Once and done with Norwegian. Ugh.

[graphicguy]

18 hours ago, HowardK said:

Sometimes I wonder if the lack of staff is due to the whiny passengers? I can't imagine who would want to work on a ship where people are picky about everything? 

As my late Father used to muse….

 

”…some people refuse to see the beauty of a rose because they insist on looking only at the thorns…”

 

 

[insidecabin]

Syd's is good but the same on every ship.

(Subject to cast quality)

 

Its just another show.

 

Capacity is limited stop people going twice.

have a standby line.

 

Make sure there is enough other  interesting thing for people to do.

 

 

 

 

[The Traveling Man]

On 6/17/2023 at 7:13 PM, ChiefMateJRK said:

Yep, but 123 of those are from folks who just got off the cruise where the clowns at NCL decided it was okay to just close the Observation lounge.

No, most of them were from cruises prior to OL-gate.

[graphicguy]

1 hour ago, insidecabin said:

Syd's is good but the same on every ship.

(Subject to cast quality)

 

Its just another show.

 

Capacity is limited stop people going twice.

have a standby line.

 

 

 

 

That’s a really good idea!  Except, I think there may only be one performance of the individual portions of the Syd shows.

 

Bottom line, get there early, or miss the show(s)!  To me, any line is worth it to see these shows!

[mugtech]

43 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

No, most of them were from cruises prior to OL-gate.

Popeye would tell you that you missed the humor in his statement.

[The Traveling Man]

2 minutes ago, mugtech said:

Popeye would tell you that you missed the humor in his statement.

I interpreted it more as exaggeration for effect rather than humor.  Just wanted to bring the analysis back to a credible level.

[Mademypoint]

2 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

I have been in Cagney's on at least a dozen different NCL ships.  While I can't say for sure that some part of the preparation isn't performed via sous vide, I do know at every steak I have ever eaten there has spent at least some of its time on an open grill.  The chefs, the grill, and the food preparation area all are right there for everyone to see.

When you cook sous vide you are cooking to 5 degrees below where you want it. It still goes on the grill, it still gets perfect grill marks, it still looks perfectly cooked on the inside but when you cut it, there's no liquid. Not a single drop. It is confusing to the brain because it "should" have that taste but it doesn't. All cruise ships cook this way as do more restaurants than most people realize. There's nothing wrong with this method, in fact it's the best way to make sure you don't overcook a steak, but if you leave it in too long, it isn't overcooked, it's dry. 

[ChiefMateJRK]

1 hour ago, insidecabin said:

Capacity is limited stop people going twice.

How does that stop me from going twice?

[ChiefMateJRK]

22 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

I interpreted it more as exaggeration for effect rather than humor.  Just wanted to bring the analysis back to a credible level.

Yes.  Thanks.  It was clearly hyperbole.  It's ironic how many people really don't "get" hyperbole (or subtle humor for that matter....)🤣

[The Traveling Man]

10 minutes ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Yes.  Thanks.  It was clearly hyperbole.  It's ironic how many people really don't "get" hyperbole (or subtle humor for that matter....)🤣

So, hyperbolic, not parabolic?

[nferr]

I have absolutely zero desire to cruise on the Prima. From everything I've read it's not the ship for me. Maybe in the future if I get a bargain price. 

[tscoffey]

If I had to guess, I would say that the primary reason why any gifts won for "The Price Is Right" entertainment show were of such nominal value is taxes. Probably under a certain declared value, NCL doesn't have to send any info to any taxing authority.

 

Not 100% sure, but it sounds reasonable to me.

[LobsterStalker]

On 6/16/2023 at 7:24 PM, BirdTravels said:

the incident with the women sounded like standard protocol in any business. If you are not trained and certified to render first aide, then don’t engage. Let the women scream. Any action creates a liability in the event that it causes more harm/injury in the eyes of an Abilene chasing lawyer. That is the world you live in. 

 

Sounds like you described just about any cruise line. Cruising on a middle of the pack cruise line is not for you. See ya. 

Soooo rude ... to someone with every right to share about their clearly subpar experience !!

This is Cruise CRITIC !

 

Cheers

[LobsterStalker]

On 6/16/2023 at 11:23 PM, RB9643 said:

 

 

Couldn't say it better. But using capital letters would be helpful.

 

 

....Wow

[LobsterStalker]

On 6/17/2023 at 4:21 AM, insidecabin said:

On Star few weeks back everyone around us was warned off the rib eye, the guy next table had it anyway and said it was pretty good.

 

Dining package and FAS dinners are not free.

 

Latitudes come with zero additional cost

 

 

I often feel the recommendations are simply what they have the most of , and the stay away is what they are running short on ...

 

Cheers

[insidecabin]

8 hours ago, graphicguy said:

That’s a really good idea!  Except, I think there may only be one performance of the individual portions of the Syd shows.

 

Bottom line, get there early, or miss the show(s)!  To me, any line is worth it to see these shows!

My experience is from Getaway 2 cruises a few month apart different cast.

Both with covid limited capacity.

 

The daily sets were twice a day.

Rumours I thinks twice 2 days maybe 3  could drag out the dailies to check

 

A lot of same faces every show(not the staff/cast).

 

Mind you it was not that hard to get into a show even with reduced capacity of the venue.

 

Ships where it is hard to get in.

Have a booking system bookings enter 30min to 15min before show time window.

Scan/ticket people in one shot don't turn up on time you don't get another booking.

 

Standby line from 15min till capacity.

 

Up to 3 shows a night on ships where people are get turned away.

 

The shows are good, repetitive, on our second Getaway the novelty had gone.

 

The party band on the Star did themed sets in bliss just as entertaining.

[omahabob]

Probably because the primary purpose of those games is entertainment, not monetary gain. They're meant to be fun, not profitable.

 

We had the opposite reaction from the OP. Took our first cruise on Getaway in May, and now we're booked on Viva next March. There's a lot of elements that factor into the enjoyment potential of a cruise. There seems to be some significant difference between ships, and maybe crews, for instance. I imagine itinerary also plays into that. But it isn't fair to blame a cruise line for things that sometimes are, arguably, not under their control. 

[mugtech]

6 hours ago, I AM The Egg Man said:

 

ALL gambling/gaming winnings are taxable, under US law.  This is a different issue than the requirements of the entity awarding the winnings.  When I  was in the practice, $10k or chance of winning said prize bieing above certain odds, they had to five the winner a tax form to file and report he winnings to the IRS.  Not sure what it is now.,  It was decades ago that I was in the practice.  I won #25k In Atlantci CIty at 3-card poker in oen hand and did not get the form but about 9 months later when I hit a slot for $10k I was.  The laws are fluid.

I have seen people get 1099g's for $1,200 from casinos.  Many do not understand that one can deduct gambling losses up to the amount of winnings, but they are itemized deductions, and so few can itemize deductions these days.  Do people really need another reason not to gamble? 

[Agent999]

32 minutes ago, Sailing12Away said:

I'm convinced there are just some miserable grumpy people out there who can never be pleased.

 

While I don't disagree, I think it is more likely that the people you see as "miserable grumpy people" are simply laser-focused on analyzing each and every interaction to see how it can be twisted into something that results in compensation. These are people who can NEVER accept any fact or opinion that may endanger the case for compensation...up to and including accepting any level of personal responsibility.

[UKstages]

there is a difference between being grumpy and nitpicking… and being passionate about customer service and communication and wanting to warn others about service gaps on a particular ship or a particular cruise line. in my case, i wrote extensively about a defect that occurred in the build of the prima that has left the ship with a certain number of rooms with persistent and unusual noise problems that will ruin most people’s vacations, if they are unlucky enough to get one of those rooms. (i’ve also written many words of praise about various aspects of the prima.) I received the typical responses here, with some telling me my criticism as most unwelcome… on cruise critic.

 

as for tax forms, the laws haven’t changed since the 1970s and are hopelessly outdated. (they should be updated to reflect inflation… when the rules were first drafted, a thousand dollars was an extraordinary win. it no longer is. also, the highest denomination machine was 25 cents.)

 

a W2-G is issued for slot wins of $1200 or more. table game wins and poker are treated differently and generally depend on whether your win is at least 300 times your bet, which is why many people don’t get a tax form from playing poker or blackjack when they would get one for winning the same amount on slots. the threshold for tournaments is $5000. those who win non-cash prizes of $600 or more are generally issued a 1099-MISC, not a W2-G.

[vadersprincess12]

On 6/16/2023 at 7:13 PM, RB9643 said:

 

 

No problem. Happens all the time. Sometimes it's hard to keep track.

 

 

I have found that it's best to start your reply with the name of the person you are actually talking to since so many people chime in ~ it helps to avoid any confusion on exactly who and what comments you are responding to.  

[sanger727]

21 hours ago, JeanKC said:

I think it is more the fact that a member of staff did not offer to stay with the injured passengers allowing the OP and her husband to leave. There was no requirement for said member of staff to physically comfort the injured parties in the same way as the OP, but surely, they could have offered to stay with them until the wheelchair arrived. As it was, it seemed that many staff members came and went but nobody actually said "We've got this, you can go about your day". 

 

 

My point of view of this is from working in law enforcement. It is common when accidents happen for someone to stop and "help" and then stay until the situation is resolved. Whether they feel a sense of responsibility for witnessing it or curiosity. I've never walked up to someone who was on-scene before me and say that they could/should leave (assuming they aren't being disruptive). We get there and handle the response, if the person chooses to stay, that's on them. That was how I read OP's post. Less that no one from NCL's crew took over and handled the response. More that she expected someone to take over what she was doing and tell her to be on her way. I certainly could have misinterpreted it. 

[vadersprincess12]

On 6/19/2023 at 8:28 PM, UKstages said:

the cabins are bigger on the prima, but most of the public spaces are not located on decks on which there are cabins. so there was no exchange in square footage in that sense. the cabin space presumably came from smart design and, perhaps, fewer cabins. the prima is a smaller ship, intentionally so. but they probably could have had a few more cabins here and there on each deck, if they made the cabins smaller. i've said over and over that the prima was poorly designed. that isn't the case with the cabins... they are lovely... they provide lots of space and are attractively designed,  even if some of them were built haphazardly with structural defects.

 

the venues were also designed intentionally to be small and intimate. so there are small groupings in an atrium that holds few people. the flow of traffic is broken up by other small collections of oddly placed furniture throughout the ship and helter skelter placement of teeny tiny venues.

 

in some boardroom in miami, i'm sure it all made sense. NCL figured the crowds would be disbursed throughout the ship in equal measure. but  that's not the way it wound up working in the real world. everybody wants to go to the same extremely popular venues, such as the indulge food hall and hudson's and the improv and syd's. and those venues weren't designed to hold that many people.

 

 

I have to agree with UKstages on this one ~ we had an inside cabin on the Prima in May and it was actually a very spacious cabin; the largest inside I've ever seen.  The venues are small and if you want to see a show like the comedians you have to stand in a line at least 45 minutes or longer before the show to even get in.

 

There seems to be a lot of long hallways throughout the ship.

 

The central area with the open stage (not the theater) is a waste of space.  There is really no good place for the performers.  We saw a circus themed show and with little to no space to perform all they did was basically run around the open area to the circus music and "pose" and then do it all over again.  It's really not a good area for a theater type show.  Add to that everything going on in the stores and areas around it with all the additional noise and it's hard to focus on a show.  Plus elevators are right there too so when that hallway gets crowded with people waiting on an elevator that adds to the noise.  Poor design.

[vadersprincess12]

On 6/19/2023 at 1:09 PM, mking8288 said:

Hear hear ... That would be my/our post as well - we're all excited and booked the Prima for 2023, twice cancelled before final payment, booked again and the red circle on the digital calendar is coming up soon.  It's another strike lately, nearly fleet-wide, with the major entertainment "changes" - we go for the main theater big production shows, comedy & magics aren't our cup of tea, and, can't stand being packed like sardines in an overcrowded venue that one must line up 60+ minutes before door(s) are open to get in.  Selling vibe passes & behind the scene tours aren't exactly "entertainment" per se, not in my/our cruise dictionary anyway, but to each her/his own & those still cheering are free to disagree, don't bother me but anyone wish to flame, go ahead ... just add to the "ignore" list.  

 

We finally cruised the Epic this April with an open mind and it was fine, despite reading about it all.  Burn The Floor was the only onboard major entertainment for the long TA, the other sea days filled in with comedians, singing duos/trios  - trending exactly what we are now reading about with the changes announced ... the atrium was packed & jammed full, and long lines daily at Shorex, CruiseNext and Guest Services.  

 

Anyway, let's see how things go this summer with the Prima.  Elsewhere, just heard that NCL is partnering with land casinos here in the NE, players promotion deals & discounts will surely help fill some of the last minute, unsold cabins - sometimes, I wonder ... 

Mking8288 ~ NCL partners with our land-based casinos so that's how we get our certificates.  Prepare to loose a lot of money.  NCL certainly doesn't payout very well; not at all like the land-based casinos.  We've tried 4 cruises this way and prefer to spend our money on land ~ at least we come home ahead sometimes.  Yes, I know, "the house always wins" but I can tell you that we have had some nice payouts and jackpots on land, and even on some of the other cruise lines, but NEVER on NCL.

[graphicguy]

I have never hit “big” on any cruise line casino.  In fairness, I’m not a big slots guy.  I like to play in cash Hold’Em Games, where at least I can count on some skill to win.  I’ve done well with those games on NCL.

 

That said, I’ve personally seen 3 big slot payouts on my last couple of cruises on NCL.  They ranged from $2,000 to $12,000.  DOn’t know how long they had been playing.  They may have poured in $15,000 to win $2,000 for all I knew.  But, there were big payouts.

 

Hold’Em and BlackJack tournaments that are sponsored by the cruise lines have such measly payouts, I stay away from those.  Hold’Em rebuys are so tilted to the casino’s benefits, that even if you win, you don’t win much.

 

Anyone can keep rebuying and win.  I consider that winning for bragging rights only.  I don’t care about bragging rights.  I want Benjamins…..lots of them!!!!!

Edited June 21, 2023 by graphicguy