Prima Meh

[knitlady037]

16 hours ago, UKstages said:

as often as people say this, i will come along to say, yes, of course cabin noise is normal on a cruise ship… but, no, the type of noise people speak about on the prima is extraordinary and unlike anything you have experienced before… unless you’ve been unlucky enough to sail in one of these cabins on the prima.
 

it will absolutely ruin your trip… it’s not a question of flexibility or attitude, this cabin noise is due to a manufacturing defect within the ship and can only be corrected in dry dock, by tearing down the walls of the cabin and fixing whatever the hell is causing the incessant noise. it is reprehensible that NCL continues to sell these staterooms.

The noise on Prima is unlike any noise I have heard on any other NCL ship. I was on deck 12 in haven penthouse first sailing out of NY. Luckily I always sail with earplugs, but the noise ,creaking and banging noises, got thru them.  As For the other ships, I never book under the pool deck. You get those same noises all day. Especially the mini suites on deck 11 on jewel class ships. A "seasoned" cruiser would know to look at what is above and below your cabin. Prima is for sure at the bottom of my list for rebooking.I After 30+ NCL cruises this says alot about my feelings for this ship.

[slakko]

21 hours ago, kasimir said:

I completely agree that Starbucks can be removed from Indulge, but in general I want to say the following about Indulge. 
I was aware of the popularity and potential overcrowding of Indulge ahead of time and it can be frustrating to find a spot, but we quickly learned to work around it.

 

On our Iceland cruise in May (which was full), we did notice that Indulge is most used for lunch and finding seats around 12:30 is impossible, but we worked around it and either came at 11:45am (had to wait a couple minutes) or came around 1:30pm and then finding seats was much easier as the big lunch rush was mostly over. 
 

Also we noticed that Indulge was not that busy at dinner times and we often came to Indulge for dinner instead of Hudson/Commodore Room and never had an issue finding a seat around that time. And honestly we preferred Indulge over the main dining room when it comes to food quality.

Agreed on the timing. Indulge had tons of space after 7pm, and even enough space to always find a table at 6. If avoiding a wait is your #1 priority then Hudson's for lunch and Indulge for dinner (or pre-dinner starters) makes your Prima experience so much less stressful.

[chillyw]

13 minutes ago, knitlady037 said:

The noise on Prima is unlike any noise I have heard on any other NCL ship. I was on deck 12 in haven penthouse first sailing out of NY. Luckily I always sail with earplugs, but the noise ,creaking and banging noises, got thru them.  As For the other ships, I never book under the pool deck. You get those same noises all day. Especially the mini suites on deck 11 on jewel class ships. A "seasoned" cruiser would know to look at what is above and below your cabin. Prima is for sure at the bottom of my list for rebooking.I After 30+ NCL cruises this says alot about my feelings for this ship.

 

Eeek. Which room were you in? We're on an upcoming cruise in a Haven penthouse, 13322, and now I'm hoping to avoid a similar fate.

[insidecabin]

2 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

Not the first time Prima and rock bottom have been used in the same sentence.

One of the Iceland<->Southampton went under £400(Inc tax) in the UK.

 

 

[kasimir]

42 minutes ago, insidecabin said:

One of the Iceland<->Southampton went under £400(Inc tax) in the UK.

 

 

I agree that there are now a lot of prima “deals” to be found, and our NYC to Iceland cruise in May was also dirt cheap. 
 

And to be completely honest, since we are flexible with regards to travel dates, we normally tend to book with NCL when we find good deals with low base fares for balcony cabins. 
First of all, that sets my expectations much lower and we can overlook certain “cons” and therefore enjoy our vacation more.

Secondly, NCL tends to nickel and dime, have add-on costs on a lot of things… so since the cruise is “cheap”, we don’t care too much to pay extra for certain things or tip the crew more.

Thirdly, I honestly do not believe that NCL is worth the price that a lot of cruises go for, especially during high season. 
 

There are certain things for us that are also no-go’s, but we try to address those ASAP, as we will not be waiting till home to write a letter to HQ.
Like for example with our last prima cruise to Iceland, we enjoyed having lunch in the Indulge, but if you sit close to the doors to go outside, then every minute or so, someone wants to go outside and the doors open and that arctic freezing wind blasts inside the Indulge and makes it for a couple of seconds unbearable to sit there and eat. 
So I approach the Indulge manager, politely explain the situation and ask if there is an option that those doors can be locked. 
She radioed it in and within 3 minutes someone came and doors were locked.

[JennKach]

Having experienced a noisy cabin (that shouldn't have been based on ship layout) many years ago on a NCL cruise, I totally sympathize with anyone in that situation.  Being able to sleep on vacation without a combo of alcohol, ear plugs, a noise machine or noise canceling ear buds is a pretty basic expectation. I bring ear plugs because noisy people and early morning door slamming wakes me up, but if my own room creates noise exceeding the capabilities of my ear plugs there is a problem.  Simply saying an experienced cruiser wouldn't/shouldn't choose a cabin like this one or that one doesn't do anything to solve NCL's problem.  No one should be expected to spend hours looking for a specific cabin to be mentioned in a negative review.  Eventually someone will be in that cabin, and they won't be happy.  Guest services will hear from those unhappy people.  Bad reviews will keep being written, scaring some people away from the ship and possibly NCL.  Who knows how many silent unhappy cruisers just move on to another line?  Until the root cause is fixed NCL has options to mitigate these PR risks if they choose to, including blocking off from reservations, discounting, or a full disclosure category similar to the obstructed view cabins. Even a note in the room on arrival would go a long way with ear plugs and a noise machine available upon request.

 

As for me and Prima, I'm not yet feeling the urge to try her.  I love smaller ships and had high hopes for this new in between style.  It's not so much the critical reviews driving me away, but the shortage of positive reviews balancing them out.  If it fits my budget and schedule in the future I may give her a chance.

[insidecabin]

3 minutes ago, kasimir said:

I agree that there are now a lot of prima “deals” to be found, and our NYC to Iceland cruise in May was also dirt cheap. 
 

And to be completely honest, since we are flexible with regards to travel dates, we normally tend to book with NCL when we find good deals with low base fares for balcony cabins. 
First of all, that sets my expectations much lower and we can overlook certain “cons” and therefore enjoy our vacation more.

Secondly, NCL tends to nickel and dime, have add-on costs on a lot of things… so since the cruise is “cheap”, we don’t care too much to pay extra for certain things or tip the crew more.

Thirdly, I honestly do not believe that NCL is worth the price that a lot of cruises go for, especially during high season. 
 

There are certain things for us that are also no-go’s, but we try to address those ASAP, as we will not be waiting till home to write a letter to HQ.
Like for example with our last prima cruise to Iceland, we enjoyed having lunch in the Indulge, but if you sit close to the doors to go outside, then every minute or so, someone wants to go outside and the doors open and that arctic freezing wind blasts inside the Indulge and makes it for a couple of seconds unbearable to sit there and eat. 
So I approach the Indulge manager, politely explain the situation and ask if there is an option that those doors can be locked. 
She radioed it in and within 3 minutes someone came and doors were locked.

I am encouraged a few are reporting that they have overcome the Indulge space  issue, done so by the methods we use to avoid eating venues that get overloaded.

go when not busy surprised how many just don't catch on.

 

Probably best to not spread the word and spoil it for the adaptors, work with the system not against it.

 

Same with full  lounges hang out just before a show and people often move.

 

Deals may dry up we have moved into school holidays US now, UK in a few weeks, prices will stay high and many ships will have too many kids.

 

Will  look at more adult itinerary and ships.

[chillyw]

I asked Google Bard (Google's generative AI) about the Prima, and it looks like the crowding complaints have it's attention 😆

 

 

[tcrandal]

8 hours ago, knitlady037 said:

The noise on Prima is unlike any noise I have heard on any other NCL ship. I was on deck 12 in haven penthouse first sailing out of NY. Luckily I always sail with earplugs, but the noise ,creaking and banging noises, got thru them.  As For the other ships, I never book under the pool deck. You get those same noises all day. Especially the mini suites on deck 11 on jewel class ships. A "seasoned" cruiser would know to look at what is above and below your cabin. Prima is for sure at the bottom of my list for rebooking.I After 30+ NCL cruises this says alot about my feelings for this ship.

Thank you for your post, onboard now for the June 25th sailing, and so far so great here. You confirmed for me that earplugs ‘ white noise would most likely address the cabin noise, which we also always travel with due to hotels having thin walls or wild kids above us while we try and sleep. Doesn’t excuse the issue, but certainly helps those to plan for mitigation.  Love the ship so far, needed a new layout to explore!

[UKstages]

6 minutes ago, tcrandal said:

You confirmed for me that earplugs ‘ white noise would most likely address the cabin noise,

 

if you have "normal" cabin noise, ear plugs may not even be necessary.

 

there are a number of cabins on the prima, however,  that have extraordinary noise due to a manufacturing defect during the ship's build. NCL has these cabins documented in their database, yet continues to sell them. these cabins have even been reported within the haven.

 

at high seas, the noise becomes incessant and unbearable to most who have reported hearing it. ear plugs and white noise machines will likely not help to mask this noise. if they do, you probably have a cabin with "normal" cabin noise.

[knitlady037]

On 6/25/2023 at 11:19 AM, chillyw said:

 

Eeek. Which room were you in? We're on an upcoming cruise in a Haven penthouse, 13322, and now I'm hoping to avoid a similar fate.

We were in 12906.

[Shynook11]

UPDATE.....heard back from NCL re: room noise issues.   2k credit in addition to the 20% they gave every cabin on board for for the general cruise issues.   Very pleased.  My daughter is on the Bliss this week.  LOVES it and we have used our credits to book  9 night to Greece next summer on the Pearl, which we have sailed on before and loved.

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by Shynook11

[Shynook11]

On 6/24/2023 at 6:08 PM, UKstages said:

as often as people say this, i will come along to say, yes, of course cabin noise is normal on a cruise ship… but, no, the type of noise people speak about on the prima is extraordinary and unlike anything you have experienced before… unless you’ve been unlucky enough to sail in one of these cabins on the prima.
 

it will absolutely ruin your trip… it’s not a question of flexibility or attitude, this cabin noise is due to a manufacturing defect within the ship and can only be corrected in dry dock, by tearing down the walls of the cabin and fixing whatever the hell is causing the incessant noise. it is reprehensible that NCL continues to sell these staterooms.

AGREE.  I am very grateful NCL took care of us in the end.

[Shynook11]

On 6/23/2023 at 1:35 PM, FLAHAM said:

No mention by OP of Indulge, a great innovation by NCL?

It was decent.  My family liked it a lot.  I am more of a picky eater so it wasn't my fave.  I did enjoy the dining rooms, the Local, speciality dining and the buffet (more so if there was adequate seating) 

[COcruise]

Anyone have any insight on this Prima issue with a 15th floor haven? Looks like the haven pool deck and restaurant is on 16? Is it loud? Thinking we should see if there is an option to move to 14. We have a baby and will be towards the front. 

[COcruise]

On 6/25/2023 at 5:32 PM, UKstages said:

 

if you have "normal" cabin noise, ear plugs may not even be necessary.

 

there are a number of cabins on the prima, however,  that have extraordinary noise due to a manufacturing defect during the ship's build. NCL has these cabins documented in their database, yet continues to sell them. these cabins have even been reported within the haven.

 

at high seas, the noise becomes incessant and unbearable to most who have reported hearing it. ear plugs and white noise machines will likely not help to mask this noise. if they do, you probably have a cabin with "normal" cabin noise.

Do you know what floors/cabins this issue touches? We are paying a lot for a haven and want to make sure we try move asap if we are in one of these rooms….

[omahabob]

6 hours ago, knitlady037 said:

We were in 12906.

 

Hope we don't have that problem on deck 14 (Viva). We're almost all the way at the back of the ship, so hopefully that helps too.

Edited June 27, 2023 by omahabob

[YVRteacher]

@UKstages did you get compensated by NCL for the horrific noises in your cabin?  You deserve at least two free cruises plus a bonus hot stone massage.

[UKstages]

55 minutes ago, COcruise said:

Do you know what floors/cabins this issue touches? We are paying a lot for a haven and want to make sure we try move asap if we are in one of these rooms….

it’s known to be on several different decks and includes some haven rooms. I was in a club balcony suite on deck 11. it’s unknown how many rooms have this defect, but we’ve had confirmation from five or six people on cruise critic alone. is it six rooms? sixty? a hundred and sixty? we don’t know. but NCL does. all the rooms are documented in their database, yet they continue to sell these rooms.

 

50 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

did you get compensated by NCL for the horrific noises in your cabin?

i was given $500 in OBC after being told I would be receiving a cash credit. it’s all documented in that thread I started which tells the whole story.

[YVRteacher]

That doesn’t seem like enough

[UKstages]

i didn’t think so, either, and said so. 

[UKstages]

1 hour ago, omahabob said:

We're almost all the way at the back of the ship, so hopefully that helps too.

on the prima, many of the cabins with severe noise problems are aft, including the club balcony cabins and the haven. 

 

[omahabob]

Just now, UKstages said:

on the prima, many of the cabins with severe noise problems are aft, including the club balcony cabins and the haven. 

Oh, sure. Cheer me up, why don't you? 🤣

[dexddd]

I keep seeing report that NCL has all noisy rooms documented.  I find that hard to believe, they just aren't that sophisticated.

 

With exception of maybe one room mid, seems all other creaky reports are aft.  Maybe TWO can create a Prima creaky room spreadsheet.

[Beer Belly]

Noisey Cabins could be the reason they were welding on the outside of the Hull when we reached Bermuda.......cracks ?