seemoreroyals

@rmfortinWhat did you get at Palomar? Maybe we ordered the wrong thing there. Two of us ordered the dover sole, wife had the sea bass, and out other friend had a steak. All three of us that ordered the seafood dishes were dissatisfied. Must have been pretty good to finish ahead of Los Lobos. While the "show" at Hasuki wound have been better received if we had some 4 year olds in our group we all thought the food was pretty good there. We also thought it was a bit strange the times that complimentary eateries were open. There was one day we really wanted to try lunch at Hudson's and it was at 11:30 and it was not open yet. It was the day they had Monte Cristos on the menu. When we did our post cruise survey we tried to let them know about our feelings about the strange hours that the free dining options were open. Not a very good survey by the way. The way the survey is designed unless you give the worst response possible they do not give you a chance to expand upon your experiences they were questioning with the survey. Prior to taking this cruise I spent quite a bit of time researching experiences by others who had previously sailed on Prima. I can now understand why there is such a wide variation of responses to Prima. In some ways it was the best ever. In other ways it was severely lacking. The post cruise survey is one way NCL can improve in areas where they need to improve. Frankly, I don't know if they spend much time focusing on the issues that many cruisers consider shortcomings. I am sure they are aware of them, and they are now baked in. They have decided for whatever reason to leave things as is. It is a shame because there appear ti be easy solutions to many of these issues that diminish the potential of what Prima has to offer.

We were hoping Palomar would be like Ocean Blue which we liked very much on two other ships. Sadly was not the case. Next time we sail on a ship that has Onda we are definitely going to give it a try.

@Liljo22Somehow we missed out on Onda and went to Palomar instead. Lucky for you you picked the right one.

BTW Gaidos Seaside Inn ended up being a bargain as far as a place to stay. We paid $69 plus fees. Ended up being $79 and some change including tax. That included a hot breakfast the next morning and free parking while we were on our cruise. It was an older property but well kept and right on the seawall. We would stay there again next time we cruise out of Galveston. After booking Gaidos and paying our share of uber to get to and from port we spent less than $100. Parking by itself at the port was going to be $150. It's not Tremont or Moody Gardens but we did not want to pay that much for a place to stay before our cruise.

Gaidoos Seaside Inn (Approx 3 miles from Port), NCL Prima out of Galveston, on Friday to Friday cruise. 12-15 only one ship in port, 12-22 three ships in port. Same price both ways.

@Liljo22 Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on debarkation. What a mess. I read on FB that some people had to wait in line for an hour and a half to get off. I guess we were lucky. We only had to wait in line about 45 minutes. We were in the chaos on deck 6 when one of the NCL people told us to break the line and sent us in a different direction. I am glad she did. Evidently the FBI was looking for someone and held up the debarkation so that they could take care of their business. Meanwhile Alvin the CD who was coordinating the debarkation kept sending people down to deck 6 where it was already congested. We were all relieved to get through the process to claim our luggage.

In hindsight that is what I wish we had done.

Just back from cruise on Prima. I can confirm that this does work. Us and couple we were travelling with all had iphones. It works amazingly well to keep in touch. Do not know if it works if one or more of parties does not have iphone. What we did was go to settings and put phones in airplane mode. Set phones to ships internet. Worked great throughout trip. Texting only; will not allow texting of pictures. Only works on cruise ship. WE DID NOT HAVE TO PAY THE $9.95 FEE. If person you are texting has phone turned off you will get message not delivered in response to your text. Upon turning phone on they will see where you texted.

Main thing it is not crowded and no smoking. The vibe we experienced was bigger than the spice h2o's we have been to on other ships. At least it seemed bigger because it was never crowded. We have done the spice h2o on other ships and the vibe blows it away. You have your own private bar so there is no waiting in lines for drinks.. There are several good utube videos that I watched before we decided to pull trigger on the vibe. If you are a smoker you probably would not like the vibe. If you are travelling to a colder weather itinerary the vibe might not be worth it. If you are going on a port intensive cruise the vibe might not be worth it. In our case we went to the west caribbean a place we had no interest in getting off ship for extended times. We like to read and it was real quiet in the vibe. They only sold less than 80 passes on our cruise and there was never more than 30-40 people there at any one time. It was real easy for everyone to spread out and have privacy. Well worth the money IMO.

We just got back from Prima. We were able to get two apps instead of app and salad therefore were able to get quacamole and queso both were very good. Also for entree the grilled fish believe it or not was amazing. The churrros for dessert very good as well.

Just wanted to follow up to this thread in case in may be helpful to anyone staying at hotel in Galveston and needing transportation to and from hotel to port. We were able to use uber large enough for 4 of us for $16 each way.

Couldn't agree more with your comments regarding the vibe both in your review and in attached video. We were on your cruise and also in the vibe. Did you notice how many young people were on our cruise? I talked to one of the bartenders in the vibe and he said there were 3700 passengers on our sailing. It seemed like there were over 1000 of them that were 16 and younger. The vibe was a great way to escape the sardine effect that comes with an overcrowded ship. Especially one with a disproportionate number of young people aboard. The vibe was worth every penny of what we paid. Going forward it will be difficult to book a cruise without it. In regards to the Prima we have mixed feelings. Our standard balcony room was fantastic. We had 4 specialty dinners at Cagney's, Palomar, Los Lobos, and at Hasuki. The only one we were disappointed in was Palomar. For us it was a step down from Ocean Blue. Wife got the Sea Bass, I got the Dover Sole, maybe because of the bread and choice of appetizers and having to navigate through crowded buffet to get there we just were not impressed. Cagney's, Los Lobos, and Hasuki all exceeded our expectations. The meal at Los Lobos overall was probably our best meal on the ship. Great Mexican food. Cagney's steak cooked to perfection. Hasuki entertaining and delicious. In regards to the two main dining rooms Hudson's became our go to place for breakfast. The one time we did Hudson's for dinner the service was terrible and the meal was forgettable. The Commodore dining room for us was much better for dinner. Embarkation meal was at Indulge Food Bar. It was outstanding, but we ate so much for lunch there that night we bypassed dinner on the first night for light appetizers and hot fudge sundae at the Local. Typical day after breakfast and exercise we would settle in at the Vibe from around 10 until 2 or 3. The Buffet Grill was just outside entrance of Vibe so we usually found something to eat there for lunch. While not outstanding the Buffet had a decent salad bar. Unfortunately we had to navigate through kids running and screaming and a mass of humanity walking 10 different directions at once. But when we got back to the Vibe be thought how lucky we were to have this area to escape an otherwise crowded ship. Inside the Vibe we would either get a couple of padded lounge chairs or a private cabana type area to settle in and read and enjoy the peace and tranquility. The Vibe was never crowded. The waiter said only 76 Vibe passes were sold for our cruise. We never saw over 30 or 40 people at any time we were there. They provided a carafe of water as well as whatever drinks we decided on. It was great. Can't say enough good things about the Vibe. In regards to entertainment we got lucky and went to the first night in the theater where they featured the best entertainers on the ship, Familiar Strangers. They did a heavily Smokey Robinson laced motown set that lasted a little over an hour. That lead singer was one of the best we have ever seen on a cruise ship. The problem was when we went to try to see the group later a number of times throughout the cruise the seating areas provided in the Penrose bar area was so small it was impossible to get a seat. Therein lies one of the major problems of the Prima. There are a multitude of design issues IMO. They Prima is indeed a beautiful ship. But in an effort to provide a multitude of intimate areas it is sort of awkward at times. Over all it was a great cruise thanks to the Vibe. Getting on the ship was easy. Getting off was a pain for us any way. We were a little concerned for a while as the couple we were traveling with had an early flight out. It all worked out and all's well that ends well but the way they handled debarkation was a mess.

Hard to say what portion of the $140 per person we gleefully pay as DSC formally known as prepaid gratuities actually make their way into the pockets of our room steward or waitstaff or other NCL employee for services rendered on our week long cruise. Let's start with an example for the Prima and assume they have 3000 passengers on the ship for the week we are on it. $420,000 to split between primarily room stewards and waitstaff at restaurants. I know not too long ago they were only collecting $12 pp per day or $84 tips for a week long cruise. So not long ago they were collecting just over $250,000 with these discretionary fees. Quite a bit of difference in less than 10 years. No wonder they have room left in the budget for parties etc. I know my math is not perfect. Prima in a normal week sails with more than 3000 passengers. And Haven folks pay $25 pp per day instead of $20. So the money they collect for DSC is actually quite a bit more than $420,000. When I googled number of employees on Prima the number was 1506. How many are waiters and stewards maybe 500? If we allow $20,000 for various parties and benefits to crew that leaves $400,000 to split between 500 mainly stewards and waitstaff. That is $800 per person. Not bad pay if you add that to the standard wage they are being paid by NCL per week. I know the example I am using is probably quite a bit different than what actually happens with the money divied up after collected as DSC. The point I am making is NCL room stewards and waiters are well compensated. NCL has even stated that there is no need to tip extra.

I have not read through all of your posts put I have read enough of them to realize that you are adamant in your position regarding DSC. That implies to me that you think that the $280 collected from 2 people in steerage on a 7 day cruise goes to something other than tips to cabin stewards, waiters, and other NCL employees that provide service during your stay. So where exactly does the $280 go in the example I am using? Going back to before NCL employees used to collect envelopes with tips in them at the end of the cruise and coming up with this ingenious idea of at first charging $12 pp per day and now $20 pp per day ($25 pp suites and haven). DSC replaced this process of leaving envelopes with suggested amounts for the waiter, room steward, and others at the cruisers discretion. Therefore the term came to be called discretionary service charge (DSC). The genesis of the DSC is the envelopes we used to all leave years ago. The purpose of what they are doing now with DSC and other types of tips they are collecting, reflects the way cruises have changed. You no longer have the same waiter the entire time. Over half the ship opts for the free at sea therefore they had to come up with a way to collect extra tips for the drink package portion and the specialty dinner portion. The new system is more than fair in terms of tips left for services provided.

Repeat after me, DSC are tips. The 20 % you pay if you get the drink package those are tips. The 20% extra you pay when you get the dining package those are tips as well. If you take a cruise for 2 for 7 days you will be paying close to $700 composed of DSC, 20% drink tips, and added tips for SDP. The idea that these monies do not get to the employees they are intended to get to is ludicrous. If it makes you happy to tip more by all means go for it. Even NCL themselves says it is not necessary.

If you order the huevos rancheros from the MDR they come with beans. Probably look forward to the huevos rancheros more than any other meal for breakfast in the MDR. Unfortunately they are only on the menu about once a week. You have to look for them.

@mking8288 Thanks for the update on the Christmas decorations. Maybe the missing hash browns will show up in Galveston as well. Better late than never.

We are on the cruise right after yours. Sorry to hear they have not put out the Christmas decorations yet. Tis the season so you would think they would have it decked out by now. Hope you are having a great cruise.

The last several cruises the only luggage tags we have received were those printed out when we printed our cruise docs. We cut them out along the dotted lines. We used to staple but now we put them in zip seal luggage tag holders we ordered from walmart.com. I think it was less than $5 for 6 of them. We still had to fill in our name, address, and contact info so if you go that route don't forget to do that.

I just saw a post on FB that there are still no Christmas decorations up yet on Prima. @rmfortin or anybody else that is currently on the Prima, can you confirm this? Today is the 7th. Seems that the decorations would be up by now.

Any word when and if the semi live will resumed?

Did you encounter any issues with higher price for premium time getting off ship? I ask this because the couple we are cruising with has a fairly early flight home out of Hobby and we need to get off the ship and get to our car ASAP so we can get them to airport with plenty of time to make their flight.

@rmfortin Looking forward to you carrying the torch on Prima as it moves from NYC to Galveston.

@mking8288 I liked your comparison of Prima as the new Epic. I recall years ago when we first sailed Epic we read all of the negative stuff about Epic and its strange bathrooms etc. When it was finally our turn we really enjoyed Epic. We are hoping our first experience on Prima coming up shortly will be the same. This will be our 11th NCL cruise on 9 different NCL ships and we have enjoyed them all. A few hiccups here and there but that's life.

Just talked to our friends we are cruising with. They were quoted a fee of around $20 from lyft for a ride large enough for the 4 of us and our luggage to get from hotel to port. `Was glad to learn that it would not be any more than that. Can't see where a taxi or uber or other form of transportation would be any cheaper.