bortman23

NCL isn't selling the flights, they're just booking them on your behalf, like a travel agent. The airline is selling the flights. Being an informed consumer is very important. I'm not throwing stones, seems the OP is throwing stones when in fact they should have read the information on what they were purchasing. Has it happened to the best of us? Absolutely, to me more than once, I just don't get mad at the company for something I know was my mistake.

Because they didn't read up on the insurance they purchased. Had they, they would have known that it didn't include cancelation insurance. Having "NCL book discounted flights" on your behalf doesn't mean that NCL is now fully in charge of your flights. Had a travel agent booked their flights, the travel agent isn't going to pay for your new flights, or eat the cost etc. The story just highlights the importance of having trip cancellation and interruption insurance.

On my (Jan 15) sailing no show had a charge, and the mini golf was free. I had read the darts were $40 so we didn't partake, but now I see it's $20 (apparently?). If we had a big group I would have considered it for that price.

We were on the Jan 15 sailing, was shocked as well. I couldn't believe how bad it was on a ship this new. One of my only complaints.

I know, the only Vodka on P+ is the absolute elyx. I prefer the Belvedere

Honestly I feel like it's a no-brainer for those of us flying from YYZ to New York. There's a plethora direct of flights; the chances of getting one is very high. And the NCL Air cost seems like a win every time...

We recently came off a 7 night sailing on the Prima, and found the FAS+ upgrade well worth it. We had planned to upgrade to unlimited wifi anyway, and the extra $50 ShoreEx saved us a lot (we got an excursion in every port, and only cost us about $250 CAD for both, total). We also found it useful for: - Flow water at night and every day before going ashore - Trying all the high end Whisky at the Whiskey Bar - Starbucks every day, often twice (morning/afternoon) - A shot of Baileys in our Starbucks! - Aqua Panna bottles at dinner - P+ Wine by the glass or Bottle at dinner - My partner probably drank a few bottles of Veuve to himself, and I constantly had Belvedere martini - Having 2 extra Specialty Dinning was wonderful, we barely ate in the MDR (though it was also good) All said I think we came out ahead, over purchasing all these upgrades separately. Though we were VERY mindful of getting as much out of it as possible. I would do it again for a cruise like this, just the two of us or a small group. When traveling with family/large group I wouldn't since most of my family would not opt to upgrade, and with the extra dinners we likely would never eat together (maybe that's a good thing!?).

I'm very interested in Virgin, mainly because it's adults only. I'd be willing to try them in the future.

No problem. I'm by no means trying to say the Prima is perfect. It has problems; my personal opinion is that the majority of the complaints I heard on our trip were basically "this (thing/space) is different and I don't like it" or "there's no where to eat" when in actuality other places were open (they just hadn't checked the Freestyle Daily for the times). I will (sadly) say the consistent issue I personally encountered was the sheer amount of rudeness we saw employees on the receiving end of. And people continuing to hold tables, chairs, seating when they clearly were done eating, or were not actually using the pool deck chairs. We watched a family of 4 reserve 6+ chairs in two areas. Then their teenage kids spent all afternoon at the pool while their towels enjoyed some sun on the loungers.

Seems like they purchased insurance that is offered by NCL AFTER the cruise booking has been made (a different more robust insurance is offered at the time of booking). It clearly states that the insurance is only for after the cruise has begun (eg it's not cancelation insurance, it's trip interruption insurance). It is the responsibility of anyone booking/securing insurance to read what it does and does not cover. Don't assume.

Our sailing was at over capacity (3300 of 3099) and we never once waited more than 10 min for dining (for complimentary dining). In fact the ONLY time we wait more than 1 min was for the Local around 2/3pm after coming back from a port and it was about 10min even with a large line. Every single activity on our sailing was fully operational (not everything was in good shape though, as per my other post) I kept hearing this kind of criticism on our sailing, which is odd, since the "pub" was open 24 hours. I actually heard someone say "this (the local) is the only place for food open!" when in fact the Surfside Grill and the Observation lounge both had food available at that time.

We just got off the Jan 15 - 22 sailing. There were only two issues we saw with broken/damaged items: - The Stadium Area was in poor shape, especially the mini golf - At the back of the ship there was soot on EVERYTHING Stadium/Mini Golf: Mini Gold had so many broken items. Most didn't affect play, but it was very noticeable for such a new ship. The other areas were looking rough too, the circular table tennis had some broken items, and the shuffleboard tables were worn out. Soot at the back: There was soot everywhere. It was so bad everyone was using their towels to protect their clothes. We did this every time and still ended up with black spots on our clothes. Again, this was very annoying since the area is very nice and is a great place to relax. We did see them attempting to clean the covers, and on the last day it looked like they were going to attempt a huge wash of all the covers. Theatre Sprinklers: We did see video in our FB group of the sprinklers going off on the last night. I think it might have been during or after the last Donna Summer Show. It seemed to be around 11pm which is around the time the show ends. The theatre was in great shape (at least before the sprinklers issue)

Yeah i've always found their drink packages overpriced.

TY!

Sailing Jan 15 and it's one of the things I'm looking forward to the most! Any chance you noticed what times they got busy in the AM on sea days? I plan to park myself there on one of the sunbeds!

Appreciate the review and info. We've booked the FAS+ for our Prima Sailing next month, mainly for all the same reasons as you. I'll be disappointed if we are not able to get a bottle of champagne at dinner. We're already planning Starbucks every AM, and have an excursion booked for every port! Anyone experienced the FAS+ on the Prima? I'd love to see NCL do something similar to other lines and include the service charge into this cost (even for an increase in price). I think they'd see a lot more people add it on.

My dad went to EVERY showing of the Beatles on our recent Encore sailing 😂

That's not the message. He reunites with his son.

Its actually not clear if they DSC funds the incentive program AND the salary or the incentive program in addition to their salary. "...compensated by a combination of salary and incentive programs that are funded in part by the service charge" That sentence could mean the DSC funds the incentive program on top of salary, or both the incentive program and the salary. That was in reference to the individual's server/tip example, not the DSC verbiage.

I think an oxford comma would help with confusion, but then again maybe that's on purpose: "...behind-the-scenes support staff are compensated by a combination of salary, and incentive programs that your service charge supports."

Virgin Voyages does this already.

100% this But that's not exactly what's happening (if we're to believe some people on here). It's more like saying a server makes $5/hr and the companies incentive program adds an extra $5/hr + 20% tips if the employee hits certain services metrics (positive feedback etc). I agree that a better system would be for NCL to clearly lay out how much is going to whom with the DSC. ie "your DSC is split between your room steward 20%, server 20%, host 15%, laundry attendant 15%, bonus program pool 30%" but that's very unlikely. If I've learned anything from this thread (and it's very little) it's that when customers receive good service on a cruise they should at the very least communicate that to management (via comment card or otherwise), in addition to any extra tips they feel appropriate.

They were definitely on the Encore, sailed 11/27 and we had them. We filled one out. Honestly they were everywhere.

The Hidden (1987)

We were on the Encore 11/27 sailing and I assumed we were going to dock at Amber Cove since I had seen most large NCL ships stopping there. We got a notice in our room the night before with a "port change" Seems like ncl is sending larger ships to amber cove because of what happened with the Escape