NCL Prima eastbound 15 days TA (Live) 27 Apr, 2024 - N.Y. to Southampton via Halifax, Iceland & EU ports - preview intro

[www3traveler]

Very happy to see Kiran Agular promoted to Assistant F&B.  

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Hi - en route to Halifax, ship change clock 1 hour ahead at 2 PM to ADT - 3 PM today. Slight confusion as onboard time was changed in the morning.

 

 

We had an unexpected time change on our river cruise in the Netherlands and Belgium last month. We did not change time ones, but it seems in Europe they do their daylight savings time change on a different date than we do in the United States.

[bluefish17]

1 hour ago, bedfordmom said:

What is the deal with these late departures. The recent Escape TA was basically a ghost ship coming from Cape Canaveral and that too was late coming in like around 11am. They said that they were late because they wanted to reprovision in Florida but my theory is that they are trying to save on not providing the first lunch LOL to half of the passengers. 

I was just on the Prima going to NY. We went 20 knots all day until the middle of the night and then slowed to a crawl for the rest of the trip into NYC Harbor. I don't think that was for whales.

[bluefish17]

2 hours ago, blaurie said:

The lines have been absolutely insane! Sapphire and platinum here in one room, and platinum in another room, all of us were told there was no such thing as priority seating on the Prima. However cruisenext says yes, there is! They never put us on a wait list, or gave us a pager , they told us to wait in this huge line to get into the Hudson for lunch today. We left but also could not find a seat in the food hall or the buffet, we ended up in the overflow at food Republic.

Just off the Prima. Here's a tip. Lunch in Indulge food hall is from 12-2 every day but you can go in at 11:40 or so, grab a table, and order at 11:50. Food starts coming out right away. Have a great cruise!

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, blaurie said:

The lines have been absolutely insane! Sapphire and platinum here in one room, and platinum in another room, all of us were told there was no such thing as priority seating on the Prima. However cruisenext says yes, there is! 

I just checked NCL’s web site for Latitudes benefits. Starting with Sapphire (not Platinum) it says “Priority Restaurant & Entertainment Seating (subject to availability)”

 

Which can be read as allowing Sapphires and up to be turned away for lack of “availability.”
 

One of those meaningless “benefits.”  
 

I do hope things improve and you have a great cruise! 

[JIMESOPUS]

@mking8288 Great turnout for the M&G, our last two were less than 30% attendance. On the Viva TA, I offered to run a slot pull and got zero responses, pub crawls are almost impossible since the bartenders are limited on what they have in stock. 

Tomorrow forecast for Halifax

ETA for Halifax is 0830 as per cruise tracker

 

 

  

[mking8288]

Tonight's Specialty Dining - 2 vouchers w a guest each - was excellent, we upcharged @$25 x 2 broiled lobster entree 👍 and left on a full stomach.  1-1-1 including 1 side each, dessert with French press coffee.

 

Cancelled Haiski next week to do Paloma again w the grilled fish for 2, two dining voucher to be used for this - otherwise, M.P.

 

 

 

 

[mking8288]

Food Republic, rather empty tonight ...

 

 

 

Surfside Cafe beginning to empty out at 8:30 PM ... 

 

 

 

 

 

After 9 PM closing, just 1 station open for refilling water bottles & getting hot water, etc. 

[mking8288]

Door decorations might be banned elsewhere but not Deck 10 starboard side, walked past 3 or 4 along our stretch alone.

 

 

More free movies to watch ... from our stateroom's interactive TV.

 

 

Ship's navigational, Ch. 1 still being upgraded, no change from 6 months ago - not that useful or informative. 👎

 

👌 Windy Apps & CruiseMapper 👍 

[mking8288]

 

 

Edited April 29 by mking8288

[mking8288]

My knees wanted to rest but ... elevator down to Deck 7, walked past duty-free shops - Prada, anyone ... LV bags ?? - to drop off those Canada entry forms. And, to speak with an associate at Guest Services. Look into the system and said, call ext 00 and they will take care of it & deliver. 

 

Yes, sir - if they answer the phone, dialed 3 times from our room & nobody answered - or else I would not be standing here ... Thank God, the line was short - only 2 guests in front until my turn, and they aren't giving out pagers. 

 

Maybe, the housekeeping supervisor somehow pull some strings ... 3 cartons of water showed up by the time we came back to our cabin. 

 

 

Down to 180 free minutes on 1 account, will upgrade tomorrow. 

 

[mking8288]

Pixel connected to ship WiFi, Station Zebra in stealth mode, hotspot tethering w 1 additional device concurrently. 

 

 

Dialed remotely into home security camera monitoring system to check our indoor house plants, over streaming video feeds.

 

[mking8288]

Looking ahead, Friday into Saturday as we approach Iceland from the SW looking dicey with counter clockwise weather pattern. Will deal with that, one way or another - been blessed with what I consider perfect weather overall 😄 for a typical TA. 

 

Edited April 29 by mking8288

[mking8288]

On 4/27/2024 at 9:08 PM, dexddd said:

Hope you get cruise dock not industrial dock ...

Fingers crossed, Prima the only ship there ... been there w shuttle ride to Pier 22, know that drill 🙄 Hope not 🙏

 

 

 

[mking8288]

FSD #3 - Donna tonight at 8:00 PM - one show only.  After 9:30 PM, become Studio 54 like dance club.

 

Port Agent info - all abroad 4:30 PM.  Know of 2 pax, indirectly, flying into Halifax to catch the Prima ... missed all abroad cutoff in NY (took expired passports)

 

Edited April 29 by mking8288

[mking8288]

@Arzeena - Barb and I connected at M&G briefly, just that RJ and you know.  Later 😀

 

 

[mking8288]

Midnight witching hour, expected to be at Halifax after 6 AM local time. Not on NCL tour and sleeping late to avoid the surge for breakfast & gangway as I will be running our own private tour.  

 

Getaway inbound to NY for her TA later today.  She is really running late & arrival look worst than us giving her coordinates now, oh dear.  

 

@bedfordmom  Maybe you are on to something which I suspected all along but we can't "call" without ...

 

Edited April 29 by mking8288

[mking8288]

Deal or No Deal 😄 

Newest & lowest price to upgrade to unlimited with 70 free airtime minutes remaining for next 12 days with 7 full sea days ahead.  FREE after offset with NR-OBC.  Extra leftover $$ to cover 2 whole lobster upcharge at Paloma earlier. Sweet 😆

 

 

 

Edited April 29 by mking8288

[mking8288]

[JIMESOPUS]

Halifax port info

 

[mking8288]

@JIMESOPUS  Muchas Gracias ... thanks, Jim 

 

Station Zebra going offline or off-the-air for a few hours to get some zzzz's with a port day in the morning. Then to "brace" for 5 full sea days crossing the pond to Iceland 😆😄😎🤗🫣

 

mking8288 - Henry 

Code 10-7

 

 

P.S. Course heading from onboard Nav Ch. 1 - 34.5 deg at 19.5 kts.  No ETA ...

 

 

Edited April 29 by mking8288

[Sugar Magnolia]

The solo group closed down the Prima Night Club tonight…

 

 

…then after my strenuous workout I went to the Local and ordered the hot dog with sauerkraut and bacon bits but no fries because I’m on a diet.
 

[UKstages]

@mking8288 i'm catching up on your "live" after traveling for several weeks. you - and a handful of others - consistently provide the most interesting and relevant trip reports! it's what CC should be, but often isn't... no fits, no fights, no feuds and no egos... just amigos.

 

i did this same itinerary on the prima last year, so it'll be fun to hear your perspective. (so far, the joys and drawbacks of the prima sound exactly the same as on my journey.) i'd be especially interested to hear of any interactions with the GM. i found him to be a lovely guy, but completely non-responsive to guest concerns.

 

as you get closer to southampton, and if the strike seems likely, let me know if you need any help navigating transport from LHR into central london or if you need hotel or theatre recommendations. 

 

as for halifax...

 

i highly recommend the maritime museum, which is about a twenty minute walk from the pier. the museum, has, of course, an outstanding titanic exhibit.

 

throughout my career, colleagues have always described business miscalculations and devastating failures as "rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic." imagine my surprise when i came upon actual deck chairs from the titanic at the museum in halifax! sadly, they are in a glass case and can't be rearranged. but the photo is worth the price of admission.

[YVRteacher]

9 hours ago, blaurie said:

The lines have been absolutely insane! Sapphire and platinum here in one room, and platinum in another room, all of us were told there was no such thing as priority seating on the Prima. However cruisenext says yes, there is! They never put us on a wait list, or gave us a pager , they told us to wait in this huge line to get into the Hudson for lunch today. We left but also could not find a seat in the food hall or the buffet, we ended up in the overflow at food Republic.

Why are you expecting to have less of a wait as a Sapphire or Diamond? In my experience keycard recognition for higher level Latitudes members means seats closer to windows, not eliminating a wait in a line for dinner.

 

You do get priority disembarkation or tendering. You don’t get a shorter dinner line.

[blaurie]

13 hours ago, MarkieMarkNYC said:

Yikes. That's crazy. What time did you arrive to the terminal? 

I have an upcoming sailing from Manhattan and have been alerted that the ship will arrive late and not to arrive to the pier until noon. I'm wondering if it's better to wait until 2 or 3pm. Do you know if people who arrived later had a shorter wait time?

In my experience it was always being sat ahead of the line. It was never being sat right away.. but a higher priority was given to finding a table. On other ships there was a priority line specifically for those with platinum and above.