Norwegian Prima Review

4.5 / 5.0
337 reviews

The Prima- A Leaky Boat

Review for the Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Prima
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sherisan
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Oct 2022
Cabin: The Haven Penthouse with Large Balcony

We chose The Prima for the ship. The itinerary was great, but, really we wanted the full Haven experience on The Prima. The Prima is a stunning ship. Elegance on each floor. Sadly, the Prima has issues. Day 1 - our carpet in our room was soaked, it squished as you walked between the bed and the bathroom. We reported this and we were told they took care of the issue. Day 2 - carpet soaked; the Concierge, the Head Housekeeper, the Butler all came to check out the wet carpet. Day 3 - carpet soaked. We were told they found leaks and fixed them. Nope. We are now begging for a blower to dry the carpet. We received a dehumidifier, which dried out the air in the room, not the carpet. Day 4 - we decided to find the leak. When the shower is on, in a separate room from the shower the wall across from the toilet flooded. We took a video to show staff. Still no blower and they had removed the dehumidifier. We were told they used a wet/dry vac to get the water up. Unfortunately, after each shower the carper is soaked. Day 5 - carpet is soaked. We were told they fixed the leak. Nope and now, a new flood was coming from the shower under the sink. We were offered a "free" dinner; which was nice, but we had all the restaurants booked. Still no blower. We requested we keep the dehumidifier. Day 6 - carpet soaked. We discovered that the Concierge staff do not communicate among one another. When the person we spoke with was on break, no one else knew about our flooded room or what was being done to help us. Day 7 - we finally received a blower, which we requested to keep. We were not turning off the shower as we washer our hair and ourselves to help stop the flooding. Not a great experience. After requesting to speak with their lead technician, he stated it would take 12 hours to fix, then changed that to 24 hours. We were told we could choose to be downgraded from the Haven to a Balcony Room, not a suite, mind you, just a room. We believed the possibility that they would find more issues then just the 2 leaks and be left in the downgraded room for the duration of the cruise. We chose to stay in the Haven, considering we had paid for the Haven. The head Concierge began to ignore us. This was fine with us a she was unable or could not take care of our issue. Talking with other Haven guests, other rooms had flooding as well, no one accepted any offer of downgrading. One couple were requested to downgrade because others complained their room was causing sewer gas. They could not smell it and decided to stay. We discovered other leaks coming from walls on the Haven outside deck 16 as well. We watched techs scratching their heads as they looked at the leaks. The head Concierge spoke to us 2 days before we were debarking. She offered $1,000.00 in ship credit; which we did not accept, because as stated we were at the end of the cruise, there was nothing to spend this credit on and it was not transferable to future cruises. We had already purchased what we wanted off the ship and it would have been hard to spend that much in the spa. Too little, too late. We also encountered not being able to go to two islands due to hurricanes. Everyone was surprised that the ship was not staying at a port and/or going to at least one other island. We had many unexpected days at sea. Other guests told us that other NCL ships they had been on had indeed gone to other islands when they had to deviate due to hurricanes. On a high note, we had the best room steward and Butler we have ever encountered on a ship. Both went out of their way to try to make each day a better one; considering the room circumstances. The Haven experience was worth every penny (excluding the room and unhelpful concierge staff). The restaurant is excellent but the menu really needs to change at least once a year, preferably more since we cruise several times per year and have the same menu. The Haven Bar had the best drinks and bartenders. The outside with its many loungers and beds was outstanding on a sunny day. Sadly, the infinity pool on all decks were drained beneath the glass; so no infinity experience. This is a huge sales pitch for this ship and we wonder why the pools had to be drained making them just your average pool. Granted you don't want to float over the edge into the sea, or have any pool water slosh the decks below; but you would think that would have been taken into consideration when the ship was conceived and built. Makes a great picture in NCL's ad though. Dining was below average in the specialty restaurants; sad when Cagney's can't get the inside of a steak correct. The Main Dining Room, Hudson's is breathtaking, windows everywhere and an excellent menu, including lobster tail!

Cabin Review

The Haven Penthouse with Large Balcony

The cabin 13322 was lovely. A larger balcony than normal. It had a table with 4 chairs and we requested 2 lounge chairs, making the balcony a wonderful place to enjoy. But, the daily flooding of the carpet left much to be desired. The shower had the rain shower head and wonderful jets; sadly we could not use the jets or enjoy the shower for a decent amount of time as we tried to lessen the floods coming from the two walls. Having a blower and dehumidifier in our room that we needed to move to enter the bathroom was inconvenient, but necessary to try to dry out the carpet as much as possible as it flooded daily.

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