There are many, many issues with NCL, in general, and especially with The Prima. We used to be fans of NCL but that changed with our recent experience with The Prima. At first glance, the ship is beautiful. There are a lot of beautiful spaces, like the Observation Lounge. The staterooms are spacious (at least the balcony cabins) and many of the crew members are super nice. The decor and the finishes are amazing. It truly is a beautiful ship. That's about the extent of the positives.

We sailed out of Port Canaveral on a 9-day cruise beginning December 30, 2022. Two couples who have traveled together extensively and who have cruised on NCL other times, including earlier in the year. Our problems started with the booking process and did not end until we were off the ship. When we booked the cruise with the cruise consultant with whom we spoke, we were told the total price of the trip and booked it. Once we got the credit card statement, the charge from NCL was about $800 more than the price quoted. It took over two hours on the phone with NCL to get it resolved. Not a good start, to say the least.

We had asked about booking space in The Vibe and were told by the cruise consultant that we would not be able to book it until we were onboard because pre-boarding sale of The Vibe was no longer being offered. We were assured that space is set aside in The Vibe that can only be booked once on board. We paid for Priority Access to be able to board early to have the opportunity to purchase access to The Vibe. We were lied to and I have since learned from other passengers on our cruise and from reading comment on CC and other sites, we are not the only ones who have been lied to about being able to book The Vibe once onboard. When we pointed it out to guest services, the attitude was, "we don't know and we really don't care. It's not our problem." Lesson learned. NCL staff will lie to you to get the sale and there's no recourse. We spent the money for Priority Access to get on early and it was a waste of money. They tout the advantage of priority access to boarding tenders. That is a joke. They also stated in response to my complaint that the priority access benefit included luggage tags that would give priority at disembarking. That is not a benefit since we carried our own bags off the ship to avoid a long wait to get away from the terminal, post-cruise. Read more