seemoreroyals

Maybe I should try this approach. Using your example from Dollar Tree. We still go to there but don't buy as much. We notice the shrinkflation at Dollar Tree. In addition to the huge price increase some of the items we used to buy there have been repackaged into smaller sizes. Therefore we now purchase those items elsewhere. You may not be aware but Dollar Tree is in the process of going back and repricing many of their items back at $1. So far at the store we shop at this has not taken effect. When it does we will no doubt start buying some of those items there again. The moral of the story is that in this inflationary real world we live in most of us are willing to pay more for our goods and services but it kind of rubs us the wrong way when what we get back in return is less than we were getting before. Thus my analogy to you of paying more for eggs but not being happy about it if the company reduces the number of eggs in the carton.

If eggs go from $.70/dozen to $5.25/dozen I don't expect to get them home any only have 6 eggs in them. Therein lies the dilemma. We don't mind paying more but quit taking services and entertainment and drink package choices away.

Always sad when the last day of a cruise gets here. Thanks for your live review of the Prima. Did they ever do anything extra for you for shutting down your private hot tub?

Following as we are gathering info on what to expect from Prima. We will be sailing on her for the first time out of Galveston in December. Sorry to hear about your loss of use of private hot tub. I hope they accept whatever your counteroffer is. $500 just does not seem right to me for what you are losing out on. Despite that, kudos to you for not letting it ruin your cruise. Thanks for taking the time for all of the great info and photos. We have never previously considered this itinerary. I think we would if they could figure out a way to do it in 7 days. There is so much to see and do they could probably never figure out a way to make it happen. We are still stuck with temperatures in the 90's or higher since mid June. That cooler weather you are enjoying would sure be nice right about now. Thanks again for an outstanding review.

DSC and tips and prepaid gratuities are all the same. You can tip extra if you want to. Years ago tipping was done by leaving envelopes with money earmarked for your cabin steward, waiters, etc.. Back in the day there were no drink packages with 20% prepaid gratuities like there are now. I remember when NCL transitioned from tip envelopes to prepaid service charges the new added fees were sold as a convenient way to enjoy your cruise without stressing about who and what amount to tip.

It's been a while but NCL has offered prepaid gratuities before. We book all of our cruises through CAS as my wife gets a free one from them every year being a Caesars 7 star. Getting free gratuities is a great promotion however you can get it. You can rest assured you are not stiffing your room steward, waiter, or bartender by allowing somebody else to pay your $20 per person per day prepaid gratuity. To original poster, I would not feel the need to tip additionally at every meal or every time I went to the bar to get my wife and I a drink. But it you have an encounter that you feel the steward, waiter, or bartender, or any other NCL staff member went above and beyond to make your cruise exceed your expectations then a little extra tip may be in order. It's not expected but I am sure it will be appreciated.

Looking at pictures and videos of the Vibe on Prima, it appears much nicer than H2O areas on other ships we have been on. Both are adults only but Vibe will be less crowded and non smoking. There are several good utube videos on the Vibe on Prima. About $500 for two on a 7 day cruise seems to me to be money well spent to avoid crowds and cigarette smoke and to have a place to escape to during the day to read and otherwise enjoy peace and quiet. I can see where there are numerous free areas on the Prima that are somewhat similar to the Vibe but it is probably hit or miss as to whether or not it is too crowded or noisy to enjoy them. Looking forward to the Vibe on Prima later this year. I will be sure to report back after experiencing it.

I agree. I tried to talk them into coming in day before.

4 pm departure time. Assuming 3 pm cut off time for check in but not sure.

Yikes!!! We are driving to port but picking up friends with 11:30 flight at Hobby day of departure. Dropping them off following Friday at Bush Intercontinental at noon. Sounds like we may be cutting it close both ways.

Not sure length of your cruise but the 7 day Prima cruise we are taking out of Galveston is Friday to Friday. Friday traffic in and around Houston area likely twice as bad as weekend traffic. Take that into consideration as well.

We would "Faithfully" look forward to a Journey cover band on NCL should that become a reality at some point.

We have done it once on the Bliss and were underwhelmed. Going to try it again on our upcoming cruise Prima. We may need it if we get one of those noisy cabins. Hoping for better results on Prima than on Bliss. On the Bliss it was disorganized and felt haphazard and thrown together. We were expecting something more informative. I only liked one of the wines we tasted and went back to ask for a second taste as we were thinking about purchasing a couple of bottles to drink on our balcony while on board. My request for a second tasting was denied. Thought that was strange as the event we went to was lightly attended and they had plenty of supply on hand. I could see if organized properly the Wines Around the World could be a fun event .

How long did you have to wait to get in? We have only been to Syd's on bigger ships and were always able to get seats without waiting. Last time year and a half ago on Breakaway. But that was back when cruises were sailing at less than full capacity.

Thank you for the detailed response. Good to know you are able to eat there in a less crowded area. Thank you also for posting the hours they are open. Our cruise in December leaves at 4pm so we will probably do sailaway in the Vibe. We are leaving from Galveston. No telling what the weather will be like in December but by the time we get into the first sea day we should be able to get plenty of usage the rest of the trip. Great to hear you had a great experience there.

After perusing through countless Prima threads it appears that the majority consensus is to be prepared for some disappointments. As a contingency plan I just got off the phone with CAS and booked vibe passes. $518 for two people, limited capacity, no children, private bar, infinity hot tubs, and upgraded lounge chairs. The only complaint I have read so far is that it is too quiet in there. Sounds great to us as we both love to read. We have our own personal music playlists to listen to in the event there is no music in there as has been reported. Does anyone that has been on the Prima and paid extra for vibe passes have anything good or bad to say about the vibe ?

Count me in the group that does not want to wait in line for an hour to get in Syd's Pour House. We have not been on the Prima yet but we have been to numerous showings on other bigger ships. Band was fantastic and had no trouble getting in. How many people is capacity at Syd's on Prima? How many showings during a seven day cruise? There has to be a pragmatic way to deal with this problem. I would be okay with getting reservations ahead of time. I would be okay with being limited to one showing to make it fair to others that want to go. With give or take 3000 passengers on the Prima it would still be impossible to accommodate everyone but at least if someone really wanted to go to one of the live shows they would have a better chance of getting in.

How about beer and wine? I am assuming selection will be limited as well? Beer of choice Mic Ultra. Any idea if it will be available before hitting international waters?

How is Texas different than other ports in regards to having to pay drink tax until entering international waters? Is it a bigger tax than say NOLA or NYC or Seattle? Or is it just a difference in limiting of selection and if so how limited is it? We are used to paying a small tax per drink at the other above mentioned ports but if I recall correctly never had a problem getting what we would normally order. Trying to get my head around what to expect. Thanks

Thank you for taking the time to break it down for those of us that have not been on the Prima yet. We will be sailing Prima later this year and appreciate the fair and balanced viewpoint you have put forward.

Following this topic and waiting for more facts. I would not be surprised to see OL on Prima closed off for private event for an hour or two but just don't see it closed the entire cruise. It would be nice if original poster would give us an update and/or take pictures of the sign or crash the party as a few have suggested. Maybe someone else who is also on the cruise will come on here and collaborate the fact that the OL will be closed the entire cruise. At this point something does not add up. Taking away access to the OL for the entire cruise makes no sense to me. Hoping for the original poster's benefit that there has been some sort of misunderstanding and that they will have access to OL for the remainder of their cruise.

You got me thinking that maybe I was forgetting about the bar staff that for the most part do an outstanding job providing adult beverages. Then I looked at the vacation summary on our upcoming cruise and lo and behold I noticed NCL if charging us $340.80 for free at see gratuities. 20% tip for bar service on the drink package and tips for two on two specialty dinners. Man they think of everything.

In other words, NCL like other cruise lines, has chosen to move away from separate tips to what in essence is a tip pool. Call it what you want put DSC ( Discretionary Service Charge) is the same thing as TIPS or Gratuities if you want to call them that. The only reason I even care that you and a few others on here constantly gush about how much extra you tip is that it gives others the impression that they should do likewise as well as giving NCL ammunition to use next time they decide to raise our DSC fees which most of us on here take to mean that our tips are going up again.

Please, go back and reread my response to you in post #18 in this thread. To save you time, DSC was concocted by the cruise industry as a stress free way for cruisers to compensate cabin stewards, wait staff and others for their service in lieu of stuffing envelopes for them separately on the last day of the cruise. At $20 per day per person or $280 per couple for a week long cruise, IMO this represents fair compensation for services rendered (TIPS) for cabin steward, wait staff, and bartenders as intended by NCL. Other cruise lines that have implemented something similar. While I can see an occasional tip here and there for someone that has really provided extraordinary service and went out of their way, throwing money around needlessly only serves to separate yourself from your money.

DSC has everything to do with tipping. When we began cruising 30 years ago the norm for tipping was to have separate envelopes to present to the cabin steward, waiter, and others if you wished on the last day of the cruise. There was no drink package back then so the norm was to leave a tip when ordering a drink. Flash forward to today. The norm is to pay a DSC in lieu of tipping. I can't recall what the DSC was when it first came out but it was sold to us as a convenient way to make sure that waiters, cabin stewards, now bartenders with the advent of drink packages, are properly compensated. That way we can enjoy our cruise without the worry of who to tip, how much, when, and under which circumstances. To OP, no we do not leave a tip when ordering platinum laundry. Anything over and above the DSC while appreciated by steward, waiter, or bartender is IMO not necessary. At $20 per day per person, or $280 per couple for a 7 day cruise, IMO is adequate for cabin steward, wait staff, bartender tips, or related services. On the other hand if NCL wants to go back to individual envelopes with suggested amounts to tip per day for services rendered I would be okay going back to that as well.