mking8288

Booked this TA around the holidays, before final payment & deadline to cancel; and, at 125 days, shows were not available to book ...nor at 120 days, or 90 days, 25 or even 21 days remaining. Perhaps, another true return to freestyle cruising, just go and show up 😳 perhaps, whatever. We also confirmed that parties of 5 or less can no longer book the MDR on the Prima, at least not on our sailing. Where is that pre-cruise concierge services limited for Latitudes Diamond, hahaha 🤣 😂 😁 I know better than to even bother. Hopefully, priority restaurant reservation and seating consideration can be given onboard. Our specialty dining are all booked & confirmed; not going to reschedule dinner plans just to see the shows, nope. AI generated image ... can NCL's AI Assistant do more too ? Tip #99 - pre install that NCL app and get comfortable using it to one's advantage. Tip #98 - learn a little about Airplane Mode, WiFi inTRAnet vs. inTERnet.

T minus 9, time for single-digit dance toward embarkation, planning to be mostly "live" for this 15 days TA, an early launch with bits & pieces of background, related info, side bar details, preview leading up to "switching on the vacation mode". Our 2nd time on the Prima, last November was a westbound 15 days TA, Barcelona to NY ... wasn't really thinking to be back on so soon. But, here we all, final packing mode. She left Miami on April 16th ... During the holidays (early December) - started looking at these 3 TA at the time, sailing out of NY of interest to us. Escape aleady sailed, TA in early April, 16 days out of NY. Long story short, voted for the Prima after checking options, details, airlines and booked it ... 2 oceanviews at that time, took advantage of CN DoubleUp and Latitudes extra point promo, stacked on top of other discounts. Oops, using those CN certs again ("added" more earlier ... thankfully, have a reserve pool (extended F&F sharing) to dip into and transfer them, if necessary) The overnight Iceland stop is the main appeal for us, plus, an excuse to see Halifax & perhaps a clam bake or lobster feast while the ship is docked there. Susan, DW is in one room and yours truly in the 2nd room ... one of the sister-in-law coming along plus a niece that hasn't cruise NCL since 2018-19, more of a regular on Royal & Princess - interested to get her comparative impressions. Other ports are new to us ... and a niece in England, could, be our local guide in London (but ... more on that later.) Itinerary below reflecting the latest time as posted. The Pearl will be sailing 2 days ahead of us, stopping at Halifax and then Reykjavik - they can be tipping us off as the "advance" partner on what's ahead, expect and surprises ... aside from weather and sea state on the crossing. Escape departed NY at a later time than "originally" scheduled - no news on CC about them that I know of. Dining in the Hudson MDR on the Hudson (River) at Pier 88 - sunset cruise down the river: We just learned, officially, from NCL last week that Prima's arrival into NY will be delayed by 2 hours, "instructing" all pax to not show up until 12 noon, as that was the earliest pier check-in time available to anyone at Day 21, when online check-in was open (many wondering "why"). As posted elsewhere here on CC's NCL forum, pax on the Prima repo cruise, Miami to NY (last port of call is Puerto Plata, DR next Wed, sailing at 3 PM ... ) has a change too, arrival time into NY is 10 AM next Saturday. Oh ... due to Right whales maritime protection regulations and other "reasons" - some of ship pax disembarking in NY will likely need flight changes (rebook) for departing later than planned. Not a good way to end a cruise, no matter what. This isn't a deal breaker for us but most are eager to get onboard ... sail away moved back from 4 PM to 6 PM now. Next Saturday, going to be a bit "hectic" at Pier 88. As of now, Prima is basically sold out - 3rd party websites showing at most, 5 Inside cabins available ... everything else are listed as sold out. Upgrade bids are still being unsolicited, haha (more about it later) Here's a quick recap of the ship's vital stats: Before continuing – informal “rules” to go with - basic common sense assumptions & requests, and disclosure for our Semi-Live CC reports - please be kind & courteous, agree to disagree on matters that are subjective and personal in nature, biases and personal opinions are fine, criticism and comments otherwise are welcomed as long as they are constructive in nature or intent. Other CC’ers on this Prima TA, if they choose to, are free & invited to post, add to the report, comments and share theirs, without asking or requesting prior “permissions” to do so, granted hereby. We will not have or reports on the Haven experience although I have a source that might choose to help contribute, or, they might do their trip report. A frequent CC’er is on this TA doing solo again and I expect her to bust chops and bring her dose of humor, fun and crack remarks along the way – be on the lookout. (typo & spelling, grammatical errors, etc. are to be expected, especially while at sea and making best efforts to post live/near-live updates or reports ... your kind understanding appreciated, much obliged) Come along and follow us on this TA, mark it and come back later ... expect to read about a bit of humor, laughs while we try to go with the flow, making the most and best out of this cruise, despite the new, the same old and the unexpected, changes and surprises. Prepared for wet and rain ahead, weather forecast not looking too bad, still early - maybe, we can pack a little lighter. Henry/@mking8288 on CC

Wow, already passed the 2/3 milestone on a TA, thank you & enjoy following it. MDR menu as posted, look no different than 2023, meaning NCL hasn't make noticeable changes to the overall rotation or come up with new ones (better, hopefully). More time zone changes or clock/smartphone adjustment ahead ...

Submitted a request to CC host/mod to correct the year from 2014 and to change to 2024 ... .standby and be kind to fellow CC'ers.

As I mentioned on your roll call, it's best to do the express self walk off with luggage - aside from ship's gangway, sometimes steeper due to river tide, no stairs and just follow ahead to the 2 down escalators, bypass the luggage hall. If you are caught with a long line at CBP, use porter services. On our Prima TA last year disembarking in NY, CBP only opened 4 to 5 booths using facial recognition. That's one less bottleneck to insure a quicker way to your car service across on 12th Ave for EWR. The line was fairly short, porter with our bags in his cart headed straight ahead down the middle, express lane. Use the AFT gangway if you can, much fewer steps or walking with luggage into the building for the escalators. We've cut the chase to 25 minutes from ship security & gangway to 12th Ave, ready for our car services ... that took another 10 minutes with congestion around that area. At the AFT gangway with the entrance into the terminal almost right there. Port traffic congestion - there is going to be early birds showing up at 9 and 10 AM, let alone 11 with the subsequent arrival time moved back by 2 hours to noon.

Haha, as far as I know (seen) Epic's Shanghai Menu is "more" extensive compared to the BA and GA, which is printed on a narrow menu strip with 12 to 15 items in total, including dessert ... not what it used to be (we consider SHN to be more of a diner/counter food than a full restaurant with options) before the fleetwide Covid shutdown. Are you sure that it's checked off as "Cooking Lite" specials, given the petite sizes of those dishes ... we ordered doubled serving (being hungry) of the noodles soup instead, as they only fill it half full at best. Appeared that priority dining/Platinum status helped a little bit whereas, some people (more than 2023) flocked to eat there instead, not less than before - or else, the line & waiting wouldn't be more than 1 hour for the average cruiser. Yay for the stealthy towel animal making a cameo. Keep your eyes out on the daily pillows presentation or arrangements on the bed, if any ... as that seemed to be the new "alternatives" to making towel animals routinely.

Odds are that, given the time zones changed - dinner is done already this evening, somewhere onboard ... if not Shanghai Noodles. For whatever reasons, it was very popular. Assuming your Latitudes status is higher at Platinum or above, make use of "priority seating" when you get to the host/ess and asked about it, she acknowledged us - gave us a pager like everyone else that stood around or hangout at the bar nearby for a drink or two, or three ... Worked for us, as it cut the 30 to 40+ minutes to about half (did this twice) as they don't take reservations and lines started forming 30+ minutes before they open up for dinner. Pan-fried pot stickers preferred over the steamed ones, spring rolls and the roast pork ("cha siu" noodles soup, as well as the spicy seafood noodles soup were all good ... portions were petite, leaving room for the dessert & green tea ice cream.

@rnr4thatsme First, newly purchased CruiseNext Certs no longer expire (was 4 years from date of purchase ...) so you "should" consider buying at least 2 (or more) if you think you will be sailing NCL in the near future. Second, the DoubleUp for ANY stateroom doesn't run that often, unlike the DoubleUp for balcony & higher and cruise is at least 4 months or more out ... and, as you can see, for a "limited" time basis only - plus it is valid for ANY sailings. Sometimes, it is only valid on selected sailings as designated by NCL (i.e. for that month's specials only, translation - slow selling ones with unsold inventory) Odds are NCL won't offer this until the Fall again or Winter into early 2025 when new bookings tend to slow down a bit ... If you buy 2 of them and do not plan to take the OBC, your cost is just $250 for 2 certs with a face value of $250 each ... these OBC cannot be used for certain purchases onboard, i.e. DSC. Noticed that you are from Canada, be mindful that you should buy them in USD terms and not as $250 Canadian dollars (double check this onboard with the CruiseNext staff) ... don't recall the specifics but a number of your fellow citizens had mentioned "issues" when using them b/c of the currency exchange/conversion rate in effect when they decided to endorse or use it for a given sailing. Someone else browsing from Canada with experience can probably help explain this.

FWIW, the newer Prima & Viva ship's "atrium" triplex re-defined the definition of small (here, when chatting about the Epic's atrium) and not one suitable for sailing in colder climate either, especially when outdoors aren't usable. Enjoying this TA review, thank you. Curious as to how the lines are at lunch in the Taste MDR with access via the casino (by French designers, I'm sure) and how crazy the lines are for Shanghai Noodles Restaurant ...

Good point ... most likely a good cautionary alert to get out. Watch out for surge pricing with Uber & Lyft, they've been known to jack up rates by $20 to $25 or more for trips to the airports when we disembarked ... and, I won't be "shocked" of a higher fare quote. Heading there, probably okay if coming off an in-bound flight to NY on that Saturday for the next TA that's now sailing at 6 PM, or later. We shall see & find out soon.

.... well, there is still the possibility of the Prima arriving earlier than 10 AM on the 27th, but announcing this at such a late date, on short or limited notices when air arrangements have pretty much been finalized and locked for just about everyone, really is B.S. Those maritime regulations have been in place for a while, not 2024, not 2023 ... it goes way beyond the Covid shutdown and was a topic of discussion here on CC. We are on the TA and will be eagerly waiting for arrival ... and when we completed OLCI last week, figured something odd is happening - and, one of my theory was, exactly, this ... whale protection zones along the Atlantic coastal waterways. The Escape was "late" and sailed out of NY at 7 PM this past Sunday, and did arrived later than the usual 6 to 7 AM, closer to around 9 AM'ish (I was tracking the ship on other sites but not really that closely for the exact docking time.) Oddly enough, MSC and RC's vessels were pretty much cruising the same route and they're going faster at 20 to 21, 22 knots either in front or behind NCL - it doesn't add up the totality of "to sail & sustain, for our (in)convenience" as one of the popular tagline go. Our eDocs printed was still showing 4 PM sailaway but earliest port arrival/check-in and boarding time has been already changed, adjusted to 12 noon ... nobody, no one could get anything earlier than 12:00 - 12:30 to check-in. Going to be a zoo at Pier 88 later this month, I can just imagine the crowd & madness. Emails pushed out this morning around 10 AM'ish and multiple folks began seeing it ... Another prime example of NCL's corporate communication excellence, and lack thereof. Sorry that many others & you will have to deal with us, wondering if that notice from NCL itself is sufficient to file the claim and use it as documentation & proof of change ... claims for using airline points, you probably should check with their mileage/support desk to ask. With our notices, NCL also informing all that airport-ground transfer to the pier on our sailing will not begin until 10 AM on that Saturday ... logical, as they can minimize the buses dropping off hundreds of early bird with the port folks not allowing pax to go inside, as least - weather should be good enough in late April, to wait outside. Pearl is doing a TA and also leaving from NY later this month, 2 days earlier than ours, and I imagine they are doing the same. NCL just can't seem to coordinate and align the schedule, and make timely notifications ahead of time, when these are "unforeseen circumstances" ... but, we'll get flamed for not being cheerleaders, regardless (fine by me - that's what the ignore list is used for ... don't respond to them at all) Well, on a positive note - wish you and all on the repo a great cruise, smooth sailing and calm seas, wonderful ports and enjoy, seeing that the roll call isn't that active - unlike ours following but we had to tug at it to steer it the CC way with poachers lurking from elsewhere. For the M&G, if you have the list of senior officers on board, might we kindly ask if you can share & post it here (and/or pass it directly to our roll call ... although, I think we have a pretty good idea of who's on her, some will probably go on vacation once in Europe at the end of the TA)

I trusted you are enjoying the TA and look forward to reading about it. Was a beautiful & pretty sunset sail away for your TA. NCL finally emailed all pax, I think 🤔 at T minus 17 days, when impatient folks already finished OLCI and printed out boarding passes & luggage tags. Now, they won't start airport ground transfer until 10 AM and guests won't be able to get checked in until 12 noon at the earliest, ship is arriving 2 hours later than usual. Reason, to protect right whales along the Atlantic coastal migration ... this is seasonal but will affect all ships in the designated zones per maritime regulations. They've been spotted inside NY's harbor & nearby last year.

CC store here sells clear luggage tags, wide ones will be fine - paper folded into 3 is about 2.75" to 2.8" wide by 5.5" tall and insert into the holder. We still have the old logo ones, new ones from CC or Amazon are practically the same "wide" ones that can be used on other cruise lines.

Woohoo ... it's TA season time, checking in to follow this one and to say thanks. We had almost perfect weather last April on Epic's TA that ended in Barcelona. Lots of solo onboard and many in the busy MDR. Happy & safe travel and flying into MCO.

Thanks. All good here, affirmative. Tracking Escape & Pearl, going out following them & heading northeast again. See above eDoc. Semi Live, most likely since Starlink worked last Fall and no reasons otherwise not to try ... best effort to make it fun, interesting, informative and good dose of humor, telling and calling it as we see it. Good # of Diamond, Sapphire & Platinum on the roll call, welcome abroad mats out for others to post on the TR as they wish, as contributors and/or do their own.