Northern European Cruise: The Norwegian Prima Experience

September 13, 2025 | From the Founder, Patrick Verst

When I began looking at solo cruises, I was looking primarily for a cruise that visited Iceland. Any additional port of call was simply a bonus so long as Iceland was on the itinerary. Although I was deciding between sailing with Royal Caribbean and Norwegian, I leaned more towards Norwegian because I preferred trying out a cruise line I hadn't sailed before.

After looking at options on both companies' websites, choosing to sail on Norwegian Prima as a no-brainer for me! I had been following Norwegian Prima for years...since the moment it was announced in 2021 to the moment it was christened in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 2022 with Katy Perry as the selected "godmother" of the ship.

I knew going into this cruise that the ship itself was a bit edgy and, dare I say, 'controversial.' Since the moment the ship was announced, it was clear that this ship leaned more on the "luxury" end of large, commercial, megaship cruise lines. While the ship is quite large, it is intentionally designed to feel small with smaller dining rooms, more complimentary and premium dining options to choose from, a very wide variety of staterooms and suites to choose from, and yes, even quite possibly the smallest swimming pool per person in the entire industry.

To keep this post focused, I'll primarily discuss my experience with the amenities and my time at sea on Norwegian Prima.

Glass-encased model of Norwegian Prima located near the Observation Lounge

Stateroom

I stayed in a stateroom that is rather unique to the industry: a single-occupancy studio suite. Practically every room on cruise ships factors in at least double-occupancy, meaning two or more people per stateroom. However, Norwegian is one of the few rooms that offers some single-occupancy rooms. What makes this room especially unique, and how can it be considered both a studio and a suite at the same time? The room itself is a tiny studio. It's a single bed, dressers and bathroom with a walk-in shower. However, when you exit the stateroom, you are greeted by additional "suite-like" amenities that are exclusive to fellow studio suite passengers. The "suite" featured a self-serve dry bar with coffee, tea, juices, fruit-infused water, pastries, soda (if you had a drink package that included soda) and two lounging areas - one with tables and chairs that resembled a kitchen, and one with sofas, televisions and chairs that resembled a family room.

I loved my stateroom. It was small and cozy, yet very functional. I could tell every single design and logistical choice that went into the stateroom was very practical, very intentional and very thought out. Without going into too many details, a couple of little things that really stood out to me were the design of floor drains, the shower/bathroom door, the insane water pressure of the Jets Group toilet (ain't no clogging a Jets Group toilet!), the plethora of lights and lamps that could be turned on separately from each other and the abundance of storage space in the dressers, the dressers, on top of the dressers, under the bed, the open shelves, etc.

Rough Seas & Seasickness

Let me preface this by stating that I do not typically struggle with motion sickness. I can ride any ride or motion simulator at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando and experience no symptoms of motion sickness. I did not experience seasickness on my Caribbean cruise with Royal Caribbean at all. The only time I generally experience a feeling of motion sickness is when I spend too much time reading in the car. Thankfully, did not experience any seasickness during this cruise. I packed Advil and Dramamine as a precaution, but neither was needed for seasickness thankfully.

That being said, for those who are prone to seasickness, I do not recommend this itinerary or practically any itinerary that involves traversing the North Sea. As mentioned in a previous post, the North Sea is immensely unpredictable and quite consistently one of the roughest seas that cruise ships frequently pass through. It's not quite as rough as Drake's Passage, but it is rough. From my experience, the roughest period of the cruise was our sea day from Bergen, Norway, to Amsterdam, Netherlands. Below is a map of the North as a reference for the approximate path that we took.

What exactly do rough seas feel like on a modern cruise ship with such advanced stabilizers? A lot of swaying left to right, and an occasional thud. At no point did I feel the ship crashing so hard into a wave that I was about to fall over. However, even staying in the center of ship, I woke up quite a few times throughout the night to a subtle jerk (kind of like lightly hitting the brakes in a car) accompanied by a thud sound. It wasn't enough to knock me over or make me sick, but it was enough to force me to hold on to the railings in the bathroom when I went to use the toilet to make sure I didn't miss my target.

Overcrowding

With so many small community spaces, dining rooms and restaurants to help create a more "luxury" and "boutique" experience, it's great that there are so many options to choose from for meals and lounging. However, with small spaces on such a massive ship comes the possibility of overcrowding. Overcrowding is one of the biggest complaints about Norwegian Prima, and I knew that going into the cruise.

Is overcrowding an issue? Yes, especially if you are traveling with a group of more than two people. However, if you are smart, you will quickly learn to strategize to beat the crowds.

Kind of like how the pool is ridiculously small for how big the ship is, the Surfside Café, which serves as the ship's main buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner, is also ridiculously small for how big the ship is. That being said, the only meal I had in the Surfside Café on a regular basis was breakfast. Breakfast was chaotic in the Surfside Café practically no matter what time you went. However, it tended to be the least chaotic when the buffet first opened in the morning. So if you're sailing Norwegian Prima plan to have breakfast in the Surfside Café, I recommend trying to get there within the first 20 minutes that they open every day to ensure that you can find a table for your party and deal with slightly less sensory overload when selecting your food and drinks from the buffet.

Aside from the the Surfside Café, I never had much of an overcrowding issue at any of the restaurants. There was sometimes a wait at dinnertime for Hudson's and The Commodore Room, which served as the main dining rooms. However, as a party of one, the longest wait I ever had for either dining room was approximately 15 minutes. The waitstaff in both main dining rooms was very attentive and accommodating for people with special dietary needs. The views from Hudson's are a bit better though. As a result I tended to dined a lot more in Hudson's than I did in The Commodore Room.

The swimming pool never had issues with overcrowding on this cruise because most of the cruise was either too cold or too rainy to enjoy a pool day. Our sea day from Norway to The Netherlands was warm and sunny enough that a good portion of the chairs at the pool deck were occupied, but there were never any overcrowding issues by any means even during our "warm" and sunny sea day. "Warm," in this case, was around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, which is not warm by Florida man standards.

The Observation Lounge was a crowd favorite for lounging during sea days and during cool, rainy evenings at set. It was the only place that I had a hard time finding a seat as a solo traveler during certain hours. Similar to the buffet, the best way to beat the crowds is to get there early. You don't have to get there within the first 20 minutes they open, but I recommend getting there no later than 10:00 a.m. to ensure that you get a decent seat where you can observe from the Observation Room.

This is a very nitpicky detail, but one of the few areas where I feel like Norwegian overlooked things on this ship was in their chair selection in the Observation Lounge. Most of the chairs along the wall in the Observation Lounge are cozy, leather spinning chairs. Common sense says that perhaps spinning chairs aren't the best design choice on a moving ship in rough waters...that's just asking for spilled drinks. To correct that error, they wedged the seats firmly against the wall to prevent them from spinning themselves in rough water. As a result of pushing leather chairs against the wall, the seats made a ton of noise with every little movement as they rubbed against the wall. I had to put in Airpods in the Observation Lounge because the sound of chairs rubbing and squeaking against the wall was driving me mad. Anytime I sat in there, I always pulled my chair away from the wall and then moved it back before I left.

Photo taken from my spinning chair along the wall.

All said and done, was overcrowding an issue on this ship with this itinerary? Yes, but if you are traveling solo or in a small group and know not to go to the Observation Lounge or Surfside Café during peak hours, you shouldn't have too many issues with overcrowding with this itinerary. I could definitely foresee some massive problems with the pool overcrowding if you are sailing on this ship in a warmer climate. I think I might even go so far as to advise avoiding this ship entirely for cruises in the Caribbean if you plan to spend sea days at the pool unless you plan to get to the pool at sunrise.

Mandara Spa

Those of you who know me may know that I am a huge advocate for electric shavers over razors for shaving my face. One of my toxic travel traits is traveling with my electric shaver and not packing my charger or any sort of protective case to prevent the shaver from turning itself on in my checked suitcase during plane travel. And of course, during my longest vacation abroad with the most time restrictions, this was the trip of all trips in which my electric shaver decided to turn itself on during the flight to Europe. As a result, when I arrived in Iceland, my shaver was dead, and I had no way to charge it. The gift shop onboard sold razors, but I was not about to try to take a razor to the face myself. So I waited a few days, even contemplated growing out a beard for the trip, and ultimately decided to go to the spa to get a face shave by the barber onboard.

I am genuinely embarrassed to admit how much I paid for a face shave that wasn't even that good. I didn't have any ingrown hairs from it thankfully, but both shaves resulted in some missed patches where I ended up having to pluck out hairs one by one with my tweezers. So how much did it cost? The first shave was around $70 with gratuity. The second shave, which included a rejuvenating facial and an alleged $50 discount because I was a returning guest, was nearly $90 including gratuity.

Although I would not rate the shaves highly at all, I did enjoy the facial a lot. I'm not old enough to have saggy skin yet by any means, but it made my face feel very firm and euthanized for a couple of days!

Before the cruise, I also booked my first acupuncture session of my life. The concept of acupuncture has always intrigued me; however, the cost and a huge fear of needles has always prevented me from ever scheduling an acupuncture session until this cruise. It was a way of trying something new, seeking new means of wellness and relaxation and facing my fears all at once! To summarize my acupuncture in as few words as possible, "I don't think I need to do this ever again."

A few takeaways from my acupuncture experience. I intentionally didn't tell the specialist that this was my first acupuncture session or that I was afraid of needles because I didn't want him to give me any sort of special treatment or longwinded hyper-spiritual explanation or acupuncture. Although I think I went into it with the right mindset, I wasn't expecting him to start with needles in the face. The first needles I received...right in the forehead and cheeks. I don't often experience claustrophobia, but I did then. And then came the needles in the arms, the chest, the stomach, the legs and the feet. None of them hurt for any more than 10 seconds, except for the ones in the stomach. For whatever reason, I had some crazy cramping/tightening going on in the lower ribs/upper stomach area. I'm guessing it was anxiety, but I didn't bother saying anything because I was determined to stick with it through the end, which I did...despite all of the stomach tightening pain.

To add more salt to the wound, like a good sales person, the specialist then tried selling me more sessions and all sorts of fun supplements after my session ended. "In order for acupuncture to be most effective, you really need to have at least three sessions." "These supplements are the best all natural supplements for digestive health."

Note to self: Noting that I will probably never schedule another acupuncture session in my life, I will be sure to tell all massage therapists and estheticians from this point forward that if they have products to sell me, try selling them to me before my session, not after my session. Regardless of my acupuncture treatment experience, the one takeaway I had from that experience with spa treatments in general was that the last thing I want to hear after a relaxing spa treatment is a sales pitch.

Pulse Fitness Center

I visited the Pulse Fitness Center a few times throughout the cruise for cardio and some light upper body weight lifting. The fitness center on Norwegian Prima is very highly regarded for a cruise ship fitness center, and rightfully so! It is a nice, clean gym with a ton of equipment in a tight space. They definitely prioritize cardio over weights, but they still have an impressive selection of weights.

Although they do offer classes (yoga, cycling, health consultations, etc.), I personally did not take any classes. I considered signing up for a cycling class, but ultimately decided not to.

If I could give any advice for the gym, it would be to focus on cardio during the sea days and weight lifting during times at port if weights are truly that important to you. The only time I tried lifting weights was during our sea day from Norway to The Netherlands, which was our rough sea day. It was so difficult lifting free weights in a safe and consistent manner while on a rocking and swaying ship. Heck, it was hard to walk and run on a treadmill as well, but at least you have things to hold onto when you're on a treadmill.

If I could offer one critique of the fitness center, it would be the ceiling height. There were some chin-up bars that were quite literally impossible to use because your head would crash into the ceiling if your chin cleared the bar. Aside from that, it was an excellent gym!

Go-Kart Track

One of the most unique premium features on Norwegian Prima is the go-kart track. This is something I fully intended to do and very much looked forward to doing. However, they do limit the times in which the track is open for safety reasons. Whether it was rainy weather or rough seas, the track was closed for much of trip when I was on the ship. I could see the go-kart being a very popular premium amenity in some of the "less glamorous" ports in the Caribbean, but I felt that it often lacked purpose and took up some precious real estate with this itinerary. And that is ultimately one of the biggest complaints about the go-kart track - one of the reasons why the pool is so small is because of the go-kart track. It adds a lot of weight to the ship and it takes up a lot of space on the top deck, which limits space for a pool and limits space for magnificent views from the top deck. I'm really happy to see that Norwegian tried something exciting and new on this ship by including a go-kart track, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Prima Class is the only class of ships that Norwegian chooses to include go-kart tracks on. Heck, even Aqua, the newest of the Prima Class ships, doesn't have a go-kart track on it.

Food

I don't particularly want to talk about every single meal I had on the ship, but here are a few very brief takeaways regarding the food on the ship:

1. I never had a bad meal on the ship.

2. I love the concept of Indulge Food Hall, but I think it had the lowest food quality and weakest customer service.

3. I loved the silly lyric-changed pop song coffee tunes the breakfast staff sang in the Surfside Café every morning. While Royal Caribbean has their Washy Washy songs to encourage guests to wash their hands, Norwegian has their morning coffee tunes to encourage guests to drink their coffee so they aren't so crotchety ha ha ha.

4. I did not pay for any premium meals on the ship, and my favorite meal was a dinner at Hudson's. Norwegian does not skimp on food quality in the main dining room by any means!

5. If you have dietary restrictions, be sure to call the cruise line at least 30 days before the cruise so that they can make arrangements for you. The ship itself can make accommodations fairly easily with little notice, but excursions require advanced notice to make accommodations.

Customer Service

Overall, I was very satisfied with the customer service onboard Norwegian Prima. I prepaid my gratuities and gave additional gratuities to my stateroom attendant and a member of the food and beverage wait staff who seemed to pop up everywhere I went on the ship from getting back onto the ship after a day of excursions to morning coffee tunes at Surfside Café to dinner at Hudson's. I also sent two "compliment cards" to Norwegian's Vacation Heroes email for two food and beverage staff members for their excellent service and exceptional spirit of hospitality.

Many staff members onboard cruise ships work very long days and wear many hats. With an itinerary this long and full of many rainy days, I could see how this could be a difficult crise for the staff, but everyone was always very attentive and helpful whenever help was needed.

What to Pack

I honestly didn't put a ton of thought into packing for this trip, and I generally don't regret that decision even if I did have a few packing shortcomings. Although I started mentally packing and creating my packing checklist approximately one week before departing, I didn't begin packing my suitcase until the day before my departure.

Here is my personal list of packing essentials for this itinerary specifically:

• Dramamine or some sort of seasickness remedy. I didn't end up needing it at all, but I'm sure many people onboard did require it during our travels through the North Sea.

• Walking shoes. I recommend packing two pairs of comfortable walking shoes. Bonus tip: Make at least one pair waterproof for optimal hiking comfort, knowing that you will be rained on at some point. Arguably my biggest packing regret was packing only one pair of sneakers...my shoes we were for several days straight and smelled so bad at the end of the trip.

• Flipflops, sandals, slides or slippers. It might be too cold to wear flipflops outside during much of the cruise, but you will inevitably visit the pool or hot tub at some point almost guaranteed. Also, it's nice to have a cozy pair of flipflops or slippers to walk around the ship after being in wet shoes all day.

• Swim trunks. Even if it's too cold to visit the pool or swim in the ocean, there's nothing like some quality time in a hot tub after a c0ld, rainy day on land.

• Rain jacket. Although an umbrella may be beneficial on land, an umbrella is not at all practical when you're dealing with heavy winds out at sea.

• Clothes for all seasons. Cold weather clothes (moderately heavy jacket, gloves, scarf, and beanie) for sea days, Norway and Iceland. Warmer weather clothes (a light jacket or sweater in the morning, and a t-shirt for the afternoon) for Amsterdam and Belgium.

• Books, music, movies or any personal entertainment of your choice to keep yourself entertained during the sea days. I downloaded three books on my Kindle before the cruise. I didn't finish any of them, but I was grateful I had them for the sea days.

• White noise for blocking out sounds from any noisy passengers onboard when you're trying to sleep. I didn't have any noise issues at all, but I was very happy I remembered to pack my LectroFan nonetheless.

• Binoculars for birdwatching, whale watching, etc.

• Reusable water bottle.

• Business casual attire. Although Norwegian does not have formal nights on their ships, and you are not required to dress up for dinner, it is still nice to wear at least something slightly more dressy in the main dining rooms, premium dining restaurants and bars/clubs. Some guys go all out and put on a suit. Some guys just wear a hoodie. I personally recommend finding a happy medium between those two extremes for dinner...a simple polo or button-down dress shirt and slacks work just fine.

• Camera. Smartphone photography works just fine, but a nice digital camera better serves the incredible landscapes you'll see during this trip even if you never leave the ship.

Camera Equipment & Photo Editing

All photos from this journey were captured on my OM System OM-1 using their M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm F2.8 PRO lens. I did not pack a telephoto lens for this trip, and I did regret that decision on a few occasions.

All photos were edited in Adobe Lightroom. I do not any templates or presets, meaning every photo was uniquely edited based on what I thought looked best for that specific photo.

Conclusion: Do I Recommend Norwegian Prima for this Itinerary

To answer this question in as few words as possible, I 100% do recommend Norwegian Prima for this itinerary. Although the ship could benefit from a larger buffet and maybe another room or two that is similar to the Observation Lounge, this ship was nearly perfect for this itinerary.

Would I go on this cruise again? Although I absolutely recommend this cruise to anyone who is considering it, I probably would not go on this cruise again. I say that primarily because if I ever go back to this part of Europe, I want to spend more time in each country than what this itinerary makes possible. I definitely foresee myself taking separate trips to Iceland and Norway at some point in the future, and I would like to spend at least a week in each country whenever that day comes.

What's next for me? I'm a bit traveled out at the moment. 2025 has been a big year of travel for me. It has included two trips to Cincinnati to visit family, three trips to Miami, a trip to Connecticut, approximately ten trips to Disney World and all sorts of little road trips to state parks around Central Florida and West Central Florida. In 2026, my goal is focus more on Florida's natural beauty and less on big trips or city trips. My plan is to take the year to get back into a more regular gym routine and focus more on my overall health. For at least three years, I have been wanting to spend a long weekend in an Airbnb on someone's farm somewhere in rural Florida. I foresee that being my "big" trip for 2026 - a detox from the city life more than anything else. If I had to pick a "dream destination" for my next big trip, it would be Japan sometime in 2027 or beyond.

I think that about concludes everything there is to say here. Thank you to everyone who cared to take the time to read any portion of any of these five posts about my experience on a ten-day cruise on Norwegian Prima in Northern Europe! I wrote all of these posts more as a self-reflection and as a form of documentation so that many years from now, I can look back fondly on the many memories of this trip. The fact that I already had a platform that allows me to share my memories with anyone in the world who cares to read them makes writing about this journey all the more purposeful.