Having Second Thoughts on Prima

[karmamule]

3 hours ago, Karaboudjan said:

 

Prices were not too out of line when they opened in May, at least for balconies and below.  They only went up because booking was so strong.

 

That was our experience on the haven side of things too. We booked maybe 1 or 2 days after sales opened and last time I checked our room was almost double the price. (BUT, our case is more extreme due to us getting one of the aft corner rooms that were revised to add a whirlpool tub to the balcony after they did that w/the same rooms on the Viva)

[Shellbelle28]

The thing that puts me off the Prima is the aft balcony cabins. I love aft cabins and the ones on the Prima appear to overlook deck areas full of passengers rather than the water. I for sure would not pay a premium price for that!  Might as well be at a hotel on land. 

[Sailing12Away]

8 hours ago, CielG22 said:

 

From the deck plans I've seen, unless I pay more than I want or can afford to, I won't be sailing on either Prima or Viva because of where the wheelchair accessible balcony rooms are. I guess I'll know for certain after other wheelchair users have cruised on them, however, it doesn't look great from where I'm sitting. So my reluctance to like either ship is based on as informed a decision as it's possible to get. However, a triangle shaped balcony doesn't strike me as being all that accessible. I could be wrong, but I haven't noticed any other ships with the balcony wheelchair accessible rooms in that kind of location.

Not sure where you're seeing triangle rooms, but I just searched for an accessible balcony room and it gave me these "normal" options.

[Cruising Lynne]

14 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I showed DW who is an avid swimmer those pictures of the pool overlooking the ocean. She loved it.

 

We will not experience it as new as our cruise is not until the summer of 2023. I guess we will be able to read the reactions to the ship well before we sail. I hope you share yours on these boards.

 

What is your itinerary? We are really excited about ours---London (Southampton), Amsterdam, Bruge for Brussels, 3 stops in Norway (basically fjords), and finally 3 stops in Iceland with an overnight in Reykjavik before disembarking there.

Your itinerary sounds great! We are doing Norfolk and Bermuda out of NY. I am thinking that I will try to post my impressions here. I have appreciated reading all the reviews over the years, so I guess it will be a good time for me to reciprocate.🙂

[KeithJenner]

16 hours ago, Karaboudjan said:

 

Prices were not too out of line when they opened in May, at least for balconies and below.  They only went up because booking was so strong.

Yes.

 

We booked the first sailing in August on the day they were released. The same cabin on a similar itinerary for August 2023 is now about double what we paid. It’s 10 days against our 8, so I’d expect it to be higher, but by nothing like that amount.

 

[CielG22]

11 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Not sure where you're seeing triangle rooms, but I just searched for an accessible balcony room and it gave me these "normal" options.

 

The only ones I could see were in a corner of the ship. Now, whether they don't show every accessible room on the booking page or not, I don't know. However, on the booking pages, those rooms are not designated as accessible, as you can see. Any room with a blocked out square is wheelchair accessible. 9218 and 9818 are wheelchair accessible. Whether the final shape of those balconies will be a triangle or not I have no idea until there's feedback from other wheelchair users. As it is, I can only go on what the current deck plan states. It could be that the highlighted rooms in the photo you posted are later designated wheelchair accessible, but they currently aren't showing as so. The only other room with a balcony designated on the plans and identified as wheelchair accessible is a Haven aft suite on deck 10.

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, Cruising Lynne said:

Your itinerary sounds great! We are doing Norfolk and Bermuda out of NY. I am thinking that I will try to post my impressions here. I have appreciated reading all the reviews over the years, so I guess it will be a good time for me to reciprocate.🙂

Yes, we were both excited when we saw that itinerary, especially since we missed out on Norwegian fjords when our booked 2020 cruise of course did not happen. I at first did not realize it was for 2023 and thought it was 2022, which would have had us on it for our 45th anniversary as we usually try to do something extra special for anniversaries ending in 0 or 5. As it is, we will have a sea day on our 46th anniversary.

 

And please do write a review with your impressions of the ship.

[SNJCruisers]

On 3/9/2022 at 5:16 AM, CielG22 said:

 

The only ones I could see were in a corner of the ship. Now, whether they don't show every accessible room on the booking page or not, I don't know. However, on the booking pages, those rooms are not designated as accessible, as you can see. Any room with a blocked out square is wheelchair accessible. 9218 and 9818 are wheelchair accessible. Whether the final shape of those balconies will be a triangle or not I have no idea until there's feedback from other wheelchair users. As it is, I can only go on what the current deck plan states. It could be that the highlighted rooms in the photo you posted are later designated wheelchair accessible, but they currently aren't showing as so. The only other room with a balcony designated on the plans and identified as wheelchair accessible is a Haven aft suite on deck 10.

You're correct regarding the triangular balconies.  There are two available on each and every deck from 9 through 16, all in the exact same area adjacent to the rear set of elevators, totaling 16 cabins.

[CielG22]

18 minutes ago, SNJCruisers said:

You're correct regarding the triangular balconies.  There are two available on each and every deck from 9 through 16, all in the exact same area adjacent to the rear set of elevators, totaling 16 cabins.

 

I keep looking at the deck plan and trying to scale it up in my mind to work out if the balcony would be big enough for me to turn round. It probably is and my brain just can't do maths properly. I mean, I once tried to erect a tent in my living room because I figured it was probably 5 square metres. In my defence, the room was just big enough. When there was no furniture or people in it.

[Oceansaway17]

On 3/7/2022 at 12:06 PM, DiscalC8 said:

I just happen to enjoy a good book while catching some sun or conversation while relaxing in a hot-tub.   Non-stop party music and screeching kids just don't add to those experiences for me.

 

Anyway - I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on good NCL ships for that kind of experience.  Am I being too pessimistic regarding Prima? (I really wanted to love it, but the more I see, the less I'm getting that feel.)   I like the feel of the Spice H2O area (or the feel of RCL's Solarium area) for my daytime relaxing.

 

And a lot of folks like myself agree with you.  Constant noise is a drag.  Folks like to read or just watch the water.  We all do not need all day high octane energy level noises. 

I loved the Escape and the H2O area.  I did the Bliss and found the race track interesting buy just not necessary on a cruise ship.  Best solarium in on Anthem of the Seas.  They have a nice big tile swing bench in the front of the Solarium to sit on and look out the front.

[smillerholmes]

On 3/7/2022 at 6:31 PM, coastcat said:

We'll see how Prima looks when we finally get all the details. I'm definitely not cancelling my cabin on the transatlantic!

I too am on the Transatlantic - May 2023, but I am considering canceling because of the itinerary.  Initially I thought that many days in Iceland was perfect, but I am leaning towards a land vacation instead and maybe a later cruise on Prima.  Not sure what got into me I tend toward the older Jewel class ships anyway.  I'm going to blame it on the pandemic and going slightly stir crazy causing me to book something I normally don't.

[blueslily]

MSC offers infinity pool and infinity hot tubs. 

 

[SNJCruisers]

2 hours ago, blueslily said:

MSC offers infinity pool and infinity hot tubs. 

 

If you stay in the Yacht Club, it's a great experience.

[blueslily]

2 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

If you stay in the Yacht Club, it's a great experience.

 

Ok. I've never stayed in the yacht club though. I access them as a regular cruiser staying in a balcony cabin. Thanks. 

[bkrickles1]

On 3/7/2022 at 1:07 PM, hallux said:

It's for this very reason I intend to avoid the Encore and possibly, by extension, the Prima and Viva!  I actually just booked a cruise on the Joy.

I agree. Our last 2 sailings were on Escape and then Encore.

Loved OL on Encore but missed Spice. My crew would probably give Escape the edge in that comparison.

We were booked on Joy for 1/15/22 sailing but got cancelled just a couple of days prior.

We felt Joy has a better combination of venues with both OL and Spice so we rebooked Joy for 6/26/22 to Bermuda.

[DiscalC8]

1 hour ago, bkrickles1 said:

I agree. Our last 2 sailings were on Escape and then Encore.

Loved OL on Encore but missed Spice. My crew would probably give Escape the edge in that comparison.

We were booked on Joy for 1/15/22 sailing but got cancelled just a couple of days prior.

We felt Joy has a better combination of venues with both OL and Spice so we rebooked Joy for 6/26/22 to Bermuda.

We sailed on Escape out of MIA a couple years ago and enjoyed it.  I think I liked Joy last month even better (though that could have been influenced simply by the sheer happiness of not being cooped up anymore - definitely glad that cruising is back!) 

Have a great trip in June! It's been almost a decade since we last visited Bermuda (NCL Dawn out of Boston) and I'd like to go back.  We enjoyed having more than just the typical 8-5 port day because it allowed us to plan a few different activities on different days (I assume your trip will also be staying over in Bermuda?)

 

[bkrickles1]

21 minutes ago, DiscalC8 said:

We sailed on Escape out of MIA a couple years ago and enjoyed it.  I think I liked Joy last month even better (though that could have been influenced simply by the sheer happiness of not being cooped up anymore - definitely glad that cruising is back!) 

Have a great trip in June! It's been almost a decade since we last visited Bermuda (NCL Dawn out of Boston) and I'd like to go back.  We enjoyed having more than just the typical 8-5 port day because it allowed us to plan a few different activities on different days (I assume your trip will also be staying over in Bermuda?)

 

We sailed Escape back in 2018 to Bermuda and it was great!

Living in NY, we've done the Bermuda itinerary a bunch and it's always a good time. You're basically getting 3 days in Bermuda with the ship as your hotel.

Encore in 2020 out of Miami was also terrific.

And, as I said, we've got Joy in June.

All 3 are breakaway plus ships, but all have subtle differences. Joy might be the best combo for us since it has both the observation lounge and Spice H20.

Also, we'll have some fresh entertainment, which has been outstanding on all the breakaway plus ships.

[weltek]

I'm considering changing our booking from the Encore to Bliss for this same reason. I require a ship that has the District Brew House, so both fit that bill. But the Bliss seems more aligned with our non-Haven, non Vibe cruising lifestyle.

Pro: Bliss is cheaper. Con: Bliss itinerary.  So, I'm still thinking. Trying to run numbers this morning, but NCL.com keeps conking out on me when I try to get pricing.

[DiscalC8]

6 hours ago, weltek said:

I'm considering changing our booking from the Encore to Bliss for this same reason. I require a ship that has the District Brew House, so both fit that bill. But the Bliss seems more aligned with our non-Haven, non Vibe cruising lifestyle.

Pro: Bliss is cheaper. Con: Bliss itinerary.  So, I'm still thinking. Trying to run numbers this morning, but NCL.com keeps conking out on me when I try to get pricing.

I like your decision-making style.  I also like to run the numbers and assign a certain dollar value to things like itinerary.  Our recent trip on Joy was just that sort of thing - I was comparing the ships, the itinerary (which in that case we were planning to spend most of our port days onboard - which isn't always the case).   I also include which private island is included (on itineraries that include one) because that can increase the itinerary value (drink package only works on one of NCL's two private islands).  We were happy, but the Escape came in a close second that time.    I'm thinking Bliss might be interesting next time (price and itinerary depending, of course)..

[SNJCruisers]

Sailed the Escape three times and loved Howl at the Moon.  Was on the Bliss and loved the Observation Lounge and the Cavern Club.  Currently booked on the Encore, which is similar to Bliss, but has Onda. 

More importantly, have three bookings on the Prima.  It will be a game changer for NCL similar to how the Mardi Gras has been a game changer for Carnival.  The Prima has the most pre-inaugural bookings than any other ship in the history of NCL.  That has got to tell you something about the hype and anticipation connected with the ship.