Princess or NCL Prima to Norway/Iceland?

[soonergirl8]

Hi all.

 

I could definitely use your advice on planning our family trip next summer. This cruise will be to celebrate my daughter's college graduation and son's high school graduation. We were looking at the NCL Prima that departs on July 13 from Southampton and arrives in Reykjavik on July 24 or the Princess Sky Princess which is roundtrip to Norway from Southampton July 12-19 and then flying to spend 6 days in Iceland. My husband and I sailed the NCL Epic on a Mediterranean cruise in 2018, and we went on a Princess cruise a lot longer ago to the Caribbean. Our two kids have been on a 4 day Disney cruise. 

 

Things I like about NCL are the varied activities and ports. However, all the ports changing after final payment is a red flag. Last summer, the Prima didn't stop in Brussels or in Isafjordur. I also like that this cruise ends in Iceland vs. us having to fly there. The stops are Geiranger, Bergen, and Alesund in Norway.

 

Things I like about Princess is a shorter cruise and 4 stops in Norway that look like they have more activities geared to our family. We like to ride bikes, explore, hike, and we don't want to just get on a bus and then get out to take pictures at spots. The stops are Haugesund, Olden, Skjolden and Stavanger.

 

For a little bit more, we can do the Princess cruise and then go on a land trip in Iceland. However, I'm not sure if NCL will have more activities for our 18 and 21 year-olds. I do not like the idea of losing ports. 

 

For those of you that have been to Iceland and/or Norway. What do you suggest?

 

Thank you!

Whitney

[kitkat343]

The Baltic board can give you more advice on the ports - I'm not familiar with some of them, so it's hard for me to advise you.  I'd just note that if your primary interest is in visiting the Norwegian fjords, then I'd try to visit at least two of the following ports: Geiranger, Olden and Flam.  Geiranger has amazing scenic viewpoints, Olden has the Loen skylift and Briskdal Glacier, and Flam has the railway (some people take the railway one way, and then rent bikes for the return trip).  If you are trying to add Iceland to this trip, it might not be possible to get more than one of those fjords.  The issue is that your ability to appreciate the fjords depends on the weather.  We had beautiful, clear weather in Geiranger and could really appreciate the stunning beauty of the fjords.  It was more cloudy and rainy in both Olden and Flam, so although it was still special I was really glad I had gotten one day with perfect weather.  

 

On the Princess cruise in Olden you can hike around the Loen Skylift (your kids might even want to paraglide off the mountain!), and also you can hike to the Briskdal glacier (there are troll cars available there if you don't want to hike).  Stavanger you can hike pulpit rock.  

 

The bus to the panoramic viewpoints is only a few hours in Geiranger.  If you chose that cruise, I'd be willing to bet you could visit the viewpoints in the morning and find something more active in the afternoon (I traveled with a 6 and 2 year old so I couldn't advise you on that but active tours did seem to exist as options all over Norway).  The Baltic board can probably help with that too.

Edited yesterday at 05:51 PM by kitkat343

[ontheweb]

Last year the Prima skipped Isafjordur every time because the new dock was not ready. From what I have seen posted, it has made that stop every time this past summer. We were on the cruise that skipped the stop in addition in Belgium. They said it was for an extremely low tide. I believe that was the only cruise that skipped that port.

 

Sailing into Geiranger is truly magnificent. We also truly enjoyed the other ports in Norway, Bergen and Alesund.

 

The Prima is different. Passengers seem to either love it or hate it; we loved it. Be warned that some of its features work better in warm weather ports, which the ports on this itinerary are not.

[kitkat343]

34 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Last year the Prima skipped Isafjordur every time because the new dock was not ready. From what I have seen posted, it has made that stop every time this past summer. We were on the cruise that skipped the stop in addition in Belgium. They said it was for an extremely low tide. I believe that was the only cruise that skipped that port.

 

The dredging of the harbor of Isafjordur has been completed by the Icelandic government, and the Prima was able to dock there in 2024.  The mass cancellations were in 2023.

 

However, NCL's random itinerary cancellations may still affect these cruises.   A cruise to Iceland is on my bucket list, so I've kept an eye on them.  On the August 15th, 2024 cruise, the ship was originally scheduled to visit Alesund, which is one of the ports much beloved on the Baltic forums that I hadn't visited on my first cruise to Norway.  We have 3 kids, and usually book late because we can never decide if we want to go through the stress of traveling with kids.  When I went back to look at the cruise and see how the pricing had changed since I did my original research 8 months earlier, I realized that Alesund had been dropped and replaced with Haugesund, which is a really huge downgrade, and I decided not to take the cruise.  If I'd booked 8 months earlier it would have been a huge disappointment since Alesund was the only new port stop for me in Norway.

 

It's also possible that NCL will make their itinerary - there was someone who recently posted they were reluctant to book the Star out of NY to Iceland for the summer of 2024 but it wound up making its itinerary.  It's pretty hard to predict.

Edited yesterday at 08:19 PM by kitkat343

[PhillyTravelBug]

We also did this itinerary last year on the prim. I loved the ship, but this class of ship is not most advantageous for colder weather sailings.  However, this itinerary is amazing. Every stop. Geiranger was one of the best days in my life. I recommend getting a thermal spa pass.

[Firstin87]

Congratulations on the milestones for your children!  We've sailing both NCL and Princess and they each have their pros and cons, of course.

 

Being from the US, I have no idea what the weather will be on the way to Iceland during the time you're considering.  We were on the Prima's TA from NY to Southampton in spring 2024 and stopped in Reykjavic, then went on to other ports before docking in Southampton.  As PhillyTravelBug mentioned, the Prima is not a good ship for cold weather cruises.  Losing the ability to be outside forces everyone indoors and the ship is not designed for everyone to be indoors all the time.  Restaurant wait times were incredibly long (some people waited an hour for dinner in the MDR), Syd Norman's Pour House and the Improv are far too small for the activities they host there, to name just a few issues.  If the weather will be warm enough to enjoy the outdoors, it is a very nice ship and the outdoor areas for dining and the pools are quite nice.

 

As you're pricing out the trips, be aware that excursions in Iceland are very expensive.  There are private tour vendors who are reliable and we had someone on our trip organize a small group tour with a private vendor that she filled with about 12 of us from the Roll Call and it was wonderful.

[soonergirl8]

Thanks everyone for your input!

[RogerDodger247]

We did this exact itinerary on Prima on August 25, and it was wonderful.  My only regret was not spending time in Reykjavik post-cruise but, alas, there are only so many vacation days.

 

Port-wise we did have one change from Amsterdam to Ijmuiden... announced shortly after final payment of course.  No reason given (the notice pretty much listed all of them... fuel, environment, port availability, maritime regulations... take your pick 😆).  In the grand scheme of things this was annoying but not terrible... it just cost us 90 minutes and 45 Euros per person for a roundtrip shuttle to Amsterdam (we already had Anne Frank House tickets so, had no choice).  All other ports were made as scheduled (and we got an extra hour in Bergen from the change).

 

Agree that Prima isn't great as a cold weather ship but, with only two sea days and every other day in port for a good length of time, we didn't find it to be too much of a problem.  But yes, it was crowded inside on the sea days when the weather wasn't great for being outside.

 

We did a mix of excursions (both NCL and independent) and "explore on our own" days.  For hiking, we enjoyed Ålesund (but you can find good hikes at most Norway/Iceland ports).  For biking, we rented bikes in Ísafjörður and spent a half day riding along the fjord on an abandoned road.  Those were the best days.  The booked excursions were pretty "meh"... except for Mount Dalsnibba and Eagle Road in Geiranger... definitely worth it and not something you could easily do on your own.

 

Good luck planning your trip!

 

 

 

 

 

[hlperez]

This year I did the 2 week Sky Princess cruise at the end of June that went to both Norway and Iceland and it was fantastic.  They are doing the same cruise next year, also around the end of June.

 

[soonergirl8]

Where do you suggest hiking in Alesund? Is it up to the viewpoint or somewhere else?

 

Thank you!

[ontheweb]

16 hours ago, Firstin87 said:

Congratulations on the milestones for your children!  We've sailing both NCL and Princess and they each have their pros and cons, of course.

 

Being from the US, I have no idea what the weather will be on the way to Iceland during the time you're considering.  We were on the Prima's TA from NY to Southampton in spring 2024 and stopped in Reykjavic, then went on to other ports before docking in Southampton.  As PhillyTravelBug mentioned, the Prima is not a good ship for cold weather cruises.  Losing the ability to be outside forces everyone indoors and the ship is not designed for everyone to be indoors all the time.  Restaurant wait times were incredibly long (some people waited an hour for dinner in the MDR), Syd Norman's Pour House and the Improv are far too small for the activities they host there, to name just a few issues.  If the weather will be warm enough to enjoy the outdoors, it is a very nice ship and the outdoor areas for dining and the pools are quite nice.

 

As you're pricing out the trips, be aware that excursions in Iceland are very expensive.  There are private tour vendors who are reliable and we had someone on our trip organize a small group tour with a private vendor that she filled with about 12 of us from the Roll Call and it was wonderful.

Maybe we were lucky, but we never waited more than a few minutes for dinner in the MDR (Hudsons) on our August 2023 Prima cruise for this itinerary.

 

Again maybe we were lucky but were able to get into Syd Normans (though not a seat) except for the Rumors show.

[RogerDodger247]

1 hour ago, soonergirl8 said:

Where do you suggest hiking in Alesund? Is it up to the viewpoint or somewhere else?

 

Thank you!

 

We climbed the 418 Aksla steps to the viewpoint.  The views are really nice.  We then spent some time climbing on and into the old German fortress up there... it's way more extensive than you might think.  From there you can find some hiking trails back down to sea level.  See attached picture.  Nothing terribly difficult but a very nice way to spend a few hours.  Along the way we found a "playground" that had a bunch of body weight exercise machines.  Think a chest press contraption that lets you press your body weight (among several others... lat pulldown your body weight?  Why not?).  That was a bit of fun.  We finished at Molo Brew right by the cruise terminal which is well worth a visit if you like microbrews.

 

Pretty sure there are other hiking options in the area but that's what we did.

 

[RogerDodger247]

24 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Again maybe we were lucky but were able to get into Syd Normans (though not a seat) except for the Rumors show.

 

Same for the August 25 cruise.  Seats were hard to come by but there was always standing room in the back (people shuffled in and out so you could usually move up).  They also did two shows per night (same set both times) and it was less crowded for the late set.

 

They did Rumours in the main theater.  No reservations required and it was packed.  I much preferred the shows in Syd's but maybe that was just me 🙃

[UKstages]

i've never been on princess, but i highly recommend them for this itinerary, if only because the prima is such a poorly run ship from a management perspective, albeit with some spectacular features and dining choices. i have an extensive review on the forum here somewhere of my transatlantic icelandic cruise a couple of years ago on the prima.

 

but, yeah, wow, oof.

 

i would sail virtually any other ship before i'd step foot back on the prima. 

 

it's not because the ship is "different." it's because it's so poorly managed.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by UKstages

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, RogerDodger247 said:

 

Same for the August 25 cruise.  Seats were hard to come by but there was always standing room in the back (people shuffled in and out so you could usually move up).  They also did two shows per night (same set both times) and it was less crowded for the late set.

 

They did Rumours in the main theater.  No reservations required and it was packed.  I much preferred the shows in Syd's but maybe that was just me 🙃

I only found a seat once, and found myself sliding off it and standing. I'm a rock and roller, i stand and shake my body to the music. And to anyone who might answer by saying what about older people. I think I qualify as one being 77, though I was only 76 when I was on the Prima.

 

I was amazed the first night they played when I easily walked in when we were late. I had read so many posts about how impossible it was to get in with the lines starting an hour or more before show time.

[PATRLR]

@soonergirl8 - I recommend the Sky Princess itinerary because it give you more Norway.  And your idea of tacking on an Iceland land tour makes excellent sense, IMO.  (IcelandAir from Heathrow to Reykjavik is a relatively short flight and usually reasonable price) 

We did the Sky Princess trip this past July.  Report here - I encourage you to check it out and I'd be happy to answer any questions: 

If you do Sky Princess, in Stavanger I encourage you to hike Pulpit Rock if you are capable (it wasn't an option for various reasons for us).  

I've not been on Prima, but have been on Viva.  I had heard concerns about Prima/Viva in cool weather itineraries and after having been on Viva I can see where cool weather would lead to crowded interiors.

Lastly, please spend some time over in the Baltics forums, especially this one which talks about the Norwegian fjords.  There is a lot here, but it's all very, very good stuff:  

 

Edited 3 hours ago by PATRLR