Cold weather Prima review

[kodos]

I’m recently off the 2 week Iceland/Norway roundtrip on the Prima. I thought a review highlighting what a cold weather trip on the Prima would be like when the deck 8 waterfront is mostly unusable. I won’t cover much of what you could find in the other Prima reviews.

 

The ship was claimed to be sold out. I’m a little skeptical but because of time of year, cost, and duration of the cruise there really weren’t many kids. We only had 43 on board so that means no 3rd and/or 4th in a cabin. So we probably only had around 3000 on board instead of 4000 if there were families.

 

Embarkation in South Hampton was about as warm as the trip got. Weather was in the 40’s in Iceland and 50’s in Norway. We also had rough seas leading to the pools being drained several times during the cruise and totally closing deck 8 waterfront.

 

I’ve read the many negative reviews of the Prima and seen the video of the 10 things I hate about the Prima. I was never really worried too much about them. I’m adaptable and this was a port intensive trip for me so even if the ship was a disaster I would still have a good time.

 

I’ve followed the Prima design and construction since the beginning. I’ve also been cruising with NCL for 25 years and have seen the evolution of the their ships to support freestyle cruising. With all the ship designs of the last 20 years they have been working to disperse the passengers by offering more places to go. On this ship that means every location is smaller making it feel more intimate and hiding the other 3000 passengers from you. The only problem is when everyone wants to go to the same location and won’t budge. I think there are also complaints about convoluted pathways to things.

 

That’s my setup, now for the review.

 

The ship is gorgeous. I don’t think there is much controversy on that point. I question how well some of those interiors will hold up since they are already showing wear a year in but right now they still look great.

 

I had an inside cabin on deck 11 forward. It is certainly the best inside cabin I have ever had and if you don’t count the lack of view against it I’d say it is better than any non-haven cabin I have had. The extra space makes a difference. You can walk easily on either side of the bed. Storage is plentiful and smart. Bathroom and shower are very roomy for a cruise ship. Because you have space for every conceivable thing you could bring your room will never feel cluttered.

 

By blind luck my cabin location was great for the places I wanted to go. I was very close the forward elevators. That gave me easy access to the Spa, Observation Lounge, and Atrium 6,7, & 8. Which were places I went every day on the cruise ship. I never had any issues with elevator availability and we had two that were broken much of the cruise.

 

The Spa is definitely an improvement over the previous class ships with the exception of not having the hydrotherapy features. They is a really nice heated pool with some jets but I miss the neck waterfall. This does make things quieter. The space is divided into three separate areas. The pool, the sauna/steam/salt/snow rooms, and the loungers. The lounger area is very quiet unless you have a spot with a treadmill above you. There are plenty of others there where you can’t hear the gym. The downside of not having the echo of the hydrotherapy pool is you will hear people snoring.

 

The theater is small but I think the fold away seating is also a design improvement. The seats on deck 6 fold away like high school bleachers (except nicer) turning the space into the night club after the shows are over. This saves space on the ship for other things instead off having two separate facilities there are very rarely in use at the same time.

 

With Deck 8 out of the question for the Fjords the observation lounge was packed. It was full the entire cruise but I easily found a spot there every morning at 7:30 AM so an early riser would have no issues. I decided this cruise not to eat breakfast at the buffet so the observation lounge’s light offerings and coffee were more than enough. I really don’t understand why people choose to sleep there since it all about the view but they do.

 

I loved the indulge food hall. We went there right after we boarded because I wanted to try it and was worried based on the reviews it would always be too full. I ended up eating there a lot. The longest I ever waited was 30 minutes. If you don’t get a spot when you get there just stake out an area and wait. It won’t take that long for a table to open up. We even went there a few times for breakfast. The bar in there also had the best beer selection on the ship. The BBQ salmon there was one of the best things I had on the ship

 

The bars are a little over specialized. Other than the atrium deck 6 and maybe the pool bar I’m not sure you could guarantee the drink you wanted was available at the bar you were at. I’m sure the Haven and Vibe would be full service but I wasn’t at either of those this trip. Each bar has its own mix of premade cocktails and signature drinks. The bartenders would say they are “concept” bars if they couldn’t make something. We figured out which bar made the drinks we wanted and who made them the best but it is a little strange not be able to get something as simple a margarita at any bar.

 

Buffet was always packed beyond capacity and they had to use the food republic to provide overflow seating. We only went here twice for lunch.

 

Things I don’t know. We never could really use deck 8. I walked around it a few times. The bar at the back was open once the whole trip and we only got in the infinity pool once because the two hot tubs on 17 were so full they couldn’t possibly hold another person. Pools were heated to a survivable temperature but would have been more useful if they were a little warmer. The space looks really cool but I can imagine in nice weather you’d have a harder time getting a spot there than the observation lounge. If everyone was using the space on 8 the ship it would have taken strain off the rest of the ship but if the weather was warm enough more people would have been on the ship.

 

The bar side of the local needs to be gutted. It is the one place on the ship where the designer lost his mind and filled it full of useless uncomfortable seating. We ate on the restaurant side of the local a few times and enjoyed it.

 

The weather meant many things were closed I think the angry bees (go karts) only ran 2 days and the slides were closed most of the time. Most of the upper deck stuff remained close. I did eventually get to try all the slides once both wet and dry.

 

The vibe looked really nice and was totally empty since you couldn’t use it. Deck 17 pool deck looks way to small. I can’t imagine it in nice weather with the only two public hot tubs on the ship. I guess they want you on deck 8 but what kind of hunger games do you need to win to snag one of those two beds surrounded by water?

 

The entertainment was the the only really let down. For a two week cruise we were really lacking in shows. There just doesn’t seem to be enough compared to past cruises. We did Syd’s every night they had a show but this is my fourth time seeing them and every song and joke is the same. The atrium bands were good but also an area that was always full and sometimes hard to get a drink.

 

I thought the food was very good and for specialty restaurants we did Cagney’s, Le Bistro, Teppanyaki, Food Republic, Mexican, and Palomar. We tried both main dining rooms multiple times.

 

Service was generally very good. The one surprising area were I felt they were struggling was at the bars. Many times they just weren’t good bartenders. They either didn’t know their own menu of drinks or had trouble understanding English.

 

If anyone has any specific questions I’d be glad to answer.

[Sussexboy]

 We were on the same cruise. I never found a decent margarita anywhere, but the old fashioneds in the Whisky Bar were very good. Coming from P&O experience it seemed strange that most bars were glorified corridors rather than specific rooms, that’s only a small complaint though. As first time NCL cruisers we loved the ship and the atmosphere on board. I had some great conversations with people from many countries.

Edited October 5, 2023 by Sussexboy

[kodos]

The whisky bar was where I went most nights. They did try and make my wife a margarita with whisky one night much to her horror. Belvedere bar would have been a sit down room except it is mostly full of people waiting on tables for dinner. 

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by kodos

[schmoopie17]

4 minutes ago, kodos said:

 Belvedere bar would have been a sit down room except it is most full of people waiting on tables for dinner. 

 

We were on the Prima in January. They also played trivia in the Belvedere most afternoons. Tough to get a seat when trivia players are even sitting at the bar. Although, the Chocolate Cowboy worked the Belvedere on our cruise, which made it more interesting when we were able to find a seat.

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by schmoopie17