Tenderpaw

They really are following the Carnival naming convention.  At least the other names (Fantasy, Dream, Magic) fit the Disney theme.  Destiny?  Nothing magical about that.  They could have used Disney Princess and been unimaginative but at least had a name fitting with the Disney theme.

After the first Noro outbreak, she will be known as the Disney Dysentery!  Just like the Carnival ship was....

1 hour ago, Fairsky84 said:

Disney just announced the sister to Disney Wish and Disney Treasure will be named Disney Destiny. It's ok. Nothing really unique or special. I was hoping for something more like...

Disney Miracle
or 
Disney Imagination

 

Not much thought went into that!  A recycled Carnival ship name!  They could have done better.

I understand the frustration but in 50 cruises I don't think I've ever gotten money back after final payment, but we have been able to move up to a better cabin before.  But we haven't tried that since covid either.

Regarding Lahaina, I've never heard of not getting the port fees back on a port cancellation. Even if the fees changed (went down), you'd still get something back.  Maybe they had already credited them prior to final payment?

1 hour ago, UKstages said:

 

 

 

i have found the numbers adjacent to the door to be a great help in finding my cabin. they are invariably sequential and unique, with no cabin numbers repeated. i'd never be able to find my cabin without this helpful guidance and i recommend this method to all concerned about the ban on door decorations.

 

as for magnets on the wall... presumably we're talking about the wall in the hallway outside your cabin? i can understand why some guests think they "own" the door and have a right to decorate it (they don't), but the adjoining wall? really? you placed a magnet in a public walkway? and expected it to remain there?

Thanks for your helpful response about the numbers on the wall.  No one would have thought of that without your witty input. 

The reality is a couple a magnets on the door or wall aren't the reason for the "ban".  It's because of the excessiveness of a few on every voyage.  Corporations will always use a safety argument for policy if they can because it sounds much better than "because a few clowns are excessive with door decorations, causing damage, and we don't want to police it, they are all now banned".

People ask for compensation for stupid stuff all the time, but this isn't one of those times.  Having sewage over flow in your bathroom should be worth some small comp. Getting sprayed by the toilet should warrant more including medical review, everything touched by sewage cleaned/sanitized/dry cleaned, and something extra for your trouble.

15 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

They do occasionally get stored in the hallways. NCL does do a better job at enforcing this than Carnival did. Carnival actually had a similar policy. They're just enforcing it also.

 

I'd like to see NCL enforce no housekeeping carts in the hallway since those block a good 50% of the hall. I may be joking. Or I may not be, but housekeeping carts = mobility scooters to me. Oh, and I'm crazy enough to think it's ok for folks to put their dirty dishes in the hallway. 

 

Oh wait. We're talking about magnets. Yikes! However did we get to scooters in the first place? I'm absolutely in the school of, magnets are no more a safety issue than the towels on the housekeeping carts. If it makes someone happy (and doesn't damage the door), then magnetize away!

 

We're not talking Holland America (or Disney) style magnets and door decorations here!

 

 

To the OP, I'm sorry your magnets were stolen! 

 

This is an example of why cruise lines ban things.  Someone always has to go and do something crazy and ruin a fun thing for everyone else.  Like the person who hid 500 ducks on the one of the Disney ships.

We were on the Prima in January and had a couple of magnets on the door and a couple on the wall to help us find the cabin.  One of the wall ones was jacked on the second to last day and we figured it was a kid because the kid's club was nearby.  Annoying but you don't put anything out there you don't mind losing.  And no, we didn't know they weren't allowed.

3 hours ago, Tlbecker1 said:

We sailed with Celebrity twice last year and the benefits are a lot better on Royal IMO.

What are they?  We sailed Celebrity last year and thought the Elite benefits aren't as good as Diamond benefits, specifically the time and limited menu of free drinks.  I do recall a bag of laundry that was nice on a long cruise, but what other benefits are a lot better?

2 minutes ago, voyager70 said:

Sadly that was pretty close to how it was when I first started cruising in the 80’s. Not complaining, though. I never go hungry on a cruise and don’t have to prepare or clean up 🙂

Yep, even well into the 2000s you could find a good selection of higher end food on the buffet.  It's quite sad how the food has devolved on cruises compared to what it once was. 

But the cruise line executives are happy that people won't complain!  Bigger bonuses for them!  Bring on the mashed potatoes, rice, cheap cuts of meat, and currie sauce!

W

27 minutes ago, zebra36 said:

Hard to believe that anyone that has cruised before doesn't realize the pre/press invitation previews are just for show and the normal offerings for paying passenger sailings will be nothing like that.

Well, we don't know that they have cruised before.  And, people may think because the ship is new and the fares are SO HIGH that Icon will have a higher quality buffet.  Who knows what they are thinking.

We did a cruise once that had a special VIP event on board the day we sailed.  The next day, the buffet had some much better choices.  I guess they overbought food and it wasn't all needed.  That quickly was quickly consumed, never to be seen again.

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

You're no longer able to book main dining room reservations except for groups of 6 or 8 at exactly 5:30 and 8:30 PM. If you're a smaller group of two, it is first-come, first-serve only now. This is a very recent (within the last month) change. 

We were on the Jan 5 cruise and if you call the res number on the phone in your room, you can make Comodore and Hudsons reservations.  But if you go to the reservation table in the atrium, they will say you can't.

We found the food to be good on the ship and better than we've experienced in recent cruises.  Not better than years ago though.  And yes, the spaces on the Prima are all small.

I'm seeing pics on FB of food in the WJ for these VIP sailings of the Icon.  Lots of lobster, shrimp, steak, etc and people are posting about how good it looks and how they need to book a cruise!  Aren't they in for a surprise when normal sailings start and its just the regular WJ food laid out for them!  No lobster for you!  Just normal WJ gruel!  I know, there are good things in the WJ, but it will not be what is being served to these VIPS.

On 1/19/2024 at 10:34 AM, schmoopie17 said:

The fine art of chair hogging comes to Indulge. (Okay, not "technically" chair hogging if the chairs are occupied...but same principle).

The lack of indoor space on Prima brings chair hogging to the extreme.  Obs lounge had hoggers too.  They camped out all day.  Or at least their stuff did.

25 minutes ago, seemoreroyals said:

I think where the designers of the new Prima class ships went wrong was they tried to be all things to all people.  Because that is not possible many are left disappointed.  

 

Where they went right was indulge food court.  Great idea.  Rarely hear negative comments. They nailed the vibe.  Can't imagine what they could have done to make it any better.

 

We always stay in standard balcony rooms.  The standard balcony rooms were the best we have experienced on any ship.  They even upgraded the balcony chairs where they recline. 

 

 

Those balcony rooms are the best!  One of the nicest non-suite balconies we have had.  Nice chairs too, but ours had the reclining mechanism bolted in place.  I don't know if they all were, but I don't know why just ours would be.  I assume someone managed to hurt themselves reclining and sued the cruise line to ruin it for the rest of us.

1 hour ago, seemoreroyals said:

Second week of December on Prima we had 3700 people crammed on a ship designed for around 3000.  Venues like improv, atrium, buffet, observation lounge, pool area, and pour house were almost always overcrowded during peak times.  The belvedere bar and sometimes the metropolitan bar were the only two bar areas that seemed to have elbow room in them.

 

With as many kids on board I can understand why pool, buffet, and observation lounge were packed.  We expected the pour house and improv to be packed and they were.  In the improv as others have reported it was literally packed like sardines.  Our thoughts were after a certain point you would think they would quit letting people in.  But people kept coming in.

 

Our biggest disappointment was the atrium area in the evenings.  We could rarely get a seat to listen to the lounge acts.  There was this oversized couch just off from the main seating area that took up a lot of space that could have otherwise provided additional seating to watch the entertainment.  It was often occupied by one or two families and 5 to 10 kids jumping around and doing what kids do.  

 

 

 

 

This was our experience last week too, although we didn't have near as many kids, thank goodness.  Sids, Improv, Obs Lounge, and Atrium were packed for events.  Theater was overloaded once that we witnessed, so maybe its OK.  Metro and Belevedere had capacity with Metro becoming our go-to bar.   

People would chair hog in the Obs Lounge such that getting a seat was not possible often.  Comedy is popular on ships, so I don't know why NCL would think the small capacity of Improv would work.  People would line up early to get in and then once it, it was wall to wall packed.  Deck 8 was popular but we could usually find nice seating down there, thank goodness.  Deck 17 pool area was a zoo for which I wanted no part.

I love the cheerleaders doubling down with the "arm chair" comments!  If we are just rubes who don't know anything, why do we get asked for comments by cruise lines at all?  "Just shut up and take it as you don't know what's best!  NCL's designers are experts." 

Companies make stupid decisions all the time or think consumers will do certain things that they don't end up doing even though they are "experts".  New Coke.  The Edsel.  Not allowing people to remove food from the buffet (NCL).  Charging for Pizza (almost Royal who took note of the non-expert opinion).

What is wrong with input from experienced cruisers?  Not complete design, but input would be good.  I recall listening to a talk from the head of the Disney Wish project bragging about how they had input from people "who never had been on ship"!  She was proud of that fact, which is asinine.  And the Disney Wish is not their best effort either, when it comes to Disney ships.

They do have heaters over the outdoor seating, so I guess if its just cold, it might be ok but if you add some rain to the mix, not so good.

Somehow NCL thought that people would be more dispersed.  Well, it isn't happening and that assumption should have been studied further before spending hundreds of millions on a couple new ships.  People tend to want to do the "big" things all at once.  Sid Normans and Improv spaces are a joke.  The Observation lounge has great views and very little seating.  And the buffet?  Well, I'm not sure "retraining people" will work.  Locals is good though.  Food Hall is ok.  And the dining rooms are an option but I don't think the lunch menu changes day to day.  Dinner menus do change.

18 minutes ago, IAcruising said:

 

Have not experienced that on any ship, including Prima. I have never left a ship and thought, "gee, sure am glad I'm leaving".  I don't think I ever will. I always want another week.

 

I understand what you are saying.  Another day or two would have been fine, but I think i would have grown bored over another week of an identical experience.

Gotta love cruise critic!  Can't have an opinion or criticize because "the nautical engineers know best" and your not a "nautical engineer.  I guess you mean Naval Architect.  Or, can't suggest LESS revenue because the cruise lines have to have revenue!. 

LOL!  I'm sure the "nautical engineers" could have done better and were limited in solutions due to requirements from NCL "non- nautical engineers.  And no where did i say "illiminate ALL revenue". 

Again, other ships somehow have larger spaces and still make revenue.  

20 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

So after building seven mega-ships (Epic thru Encore), NCL decides to build some medium size ships to fill the gap between the 2000 passenger ships and the mega-ships...something that can go to more ports, especially those without Icon of the Seas sized berths, and the prevailing logic on CC is "You know, these new ships would be great if they just made them BIGGER". 🙄

My issue isn't the ships overall size, but rather the public venues are too small.  All of them are too small for the number of passenger.  And arriving super early to get one of the limited seats isn't something we should have to do on vacation. 

I said make the ship bigger as a solution.  But another solution would be to have a couple of less revenue producing areas so that the ship could have 2 large public venues for events and entertainment.  YOu know, like most ships have.

14 minutes ago, BostonGal35 said:

we were on same sail, in the Haven - would not do this ship again either!!!  Even the Haven was oddly designed!

And they've already made one copy (Viva) and will likely grind out 3 more!  Honestly, if they made the ship longer, they could correct some of the issues.

But not the worst either.  We had a good time, but it wasn't a cruise where I wished I was staying another week.

Just off the Prima, and the doors are NOT metal.  I think they are some sort of fiberglass.  Magnets would not stick.  The wall next to the door is metal and magnets stuck.  NCL didn't seem to care about our magnets as they stayed up the entire cruise.  And no, we weren't aware they weren't allowed.

7 hours ago, bretts173 said:

Have been on a few cruises in the last 12 months on Royal and MDR has been great every time, maybe it's because I'm in Australia, no idea but there has been no decline for me. The only thing ive noticed is slightly smaller servings. This same topic discussed on Fbook once someone complains and 90% of the replies are positive. 

 

 

I'm glad you like it and I didn't say it was all bad.  I actually like the taste of the ultra thin sliced prime rib, which used to be thicker.  And the Southern Fried Chicken is tasty but shouldn't be a dinner item IMO.  But they are massively cheapening things and they are not nearly as good as in the past.  

The MDR isn't supposed to be Chilis or Applebees according to cruise line marketing.  But it does save Royal money and make for better executive bonuses.  "Look boss, i cut another $500K from the food budget by slicing the rib thin, serving fried chicken for dinner, and having more Indian dishes at the buffet".  

Wow!  Some folks on this thread really must like Disney, considering some of the comments.  We like Disney and have done several cruises on Disney post kids, but while Disney is a nice premium cruise product, they are cutting things too while raising prices. 

We've also done Royal, Celeb, HAL, NCL, etc.  Is Disney better than Celebrity (also premium)?  Well, in some respects, yes, especially in entertainment.  And yes, the buffet has shrimp and crab, but the rest of the buffet really isn't better than Royal.  They Disney Dining room food is way down in quality compared to not to long ago.  

On our last cruise on the Wish, the dining room food definitely decreased in quality.  We were had a concierge cabin, and the suit lounge experience wasn't as good as the suite experience on Royal considering the cost. But, the Disney shows are great and the character meet and greets are great too on Disney.  I do wish Disney had live bands and such, something they've never had.

But have you seen what Royal is charging for the Icon and Star?  Actually more than Disney!  I guess like on Disney, people are willing to pay.

19 hours ago, bretts173 said:

Would be interested to know how many people who think the MDR has fallen so much, are most things in life also not as good as the good old days?

Seriously?  Are you saying we are imagining the food quality has decreased or exagerating the fact that its crappy?  It's a known fact they have cut the food budget to the bone.

And cruise line executives LOVE when the cheerleaders say "food is subjective", "you can't feed large numbers of people and maintain quality", and such.  Well, years ago they fed thousands of people and the food was much better.