Cruising Lynne

The day six daily from the thread by Happycrafter123, lists great breakfast hours. Garden Cafe until 10:30 am and Great Outdoors all the way until 11:30 am

Oops. Did not notice it was day one.

Seems to vary a lot by ship.

I think they have. I would like to see more recent dailies to be sure. On ships with a two sided buffet, breakfast should stay open almost until lunch time. We have gotten up late before and selected a few small breakfast items to eat while we waited for lunch to start.

I don't want to wait around for room service to show up! I used to work a job where I did not get home until midnight. I liked to unwind after work so my typical bed time was 2 am. Sleeping until between 9:30 and 10:00 am. I am retired now, but it is hard to break the habit. Shortened breakfast hours is another lousy cut back.

I knew they took away late night snack, but this is the first I have heard of breakfast in the buffet closing at 9:30. I feel like it should be open for breakfast until at least 10:00. Usually turnover is much later. One side usually has breakfast available until almost lunchtime, while the other side turns over to lunch. When we are up too late for the MDR we like to go to the buffet for a quick breakfast. I may actually end up losing weight on my next cruise! Missing meals on a cruise may not matter much for people who cruise very often, but for others the availability of a quick bite to eat is important to the overall enjoyment of their cruise. I would like to hear from others currently cruising what time the food venues are open? We are on Joy in a couple of months and would like to know ahead of time what is going on. Too many cutbacks on NCL is pushing me to try other cruise lines. I am Sapphire on NCL, but I am going on Holland America this fall and MSC next spring to see what they have to offer. They may have a lot of cut backs as well, but I will find out for myself and report back.

It's all about the pizza 🍕😄

The day before this closure was announced I booked our first MSC cruise on the Meraviglia. Ocean Cay is going to be closed until May 22, 2024, and we are scheduled to be there on May 23. I really hope that the enhancements are completed on time after telling my husband how awesome it looked, and showing him a picture of how close the ship docks to a nice beach. We enjoy NCLs Great Stirrup Cay, but it is a tender port which is a nuisance. A little nervous about going out of Brooklyn instead of Manhattan which we are used to, but excited to try something new.

When we cruised on Epic this was not an issue for us. We had a room with the bed by the balcony. The bathroom set up is different, but not so bad. Escape balcony cabins have very nice bathrooms that do not have the odd set up that Epic has.

You will get on board in one of the earlier groups. This may give you a chance to get a drink and have lunch before it gets too crowded. It gets your vacation started as soon as possible. Be sure to pack what you may want for the day in your carry on (swimsuits etc.) since rooms will not be ready until later in the afternoon.

Ugh! Too late to edit. April 2023 not 20323 LOL.

Cruiseny4life: Because of you, I now refer to my flip flops as flippy floppies. The first time I saw them referred to as flippy floppies I thought it was silly. Now, I call them that all the time! I have seen some colorful Crocs that would go with that suit. They would qualify as closed toe. They are a little bulky to pack, but are light weight. Dress code police might not like them though. 🤣 bjtravelnews: Thank you for the review. Sailing on Joy for the first time in September. Back to Bermuda even though we were just there in April. Looking forward to seeing Footloose while we still can, and want to see Elements again. I have only seen it on smaller ships. Thanks for the reminder about how late rooms were ready. We will be sure to pack swimwear in our carry ons. Maybe we will hang out at Spice H2O after lunch until rooms are ready.

Glad to hear this. On my last cruise (April 20323) they were not always available in the buffet, but we could get them at O'Sheehan's. Love Cagney's chocolate cake. O' Sheehan's carrot cake is good and the cannoli in La Cucina. Crepes are still good in the buffet. Now I'm hungry!

I wonder if you will have trouble getting it on board? May be a prohibited item. Bringing your own pods may be a better option. I like the coffee from the machine in the buffet that grinds the beans. It is usually in the back of the buffet on the Jewel class ships. Bird Travels may have a picture of this.

I am hoping that all the complaints about Prima lower the price. This is would be great since I did not find it to be "meh". I really enjoyed Prima. It did take a couple of days to get used to the lay out after being on several Breakaway and Jewel class ships. But more positives for me than negatives. I don't care about going to Syd Norman's, so not an issue for me. Never go to Cavern Club either. I just do not want to be in a crowded club. There are other things to do on this ship in the evening. I would rather be in a comfortable lounge like Metropolitan or Belvedere listening to whatever live music they have. I also enjoyed the theater shows and the dance party in the theater after they pushed all the seats back. I am glad to hear that NCL is making changes on the future builds. I would like to see the addition of hot tubs to the outdoor areas near the infinity pools, and maybe near the kid's splash area. Any one who thinks about booking this ship should just do it. Take the reviews with a grain of salt and adjust expectations. Get in line early if Syd Norman's is important to you. Try to go to Indulge at a non- peak time or just be patient and a seat will open up.

Never been a cheerleader, but I listened to the audio. This noise is not that bad. I would never book under the Garden Cafe, but that is just me. Ear plugs and some white noise could be a big help if you want to nap. Do not think compensation is warranted. Some chocolate covered strawberries and wine would be a nice gesture.

For Indulge, since there is a Starbucks in the atrium. they could remove the one from Indulge, which would give space for more seating.

We had it on Pearl in April. We were sitting near the Champagne bar.

I don't know about an actual dress, but when my husband wanted to dance, I was glad that I had on a nice outfit. That said, you can wear whatever you want. Last one we went to was last fall. Very minimal cruise next sales pitch. Nice live music and plenty of servers with trays of drinks. Only thing is that whenever I go to one of these parties, it seems like the servers pass us by since we are not in their section. Better to grab a drink at the bar sometimes. I must sit in the wrong spot! Not a big deal now that we get the drink package.

One of the things that I really love about cruising, is the ability to easily enjoy dinner and a show. This is something that I rarely get to do at home. It is so convenient to just walk from one end of the ship to another, and maybe stop for a cocktail or two along the way. The shows are one of the things that make cruising a good value for me. No need to purchase tickets, drive to a venue, and pay big bucks to park. I have booked certain ships based on the Broadway shows, but I also really enjoy the production shows on the smaller ships. Even better about the smaller ships, is not having to make a reservation ahead of time . I understand that some shows need to be changed out from time to time. This keeps things more interesting for the frequent cruisers (we have seen Velvet and Swing several times). I just hope that the innovative and less expensive shows are good quality and fun. I also hope that when finances are better, they return to having the bigger productions.

Closed from July until February. Does this mean some may come back? I have seen Velvet and Showdown multiple times, so I feel like they could be replaced for a while. But, I was looking forward to seeing Footloose in September. Hope they come up with a good replacement.

I am not sure which ship it was, but I am thinking it was Dawn several years ago. I sent out some PJs and shorts to be washed. The next afternoon our room steward and an officer came to the room to let me know that there would be a delay getting my clothes back due to a small fire in the laundry room. They weren't burned, but smelled like smoke, so they were going to rewash them. They still smelled a little after the second washing, so I did not wear them again until I rewashed them at home. I did appreciate the effort they made, and their apology for the delay. I haven't used the free Platinum and above laundry special since, though my husband has. Occasionally, I have washed some undies in the bathroom sink. I hate taking the time to do laundry in my room. I try to pack two pairs per day which hubby thinks is excessive. To the light packers: It's no problem repeating outfits, but please stay clean. I have been on the elevator with some people that I do not think ever showered or did laundry!

Just a big NO! This is not the way to solve the chair hog issue, which I think is overexaggerated. Why would you give NCL another idea to charge us more money? Many of us cruise because it is not like a land based resort. NCL does not need to charge what the resort does for a basic amenity like a chair!!

I clean the one we get in our balcony cabin myself, and run it once with just water before I make coffee. Seems clean enough for me to survive the week.

Agree. I understand a venue being blocked for an event for a couple of hours, but NOT the Observation Lounge for an entire scenic cruise. It t is not acceptable. Prima does not have a good space to have this event. If they held it on a ship with the Supper Club or Spiegel tent venue, they could use it during the day without bothering anyone else. On a ship that has both a Bliss lounge and Spinnaker they could use The Bliss lounge all day. I remember when ships used to have meeting rooms that could be used without disrupting anyone. What a concept. Tying up the observation lounge on Prima during a cool weather cruise is not fair. If it was a warm weather cruise, I don't think it would be as big of a deal.