Pitzel

As a note, there are some pretty awesome public deck spaces on Prima that don't require Vibe access. There are some lovely padded loungers, lots of umbrellas and shade structures on the upper decks. Great for reading, if that is your thing. Also, tons of comfy padded loungers, seating, hammocks, etc. on deck 8 aft. Very rarely did we see these even close to full. I realize that seating isn't the only reason why people pick the Vibe, but the Prima has stepped up her public seating options.

Ironically, Away has a tote bag called the "Latitude Tote". I am surprised that NCL didn't pick that one!

You should be able to bring them onboard. You will not be allowed to take them back off with you, however.

You can purchase water to be delivered to your stateroom. This is often the most economical way, as those cartons are 1L cartons vs. the 1/2L cartons that are available at bars. Or, you can bring a refillable water bottle and fill it up at the buffet or other areas with beverage stations (like the observation lounge). Or, you can request glasses of ice water from any bar or restaurant.

I think they may have reduced or eliminated flowers onboard due to supply chain issues as well as sustainability issues. Pre-covid, suites used to come with a flower arrangement in the cabin. I believe that has been discontinued. Also, due to agricultural restrictions, you can't bring flowers back into the US, even if that is where they originated. Which means that you can't leave the ship and take the flower arrangement home with you. So, if you purchase flowers near your embarkation port, expect that you will need to leave those behind.

I should also mention that I mentioned $USD because we are from the US and that is what is easy for us (it is also the currency onboard NCL ships around the world). If you live in Europe, though, and you are sailing from Europe, you don’t need to go out of your way to convert € or £ to $USD. Crew onboard will gladly accept tips in any of these currencies. if you do use a currency other than USD, though, make sure to convert the guidelines that I provided (or that other posts might suggest) to that currency to make sure that you are not tipping more than you planned.

@Sthrngary Can you post the Butler Letter template? I think that was what @Ballwin Babe was asking for.

Your room steward is included as part of your Daily Service Charge (DSC), though you are welcome to tip more for exceptional service. The Butler and Concierge (or Assistant Concierge) are not part of the DSC and should be tipped separately. To determine an amount for each, you may want to factor in how many people are in your cabin, how much you utilize each of their services, and how much they contribute to your overall satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) on your cruise. In the past, we have had situations where we have not tipped the Concierge at all...because we never once used their services (no reservations, no special requests, no escorts to anything, nada!). In other cases, the Concierge has been fantastic and we might tip $5-20 per "interaction" depending on what was involved -- totalling about $75-100 for the cruise. For Butlers, we have tipped anywhere between $10-50+ per day for the cabin, depending on the service received and how they enhanced our cruise. For room stewards, it is not uncommon for us to tip an additional $20-100 for a week long sailing, over and above the DSC. Again, depending on the level of service that we receive. All of this to say, it is not uncommon for us to bring $500 or more in cash just for tips if we are staying in a suite for a week and expect to utilize all of the services available to us. BUT...there are no hard and fast rules on tipping on the ship and there are many, many, many threads on CC around tipping and LOTS of opinions on all ends of the spectrum. If you search a bit, you will read all sorts of recommendations. It is up to you to choose what you are comfortable tipping.

Thought that I would post my experience here since I had seen some prior posts saying that it took a long time for NCLH shareholder benefit requests to be honored. It took all of 16 hours for our request to go through! - Last night, around 11 pm, I emailed in my Shareholder Benefit request form along with the supporting documentation. - Within 5 minutes, I received an automated reply along with a case number, in case I needed to follow up on my request. - At 3 pm today, I got a reply from the Shareholder Benefit email address confirming that the request went through and that my OBC should now show in my account. - 2 minutes later, I got another email with a PDF amenities confirmation, showing that the OBC had posted to our booking.

Not all wines are available by the glass, which is why the discount sometimes comes in handy. If a wine is offered by the glass, typically you get a better deal that way with the basic FAS beverage package (since the first $15 of each glass is essentially covered).

If you have the basic FAS beverage package, you get 20% off of the price of the bottle.

We have sometimes stopped by a liquor/wine store once we arrive in our departure city so that we don't have to fly with the wine bottles.

When we were on the Prima in April, we splurged for the P+ package...and then found out that they were out of most of the "good" wines in many places. If you have particular tastes, it may behoove you to bring your own wine onboard (especially since the corkage fee is waived for those with FAS).

As a note, though -- the bunks store away flush into the ceiling and would only come down if you asked your room steward to lower it. If I were traveling with 2 or 3 people in a cabin, I wouldn't necessarily avoid one of those rooms. With the exception of the metal rectangle on the ceiling, you would never know that the extra bed was there.

If you are referring to the pullman bunks that come down from the ceiling, those are only in balcony cabins that accommodate 4 passengers. These are often denoted as "family" balcony staterooms, though you can check the deck plans to confirm. If you *absolutely* do not want a pullman bed, then look for balcony rooms that accommodate 3 passengers.

If you have items that shouldn't be dried, you can pay to have those items dry cleaned instead, but that may or may not be worth it to you, depending on the item. When cruising, I usually bring a small bottle of liquid detergent, small packages of powdered detergent (Like Tide Sink Packs), or individual detergent sheets. That way, if there are things that I want to hand wash, things that I need cleaned faster than the laundry service turn around time, or I get a stain on something, I can wash it in the sink and hang it to dry. In a pinch, I have also used the liquid hand soap or shampoo from the bathroom to wash an item or two.

I was going to say the same thing. As long as the ingredients are available and you are willing to do some planning ahead (asking the waiter or maitre d earlier in the day or the day before), you can get many things made for you in the Haven restaurant. Feel like a lobster roll and fries or a steak sandwich for dinner? You can probably get that. Want a different sauce for the chicken to mix it up? An entree salad? You can get those, too. My favorite ask that we have made in the past is to have Indian brought to us for dinner, which made for a lovely change of pace compared to most of the Western menu options. We had to arrange for this in advance, but it was worth the effort!

"If you want to destroy my sweater (whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa) Hold this thread as I walk away (as I walk away)" Now I have Weezer going through my head...

You may want to ask this question in the roll call for that sailing.

This wasn't just an NCL or even a cruise thing. Apparently, there was a HUGE cream cheese shortage in 2021-2022. https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming-news/dairy/tough-year-for-schmear-where-did-the-cream-cheese-shortage-come-from/article_573abcdc-b82c-5ceb-8fb5-a93ade3d31d0.html

Agree. You will get a much better, lengthier explanation there. The short answer is: Pre-existing conditions. Most policies require that you get insurance within 14 days of booking the cruise if you want to be able to cover for any pre-existing conditions. By putting the date in, they can show you (or not) policies that do or do not offer that coverage.

We noticed that as well. We were leery about submitting upgrade bids, since we had no guarantee of actually getting a hot tub if we won our bid!

On the Prima, there was a drink called the "Purple Potion" that was wonderful. It became my go-to non-alcoholic drink for the week. It may or may not be on the menu on the other ships, but you can certainly ask if it can be made elsewhere. The mojito bar would likely have most of the ingredients. There is also an Espresso Notini on the menu at the Local, which is a mocktail.

It may depend on the time of year. When we went in April, I am not sure that the public ferry was running yet. As such, the NCL ferry docked where you have the public ferry marked here. Realistically, though, these two points are VERY close to one another. Maybe 150-200 feet apart?