Once and done with Norwegian. Ugh.

[Smitheroo]

On 6/16/2023 at 9:52 PM, MsTabbyKats said:

I like b''way style shows....Las Vegas type reviews.  Yes... it's a preference thing and they've dropped my preferences.  If I want to see guys sitting around drinking beer...I can see that at any bar on the ship!  

What was the point of Choir of Man?  I could appreciate the talent and the energy but failed at getting the point.   But that's true for other choices that others might love. 

[Ricks]

On 6/16/2023 at 10:12 PM, complawyer said:

 

i know as far as being a cruiser im probably in the minority as to my expectations, but basically im generally happy just to be on the ship and cruising along, watching the sun set, and listening to the ocean go by. "nuff said"

This is us, we have been on many cruise lines, we have our favorite… its not NCL but last few have been on NCL… bottom line Best Bang for the buck, and always just to stay positive.. We have the attitude “Ship Happeens”

[graphicguy]

Was thinking of this last night.  I was watching one of the many YouTube cruise channels.  There was a young couple who said they’d never sail MSC again.  Biggest reason is they almost missed the ship coming back from an excursion because the SHIP posted the wrong “all aboard” time.  On top of that, the crew were jerks about it.

 

To me, that’s pretty egregious.  Would have been more egregious if the ship would have left me at the port due to the ship’s crew’s errors.

 

But, aside from leaving me on the shore due to the cruise’s error, I’m trying to think of another reason to quit cruising any line.  I dunno…??????

 

I’ve seen similar sentiments regarding Carnival, HAL, Royal, Virgin, etc.

 

The take away, as hard as the different cruise lines try, they aren’t going to be everything to everyone.

 

I subscribe to the crowd who feels…”I’m on a ship, sailing to exotic locales, while people are serving me food and drink, entertaining me, keeping my cabin spic and span every day, allowing me to be as active or inactive as I desire to be.”

 

Pretty tough for me to be unhappy given all that.

Edited November 5, 2023 by graphicguy

[Sugar Magnolia]

26 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

I subscribe to the crowd who feels…”I’m on a ship, sailing to exotic locales, while people are serving me food and drink, entertaining me, keeping my cabin spic and span every day, allowing me to be as active or inactive as I desire to be.”

 

Pretty tough for me to be unhappy given all that.

 

Ditto...for me to quit any one cruise line, there would have to be a pattern of egregious behavior for me to get so riled up as to shut the door forever. I have quit certain people...but not any one cruise line. 

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Sugar Magnolia

[graphicguy]

2 hours ago, Smitheroo said:

What was the point of Choir of Man?  I could appreciate the talent and the energy but failed at getting the point.   But that's true for other choices that others might love. 

Men…in a pub/bar….drinking and talking out their individual lives at that given time.  Kinda like sitting in a sports bar where a bunch of friends gather to watch the local team!

 

Nothing deep…just fun!

[Sugar Magnolia]

2 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Men…in a pub/bar….drinking and talking out their individual lives at that given time.  Kinda like sitting in a sports bar where a bunch of friends gather to watch the local team!

 

Nothing deep…just fun!

 

Choir of Man was fun and entertaining. No plot needed. Looking forward to watching the show again on the Encore in January.

 

[Sailing12Away]

On 6/27/2023 at 2:17 PM, reeinaz said:

I could be wrong but I feel like the Leonardo class ships were touted as so environmentally friendly to allow them to visit Nordic destinations that previously wouldn't allow the big ships. 

In Norway they made a big point to talk about how Prima was one of only a few ships allowed to continue to visit Geringer.

[MaisonRose]

On 6/16/2023 at 10:02 PM, Obobru said:

Sounds like a couple of issues happened like the ports and because you had arrived in a bad mood from your flight issue you found fault with almost everything. The delay boarding was most likely a customs/immigration search on the ship they have been doing more in Southampton. The missed port and delayed port isn't ideal but you just sat in your room stewing away making it worse for yourself. 

 

Unfortunately this is how many humans react including myself, off to a bad start it's hard to get into the mood and have fun. My partner always pulls me back saying we can't change it so let's find what we can do and make the best of it. 

 

I am sure you will find a new cruise line you prefer, we are not loyal to any which I find is the best way as loads of cruise lines do similar itineraries.

 

Could be. I am scheduled for thé Prima TA in two weeks and have jaded expectations. My choices were the GEM from Rome or Prima from BCN and the latter is much simpler for my location. But I am writing to say that on my only NCL TA from NYC a few years ago the Epic cancelled Three of Four ports on the coastline approaching Amsterdam. They gave us a big reduction on a rebooking to use by the end of the year! I don’t do cruises that frequently so the comp was meaningless. I know this is just bitterness but I think NCL is a bit loosely goosey at cancelling ports. Has anyone’s else been victim to such a situation?

Thanks for your posts, together we can get a real picture of how cruise companies operate.

Susan

[rbxlady]

6 hours ago, MaisonRose said:

Could be. I am scheduled for thé Prima TA in two weeks and have jaded expectations. My choices were the GEM from Rome or Prima from BCN and the latter is much simpler for my location. But I am writing to say that on my only NCL TA from NYC a few years ago the Epic cancelled Three of Four ports on the coastline approaching Amsterdam. They gave us a big reduction on a rebooking to use by the end of the year! I don’t do cruises that frequently so the comp was meaningless. I know this is just bitterness but I think NCL is a bit loosely goosey at cancelling ports. Has anyone’s else been victim to such a situation?

Thanks for your posts, together we can get a real picture of how cruise companies operate.

Susan

 

My brother sails exclusively with NCL, usually 2 cruises/year. He's had some bad luck but sticks with them because they've always made it right, partially due to an amazing travel agent advocating for him.

Last year, Mykonos was cancelled because it was too windy. Obviously that's not NCL's fault, and he said that there were other ships waiting to see if they could get in there before each ship finally called it, so they weren't the lone cruise line not willing to risk it.

 

On another cruise, they were docked in Barcelona heading to Rome, and the ship had propulsion problems and could not continue the cruise. I don't remember what he ended up doing, but NCL was being very stingy on their concessions until the travel agent got involved. (This is what convinced me to use his travel agent.)

 

Another time, they were heading back into Tampa, and there was fog in the bay, so they got an extra day onboard because the numerous ships waiting outside the bay couldn't all arrive at once after the fog cleared. Again, this was not NCL's fault, but I really felt bad for the people waiting to board because their cruise got cut short, probably not without some refunds while the people on board got an extra day for free on the cruise line. Of course, those people had to rearrange their travel home, so it was not fun for them, either. Thankfully I was the one taking care of his dog so didn't mind watching her for an extra day.

 

So I wouldn't say they necessarily cancel willy-nilly, but they do tend to be kind of stingy on concessions when something goes wrong. Like you, I wouldn't be happy with a discount that I wouldn't be able to use quickly enough. I would definitely be demanding additional time to be able to use that. Some of us don't have that much freedom as far as time off is concerned.

 

That said, I was looking forward to the Prima and the Viva until I discovered that some of the changes as compared to Breakaway and Breakaway+ ships aren't for the better. One appears to me to be a relatively easy fix, too, so hopefully they will adopt it.

[MoCruiseFan]

On 6/16/2023 at 3:29 PM, bobkat11 said:

We returned home last night from an 11 night cruise on the Norwegian Prima to Norway and Iceland (and Brugge and Amsterdam). This was, by far, the most disappointing cruise we've ever taken (and I heard many other passengers say the same thing). I'm not the kind of person who is hard to please, or who easily complains, but I'm posting this review for people considering this ship. I'll try to briefly summarize this cruise:

1. Embarkation was a mess! No one was allowed on the ship for several hours past the expected check-in time (our pre-cruise paperwork told us to arrive at 9:30am). Guests were stuck standing in the sun outside the terminal, unsure as to why no one could board. We were told various conflicting explanations. Boarding finally started around 3pm if I remember correctly. My husband and I got on the ship around 4pm , and I got my luggage at 9pm. It was a frustrating and unwelcoming start to our cruise (on the heels of arriving exhausted in London 24 hours late due to flight delays and a missed connection.)

2. Itinerary. I know sometimes itineraries have to change, but I've never had one change to this unacceptable extent. First stop, we arrived late to Brugge, missing our tour for that day. The entire stop at Isofjordour was cancelled.  (We were told we couldn't stop there because the Prima doesn't have tender boats. Don't all of the life boats double as tender boats?? And other ships continue to stop there, so we Prima passengers were frustrated by no satisfactory reason for the cancellation.) So that day became an unexpected (and unwanted) extra sea day. For our last stop, we arrived in Reykjavik, not at 7 am as scheduled, but 1:30 in the afternoon, so once again, we could not do the tour we had planned. Missing 3 out of 8 tours was very disappointing, after traveling so far to see these sights.

3. Sea days. In a word, boring. Most of the time that we were on the ship, we just sat in our cabin and read books. There simply was nothing to do on this ship most of the time. We did go to a History of Iceland presentation in the Prima Lounge one day, which was interesting. The Observation Lounge, which would have been the single best place to pass extra time, was closed to the public for our whole cruise. In a nutshell, The Prima should never sail this particular itinerary. It is the wrong ship for the climate. It has far too much outdoor space for a chilly northern European itinerary, causing the indoor dining areas and lounges to be claustrophobically packed. Passengers did not want to be outside in the cold wind playing shuffleboard, mini golf, pickleball, water slides, Go-carts, pool areas, sitting lounges, or any of the other numerous outdoor offerings.

4. Entertainment. The Prima lounge had The Price Is Right a couple of nights. This is basically a glorified commercial for that game show, with embarassingly little given as prizes. A carry-on suitcase, and $25, were the only prizes won. The Prima lounge also had a Donna Summer musical which I suppose was the best show of the trip (but that's not saying much, as even the Broadway version of yhis show was poorly reviewed). There was a comedienne/singer two nights who was just ok, with her self-deprecating humor and mannerisms, and typical tired jokes about how much food we eat on cruises. I don't expect cruise entertainers to be on par with Broadway stars, but I've always been pleased with the entertainers on previous cruises. There is no shortage of amazing talent in this world, but NCL didn't bother to find and hire such talent. The lounge singers ranged from bland to awful. There was one small lounge that we were told had good music in the evenings (Syd's Pour House), but we were never able to get into there due to the small space. 

5. Food. I found the food to be good overall. Not 5-star good, of course, but similar to that on other cruises. My only disappointing meal was Cagneys, which is an a la carte menu. Our meal there was over $200, yet I can make a better ribeye steak at home. Maybe I just happened to get a dry bland piece, because my husband did like his steak. The Indulge Food Court was crowded, confusing, with online ordering difficult to figure out. Despite us having the beverage package, when we ordered any drinks on the table-top tablets, we had to accept the full charge for our drinks. Other passengers complained about the tablets not working well. Food highlights: Palomar mashed potatoes, and The Local Reuben sandwich were memorably excellent! Hudsons and Commodore were consistently good experiences for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The buffet on the 17th floor was a headache-inducing madhouse with far too little indoor seating.

6. This is a random, weird situation that was handled very poorly by NCL staff. My husband and I came upon two injured passengers, elderly women who had fallen down a set of stairs on top of each other, and we began screaming for help. Long story short, several crew members came and went, making phone calls, trying to get a wheelchair, but not one crew member offered to relieve us as we held and comforted the injured passengers. Crew knew we did not know the women, because we made that clear. We spent about a half an hour helping these strangers before a wheelchair finally arrived, and it was only then that I realized, "Hey, a crew member really should have taken over and not left us there taking care of these strangers." Just pretty weird that not one crew member relieved us, and also that it took so long to get something as simple as a wheelchair.

7. Cabins: layout worked well, bathroom was more spacious than other cruiselines'. Too cold to use the balcony much. Noisy at night, constantly sounded like a torrential rain storm. Other passengers mentioned rattles and other noises.

8. Disembarking. We got off the ship fine, at 8:30 as instructed, took our own luggage off, got on a shuttle to the airport outside of Reykjavik, arriving there around 9:30am. Unfortunately flights out to the US were all late afternoon and evening, so it was a long day sitting at the airport waiting for our 5pm flight, with very few chairs in the waiting area. Actually there was a 10am flight that some of us had looked into, but NCL said they would not allow anyone off the ship early enough to make that flight, despite docking in Reykjavik port 6pm the previous evening. We didn't understand that, but we had learned that unclear, non-answers from NCL was the standard.

 

So, despite getting to see some beautiful scenery in the ports we made it to, overall I am very dissatisfied with this cruise. NCL did give each guest $100 on board credit as an apology for the embarkation fiasco, changed itinerary, and unavailability of the Observation Lounge. But to me, even a full refund would not have made the frustrating experience worth it. The ratio of enjoyable, quality time enjoying ports, to time spent standing in lines or otherwise wasted time, was simply not worth it. 

 

I will not be cruising with NCL again.

 

 

 

Bye bye, don't let the cabin door hit you where the good lord split you!