confused as to when the first Prima sailing will be, or are passengers onboard already?

[ontheweb]

Our TA had told us he was scheduled to be on the first sailing, but was not sure if he would take the cruise. I thought I had seen some posts of people already having sailed, so I e-mailed him asking if he had gone and if so for his impressions. (We are booked for next August.) He e-mailed back that the first sailing was not until November, and that he would not be able to get out of the office.

[dandelpino]

The inaugural sailing with paying passengers was last week.

Edited September 13, 2022 by dandelpino

[www3traveler]

The Prima is sailing now.  Her Transatlantic Crossing iss due to end in New York City on the 5th of October.

[PTC DAWG]

Go to YouTube, search Prima..enjoy. 

[steamboats]

The inaugural sailing including the naming ceremony was Aug 26th til Sep 3rd from Reykjavik to Amsterdam.

 

The first sailing with paying passengers was Sep 3rd til today from Amsterdam to Copenhagen. So today starts the third cruise. The TA starts Sep 23rd out of Southampton.

 

I´ve been on the inaugural sailing and you can find lots of photos here.

 

steamboats

[PistolPete13]

"Inaugural" can be a bit of a misnomer I think.  I'm sure when the ship gets to NYC, there will be a series of media events to show off the new ship again.  Technically the first sailing out of US soil can be an "inaugural" too!

10/5: Prima arrives in NYC
10/6: Prima sails for a private Canada cruise with travel agents and media
10/10: First paying passenger sailing from NYC to Bermuda (I'm on that!)

After this she sails to Galveston, TX and FL.  All of those could be "inaugural" sailings from XXX as well.  Technically they are right.

I'm just bummed we probably won't be seeing a seafood extravaganza on any of these sailings.  Times are tough! $$$  

[SeaShark]

40 minutes ago, PistolPete13 said:

"Inaugural" can be a bit of a misnomer I think.  I'm sure when the ship gets to NYC, there will be a series of media events to show off the new ship again.  Technically the first sailing out of US soil can be an "inaugural" too!

10/5: Prima arrives in NYC
10/6: Prima sails for a private Canada cruise with travel agents and media
10/10: First paying passenger sailing from NYC to Bermuda (I'm on that!)

After this she sails to Galveston, TX and FL.  All of those could be "inaugural" sailings from XXX as well.  Technically they are right.

I'm just bummed we probably won't be seeing a seafood extravaganza on any of these sailings.  Times are tough! $$$  

 

You are confusing "inaugural" with "first"....technically.

 

A ship's maiden voyage is the first sailing with paying passengers after handover from the builder.

A ship's inaugural voyage is the first sailing with paying passengers after the official naming ceremony.

 

At this point, Prima has had both her maiden and inaugural voyages...technically.

 

From here on out, "inaugural" will be incorrectly substituted for "first" purely for marketing purposes. 

[ppcox]

5 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

You are confusing "inaugural" with "first"....technically.

 

A ship's maiden voyage is the first sailing with paying passengers after handover from the builder.

A ship's inaugural voyage is the first sailing with paying passengers after the official naming ceremony.

 

At this point, Prima has had both her maiden and inaugural voyages...technically.

 

From here on out, "inaugural" will be incorrectly substituted for "first" purely for marketing purposes. 

I’ll be on her first TA on the 23th of this month. Looking forward to the whole cruise but sailing into New York will be special. 

[ontheweb]

Thanks to all of you who responded.

 

I had already read a post and saw the pictures from @Steamboat which is why I wondered how our TA could be on an inaugural cruise in November. What kind of first will it be by November?

[SeaShark]

58 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Thanks to all of you who responded.

 

I had already read a post and saw the pictures from @Steamboat which is why I wondered how our TA could be on an inaugural cruise in November. What kind of first will it be by November?

 

People will substitute "inaugural" for "first" at every opportunity as it just sounds special. I remember when they decided to bring the Norwegian Joy from China to the US that people were STILL labeling everything "inaugural" even though the ship had been sailing for 2+ years.

[steamboats]

12 hours ago, PistolPete13 said:

10/10: First paying passenger sailing from NYC to Bermuda (I'm on that!)

 

The first paying passengers just finished their cruise which started Sep 3rd and ended yesterday. So the 10/10 cruise is just the first cruise with paying passengers out of the US.

 

@ontheweb the only "inaugural" cruise your TA can be on is the one 10/6 (October, not November) which is a cruise by invitation only for TAs and media. November has regular cruises only for paying passengers.

 

steamboats

[ColdCruise]

15 hours ago, dandelpino said:

The inaugural sailing with paying passengers was last week.

That was just the first sailing with paying passengers. My first hand experience as I thought I’d booked an inaugural, but all the inaugural activities were the Rekyavik-Amsterdam @insiders & influencers” cruise.

There were NO inaugural festivities or ceremonies onboard, none of the typical “inaugural” mementos for the first passengers. It was a regular cruise - if you wanted a Prima lanyard, hat, etc., you could buy something from the limited selection in the shops - a very small selection).

 

I was told by a crew member and someone in the future cruise desk that NCL will have an “inaugural” cruise out of NYC, Miami and Galveston -  several of our fellow cruise critic passengers joked that either NCL misunderstands the word or are stretching the boundaries if the meaning 😜

Edited September 14, 2022 by ColdCruise

[PATRLR]

16 hours ago, SeaShark said:

 

You are confusing "inaugural" with "first"....technically.

 

A ship's maiden voyage is the first sailing with paying passengers after handover from the builder.

A ship's inaugural voyage is the first sailing with paying passengers after the official naming ceremony.

 

At this point, Prima has had both her maiden and inaugural voyages...technically.

 

From here on out, "inaugural" will be incorrectly substituted for "first" purely for marketing purposes. 

The implication here is that there is exactly one inaugural cruise.  I don't think that's correct.  You used the term "inaugural voyage" and I'll accept that there probably is only one of those, but there certainly can be an inaugural cruise to Europe, inaugural cruise to the Caribbean, etc.   CC itself seems to think there can be more than one  inaugural cruise (although they modify it with the word "mini" which I'm not sure I understand): https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=3070

Looking to Oxford for help, it seems to me that they agree there could be many inaugural cruises:  

in·au·gu·ral

/inˈôɡ(y)ərəl/

adjective

1. marking the beginning of an institution, activity, or period of office.

 

I'll be the first to call out NCL for their antics but I don't think they are incorrectly using inaugural for the 10/10 cruise.  Or for any other cruise that's new to an area.

 

3 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

That was just the first sailing with paying passengers. My first hand experience as I thought I’d booked an inaugural, but all the inaugural activities were the Rekyavik-Amsterdam @insiders & influencers” cruise.

There were NO inaugural festivities or ceremonies onboard, none of the typical “inaugural” mementos for the first passengers. It was a regular cruise - if you wanted a Prima lanyard, hat, etc., you could buy something from the limited selection in the shops - a very small selection).

 

I was told by a crew member and someone in the future cruise desk that NCL will have an “inaugural” cruise out of NYC, Miami and Galveston -  several of our fellow cruise critic passengers joked that either NCL misunderstands the word or are stretching the boundaries if the meaning 😜

I don't think they are stretching the boundaries at all.  

I think it's unfortunate that the first paying customers on Prima had no festivities or acknowledgement but, don't assume that there will be no festivities on these other inaugural cruises.  I was on the June 2018 "inaugural" cruise of the Bliss in Alaska.  This was the first with paying customers leaving Seattle for AK.  Wyland (the artist who painted the bow) was on board to help celebrate and there was some sort of "welcome" at each port (at least a couple had escorts with fire guns going).   NCL referred to it as the Bliss's inaugural cruise to Alaska and I think that was absolutely correct.

Edited September 14, 2022 by PATRLR

[steamboats]

9 hours ago, ColdCruise said:

That was just the first sailing with paying passengers. My first hand experience as I thought I’d booked an inaugural, but all the inaugural activities were the Rekyavik-Amsterdam @insiders & influencers” cruise.

There were NO inaugural festivities or ceremonies onboard, none of the typical “inaugural” mementos for the first passengers. It was a regular cruise - if you wanted a Prima lanyard, hat, etc., you could buy something from the limited selection in the shops - a very small selection).

 

Don´t worry, no real inaugural festivities either on the first cruise. Only 700 pax were admitted to the theater to watch Katy live. All the rest of us watched it on TV. Not even a special cocktail or nibblings... Yes, there were some presents and the Harpa concert on the first evening. We had Kool & The Gang and Chaka Khan. But mainly because the other shows weren´t ready yet.

 

steamboats

[LGW59]

On 9/13/2022 at 11:47 AM, ontheweb said:

Our TA had told us he was scheduled to be on the first sailing, but was not sure if he would take the cruise. I thought I had seen some posts of people already having sailed, so I e-mailed him asking if he had gone and if so for his impressions. (We are booked for next August.) He e-mailed back that the first sailing was not until November, and that he would not be able to get out of the office.

I’d be getting a new TA.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 9/13/2022 at 3:30 PM, ontheweb said:

Thanks to all of you who responded.

 

I had already read a post and saw the pictures from @SteamboatWhat kind of first will it be by November?

The only first in November would be the first cruise out of Miami once the 11 day repositioning cruise from Galveston arrives.

[ontheweb]

13 hours ago, LGW59 said:

I’d be getting a new TA.

No, he has done very well for us for several cruises.

[ontheweb]

11 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

The only first in November would be the first cruise out of Miami once the 11 day repositioning cruise from Galveston arrives.

He is based in Florida, so I guess this makes sense as an "inaugural" cruise.

[SeaShark]

7 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

He is based in Florida, so I guess this makes sense as an "inaugural" cruise.

 

Well there is the inaugural Miami cruise, followed by the inaugural Thanksgiving cruise, followed by the inaugural December cruise, followed by the inaugural Christmas cruise, followed by the inaugural New Year's Eve cruise, followed by the inaugural 2023 cruise, etc. etc. etc. Pretty soon everybody "was on the inaugural".

 

See how this use of "inaugural" instead of "first" is simply ridiculous and really makes no sense?

[PATRLR]

9 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

Well there is the inaugural Miami cruise, followed by the inaugural Thanksgiving cruise, followed by the inaugural December cruise, followed by the inaugural Christmas cruise, followed by the inaugural New Year's Eve cruise, followed by the inaugural 2023 cruise, etc. etc. etc. Pretty soon everybody "was on the inaugural".

 

See how this use of "inaugural" instead of "first" is simply ridiculous and really makes no sense?

What you write above is indeed ridiculous.  But, so far the only one taking it to that extreme, is you.

[SeaShark]

31 minutes ago, PATRLR said:

What you write above is indeed ridiculous.  But, so far the only one taking it to that extreme, is you.

 

Taking it to the extreme is the easy way to point out how ridiculous something is...which is all I did. Now prove its only me by showing me how you, in opposition to my extreme example, only use inaugural to describe the actual inaugural cruise instead of as a marketing substitute for "first".

[Teacherloves2Cruise]

22 hours ago, SeaShark said:

 

Well there is the inaugural Miami cruise, followed by the inaugural Thanksgiving cruise, followed by the inaugural December cruise, followed by the inaugural Christmas cruise, followed by the inaugural New Year's Eve cruise, followed by the inaugural 2023 cruise, etc. etc. etc. Pretty soon everybody "was on the inaugural".

 

See how this use of "inaugural" instead of "first" is simply ridiculous and really makes no sense?

Sounds like someone has an ax to grind. . . if you think it is silly- just let it go. I, on the other hand, am thrilled to be on the US Inaugural on 10/6! 🙂 

[SeaShark]

13 minutes ago, Teacherloves2Cruise said:

Sounds like someone has an ax to grind. . . if you think it is silly- just let it go. I, on the other hand, am thrilled to be on the US Inaugural on 10/6! 🙂 

 

I agree...it does sound like you're grinding. FWIW, I am thrilled for you....to be on the October Inaugural, and the Columbus Day Inaugural...wow, what an honor for you. You are special.

[Teacherloves2Cruise]

38 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

I agree...it does sound like you're grinding. FWIW, I am thrilled for you....to be on the October Inaugural, and the Columbus Day Inaugural...wow, what an honor for you. You are special.

I'd prefer to call it the Indigenous Peoples' Day Inaugural, bahahahaha. You must be fun at parties.

[ggTexasGal]

For anyone on a future PRIMA sailing, NCL has a PRIMA blog w/ship guide available.

Here is the information:

https://www.ncl.com/travel-blog/norwegian-prima-ship-guide 

 

Printable deck plans (imbedded link from above page):

https://www.ncl.com/sites/default/files/prima-ship-guide-082522.pdf