Prima-Random thoughts from recent cruise

[Sand and Seas]

Thanks to so many here on CC who helped us prepare for our Prima cruise!  I had read everything I could find here prior to our October 31st 11 Day Galveston to Miami cruise, but I thought I would share just a couple of things I noticed while onboard.  

 

With our 11 day cruise, we ended up with 8 Days at Sea due to two separate tropical storms.   (Cozumel & GSC cancelled)

 

In spite of a few quirks with a new ship, loved the Prima and are planning to sail on her again.

 

1-   The Hydration stations were never opened when we were there....and we spent a lot of time on Deck 8.  (Love Deck 8!)  Not sure what was wrong.   However, bar staff at Luna/Soleil were awesome and took good care of us. 

 

2-    Love the Indulge Food Hall!  Excellent staff and the items you order on the tablets are delivered to your table promptly.  Love this venue, but I hope they re-think the hours.  Lunch time should extend to 3pm or so....especially on Days at Sea.  (Did I mention we had 8 days at sea???)   

 

3-   We were in a wonderful Club Balcony cabin (MA) on the Aft rounded section of Deck 11.  So much space!  Huge bare space in middle of room plus additional space between bed & balcony door.  I'm just not used to having that much space without having to squeeze by the bed or desk.    Bathroom was great, but from pictures I've seen online I think it was the same size as a Balcony bathroom.  Shower was good sized, but smaller than a Club Balcony shower on Encore or Bliss.

 

4-   Closets- Good & Bad-  I believe our closet was same as in the Balcony cabins.  Three different sections with room to hang clothes!   Shelves that pull down in one of the sections to give you options!  However, found it strange that two sections had the hooked on (can't remove) hangers and one had hangers you could move to a different section.   The ones you couldn't move would have worked better in the 3rd section for us.  Not sure how to describe it, but the hangers with clips for pants/skirts were just not as usable in the section they had them in.  Not a huge problem, but maybe someone at NCL should try living in the room for a week or so.

 

5-     Did anyone else notice something different about hand washing in the restrooms onboard?  There are 'all-in-one' soap, water & hand dryer sinks in the restrooms.   A purple-blue light turns on when you are using the hand dryer.  If you flatten your hand, you can see the word 'DRY' projected on your hand.   I must have washed my hands in there 8 or 10 times before I noticed.   Just amused me after that😊

[Sand and Seas]

More random thoughts-

 

6-   Prima's Observation Lounge is smaller than those on the Bliss size ships, but still lovely.  We didn't spend much time there, but went up there a couple of afternoons to get some delicious 'just-baked' cookies.    Also saw, but didn't try, quiche, sandwiches and a couple of other small snacks.  

 

7-   Syd Normans-   We were fortunate to get into both shows we wanted to see, but we did have to wait in line for about an hour before it opened.  (Great band!)  We weren't the first ones in but we were able to get a seat each time.  Love the décor but would highly suggest they remove the large comfortable couches which take up too much space and only seat three or so people.  More chairs would be an improvement.  It was crowded 'standing room only' on the final Rumors show.  A fire marshal would have shut the doors earlier.

 

8-  Don't miss The Local-  It's a little strange that the Bar and the Restaurant are widely separated, but staff is great in each.  Make sure you ask what the Soup of the Day is.   Had a couple of fabulous soups that we wish they served on the regular menu.  Salads were always great and we loved the burgers.  They were happy to substitute the delicious sweet plantains (from the Cuban plate) in place of fries.  Made me feel a little bit healthier so I could order dessert.   And in case you haven't heard already, they serve awesome Hot Fudge Sundaes....and a couple of other desserts.

 

9-   Penrose Bar and Belvedere Bar-   The over-worked Penrose bar serves the casino and everyone hanging out in the Penrose atrium listening to the live music.  Way too much going on for that one bar.   Meanwhile, the lovely Belvedere bar at the other end of the casino was under-utilized.  They should designate the Belvedere as the 'Casino' bar and allow the Penrose bar to concentrate on the atrium patrons.  

 

10-  Cancelled Ports-  It's been a topic here if they compensate you for cancelled ports.  We had two of five ports cancelled (Cozumel & GSC).   We totally understood the cancellations as we had watched NOAA storm tracking.   Never heard an announcement about it, but noticed our online accounts were credited with $20 OBC each.  Guessing that the $20 each was compensation for two missed ports.    

[dmms]

Wow - eight sea days! Glad it seemed to work out well for you!

We are sailing on the Prima in February and I too am reading everything I can find.

I enjoyed reading about your thoughts and observations- made me smile. You were positive about what you liked and your quirks were measured and reasonable.

I will definitely scope out the fresh afternoon cookies in the observation lounge;)

Thanks for sharing😎

[BirdTravels]

@Sand and SeasSounds so wonderful. We enjoyed the Prima and decided to move an upcoming cruise on the Escape to the Spring time and book another cruise on the Prima while she is in Florida.   

[Cruising Lynne]

1 hour ago, Sand and Seas said:

More random thoughts-

 

6-   Prima's Observation Lounge is smaller than those on the Bliss size ships, but still lovely.  We didn't spend much time there, but went up there a couple of afternoons to get some delicious 'just-baked' cookies.    Also saw, but didn't try, quiche, sandwiches and a couple of other small snacks.  

 

7-   Syd Normans-   We were fortunate to get into both shows we wanted to see, but we did have to wait in line for about an hour before it opened.  (Great band!)  We weren't the first ones in but we were able to get a seat each time.  Love the décor but would highly suggest they remove the large comfortable couches which take up too much space and only seat three or so people.  More chairs would be an improvement.  It was crowded 'standing room only' on the final Rumors show.  A fire marshal would have shut the doors earlier.

 

8-  Don't miss The Local-  It's a little strange that the Bar and the Restaurant are widely separated, but staff is great in each.  Make sure you ask what the Soup of the Day is.   Had a couple of fabulous soups that we wish they served on the regular menu.  Salads were always great and we loved the burgers.  They were happy to substitute the delicious sweet plantains (from the Cuban plate) in place of fries.  Made me feel a little bit healthier so I could order dessert.   And in case you haven't heard already, they serve awesome Hot Fudge Sundaes....and a couple of other desserts.

 

9-   Penrose Bar and Belvedere Bar-   The over-worked Penrose bar serves the casino and everyone hanging out in the Penrose atrium listening to the live music.  Way too much going on for that one bar.   Meanwhile, the lovely Belvedere bar at the other end of the casino was under-utilized.  They should designate the Belvedere as the 'Casino' bar and allow the Penrose bar to concentrate on the atrium patrons.  

 

10-  Cancelled Ports-  It's been a topic here if they compensate you for cancelled ports.  We had two of five ports cancelled (Cozumel & GSC).   We totally understood the cancellations as we had watched NOAA storm tracking.   Never heard an announcement about it, but noticed our online accounts were credited with $20 OBC each.  Guessing that the $20 each was compensation for two missed ports.    

Love your review. Totally agree about the atrium (Penrose) bar situation. They definitely need a bigger bar there. We barely made it to check out the Belvedere bar on our trip. You had to really know it was back there. We think we would enjoy the music at Syd Norman's, but I knew I did not want to be in a tight space with standing room only, so we did not attempt it. We enjoyed the music in the atrium, but there was not enough seating when the popular band or duo were performing.

 

I would sail on Prima again, but I hope that they make some changes on the future builds. One thing I missed on our five day was a bar area or restaurant with a piano player. Did you notice if they had a piano player any where?

[Sand and Seas]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

@Sand and SeasSounds so wonderful. We enjoyed the Prima and decided to move an upcoming cruise on the Escape to the Spring time and book another cruise on the Prima while she is in Florida.   

It was a great cruise and we enjoyed the extra days at sea.  We were able to find some shady spots on Deck 8 to hang out and enjoy the ocean.   So glad you also enjoyed Prima enough to decide to book on her again.      

[Sand and Seas]

1 hour ago, Cruising Lynne said:

Love your review. Totally agree about the atrium (Penrose) bar situation. They definitely need a bigger bar there. We barely made it to check out the Belvedere bar on our trip. You had to really know it was back there. We think we would enjoy the music at Syd Norman's, but I knew I did not want to be in a tight space with standing room only, so we did not attempt it. We enjoyed the music in the atrium, but there was not enough seating when the popular band or duo were performing.

 

I would sail on Prima again, but I hope that they make some changes on the future builds. One thing I missed on our five day was a bar area or restaurant with a piano player. Did you notice if they had a piano player any where?

I don't recall ever seeing a piano.   

 

The Belvedere bar had a lot of space with good seating.  I'm surprised they didn't utilize that bar for some evening music.   Hopefully NCL will re-think how they use that space.   

[The Traveling Man]

12 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

I don't recall ever seeing a piano.   

 

The Belvedere bar had a lot of space with good seating.  I'm surprised they didn't utilize that bar for some evening music.   Hopefully NCL will re-think how they use that space.   

Agree.  There are several areas of the ship which could be better utilized.  The Atrium is overworked, especially the Penrose Bar, while the Belvedere is under utilized.  There really isn't enough seating available in some of the venues used for entertainment, notably the atrium, Syd Norman's, and the comedy club.  When you try to squeeze in more guests, the sight lines are awkward and many guests have to deal with obstructed views or poor acoustics.

 

I likewise don't recall seeing a piano in any of the bars or lounges.  They certainly did not feature a piano player among any of their entertainers. 

[Cruising Lynne]

4 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

Agree.  There are several areas of the ship which could be better utilized.  The Atrium is overworked, especially the Penrose Bar, while the Belvedere is under utilized.  There really isn't enough seating available in some of the venues used for entertainment, notably the atrium, Syd Norman's, and the comedy club.  When you try to squeeze in more guests, the sight lines are awkward and many guests have to deal with obstructed views or poor acoustics.

 

I likewise don't recall seeing a piano in any of the bars or lounges.  They certainly did not feature a piano player among any of their entertainers. 

I hope they consider adding a piano to one of the bars. Metropolitan or Belvedere would be good locations. Or even the atrium. 

 

I also found that the sight lines were not good in some places. When they had entertainment in the atrium on deck six, you could hear it on deck seven, but could not see the performers. The stairway in the atrium was closed in which I did not think was as nice as stairway that you can see through,. It looked modern, but kind of plain.