Out of 30 plus cruises I’ve taken, the Prima was my least favorite by a wide margin. While beautiful on the outside, the layout of the ship is a mess. Every venue is way too small for the number of passengers, with all interior spaces divided into tiny little areas. Service is a real issue, most of the staff is working very hard, but they need 2-3x the number of staff in key areas like bar service. You will wait and wait for drinks. The buffet is tiny with very limited selection. You will often find it impossible to find a seat there. The main pool deck is very small, unthemed, and boring. They took up a lot of the pool space with a go cart track that no one used. I really thought this would be an exciting new cruise experience but they got almost everything wrong.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Getting on the ship was easy
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Buffet is smallest I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship, should probably be at least 3x larger for the number of passengers. Very limited food selection. Breakfast and lunch are a madhouse, you won’t find a seat. Hudson’s main dining room was much nicer than Commodore dining room, although the menus are identical and never change. Never saw a ship before where main dining is regularly sold out. Everything on this ship is carved up into ridiculously small spaces which can’t come close to accommodating the number of passengers.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
The tiny ‘main pool’ area has so few chairs, you better be reserving one by 7:30 am. On our cruise, there were literally about 10 kids yet the ship decided to play Disney movies at full volume at the pool during the day. What a truly terrible main pool experience!
Entertainment
2 out of 5
The venues like the Improv and Syd’s Pourhouse for live music are so small you’ll never get in. Even afternoon trivia is in a venue so small you better be there at least 20 minutes before for any hope of getting a seat.
Children's Programs
No kids
Service and Staff
1 out of 5
Do you like standing in a line for 30 minutes every time you want a drink? That’s what you’ll do on Prima. Even on sea days, half the bars are closed. We didn’t see a roaming drink server taking drink orders at your seat until the third day. I doubt there were more than 3-4 on the same ship. The free ice cream bar on deck 8 is closed daily from 2-6 pm, because I guess no one wants ice cream mid-afternoon on a hot day. You will get your room serviced once per day. If you bring back coffee and a plate of food to your room from breakfast, those dishes will be there 24 hours later. Take good care of your in room towels because you’ll be using the same ones for at least 24 hours. We didn’t even meet our cabin steward until day 4. It feels in every aspect that the ship is very understaffed and the service is lacking in almost every way. I have never been on a ship where the senior cruise staff is less visible. Not a single announcement from the captain. Didn’t kay eyes on the cruise director until the 4th or 5th day. When you pass a senior officer in the hallway, they hurry by you with no desire to engage
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
This ship design is a disaster. All the passengers and even a large part of the crew seem to think so. I heard several passengers say each day that this was their least favorite ship they had been on. I have taken more than 30 cruises and this is now my least favorite ship. Norwegian has 3or 4 more of these ships on order, I’d say they’re in trouble.
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
The cabin itself was very nice, roomy and comfortable. The bed is nice. If they paired the room with service like you get on every other cruise ship, the cabin would have been a highlight of the experience.
Ship tip
My best advice is to choose a different ship. If you are an experienced cruiser, you will be completely disappointed before the end of day 2.
I don’t know why the information about the deck you get off on is such a well guarded secret. No one on the ship including guest services has any information at all about the disembark process.
Thanks for your review. We are booked on Prima for March 2024,seriously considering changing to another ship. We love the Breakaway/Breakaway plus class. After reading this and other reviews I think we would be much happier on one of those
Thanks for the detailed review. I can’t cancel my April cruise on the Prima now. It is too late. Already paid in full.
How was the muster drill? They have gone back to in-person drill.
This post and others makes me sad. I just booked this ship for a cruise for my grands 1st experience. I'm familiar with cruises and this post scares me. :-( Prehaps,I should take the hit on losing the cancelation fee!?!?
Having sailed on the Prima in December I completely agree with your assessment on the venues. They simply tried to squeeze everything from a Breakaway Plus class ship onto the smaller Prima class and it failed. I’m currently on the Celebrity Apex which is similar in size to the Prima and they did a much better job with venues. They have half as many speciality restaurants and venues but they are reasonably sized. I didn’t experience any issues with long waits or difficulty getting into restaurants or bars. I’d be surprised it has changed much in a couple of months.
I was on the Prima in January. I agree spaces were small but as for the rest we must have been on different ships. We found a chair by the pool every day. We also had a waiter. I agree the pool bar was slammed on sea days. We never had a problem getting into a restaurant. We ate breakfast in Hudson’s every morning and it was great. My cabin steward was amazing. We met him the first day and saw him 3or 4 times a day and he always called us by name and spoke. My husband took a shower in the morning and I took one in the evening. We got clean towels both times every day. I was disappointed with the entertainment and the size of some of the venues as well. I’m really sorry your cruise was not up to your standard. Hopefully they will listen and make some improvements but overall we had a great time.
There are lots of mixed reviews about the newest ships on Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Carnival. Many say the public spaces are too small and feel cramped. Hopefully they will correct those issues on future builds.
Thank you for a detailed description, other cruisers have also complained about the small spaces. What a disappointment, we were looking forward to sailing on the Prima at some point but probably won’t now.
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