NORWEGIAN PRIMA REVIEW ~ MAY 7, 2023 SAILING FROM NEW YORK

[vadersprincess12]

DH and I just sailed on the Norwegian Prima for the May 7 sailing to Bermuda. We sailed as with the Casinos at Sea program.

 

EMBARKATION:  We have sailed out of NY many times so we know the routine.  The line for security moved nicely; it took a little longer at the actual check-in area but it wasn’t anything unusual.  Because we were sailing with Casinos at Sea we were able to board immediately.

 

We had to wait about 2 hours for the cabins to be open so we decided to go to the main dining room (Hudson’s) for lunch.  Crew member Carla Facundo was our server and she was absolutely wonderful; very friendly and made us feel welcome.  

 

LUGGAGE:  It took hours for our luggage to arrive and apparently one of the NCL tags that we affixed to our bags was missing and there was a green hand-written tag on that bag.  We have never had that happen before.

 

CABIN:  We had an inside stateroom and we were quite happy.  It was very spacious and easy to maneuver around in.  Especially liked that we could actually easily walk on the sides of the bed.  The bathroom was a very nice size as well.  The desk area is a bit small, but there was plenty of storage.  One thing I totally hated was the hangers!  They were the type where the frame is permanently attached to the rod and you have to feed the top of the hanger into a little hole to hang things up.  What a pain!!!!!  Our cabin steward Renante was very nice and kept our cabin spotless.

 

FOOD:  We don’t usually eat at the upcharge restaurants because previous experience has shown us personally that it’s not worth it.  Food was really just so so on this cruise.  We only ate at the main dining room twice; on embarkation day and one other night.  The main menus were never posted on the app so we had to go to the restaurant each day to see what was being served.  We prefer simple, well-prepared meals and nothing on the main dining room menus really appealed to us.  

 

We ate at the buffet, The Local, and Indulge.  Buffet selections were okay.  The salad bar area was very limited.  We did enjoy the different shrimp varieties they had one night.  When they had carved beef it was really red and undercooked for us.  One surprise was they had peanut brittle a couple of the days on the dessert bar.  Their “rice krispie” treats were more like rice and white chocolate and just too rich.  We didn’t care for their soft serve ice cream at all.  And as on most ships, the buffet always had lines and was crowded.

 

We enjoyed several selections at The Local including breakfast a couple of mornings but we found that the wings were not as good as they were at O’Sheehan’s on the Dawn.  The best thing on their menu is the carrot cake!  We also like the atmosphere at O’Sheehan’s better than The Local.

 

Indulge had some nice selections especially at Q Texas Smokehouse.  Thankfully they had a small station with 4 hand-dipped ice cream flavors per day so at least we were able to enjoy that since we didn’t like the soft-serve.

 

WEATHER/POOL:  It was nice each day, but breezy and not really hot.  The main pool was not opened until the second day in Bermuda as they were doing maintenance.  For us it was too cool to be in the pool anyway so no great loss for us.

 

VENUES/ENTERTAINMENT:  This ship is beautiful and the layout is easy to follow.  Most of the shopping was in open hallways along one side of the ship which is different from most ships.  The theater is multi-functional and the seats can “disappear” in the back wall for other functions.

 

The only date/time we were able to get for the Donna Summer musical was at 10:00 p.m. on the last night so we didn’t go since we had to be up early for debark.

 

We did get into The Price is Right live by waiting in the queue and that was a fun show to participate in.

 

We saw two comedians and they were both really good.

 

Syd Norman’s Pour House always seemed to be packed with people standing out the doors so that was a bust.  We were there only once and that was for 70’s trivia which we won and were surprised that there was no little trinket of any kind for winning.

 

They didn’t have too many trivia opportunities which is something we love.

 

There was a duo called Purple Sundaze and they were pretty good doing a wide variety of music.

 

The Observation Area was a really nice place to relax and just take in the view but on several days part of it was closed for private functions.  There is a variety of seating accommodations and an area where they served finger sandwiches and desserts through the day which was nice.

 

Deck 8 was really nice!  You could walk all the way around.  Again, a variety of seating choices including some sunbeds in very shallow water pools.  We were surprised that there were no railings at the infinity pools; it really could have been dangerous for kids being there.  There were telescopes at different locations around the deck so you could scan the horizon.

 

BERMUDA:  We have been before but were never able to get to St. Georges.  A nice surprise was that NCL has a complimentary shuttle to the island.  Unfortunately as soon as we got there it started storming and raining so hard, so we just stayed on the shuttle back to the ship.  Maybe next time!  

 

We walked around the main area at King’s Wharf and went to the Museum and Dolphin Quest to watch some of the interactions there.

 

MISCELLANEOUS:  We were surprised by the gratuity charge at $20 per person, per day ($25 in the Haven).  That’s the highest gratuity charge we have ever paid and they cut back cabin service to once per day.  

 

We have been surprised (on this and other recent cruises) by the number of school aged children that are sailing while school is in session.  Seems like the days of mostly adults during the “school year” are over.

 

The casino is not our favorite; the machines are way too tight.  If they want us to spend money it would be nice to win more than a few dollars on a bonus on the slots.  We frequent our local land-based casinos and of course those on other ships and have had better outcomes.  The Casinos at Sea program offers “free drinks” as well, but the servers were few and far between on this ship.

 

Parking is now $45 per night in NY (recently went up) but the information provided on the NCL tv says $30 per night as of some date in 2008.  They really need to update that!  When we sailed a few months ago it was $40 and this time the parking attendant said it was just raised for the first time in over 20 years so not sure what’s up with NCL’s information.

 

DEBARKATION:  We did self-assist.  Surprisingly we didn’t have to wait (deck 14 to deck 6) for the elevator, joined the line and were off the ship by 7:30 a.m.

[schmoopie17]

You said, "We didn't care for their soft serve ice cream at all."

 

Probably because it's not ice cream, but tasteless ice milk. 🤮

 

[Beer Belly]

When the pool finally opened, it was pretty crowded at time.....if you could bear the Septic smell in that area.

[ontheweb]

16 hours ago, vadersprincess12 said:

DH and I just sailed on the Norwegian Prima for the May 7 sailing to Bermuda. We sailed as with the Casinos at Sea program.

 

EMBARKATION:  We have sailed out of NY many times so we know the routine.  The line for security moved nicely; it took a little longer at the actual check-in area but it wasn’t anything unusual.  Because we were sailing with Casinos at Sea we were able to board immediately.

 

We had to wait about 2 hours for the cabins to be open so we decided to go to the main dining room (Hudson’s) for lunch.  Crew member Carla Facundo was our server and she was absolutely wonderful; very friendly and made us feel welcome.  

 

LUGGAGE:  It took hours for our luggage to arrive and apparently one of the NCL tags that we affixed to our bags was missing and there was a green hand-written tag on that bag.  We have never had that happen before.

 

CABIN:  We had an inside stateroom and we were quite happy.  It was very spacious and easy to maneuver around in.  Especially liked that we could actually easily walk on the sides of the bed.  The bathroom was a very nice size as well.  The desk area is a bit small, but there was plenty of storage.  One thing I totally hated was the hangers!  They were the type where the frame is permanently attached to the rod and you have to feed the top of the hanger into a little hole to hang things up.  What a pain!!!!!  Our cabin steward Renante was very nice and kept our cabin spotless.

 

FOOD:  We don’t usually eat at the upcharge restaurants because previous experience has shown us personally that it’s not worth it.  Food was really just so so on this cruise.  We only ate at the main dining room twice; on embarkation day and one other night.  The main menus were never posted on the app so we had to go to the restaurant each day to see what was being served.  We prefer simple, well-prepared meals and nothing on the main dining room menus really appealed to us.  

 

We ate at the buffet, The Local, and Indulge.  Buffet selections were okay.  The salad bar area was very limited.  We did enjoy the different shrimp varieties they had one night.  When they had carved beef it was really red and undercooked for us.  One surprise was they had peanut brittle a couple of the days on the dessert bar.  Their “rice krispie” treats were more like rice and white chocolate and just too rich.  We didn’t care for their soft serve ice cream at all.  And as on most ships, the buffet always had lines and was crowded.

 

We enjoyed several selections at The Local including breakfast a couple of mornings but we found that the wings were not as good as they were at O’Sheehan’s on the Dawn.  The best thing on their menu is the carrot cake!  We also like the atmosphere at O’Sheehan’s better than The Local.

 

Indulge had some nice selections especially at Q Texas Smokehouse.  Thankfully they had a small station with 4 hand-dipped ice cream flavors per day so at least we were able to enjoy that since we didn’t like the soft-serve.

 

WEATHER/POOL:  It was nice each day, but breezy and not really hot.  The main pool was not opened until the second day in Bermuda as they were doing maintenance.  For us it was too cool to be in the pool anyway so no great loss for us.

 

VENUES/ENTERTAINMENT:  This ship is beautiful and the layout is easy to follow.  Most of the shopping was in open hallways along one side of the ship which is different from most ships.  The theater is multi-functional and the seats can “disappear” in the back wall for other functions.

 

The only date/time we were able to get for the Donna Summer musical was at 10:00 p.m. on the last night so we didn’t go since we had to be up early for debark.

 

We did get into The Price is Right live by waiting in the queue and that was a fun show to participate in.

 

We saw two comedians and they were both really good.

 

Syd Norman’s Pour House always seemed to be packed with people standing out the doors so that was a bust.  We were there only once and that was for 70’s trivia which we won and were surprised that there was no little trinket of any kind for winning.

 

They didn’t have too many trivia opportunities which is something we love.

 

There was a duo called Purple Sundaze and they were pretty good doing a wide variety of music.

 

The Observation Area was a really nice place to relax and just take in the view but on several days part of it was closed for private functions.  There is a variety of seating accommodations and an area where they served finger sandwiches and desserts through the day which was nice.

 

Deck 8 was really nice!  You could walk all the way around.  Again, a variety of seating choices including some sunbeds in very shallow water pools.  We were surprised that there were no railings at the infinity pools; it really could have been dangerous for kids being there.  There were telescopes at different locations around the deck so you could scan the horizon.

 

BERMUDA:  We have been before but were never able to get to St. Georges.  A nice surprise was that NCL has a complimentary shuttle to the island.  Unfortunately as soon as we got there it started storming and raining so hard, so we just stayed on the shuttle back to the ship.  Maybe next time!  

 

We walked around the main area at King’s Wharf and went to the Museum and Dolphin Quest to watch some of the interactions there.

 

MISCELLANEOUS:  We were surprised by the gratuity charge at $20 per person, per day ($25 in the Haven).  That’s the highest gratuity charge we have ever paid and they cut back cabin service to once per day.  

 

We have been surprised (on this and other recent cruises) by the number of school aged children that are sailing while school is in session.  Seems like the days of mostly adults during the “school year” are over.

 

The casino is not our favorite; the machines are way too tight.  If they want us to spend money it would be nice to win more than a few dollars on a bonus on the slots.  We frequent our local land-based casinos and of course those on other ships and have had better outcomes.  The Casinos at Sea program offers “free drinks” as well, but the servers were few and far between on this ship.

 

Parking is now $45 per night in NY (recently went up) but the information provided on the NCL tv says $30 per night as of some date in 2008.  They really need to update that!  When we sailed a few months ago it was $40 and this time the parking attendant said it was just raised for the first time in over 20 years so not sure what’s up with NCL’s information.

 

DEBARKATION:  We did self-assist.  Surprisingly we didn’t have to wait (deck 14 to deck 6) for the elevator, joined the line and were off the ship by 7:30 a.m.

Thanks for the review.

 

I didn't like not too many trivia opportunities, but I guess that is not enough to cancel our cruise especially since we have already made final payment.