Food Onboard

I had a picture of food on large ships that I had gathered from online reviews, descriptions from my family, and my travelers' feedback. Overall, the Norwegian Prima exceeded these expectations. I realize this is only one experience (and it's on one of the newest large ships in the industry), but the food quality was significantly better than expected- solidly good or very good in most restaurants. That being said, it's generally nowhere close to small ships in terms of quality and presentation, but it still exceeded my expectations.

Again, I'm guessing since I don't have a lot of large ship experience to base my perspective, but it seems like the larger ships are starting to recognize what small ships do well and emulate that in the ways that they can. On the Prima, this meant lots of smaller venues for dining choices and more upscale options for an ADDED FEE. Yes, the nickel and diming did get old fast and my travelers' frustration with every little extra charge certainly resonated with my experience, but I enjoyed the choices at least.

Even among the included restaurants, there were some solid options. One of our favorites was the Indulge Food Hall which sounds much more like a mall food court than it actually is. In reality, it's a reasonably quiet, subdued space with lots of table options that feel like dining in your own private corner of the ship. You order off an Ipad that accesses 7 or 8 different specialty restaurants (Indian, Pasta, BBQ, Vegetarian, Asian, Tapas, etc) and the servers bring your selections to your table. Traveling with a 13 yo, it provided the choice and speed that my teen craved, with the variety and decent quality that I was after. The food is still a watered down version of the more 5 star cuisine common on small ships, but I loved that it avoided the chaos, noise and frenetic activity of the standard cruise buffet (also an option for those that prefer it). 

Though I'm not much of a drinker, I was advised by my booking agent to take advantage of the 'Free at Sea' drinks package as otherwise drinks are an absolute beast to pay as you go. It's not really free (you still pay a sizable amount for gratuities each day), but it seems to be a worthwhile addition if you plan on even drinking at the typical 1 drink a day rate that I might manage on vacation.