So this is the last video in our NCL Prima series, we hope you have enjoyed all the videos we made and hopefully they can help anyone who is already booked or thinking of booking a cruise on this wonderful ship.
The 2 of you are the cutest! Love your Prima reviews. Your enthusiasm in the reviews are contagious. I think the differences with NCL Prima are what I am looking for on a cruise.
I've been on two Norwegian cruises and they're fantastic for those who drink alcohol. With the Free at Sea package, our total bar bill for a 10 day cruise was $21 because we decided to take a bottle of wine to the cabin. Combined with 1 or 2 speciality restaurants thrown in, it can make absolute sense. We paid only $149 for 10 days and had 300 hours Wifi thrown in too.
My first cruise was with NCL in 2003, which I chose specifically for the No Formal stuff and Freestyle dining. Back then, all the other cruise lines had people bringing tuxedos and gowns and you had to choose from 2 dinner times, Early or Late. You sat at the same table every night with the same waiter and same strangers. NCL was the first to let you show up any time, to any dining venue, decide if you want to eat by yourself or meet others at a table. And they had the specialty (extra charge) restaurants for added variety and revenue. Most of the other mainstream lines seem to have followed NCL. I'm glad you guys had a good time.
I am glad I found your channel. Your videos are different and enjoyable. Will be cruising on the Prima in February in western Caribbean. We only do Warm cruising. LOL
Thanks so much appreciate it, have a lovely time when you do go. We'd love to do a Caribbean cruise at some point. This ship would be even better in warm weather 😍
We just returned from 14 days on Prima (repositioning from NYC to Galveston, TX) and we loved, *loved*, LOVED this ship. Going back on this exact trip again in 2025! With that said, It is truly a quirky and unique design, and I can see it might not be for everyone, esp. those who like the usual everything-off-the-atrium ships. And I also agree 100% this ship is best on warm weather sailings. Food was *very* good--only ever walked *through* the buffet, which was always PACKED. Had 5 specialty dining reservations, all of which were outstanding. Our favorite MDR was actually Commodore Room...service was more relaxed and fun than Hudson's. Indulge food was great, but service was inconsistent and the hours were *horrible*. And yeah, that reuben in The Local is to die for (possibly literally if you ate enough of them)! Our balcony cabin was absolutely gorgeous and very spacious for being a "standard" balcony. Everything on this ship felt upscale and luxurious. Sea days were a little crowded everywhere, but port days were wonderful...we could get the beds next to the infinity pools almost any time. Agree with others that the Observation Lounge was *always* overcrowded, and it was annoying how many people took the loungers next to the windows early in the day and then *slept* there for hours. Disappointing because we heard so many nice things about this area.
Hi Ross, nice to hear off you, and thanks for letting us know about your experience on the Prima. Like you said you'll either love it or hate it. We loved it ! Agree about the observation lounge. I don't think some people liked to sleep in their cabins as they were asleep all day in there instead lol 😴 😆
Hi Kev and Stacey! Really lovely to listen to another wonderful review. Love the way you guys break things down for us. There is another round-trip 14-day itinerary to Iceland from Southampton on the Prima, but it's in September 2025! As for the Vibe and Haven taking up space, that's NCL's more recent decision for the Prima class specifically to expand their exclusive square footage on the aft, but on ships like the Encore or Bliss, the racetrack and laser tag already takes up much of that aft space anyways, so there's not much aft deck space to just lounge there to begin with. You have to go all the way back to the Escape (2015-built ship and the most recent ship without a racetrack ) for Spice H2O, which is a complimentary adults-only deck space. And I think the Prima-class's buffet issues stem from the fact that most people simply aren't aware enough of the complimentary food options and it's just their mind going autopilot and heading directly towards the buffet and nowhere else LOL. NCL doesn't seem to do enough to properly communicate what they have on offer and so people probably assume the buffet is all that there is aside from the MDR. And yep, NCL's famous for its "freestyle cruising" slogan so official formal nights have never really been a thing! You know, the one solution I've thought of for Syd Norman's is if they made it the size of MSC's Carousel Lounge because it's too difficult to obtain a seat otherwise in its current format. And speaking of MSC, I'm really excited to hear your thoughts on Euribia and whether she's all that different from Virtuosa! Sorry for the long comment, but thanks again for all the hard work pumping out the vids for us!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and clearing some things up about NCL as like we said our 1st time with them so we weren't sure about some things 😁. And yes, great idea about Syd Normans they if they could make it the size of the Carousel lounge 👍😁
I need to go back and watch your other videos about the Prima - our family of 3 (hubs and 13 YO son) are taking our first cruise ever out of Galveston TX USA in just over a week on 12/22! We’re super excited - we were able to book the Donna Summer show and the price is right online, but haven’t booked any dinners even though we have two specialty dinners with our package. We are taking a laid back approach and are just excited to be doing something so new to us for the holidays. I’ve seen and/or read other reviews where people talk about the smaller spaces onboard the ship, but that there are many more of them, which leads them to the conclusion that the Prima is best suited to being a warm weather ship. I guess our family will soon find out! I hope we all love it and can look forward to doing more cruises in the future. I fear that cruising NCL the first time out might set the bar a little in the high side lol Thanks for a great review video :)
We are doing the 11 day on the Prima in august so we are driving to Heathrow, getting the national express to Southampton and then flying back from Iceland to Heathrow. This will be our second NCL cruise and agree that the food is excellent, second to only prob Disney so far for us. Good review, We liked NCL wholes laidback vibe
Hi Stacey and Kev. Love your review of the Prima. Like you, I'm a foodie also as you know 😄. I love that NCL doesn't really do "Gala Night". They call it Dress Up or Not Night. As always thank you for taking us along and sharing your experiences. ❤❤
Good review as always! For our last cruise & living in the West Midlands, we took a train to Southampton to meet the cruise. As it was a 27-nt repositioning cruise, we flew back to the UK from Barcelona after 8-nts for which we booked. Wasn't as bad an experience as thought it might be. Keep up the great content!
I've never been on any NCL ship where you didn’t need a ticket/reservation for shows as standby people were standing off to the side waiting for the standby being allowed in. Because staff were scanning your room key for reservations as you entered.
@@OneCouplesAdventure hi yes we are going on the arvia in April for two weeks and back on the brittania in august for two weeks and after that nothing thanks again 👍
Great summary video again guys, nice one. Have you considered doing a 'live" for these summaries in order to get some interactive content? All the best.
Totally agree about drinks packages. I'm also teetotal, and the MSC non-alcoholic drink package is the only one I purchase, as £21 a day more than covers my mocktail, fizzy canned juice and soft serve ice cream addiction. Looking forward the Euribia videos. I was on the first out of Southampton. Lovely ship, but prefer Virtuosa.
Brilliant feedback, as usual! We have booked our first cruise because of watching you both 😂 We are on MSC Euribia 29th March ❤ When are you going? Thanks for all your hard work and effort xx
I just skipped forward (will watch the rest of the NCL videos though) and really enjoy your review. I think I'd like to try this ship. The food options are incredible ( my mate and I are proper foodies too hahaha). We also enjoy the mixture of nationalities hence I enjoy MSC cruises so much. I agree with the AC, always makes me ill. Had that issue on the enchantment OFS in November last year..unable to just turn it off..I cant recall that issue on the virtuosa though..will see on euribia soon. Anyway, thanks for another fab video.. enjoy the rest of your state trip..btw..if you end up in Orlando...check out Wekiwa spring park of I4 and Winter Park...🙂
Did I hear you say you have just been on MSC Euribia. Can’t wait for that vlog as going on same cruise in January 2024. After thirty plus cruise never booked the cruise lines excursion,to expensive. Always done our own thing. But on the MSC Euribia booked the cruise lines excursions at all ports. As port stops don’t look that good and charge 14 plus euros to town centres, Not that much extra to book excursions. Defo be parking at the west quay shopping centre after your recommendation. Keep theses great vlogs going very informative and your cover everything we all want to know about.
Seems that NCL thought that having 800 less passengers might not need a big buffet. Commodore, Hudson's and indulge with the Local etc being complimentary who can't get something to eat if all you want is included food?
Thanks for another great summary video. Are you gonna try other cruise lines? Would love to get your take on Virgin Voyages now that you've done a few criuises! They say all gratuities, soft drinks and wifi are included in the fare so would love you guys honest opinion on them!
Hi yes we would love to try Virgin eventually, we only started cruising in May 2022 and have already done P&O, Princess, NCL and MSC. Our next trip isn't a cruise as we are off to the States for a bit of a road trip, we like to do all kinds of travel 😁
You don't have to pay the gratuities. If you go to guest services on board and tell the staff that you want to to tip as you go rather than pay NCL's gratuities they'll give you a form to sign and you then opt out of their gratuities system. We think it's really annoying the way they expect you to pay an additional £400 or whatever in tips for your cruise price when with P&O the price is the price. Opting out of the gratuities process definitely made our holiday more enjoyable. They should pay people their proper wage rather than charge guests to top up their employees' salary!
So this is the last video in our NCL Prima series, we hope you have enjoyed all the videos we made and hopefully they can help anyone who is already booked or thinking of booking a cruise on this wonderful ship.
The 2 of you are the cutest! Love your Prima reviews. Your enthusiasm in the reviews are contagious. I think the differences with NCL Prima are what I am looking for on a cruise.
I've been on two Norwegian cruises and they're fantastic for those who drink alcohol. With the Free at Sea package, our total bar bill for a 10 day cruise was $21 because we decided to take a bottle of wine to the cabin. Combined with 1 or 2 speciality restaurants thrown in, it can make absolute sense. We paid only $149 for 10 days and had 300 hours Wifi thrown in too.
Glad you made the most of it 😁
My first cruise was with NCL in 2003, which I chose specifically for the No Formal stuff and Freestyle dining. Back then, all the other cruise lines had people bringing tuxedos and gowns and you had to choose from 2 dinner times, Early or Late. You sat at the same table every night with the same waiter and same strangers. NCL was the first to let you show up any time, to any dining venue, decide if you want to eat by yourself or meet others at a table. And they had the specialty (extra charge) restaurants for added variety and revenue. Most of the other mainstream lines seem to have followed NCL. I'm glad you guys had a good time.
Thanks so much for watching 😁
I am glad I found your channel. Your videos are different and enjoyable. Will be cruising on the Prima in February in western Caribbean. We only do Warm cruising. LOL
Thanks so much appreciate it, have a lovely time when you do go. We'd love to do a Caribbean cruise at some point. This ship would be even better in warm weather 😍
We just returned from 14 days on Prima (repositioning from NYC to Galveston, TX) and we loved, *loved*, LOVED this ship. Going back on this exact trip again in 2025! With that said, It is truly a quirky and unique design, and I can see it might not be for everyone, esp. those who like the usual everything-off-the-atrium ships. And I also agree 100% this ship is best on warm weather sailings.
Food was *very* good--only ever walked *through* the buffet, which was always PACKED. Had 5 specialty dining reservations, all of which were outstanding. Our favorite MDR was actually Commodore Room...service was more relaxed and fun than Hudson's. Indulge food was great, but service was inconsistent and the hours were *horrible*. And yeah, that reuben in The Local is to die for (possibly literally if you ate enough of them)!
Our balcony cabin was absolutely gorgeous and very spacious for being a "standard" balcony. Everything on this ship felt upscale and luxurious. Sea days were a little crowded everywhere, but port days were wonderful...we could get the beds next to the infinity pools almost any time. Agree with others that the Observation Lounge was *always* overcrowded, and it was annoying how many people took the loungers next to the windows early in the day and then *slept* there for hours. Disappointing because we heard so many nice things about this area.
Hi Ross, nice to hear off you, and thanks for letting us know about your experience on the Prima. Like you said you'll either love it or hate it. We loved it ! Agree about the observation lounge. I don't think some people liked to sleep in their cabins as they were asleep all day in there instead lol 😴 😆
Such a great overview! Thanks for the info. We’re going soon!
All your videos on the Prima cruise were awesome....you all give a balanced view of everything on board. Thanks so much for all your videos!
Thanks David
I'm really enjoying your videos. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Hi Kev and Stacey! Really lovely to listen to another wonderful review. Love the way you guys break things down for us. There is another round-trip 14-day itinerary to Iceland from Southampton on the Prima, but it's in September 2025! As for the Vibe and Haven taking up space, that's NCL's more recent decision for the Prima class specifically to expand their exclusive square footage on the aft, but on ships like the Encore or Bliss, the racetrack and laser tag already takes up much of that aft space anyways, so there's not much aft deck space to just lounge there to begin with. You have to go all the way back to the Escape (2015-built ship and the most recent ship without a racetrack ) for Spice H2O, which is a complimentary adults-only deck space. And I think the Prima-class's buffet issues stem from the fact that most people simply aren't aware enough of the complimentary food options and it's just their mind going autopilot and heading directly towards the buffet and nowhere else LOL. NCL doesn't seem to do enough to properly communicate what they have on offer and so people probably assume the buffet is all that there is aside from the MDR. And yep, NCL's famous for its "freestyle cruising" slogan so official formal nights have never really been a thing!
You know, the one solution I've thought of for Syd Norman's is if they made it the size of MSC's Carousel Lounge because it's too difficult to obtain a seat otherwise in its current format. And speaking of MSC, I'm really excited to hear your thoughts on Euribia and whether she's all that different from Virtuosa! Sorry for the long comment, but thanks again for all the hard work pumping out the vids for us!
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and clearing some things up about NCL as like we said our 1st time with them so we weren't sure about some things 😁. And yes, great idea about Syd Normans they if they could make it the size of the Carousel lounge 👍😁
I need to go back and watch your other videos about the Prima - our family of 3 (hubs and 13 YO son) are taking our first cruise ever out of Galveston TX USA in just over a week on 12/22! We’re super excited - we were able to book the Donna Summer show and the price is right online, but haven’t booked any dinners even though we have two specialty dinners with our package. We are taking a laid back approach and are just excited to be doing something so new to us for the holidays. I’ve seen and/or read other reviews where people talk about the smaller spaces onboard the ship, but that there are many more of them, which leads them to the conclusion that the Prima is best suited to being a warm weather ship. I guess our family will soon find out!
I hope we all love it and can look forward to doing more cruises in the future. I fear that cruising NCL the first time out might set the bar a little in the high side lol
Thanks for a great review video :)
Thanks so much for watching and hope you have an amazing time on the Prima
Amazing itinerary. Norway and Iceland. Wow.
We are doing the 11 day on the Prima in august so we are driving to Heathrow, getting the national express to Southampton and then flying back from Iceland to Heathrow. This will be our second NCL cruise and agree that the food is excellent, second to only prob Disney so far for us. Good review, We liked NCL wholes laidback vibe
Thanks for a thorough review! I love watching your videos and I even took notes on this, as we're sailing on the Prima (from Reykjavik) next summer.
Thanks so much and if you can think of anything that we maybe didn't cover then just ask and we'll do our best to help
@@OneCouplesAdventure Thank you, I will do that!
Hi Stacey and Kev. Love your review of the Prima. Like you, I'm a foodie also as you know 😄. I love that NCL doesn't really do "Gala Night". They call it Dress Up or Not Night. As always thank you for taking us along and sharing your experiences. ❤❤
Thanks so much MaryAnn
Good review as always! For our last cruise & living in the West Midlands, we took a train to Southampton to meet the cruise. As it was a 27-nt repositioning cruise, we flew back to the UK from Barcelona after 8-nts for which we booked. Wasn't as bad an experience as thought it might be. Keep up the great content!
Glad it wasn't as bad as you thought. And 27 nights 😁 sounds brilliant
I've never been on any NCL ship where you didn’t need a ticket/reservation for shows as standby people were standing off to the side waiting for the standby being allowed in. Because staff were scanning your room key for reservations as you entered.
Thanks guys. Great review once again
Hi everyone just to say thanks again for a great review and we wish yous all the best for your next adventure good luck 👍
Thanks so much Tom, you got anything planned for next year?
@@OneCouplesAdventure hi yes we are going on the arvia in April for two weeks and back on the brittania in august for two weeks and after that nothing thanks again 👍
Great summary video again guys, nice one. Have you considered doing a 'live" for these summaries in order to get some interactive content? All the best.
Thanks and yes it's something we would consider if that's what people would like to see
@@OneCouplesAdventure you could post a vote here? 😀
Totally agree about drinks packages. I'm also teetotal, and the MSC non-alcoholic drink package is the only one I purchase, as £21 a day more than covers my mocktail, fizzy canned juice and soft serve ice cream addiction. Looking forward the Euribia videos. I was on the first out of Southampton. Lovely ship, but prefer Virtuosa.
Brilliant feedback, as usual! We have booked our first cruise because of watching you both 😂 We are on MSC Euribia 29th March ❤ When are you going? Thanks for all your hard work and effort xx
Hey, thanks so much, we are off it now and the videos start on Sunday so hopefully it gives you a good idea of what to expect
I just skipped forward (will watch the rest of the NCL videos though) and really enjoy your review. I think I'd like to try this ship. The food options are incredible ( my mate and I are proper foodies too hahaha). We also enjoy the mixture of nationalities hence I enjoy MSC cruises so much. I agree with the AC, always makes me ill. Had that issue on the enchantment OFS in November last year..unable to just turn it off..I cant recall that issue on the virtuosa though..will see on euribia soon. Anyway, thanks for another fab video.. enjoy the rest of your state trip..btw..if you end up in Orlando...check out Wekiwa spring park of I4 and Winter Park...🙂
Did I hear you say you have just been on MSC Euribia.
Can’t wait for that vlog as going on same cruise in January 2024.
After thirty plus cruise never booked the cruise lines excursion,to expensive.
Always done our own thing.
But on the MSC Euribia booked the cruise lines excursions at all ports.
As port stops don’t look that good and charge 14 plus euros to town centres,
Not that much extra to book excursions.
Defo be parking at the west quay shopping centre after your recommendation.
Keep theses great vlogs going very informative and your cover everything we all want to know about.
Thanks so much for watching and commenting, and yes we're off the Euribia now. Will start the vlogs for that this Sunday 😁
Seems that NCL thought that having 800 less passengers might not need a big buffet. Commodore, Hudson's and indulge with the Local etc being complimentary who can't get something to eat if all you want is included food?
Great review
I can't stand waiting to get into Syd Norman's only to possibly have to stand inside as well!
Yes a pain really
Love your videos. Which would you recommend Prima or Britannia, looking at the Baltic cruise in 2025.
Our favourite was the Prima 👍
Thanks for another great summary video. Are you gonna try other cruise lines? Would love to get your take on Virgin Voyages now that you've done a few criuises! They say all gratuities, soft drinks and wifi are included in the fare so would love you guys honest opinion on them!
Also all the food is included in the fare and is meant to be pretty good.
Hi yes we would love to try Virgin eventually, we only started cruising in May 2022 and have already done P&O, Princess, NCL and MSC. Our next trip isn't a cruise as we are off to the States for a bit of a road trip, we like to do all kinds of travel 😁
@@OneCouplesAdventure Can't wait to see all the US videos now 😊
You don't have to pay the gratuities. If you go to guest services on board and tell the staff that you want to to tip as you go rather than pay NCL's gratuities they'll give you a form to sign and you then opt out of their gratuities system. We think it's really annoying the way they expect you to pay an additional £400 or whatever in tips for your cruise price when with P&O the price is the price. Opting out of the gratuities process definitely made our holiday more enjoyable. They should pay people their proper wage rather than charge guests to top up their employees' salary!
Don’t be cheap hahah
Do you prefer this ship to Iona?
Yes we preferred it personally
@@OneCouplesAdventure Thanks for the reply 😊
My dad had his card added when he got charged £500 gratuity after 2 days he had heartattack
Oh wow that must of been a shock if he wasn't expecting it 😳 😁
Try going from north Scotland lol!!
Haha yes that would be even worse