Norwegian Star vs Prima for Iceland Cruise?

[Happy fool]

I recently sailed on the Star on the Iceland/Greenland itinerary. I have never sailed on the Prima, so I can’t comment on that. I have sailed on NCL a couple of times before. I choose sailings based on itinerary not cruise line. Following are my opinions and your preferences may be completely different. 
 

Iceland is amazing. If you haven’t been, put this on your bucket list!  This was our second trip to Iceland. We didn’t really see anything in Reykjavik this time since we had been there before. We had NCL air and transfers and arrived very early the morning on embarkation. One unexpected thing that NCL did was take us to a hotel for an excellent buffet breakfast before taking us to the port. Kudos to NCL for that. However, once we got to the port embarkation was a mess with long, long lines. Some of the older passengers were having issues with being expected to stand for so long. 
 

Our Iceland stops were fabulous. In Akureyri we took a private waterfall tour and spent time just wandering around town and visiting the botanical gardens. This was definitely my favorite stop. Issafjorddur was still a tender port. I don’t feel that NCL managed the tender ports as well as they might have….lots of lines and waits and tickets were for later after arrival since we didn’t have status or ship excursions each time. 
 

We understandably missed the first Greenland stop due to heavy fog and numerous Icebergs. We walked around the small town at our second Greenland stop and toured the tiny museum. Had a nice dessert and coffee at the little coffee shop. Nuuk was my favorite Greenland stop. We were able to dock and that made things much easier. We saw a whale while we were in Nuuk. Friends saw a whale as we were sailing into Nuuk. We did a ship excursion to visit an Iceland family and it was great. There is a very well laid out and curated museum in Nuuk…a don’t miss IMHO. 

 

Cabin…we had an obstructed ocean view on the theory that it would be too cold to use a balcony. The bathroom was well laid out. The desk/mirror could have been a couple of inches smaller to allow for easier access to the bed. No need to set an alarm on tender days…launching the lifeboats will be your wake up call. 
 

Shows. The shows were good..especially the magician, White Magic. No issues with finding a seat. The production shows were fine, but the special effects were a frequent use of the smoke machine. Nothing against the smoke machine but it was used so much that it was distracting. The violin trio in the atrium was excellent. Great tribute to Queen in the theater. 
 

Activities…this is an area that could use some improvement. There were a couple of trivia games each day, but most of the activities seemed to be ads for paid services (spa treatments) or extra charge alcohol tastings/bingo. On a previous NCL cruise there was a ceremony when we crossed the attic circle and everyone got a card in the cabin documenting our crossing of the attic circle. Only mention this time….at the Q&A, someone asked the captain if we would be crossing the arctic circle. 
 

Debarkation was great. We carried our luggage and walked right out to the shuttle bus. 

[Ozmodiar]

10 years from now you'll probably need to look up the name of the ship (I know I do at least), but you'll have clear memories of Iceland. If the itinerary is what you are going for, go with the better itinerary...

 

For a cruise where you are going primarily for the itinerary, to less touristy spots and smaller ports, I would almost always recommend the smaller ship anyway - less people competing for excursions and restaurants and so on, just less people invading the town.  

 

Ísafjörður's population is less than the Prima's capacity for instance...

[UKstages]

3 hours ago, Trixie21 said:

Interesting to hear that Prima is purpose built for cold weather.

 

some might say the prima was actually purpose-built for warm weather itineraries, but thoughtlessly and carelessly scheduled for cold weather itineraries.

[The Traveling Man]

5 hours ago, Trixie21 said:

Interesting to hear that Prima is purpose built for cold weather.

I wondered why they would deploy her 2 seasons in a row to Northern Europe if she was unsuitable for that region.

I'm not sure I can fully support that opinion.  As many others have said on various CC threads, one of the more noticeable aspects of the design of the Pr1ma is the relative size of the outdoor areas.  Significant portions of the seating areas for some of the restaurants are located outside.  When it's cold or rainy, that space goes unused, causing more crowding in the inside seating areas.  This is a particular concern for the Indulge food hall.  We found it very difficult to find seats there when we sailed on the Pr1ma last September in Norway.  Yes, many of the outdoor areas have heating units and some of the pools, maybe even all, are heated, but the same can be said for many other NCL ships.  I don't think that constitutes "purpose built for cold weather" any more than any other NCL ship.

Edited July 20, 2023 by The Traveling Man

[YVRteacher]

Hi @Trixie21 I’m boarding the Star this Sunday  for 23 days B2B (Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Shetland Islands) and will be doing a live review.  Full disclosure: the Star is my least favourite NCL ship and I have not yet sailed on the Prima.

[BrianLo]

I like Prima. It's very enjoyable in cold weather itineraries in my view.

 

It's clearly not purpose designed for them. The promenade goes largely unused, which does exacerbate indoor spaces. Unlike say RCCL quantum vessels where a good 2/3 of the upper deck space is actually enclosed. Enclosed pool, enclosed solarium, enclosed sports courts etc.

 

A cold weather future Prima vessel would need to have the ability to better enclose the outdoor spaces, probably ditch the racing track, have more hot tubs and some sort of enclosed solarium/pool space. With a bigger multi-use trivia/music type venue.

 

I don't expect Prima will be sailing these types of itineraries down the road.

Edited July 20, 2023 by BrianLo

[Trixie21]

5 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Hi @Trixie21 I’m boarding the Star this Sunday  for 23 days B2B (Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Shetland Islands) and will be doing a live review.  Full disclosure: the Star is my least favourite NCL ship and I have not yet sailed on the Prima.

Hi @YVRteacher

I'll be avidly following your live review lol!

We have been to Norway , Denmark and the Shetlands -all highly recommended , Norway especially. 

[RunBikeCruiseDC]

On 7/18/2023 at 6:55 AM, Trixie21 said:

We have been looking at Norwegian Prima for an Iceland/Norway cruise in June 2024.

I have just come across an even better itinerary which is on Norwegian Star to Iceland/Greenland June 024.

A

 

I have been on both ships and would prefer Prima due to the observation area for cooler climates.  She's new, beautiful and the food is amazing (love Indulge Food Hall - included!!). I've never been to any of the ports but Iceland and Norway are on my bucket list.  But honestly, I'd love to cruise to Greenland, too!

[The Traveling Man]

12 hours ago, BrianLo said:

I like Prima. It's very enjoyable in cold weather itineraries in my view.

 

It's clearly not purpose designed for them. The promenade goes largely unused, which does exacerbate indoor spaces.

 

I don't expect Prima will be sailing these types of itineraries down the road.

NCL has about a dozen Northern European cruises scheduled for the Pr1ma in either September or October over the next three years.  Unfortunately, I expect that Pr1ma will continue sailing cold weather cruises for years to come.

[BrianLo]

2 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

NCL has about a dozen Northern European cruises scheduled for the Pr1ma in either September or October over the next three years.  Unfortunately, I expect that Pr1ma will continue sailing cold weather cruises for years to come.

Sorry I meant long term, like five-ten years from now ‘if’ they make a better cold weather vessel.

[The Traveling Man]

5 minutes ago, BrianLo said:

Sorry I meant long term, like five-ten years from now ‘if’ they make a better cold weather vessel.

NCL has demonstrated a sort of tone deafness in regard to picking which ships are assigned to which routes.  The Breakaway has hull art by Peter Max featuring the NYC skyline.  It was home-ported in Manhattan for a year or two, but now it rarely sails there.  Miami artist Lebo designed the hull art on the Getaway.  It was assigned to Miami for a while, but now frequently sails elsewhere.

 

More to the point, when NCL decided to sail to Australia and New Zealand in late 2016 / early 2017, the itinerary was a challenging one.  On typical out-and-back trips, the ship is serviced and resupplied at the same home port each week.  If a problem arises, they may have to cancel a cruise so the ship can undergo emergency repairs.  If it always embarks at the same city each week, it already will be at the correct port for the start of the following cruise.  When the itinerary makes the ship play leap frog from one port to a different one each week, the logistics become very complicated if a problem occurs.  Of all the ships in NCL's fleet, The Australia run was assigned NCL's least reliable ship, the Star, which has more cancelled and delayed cruises due to propulsion problems than all the other ships in the fleet combined.  Naturally, the Azipods failed, repeatedly, causing massive delays and missed ports, culminating with the ship going adrift for days in the Tasman Sea.  No, I would not count on NCL choosing wisely in assigning appropriate ships to routes which may demand particular characteristics.

[v3cruiser]

Best of luck choosing the ship. Getting off the Star tomorrow from our Iceland Greenland cruise. We found out early on 4 not 1 of our 6 ports were tender ports. No big deal here buttttt, with tendering there is more risk of port cancellation and that's what happened to us. 1 Iceland stop cancelled and 2 of 3 Greenland stops canceled. We arrived back in Reykjavic 1 day early as an overnight port stop. 

 

Djupivigor cancelled due to wind and Nuuk and paamuit were canceled due to "bad weather". Then as an alternative we were going to sail through prince christian sound then stop in qaqortoq but that got cancelled due to large ice belts blocking ports including blocking us in for a bit the next morning after our first Greenland stop. 

 

I wish I was on a bigger ship. With these cancelations and more sea days the prima would have been better. I just don't know if it could have even tendered at all.

 

Can't wait to get home. Music onboard was mostly slow acoustical and slow. Not the greatest for foggy cold rainy days at sea when you can go outside.  food I'm sad to say was average at best, not like it used to be. Found out there is no sea day brunch anymore either. Iceland and our one stop in Nanortalik Greenland was amazing but at least coming from where I come from I should not have taken this cruise as it was above average costs as well as above average air to get to Iceland and back with a risky itinerary that NCL was not honest on from the get go by advertising it as a one tender out of six port cruise. 

 

Edited July 22, 2023 by v3cruiser

[Trixie21]

3 hours ago, v3cruiser said:

Best of luck choosing the ship. Getting off the Star tomorrow from our Iceland Greenland cruise. We found out early on 4 not 1 of our 6 ports were tender ports. No big deal here buttttt, with tendering there is more risk of port cancellation and that's what happened to us. 1 Iceland stop cancelled and 2 of 3 Greenland stops canceled. We arrived back in Reykjavic 1 day early as an overnight port stop. 

 

Djupivigor cancelled due to wind and Nuuk and paamuit were canceled due to "bad weather". Then as an alternative we were going to sail through prince christian sound then stop in qaqortoq but that got cancelled due to large ice belts blocking ports including blocking us in for a bit the next morning after our first Greenland stop. 

 

I wish I was on a bigger ship. With these cancelations and more sea days the prima would have been better. I just don't know if it could have even tendered at all.

 

Can't wait to get home. Music onboard was mostly slow acoustical and slow. Not the greatest for foggy cold rainy days at sea when you can go outside.  food I'm sad to say was average at best, not like it used to be. Found out there is no sea day brunch anymore either. Iceland and our one stop in Nanortalik Greenland was amazing but at least coming from where I come from I should not have taken this cruise as it was above average costs as well as above average air to get to Iceland and back with a risky itinerary that NCL was not honest on from the get go by advertising it as a one tender out of six port cruise. 

 

Thanks for sharing your experience on the Star.

We cruise more for the destination than the ship now , but if the ports get cancelled then the shipmis the destination lol!

We have not made a decision yet - i actually prefer the ports on the Prima cruise,  whereas my wife prefers the Star itinerary . 

Some discussions to be had and I have some numbers to crunch as the Star itinerary would mean we would need to spend a couple of nights in Reykjavik to see around it , and nothing is cheap in Reykjavik. 

 

[insidecabin]

On 7/19/2023 at 10:09 PM, Trixie21 said:

Thanks for your comments.

Interesting to hear that Prima is purpose built for cold weather.

I wondered why they would deploy her 2 seasons in a row to Northern Europe if she was unsuitable for that region.

Weighing everything up we have decided to go with the Prima.

Just have to get all our ducks in a row with various aspects of the trip before pressing the trigger.

Incidentally the current price for the 2 of us for the 10 day Southampton to Reykjavik is £5500 including the free at sea. Dont know what is good and what isn't with NCL - any comments on that price ? 

Expensive.

What cabin?

 

They are 11n cruises 2024 from Southampton

 

The entry price with FAS on open jaw Southampton Prima trips this year has been under £2k total for 2.

 

 

 

[Trixie21]

7 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

Expensive.

What cabin?

 

They are 11n cruises 2024 from Southampton

 

The entry price with FAS on open jaw Southampton Prima trips this year has been under £2k total for 2.

 

 

 

Balcony cabin.

If I were booking now for this year its half the price .

But we can't go this year unfortunately. 

[insidecabin]

5 minutes ago, Trixie21 said:

Balcony cabin.

If I were booking now for this year its half the price .

But we can't go this year unfortunately. 

 

Wait till next year when it is 1/2 price again.

We rarely book early as NCL nearly always drops prices.

 

Looking at Nov and think that's early booking

 

See if you can slip in a cheap one this year to get your latitude account up and running.

 

Buy some cruise next to get more discount.

 

They have been putting vouchers on some latitude accounts our latest is for 15% of the cruise portion of a fare.

[Trixie21]

6 minutes ago, Trixie21 said:

Balcony cabin.

If I were booking now for this year its half the price .

But we can't go this year unfortunately. 

Just had a look and only one sailing for this year on Prima left now ,  in September.

Do you have any idea when the pricing for this year's open jaw Prima sailings started to come down to around 2--£3000 ?

I'm actually ok with around £3000-£4000 pounds including free at sea - seems reasonable,  but £5500 seems a bit excessive.

[Trixie21]

1 minute ago, insidecabin said:

 

Wait till next year when it is 1/2 price again.

We rarely book early as NCL nearly always drops prices.

 

Looking at Nov and think that's early booking

 

See if you can slip in a cheap one this year to get your latitude account up and running.

 

Buy some cruise next to get more discount.

 

They have been putting vouchers on some latitude accounts our latest is for 15% of the cruise portion of a fare.

I actually have a latitudes account from about 10 years ago when we did our first cruise on Epic.

Haven't logged into it for years- must have a look.

[insidecabin]

24 minutes ago, Trixie21 said:

Just had a look and only one sailing for this year on Prima left now ,  in September.

Do you have any idea when the pricing for this year's open jaw Prima sailings started to come down to around 2--£3000 ?

I'm actually ok with around £3000-£4000 pounds including free at sea - seems reasonable,  but £5500 seems a bit excessive.

Can't remember* when they started dropping plenty of time to sort a booking.

Since all dates are the same itinerary the extra planning will work for any.

 

Probably help if you can have a few date options as luck will be your date won't drop.

 

NCL kept the premium new ship prices quite a while.

 

I do keep emails so may be able to get some idea(need to get home first) if I remember to look

 

There is a us price tracker(plum) that shows around Jan for the sept one this year.

[insidecabin]

If you have a latitude account log in and check if there are any vouchers and make sure you email is up-to-date and signed up for marketing.

 

Do your cruise searches logged in.

I go through to payment and leave them there.

 

No idea if it help get vouchers.

[MissBreezy]

On 7/19/2023 at 8:18 AM, BirdTravels said:

 

The Star is one of the oldest and smallest ships in the NCL fleet. The Prima is the newest with the latest features. 

 

The Prima is purpose-built for cold weather. While people complain that outside decks are less used in cold weather, I don't know of any ship where that is not true. Since we enjoy being outside, wheather on a balcony or on deck, a jacket and cup of coffee makes outdoor seating enjoyable. There are heaters over outside dining areas. The pools and water features are heated. there is an interior lounge. Personally, we also hang out in the Thermal suite looking out over the ocean a lot. 

I was delighted to find out that they can change the temps of those infinity pools depending on the weather! Some days they were nearly hot tub temp on our Iceland cruise 🙂 

[insidecabin]

50% free at sea is back for 2 days.

[Trixie21]

Unfortunately I have had to say no to sailing with Norwegian.

We were kind of settled on Prima and I instructed my travel agent to contact the special needs department and check if they were OK to accommodate a specific medical request for my wife.

Its actually a very simple request , requires no effort really on the part of the ship. All we need is a yes or no answer . Now no means we can't book with them as this is a necessity on my wife's part.

So the special needs department say to my travel agent that they cannot give an answer to the query unless we have a booking number - ie already booked and paid a deposit. So she tells them that if we book and pay a deposit and they say no they cannot accommodate the request then we cannot go and we would lose our deposit . But they still say there must be a booking number to action the query.

She rang twice more and received the same answer.

So they will not get our money. If we had enjoyed the cruise , we would have booked more with them. I know it means nothing to them really but it seems such a bizarre thing that they cannot provide an answer to a very simple question . Every other cruise line my travel agent contacted has been able to at least provide a straight answer without the need to book first. 

Disappointing to say the least.

 

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, Trixie21 said:

Unfortunately I have had to say no to sailing with Norwegian.

We were kind of settled on Prima and I instructed my travel agent to contact the special needs department and check if they were OK to accommodate a specific medical request for my wife.

Its actually a very simple request , requires no effort really on the part of the ship. All we need is a yes or no answer . Now no means we can't book with them as this is a necessity on my wife's part.

So the special needs department say to my travel agent that they cannot give an answer to the query unless we have a booking number - ie already booked and paid a deposit. So she tells them that if we book and pay a deposit and they say no they cannot accommodate the request then we cannot go and we would lose our deposit . But they still say there must be a booking number to action the query.

She rang twice more and received the same answer.

So they will not get our money. If we had enjoyed the cruise , we would have booked more with them. I know it means nothing to them really but it seems such a bizarre thing that they cannot provide an answer to a very simple question . Every other cruise line my travel agent contacted has been able to at least provide a straight answer without the need to book first. 

Disappointing to say the least.

 

That is truly an idiotic way to conduct business. If the request is as easy to answer as you say, it costs them nothing to actually give an answer while they lose your potential business when they will not answer. Just mind boggling. 🤦‍♂️

[Turtles06]

3 hours ago, Trixie21 said:

So the special needs department say to my travel agent that they cannot give an answer to the query unless we have a booking number - ie already booked and paid a deposit.

I agree that what you’ve recounted makes no sense and is a totally foolish way of doing business. So much so that it makes me wonder whether something was not communicated correctly on one end or the other. I assume you were not on the call that your TA had with NCL. If you weren’t, you might want to call special needs yourself and see what they say directly.