a funny thing happened on my prima transatlantic...

[UKstages]

42 minutes ago, tcrandal said:

now I’m relieved to know that our white noise machine (you can alternatively use an app) will easily mask any issues with that.

 

you're welcome to bring along whatever you like, including noise canceling headphones, and i wish you the best of luck. but if you have one of these rooms, they will not do any good. this noise is LOUD, disruptive and pervasive. if a white noise machine masks the noise in your room, you likely do not have one of these rooms.

Edited June 18, 2023 by UKstages

[tcrandal]

3 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

you're welcome to bring along whatever you like, including noise canceling headphones, and i wish you the best of luck. but if you have one of these rooms, they will not do any good. this noise is LOUD, disruptive and pervasive. if a white noise machine masks the noise in your room, you likely do not have one of these rooms.

Lets be fair, did you try either one?

[UKstages]

i’ve said a number of times that I used noise canceling headphones. it’s in the body of the thread, as i initially related the story and I said so again in another thread when you asked the very same question. i travel with bose noise canceling headphones and also bose sleep buds, which are not noise canceling per se, but are designed to mask external noise by playing “white noise” type sounds… streams, rain and traditional white noise.

 

this isn’t about me and my headphones. and one shouldn’t have to use headphones to sleep on an NCL ship! this is about NCL’s insistence on selling cabins they know have a defect which makes them uninhabitable. and it’s about how, despite having dealt with this problem for almost a year, they pretend like it’s new… and they don’t have a plan - or a clue - regarding how to mitigate the problem or provide service recovery.

Edited June 19, 2023 by UKstages

[Sugar Magnolia]

 @UKstages I applaud you and others for speaking up. I suffered through this cacophony of inexplicable horror on the transatlantic last fall...balcony stateroom deck 10 port side forward.

 

Fortunately, I did not have to follow any schedule on that cruise so I slept when the ship docked or during very calm waters.

[dexddd]

Don't recall if here or another thread about prior post, but we were up two floors from OP on first TA.  Lots of creaking.  Thought it was very odd.  Thought something was going to break.

 

We got visited by asst gm while unpacking.  First ever for us.  We were jet lagged and she asked how things were going.  Well, we were unpacking and getting acclimated and only real issue was drawer in bathroom didn't close.  Basically pointing out so we didn't get blamed.

 

Over the next twelve days, never fixed.  Not a big deal though.  Management on that ship, never saw them other than Captain at Haven party.  At same party, asked asst customer service manager a question and she yells at me.

 

CN staff, get a different job.  This was a new ship and supposedly best crew, generally not, specifically management.

 

We did get the legendary Gary butler who was fabulous as was his assistant.

 

 

[JerseyCruisers2019]

Just happened to find this post as I was perusing the boards...I was on the 5/14 sailing to Iceland...and I'm glad to see that I'm not crazy and wasn't imagining the $&#*$&# creaking noise.  It drove us nuts the entire trip.  It's definitely a structural flaw...how the heck did that pass any type of quality inspection?  It was my first and LAST sailing on the new class of ships.  I'll stick to the Breakaway class on NCL.

[mugtech]

Just checked prices on the Prima and Vista.  As usual, the best prices are for cruises July to October of this year.  The same cruises are twice as much in 2024 and 2025.  Be interesting to see what those prices will next year at this time, after all the wonderful reviews.

[UKstages]

many thanks to the people who have dropped by to add details of their own prima horror stories (related to cabin noise and lack of customer service). it’s confirmation that serious structural problems do indeed exist on the prima and my story is not a one-off and i’m not a malcontent with nothing better to do than take a minor problem and blow it out of proportion by writing 10,000 words online! (well, I might be a malcontent, but i have a lot of better things to do!)

 

as for the price of prima cabins, they do tend to go for premium prices. i got my rooms comped through CAS, but I do remember looking to see what the rate was. on the 5/14 eleven-day TA, I seem to remember $1299 per person for a club balcony. I thought that was low. it was slightly more on the ten-day cruise from reykjavik to southampton on 5/25. it’s kind of a sad and funny story about why i remember this…

 

i had two CAS offers, both for club balcony cabins. i asked my cruise consultant about those… any restrictions? (some offers exclude the mediterranean, some exclude alaska, some exclude the newest ships, such as the prima, all offers exclude the pride of america, because there is no casino on that ship.) CAS consultant said, no, these are really good offers, let’s get you booked.

 

and so he set me up for the 5/14 cruise in the cabin of doom, the aforementioned club balcony 11344. he did say that it was the last club balcony available… so… perhaps NCL is not booking the cabins with known noise problems, unless the ship or the room category is sold out… i don’t know. they shouldn’t be booking them at all, if you ask me. (for the record, nobody asked me.)

 

then it came time to book the second cruise. and the rep says, “hmmm… that’s weird. It won’t let me book you into a club balcony on the second cruise. hold on a sec…” he puts me on hold and comes back a couple of minutes later and says that the prima is excluded from that offer. but he can give me a play-based comp into a balcony cabin, which was - coincidentally - also about $1299 for that sailing. he tells me to watch the price of the club balcony and if it comes down, he can upgrade me into that.

 

i said, “well, why can’t we just reverse the offers? use the first offer - on which the prima is not excluded - for the second cruise and do the play-based comp on the transatlantic?” he said he couldn’t do that because the first offer was already consumed. he’s a good rep, but i was mildly pissed. had he read all the fine print on the offers, i could have been in a club balcony for both legs of the cruise. (i did wind up using the second offer on a cruise on the joy for october.)
 

anyway, back to the price for the prima… these elevated prices are not justifiable or sustainable. especially as more people discover how challenging it is to sail on the prima from both a design and service perspective. the point of my review and of this thread is not to make the stock price plummet or to get lower prices on prima sailings… it’s to hold NCL accountable.

 

you simply can’t treat people like this. you can’t continue to knowingly book cabins with serious defects and then pretend like you had no idea there was anything wrong. i suppose it makes economic sense to continue to book the cabins and only offer compensation if guests complain. (not everybody will, apparently.) but it’s morally reprehensible.

 

one of the key metrics cruise lines use to ascertain if they’re doing a good job is customers’ “intent to return.” will the customer sail on the cruise line again? and will they sail that particular ship? the prima’s “intent to return” scores have to be abysmal based on the number of “one and done” comments we’ve seen in reviews.

Edited June 19, 2023 by UKstages

[The Traveling Man]

1 hour ago, UKstages said:

many thanks to the people who have dropped by to add details of their own prima horror stories (related to cabin noise and lack of customer service). it’s confirmation that serious structural problems do indeed exist on the prima and my story is not a one-off and i’m not a malcontent with nothing better to do than take a minor problem and blow it out of proportion by writing 10,000 words online! (well, I might be a malcontent, but i have a lot of better things to do!)

 

as for the price of prima cabins, they do tend to go for premium prices. i got my rooms comped through CAS, but I do remember looking to see what the rate was. on the 5/14 eleven-day TA, I seem to remember $1299 per person for a club balcony. I thought that was low. it was slightly more on the ten-day cruise from reykjavik to southampton on 5/25. it’s kind of a sad and funny story about why i remember this…

 

i had two CAS offers, both for club balcony cabins. i asked my cruise consultant about those… any restrictions? (some offers exclude the mediterranean, some exclude alaska, some exclude the newest ships, such as the prima, all offers exclude the pride of america, because there is no casino on that ship.) CAS consultant said, no, these are really good offers, let’s get you booked.

 

and so he set me up for the 5/14 cruise in the cabin of doom, the aforementioned club balcony 11344. he did say that it was the last club balcony available… so… perhaps NCL is not booking the cabins with known noise problems, unless the ship or the room category is sold out… i don’t know. they shouldn’t be booking them at all, if you ask me. (for the record, nobody asked me.)

 

then it came time to book the second cruise. and the rep says, “hmmm… that’s weird. It won’t let me book you into a club balcony on the second cruise. hold on a sec…” he puts me on hold and comes back a couple of minutes later and says that the prima is excluded from that offer. but he can give me a play-based comp into a balcony cabin, which was - coincidentally - also about $1299 for that sailing. he tells me to watch the price of the club balcony and if it comes down, he can upgrade me into that.

 

i said, “well, why can’t we just reverse the offers? use the first offer - on which the prima is not excluded - for the second cruise and do the play-based comp on the transatlantic?” he said he couldn’t do that because the first offer was already consumed. he’s a good rep, but i was mildly pissed. had he read all the fine print on the offers, i could have been in a club balcony for both legs of the cruise. (i did wind up using the second offer on a cruise on the joy for october.)
 

anyway, back to the price for the prima… these elevated prices are not justifiable or sustainable. especially as more people discover how challenging it is to sail on the prima from both a design and service perspective. the point of my review and of this thread is not to make the stock price plummet or to get lower prices on prima sailings… it’s to hold NCL accountable.

 

you simply can’t treat people like this. you can’t continue to knowingly book cabins with serious defects and then pretend like you had no idea there was anything wrong. i suppose it makes economic sense to continue to book the cabins and only offer compensation if guests complain. (not everybody will, apparently.) but it’s morally reprehensible.

 

one of the key metrics cruise lines use to ascertain if they’re doing a good job is customers’ “intent to return.” will the customer sail on the cruise line again? and will they sail that particular ship? the prima’s “intent to return” scores have to be abysmal based on the number of “one and done” comments we’ve seen in reviews.

Please add me to the "one and done" list.  We were very fortunate last September on our Copenhagen to Southampton Prima cruise.  We only encountered minor annoyances while on board, but they did seem to add up.  We certainly did not not have the "stateroom from the Black Lagoon" that you did.  When you add the all issues together, though, it tipped us over the "why should we ever return" point.  With so many other ships, mostly with better pricing, we would rather sail elsewhere.  We'll miss the Indulge Food Hall, to be sure, but not the undersized entertainment venues, poorly arranged atrium, lounge chairs covered in soot and grime from the exhaust, etc.  There are far too many other fish in the sea to sink my hook into Prima again.

[Baird70]

That was interesting reading.

Same cruise, our balcony cabin on deck 10 creaked and groaned like crazy in the rough seas. I foolishly assumed that all the cabins were doing the same thing. It did not occur to me that there might be nice quiet cabins somewhere. Luckily drinks package ensured only partly broken sleep and we survived OK. 

Interestingly the cabin we had was not that allocated to us on first booking. I had to amend the booking when I realised that I had been booked into a cabin with two ridiculous slides directly in the view. Maybe they just shuffled me into a known noisy cabin instead? 

I think the worst now as NCL have exhausted any good will and loyalty that I might previously have had.

[jrt.mom]

ACK!! I listened to both the recordings of room noise and I wanted a new room here in my house!

A rhythmic noise can be more tolerated, but your brain definitely can't filter out random noises well. I can see how days of this would be torture.

[JeanKC]

On 6/19/2023 at 6:11 AM, Sugar Magnolia said:

 @UKstages I applaud you and others for speaking up. I suffered through this cacophony of inexplicable horror on the transatlantic last fall...balcony stateroom deck 10 port side forward.

 

 

Fortunately, I did not have to follow any schedule on that cruise so I slept when the ship docked or during very calm waters.

That is horrible!!!! I hope they've sorted it out on the VIVA as we're in a guarantee balcony cabin on that in a couple of months

[Sugar Magnolia]

5 minutes ago, JeanKC said:

That is horrible!!!! I hope they've sorted it out on the VIVA as we're in a guarantee balcony cabin on that in a couple of months

 

I hope so too as I want to sail on the Viva. That creaking noise on the Prima seemed to be coming from the ceiling of my balcony stateroom. I heard nothing when I sailed in a studio months later. It seems not every stateroom had the creaking issue, and it was more likely to happen when sailing in rough waters.

 

[Smitheroo]

On 5/23/2023 at 12:34 PM, mthayer295 said:

I thoroughly enjoy the story-telling abilities of the OP and sympathize with him.  We are sailing Prima in August and I am now concerned about the sea days.  We are in Haven so it is not likely that any noise difficulties there could result in us moving to another Haven cabin.  The OP mentioned the value to NCL of different customer-types - those that spend in the Casino versus those that spend big on the accommodations.  We are the later.  Either way you expect service (btw we are also platinum which I sadly hear folks now consider non-premium).  I agree that all the double and triple points makes it less of a perk.  We earned our points starting over 20 years ago and for some of those we didn’t even get a point per night when NCL changed their plans years ago 😞

What about those of us who are neither (I cant be the only one) I dont spend in the :Casino and I dont spend on accommodations. (inside room)  I should add that I was a guest of a CAS passenger. The only thing on my tab at the end of the cruise i took on the Joy to Mexico last February was the tax on the drink I had before the ship left LA. It was so little I never was charged.  And I had a marvelous time.  The drink package, good food, the beautiful ocean, people to watch.....  oh yeah, I did go on two excursions because my travel partner wanted to, if I were alone I wouldnt have.   I loved the OP's story but got a little turned off by the references to checking what he spends. I know that's true, that he is more valuable to the line than I am but I dont like to be reminded. 

[salzdt]

We have always had our concerns about bigger ships, now I know will stick to the Jewel class ships.  No Creaking walls on rough sea days!😎.

[tcrandal]

First night on the Prima for us, and so far so good! Luckily, not experiencing the cabin noises others have, but maybe it’s because we haven’t hit the open seas yet. Have seen plenty of miserable people in the boarding process, that definitely confirms some of those that complain are just “complainers”. I am NOT referring to the OP when I state that, as he definitely has plenty of valid complaints, but I can say to those that nitpick about every little detail and badger the crew… please try some self-awareness. I think that is why some people are quick to jump on the negative people, like one in another thread that just sounded like they should stay home, as they were “bored” onboard. I don’t understand what it is about cruise ships that brings out so many miserable people, but maybe it’s an age thing.

 

I do appreciate the OPs very detailed review, although to the level he has carried it, and continues to, I still believe the gambling losses didn’t help set the stage for the experience outside of the noise, which nobody should need to deal with. If nothing else, use it as a warning to bring a noise machine, as mine plays in the background right now, not much could break through that, but obviously, not everyone is used to sleeping with white noise either. 
 

Not even 24 hours in, we’re thrilled to be onboard in our forward suite right below the bridge. Just adding this for those that get scared away by negative reports, as I assure you, every ship has negatives. Hopefully they figure out a way to fix the problem In the cabins that are impacted. For all we know, it may be a handful, but that’s enough to ruin 1-2% of the travelers vacation.

Maybe continue the crusade and start a Google sheet of the impacted cabins?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2023 by tcrandal

[UKstages]

25 minutes ago, tcrandal said:

Maybe continue the crusade and start a Google sheet of the impacted cabins?

 you can do that that right here on cruise critic...

 

 

 

26 minutes ago, tcrandal said:

I still believe the gambling losses didn’t help set the stage for the experience outside of the noise, which nobody should need to deal with.

 

i address this, if not in this thread, than in another in which this issue came up. 

 

i play the same regardless of whether i win or lose. my mood does not alter. oh, of course, winning is more fun, but it doesn't affect my ability to analyze or interpret customer service interactions. it should be noted that i lost quite a bit after i was given a room to sleep in and also on the second leg of the back-to-back cruise. i reported here and elsewhere that the cruise got a lot better and if you read my full review you'll see i gave the ship quite a bit of praise. this thread is not my review... this thread is simply my report of a serious cabin noise issue at sea. the complete review can be found here...

 

 

42 minutes ago, tcrandal said:

If nothing else, use it as a warning to bring a noise machine...

 

though it's been said many times, many ways... a "white noise" machine and ear plugs won't help you if you are unfortunate enough to be placed in one of these cabins. i brought bose noise canceling headphones and bose sleep buds and neither could mask the noise.

 

i hope you have a fabulous cruise and enjoy your time onboard the prima.

 

there are a lot of wonderful things to explore. 

[insidecabin]

9 hours ago, Smitheroo said:

What about those of us who are neither (I cant be the only one) I dont spend in the :Casino and I dont spend on accommodations. (inside room)  I should add that I was a guest of a CAS passenger. The only thing on my tab at the end of the cruise i took on the Joy to Mexico last February was the tax on the drink I had before the ship left LA. It was so little I never was charged.  And I had a marvelous time.  The drink package, good food, the beautiful ocean, people to watch.....  oh yeah, I did go on two excursions because my travel partner wanted to, if I were alone I wouldnt have.   I loved the OP's story but got a little turned off by the references to checking what he spends. I know that's true, that he is more valuable to the line than I am but I dont like to be reminded. 

 

I look at the bigger picture.

 

When you look at the financial results there is the section that breaks revenue/cost down on a per person per day which is one way I compare my own cruise options.

 

The high level look with  rough numbers

Some of the costs are really proportional to the spend like commissions also NCH includes 2 luxury segments but they are relatively small(120k) compared to the main event(1200k)  

 

Looking at Q3 with 5.5m passenger days.

 

They say they got ~$330pppd revenue  and it costs ~$300pppd 

 

Most of my inside cabin cruises are costing <$100pppd(inc FAS, sometimes inc service).

 

There are more than a few gamblers subsidizing inside cabin cruisers.

 

 

Sure NCL will still be making money over the real costs to put  extra bodies on the ship.

 

once it all drops out(1000s)

Operating income (loss)

10,718

 

they made $2pppd   (if i read it right)

 

They need $30pppd just to pay the interest.

 

 

[ontheweb]

Yes, it would be informative for those who have been in the cabins with the excessive noise problem to post the cabin number.

[eileeshb]

I’m late to this thread but have listened to both @UKstages and @sweet magnolia’s recordings. I grew up in a house on top of a hill on the west coast of Ireland and I slept in a west facing dormer bedroom, the noises the roof on that house made were very similar to @UKstagesrecording but the noise @sweet magnolia experienced would have driven me demented if I couldn’t fix it myself. I have pretty sensitive hearing but can’t do ear plugs at all so I use the drown out the annoying noise approach, however the squeaky noise would break right through that whereas the random knocking just sounds like tiles rattling in the wind or the seagulls dropping things on the roof. I can however thoroughly understand how others would find that ten times worse.  
there is the possibility some of the noises are simply “settling” noises like you’d have in a new house and it may take a long while for joints from construction to wear-in which might be why they aren’t being addressed with any urgency. Also if they’re only an issue in heavy seas they would likely only be a factor on limited sailings given the preference of cruise lines to avoid heavy seas. 
But I pity anyone on a full capacity sailing that winds up in one of the noisy cabins. 
 

[poochi24]

On 6/19/2023 at 12:11 AM, Sugar Magnolia said:

 @UKstages I applaud you and others for speaking up. I suffered through this cacophony of inexplicable horror on the transatlantic last fall...balcony stateroom deck 10 port side forward.

 

 

Fortunately, I did not have to follow any schedule on that cruise so I slept when the ship docked or during very calm waters.

may i ask what room you were in... that location sounds awful close to a cabin i was looking at on the viva (i assume prima/viva may have the same issues) - 10706 starboard side but if you were forward on deck 10 i was thinking maybe the same issue exists there as well 

[Sugar Magnolia]

4 minutes ago, poochi24 said:

may i ask what room you were in... that location sounds awful close to a cabin i was looking at on the viva (i assume prima/viva may have the same issues) - 10706 starboard side but if you were forward on deck 10 i was thinking maybe the same issue exists there as well 

It was 10130 on the Prima. I have not read about any noise complaints lately, either on the Prima or the Viva, so maybe it’s no longer an issue …maybe ? 

[UKstages]

um, maybe.

 

but without going into dry dock and ripping open the walls of the many problem cabins, i don't see how they could possibly fix this problem.

 

the noise is coming from deep within the walls and/or ceiling. it's not like they can superglue an air conditioning duct.

[Capitan Obvious]

7 hours ago, UKstages said:

um, maybe.

 

but without going into dry dock and ripping open the walls of the many problem cabins, i don't see how they could possibly fix this problem.

 

the noise is coming from deep within the walls and/or ceiling. it's not like they can superglue an air conditioning duct.

 

Seems excessive. Why would the ship need to go into dry dock to open the walls of problem cabins? You dry dock a ship to work on the ship's exterior. You can work inside of cabins without a dry dock.

[firstimer2009]

@UKstages  That was quite a thorough and entertaining (if I use that word lightly) read.  It sounded like someone was trying to break into your room non-stop.  I wear heavy duty ear plugs and that would have driven me mad.  This is one reason I have never jumped on the full-time doing cruise ships as my only vacation because if you did get a bad room for whatever reason and the ship is full you cannot be moved.  In this case NCL could have cared less which is worst.  

 

Thank you for taking the time to write this.  And as another person asked, did you book another cruise?