Live-Prima 12/30

[Kirstys1]

37 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

It depends on the country of embarkation and whether your cruise is entirely within the EU or if you also visit a non-EU port.  We were on the Star several years ago when we were charged Barcelona taxes for the entire cruise.  The original itinerary was mostly within the EU, but with a couple of planned stops in Turkey.  Because of political unrest in the area at that time, NCL changed the routing to skip Turkey, adding a couple of additional port days in Greece.  As the Captain explained it, since we never left the EU, we were liable for the sales taxes that were due to the country of origin, in this case Spain.

Mediterranean cruises do charge some tax, we in the uk, or out of ports further north don't at this time. If you don't leave the med you get charged tax, i'm hopeful my cruise on sun avoids taxes as we land in gibraltar 🙂 Its not just EU, its just certain waters apparently. 

[molemaui]

40 minutes ago, Beer Belly said:

I'm interested in the pool experience, the Main Pool looks a wee bit small, and the Infinity Pools just look like big Hot Tubs.

The infinity pools on the port and starboard sides are nice but crowded. The main pool on 17 is very noisy with load music and very crowded. The Haven pool is delightful and uncrowded. If we were not in Haven, we would have a Vibe pass. 

[adamnoone]

Who are the Haven bar tenders? I’ll be on her, in the Haven 1/29. 

[bwmfire36]

Was on the Christmas Cruise on the Prima (12/23 - 12/30). As we have sailed on many lines previous to NCL, Fam was excited to be on the new NCL Prima, our first with NCL. During that cruise, due to weather and rough seas, that Itinerary only made it into one (1) port (Ohco Rios). The port to their private island (Great Stirrup Cay) probably upset everyone on the ship the most, as that is typically every cruise lines (if they have one) featured stop. The fact that that stop in not a pier stop, is a huge miss for NCL, and they need to look into installing one sooner rather than later. Ironically the day was a sunny day (one of two, btw for a 7D cruise in the Caribbean), but because that is a tender port, the seas were too rough for the Captain to chance that operation, so he had no choice but to abandon the port of call. Again, not his fault due to weather and sea conditions.

 

The ship has beautiful decor IOHO, but but have some CONS to point out..

 

1) We noticed the main pool area on deck 17, was way too small for a 3500 passenger ship, so a big miss there, but had other areas to retreat to on the sunny day, still limited seating and deck chair hoarding as per usual on any ship. If you wanted the Vibe, would be a good, but expensive alternative. The Vibe was not crowded at all, so maybe NCL should revisit that as a relief point and not make that a pay area.

 

2) We also noted that the buffet area was also not well thought out as it has many pinch points to navigate and not much seating at all. Pool side dining venues would help relieve the congestion, as 900 kids kept having to go to the back of the buffet to get to the ice cream machine, adding to the hustle and bustle.

 

3) It was unfortunate that the weather was not cooperative, and missing the ports of call was frustrating, which was not NCLs fault. BUT, the Prima is definitely not designed to keep people indoors during bad weather as all venues were filled to capacity and beyond as people were finding places to hole-up for the day and enjoy additional sea days.That definitely made the cruise feel overcrowded and because everyone was trying to do the same thing, it pointed out that the venues inside were to small to handle the crowds. The ship is really designed to have at least half of the passengers on the decks and at the various entertainment activities on Deck 18 (Go-Karts, Put-Putt Golf, Slides etc. (which were closed due to raining and windy weather). So have a plan on those days with cards or something. We had wished they operated additional shows on the rainy days.

 

Despite those notes, we found the crew was very patient, helpful, and overall great service. The food we found to be very good (ate at Cagneys (good food, and yes loud crowd) and Hasuki. Both places were great, but we really enjoyed Hasuki the most as it was fun, interactive, and the chefs really engaged with everyone making the dining an outstanding experience. We did do the Hudsons dining room on the other nights, and found the food and service was great. The casino was fun, and definitely busy, but casinos are all about the same. (Beware here, bar service in the casino was pretty limited, you basically had to grab a server by the hand to get something, and with no bar really near by, be patient). Our cabin steward was on point, never had an issue, and the housekeeping staff was very pleasant to talk with and very helpful. Overall, the Prima is a beautiful ship, and yes even during the Christmas Cruise, we found it strange that for a brand new ship, lots of broken down entertainment items. Im sure over time all these kinks will be worked out, but NCL should look at the surveys people fill out and make some changes in the future.

 

 

[KKB]

1 hour ago, bwmfire36 said:

 

1) We noticed the main pool area on deck 17, was way too small for a 3500 passenger ship, so a big miss there, but had other areas to retreat to on the sunny day, still limited seating and deck chair hoarding as per usual on any ship. If you wanted the Vibe, would be a good, but expensive alternative. The Vibe was not crowded at all, so maybe NCL should revisit that as a relief point and not make that a pay area.

HAHAHAHA, you maka me laugh!

I rather think the slightly undersized pool area is a deliberate design element on NCL to ENCOURAGE those to pay for Vibe to avoid the crowds.

I did Vibe in August & the lack of a pool is a deal breaker for me, especially at that price. It was just too hot. 

It was NEVER crowded. We were a fairly full cruise & I bet not more than a dozen passengers in there at a time.

They should cut the price in half. Might be worth it for me then. Plus you would get more people buying it. Still wouldn't be crowded, but what a waste of space.

[curlstravel]

When we were on the prima we never used the main pool.  We always went to one of the infinity pools which we loved. That’s probably why the main pool is smaller because they have two other pools you can use.

[bortman23]

5 hours ago, curlstravel said:

 We always went to one of the infinity pools which we loved.

Sailing Jan 15 and it's one of the things I'm looking forward to the most! Any chance you noticed what times they got busy in the AM on sea days? I plan to park myself there on one of the sunbeds!

[curlstravel]

We went right after breakfast around 9 and plenty of seats and beds by infinity pools

[bortman23]

41 minutes ago, curlstravel said:

We went right after breakfast around 9 and plenty of seats and beds by infinity pools

 

TY!

[Karaboudjan]

20 hours ago, KKB said:

HAHAHAHA, you maka me laugh!

I rather think the slightly undersized pool area is a deliberate design element on NCL to ENCOURAGE those to pay for Vibe to avoid the crowds.

I did Vibe in August & the lack of a pool is a deal breaker for me, especially at that price. It was just too hot. 

It was NEVER crowded. We were a fairly full cruise & I bet not more than a dozen passengers in there at a time.

They should cut the price in half. Might be worth it for me then. Plus you would get more people buying it. Still wouldn't be crowded, but what a waste of space.

 

We were in the Vibe in December.  It never seemed even close to crowded, yet the bartenders said it was sold out.  So maybe it was closer to sold out your week than you think.  

 

They could probably sell some more passes without overcrowding things, but there is likely no need for them to lower the prices.  

[wolft927]

On 1/2/2023 at 5:00 PM, Liljo22 said:

NY also charges sales tax for purchases while in their waters.  Royal just eats those charges while NCL and Carnival do not.  

Royal does eat the charges but there drink packages are crazy expensive, think mine on the symphony was somwhere around $1200 for 2 for 7 night cruise 

[bortman23]

3 hours ago, wolft927 said:

Royal does eat the charges but there drink packages are crazy expensive, think mine on the symphony was somwhere around $1200 for 2 for 7 night cruise 

Yeah i've always found their drink packages overpriced.

[Liljo22]

7 hours ago, wolft927 said:

Royal does eat the charges but there drink packages are crazy expensive, think mine on the symphony was somwhere around $1200 for 2 for 7 night cruise 

Yes they are.  And they use dynamic pricing so it’s different from ship to ship and date to date.  If the package is below $72 per day, you are looking at a 6 drinks a day average to breakeven.  Still worth it to me but it feels like a gut punch when the total comes up in the cart.

Edited January 7, 2023 by Liljo22

[uneamie]

On 1/6/2023 at 1:08 PM, KKB said:

HAHAHAHA, you maka me laugh!

I rather think the slightly undersized pool area is a deliberate design element on NCL to ENCOURAGE those to pay for Vibe to avoid the crowds.

I did Vibe in August & the lack of a pool is a deal breaker for me, especially at that price. It was just too hot. 

It was NEVER crowded. We were a fairly full cruise & I bet not more than a dozen passengers in there at a time.

They should cut the price in half. Might be worth it for me then. Plus you would get more people buying it. Still wouldn't be crowded, but what a waste of space.

So you are saying there is NO POOL in the vibe???  Yikes! What's the point of it then. We can hang out on our balcony if all we want it do is lounge around. A pool would justifiy the cost. 

[macewank]

29 minutes ago, uneamie said:

So you are saying there is NO POOL in the vibe???  Yikes! What's the point of it then. We can hang out on our balcony if all we want it do is lounge around. A pool would justifiy the cost. 

 

there are hot tubs and a bar.  it's supposed to be a low-key alternative to the main lido deck (sans pool, obviously)

[KKB]

6 hours ago, uneamie said:

So you are saying there is NO POOL in the vibe???  Yikes! What's the point of it then. We can hang out on our balcony if all we want it do is lounge around. A pool would justifiy the cost. 

2 hot tubs but no pool on the Getaway

[molemaui]

We've been off the Prima for a day now and I need to say that this cruise absolutely exceeded my expectations. First-loud thanks to everyone including @Sthrngary and @Bird travel who contributed to my planning phase with great suggestions and insight. 

 

We all have our preferred cruising style-ours is smaller ships in the 200-1200 passenger range. We gravitated back to larger ships when we discovered Retreat on the newer Edge Class ships on Celebrity. Friends said, "you have to try The Haven"-so we did.

 

Our cabin was the "standard" penthouse Haven which was comparable in size to veranda cabins on Silversea and Regent. Cabin was much larger than standard cabins on Celebrity or Oceania.  It was laid out perfectly with probably one of the most comfortable beds I've ever experienced on a ship. Especially appreciated all the plugs and USB for all our electronics (phones, iPads, watch, Nook)

 

In all cases, the food exceeded my expectations. Excellent to outstanding described every meal. People complain about the menu in the Haven which doesn't change. On a 9-12 day cruise, that is OK with me as we usually do several speciality restaurants. (4 on this 9 day cruise) This could be a problem on a longer cruise or a back to back. Still, food was outstanding. 

 

We thoroughly enjoyed the speciality restaurants. Cagney's was excellent, Le Bistro's Dover Sole came as close as I've ever seen to being as good as the sole on Oceania. Trust me-that is a huge compliment. Onda by Scarpetta was excellent as well. Our real surprise was Los Lobos. Hands down, that was our favorite speciality restaurant. 

 

Dining in the Haven dining room was also an experience. Everything we ordered was perfectly prepared (rare vs. medium rare was perfect every time). Loved seeing the lump crab in the crab cakes. Service as expected was outstanding at all dining venues. 

 

The only restaurant we ventured to outside of speciality or Haven was the Indulge Food Court. Loved the concept, use of technology and most important, the food was great. Imagine pad Thai, a pulled pork sandwich and tuna tostada. That was my lunch twice. 

 

For us, Premium Plus beverage is the only way to go. (upgrade drink package couples with an upgrade to unlimited WiFi and two additional speciality restaurants). We love Champagne and Prima did not disappoint. Vueve by the glass during the day and Pommery by the bottle for dinner. Throw in higher end bourbons, scotch and gin we made good use (both economically and consumption wise) of the package. 

 

I realize my euphoria over this cruise is from the Haven perspective. As nice as the ship was, we are pool people and would not enjoy the loud, college spring break atmosphere at the deck 17 pool or the crowds at the smaller infinity pools on 8. Nothing wrong with it-we're at another stage of our lives where maybe10-15 years ago, we surely would have enjoyed it. Our Haven area was wonderfully quiet with comfortable lounge chairs and never having to worry about finding a spot. 

 

Minor bugs will be found and I'm sure addressed. Certainly not a first world problem but the hot tubs on deck 17 on the Haven Sundeck have no railings to help you get in, and only one seating bench on one of the four sides. Tubs easily have a capacity of 6 but with one bench, you usually only saw only two using the hot tub at time as who wants to stand up? Many have also commented the Prima is only a "warm weather" ship. True if you spend your time at the pool or sundeck. 

 

We seldom book more than 90 days out. This cruise was a only booked with a month's notice. We have added NCL/Haven to our upcoming cruise watchlists. Would like to try other ships as well. 

 

We're still talking today what a great cruise we had on the Prima. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[catgags]

Glad to hear you had a wonderful cruise!! I've been reading the reviews and yours definitely has me

excited!!! Can't wait to try all the restaurants!! We have the premium plus package!!! We will be spending most of our time in the Vibe!!!! 48 days till warm sunshine!!!

Cat

[bunzini]

How is the wifi?  Did you get unlimited streaming?  We hope to be able to stream Netflix on board.

 

[molemaui]

11 hours ago, bunzini said:

How is the wifi?  Did you get unlimited streaming?  We hope to be able to stream Netflix on board.

 

Just upgraded to the unlimited. It worked fairly well. A few "dead times" but mostly pretty good. 

 

On other cruises, I could not access security cameras at home-basic unlimited worked fine on Prima. 

[Sthrngary]

On 1/9/2023 at 1:55 PM, molemaui said:

We've been off the Prima for a day now and I need to say that this cruise absolutely exceeded my expectations. First-loud thanks to everyone including @Sthrngary and @Bird travel who contributed to my planning phase with great suggestions and insight. 

 

We all have our preferred cruising style-ours is smaller ships in the 200-1200 passenger range. We gravitated back to larger ships when we discovered Retreat on the newer Edge Class ships on Celebrity. Friends said, "you have to try The Haven"-so we did.

 

Our cabin was the "standard" penthouse Haven which was comparable in size to veranda cabins on Silversea and Regent. Cabin was much larger than standard cabins on Celebrity or Oceania.  It was laid out perfectly with probably one of the most comfortable beds I've ever experienced on a ship. Especially appreciated all the plugs and USB for all our electronics (phones, iPads, watch, Nook)

 

In all cases, the food exceeded my expectations. Excellent to outstanding described every meal. People complain about the menu in the Haven which doesn't change. On a 9-12 day cruise, that is OK with me as we usually do several speciality restaurants. (4 on this 9 day cruise) This could be a problem on a longer cruise or a back to back. Still, food was outstanding. 

 

We thoroughly enjoyed the speciality restaurants. Cagney's was excellent, Le Bistro's Dover Sole came as close as I've ever seen to being as good as the sole on Oceania. Trust me-that is a huge compliment. Onda by Scarpetta was excellent as well. Our real surprise was Los Lobos. Hands down, that was our favorite speciality restaurant. 

 

Dining in the Haven dining room was also an experience. Everything we ordered was perfectly prepared (rare vs. medium rare was perfect every time). Loved seeing the lump crab in the crab cakes. Service as expected was outstanding at all dining venues. 

 

The only restaurant we ventured to outside of speciality or Haven was the Indulge Food Court. Loved the concept, use of technology and most important, the food was great. Imagine pad Thai, a pulled pork sandwich and tuna tostada. That was my lunch twice. 

 

For us, Premium Plus beverage is the only way to go. (upgrade drink package couples with an upgrade to unlimited WiFi and two additional speciality restaurants). We love Champagne and Prima did not disappoint. Vueve by the glass during the day and Pommery by the bottle for dinner. Throw in higher end bourbons, scotch and gin we made good use (both economically and consumption wise) of the package. 

 

I realize my euphoria over this cruise is from the Haven perspective. As nice as the ship was, we are pool people and would not enjoy the loud, college spring break atmosphere at the deck 17 pool or the crowds at the smaller infinity pools on 8. Nothing wrong with it-we're at another stage of our lives where maybe10-15 years ago, we surely would have enjoyed it. Our Haven area was wonderfully quiet with comfortable lounge chairs and never having to worry about finding a spot. 

 

Minor bugs will be found and I'm sure addressed. Certainly not a first world problem but the hot tubs on deck 17 on the Haven Sundeck have no railings to help you get in, and only one seating bench on one of the four sides. Tubs easily have a capacity of 6 but with one bench, you usually only saw only two using the hot tub at time as who wants to stand up? Many have also commented the Prima is only a "warm weather" ship. True if you spend your time at the pool or sundeck. 

 

We seldom book more than 90 days out. This cruise was a only booked with a month's notice. We have added NCL/Haven to our upcoming cruise watchlists. Would like to try other ships as well. 

 

We're still talking today what a great cruise we had on the Prima. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for the shout out.  Glad you had a great time.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[disneygirl63]

Thank you for the wonderful review! We cruised the Prima tranatlantic from UK to NY and the weather was very cold and could not use our Haven balcony or the outside decks. It was a wonderful ship but we are looking forward to our upcoming 2/12 cruise is the warm weather. Staff, ship was wonderful and we got a great deal on one of the last Haven penthouses. Thank you again for all your comments too

 

[CruizinSusan70]

On 1/2/2023 at 4:23 PM, vacation65 said:

What I'm trying to say is with the drink package we already paid the taxes and gratuities  so that doesn't make sense. 

No, you paid the 20% gratuity with the drink package.  While the ship is in US waters, you pay the corresponding sales tax for that state until the ship exits the port and gets into international waters.

So, it makes sense because while the ship is geographically still in FLA, you're responsible to pay FLA sales tax.

[CruizinSusan70]

On 1/2/2023 at 4:27 PM, vacation65 said:

Wow that is weird, on Royal Caribbean we left from New York but didn't pay any taxes on our drinks while we were docked there. Good to know about Florida.

 

No, on Royal Caribbean you left from Bayonne, which is located in New Jersey.  

[CruizinSusan70]

On 1/6/2023 at 1:08 PM, KKB said:

 

I did Vibe in August & the lack of a pool is a deal breaker for me, especially at that price. It was just too hot. 

It was NEVER crowded. We were a fairly full cruise & I bet not more than a dozen passengers in there at a time.

They should cut the price in half. Might be worth it for me then. Plus you would get more people buying it. Still wouldn't be crowded, but what a waste of space.

Just to let you know, the Vibe is sold out for every cruise on the Prima through May unless there have been cancellations.  So there is no need for more people to buy it because they can't. We were there for 11 days starting on Halloween and it was the highlight of our cruise.  Certainly not a waste of space for those that wish to cruise in a kid free atmosphere and not be a chair hog since thick padded loungers and umbrellas are always waiting for you.  Along with two large hot tubs, great bartenders and shot o'clock.