BenCoudon

3 hours ago, AlanRRT said:

Norwegian Cruise Line Cancels Inaugural Sailings for Second Prima-Class Ship (cruisehive.com)

And they even said that there could be "itinerary" changes for the first July sailing.   This is not normal language for NCL.  My interpretation is they already know that the probability of cancelling the first July cruise (and may be the following one) is high

2 hours ago, GALSews said:

BenCoudon:

We booked our cruise over a year ago. Then they were still doing the 30% off, but I did get double latitude points.

I just did the calculations for the Club Balcony, and the increase was a little under 12% more for a club balcony. I have noted that the price of the Haven has been rising the last few weeks.

(I was hoping that maybe we'd get an upgrade bid as I'd wanted a club spa balcony, a category which does not seem to exist on the Prima. Then again, our cruise is very port intensive, so maybe we won't miss not having access to the spa without paying extra for it.)

 

We'll be somewhere near the end of the inaugural season - June 5, 2023.

 

Our very first cruise was the first cruise with passengers for the Sky. The first day or so there were issues with the toilets - there was a delay between pressing the handle and the toilet actually flushing.  

 

I figure by the time we get onboard, problems like that will have been worked out. 

I haven't look at the price of cruises on the Prima that are after the trans atlantic.  We I can tell you is for the September 13 and 23,  the price of those cruise on the website were more than double the price I paid when I booked.   (may 2021) Someone mentioned that within the last few weeks, they have reduced a bit some of the categories.   

1 hour ago, coastcat said:

Have any of the cruise vloggers announced that they're on the invitation-only inaugural or other early sailings? I'm pretty sure one of the travel agents I follow will be on the inaugural since he was invited to the ship visit event, but am wondering if any "civilians" will be invited as well. 

Hard to tell.  Initially, they were supposed to have a 2 or 3 day cruise out of Southampton to Amsterdam around August 10 for mainly the UK travel agents and another short cruise for travel partners out of Amsterdam around August 15 .  But that has been cancelled when they cancelled the August 17 sailing.  I presume that some of those people will be in the invite list for the inaugural out of Reykjavik.  I remember when Harry Summer announced that short cruise he said that the number of guess was cape off at 2500.  They must have reduced the list of initial participants.  I doubt that they will exceeds that number on the inaugural.  I heard in a video that Danny from Harr Travel was invited.  So I don't think that there will be any "civilians" on that cruise.  I think it will be only Travel partners + NCL senior managers.   

3 hours ago, rscales2 said:

Thank You. I was confused some of the Travel agents on YouTube was saying they are going on the inaugural August cruise. I’m suspicious only one week to fixed the supply change problems.

It is more than 1 week.  Initially, the ship had to reach Amsterdam for the August 17 cruise.  The journey from Venice to Amsterdam is not a short one.  By cancelling the August 17 cruise, the ship now has to reach Reykjavik for the Christening ceremony late August.  The inaugural cruise is a short one (5 or 6 days) on invite only,  between Reykjavik and Amsterdam. If they have to, they may go non-stop without any pier visits.  I would not be surprised that there will be workers from the ship yard completing work on the ship during the voyage from Venice to Reykjavik and probably also on the inaugural cruise to Amsterdam.  So the cancellation of the August 17 cruise gives both NCL and the shipyard from August 17 to September 3 to perform additional work on the ship and to receive what ever supply that is on the back-order list.

I have never been on an inaugural cruise.  But several people mentioned that usually, the first 2 or 3 cruises of a new ship don't sail at full capacity because some venues may not be ready, and shipyard crew is still on board to fix start-up issues.  I am booked on cruises #2 and #3 and I am expecting that it will not be perfect.  The Prima and, to a lesser extent, the Viva have faced unprecedented challenges. A worldwide pandemia, a war and a shortage of manpower are not easy to handle.

I hope that NCL won't cancel my  2 cruises.  If there is a restaurant that is not available or other venues not ready, that is the least of my concern.  As long as my cabin is clean and ready and there is enough bars and restaurants to satisfy variety and demand, it will be fine. Considering the today's asking price for those cruises,  I understand that people booking them now will have higher expectations.  I was fortunate to book them over a year ago when they came on sale and, like many others, I paid about half of today's price.  So all what I want is to be able to board the ship and to sail away to amazing ports.  Let's hope for the best. 

29 minutes ago, FreestyleNovice said:

 

He won't like that if he comes here to check the progress of his ship.. 

To my knowledge,  FDR has not been visiting the Prima recently.  Summer was always the person on site

8 minutes ago, Steff79 said:

At my september cruise there is now the spa to see, but no reservations are offered. And there is not one spa, i see all highlights with reservations are not offered.

I don't know why but although the website is not offering dinner and spa reservations, staff at NCL is able to book them.  There are hundreds of post on FB about that.  And people are getting their confirmation emails.  Spa passes are $400.00 per person for the TA cruise.

I am booked on September 13 and 23 cruises.  I am optimistic that it will be a go.

I have noticed signs that NCL is acting like it will be a go.

Several people said that their PCC contacted them offering them discount on the September 3 sailing.

Then, I noticed a slight price decrease on some of the categories for these sailings.  Why NCL would try to discount those cruises if they had low expectations that the ship would be ready?

Finally, we all know that the price of those sailings was more than double than what many people paid last year when they came on sale. Now, it appears that NCL is trying to convince some passengers that booked at a much lower price to cancel their September 23 sailing with perks that they would have a great deal on other cruises.  That means either NCL is expecting to be able to sell those cabins at a higher price or they are trying to reduce capacity.  Most cruise lines are having problems to find enough crew members to full staff their ships. It might be the case.

Another possibility is that the ship may sail with some sections of the ship not available (not completed).  I read on several occasions that on inaugural cruises, there was still staff from the shipyard still on the ship to do final touch.

All this, for me, are signs that NCL is very confident that we will sail on the Prima in September

2 hours ago, mast3rn8 said:

Depends on who's going down it I suppose.

Just a faster way for people that want to go from the pool deck to the promenade deck 😁

10 minutes ago, Elsammo46 said:

Very interesting design choice here. Looks kinda brutalist to me, wonder if the real thing will reflect that as much.

I should find out in 117 days

2 hours ago, Beezo said:

LOL.

 

Well, based on trademarks they have the following registered for the remaining four unnamed: 

 

Norwegian Aura

Norwegian Ombra

Norwegian Luna

Norwegian Aqua

Norwegian Bella

Norwegian Ultima

Norwegian Vela

 

I think the last ship, Leonardo #6, will be named Ultima.   My bet for # 3 is  Bella

19 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

Surely these prices will fall significantly in the few weeks before sailing if they want to fill it up any further.

I'm far to be sure that the prices will fall in the few weeks before sailing.  Nowadays, it is difficult to understand how they manage unsold cabins.

Before the pandemia, it was normal to see price drops a week or so prior to sailing if they had unsold cabins.  But now, it seems not to be the case

I will take as an example my recent cruise on the Bliss (14 days, January 23)

We were only 1300 passengers with a capacity of over 4000.

As a solo traveler, I pay the price of 2 persons.  I used my FCC to pay a club balcony cabin around $8000.   But with lots of sea days, I really wanted to get a Haven cabin.  But the cost was $26,000.

Paying $18,000 more was beyond my budget. But I would have paid up to $8000 more to secure a Haven Cabin As there was over 20 Haven cabins unsold, I was pretty sure that they would have a price drop.   But it never happened.  

At the end of the day, my upgrade bid (total of $3,200) was accepted and I got my Haven Cabin.  If they would have dropped the price, I would have paid twice as much than what cost me the upgrade bid.

So other than their regular offers (that everyone get when they book a cruise), it appears that they are not in the mood to drop the prices even if they have unsold cabins few weeks prior to the cruise.  We shall see what happens in september.  The september 23 TA appeears to be rather full but still many cabins available for my first leg (September 13-23)

4 minutes ago, Red-Sol said:

The way actual bookings are going it's more like "wishful thinking" 🤣

Despite those unbelievable high prices, as long as people continue to book cruises on the new ships, the cruise line will be laughing.  On many 7 day cruises, you can book an interior cabin for about $1,500 for 2.  You can do 5 cruises in an interior cabin on the Getaway for the cost of one cruise on the Prima or the Viva.  It looks line NCL didn't expect that much frenzy on Prima bookings when they released the booking last May. Prices were higher than normal (which is usually the case for inaugural cruises)but still decent (as per my standard).  Few days later, they smelled the jackpot and doubled the prices. They did not make the same mistake twice and when the booking on the Viva became available, prices were similar to the increased prices of the Prima.

And cabins that were sold at the initial price are now offered at double price when people cancel their initial booking.  We might see an offer from NCL offering 25% FCC to passengers that booked on day one if they agree to cancel their cruise 😁😁😁.  

Finally, I believe that the main reason NCL was able to sell those cabins at those prices is because lots of people had significant amounts of FCC in the bank and had to spend them.  Therefore, booking a cabin at 20k for 2, when you apply 10 or 12k from the FCC, the amount of cash out of the pocket was much lower and often lower than the normal price of a cruise.  But I don't think the sales on the Viva are as good as they were on the Prima.  And, in less than 1 year, the 3rd Leonardo cabins will be up for sale. It will be interesting to see the pricing.  Lots of people are interested in inaugural sailings.  But as we will have inaugural sailings 6 years in a row, I think that several people will skip their turn on some of them.  I am skipping the Viva inaugural season.  

1 hour ago, dolls123 said:

The 8/17/22 sailing is back on the website 

$8.000 for 2 persons in an inside cabin for a 8 day cruise. I don't think I ever saw a high price like that.

To give you an idea of the price increase,  I booked a club balcony room for $7,700.00 for 2 person for a 10 day cruise on September 13 when the sailings came on sale in May 2021 My club balcony cabin now cost $13,200 for 2

21 minutes ago, kessdarln said:

Could this be it? Or this one? Destination search: Transatlantic

This is for spring and summer 2023. The Prima will sail to New York this September and will sail out of Galveston and Port Canaveral during the winter 2022-2023.  The transatlantic will bring back the Prima to Europe for the 2023 summer season.  I was looking for the inaugural cruise  on August 17 2022 from Amsterdam to Reykjavik.  It was removed from the NCL Website but the cruise has not been cancelled.  The first cruise listed for the Prima is the Baltic cruise on september 3 

And mysteries continues...

We will remember last May when the booking of the Prima were released, the very first cruise advertized was  Amsterdam to Reykjavik, August 17 to August 25.

And there was never a cruise scheduled for August 25 to Septemper 3. We all agreed that this would be a private cruise.  Then, about 1 month ago, without explanation, the August 17 cruise was removed from the NCL website.  But on both CC and FB for that cruise, people that are booked on it are still planning to cruise as they never received any contrary indications from NCL.

On March 18, NCL announced that the Prima will be christened in Reykjavik.  No specific date, only said in August 2022.

Now this:  According to the Port of Reykjavik schedule, the Prima will dock at 7h00 am on August 24 (The August 17 cruise was scheduled to arrive Reykjavik on the 25th)

She schedule also shows that the Prima will depart at 7h00 pm, August 28.  So the ship will stay in port for 4 days for the Christening event?   If that schedule is correct,  the private cruise that will be called the innaugural cruise, will be only on invite for travel partners, will be a 6 nights cruise from Reykjavik to Amsterdam.  May be the people that are invited on the innaugural sailing will be allowed to board the ship a day or two before and the christening ceremony will be done during that time.

Unless the Reykjavik port schedule is wrong but I doubt it.

http://www.faxafloahafnir.is/cruiseships/index.php?l=en&w=csyear=2016#2016-9-27

Anyone have ever seen a ship staying in port multiple days for the christening ceremony?

During his video, Danny from Harr Travel mentioned that he was booked on the "Innaugural" cruise. 

As he was invited to tour the ship, he is probably on the invite list for this private cruise after the christening.  May be he could shed some light on that itinerary.

22 minutes ago, FreestyleNovice said:

 

Here's a fun comparison; the first Atrium render (that we know of) and this month's render, who can spot the difference(s?) 

 

 

The black "neon style" light is different

3 minutes ago, kayjaypea42 said:

Why is the dining type set to Specialty for the buffet, I wonder?

The "specialty" of that restaurant is .....  (Drum rollll)   Buffet food 😁

I watched the video.

I think that Danny got 1 point wrong.  He said that the indulge food hall is "replacing" the buffet.

In the previous announcement, it was said that there will be a buffet on the pool deck forward

I presume that initially, there will be short rides around the Fincantieri shipyard. Then, they will sail from Marghera to Southampton where they have a 2 day cruise for European travel agents (it is presumed that this cruise will go from Southampton to Amsterdam).  That should be long enough to call it a sea trials.  During that journey, there will be lots of Ficantieri employees on board to finish what they had not finished yet and to fix what ever will go wrong.  I also presume that the majority of the crew will be onboard for that voyage. Crew needs to be trained on the new ship.  Venice to Southampton must be at least an 8 day journey without stopping anywhere. The ship must arrive Southampton no later than August 12. So I presume that the first sea trial will occur no later than mid July. 

1 hour ago, Karaboudjan said:

 

Per an earlier post they increase from 142,500 GT to 156,300 GT.  I would think they'd do that by increasing the length.

I know nothing about ships architecture.  What about the same length but adding an extra deck for cabins.  Would be 21 instead of 20.  Is that something possible or it would throw out the balance of the ship?  I'm asking the question because 335 additional guests means roughly 160  to 165 additional cabins.  And if you look at deck 12 of the Prima, that deck has about 165 cabins.  Making the ship longer may go against what they said when the announced the prima:  Smaller ship that could go so smaller ports that are unable to accept large ships.  But may be my idea is not feasible due to construction rules

Browsing the NCLH website

Here's what I found

2022 1) Norwegian Prima: ~3,215 Berths (3rd quarter)

2023 2) Norwegian Viva: ~3,215 Berths (2nd quarter) 

2024 3) Prima Plus Class: ~3,550 Berths (4th quarter)

2025 4) Prima Plus Class: ~3,550 Berths (3rd quarter)

2026 5) Prima Plus Class: ~3,550 Berths (3rd quarter)

2027 6) Prima Plus Class: ~3,550 Berths (2nd quarter)

It tells us roughly when those ships will be released

About 18 months between  Viva and Leonardo #3

About 9 months between  Leonardo #3 and #4

About 1 year between Leonerdo #4 and #5

And 9 months for the last one

Also, may be some of you knew about this but I wasn't aware:

Starting with Leonardo 3, the number of passengers on the last 4 ships increases from 3215 to 3550

Is it due to smaller cabins or a bigger ship?

Also,  on the website,  they identify the last 4 ships as "Prima Plus" class.    

That explains why the cruise where Katy gets on has never been published on the website.

This is a private cruise mostlikly for NCL employees, media or travel and trade partners 

I have never seen details of the cruise except we know that it leaves Reykjavik to arrive Amsterdam

I notice on the picture that most of the protecting shields for the balcony ramps have been removed and I assume that they did the cleaning.  Progressing well  

For me, 180 days to go before I board the Prima in Copenhagen.

I just want to point out one line that was included in the NCLH press release announcing the Christening of the Prima  "Most recently, NCL unveiled its remaining culinary and beverage offerings available on Norwegian Prima and Viva, including the Brand's first sustainably-focused lounge, The Metropolitan and its ultra-upscale Mediterranean seafood specialty restaurant Palomar."

It means that no more bars and restaurant venues are yet to be announced.  I just find that the number of bars is way below the average number of bars we have on other ships.

12 hours ago, littlelulu01 said:

I purchased a supplemental dining package just in order to get to try out all the venues.  I read they’re not certain the dining packages will be valid for all venues but I figure enough will be.  Hopefully  prima  aft rooms being set further in will solve the vibration issues in aft staterooms.  I’m not crazy about what looks like a pretty small haven area serving a large number of rooms but if the rest of the ship actually flows as well as it looks like it will, seems passengers will have more choices than ever of incredible places to be and things to do for free and pay that don’t involve clustering everyone into a couple jam packed spaces. 
 

 

I am positive that the dining package will be accepted at all dinning venues.  What may happen though is, like they do at Ocean Blue and LeBistro, some items on the menu may trigger an upcharge.

Concerning the Haven restaurant, I had the same thought.  The number of Haven suites have been increased by over 50%.  Although I never had problems to get a table at the Haven Restaurant, with more people in the Haven, it might get crowded.  Obviously, they rely on the outdoor space to avoid the problem.  That could very well solve the problem on cruises with tropical weather.  But for cruises in Northern Europe, including Greenland and Iceland, far to be sure that the outdoor restaurant will be an option.  Many ships have this outdoor dining area.  On Alaska sailings, it was very rare to see people eating outside, even in specialty restaurants.  Even on my last Panama Canal cruise, although it was hot enough to eat outside, the strong winds brought everyone inside.  The outdoor Haven restaurant was only used a few times for breakfast

3 hours ago, Wendy&Grumpy said:

 

The thermal suite is not.

My bet is that the thermal suite will be on deck 15,  under the fitness centre.  The lounge chairs of the thermal suite will be facing the ocean.

I think it is the first time they have the spa on 2 levels.  (Or may be not. I remember having seen a big staircase near the reception on the Star)  Reception, the salon and some treatement rooms will be on deck 16 with more treatement rooms and the thermal suite on deck 15