PandaBear62

I'm very interested in following your adventures. I've been thinking about doing this cruise (whether it ends on the West Coast or Hawaii). My husband is less interested, so I hope to learn some information to persuade him!

Your best option is to pack a few shelf stable items and bring yourself. When my daughter was competing, we'd be at the gym at 7am and there sometimes until 9 or 10 pm. You weren't allowed to bring in coolers, but the athletes were allowed to bring "snacks" (basically non perishables). So I got very creative! Here are some examples: 1. individual shelf stable hummus (you can buy on Amazon) with individual pita chip packages (I buy Stacy's brand at Dollar Tree). You can add individual pouches of olives (my daughter loves these) you can get at Cost Plus 2. Individual peanut butter packages with a box of crackers or individual pretzel chip (again, Dollar Tree). You can bring individual jelly packets as well. 3. prepackages dried fruit from Trader Joes 4. individually wrapped peanut butter crackers. 5. Individual tuna salad with crackers. 6. Trail mix Dollar Tree has lots of oversized individual portions. You can get an oversized rice krispie treat (for 2 or 3 to share), lots of different kinds of nuts, crackers, etc. Another good choice is Cost Plus, because all their food is shelf stable. Mine has a part of an aisle for individual portion sized items.

Thanks. That's what I thought. I just wanted to make sure I had the correct location.

Can you share a marker by Berth 4? When I look at Google Maps, it gives the address as 105-120 Schoenbar Rd and its right by Bar Harbor Ale House. Is this correct? Thank you!

Yes, that was it! I really liked the country bread, much more than an English muffin. I think next time I'll ask for the Hollandaise sauce instead of the gravy.

Yes, Cozumel was different. My cell plan covers Mexico and Central America, so my phone was "wrong" the last day on the ship.

I am having to assume you are being intentionally obtuse or like trying to bait posters. I never said NCL controls airline flights. I said that "I think many first time cruisers choose the ships airfare not just for price, but because they think it’s a safer option (the cruise line is doing it so it must be better).". Yes, those cruisers are wrong. But it doesn't mean I don't have empathy (a quality you appear to lack) for those people misunderstanding what booking your airfare through the cruise lines really means. And NCL certainly doesn't make it clear to cruisers that either. NCL advertise that the reason you should book your excursions through them is that you'll never miss the boat....they promise they wait for even the tardiest of tours. It's not a stretch for a new cruiser to assume the same for airfare. I 100% agree with you that I would never book airfare through a ship. In fact, I help many friends book cruises and I always advise them the same as well, and especially for NCL, because they seem to be the worst. (Eg, Princess allows you to choose your flight). So what you are saying is certainly true. The fact that you don't understand why it might be harsh just affirms what I said above. .

I think that’s a little harsh. I think many first time cruisers choose the ships airfare not just for price, but because they think it’s a safer option (the cruise line is doing it so it must be better). But I also would be okay with waiting for 60 people in bad weather, assuming “there for the grace of god go I”.

Day 7 At Sea Another good night's sleep so I was happy. We tried out the Observation Lounge for breakfast. It’s very simple….cold cereal, a couple pastries and 2 egg bake type items. Nice for a light breakfast. It was pretty crowded, but we found a place to sit. We picked up our baggage tags for departure and then headed back to the room to change for the pool. It started to rain after an hour or so but I stayed out. I found a place for my stuff by the hot tub so it wasn’t getting wet and just stayed in the hot tub. Actually wasn’t too hot, which was nice. It began to rain quite a bit and actually there was thunder and lightening. But it seemed far away, so I stayed in. I finally went in and back to the room to change. We were trying the Local for lunch. I enjoyed the pretzel bites and a chicken salad sandwich. I was happy for a wheat beer on tap! There was a hot fudge sundae for dessert, but, big disappointment….it was not hot fudge, but chocolate syrup. I know it sounds silly, but chocolate syrup is not and never will be hot fudge. The serving size was nice…it was essentially one scoop of ice cream. We wandered back to the Haven and I read a bit and dozed. It was still rainy and cold. The two weeks before we left were kind of crazy…I was busy at work and we were really worried about my mom. I wanted to cancel the entire cruise but she wanted us to go. I think all that worry was finally catching up with me. And the ship was rocking a bit, which was getting to me. Luckily, she does seem to be improving, although there are some permanent issues. We packed (mostly) and went up to the lounge to play cards and had a late dinner, because of our later, big lunch. It was still raining and stormy! We had our final dinner and were back at the room about 9:45 to finish packing. Haven guests have until midnight to put out their suitcases, instead of 10pm. Day 8: departure With the storms of yesterday, our arrival into Galveston was delayed. It was 9am before anyone could depart off the ship. It’s just a reminder that while ships are usually on schedule, sometimes they’re not. Anyone with an earlier flight was probably stressed. Our flights were at 1:30 and 1:45, so I appreciated the delay….a few more minutes in bed. I enjoyed my eggs Benedict and the lovely French press coffee. We were able to find seating in the lounge as people were departing. We even saw dolphins again! Our ride wasn’t until 10, so we were not stressed at all. Originally our plan was to wait in the Haven lounge at the port. I had asked before the cruise and found out you can use the Haven lounge AFTER the cruise, not just before. Expecting my mom to be on this trip, I appreciated it. However, by the time our bag color was called, we exited the ship, got our bags and our driver had arrived. Final thoughts and the good and not so good comments First, I have sailed on pretty much all the main cruise lines except RCCL since 2017 (16 including this cruise). RCCL was last in 2013. Obviously, not close to people who cruise often, but I do have some experience. I’ll be really making my comments based on my cruises after Covid, and not counting those trips right after the restart, as those were such low capacity. I've sailed Princess 4 times, Carnival once and this was my second NCL cruise since 2023 began. Regardless of the line, I think the two biggest factors in the enjoyment of the cruise are your attitude and the quantity of people on the ship. The first factor speaks for itself. I want to enjoy the cruise and I tend to overlook things I don’t prefer. If something frustrating happens, I let it go and move on. But, the number of people on a ship does impact things. I always ask now how many guests are on the ship and compare it to the number typically named by the line, which is double occupancy if each room is filled (basically for my own curiosity and comparing how the capacity feels). For this trip, the Prima holds 3099 people if each room has 2 people. There were over 3500 people on this sailing. That means people are everywhere! Not being able to find a seat if you want to eat or sit and have a drink can be frustrating. I have read the bookings are up 20% over the same time last year. If you travel during peak season (holidays, school breaks, etc) assume your ship will be very full. If for some reason it’s not, lucky you. In a crowded cruise, I’m not sure I love the smaller venues on the Prima. I mean, I like it in theory but perhaps not in implementation. And it has very cute amenities that add to the atmosphere, but perhaps aren’t as practical. For example, by one of the bars (near the Local or maybe it was the Indulge Food Hall, there are hanging rattan seats. It looks really cute, but instead of perhaps 4 spaces for people to sit, there are now two. So it reduces capacity. However, I loved the Prima Haven environment. It never felt crowded the entire trip except for this last morning, and that was because of the delay. It seemed like many people in the Haven were doing an independent walk off. The pool was really nice. My only real complaint were the hot tubs….they were hard to get in and out of. I wish there was a rail. Obviously there are advantages and disadvantages of a larger vs smaller Haven. In the Escape, we knew both bartenders and bar servers and had the same waiter every night. There was a lot more staff, which can make it harder to get to know someone. However, they were certainly all nice. But the Prima had a much nicer pool! I found myself not doing nearly as much as I thought I would. I really liked the ports of Harvest Caye and Roatan. I didn’t even get off at Cozumel and Costa Maya, although I planned to. I think all the stress leading up to this trip and then the stress the first few days of worrying my mom would get worse impacted me. Luckily, she is improving, although slowly. I just found myself very tired. I sail a lot on Princess (especially the older ships) and NCL is quite different. Taking the Haven out of the equation, I really like the International Cafe on the Princess ships. The Observation lounge has a nice view but the food choices are far superior on Princess. I really liked the brew pub on the Escape (a lot) and missed it on the Prima. I really liked the Indulge food hall on the Prima. It was fun! I wanted to like the music in the lounges on the Prima but the music was so loud. It was jarring, it was so loud, like giving me a headache. I heard this complaint from many people. Even a single guitarist was stunningly loud. I also liked all the specialty dinner choices, but it’s frustrating that NCL gives dinners through a package and sells so many dinner packages….if you don’t book immediately the choices are really limited….some sold out and others had only very late choices. NCL has amazing Broadway shows and there is really no comparison to the Princess shows. Summer was excellent and so was Choir of Man on the Escape. I also thought "The Price is Right" was really fun. Will I say NCL again? Well, most definitely with my mom. The Haven is really the best option for us given her age and current health issues. We are scheduled to sail in early June and are planning another trip for next March. However, we will likely sail on the Getaway out of New Orleans, as it has a smaller Haven. Overall, NCL is much pricier than Princess, so I will likely look towards Princess first, as I like to cruise a lot if it’s just my husband and myself. I can go on more cruises on Princess prices! Princess also has a bigger presence on the West Coast than NCL (excluding Alaska). When we like a quick getaway without having to travel far, Princess and Carnival offer the most options in CA. For example, I looked at both NCL and Princess for a cruise in the British Isles, for essentially the same time frame, length and cabin selection (obstructed view). The price differential was about $3600. So especially for port intensive cruises where I want to be out and about at every port, I would sail Princess. On the other hand, if I was planning in advance, and had the time to book the “extras” easily and was more interested in enjoying the ship, I’d definitely consider NCL. Or if I was traveling and there were kids with us, there does seem like a lot more for them on NCL.

Day 6 Cozumel Hurrah! A good nights sleep. I was up and about by 9 and finally made it to the Haven breakfast. I had the country bread with poached egg. It was all right….it had a kind of brown gravy that didn’t do much for me. But I sure love that French press coffee. We went up to the pool area. I thought about going into Cozumel but there were apparently about 7 ships in port and I changed my mind. We stayed at the pool until about 1 and then headed to lunch at the Indulge Food Hall, which I had been wanting to try. It didn’t open until 1 today, which I assume they were allowing for people to return from Cozumel. I had a noodle dish and tomato soup, which was quite good. The food was delivered quite fast. My sister ate here the night we went to Los Lobos and she said the menu is different for lunch and dinner, which is nice. We ended up back in the room as I had some work to do and honestly, the longer the cruise goes, I seem to be accumulating fatigue. We went out to the lounge, played cards before dinner and then went into dinner. I’ve been surprised how uncrowded the Haven dining room is…..on the Escape it seemed crowded all the time. After dinner we ventured out for some music. There was a band playing “one hit wonders”. But either they didn’t know what “one hit wonders” are or they changed the show, because here are some of the songs played: Living on a Prayer. Ring of Fire Hallelujah Old Time Rock and Roll Not really “one hit wonders” in my book, lol! We played cards while listening and actually stayed out the latest we have the entire cruise. But eventually we made it back to the room. Reading this, I am realizing what a boring day we had!!!

Day 5: Roatan We docked early in Roatan (7am) and were off the ship early (about 7:15). This was a challenge for me because I had a bad night. That’s my euphemism for my ridiculous insomnia. I fell asleep around 4:30 or 5 and was up about 6:45. I was not feeling good. We had a tour booked with Victor Bodden tours. They do not charge anything in advance. For private tours, they ask that you are off the ship within 2 hours of arrival, or they will release the private guide for other guests, which seems fair to me. It was already warm getting off the ship! In terms of price, it was supposed to be $25 per person with 4 people. Since there were 3 of us, it was now $30 each. Our tour guide was William and he was awesome. We started going to the small monkey and sloth rescue. You got in with some monkeys and we were able to book the sloth hug, which was what I was waiting for. We were given a private guide here as well. The cost was $10 per person and worth every penny to me. We tipped our guide $20 for the three of us. After this we went to the glass bottom boat. But, it wasn’t really a glass bottom boat but more like a submarine, where you went below and there were windows on all sides. This was $35. We saw a sea turtle and lots of fish. Honduras has the second biggest coral reef in the world. It’s only second to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. It was fun, but not the highlight for me. Finally, we went to the Iguana Sanctuary. Iguanas were being killed her to such a great degree that this gentleman opened the sanctuary to preserve them in the Island. They started with a small number and now have 2000 over 12 acres. The small ones are caged after being born until they are large enough to survive from their predators (birds, small animals, etc) You were able to feed the iguanas. You got a large leaf and held it down on towards the ground and the iguanas came and ate. It was really interesting and fun. I only have videos of the feeding which I don’t think work but here’s a picture! After the iguanas we headed back to town. We stopped at a look out and did a little shopping. My husband got a t-shirt. I had picked up a rash guard type top at the sloth sanctuary which made me happy. We were back on the ship about 1, had lunch (I was starving) and I went back in the room for a nap. I now napping screws up my sleep and I try never to do it. But I was seriously exhausted. I napped about 2.5 hours and got up and showered (I was feeling pretty groggy) and we headed down for a drink and for our reservation at Hasuki. This is a Japanese steakhouse. It was part of our two meals from the beverage plan. It was so much fun! I had a great Japanese beer (lager) and John, the chef was outstanding. They do lots of “sing along”, basically short snippets of songs. It sounds cheesy but it was a great time. I should have taken pictures but honestly, it was so fun I didn’t even think about it. We had about an hour before the comedy show T 9:30 so played cards behind Starbucks. The comedy show was fine. Not fantastic but not bad either. After the comedy show we heard back to the room. Not even to the Haven bar, but our room. I was still tired and hoping for a decent night sleep tonight!

Day 4 Harvest Caye We ate a quick breakfast at the Haven buffet and headed out to the beach. We took the elevator to deck 6 and Haven staff were there to take us right to where we disembark. Easy peasy. We had loungers with an umbrella and a third lounger right by the lifeguard (2) and near the grill. We immediately went into the water and enjoyed the perfect water temperature. Heaven! Water was $4, $4.50 with tax. We chatted with lots of nice people as we bobbed up and down in the water. About 12ish, the water was getting cooler and lots more seaweed, as the tide seemed to be coming in. So we bailed on the beach to head back to the room and up to the Haven pool. Here’s a menu of the grill at Harvest Caye. We also wandered around the pool area. It was quite nice and very large. There is even a swim up bar and spots to put your drink. There are cabanas here and the shade is much better here, because there are so many umbrellas As you can see, there is a zero debth entry area. Lunch was a hot dog and tempura vegetables. I tried a new drink that was on tap. It’s only in the Haven bar. It’s a little hard to read, but left to rights it’s Smoky Dragon, Rum’ble and Honey Jasmine bubbles. Smoky Dragon is tequila and watermelon, Rum’Ble is rum and maybe papaya??? And honey jasmine bubbles is gin and vodka (but you can’t taste the gin at all….and I know because I don’t like gin) and citrus. I adored the Honey Jasmine bubbles. We stayed all afternoon at the pool. Departure was at 5. We wanted an early dinner as we were heading to the comedy show and for my husband, Donna Summer. I would have gone to see Donna Summer again but with only 2 performances this week, it didn’t seem fair. Dinner tonight was quick and we even skipped dessert. I had the pork belly appetizer and crab cakes with the kale salad, which I really like. And I can pretend I’m eating healthy….kale is healthy, right? The comedy show was funny and after it we went by the bar near Cagneys to listen to music but it was loud. Way too loud. So we headed back to the Haven and played cards. We want to be up early tomorrow. We have a private tour booked with Victor Boden tours and plan to see monkeys and sloths!

We didnt need to wait long. For Donna Summer, doors open 30 minutes before. We were told to arrive 35 minutes ahead of time and there was a dedicated entrance on deck 6 on the left when facing the theatre. we did the comedy show and arrived about 35-40 minutes before with doors opening 30 minutes ahead. The one place with issues is Sid Norman’s. We arrived 40 minutes ahead and it was totally full.

I apologize for the delay in uploading pictures and reports. I was trying to, but it just wasn’t working on the ships wifi . Day 3 Costa Maya I got out of bed very late today….basically close to 10. I had a bad night and was up until about 4 am. Woke up exhausted at 7, dozed and woke up again and 8 and then 9 and finally dragged myself out of bed. My husband and sister had been up a couple of hours and went to breakfast. We went out to the lounge area and my sister and I played cards. We ended up sitting right in front of the concierge desk, which turned out to be somewhat entertaining. Someone was quite frustrated because they were in line for the 6:30 Donna Summer show and it was canceled. I had no idea the show was even cancelled! As an aside here, I went on my first cruise at 21, in 1983. My parents took me and we went again in 1986, when I finished grad school. Then my husband and I cruised for our honeymoon in 1991. Then, I didn’t do a cruise again until 2013 when I went with my mom and sister and daughter. I could never understand why people would stay on the ship instead of exploring the port. But now,this is my 16th cruise since 2017 and I get it! I still like to do excursions, don’t get me wrong, but I also enjoy a day on a quiet ship! So my sister left to go on her excursion and my husband and I headed up to the Haven pool. It’s about 80 degrees so quite warm in the sun. A beautiful day. My view from my lounger: The pool was lovely….bath weather warm and I spent hours here. We finally left in the late afternoon and went to the room to shower and get ready for the weekend. My sisters excursion was late so we went to dinner late and I was starving! I basically only had a pastry at breakfast and the tempura veggies for lunch (obviously my own fault, as food is readily available). So at dinner I had the lobster deviled eggs, filet mignon and lobster tail and macadamia nut ice cream for dessert. Instead of the sides I had the creamy mashed potatoes and kale salad. I wasn’t crazy about the mashed potatoes and would prefer a baked potato. But I really liked the kale salad with miso vinegarette. I was so hungry I didn’t take pictures. We missed the 7pm comedian and we’ve already seen the 9pm comedian twice so went to the lounge and played cards. As I’ve mentioned, our cruising style has changed over the years. I appreciate just being able to hang out with my sister and chat and play cards, since we live 2000 miles apart. We played until about 10 and headed to the room for bed as we wanted to be the first out tomorrow.

Just a quick ending to the day….my husband went back to the room….hr was exhausted and wasn’t sure why. So my sister and I went to see the Donna Summer show. It was outstanding. The three different women who played Donna at different ages….amazing! There was just one glitch…a code A in deck 10. Someone in our row told us that was a signal for someone overboard. But when I looked it up after the show, I found it to mean a medical emergency. Regardless, it was a few minutes delay and the performers continued on. I certainly hope whatever happened wasn’t too serious. As a side note, in the elevator back to our room, a couple of people were talking about Los Lobos and how good it was. I shared that I ate there tonight as well and had read some bad reviews and was so glad I ignored them, because our meal was excellent. They said the same thing.