showing our payments for everything, but told us we would have to pay again (over $500) since the amenities were not listed on the most recent receipt. They admitted someone probably did not check the right boxes, but would not budge. We had to call our TA, who then had to get in touch with her rep at NCL, who then had to send an email to NCL corporate, who then had to contact the ship (NCL rep nor TA were allowed to contact the ship directly) to verify our paid amenities even though we all had the receipts. It was an NCL mistake, yet they put the burden on us; at one point telling us that when you pay for an upgrade, you lose all of the amenities you previously paid for. Isn’t that the opposite of an upgrade? They were rude and unhelpful; again the opposite of our previous experience with NCL. Luckily, we discovered this while still in port with phone service, or we would have been SOL. As it was, this did not get resolved until 2 hours after sailing, about 6 hours after embarking. We had a New Years cruise booked on the Viva, but have cancelled due to our experience on the Prima. We have a smaller ship booked for September, so will see if the problems extend fleet-wide, in which case we will be booking with other cruise lines.