Norwegian Cruise Line not too long ago launched its latest ship, Norwegian Prima, which is the primary of six in its Prima Class. Christened this previous August in Reykjavík, Iceland, by godmother Katy Perry, the 965-ft.-long vessel can accommodate 3,100 friends at double occupancy. It has 20 decks, almost 1,600 staterooms, 18 eating venues and 17 bars and lounges.
Norwegian invited journey brokers and media aboard for the inaugural cruise, which sailed roundtrip from New York to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for a first-hand have a look at the newly launched ship. Right here’s what we discovered about Prima.
Contemporary foods and drinks choices
Along with a few of Norwegian’s signature eateries, corresponding to Cagney’s Steakhouse, French restaurant Le Bistro, and Asian-fusion specialty Meals Republic, Prima introduces a couple of new meals ideas. For instance, Palomar makes a speciality of high-end Mediterranean delicacies, whereas Hasuki gives an elevated tackle the normal hibachi service. The up to date sushi home Nama has grasp cooks creating upscale sushi and sashimi choices.
Indulge, Norwegian’s first-ever meals corridor, options 11 totally different eateries and gives friends numerous menu gadgets from a wide range of culinary venues in addition to a mixture of indoor and outside seating. Indulge ideas embrace Q Texas Smokehouse for American Southern consolation meals and barbecue; Nudls, serving noodle dishes from all over the world; Tamara, making ready traditional Indian dishes and a number of vegetarian choices; The Latin Quarter, providing Latin meals with a twist; and Tapas Meals Truck, cooking elevated Spanish-inspired road meals.
Wes Cort, vp, meals & beverage operations for Norwegian Cruise Line, famous in a panel dialogue on “Norwegian Prima Experiences” that Indulge was Prima’s costliest and most tough eating mission to execute. A meals corridor “shouldn’t be a cruise idea,” he stated, and Indulge has 120 menu gadgets to select from. “You possibly can dine there each evening on a cruise and never have the identical factor — that’s why it’s been so common” to this point with friends, he added.
Indulge additionally contains the Luna bar and the outside Soleil Bar. A number of of the Prima bars provide cocktails on faucet from Liquid Kitchen by Kathy Casey.
Commercial
The Belvedere Bar, a recent cocktail lounge, options crafted cocktails with a contemporary, recent tackle traditional drinks. A lot of drinks are bottled, such because the Bourbon Delusion, with bourbon, recent lemon juice, rosemary honey syrup and ginger, and All About Basil, with gin, Chambord, recent lime juice and basil syrup.
Sustainable sips
The Metropolitan Bar on Prima, the model’s first sustainable cocktail bar, follows the model’s Sail and Maintain program. It options responsibly crafted zero-waste cocktails ready with surplus elements, a totally sustainable spirits menu and biodynamic wines.
It’s not “a green-washing scenario,” Cort stated throughout a Sustainable Completely satisfied Hour occasion on the bar. “All the things has a dedication in a technique or one other towards sustainability.”
Luis Ortega, Norwegian’s director of beverage improvement and operations, famous that the cruise line labored with consultancy Bar-Lab on sustainable cocktails for its Encore ship. With Prima, Norwegian took the sustainable bar idea even additional.
Bar-Lab went by means of the ship’s galley to seek out gadgets that may have gone into the rubbish — from overripe bananas and watermelon rinds to misshaped almond croissants and first-press espresso — and repurposed them for cocktail elements corresponding to syrups.
Norwegian additionally partnered with Flor De Caña, a Honest Commerce licensed and sustainably sourced rum from Nicaragua that’s produced with 100% renewable power to hold the product on the fleet. Metropolitan Bar’s signature sustainably made cocktail the “Primadonna,” is a riff on an Outdated Long-established crafted utilizing a banana-peel syrup, Flor De Caña and walnut bitters.
The cruise line collaborated with Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana to supply a responsibly sourced botanical gin particularly for the fleet, utilizing 100% recyclable glass and wooden for the bottle’s design. The natural gin’s identify, 66, refers to 1966 — the yr Norwegian was based, Cort stated. Terrapin Beer Co., a sustainable brewery in Athens, GA, got here up with a particular brew below the 66 model, he added.
The beverage workforce additionally labored with French winemaker Gerard Bertrand on a collection of sustainable wines. Metropolitan Bar showcases greater than 20 biodynamic wines produced utilizing natural farming strategies corresponding to using compost as fertilizer and avoiding most pesticides.
Prima gives extra wide-open areas, together with Ocean Boulevard, a 44,000-sq. ft. outside stroll method that wraps across the total ship; The Concourse, which has a multi-million greenback outside sculpture backyard; and expansive pool decks and infinity-style swimming pools. It boasts the biggest number of suite classes accessible at sea, in addition to a redefined The Haven by Norwegian, the cruise line’s ultra-premium, keycard-only entry ship-within-a-ship idea.
A number of first-at-sea improvements aboard Prima embrace a three-story transformational theater-nightclub, at which “Summer season: The Donna Summer season Musical” made its debut with an 85-minute immersive manufacturing. Different leisure highlights on the Prima theatre embrace “The Value is Proper LIVE” and “Noise Boys,” an award-winning beat boxing expertise.
Leisure actions embrace the quickest slides at sea, The Rush and The Drop, and the Prima Speedway, the world’s solely and largest three-level racetrack at sea. The Prima Speedway Bar, Cort stated, gives among the greatest views on the ship.
