Mike A

Last week there was a $100 statement credit with $500 NCL spend offer on my AMEX Platinum card. I made a deposit on two suites and had the $100 statement credit within 5 minutes. 

As I stated earlier in the thread, I absolutely believe the dividers help and should be closed. In fact, I also think all ships should have sprinklers on every balcony too. All I was doing in the previous post was pointing out the fact the Pacific Adventure was originally a Princess ship that had sprinklers on all balconies, and that sprinklers probably helped with the extinguishing of the fire.

11 hours ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

Princess does have sprinklers on every balcony on every ship. Not every cruise ship can claim the same. 

 

Last year, there was a balcony fire on P&O Australia's Pacific Adventure....

 

 

...that started shortly after 3am. If the dividers had been open, the fire could have spread more quickly. 

The Pacific Adventure, was originally the Golden Princess and transferred by Carnival Corp. from Princess to P&O Australia. It's, Grand Class sister was the Star Princess whose fire on the balcony is the reason why all Princess ships have balcony sprinklers and as such The Pacific Adventure has them and helped prevent the fire from spreading.

9 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

FWIW. Why does it matter. Policy is policy. Not for you to debate. 
 

I can bring an extension cord for a cpap onto a NCL ship. I am prohibited from doing it on a Royal ship. Policy. 

@BirdTravels I was not debating policy between cruise lines. In fact, I agree with NCL's stance. I was just asking why Princess would allow the partitions to be opened, given the fact that Princess had the fire on the Star Princess, which started on a balcony and spread from there.

@ChiefMateJRK You and I think alike 😄

FWIW…It is allowed on Princess. I’ve done it with no questions. Therefore why does PCL allow the balcony doors open especially since they had the Star Princess fire but they still allow opening of the balcony doors.?

22 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Dockyard views also get you better phone reception for the 3 days you're in port. I have had poor/no service facing out toward the bay. 

@BirdTravels First off I just want to say how much I love your “Live From’s” and all you contribute to Cruise Critic.
I did not notice the difference in cell service when we were on the Joy in 2022. However the wi-fi left alot to be desired. I hope Starlink on the Prima will be better when we sail in April 2025. FWIW we have 2 SJ suites on deck 10 of the Prima.  One on Port. One on Starboard. I will make sure to compare and report how the cell service works while on the ship. 

This evening the Breakaway is docked on the Port side. You can see the ship live on the Bermuda PTZ webcam. Frankly I have seen the NCL ships dock more often on the Port side rather than the Starboard. However, tides, wind, currents, and other operational needs go into the decision with every sailing. I have also seen ships spin around from Port to Starboard mid port stop to drop the Lifeboats for maintenance. To answer your question about what is best, do you want to see the dockyard and fortress or see the rest of the Bermuda islands in the distance. Personally I like the dockyard views to watch the ship dock and the sail away with the pier runners LOL. 

Either way you can’t go wrong. Happy Sailing 🙂

@complawyer Back in 2012 we did a 2 Bedroom Family Suite in the Jewel, without the Haven. We loved every minute of it. I've been dying to do this again. Finally, the cost made sense, given we are going on Easter Week. I could not believe the small difference between the Family Club we were going to take and the Non-Haven Suites. It was a no brainer. I thank you for the kind words and I look forward to all your contributions as well as the other posters on the NCL board. While I only have 600+ posts, I have been a member from the old AOL days, I am very much a lurker and am on the boards daily when I am planning a cruise. Thanks again and Happy Cruising🙂

@RosieRoo Thanks for confirming. @Seas2mountains I agree my questions were answered so let’s close it 🙂 FWIW…I did get a good deal on these 2 cabins. Just slightly higher than Family Club Suites. I couldn’t turn it down. 

@RosieRoo Thank you !!! One question, do the Suite passengers have the ability to have breakfast at Cagney? if so we will be thrilled. Thanks again!!!

@complawyer Thank you so much. That is what I was hoping🙂

Hello all, my family has booked 2 Family Master Bedroom Suites on the Prima out of NY sailing on 4/20/2025. 

I have some questions/comments: My understanding is that these Suites, do come with a Butler and Concierge even though these are not Haven Suites. My understanding is we will get all the perks of the Butler and Concierge, My questions are

• Will we be check in on the Haven Line and are escorted on the ship by the concierge in NY with the Haven Guests?
• Will we receive snacks and Hord'ovres in the room each day?
• I know that there are the tubes going through the balcony's. Based on the pictures I saw I chose the 2 suites on Deck 11 as that appeared to have the least obstruction. Does anyone have any comments
• Any other things I need to know about the Non-Haven Suite Life on the Prima?

I thank my cruise critic friends in advance, and I look forward to hearing back from you

@YVRteacherThank you so much for the wonderful daily update of your two cruises. It was a must read every day and I will miss it. The pictures were magnificent, and I felt like I was traveling with you. 

On another note, I am a long-time lurker (since 2000) of both the Princess and NCL boards. it was great to see the posts from the NCL cruisers like @mking8288 alongside of the Princess regulars. I personally love both cruise lines and both have their strengths and weaknesses, even from one ship to another as you experienced. Have a great trip home. God speed and I look forward to the review of your next cruise. 

Thank you Ken for letting us join you on this wonderful trip. I look forward to following you on the next🙂

I am looking forward to and will be following  🙂

12 minutes ago, Seafan22 said:

I was told that the tag that had a color on them were all the same for each ship; and were done that way in ports where multiple ships were disembarking, to make help cue luggage handlers pulling bags out of taxis so they did not send luggage to the wrong ship.  

NCL still does the same thing for that reason.

I just received the email for my 4/21/25 Mediterranean cruise on the Majestic Princess. I will investigate once I am able to get into the Princess website as I am getting the “unavailable” message which I get more often than not☹️

On 7/18/2024 at 11:12 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

Then it was time to head back to the ship.

 

 

@Ken the cruiser First off, I want to thank you for the labor of love that you have put into your Live From. I have followed it each day and have loved your words and pictures. That being said, the picture above from Stavanger brings back many memories. I vividly remember walking on that pier when I was 9 years old to board our T/A sailing on the Oslofjord on 7/29/1965 for my family's return home to New York from Norway. The Oslofjord was docked at the same place as the Sky Princess. As much as things change, they stay the same. Many thanks!!! 🙂

40 minutes ago, cruise4mom said:

Not on all ships. Our last cruise last May was only glasses no cans.

Which ship were you on? Also was it May 2024 or 2023?

My membership organization has a bar. Princess may be experiencing what we are here with fountain soda in New York. The traditional tanks with syrup are being eliminated and a new system is being implemented with box syrup and a different type of carbonation tanks. As a result, there is an expense to change over. On top of that the system is more expensive to maintain and there is more waste. As a result, we are changing to cans/bottles. Princess may be doing the same as it may be cheaper.

Regarding Facebook, I lurk there often. I do find many uniformed also. However, the # of 1st time cruisers is substantially higher than on CC and the responders are not as informed. I find I am correcting many people or answering questions with the information I have received here on CC.

On the Royal Class Ships (which Sky Princess is a part of), the Reserve Class Dining Rooms have been on Deck 6 Mid Ship with a Port Side entrance. For example, on the Majestic Princess they are using Concerto with a Port Side entrance.

19 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

700 kids!   Wow!!!

We do not cruise during 'family' vacation times.

I tried Princess CHAT to ask how many kids are booked on our next sailing.  Said they didn't have the info.  We have asked our TA, and are waiting of find out.

Back in 2019 we were on the Anthem of the Seas out of NY over Presidents Day break. Per the Hotel General Manager, they had 1,700+ kids out of 4,800 on the sailing. They were remarkably well behaved. There was only one young boy who was always at the self-serve Coca-Cola machine playing havoc. The bigger issue was at Disneyworld on Presidents Day. At 8:30 AM I never saw a crowd like that in my life LOL.

11 minutes ago, 67Chevy2 said:

I tried that…it shows what the cruise line offered but not my TA’s credit. I was told it will show up once on board. I really wish I could book excursions ahead of time using the TA’s OBC but I can’t.

My TA Credit shows up 1-2 weeks prior to the cruise, on the cruise line website, as promised on the documentation I receive from TA. That has been my experience on Princess, Norwegian and Royal Caribbean

The price for Plus is the same regardless of age. We are taking our Grandchildren on our next cruise, and they are paying full price. Don't forget that Plus does include the Crew Appreciation, Non-Alcohol Drinks, Wi-Fi as well as many other items that if purchased ala carte, when added up would cost significantly more.