Balcony Hot Tubs on Viva

[Spicer312]

42 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

If I paid extra for a feature, hot tub or otherwise, and then found out the feature I was paying extra for wasn't going to be included in what I paid for, I know I would cancel and book something didn't include the feature. 

I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't cancel and rebook something that didn't include the feature they were paying extra for.

Unfortunately I did not realize about the hot tub until all my other choices were sold out.  I actually had a Haven aft with out a hot tub, I decided what the heck I’ll upgrade, only to find out about the hot tub debacle.  Like someone mentioned earlier if it would’ve had a pop up stating the hot tub could be limited or something, I most likely would’ve stayed in my first choice room. Again it will  be a spectacular room, I’m still hoping we get a chance to use the hot tub on sail away 😃. 

[zqvol]

1 hour ago, sansroof said:

Why are you so condescending to everyone? 

Because she knows everything, at least in her mind

[PATRLR]

50 minutes ago, Spicer312 said:

Unfortunately I did not realize about the hot tub until all my other choices were sold out.

Of course there will always be extenuating circumstances.  My comments were more directed to Bird's over-generalization.

[Sailing12Away]

21 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

First, no one is going to book a room because of a hot tub on the balcony and cancel if there is not one there. It is just an extra feature of the room. 

Good golly, just stop. Stop telling other people how to cruise, what should be important to them, and what is frivolous or should be viewed as a "generous" compensation. You have extensive cruising experience and do a great job of sharing photos and facts about what the current state of cruising is like on particular ships. But the next time you feel it necessary to speak on behalf of the rest of us cruises and what we do/do not do or should/should not do - just stop. Stick to the facts and keep your judgment to yourself about how others choose to do their trips.

 

19 hours ago, Spicer312 said:

Umm I did specifically book this room and paid extra for the hot tub.  If I would’ve known it was not going to work, I would’ve booked another room (a very spacious room) and still  saved ….probably 5k. So yes, some do book these rooms for the hot tub as there are many other great rooms for much less. I’m still hopeful that we will be able to use it and will post when we return. 

Same. We knew we were on a cold weather cruise and was looking forward to the hot tub so we could sit in it at night looking for the northern lights. The compensation we were given was not even 10% of what we paid for the cabin. We did price out a similar cabin but without the hot tub and it would have been around 5K cheaper. So yes - if we knew we weren't going to be able to use the hot tub, there is zero percent chance I would have booked that cabin. Zero. We found out less than a week before sailing and didn't even have the option of the restricted use. Plus the debacle of being told mistruths about why we couldn't use it. 

 

So sick of this hot tub debate and folks who were not directly affected telling the rest of us that were how we should be grateful for getting anything at all to compensate.

[Captain-John]

I see the cheerleader is out in force to defend NCL yet again. Tiring.

[ncbrowns]

Ugh, this is not something I want to see right before sailing in an H4 on Viva where the private hot tub splurge was a major selling point.  Like @Spicer312, I seriously doubt if I would have booked that room class otherwise.

 

That said, we haven't gotten any letter like @gcoolie posted yet, but it sounds like NCL sent that at the last minute.

Edited January 2 by ncbrowns

[gcoolie]

13 minutes ago, ncbrowns said:

Ugh, this is not something I want to see right before sailing in an H4 on Viva where the private hot tub splurge was a major selling point.  Like @Spicer312, I seriously doubt if I would have booked that room class otherwise.

 

That said, we haven't gotten any letter like @gcoolie posted yet, but it sounds like NCL sent that at the last minute.

Yeah, we got the letter 3 or 4 days before we sailed. Too late to change anything. It’s not the experience you expect having a private hot tub. Anytime use was our expectation. 
 

But, work with your room attendant. Maybe figure out a regular time each day or something. You can make use of it, but not the original idea for sure. 

[gcoolie]

We also had a pass to the thermal suite this sailing. We did that on the Prima last year and loved it.

That is obviously not private, but still a great experience. It would be worth fighting for the monetary compensation and convince them to throw in a cruise long pass to the thermal suite in the spa.

[Sailing12Away]

1 hour ago, gcoolie said:

We also had a pass to the thermal suite this sailing. We did that on the Prima last year and loved it.

That is obviously not private, but still a great experience. It would be worth fighting for the monetary compensation and convince them to throw in a cruise long pass to the thermal suite in the spa.

That doesn't help if you have pre teens sailing with you though, as they're not allowed in the thermal spa.

[ncbrowns]

We got the infamous letter tonight, five days before the sailing.  😞

 

The $500 OBC is something, but there's no way I would have booked an H4 had I known about this so-called hot tub.  There was a pretty big price difference compared to H5 and the private "hot tub" was a big reason that we splurged.

 

They say that NCL makes you feel like royalty in the Haven.  I guess that's true because I'll be getting the servants to "draw my bath" every time we want to use the hot tub.

 

Very disappointing.

[Spicer312]

15 minutes ago, ncbrowns said:

We got the infamous letter tonight, five days before the sailing.  😞

 

The $500 OBC is something, but there's no way I would have booked an H4 had I known about this so-called hot tub.  There was a pretty big price difference compared to H5 and the private "hot tub" was a big reason that we splurged.

 

They say that NCL makes you feel like royalty in the Haven.  I guess that's true because I'll be getting the servants to "draw my bath" every time we want to use the hot tub.

 

Very disappointing.

I emailed  the concierge already and ask them to fill it for sail away. We will see what happens, I also request it to be 101 degrees. Hopefully it works.  You’ll have a fantastic time regardless, happy sailing. 

[cincycpaw]

On 12/31/2023 at 3:33 PM, BirdTravels said:

First, no one is going to book a room because of a hot tub on the balcony and cancel if there is not one there. It is just an extra feature of the room. 
 

The ships had a hot tub design, which they have used a similar design before on smaller ships. But it got caught up in some health inspection finding. They have a temporary workaround, should you want to use it. People are being given a generous compensation for nothing a feature of the room. 

I just booked a cruise for the future.  We picked between 2 rooms.  We picked this one instead of the other so that we could have the hot tub.  If it is unusable or didn't exist, we would have picked the other room.  So I think you speaking in absolutes about what others do is not correct.  Oh, and we paid $1500+ more than the other room.

 

I've got time before my cruise for sure, so I'll keep checking on the situation I guess.

[zqvol]

14 minutes ago, cincycpaw said:

I just booked a cruise for the future.  We picked between 2 rooms.  We picked this one instead of the other so that we could have the hot tub.  If it is unusable or didn't exist, we would have picked the other room.  So I think you speaking in absolutes about what others do is not correct.  Oh, and we paid $1500+ more than the other room.

 

I've got time before my cruise for sure, so I'll keep checking on the situation I guess.

Don’t expect a fix anytime soon

[cincycpaw]

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

Don’t expect a fix anytime soon

I've got some time .... 18 months.

[ncbrowns]

We got back from our Viva sailing last week and the hot tub experience wasn't quite as bad as expected.  Our room attendant was diligent about asking us when we wanted the tub ready, which we mostly did in the evenings after dinner.  There was one day where it started a bit too hot but the temperature was usually good when we wanted to get in.  It did cool off a bit after a while but it wasn't too bad the times we were in.  But the tub definitely wasn't holding 40C.  They did drain/refill it, but we didn't have anyone rushing into our room an hour later to let all the water out.  🙂

[Spicer312]

8 hours ago, ncbrowns said:

We got back from our Viva sailing last week and the hot tub experience wasn't quite as bad as expected.  Our room attendant was diligent about asking us when we wanted the tub ready, which we mostly did in the evenings after dinner.  There was one day where it started a bit too hot but the temperature was usually good when we wanted to get in.  It did cool off a bit after a while but it wasn't too bad the times we were in.  But the tub definitely wasn't holding 40C.  They did drain/refill it, but we didn't have anyone rushing into our room an hour later to let all the water out.  🙂

Wonderful to hear, we are leaving today and can’t wait !!! 

[robinium]

8 hours ago, ncbrowns said:

We got back from our Viva sailing last week and the hot tub experience wasn't quite as bad as expected.  Our room attendant was diligent about asking us when we wanted the tub ready, which we mostly did in the evenings after dinner.  There was one day where it started a bit too hot but the temperature was usually good when we wanted to get in.  It did cool off a bit after a while but it wasn't too bad the times we were in.  But the tub definitely wasn't holding 40C.  They did drain/refill it, but we didn't have anyone rushing into our room an hour later to let all the water out.  🙂

Glad the experience was alright in the end. I swear, they could avoid so much disappointment for guests if they were just more clear in their communication.

 

If they said something like: In order to use your hot tub, speak with your room attendant who can have it prepared to a desired temperature at any time which is convenient for you. The hot tub will maintain that temperature for approximately one hour, before beginning to naturally cool. Your room attendant will return a later time, convenient for you, to drain and clean your hot tub ahead of your next use.

 

Instead, they made a mess of it and suggested you'd be policed to one hour at a time and your attendant would return to chase you out!

[gcoolie]

So true! They don’t want to say we bought hot tubs without heaters. 🙄

[mertziek]

On 12/31/2023 at 2:33 PM, BirdTravels said:

First, no one is going to book a room because of a hot tub on the balcony and cancel if there is not one there. It is just an extra feature of the room. 
 

The ships had a hot tub design, which they have used a similar design before on smaller ships. But it got caught up in some health inspection finding. They have a temporary workaround, should you want to use it. People are being given a generous compensation for nothing a feature of the room. 

Ummm….BirdTravels you are wrong.  Yes, we did book a Viva suite with a hot tub because of the hot tub although we preferred another much less expensive Owners’ Suite set up.  Had we known in advance that there were issues with the hot tubs impacting ability to use it whenever we wanted without having to get our room steward involved, we would have changed our suite to another much less expensive suite by $1,000’s with a better interior room layout.  The paltry OBC given was significantly less than the extra we paid for the hot tub suite.  Also we sailed Prima before the problem occurred and were able to control our hot tub temperature plus use it without a thought given to get staff involved.  The Viva hot tubs were different - as far as we were able to determine - with no ability to control the temps and keep the heat on even when not being used.  That being said - we made a point of not letting it ruin our cruise but it left a sour taste because we felt duped by NCL.  

 

[bluefish17]

Just wondering if this is only on Viva or Prima as well.

[Spicer312]

So far so good we boarded today and I ask that our tub be filled for sail away and it is 😃.  

[Captain-John]

1 hour ago, Spicer312 said:

So far so good we boarded today and I ask that our tub be filled for sail away and it is 😃.  

 

Glad your request has been honoured. 🙂

 

I assume the 'controls' are hidden and inaccesible to guests? E.g. the inlet to fill and the temperature settings?

[dmms]

Glad to hear the hot tub situation is better than it sounded - we sail next week, no hot tub letter yet. 
Can anyone say who is the current concierge on the Viva?

Thanks

[Panhandle Couple]

On 1/2/2024 at 7:42 PM, ncbrowns said:

We got the infamous letter tonight, five days before the sailing.  😞

 

The $500 OBC is something, but there's no way I would have booked an H4 had I known about this so-called hot tub.  There was a pretty big price difference compared to H5 and the private "hot tub" was a big reason that we splurged.

 

They say that NCL makes you feel like royalty in the Haven.  I guess that's true because I'll be getting the servants to "draw my bath" every time we want to use the hot tub.

 

Very disappointing.

Yeah, there goes the spontaneous X - E - S in the hot tub.

 

[Spicer312]

15 hours ago, dmms said:

Glad to hear the hot tub situation is better than it sounded - we sail next week, no hot tub letter yet. 
Can anyone say who is the current concierge on the Viva?

Thanks

We are currently on the viva H3 room and we have had our hot tub the entire time, they drained once but promptly filled it.  It’s been wonderful 😃😃😃