A Review of Norwegian Cruise Line’s Newest Ship – The Prima

Norwegian Cruise Line’s (NCL’s) newest ship, the Prima, has an abundance of activities, good dining options and venues within a beautiful, sleek designed vessel. While these features are noteworthy, there are also some misses that should be addressed.

I recently took an 11 night Nordic cruise with a group of friends from Southampton on NCL’s newest vessel, the Prima. The Prima is the first of a new class of ships being built by NCL, using an Italian design and construction company, Fincantieri. The Prima entered service in 2022, and the Prima’s sister ship, the Viva begins service in 2023. Additional larger Prima class ships will debut in each year between 2025 and 2028, with the latter being about 20 percent larger than the Prima. The Prima holds about 3,100 passengers and 1,500 crew.

The aim of the Prima class is a flexible and sleek design to hold more guests while providing more premium spaces, through a variety of suite categories, such as the premium Haven, best described as a ship within a ship. The Prima class also includes a multitude of recreational opportunities, such as a three-level racetrack, both dry and water slides, smaller and more intimate infinity style pools on a lower deck, and attractive outdoor multi-spaces that include a variety of seating, a sculpture garden, and an outdoor walkway with a glass bottom floor known as Ocean Boulevard.

Below is a list of what I enjoyed about the Prima, and what could be improved. Cruise Critic is a website that also provides detailed information on cruise lines and ships, including photos, ratings, cruise specials, forums and more.

Overall Ship Design

Sleek and Contemporary Public Spaces – I was impressed with the sleek, contemporary design of the Prima, including the multi-level Penrose Atrium, and the many beautifully designed restaurants, such as Hudson’s (main dining room) and the multiple specialty restaurants. Many of the restaurants, especially the specialty restaurants include outdoor dining areas. You could tell the ship was designed by an Italian designer due to the sophisticated and stylish features. The paint scheme on the ship’s hull doesn’t have the cartoon appearance of other Norwegian ships, and the public spaces are less flashy and more sophisticated and refined while still luxurious.

Well designed Staterooms – We booked a balcony stateroom, and the space was very comfortable. The design details provided for an attractive, well thought out space with significant storage capacity. The room consisted of a very comfortable queen size bed that allowed for luggage to be stored beneath it, rather than taking up closet space. A decent sized living area with a sofa opened up to the balcony that included two lounge chairs. The biggest surprise was the ample sized bathroom with a large shower, and lots of built-in storage space for toiletries.

Sustainability – I also liked the sustainability features of the Prima, which aren’t readily apparent to the passengers. During a presentation by the captain, I learned that all waste generated on board is processed in the ship’s waste processing area. Items are recycled through huge glass crushers, carboard recyclers, and plastic recyclers. The ship has onboard food digesters, onboard fresh water production, an exhaust gas cleaning system, LED lighting, and a Ballast Water Treatment system. At the Metropolitan Bar, straws are made of vegetables, and delicious cocktails are made from leftover banana peels, pineapple skins, and other odd items. NCL has a goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and the two Prima class ships to be introduced in 2027 and 2028 will allow green methanol as an alternative fuel source.

Confusing Layout – The design of the Prima seems to be packing in a lot of venues and spaces, but in a confusing pattern. It took us awhile before we could understand the layout and connectivity. Some of the restaurants, such as Cagney’s and the Commodore Room could only be accessed via the Belvedere Bar.

In addition, on each stateroom level, upon exiting elevators, it wasn’t easily apparent which direction was fore or aft, starboard versus port. And the room numbering guide wasn’t available until you chose to walk within either hallway, sometimes requiring us to backtrack.

Poor Pool Deck Material – The staff seemed to be constantly wiping down the pool deck, and for good reason. In general, I found the flooring material to be slippery especially when wet, and even slipped and fell while landing on the deck from a stairwell.

Need for More Hot Tubs – The main pool area on Deck 17 includes one larger pool, and two decent sized hot tubs. Given the climate of our itinerary, the pool was less used while the hot tubs were almost always very crowded. One of the nice design features of the Prima is that there are two smaller infinity pools (but no hot tubs) on Deck 8 at Infinity Beach. Since the Prima frequently sails in colder climates, it would be nice to have additional hot tubs at Infinity Beach.

Cancelled Ports – The Prima doesn’t use tenders, which resulted in the ship not being able to dock at some originally planned ports. On my specific itinerary, two of our ports were cancelled.  Bruges, Belgium was cancelled due to tidal conditions, and Isafjordur, Iceland was cancelled due to a delay in construction to a jetty. If we had access to tenders, we may have been able to still visit those ports.

On-Board Entertainment

The Prima packs in a lot of varying entertainment options, including a variety of shows, a race track, dry and water slides, a video and virtual game area, an Escape Room, and more. We especially enjoyed the Donna Summer show, the Price is Right game show, and the variety of singers. We had a blast riding the race cars on a four-level track which lasted for nearly fifteen minutes. There is literally something for everyone on the Prima.

Make sure to get to Syd Norman’s Early – One of the best performances was a live band that performed the entire Fleetwood Mac Rumours album. The band is outstanding! The venue, Syd Norman’s Pour House, can only accommodate approximately 70 people at one time. As a result, we had to get in line approximately 30 minutes before the doors opened to get a decent seat, since reservations weren’t taken.

Make a Reservation for the Larger shows – Some of the larger shows, such as the Donna Summer Show, and the Price is Right game show, required a reservation. This is due to the relatively small size of the theater for such a large ship. It’s best to make a reservation the first day of the cruise to guarantee a spot. One interesting design feature – late at night, the theater seats collapse into a wall, and the space becomes a dance floor.

The Outdoor Game Area can get Cold – Deck 18 has a variety of outdoor entertainment spaces, including a miniature golf course, dart lounges, and the Stadium which includes ping pong tables, foosball, shuffleboard, and pickle ball courts. For most of the cruise, these areas were underused due to the colder climate. I would recommend that a heating system be used in the outdoor games area during inclement weather.

Dining

An Abundance of Specialty Dining – My cruise package included the use of four specialty dining venues (for two persons). The ship has a total of eight specialty dining restaurants, and some of them seemed to be underused, while others were more popular. Cuisines include French, Italian, Seafood, Sushi, Mexican, Steak, Japanese, and a fusion type food hall. My favorite was Cagney’s, where I had delicious perfectly cooked Australian lamb chops, a wedge salad, and sides of potatoes au gratin, creamed spinach, and pearl barley risotto.  I liked the restaurant’s intimate interior design, which reminded me of a mid century steak house that might have been frequented by members of the rat pack. I also loved the elegant design of the French restaurant, Le Bistro, with its blue and gold color scheme and huge chandeliers that dropped to the floor. Many of the specialty dining areas, and complimentary restaurants such as The Local Bar and Grill offer outdoor dining areas. While the attractively designed outdoor dining spaces are commendable, they were rarely used during our trip since the North Sea weather wasn’t conducive. Thus, the interior dining areas of the more popular restaurants were often crowded.

Hudson’s is the best of the Main dining halls – The Prima has two main dining halls, including Hudson’s, and the Commodore Room. The Commodore Room seemed to be dark and too small for the number of tables squeezed within it. We preferred Hudson’s, which is shaped in an arc form, and is more open with more light, and elegantly designed. The servers at Hudson’s are also very friendly and even performed a farewell song to our small group on our last day. For the most part, the main dining room food was very good, and we ate breakfast here on numerous occasions to avoid the crowded Surfside buffet.

Indulge Food Hall was a Hit – One of my favorite complimentary dining venues was the Indulge Food Hall. Indulge includes an eclectic mix of ethnic food sections, such as noodles, tapas, seafood, Mexican, Indian, and American BBQ, as well as a complimentary dessert case. Within the open seating area, diners can order as much food of any variety from tablets that are placed at each table. Each cusine section also has its own small seating area, where only that cuisine is served. Indulge also has an upscale (pay) dessert section, and a Starbucks.

Observation Lounge – I enjoyed using the Observation Lounge located at the front of Deck 17. The large floor to ceiling windows offered a 180-degree panoramic view, which was especially appreciated when traversing through Norway’s scenic fjords. A variety of seating options are designed to take advantage of the view. The lounge provides a full-service bar, and light self serve food, coffee and tea. I sometimes used the lounge for a light breakfast rather than using the crowded buffet at Surfside Grill. Afternoon tea enthusiasts would appreciate the daily selection of finger sandwiches, cakes and scones with cream and jam. The only downside is that the lounge became so popular that it was often difficult to find a seat.

Avoid the Surfside Grill – The Surfside Grill is the ship’s main buffet restaurant, and is too small given the number of passengers. The space was designed smaller to steer passengers to other venues, but many people prefer buffet style dining.  While the food is generally good, the crowded conditions always hampered my visit, due to people knocking into me and the difficulty in finding a table. If you prefer the buffet, there is heated outdoor seating that seemed to have more available tables.

Customer Service

Friendly Staff – I was very impressed with the friendly staff within all of the ship’s venues, including receptionists, waiters, cabin stewards, entertainment organizers, and bartenders. Everyone seemed genuinely happy and outgoing, and it was common to be greeted by everyone.

Technology Issues – One of the negative experiences on the Prima was a variety of technical issues that we encountered. Upon entering our room, our television system didn’t seem to have our accounts uploaded (noting our pre-paid items, reservations, etc.), and it took day for this to be rectified. On two occasions, our reservations for either dining or entertainment were automatically cancelled and rescheduled, but then became double booked with another reservation we had. I had called the customer service line at least four times where there was no answer, requiring us to go to the reception desk. One of the agents at the desk gave us misleading advice on where to settle an issue.

Summary

In general, we were happy with our experience on the Prima. We loved the sleek contemporary design of the ship, the food and entertainment choices, and the sustainability features, as well as the friendly staff.  However, it also appears that the ship was built to hold too many passengers for the size of many of the venues, resulting in some very crowded spaces, while other areas, especially outdoor spaces, were underused. In addition, NCL could improve some technology issues, as well as re-think how the outdoor spaces could be better served on itineraries that include colder weather.