sharonann24

I will be happy to do so!

We are on the July 27 sailing so I will be watching this with interest. Updates greatly appreciated.

Is the Indulge another option to the buffet? I need to investigate some of these other options. Both my DH and dad love breakfast. I can take it or leave it. Dad loves the buffet but it there is a better option I will go for it. DH and I actually did breakfast in the MDR when we were on the Pearl. And we did it a couple of times on the Celebrity Edge. As he likes to jokingly say "all that is civilized"--service and good food!

I will try to check in advance. I have not seen anything to indicate this, but to be honest I haven't looked.

I am reading this with much interest as we sail on July 27 on the Iceland cruise. We are not in the Haven--kind of tired of hearing about those trials and tribulations! We have done the Haven before and loved it, but not in the cards this time and we are "settling" for a balcony, though an 11 day European cruise to Iceland hardly sounds like settling! LOL. Thrilled to be lucky and healthy enough to enjoy this adventure, especially with my 94 year old father! We "only" have the 2 specialty restaurants and I am also happy to see so many positive reviews of Hudson's since that is where we will be most nights. We love Le Bistro and Cagney's but we are trying Onda on this cruise. If I can talk my dad into another night it will be Le Bistro. Not a pool cruise but neither is the Baltics in the summer most times and we managed quite nicely. I also saw the comparisons to the Edge which we were on in February and the naysayers had it all wrong there too! Travel is a wonderful experience and I always go prepared to have the best time and try to plan enough to minimize issues. Relax and enjoy the trip.

I will be making that comparison in July! We were on the Edge in February to the Panama Canal and will be on the Prima for the Iceland cruise. I read all of the reviews prior to our February cruise bashing the Edge and we loved it, so take those reviews with a grain of salt. I guess my primary concern for Prima on the Iceland cruise is that many people have said they feel Prima is better suited to warmer weather venues. I know we will not be using the pool area much but we will see.

I have enjoyed reading your posts even though we will not have the Haven experience😪 this time around. We will be on the late July Iceland/Norway cruise so I am a little concerned about the cooler weather and the indoor venues. Where do or can you walk outside, or does this mean I head to the fitness center and do the treadmill daily? Celebrity Edge had a wonderful walking/jogging track that I used every day. We opted for Onda and Cagney's, so I am curious about Onda, otherwise I may switch to Le Bistro. Thanks again!

I think by flying in at least one day early you should be fine. Ask for the deviation. We have used NCL once and it was fine. We are also using it for our July cruise on the Prima to Iceland, but this time we are flying in two days early. This will be our 4th NCL cruise and we have found that the packages have been fine. We usually don't use the excursions but I may make an exception for this trip since we will probably only do 2 NCL and then do the other ports on our own. 2 Specialty dinners are a nice treat and we have enjoyed most of the specialty restaurants in the past and only go when they are included. The MDR is very nice as well. I think that you can drive yourself crazy looking for all of the deal and hoping you can make a big score. Cruise based upon what you can afford OR on what you are willing to splurge. And the British Isles cruise is on my list--and that cruise tends to be more expensive due to the port charges. In any case--it's a vacation! Enjoy!

I took the AT&T Cruise plan when we were on Celebrity last month because I was absolutely terrified of roaming fees though I religiously put my cell (iPhone) on airplane mode (but I have to remind DH). We also had the internet package. I will probably do the same when we are on the Prima in July because I prefer to be covered than shocked when I get my next phone bill!

I read your review thoroughly since we are traveling from Iceland to Southhampton on the July 27th cruise and was dismayed with all of the negative comments about the Prima. We just took a Celebrity. cruise on the Edge and were subjected to the same prior to the cruise but our actual experience was wonderful. This will be our 4th NCL cruise and we did start at the "top" because a bid for the Haven (at a great cost) was accepted and we were spoiled--full disclosure! However this cruise is not too shabby with a balcony so I will go with the flow. I think my major concern given our itinerary is the access to the outside venues. Looking forward to Donna Summer, not so much Price is Right, but DEFINITELY Sad Norman's! We tend to go to the bars that have music so I am not looking for Broadway reviews. Thank you so much for a balanced review. I am grateful for the opportunity to have these travel experiences. I think you have to pick and choose what experiences/costs are most important and go with it.

I think there was another post about using the Starbucks app, but I can't seem to locate it. So, we are able to use the app? That would be GREAT! I will load it up and that will take care of that! I do find the premium beverage package a little pricey and I think we will be able to manage with the package that we have, and pay as we go if necessary. We just got off a Celebrity cruise where we did have the premium package and it was a nice treat as their coffee shop includes the pastries as well. DH loves those--I can take them or leave them.

We are also on Prima in July in Iceland so I am watching as well.

I get it. I know how quickly they book up. That will be my charge in the early morning light tomorrow. We typically don't do a lot of ship excursions but there are a couple that may be worth the pre book. The funny thing is that this trip is a last minute addition--not even on our short term radar! Traveling with my soon to be 94 year old dad who has never been to Iceland! We are along for the ride which is cool, but now requires a bit of juggling!

That is what I was afraid of! I hate loading up my credit card like this. Many of the tour operators such as Viator allow you to book and do not charge until the day before your tour. I wish NCL had that option.

I would like to start booking a couple of the NCL tours for our trip to Iceland and Norway this summer. My question is when will I be charged for them? I would like to reserve the slot but don't know if my credit card will get charged automatically, or whether the card is charged once we are on board. It has been a long time since I have booked a ship tour other than the one I did last minute when we were actually on board (it was for a post cruise tour in Ft. Lauderdale).

Prima does not have Taste or Savor. It has Hudson's and the Commodore room, along with the buffet and Local Grill. My presence at this point is Hudson's. We never do the buffet for dinner. How was Hudson's for breakfast? And I am actually thinking of Hudson's for embarkation day.

I plan on making reservations for the MDR for our July trip on the Prima. Although there will only be three of us my father likes the comfort of knowing we have a reservation. We prefer a later seating so hopefully that will help. We just got off a Celebrity cruise where we also had a set seating for the MDR and there were nights in which a preferred restaurant had long lines. To this point--is there one MDR that is preferable? I think they both have the same menus.

I am also considering the NCL tour for this port in July. We have done the Hop On Hop Off buses in other ports and they are fun too. Does the one in Bergen include the headphones so you get the "mini tour" experience?

We always dress for dinner, in that I prefer to wear a dress or skirt for dinner after a full day of travel/sightseeing or just pool time. On our last NCL cruise people tended to dress a bit more "formally" (long pants for men, smart casual for ladies) in the specialty restaurants and MDR. On our last cruise with Celebrity there were two dressier nights and we did see that some took it up a notch with glitter, sparkle and even a few men in tuxes. All in good fun and all about what you are comfortable with!

Warm is fine with us! We absolutely froze in early December with the wind. We did the museum then and it was gorgeous. There are a couple of NCL excursions that actually look pretty reasonable in cost in comparison to those they offer in Iceland and Norway. It is the last port so last in my planning schedule.

Thanks for all of the port information. I am just starting to plan our excursions for our July 27 sailing. The distance to the Anne Frank house is about right. We did a very long walking tour of Amsterdam when we got off our Viking River Cruise in December and I logged over 25,000 steps that day as we walked back and forth! I also know that ticket sales only open on the first of the month so we have time. The locks are amazing. We didn't see them in Amsterdam but I will make it a point to watch as we sail in. We also just got back from our Panama Cruise canal and saw those in action which was fantastic! What a way to launch (no pun intended!) my first year of retirement! We may never top it!

That also goes for the pools and hot tubs. We were in the Haven where teens and tweens were in the small pools with nary an adult in sight.

If we are at the city port, it is all good. We stayed at the Movenpick which was in a walking distance to the center. I know we can walk to Anne Frank's house which we missed. Frankly it was so COLD in December with the wind we are looking forward to strolling and enjoying the sites outdoors!

We are on the NCL Prima.

Where is the cruise port location in Amsterdam? I am reading that it is about 45 minutes from the city. When we were on Viking in November we were in walking distance of the center, albeit freezing! I don't see a shuttle listed or even an Amsterdam on your own excursion as there is for Bruges and Brussels. I would prefer not to do a tour since we are going to focus on the Iceland and Norway stops for those organized excursions.