Why is Norwegian Prima so DISLIKED? - My Full Cruise Review

Thanks Zach, great review. Sailing on Prima in November; cant wait!

Great review Zach. I sailed on the Prima back in February from Galveston to the Caribbean and my experience was largely the same as yours. I can say that from all the cruises I have taken so far and resorts I have stayed at all around the world, the service on the Prima was the best I have ever experienced. They treated my mom and I like royalty and we weren't even staying in the Haven. Just from that experience alone, we've almost exclusively shifted our cruising to NCL and I'm saving the cash to get the full Haven experience on a future cruise. We'll be sailing on the Aqua in 2026 from Miami and looking forward to what new touches NCL brings to what will be the Prima-Plus class

Thanks for the ship review Zach. I have enjoyed all of your vlogs on this itinerary. I will be sailing this same itinerary on Prima on 9/5-9/15. As an Elite Plus/Diamond Plus member on Celebrity/Royal, I have been somewhat anxious about sailing NCL and especially on Prima after reading so many terrible reviews. It is nice to see a positive review for a change! I’m trying to keep an open mind for my sailing! But no matter what, I am so excited for this itinerary! Thanks again for sharing.

Thank you for a great Review! I am also going on this cruise Sept 5-15 and loved all your reviews of the ports & ship etc. I have been following ya for awhile, and appreciate your hard work! I have been on the Prima before this (out of Galveston Jan 2024) and loved it! I am also a you tube content creator, and thank you so much for the discount and IDEA of the map you showed, I utilized your discount and ordered mine! :) Great Job Zach!

I kind of feel like the ports are going to skew the results a bit on this particular cruise. You could probably take the Margarita at Sea cruise ship and do this same itinerary and get a pretty good overall rating. With that being said, I think you are spot on with everything you said regarding food, entertainment, etc. To me, if you take this ship on a basic Caribbean cruise out of Miami, this is probably a 4/5 ship. Luckily it does seem like NCL has been improving some of the flaws on Aqua and Viva.

This video brings back such fun memories for me. I sailed this ship last summer and it was one of my favorite cruises after 31 cruises. This was my first solo trip and I also had an interior cabin. The first night I slept for 12 hours lol . The ship is so beautiful and deck 8 was my favorite place to be. I also love the observation deck but it fills up quickly and was often closed for private events. I ate most of my meals in the food hall and enjoyed every meal. My only complain is that there wasn't enough interior public places for times when it was too cold to hang out on deck 8. This is my favorite ship. Zack, your review is spot on.

Wonderful review. I loved my voyage on the Prima! 100% agree with you regarding the indulge food hall — by far my favorite. We did a number of specialty restaurants — Palomar, Los Lobos, and La Bistro were our favorites.

Good to hear the food was above expectations on Prima. Many of us on Encore just recently commented on the institutional (nursing home) food quality in every venue which was disappointing. Food on Norwegian ships can be hit or miss I’ve found. So…..When are you going to sail on a Cunard Queen and the experience they offer? I want to see that review.😀

Great review. I sailed the Celebrity Ascent in March and the NCL Viva in April and agree with the similarity in design. I loved my solo studio cabin, solo lounge and activities, Indulge Food Haul, Hudson's, and Ocean Blvd. The venues and pools were too small. Food Republic was my favorite specialty restaurant. My meals at Onda and Palomar were not that good. The Local was also good.

These ships have such bold, beautiful, creative designs! The carpets, furnishings, decor, recessed lighting are all spectacular. It must have been nice to be surrounded by such lovely aesthetics. So glad you had a great time.

Prima is absolutely our favorite ship. I know there was a ton of hate for it when she first launched but we thought everything was amazing and we enjoyed the smaller venues. Agreed on all the food. Le bistro and los lobos are our Ncl favorites and loooved Indulge. We went every day for at least one meal in the food hall. As someone who has cruised ncl for over 10 years now it is sad they have cut back on the Broadway shows. They were always amazing.

I booked the Prima because I loved the upscale experience on the Apex, and it looked like it was going to be a competitor. We’ll see how it goes! July 2025

Wow! Your review is going to make me take a look. What was the previous #1?

You truly give great reviews...sounds wonderful!!!

Hi! I have recently been on board Norwegian Prima. A change has been made to the onboard entertainment which began on cruises commencing 14 July 2024. Syd Norman's tribute to Rumors has been moved to the Prima Theater.

We stayed in a Penthouse Haven suite on this ship. Must say in terms of value for money the Prima does not match up to the Retreat or Star Class on Celebrity and RCCL respectively. The Haven aside the ships top decks layout has so many wasted spaces which resulted on our cruise with guests arguing over sunloungers--the speedway track whilst nice once takes up so much space, the kids water park area is also an absolute waste of space along with the games area.

Zach, was the ship at capacity when you sailed? I’ve been on the fence about giving NCL another shot after better experiences on Celebrity, Princess and HAL. But I’ve only sailed the NCL Epic and that was pretty bad. After watching this, I think I might give the Prima class a try on a repositioning. Love your content!

It is so sad— the lack of theater production shows on NCL now. I had sailed on their ships for a number of years until they decided to cut their entertainment budget. They used to have 2 major theater production shows + other smaller production shows. Did do the Prima from NY to Iceland. The Sid Norman shows were great but, again, not enough entertainment. And couldn’t make use of outside deck 5 because it was freezing out!! 🙂

I love the review. Norwegian used to have phenomenal Broadway-esque shows, but stopped that in cost cuts a couple of years ago.

great video the ship is very lovely the cabin and ports and food looks great as well