UKstages

i love the bird's detailed trip reports, with their many photos (without people!) and the posting of menus and food photos that make one simultaneously hungry and envious. but we must recognize that this recurring anti-vibe stance is just an opinion, no more or less valid than any other pro or anti vibe opinion. perhaps less valid if only because the bird has never revealed whether it has flown into the vibe and actually been a patron. credibility is lost when the bird doesn't share with us its own personal vibe experience! this leads one to believe that the bird has never actually experienced the vibe, apart, perhaps, from taking the odd photo or two. further credibility is lost when the bird says that few people use their vibe passes more than a day or two. that certainly wasn't the case for me or the others that i met in the vibe on my recent cruise on the joy. i was there every day, including a chilly fall sail away out of new york in mid-october. i was there, and the vibe was fully staffed, on windy and rainy days, as well. you can't control the weather, that's true, but the vibe is one of the best and lowest priced cruise enhancements that NCL offers. it's not true, as the bird states, that the vibe offers "something which is included in your cruise fare." one only need read countless "chair hog" threads to know that it's nearly impossible to get a lounge chair on most pool decks onboard NCL ships without becoming a chair hog oneself. the vibe offers guaranteed seating in plush lounge chairs rivaling those in the haven. umbrellas are available for almost anyone who desires one. and the views are generally better than many other vantage point on the ship. the vibe also offers highly personalized service from upper tier staff members that is in many cases better than the haven itself, as some haven sun decks do not have bars located on the deck itself and servers make infrequent visits.

you can apply it, but you'll lose fifty dollars in value. the smarter move, as suggested above, would be to add additional items to your reservation, such as prepaying the onboard service charge. that way, you would realize full value.

the net savings is less, that's true, but the percentage savings is the same. there are times when, as a CAS guest, my total expenditure is less than $500. at times such as those, a $300 certificate comes in handy. my understanding is that cruise first certificates are fully transferable, although i'ver never done it. one important restriction on cruise first certificates is that they must have been purchased 120 days before the sail date. (don't confuse the date of booking with the sail date. you can book a cruise for next week and apply a cruise first certificate provided the certificate was purchased at least 120 days before the cruise.) you can even buy a cruise first certificate when you call a PCC to book your cruise. he or she will apply the credit right then and there, reducing your invoice by $300 or $500. conversely, my understanding of cruise next certificates is that the cruise you book must be 120 days out from the day you book the cruise, not the purchase date of the certificates. for this reason, i prefer cruise first.

no i understood that. my cruise first expiration dates have disappeared, too. i fully understand. i was merely pointing out that what is in the contract is what is legally binding. they can say there is no longer an expiration date, and that appears to be true,. but purchasers are agreeing to the terms in the outdated flyer that says four years. and if NCL wanted to, they could technically hold purchasers to that.

i'm on the getaway a few weeks later in a club balcony. several good choices of cabins still remain. and how i wound up on the getaway (and not the spirit or the bliss) is a comedy of errors, sorta kinda. i'm thinking of writing up the story and sharing it, but it will be of most interest to CAS customers.

i agree with you in principle. the exception might be the cost-fixed specialty restaurants, such as moderno and teppanyaki. i don't think the prix fixe at these places is even equal to the per person charge on purchased dining credits. you'll get much better fantasy value by dining at le bistro or cagney's with their inflated "who is crazy enough to pay these prices?" prices. perhaps. but the actual reason B&R has 31 flavors is that the founders wanted you to be able to have a different flavor every day of the month.

to me, the hudson lighting fixtures look like spatulas you would find in liberace's kitchen.

just to clarify, you're talking about me creaking or my cabin? i'm not that old! through a curious turn of events, i will actually find myself on the getaway in a few weeks out of NYC and i will report on the apple text message "leak" as well as whatever creak i might hear.

on a B2B... double jeopardy.

on the prima class ships, which have extensive miniature golf courses, complete with clowns and other true obstacles and bels and whistles... i believe they do charge. except for a time on the prima itself when the special features on the course weren't working and they let people play for free. they also charge for darts. chess is still free. and, truth be told, you can find clowns in other parts of the ship, usually at the pool placing towels on lounge chairs at 6 am.

i have tried very hard to forget them. thanks for reminding me! it's not that the game shows are badly done. they're not. they're done exceedingly well. it's just not full-scale quality cruise ship entertainment. you could say NCL is pressing its luck, hoping that customers won't mind, when in fact many do. perhaps they'd feel differently if when purchasing their cruise, the price was right. but it rarely is.

i've never purchased a cruise next certificate; i'm a cruise first kinda guy. that's just the way i roll.. but by signing that receipt or whatever you are agreeing to be bound by the cruise next terms, in which case the flyer does really matter, if that's the only piece of paper that sets forth the terms by which the program operates. whether the terms are printed on a formal signed contract, or you're just signing an order from that references the program and the terms, the net effect is the same.

true. and that would be fine for promotional flyers... but a legally binding contract that they ask people to sign, knowing that the info contained therein is outdated? the mind boggles at the stupidity. oh, wait, it's NCL.

they should turn food republic into a 24 hour pizzeria, a restaurant category for which NCL is at a competitive disadvantage. or they could open something i would call "the local express," or "the local limited" serving grab and go versions of a limited menu of easily prepared favorite dishes from the local. #MakeItHappenNCL

• no. • yes, cruise critic permits posting of menus. • with advance notice, anything is possible, but you may be asked to divide your party into smaller groups. you probably don't want to talk to nineteen other people during dinner, anyway. especially those people. • the seats are fine, but few. • yes, cruise critic permits posting of dailies. • menus rotate and vary and nobody can say with certainty what will be served on day 2 of your cruise. it's best to eat before boarding the cruise on day 1 and in all ports. • yes, cruise critic permits posting of menus. • the line that is moving the quickest.

in my opinion, food republic makes no sense on a ship that has the indulge food hall. it may have come first, but it pales by comparison.

you'll likely be seeing "burn the floor" again in march. keep those embers glowing! NCL typically releases a press release announcing new shows and they place ads in theatrical publications, such as "backstage," announcing auditions. that all takes place many months before the show ever debuts. we haven't heard anything about new entertainment on the epic, so i'd say it's a safe bet that there will be no change by march. short of paying attention to NCL press releases and scouring social media, there really is no way of knowing what they have up their entertainment sleeve. the trend is for NCL to burn not just the floor, but the whole house down by eliminating traditional broadway shows and presenting instead small scale homegrown NCL-commissioned revues, as well as solo entertainers. so you might see a solo singer, a violinist and a magician on board in addition to "burn the floor."

it's entirely possible it is fleet wide. my operating theory is that the baked potatoes got cold while chefs diverted their attention to tackle the more concerning hash brown crisis.

I take this question literally to mean do you have to check in while "on a B2B" for the second leg. and the answer is no, provided the first leg is fewer than 21 days. online checkin starts 21 days out.. and you do indeed have to check in online for the second cruise. but, provided the first cruise is fewer than 21 days, you will have presumably already checked in prior to boarding the ship for the start of the first leg. so, no, you don't have to checkin for the second leg while on a B2B.

ah, what is this mythical GSC of which you speak? (which is my roundabout way of saying i'm actually 0 for 4 with GSC. i'm beginning to think "GSC" stands for Gonna Skip Consistently.

oh, dear... not this old chestnut again. i agree that a baked potato concern may not get addressed. but most corporate execs either read their email themselves and forward it on to the appropriate department head... or somebody in the office will read it and prepare an executive summary. i know this because i've been contacted by the CEO of my former company a number of times to address customer concerns that floated up to him. and if there are more than a couple of baked potato emails, that, too, will be escalated because somebody in F&B may be perturbed and perplexed by the recurring potato problem and will promptly respond to the customer's plaintive pleas.

yes, I realized that after reading the post again and I actually edited that out of my comment while you were posting. thanks.

it's not an urban legend that restaurant reservations are widely available in person on day 1. what is not known is the percentage of reservations that are held back. the key to getting restaurant reservations on day 1 is to board as early as possible and head straight to the reservation desk or call room service, which, on most ships, will also handle restaurant bookings. you can certainly "protect" yourself by booking any restaurant at an undesirable time if that's all that's avaialble online. and then you can change that reservation once onboard. also, availability varies widely based on a number of factors, not the least of which are the number of passengers, the size of the ship and the size of the restaurant. i recently booked an away class ship 45 days out and had a full array of restaurants and times available, including 6, 7 and 8 PM reservations at cagney's, which is usually the first to book up.

opinions will vary as to whether or not you can check in early. the reason they give checkin times is to manage the flow of people at the terminal. if everybody arrived earlier than their stated checkin time, chaos would ensue. so, many people believe it's bending the rules and not good karma if you show up early. that being said, it would be rare for them to turn you away. most port personnel are not looking at your checkin time when they look at your documents and allow you to get in line.... they are just making sure you have the right date and ship. don't confuse checkin time with boarding time. assuming you have a 4 PM departure, boarding won't begin until 11 am at the earliest for elite status guests and haven and such. general boarding begins twenty or thirty minutes later. if you arrive at 1 PM, you will likely walk right onto the ship after checkin. if you arrive before noon, you might have to sit round and wait for boarding to begin or for them to call your group number.

the prima can be challenging when choosing a stateroom... there is a known problem with cabin noise on the prima... some sort of build defect that causes unusual and unnatural noise within the walls of certain cabins when sailing at high seas. it will ruin your trip! most of the affected rooms are aft and haven rooms and club balcony rooms are located there and are not immune. NCL knows about this, they have a detailed list of affected cabins, but they do not disclose this information prior to booking. in fact, they wait until you get onboard. if you file a complaint, you're likely to get $500 in OBC per person. but you won't be able to sleep at night. the noise is persistent and completely unlike any "normal" cabin noise. the only thing you can do is search online forums (including cruise critic) for reports of these rooms and steer clear of the publicly disclosed cabins. but booking the prima - in any cabin - is a crap shoot because of this problem, in my opinion. if you want to minimize the possibility of encountering this problem, you're best to book midship.. but that would rule out the haven. there are several threads on cruise critic that discuss this problem (including mine), as well as extensive reviews of the prima (including mine). some include recordings of the noise. personally, I would never spend haven money ($$$$$) on the prima unless I knew for sure that the cabin did not have this severe noise problem. i'd book the haven on another ship, such as the joy. the prima is a lovely ship in many regards, but it has this dirty little secret... a considerable number of rooms have noise problems beyond mere mortals' ability to imagine a disturbance of that magnitude. again, this is no "normal" cabin noise. unless you are hard of hearing, the noise problem will ruin your sleep... and your vacation.