McGarrett5oh

Thanks for the positive and detailed reviews. How much did the unlimited go kart pass cost? And did Iunderstand they offer a solo time-run experience where the car is not throttled quite as much? Cheers!

How did you like Los Lobos and Le Bistro?

Yes there were 32,000 of us biking 40 miles through the 5 boroughs of NYC. 6th Avenue was closed to cross traffic at almost every street most of the morning, so that was no doubt a huge issue getting out to the airport. Pro Tip for future cruisers: This tour has occurred for the past 45 years, so don't sail out of NYC where the return debarkation is on the first Sunday in May and if you have an early flight home. 😉

@Sthrngary Again thank you for this fabulous information. We have some specific requests for our specialty dining reservations (e.g. window booth, dates, times). What is the best way to reserve our Specialty Dining reservations 130 days from departure. An email to the concierge desk with the specific detailed requests (day before 130? or day of 130?) or a phone call on day 130? Thank you!

Lots of rain on the potential course out of NYC. With a full day tomorrow to get to Bermuda, I wonder if the Captain will delay departure a few hours so as to have smoother sailing after the system moves north? Last Sunday with better weather, Prima didn’t depart until near dusk.

Thank you @Sthrngary. The time you spend on this thread is truly tranforming for planning and expectation setting. I'm not really looking for help on the ports from the butler, as we will have our plans all set and fully researched. I probably shouldn't have added "port suggestions" as an expectation. More like, "hey we rented a car in Reykjavik and we will be back at a certain time early this evening, hope to be able to have dinner in the Haven restaurant, and then we're going out again to see if we can catch the Northern Lights (it's an overnight port stay on our itinerary). Any suggestion on best time to try to grab our dinner to keep our agenda on time?". Or "can we arrange for room service, off the Haven menu, to be delivered to the suite at a certain time that evening" That type of thing.... What I'd like to do is help them help us by clearly communicating, respecting their workload, and hopefully getting our simple requests (coffee in the morning, requested basic afternoon snacks, ice tea refilled in the refrigerator, some extra towels etc.) fulfilled. Again thanks for all you do and we plan to enjoy every minute of our first Haven experience on the Prima!

Thanks for the reply Hank. Yes, I've called Enterprise US-based customer service but all they say is you must return it by 6pm or the next day. Funny, when I tell them I'm on a cruise ship the next day so I can't or "what if I have car trouble on the way back or run into traffic", all they say is "you must account for that in your travel plans". No help! I am contemplating calling the local Le Havre Enterprise office, but I don't speak French. Perhaps I'll try and hope they speak English. Otherwise we'll have to ask when we pick up the car and adjust our plans accordingly. We had hoped to go to Giverney AND the American Cemetary (500 km total round trip) since our ship doesn't depart until 11pm, we'd have time if we could return the car after 6. Regarding Rentacar.fr, I've read nothing but bad things about them so I'd like to stick with Enterprise. Anyway, thanks for the reply and your time. McGarrett

@Sthrngary Your experience is and suggestions are so valuable! Question: Is it helpful FOR the Butler and/or cabin attendant, for us to share with them our plans are for the day? Such as excursion departure and return times, lunch, dinner or show plans. This is not specifically for them to do anything other than be aware and perhaps better understand when we'll be in the suite. Maybe they can even be able to offer a suggestion or two, if appropriate, to enhance our plans once they know? Thanks!

@Hlitner Sorry to be off topic here Hank, but I left a message on a very old thread of yours regarding Le Havre and I'd really appreciate it if you might read my question and reply if you can. Thank you!

Hi Hank, I don't know if you'll get alerted to this reply 19 months later, but I'm wondering if you would know if one is able to drop off the rental car at the Enterprise office after it closes at 6pm. Do they have a drop box and is that allowed? Thank you. McGarrett

While we haven't completed a rental yet, we have cars booked with both Hertz and Alamo. Both offices are about the same distance from the port (5-6km) and we read that taxis are pretty plentiful at the port. We couldn't find a reputable car rental agency any closer to the port.

Does anyone know if you can park your rental car overnight at the Reykjavik Cruise Port (Skarfabakki Cruise Terminal)?

We’ve also found that asking to take a picture of the crew member’s name tag so that we can be sure to compliment them by name on the post cruise survey goes a long way too!

For our Northern Europe Prima cruise this September, we will have our specific port plans set by the time we board (mostly independent). Knowing there still could be unforeseen changes (weather etc), would you suggest that somewhere in the initial letter we share those plans with the Butler (so they better understand why we may be looking for specific things at specific times some days) or just tell him/her the night before each event? TIA

This is a terrific thread. Thanks to all who have offered suggestions on how to craft and deliver a Butler letter. For our Northern Europe Prima cruise this September, we will have our specific port plans set by the time we board (mostly independent). Knowing there still could be unforeseen changes (weather etc), would you suggest that somewhere in the initial letter we share those plans with the Butler (so they better understand why we may be looking for specific things at specific times some days) or just tell him/her the night before each event? TIA

This is a terrific reply. Thank you so much. The photo you posted was really helpful to get a sense of what we might get. We also read through your Panama Canal Joy post. We will be boarding the Prima after you disembark, as we're on the 9/17/23 sailing from Southampton visiting a few of the same ports you will too.

@Sthrngary your time and efforts in this thread are very much appreciated. I'm glad that you have helped us first time Haven sailors understand that your perspective is from past experiences and that as first timers, who may only have had outside of the "ship within a ship" experiences, we will still be impressed ("blow your mind") and the experience will be what we make of it. Always has for us. Your tips (secrets) will only enhance the opportunity for that! We are on the Prima in the 2-bedroom Haven suite, with our adult son & wife, for their Iceland/Norway itinerary this September. We have already planned a number of non-NCL excursions in several ports and some other activities, so I'm trying to get a better idea of timing, so..... ....a few questions (and queries of what we've read here) for any and all.... 1. Typically what are the hours for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Haven restaurant? 2. It looks like you can only get Haven menu room service while the restaurant is open. Is that correct? 3. Does the room service breakfast come from the Haven restaurant? 4. Understanding Haven guests get priority disembarkation, that it is dependent on clearance at the individual port and that our Butler will tell us the night before, is there an average of how soon after "arrival" the Haven guests typically can disembark? 5. When I called the onshore Concierge desk, they were most helpful, but rattled through a variety of options to "Set up our suite". Besides the pillow menu, emptying the refrigerator, she mentioned stocking the suite with juices, waters and M&M snacks. Before asking our Butler once on board, does anyone have experience with what the options are for the juices and the "M&M Snacks" Thanks in advance! McGarrett

We have rented a car for Reykjavik this September. We are in port for about 24 hours on the NCL Prima and want to do the Golden Circle etc on our own pace. Since we have the car for 24 hours, we want to go out late at night to hopefully see the Northern Lights. My question is if anyone knows where would be better destinations (away from the Reykjavik lights, but not too far) to get that complete darkness needed to see the Aurora Bourealis? Or an online resource we could research? Thanks!

We just booked the HAL Double Denali for June 2024 and found your report so very helpful. I read alot of reviews on ths site in preparation for our cruises and I must tell you this is one the very best I've ever seen posted. Thank you! Cheers!

Thanks for your feedback on your cruise. We depart Monday. What was it about Concierge Class that was disappointing? TIA!

I heard you comment on this before and I looked at that when we are on board. If they can figure out how to retrofit a pool into that space, what with the way Deck 16 hangs over the ship, that will be miraculous. We found the ordering system in The Galley to be fixed when we were on board mid November 22. It's basically become waiter service which we found to be very efficient. Order taken by a crew member on their device and food comes out to your exact location (inside or out on Deck 7) shortly after.

Thanks for the replies. Makes sense that they give previous cruisers a "heads up" for the next promotion. When I called, they said the current promotion is "BOGO 50% off", which translated is really 50% off each of 2 in a cabin. Sounds like the next promotion might only be 30% off each plus up to $600. It was just more confusing than perhaps it had to be!? Cheers!

We enjoyed our Virgin cruise so much in November, we put down a deposit on a future cruise to take sometime in the next 2 years with the offer at the time ($300 fare discount & $600 on board credit). Received this email yesterday which, as I read it, suggests that there is an offer we can use with our deposit that would give us 60% off the 2nd sailor and an up to an additional $600 bar tab. Since we don't know when we want to cruise, I followed the instructions and called Virgin "Sailor Services". The rep really didn't know what this was, didn't have any information and suggested that it may be just a marketing effort to have us put down ANOTHER deposit. Anyone have any idea what they are trying to say? TIA

Sailed past the Prima at night in Miami last week…. IMG_6150.MOV

We will be in Miami on November 11th for a cruise on another line, but wanted to see the Prima up close as we are sailing on her in 2023. All of the published online itineraries have a gap between the 11th & the 19th with no cruise scheduled (including on the NCL site). I can only assume since this is Prima's first Miami visit, and is home office for NCL, that there is a 7-day Caribbean VIP/Media cruise planned (not open to the public). Does anyone know the details, specifically when it departs Miami on the 11th, so we might be able to see her before, or as, our cruise on Virgin Voyages departs at 6pm? TIA