NCL Prima 5-day NYC to Bermuda Semi-Live! (10/10/22)

[PistolPete13]

I'm just going to leave these here...

Sorry for the repetition, I can't choose a favorite!

 

[catgags]

Thank you for the fantastic photos! Can't wait for more!

Hope you had a wonderful cruise!

Cat

[sunshine55]

Great shots!  What camera are you using?

 

 

[fstuff1]

2 hours ago, PistolPete13 said:

I'm just going to leave these here...
Sorry for the repetition, I can't choose a favorite!

 

amazing contrast in the pics.

if you used your phone to take the pics, what phone?

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by fstuff1

[PistolPete13]

Thanks for the comments!

 

The ship photos from the water were taken with an iPhone 11

The rest of the photos were taken with a Nikon Z6 with a collection of lenses from 14mm to 200mm.

 

[PistolPete13]

Day 4 leaving Bermuda in the afternoon:

 

 

[fstuff1]

9 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

The Wi-Fi was down or unusable most of the cruise. I talked to the Wi-Fi manager who said it has been a problem since the shipyard  and that they have not resolved it yet,,, the shipyard was a long time ago. The internet is run by a vendor, not NCL. 

 

I upgraded to unlimited and had no problems except on the last night.

 

Ironically, I probably used the least amount of internet per day out of all My ncl cruises since cruise restart last year. (400min casino + 150min Promo)

 

On the last night, I was on from 11pm - 1am and things were SLOW like dial up speeds.

Pics wouldn't load.

I'm assuming everyone was surfing at that time?

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by fstuff1

[fstuff1]

52 minutes ago, PistolPete13 said:

Thanks for the comments!

 

The ship photos from the water were taken with an iPhone 11

The rest of the photos were taken with a Nikon Z6 with a collection of lenses from 14mm to 200mm.

 

I Want a phone to take pics with the rich colors like your pics.

But not willing to spend 4 figures for it.

(Including the iPhone) lol

Edited October 15, 2022 by fstuff1

[PistolPete13]

2 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

I Want a phone to take pics with the rich colors like your pics.

But not willing to spend 4 figures for it.

(Including the iPhone) lol

 

Funny, here I was kicking myself for not bringing my "real" camera because I didn't know what conditions there would be on the snorkel boat.  Turns out my fear was a little justified because there is just no way to avoid salt spray on a fast low boat like that.

The truth is that nowadays 50% of taking a photo that will catch the eye of people is with the post-processing work.  That stuff is hard to do well.  Good thing this is only a hobby for me because I'd starve if I had to make a living from it!

[dcruiser50]

Nice pics,  we were across the hall in 11762, balcony, I will post my review tomorrow, as far as I'm concerned the Prima is a swing and a miss, will be canceling   March Prima sailing, wpold have been #21with NCL

[PistolPete13]

26 minutes ago, dcruiser50 said:

Nice pics,  we were across the hall in 11762, balcony, I will post my review tomorrow, as far as I'm concerned the Prima is a swing and a miss, will be canceling   March Prima sailing, wpold have been #21with NCL

Howdy neighbor!  Did you have Resley as the steward?  He was amazing.

[PistolPete13]

Well, I wasn't completely done with the Prima yet after 5 days on her.

As she left NYC for the last time until next spring, I parked myself at my usual spot and got a few photos of her leaving with the sunset light.

 

[PistolPete13]

Alright, after a good nights sleep I think my head is clear enough to write about my trip experience with the new Prima with a minimal amount of snark and keeping it PG-13.

Just for some background, this is only my third ever cruise and all with NCL.  I started with a 7-day Bermuda trip in 2019 on the Escape where everything was new to me and I was deer in the headlights.  I then did a 14-day Western Caribbean on the Bliss in January of 2020 and felt much more at home knowing what to expect.

I had no plans to cruise this year but the social media blitz with launch of the Prima in September made my visit the NCL site to get some more info and wouldn't you know it,  there was a short cruise out of NYC and it didn't cost an arm and a leg.  So I ended up booking this less than 4 weeks out.  The biggest downside pre-trip was navigating all the Covid testing and figuring out how to arrange for a proctored test tow days before leaving.  Not sure about you, but I hate dealing with deadlines and absolutes and the potential for not passing this test put a damper on my pre-trip enthusiasm.

Alright, I obviously did pass the test and took the trip so lets get on with the rest of my experience!

[PistolPete13]

For once in my life I actually finished packing a day before my trip so I wasn't rushing last minute.  From my previous cruises I've come up with a system of 3 bags.  1 small roller for essential clothing and toiletries, a duffel bag for snorkeling and swimming stuff, and a small backpack with an obscenely expensive amount of camera gear.

I wore my normal outfit of subway pants with holes in it and a dirty jacket from 1998 that has seen better days.  Without getting into politics NYC has reverted back to the days of my childhood in the 70's and 80's in terms of safety on the streets.  If you took a glance at me and the way I present myself, I would be the last person you would think of having any valuables worth bothering with.

So off I went onto the subway and Staten Island ferry heading into the city.  I made sure the sit in the back of the ferry in order to simulate what an aft Haven suite experience is like, minus the butler but with a drunk guy passed out a few feet away from me.

 

[PistolPete13]

The 1 train got me all the way up to 50th St. and 7th Avenue.  According to Google maps, this is a one mile walk to Pier 88 while dragging my luggage.

 

OK, so I'm a cheap SOB and thankfully can still make this walk without breaking too much of a sweat in the fall temps.  It was 8:30AM and my scheduled check in time window was 9:30 to 10.

What I didn't remember was the amount of dog crap, urine, and vomit patches I had to navigate my roller bag around while walking west.  This reminds me, I need to pour some alcohol on my luggage wheels, ugh. 

Edited October 16, 2022 by PistolPete13

[PistolPete13]

Once I got to the port, I was able to see Prima for the first time up close with my own eyes.  There is a very sleek and modern "look" for this ship.  A fruit fly has more design sense than me probably but the ship looks badass to me, if a floating casino of debauchery can look badass...

 

I made my way to the elevator.  Little did I know this would be the last empty space I'd see for the next week...

 

[PistolPete13]

According to the timestamp on the photo this was 9:27:40 AM and this was the sight that greeted me in the cruise terminal as soon as the elevator door opened.

 

[PistolPete13]

Alrighty then, time to get on line.  See anyone you know?

 

 

While the line was long, it was moving at a decent pace.  Enough that I didn't have a change to really set my bags down to get out all my documents without getting disapproving glances from the people behind me looking to get on board and make their dinner reservations.

 

 

What a happy looking bunch!  I've seem more smiles on a line in the DMV.

 

[PistolPete13]

During this time of the morning there were only two people doing the security check of paperwork for a crowd this size.  One was dedicated to the priority passengers.  They had at least two metal detectors going and before long I was past security.

They did stop and open up my GoPro camera case.  I had a small Phillips screwdriver in there to attach accessories with and that was flagged by the scanner.

Next up was NCL check in which took a while for me.  For some reason they had changed my assigned room last minute so that cause some confusion and they had to manually print a room key for me.  

I was all done and waiting for boarding by 10:47AM.  So my total time for security and checking was from 9:27 to 10:47, an hour and 20 minutes.  Not too bad but from what I understand it turned into a huge mess later in the afternoon.  I heard reports of up to 4 hours from others posting on our cruise travel group page including one unfortunate person who passed out from standing and waiting for so long.

 

 

[BarnCat1]

Thanks for such a great review, honest opinions, sense of humor and amazing pictures. I hope the embarkation process gets the kinks worked out by our cruise next year.  

[JGmf]

Very much appreciate the time and effort you are making to share your photos and narrative.  It's an enjoyable read.  Really looking forward to your observations and photos of the Prima.  It's a lot of work on your part.  Thanks again.

[PistolPete13]

Thanks folks! 

 

I've lost a bit of steam from this morning but will be back this afternoon with my observations of the ship itself and the rest of the experience!

[Cruising Lynne]

On 10/10/2022 at 10:21 AM, PistolPete13 said:

Slight change. 
 

 

Hi Pete. We were also on this cruise, and never received any notification of the change. When did you get this letter? I was okay with the change because I knew it would make getting off the ship Thursday morning go a lot smoother. I was only upset that we were never notified and I had to hear it through the grapevine.

[PistolPete13]

46 minutes ago, Cruising Lynne said:

Hi Pete. We were also on this cruise, and never received any notification of the change. When did you get this letter? I was okay with the change because I knew it would make getting off the ship Thursday morning go a lot smoother. I was only upset that we were never notified and I had to hear it through the grapevine.

This letter was on the desk of the NCL check-in agent and was presented to me along with my keycard.  The timestamp on that photo is 10:13AM.  They may have run out of copies of that for the later check-ins.  You'd think someone could run off a few copies of something so important!

[PistolPete13]

OK so where were we, oh yes, waiting to board.  I was told to goto area "C"

When I got there area "C" was roped off but people were sitting in there with some empty seats.  I walked back and forth trying to find a mystery entrance to the rope maze in front of the area and could not find an entrance.  So while standing there looking lost, an agent came up and basically told me to GTFO of that area.

 

Only later when I was boarding did I realize that was the super VIP area and the exit right beyond that was the walkway to the gangway!  I had never left from this side of the pier before and didn't remember or realize.  I realized now why they didn't want me loitering there because by the time boarding #'s were starting, there was a whole crowd bunched up there trying to get one up on their fellow cruisers.  They all must've been anxious to book their free at sea premium dining reservations.

 

And we're off to the gangway!  I had to seriously resist the urge to walk around the slowpokes even thought I was dragging my luggage and had already walked two miles to get there that morning.

 

I'm on vacation and not on the NYC subway I kept telling myself.

My issue what is that when you walk slowwwwwly up the gangway, you're prolonging the pain.  The faster you go, the faster the pain will be over!  Sheesh.

 

And I need to book my damn reservations...

 

 

Edited October 16, 2022 by PistolPete13