UKstages

well, that is puzzling, if true. they’re not going to save much money by replacing “footloose” with “choir.” it’s a smaller scale musical, but not by much. still a decent sized cast and… live musicians! NCL has been leaning towards solo acts… violinists (with prerecorded backing tracks), singers, magicians and comics.

prepaying is just a personal preference, but it does “protect” you in the case of an increase in the service charge. you’ll pay the old fee and won’t be subject to the higher service charge.

"experienced jewelry shoppers" only buy costume jewelry and handmade artisan pieces in the caribbean for all the reasons mentioned above.

breakfast in moderno; lunch in cagney's, same as haven guests. at moderno, they take over what would normally be the salad bar for the cold breakfast buffet (in addition to menu items). concierge sets up shop with "office hours" in moderno at breakfast.

i'm sure they'd like to, but the challenge for NCL in gutting the latitudes program is that, unlike airlines, the loyalty status is incrementally earned over a lifetime, whereas airline elite status is earned every year based on the prior year's travel and/or spend. (airlines have lifetime status options, as well, but they are generally earned at 1 and 2 million lifetime miles and until you get there, you still have to earn status the old fashioned way.) airline status is now largely earned and calculated by how much you spend. NCL does that in a way by rewarding extra latitudes points for staying in a suite and the haven, but the person who spends 8K on a ten day cruise earns essentially the same points as one who spends 30K. that's something for them to potentially look at.

it's not just dessert. there is some kind of edict prohibiting staff from allowing guests to take any food out of restaurants. it is rarely enforced. when i couldn't finish my pizza appetizer at onda a couple of months ago, i mentioned that i would like to wrap it up and take it with me and they told me they could not do that. i dunno, maybe they are trying to cut down on the expense of take out containers or retrieving wayward plates and glasses. maybe too many people spill food and break plates in public areas of the ship on their way back to their room. (like the drunk woman i saw at the local taking three plates stacked high with nachos and burgers... she made it about ten feet before losing it all.) they brought me a cloth napkin and said i could take the pizza on my plate with that napkin over it. i walked out quietly, with my head held high, as if i was not committing the crime of the century, but deep down in the smithy of my soul, i knew i was a rebel... a truly bad boy with a penchant for purloining parmacotto pizza pies.

remember that certain “excursions” are priced less than fifty dollars. typically, these are things like a one hour boat ride, a trolley tour through a tourist area adjacent to the port or a gondola (sky ride) to a scenic viewing area. these “excursions” are truly free for passenger one. and, yes, you can book more than one on the same day in the same port if the schedule permits.

interesting… I never researched this or thought much about it, but I always assumed world points (credit card) OBC was refundable. it’s counterintuitive for it not to be. (then again, i don’t go to starbucks or buy cruise next certificates, so I simply may never have run into this.) instead of getting OBC from the NCL credit card, you can simply apply world points to the balance of your card in place of (or in addition to) making a payment, as a statement credit. it’s a cash equivalent, at least in that sense. by the way, if you use your world points balance for a statement credit, you still earn points on your full folio charges, assuming you’re charging your NCL bill to your NCL credit card. in that regard, it’s superior to getting OBC. using world points for upgrades is better than than all of that, of course, for most people. (it doesn’t work for me because i’m typically comped by the casino in a room that doesn’t qualify for a world points upgrade.)

ah, sorry, thanks. we're on the same page.

i assume you mean that you can't understand why they don't like it? i can. one word: liability. ducks are most often placed on stairs, which is quite dangerous. nobody expects them to be there. a passenger slips and falls on a duck, the passenger is not going to go after little becky lou mcduckerson or her mom. they will seek compensation - or sue - NCL. if it looks like a duck and squeaks like a duck, it's probably on some NCL stairway somewhere waiting for somebody to trip over it.

specialty restaurants are on the decline, for sure... but it's different on every ship. one has a great cagney's and a lousy moderno. on another ship, moderno is remarkable and cagney's sucks. los lobos has always been a favorite of mine, but on the prima it is truly outstanding. if i'm doing a ten day or longer cruise, or if i'm doing a B2B, i'll visit cagney's at least once. most times lately, after having dined, i regret it. it's not that it's atrocious, it's just ordinary. i'm doing 19 days on the joy next month and i think i booked cagney's just once. my recollection is that cagney's on the joy was pretty good. but if you're in the haven (i'm not next month, i'm in a club balcony), i find i can get my fill of filet mignon and lobster in the haven restaurant.

i'm not sure one "slams" johnnie blue. i'm pretty sure one sips.

i'm pretty sure the foie gras on the filet in le bistro predates the upcharge. i know because i don't eat it and have fond memories of always pushing it aside while consuming free at sea dining. on the prima a few months ago, i did have the filet because it's one of the very few entrees i like at le bistro and i paid the upcharge for the first - and last - time. i found le bistro to be a lackluster dining choice on the prima, whereas it may well be the best restaurant on the joy. as for home cooked steak, i agree. of all the steaks i've loved before, the best steak i've ever had on an NCL ship was probably the one i cooked on the hotplate i brought onboard the prima. i used my brass knuckles to pound the meat till tender, then i used my travel santoku knife to cut it thinly (i had a club balcony, so i had a larger surface area in the bathroom for slicing and dicing). i plugged my hotplate into the surge protected power strip i brought with me and eighty-five minutes later... meat magic! i know what you're thinking... who would eat a hotplate steak? before you knock it, though, follow these pro tips: use your travel iron to get some nice grill marks on the beef and run the au jus through the coffee maker for an extra tasty treat. the secret to that is to heat the au jus gently with an immersion heater before putting it in the coffee maker. if traveling with that special someone, serve the dinner by candlelight. (you did remember to bring along some elegant tapers, didn't you?) you're welcome.

and the first cut is the deepest.

i’m not a fan of the whole duck thing. i’d be more of a fan if they made an effort to actually hide them. typically, they are just placed on stairs and tables; they’re in plain sight. put them under a stack of towels at the pool. put them under a seat cushion in the theatre. mix them in with the supply of shuffleboard pucks or the golf balls at mini-golf. make an effort!

and i’m exactly the opposite. i spend an extraordinary amount of money (in the casino), which is why i consider the rest of the cruise an “all inclusive” holiday. if the meal isn’t FAS, or isn’t comped by the casino, i have little interest. i do have two general observations here… unless cagney’s is next door to the MDR (similar to how cagney’s and moderno often share a space or a central kitchen on some ships and you can sometimes mix and match sides or an item from the salad bar), can it really be said that you’re getting a cagney’s steak? if you’re lucky, you’ll be getting the same cut and quality of meat. but if you believe that the chefs at cagney’s are artisans with a cleaver and a grill and know how to produce the perfect steak (not always true, in my opinion), do you think the chefs at the MDR who don’t specialize in steak would know what to do with your $25 ribeye? the dining experience at cagney’s itself has become hit or miss. i’m not sure i could be convinced to pay extra for a steak in the MDR, which is likely to be more of a miss than a hit. although, i have indeed sometimes had better dining experiences in the MDR than at cagney’s and we hear all the time about people who say their “free” steak at the MDR was better than cagney’s. so, sure, if you’re sitting on a stockpile of OBC because they turned off your hot tub, or you’re a stockholder, or you slipped and fell on a wet deck, or your travel agent loves you… have at it. knock yourself out. order that steak, mr. rockefeller. ask for a side of caviar, why doncha? And do remember to ask for strawberries arnaud for dessert! the second thing is this… is it just me or does anybody else find it incredibly ironic that in a forum in which people often complain about being nickeled and dimed by NCL, we’re having a legitimate conversation about paying $25 for a steak in the MDR? that’s 250 dimes or 500 nickels! all at once! this reminds me of all the folks who (rightly, in my opinion) ask why they’d pay for a hamburger at the american diner when they could get a burger for “free” at the local or the buffet. just. say. no.

perhaps. i’ve been playing cruise consultant roulette lately… just calling in blind and taking whoever i get. a few days ago, i added the second leg to a B2B that departs in 40 days or so. i told the rep i had a $500 cruise first (not next) certificate in my account and he should use that. he said, “oh, geez, i’d like to, but that’s not gonna go through. the cruise has to be 120 days out or more. sorry.” i said, “actually, i’m pretty sure it’s 120 days from when the certificate was purchased, not the day you book the cruise.” he said, “well, I’ve been here eight years and i’ve never heard of this.” i asked him to humor me and give it a try. he did and, of course, it went through.

what story? there is no story! NCL made a mistake and failed to retrieve a sapphire amenity package after a room switch. then a restaurant manager was less than sensitive in communicating the error when the guest who received the amenity package (including dinner coupons) attempted to redeem the second dinner. that's the story! your comment implies that there is something nefarious going on with regard to the OP, that they are somehow embarking on a crime spree that starts with fraudulently redeeming a couple of coupons for a couple of hundred bucks (even less, if the second dinner was to have been at teppanyaki). it seems far more likely that a third time NCL cruiser was impressed with the way NCL had stepped up its game, didn't see the "sapphire" or latitudes branding on the card, or didn't even know what it meant and simply tried to redeem what they thought they were given as a return guest. the confusing part about this, as mentioned upthread, is the first night's dinner. this could have and should have been handled then. it should have come up in the computer before they were seated that the latitudes status didn't match the dining patron(s). or if they were busy and didn't check, it would have come up by the time they were eating apps and certainly by the end of the meal. the proper thing to have done would have been for the host/ess or manager of that restaurant to discretely engage the OP, explain what happened and invite them to enjoy that night's meal "on the house," while further explaining that the other coupons and benefits could not be redeemed. instead, what the staff probably did (just a guess on my part) was simply consume one of their "free at sea" meals. so the extra meal may not have been extra at all and they might be down one of their FAS credits. again, just a hunch. i'm not saying that's what happened, but this is not my first NCL rodeo. why didn't the staff at the first restaurant explain the problem? i'm going to go out on a limb and say that the key players were filipino. they are wonderful customer service oriented people, but - culturally - they shy away from any encounter that might lead to conflict or confrontation. it would be easier for them to just comp the meal and not say anything or charge an FAS credit behind the scenes, again, without saying anything. as for the "attitude" of the manager at the second restaurant... i think, as others have suggested, that this was indeed a cultural thing. it sounds like that manager sucks at handling conflict and problem resolution. with regard to "what did he do or say" that was so upsetting... that's not the point. it's not what he said, it's what he did. and i don't mean denying the free dinner. the OP and companion were singled out ("pulled out of line") for special attention in front of other waiting guests (none of whom know any of the backstory) and had a long walk of shame in front of those people as they left the restaurant. think of how it was when you were in school and the teacher demanded you come see her and stay after class. the other kids didn't know what happened, but they knew it must've been pretty bad ("you're in trouble!") if you were singled out like that. that's kind of what happened here. the OP was needlessly embarrassed because NCL made several mistakes.

there can be a difference in canceling and rebooking the same cruise (value can sometimes be retained) or canceling and rebooking another cruise for a different date and ship (additional value is usually forfeited). but the terms make no such distinction and simply state that the “additional value” will be removed when “rebooking.

that’s fine and that may be true. but that would be a new opinion in this thread. kindly refer to your own previous post (#5) in which you said that it was the least known thing about NCL (not the least known thing about club balcony). that’s a significant difference. if we’re talking just club balcony, and not all of NCL, i think the least known thing about what they call their “club balcony suite” stateroom category is that they aren’t actually suites.

no. not only do I not understand that, but the logic is upside down. if one buys into the idea that a certain number of people don’t read “all the details of their cabin” (most likely true), then that must apply to all cabins. why only club balcony? and if indeed it applies to all cabins - not just club balcony - then why would this feature about club balcony be “the least known thing” about NCL? it is… a puzzlement.

it goes down to what you originally paid for the certificate, either $150 or $250... the "additional value" is indeed "removed."

i honestly have no bloody idea what most of the subtext or ire in your post is about, but i agree… lots of misinformation. you said there is no water slide on the prima. i said in my response to post #17 that indeed there is. It’s called the wave. i wasn’t responding to any other post and so i can’t really comment on aspects of other posts that concern anyone or that anyone thinks i’m responding to or that anyone thinks I understood or misunderstood. as for slides being adjacent to or in close proximity to balconies, this is also true. One of those slides is in fact the wave. the slides intersect what would otherwise be cabin balconies on the NCL prima. they are located within feet, in some cases, inches of guest cabin balconies, severely reducing the footprint of those balconies. warning people of this before they book is important, just as if their cabin were above or below a fitness center, a theater or a pool deck. your suggestion that nobody really knows if this space would be a balcony or not defies credulity. it is in fact a balcony, with a big hole cut through it. it shares the very same floor as the balconies on either side of it. (what do you suppose they would put in there on nine or ten decks? a duty free shop? auxiliary seating for the buffet? teeny tiny life boats? and how would crew and passengers access this space?) i believe the original deck plans for the prima actually showed full balconies in those spaces… it wasn’t until shortly before the prima sailed that NCL revised the deck plans. with regard to the noise emanating from said slides, it’s quite raucous and consistent during the hours of operation, i speak from personal experience, having spent 21 days on the prima. i don’t need to read noise complaints online to know that there are screams coming from the wave and the drop. i heard them myself. whether there have been complaints, or whether somebody believes there have been complaints is entirely irrelevant. the noise, and the inconvenience of having thrill seekers whiz by your balcony - which is what was being discussed - is quite real. and all that is happening in those tubes which are intersecting what would otherwise have been your balcony. as for four slides, here again, i honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. where do you believe these other two slides are located?

njhorseman, i am generally in agreement with what you say... over many posts and many threads. and i don't believe anything i say in post #17 contradicts anything you say in post #18. the biggest unsolved mystery is the nomenclature: are GTY cabins and sailaway cabins one and the same?

there are two slides on the prima, “the drop” and “the wave.” the drop has no water, but the wave, as the name implies, is indeed a water slide. as for intersecting guest-accessible balcony areas, no, technically, they do not. but that’s because they were specifically built around them by reducing the size of what otherwise would have been a cabin’s balcony and placing a railing there so the average person can’t get near the slide. there are many rooms on the prima (and presumably the viva) that are “slide adjacent.” the slides block views, reduce the footprint of the balcony and are a major source of noise for those cabins.