romalley99

On 3/29/2024 at 8:36 PM, 603NHCruiser said:

Does anyone know who the current GM of the Prima is? Or Better yet, their secretary?

GM Marc Spikjkerboer and Secretary April Acosta 

Hi all, just booked! Have been on the Venezia before and couldn't pass up the deal I got for this cruise! So jumping back onboard! 

Robbie

On 2/4/2024 at 12:17 PM, www3traveler said:

Just saw on another social media website that Staff Captain Robert Hammerin has recently been promoted to Captain.

That makes TWO NCL Captains in the Hammerin family.  Robert's father is Gunner Hammerin.

 

WOW!!  Congratulations to both of you.

A great congratulations indeed for Robert (great guy... as is his father!) but Captain Gunnar hasn't been with the company since June 2022. He is happily enjoying his retirement. 🙂

21 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

Has anyone ever had success in using Master Card World Points to upgrade to a Balcony, then using the Latitudes Diamond Upgrade for a further upgrade to a Club Balcony?

This was my exact question a few months ago. My update might have gotten buried. I wasn't able to use both World Points and a family members Diamond Upgrade. But with NCL, who knows! Someone might do it, but others might say no! Lol

On 8/15/2023 at 8:02 PM, Von & John said:

@Coastalbreezes & @romalley99

Is this the bag you received?
Appears nicer than the first ones I found...

 

 

 

Yep, thats the one I received 

I had replied with a picture of the specific bag from the Away website, but it seems CC deleted my post? Why? Beyond me! Anyway, it's a $245 bag with the embroidered Ambassador Latitudes emblem. A very nice, sturdy and certainly not cheap bag. 

Having been in Isafjordur many times, I'd say it's because they simply cannot handle a ship of Prima's size. It's a very small town, with not much to do (and very few excursions offered). It's a nice place for a nice stroll to take in scenery, though. Last time I was there was last August on the Star, and it was hard enough with the smaller ship. 

Welcome to you both. Yes, it's very quiet around here. I'm sure we will have a pretty much full ship, too! 

Hello all, 

I didn't see a roll call started for this sailing, so I decided to make this one! Hope to meet some fellow cruisers before we set sail! 

39 days to go! 

Robbie

8 hours ago, JIMESOPUS said:

Wonder who is at the Helm? Could it be Captain Roger again?

I know this was intended to be a joke (lol) but for anyone curiously wondering who the actual Captain is, it's Captain Giorgio Voussolinos 🙂 

4 hours ago, snorklinbarb said:

Thanks so much!  Maybe she will be back by our sailing date but nonetheless great to hear your praise for the current cast.  I'm sure it will be excellent!

 

As for Captain Roger, if you go to the Latitudes party you might be lucky enough to hear him play bass guitar!

I don't think she has quite decided yet if she is coming back... same for the others (Valerie Curlingford and D'Nasya Jordan) -- would be great, as the chemistry between the three of them were unmatched! 

27 minutes ago, snorklinbarb said:

Great to read your review as we'll be on Prima end of April.  I was on last fall for a 5 nighter so it will be fun to go now with DH!

 

As for the "mature" Donna, do you happen to know if it is Kimberly Locke?  She was fabulous in the role and I'm hoping she might be on when we're on. I wonder if any of the CD staff might know?

 

She performed and did very well on "American Idol".  

 

Look forward to the rest of your review.  On Prima (even last year) "The Price is Right" was considered a feature show. I missed it (thinking just another game show) but guests who went said it was "the real deal" with prizes.  

 

I did see one vlogger who said the "Newlywed and Not so Newlywed" show was one of the nights in the theater.  Will be interesting to see if your cruise has the same....that one hardly seems like a substitute for good entertainment for the whole theater....when I was on they had "Noise Boys".  Very different but also very interesting.  Read here that it was canceled.  Since we're cruising soon, I'm wondering if there will be an alternative by then?

 

 

Kimberly is home on vacation. An entirely new cast is now onboard; "Summer 2.0". 

3 hours ago, GALSews said:

I am wondering how well all this outdoor space will work in Iceland and Norway? In particular, the food court, where I believe a lot of the seatng is outside. I guess I'll learn in June.

if you mean the outdoor spaces, it didn't work quite well at all in Iceland/Up North. It was always way too cold to be outside and pushed the crowds inside. The Indulge Food Hall was crowded on sea days to the point where you'd wander for an hour+ before finding a table. However, I love the ship in the warm climates! 

33 minutes ago, Greenpea2 said:

They have upgraded the golf carts. The vehicles now fit around a dozen people. They are electric and eerily quiet!

I was just going to mention how quiet the carts are! 

The Ocean Villas do not have access to the Lagoon, but rather, are Oceanfront. You still get access to the restaurant etc and all other amenities. Structurally, the Ocean Villas and the Lagoon Villas are identical. From my experience, there was not a hairdryer. 

Here is a video of the Lagoon Villa (which will be very similar, structurally, to the Ocean Villa)

13 hours ago, markurl said:

Did you notice lots of noise from the garden café or Spice H2O?

No, didn't really notice anything bothersome. 

I was just recently in 15878 (same cabin, just opposite sides of the ship). It was honestly fine. But, it's just a normal size balcony and you can't access that little extra added space area to the right. 

16 minutes ago, cheer25mom said:

Ok, so one more question, is there any chance they are actually going to swap out Donna Summer for Six? My Norwegian shows Six as the show option on my sailing. I fugue it’s an error, but here’s hoping. 

Six is likely to replace Noise Boys. When is your sailing? 

I have been in 9003 before. It's a good size cabin, BUT, there is a pole in the middle of the cabin preventing the beds from going together. There is a bunk bed that comes down from the ceiling for the 3rd guest.

I think, if I'm not mistaken, 9001 should be "pole-free" and with that in mind, it's a great cabin! I do believe only 9003 and 9501 are the only forward cabins with a pole divider! 

1 hour ago, macfam5 said:

This was the ship I was looking at booking the B2B out of Port Canaveral 😬

It definitely would not stop me from going back, but it surely is a pain in the rear end. I like the Escape too much to not book because of the port. I'm just glad Escape is moving to Miami in a couple weeks... Unfortunately it goes back to Port Canaveral, but a few months of relief will be good... Lol 

2 minutes ago, macfam5 said:

Oh no … Maybe I should look at other ports for B2B

I can't speak for any other terminal than terminal 10 which the Escape uses. The Prima has been using terminal 5. 

1 hour ago, The Traveling Man said:

Thanks for the info.  It seems that the cruise itineraries available under these terms are a bit limited, whereas using the points for upgrades can be done on just about any NCL cruise.  As a ballpark estimate, paying outright for a balcony room for two passengers on a seven day cruise might run a bit more than $4000.  Using almost 228,000 points works out to a value of about two cents per point.  Redeeming for OBC gets you just one cent per point.  We have redeemed 30,000 points on an upgrade from OV to Balcony on a three week cruise where the cost differential was almost $2000 per person, or nearly $4000 per room.  That comes to 13 cents per point.  I think I'll stick with redeeming my points for upgrades.

It really all depends on the specific sailing that you're looking to upgrade. I've upgraded to a balcony on some sailings for less than $100 pp and I've seen balcony upgrades way up to the 2k range as you mentioned -- what is wroth it is really depending on the cost tied to your specific sailing. If you can redeem points for one of those higher value upgrades, more power to you. The specific cruise that I booked ran about 4k for 3 in a balcony (with 3rd and 4th free). For a zero balance (inclusive of taxes and fees) and a small charge of $35 to cover the dining package service charge, I was happy. I had over 500,000 points built up, with many expiring soon... so it was the best bang for my buck at this moment in time. 

Also wanted to add, I didn't mean to hijack this thread with this Mastercard stuff... I know theres a thread for that too! But I still will be reporting back here when I finally hear back from the Latitudes Dept. regarding Diamond Upgrading to the Club Balcony Suite after using points to redeem a cruise! Hopefully will know soon. 

2 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

Sorry, I misunderstood.  I did not realize that you could use World Points as full payment for your cruise fare.  My understanding was that they could be used for OBC and upgrades, but not the full fare.

Yes, you can use it on 3/4 Day Bahamas Cruises or 7-Day Caribbean or Mexican Riviera plus additional points for guests 3-8. See below: 

Offer:

Terms & Conditions:
Offer may be used by individuals, participants in qualified group bookings, by single guests and for use with 3rd or 4th guest bookings. This is a cruise only offer. Offer applies to individual bookings and based on double occupancy. Norwegian Cruise Line reserves the right to assign the stateroom at their discretion. The Haven, Suites and Mini-Suites/Club Balcony Suites are excluded. Government taxes and fees are inclusive. Please note WorldPoints® value can be redeemed in set points value based on length of cruise and category. As such, the difference in between points redeemed and cruise cost required may result in forfeiture of WorldPoints® points. Complimentary stateroom can only be redeemed by contacting Norwegian Cruise Line directly. Complimentary stateroom can be redeemed only on one of the 7-Day Caribbean, 7-Day Mexican Riviera, or the 3- or 4-Day Bahamas Cruise based on the qualified points value received. Complimentary stateroom offer is not applicable to any sailings with Cuba as a port of call. Complimentary stateroom offer is not applicable to holiday sailings (Christmas and New Years). Employee and Sixthman charters are not applicable. Offer is not applicable to chartered sail dates. Cancellation may result in the forfeit of WorldPoints® points and is not covered by Travel Protection. Points cannot be redeemed for Travel Protection. The below cancellation policy applies when redeeming the complimentary cruise.

1 hour ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I have an upcoming AK B2B.  Has anybody done a B2B from Seattle recently?  Did you have to get off the ship?  For how long?

Yes. We met in the morning and were escorted off. The Seattle Terminal is a really long walk. Down the gangway, down the escalators, left turns, right turns, left turns etc etc. until you finally make it to the customs area. They look at the passports, then you proceed out to street level. Once everyone is outside on the street level, they'll walk you around the corner where you re-enter the terminal, right through security, and immediately back onboard. It was a little chaotic, but nonetheless, still fine. 

Sometimes the ships will run out of certain card colors and will use others in their place. Someone mentioned above the colors which is accurate... Orange, New Cruiser... Green, Returning Cruiser... Purple... Suite (S-Class OR Club Balcony Suite)... Gold/Tan, Haven. 

I went on the Norwegian Star in July and August 2022... I had a Haven Key. Now, obviously, the Star does not have a Haven, but they ran out of Purple cards and were waiting for a new shipment from Miami to come in (we were in Iceland, so it was difficult). They finally "borrowed" some from Prima when they docked next to each other and got the correct purple ones back for my last leg. 🙂