Would not recommend especially if you have kids!!!
Norwegian Prima Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Deck Hand
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 21
7 Night Caribbean: Great Stirrup Cay & Cozumel (Port Canaveral Roundtrip)
Sail date: December 23, 2022
Ship: Norwegian Prima
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Review summary
I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND NORWEGIAN AND FOR SURE NOT NORWEGIAN PRIMA TO ANYONE ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN! The worst vacation and cruise I have ever been on. We literally got off this morning and could not be happier to be off the boat. I have 3 kids under 5 and prior to booking our cruise I called the Norwegian customer service to make sure the boat was kid friendly and kid accommodating. My travel agent who booked the trip for us also followed up on the boat information. We wanted to make sure there was plenty for the kids to do on the boat. We were told the water slide accommodated kids and let them ride with their parents. We were told the racetrack also fully accommodated all kids with parents. Norwegian customer service also told there us there was a kids pool area and a activity center plus plenty of activities for the kids. I asked and asked about what had age restrictions and they could not specify!! WE WERE LIED TOO!! Once on the boat, the “splash academy” kids activity center staff informed us that the kids could come, but once the limit was reached we had to go in the queue waiting list to get them in. If we did not drop them off the second it opened, there was no chance of getting them in for a while! Also, aside from 2 days on the cruise, my 20 month olds time slot to be able to go free play in the “splash academy” kids center was from 12:30-1:30pm, but what child this age doesn’t take a nap around that time!! The other time was 4:30-5:30pm, but I’m sure no one went to that either, as many families with little kids are probably getting ready for dinner!! The limits for my kids were endless! They were bored constantly! Many of the parents stated they were treading water trying to keep their kids happy or satisfied! When I asked about kids activities outside, they told me that due to Covid, this has changed and they were not allowed because the activity center kids to staff ratio was limited. I remarked with, so it’s due to lack of staffing then and not Covid, but they repeated that it was due to Covid! The water slide had a height limit, so once again, my kids could not do that. The race cars accommodated dual riders roughly 1.5 hours a day only and by reservation only, many of the families were upset about this!The kids pool/aqua park was definitely no pool and NOT SAFE!! There was no “kids pool” at all, it was a splash pad and extremely dissatisfying, my kids were very unimpressed! No water slide, no ankle high water, nothing but sprayers and slippery floor for them! The floor was extremely slippery, my kids fell multiple times, as well as many other kids, the floor water vents were all lifting, which was very dangerous (I have videos of this!) and screws were missing! My daughter cut her ankle on a part of the ground sprayer as well. After we reported this incident, that evening the night security guard, Pritam, called our room to build a case report which would have been great had he not done it at 11 pm at night! He woke up one of my kids and I was fuming!! I also did not like the aqua kids park being one level up from the main pool and secluded which is no fun! I felt like our family trip was separated by the pool, aqua park the ridiculous Norwegian rules. The real winner that set me off was that my 20month old son was not allowed in any of the pools on the ship, not even the ankle high water around the pool and couches!! Why!? Because he is not potty trained! So even if we put him in a swim diaper, he was not allowed in the water. while my two older kids went swimming, he had to sit and cry on the deck because he wasn’t allowed to swim on our holiday vacation! If he couldn’t go in, then that meant one of us had to be out of the water with him at all times! What kind of rule is this, I could understand if we did not have a water diaper! But we did! Get this though, after almost getting disembarked from the boat for bringing him In the pool, twice on video and on two separate occasions I got kids in diapers in the pool with parents while the lifeguard sat there and watched!! TALK ABOUT INCONSISTENCY!!! What did we pay for our 20 month old for on this cruise!! The virtual reality arcade also had an age limit of 6+ years old with nothing for my littles once again, not even a few games for them in the arcade! On top of that, when we walked through, we noticed a good 4 or 5 virtual games out of order, shocker! On top of all this, the boat had soo many issues, I don’t think I heard one person on the boat that enjoyed it! It seemed as if they wanted to only have passengers partake on a vacation inside the boat! Talk about a lack of outdoor activities for passengers on a outdoor vacation who want nothing to do with the inside because we are from Chicago, there was not much activities set up outside at all! The mini golf was completely broken, it was suppose to be interactive, but was nothing of the sort, they had to make it a free for all to anyone because it was not functioning and much of it was falling apart! The “super selfies” on the deck did not work! There was a woman who told us she was on floor 11, and some of the elevators would not even let her push floor 11 to let her out! Also, one of the elevators didn’t work most of the trip and said “-17”th floor, and was never fixed! Our family loves to play bingo and every Royal Caribbean boat provides t-shirts when you purchase a bingo package, well so does Norwegian, but what large boat runs out of giveaway T-Shirts for bingo after 3 days on the ship! After they ran out of the shirts, instead of discounting the bingo, they offered extra win a free cruise raffle tickets, but who would ever want to go on a Norwegian again after this cruise!! And most people want memories and great experiences!! To top it all off, which I understand weather is permitting, but this just adds to it all, we only stopped at 2 of the 4 destination ports due to wind, rain and weather; one of the two stops it poured the entire time we were stopped there! The captain did not notify the passengers or staff either for a good hour after knowing we were skipping the ports. Also, why would My daughter at one point ask “why are there so many games for adults and not for us”. What child would ask this on what was suppose to be a fun, family vacation! We felt awful for the staff as multiple of them stated they were overworked and understaffed. The bars took forever to get drinks which was another big complaint for many passengers! We were also told by an unidentified staff member that they will never sign a Norwegian contract again! The casino had a bursted pipe that leaked and smelled in the casino hallway for the last 3 days of the ship. We also met a couple who found a piece of glass in their salad and yet the boat said we can write a case report and that is it! The pool deck was absolutely horrendous, small and lost sun on 70 percent of it after a few hours because of the poor location on the ship! The slides that were suppose to be thrilling and exciting were slow, boring and very non-thrilling!! One of our rooms had an on and off loud booming noise throughout the entire cruise stay, and we were on the 14th floor!! It was loud enough that my son would hold his ears when he heard it which I also caught on video! The only half way decent thing was some of the delightful staff, and I say SOME!! A good amount of the food, which is basically all we could do and 3 days of sun, and yes only 3 days. I have also never been on a cruise without actual stores for convenience. There was a wall to buy goodies and stuff and that is it. Who doesn’t have like a candy, ice cream or dessert store; Royal Caribbean usually does!! Call me fat, but NO LATE NIGHT PIZZA!! Come on!! Last, I felt sooo dehydrated the entire trip, finding cold water that we didn’t have to pay for was like finding activities for my kids; beyond limited!!! No water stations outside at all, if you wanted water, you had to go to the bar which took at least 5-10 minutes! Or go where food would be! I could probably go on and on even more, but in a nutshell, we will NEVER GO ON NORWEGIAN AGAIN AND I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE!!Embarkation
If I could give it zero stars I would!!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
If I could give it zero stars I would!! Except for los lobos
Onboard Activities
If I could give it zero stars I would!!
Entertainment
Price is right and noise boys were the only thing we liked about the ship and los lobos
Children's Programs
This was the worst of the worst!!
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Worst layout, barely any sun on the pool deck
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Would not recommend Norwegian cruise lines
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Disembarkation
14 Comments
uhleashyuh 1 year ago
You actually wanted your kids under 5 on those waterslides??? Speaking from one mom to another, I'd never allow my unpotty trained child in an adult pool swim diapers or not... if they have one accident, the whole pool would have to be drained and cleaned. You are not the only one that paid for your holiday we do not want to swim in your child's urine.
OB1Luvs2Cruz 1 year ago
Sounds like you did not do your own research. A Disney ship or Disney land venue would have been a better fit. Your TA leaves a lot to be desired as well. Cruise ship crews have absolutely no control over the weather conditions, nor random incidents on-board ship. The decision to take 3 very young children under the age of 5 on an adult-geared vacation venue was yours alone. Take it as a lesson learned the hard way...and next time seek out video reviews, and information regarding your venue before you book. Good Luck.
jpmato16 1 year ago
You had several points which clearly exemplified the fact that you did no research and don’t understand basics of cruising, such as hygiene issues. NCL has no drop off ship facilities for kids under 3 y/o, except on Escape, so your youngest would always be with you. You also failed to do any research on this ship, which is not targeted to really young children. You could have watched dozens of videos before final payment, which would have made it clear this is an upscale ship, not an amusement park for tiny children. I went on this ship thanksgiving week with my 11 y/o, and he had a fantastic time, as did several friends with kids. Honestly, I would never go on any ship with a child who still requires a nap time. It is a waste of money.
nclcruzr 1 year ago