NCL Prima - Observation Lounge closed for the entire cruise

[luv2kroooz]

48 minutes ago, robinium said:

It is not sensationalised, the staff running the bar actually told us that, as another couple standing next to us complained about the sound. Also, it was running for quite a long time today. 
 

Those staff have been up there all day, every day for the entire cruise listening to passengers complaining about the issue with the lounge, and on top of that, they’ve been listening to loudly broadcast, pretentious cr*p in the background for a significant portion of each day (more than 2 hours, I assure you). It’s reasonable to believe they’d be a bit disgruntled. 

Oh, ok. I am onboard with complaining about the sounds and the poor staff having to field complaints all day. I misinterpreted your comment to be that art auctions were happening all day.

[kitkat343]

I'm really sorry this happened on this particular cruise, given the absolute beauty of Norway and the fact that you may be among the  last of the megaships that get to experience the sail in to Geiranger (Norway is limiting future cruise ships to zero emission ships in the heritage fjords by 2026, which includes both Geiranger and Flam).  

 

On my Cunard sailing, there were only 12 children so the kids club staff took the kids outside during the Geiranger sail away to see the 7 sister waterfalls, which I thought was really nice of them.  I'm glad NCL issued you the credit and hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise. 

Edited June 10, 2023 by kitkat343

[PATRLR]

Thoughts after reading this thread:

The OL is a difference maker on a cold weather itinerary.  I'd choose an NCL ship with OL over other line's ships, primarily for the OL.  If the OL was then closed for the duration, I'd be very, very upset.

I was shocked to learn that there are people who buy so much of that "art" that they get invited back on free cruises.  Wow. 

Kudos to NCL for acknowledging that the other passengers were getting screwed and doing something to compensate. I suspect someone, somewhere went a bit rogue by allowing PW to use the OL.  

 

[UKstages]

i'm coming late to this thread, as i've just returned home from a B2B on the prima, followed by a short land-based vacation. i'm glad things worked out here, more or less, and some compensation was provided. i've already written extensively about my (mis)adventures on the first leg of my prima B2B, my contact with corporate and with the GM's office, and any resolution (or lack thereof) provided.

 

there are a few things i'd like to comment on regarding this situation, which has some similarities to my own.

 

on the may 25th prima sailing out of reykjavik, the second leg of my B2B, they closed the commodore room for a "private function" for almost the entire duration of the ten-day cruise. the commodore room is the smaller of the two MDRs on the prima. there was a group onboard of only 125 people, yet many of them required or preferred ethnic cuisine and the ship decided to make that dining room available as an option to the members of this group. as it happens, many in this group decided to eat elsewhere and the commodore room remained relatively empty for most meals. that, in my opinion, caused crowding and more demand on the already taxed MDR and buffet. (i'm currently writing a review of my 21 days onboard the prima and i'll have more to say about this group in that report.)

 

i actually had pre-booked reservations for the commodore room for three nights and when i arrived the first night, i was told "sorry, sir. please try hudson's" (the other, larger MDR.) i didn't care much about the inconvenience, it was inconsequential, but i really did want to try the commodore room... just because it's a new ship and i wanted to experience all the venues; i had not tried it on the first cruise because i knew i'd have the chance on the second leg.

 

ironically, and relevant to this discussion, the commodore room was the location for most of the park west auctions throughout the cruise.  it can accommodate dozens of people in a reconfigured theatre-style setting. it's a smaller, less posh venue than the observation lounge, but based on reports of the the thin attendance at this VIP auction, it probably would have worked just as well.

 

based on my experience on the prima, i'd say corporate (miami) has no idea what's going on in any individual venue, nor should they. those decisions are made by and negotiated by the operating teams onboard.

 

On 6/8/2023 at 2:23 PM, robinium said:

The guest services manager phoned my cabin this evening to inform me that my email to NCL Corporate had been received and passed to him. 

 

was it the guest services manager?

 

as i wrote recently on cruise critic when i experienced a series of customer service gaffes, there are a lot of people posing on the prima as authority figures that they are not. the guest services manager as of last week was a woman named raquel. (and when i spoke to her, she said she was the assistant to the GM or the assistant GM... it was never really clear.) perhaps there has been a staff change. but i was surprised to read the the guest services manager was a man.

 

On 6/8/2023 at 4:48 PM, Cruising Lynne said:

Prima does not have a good space to have this event. ...I remember when ships used to have meeting rooms that could be used without disrupting anyone.

 

interestingly, in answer to an audience question in a senior officers presentation in the prima theatre on my B2B, the GM addressed why the prima has no meeting rooms and card rooms. he said everything had been rethought on the prima and that when they looked at the data from other ships, those spaces... meeting rooms, libraries, card rooms and such... were under utilized or not used at all. and they decided, with  the prima class ships, that they could have their restaurants and clubs serve double duty... and that those traditional spaces were no longer needed.

 

(i happen to disagree, but they never asked me.)

 

i think this is an example of the pigheadedness that went into the design of the prima. the execs got together and decided stuff, but never really field tested it. and now that the prima has been sailing for the better part of a year, they have actual feedback on what does and doesn't work, but they're stickin' to their guns and not changing much... except for introducing rotating menus.

 

10 hours ago, dexddd said:

From experience, the 20% off will be off base fare and an amount that will be hard to figure out and will be the lowest you'd normally calculate.

 

they offered all passengers 25% comp in the form of FCC on the first leg of my B2B due to a couple of missed ports, and the wording was the same as on the letter included in this thread. earlier this week, a 25% FCC "coupon" was dropped into my account. and i still don't understand what it represents. FCC is usually expressed as a dollar value. this is a 25% coupon. 25% off a future cruise? then why is it a "credit?" 25% off what i paid for the cruise for which they are providing service recovery? i have no idea.

 

also of note about that letter... the captain appears to be new to the ship. our captain (just last week) was kevin bellido.

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by UKstages

[insidecabin]

4 hours ago, UKstages said:

on the may 25th prima sailing out of reykjavik, the second leg of my B2B, they closed the commodore room for a "private function" for almost the entire duration of the ten-day cruise. the commodore room is the smaller of the two MDRs on the prima. there was a group onboard of only 125 people, yet many of them required or preferred ethnic cuisine and the ship decided to make that dining room available as an option to the members of this group. as it happens, many in this group decided to eat elsewhere and the commodore room remained relatively empty for most meals. that, in my opinion, caused crowding and more demand on the already taxed MDR and buffet. (i'm currently writing a review of my 21 days onboard the prima and i'll have more to say about this group in that report.)

Was that particular cuisine potentially of interest to everyone?

 

There is not much we don't eat and one of the attractions of NCL is the variety and choice of food options.

.

One more would be welcome even if it was a once off just to try and we did not like enough.

 

Not sure the capacity of Commodore but if not being used by the 125 why not just open it to reservations or walk up to anyone when it was clear the place was not being utilised.

 

if very different they would have had to get provisions that are potentially going to waste i not usable elsewhere.

 

 

[insidecabin]

5 hours ago, UKstages said:

they offered all passengers 25% comp in the form of FCC on the first leg of my B2B due to a couple of missed ports, and the wording was the same as on the letter included in this thread. earlier this week, a 25% FCC "coupon" was dropped into my account. and i still don't understand what it represents. FCC is usually expressed as a dollar value. this is a 25% coupon. 25% off a future cruise? then why is it a "credit?" 25% off what i paid for the cruise for which they are providing service recovery? i have no idea.

 

also of note about that letter... the captain appears to be new to the ship. our captain (just last week) was kevin bellido.

 

This is what my coupons looks like,  I am expecting the 10% to be off any new booking(base fare only not the tax,grats,FAS elements.

 

10% Off Discount Future Cruise Credit

xxxxxxxx

10% Off

 

the cash ones are listed as cruise credit certificate,  and cruisenext

I also have a Just for you specific cruise region 20%

I have no idea why I have the % ones  the cash one is from Star drink gate issue. 

[insidecabin]

Could not load the letter on my phone but now on the PC can.

 

they have wrapped multiple issues into the refund/compensation, .

 

Problems embarking, itinerary changes and OL.

 

To me it is not clear how much is the OL issue.

 

[robinium]

1 hour ago, insidecabin said:

Could not load the letter on my phone but now on the PC can.

 

they have wrapped multiple issues into the refund/compensation, .

 

Problems embarking, itinerary changes and OL.

 

To me it is not clear how much is the OL issue.

 

The OL was the primary gripe, I can assure you. The others are being wrapped in to please the highest number of passengers based on what their individual inconveniences were. 
 

For context, the boarding process was delayed due to IT issues, meaning passengers had to wait around for a couple of extra hours in Southampton port (or were free to leave for lunch and come back) before boarding. When all was said and done, we only departed the port 30 minutes late. Nothing major, and not something I expect they’d typically give a fairly generous 20% off FCC for. 
 

The itinerary change was a cancellation of the stop in Isafjordur, but that was due to the port authorities carrying out construction work to allow larger ships to dock, which NCL were assured would be complete in time for these Prima itineraries, but has not finished on time. This isn’t something that NCL can control, so again, I’d be surprised at them offering generous compensation for this issue. 

[ontheweb]

48 minutes ago, robinium said:

.

The itinerary change was a cancellation of the stop in Isafjordur, but that was due to the port authorities carrying out construction work to allow larger ships to dock, which NCL were assured would be complete in time for these Prima itineraries, but has not finished on time. This isn’t something that NCL can control, so again, I’d be surprised at them offering generous compensation for this issue. 

That is interesting. I've been asking for a while about Isafjordur. NCL lists it as not a tender port, but everything I have read seems to say it is except for very small ships, plus the person in charge of the private tour we have booked for there says to meet "where the tenders come in". What you wrote seems to explain that apparent contradiction.

 

I don't suppose anyone knows when the work is supposed to be completed. Ours is the first cruise in August from London (Southampton) that goes there.

[DMP609]

22 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

That is interesting. I've been asking for a while about Isafjordur. NCL lists it as not a tender port, but everything I have read seems to say it is except for very small ships, plus the person in charge of the private tour we have booked for there says to meet "where the tenders come in". What you wrote seems to explain that apparent contradiction.

 

I don't suppose anyone knows when the work is supposed to be completed. Ours is the first cruise in August from London (Southampton) that goes there.

I have no information on when the construction will be done, but I find it interesting that the other cruiselines are still visiting Isafjordur. Celebrity Apex visited yesterday and that ship is larger than the Prima. They did have to tender. I hope NCL isn't cancelling this port just because they have to tender.

[insidecabin]

Just now, DMP609 said:

I have no information on when the construction will be done, but I find it interesting that the other cruiselines are still visiting Isafjordur. Celebrity Apex visited yesterday and that ship is larger than the Prima. They did have to tender. I hope NCL isn't cancelling this port just because they have to tender.

 When did they inform passengers?

They would have know for ages the dock was not going to be ready.

 

Probably another breach of ABTA code of conduct.

[robinium]

20 minutes ago, DMP609 said:

I have no information on when the construction will be done, but I find it interesting that the other cruiselines are still visiting Isafjordur. Celebrity Apex visited yesterday and that ship is larger than the Prima. They did have to tender. I hope NCL isn't cancelling this port just because they have to tender.

This is very interesting information, I will actually contact NCL corporate again about this info. 
 

They told us day 1 of the cruise (via an announcement and a new itinerary at check in) that it was “not possible to dock” due to the work not being finished as mentioned previously, so they are cancelling the visit. 
 

Sounds now like they just didn’t want to bother to tender. They used the sea walk (avoiding tendering) at Geiranger too. 

[robinium]

20 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

 When did they inform passengers?

They would have know for ages the dock was not going to be ready.

 

Probably another breach of ABTA code of conduct.

At check in via a new itinerary. Given they just cruised this route in reverse prior to our cruise starting, surely they knew in advance. 
 

I will be incorporating all of this in additional correspondence with corporate now, mentioning ABTA. 

[DMP609]

3 minutes ago, robinium said:

This is very interesting information, I will actually contact NCL corporate again about this info. 
 

They told us day 1 of the cruise (via an announcement and a new itinerary at check in) that it was “not possible to dock” due to the work not being finished as mentioned previously, so they are cancelling the visit. 
 

Sounds now like they just didn’t want to bother to tender. They used the sea walk (avoiding tendering) at Geiranger too. 

Thank you for what you have done for your fellow passengers as well as those yet to come. Here is the post where I saw the Apex tendered. See post 631.

 

[UKstages]

4 hours ago, insidecabin said:

Was that particular cuisine potentially of interest to everyone?

it is of interest to me, and to many others, judging by comments here on cruise critic; some consider it among the best cuisines on the ship. it is available every day in two other venues on the prima.

 

1 hour ago, robinium said:

The itinerary change was a cancellation of the stop in Isafjordur, but that was due to the port authorities carrying out construction work to allow larger ships to dock, which NCL were assured would be complete in time for these Prima itineraries, but has not finished on time. This isn’t something that NCL can control, so again, I’d be surprised at them offering generous compensation for this issue. 

that old chestnut?

 

the “port hasn’t yet been dredged and restored” excuse is what we were told on both legs of our B2B on which isafjordur was skipped. at the time, they said they were hopeful it would be ready by the time the may 25th cruise departed. they were told by the port that they needed just a little more time. that was three weeks ago.
 

is it true? it may well be. it might not be. the point is that NCL (of which i am indeed a fan) bends and distorts the truth so often, they have lost all credibility. the observation lounge wasn’t really closed for a private function for the duration of the cruise! it’s like that other current thread in which somebody mentions their cabin wasn’t cleaned properly on embarkation day… if there are leftover dailies and the fridge hasn’t been emptied… why would one feel confident that the sheets on the bed have been changed? if NCL lied about the purpose and duration of the OL closure, why wouldn’t they lie about a port closure?

[robinium]

I have emailed NCL corporate regarding the cancelled Isafjordur port asking for clarification as to whether the captain’s statement that it was “impossible to dock” and thus we had to cancel the stop was correct, or if it was actually the case that NCL did not want to absorb the additional cost and effort of operating the stop via tender. 
 

I have also asked why this was not communicated in advance of the cruise, and why the cruise continued to be advertised and sold on NCL’s website as including the stop in Isafjordur, when NCL were aware of this information weeks ago, as prior Prima voyages experienced the same issue. 
 

We will see what happens. I imagine corporate are getting fed up with me by now! 😅

Edited June 11, 2023 by robinium

[FlGoodShips]

On 6/8/2023 at 11:58 AM, RocketMan275 said:

This is one of the very few instances where I would consider reducing/eliminating the DSC. 

I would make it very clear why I was doing so.

Shame on you.

The crew that receive this are NOT the ones that made this decision.

Why are you going to punish them?? 

Please rethink this choice. Thank you.

[RocketMan275]

21 minutes ago, FlGoodShips said:

Shame on you.

The crew that receive this are NOT the ones that made this decision.

Why are you going to punish them?? 

Please rethink this choice. Thank you.

No, I won't rethink this.  The cruise line must make  up any shortfalls in  the DSC so this action won't harm the crew, it will only harm the cruise line.  Perhaps if the cruise line is hurt financially, they won't pull this stunt again.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

No, I won't rethink this.  The cruise line must make  up any shortfalls in  the DSC so this action won't harm the crew, it will only harm the cruise line.  Perhaps if the cruise line is hurt financially, they won't pull this stunt again.

But will there really be a shortfall compared to the minimum they are required to receive because of your withholding tips? Maybe so if you could organize a mass withholding, but I really doubt anything you could do by yourself would have any negative effect on the cruise line, only on the hardworking staff.

[RocketMan275]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

But will there really be a shortfall compared to the minimum they are required to receive because of your withholding tips? Maybe so if you could organize a mass withholding, but I really doubt anything you could do by yourself would have any negative effect on the cruise line, only on the hardworking staff.

My proposed reduction in the DSC would be so minimal as to be unnoticeable in the amount recieved by the crew.  It would however be noticed by the cruise line.  

[ontheweb]

6 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

My proposed reduction in the DSC would be so minimal as to be unnoticeable in the amount recieved by the crew.  It would however be noticed by the cruise line.  

That is contradictory. It would be so little that the cruise line would not notice it. They are used to passengers from countries that do not have a tip culture often taking away tips. Yours would just be one more, not enough to notice.

[RocketMan275]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

That is contradictory. It would be so little that the cruise line would not notice it. They are used to passengers from countries that do not have a tip culture often taking away tips. Yours would just be one more, not enough to notice.

Usually, one does not have to give a reason for changing the DSC, but you can.  The cruise line monitors those resons.  A number of changes citing the OL fiasco would send a message.  

[ontheweb]

1 minute ago, RocketMan275 said:

Usually, one does not have to give a reason for changing the DSC, but you can.  The cruise line monitors those resons.  A number of changes citing the OL fiasco would send a message.  

Now we are talking something different, " a number of" as opposed to just you doing it.

[RocketMan275]

3 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Now we are talking something different, " a number of" as opposed to just you doing it.

Besides that, I posted that about removing the DSC prior to the cruise lines admission and offer of consideration.  After that, there would be no need to remove the DSC. 

[podgeandrodge]

No point in blaming Park West on this anyway. They are just a group trying to sell "art" (beauty is in the eye of the beholder 🙂 ), and are going to take the best space they can get that NCL are willing to provide. NCL made the decision to take away a popular public spot, and paid the price.

 

The best thing here is that NCL have written down that closing off a public space like the observation lounge is something that must be compensated for. Precedence and all that, hopefully. I'm sure people would prefer the access to remain though instead. 

 

Some strange decisions going on these days with NCL, what with having to make clarifications "on further investigation..." with regard to drinks, and closing off this area without thinking "this won't go down well!"

 

I wonder do NCL pay active attention to these boards at all or is that somewhat naive to think.