BenCoudon

Guess who is in Civitavecchia to welcome the Prima?

Our girl is still swimming towards her first destination: Civitavecchia (Rome) And she is going almost at full speed: 21 kn All engines running!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen May I have your attention please (Drum Rolllllllllllllllllllll) The Prima left the shipyard for her long sailing carreer First planned stop: Civitavecchia (Rome) ETA Saturday August 13 Lest get all exciteddddddddddddddd

That is the information I received about 10 days ago. Departure scheduled for August 10

We are boarding the ship in one month. Let's wait and see. I am sure that after the first 3 cruises, there will be full report on what's great and what's bad

The real game shows were recorded in California so they imposed the California taxes. This one will be in international waters, I don't see them imposing taxes on gifts. But that raises an interesting question: will those games be played everyday or just on sea days? Usually, when a ship is in port, Duty Free shops and casinos are closed. In one of the video, they were talking about "afternoon games". May be it will only be on seadays

You have to take into consideration the 2 additional infinity pools on each side of deck 8. If you add up the sun deck plus all the space around those two infinity pools, I believe you are exceeding the normal space on the pool deck

I received information that the Prima is scheduled to leave Manghera on August 10th (1 week from now). That can change but it is the current plan

First, I had the same reaction. But wait to see it with all the table cloths and the dimmed lights. Pictures were taken with full light. I think it will be just perfect

Those cruises occured at the time where the "Free at sea" was not always offered. You had to visit the NCL Website quite often to see what were the promotions and book when the right promotion was offered. So many people booked without the beverage package and did not buy it. You probably saw people screaming the last night of the cruise when they got their ship invoice. The couple that was next door to me were fuming. They were speaking very loud on the balcony. Their bar tab was for $2,800. Obviously, they were not experienced cruisers or they thought that the drink package was too expensive for the amount of drinks they thought they would drink. Especially on a TA, with many sea days, the number of drinks adds up fast.

LOL No it was not me. I know that some people wanted to disembark in Miami. I couldn't care less. Been to Miami several times and was not even planning to disembark the ship that day. My flight home was the following day and I already booked the train between Tampa and Miami (never again). I do remember the Marriott and I had a nice room with a view. Another crazy thing on this sailing was the arrival in the bay of Tampa. The upperdeck was full and people were afraid that the ship mast would hit the bridge. As if the crew had not clear that ahead of time. The final annoying event on that cruise: As you know, when a ship is in Florida waters, despite you have the drink package, they charge the Florida State tax on drinks. There was the huge line up at the guest services desk to question those charges and request a refund. For most of the people, the charge was under $10.00. I have better things to do on a cruise than worring about a $10.00 charge. It was my first cruise on the Star and I enjoyed it.

Tom On a couple of occasions, I took the behind the scene tour. I remember they said that "most of the supplies", including frozen products (meat) are shipped by containers from USA to the ships. But fresh products (fruits, vegetable, fish and others) are purchassed localy. NCL has an office in UK that also take care of ship supply in europe. When a ship is in Asia or Australia, it wouldn't make sense to send eggs and milk half way around the world when it is available locally. But I was told that for beef, in order to ensure the same quality acros the flieet, it is all bought in the US, then frozen and shipped to where ever it will be needed. BTW, I was also on that cruise Dover to Tampa. Azipod issue that forced the captain to skip Miami stop and we arrived Tampa a day early. Good memories from that cruise but I had a helluva rough ride prior to the cruise. Flew to France to spend time with friends in Normandie and then took the ferry between France and Portsmouth. The crossing was supposed to take under 6 hours. The channel was so rought that it took almost 10 hours. Lots of passengers were sick on the ferry. Also, I was doing Portsmouth to Dover by train. Was supposed to arrive Dover before noon. Planned with 1 connextion. Ended up with 4 connexions. Arrived Dover with less than 90 minutes to sailing. Adventure in travelling!!

Steamboats, I have to disagree with you. Schengen only applies to people. Recently, I flew from Athens to Paris. And departures was from the International terminal with access to duty free shops. Same thing when I flew from Frankfurt to Brussels. Also, I have done the Livorno-Civitaveccia- Napoli series of stops on serveral occasions. Both duty free shops and the Casino were opened between those ports that are all in the same country. Before arriving USA, the Prima will stop in about 10 countries including UK (a non-shengen country) Iceland and Canada. I am sure that the duty free shops will be opened everyday, as soon as the ship leave the port

On european sailings, The Duty free shops on the ship had some products that were more dedicated to the european market than the US market. Many years ago, on a TA, I had a chat with one of the duty free manager and he said that most of the goods that were for the european market were on sale (still quite expensive) to make room for new stock that is more american market. But I don't know if they still do that.

noted

I know people that have often booked the studio. they enjoy meeting people in the studio lounge

Deb Good idea We can co-ordinate that once we are on the ship. I will take the opportunity to also take picture of the solo lounge. I also know people that booked in the Haven so I will have an opportunity to go there and take pictures. For the Vibe, not sure if I can go there. I am not planning to buy a pass but I can ask if I can do a quick tour. But that will not be early in the cruise. We have only 1 sea day on the September 13 cruise and I think it is day # 6 or 7. It is very port intensive and I have visits planned for every port

Noted. That can be arranged.

I expect that people sailing on the inaugural (VIP) and on the first sailing (September 3) will post pictures here. I am boarding on September 13. I will take lots of pictures and happy to share them. Now, for people that will not sail on her in the near future, if you have special requests for pictures (special venues or area on the ship), feel free to ask

I have to agree with Frank del Rio. This main dining room is as classy as a 5 star hotel dining room. Based on the pictures, it looks better than some specialty restaurants

I have seen similar in both the Observation lounge and the Haven lounge. Food is available from early AM to mid pm and there are microwaves to heat up croissant, muffins and other. This is my best bet. Could also be in the Solo lounge

That is one reason I enjoyed the Haven on the Bliss, Encore and some others: The top deck at the front of the ship is part of the Haven sun deck. I spent my whole day there when we crossed the Panama Canal. Now with the Haven at the back of the ship, I hope that we will have some access to that area. I will see in 45 days. For sports, may be the TV in your cabin would be the best place LOL

https://www.ncl.com/ca/en/newsroom/norwegian-cruise-line-takes-delivery-of-norwegian-prima/

Oh I have not seen any pictures of Frank being there. It would make sense that all the management team be there, including the chief financial officer and Robin Lindsay, Executive Vice President Vessel Operations

Good question Tom. To my knowledge, FdR have not been seen at the shipyard for any important event. May be he doesn't like to travel or scared to fly? 🤣 Harry is on the management team of NCLH although he is not on the board of directors What ever reason, Frank must have given a proxy to Harry And, this is only the official ceremony for the crowd. Actual legal papers along with the transfer of cash must have been done prior to the official signing ceremony