Single Cruiser

5 minutes ago, putchky said:

Just got the dreaded email.  This is our third European cruise that was canceled.  Guess the cruise gods don't want us to go.

It's horrible isn't it.  My 5th now.   Last one was just a couple of weeks ago when they cancelled Prima.   😔.  Just awaiting them to cancel my Star in October ! 

19 hours ago, njkate said:

Has NCL sent the dreaded cancel email yet?

Yes just got mine 

Getaway season 2023 cancelled!

NCL cancelled Prima’s Amsterdam to Iceland initial voyage due to supply chain issues! 

20 minutes ago, steamboats said:

As the maiden cruise will be a non revenue cruise there´s no need for another pre inaugural from Reykjavik.

 

NCL had invited guests from all over Europe (continental Europe, UK, Scandinavia) on the 2 nighters from Bremerhaven to Southampton. 2 or 3 pre inaugurals would be much more expensive... And I´m pretty sure that US will be invited to the maiden cruise as Reykjavik is a short flight from the US and Amsterdam has good connections back.

 

steamboats

true, but these trips would have been originally planned in the height of the pandemic and a closed round-trip from same port would have negated lots of testing/restrictions etc.

maybe now restrictions are being reduced/removed could explain why the Southampton one was cancelled and they go back to a single trade one from Amsterdam.

I’ve been on some of those pre-inaugurals (and was always funny watching the agents stagger off in the morning after being wined and dined!).

7 hours ago, steamboats said:

 

Yes, I know... But it was not know yet whether this is a second pre inaugural (which would be a bit unusual for NCL to have two pre inaugurals in Europe - in the past it was only one two nighter... usually Bemerhaven to Southampton when Meyer still built the ships).

 

Amsterdam is a pretty expensive port for a cruise ship so it would make sense to leave the cruise terminal and go out on sea instead of staying there.

 

steamboats

I assume as the prima class of ships will be home porting Southampton, Amsterdam and Reykjavik to avoid flying agents over they'd have local events.  

In Reykjavik after the shake down revenue cruise she's also in a few days pre christening and maiden cruise.  

Re Amsterdam I couldn't see her booked in at say the remote Amsterdam port (ijmuiden for example ) so she'd  be 2 nights floating in the North Sea and the second entry says "turnaround" which suggests to me she's probably going to be carrying some guests...    🤔

29 minutes ago, steamboats said:

 

I assume you are talking about Aug 17th. So far it´s just the pre inaugural out of Southampton which was scheduled for Aug 12th til Aug 14th which has been cancelled. Then the ship was supposed to move over to Amsterdam and stay there til Aug 17h (it was not quite clear whether there is another 2 nighter out of Amsterdam). So they start out 5 days later as they have planned which gives them some extra time.

 

steamboats

According to Amsterdam port authority she was arriving lunchtime 15th, then leaving 10PM and then not back until early hours 17th.   
 

49 minutes ago, steamboats said:

The naming ceremony was announced for August 27th in Reykjavik. Interesting is that the press release also speaks from August 12th as first cruise. So far the August 17th til 27th was the first one.

 

steamboats

12th-14th is a industry event round-trip from Southampton

that it appears she goes 14th-15th overnight to Amsterdam

then a two day 15th-17th probably another event for Europe industry then the first revenue cruise 17th - 25th .

couple of days in Port at Iceland until the naming ceremony on 27th .

as both Prima and Viva will be doing cruises from Southampton, Amsterdam and Reykjavik in future years would make sense to hold a “local” event in each homeport. 
 

2 hours ago, twisterfreak2280 said:

Updated deck plans

 

thanks.   Probably just me but I don’t get the same sort of buzz I did from the previous newbuilds.   Somethings missing… 

ok they’ve added open deck space on waterfront but the erosion of the classic sun deck unless you pay for vibe or in haven.   
 

it’s very “Regent Cruises” style..  

26 minutes ago, reeinaz said:

That tells us more useful info such as all the dining choices are mid to aft.

deck 17 alongside the buffet and Grill is Food Republic and Palomar

deck 8 we have the food hall and next to that the local with mid los lobos and Onado

deck 7 the main dining hudsons with in front of looks like one side will be the Bistro and the other side Nama and Husaka

then deck 6 the second main dining commodore paired with Cagneys.

3 hours ago, TheDougOut said:

Still sad you’re not where you belong.  You will be missed. 
 

edit: at least come down to SH for a night of stupidity.  

well without a DBH onboard I’m seriously having 2nd thoughts 😕.  

18 minutes ago, BenCoudon said:

I am booked on the 4th and 5th cruise,  September 13 and September 23.  It was supposed to be # 4 and 5.   But just checked: Not sure what happened to the August inaugural cruise from Amsterdam to Reykjavik.  It is no longer listed on the website. Usually, they don't remove it from the website even when it is sold out. There was never a cruise posted for the return trip (which was supposed to be the 2nd cruise) I thought that either it was a charter or a cruise reserved for the travel partners.  Or may be they were told that there will be a delay in the delivery of the ship.  So as of now, as per the website, I will be on the 2nd and 3rd cruise

 

EDIT:  I just checked the CC page for the inaugural sailing August 19 and as there  are recent posts, no words that is is cancelled.  So no idea why it has been removed from the website.  I guess they do not expect any cancellations (!!)

I’m currently booked on that inaugural and we haven’t heard anything even though it was removed from the booking side it’s still in our accounts.

she’s actually due in Amsterdam 15th August so looks like a travel agents preview 15th - 17th.

Given it’s a week’s sail from Venice to Amsterdam she needs to have left Venice by 8th so I’d imagine sea trials 2nd half of July so the only question is does she look on schedule?  
the dockyard says she’s 80% complete in one report so only possible reason I can see is they want more accurate status update before opening up anymore cabins/bookings (went the cruise went off sale cabins were still available).

I think it’s safe to assume now there is no Brewhouse 🙁🤷‍♂️.  

I didn’t see an update on this but the 9day itinerary is available to book.

As expected it’s to alternate the Barcelona embark/disembark port dates.

4 hours ago, BenCoudon said:

I agree that it looks like they have not announced everything yet.

Under the "Lounge and Bar" section, they only have 11 venues

Only 7 are actual available bars.  You cannot include the Haven and  the Vibe club bars as they are not available to all guests.  Even the Penrose bar is the Casino bar.  You can get a drink there but usually it is dedicated to casino players only. 7 bars for 3300 passengers is way below the usual ratio.  The Jade, with only 2400 passengers, has 13 bars.   Also, no information about other venues such as SpiceH20, the Bliss lounge, comedy club (or any similar venues).  I think there is more to come.  Hopefully we will have the final deck plans soon

FROM ARTISANAL TO INSPIRATIONAL

• THE OBSERVATION LOUNGE  BELVEDERE BAR PRIMA SPEEDWAY BAR VIBE BEACH CLUB
• METROPOLITAN BAR PENROSE BAR THE HUMIDOR CIGAR LOUNGE THE HAVEN LOUNGE & BAR
• WHISKEY BAR WAVES POOL BAR STUDIO LOUNGE
•  

im hoping you are right.

in addition to the ones above they have already announced the pour house, the improv ( comedy club) and of course the local.

Disappointed they have left out the District Brewhouse.   All the bars seem to be very “cocktails type” , ok there’s the local (poor man’s O’Sheehans) but even that the renderings don’t seem to show any draught taps! 
 

My bet would be this is more to do with cost and terminal availability.

Epic has traditionally occupied Terminal A on prime weekend slot.  This summer most weekends all 5 terminals are occupied and often 6th cruise ship at one of the world terminals.

During midweek there is less turnarounds so any respective business (Barcelona port authority) would want to maximise revenue at peak, encourage more at off-peak.

combined with previous post makes sense if she does extended 9 day cruises as will be turning around on quieter days.

1 hour ago, Karaboudjan said:

I tried to count the seats in the food hall once from the blueprint in the video and it is a lot, but I think there would still have to be something else.  It seems like there will need to be some sort of quick service food higher up near the sundecks so maybe a smaller Garden Cafe up there to complement the food hall?

They would have to keep a normal size garden cafe buffet as whilst they may serve breakfast for free most of that food hall will be a la carte $$ for lunch/dinner.  

Probably Bella (beautiful) or Vela (sailing)

I’d have to admit I’m a bit disappointed at this latest release.  I was led to believe after the gimmick away class these smaller ships were more akin to replacing the star class. 
 

why they stuck the Galaxy Pavilion on a upper deck where a nice observation/show lounge would be I don’t understand!

no sign of the Brewhouse District? Has anyone heard definite one way or another? 
 

Feel sorry for those near the slides, I’ve been on lots of the Oasis class ships and those slides were open day AND some nights and complaints galore from the broadway balcony cabins as the screams echoed down.

The only interesting thing on there is the convertible theatre to nightclub.  I’d got images of the slanted floor with seats lifting into the ceiling void to reveal the area underneath (where the smokehouse etc is on away plus class) 

I also noticed slipped in on deck 7 is the pour house and a impro/comedy venue.

Cancelled my Anthem cruise when the itinerary was changed 11th July, was told 30 days FCC,  they still haven’t even cancelled the booking as got edocs and luggage tags.  Emailed them and just said yes it’s in line to be cancelled so guess my 30 days haven’t even started! 
 

tried ringing but after an hour on queue it cuts you off !  

2 hours ago, Jimmy_g88 said:

Our September 5th cruise on Anthem has had its itinerary changed from the Fjords to Spain and Portugal. Haven’t received an email to confirm changes although contact RC directly, who confirmed its correct. Not sure on any other sailings for September. 

just got my email.

5th Sept new itinerary is:

Sun

Southampton, England

6:00 PM

Mon

Cruising

Tue

Vigo, Spain

9:00 AM

5:00 PM

Wed

Lisbon, Portugal

8:00 AM

7:00 PM

Thu

Cruising

Fri

Bilbao, Spain

8:00 AM

6:00 PM

Sat

Cruising

Sun

Southampton, England

5:30 AM

I’m pushing all my pics up,to my Flickr account single_cruiser

https://www.flickr.com/photos/single_cruiser/albums/72157678857380448

5 hours ago, maggieq said:

Great review and pics.  We were on this sailing as well - first time NCL

 

Other than the picture left on our bed the last day, did you receive anything else to commemorate this sailing?  I was shocked at the lack of hoopla and attention paid to being the first sailing. 
 

Very pleased with some aspects of the cruise and not so much with others. I wrote a quick review; which doesn’t come close to yours.  Thanks for sharing with others. 

no just that tatty photo!   The trophies from Doug’s events would be far more collectible! 
 

im just on the plane home now 

3 minutes ago, McFins said:

Such a great and helpful review.  Thanks for taking the time to post.   In looking at the dailies, it appears the Skyline Bar does not have entertainment (like the Escape).  Is that correct? 

Yes what was the dance floor area is now more casino machines