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

[Sugar Magnolia]

16 hours ago, Fogfog said:

I think overall you find a product you like, a class of ship you prefer and try to avoid the issues as best as we can

This is my mantra. I can always find some fault here and there and everywhere. However, as long as those annoyances on a cruise don’t ruin my life, what do I really have to complain about? And, until the other cruise lines start to compete for the solo travelers market, NCL it is for me. I will roll with the punches. 
 

At the same, there is no way I would ask my parents to sail on the Prima/Viva, even on a warm weather itinerary. They expect to be entertained on a ship and there is just not enough programming to keep them interested. The smaller and unusual layouts of the venues would also be a negative for them, not to mention the volume level at the Metropolitan Bar raised to 11. 
 

[Sugar Magnolia]

@mking8288 it was so nice to finally meet you and Susan in person. Hope to see you guys on a future cruise. Let me know if you are starting up your NYC foodie tour. 
 

When life snaps back to normal for me in a few days, I would like to add a few final words and some excursion pics. 
 

[dexddd]

Well, no report on missing bow spare anchor but apparently from bow cam yesterday it is back - good work MKing on getting Prima guest services, not, to get it back.

[mking8288]

5 hours ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

This is my mantra. I can always find some fault here and there and everywhere. However, as long as those annoyances on a cruise don’t ruin my life, what do I really have to complain about?  And, until the other cruise lines start to compete for the solo travelers market, NCL it is for me. I will roll with the punches. 
... no way I would ask my parents to sail on the Prima/Viva, even on a warm weather itinerary. They expect to be entertained on a ship and there is just not enough programming ... The smaller and unusual layouts of the venues would also be a negative 

Nailed it for some that've sailed her already and others that aren't booking these new ships, Susan & I have been going back-n-forth while on last Nov's TA and ... well, let's say if we played NCL's "The Price is Right" game "correctly" and for a last minute, bargain priced 7 or 8 nighters out of NY - our homeport, stacked with CruiseNext DoubleUp and Latitudes extra point(s) during off-season and even peak hurricane season ... we'll take an Oceanview (as that's Deck 5 & often mid-ship, as assigned) - ship as the destination, take the unlimited WiFi path minus Day 1 (as that's not needed & often "wasted")   LOL, mucho "qualifiers" ... and we still got some FCC to use up by end of 2024.  Off-line chatting yesterday w another Diamond CC'er, she's just not happy w NCL's latest round of faked NOT near off-B'dway style entertainment onboard, but hard to resist when a stone's throw from Pier 88/90.  

 

Something else when it's just 2 of us in the cabin, that low back sofa is good to have as I rather not sit on the "stool" to do things on a sea day.  It is not all "negatives" with the odd design & layout, I see it as the new "Epic" replacement, one and only built for modern times under FDR, laughing all the way in retirement w his stock options & compensation for keeping NCLH afloat over the last 3 to 4 years.  

 

This article, among several others on another NCL forum post - explained what's taking place behind the scene - 

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ship-operations/how-nclh-reined-costs-dining-shows-housekeeping-purchasing

 

Still, I see us leaning more toward the *away/plus ships and the older mid-sized/small NCL ships, upgraded with newer & leaner furniture.  

 

By all means, enjoy "Escape" in the Med and when you are in between cruises again. yes - do post your pictures from the TA and add your thoughts, more than a few words and sentences.  Your barely live report is a big hit among all of us, bravo and I mean that.  

Edited May 24 by mking8288

[Sugar Magnolia]

26 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

By all means, enjoy "Escape" in the Med and when you are in between cruises again. yes - do post your pictures from the TA and add your thoughts, more than a few words and sentences.  Your barely live report is a big hit among all of us, bravo and I mean that. 

Thank you very much for those kind words. I learned from the best and not afraid to improvise. 
 

[mking8288]

On 5/24/2024 at 9:28 AM, Sugar Magnolia said:

Thank you very much for those kind words. I learned from the best and not afraid to improvise. 

 

Here's a super quick video clips (10 seconds) for the Norwegian Joy at Dockyard that Dan a/k/a "The (infamous) Fall Guy" (LOL, just poking fun among CC friends) ... hot off private messenger  as my gang of 4 had no choice but to disembark this morning after an express breakfast in the MDR ... uneventful week, smooth sailing to/from Bermuda, calm seas and all.  Arrived into NY last Sunday early, no speed restrictions or whales restrictions in place (they've "migrated" north already for the season, perhaps ??) and left basically on time, got there early on Wed & sailed, made it back to NY ... super, super and I mean, really ultra early sailing up the Hudson River by 1 AM to dock again at Pier 88 while most slept until 6'ish. 

 

 

They had wheelchair assistance to disembark and wasn't in any rush, and with porter's help, cross 12th Avenue to the unofficial pickup address at 660 12th Avenue, waited 20 minutes for our local car service to pick them up around 9'ish and already home, unpacking.   Thus far, Fleet Week isn't adversely affecting these 2 week's Joy sailing, nor the Right Whales speed restrictions that impacted on all 3 NCL TA sailing during the month of April - still not happy with the last minute announcements & the embarkation/disembarkation mess created for those on the repo and our TA boarding ... "ship" happened but other cruise lines sailing in/out of NY in April clearly did NOT have any issues with delays and last minute changes. Except, NCL 😤

 

Old friends from work days getting on the Joy soon, and they will repeat the 7 nights run to Bermuda ... will hear from them and their adult daughter's update about Starlink WiFi onboard, as she needed to use it once in a while to remain somewhat connected, as a matter of choice. 

 

 

While we aren't big fans of Food Republic onboard NCL, I must admit ... the food photos they uploaded looked quite good, especially the lamp chops.  Hola, now that you are in the City of Barcelona ... a world of cuisine awaiting for you, including bubble teas ... not just cafe with the Portuguese goodies.  

 

 

Edited May 26 by mking8288

[Sugar Magnolia]

1 hour ago, mking8288 said:

Hola, now that you are in the City of Barcelona ... a world of cuisine awaiting for you, including bubble teas ... not just cafe with the Portuguese goodies.  

Let me know if you have any favorites in Barcelona. I don’t have any favorites because I love everything I’ve tried over the years. 
 

I did spot a Popeyes (?!) and wondered whether @cruiseny4life or his hubby would approve. Am sure they already checked out Hard Rock Café and MickeyDs last time. 
 

[mking8288]

10 hours ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

Let me know if you have any favorites in Barcelona. I don’t have any favorites because I love everything I’ve tried over the years. I did spot a Popeyes (?!) and wondered whether @cruiseny4life or his hubby would approve. Am sure they already checked out Hard Rock Café and MickeyDs last time. 

Haha, have you check out any of the BK joints (they seemed to be everywhere tourists are spotted, haha ?  We thought KFC were more popular as in Iceland ??  Several suggestions & favorites to us:  

 

Pho Hanoi (4.8 rating on Google)

Little Foodie (4.7 rating) 

Hello Pho (new, 5.0 rating ...) several doors from Little Foodie, around the corner from H10 Casanova Hotel, our choice to stay when in town - a great boutique hotel w rooftop swimming pool & bar/lounge, great view of the city into the late evening.  

 

Of course, lots of cafe w excellent pastries in that area but I'm sure you'll come across plenty, everywhere ... 

 

 

[mking8288]

Finally, got around to completed both of our NCL post-cruise e-Survey online ... short with a different focus, asked about FAS offers, whether we could made specialty restaurants of our chosen dates & preferred time (booked ours at 125 days), show reservations ("No" not really ... annoyed) and whether we upgraded our 300 minutes x 2 to unlimited/premium WiFi ("Yes" but still not as advertised to be considered anything like fast ... and pricey, RC and Princess, even Cunard & HAL, or Carnival is less than $20 a day)  Asked about their shorex - no, we did NOT use NCL at all, absurd prices and highly inflated, deceptive prices and not worth spending $$$ for. 

 

<<  Our motto is to just go with the flow and "wing" it once we are 99.95% of being at the port, if we didn't plan ahead & reserve semi-private or shared tours by local, etc.  >>  Zeebrugge, Belgium and Le Havre, Paris on your own is something like $99 p/p - basically port shuttles to town & back ... taxi and/or Uber (where available) is a fraction of that for 2 to 4 ride-sharing, faster & quicker.  Just make sure to plan & re-confirm port and ship time, allow for delays & unexpected traffic surprises, etc. (even NCL transfer to Paris & return were running late and tied up with motorway traffic) and have the port agent's contact info, mobile # and email address saved, kept & take along when leaving the ship into the port - and - have local/roamming cellular services. 

 

Toward the end of the short survey, taking no more than 5 minutes, maybe 7 to 8 minutes at most - there is a box for other comments - used it to say we're not pleased and annoyed at the NY embarkation issues ... NCL could've handled it better with "on scene/on pier command" to oversee & monitor how things were go with 1 or more striped officers - granted that the Right whales and speed restricted delayed repositioning cruise arrival known to NCL at least 22 days prior, could've been managed smartly & differently ... that's the challenge and tasks for management to come up with contingencies.  Gave NCL our peace of mind about the MDR issues and silly, annoying show time scheduled once - only - during the latter part of the TA with port days, at 6:30 PM ... prime slots for most cruisers to be in the restaurants, and/or in lines waiting to get in.  

 

The pop-up after closing the survey is whether one wish to provide feedback to NCL, to be added to the "NCL Inner Circle"  here's that screenshot ... question was asked recently (again) on NCL forum here about it ... 

 

 

 

Edited May 27 by mking8288

[dexddd]

Wow, part of the inner circle?  Kind of like on 'Meet The Parents'.  I think I've only made the inner circle with the dogs, probably because I feed them occasionally.

 

 

 

 

[dexddd]

I don't recall if you made it to TPIR, but if you did, did they have their game 'that's too much' where they list a cruise with prices but even the lowest priced one is too much?

[mking8288]

34 minutes ago, dexddd said:

< snipped > ... TPIR, but ... they have their game 'that's too much' where they list a cruise with prices but even the lowest priced one is too much?

Hahaha, for real.  No, we never made it to TPIR this time, was a "sold out" game and didn't want to waste time talking to the onboard "concierge-like" cruise assistance at CruiseNext (unless I happened to buy 8 more CN certs, or at least 4 or more) as they would've just say, do the virtual queue thing on the NCL app or just show up earlier and join the standby line, odds are one would get in or wait until someone walks out early.  

 

Have you look at NCL prices ahead for 2025, it is NOT a game, rather it's real life and even the lowest prices for Insides are simply, really, truly ridiculous.  Mrs. M said hell, ain't no way that we'll spend that kind of money for 7 to 10 days for our "convenience" of embarking out of NYC to help "sail & sustain" the bottomline revenue.  

 

  Case in point - take a look at Prima's 14 days TA for April 2025 ... steerage (Insides & OV) NY to Southampton (UK) at Haven-like prices, not that we want to repeat the TA on the Prima again ... nope.  No Deal, for sure. 
 

Aside from the 2 NCL cruises booked, there is nothing of further interest.  Looking at possibilities, dates & itineraries on Princess, HAL and even Cunard (Alaska) - in addition to MSC ... since we are looking at least booking 3 to 4 cabins, pretty sure we'll get to 5 cabins in 2025 since my brother is retiring soon and wanted to join us to celebrate his transition.  NCL wants to play, it's No Deal since The Price is Wrong. 

 

As for the Inner Circle thing - whoopie - anyone that's taken Statistics 101 from the college days know the tricks ... in surveying and getting the answers NCL is looking for.  Anyway, niece's pooch always like to sit besides me whenever we visit them ... body language speaks for being trusted and part of the Inner Circle, huh.  

 

Edited May 27 by mking8288

[dexddd]

I see from the France FSD they mention quiche is a Foodie dish.  No need to go all the way to France.  Can get these at Costco.

 

 

[Ellis1138]

You could join the inner circle right away: https://www.ncl.com/ncl-inner-circle

[Sugar Magnolia]

14 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Haha, have you check out any of the BK joints (they seemed to be everywhere tourists are spotted, haha ?  We thought KFC were more popular as in Iceland ??  Several suggestions & favorites to us:  

 

Pho Hanoi (4.8 rating on Google)

Little Foodie (4.7 rating) 

Hello Pho (new, 5.0 rating ...) several doors from Little Foodie, around the corner from H10 Casanova Hotel, our choice to stay when in town - a great boutique hotel w rooftop swimming pool & bar/lounge, great view of the city into the late evening.  

 

Of course, lots of cafe w excellent pastries in that area but I'm sure you'll come across plenty, everywhere ... 

Indeed BK seems to be everywhere in Barcelona. 
 

Thank you for the restaurant list. I will try them if I somehow grow tired of tapas. 
 

My nightly tapas restaurant Ciutat Condal is walking distance from H10 Casanova so definitely try it next time you are in Barcelona. 
 

[Fogfog]

We got included on the "Inner Circle" thing. I figured that everybody does. 🤣

 

as for Barcelona... such great food, so much to see and do.Am certain @Sugar Magnoliais having a great time

[Sugar Magnolia]

4 hours ago, Fogfog said:

as for Barcelona... such great food, so much to see and do.Am certain @Sugar Magnoliais having a great time

Yes there is always something new to see or do or eat each time I am back in Barcelona. Been slowly posting pics and my usual ramblings on the other thread. And then eventually I will be back here to add a few more pics and thoughts from our Prima TA. 
 

And then after that you might find me lying across a bench in Washington Square Park. 
 

[mking8288]

8 hours ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

... My nightly tapas restaurant Ciutat Condal is walking distance from H10 Casanova so definitely try it next time you are in Barcelona. 

Thanks, see that and bookmarked, if not this Fall then sometime in 2025.  It is a hard life, you know, trying to decide ... looking at a possible last minute Alaska option on Cunard - balcony option priced less (not just a little) than NCL.  Real afternoon high tea & white glove service onboard, waiting on twice nieces /SIL's mom to clear their calendars. 

 

As for being at a park bench somewhere in WSP, are you bringing your home furniture outside to reserve a spot ? 

 

2 hours ago, Fogfog said:

We got included on the "Inner Circle" ... as for Barcelona... such great food, so much to see and do. Am certain @Sugar Magnoliais having a great time

IC is a joke, really ... and I gathered both Robert & you received the post-cruise eSurvey from NCL.   Have you look at Viva or Prima prices lately for 2025, OMG - 5 grand's for steerage (Insides for next Spring's TA  😳 - gotta be kidding or some "systems errors" 

[JIMESOPUS]

@mking8288 Prices will increase even more, a simple case of supply and demand.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/everyone-know-going-cruise-rcna151642

[Sugar Magnolia]

18 hours ago, mking8288 said:

As for being at a park bench somewhere in WSP, are you bringing your home furniture outside to reserve a spot ? 

 

Now that you've reminded me, during this time of the year, there are plenty of furniture being tossed out on the streets of WSP by NYU students, so I might not even need to move anything myself.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

18 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Thanks, see that and bookmarked, if not this Fall then sometime in 2025.  It is a hard life, you know, trying to decide ... looking at a possible last minute Alaska option on Cunard - balcony option priced less (not just a little) than NCL.  Real afternoon high tea & white glove service onboard, waiting on twice nieces /SIL's mom to clear their calendars. 

 

Cunard would be interesting though I don't think I have the proper attire.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

16 hours ago, JIMESOPUS said:

@mking8288 Prices will increase even more, a simple case of supply and demand.

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/travel/everyone-know-going-cruise-rcna151642

 

When is the next pandemic happening?

 

[cruiseny4life]

On 5/26/2024 at 12:18 PM, Sugar Magnolia said:

Let me know if you have any favorites in Barcelona. I don’t have any favorites because I love everything I’ve tried over the years. 
 

I did spot a Popeyes (?!) and wondered whether @cruiseny4life or his hubby would approve. Am sure they already checked out Hard Rock Café and MickeyDs last time. 
 

My husband would approve...I go along with the Americanized food, because I know it makes him happy! It was Hard Rock, KFC, and MickeyD's last November in Barcelona. He tried to get me to have Taco Bell, but I chose Paella. I tried locating the Paella restaurant as I wanted to warn you away from it. It was alright, but the rice was crunchy. The appetizer of some sort of tartare was tasty! No clue what it was though. 

 

Anyway, I'm sure @mking8288's suggestions are much more your style than anything I could recommend! 

[mking8288]

On 5/29/2024 at 8:52 AM, Sugar Magnolia said:

Cunard would be interesting though I don't think I have the proper attire.

LOL ... as a followup and FYI only.  What is consider proper attire these days on any cruise lines ... my tux is 20 years old and 100% do not fit anymore, and, not going to go out to buy/rent one either.  A navy blazer w dark dress slacks, shoes is the best and most that I would do.  Ladies/women are easier ... and I'm sure our twin nieces' office outfit and Susan's from banking days will be fine, acceptable for the evening.  We always wanted to give Cunard a try and experience a different level of services.  BTW, we are definitely going - 3 cabins, 2 are balconies and 1 deluxe inside & Alaska bound this year (wasn't going until 2025.)  Last minute sale w the booking, waitlist for early dining but anytime/freestyle dining is available, complimentary room service & tea/coffee service in cabin included, along with bath robes & slippers.  Alaska 11 days/10 nights out of YVR ... compared to NCL, it's like sailing with a 50% discount (Sun out of SEA on a similar 10 days) - and, going to be a very interesting comparison & refreshing look.  Once we get back from BC, Canada ... we'll have 15 days to recover before we head north, 10 days/9 nights out of Cape Liberty on RC.  Going to be a busy late Summer/early Fall for us.  

[dexddd]

I sailed Cunard back in high school on the Countess.  Was very much like NCL at the time but do see Cunard now days probably not our thing.  That trip had a nearby high school on spring break trip.  Census showed 47 girls and 3 guys.  One and only time I've had odds that good.

 

Did have Cunard as backup plan in 2012 to get to Europe when Iceland ash was causing flight issues.  Luckily didn't have to use it but nonetheless delayed one day due to weather at connecting airport.

 

Sounds like busy rest of year.  A backup, ready to go Base Station Zebra may be a consideration.