Prima/LIVE/Feb 26 to March 5, 2023/non-Sistahs Cruise

[Greenpea2]

7 hours ago, JGmf said:

Re: senior staff visiting you at your table about Cagney's experience

 

That's pretty great.  I wonder if NCL has heightened sensitivity b/c the Prima is their marquee ship.  Regardless, it's heartening that they read feedback.  I do the same in my career.  Social media (and message board reading) catches trends and what your staff or own eyes can't tell you.

 

Anyway, your lackluster take on Cagney's is pretty much my many experiences at Cagney's, regardless of the ship.  I know other people really love it, but it's been very flat for us.  We'll be on Prima in April, and my wife said 'no way' to Cagney's.

 

Anyway, what was the explanation on the bread that was tasteless?

 

 

No explanation/comment on that. 

[Greenpea2]

A fabulous night tonight. Onda for dinner and WOW. Everything was perfect. Everything. Food, ambiance, staff. Just perfect. I did remember to take pictures.

 

top: ravioli

bottom: pocket pasta with ricotta and spinach

Edited March 3, 2023 by Greenpea2

[Greenpea2]

Top: pizza with different meats

bottom: bread

[Greenpea2]

Somehow we got away with no desserts. How did that happen?

then the final show of Noise Boys which was unbelievable. The best show I have ever seen on NCL. Hubby loved it too. 

[Greenpea2]

We had a lot of attention at dinner. Paranoid me thought it was connected to the Cagney’s thing. But neither of us really think that. 
 

 

mostly. 
 

good night! 

[Annies88]

On 2/28/2023 at 12:55 PM, Greenpea2 said:

Back from our fun Salsa and Salsa excursion. 
 

to catch up a bit, we went to Cagney’s for dinner, which really just wasn’t great. I mean it wasn’t awful…but. Not good either. 
 

I had the shrimp cocktail trio for an appetizer. They were limp. And they tasted fishy. Neither of which should be part of having a nice shrimp cocktail, in my opinion. Joe had the French Onion soup and said it was terrific.
 

I asked for a martini extremely dry. It wasn’t. But it wasn’t so bad I couldn’t drink it. Still. It should have  as I requested. We were given a loaf of what looked like terrific country bread, nice crusty outside. Problem was it had absolutely no taste! Weird. I added butter but it was unsalted so that didn’t help. Finally I sprinkled a little salt on the butter which helped. But I can’t say I have ever had a nice crusty loaf of bread that was tasteless. We both love bread. So our having only one piece each says something!

 

I had the small filet with onion rings, Bearnaise sauce, steamed broccoli. I like my steak medium. I don’t like it red and kind of barely cooked in the center. I like hot pink center. I was worried so ordered medium well. It came medium rare. And even so, it was so chewy it took me a long time to be able to swallow each piece! I have never had chewy tough filet before. The onion rings and broccoli were good though!

 

joe had dessert and I asked if I could have mine to go. The waiter brought it on a huge dinner plate. I mentioned I had wanted it to go. He says. Yes, I know. And nods at it. I asked if he could put it on a small plate so it would fit in our refrigerator and asked if he had any Saran Wrap or tinfoil I could cover it with. No. No, they don’t have that  

 

I don’t know. Just not a particularly good meal. Disappointing!

I’ve had the exact same experience there with the filet. I won’t go back. Haven is 50 times better. 

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Thank you for the food pictures. We too had complained on an NCL Hawaii cruise and received comped specialty dining for the entire voyage which I believe they went over and above what I expected. The food was very good.

[PATRLR]

21 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

so we had a long talk about what went wrong, how we handled things on our end, and why; how they handled it on their end and why.  

Very interesting that they sought you out.  Did they speak to the quality of your steak?  A filet should not be chewy if it is of good quality.  My sense is they are no buying the same quality of meat that they used to.  Wondering if they had anything to say about your steak.  

[Greenpea2]

1 hour ago, PATRLR said:

Very interesting that they sought you out.  Did they speak to the quality of your steak?  A filet should not be chewy if it is of good quality.  My sense is they are no buying the same quality of meat that they used to.  Wondering if they had anything to say about your steak.  

No, now that you mention it. They rightfully pointed out that I should have told them it was not cooked properly. 

[Greenpea2]

P.S. to dinner last night. We did have dessert. Duh. I had had a huge martini beforehand and was pretty buzzed. DH reminded me that we did have dessert. I asked what it was. :-@

 

then I remembered. He had tiramisu and I had some chocolate thing filled with chocolate. Both delicious. 

[Greenpea2]

Today is our last sea day then GSC tomorrow. 
 

we have the rescheduled Donna Summer show this afternoon and dinner at Le Bistro. Other than that it is sun deck and hoping for mini golf. It’s been such a great week. 

[PATRLR]

22 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

important lesson: it’s true: Norwegian does read threads on Cruise Critic.

Another important lesson, for people who would like a vendor to listen to their complaints, keep the message simple and factual.  Your review was both of those with no drama (e.g.  how the limp shrimp ruined your whole cruise, yada yada yada.)

You shared your observations in a reasonable, factual way and NCL read them and reacted.  

 

[cml4958]

9 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

We had a lot of attention at dinner. Paranoid me thought it was connected to the Cagney’s thing. But neither of us really think that. 
 

 

mostly. 
 

good night! 

Your card has likely been flagged so that whenever you visit a venue you have to ding in it will be noted to try and make sure you don't have a bad experience.  

 

And they do want feedback, especially on Prima issues.  Viva is currently in production and if they learn about issues early enough, they can try and fix.

 

Pool deck flooring is very slippery on Prima and they are changing on Viva and will retrofit Prima if new flooring works out.  Smoking section on Prima is very small and no covered area; they are added some coverage on Viva.  Those are just a few of the things that staff told me about when I was on Prima.

[HeyJut]

@Greenpea2 I can’t believe I haven’t commented yet!

 I started your pre-cruise review then life got in the way-I’m all caught up now.

So glad you are enjoying and having such a great time. Sounds and looks like a fantastic ship. Have only cruised twice on NCL but in balcony cabins. 
 

Know that you are missing sistah but hubs seems to be doing a good job. Looking forward to your 2.0 visit to Cagneys, and to your fab cabana day.

[mistyPA]

22 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

Thank you. I have reread it several times and I feel pretty ok with it. I am part bleeding heart and I don’t feel good knowing the chef and waiter probably got verbally spanked. But I suppose that’s part of the job too. It seemed to me that getting complacent and maybe careless is not what NCL brass wants from their people.
 

 Still think at least someone at the next dinner is going to be thinking “there’s that woman that got us in trub!” Not that I am paranoid or anything. Do you think I should order the shrimp again? It was not good and I don’t really want to but DH says I should just to see. What’s your vote??

If you did order it again, it makes me wonder why it would be so much better this time. That being said, if you enjoy shrimp it might be worth it.

 

I totally get the "there's that woman that got us in trub!" comment. 

 

I think it is very good of you to spend the time talking with them and returning. It is, afterall, your vacation and you are taking the time to be helpful to them. Good for you!!

[Greenpea2]

1 hour ago, PATRLR said:

Another important lesson, for people who would like a vendor to listen to their complaints, keep the message simple and factual.  Your review was both of those with no drama (e.g.  how the limp shrimp ruined your whole cruise, yada yada yada.)

You shared your observations in a reasonable, factual way and NCL read them and reacted.  

 

Thank you! That made me feel good. 

[Greenpea2]

1 hour ago, cml4958 said:

Your card has likely been flagged so that whenever you visit a venue you have to ding in it will be noted to try and make sure you don't have a bad experience.  

 

And they do want feedback, especially on Prima issues.  Viva is currently in production and if they learn about issues early enough, they can try and fix.

 

Pool deck flooring is very slippery on Prima and they are changing on Viva and will retrofit Prima if new flooring works out.  Smoking section on Prima is very small and no covered area; they are added some coverage on Viva.  Those are just a few of the things that staff told me about when I was on Prima.

Well I do have a number of “suggestions” in terms of our Haven suite. Lots of little design elements that seem to maybe have forgotten the element of function. Or at the very least ease in dealing with things. I decided to write a separate thread on that after I get home. The suite is lovely, no question. Luxurious. Comfortable. But a number of frustrating aspects to it. Might be more likely to get on NCL radar if posted separately. 

[Greenpea2]

I feel like a lush. I am all settled in on the sundeck. About 20 minutes ago my feet took me (I had no say in that, it was my feet that took charge) to the sundeck bar. “Bloody Mary” all my toes whispered at each other. So I caved, ( I mean I do depend on them to take me places) and asked the bartender for a Bloody M. He looked at me. There was a pause. Then “ma’am we are not open yet for alcohol. “ 

 

say what! What time do you open. “Not until 10:00, Ma’am.” Oh, ok, I said breezily, a small water please!

hey! It’s 10 now, yeehaw. 

[Greenpea2]

36 minutes ago, mistyPA said:

If you did order it again, it makes me wonder why it would be so much better this time. That being said, if you enjoy shrimp it might be worth it.

 

I totally get the "there's that woman that got us in trub!" comment. 

 

I think it is very good of you to spend the time talking with them and returning. It is, afterall, your vacation and you are taking the time to be helpful to them. Good for you!!

Well I’m pretty sure they spoke to the chef at Cagney’s about the shrimp. They agreed that it should not be limp and/or fishy. Guess I will find out!

[Greenpea2]

51 minutes ago, HeyJut said:

@Greenpea2 I can’t believe I haven’t commented yet!

 I started your pre-cruise review then life got in the way-I’m all caught up now.

So glad you are enjoying and having such a great time. Sounds and looks like a fantastic ship. Have only cruised twice on NCL but in balcony cabins. 
 

Know that you are missing sistah but hubs seems to be doing a good job. Looking forward to your 2.0 visit to Cagneys, and to your fab cabana day.

So good to hear from you, HeyJut. Yes, hubby is being a pretty fun cruise bud to me. It’s been good for us. And yes, I do miss Sistah. 

[Greenpea2]

So we actually changed some plans. I can’t find my coupons for the Sapphire dinners. Last night, the hostess was nice enough to let that ride but did suggest we make sure to bring it tonight to Le Bistro. 
 

well I just can not find those stupid things and think I may have thrown them out by mistake. I realize that it is likely our concierge could work it out somehow, but both DH and I agreed we would rather just go back to Hudson’s. There was another dish there I have been jonesing for (fettuccini Alfredo, oh yeah momma) and he can only take so much “fancy”. So we will ask the Concierge to cancel Le Bistro and go to Hudson’s instead. 

[jbhcw]

Catching up!   Great review!   Hope dinner at Cagney's better this time....Enjoy the rest of your cruise....so glad it's been good!

[Greenpea2]

1 hour ago, mistyPA said:

If you did order it again, it makes me wonder why it would be so much better this time. That being said, if you enjoy shrimp it might be worth it.

 

I totally get the "there's that woman that got us in trub!" comment. 

 

I think it is very good of you to spend the time talking with them and returning. It is, afterall, your vacation and you are taking the time to be helpful to them. Good for you!!

Thank you. 

[Lupush]

If you happen to be at the Haven Bar today can you see if they have Johnny Walker Blue Label there and confirm that it is now included with the Premium Plus package?

[Greenpea2]

4 hours ago, Lupush said:

If you happen to be at the Haven Bar today can you see if they have Johnny Walker Blue Label there and confirm that it is now included with the Premium Plus package?

I know this answer! Hubby had some the other night, so yes! And yes is covered.