BrianLo

Take it with a grain of salt, but I asked the Spirit stage manager about this who said there are more original productions in the works to replace the shows that will likely roll our this year. More on a priority basis to the Breakaway vessels and onward. While it makes sense for NCL to not license shows. It doesn't really make sense to have their full production casts sitting around doing very little on 10-14 day cruises. They can be utilized for more entertainment. The strangest cut of the lot to me was Noise Boys. It didn't even last a year on Prima. Was it expensive or just didn't rate well with guests?

I would assume OP is specifically after an itinerary (?Africa). Dawn has truly some extremely exotic and varied options that are hard to replicate.

It may very well be the nature of the cruises I book, but I’ve had exactly one itinerary ever with NCL that has fully stuck. Which ironically was this one on the Bliss.

It could change, but I was never able to pre book Windows on the Spirit for this cruise. It also would not have been needed, so don’t sweat if the website is lying to you. Very easy to access and nice big venue.

‘cruise casual’ in all venues except Le Bistro after 5PM. So you are good! Which is defined as khakis, jeans, shorts, casual shirts, closed-toed shoes. No tank tops.

Onboard Spirt and I think still ‘the rule’, albeit I really doubt they’d turn away nice shorts. Specialty dining you’d stick out though.

That was my whole point, NCL is not playing in the same field as RCL anymore. Non-Caribbean and longer itinerary guests are generally stronger guests though. I’m not sure how they are both too expensive and too much of a bargain? The occupancy was just 106% last quarter. It will be soft due to Hawaiian and Middle East cancellations, but a death spiral seems to be a bit melodramatic…

The other place the ship is lengthened is at the Atrium/Public Pool deck. Pool is the same size relatively, way more sun lounger deck space and possibly less lost to the shadow of the race track. Inevitably a good amount of public spaces that people complain about are reasonably bigger (Public Pool Deck, Atrium sitting space, definitely The buffet, ?Indulge and ?The Local). I think all of those changes are largely what people were after. Other than Syd Norman's, if that is still a thing on this vessel.

Yes exactly. While the main dining room food cuts are what they are, it's also worth noting what type of experience Prima/Viva are offering between Hudson's (whose venue feels speciality) and Indulge Food Hall (which literally includes free speciality food). They don't receive enough credit that the food offerings are actually somewhat ahead of the fleet on their new ships. I think the answer to the older ships was clearly demonstrated in NCL Spirit. It seems like a smart use of capital as many, many people here keep identifying this ship as one of their favourites. That strategy was completely ruined by the pandemic, but I hope they get back to it for a few vessels as the balance sheet gradually improves over the coming years. A couple of the old ships will inevitably be let go, but the ones they want to keep another 10+ years deserve Spirit-like makeovers.

You know, I just want to make a comment that I'm not really sure this is the case per say. There seems to be a widening divide between the two of these lines, they definitely used to be really obvious comps. NCL is decidedly trying to swim up market, further reducing their focus on the Caribbean and are purposefully working towards longer length cruises with a wider variety of destinations. We see other targeted areas of focus like Solos on NCL and meanwhile RCL seems to digging in deeper to the family cruising with staterooms meant to accommodate. NCL continues to have most guests on some form of package. NCL is also kind of in the medium ship category while RCL is focusing on mega's and their land-based offerings. This is not an insult to RCL in the slightest, but I actually think Carnival and MSC are both trying to come up as well into RCL's current category. NCL is trying to become a Celebrity competitor.

Some more subtle changes I'm noticing. Much of them very addressable to Prima/Viva concerns. -I think the buffet looks reasonably enlarged. Certainly quite a bit wider to accommodate an extra lane of tables. "Food republic" is also noticeably chunkier and almost looks like it perhaps just is part of the buffet now. -The horrendously hidden entrance to Le Bistro has been moved and it now opens into the Metropolitan bar (and breaks up that huge wall of dead space the Viva half tried to fix with new artwork). It almost begs the question, was this not how it was supposed to be designed? -I don't know if the back end of Deck 19 is guest accessible. Obviously with the tracks gone it stands to be dramatically different, but even the deck layout itself is quite a bit more substantial. But perhaps just a crew area. -There's a bit too much unknown white space, but the layout of the Local is quite different. Almost seemingly to better integrate it into one larger open space and not two separate areas (it's basically pulling a Le Bistro). -Indulge is also hard to determine as there is so much white space, but it could be quite a bit bigger internally... or not at all. -The ship seems to be lengthened specifically in the atrium. The Atrium cut out itself is still the same size, but there is at least 50% more ground space. All the guest services, cruise next, shore excursions are logically side by side and not randomly spread out on different floors. I suspect there will be noticeably more places to sit on all three levels of the atrium. While the opening is relatively smaller, the size of the ocean windows will be significantly elongated. Finally, I don't think the Comedy Club and Syd Normans have really enlarged all that much. If they are the same venues. Maybe a little bigger in the comedy club. I know the request here was to double their sizes...

I like the race track too, but I think it was becoming overdone. At least Prima/Viva have the definitive version, otherwise I don't think they should have carried it over from the Breakaway ships. It could have been more of a class defining feature. It was time to move on since it's such a top deck hog of space for something that needs to be outside for necessity but doesn't really take advantage of precious outdoor space on these somewhat smaller ships.

I also want to support that I was more recently on the Star end of September and clearly there had been some sufficient kitchen crew turnover or something because the food was quite different than Yvonne's experience. I don't think that could be fully attributable to being non-Vegetarian as I had plenty of Vegetarian dishes that were unrecognizable to what she experienced. Theoretically there should be general uniformity across the fleet, so clearly there was a lack of quality control and pride coming out of the kitchen with that particular makeup of crew several months ago, that she was experiencing.

I read all the post too! Currently finishing up on the Star. Had very low expectations for food and it’s been surprisingly good. I wonder if there’s been sufficient crew turnover in the kitchen. Or just a function of not being vegetarian. Like everything though the crew changeover probably makes or breaks the experience.

Aren’t the majority of their cancelled shows in house productions? I actually don’t know this with confidence, but what the world needs now seemed very in house to me. Just a review of some Burt Bacharach songs. Swing, World Beat, Velvet, Showdown I all thought were also just in house things. With only footloose and SIX being the odd ones out.

On an unrelated note I am equally ‘eager’ to hear about replacements. Six and Footlose were probably cost driven. But how does NCL save money getting rid of What the World Needs Now on the Star? The production cast still has two other shows - I assume they aren’t being paid Fee for Service. I assume this is true of all the other older ship shows too. I just saw What the World Needs Now. It’s likely cancelled because it’s easily the most ancient feeling of the three production numbers and likely has the worst guest reviews. But I doubt it was canceled to save on a few costumes and give their cast an extra day off.

Maybe so! But what makes this sound different than Deal or No Deal that 99% of you are convinced it’s going to be in the evening production slot? I acknowledge Price is Right seems to be muddying the waters. But in its defense I enjoyed that quite a bit. My gut reaction was exactly the same until I saw the picture and heard they are selling cards. It’s exactly Deal or No Deal in a different skin.

This thread is a bit dramatic (hysteric). There are two types of game shows NCL does. Those as entertainment that are replacements for a show in the evening in the theatre. These are Price is Right and Press your Luck. They have full sets, staging and are free. Then you have bingo replacements, deal or no deal is one. They DO NOT replacement evening entertainment. Tend to be run around 3PM, have a cost, much like Bingo, starting at 29$ or 59$ for a triplicate package. Based on available evidence (the cost, revenue manager, the roll out to basically every ship and the lack of physical wheel), this is the latter. Therefore it is not replacing anything (other than maybe a day of scheduled Bingo). I’m sorry everyone’s day of Bingo was replaced.

I assume the answer is no, but cannot see anything specifically to the contrary. NCL the answer is yes, so figured it was still worth asking. Can the onboard offer for the OBC/deposit be applied to an already booked existing reservation? Particularly if the pricing hasn't changed? Or is exclusively only able to be applied to new reservations. Looking at a 2025 itinerary, but I'd rather secure the price now than roll the dice by waiting for my February 2024 sailing.

Quality is in the eye of the beholder. Having said when I personally said RCL entertainment was better does not make NCL's bad, far from it. What NCL has is high quality, there is just a little bit less of it right now. Unfortunately, in this exact moment, we exist in a strange bubble where most ships in the NCL fleet are down one of their core three headline shows. Replacements will help bring it up, but none have yet been announced. The intimate dueling pianos, cavern club or Syd's are also excellent. But most RCL ships have a true larger scale pop-off that isn't quite matched by NCL. Whether that be Two70, the skating rinks +/- the aqua shows. Not to be minimized, but RCL continues to generally always have a small orchestra attached to the theatre, which even helps a bit with the one-off traveling secondary acts. Which have to otherwise sing along to pre-recorded tracks when they appear on NCL. I also find the daytime entertainment programming on RCL is a little stronger, even if that just means more trivia. Finally, not the fault of NCL (it's a pro), but RCL tend to run shorter itineraries so what entertainment they have ultimately 'locked in' gets more concentrated. Really making it seem like more available per day. It's not a criticism, but NCL can't do everything better than RCL. In my opinion of course!

I'm also sad it's ending. Do we have to wait until BC's March break, or do you have something closer-in planned next?

I agree with others. RCL is the standard bearer for mass market, high quality, high tech, family ships. They remain poised to continue to own that market. NCL was like RCL, but recently they seem to be trying to swim a bit more upstream to Celebrity. The Prima vessels and the Spirit overhaul both demonstrate how NCL is trying to move towards a bit of a higher class and slightly less mass market. RCL I find the entertainment and activities generally are higher quality. Though for a moment you could see two broadway/west end like productions on a ship like Bliss, but RCL ensures there is almost always three baked in headline productions on every ship, if not more. NCL advantages are definitely itinerary driven. RCL I feel offers almost exclusively mass market itineraries, in this regard NCL is more like Celebrity. I would like to sail RCL more than I do, but find myself too itinerary driven and wind up almost always finding a superior option with NCL. Food is subjective and both have faced some cuts. Generally I find RCL MDR < NCL MDR < NCL Specialty < RCL Speciality. Though very ship specific. Celebrity is going to have better food. Though the newest Prima class really steps up the free included food in a surprising and positive way. NCL simply has more choice and way more diversity of speciality restaurants. RCL has a much stronger loyalty program, though one of its key tenants (drinks) is sort of baked into NCL. Unlike Celebrity, NCL's Free at Sea really is baked in. If you drop it out the savings are not as significant. Celebrity I felt like is merely just a trick to get you to buy the drink package upfront rather than true subsidized savings. Pricing wise I honestly find because of some of the itinerary diversity you can land some pretty great deals on NCL. NCL constantly have price drops closer in and I've experienced significant savings with them. They are much more flexible with repricing without dropping promos. NCL are also significantly more solo cruiser friendly and perhaps industry leading on that regard.

Wow this shocks me. What are you counting as a missed port, just a same day miss? I feel like I'm batting a 'missed port' once per cruise on average.

Honestly, they dropped that sandwich/plate of food on the floor. That's really the only logical explanation unless I'm misunderstanding and you deconstructed it partially yourself. I'm on the Star next this Fall... but at least I follow it up with the Spirit.

No that was two sailings later. The TA had the refund, but the weather was rough and I think the port cancellations happened essentially on the days x2 in a row. The subsequent cruise Isjafordur was replaced with another night in Reykjavik and Akureyri was cancelled, but it was 'announced' as a schedule change hand out as part of check in. No FCC was offered. This cruise had the comedy club closed and the other dining room closed as it was booked for a private function the entire time. The cruise after that I assume at least something was cancelled ?Isjafordur, but that was the sailing with the closed observation lounge. Prima's had a rough go.