Prima Meh

[cruiseny4life]

43 minutes ago, DMP609 said:

We were on the 6/25 sailing of the Prima (had a fabulous time) and the Captain was part of a Q&A towards the end. He was asked about Isafjordur and said they are waiting for the dock work to be completed. They don't know when that will be. They get updates every week or so from the dock and I think that's why they don't cancel too far in advance because as soon as it's ready, they will be docking there. He also addressed the tender issue. They do not have tenders on the ship. I think he said the size of the tenders didn't work well with a ship that size or something to that effect. He said if they have to tender at a port, the port must be the one to provide the tenders and Isafjordur does not. This seems like a good explanation. It just would have been nice if NCL explained it like this sooner.

That transparency is amazing. It's likely what many of us thought was happening. If only corporate NCL would provide this level of communication with their guests. A lot more misunderstandings, griping, and moaning would cease if that were the case. Thanks for the explanation!

 

And by communication, I mean an asterisk or something on the itinerary when people are reviewing their itinerary after booking (I wouldn't expect NCL to know this a year ago), or on the current itineraries when someone is booking. An email update to those booked would be nice too.

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

That transparency is amazing. It's likely what many of us thought was happening. If only corporate NCL would provide this level of communication with their guests. A lot more misunderstandings, griping, and moaning would cease if that were the case. Thanks for the explanation!

 

And by communication, I mean an asterisk or something on the itinerary when people are reviewing their itinerary after booking (I wouldn't expect NCL to know this a year ago), or on the current itineraries when someone is booking. An email update to those booked would be nice too.

Just to add to that, if you call NCL, they have no idea what you are talking about when you ask about will we be able to get off the ship in Isafjordur.

[Sugar Magnolia]

30 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Just to add to that, if you call NCL, they have no idea what you are talking about when you ask about will we be able to get off the ship in Isafjordur.

 

Unfortunately, the first line of contact reps at NCL are the last people I would contact for updated information. This is when I rely on my trusted CC buddies...the tried and true gang of misfits.

 

[RocketMan275]

13 hours ago, MiniJeffrey said:

I will really never understand why they sacrifice that much outdoor spacing for a f*** (pardon, my french) carting course. Imagine what they could have done with that space. It's a huge waste of outdoor space for just 1 activity.

There are lots of  things I believe are a huge waste of space.  

For example, Syd Norman's Pour House, the pools, the Casino's, etc., but I recognize that different people look at things differently.   But then, those things attract some which means those people aren't using the things I like.

[Liljo22]

33 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Just to add to that, if you call NCL, they have no idea what you are talking about when you ask about will we be able to get off the ship in Isafjordur.

Its just a call center.  They are trained to follow a script and are unable to deviate from that script.  

[omahabob]

10 minutes ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

...This is when I rely on my trusted CC buddies...the tried and true gang of misfits.

 

 

Here on the island of misfit cruisers. We need Rudolph to save us.

[Sugar Magnolia]

2 minutes ago, omahabob said:

 

Here on the island of misfit cruisers. We need Rudolph to save us.

 

I saw Yukon Cornelius on my Alaska cruise last month. Still in fine shape.

 

[RB9643]

22 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

There are lots of things I believe are a huge waste of space.

 

 

Exactly.  If every ship would just get rid of everything I never use, and expand the areas I do, cruising would be Heaven -- for me.

 

 

[RocketMan275]

Just now, RB9643 said:

 

Exactly.  If every ship would just get rid of everything I never use, and expand the areas I do, cruising would be Heaven -- for me.

 

 

Especially if the ship would get rid of all the other passengers that keep getting in my way.

[quagmire0]

The title of this post should have been 'Prim-meh'.  But I digress.  I did find it interesting discovering today that the Escape has the highest capacity and biggest water park, despite it being the 5th oldest, though.  I just thought they would have gotten 'bigger and better'. I actually kind of like the fact that NCL reigned things in a bit, while RCCL keeps pushing the envelope. 😄

[omahabob]

You also have to remember that bigger ships have less choices of ports. As always, it's a balancing act of many factors.

[RB9643]

7 minutes ago, omahabob said:

You also have to remember that bigger ships have less choices of ports. As always, it's a balancing act of many factors.

 

Which is why you won't find a RCL Oasis class ship in Alaska. The Icon?  Forget about it.

 

 

[scooter6139]

15 hours ago, MiniJeffrey said:

I will really never understand why they sacrifice that much outdoor spacing for a f*** (pardon, my french) carting course. Imagine what they could have done with that space. It's a huge waste of outdoor space for just 1 activity.

Because they make lots of money off of it and it is their show piece amongst other mass market cruise lines.  Personally, its also a waste on me, but so is the arcade, the pools, the sun loungers and sun decks, the Casino, etc.  Wife and I joke that the entire top deck is not for us, but that's just us as we don't use or frequent any of those spots but we know others do. 

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, Liljo22 said:

Its just a call center.  They are trained to follow a script and are unable to deviate from that script.  

They could be informed by management, especially when something is becoming an ongoing problem.

 

Here is exactly what happened when I called. The original customer rep did not know, and admitted that. And then she did the exact right thing when you do not know, she said she would get me to someone who did know.

 

She transferred me to the excursion people assuming I guess that they would know about a port since they sold excursions for the port. All they would tell me was that they were still selling them for that port at the next available date. (A date I should note that the ship skipped the port.) Knowing that they had skipped it up to then, I asked have you sold excursions there for the previous cruises. They could not or more likely would not answer that question.

[Snate]

Welp.  Interesting last day of the trip.  Bruges was great.  On our way back to board the Prima it turns out the ships ropes snapped, the ship floated out from the dock and the gangway collapsed into the sea.  Tug boats had to push the boat back to the dock.  We have been sitting for 2 hours with a thousand plus people waiting to board.  They finally started boarding but at this port you have to take a bus to the ship.  They can only run 6 buses at a time so it’s a pretty bad last day on the ship.  Ruins my evening plans as we had Le Bistro and then wait in line for Syd Normans so not sure what we will do now.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Snate said:

Welp.  Interesting last day of the trip.  Bruges was great.  On our way back to board the Prima it turns out the ships ropes snapped, the ship floated out from the dock and the gangway collapsed into the sea.  Tug boats had to push the boat back to the dock.  We have been sitting for 2 hours with a thousand plus people waiting to board.  They finally started boarding but at this port you have to take a bus to the ship.  They can only run 6 buses at a time so it’s a pretty bad last day on the ship.  Ruins my evening plans as we had Le Bistro and then wait in line for Syd Normans so not sure what we will do now.

????? Bruges was the last stop? I thought the ship continues on to Southampton for London. I know we start there and the port for Bruges is the first stop.

[PhillyTravelBug]

2 hours ago, Snate said:

Welp.  Interesting last day of the trip.  Bruges was great.  On our way back to board the Prima it turns out the ships ropes snapped, the ship floated out from the dock and the gangway collapsed into the sea.  Tug boats had to push the boat back to the dock.  We have been sitting for 2 hours with a thousand plus people waiting to board.  They finally started boarding but at this port you have to take a bus to the ship.  They can only run 6 buses at a time so it’s a pretty bad last day on the ship.  Ruins my evening plans as we had Le Bistro and then wait in line for Syd Normans so not sure what we will do now.

 

We sail in 33 days. I will make sure we take out the entire dock.

[Snate]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

????? Bruges was the last stop? I thought the ship continues on to Southampton for London. I know we start there and the port for Bruges is the first stop.

Yes we end in South Hampton tomorrow morning.  I don’t consider that a port stop since it’s the end and we just head to Heathrow.  We got on board and we’re able to beet ready and have a quick dinner at Le Bistro.  I’m now waiting in line for the Syd Norman show.  It all worked out except for the waiting a few hours with 2K grumpy, tired passengers.  Big negative for Bruges is the stop needs to be a few hours longer as we felt rushed in Bruges and I thought that city was awesome. It takes some time to get to the city and return and the port time to return was 4pm.  Needed a 7pm or something departure to get a full day there.   Needed a little more time to just sit at a cafe on the canal and drink some Belgian beer.  Amsterdam was similar.  Still a great 2 weeks of a vacation.  Now back to the grind.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Snate said:

Yes we end in South Hampton tomorrow morning.  I don’t consider that a port stop since it’s the end and we just head to Heathrow.  We got on board and we’re able to beet ready and have a quick dinner at Le Bistro.  I’m now waiting in line for the Syd Norman show.  It all worked out except for the waiting a few hours with 2K grumpy, tired passengers.  Big negative for Bruges is the stop needs to be a few hours longer as we felt rushed in Bruges and I thought that city was awesome. It takes some time to get to the city and return and the port time to return was 4pm.  Needed a 7pm or something departure to get a full day there.   Needed a little more time to just sit at a cafe on the canal and drink some Belgian beer.  Amsterdam was similar.  Still a great 2 weeks of a vacation.  Now back to the grind.

OK, now I understand. I am glad you can write "still a great 2 weeks of a vacation". I hope we can say the same.

 

Now our cruise goes the other direction, so it ends in Reykjavik. But since that is an overnight, would it be considered a port? If not I guess Isafjordur, but so far the ship has not been to that port, and I am getting more pessimistic about our cruise stopping there. And this is getting too complicated. 🤦‍♂️🤣

 

 

[LobsterStalker]

On 7/13/2023 at 11:55 AM, UKstages said:

it’s a much more complex issue than just the dredging of the port. NCL keeps saying “maybe next week” for stopping at isafjordur… they have been saying that since mid-may… for two months, they have skipped that port. each cruise, they wait until the last minute to inform guests.
 

meanwhile, other ships have stopped there regularly, so NCL saying the port isn’t ready doesn’t really tell guests the whole story. something else is at play - either an NCL preference or self-imposed limitation - and NCL won’t divulge to guests what that it is.

If these statements are true , this makes my stomach churn when a large company like this gets away with deception and there seems to be no recourse. Reminds me of politicians 

[chillyw]

On 7/15/2023 at 11:34 AM, PhillyTravelBug said:

 

We sail in 33 days. I will make sure we take out the entire dock.

 

I guess I should proactively reschedule my flights from London 😆

[chillyw]

1 hour ago, LobsterStalker said:

If these statements are true , this makes my stomach churn when a large company like this gets away with deception and there seems to be no recourse. Reminds me of politicians 

 

They're true, but they don't include all of the context to me.  They are building a new pier to increase capacity, and that's the pier that NCL is supposed to dock on.  It's also supposed to have already been completed. 

 

I don't know if it's as simple as "just take another ship's spot" or "just tender" without having that capacity or good tender ships on the Prima.  I'm also not sure who isn't communicating well - is the port saying "it'll be done soon!" every week, or have they given NCL an updated estimate? 

 

Very well could be NCL's fault, but it's hard to tell from the outside.

Edited July 17, 2023 by chillyw

[floridafish]

I was on Prima June 15th, Iceland to Southampton. I've been fortunate enough to cruise itineraries from Mexico to St Petersburg with several cruise lines and my voyage on the Prima rated among the best trips I've ever been on. 

The interior of the ship is stunning, the crew couldn't be more helpful and Indulge is an amazing and well executed food concept.

Booking a cabin directly underneath any major gathering place or venue gets little sympathy. 

Lesson learned is always check the deck plan. 

Edited July 17, 2023 by floridafish

[Trixie21]

On 7/14/2023 at 10:28 PM, quagmire0 said:

The title of this post should have been 'Prim-meh'.  But I digress.  I did find it interesting discovering today that the Escape has the highest capacity and biggest water park, despite it being the 5th oldest, though.  I just thought they would have gotten 'bigger and better'. I actually kind of like the fact that NCL reigned things in a bit, while RCCL keeps pushing the envelope. 😄

Royal Caribbean are currently in the development phase of a new smaller class of ship called project discovery . It will replace their aging smaller classes of ships. You are spot on in saying that the larger ships are limited in the ports they can go to - there is a definite need for smaller types of ship to maintain variety of itinerary and although we have been cruising exclusively with RCL with the past 10 years we are looking at other lines now (actually about to book a Prima cruise) because they offer better itineraries. 

The bigger ships like RC oasis class and the new Icon are more about the ship than the destination. 

[LobsterStalker]

20 hours ago, LobsterStalker said:

  On 7/13/2023 at 11:55 AM, UKstages said:

it’s a much more complex issue than just the dredging of the port. NCL keeps saying “maybe next week” for stopping at isafjordur… they have been saying that since mid-may… for two months, they have skipped that port. each cruise, they wait until the last minute to inform guests.
 

meanwhile, other ships have stopped there regularly, so NCL saying the port isn’t ready doesn’t really tell guests the whole story. something else is at play - either an NCL preference or self-imposed limitation - and NCL won’t divulge to guests what that it is

 

19 hours ago, chillyw said:

 

They're true, but they don't include all of the context to me.  They are building a new pier to increase capacity, and that's the pier that NCL is supposed to dock on.  It's also supposed to have already been completed. 

 

I don't know if it's as simple as "just take another ship's spot" or "just tender" without having that capacity or good tender ships on the Prima.  I'm also not sure who isn't communicating well - is the port saying "it'll be done soon!" every week, or have they given NCL an updated estimate? 

 

Very well could be NCL's fault, but it's hard to tell from the outside.

If maybe next week has been the response since May , then they definitely aren't sharing all that they know. The massive amounts of money that is paid by the cruiselines to dock at these ports is mindblowing and I'm sure that the NCL bigwigs would certainly be privy to better updates than that .

The fact that they just keep selling their cruises under the false pretense that this will be a stop , is inexcusable ! At the very least as some have said there should be a footnote... 

Maybe like .... "Oh by the way , incase this might be of interest to you ,we have had to cancel this stop on each of our last 20 cruises "

I would respectfully disagree with any assertion that there is not fault on the part of NCL !