seemoreroyals

19 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Yes. You can have an opinion about VALUE if what's on offer is of no interest to you. (Or if it is!) It's kind of academic though since, as you point out, one has to assume (whatever that does to you and me 😉 ) that the person asking the question actually has an interest in Vibe. Therefore, of course, any opinions from other "Vibe-people" should be valued many many times more than those of us "non-Vibers".

I am now stepping away from this to not muddy up the thread even more. I think we'll just have to agree to disagree in this particular matter. And hopefully agree in others! 😄 

I would advise you to step away from this thread.  If you spend too much time here it may peak your interest and you may decide to give the vibe a try at some point in the future.  If you do you are likely to become one of its biggest advocates.  

17 minutes ago, Asawi said:

I'm not the one you're responding to, but I disagree with your statement. I haven't experienced Vibe and I likely never will because I have no interest in what it offers. Therefore I know I would not be worth the cost TO ME! And I'm guessing to the person you're responding to. But of course for someone else it might be! Thank heavens we're not all the same!

So while I disagree and think that you can have an opinion without having the experience, I do think just saying "no" like what was done is kind of pointless.

Everyone has an opinion.  An opinion from someone who has never paid for and experienced the vibe is worth a heck of a lot less than someone who has.

Kinda like someone who hates mexican food commenting about the latest new mexican restaurant in town.

36 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

I find your perspective very interesting, and I like the way you’re thinking.  We always book a balcony (since I believe I am claustrophobic), but rarely really use it for any amount of time.  Personally, having sailed Prima, I would take s Vibe Cabana in a heartbeat.  Hurry…get that cabana booked before it’s gone.  Drop your bid for balcony.

Prima vibe does not have cabanas,

4 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

Ignore anyone telling you otherwise. You are allowed to do what you want with the onboard service charge (it's the new name for daily service charge). If you want to reduce the onboard service charge, go to the guest services desk and let them know you'd like to reduce the charge. They'll politely allow you to do this. 

 

As for other posters, well, they'll do what they wish too. Personally, I disagree with you about reducing the onboard service charge, but I'm not going to sit here and berate you for it. Your vacation. Your discretionary fee. Your choice. You do you. I'll do me. And the rest will continue to provide their opinion. That's the great thing about Cruise Critic. We all have lots and lots and lots of opinions. I hope you stick around and tell us all about your cruise! 

Great post.  Probably makes more sense than any response I have seen on this thread so far. 

I would only add that if you decide to go to guest services and decrease the tips (DSC) you are paying @ConcettaBonetta take in to consideration if you are on the 3rd and 4th passenger in the cabin sails free promo.  If you are not go for it. As @cruiseny4life said your choice. You do you.  I'll do me.

@KKB Enjoying your trip report.  The Familiar Strangers motown show in the theater first night of the cruise was for us the best entertainment we experienced on the ship.  As you pointed out they were indeed fantastic.  We tried to follow some of their shows later in the week but always had trouble for the four of us finding a place to sit.

Sorry you missed out on the vibe.  Don't know if you have ever did it before but it was well worth the $500 you saved .  I think Prima is coming back to Galveston next year so if you plan a return trip you may want to try it then.  It is very popular and for a warm weather cruises you will need to book as far in advance as possible.

We also ate at Los Lobos the next to last night on the cruise.  It was outstanding for us as well. Your TR is bringing back some pleasant memories.  Please continue when you have time.

9 hours ago, hallux said:

There is a small section of this area where smoking is allowed - Starboard side, tucked in next to the bar.  It shouldn't be a huge disruption.  If you go to the NCL FAQ you can see where the smoking area is for most of the ships in the fleet.

We have been in the Spice H2O on the Bliss. This small smoking area tucked away next to the bar permeates the entire  Spice H2O.  If you got anywhere close to the bar to order a drink the smoking stench will just about knock you down.

1 hour ago, jojo99 said:

So when we boarded we did go to guests services and spoke to the manager. Apparently the glitch was caused by the original itinerary being 7 days and it was changed to 10 days. Not sure when that happened but we booked the cruise 6 months ago so they had lots of time to tfigure things out. About a 100 people got cxld. We only booked the passes a month ago so others had priority I guess. Emailed corporate and got a canned response with the same info as original email. Comp is $25 per person. They also switched ports around last minute due to a holiday in Puerto Rico. Again how did thy not know this a long time ago! Other than that disappointment we are enjoying the cruise 

Man what  a screw up on NCL's part.  $25 per person does not sound like much skin off NCL's back for disappointing 100 or so by disallowing their vibe passes.  @jojo99 you have a great attitude under the circumstances.  Glad you are enjoying your cruise.  Hope NCL will reconsider and give all of you that were affected by this a little extra OBC.

When we booked our Escape cruise this coming December the rep with CAS said we could not book our vibe passes until 60 days before cruise. 

Later that day once cruise was booked I went to entertainment section on my reservation and there they were available to be booked almost a year out.  Needless to say I did not want to take a chance of not getting in the vibe so we paid and booked the vibe ourselves that day.

Sometimes you can't depend on others to do it for you.  You have to do it yourself.

We have always tipped hotel housekeepers.  They are among the hardest working and least appreciated and to not have the benefit of a DSC slush fund.

6 minutes ago, scar4711 said:

with free at sea plus aaaand my 2 platinum dinners, I do use one for Q.. Its passible enough... 

 

 

That's a good point.  If you are Platinum and get 4 SD's instead of 2 and you are on a ship that has Q its probably worth a shot to give Q a try.   If you only have the 2 from free at sea  maybe not.  

55 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

It’s not that bad.  It’s just not very good.

Food is subjective.  Just not very good is better than terrible.

1 hour ago, dock said:

Thank you for the advice. 
Went ahead and booked it.

You won't be disappointed. There are not many who have actually experienced the vibe that complain about it.  The flamers of the vibe are mainly people that have never paid extra for the vibe.  Maybe in some cases a few that slam the vibe to keep the demand down so that the price will quit going up and so that it will be easier for them to book.

6 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

Q was absolutely awful the one time we tried it. We'd never waste a SD credit on them ever again.

Fool me once...

Kinda how I feel about LeBistro.  Something about eating snails and duck livers that is not appealing to me.  And most recently Palomar.  Yuk...

@cruiseny4life Nice review.  I think everyone should try Q at least once.  It is really not that bad.  We also got the Pitmaster Platter.  I had forgotten what it was called.  

This thread is the gift that keeps on giving.  Really surprised mods have not nuked it yet.  It started out productive gradually evolving into nonsense.

13 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

There are two types of music on my NCL cruises.  The good stuff and the other crap that they play.🤣

 

disclaimer: yes, that was a joke, but not a very good one🤡

You must be in hog heaven today.  Today January 17th is Popeye the Sailor Man Day.  

30 minutes ago, dock said:

Would you book Vibe for Iceland/ Norway? 
Ambivalent as it will be cold, even in August but can’t justify Haven prices as cf to regular balcony so planning on Specialty dining every other night and now trying to decide on Vibe. 
Will be on Prima. Thank you. 

We have been on the Prima and booked the vibe and it was fantastic.  It goes all the way across the ship so will lend itself to outstanding viewing .  As far as booking the vibe on a cold weather itinerary we have not done that yet.  At first we probably would not consider it but after reading quite a few posts on cruise critic and FB I think we would do so now.

On a cold weather itinerary they have blankets and bring coffee and hot chocolate.  The infinity hot tubs are nice and never crowded.  We are planning on booking the vibe for are planned Alaska cruise next year.  Good luck to you.  If I were you I would go ahead and book the vibe.

We had it on the Bliss several years ago.  Considering you are getting it on a cruise ship and not able to smoke it yourself in your back yard we thought it was pretty good.   We each got a platter that had a little bit of everything.  This is also the place if I remember correctly had the banana pudding in a jar that was very good.  

As long as you are not expecting it to be as good as you can do yourself or as good as the best BBQ place where you live I think you will enjoy Q Texas Smokehouse.

What is interesting about tipping vs DSC is that the DSC has been around since at least 2002 according to a post I found on Cruise Critic from 2012 .  I googled "when did DSC replace tipping on cruise ships". The very first article I came to was a thread from cruise critic in 2012.  There were just as many diverse opinions as there are now.  The more things change the more they stay the same.

33 minutes ago, PartyPlannerLady said:

 

It isn't an opinion.  Pay someone ahead of time is not a tip.  It is a bribe and, having worked several jobs where tipping is common, it is rather insulting.

Except when it is a DSC.  The DSC came about as a replacement for tips.  When we started cruising 30 years ago we left envelopes for the cabin steward, the waiter, matre'd at the end of the cruise as a tip for services rendered. 

Not sure of the exact time when it started but NCL and others came up with the ingenious concept of the DSC.  It was meant at least in part to take the stress away from the tipping process.

They had to do something because cruises became more complex with the advent of drink packages, sit anywhere you want for dinner, specialty dinners, etc.   What they have did is fair IMO.   Most people really don't understand it.  Some feel they get bad service if they don't tip more. Or that the cabin steward is going to starve to death if they don't tip them an extra $50 at the end of the cruise.

The reality is that on a 7 day cruise once a cabin of 2 people pay their $20 per person DSC, their drink package 20%, and their specialty dinner gratuities, they are ponying up almost $700 for services rendered.  We have always for the most part had excellent service without feeling the need to tip more.  Should you tip more?  Up to you.  We do on occasion if the service rendered goes above and beyond. Regardless of where it is received.

As I mentioned earlier I would not be very good at designing the next NCL cruise ship.  But I would be very good at designing a new itinerary for them.

The closest two ports to where we live are NOLA and Galveston.   The only 7 day cruises offered from these two ports go to Cozumel, Costa Maya, Roatan, and Harvest Caye.  

I would gladly offer my services to help them go somewhere else on a 7 day cruise from either one of these ports.  We have been to Cozumel so many times that we only get off the ship to get our daily walk in.  Same way with the private island.  It is nice enough there but once you have been there done that a few times it makes more sense to us to stay on the ship with free food and free drinks.

I would like to see them leave out of Galveston or NOLA and take a more easterly route which might include something different like Key West,  Bahamas, the other private island Great Stirrup Caye, and back.  We like sea days so for us if we had one less port day and one more sea day that would work.

Or if there is not enough time to do this  substitute Tampa Bay for GSC.  I have looked all the way through 2025 and see no 7 day eastern route itineraries out of Galveston or NOLA.  There has to be some way they can make an eastern trip out of one of these two ports work.

54 minutes ago, luv2kroooz said:

Some cruise line pools are like small wading pools. However, many ships ( including some NCL ships) have multiple, large pools, as deep as 6-8 ft. So large, that we often see passengers swimming laps in the early AM or organized pool games, like Volleyball, being conducted as part of the daily programme. They certainly aren't Olympic sized, but I wouldn't use the words wading pools to describe them.

The infinity hot tubs in the vibe were almost as large as the Prima's main pool.  At least is seemed that way though we never spent any time there.  The vibe infinity hot tubs were definitely less crowded.  

6 minutes ago, Tenderpaw said:

Those balcony rooms are the best!  One of the nicest non-suite balconies we have had.  Nice chairs too, but ours had the reclining mechanism bolted in place.  I don't know if they all were, but I don't know why just ours would be.  I assume someone managed to hurt themselves reclining and sued the cruise line to ruin it for the rest of us.

Ours worked just fine.  Spent most mornings out there with a cup of coffee.  Great way to start the day before breakfast. 

I have no interest in helping to design the next NCL ship.  If I was I am sure there would probably be quite a few that would agree with my ideas.  But there would also be quite a few that would not.  Such is human nature.   We all value different things.  Trying to make everybody happy is an impossible task.

I think where the designers of the new Prima class ships went wrong was they tried to be all things to all people.  Because that is not possible many are left disappointed.  

Where they went right was indulge food court.  Great idea.  Rarely hear negative comments. They nailed the vibe.  Can't imagine what they could have done to make it any better.

We always stay in standard balcony rooms.  The standard balcony rooms were the best we have experienced on any ship.  They even upgraded the balcony chairs where they recline.