Markj

6 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

Disembarking may have been the best yet. It was a breeze. Of course elevator crowding is expected.  Taking  the train to London and its standing room only. Last day of our getaway.

With regards to disembarking -

What time did you get off the ship?

How did you get to the train station?

What time was your train to London?

Thank you

Well I go 12-15 times a year and in my experience with the moving of UK citizens from the EU immigration channel to the "Rest of the world" channel immigration on most occasions takes considerably longer.

When we were in the EU we were able to use the automatic passport gates. Now we cannot. With more if these automated gates coming into use it galls me to see EU citizens have a much easier route into EU countries whilst we have to queue up with everyone else.

ETIAS will increase the level of administration!

Happy that it's all been good for you but that's not been my experience

And the cause

Those who voted for Brexit. Well done everybody, look at how much better everything is now! Yeah right! 🤦🤦🤦🤦🤦

On 8/22/2023 at 7:12 PM, DCGuy64 said:

Yes, it IS quid pro quo. Many countries whose citizens want to visit the US have to apply for an ESTA. As @Notts1964 pointed out. So it DOES apply to citizens of those countries who needed the ESTA, and possibly others as well.

Sorry but I agree with Cassie. 

For UK citizens it is definitely not Quid Pro Quo. 

The UK does not require European citizens to complete any kind of ETIAS or ESTA type process yet we are being asked to complete it to travel to Europe.

For US citizens the EU is getting everyone to do what the US has been asking overseas travellers to do for many years 

If ESTIA speeds up the immigration process for us Brits then I'm more than happy as the idiots who voted for Brexit made travelling to Europe a pain in the backside!!!!

33 minutes ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

Our group went to the international travel presentation and I broke down and got some cruise next certificates.  2 $250 vouchers and receive 2 $250 vouchers, locking in two cruises with NCL over the next 4 years. I really want to sail on Celebrity,  but wanted to take advantage of this offer. 

My partner asked if we can do a breakaway class again, which is what I prefer. We are looking at a Mediterranean cruise and an Africa one for the future.  The Prima has some really strong positives, but is just too crammed at times for dining and the smaller observation lounge is a huge drawback from wanting to sail the Viva. Would like to sail the Epic, Escape, Joy, Jade , or Jewel.

 

once again , it is rainy this sea day, so our go karts we’re canceled again. 🙁

The observation lounge on Bliss is amazing if it's something that's important to you

For anyone sailing on an upcoming Prima Iceland/Norway cruise below is the revised schedule we have just received:

As can be seen the Isafjordur stop has been removed and its also slightly later docking in Zeebrugge. 

On 8/17/2023 at 4:40 PM, DCGuy64 said:

$450 PER PERSON WITHOUT WINE? Wow, I must be in the wrong line of work. I could literally fly to some European cities in Economy class for that much dough. Yikes. I can safely say no meal would ever be worth $450 for me. Wow.

These days top Michelin star restaurants are going to be around this sort of money. Youre paying for the uniqueness of the food and the service.

It's a bit like the debate you often see about Business Class on airlines. We all end up in the same place but for some it's the extra service and room you get - not dissimilar to those of us who book Haven and those who don't. Same ship ports route etc - different service!!!

Sailing on 6th September this year. Have made my dining reservations and was expecting the shows to be available too. We are in Haven so not too worried about reservations however it would be useful to know the dates and times to plan the meals around them.

NCL website help section says 120 days  https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/cruise-faq/when-can-i-book-dining-entertainment but the NCL chat assistant says it's 26 days.

First time I've ever hear this and cannot find mention of this 26 days anywhere else.

Is this usual as it doesn't make for good planning when you make all your dinner reservations then have to adjust them to fit around the shows - and at 26 days the times we will then require will likely not be available????

13 hours ago, cmph said:

I didn't find it too hard to navigate through the excursions listings by port on myncl, but you're right that it doesn't give you enough info in that brief view. It's a minor frustration only because that site is slow as molasses, and More Details loads a new page. I learned to just open all of the excursion options we'd possibly consider in new tabs, b/c at least I didn't have to keep going back and forth to the main page. 

 

Aside from the extremely slow loading time, my other issue is that, once you book an excursion, you can't see any other excursions for that port that might even vaguely conflict. I guess they do not expect anyone to change their minds and cancel the original booking in favor of an alternative. 

Agree with you

This is very silly especially if anything new is added to the options after you have booked!!!

19 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

It would be helpful if you labeled food items.  It's not always clear what they are.

Wow

Tough room!!!!! 🤣

I did a search and could not find anything about this.

In September we are on Prima going from Iceland down through Norway, Netherlands, Belgium and returning to Southampton. Having cruised a number of times we know the onboard currency is US$ and we can use our onboard account for most things and pay on our CC at the end.

However, we will be tipping staff in the Haven so is it OK to use GB£ for this to save me having to bring US$ along?

Thanks in advance

On 3/25/2023 at 12:51 AM, SGCruiser2013 said:

PALOMAR our last specialty restaurant was a great one. DW and I tried Palomar and took the best seafood they had to offer. 
 

Menu, bread and Avion margarita 10/10

 

 

Appetizer: Tuna crudo (not pictured as it was six eeeny-beeeny pieces that were fine before the picture) 7/10

 

Appetizer: Octopus (not pictured as it was so delicious to be gone before the picture) 10/10

 

Mains: Seabass 8/10 weirdly skin-up?

 

Mains: Dover Sole 9/10 delicious

 

Dessert: Apple tartine with vice cream 8/10

 

Overall a very nice experience and strong rebound from Hasuki which was not as much our preference. Feel overall like maybe an 8/10 and a great time. 

 

What an excellent review. Thank you. We are on Prima in September doing the Iceland/Norway cruise so will be interesting to see how the weather affects the interior and how busy it gets.

Haven too for us. Food looks good all round so better get on the diet now! Hahahaha

I replied to this post because I would always expect a sea bass (or other fish) where the skin is crispy to be served skin side up. Otherwise the skin goes soft!! I realise that not everyone likes the skin but often when its crisped nicely it can be yummy!!!

CC is always great for info and advice so I thought I would see what views there are on this? We have sailed with NCL 6 times.

We are on a 10 night Prima Iceland/Norway/Lowlands cruise in September this year. Our booking includes the package of 2 Speciality Restaurants.Weve had this package on previous sailings. I've read the t's and c's and see that this includes an appetiser, soup or salad main and dessert. We rarely eat all of that and on most occasions only have an appetiser and Main. Maybe the occasional dessert but there is so much food onboard its not a regular thing. So looking at the online menus we would probably spend $120-$150 dollars on dinner.

We are planning to eat in 6 of the Speciality Restaurants on Prima and maybe a couple of them twice.

With this in mind I have the following questions:

As we only usually have appetiser and main is it worth buying additional Speciality Restaurant packages? Or is it better and more cost effective to just pay as we go from the a la carte menu?

Does anyone know if sides are included in the package? The t's and c's don't make it clear and at $9 each if you have 3 or 4 the price soon adds up?

Do others use their Speciality Restaurant package at the most expensive restaurants and then just pay as they go in the others?

Happy for any comments tips or info from the board.

I think I went to Customer Services the next day, however there were only 2 days of the cruise left so don't know if what you say applies as it didn't affect me.

Quick tip as this happened to us last year with a cancelled helicopter trip.

The refund put our account into credit and they only pat credit back in cash - which in this day and age is crazy, however - our concierge suggested getting the cash asap as the guest services would be very busy on departure day and then if we spent anything more whilst on board it would just be deducted using our assigned credit card and then no need to stand in line at guest services!!

And that's what we did!"!!

They give you cash. I advise you get it asap too as the line in the last day is ridiculous as people try to sort their accounts.

I was on an Alaskan cruise and the cash was in US dollars, which I expected. Interestingly I wonder what currency they refund you if you're in Europe?

Also, in the age of electronic transfer we live in it seems totally archaic that they give you cash Ns don't just do it electronically back to your credit card

8 hours ago, BennyBrun said:

Back out again to catch Dawes Glacier… unfortunately due to the icy condition we can go any closer and had to turn around … I must have missed the ice 🧊 because I hardly saw any … floating or otherwise 

Same with us. I've been on Pearl and we got up really close to Dawes and saw calving.

Queried this onboard and was told it's because the ship is bigger. hmmmmmmm ,,🤔🤔🤔

17 hours ago, Jukeboxx99 said:

Hi!  1st time to Alaska, would you recommend the raptor and bear "zoo" or save the money and walk around on  our own?  We have the Otter, Raptor and Bear tour booked, is it worth it? Thanks!   Btw:  loving the cruise review!!!  

Yes definitely. We did this tour and really enjoyed seeing both bears and raptors up close.

Six was absolutely brilliant.

Interestingly this is a really good read for me too as we were in the Haven. However we did a stroll around the buffet and thought it was one of the best we've seen on a cruise and whole observation/bars/food was first rate

On 8/27/2022 at 1:42 PM, buffet24 said:

Yeah, good luck trying to upload pictures on the ship WiFi...   We got the "FREE" WiFi which is only 150 minutes... and it was a 150 minutes of *Free Frustration*...  🥵 And with Upload speeds of a whopping 0.20 Mbps on the PEARL (Hope yours is faster)... you will spend half your sailing watching it trying to upload... while your phone is draining its battery down the toilet...  Again, hope yours is faster... But just enjoy the cruise and your Drink package!!!  😁 

On the Bliss 16th-23rs August and the standard WiFi was fine for picture uploads and video too ,😀

Did this exact same cruise on Bliss back in July and it was absolutely amazing. It was our third Alaskan cruise and we still didnt repeat anything. Other than eating and drinking too much of course.

Have a great time!!!

She looks amazing. Credit to whoever gets up that early in the morning to go and shoot drone footage too!!! The posts it that very morning! 

We've booked the Iceland/Norway cruise next September so hopefully by then all the teething issues will be sorted 😃🤣. Really looking forward to seeing how it compares to the Bliss.

Have to say Its been interesting reading through this thread too it will be a good history of the Prima in the fullness of time.

One thought. Do we think Norwegian designs ships for specific cruise areas? For example the Bliss and Encore have such big Observation decks are they more for Alaska/Scenic cruising and is the Prima set for cruises that are not for hot places seeing as the pool area is small?

15 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

Rookie question here....can you get hot water for Tea from these?

(Not a coffee drinker)

You can but its not boiling. Two options

If you're neat the lounge get hot water from the machine there as its near boiling

or ask for a kettle

We also ask for fresh milk for our fridge as we like breakfast tea with milk

We only booked for one person upgrade on advance

Having just been on Bliss in 18700 it has a master bedroom, 2nd bedroom and a sofa in the lounge that converts to a bed. So cabin could sleep 6.

However. If 1 or 2 people were on the sofa bed they would not have their own bathroom or wardrobe space and any one in the other two bedrooms needed something from the lounge or wanted to go on the balcony they would disturb them

And as for the butler bringing breakfast while we slept - he would also disturb the people in the sofa bed as its where the table is. (not that ever have room service as we prefer to walk the 50 yards to the Haven Restaurant and have the hot food we fancy at that moment. 

On the MegaCruise on Pearl in 2019 I had a balcony cabin on 11 near the elevators and a Haven key card to go to meet my friends in the band I was looking after. Room to Haven -1 minute. 

The balcony cabin is an excellent offer in my opinion

1 hour ago, gvgseg said:

My family is sailing on Encore this Sunday and will be doing a PCR test on Friday morning before we fly to Seattle Friday evening. We already did a "practice run" of PCR tests yesterday and confirmed that we were all negative just so there should be no surprises if we hunker down at home this week.

 

When we arrive at the pier, what exactly do they require that we show as proof of negative test? Can we simply just show them the confirmation of negative test result from our health provider's mobile app or there is a specific certificate that we need to provide?

Did this all last week and it's in my post about Bliss Haven boarding 16th July

I showed the certificate the testing company sent as a pdf using my phone

Also showed proof of vaccinations which I had printed and took with me