Norwegian Star vs Prima for Iceland Cruise?

[Trixie21]

37 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

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. 

The question i need an answer to is as follows.

My wife administers IV nutritional fluids at night as after multiple operations for crohns disease she is unable to eat enough food to give her the nutrition she needs.

We would be bringing onboard one bag of nutritional fluids for each night of the cruise and these bags require refrigeration to keep cool.

So the question was can you allocate refrigerated storage for us in the medical bay for these bags? Fairly straightforward. 

She needs no other assistance or help. The coolers in the cabin would maybe hold 2 bags at most and are only coolers anyway , not proper fridges.

I recognise that they would need to contact the ship to check etc and maybe check with other departments and this may take a little time - nomissues with that at all.

But they will not even try without us first making a booking , as they say there must be a booking number on the request form , otherwise it cannot be submitted. And of course if the answer is no they can't,  then ypmy deposit is lost as obviously we could not to.

I have been using my travel agent for 10 years and she is very competent. I know she has asked the correct question because she has gotten an answer from Royal Caribbean (no) , Princess (yes - very helpful) , P&O (yes - again very helpful).

Still waiting on Celebrity to come back .

I appreciate your suggestion to call special needs myself and I may do that anyway - can't do any harm i suppose. 

Though having called 3 times and been given the same answer by 3 different people one must suppose it is policy .

[insidecabin]

5 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.

 

TA should be able to do a booking with a hold to get a number.

 

Then NCL can answer the question, might need the hold renewed a couple of times if it takes time.

 

 

[YVRteacher]

As you know I’m on the Star now. I have not sailed on the Prima. I have decided that when I come back to Iceland (not if, when!) I will not cruise with NCL.  I will never come on the Star again. I booked this trip for the itinerary, not the ship. The ship is not worth it for the itinerary. Given the extreme challenges I have had getting a vegetarian diet accommodated, I would not trust NCL with a medical need.  
 

Check out Viking!

[Trixie21]

55 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

TA should be able to do a booking with a hold to get a number.

 

Then NCL can answer the question, might need the hold renewed a couple of times if it takes time.

 

 

Can that be done with a UK booking ?

To be honest I told my travel agent after the third time of trying not to waste any more of her time pursuing it and to explore other cruise lines .

Princess have actually called back twice detailing how they can be of help from assisted boarding because we will have medical supplies to working with the medical supply company so they can deliver the fluids direct to the ship. They will likely get the business as they also have a nice itinerary .

I'm not trying to knock NCL as all cruise lines can be infuriating at times and I know they have many happy guests and their Prima class ships are intriguing.

I suppose I am just a little disappointed and frustrated .

[Trixie21]

25 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

As you know I’m on the Star now. I have not sailed on the Prima. I have decided that when I come back to Iceland (not if, when!) I will not cruise with NCL.  I will never come on the Star again. I booked this trip for the itinerary, not the ship. The ship is not worth it for the itinerary. Given the extreme challenges I have had getting a vegetarian diet accommodated, I would not trust NCL with a medical need.  
 

Check out Viking!

I have been following your live thread and you seem to have had a rough time. Seems very disorganised and disjointed.

I hope things improve for you .

[schmoopie17]

To the OP...

Do you like to eat? If so, you might want to skip the Star.

I suggest you read the live trip report from @YVRteacher.

Caveat emptor...

[Trixie21]

24 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

To the OP...

Do you like to eat? If so, you might want to skip the Star.

I suggest you read the live trip report from @YVRteacher.

Caveat emptor...

Lol , yes I like to eat !!

And I have been following the live thread by @YVRteacher

Not good. And we were originally considering the Star. Dodged a bullet there!

However food on the Prima which we had hoped to go on seems to be quite good from the few reviews I have read.

[www3traveler]

At this point in time, I would not reccomend The Star to anyone.

 

Do not know about The Prima since within the last few months they have had a major Hotel Management shift.  A lot of staff who have been on The Prima are now on The Viva getting Her ready for Her 1st sailings in just over two weeks from now.