Everything... project Leonardo/Prima class!

[kayjaypea42]

10 hours ago, cb2367 said:

I'm going to sailing on Prima in about two weeks. The more I see reviews about small venues, the more concerned I get. Are there two improv shows a night during a week long sailing? I thought I had read somewhere that at least one of the improv shows would be held in the theatre. It's sounding like it's going to be spending the evening time waiting in line for a venue.

I'll be on her right after you.  I saw on one YouTube vlog that it appears as though they have virtual queues, which would make things much easier. (Maybe...in theory...) Can anyone confirm that or give details on how that works?  Thanks!

[mast3rn8]

1 hour ago, kayjaypea42 said:

I'll be on her right after you.  I saw on one YouTube vlog that it appears as though they have virtual queues, which would make things much easier. (Maybe...in theory...) Can anyone confirm that or give details on how that works?  Thanks!

Yes, there are virtual queues on the app that allows you to 'get in line' for selected shows. With my experience though, you have about 5 minutes from the time you receive the notification (in the app, so keep it open and watch it!) to show up to the venue door until they release your spot and move to the next person in the queue.

Edited November 8, 2022 by mast3rn8

[kayjaypea42]

1 hour ago, mast3rn8 said:

Yes, there are virtual queues on the app that allows you to 'get in line' for selected shows. With my experience though, you have about 5 minutes from the time you receive the notification (in the app, so keep it open and watch it!) to show up to the venue door until they release your spot and move to the next person in the queue.

 

Good to know! That way I can hang at the nearest bar until it's time to go

[BenCoudon]

7 hours ago, mast3rn8 said:

Yes, there are virtual queues on the app that allows you to 'get in line' for selected shows. With my experience though, you have about 5 minutes from the time you receive the notification (in the app, so keep it open and watch it!) to show up to the venue door until they release your spot and move to the next person in the queue.

Lets just hope that the entertaiment crew learned how to look at the virtual queue.  During my sailings, although I added my name to the queue for both Sid and Improv during the TA, they had no idea that there was a virtual queue.  But in all fairness, as it was new, it was normal that they had problems with some of the new features.  Start up flaws are normal.

[Steff79]

delay of ship 3+4, so no ship 2024

The third ship is now expected in first quarter 2025 instead of Q4 2024, and the fourth ship in Q1 2026 instead of Q3 2025.

 

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/shipbuilding-refurb-equipment/supply-chain-issues-delay-ncls-third-and-fourth-prima-class-ships

[pilgrimage]

Regarding the glass walkway - the port walkway was still shattered on the 10/31-11/11 cruise.

 

Starboard was fine - avoid if you are prone to motion sickness 🙂

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by pilgrimage

[BirdTravels]

On 11/2/2022 at 7:02 PM, GreenFamily said:

Is this a permanent drop in price or a short term sale? 

Prices and sales change all the time. Like any other vendor. 

[Buglady777]

On 11/8/2022 at 3:10 PM, BenCoudon said:

Lets just hope that the entertaiment crew learned how to look at the virtual queue.  Start up flaws are normal.

I agree they are still learning the ropes, so to speak.  While standing in line at the Improv (with reservations) the people in front of me bragged that they did not have reservations. they were let in without a second thought.  Happened a couple of times, no control of reservations.  We ended up with horrible seats.

[BenCoudon]

Now that the Prima is born and appears to sail like all other cruiseships, this concludes my participation to this great thread.  I joined it few months after it was created.  I knew nothing about ship development and construction and had never sail on a new ship. Thanks to the expertise of @FreestyleNovice @Steff79 and many others, we followed the construction almost on a daily basis.  We saw videos and pictures of a barge bringing blocks from Romania to Venice. Prior to this thread, I didn't even know that ships were built by blocks. We were "almost" live when she had her first swim.  

There was lots of very interesting discussion about the design and construction of the ship.  I learned so much.

And I had the pleasure to sail on this new ship on her 2nd and 3rd commercial sailings. 

True that I am disapointed about some components of this new ship but it is not really important.  The journey to the release of a new ship that I experienced here was great.  

As I am not planning to sail again on the Prima (and the Viva) anytime soon,  I am signing off.  The Leonardo 3 has been delayed to 2025.  So I will check it out sometimes in mid 2024.

Once again, thanks to all the contributors .

[McGarrett5oh]

Sailed past the Prima at night in Miami last week….

[bluesea777]

Great! I can see the go-kart lights moving!!!

 

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by bluesea777

[kessdarln]

Is there a door to the studio cabins near/behind the elevator end?

[Steff79]

Saw a video that the emergency sprinklers at the theater set the complete theater under rainfall water. Do someone know what happened?

 

do they play know other games there or only the price is right?

 

read that that some whirlpool don’t work and other things are damaged? Or not in good shape for a new ship? 
 

 Don’t see noise boys at the homepage for the prima. Is the show still on board?

Edited January 25, 2023 by Steff79

[RVACruiser43]

35 minutes ago, Steff79 said:

Saw a video that the emergency sprinklers at the theater set the complete theater under rainfall water. Do someone know what happened?

 

do they play know other games there or only the price is right?

 

read that that some whirlpool don’t work and other things are damaged? Or not in good shape for a new ship? 
 

 Don’t see noise boys at the homepage for the prima. Is the show still on board?

I have read posts that NCL cancelled the Noise Boys along with some other top Broadway shows on the big ships due to cost savings.  I had not heard about the theater yet, but have heard disturbing reports of lots of things broken.  Are people being vandals or is everything on the cheap and easily broken?  Umbrella’s and bar stools were items I had heard were a problem.

Tom

[bortman23]

12 hours ago, RVACruiser43 said:

I have read posts that NCL cancelled the Noise Boys along with some other top Broadway shows on the big ships due to cost savings.  I had not heard about the theater yet, but have heard disturbing reports of lots of things broken.  Are people being vandals or is everything on the cheap and easily broken?  Umbrella’s and bar stools were items I had heard were a problem.

Tom

 

We just got off the Jan 15 - 22 sailing. There were only two issues we saw with broken/damaged items:

- The Stadium Area was in poor shape, especially the mini golf

- At the back of the ship there was soot on EVERYTHING

 

Stadium/Mini Golf:

Mini Gold had so many broken items. Most didn't affect play, but it was very noticeable for such a new ship. The other areas were looking rough too, the circular table tennis had some broken items, and the shuffleboard tables were worn out.

 

Soot at the back:

There was soot everywhere. It was so bad everyone was using their towels to protect their clothes. We did this every time and still ended up with black spots on our clothes. Again, this was very annoying since the area is very nice and is a great place to relax. 

 

We did see them attempting to clean the covers, and on the last day it looked like they were going to attempt a huge wash of all the covers.

 

Theatre Sprinklers:

We did see video in our FB group of the sprinklers going off on the last night. I think it might have been during or after the last Donna Summer Show. It seemed to be around 11pm which is around the time the show ends. The theatre was in great shape (at least before the sprinklers issue)

 

 

[GreenFamily]

The reviews of the Prima/Viva are so bad, I’m rethinking my Mediterranean cruise. Honestly if we can’t sit to eat a meal because there’s not enough seating, activities are not functional, and the reservation systems (tenders, meals, go karts, shows) are a mess, I don’t think it’s worth the money. It might be cheaper to tour by land, which is what I’m used to. Frustrating. 

[kessdarln]

2 hours ago, GreenFamily said:

The reviews of the Prima/Viva are so bad, I’m rethinking my Mediterranean cruise. Honestly if we can’t sit to eat a meal because there’s not enough seating, activities are not functional, and the reservation systems (tenders, meals, go karts, shows) are a mess, I don’t think it’s worth the money. It might be cheaper to tour by land, which is what I’m used to. Frustrating. 

If you can get a casino at sea comp, Prima is now an option.  Save some $$ 🙂 

[GreenFamily]

1 minute ago, kessdarln said:

If you can get a casino at sea comp, Prima is now an option.  Save some $$ 🙂 

My cruise for a family of four will cost us $1000 per day. We have been saving for this and I’m willing to pay if it’s worth it. My concern is that the reviews for this ship are worse than the Epic. The complaints are legitimate, such as 2-3 hour waits to eat an an MDR, no  openings for speciality restaurants that they paid for in the price of the cruise, no seating in the food hall/buffet, limited hours at the buffet and long lines at the 24 hour pub,, up charges for room service, no water bottle filling stations. Seriously, I hope nobody is diabetic! 

 

The other complaints include falls at the swimming pool area and activities that aren’t operational. 
 

I love the itinerary enough to overlook a lot, but I think complaints about basic needs like food, seating, drinking water and safety should be addressed. 

 

 

[Jim The Lizard]

15 minutes ago, GreenFamily said:

My cruise for a family of four will cost us $1000 per day. We have been saving for this and I’m willing to pay if it’s worth it. My concern is that the reviews for this ship are worse than the Epic. The complaints are legitimate, such as 2-3 hour waits to eat an an MDR, no  openings for speciality restaurants that they paid for in the price of the cruise, no seating in the food hall/buffet, limited hours at the buffet and long lines at the 24 hour pub,, up charges for room service, no water bottle filling stations. Seriously, I hope nobody is diabetic! 

 

The other complaints include falls at the swimming pool area and activities that aren’t operational. 
 

I love the itinerary enough to overlook a lot, but I think complaints about basic needs like food, seating, drinking water and safety should be addressed. 

 

 

It is a big expense for a family of four.  And I am seeing the same complaints.  My question is: what do you think NCL can do to correct these issues? 

"2-3 hours waits in dining rooms" seem to be a subjective complaint (I have seen other reviews that compliment speed of service also). 

"No seating in the food hall or buffet" is being addressed with additional seating in Palomar and Food Republic (but the buffet is too small - no argument).  Only option I see is to eliminate a paid food restaurant and make it part of the buffet.  Not sure if that is going to happen.

"Limited hours at the buffet and pub" - simply put, not enough staff.  Just like many businesses, there just isn't enough bodies to work. 

"Up charges for room service" - seems to be a cruise line trend.

 "No water filling bottle stations" - I haven't seen this.  Hopefully there are refilling stations - or I will be taking my reusable Yeti to a bar and fill up.

"Falls on the swim deck" - it is obvious that something needs to be addressed here -  unsure what the solution is but this is a big one.  

"Activities that aren't operational" = it appears that the desire for substance over quality may have bit NCL in the butt here - beautiful furniture, shiny objects, cutting edge VR - lots of complaints and reporting about sustainability and quality.  

 

I think the thing I see is that there are a lot of complaints and lots of buyer remorse for many passengers - and there are other reports of passengers loving this new product from NCL.   Most of us booked this ship because of our loyalty to NCL and appreciation of the brand.  Seems like Prima is testing a lot of us!   Hope you enjoy your cruise  

[bortman23]

38 minutes ago, Jim The Lizard said:

"2-3 hours waits in dining rooms"

 

Our sailing was at over capacity (3300 of 3099) and we never once waited more than 10 min for dining (for complimentary dining). In fact the ONLY time we wait more than 1 min was for the Local around 2/3pm after coming back from a port and it was about 10min even with a large line. 

 

41 minutes ago, Jim The Lizard said:

"Activities that aren't operational"

 

Every single activity on our sailing was fully operational (not everything was in good shape though, as per my other post)

 

42 minutes ago, Jim The Lizard said:

"Limited hours at the buffet and pub"

 

I kept hearing this kind of criticism on our sailing, which is odd, since the "pub" was open 24 hours. I actually heard someone say "this (the local) is the only place for food open!" when in fact the Surfside Grill and the Observation lounge both had food available at that time. 

[GreenFamily]

53 minutes ago, bortman23 said:

 

Our sailing was at over capacity (3300 of 3099) and we never once waited more than 10 min for dining (for complimentary dining). In fact the ONLY time we wait more than 1 min was for the Local around 2/3pm after coming back from a port and it was about 10min even with a large line. 

 

 

Every single activity on our sailing was fully operational (not everything was in good shape though, as per my other post)

 

 

I kept hearing this kind of criticism on our sailing, which is odd, since the "pub" was open 24 hours. I actually heard someone say "this (the local) is the only place for food open!" when in fact the Surfside Grill and the Observation lounge both had food available at that time. 

Thank you so much for your response.

[bortman23]

13 minutes ago, GreenFamily said:

Thank you so much for your response.

 

No problem. I'm by no means trying to say the Prima is perfect. It has problems; my personal opinion is that the majority of the complaints I heard on our trip were basically "this (thing/space) is different and I don't like it" or "there's no where to eat" when in actuality other places were open (they just hadn't checked the Freestyle Daily for the times).

 

I will (sadly) say the consistent issue I personally encountered was the sheer amount of rudeness we saw employees on the receiving end of. And people continuing to hold tables, chairs, seating when they clearly were done eating, or were not actually using the pool deck chairs. We watched a family of 4 reserve 6+ chairs in two areas. Then their teenage kids spent all afternoon at the pool while their towels enjoyed some sun on the loungers.

Edited January 25, 2023 by bortman23

[jls pebbles]

Did the inagural on the Prima and it's sad to read some of the not so good recent feedback.  After much deliberation I have decided to try Virgin Voyages in May. After 12 years of cruising NCL it's time for a change. Cruising is becoming so expensive and lattitudes perks add very little value even at Saphire level especially when "status match" and more.....means lots lots more. 

I'm sure I will cruise NCL again some time x

Edited January 26, 2023 by jls pebbles

[bortman23]

5 hours ago, jls pebbles said:

Virgin Voyages

 

I'm very interested in Virgin, mainly because it's adults only. I'd be willing to try them in the future.

[CruizinSusan70]

The only major complaint I had was the fact that the buffet closed at 930 for breakfast, yet the grill portion of the buffet was open from 300-500 for an extended lunch.  I have cruised on competitors such as RCI, MSC, Carnival, Princess and Celebrity and none of them shut down their breakfast buffets at 930.  And that includes post Covid, so NCL can't use the excuse. 

The Indulge Food Hall is great at dinner time and the selections are better than what is available at lunch.  At lunch, it's not worth the hassle of trying to find a seat.  Did it once and was not impressed.  Did go three times for dinner though out of our 11 nights on board along with 3 dinners in Hudson, one in the Local and 4 in specialties.  Light breakfasts are available till 1100 in the observation lounge.