Prima Review (as a 16 y/o, please take this lightly)

I went on the NCL prima ship from November 23rd to 30th and just got back this morning. Ill give the ship an honest 8.4/10. By interior design its a beautiful ship. Ive been on a good amount of cruises and I can honestly say ive liked this one the 2nd most aside from when I went on Icon. The ship has ALOT of dining, show, and hangout options I can definitely give it that. The staff were amazing as always, never made me feel like me or my family were asking for too much(even though we probably were). Now here are my honest critiques.

Food: 8/10

I went to Le Bistro and Palomar on the ship which you need to pat extra for and the food there is REALLY good, but the food at complimentary dining was dissapointing. The Buffet on deck 17 had alot of options, but I can never say the food there was truly good, it always ranged from bad to mid. At the local, a 24/7 complimentary restaurant, the food was often decent, but sometimes it wasnt good. Burgers were dry and the buns were sometimes very hard. The commodore and hudson they were just ok. The speed of the food and drinks was pretty inconsistent. Id have to remind the waiters of a drink or food id gotten. While at the local, me and 2 of my friends ordered apple pies. We waited for over an hour to get them. When we asked we were told theyd be out soon. 30 minutes later they still werent out and since I had plans I had to leave. This is no diss to the cooks or waiters and waitresses but I feel that some things couldve been handled better. The indulge food hall was really good.

Hours: 7/10

The hours were honestly frustrating. The teen club especially was a big let down. For a ship this modern the Teen Club should have been larger. Its opening hours were also very off. Me being 16 wanted to be there often and before the cruise itself I had already made some friends and we had planned to go there. Getting on the ship, the club was closed, opened at 8, only let in 24 kids, then closed 2 hours later. The capacity is also ridiculous. For that I blame the ships designers for not putting in a teen club on the original planning. When we would get back from ports the teen club and other restaurants would still be closed at 3 in the afternoon, which was aggrevating at times. Often times you would see us teens in the observation lounge, or the starbucks at deck 7 having to take up alot of space because the teen club hours and capacity just weren’t good. On other ships Ive been on, the teen club was open for a majority of the day. Indulge food hall hours were weird too. When we got back from Grand Cayman me and my family wanted to go there but it was closed, opened at 5, then closed at 8. Didnt like that tbh. Pool defks and hot tubs were often closed at 10 which I guess I can understand but for most teens and really anyone under the age of 30, 10 pm isn’t that late when youre on a cruise ship.

Ports: 7.5/10

This may seem a bit unfair, we were supposed to dock at Montego Bay in Jamaica but because of Hurricane Melissa they rerouted us to Ocho Rios. Im not digging at NCL for this they cant control the weather, I’m judging my experience at the ports themselves. My first stop was Great Stirrup Cay and had some fun there. Im not really a fan of private islands since I like to experience the true culture of countries I go to. The beach was nice, food was pretty bad though. Overall 6/10. Second stop was Ocho Rios and I can’t lie I was dissapointed. When we pulled up to the city I thought id get to experience Jamaican culture but really I felt like I was in an American bubble. I did ziplining at the Dunnes River Falls, and it was fun. The shop owners were EXTREMELY aggressive and I can’t lie plain annoying. Sometimes not making eye contact won’t even work cause they will literally scream at you and follow you. My sister was yelled at by one of the shop keepers cause she didnt want anything. Food was good, service ok, but I didnt feel any Jamaican experience. Overall 5/10. Grand Cayman was pretty nice. Beautiful water some of the nicest ive seen. Since its a british territory I knew we wouldnt get much “culture” per say but I still felt like I was feeling the Caymanian experience. Beautiful island with very nice people. Food was pretty good. The only thing I didnt like was the hell volcanic rock tour, just didnt care for it. Overall 8/10. My last stop was Cozumel and it was by far my favorite one. They kept it modern but traditional at the same time, literally everyone there were some of the nicest people ever and I genuinely had conversations with some of the locals and they even taught me some spanish. I went to swim with dolphins and that was a blast. Saul even remembered my name by heart. Food was amazing, service even better, 10/10.

Overall my experience on Prima was good, it can vary on age and the type of vibe you want, but its a good ship.