Just back a few days from the Prima 8/6-8/17---will try to sum it up

[ontheweb]

On 8/20/2023 at 12:38 PM, aubreyc1988 said:

According to your profile, you live in NY. Not sure how it is there, but I would assume to see a doctor at most places in the US, 150.00 is cheap, even with good insurance. Honestly, a steal for a cruise ship, if you ask me. I had a rash that I needed to see a doctor for, but couldn't get in for months so I did a telehealth appointment and that was over 200.00 just for the visit. Good to know that your trip insurance covered it, although I am curious was there a deductible, and if so, how much

I have a little more information, but not total for this question.

 

First, it seems the insurance is secondary. Our primary is Medicare, and we know they will not cover for out of the country (and sailing between Norway and Iceland definitely counts as out of the USA). We called our secondary company as the travel insurance wanted to know how much they would pay. It is definitely out of network, but they said they would cover for customary charges. So, they should pay some and we should get the rest back from the travel insurance.

[ontheweb]

5 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Don't believe everything you hear, that'd be my advice. Back in 2020, another poster here on CC, who shall remain nameless, claimed that cruising still wasn't safe because "Covid is raging" where he lived, which meant it went up by 5%. I'm so glad the scary headlines and apocalyptic doomsday predictions are over. Whenever you have 1,000s of people on a ship, there are health concerns. Just like before 2020, and just like after.

Yes, I did write I did not know how "rampant" or isolated it was. I can fully understand how someone who had a family member catch it would use the term "rampant".

 

OTOH, that day we went to Hudsons, and as it was our wedding anniversary and have a tradition of eating by water (often outdoors on a restaurant dock), we were hoping for a table right by the ocean. Hudsons was much less crowded than any of the other nights we went there, and we were given a table for 2 right by a window overlooking the ocean. Was it less crowded because Covid was "rampant" or were we just lucky? I honestly do not know.

[DCGuy64]

1 minute ago, ontheweb said:

Hudsons was much less crowded than any of the other nights we went there, and we were given a table for 2 right by a window overlooking the ocean.

This begs a question from me: any idea whether the outdoor seating areas would be open for a Mediterranean cruise in early November? (Asking for obviously selfish reasons) 😜 We will be on the Breakaway sailing from Rome November 2, and this will our first time on an NCL ship with the boardwalk. I don't know if Cagney's, etc. will have the outdoor seating open or not. Like you, my wife and I enjoy dining al fresco when possible.

[ontheweb]

I asked about missed ports, especially Isafjordur that has been missed every cruise. And the Captain said that there were too many passengers to do tenders. I'm trying to remember if we tendered when we sailed on the much larger Epic. And what about the huge monstrosities of the seas on Royal Caribbean? Do ships larger than the Prima never tender?

 

Oh, and one mistake I made to let others know to avoid it. When you go onshore you need to take id as well as your cruise card. One time I accidentally returned the cruise card instead of my driver's license to the safe. As you can imagine, my license did not open the cabin door later when returning to the cabin. 🤦‍♂️ I had to get one of the stewards to open the door so I could get in and retrieve my card from the safe.

 

[Liljo22]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I asked about missed ports, especially Isafjordur that has been missed every cruise. And the Captain said that there were too many passengers to do tenders. I'm trying to remember if we tendered when we sailed on the much larger Epic. And what about the huge monstrosities of the seas on Royal Caribbean? Do ships larger than the Prima never tender?

 

Oh, and one mistake I made to let others know to avoid it. When you go onshore you need to take id as well as your cruise card. One time I accidentally returned the cruise card instead of my driver's license to the safe. As you can imagine, my license did not open the cabin door later when returning to the cabin. 🤦‍♂️ I had to get one of the stewards to open the door so I could get in and retrieve my card from the safe.

Royal will not send the Oasis class ships to any port that needs a tender.  Not sure about their other class ships.  

[cruiseny4life]

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I asked about missed ports, especially Isafjordur that has been missed every cruise. And the Captain said that there were too many passengers to do tenders. I'm trying to remember if we tendered when we sailed on the much larger Epic. And what about the huge monstrosities of the seas on Royal Caribbean? Do ships larger than the Prima never tender?

So, I guess no large ship ever tenders at Great Stirrup Cay. What a crock of crap that captain gave you. 

[bluesea777]

Prima has lifeboats but they are not classified to be used to tender passengers between ship and shore. Same goes with the BA and BA+ ships as well as Viva.

 

Isafjordur doesn't have tenders and its new longer dock is still under construction so that's why Prima has been bypassing Isafjordur all this year.

 

As for Great Stirrup Cay .... the ships that call at this place do not use their lifeboats to tender at all .... why? Because there are several very large tender boats that live there and are available to tender passengers between the ships and island. This means all NCL ships can go to GSC, including Prima, Viva and the BA+ ships.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

So, I guess no large ship ever tenders at Great Stirrup Cay. What a crock of crap that captain gave you. 

It was what he said, but someone else on an earlier cruise thad of course missed Isafjordur said the Captain said their lifeboats were not certified as tenders. So, the story keeps changing, but the results are the same, no Isafjordur.

[ontheweb]

Just an update, DW still has the same condition. Her doctor had her get an over the counter medication. He also told her that the medication prescribed onboard is actually an over the counter drug in the USA, but a prescription drug in the EU.

 

Also, just got the post cruise survey in my e-mail earlier this afternoon.

[dexddd]

15 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

Prima has lifeboats but they are not classified to be used to tender passengers between ship and shore. Same goes with the BA and BA+ ships as well as Viva.

 

Isafjordur doesn't have tenders and its new longer dock is still under construction so that's why Prima has been bypassing Isafjordur all this year.

 

As for Great Stirrup Cay .... the ships that call at this place do not use their lifeboats to tender at all .... why? Because there are several very large tender boats that live there and are available to tender passengers between the ships and island. This means all NCL ships can go to GSC, including Prima, Viva and the BA+ ships.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They have two from the Norway.

[bluesea777]

2 hours ago, dexddd said:

They have two from the Norway.

Yes! Plus several new ones.

 

[ontheweb]

OP back. I remember one other activity we participated in, dance lessons. DW did several, I did a few. They did seem to get more popular towards the end of the cruise.

[ontheweb]

OP back again. I remember posts where it was said you could ask for a vegetarian or vegan menu for the next day and order in advance from it. I tried (we eat vegetarian and fish) and was only given the regular menu. They mark what is vegetarian, but if you were vegan, Three Cheese Ravioli is hardly a choice.

 

I did decide to go vegan one night in the buffet and took a little of several things. After sampling I decided that the sesame spinach with tofu was really good. I left the vegetarian lo mein on my plate, and went and took more of the spinach dish. That surprised DW as I usually leave spinach eating to her.

 

[dexddd]

21 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

Yes! Plus several new ones.

 

Good to know.

[bluesea777]

5 hours ago, dexddd said:

Good to know.

 

As of March 2017, GSC has 4 docking bays for their tenders:

 

 

Sorry to be off topic, OP.

 

 

[ontheweb]

On 8/22/2023 at 8:44 AM, ontheweb said:

I have a little more information, but not total for this question.

 

First, it seems the insurance is secondary. Our primary is Medicare, and we know they will not cover for out of the country (and sailing between Norway and Iceland definitely counts as out of the USA). We called our secondary company as the travel insurance wanted to know how much they would pay. It is definitely out of network, but they said they would cover for customary charges. So, they should pay some and we should get the rest back from the travel insurance.

Well, I have new insurance information. We submitted the claim to our secondary insurance (primary is Medicare which does not pay for overseas treatment), and they reimbursed us 100%. Actually, this surprised me as the medical center on the Prima is obviously not in their network. But of course I am not complaining about this. So also I guess we do not need to file a claim with our travel insurance as one of their questions was how much other insurance reimbursed us, and I was waiting to find out the answer to that before filing a claim.

 

So, for everyone who said the medical charge was very reasonable, I have to admit that our insurance company agrees with you. 😊

[marys350]

On 8/20/2023 at 2:04 PM, ontheweb said:

Next port was Geiranger. We woke up early and went to the top decks to watch us sail into the fjords there, spectacular! After we disembarked, we booked a local bus tour that took us around the sites. What spectacular scenery.

 

Was this a 3.5 hour Mt. Dalsnibba and Eagle Road Tour or a shorter local tour? We are doing the same itinerary next June and currently researching options for non-ship sponsored tours. Will probably book a tour in advance but wondering if there are tours available for purchase on the day of arrival.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, marys350 said:

Was this a 3.5 hour Mt. Dalsnibba and Eagle Road Tour or a shorter local tour? We are doing the same itinerary next June and currently researching options for non-ship sponsored tours. Will probably book a tour in advance but wondering if there are tours available for purchase on the day of arrival.

It was a much shorter tour than that. Yes, tours are sold at the port. There are buses that go out to do tours. You buy a timed ticket for the tours.

[marys350]

2 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

It was a much shorter tour than that. Yes, tours are sold at the port. There are buses that go out to do tours. You buy a timed ticket for the tours.

Thank you. Approximately how much did the tour cost and was it just sightseeing or were there any stops along the way?

[ontheweb]

1 minute ago, marys350 said:

Thank you. Approximately how much did the tour cost and was it just sightseeing or were there any stops along the way?

I don't remember how much it cost, but significantly less than cruise line tours. Yes, there were stops along the way, lots of picture taking.

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I don't remember how much it cost, but significantly less than cruise line tours. Yes, there were stops along the way, lots of picture taking.

I should add it was probably expensive, but not nearly what NCL excursions cost. DW said to buy it. so no choice, my credit card had to come out.

 

Everything in this part of the world is expensive. At the airport in Reykjavik, DW needed cough drops, and we finally found some. I paid for them not knowing the cost when it would be converted to dollars and cents. When I got the credit card bill, it was basically $6 for a pack of cough drops (and they were all stuck together as they were not individually wrapped.