BenCoudon

@steamboats Questions for you as you are on the ship: 1.Is there any sections of the ship that is not yet available (work not completed), 2. Have you seen glitches of stuff malfunctionning? 3. Have you seen shipyard crew fixing things up on the ship?

I never heard about that and I would be surprised if it would work. MDR are high volume passengers and I doubt that servers could do that. Also, the MDR is free so it would mean to have an upcharge. What is possible is for Haven guests, to order dishes from specialty restaurants to have in-room dining. The buttler would take care of that. Some people also said that they ordered dishes from specialty restaurants to be served in the Haven restaurant. I heard it but never experienced it. Again, Haven guests have to pay extra for the specialty restaurants so if they do that, there might be an upcharge

3:30 pm Ireland time

Something interesting: A person currently on the VIP cruise on the Prima posted this on FB "Okay, . . . I rode the dry slides on the PR1MA, all three of them. I am no youngster at 65 and considered them fun. They are very fast and no special clothing, or lack of, is required. You are placed in a cloth "pouch" of sorts and down you go 10 stories. I recommend the drop for your first slide. It is a bit easier and a bit slower. I, like many of you, thought they were a dumb idea but it is something interesting and new to do on a sea day. Enjoy!"

Many comments about small size of the pool, and now the buffet. One need to understand that this is a new concept for a ship of that size. Pool: Yes the top deck pool is small but they made the choice to split between the top deck, the 2 infinity pools on theck 8 plus the infinity pool in the Haven. In total, the pool space is probably larger than what you have on the other mega ships. Just configured in 4 locations instead of one. Same logic for the buffet. They have created this Indulge food hall. Many people, instead to go to the buffet (as we know as the Garden Cafe) will have their meal at the indulge food hall. And, with the size of the MDR which at least one is open for breakfast and lunch, available space is at least equal if not greater than what we have at the mega Garden Cafe on the Bliss and others. Different concept but equivalent space. I think that the concept of having more than one venue for a similar service is great. We have all seen long line-ups and noisy place of lots of people going for breakfast at the garden cafe at the same time. With people being split between various venues, it should be quieter.

My own opinion: Prima class ships are designed for hot weather. Forget about Alaska, it is already fully covered with Encore and Bliss plus some smaller ships. I think that Greece will be the home port for Leonardo #3 or 4. Ideal temperature for this type of ship, lots of ports to choose from, As for Florida, although they may do a rotation, they already have most of their mega ships sailing out of Florida in the winter. (Orlando, Miami, Tampa). This is a huge market but I don't think there is much more room to increase the number of ships. Sailing season in Greece is also long, about 9 months per year. And as the middle-east is not far, she ship can make nice trips there for the winter months.

I recently mentioned that Fincantieri will deliver 2 ships to NCLH in 2023. During his speach today at the Christening of the Prima, FDR said that Fincantieri will deliver 3 ships in 2023. We knew about the Viva for NCL and the Vista for Oceania. Now we know that the Regent Seven seas Grandeur will be delivered in November 2023. The ship is under construction at the Fincantieri's Ancona shipyard. Ancona is located about 300 km south of Manghera As for the Oceania Vista, it is being built at Sestri Ponente, Italy, near the France border The float out of the Vista occured on February 25, 2022. So she should be ready for her initial sailing in spring 2023

People were commenting on Katy Perry's outfit. Just thought that the person that was in charge of the participant' suits could have had a better taste. It doesn't affect his qualities as a Cruise Director. I will see how he is performing his job within the next couple of weeks

Im' surprised that no one is commenting on Simon's suit. A black suit.. a black shirt... a black tie... with a black guy!!!! Really ..........

You are right. My mistake. Moored is more appropriate in this case

Anchored in Reykjavik

The Prima is arriving Reykjavik Several live webcam for the Reykjavik harbor https://www.faxafloahafnir.is/vefmyndavel-faxafloahafna/

They starting with the Prima and this will be implemented throughout the fleet They said the menu will have much more choice than the current one. Lets wait to see what it looks like before to express concerns

The free dinners you get in the Free at sea promotion are usable in every specialty restaurant of the ship. You make your normal dinner reservations and when you arrive at the restaurant, they will check your account and if you have any free dinner available, they will use it for your dinner. Free dinners are not linked to any reservation until you show up at the restaurant In some restaurants, some items trigger an upcharge. (Lobster at Le Bistro and few more items). they are clearly indicated on the menu

Double dry slides each side

During roughly the same period, they have to do 3 more ships: 2 for Oceania and 1 for Regent. The Oceania Vista has her maiden voyage scheduled for April 2023. She should be near completion somewhere else at Fincantieri

She is underway to Reykjavik

I wouldn't be surprised if the Leonardo 3 (and the subsequent ones) will be delayed by 3 to 6 months Everyone else announched delays of new ships. It will give time to shipyards and the supply chain to stabilize (and the bank account too)

Thanks for the info. I have not sailed on the Joy (yet) hence, I did not remember. I think the idea of having a ship oriented towards the Asian guest was a good idea. My point of view is they over estimated that market. At 3800 + passengers, it was a huge challenge to fill her up every week of the year

Now that the Prima left the shipyard, can we expect that the Viva will soon leave the drydock and take the place vacated by the Prima? Last I heard, the drydock has been filled. If they want to remain on schedule, shouldn't we see the arrival of the first set of blocks for the Leonardo # 3?

Before ordering a ship, they always have in mind where would be her main area of sailing. Correct that Bliss and Encore were designed mainly for Alaska. It is a huge market for all cruiselines. Also, you may remember that NCL ordered a ship (I forgot which one) that was designed for the Asian market. Most of the decor was asian colours with specific venues that are prefered by Asians people. It turned out that the sales on that ship were far to be good and, after a minor refurbishing, they repositionned her elswhere. We will have to wait a couple of seasons to see exactly where the Prima class ships will be positioned. At this time, itineraries are made to allow as much as possible people to sail on those new ships. It has been already announced that the Viva will be position in Lisbon, Portugal. That would allow itineraries to the mediteranean and also British isles and Norway. After the Viva, the ships will be bigger. After the introduction of Leonardo #3 and 4, I think we will see some prima class ships replacing older ships. The Star, the Jade, the Gem and others will be almost 30 years old by the time all Prima class ships are released. It will also depend of the demand. 6 new ships will mean over 20,000 additional beds to sell every week, year around. If they sail at full capacity mainly in high seasons, they will keep the older ships a bit longer. If they don't, as the new ships will be more energy efficient, they will retire several old ships. Del Rio's bet is the Prima class ships will steal a significant volume of passengers from Royal, MSC and Celebrity. I don't think he is targetting the Carnival clients. NCL cruises are too expensive for them. Now concerning the size of the pool, although it is true that the upper deck pool is small, keep in mind that they have 3 additional infinity pools. One on each side on deck 8 plus the aft one in the Haven. In total, I think there is more space in those 4 pools than what you have on a normal NCL ship. It will only split the crowd between 4 locations on the ship instead of everyone on the top of the ship. I think it is a wise decision. Not everyone is pleased with 1500 people packed on one deck around the pool.

Live webcam at the entrance of Port Southampton We can see the Prima arriving at 5h25 am

Found it Thanks Quite neat

I saw they crossed at sea. How did you know they did horn greetings? Barcelona had 5 or 6 cruiseships in port today. She slowed down to 13 kn for the last 2 hours. I guess she had to wait for many cruiseships to depart before entering the harbor. Anyways, she is there.

As planned, the Prima will soon dock at Barcelona. Scheduled to depart tomorrow night. The Epic is also docked at Barcelona. May be the decision to stop at Rome (where the Escape was docked) and now Barcelona (where the Epic is present) has to do with transfer of crew or equipment. Anyways, she gets closer to Reykjavik where she is expected in 10 days (or so)