alexirina

And a final set of (somewhat organized) comments from us. This time: Entertainment, nightlife, activities Prima offers an interesting variety of entertainment options. Two smaller venues (Syd Norman's and The Improv, both Deck 7) are very-very small and we had to get in line ~45 minutes before the show start (they open door 30 minutes before scheduled show times). Syd Norman's shows were very enjoyable, Comedy (Lucas Bohn) was not for us: the first comedy show ever we walked out of. The main theater is different. It can work in a variety of layouts. When they have "bleachers" (with very comfortable seats, by the way) extended all the way that makes it for the fully functioning theater or a game venue). Bleachers can be completely stowed away and then the venue turns into a night club. There is an in-between option that worked well for couple of shows. Either way, we enjoyed all the shows (with the exception of Donna Summer). Night life shows with production crew were awesome, night life parties were not what we expected, DJ was so-so... As many know, Prima is one of a few ships that has a go-kart track on the top 3 decks. We were extremally skeptical of that concept (it takes away a good chunk of premium space). So I had to test it and enjoyed the experience tremendously. It is just something different that I have never done before on a ship. Still can't say that I agree with NCL's decision to build this thing, but since no one consulted me when they planned this ship out, I just went ahead and enjoyed it anyway. We tried a few rides that they had, including "The Drop" and that was good fun. Still, the highlight and the best feature for us was The Vibe Beach Club. Just to chill with a drink without noise and running kids... At any rate, if any of that is visually interesting, feel free to check out our final video about this cruise. Enjoyable experience for sure! Will we do it again? Can not answer for sure, but NCL is back on our list. Cheers!

Sure thing, and honestly in all our Caribbean and Gulf cruises we have never experienced a complete rain-in situation! You are not going to Alaska 😉 Keeping our fingers crossed for your cruise! One thing that we keep mentioning is the Vibe Club: honestly it made our cruise! It is open to the weather at the back of the ship and one have to pay for access to it (about 250 USD per person). It is, by far, the quietest and nicest place on the ship that we enjoyed tremendously. But, of course, it only works in good weather, as it is completely opened to the environment! Cheers!

Ah, rainy days can get tricky. Yet I would not put a lot of faith in the forecast: our weather was expected to be all overcast, storm and rain, yet we managed to do just fine weatherwise! As far as finding a quiet place to hang out indoors, I would say your best bet in a very early morning is the Observation Lounge (front, deck 17). I loved it for my first cup of coffee, but it does get crowded once the sun is up. We could usually find a seat in the 3-level atrium (which we loved!), but of course it gets busy as well. Best quiet spot I can think of is either the Metropolitan lounge (deck 7), when there is no entertainment there, or even better (probably the best) a Belvedere bar (deck 6) that is tucked away all the way at the back and seems to be fairly quiet most of the time (and the ambience and the service there is quite lovely). If weather does cooperate, deck 18 left side at the front has quite a few loungers and a decent amount of shade, maybe because it is close to the smoking area and there is a kids park on the right side, but all and all we liked that part too. Cheers and wishing you a fantastic cruise!

We wanted to share a few notes and a video on the topic of destinations or ports of call on this cruise For cruises out of Galveston, your destinations are very predictable: on a 7 day cruise we can only get to Western Caribbean: Mexico, Honduras and Belize. This time we had 4 ports of call. Cozumel was the only port where we stayed onboard. Weather was windy and the sea was choppy. We were not in the mood for yet another stroll through the touristy port. Instead we enjoyed a beautiful day in the Vibe Club and just wandered around the ship. Belize was more enjoyable: we docked at Harvest Caye -- which is not a true private island, but rather a collaboration between NCL and the Belize Government. As such, all restaurants and other venues on the island are operated by Belizeans and tourists have to pay for food and drinks (USD are happily accepted). This was a new experience for us: all other private islands we visited had food and drinks (if one has a drink package) included. Overall the island was exactly what we expected: plenty of loungers, nice shallow beach, a few places to eat and drink, some mild activities in the form of kayaks, SUPs and a zipline. Nothing remarkable, but not a bad place either. Roatan, Honduras is where we decided to get a bit adventurous and ventured out into town. We did not set very high expectations, simply wanted to do something different. As expected, the town is very busy, "islandy" and one will have a hard time finding picturesque views here. Yet, again, we knew what we signed up for and enjoyed an hour or two of just wandering through town observing local life. Finally in Costa Maya, Mexico we docked alongside three other megaships. Having so many people in a relatively small port caused very much expected crowds. Despite better judgement, we ventured to the port just to see hundreds or thousands of fellow tourists. Luckily, it started to rain and that gave us a perfect excuse to get back onboard. Finally, we feel that if one sets proper expectations with the western Caribbean ports, they can be enjoyed. Enjoy a quick overview of all ports in the video below!

We have scanned all dailies we had and they are up above in this thread (not sure if this link will work, but they are on page 1, post "lucky" #13 https://boards.cruisecritic.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=1651419&key=e9d9f21c881915b60f05d66726742ff8

Thank you much for your comment and I'm sure you will have great time on Prima! A tiny off-topic on MSC -- that was the first and only time when we treated ourselves to the Yacht Club (or any of the similar "up-sales") and that, honestly, was substantially subpar experience when compared to a regular balcony cabin that we always get. We get "the European Style" of management (I can say that, I was born in Europe :)) but when MSC does US/Caribbean cruises, we expected what we all are so used to on this side of the pond. Those differences are unimportant to many, but just rubbed us the wrong way, whenever everything on the ship was "we'll get to it whenever, likely never" way. And you are right on, MSC officers/managers are in a league of their own... But, back to Prima, happy travels, and hope you have a fantastic cruise!

Thank you, so glad you found our review helpful! Have a great time, Prima is a lovely ship, not without quirks, but overall we really enjoyed the cruise!

Thank you for that, you are absolutely correct, I forgot about it, even though we researched Royal last year and saw that new terminal. It is further to north west from two older terminals.

Thank you very much, glad to help! We like doing as much research and watching reviews ahead of sailing! Personally videos help us as much (if not more) as reviews. As an example, overall rating of Prima seems to be rather low (around 4(5)), which I can not disagree with more. This ship is close to the top in our personal list where we try to balance out all aspects of experience (MSC Seaside being at the very bottom for the worst food and service; and Celebrity Edge being close to the very top for everything). So, again, glad you found our opinions useful and have a fantastic trip!

We wanted to share with y'all a few more thoughts and a full video walk through of Norwegian Prima Overall we liked the design and flow of the ship. Atrium is on a smaller side, but so well designed that we loved it! The Observation Deck is lovely, I wish it would be bigger and/or resemble a Solarium on the Royal ships. But, again, the decor is very fresh and lovely, minimalistic without being cheap (you know, I'm looking at you, Virgin Voyages). There were several things that made us go "huh", and those were all anticipated. The main pool on the top deck is tiny, BUT there are infinity pools on deck 8 on either side of the ship. And while we mainly stayed in the Vibe Beach Club (extra cost 250 USD PP, but well worth it for the 18+ area, no pool there, but 2 generously sized hot tubs), we never saw these 3 free pools being too crowded. Another point of concern is the main buffet: it is very small and is always crowded. Does not help that the only way to the back of the ship on Deck 17 is through the buffet. However, there are plenty of free dining alternatives around the ship, including Indulgence Food Hall, The Local Bar and Grill, as well as 2 complimentary restaurants. Honestly, we simply only went to the buffet once and after seeing the crowd have chosen other venues. Finally, the layout of the ship is weird because of the racetrack. And while I enjoyed the racetrack experience (it is extra 15 USD) and will talk about the race in the upcoming video, after all it is hard to justify why such a valuable top deck real estate was used for something as silly as go-karts making everything around the funnels (roughly mid-ship) just plain weird. At any rate, if you are up for a stroll around the ship, here we go!

Thank you again, to everyone who read/watched and commented on our initial post! As we keep unpacking our digital memories, we are ready to share our thoughts on the embarkation process and the state room. We do have a short video https://youtu.be/MhObKStlzaA that covers mainly the same thing as below, so feel free to either jump onto youtube or keep reading here. Overall Embarkation was done well, considering this is a new experience for NCL out of Galveston. They had a lot of staff on hand in the port and we hardly had to wait at all, so the experience was very positive (especially when compared to how Virgin Voyages decided to do embarkation way back in 2021). For lunch we went to the Food Hall (as the buffet was super crowded). The Food Hall was busy, but we had a very nice fresh meal there and afterwards found our way to the Vibe Beach Club: the best place to enjoy a few drinks while we waited for our stateroom to get ready. That took some time, deck 15 happened to be the last that opened. Not a big deal, after all we were already on vacation! A few words about a standard balcony room. In the past we never worried about being close to mid-ship, but our travel agent suggested that we consider that location, which was super helpful, since the Gulf was very choppy on the first day. We never experienced any sea-sickness issues, but were glad that we stayed close to mid-ship to minimize rocking. Many would have chosen a lower deck, but I like my views, so deck 15 it was. Interestingly, the right (starboard) side of the ship did not have good views on this sailing. In the past we have noticed that a ship would alter which side faces the dock/port (or maybe it was a coincidence?), this time the right side of the ship always faces away from the land. A minor bummer, we decided to NOT call the bridge to complain 🙂 Stateroom was super nice. Bright, nicely decorated, fresh and reasonably roomy. There are a total of 4 US outlets (2 by the fridge, as you enter the room; one under the mirror and one by the bed), one European outlet (under the mirror) and USB A and USB C plugs on nightstand lamps. Which is very handy considering that one would want to charge smart watches and phones daily on night stands. I also brought a 6 port charger for all our remaining gizmos. NCL stated several times via PA system that the room attendant will unplug electronics that you may leave plugged in while out of the room, just something to keep in mind... If you are reading this in anticipation of your cruise: happy travels and we are super jealous! I know y'all will have a great time! If you (like us) just came back home: Happy Holidays and please share your thoughts with the fellow travelers, whether you agree with what we had to say or not -- it is all good! Cheers!

Thank you so much Jim! Hope everyone is having a great holiday season whether sailing on, or planning the next adventure! Cheers!

Excellent questions, thank you so much! Sailing out of Galveston is without a doubt more of a "Texan Thing". To be clear, music, entertainment, etc did not adapt to the great (well, second greatest by area, technically) state of ours, but the crowd was defiantly more Texan. Quite a few cowboy hats and boots (not joking!). But it was all good, we are fairly laid back and diverse these days, no banjo in the hallways, crowd was very diverse, from Deep Country to LGBT, and anywhere in between! Even a few foreigners. All good! Overall we felt that there were significantly more kids than typical (probably early Christmas Break and fair amount of entertainment from the Galaxy Pavilion to the Racetrack), yet not enough party people. We went to most late night events, but felt a bit underwhelmed: Syd Norman venue is way too small and the Prima Club is way too big (although we loved all the shows they set there, those shows just did not turn into parties). We also regret that while in the past (~10 years ago) NCL used to be more open minded/encouraging adult activities (not necessarily the pineapple level, just good grown up fun without PC BS), they certainly toned all of that down to PG13 and crew does not TRULY comingle with the crowd, which is a shame. As we mentioned, Vibe Club is a must, if one wants to separate from 18- crowd Overall, we are not at all disappointed, we had great time and we will share more stories/thoughts as we get them organized, yet I'm not sure if I pick Galveston again on purpose. Galveston is visually VERY different from any of the 3 typical Floridian ports. We did Galveston because we thought it would be an "easy drive", but with the holiday traffic it turned out to be 5+ hrs from Dallas. If you are flying into Houston, port is not that close and roads are a mess on the south side (well, everywhere in Houston, let's just be honest). Looking back, we could have probably spent similar time flying out to FLL or MIA with a transfer and everything and had more cruise options with NCL, Royal or Celebrity -- after all Galveston can only accommodate 2 ships at a time. Hope this helps and happy holidays. Shout out if there is anything we can help with!

Unfortunately, we tossed away the disembarkation sheet. Self-disembarkation was scheduled for 7:30 and earliest non-elite "lime" disembarkation was at 8:30. The entire process was a bit of a cluster: probably mainly due to NCL being new to Galveston. We showed up on time and spent almost 2 hrs in line on the ship. A bit frustrating, but we have seen worth (looking at you, MSC!).

For us it was 250 USD Per Person for 7 night cruise.

That was our opinion of Donna Summers show whose art and music we love and looked forward to the musicle. Musicle it was not. Not by a long shot. Just our opinion.

You are very welcome, Merry Christmas! Glad you found them handy (I hear you: for us researching upcoming cruise, from videos, to the menus, to destinations counts as part of the cruise experience!) This was "the first" experience for us (first on Prima, first out of Galveston) as well and we enjoyed it. NCL is still working through some quirks, but honestly it was all good! We will share a few somewhat organized thoughts (and a video) of the embarcation day as well as the quick tour of the balcony room here in the next few days. Cheers and happy holidays!

Thank you for that note, I almost forgot about that switchover. It indeed likely affected some of the times, but as far as content of what to expect onboard, it will be close enough. Cheers!

We agree with every word! While we are not familiar with H2O, the fact that Vibe is a paid-for feature is a plus in our opinion. That helps to justify the fact that staff checks to make sure only those who paid for the Club stays there. And it is super quiet, may be a bit talkative around the bar 🙂 but otherwise really quiet, no TVs, no running kids...

I always wonder why I save those and bring them back 🙂 Now I have a valid justification. Please see attached and enjoy your cruise! Cheers and Happy Holidays! Freestyle Daily NCL Prima Dec 15-21 2023 Galveston.pdf

An interesting concept indeed, thank you for pointing it out! As we have mentioned, this is the first time we experienced something like that... Not a big deal, just as long as one knows what to expect! All things considered, Harvest Kaye is an OK place: not super crowded with a "smaller" ship such as Prima and there is only space for one ship on the island...

Thank you for sharing re: Taxes and Security contractors. I feel this would be helpful to future cruisers, as both issues were a surprise to us, yet, again, neither was a big deal, more of an annoyance. Cheers and Happy Holidays!

Hello fellow cruisers! This morning we returned from our first sailing on Norwegian Prima out of Galveston and while things are still fresh in our minds, we wanted to share thoughts on this journey, and offer a few tips. Not the kind of tips "bring flipflops, sunscreen and cash", but real advice that would have helped up a month or two ago. If you'd rather watch a quick video with the same information and a few snippets of Prima, here is a link: https://youtu.be/RoLQ2TEs2S0 We are not travel agents, we are not sponsored and videos/posts are not monetized, so this is as close to honest opinions as it gets! First things first: in general we enjoyed our time and this cruise was 10-20-100 times better than the mess of MSC Seascape (in a Yacht Club!) we experienced a year ago. What made this trip for us was the ship itself and Vibe Beach Club! Prima is relatively new, very beautiful and well laid out. Not without quirks such as tiny Comedy Club, but overall we were happy. Food experience was very nice indeed. Close to the top of everything we ever tasted on seven seas over the past 15 years. Whether in the Food Hall or in one of several specialty Restaurants (we tried French and Mexican and enjoyed both), everything was fresh, very consistent and just overall yummy. Entertainment was OK. While we did not fully embrace a 60 minutes narrated biography, that was advertised as a production show. Comedy was hit and miss, but we loved the shows they had when Prima theater converted to the Nightclub and all shows they had there were superb! We stayed in a regular balcony room this time, none of that fancy Haven stuff. And we loved it for the comfort of the bed and overall unpretentious little details! Now to the tips we promised: 1. Prearrange your parking in Galveston as early as possible, as good spots close to the port are selling out fast. We wanted to get into the multilevel parking garage right next to the port, but it was sold out, so we settled on EZ Cruise Parking open lot, which worked out well. Alternatively you may want to look into hotels that offer free or reasonably priced parking if you stay with them pre cruise. 2. If you get a beverage package, mind that the bottled/boxed water is not included. Quite unusual, probably the first time we experienced that. So we brought couple of aluminum water bottles and refilled them at the buffet with ice and water, as water packages are very expensive 3. NCL specifically states on their website that cruisers with drink packages can bring their own wine and pay no corkage fee. To our surprise our wine got confiscated by the security at the port and there was no point in arguing there. Took us a couple of trips to guest services on board to get wine returned, but we got it back after all... Our wine was not fancy, but a gentleman in line behind us brought along some vintage he was saving for this occasion and naturally he was not pleased... And on the topic of alcohol: while you are docked in port or Galveston or even sailing in TX waters, expect a very limited selection of beverages and tax for those beverages will be charged to your room. Not an advice, but a curiosity really: why our great state thinks this is a good idea is beyond me. Or is this an NCL thing? If someone knows, please let us know, I'm genuinely curious when it comes to deviations without a logical cause. 4. Interestingly enough, on NCL private island Harvest Key in Belize you have to pay for food and drinks even if you have a drink package. 5. And we saved best for last: book Vibe Beach Club experience early. If you can't book it early, consider how important quiet 18+ experience is to you. Keep checking an app before the cruise: this is how we got our Vibe reservation: someone canceled theirs. And if all fails, run to the guest services the moment you are onboard: rumors are, they sell a significant amount of those reservations on the ship only... In our opinion, Vibe is super awesome, it is not nearly as expensive as Haven, but it gives you freedom from kids, from noise and plenty of super comfortable loungers. Truth be told, we only spent time in Vibe and did not even bother going to the main pool or infinity pools Cheers, again, if you found this useful, drop us a comment and feel free to ask a question! Happy cruising!

Happy New Year y'all! Below is a more detailed video review that we eluded to in the initial post. To save you trouble of re-reading a few comments from above: - This is our experience, videos are not sponsored or monetized - On this cruise we did not get anywhere near what we paid for. This is our most expensive yet least favorable cruise to date (we cruised with NCL, Princess, Celebrity, Royal, Virgin all in outside/premium/suite balcony categories. Most of the lines several times. All was great/well until MSC) - We are super happy if this cruise line worked out for you. Last time we checked, we are all free to share our opinions in the Western world and on this board as long as we stay respectful. This is not an attempt to change your opinion, but rather share our impressions with those who want to try MSC for the first time - If we knew what we are sharing in the video below (or in the comments above), we would have never consider cruising with this line - One thing we did not mention in the video: we loved (as always) making new friends on the ship. This is always a huge part of the cruise experience!