NCL Prima - Iceland with no hot tubs

[Sailing12Away]

Dinner at Food Republic to burn the last of our dining credits. Bottle of Dom to burn the last of our non refundable credits. Up/down/back/forth to get our refundable credits issued. Stupid NCL policy where they can't just put it back to the original form of payment - have to issue cash.

 

Trying to finish last minute double checks of the room and catch our ride into London.

[Sailing12Away]

The great hash brown potato famine continues. I was hoping they restocked in Amsterdam and thought I might be able to get some this morning - nope, general breakfast potatoes instead.

 

Toilets at one bar in Brugges cost 0.50 euro, but were free at the other brewery.

 

My sister & the kids started to walk off a little while ago. We're going to see if the concierge can get us off quicker with just the two of us in a little bit.

[Sussexboy]

I hope you have left the ship clean and tidy, we are just about to leave the house for the journey to Southampton. Do I need to bring my own hash browns?

[seemoreroyals]

Always sad when the last day of a cruise gets here.  Thanks for your live review of the Prima.  Did they ever do anything extra for you for shutting down your private hot tub?

[Sailing12Away]

5 hours ago, Sussexboy said:

I hope you have left the ship clean and tidy, we are just about to leave the house for the journey to Southampton. Do I need to bring my own hash browns?

Yes, it seems you do unfortunately.

[Sailing12Away]

57 minutes ago, seemoreroyals said:

Always sad when the last day of a cruise gets here.  Thanks for your live review of the Prima.  Did they ever do anything extra for you for shutting down your private hot tub?

No, $500/person non refundable credit. I had to ask them 3x for the case number so I can follow up when I get home. Don't they will do anything though.

[Sailing12Away]

Rain is just starting to come down here in London. Got in a short walk before it came down. My sister's room is ready but ours is not, so lounging in her room for a bit before our 5pm surprise for the kids.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Rain is just starting to come down here in London. Got in a short walk before it came down. My sister's room is ready but ours is not, so lounging in her room for a bit before our 5pm surprise for the kids.

No surprise, rain in London. We had a pre-cruise day in London and it poured. Luckily our hotel room was ready so we could shower and get a little rest before leaving our hotel by the airport to go to London. We spent over 4 hours in the British Museum (DW is a retired art teacher) which was at least out of the rain. DW has said if it was not for the rain we would have then walked around to see if there was anything else of interest, maybe by the palace.

 

And the last time we were in London on a pre-cruise day, there was the remnants of a hurricane, so again of course rain.

 

[Sailing12Away]

Sun has just started to come out, right in time for our London eye champagne experience. Told the kids we were headed to a wig museum....

[HBCcruiser]

Just now, Sailing12Away said:

Sun has just started to come out, right in time for our London eye champagne experience. Told the kids we were headed to a wig museum....

We did that! So fun. Enjoy! 

[Markj]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

No surprise, rain in London. We had a pre-cruise day in London and it poured. 

 

And the last time we were in London on a pre-cruise day, there was the remnants of a hurricane, so again of course rain.

 

Behave. We have had soem lovely weather recently and last year summer was too hot!!!!

 

You Americans, always complaining!!

 

Love you though!!!

[Markj]

2 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

Sun has just started to come out, right in time for our London eye champagne experience. Told the kids we were headed to a wig museum....

Did you NOT go to the wig museum?

 

Big fail!!

 

Really enjoyed your company the past week or so and hope to run into you in some bar sometime in the future!!

[Sailing12Away]

48 minutes ago, Markj said:

Did you NOT go to the wig museum?

 

Big fail!!

 

Really enjoyed your company the past week or so and hope to run into you in some bar sometime in the future!!

Absolutely. James said you've got his info, so keep us posted on any upcoming trips. I'm always game for a last minute adventure when I know fun folks will be around.

 

We'll be back in London next year when the Mets play the Phillies, so can try to possibly meet up for a drink or 3 then.

[Markj]

Just now, Sailing12Away said:

Absolutely. James said you've got his info, so keep us posted on any upcoming trips. I'm always game for a last minute adventure when I know fun folks will be around.

 

We'll be back in London next year when the Mets play the Phillies, so can try to possibly meet up for a drink or 3 then.

Yes for sure. Let me know your plans for that. Maybe I'll even come and see my first ever game of bat and ball!!!

[Sailing12Away]

Rain stopped before our trip on the Ferris wheel which was great. Meet up with a local friend for a beer, then headed for some pub food and more drinks.

 

We splurged on the penthouse suite for us which includes an outdoor terrace overlooking the eye and big ben. Enjoying the gorgeous weather while trying to sober up so we can drink the beers and cidars we bought at the local shop earlier. The photo with the cream color building is our hotel, we're on the top floor.

 

Not looking forward to returning to work... may take another COVID test when I get home and see if I can finagle a positive to get some extra days at home.

[ontheweb]

6 hours ago, Markj said:

Behave. We have had soem lovely weather recently and last year summer was too hot!!!!

 

You Americans, always complaining!!

 

Love you though!!!

Love you right back. 😊

 

And when we checked into out hotel the morning before the cruise (with a room guaranteed to be ready for 3 PM) and were told that the room was ready, I told the clerk that if was not married with an anniversary coming up, I would propose to her on the spot. 🤣 Seriously, it was nice to be able to shower and rest just a bit before traveling from the hotel by the airport to London proper.

[CptBoatface]

Magic marker could work for the positive result if you need a picture of the test for work. Though I wouldn't officially know about that method nor would I EVER recommend doing so😉

[Sailing12Away]

Nah, I've got some external positive/negative kit controls I can always run if I truly wanted to fake a test result.

 

Unfortunately no need to doctor up a fake result, on the plane ride home to NY I knew it would be positive on retest. Just like my trip this time of year last year around Canada, started getting a super leaky nose for the entire 8hr flight home (yeah, that was fun....). When we got home Monday I retested myself and it was positive. James is still showing up negative, so that's a plus for him at least.

 

Worked from home on Tuesday, had to run in yesterday (with a mask) to do some proficiency testing samples as I'm unfortunately the only schmuck in the lab who knows how to run that particular instrument at the moment. Grabbed some more collection swabs as the bulk test kits I've got at home are missing the swabs, tested James and I both last night again and now we're both showing as negative. So I'm on the back half of it, will keep an eye on him to see if he's just delayed or dodged the bullet somehow.

 

Always amuses me when I talk to non-sciency people (my mom) about it. "I thought you were vaccinated, how did you get it?". Because mom, that's not how vaccines work. It doesn't create a magical invisibility cloak around you to the virus so that you never catch it. It just gives your immune system a running head start to fight it off when it gets close to you. So instead of developing pneumonia and dying, I just had a bad cough and leaky nose for a few days.

 

When I told my boss Monday that I was positive and would have to work from home the next few days she lectured me on my immune system and ways to beef it up. I was 30 seconds away from explaining to her that it was my current job causing my immune system to be weaker which was why I was actively seeking employment elsewhere, but figured that was a more fun conversation to have in person on Friday so I could see the look on her face. 

 

Another friend told me I needed to stop taking cruises since I keep coming back from them with Covid, but honestly my track record isn't bad. First post-Covid trip was Alaska, no Covid but also had to wear masks everywhere. Then we went to Greece - also masked up so no Covid. Short 5 day in the garden villa, also with masks though so no Covid (seeing a pattern yet....?). Spain we were without masks, but spent most of our time in the garden villa alone - no Covid. September last year was Canada, still think I caught Covid from one of the big bus tours. Panama earlier this year was without masks, lots of people interactions, but no Covid. And now this trip. 

 

So yeah... it's not about the cruise, it's the peopley factor and time of year for me. Someone should consider making some type of peopley app or something to track where the crowds are so that I can avoid them 😉 . Next trip is with Celebrity in 2 months, but we're not doing any big bus tours. Let's see if my big bus and colder weather theory holds out. I'm fine with adding extra funds to the vacation budget for all private tours going forward in the sake of my health if there's correlation to be found.

[honeybear'scruisevacation]

On 9/12/2023 at 6:05 AM, ontheweb said:

If you had been on our cruise (Prima August 6-17), all of your Los Lobos reservations would have been cancelled. They reserved it for a group the entire cruise, I believe they made it into a Kosher restaurant. They sent out an e-mail saying that anyone with a prior reservation had it cancelled.

We had lunch in a mdr.  the people next to us ordered kosher.  Everyone in our section had the longest lunch ever.  I don't know why their lunch slowed service down so much.  If they would have just told us it was going to take that long we would have went elsewhere no problem.  

[Sailing12Away]

So this is interesting... NCL has finally changed the verbiage in their letter to Prima guests with private hot tubs and is finally admitting the truth.

 

I've been chatting with the CDC, but they're not sharing much info. They just keep telling me to ask NCL for more info, but NCL has not yet responded to me since I got back from my trip.  

 

Cough is still lingering, so need to chat with my doctor to see if I should get tested for Legionella now.

[HBCcruiser]

Total BS on Norwegian’s part. Bad form. They need to do better. I’d get that test and send them the damn bill! Feel better my friend. Keep pushing NCL to make this right.