Luxury Cruise Ship

Norwegian Prima Cruise Review to Bermuda

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 4
Helpful Votes: 57

Overall rating:

4.1 out of 5
Norwegian Prima

5 Night Bermuda & Atlantic Coast (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 10, 2022

Ship: Norwegian Prima

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 11924

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

My first time cruising on NCL; I have always included NCL in the family friendly affordable cruise lines with Royal Caribbean and Carnival. NCL stepped away from that genre with this new Prima ship. It's more on the luxury end and gears more towards business and luxury clients. Beautiful ship with many dining options. I found the highly talked about Indulge food hall annoying as there was limited seating for everyone, the food choices were not the greatest, and when I didn't sit at one of the foodtruck style counters you had servers that brought you food meaning you tip an additional 20%. I like The Local, and the Seaside Cafe (Buffet) . Never had a problem finding a table and plenty of menu choices. Many activities on the ship are UpCharged and set up to keep competitive cruisers coming back to keep their name at the top of the score board. Mini Golf upcharge was $10; Interactive Darts was $40 for up to 6 guests both these areas are "Weather permitting" because they are under the speedtrack open air areas so sometimes it's too windy or wet to play in these areas. Speedtrack also had a $15 upcharge per race; but I liked this activity where it had a viewing deck and those not racing could use laser guns to shoot the drivers to boost their points. Entertainment was good, I enjoyed the talent of the Donna Summers Show, I'd never really heard of her, but was intrigued by the story line and the 3 lead singers were amazing. The Price is Right game show was a lot of fun and guest really do win some big and some small prizes. The Noise Boys was just okay to me, I was expecting it to be more like Stomp the Yard. I really enjoyed the younger smaller beat box artist, he could be his own show. This cruise if not for a good itinerary is basically a ship to eat, drink, and meet/mingle. The kids splash park and kids academy both look like an after thought, and my husband commented that kids academy looked like a hospital, not welcoming at all. The Vape/Tobacco smokers have just 2 areas on the ship; up top behind the kids splash park is a small section roped off with 2 ashtrays, no seating, and no covering; also in the casino there is a closed room that smokers can go to but they must be spending money to sit in there. I'm not a smoker so this did not effect me personally, but I did see how uncomfortable those that had to stand outside in the rain were and I am compassionate to understand that we all have our vices and NCL could honestly step up a bit in that area. No laundry facilities on board for guests which isn't usually a big deal, but those on 10+ night sailings might find that as a problem; No internet cafe with computers to use which also, not that big of a deal but I leave my laptop behind and use those cafe computers to check work emails and type up notes; also libraries are a thing of the past and the new Observation Lounge takes the lead. I did like the Observation lounge, but I enjoy quiet and empty libraries on the cruise ships. The Balcony Cabin was nice, but I miss the fan in the bathroom.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Children's Programs

2 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

Not a kid friendly or smoker friendly cruise ship;

Ports of call

New York, New York

4 out of 5
We purchased NCL Transfers for this sailing, first time I've ever used transfers. Arriving at the airport in the baggage claim there was staff holding NCL signs, but they didn't have me on the list. I had to show my receipt, and then they had a private sedan transfer take me to the ship. This driver was not very friendly and not very happy to be taking us to the cruise pier. It took over 90 minutes to get from LGA to the Manhatten pier. Embarkation was a breeze, took less than 10 minutes.

Royal Naval Dockyard, West End, Bermuda

5 out of 5
I love Bermuda, it's beautiful and I will go any opportunity that I get. I booked an excursion with Resortforaday dot com and spent the day away from the cruise ship crowds by going to Coco Reef Resort to enjoy lunch, pool, and beach access.

Disembarkation

3 out of 5
Disembarkation could have been a bit more organized; NCL just started two lines from the main foyer areas to keep guests away from those areas and then when we were told to get off the ship it was follow the leader out to the road and taxi's are across the street. The NCL return transfer here was a bit better, they gave us a ticket before leaving the ship and there was signs telling you where to go and you could see the shuttle buses. Drivers would tell you they are going to JFK, LGA, or EWR. Our driver to LGA didn't ask to see our ticket but he was a great driver and very entertaining.
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