PATRLR

Yes, it's missing a lot of important data. That's why I used the word "bit". In fact I used it twice. Well, that is NOT data that I would consider to be missing because it's very easy to find and assume that anyone looking into this would have equally easy access to it: 2043 staterooms. Yes, that's why I said "bit of an idea. Just a bit."

I agree it doesn't matter and agree it's a guessing game. Another thing we don't know is how many GTY bookings there are. But that doesn't stop my curiosity 😉. I just looked at my Nov 13 Encore and see 260 cabins I can book. That gives me a bit of an idea. Just a bit.

within 24 hours of what?

I think know which one they are referring to. The last three letters might be used to describe Andy Dufresne. But I have a different site that I use that also provides the information. Everyone loves Cheap Cruises, don't they?

I have no idea what ap you are using to see this or how it works, but, any chance it's a glitch in the ap? Maybe signals were interrupted and the software got confused or made a best guess of what the ship actually did?

Looking forward to non-haven, non-vibe, non-spa (aka steerage 😉 ) reports...

I go to my NCL account and click on Vacation Summary. It shows up right there under Vacation Add-ons where I also see things like my Free At Sea packages.

I'm obviously not inside NCL so I don't know for certain, but I'd be shocked if the Specialty Restaurants were not intended to be profit centers from Day 1. And crab cakes and lobster were always available in the MDRs. Moving them to Specialty Restaurants can't be anything but a revenue generating move.

Ahh - thanks for the correction.

Which is why I used that word multiple times. I am not sure why you seemed to have ignored it until now. The only one getting into any sort of hoopla is YOU. The only one making personal attacks and false claims about what people are saying is YOU. Agreed. Which gets us back to the "if" word. IF those views are obstructed, in your opinion should NCL disclose that information at the time of booking?

The Sail-Away rate is an excellent idea. In the thread below I discuss a comparison of Sai-Away vs Free-at-Sea (FAS). The numbers of course are specific to my situation at the time but might be helpful for you in considering your options. My FAS option also included the pre-paid DSC which was a special add-on from the TA (not a normal part of FAS). It might be helpful for your consideration of Sail-Away vs FAS: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2849023-comparing-true-cost-of-cruise-with-perks-and-without/

It figures - the couple of Dailys I checked were for days that Howl wasn't playing. Glad to hear they still have it (wish Encore had them for my upcoming Encore cruise). While we very much enjoy Howl, we also like the piano player like you mention and sad to hear they no longer have that on Getaway. Thanks for letting us travel along with you.

I just checked a few of your dailies, looks like Howl at the Moon is gone. Maybe it never was on Getaway and I am misremembering which ship has/had it? Regardless, still surprised that there is no lounge piano player.

IIRC, Getaway has Howl at the Moon (I assume its still there), but I assume you are referring to more of a lounge act piano player, right? So the Getaway has no piano lounge act? That's really surprising.

You should consider having the free drink package removed and save the $19.80 per person per day charge ($39.60 per day). If you drink on average 4 alcoholic drinks per day, most likely it makes sense to keep the "free" package. If you are inclined to drink only expensive drinks (call liquor or better wines), that number could be as low as 3. Cheap beers are $8-9 including the tip. Cheap wines $9-10. Alcohol drinks start at $11. Bar menus here, remember to add 20% gratuity: https://profcruise.com/norwegian-bar-menus-2022/ Does your husband drink soda and on average 2 or more sodas per day? If so and if you remove the drink package you might consider purchasing the soda package for him. That will cost you $7.95/day. Remember to factor that $7.95 into your break-even calculation - your break even would fall from about 3-4 drinks per day to 2-3 drinks per day.

I have no anger towards NCL nor did I say or imply that I did. If you inferred such, that's on you. You also seem to know quite a bit about the handful of people to date that have actually experienced this issue. I'm not sure how you know this information but good for you. Maybe you could share your sources? I never commented on the actual impact of the slides, only on NCL's behavior if in fact they are obstructions.

Not everyone has specialty dining. It used to be that when cruising you were able to have a nice, good quality, sit down meal served to you every night. I'd like to think that is still the case. I really don't consider the buffet or O'Sheehan's/Local to be good quality, sit down meals. I've not tried Noodles or equivalents. With this new model, if I want a nice sit down meal and I don't want monotony, I have to cough up additional money for a specialty restaurant or the upcharge special of the day in the MDR (I really hope those rotate). It'll work out, I'll still enjoy my cruise but I don't like it becuase at the end of the day it's really just one more way for NCL to increase that onboard spend while also saving by not having to support such a large and varied menu.

Might that be because more than 99% of the people who have cruised on Prima were not impacted by these slides? The problem is, as stated by the OP, NCL has not been forthcoming about those cabins having an obstructed view. Whoa - so now before booking a cruise I am supposed to find all the pictures and count windows and try to figure out on my own if a cabin of interest may have a problem like an obstructed view? You're kidding, right? If NCL doesn't communicate that these are obstrcuted views, how exactly am I supposed to know? Here is another problem: We often book "sail away" or "guaranteed" categories. We do so based on NCL statements for other ships that there are no obstructed view balconies. I haven't tried to book Prima, so, I don't know if they make such statments for Primas, but, I'll bet they do. Some cruise lines have been up front instating that with guaranteed balcony categories, some balconies may have onbscturcted views. In those cases, we don't do guarantee. If I did a guarantee balcony on Prima and got one of those rooms and my view was indeed obstructed, I would be unhappy with NCL for not disclosing it. Keeping a tread on topic. What a quaint idea. 🙂😉 🙂 So are you OK with NCL selling a cabin category that states there are hot tubs in the cabins even when there are no hot tubs in the cabins? Because that is what this thread is about. It's not about "things change" it's about NCL not being honest or complete in their descriptions. Are you saying that the people who booked the Haven owner's suites on deck 10 didn't find out the hot tubs were gone until they got into their rooms? If that is the case, then I believe those people have a legitimate complaint. You don't have options if NCL isn't forthcoming about these rooms having an obstructed view. Because less than 1/2 of 1% of Prima passengers has experienced the problem, if it exists? No one complains because it is well communicated what NCL considers obstructed.

If my math is correct, DSC for two people for 21 days is $630. So for paying $630 early, you get $250 back? 40% return? I'd do that for sure! As a matter of fact, I want to know who your TA is 🙂 (JK - I know CC rules forbid such information sharing)

There is no way to pre-pay true gratuities. You pay those in case as you wish. The problem is, many people including some NCL marketing and many TA marketing folks consider the DSC to be the gratuities. It used to be that we were given envelopes to put our gratuities in to hand to the steward, waiter and head waiter. Those envelopes started to disappear around the same time as the DSC showed up (roughly speaking). The DSC can also be removed in case of bad service, furthering supporting the relationship between DSC and gratuity. Since the conversion from weekly tips to DSC, some people have felt the desire to tip their stewards (or whomever) in addition to the DSC. That's a personal decision and unlike the old days where your steward and waiter expected a weekly tip, additional tips are not expected. I'm not sure how many people do this additional tipping, but, I suspect it's a small percentage of cruisers (it's a very high percentage of passionate folks here on CC as will be evidenced by the people who reply to this note telling me how wrong I am).

Not private if the state police were involved.

That poster? All the time. Ignorance is the term that comes to my mind.

We did a tour of the Spa on one of the NCL ships. "stuffy and warm" along with humid is what we thought. Especially humid. We just didn't get why we'd want to hang out for any amount of time there. Sauna, steam, whirlpools I get. The heated loungers and the idea of hanging around in that space for any amount of time was not appealing because of the heat and humidity and being inside.

Put me on the list as one more person who just didn't "get" Cats. I also hated it.

From your pictures, it looks like they were landing on runway 33. When the winds shift around to the Northeast and they start using runway 9, the planes come right over the ship and low. It's really neat to see, a plane spotters dream. Thanks for the review, I really enjoyed virtually travelling with you.