UKstages

stories should take the length of time it takes to tell them. "six" takes only about seventy minutes to tell its story. "beetlejuice" takes close to two and a half hours. If you believe the ninety minute version of "beetlejuice" tells the same story as the two and a half hour version,... then go find charles dickens and tell him to take out all that repetitive ghost nonsense out of "a christmas carol." i mean, really... do we need three ghosts? seriously, each one laboriously drones on and on... it's all the same stuff! oh, and it would be best to tell arthur miller to cut all that "well liked" stuff in "death of a salesman." how many times can will loman use that phrase? highly repetitive! there's really no point. and that groundhog day movie! it's just the same damn thing over and over. nobody needs to see that. why do they make us sit through that? people walked out on broadway, too. that's because it was an awful show, not because they had something better to do.

"free at sea" dining is routinely illustrated by NCL with an image of a filet mignon and a lobster tail. yet lobster is not available anywhere on the ship for "free," except in the haven.

i went to target yesterday and paid $3.39 for a 2 liter bottle of diet coke i paid $1.79 for less than two years ago. i paid $3.49 for a package of eight tortillas that used to be $1.99. i spend far too much time in casinos, so much so that all my cruises are comped by NCL's casino at sea program. so i have a pretty accurate perspective and an exhaustive knowledge of the way casinos work, how revenue is generated and how marketing and player development work together to get people to visit. a reference to "vegas" did not appear in my post. i referred to "land-based casinos," the majority of which are not located in las vegas. and i did not offer my perspective on non-gaming revenue or comps (i do have one, but it's not pertinent to this topic). i did make one simple point: restaurant prices in land-based casinos are artificially high to take into account the large number of people who redeem comps to pay for their meal. outside of vegas (which i didn't mention, by the way) casinos are still very much based around the gaming experience, even if they offer shopping, dining and entertainment. the main currency is comp dollars. people will have no qualms about losing a thousand dollars, as long as they can get their "free" buffet. and while it's true that in vegas there is an increased focus on non-gaming revenue, the prices in the shops and restaurants still take into account the casino's ecosystem, which is based on comps. vegas is a unique animal in that there are many non-casino restaurants and entertainment venues available to visitors. and many people are there - believe it or not - on business. so some people are indeed paying those prices. but it is often not coming out of their pocket, which makes them somewhat immune to sticker shock. anyway, all of this is moot. the vegas fantasy comp dollar comparison was a footnote to the bit about shopping for all your groceries at a convenience store. it was an offhand supplementary comment about paying inflated prices. few people do that, just as few people pay outright for a beverage package on NCL.

does anybody shop at the US based retailers macy's or kohl's without a coupon? i seriously doubt it. their entire business strategy is built upon offering 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% (and more) coupons. you'd be very foolish to shop there and pay the so-called retail price of the item. they only put those prices on the item, so they can claim heavily discounted prices in their ads and then offer percentage discounts on top. very few - if any - people pay these ridiculous prices. you have to play the game they are inviting you to play. if you choose not to play that game, you won't be able to shop there and get value for money. it's the very same with NCL. as many have noted, NCL has a marketing strategy that offers "free" stuff, on most of which they collect a gratuity. (whether the gratuity actually funds a tip pool for their frontline and behind the scenes employees or whether some is siphoned off for "administrative" fees and operating expenses is a whole other discussion, but i suspect that a large portion does not go directly to employees. hey, it's just a hunch.) anyway, NCL has indeed raised prices, and, yes, the net effect is mostly to collect more in gratuities... since, most agree, few people pay outright for a drink package or these other amenities. if, for some unknown reason, somebody chooses to purchase the drink package, yes, they will be at a disadvantage. but they have chosen not to play the game. if you want to go to a specialty restaurant (with the possible exception of food republic) and pay a la carte, you are throwing your money away. these items, just like the drink package, have artificially high prices to provide a higher base cost and greater gratuity. and, yes, occasionally some hapless schmuck wanders in and gets caught between a rock and a hard place and winds up paying full price. that's money in NCL's pocket, for sure... but i don't believe that's their primary goal with this pricing structure. it would be like shopping for all your groceries at a convenience store, such as 7-11. you will pay dearly for the "convenience." it's no different than the restaurant prices at land-based casinos. the prices are a fantasy because few people pay them... everybody is eating for "free" using their comp dollars. again, it's not that nobody pays these prices. a small number do. but the fact that NCL prices are set high does three things... it makes the average joe and jane feel good about "saving" so much money with free at sea (just like when you buy something at kohl's for 50% off), it provides additional gratuity "revenue" and it forces you to play the game they have invited you to play. if you don't want to play this game, then you are correct, NCL isn't for you. you can choose another cruise line. but don't kid yourself... they are also inviting you to play their game. you can season your ground beef and pour mushroom sauce over it and call it salisbury steak; it's still a freakin' hamburger.

DSC = daily service charge, the gratuity that you pay into the "tip pool" for each day of your cruise.

• power outage - 2X points • running aground - 3X points • hitting iceberg - 4X points look for code "LATOOPS" on your final bill.

it may not be there. the show opened last night to almost unanimous pans... the reviews were very disappointing. it may hang around until the tony awards (assuming it gets nominated next week), but with pans like it received, its future is uncertain, at best.

i am routinely in the same situation... wanting to use onboard credit for a dining upgrade. on my last cruise on the joy, i, too, was told it was full price. and i balked... and walked. then, later that same day, all the specialty restaurants had placards up (you know, those little lucite standee things, in which they embed an advertisement, the kind that say what the daily specials at the local are that night)... they all had a placard advertising that there was a "special," which was the same as the pre-cruise purchase price. no guarantee that will happen on my - or your - next cruise, however. they really should rebrand their marketing campaign: "for a small fee at sea."

you're not weird. (if you are, so am i.) nor are you alone, for a variety of reasons, i bring my own soap, shampoo and conditioner with me and never use the stuff in the dispensers.

you'd be surprised. while you're unlikely to get a free cruise, you may be eligible for a percentage discount. call CAS the next time you book... and ask. be aware, however, that there is an admin fee for booking with CAS, so if your discount is modest or inconsequential, the savings may be eaten up by the admin fee. i'm honestly not sure if the admin fees apply to partially-paid cruises, or just to "free" ones.

tipping porters doesn't really speed up the arrival of your bags outside of your cabin. tipping porters may ensure that your bag doesn't disappear or get mishandled before it is turned over to the ship. (or the tip is simply a reward for the hard work that they do.) the porters at the pier do not go onboard the ship; the ship's personnel deliver the bags to your cabin.

i didn't say that and i didn't criticize you; i criticized the NHS and said they were imprecise in their language. any guidance that "encourages" people to vape and talks about the "full benefits of vaping" is misleading, at best. it creates confusion and instills confidence in the public, who may mistakenly believe that vaping is "safe." it is not, whether done on a cruise ship or on shore. pertinent to this topic, it creates the impression for those sailing on NCL ships that vaping is socially acceptable and can cause no harm to those around the ones who choose to vape in nonsmoking areas, which is what i'm most concerned about. i've seen a lot of surreptitious vaping on NCL ships by people who think the rules don't apply to them. i've inhaled the vapors against my will. it is both annoying and harmful. i can only speak for myself, but why on earth would you conclude there is a crusade of some kind? i've seen the list of toxic chemicals and cancer causing agents and hard metals in electronic cigarette vapor and concluded that it was harmful to those vaping and to those around them, on or off cruise ships. that's not a crusade, that's science. i don't care if somebody smokes or vapes, as long as they don't do it where it's not permitted. the reason there is a difference between the NHS and america is because one is a government health agency and one is a country. as for the "harm reduction position," that is a curious thing to say, as it ignores the NHS's questionable documentation on vaping and the cancer causing agents that have been found in the vapor emitted.

respectfully, it sounds like you shouldn't fly with them again. i understand the flight's purpose is to get you to the cruise. but you haven't experienced anything wrong with the primary service NCL provides... passage on a cruise ship. though it's been said many times, many ways... if you book NCL air, you lose almost total control. it's a bit like buying discounted fruit past its prime in the supermarket. if you want a pristine banana at the peak of ripeness, you pay full price. if you're willing to take your chances knowing full well you might get a bruised banana past its prime, then buy the leftover discounted fruit priced for quick sale. and make banana bread. geez. i dunno. did they? it sounds like you had an empathetic rep who agreed with you "that it is not right." explaining a company's policies to a concerned customer and adhering to those policies is not blowing you off. just because you didn't get what you would have preferred does not mean that they blew you off. you can choose to sail NCL in the future or not. but mistreatment from NCL should probably not be a driving factor since they did exactly what they told you they would do. if using NCL air is a barrier to your happiness, then don't use NCL air.

i have no experience on carnival, but i have a lot of experience on other ships' casinos. they should be able to write you a check on the last night. in the case of your hypothetical win.

the NHS s not infallible. it's the same agency responsible for the alder hey organs scandal, the bristol heart scandal and the stafford hospital scandal. they were, at best, imprecise in the language they used in their vaping "recommendation." it's absolutely true that vaping is considered by many to be 'safer" than smoking tobacco cigarettes, but - to their credit - the NHS also state that vaping is "not completely harmless" and that you should also eventually stop vaping. in other words, they recommend vaping not as a safe alternative to smoking cigarettes, but as an interim way to stop smoking cigarettes. the vapor emitted while vaping does include cancer causing chemicals, ultrafine particulate matter ad heavy metals such as nickel, tin, and lead.

my goodness, i think we've all read it. you've posted it four or five times in the same thread. i actually didn't have to read it... i remember it. if i recall correctly, she also lost her global entry status, which was the real penalty. true. in the (not too distant) old days, you used to have to check the box as to whether or not you were bringing in "food." when asked, i would always say "packaged stuff... cookies, candy, mints, jam, etc" on occasion, i would say "i'm bringing back in some of the same nutrition bars i brought out of the country two weeks ago." they would always wave me through. they are interested in "raw" foods, unprocessed foods, fruits and vegetables. when coming back from china or the philippines, they're interested in balut! i did ask once if i was doing the right thing but declaring i had "food." they said yes. now, with global entry and biometrics, i don't even have to declare food anymore when flying back to the united states. there are no forms; there are no attestations. i don't even need my passport.

there may be another issue at play here. also sailing out of manhattan on may 14 is the prima, on a transatlantic to reykjavik. that ship is scheduled to sail at 5 PM, so - just a guess - some of the terminal's personnel and resources will be devoted to the prima departure before turning their attention to the joy. there is more than one berth (pier), so that's no problem... my spidey sense tells me, however, that some personnel may be doing double duty on that - apparently - very busy day. as for your tired, luggage-schlepping tourists yearning to be set free at sea... yeah, that occurs on every embarkation, regardless of departure time or check-in time.

what a great review. really well written and it covered most of the bases. so glad to see it successfully debunk many aspects of some of the other more unpleasant reviews. i'll be on the prima for a B2B in three weeks, so it was really great to read an almost entirely positive review of the prima! thanks! i do have a question... do you know how many people were on board? that does affect the crowding and the seating availability, so i'd be curious to learn how full the ship was. thanks again for the comprehensive review

have you tired searching? a google search returned this... 1 splash of grenadine syrup 1 splash of rose's lime juice (or Lime Juice) 1 oz of lemon vodka (or citrus-infused vodka) 1 oz of dekuyper island blue pucker schnapps shake ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. strain into a chilled martini glass. (there is a more complicated recipe online that involves making your own lavender simple syrup.)

oh, gosh, i didn't think you were passing judgment on me. you said that you assumed "the differences are what part of the world one is from (midwest US here) & where you typically use bathrooms." and so i was interested in learning more about your assumption. what is it about midwesterners that you feel positively influences their hand washing regimen? (if indeed that's what your saying... that midwesterners wash their hands more regularly)

yes.

i'm not quite sure what you're saying. are you saying midwesterners are more health conscious and would never dream of not washing their hands? i have washed my hands all over the word, including the midwest. from america to europe to asia. in florida, in california and in iowa. from las vegas to council bluffs to tecumseh, from portland maine to portland oregon. i have seen no difference in the percentage of men who wash their hands. in broadway theatres, at husker games, in fast food joints and five star hotels... a very small percentage of men wash their hands in public rest rooms. i suspect it's the same men who wash their hands when they're at home. an extraordinary number - apparently - do not. that's funny... because whenever i mention that men are pigs when it comes to their bathroom hygiene, my female friends regale me with tales of women behaving exceedingly badly in restrooms. not washing hands is the least of their transgressions!

i had exactly the same experience last year during a spring break cruise on the gem. teens and tweens sitting four and five abreast on the stairs, blocking passage. many of them were eating food from the buffet and drinking, so between the mass of people and dodging the plates and glasses, it was a mess. and it continued like that for ten days. you're far more understanding and forgiving than i. these folks won't learn about being a part of a bigger world because the only world that matters is their own. it's hard to be responsible and considerate if you have no cue as to what responsible and considerate looks like, if you have no behavior to model. where were the parents? it's the parent's responsibility to teach their kids manners and to hold them accountable. sadly, on these cruises, on which as many as a third of the ships passengers can be kids, the parents treat the ship like big kid daycare and just let their kids roam about freely and do whatever they want, even when it inconveniences other passengers. as for the ship's response, nobody was ever told to move or behave. and a lot of those dishes and glasses remained on the steps for six or seven hours or more until they were removed.

i haven't been on the pearl, but, at least on the gem, the "viewing room" is a very small room that has a glass window in it through which you can indeed see the bridge. it's rather lackluster... it's a relatively small space with a chair or two and some photos and memorabilia. and it's open to all passengers during posted hours; you don't have to be on a tour to go in there. i think there is a mini-blind or curtain that they draw closed once viewing hours are over; not sure if they actually close the room itself.

yes, i completely understood. and i'm here to tell ya that most men - a super majority - do not wash their hands after going to the bathroom, based on my unscientific observations at public restrooms. it's disgusting, it's reprehensible, and yet... there it is.