Tales of the High Seas: Voyage aboard the Norwegian Prima
November 8, 2022
What is going on with the CruiseNext desk? They are a thirsty bunch. They have left flyers in my room on several days. They handed out a flyer to me as I was writing notes in the atrium. I have received phone messages. They arranged a talk to take place in a venue space for anyone interested in their offers. PLEASE save paper. They made announcements over the public address system. This push is so unnecessary.
I have been informed that Hurricane Nicole would be interrupting our visit to Great Stirrup Cay. Going into this trip I was already aware that since Great Stirrup Cay does not have a dock we only had a 50/50 chance of experiencing this port. The seas could end up being too choppy for the little tender boats that would be necessary. I had a kayak tour scheduled with Claudine that got credited back onto my account.
I had my breakfast bright and early at Hudson’s and indulged in some Belgian waffles. Absolutely delicious. I wouldn’t change a thing, except maybe that tea kettle. I don’t know why but I can’t pour a cup of tea without spilling. After halfway through the waffles, I would have liked more maple syrup, but that is not the best for the body, so I refrained from asking for more.
After breakfast, I changed into my pool gear to head to deck 17. It was mostly empty on this overcast morning, and I got to enjoy the hot tub all by myself. Such a treat! I followed the rules and only stayed for fifteen minutes. I believe the rule is a health thing. Afterwards, I dried out on a deck lounger. Today is full of ocean and more…ocean and partly cloudy skies. Thankfully, the pool deck is piping music because my phone is out of commission, and I can no longer play my playlists. Currently rockin’ out to Adele as I write some notes.
Something completely slipped my mind. Sometime in those initial five sea days, I ventured over to the shop that had all of the NCL Prima merchandise. I think NCL dropped the ball. This is the first ship first of its class. The amount of merchandise was negligible. Hats? None available. Ship models? None available. Magnets? Pins? I really didn’t see much. There were only a few t-shirts, hoodies, lanyards, and that was it. There really wasn’t much of that. I think this was a big, missed opportunity on NCL’s part. However, I did find a t-shirt I liked, and I purchased that. Even though I was anticipating a sale at the end of the sailing. Which I really didn’t pick up on as the sailing went on. I wanted to be able to get my preference of shirt. Odds are my shirt might not be available come the last few days of the sailing. I like the shirt I purchased. The sleeves feature the artwork of Peeta, who designed the artwork seen primarily on the hull but all over the outer casing of the front of the ship and along the ship’s sides. At the bottom of the shirt is embroidered the words, “Norwegian Prima”. It is a simple design which fits me well. I’m happy with my purchase and it’s great to get a bit of a discount thanks to my latitude loyalty status.
As morning progressed, more and more sun emerged. A word to the gentlemen, please hike up your swim trunks. I am not interested in seeing your butt crack like you have a tool belt on. This is not an Atlantis or RSVP cruise. I do not have to compare my body to a parade of low carb Adonises. My habit of almost always taking the stairs should be helping me having three desserts at yesterday’s lunch, but somehow, I think not. Each morning I progress to an increase of push up reps and a longer plank. If you want to feel better about yourself, I highly recommend traveling with a bunch of retirees. It is exactly as how I anticipated. I think I have seen a handful of minors on this sailing. Which means they will get spoiled with attention from the staff. Trust me, they are getting fawned over. I did spy an amusing t-shirt. It read, “In my defense, I was left unsupervised”. Something else I had the opportunity to notice was someone using a lift to gain more accessibility to the pool. I thought it was super nice that he got to enjoy the benefits of pool time around 9 am. Now at 10:30 am, they were removing the apparatus. I guess he had his fill.
At this point, I have enjoyed all of the ports that this ship will encounter on this particular sailing. All of my shore excursions were done independently. I am very pleased and happy to report that I did not encounter any issues with any of my shore excursion suppliers.
For slot pull #2, we all got two turns at five pulls each. We won a big, fat goose egg. Two people tied for the highest spin, they split the side pot between them. If I came out ahead $52 over the $20 I spent, I would consider myself lucky. Thankfully, everyone from slot pull #1 had returned the money needed and we all were able to play unimpeded. In fact, a big thank you is due Mary H. G., the winner of slot pull #1 side pot. She offered to use her winnings to help out, if needed. It was not and I appreciate her generosity. The second group had an excellent time and probably would have been more boisterous if we had had a more successful run.
We experienced overnight a medical attention stop in Jamaica since the cruise ship didn’t have the facilities to treat the passenger appropriately. We were not impacted at all with our Miami arrival. My Miami arrival was my greatest concern. I had also heard how we had a fatality. Nothing negligent by the cruise line, reports seemed to indicate it was just their time.
It was a gorgeous, sun shiny day. I laid out in the sun while I could. Hurricane Nicole was ahead of us, and I was waiting to feel her wrath. I spent a big part of the day on one of those chairs that were suspended down with lots of cushions. Afterwards, I spied my buddy, John from Texas and we chatted our afternoon away.
I moved on to Indulge Food Hall for lunch. I had a Caesar spinach salad from The Garden. Using spinach leaves was a nice twist. From Seaside Rotisserie I ordered chicken legs accompanied by cucumber, tomato and mac and cheese. The tablets were all down today, so you just had to wait for a server to take your order.
At 4 pm, a band performed on the main pool deck stage. I ordered a Belvedere gimlet. It was quite tart! Maybe I should change my order? It was kind of crazy how amplified the band is on deck 17, while the sound isn’t so great on deck 18. I spied a guy up on deck 19 leaning over the edge to hear the band. I noticed my shipmate Sara busy chatting up a very attractive lifeguard. There was some big-time flirting going on at that little neck of the deck. I also noticed some Speedway action a bit above me. Now a 2nd girl enters Sara’s conversation. Is that lifeguard ever watching the people in the pool? Zenzi, Sara and I had a conversation and we planned to meet Hilary and have another little pub crawl tomorrow. Prima has a triple deck, the first of its kind, go-kart track. I would have liked to get my picture taken during a spin. Not possible on this go around. Maybe next time.
Claudine, Dee Gee and I all met for dinner at Palomar. This is the Mediterranean, seafood focused specialty restaurant. I started with the grilled octopus. Even though it was excellent, I found the octopus at Onda to be superior. It was accompanied by fingerling potatoes, baby spinach, pickled red onion and pimenton de la vera were serviceable. My entrée Lavraki, the wild Mediterranean seabass with chickpeas and a saffron carrot puree. My dessert was a log of chocolate, a Valrhona dark chocolate mousse cake with dark chocolate sorbet with candied popcorn accents. That dessert was absolutely delicious. Claudine doesn’t care for zucchini, and it came with her dish so I ate that all up and her rice pilaf was yummy. Dee Gee enjoyed her Caesar salad, but she had to send back her steak because they did not cook it to her satisfaction.
Tonight, I ventured out to Disco Wonderland! The Prima Theater got transformed into a nightclub. The entertainment staff were all there dancing their little hearts out. I had a fun time dancing away. We were treated to some infectious beats of the era’s biggest hits. Haze, strobes, and laser effects were used during the experience. Good fun. I retired for the night shortly before the end of the party.
On this trip, I loved my wide brimmed straw fedora hat. It was foldable so it was perfect for packing away in luggage. It gave plenty of sun coverage and quite light. I actually own two. The one I brought with me was beige. But I have another one at home that is white. It is unisex, so shop for one for yourself.
NEXT: A little bit of entertainment that I created for myself, followed by Norwegian Prima scheduled entertainment