My husband and I had the opportunity to go on the inaugural US sailing out of NYC on the NCL Prima.
Here are our impressions, some tips and some wishes for improvements about sailing on Prima.
Prima is the first of six ships to come out on NCL‘s new Prima class. The ship in a word is luxurious. The Prima offers more Haven suites than any of their other ships as well. Still a family-friendly cruise ship, I say it is more geared toward adults though.
Being the ship was only a month old, I was fairly impressed with how great the service was. I expect great service from NCL but I do anticipate service to sometimes be less than stellar on new ships because they often have to work out the kinks. I didn’t find this to be an issue at all.
Staterooms – we stayed in a BA balcony located on deck 13 fwd. It was a very nice size cabin with ample closet and drawer space. We only had a 4-night sailing and had plenty of unused space. Prima’s staterooms are larger than their older ships which is a nice change. The bed was comfortable, the shower was roomy and what I liked most, was the added balcony size compared to their older ships. Shout out to the comfy chairs as well.
TIP #1: When choosing a midship balcony stateroom, be mindful of where the slides are located on each side of the ship. Your view may be somewhat obstructed due to the placement of those slides.
Dining: Here is a topic I always find to be subjective. What I may find good or not so good may differ from another person. I will just share what you will find. In the 2 main dining rooms, there is now a set menu for each meal every day. No more rotational menu selections. The only rotational item was the extra specialty meal you were able to purchase for $15. One thing I can say I didn’t care for was the side dishes. I ordered the vegetable medley and the roasted garlic potatoes. Both times they came to me cold and unappetizing.
For our specialty dining, we ate an Onda. It was a very lovely Italian meal. I ordered a gluten-free pasta meal which they were able to easily accommodate me.
Indulge Food Hall is Prima’s new food venue located on Deck 8. This complimentary space is perfect for foodies looking to get something different from the cruise food staples. This venue gets filled up quickly so you need to try to time it to get a seat.
The Surfside Café on deck 17 is where you will find the ship’s classic buffet. I found this space to be quite small in the seating department considering the ship’s capacity is over 3000 people. On two separate occasions, once for breakfast and once for lunch, we were moved to sit on the other side of the ship inside the Food Republic. Soon after, that area was filled with people also looking for someplace to eat.
TIP #2: The Surfside Café on deck 17 is where you will find the ship’s classic buffet. The seating is often filled quickly during peak times and you may be asked to go sit across the way in Food Republic. To avoid this issue, consider eating in places like the Local & Hudson or set menus, or Indulge. Indulge Food Hall offers a different array of food choices like noodles, Indian, tapas, and BBQ to name a few. You can grab food from kiosks or have a seat and order from the tablets. Seating can also be an issue in Indulge so try to time it right before peak times.
Public venues/activities: Prima has many onboard activities to try out. Standouts are their 3-deck Speedway and Galaxy Pavilion which has an Escape room, Interactive 9-hole golf, and interactive Darts games. All of these have upcharges. Unfortunately, we did find the Darts game, Galaxy Pavilion and Golf game breaking down on us. We were told it was because of the technologies use of the WiFi. It was very disappointing and I hope this area improves greatly.
TIP #3: If you are interested in the Speedway or the Escape Room, book a reservation when you first board. Complimentary activities include their dry and wet slides and The Stadium. The Stadium is located next to the Speedway and offers fun games like pickleball, ping pong, and beer pong as well as some others.
Tip #4: The Metropolitan on Prima is NCL’s first sustainable cocktail bar. This environmentally friendly bar offer drinks that are made from leftovers. You read that right, leftovers. Nothing is wasted. They call it “zero waste.” Give it a try. It’s unique, tasty and a great place to converse or just listen to some performers.
Entertainment: On our sailing, we saw Summer, The Price is Right Game Show, Noise Boys and 2 different comedians. We were able to obtain reservations for all except for one comedian. As Donna Summer fans, we loved Summer. We found the Price is Right to be extremely authentic to the show and quite enjoyable as they try to get as many cruisers involved as possible. Noise Boys was ok for us and the comedian was funny. After the second shows were over in the Prima Theater, they converted the theater into a dance club with lounge booths on the floor. My absolute favorite entertainment came out of Syd Norman’s Pour House. We saw an amazing cover band named Rumours. Fantastic show. No reservations needed but get there early if you want a seat.
TIP #5: The Prima Theater has 3 deck seating but If you want to see any of these shows, go to the box office for reservations once you board. They do offer standby options if you don’t get a reservation or don’t want to plan in advance, but due to limited seating, a standby waitlist is not guaranteed admission. Starting with March 5, 2023 sailing, you can make a reservation either 26 or 21 days before your sailing based on your latitudes reward status and cabin category. You can make reservations for Summer and the Price is Right Game Show.
WiFi – we had the unlimited package and I have to say this was the most frustrating part. The wifi was spotty and worked best when so many people were off the ship during the port day. I was told that the reliance on Bluetooth and wifi for their interactive games, is why those games suffered so many downtimes. Either way, for a ship that has a lot of technology onboard and for many more cruisers still needing or wanting to be connected, NCL needs to improve their connection.
All in all the Prima is a beautiful ship with something for someone.
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