UKstages

i find the OP's story quite credible. i have experienced exactly this sort of disconnect among staff members, from the GM to the assistant to the GM to the manager of guest services... all signing frm different hymnals. i had a stateroom noise complaint earlier this year which went on for several days before being resolved. i don't see how the cruise director has much impact or import here; the CD position is really a figurehead and doesn't really get involved in solving specific guest complaints. if i were the GM, here's the way i would have handled this. assuming that the rehearsal schedule and potential for disruption were known... shortly after embarkation, i would have invited the occupants of the three affected cabins above the theatre to a special meeting or maybe even a dinner. and i would have said something like: "we are delighted to have you onboard. and we are committed to providing the best possible service to you and all our guests. as part of our commitment to our guests, we regularly refresh our entertainment offerings and are always putting new cast members into our shows. this week, we will be doing exactly that. unfortunately, that means more rehearsals than we would normally have and many of them will be at inconvenient hours which may disrupt your sleep and your ability to enjoy your stateroom. we have no alternate rooms available, but we would like you to enjoy your cruise as our guest and enjoy your cabin as much as you can under the circumstances. we will be issuing you a 100% refund for your cruise, or if you prefer, we will give you 150% future cruise credit. we will be providing you a copy of our rehearsal schedule, so you can enjoy your cabin at other times. and if there is anything at all that we can do to help you make your vacation more enjoyable, please let us know." and then i'd comp them a few dinners or spa treatments or whatever they wanted. my recommendation is to email katty byrd (kbyrd@ncl.com) while you're on the ship. last i checked, she is the senior vice president of guest services for NCL. you probably won't hear from her, but somebody from her office will contact you and also contact the ship and hopefully be able to provide a resolution. unfortunately, most of this sort of compensation seems to be limited lately to just $500 in OBC per paying passenger. i don't know what you will receive, but that's where most people have landed lately. be sure to refer to your case number in your email communication.. your situation is unique, however, and a strong case can be made that these rehearsals substantially altered the nature of your vacation, your ability to use your stateroom and your ability to function properly when out and about onboard the ship, due to sleep deprivation. it can also be said that while these disruptions were intermittent, they occurred regularly during hours in which most people would expect to be sleeping. it seems to me NCL has already admitted that the problem exists. they have already admitted they know about it. they have already admitted that rehearsals continued at "forbidden" times, even after you were told they would stop. the only thing left is to agree on proper compensation. good luck.

sort of. most offers are usually inside or ocean view because most people have relatively modest play. but make no mistake, the offers are indeed play-based... if you qualify for a free balcony room, CZR will give you a certificate for a free balcony room. diamond status per se has nothing to do with it. there are CZR players with lower tier scores who have higher ADT. the only time CZR player status enters into the equation is for seven stars players who are given an annual balcony cruise. that offer is not play-based, but tier-based. pro tip: while CZR says you must attend an event at a land-based casino to pick up the NCL certificate, once you reserve the offer and the pick-u event takes place, your virtual certificate will be reflected in NCL's system. you don't actually have to pick it up! but, again, once you gamble with NCL, you will likely get far better offers directly from casinos at sea than you will from CZR. the problem is, you'll have to call to find out what they are. NCL is unique in that they do not send you an offer via email or snail mail that specifically states what your offer is... you won't know which level of accommodation you are being offered until you call.

i tried to buy $250 cruise first certificates using this deal, but every time i tried to access the NCL website, it wouldn't let me log in! and then the deal passed. i'm sure it'll be back again soon, but, geez, louise, you try to spend $500 with these folks and the notoriously bad website doesn't let you!

onda all the way, yes, it's "fancier," but the truth is the level of expertise in the kitchen is several notches higher than at la cucina and they offer many dishes that are not traditionally italian. onda is not a "red sauce" restaurant. then again, neither is la cucina, either, strictly speaking, but la cucina has many more traditional dishes, such as lasagne (which is excellent, by the way). they have chefs in onda, whereas, in my opinion, la cucina has paint by numbers line cooks. la cucina might have a slight edge on pizza, but i like the pizza at both .they are just very different, with la cucina producing a more traditional neapolitan pie, and onda taking a more artisan approach. if using the dining plan, one advantage to onda is that the pizza is cosidered an appetizer, whereas at la cucina it counts as an entree. i greatly prefer onda over la cucina. while la cucina is more traditional, they don't have chicken parm on the menu and they often stumble with non-italian dishes like the filet or the osso bucco, the calamari somehow manages to be simultaneously greasy and dry. the veal scaloppini is pretty good. but if you stray from the pizza or pasta offerings or the lasagne, nothing at la cucina is terribly accomplished or tasty. the food almost always disappoints.

you can indeed take the coach (bus). and it looks like you are leaning that way. but i researched this extensively and found it much simpler to take the NCL transfer to heathrow and then take the tube into central london. it's more expensive, to be sure, but sometimes, it's actually quicker. and there is nothing easier and more convenient than walking off the ship and going directly onto a waiting bus and having it depart the moment it's filled. this was my experience as a solo traveler. the monetary equation changes considerably when you add more people and the transfer/tube journey may not be as advisable.

it's difficult to say with certainty because there have been across the fleet cutbacks since i sailed the prima back in may and june... but have you considered your dissatisfaction may be related to the prima itself? and not NCL cruises overall? i hate to think you abandon ship (pun intended) over one disappointing cruise. without a doubt, quality is declining pretty much everywhere. but i found the prima to be unique in how poorly run the ship was from a quality control standpoint. and the lack of attention to detail. the only senior management officials that seem remotely interested in guest feedback were the F&B team. and that's ironic, since many of your concerns are about food and beverage. sure, you can fill out a survey when you get back... but you can also talk to some folks while onboard. i found the F&B team were awfully good listeners, especially when it came to comments about indulge. i'm sure they'd be equally interested in haven feedback.

CZR discounts apply on top of whatever the prevailing promo is. once you travel on NCL, you will likely get far better offers directly from NCL, assuming you have even modest play.

as late as november 4th, when i disembarked, he was holding court in sugar cane on the joy. i couldn't tell you if he is still onboard, but he was as of just a few weeks ago.

no longer reliable, unfortunately. on the joy recently, the navigation channel and the bridge channel had times that were not in sync. one was correct, one was not… but which one? this continued till about 10 am.

correcting my own typo... that should say: it's a failure of imagination to think that a cruise departing from a USA port is somehow immune to a terrorist act related to a conflict half a world away.

could be a wonky POS system. shrimp cocktail is not on the menu. shrimp louie is. when you order shrimp louie, you can double and triple and quadruple up on the shrimp. but you - technically - cant order a shrimp cocktail. but every food item has to be accounted for in some way. similarly, it could be a filipino thing. the filipinos, whom i adore and with whom i have worked for decades, play strictly by the rules. they are great in the hospitality industry because they do everything exactly as they are supposed to... they follow the manual, the handbook... they play by the rules! you want a shrimp cocktail, but there is no shrimp cocktail. they are extraordinarily customer-service oriented, so they have to figure out a way to get you one, while coloring within the lines and playing by the rules. that's my take, anyway. it truly is stunning with sensational wraparound views. and it's the only cruise ship MDR i know that has chandeliers inspired by spatulas found in liberace's kitchen. . curiously, this is exactly what helmuth sommer said. (if you had watched the show, you'd think this was hilarious. actually, i don't blame you. the show is awful. talented cast, but awful show. i stayed for the whole thing, though. you missed the theatre's transformation to a disco, which they do as a sorta kinda show, after the show.)

yes, absolutely. and i am confident that every weapon disguised as a coffee maker and a bottle of jim beam will be discovered. most terrorists are smarter than that. they won't be disguising weapons as listerine bottles and it is likely that parts of weapons would be in the luggage of different passengers, to be assembled later once onboard. some components could be brought onboard in ports enroute. and some could be made of plastic. what we have throughout this thread is a failure of imagination. post after post of folks who say it couldn't possibly happen. it's true that it's unlikely to happen, just as it was extremely unlikely that airplanes would ever be commandeered and used as weapons and flown into buildings. and then it actually happened. i keep reading dismissive comments in this thread about paranoia and how this couldn't possibly be a serious concern. it seems to me, however, that one of the few who actually has a true awareness of the potential risks of cruise ship travel is the one asking the questions. these are legitimate questions and the OP and her son have a right to ask them. we can dismiss these questions, if we choose, as being about events that are unlikely to happen, but we should not dismiss the folks asking the questions. the conflict is worldwide. and antisemitic incidents in the USA have risen 400% year over year since the october 7th israel-hamas war began. and many of those incidents have taken place in or near new york and miami, which just happen to be two of NCL's most popular departure ports. once again, it's a failure of imagination to think that a cruise departng far from a USA port is somehow immune to a terrorist act related to a conflict half a world away. time after time, we have seen terrorists - and domestic sympathizers - target gatherings where they presume those they hate are likely to be. so, again, is a terrorist act likely? no. are cruise ships safe? generally speaking, yes. are these questions legitimate? you betcha. terrorists thrive in environments of indifference and laxity in which people have let their guard down and fail to consider all possibilities and dismiss reasonable precautions as being foolish or unnecessary.

i disembarked on november 4th. "the beatles" stayed onboard.

oh, geez. i’m an idiot. i’m reading this for days, i know it’s the prima, but I got temporarily confused, i think because of the references to the viva. my bad. nothing to see here. carry on. by the way, I have no jet lag, so I can’t blame it on that.

is that a starbucks in the indulge food hall? all previous reports were that it had been removed, to make way for much needed seating. captain kevin bellido? if i’m not mistaken, he also helmed the prima. he has a unique signature phrase when he completes his PA announcements. it will soon be obvious to all onboard. bon voyage.

the former. in the hospitality business, “service recovery” refers to an effort to mitigate a problem caused by a lapse in service. while there may be an internal plan and process that the ship’s personnel follow, and there may in fact be behind the scenes efforts to fix the actual defect, the term specifically refers to whatever compensation or “make good” efforts the ship provides to inconvenienced customers. this could include moving the passengers to other rooms, offering refunds or OBC or FCC or offering free cruises. for this problem, NCL seems to have capped OBC compensation at $500 per paying passenger. it does not appear NCL has a plan for fixing the problematic rooms, short of making an attempt during dry dock (none is planned at the moment). mine was a club balcony suite, but the same general area. i was told that the most common recurring location for these cabins was AFT.

some seem to place great faith in the mistaken notion that “there’s no unrest here so we’re safe. my cruise is not in a part of the world that’s in conflict.” terrorists go where their targets are. the world trade center in new york was not in an area undergoing conflict when its garage was bombed nor was it when terrorists flew planes into the towers. it seems to me, if you’re a terrorist who has a beef with a certain country or a certain ideology or religion, you try to cause havoc with that country’s citizens or those of that religion or that ideology, wherever they may be.

i do remember them. there were no terrorists on these ships. the question here is whether or not cruise ships are safe, given the current heated political climate and war(s) and whether cruise ships are more or less likely to be targets of an overt terrorist action. in my opinion, cruise ships are safe. but - they are at the very same time - likely targets for terrorism and high jacking. a high jacking of a passenger cruise ship previously took place during exactly the same sort of worldwide conflict that we currently have. and it was backed by a terrorist organization not dissimilar from one that is currently at war. it could conceivably happen again. in my opinion, the question is legitimate. but risks must be assessed by each individual and a decision made. i personally wouldn’t cancel a cruise, but others might. they shouldn’t be mocked or ridiculed. they should be free to make the decision that’s right for them. what we really need is beefed up port and shipboard security… and i just don’t see that happening. you know, i’ve been onboard in many ports and i frequently hear the crew drills. it’s always about a fire or a distressed passenger. i’ve never once heard a drill dealing with terrorists or active shooters onboard. working in a manhattan office building, i have to participate in two terrorist/active shooter drills a year. if your ship is overtaken by pirates or terrorists, would the crew know what to do? asking them to wash their hands before eating will not thwart terrorists. it may in fact make them angry.

oh, gosh, i haven’t read about anyone on cruise critic who expected their room to be completely silent. the ones i’ve seen complain about the prima have complained about a very persistent and specific type of noise that is known to NCL, well documented by NCL, and for which they apparently have developed a service recovery process, since it happens on nearly every cruise. if you haven’t been in one of these rooms and experienced this problem, then it’s quite easy to say that certain guests are fussy or they’re malcontents or they expect their room to be like a reading room in a library… but that’s not the case. the prima has a known manufacturing defect that affects a certain number of rooms. if you have one of these rooms, during high seas, your room will shake and rattle as if poltergeists were in the walls and ceiling.

my experience with reservations at the MDRs is not that they are not necessary, but they are typically ignored. you show up, there's a throng of hungry people waiting to see the host/hostess and you can't very well move to the front of the line... even though you should be able to. after all, YOU have a reservation... most of them probably don't. once you announce yourself to the host/hostess (and it's almost always a hostess on NCL), the reservation doesn't seem to matter. seating is not expedited, in my experience. you're still waiting with the throng and the folks who were there before you will likely get seated before you do. whether that's because they got there first or they have a reservation with an earlier time than yours, or the MDR is the one place where NCL has inexplicably chosen to honor priority restaurant seating for sapphire, diamond and ambassador guests... is unknown.

the room service fee is also taxed in and near puerto rico. frankly, i didn't know there could be a tax on a fee... there is no cost basis!

well, NCL says that's actually how they generally handle this problem... by moving the guest to another room, or if no comparable room exists in the same category, by offering a sleeping room. that's what they were supposed to do. that's what they do on every ship when they encounter something like this. and it's not like they haven't had a lot of experience on the prima with this sort of thing. they have complaints of this type week after week, nearly every cruise in which these rooms are occupied. as far as service recovery in relation to revenue and lifetime value of a customer and all that... it would be nice to think so, but in subsequent threads here on CC, others have mentioned that $500 a person is pretty much their standard form of compensation for any major snafu or major service interruption. other folks afflicted with noisy cabins got $500, as did folks who booked cabins with inoperable hot tubsme as for miami... difficult to say. i contacted corporate on a friday and i think i had made some progress on the ship all by myself by the time monday rolled around. but without a doubt "miami" lit a fire and they certainly opened up a three way feedback loop and held onboard personnel responsible. thanks for your kind words about my writing. i am indeed writing something at the moment, but it's not about cruising!

NCL has. but they are not sharing that list. there are a couple mentioned in the cabin thread here on CC... and a few more mentioned in passing in various reviews and other threads. one such cabin that i personally experienced was 11344. avoid at all costs. many people go on the prima and never encounter any problem whatsoever with cabin noise. others are not as lucky.

i agree, i don't know how you do it, either. i would have headed home with just one look at that sign at terminal 8.

there are several different numbers depending on the nature of your inquiry or whether you're booking a certificate from a land-based casino or responding to an NCL offer. scroll to the bottom of this page for contact info... https://www.ncl.com/why-cruise-norwegian/casino-cruise/players-club