LIVE * Prima * April 30 – May 7, 2023 * Aft OS

[McFins]

Thank you so much for your wonderful, thorough review.   It is so helpful to so many and much appreciated,   It sounds like you had a great time …happy for you.

Thanks again and have a safe trip home

 

 

[ChiefMateJRK]

3 hours ago, UKstages said:

a bootle of johnnie walker blue should run about $245.

I would love that, but it's too expensive for my blood even if I'm spending @HBCcruiser's OBC. 🐀

[HBCcruiser]

Abd of course it’s a beautiful sunny day in NYC. Those of you boarding her today should have a nice trip down. We have an early flight so are going to get off the ship asap. When I’m home I’ll finish this thread and post some videos that the WiFi refused to let me post.

 

 

[oteixeira]

6 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

Abd of course it’s a beautiful sunny day in NYC. Those of you boarding her today should have a nice trip down. We have an early flight so are going to get off the ship asap. When I’m home I’ll finish this thread and post some videos that the WiFi refused to let me post.

 

 

Have a safe and great flight back to the left coast!

[Sailing12Away]

Yesterday we hit the 70s here, and today will be similar. So even though you got drenched coming in, at least we're giving you a proper send off back home. Thanks for taking us along on your journey.

[LATTELOVE]

58 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

Abd of course it’s a beautiful sunny day in NYC. Those of you boarding her today should have a nice trip down. We have an early flight so are going to get off the ship asap. When I’m home I’ll finish this thread and post some videos that the WiFi refused to let me post.

 

 

So Beautiful!!

Thank you for taking of your time to

do this review.

It was over too quick..  

Very nice following.

Till next time.

[pbxtech]

Thank You.

Really enjoyed  your live review

 

[HBCcruiser]

We couldn’t leave the ship until 8:45. Then I was red flagged because I needed to collect $12! I had cashed out yesterday but they had made some sort of error. Luckily David took care of it quickly.

 

We are hoping we can make our flight. The city is a cluster with all of the road closures. Some bike race. Ugh! People coming and going from/ to the ship may have delays as well. 🙏

[Sailing12Away]

https://www.bike.nyc/events/td-five-boro-bike-tour/

[goldmom]

1 hour ago, HBCcruiser said:

We couldn’t leave the ship until 8:45. Then I was red flagged because I needed to collect $12! I had cashed out yesterday but they had made some sort of error. Luckily David took care of it quickly.

 

We are hoping we can make our flight. The city is a cluster with all of the road closures. Some bike race. Ugh! People coming and going from/ to the ship may have delays as well. 🙏

We've run into the bike race and road closures a few times.  It's a real pain for both boarding and disembarkation. But even worse when trying to get off.   Good luck and hope you make your flight!

[Maleficent's Dad]

Thanks for this great report!  Hope you make your flight!

[oteixeira]

The best way I can explain travel in NYC is there is ALWAYS something going on, so bake in extra time.  I hope you still make your flight without issue.  As for having money left over, Tina and I work real hard to spend too much, so as not to have this issue.  LOL  

Thanks again for the review, I am still not sold that this ship is better then the Haven on the Away ships, and I wont try it as long as it is a premium cost over them, but one day I will get on a Prima class and check it out for myself.  I still think my biggest disappointment will be the lack of a proper District bar.  Did you go to Food Republic on this sailing?  Still wondering how that compares to the Away class FRs that we love to visit.

[Greenpea2]

How could your cruise be OVER ALREADY! 

 

But thank you so so much for spending time sharing it with us. Loved it. 

[HBCcruiser]

We made it to the airport and on our flight with no issue. Now at LAX waiting for our luggage. I heard that they stopped disembarkation for a while. Anyone know why?

[HBCcruiser]

7 hours ago, oteixeira said:

Did you go to Food Republic on this sailing?  Still wondering how that compares to the Away class FRs that we love to visit

No we didn’t. We had 4 specialty dinners and chose other restaurants instead. The one night in Bermuda we are off ship and ate in the Haven the other nights. The buffet and Indulge were always pretty busy, especially during peak dining hours. 

[HBCcruiser]

We are home now sitting outside having a glass of wine. I’ll finish this up tomorrow! Cheers!

 

[nybumpkin]

8 hours ago, oteixeira said:

Did you go to Food Republic on this sailing?  Still wondering how that compares to the Away class FRs that we love to visit.

I did go on the 3/28 sailing, with my daughter-in-law. Since I'm a newbie, I can't compare it to Food Republics on other ships - but we enjoyed our experience. All of our food was really good, with my favorite being the Green Tea Jar for dessert - probably one of the best desserts I've had on a cruise. I would say the only "down" side to our experience was that the space adjoins the buffet and is used as an overflow space for the buffet for breakfast and lunch, so we had a number of other meals in the same space since there were no tables available in the buffet area. It just took away from the "specialty" experience.

 

HBCcruiser, thanks so much for taking us on your cruise!

[oteixeira]

8 minutes ago, nybumpkin said:

I did go on the 3/28 sailing, with my daughter-in-law. Since I'm a newbie, I can't compare it to Food Republics on other ships - but we enjoyed our experience. All of our food was really good, with my favorite being the Green Tea Jar for dessert - probably one of the best desserts I've had on a cruise. I would say the only "down" side to our experience was that the space adjoins the buffet and is used as an overflow space for the buffet for breakfast and lunch, so we had a number of other meals in the same space since there were no tables available in the buffet area. It just took away from the "specialty" experience.

 

HBCcruiser, thanks so much for taking us on your cruise!

I appreciate your input.  I already love the food, so this was my concern, is the quiet little Asian fusion place now really noisy and over run because it is the first thing outside of the buffet.  It sounds like you didn't love it more because you sat there multiple times from the buffet.  Could you comment on how busy the area was at dinner when you went?

 

 

[nybumpkin]

18 minutes ago, oteixeira said:

I appreciate your input.  I already love the food, so this was my concern, is the quiet little Asian fusion place now really noisy and over run because it is the first thing outside of the buffet.  It sounds like you didn't love it more because you sat there multiple times from the buffet.  Could you comment on how busy the area was at dinner when you went?

 

 

It wasn't busy at all, and not noisy. They kicked out the buffet folks around 3;00 each day so they could set for dinner. I think you're right about my reaction - we had so many buffet meals there that it just took away from the "special" part of "specialty" dining. I think if you're planning on Food Republic as a dinner during your cruise, I'd try to avoid sitting there for the buffet overflow.

[HBCcruiser]

1 hour ago, nybumpkin said:

HBCcruiser, thanks so much for taking us on your cruise!

Thanks for following along! 😎

[dexddd]

11 hours ago, oteixeira said:

I appreciate your input.  I already love the food, so this was my concern, is the quiet little Asian fusion place now really noisy and over run because it is the first thing outside of the buffet.  It sounds like you didn't love it more because you sat there multiple times from the buffet.  Could you comment on how busy the area was at dinner when you went?

 

 

We went twice on Prima and it food wise was  identical to Escape.  A bit busier but still not busy. Very quiet at dinner.

 

As overflow it is not exactly next door, you have to walk 2/3 of the ship width wise to get there.

[HBCcruiser]

Thank you to everyone who followed along and posted to this thread. My final thoughts about the Prima:

 

Loves:

 

1. The staff, especially the Haven staff, were phenomenal. We especially found Jefferson and Rommel in the Haven bar to be a blast - they also made the best drinks! Also, David, the Concierge, went out of his way for us, as did our Butler, Rex. We tipped all of them well and left Hero cards for them too.

 

2. The quality of the food. We ate in the Haven, Cagney's. The Local, Palomar, Bistro and Onda. All of the food was rated at least 8:10 to 10:10 forks. Everytime we tried to try Indulge, it was too crowded, so we never tried that venu. Our favorite specialty restaurants in order were:

- Haven

- Bistro

- Palomar

- Onda

- Cagney's

I thought the Local food was much better on the Prima then on the Breakaway. 

 

3. Our suite balcony. This was an amazing balcony with a great hot tub. We used this space often.

 

4. The outdoor spaces on the Prima. There were many areas to catch sun, relax and grab a drink. We could always find a place, even outside of the Haven, to do that. The Haven outdoor spaces were wonderful. Having an outdoor eating area and bar really adds to the Havnen. I wish other ships had that.  This ship is made for warm weather sailing. I wish our sea day weather had been better so that we could have enjoyed the outside decks more. 

 

5. The main shows - Price is Right and Donna Summer - were great. The performers are excellent. The main shows are not offered very often though. 

 

6. The Haven elevators - We hardly had to wait to use these. The trick is learning how to use them to get to where you want to go. For instance, if you want to go to the Observation Lounge you need to drop down to deck 15 to walk out of the Haven, then take the regular aft elevators up to 17. Vibe blocks the direct path from the Haven to the rest of deck 17. 

 

Dislikes:

 

1. The entertainment venues on this ship are too small for the number of pax that want to attend or listen.

 

2. The lack of musical and entertainment options. On other ships there are numerous venues offering a variety of music and entertainment options daily. (i.e., dueling pianos, jazz bands, Steel drum bands and main pool bands, Dance club with DJ (yes the Prima theatre turns into a nightclub at times) and guitarists). Syd's should have a variety of performers (solo guitar players, piano players and bands) performing throughout the day or at least starting at 5 PM. That space is not used well IMO. Same with the Improv. This venue was hardly used for comedians and magicians. They moved those shows to the theatre - which was a good move. There were very few events for us to partake in during sea days. 

 

3. Cabin (suite) layout and issues. We are not the only pax to state this - the cabin was noisy with howling wind coming through the front door and creaking and banging sounds that could not be addressed. We put towels down to stifle some of the noise. In our opinion the ship was not built with care. It is like buying a prefab home versus a custom built home. Prima would be the prefab. Too many design flaws and issues. There was a lack of storage - especially in the bathroom and shower. There is no place to put your personal shampoo/conditioner and razor in the shower. There are no towel racks by the sink and also very little storage. There is no vanity or place to do hair/makeup in the suite. The plug in the bathroom will not work for a personal hair dryer, curling iron or straightener. 

 

4. Yes, the ship has a funky flow to it, but if yu have ever sailed on the Sky, it is not as bad as that. Study the deck maps before you sail so you can visualize how to get from one place to the next. There are a lot of signs around which help.

 

The final question - will I sail her again? Probably not unless the price is right. According to our Concierge, the Viva will be similar to the Prima due to lack of time to make any design changes, but future ships will make adjustments to the design. I will wait to see what those ships are like. In the meantime, we will sail other NCL ships if the price is right. I spoke to many Haven guests who feel the same way. We all prefer the Breakaway and B+ design. In addition, many of us are not NCL "loyalists" even though we love the Haven experience. We sail other lines and weigh the positives and negatives of each. With the prices for NCL (especially the Haven) increasing, it makes sense to try other lines. A lot of Haveners are branching out to MSC, RCI and Celebrity. Our next NCL cruise will not be until October '24, but we have lots of RCI, Virgin and Princess cruises booked. The prices are much better for similar itineraries. 

[HBCcruiser]

Some videos - Rommel decided to compete against RCI's Raj on the rainbow shot pour. Rommel won with lining it up on one pour!

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by HBCcruiser

[HBCcruiser]

Swimming in the cave at Tom Moore's. So fun!

 

 

 

 

[HBCcruiser]

Bermuda's beaches are so beautiful! My DH kept saying, "The water looks fake it is so turquoise!" Bermuda is my absolute favorite place.