Would you cruise on NCL Prima, Again?

[ontheweb]

Earlier this morning, my DW said where is that ship you loved (the Prima) going next. I said a lot f people seem to hate it. She said it does not matter you loved it. I then asked her how she felt about the ship, and she replied that she also loved it.

[graphicguy]

3 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

We just got off the Prima yesterday, our first sailing on her, but our 36th on NCL.  At first I found it very confusing but by day 3 I had the quirky deck plan figured out.  The ship is beautiful, more reminiscent of a high end htel, rather than a cruise ship.  Beautiful glass and pottery art pieces throughout.  
 

it was warm on our cruise mostly, but embarkation day in Galveston was in the 60s so it drove lots of people indoors as they waited for their cabins to be ready.  It got to be a bit claustrophobic and difficult to find seating.

 

the staff was lovely and her captain was everywhere and a delightful man, whom the staff clearly adores.  Which is why it is such a happy ship.

 

food was good overall, and we especially loved Onda and Indulge.

 

she will be leaving Galveston in ‘25, but we have the Viba booked for a 14 night sailing in January of 26.

Agree.  Just returned from sailing with MB.  Probably the most beautiful ship I've ever sailed. Not over the top, mind you.  Just very classy.

 

I do believe some have issues because it's a pretty big departure from NCL's other ships.  Instead of a big buffet, it has a smaller one with other smaller venues that focus on Latin, BBQ, food, etc (Indulge). I love that concept.  

 

The outdoors areas are where the ship shines.  If you insist on being around the (small) main pool, you're going to be crowded.  The other (plentiful) areas outdoors are all quite nice.

 

Capt Rodger was quite engaging and reminds me a lot of Capt Kate on Celebrity.  That's rare. Usually the Capts show up ceremonially and then retreat to the bridge in silence.

 

Will sail her again....whenever the opportunity arises.

[Sugar0802]

We booked another Prima cruise immediately after getting off our first Prima cruise.  A few weeks later, we booked a Viva cruise.  We absolutely loved it, especially Indulge.  We are not big lovers of mega ships and prefer the smaller cruise ships and Prima was a bigger ship but with the small ship feel.

[luv2gonow]

On 2/8/2024 at 9:19 PM, UKstages said:

one and done.

 

(actually two and done. i did a 21 day B2B.)

 

it's possible to have a good time on the prima if you manage to escape the chronic problems, such as the demonic staterooms designed to torment and inflict auditory pain. you just can't guarantee being able to avoid that, so it's not worth the risk.

 

you can live with the limited indoor space, the small venues and the absentee and dispassionate executive leadership team, but if you get one of those staterooms, your holiday is ruined. and if you're very lucky, all you're likely to get is $500 back in compensation from NCL.

 

i'd sail the aqua, and maybe even the viva, but never again on the prima.

What staterooms are you referring to.

 

 Have sailed on Viva and have another trip booked.

What is different prima/viva?

thanks

[UKstages]

23 minutes ago, luv2gonow said:

What staterooms are you referring to.

 

have not been on viva, but it's essentially the same build from the same shipbuilders. it would be wrong of us to assume that it has the same problem as the prima with regard to stateroom noise, but it could.

 

as for what that specific problem is... there are a number of reports, including my own lengthy thread here on cruise critic, in which people describe cabins with persistent creaking the likes of which they have never heard before on any other ship. this is not the normal creaking one might hear in any cabin while traveling at sea... these are loud and disruptive creaking noises at high seas that will keep you awake through most of the night. NCL knows of the problem, guest services has the affected cabins documented in the system, but NCL continues to sell the cabins and wait till the affected guests are onboard to see if they complain. if they do, they are generally given $500 per person in OBC as compensation.

 

on my sailing last may, i lost three (or maybe four) nights sleep and had to sleep on the bathroom floor before NCL got its act together and found an additional room for me to sleep in. i was lucky because the ship was not at full capacity. if it had been, there would have been no cabin to move me to.

 

most of the affected rooms are aft and they include club balcony and haven rooms.

[luv2gonow]

10 minutes ago, UKstages said:

 

have not been on viva, but it's essentially the same build from the same shipbuilders. it would be wrong of us to assume that it has the same problem as the prima with regard to stateroom noise, but it could.

 

as for what that specific problem is... there are a number of reports, including my own lengthy thread here on cruise critic, in which people describe cabins with persistent creaking the likes of which they have never heard before on any other ship. this is not the normal creaking one might hear in any cabin while traveling at sea... these are loud and disruptive creaking noises at high seas that will keep you awake through most of the night. NCL knows of the problem, guest services has the affected cabins documented in the system, but NCL continues to sell the cabins and wait till the affected guests are onboard to see if they complain. if they do, they are generally given $500 per person in OBC as compensation.

 

on my sailing last may, i lost three (or maybe four) nights sleep and had to sleep on the bathroom floor before NCL got its act together and found an additional room for me to sleep in. i was lucky because the ship was not at full capacity. if it had been, there would have been no cabin to move me to.

 

most of the affected rooms are aft and they include club balcony and haven rooms.

Good to know my room was pretty much 2 floors above infinity pool port side.

Cabin was super quiet, never heard us even dock.

i changed my june viva cruise cabin more forward, to have my balcony area "more private "

[stinkyharriet]

My Prima cruise was last year during spring break (first week of April) out of NYC to Bermuda.  The weather in NYC was still cold.  There were 1,200 kids on board, and they were by far the wildest bunch I have seen.  Parents just didn’t care what their kids were doing as long as they weren’t bothering them.  
 

Ocean View cabin, zero complaints.  It wasn’t noisy (neither the cabin itself of the hallways), it was spacious with a great bathroom.  Deck 5 was super convenient to everything on 6-7-8, no need for elevators.  
 

Despite all of the obnoxious kids and the fact that the outdoor spaces weren’t really being used which meant indoors was crowded, I’d still sail this class of ship again.  Just not when kids are out of school, and hopefully when it was a little warmer.

[PapaSquatch]

Based on replies, we decided to book the Prima for next January.

 

We always get a balcony, so if push comes to shove, we can always retreat to our own safe space and still enjoy the ocean air.

 

Thank you all for your replies. May all your future voyages be Blessed

[cheersforbeers]

1 hour ago, PapaSquatch said:

Based on replies, we decided to book the Prima for next January.

 

We always get a balcony, so if push comes to shove, we can always retreat to our own safe space and still enjoy the ocean air.

 

Thank you all for your replies. May all your future voyages be Blessed

We are on the Prima out of Galveston next Jan, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did on recent B2B.  

[jcscv]

Forewarned is forearmed...I was on Prima last year for the Iceland cruise, and having been forewarned about some of the issues, I knew what to expect, and had no problem. It is one of the most beautiful ships I've ever been on and the food was great (big fan of the Indulge food hall). While I loved the variety of the thermal spa, the layout was a bit wonky, and having the gym above the quiet area was a bad design.  Would I sail on her again...definitely!

[NCLCruiser11998866]

Just came off the prima for the 2/2/25 sail date. I can say the spaces felt a little bit crowded as compared to some of the other NCL ships. I did see several passengers complaining about not being an able to get into shows and speciality dining. We stayed in the Haven and did not experience any problems. I would recommend going haven on this ship. 

[zqvol]

8 minutes ago, NCLCruiser11998866 said:

Just came off the prima for the 2/2/25 sail date. I can say the spaces felt a little bit crowded as compared to some of the other NCL ships. I did see several passengers complaining about not being an able to get into shows and speciality dining. We stayed in the Haven and did not experience any problems. I would recommend going haven on this ship. 

Most people can’t afford haven or don’t want to sail there even if they can afford it 

[IAcruising]

55 minutes ago, zqvol said:

Most people can’t afford haven 

 

Unfortunately true.

 

55 minutes ago, zqvol said:

or don’t want to sail there even if they can afford it 

 

Absurdly false.

 

[NCLCruiser11998866]

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

Most people can’t afford haven or don’t want to sail there even if they can afford it 

I do feel the prices for haven have gone up compared to what they used to be. You just have to shop around and find the best prices if haven is the way you wanna go. We were a group and paid around $1,650 per person before gratuity. It was a fair price and the experience was well worth it. This was the lowest price offered in the haven category. Different dates were as high as $3,000 or more per person. But setting up a couple filters on the search results will get you going in the right direction and a reasonable price. 

Edited February 13 by NCLCruiser11998866

[PapaSquatch]

6 hours ago, cheersforbeers said:

We are on the Prima out of Galveston next Jan, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did on recent B2B.  

Jan 31-Feb 14 2025

[mscdivina2016]

Never again.  Haven is no longer the little area. They added so many rooms to it.

 No special feel to it.

No dance floors for Ballroom.

Reservations for everything. Sid Normans capacity is a joke.

 Small buffet

Weird food court.

Haven lounge bar is so small. Other haven lounge areas are also odd being sectioned.

Butlers are useless as they have to many rooms. 

Outside deck areas we also useless.

We sailed Iceland and Norway in September.

[PapaSquatch]

17 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

Unfortunately true.

 

 

Absurdly false.

 

I do apologize, but we are those that can afford Haven, and choose not to do so. 

[UKstages]

46 minutes ago, PapaSquatch said:

I do apologize, but we are those that can afford Haven, and choose not to do so. 

 

what's the apology for?

[PapaSquatch]

Politeness

[IAcruising]

1 hour ago, PapaSquatch said:

I do apologize, but we are those that can afford Haven, and choose not to do so. 

 

Thank you for the politeness. Do you believe you represent "most people" who can afford the Haven?

 

[PapaSquatch]

No sir. Just stating for ourselves. You just said it was absurdly false that folk that could afford Haven, would choose not to. We choose not to, so it is not false. 

 

Work day over.....

 

 

[IAcruising]

37 minutes ago, PapaSquatch said:

We choose not to, so it is not false. 

 

 

With respect, you're forgetting the original statement by zqvol that I quoted,

 

"Most people ... don’t want to sail there {Haven} even if they can afford it."

 

That just seems absurdly false to me.

 

[mscdivina2016]

4 hours ago, IAcruising said:

 

With respect, you're forgetting the original statement by zqvol that I quoted,

 

"Most people ... don’t want to sail there {Haven} even if they can afford it."

 

That just seems absurdly false to me.

 

I would not want to sail any other way than Haven. Just don't like the Prima class.

 

[Candy Apple 12]

On 2/13/2024 at 2:23 PM, mscdivina2016 said:

Butlers are useless as they have to many rooms. 

What’s the room to butler ratio on the Prima? I just got off the Escape, and the butler said there were 95 Haven rooms and 10 butlers. I didn’t think to ask if he was including the night butler in his count or not, but either way roughly 10 rooms per butler. We had excellent service from the butler. .

Edited February 15 by Candy Apple 12

[mscdivina2016]

2 hours ago, Candy Apple 12 said:

What’s the room to butler ratio on the Prima? I just got off the Escape, and the butler said there were 95 Haven rooms and 10 butlers. I didn’t think to ask if he was including the night butler in his count or not, but either way roughly 10 rooms per butler. We had excellent service from the butler. .

There were around 110 rooms  over 5 floors and it appeared that each floor has 2 butlers.

The night butler is almost non existent after 1am.

45 minutes for ice. Then another 45 minutes for some juices that should have been restocked during turndown.