Theme Cruises

[pete_coach]

We were on a cruise that had the observation lounge closed for the entire cruise. It turned out that it was for private events for those on a "theme" cruise. There were other restrictions during the sailing.

We booked the cruise well in advance and kept informed about it through Cruise Critic Roll call and other information sites. Nowhere was there any indication of any sort of restrictions or themes onboard.

We and other we spoke to were rather upset we could not use the observation lounge and on one night, the main dining room was closed except for those part of the theme.

When we got back I called NCL and could not get any information about that situation at all. Was shuffled from one agent to supervisors etc and no one knew or could tell me about theme cruises even on upcoming cruises.

Has anyone encountered this before? Were you informed about a theme onboard prior to sailing or at time of booking?

[shof515]

not the first time this has happen. here is a thread from last months about this issue:

 

[robinium]

Seriously?? They assured me in my repeated complaints to corporate that they did not plan to do this again and apologised. 

Edited July 17, 2023 by robinium

[BirdTravels]

1 hour ago, pete_coach said:

We were on a cruise that had the observation lounge closed for the entire cruise. It turned out that it was for private events for those on a "theme" cruise. There were other restrictions during the sailing.

We booked the cruise well in advance and kept informed about it through Cruise Critic Roll call and other information sites. Nowhere was there any indication of any sort of restrictions or themes onboard.

We and other we spoke to were rather upset we could not use the observation lounge and on one night, the main dining room was closed except for those part of the theme.

When we got back I called NCL and could not get any information about that situation at all. Was shuffled from one agent to supervisors etc and no one knew or could tell me about theme cruises even on upcoming cruises.

Has anyone encountered this before? Were you informed about a theme onboard prior to sailing or at time of booking?

Were you on the Prima? And were you compensated?

[www3traveler]

40 minutes ago, robinium said:

Seriously?? They assured me in my repeated complaints to corporate that they did not plan to do this again and apologised. 

This happens all the time.   People working the Customer Service lines, only  know what thier computer screens tell them. Which is sometime accurate and sometimes not.

[pete_coach]

32 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Were you on the Prima? And were you compensated?

No, we were on  Pearl.

I have read posts where this has happened. No compensation was offered and I asked.

 

We were also on Bliss once when there were 400 religious folks on board but they only closed certain venues for private affairs during certain times.

 

I am really just surprised this is not noted when making bookings. At least letting us know what is going on.  I suppose if they did, lots of folks would just not book but it certainly is an inconvenience at the very least and restriction or loss of use of facilities. 🙂 

 

We happen to really like the Observation Lounge.

[zqvol]

Not at all unusual. This happens all the time

[pete_coach]

2 minutes ago, zqvol said:

Not at all unusual. This happens all the time

It has not happened on any other cruises were have been on. Only NCL.

There may have been groups on other cruises but no venues were ever closed.

[MacGuffin3]

What was the theme? Maybe it was "Toga Party." In which case you could have easily gotten a sheet from your cabin and blended in.

[Cruising Lynne]

10 minutes ago, pete_coach said:

It has not happened on any other cruises were have been on. Only NCL.

There may have been groups on other cruises but no venues were ever closed.

Happened to us on a Royal Caribbean cruise. They closed some venues, but not the same one for the entire trip. On Pearl, do you mean the Spinnaker was closed? I do not think they have an Observation Lounge on Pearl. 

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, robinium said:

Seriously?? They assured me in my repeated complaints to corporate that they did not plan to do this again and apologised. 

You sound.....surprised. It's NCL. Why would you be surprised at this?

[pete_coach]

34 minutes ago, Cruising Lynne said:

Happened to us on a Royal Caribbean cruise. They closed some venues, but not the same one for the entire trip. On Pearl, do you mean the Spinnaker was closed? I do not think they have an Observation Lounge on Pearl. 

Yes, I mentioned that. On another cruise they closed an area for a while but not the whole trip.

I don't remember what they call it, it is the one up front on 12 or 13 deck.

Edited July 17, 2023 by pete_coach

[All-ready2cruise]

• As far as I know, none of the Jewel Class ships (Jewel, Pearl, Gem and Jade) have an Observation Lounge, however, I have seen many posts stating that certain venues are closed for some events which are privately attended.

[Turtles06]

24 minutes ago, All-ready2cruise said:

• As far as I know, none of the Jewel Class ships (Jewel, Pearl, Gem and Jade) have an Observation Lounge, however, I have seen many posts stating that certain venues are closed for some events which are privately attended.

 

It’s called the Spinnaker Lounge on the Pearl and her Jewel-class sisters. It’s the only forward-facing indoor lounge on those ships and, as such, it’s a great place for people to sit and read, look at the water, relax, etc. It’s also used for entertainment at night, and things like trivia during the day. 
 

It’s one thing for a large public venue like that to be closed temporarily now and then for a private function, but quite another for it to be closed for an entire cruise and given over to the exclusive use of a single group.
 

That’s just wrong and NCL should not do it. @pete_coach is well-justified in being ticked off by this. 

[GORDONCHICK]

I know I've been on cruises that had Continuing Education (CE) classes on them but they usually only took up conference rooms/flex spaces.  I have heard of groups having reserved spaces on ships but IMO, it certainly shouldn't be the most popular space on the ship and all the time!

 

I used to be able to google cruise line/ship/dates to see if groups came up because there are groups that do this and they don't have enough people/interest to charter a ship.  But the google searches pull up too much junk now and I get tired of trying to sort through them.

[Liljo22]

Why do you think this is only NCL?  I was on the Oasis OTS and they shutdown two venues for the whole cruise for a wedding party.  On top of that, they would set aside room for the party at other venues which made it hard to get a spot.

[pete_coach]

2 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

It’s called the Spinnaker Lounge on the Pearl and her Jewel-class sisters. It’s the only forward-facing indoor lounge on those ships and, as such, it’s a great place for people to sit and read, look at the water, relax, etc. It’s also used for entertainment at night, and things like trivia during the day. 
 

It’s one thing for a large public venue like that to be closed temporarily now and then for a private function, but quite another for it to be closed for an entire cruise and given over to the exclusive use of a single group.
 

That’s just wrong and NCL should not do it. @pete_coach is well-justified in being ticked off by this. 

Thanks but, point was, it was closed for the duration and as I understand it, this is not a one off thing and it has happened before an d since.

It is very wrong. I am sure there are "theme" cruises on theNCL books now but there is no way of finding out;

[pete_coach]

2 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

Why do you think this is only NCL?  I was on the Oasis OTS and they shutdown two venues for the whole cruise for a wedding party.  On top of that, they would set aside room for the party at other venues which made it hard to get a spot.

Never said it was only NCL and no one else said that either.

[Turtles06]

12 minutes ago, pete_coach said:

Thanks but, point was, it was closed for the duration and as I understand it, this is not a one off thing and it has happened before an d since.

It is very wrong. I am sure there are "theme" cruises on theNCL books now but there is no way of finding out;

No “but” needed. In the part of my comment that you didn’t quote, I recognized that it was closed for the entire cruise and said it was wrong. 

[ready2cruzagain]

4 hours ago, pete_coach said:

It has not happened on any other cruises were have been on. Only NCL.

There may have been groups on other cruises but no venues were ever closed.

I was on a Carnival cruise several years ago and the disco was closed every night for a Private Event. People were not happy.

[Liljo22]

1 hour ago, pete_coach said:

Never said it was only NCL and no one else said that either.

Did you not write this?

 

It has not happened on any other cruises were have been on. Only NCL.

There may have been groups on other cruises but no venues were ever closed.

[RB9643]

2 hours ago, pete_coach said:

Never said it was only NCL

 

6 hours ago, pete_coach said:

Only NCL.

 

Yeah, you kinda did.

 

 

[pete_coach]

1 hour ago, Liljo22 said:

Did you not write this?

 

 

It has not happened on any other cruises were have been on. Only NCL.

There may have been groups on other cruises but no venues were ever closed.

Lets put this in context. I said "It has not happened on any other cruise we have been on. Only NCL".   to us.

 

31 minutes ago, RB9643 said:

 

 

Yeah, you kinda did.

 

 

No, I did kinda did not.not. Please read again.

I said " It has not happened on any other cruises were have been on. Only NCL." Speaking about us and our experience.

 

This post is about an entire venue being closed for the entire cruise and what can be done about it and why NCL does not inform the customers.

Other posters have had this happen to them on NCL as well.

 

NCL apologists need not reply 🙂

Edited July 17, 2023 by pete_coach

[RB9643]

3 minutes ago, pete_coach said:

Lets put this in context. 

 

No, I did kinda did not.not.

 

NCL apologists need not reply 🙂

 

The context IS "only NCL". 

Right, you kinda did not -- not.

I will never be confused with a NCL apologist, but I will call out blanket statements, even when they fall under the umbrella of "speaking about us and our experience".  Like that matters.

 

  

[pete_coach]

Just now, RB9643 said:

 

The context IS "only NCL". 

Right, you kinda did not -- not.

I will never be confused with a NCL apologist, but I will call out blanket statements, even when they fall under the umbrella of "speaking about us and our experience".  Like that matters.

 

  

Sir, please do not take 2 words out of context of the entire post and issue..

No "umbrella". I can only speak about our experience. And it does matter.

I was speaking about our experience only and seems to be shared by other posters in this thread.

I am glad your "experience " has been different .