Just off Prima- Not the best cruise...

[Tenderpaw]

 

But not the worst either.  We had a good time, but it wasn't a cruise where I wished I was staying another week.

 

Cabin-  Very nice. We had a regular balcony and it was great.  Nice sized bathroom with a standard sized sink, and a nice sized shower.  Storage was great too. The last new ship we sailed on was Disney Wish and this cabin was superior in every way except for lacking the Disney Split bath.  And we were Concierge on the Disney ship.

 

Food-  Complementary dining was better than Royal's new menu and better than Disney too.  Also better than on the Celebrity cruise we did last Spring too which is a sad fall for Celebrity considering what they once were.   "Free" dining meals were good.  Buffet was ok.  The buffet area on the Prima is too small with NCL expecting other venues to absorb part of the load but people still gravitate to the buffet for breakfast and lunch.  They use one of the specialty restaurants for overflow seating which helps a lot and is actually nice because people don't want to walk the extra 50 feet to use the space and it wasn't croweded in there.

 

Specialty Dining-  we are platinum so we got 2 meals for "free" excluding gratuity.  NCL's ala carte pricing is ridiculously high,approaching the cost of a land restaurant even though you technically already "paid" for the complimentary dining.   The food was ok, but not worth the money if we had to pay outright.  

 

Service- it was fine.    

 

Entertainment-  Weak.  They had a Donna Summer Story musical, which was good with very talented singers.  One comedian was great, the other comedian not great.  They did The Price is Right Game Show and it was a lot of fun.  One or two nights it felt like there was very little but the singers in various bars. Cruise director was weak and his style was somewhat annoying IMO. 

 

Itinerary-  We were supposed to stop at NCLs Harvest Cay, but they screwed us over and changed the port to Belize at the last minute.  People were pissed too because it was cancelled for a charter on the Norwegian Joy that stayed there overnight and NCL obviously knew that was going to happen but waited to cancel until after final payment date to lock folks in.  Total bait ansd switch deal.

 

The ship-  This is an odd ship.  The show lounge is dual purpose where about 2/3 of the seating is collapsible like in a high school gym.  So one deck in front of the stage turns into a large open area if they desire.  They use it for the disco and other things.  It is innovative, BUT the room seems small for shows.  The adult comedy show in there was over flowing with people having to stand.

 

Other than the show room, there are no large lounge areas.  There is a bar (Sid Normans) that they use for a lot of things and a comedy club, but they are too small and always over flowing.  We never got in to those venues.  Even the observation lounge at the front was small and always full.  It was small because behind it is a very high tech virtual reality gaming area (extra cost).  

 

The lido pool area is tiny and we never went there other than to pass through.  They do have lounge areas and infinity pools on deck 8 promenade, so they helps make up for the small lido area.  We did use the infinity pools on some port days and enjoyed.  NCL has a LOT of couches, bed loungers, and comfortable seating available on deck 8, probably more than other lines which is a plus.  Of course the chair hogs "reserve them" with towels and personal effects all day.  

 

The go-kart track was FUN and well done (extra cost).  They also had a high tech putt putt golf course that was very fun and puts other ships miniature golf to shame (extra cost).  There was a gaming area with pickle ball, shuffle board tables, ping pong and other things that was very nice (free).

 

They use the atrium for events, and even though its a nice area, it lacks capacity and seating.

 

The ship carries 3K people and is 980ish feet long and 130 wide.  If she were 100-120 feet longer, they could have a couple of large lounges plus additional cabins.  Since the Panama canal can handle longer ships now, why not make the ship longer?  Maybe its for docking in some ports?  The Breakaway class is larger and better designed.

 

Customer Service FAIL-  We at a meal in Palomar and charged the gratuity to our account.  When they entered the charge, they entered it twice.  An easy error to happen and to fix.  I went to the front desk on day 6 to have corrected and was assured it would be.  Well, the next day (disembarkation) it was still there.  So back to the front desk.  Of course, they aren't empowered to do anything and have to have a manager from Palomar remove the charge.   So we wait, and wait, and wait.  The guest services guy to his credit had to call 3 people before someone came down.  The Palomar manager lady didn't say anything, didn't acknowledge me at all.  No apology.  She just looked at the account and disappeared because the adjustment had to be made in the actual restaurant.  I obviously inconvenienced her for turnaround day with my issue concerning their screwup. Plus it delayed us getting off the ship.  But it did get fixed.

 

We had a good time, but again, I didn't wish for another week on board.

 

 

[BostonGal35]

we were on same sail, in the Haven - would not do this ship again either!!!  Even the Haven was oddly designed!

[Tenderpaw]

14 minutes ago, BostonGal35 said:

we were on same sail, in the Haven - would not do this ship again either!!!  Even the Haven was oddly designed!

And they've already made one copy (Viva) and will likely grind out 3 more!  Honestly, if they made the ship longer, they could correct some of the issues.

[UKstages]

thanks for your candid review.

 

23 minutes ago, Tenderpaw said:

we are platinum so we got 2 meals for "free" excluding gratuity.

 

according to NCL's FAQs, the "service charge" (for the purposes of this discussion, a.k.a. the "gratuity") is included in all platinum free dinners.

 

of course, if you order a menu item with an up-charge, or if you order a drink not covered by your drink package, you'll pay a gratuity of 20% of the additional charges.

 

 

 

[Liljo22]

47 minutes ago, Tenderpaw said:

And they've already made one copy (Viva) and will likely grind out 3 more!  Honestly, if they made the ship longer, they could correct some of the issues.

Aqua is bigger and moves venues around.  It also has more passengers though.  

[SeaShark]

So after building seven mega-ships (Epic thru Encore), NCL decides to build some medium size ships to fill the gap between the 2000 passenger ships and the mega-ships...something that can go to more ports, especially those without Icon of the Seas sized berths, and the prevailing logic on CC is "You know, these new ships would be great if they just made them BIGGER". 🙄

Edited January 15 by SeaShark

[luv2kroooz]

5 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

So after building seven mega-ships (Epic thru Encore), NCL decides to build some medium size ships to fill the gap between the 2000 passenger ships and the mega-ships...something that can go to more ports, especially those without Icon of the Seas sized berths, and the prevailing logic on CC is "You know, these new ships would be great if they just made them BIGGER". 🙄

Well, it's the prevailing logic in the industry, not just on cruisecritic. The lounges are woefully undersized as has been confirmed over and again by hundreds of thousands of passengers. Most passengers understandably don't want to wait in lines for an hour to get one of seventy seats in a lounge or comedy club to watch a show that lasts for an hour. It's a known design flaw. So maybe they should be more practical in their ship designs. Their goal sounded good in theory, but didn't play out in practice. They'll get it fixed in future builds.

[bluefish17]

1 hour ago, BostonGal35 said:

we were on same sail, in the Haven - would not do this ship again either!!!  Even the Haven was oddly designed!

I was recently in the Haven on the Viva and found it to be far superior to my only other Haven experience on Breakaway. All Haven cabins are together on the aft. No courtyard but rather a large 2 deck outdoor area, larger Haven restaurant including outside seating, large indoor and outdoor bar, and dedicated Haven elevators. I'm already booked for Prima Haven on next cruise.

[Tenderpaw]

20 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

So after building seven mega-ships (Epic thru Encore), NCL decides to build some medium size ships to fill the gap between the 2000 passenger ships and the mega-ships...something that can go to more ports, especially those without Icon of the Seas sized berths, and the prevailing logic on CC is "You know, these new ships would be great if they just made them BIGGER". 🙄

 

My issue isn't the ships overall size, but rather the public venues are too small.  All of them are too small for the number of passenger.  And arriving super early to get one of the limited seats isn't something we should have to do on vacation. 

 

I said make the ship bigger as a solution.  But another solution would be to have a couple of less revenue producing areas so that the ship could have 2 large public venues for events and entertainment.  YOu know, like most ships have.

Edited January 15 by Tenderpaw

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, SeaShark said:

So after building seven mega-ships (Epic thru Encore), NCL decides to build some medium size ships to fill the gap between the 2000 passenger ships and the mega-ships...something that can go to more ports, especially those without Icon of the Seas sized berths, and the prevailing logic on CC is "You know, these new ships would be great if they just made them BIGGER". 🙄

We were on the Prima this past summer, and I am glad that they downsized from the Epic which I found much too large. And I would never consider booking one of the RCL monstrosities of the seas.

[RocketMan275]

55 minutes ago, Tenderpaw said:

 

My issue isn't the ships overall size, but rather the public venues are too small.  All of them are too small for the number of passenger.  And arriving super early to get one of the limited seats isn't something we should have to do on vacation. 

 

I said make the ship bigger as a solution.  But another solution would be to have a couple of less revenue producing areas so that the ship could have 2 large public venues for events and entertainment.  YOu know, like most ships have.

You're proposed solution is to decrease the generated revenue.  That won't fly.  You do realize the ships have to make a profit???

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, SeaShark said:

So after building seven mega-ships (Epic thru Encore), NCL decides to build some medium size ships to fill the gap between the 2000 passenger ships and the mega-ships...something that can go to more ports, especially those without Icon of the Seas sized berths, and the prevailing logic on CC is "You know, these new ships would be great if they just made them BIGGER". 🙄

We are truly fortunate that CC has so many amateur nautical engineers who can immediately see the solutions overlooked by professional engineers.

[graphicguy]

1 hour ago, SeaShark said:

So after building seven mega-ships (Epic thru Encore), NCL decides to build some medium size ships to fill the gap between the 2000 passenger ships and the mega-ships...something that can go to more ports, especially those without Icon of the Seas sized berths, and the prevailing logic on CC is "You know, these new ships would be great if they just made them BIGGER". 🙄

Have thought the same exact thing.  

 

Or, take a cruise on the water but wants less outdoor space!

[schmoopie17]

2 hours ago, Tenderpaw said:

 

We had a good time, but it wasn't a cruise where I wished I was staying another week.

 

Those are the exact words we uttered upon disembarking from the Prima. Never said that before.

[Tenderpaw]

Gotta love cruise critic!  Can't have an opinion or criticize because "the nautical engineers know best" and your not a "nautical engineer.  I guess you mean Naval Architect.  Or, can't suggest LESS revenue because the cruise lines have to have revenue!. 

 

LOL!  I'm sure the "nautical engineers" could have done better and were limited in solutions due to requirements from NCL "non- nautical engineers.  And no where did i say "illiminate ALL revenue". 

 

Again, other ships somehow have larger spaces and still make revenue.  

[IAcruising]

12 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

Those are the exact words we uttered upon disembarking from the Prima. Never said that before.

 

Have not experienced that on any ship, including Prima. I have never left a ship and thought, "gee, sure am glad I'm leaving".  I don't think I ever will. I always want another week.

 

[Tenderpaw]

18 minutes ago, IAcruising said:

 

Have not experienced that on any ship, including Prima. I have never left a ship and thought, "gee, sure am glad I'm leaving".  I don't think I ever will. I always want another week.

 

I understand what you are saying.  Another day or two would have been fine, but I think i would have grown bored over another week of an identical experience.

[luv2kroooz]

59 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

We are truly fortunate that CC has so many amateur nautical engineers who can immediately see the solutions overlooked by professional engineers.

The problems have been identified over and again by amateurs and veterans alike. Fincantieri is currently working on solutions to the design flaws. They'll get it right.

[luv2kroooz]

44 minutes ago, Tenderpaw said:

Gotta love cruise critic!  Can't have an opinion or criticize because "the nautical engineers know best" and your not a "nautical engineer. 

So true. Some just can't twist their mind around the notion that NCL could possibly get anything wrong.

[PATRLR]

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

We are truly fortunate that CC has so many amateur nautical engineers who can immediately see the solutions overlooked by professional engineers.

You seem to imply that the engineers can't or don't make mistakes?

I agree with the common criticisms that many have voiced about Prima/Viva, in particular that many venues are just too small.  The implication is they should be bigger.  Does my saying the venues are too small make me an "amateur nautical engineers "?  I think I'm not, I'm just a passenger relaying my opinion based on my experiences.

 

[david_sobe]

Thanks for the report back.  NCL always takes flack with their new ships.  Remember how much the Virgin Scarlett Lady was bashed in the beginning. OMG everyone hated it because it was so no traditional and had low reviews. Now its one of the hottest cruise ships and they do everything different than the other cruise lines.

It appears the concept for Prima was to build lots of smaller venues to scatter people around the ship so they are not all in the same place at the same time.  It seems not to work all the time.  I was watching cruise vlogs of the new Carnival Jubilee.  That ship has huge venues.  However the amount of people in these venues would make me uncomfortable.  The pool deck for sail away had well over 2000 people.  They showed a venue that was doing bingo and OMG it looked like a concert was going on.  So while smaller venues makes people give up and wander around, the flip side is huge venues with huge crowds.  I am not sure what the happy medium is. 

Edited January 15 by david_sobe

[UKstages]

it's not that the prima has a few things wrong with it, a few things badly designed and/or executed, a few careless and thoughtless experiments.

 

no, no, no... it's the convergence of so many bad ideas gone wrong all at once.  it's the cumulative effect of so many of these things together with one of the poorest management teams at sea... it's truly terrifying to sail onboard the prima... a comedy of terrors.

 

speaking of comedy, how's that improv club working out for them?

 

you know, the one that is too small for comedy, so they use it for trivia, singles meetups, lectures and art auctions?

[graphicguy]

The biggest complaints I've read is that the Buffet is crowded.  And, that there is too much "outdoor" space.  Colder itineraries?  Poor weather cruises?  OK...fair enough...I get that.  But, the alternative is to push everyone inwards which is the opposite of what NCL has been doing for the last 10-15 years on their ship designs.  They've been pushing people out doors with their WATERFRONT designs.  I personally love that about their recent ships.

 

I do think it's going to take more cruises to get their guests used to the idea of having the Buffet as the big "catch all" dining facility.  They have opened up other venues to dine in....which is the purpose behind having a smaller buffet and the Indulge Food Hall.  It's going to take a while to get guests to rethink their dining concepts on board a cruise ship.

 

But, if someone likes a more traditional cruise experience, the Prima and the Viva are probably the ones they want to forego.  As, from what I can tell, they aren't the ships that are trying to be all things to everyone.

 

Entertainment......I remember when Rock of Ages was performed on the ships.  Personally, I thought it was a huge amount of fun given big hair bands were right in my youthful craziness period.  Yes, it was a little raunchy.  And no, you probably shouldn't have taken your 6 year old to see it.  But, I still enjoyed it immensely.  Point being, NCL has never been shy about putting on shows that are a little on the PG-13 side of things.  I even saw some complaints about Choir of Man because of one scene where the show had men using a urinal.  It wasn't facing the audience.  So to me, no harm...no foul.  But, there were outcries.  Great show, BTW!

 

Donna Summer probably won't appeal to me as I'm not a disco fan and may or may not be interested in her life story.  I know a wealth of people who are disco fans.  They'll probably love it.  Don't know if I'll go see it, but that's a personal preference.  Doesn't mean it's a bad show.

 

I'll be sailing Prima in a few weeks.  I'm very excited.  I've sailed the Breakaway and Breakaway Plus ships quite a bit.  I know them. I could probably navigate them blindfolded.  So, this new concept is hugely interesting to me.  I have a thread I've started where there will be a live review if interested.

 

[david_sobe]

We are seeing cutbacks galore in the entertainment areas of all cruise lines.  No one would have ever thought that the traditional cruise ship entertainment would be coming back with cruise ship performers.  When Epic debuted in 2010 it had 3 major licensed Vegas Style acts:  Blue Man, Legends In Concert, Cirque Dreams.   Then it was two and now just one. 

[UKstages]

18 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

It appears the concept for Prima was to build lots of smaller venues to scatter people around the ship so they are not all in the same place at the same time.  It seems not to work all the time. 

 

yes, that's the concept. the reason it failed is because not all venues of relatively the same size have the same appeal. everybody wants to eat in the indulge food hall and the buffet. when NCL planned it all out, however, they likely thought people would be equally distributed among all the dining venues, both paid and complimentary. they thought that los lobos would have as many covers as cagney's and that people would eat in port and not crowd the local when they returned to the ship.

 

but homey don't cruise like that.

 

some people want to eat in indulge four nights during a seven night cruise and not at all in palomar or onda. and they want to stop by the local or the buffet when they return from an excursion. but the diminutive buffet is closed, so the local gets slammed.

 

9 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Colder itineraries?  Poor weather cruises?  OK...fair enough...I get that.  But, the alternative is to push everyone inwards...

 

i think the clearest solution to this problem is to sail the ship they built in climates that are generally better suited to capitalize on the number and variety of outdoor spaces. NCL seems reluctant to take that approach with the prima. reviews of the prima for caribbean itineraries are far better than for its icelandic and norwegian journeys. there is a reason for that!

Edited January 15 by UKstages