ontheweb

We pre-booked 2 excursions on the NCL Prima cruise we had earlier this month. The first was Brugge on your own. It started as more money than just getting transportation there, but with my $50 off for BOGO and each of us having 10% off for our Latitudes status, it was a bit less expensive. (It ended up not happening as the ship did not make the port due to an extremely low tide.)' The other one was in Alesund, Norway. It was a walking tour for the art deco architecture and a visit to a museum about art deco. It was relatively inexpensive especially after the discounts I mentioned above. No big bus tour as it was a walking tour, and there were only 15 of us plus an excellent guide. it was well worth the money we paid for it.

Just an update, DW still has the same condition. Her doctor had her get an over the counter medication. He also told her that the medication prescribed onboard is actually an over the counter drug in the USA, but a prescription drug in the EU. Also, just got the post cruise survey in my e-mail earlier this afternoon.

You go to guest services and ask for it. BTW, there have been posts from past passengers who have said they have been called to guest services before disembarking because they will not allow you off the ship if they owe you money.

It was what he said, but someone else on an earlier cruise thad of course missed Isafjordur said the Captain said their lifeboats were not certified as tenders. So, the story keeps changing, but the results are the same, no Isafjordur.

Yes, a $25 credit, but not to the second passenger (who is "free").

I found the same problem with the musical entertainment in the lounges. I actually asked one of the entertainers (the one who was a solo act) how it felt to play his music and have people just talking over him. He just shrugged. And yes that area on deck 8 must be really, really nice for a warm weather cruise. We did at one point sit together in one of those hammock swings just to see what it felt like.

And alternating with that board showing them all, they showed them individually. And Josef who was in charge of the stewards, found me at the Latitudes party and thanked me for the question I asked about the stewards. I had asked how many cabins they had, and had that changed after Covid.

We loved Norway. 😊 Three different ports, and all very different, plus we had previously been on a cruise that included Oslo, another great port.

We did not cancel the excursion, rather NCL cancelled the port. I asked for a refund since the e-mail sent by NCL cancelling the port said if you had an excursion, the money paid would go to OBC. It was only after I kept arguing with the rep on the phone did she go to some other department and came back and said since it was more than 48 hours until sailing, I would get the credit back to my card. She said it could take up to 7-10 business days, but IIRC, the credit was there in 2 or 3 days.

I asked about missed ports, especially Isafjordur that has been missed every cruise. And the Captain said that there were too many passengers to do tenders. I'm trying to remember if we tendered when we sailed on the much larger Epic. And what about the huge monstrosities of the seas on Royal Caribbean? Do ships larger than the Prima never tender? Oh, and one mistake I made to let others know to avoid it. When you go onshore you need to take id as well as your cruise card. One time I accidentally returned the cruise card instead of my driver's license to the safe. As you can imagine, my license did not open the cabin door later when returning to the cabin. 🤦‍♂️ I had to get one of the stewards to open the door so I could get in and retrieve my card from the safe.

IIRC, unless they have changed it from delayed past proposals, it is over 70, not 60.

I did not think of this at the time, but agree we had some extremely rough seas, but the ride was always smooth.

We were also on that same cruise. I also wrote my impressions.

I also remember that post.

Not everyone will need to pay. Unless they change what has been proposed and postponed 70+ will be free. I believe there is also an age which if you are below it is also free, but I do not remember what specific age.

I got to talk to two of their singers, Mandy (the female with a ring in her nose) and Steven (the bald male). It started when Many said she liked my Grateful Dead tee shirt. I told her my wife had bought it for me as a present at Bethel Woods, where the original Woodstock festival had been and I was there 54 years ago. And she wanted to hear about my experience there. BTW, I met two other passengers on the cruise who had been there.

@PhillyTravelBug, I assume you missed Isafjordur as we missed it only a few days before you were there. How did they treat it going in your direction? Going our way, we ended up with an overnight in Akureyri, and then a sea day. I hope it is the only port you will miss. Our cruise missed the port in Belgium (we were going to go to Brugge) because of extremely low tides. You mentioned you thought it was better doing the cruise in your direction. We had extremely rough seas our first day, and part of that was we were sailing against the current. It would have still been very windy going in your direction, but it would have been with the current.

Yes, I did write I did not know how "rampant" or isolated it was. I can fully understand how someone who had a family member catch it would use the term "rampant". OTOH, that day we went to Hudsons, and as it was our wedding anniversary and have a tradition of eating by water (often outdoors on a restaurant dock), we were hoping for a table right by the ocean. Hudsons was much less crowded than any of the other nights we went there, and we were given a table for 2 right by a window overlooking the ocean. Was it less crowded because Covid was "rampant" or were we just lucky? I honestly do not know.

I have a little more information, but not total for this question. First, it seems the insurance is secondary. Our primary is Medicare, and we know they will not cover for out of the country (and sailing between Norway and Iceland definitely counts as out of the USA). We called our secondary company as the travel insurance wanted to know how much they would pay. It is definitely out of network, but they said they would cover for customary charges. So, they should pay some and we should get the rest back from the travel insurance.

It was about halfway in. And you do not need to use it that day. We used ours IIRC 2 days after we got the bag. Turned it in to a steward in the morning, and the next morning when we came back from breakfast our laundry was returned all neat and folded.

Back again. I remembered another activity on the Daily. Several days had dance lessons. This made DW happy.

I specifically asked if I had to take my glasses off. The answer was no, only my sunglasses which were perched on top of my head where I could use them or not use them.

Warning--it does get very crowded for the last breakfast as everyone has to leave the ship. That was by far the most crowded we ever experienced in the buffet.

We also had a mostly positive experience of the Prima 8/6-8/17. Please do not let the negativity you may read unduly influence you. I did start a thread about our cruise, and there are some things that were far from perfect, but on the whole it was a very enjoyable cruise.

Just off the Prima, an 11 day cruise. The laundry bag was $29. I added it up by piece, and it would have been $67 and change if not for the laundry bag special.