NCL Viva Not Getting Good Reviews?

[luv2kroooz]

33 minutes ago, moto_italia said:

Sailed on the Viva Dec 6-13, 2023 out of Miami. No real complaints from me. The big complaints I heard on board were regarding the illogical layout that perhaps needed more and better signage and arrows. Overall a great cruise again on NCL for us!

Thank you for this review and analysis, disclosing what you believe to be the positives and negatives. I think it really helps those that may be undecided. They can read it and make up their mind about what they value or don't value. Cheers~!

[cruiseny4life]

1 minute ago, schmoopie17 said:

Bottom line...do what you want and don't let the naysayers or cheerleaders influence you one way or another. Do your own thing and YMMV.

And, honestly, I think a lot of it is all about your attitude while onboard. No cruise is perfect...well maybe one of those fancy yacht charters where you spend $300,000 for a week onboard. But on a mainstream cruise line, well something is going to go wrong or not your way. You can dwell on it or you can move on and find something enjoyable. 

 

Now, sometimes a cruise will just not be great. I'm thinking of @UKstages Pr1ma cruise. That just sounded terrible, yet even then there were good things too. Anyway, enough of my diatribe - get on the ship with a good attitude and you'll be fine! Plenty of folks enjoy Pr1ma (as you see) and plenty are enjoying V!va too! 

Hmm, can I be a cruising life coach now?

[ZsaZsa2019]

I'm feeling much better about it.  All those negative reviews just hit me like a punch in the face, but I've found some good reviews now too.  Plus, it has the stops we want.

 

A few questions, as we might be getting closer to booking now..........We are going for a balcony.........do I understand correctly that Deck 10 does not have a water view, but a pool view?  I'm not wanting that.  Also, how much for Vibe (and do you get that once you are on board)?

[moto_italia]

6 minutes ago, ZsaZsa2019 said:

A few questions, as we might be getting closer to booking now..........We are going for a balcony.........do I understand correctly that Deck 10 does not have a water view, but a pool view?  I'm not wanting that.  Also, how much for Vibe (and do you get that once you are on board)?

The deck 10 midship balcony we had on the Viva definitely had an unrestricted ocean view.  But if you stand at the rail of the balcony and look two decks down, you see the Deck 8 boardwalk (Infinity Beach) and infinity pool, rather than just looking straight down at the sea as you would on most ships. You can see in the pic below that the Deck 8 boardwalk sticks out 20+ feet from the edge of the balconies.

 

But, if you are standing naked in the middle of your room with the balcony door open, no one at the infinity pool or accompanying loungers on Deck 8 can see you. LOL

 

As far as the Vibe, it cost $259 per person for our 7 days cruise. You'll want to book it online or call NCL or your TA as soon as it becomes available, as it sells out.  I think it sold out more than 90 days prior to embarkation for our cruise.

 

[ZsaZsa2019]

20 minutes ago, moto_italia said:

The deck 10 midship balcony we had on the Viva definitely had an unrestricted ocean view.  But if you stand at the rail of the balcony and look two decks down, you see the Deck 8 boardwalk (Infinity Beach) and infinity pool, rather than just looking straight down at the sea as you would on most ships. You can see in the pic below that the Deck 8 boardwalk sticks out 20+ feet from the edge of the balconies.

 

But, if you are standing naked in the middle of your room with the balcony door open, no one at the infinity pool or accompanying loungers on Deck 8 can see you. LOL

 

As far as the Vibe, it cost $259 per person for our 7 days cruise. You'll want to book it online or call NCL or your TA as soon as it becomes available, as it sells out.  I think it sold out more than 90 days prior to embarkation for our cruise.

 

 

 

Thanks for the info on the deck balconies!  As for Vibe, that's more than I was expecting, so probably going to be a pass from our group.  Plus, we are looking at mid March and it would likely be hard to get at this point anyway.

[dshefter]

1 hour ago, ZsaZsa2019 said:

 

Thanks for the info on the deck balconies!  As for Vibe, that's more than I was expecting, so probably going to be a pass from our group.  Plus, we are looking at mid March and it would likely be hard to get at this point anyway.

Given all the port stops, Vibe seems like a waste of money. We've had it before and it's great on sea days to get away from the crowds at the pool.

[zackarykeef]

On 1/4/2024 at 4:54 PM, ZsaZsa2019 said:

We are going for a balcony.........do I understand correctly that Deck 10 does not have a water view, but a pool view?  I'm not wanting that. 

To avoid this, get a balcony as far forward as possible. Ocean Boulevard doesn’t stick out as much there, and what does is covered. I would say deck 11 or higher. It was perfect for us, and the views were 💯.

[ZsaZsa2019]

Well, we booked last night!  Pretty excited. 
 

it didn’t allow us to pick our room, but I will reach out to our NCL rep on Monday to ask about it. She said she would link our two rooms together so our friends will at least be close.   I’ll take in to consideration location based on what everyone has said, if we are given a choice, so thank you everyone. 

[Lew Port]

We just got off Viva and the ship is beautiful.  The cabins and bathrooms are fantastic.

I can highly recommend the Indulge food hall. Hudson's MDR was very good. 

If you have specialty dining I recommend you make your reservation as soon as possible. The Hasuki venue was great.  We never had a problem with seating at the buffet. The observation deck on 17 is a great place to relax.  

Some of the hours of operation of the eateries were less than optimal in my opinion.

The excursions were numerous and a lot of fun. 

Have fun

 

[Lupush]

On 1/3/2024 at 2:31 PM, bluesea777 said:

 

Not quite.

 

Viva TA (Libson to Miami) in Nov 2023 was our 30th NCL cruise but first new prima class ship. Suffice to say we will not go on a prima class ship again. We will return to any of the older NCL ships but not on Prima or Viva.

 

We still enjoyed the cruise but ..... prefer the other ships. We have been on all NCL ships except the Sky and Prima. 

 

 

This was my experience as well when I went on Prima.  My wife and I have been on over 20 NCL cruises on almost all the ships in the fleet and will not go on a Prima Class ship again.

[Travelling2Some]

On 1/3/2024 at 9:39 PM, sportscruiser said:

Also going in March and although the inside venues do seem much too small for the amount of passengers, I think most of the "too crowded" reviews came from the first sailings when it was cold outside and everyone stayed in. Check for newer reviews from the Caribbean cruises to see if the complaints about seating are as bad as those first sailings. Except for the comedy and Syd's shows; I think there will always be people complaining about those venues....and I might be one of them, we'll see! 🤣

This is my take too.  The Prima and Viva are "outdoor oriented" ships so I would not book them for a cold weather cruise.  However, everybody does tend to congregate indoors in the evenings on any cruise since that's where the entertainment venues are.  So that is a valid concern.

 

When I first saw the design I was (am?) very enthusiastic since we have loved the Waterfront on other ships.  We are going to give it a try for a Med cruise in June on the basis that we've never had a bad time on any ship (and that includes several old "rust buckets).  We also like the entertainment line-up, which is always important to us.  Beetlejuice is a big plus.

 

I think you also have to take into account that there are always people who just prefer what they are accustomed to when it comes to any design that is very different.  We tend to enjoy novelty so I think we will like it or at least find it interesting.

[Travelling2Some]

On 1/4/2024 at 10:07 AM, Laszlo said:

Do a search on any cruise line, any ship. You will find all kinds of negative reviews. Don't let that stop you

Very true.  I only pay real attention to posts from experienced cruisers where you see the same complaints mentioned repeatedly.  (The complaints of some first time cruisers are sometimes hilarious and fun to read though.)

[disneydave]

It's a different design.  We sailed on the Celebrity Edge shortly after it's launch and it received similar reviews as many just were not used to the layout of the ship; now several years later people have adjusted and many like the ship.  Viva is the 2nd in a new class of ships and it will take time to grow on those NCL loyalists used to other designs.  

 

[ed111]

8 hours ago, Lew Port said:

We just got off Viva and the ship is beautiful.  The cabins and bathrooms are fantastic.

I can highly recommend the Indulge food hall. Hudson's MDR was very good. 

If you have specialty dining I recommend you make your reservation as soon as possible. The Hasuki venue was great.  We never had a problem with seating at the buffet. The observation deck on 17 is a great place to relax.  

Some of the hours of operation of the eateries were less than optimal in my opinion.

The excursions were numerous and a lot of fun. 

Have fun

 

 I've seen this criticism of the restaurant hours a few times. Can you elaborate on how they are bad?

Like do the restaurants close at 9, or not open until 7:30?

[ColdCruise]

@ZsaZsa2019

We sailed on Vi!va’s maiden transatlantic in Nov and really enjoyed the ship. The only area we had issue with was getting a seat in the Indulge Food Hall for lunch  - it was very crowded. However that was our experience. If you look at ParaDeeJay’s V1va YouTube videos, you’ll notice that they ate at Indulge a LOT. Since we were on the same cruise with us, I think the issue might have been our timing.
 

I was a bit disappointed as we ate at Indulge several times on P1ma (Sep 2022) and loved the concept and the food, but it didn’t ruin the cruise for me or disappoint me enough to make a huge effort to get in there.

 

I wrote an extensive “Almost Live…” report (petered out at the end - it was 11 days)

 

BTW, not me in the first picture - someone in the roll call posted a photo first and semi-hijacked my report, kind of irritating as I am not a man and I had planned the 1st photo to be V!va docked in Lisbon for the cover photo! (Lesson learned, now I just use a stock ship’s photo or the itinerary map)

 

 
@JIMESOPUS did a back to back starting in Italy ((I think) all the way to Miami. His Live Report was very thorough- if I find the link I’ll post it here.

Edited January 19 by ColdCruise
Links

[ColdCruise]

Forgot to mention ….

I would definitely sail either Pr1ma or V!va again and wanted to book Aqua, but the Aqua itineraries suck, and esp for the prices - very boring and repetitive. That’ll have to wait till late 2025 at the earliest and only if the itinerary gets more interesting than what’s on the books now.

 

and found @JIMESOPUS ‘s trip report - 

 

[Shattered__minds]

On 1/3/2024 at 2:24 PM, zqvol said:

You are probably stressing too much, the complaints are from the people who complain all the time 

After 7 cruises with NCL, the VIVA (and Prima Class) are "Pigs with lips stick" the designers should be demoted back to Legos.

After excursion dining sucked- long, longs lines or wait times and cranky people everyday !!

Pools: lacking and crowded

Entertainment: crowded, booked-full early, lacking variety, music was not very good- closesr to high school karaoke.

Excursions- you get what you pay for more $$ better them seem.

Ship: creaked, rattled, and poorly assembled. This could have easily been resolved but many corners were cut, or so it seems.

[IAcruising]

2 hours ago, Shattered__minds said:

After 7 cruises with NCL, the VIVA (and Prima Class) are "Pigs with lips stick" the designers should be demoted back to Legos.

 

So, you've been on both the Prima and Viva for a total of 7 times? Or you've been on the Viva once? If the first, wow, that sucks. If the second, then your review is as worthless as lipstick on a pig.

 

[jrsegrl]

Loved both the Prima and Viva.  We have been on 89 cruises about half of those on NCL.   Buffet area on both were not my favorite but we just went elsewhere for breakfast and lunch.  Amazing theater.

[ZsaZsa2019]

I just wanted to hop back on here to say we did the Viva March 17th sailing out of San Juan to the southern caribbean and ended up LOVING the ship!!!  We loved the layout.  It didn't feel crowded and the decor was very nice.  Yes, venues were small and sometimes that was an issue, but overall it helped greatly with crowds.  As for Syd Norman's, we never stood in line and just walked in right before the shows.  Yes, we had to stand, but the shows were only 45 min anyways, not a big deal.  Yes, we couldn't get in to the comedy club one night, but they were live broadcasting it in Syd's and there was no one there.  

 

I just want to add that we felt the Indulge Food Hall was brilliant!  So many food choices.  We just starting clicking some items on the table top ipad and they were brought out to us at our table literally in a minute or two.  I love this concept.

[Barb Nahoumi]

From what I heard, the Viva & Prima ships are smaller than the megas, but they crammed to many venues on them, and they are too small.  That's why we prefer the Jewel class ships.  Yes they have fewer venues, but they are large enough to accommodate without crowding.   We also enjoyed the JOY, and would sail her again.

[graphicguy]

Sailed Prima in Feb.  Would sail her or Viva in a heartbeat.  Beautiful ship....upscale from NCL's other ships.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, ZsaZsa2019 said:

I just wanted to hop back on here to say we did the Viva March 17th sailing out of San Juan to the southern caribbean and ended up LOVING the ship!!!  We loved the layout.  It didn't feel crowded and the decor was very nice.  Yes, venues were small and sometimes that was an issue, but overall it helped greatly with crowds.  As for Syd Norman's, we never stood in line and just walked in right before the shows.  Yes, we had to stand, but the shows were only 45 min anyways, not a big deal.  Yes, we couldn't get in to the comedy club one night, but they were live broadcasting it in Syd's and there was no one there.  

 

I just want to add that we felt the Indulge Food Hall was brilliant!  So many food choices.  We just starting clicking some items on the table top ipad and they were brought out to us at our table literally in a minute or two.  I love this concept.

It's rock and roll, you are supposed to stand and move your body! The one time I had a seat, I slid right off it quickly and went back to standing. (This was on the Prima last August.)

[Susandt]

A beautiful ship.

 

the only changes we would like is bigger atrium and Sydney normans

[ZsaZsa2019]

8 minutes ago, Susandt said:

A beautiful ship.

 

the only changes we would like is bigger atrium and Sydney normans

 

I was talking to the band there one night and while they agreed Syd's is small, they really enjoyed and appreciated the "intimate" atmosphere for them to play and interact with the audience.