NCL Prima has nice simple room with modern feel to it. Nice public area design.
Free style cruising, to me, means having to put in more effort to make reservations in order to secure seating, and the spaces fill up quickly even before the cruise begins. So, I would recommend downloading the NCL app and making reservations in advance.
The free food area is always crowded with people. The buffet area is not big enough, there is a feeling that we have to compete for both food and seats.
When it comes to perks, be sure to carefully read the fine print. Free drinks come with $199 gratuities. The free wifi is limited to 150 minutes and doesn’t work on the last day. Additionally, the onboard credit cannot be used to cover the gratuities, which is $20 per person per day. Excursions are also quite expensive, even with the $50 discount for the first person. So, it’s important to do your homework and find alternative options.
iMessage from an iPhone still works on the ship without wifi. You need to log into the ship’s internet for the first time and after logging out, it will still work.
Port of calls
Naples is easy to navigate. We can easily disembark from the ship and walk around. Many shuttles are available, waiting to negotiate where you want to go. In our case, we chose to go to Positano and pre-booked a private shuttle van online. The cost was $372 for 8 people roundtrip. Ask me if you need more info.
Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy
The town center is about 15 minutes walking or take the bus to city center. Major attraction:
Bastione San Remy,
Quartiere de Castello
Santa Maria Cathedral
Livorno, Italy (2 days)
This port can is a hassle as it is not possible to walk out directly. To exit the port, we have to take the port bus, but the line moves very slowly. It took 1 hour to get out of the port. We attempted to get a taxi to bypass the bus line, but even the taxi line was not moving. They come one by one and people negotiate for a ride to Pisa, Florence, or Cinque Terre on the spot, and that takes time. Also hassle in the way back to the ship, only the port bus or taxi are allowed to get into the port.
So many destinations to choose from in this port of call. Pisa, Florence, Tuscany are within reach. We chose to go to Cinque Terre and stayed the night in Lucca.
Cannes, France
This is a tender port where we have to use small boats to reach its shore, and we need to get tickets at the guest services for that, the day before.
The city center is about 15 minutes walk. The city itself was beautiful and made the walk enjoyable. Major attractions:
Vieux port / old port
Rue d’Antibes shopping street
Marche forfille
La croisette promenade beach
Le suquet old town
Our additional destination for the day was Antibes. A small charming old town inside the ramparts. It took 11 minutes by train from Cannes station and then 15 minutes walk to the old town of Antibes.
Marseille, France
Gares du Môle Léon Gourrett cruise port for big ship, it is far away from city centre, take free shuttle buses from the port to the Joliette area. From there take public transportation to anywhere you like.
We took transportation by NCL bus to Quai de Tourette, which is close to vieux port (old port). The cost is $20. If you want to go to Notre Dame, walk straight ahead and take bus number 60.
Marseille major attractions:
Notre dame of la Garde basilica
Palais Long Champ and the garden
Old port / Le vieux port
Mucem and long bridge to st Jean
Cathedral la major, biggest in France, st Marie major
La canabiere shopping area from vieux port
Or go to Aix en Provence, 40 minutes drive or 1 hour by train.
Palma de Mallorca
Again we took transportation by bus from the NCL, in order to use up the credit. But we can walk to the street and catch a bus to Palma, a bit far to walk, it is around 1 hour to Palma Cathedral. We took bike tour, and it was really nice. I recommend Greentours Palma, Clement was really nice.
Major attractions:
Palma Cathedral
The Royal Palace of La Almudaina
Walking around Palma old town
Castell de Belver
Cuevas del drach, boat inside cave
Mercat Olivar, market with tapas etc.
E-Bike tour
GreenTours Palma
+34 664 86 09 86
Ibiza
We take city boat from the cruise port to the city. Earlier the line was long and slow moving. We were lucky that in the morning we explored our ship first since it was the last day, and by the time we took the city boat, it was no line and there were only 4 passengers including us. Major attractions:
Dalt Villa
Formentera
Ses Illetes
Espalmador
Barcelona
The buffet breakfast was just crazy with people on the disembarkation morning. Pick up the stickers for the luggages the night before. The latest disembarkation was 9 am.
Barcelona has many attractions:
La Sagrada Familia
Barcelona Cathedral, and the Gothic quarter
Antonio Gaudi places; Park Guell, Casa Batlló, Casa Mila
La Rambla and
Mercado de la Boqueria