Entertainment Onboard

With most small ship cruises, the 'entertainment' is fairly reliable and consistent. For expedition oriented destinations, this is almost entirely education with a combination of lectures, films, photo presentations, etc that center around the destination. Nearly always, the level of these presentations is exceptional with detailed analysis from guides or researchers who have known the destination in question for years. Depending on the region, there might also be nightly entertainment, often a musical group or something similarly relevant to the area where you are traveling.

My pre conceived notion of large ships was that the entertainment would be extensive, with experienced entertainers that don't have much connection to the local area of travel. Though that was mostly the case, there were also some surprises. For example, the ship offered a wonderful art lecture called 'Breaking the Da Vinci Code'. Though this certainly didn't have any direct correlation to our Norwegian destination, the quality of the lecture was on par with expedition ships and I enjoyed it immensely.

There was also a small musical venue called Syd Norman's Pour House that offered an excellent 80s style classic rock show every other night. It didn't take long for word of mouth to spread though and travelers needed to line up about an hour before the show to get a seat in the small 80 person venue (I think stated capacity, with standing room, is about twice that, but I counted seating for only 80). 

Other travelers have commented to me that the 'big' Broadway style shows they've experienced on other cruises weren't as impressive on this one, both in terms of what was offered and the level of performances. There was one larger show - "The Donna Summer Musical" offered that was decent, but certainly not Broadway caliber. 

On the flip side, other activities were a bit underwhelming compared to my preconceptions. The huge waterslide turned out to be a short, two story drop. It was only open a handful of times during our cruise due to wind and sea conditions, but it wasn't the hit I expected it to be with the kids since it was so short.  Similarly the only full size pool on the Norwegian Prima rarely had a handful of kids. That could be blamed on the cooler temperatures where we were traveling, but the pool was heated enough for me to find it comfortable (and I hate cold water) so again, I think it just didn't hold a lot of excitement. It was maybe 25 feet long and 8 feet across without any unique features that would typically draw a crowd. That being said, there were lots of nice outdoor spaces to relax including a couple of hot tubs, a couple very small 'infinity' pools on another deck and a variety of lounge chairs, beds, swings, etc.

The Galaxy Pavilion, a VR style arcade that my son was particularly excited to try, was also a bit smaller and less impressive than it has seemed online. Though the Prima had only debuted in the past year, several of the games were already out of service for the duration of our cruise. Other 'things to do' onboard often had an additional charge such as bingo or game show style events that required participants to purchase cards.

Those that didn't have an extra fee, often didn't have enough space for all the participants. Fitness classes are a prime example. Surprisingly, for a ship this size, there was no dedicated space for fitness classes. Rather, they periodically offered Zumba or dance classes in the main atrium where other travelers were transiting to and from other events, their cabins, or restaurants. Space was at a premium and it was impossibly to fully take part in the class as there were too many other bodies jostling for space. 

All in all, I found the smaller, unique entertainment experiences onboard to be more impressive than the advertised bells and whistles. It's also worth mentioning that I was given misinformation about the entertainment sign ups. I had asked if this was something that needed to be booked in advance and was told that it could only be booked onboard. However, I happened to check my NCL app the day before our cruise and noticed that the shows were not only available to book, but mostly sold out. I quickly grabbed tickets to the last showing of the Donna Summer Musical, though I missed the other prebooking options. Once I got onboard, I checked again and found all shows sold out so this is definitely something I would advise travelers to check early (onboard they told me these are available to book approx 1-2 weeks prior to departure).