Now that we’ve had a chance to reflect about our time on Norwegian Luna, we’re sharing everything we loved, didn’t love, and hated about the newest Prima-Plus Class ship for Norwegian Cruise Line. It seemed like the countdown for the cruise took forever to get here. So how did the 13 days on board just fly by? How does that always happen? Let’s take a look at our honest Norwegian Luna Review where we’re telling you everything!
Who is Norwegian Luna?
Norwegian Luna is the second ship in Norwegian Cruise Line’s new Prima-Plus Class. She’s the second in the class after sister ship, Norwegian Aqua. Think of Luna as an evolution of Aqua. It’s got the same overall layout and many of the same venues. But with a few tweaks, design changes, and entertainment differences that help the ship stand on its own.
Both ships are 10% larger than the original Prima Class ships, Norwegian Prima and Norwegian Viva. This extra space gives Luna more room for expanded public spaces, additional cabins, and some of the line’s newest attractions. If you’re trying to decide between the Norwegian Aqua and the Norwegian Luna, be sure to check out our full comparison of Luna and Aqua. We break down every difference between the sister ships. Or, just scroll down for more!
Norwegian Luna Review
After 13 days on board, we’ve got a lot to tell you about Norwegian Luna. From unforgettable food and themed parties to a few maiden voyage frustrations, Norwegian Luna gave us a lot to talk about. In our our honest Norwegian Luna review video, we share the included breakfast spot that quickly became our favorite, the specialty restaurant that delivered our best meal of the cruise, and the one dining experience that left us genuinely frustrated. We’re also breaking down the new entertainment – from the themed parties and Elton John show – to a few brand-new experiences that still seem to be finding their footing.
Of course, no Norwegian Luna review would be complete without talking about the things that didn’t quite work. We cover the app issues, crowded venues, some surprising extra charges, and the one problem in our stateroom that had the entire theater applauding during the Captain’s Q&A. Plus, we’re sharing the little tweaks Luna made from sister ship Aqua that actually make this ship even better.
Watch our full video below for all of the details, cruise tips, and a few stories we definitely couldn’t fit into this article.
Norwegian Luna’s Not-So-Positive Online Reviews
With Norwegian Luna now sailing from Florida, more cruisers are experiencing the ship. And unlike our experience, the online reviews aren’t all positive. Some of the most common things we’re seeing cruisers complain about:
- Small Surfside Cafe (the buffet onboard)
- Small venues on board
- Disjointed design
Ironically, these are the exact same complaints cruisers had about Aqua, Viva, and Prima. Norwegian intentionally made the buffet smaller in favor of the new made-to-order Indulge Food Hall – which we much prefer! With Aqua and Luna, they’ve addressed several of the venue concerns, however, Syd Norman’s Pour House is still far to small based on the size of the ship.
When it comes to the “disjointed design” complaint, we actually disagree wholeheartedly. Norwegian set out to design the ship in such a way that spreads out more of the crowds, so you never truly feel overwhelmed on board. We absolutely love how they separated the Surfside Café (buffet) up on deck 17 from the Indulge Food Hall down on deck 8. It spreads the crowds out. We also love how the Atrium space is much brighter and open when compared to the Breakaway-Class of ships.
A New Complaint Emerges
Another complaint we’re seeing about Norwegian Luna is about lines for shows and various entertainment offerings. With Norwegian Cruise Line ending reservations for shows, we expect to see this bleed over to other ships in Norwegian’s fleet, not just Luna.
With that said, we recommend just grabbing a drink with your Free at Sea package, and enjoy some down time in the theater before the show starts. Yes, if you want the best seats, you’ll need to line up for doors open, but you’re on vacation. Where else do you really need to be?
Again, I understand that this is a complaint cruisers have. I don’t want to dismiss that. So if waiting 30 minutes before a show is something that would bother you, these sorts of articles and reviews exist to help you avoid that disappointment.
Norwegian Luna: The Top Spot
For us… Norwegian Luna has officially become our new favorite ship. Somehow, Norwegian took so much of what we already loved about Aqua and made it even better. The small design tweaks, the new entertainment, and the overall energy on board. The ship feels polished, exciting, and full of little details that make a big difference over the course of a cruise. We’re not going to spoil exactly where Luna landed in our final ratings; you’ll need to watch the full review for that. But let’s just say this ship set a very high bar and is going to be tough for anything else to beat.
If you’re thinking about booking the Norwegian Luna, watch our honest Norwegian Luna review. And be sure to reach out to Rocky for the latest deals on Norwegian – or any cruise line out there!
Good info, deciding between this and Celebrities Xcel
Goodness, not an easy decision, for sure! Have you sailed both brands? If so, it’ll likely come down to the brand experience versus the ship. We LOVE the Edge-class from Celebrity and really enjoyed our time on Celebrity Apex. With that said, Luna seemed to have more food included in the fare with Indulge Food Hall. Plus, Norwegian’s Free at Sea program is really hard to beat. In terms of ships, they’re both going to be beautiful – and both have different things to offer. Check out our Apex review to get a little sense of what Xcel will have to offer. And let us know what you decide!! -Mark
We cruised Luna at the end of April with six adults with 50+ cruises between us. Although Luna is a beautiful ship with an interesting design, we all agreed that Luna has too many major flaws for a mature cruise line. The buffet is a very poor design, very narrow and difficult to navigate. The food hall is a great concept, but options and times are very limited. One main pool for 3500 guests is problematic, especially without a second adult pool. Almost every venue was too small for the size of the ship and number of guests. We did see Elton, which was excellent, but again, the venue was small and people were turned away. Speciality dining was not worth the additional cost and reservations are almost impossible to secure! The drink package was an excellent deal, but the casino was boring. Also, if you are a smoker this ship is not for you! Only one small area that resembles a penality box, plus one small casino area. Too much emphasis on VIP areas that could have opened up more venue space for everyone. Even with all the different areas and venues, it still felt crowded and policed. We never really felt comfortable or relaxed, a staff member was always watching or directing traffic. Crew members on Carnival or Margaritaville at Sea are way more friendly and knowledgable. Our collective opinion is that Luna is not worth the premium price.
Hi Robert! Thank you so much for sharing your own experience with Luna. LOVE that you took the time to give us your group’s perspective. I found myself nodding along as I read your comment. The number one piece of feedback Norwegian has heard related to the Prima-class of ships is the buffet experience. If you can imagine, it’s even worse on previous iterations of the Prima class as all traffic for top deck activities (think water slide, outdoor activities, etc.) was funneled through the buffet. Luna actually adds a new staircase at the forward of the buffet to relieve some of this traffic as Norwegian has clearly heard the feedback loud and clear. We expect (and have some inside info) that we should expect to see additional changes to the buffet when Aura launches. We’re excited for that!
In terms of pools, this seems to be a theme on new mega-ships. Royal launched the Icon-class with a couple postage-stamp sized pools and is already adjusting for the next iteration of the ship. Hero of the Seas should be much better – especially for adults!!! – and we’re excited. Aura promises to be Norwegian’s largest pool deck and pool ever at sea. With that said, your point is valid; for the number of passengers, it’s still sometimes hard to understand what cruise lines are thinking. I do think a big part of it is weight, unfortunately. NCL has addressed some of this by putting in some more infinity pools down on deck 8 to help counter top-deck weight. Until the cruise lines can make those 40,000 gallons of water lighter, I’m not hopeful we’ll see a ton of improvement.
We’ve also heard a lot of negative feedback about the smoking area on this class of ship. I chuckled at your “penalty box” comment. I can definitely see that. We definitely are seeing this trend with new ships. Several ships we’ve sailed in the past year have gone 100% non-smoking in their casino – without even a smoking section at all! Carnival has done a nice job adding “non-smoking” casinos to their ship and continue to expand that. They definitely are probably the leader when it comes to smoking sections on ships. This is something we pay attention to for when cruisers ask us questions, but it’s not something that impacts us, personally, so I appreciate you pointing this out.
In terms of specialty, we think it’s worth every penny. Bummed that it sounds like you didn’t have a great experience. For us, we’re always flexible with dining times and so have never had an issue getting a reservation at any restaurant. Yes, that means we’ve had a reservation at 9pm some nights, but there’s so much other food around the ship we don’t mind all that much. Plus, those nights we just plan to stay up a little later to let the food digest. 😉 We’ve dined at every restaurant on Luna and I loved them all. Onda, Los Lobos, Haskuki, and Nama are my personal favorites. If you get a chance to try these on another ship, I’d definitely recommend giving them another try.
Finally, as it relates to the crew, there’s only been one NCL ship where we didn’t really have a great interaction with crew (minus a couple exceptions here or there). Luna we found very accommodating. Fast bar service except when the Facebook bar crawls would come through (lol) – and friendly staff. With that said, we agree with you that Margaritaville at Sea wins the crew competition hands-down when it comes to friendliness. We used to say the same with Carnival, but their cutbacks over the past couple years have led to some VERY poor experiences with service, sadly. Rocky and I keep saying that we’re hopeful as they continue to pay more debt down that they’ll bring staffing levels back up on their ships. Our worst experience with Carnival was on Carnival Liberty where we traveled with friends. One of them said, “These guys are professionals at not making eye contact!!!” I don’t blame the crew at all, though; we feel bad that they’ve been asked to support so many more passengers with fewer people to do the work. Fingers crossed.
All in, when we look at the pricing of Luna (or any of the Prima-class ships) bundled with Free at Sea, it’s hard to beat the pricing when you look at the mainline competitors – when you add in drinks and specialty dining. Carnival and MAS now charge $85+/person/day for drinks, on our Royal sailing it was $120/person/day for drinks, and Princess pushes their packages that can reach up over $100/person/day. We recently had a convo that we’re just going to have to get used to paying more as the cruise lines push for greater profitability. Don’t love that, but I don’t see it changing any time soon.
Overall, all of the brands I’ve mentioned have great options for cruisers. I love that you gave Luna a try to find out if it was right for you. I hope that you all still had a lovely time and enjoyed the ports you visited – and can’t wait to hear about the next adventure.
Sorry for the book reply (lol) – but love when folks share their stories with us! -Mark