Everyone’s a winner: You’re spoilt for choice on this big ship

The last thing I expect to be doing on a cruise ship is driving a go-kart. Yet here I am tackling the three-level course that winds around the funnel of Norwegian Viva, in search of a chequered flag.

This novel activity is one of many available on board Norwegian Cruise Line’s second Prima-class ship. On the scale of cruising ships – with 3099 passengers, 1506 crew and 20 decks – it nudges the large, but by no means the largest, category.

My friends query what it will be like to go on a vessel this size on the 10-night, eight-day trip from Rome to Lisbon. I can’t respond – it is my first time aboard a Norwegian vessel. But so far, so good.

On our arrival, we pass through the Penrose Atrium, the heart of the ship and home to guest relations. It’s a welcoming, elegant three-level space that, despite a clever “twinkling star” light feature (apparently it’s a reference to explorers and star navigation), is devoid of over-engineered ritz and glitz.

The elegant style continues throughout. Our balcony stateroom streams with light and has plenty of storage space, a two-seat sofa and a balcony. Not that we spend much time here – there’s a world to explore aboard.

As well as 17 bars and lounges, the ship has 16 dining options, each with a distinct decor that reflect different styles of cuisines, which range from good to very good. Los Lobos, the Mexican restaurant, pops with bright hues; Onda by Scarpetta, the Italian restaurant, features a pattern of waves and curves (“onda” means wave in Italian), and the main restaurant, Hudson’s, is an elegant, wide space that wraps around the bow with a 270-degree vista; there’s no bad seat here.

Of the ship’s many artworks, my favourite is the 16-metre-long interactive piece in which butterflies are disturbed by a movement and resettle. Meanwhile, I flit around the ship and begin to feel a sense of FOMO. There’s so much happening, and it’s all listed in the ship’s publication, Freestyle Daily.

Kids are kept happy at age-appropriate clubs, the enormous gym offers one of the best bow-end views, the pool deck, normally busy, is less active than normal given the cooler weather. The Commodore Room serves addictive scones and jams for afternoon tea. The Belvedere Bar is quiet and elegant and serves quality drinks while the Metropolitan Bar mixes a signature cocktail, Primadonna, a play on an Old Fashioned but using banana peels and rum that, we’re told, is produced with renewable energy. Viva Theatre is the spot to see Beetlejuice and musical performances.

On the upper decks, water slides and the Viva Raceway racetrack keep passengers busy. In the evening there are live game shows, nightclubs and a band that belts out Fleetwood Mac covers to a packed crowd at Syd Norman’s Pour House, the ship’s “pub”. (Off-limits to me is The Haven, the exclusive “ship within a ship” experience).

Onboard activities are just the start: onshore excursions are plentiful, too.

Pompeii and Herculaneum are popular excursions from our first port, Naples. However, I decide to explore the city on my own, heading to the archaeological museum that displays extraordinary frescoes and everyday items, once covered in ash after the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. The titillating highlight is the display of ancient erotic art in the Segreto Gabinetto (Secret Cabinet).

In Livorno, I wander along narrow canals surrounded by Renaissance and rationalist buildings (rationalism was a low-decorative style of architecture that emerged in Italy in the late 1920s and 1930s).

A freak Arctic storm coincides with our arrival into Marseille, which means that by the time we arrive in the Provencal village of Les-Baux-de-Provence, most of the village has “shuttered up” against the biting winds, but the drive through the landscape is beautiful regardless.

The next day, in the port of Barcelona, I head off in a group on an e-bike tour around the city’s main sights, including La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s famous church.

I walk around the perimeter in awe. We then cycle our way along Passeig de Gracia to view Gaudi’s private commissions, two extraordinary mansions in the style of Catalan Modernism.

In Ibiza, I climb over the Dalt Vila, the ancient walled city started by the Phoenicians, and in Palma de Majorca we head by bus to the hilltop village of Valldemossa to explore the monastery where, in the winter of 1838, the Polish composer Frederic Chopin and his lover, author George Sand, holed up in a cell while Chopin recovered from a bout of tuberculosis.

In Cartagena, I go solo once again and wander through the streets where art nouveau buildings showcase the wealth of certain 19th-century families. I sniff out the best spot to try the local coffee, a blend of espresso, a local liquor (Licor 43) and condensed milk, which provides welcome warmth from the cold. The weather is changing. My cruise occurs at the end of the European summer cruising season, which has its advantages and disadvantages.

Cooler climes mean fewer crowds, though disappointingly, many local shops and even museums at port are closed. On board, it means that the main pool deck is free of crowds and no one competes for outdoor loungers. Instead, passengers migrate indoors so the bars and lounges are sometimes full. Other passengers take advantage of the saunas and spa treatments in the Mandara Spa.

Eventually, we all settle into our own routines and ways (and ship orientation is a breeze thanks to interactive screens plus coloured arrows cleverly incorporated into the carpet design in the corridors). In any case, I enjoy spending time chatting with other passengers and the ship’s personnel.

The staff and crew are drawn from around the globe. They are kind and considerate, carrying bags, patiently responding to queries and pointing everyone in the right direction. At meal times, they nail egg orders (easy over? runny?) and manage the global permutations of coffee requests (milk on the side? noisette? flat white?) – no mean feat given that passengers are from Australia, North America, Asia and beyond. The ship is a microcosm of the world.

I am especially moved by the dignified way Marco, our regular server in Hudson’s, checks in on a couple who are clearly disoriented. When we praise him, he is grateful that we noticed his compassion, and with a sense of humility attributes it to one of his former supervisors at NCL, though we know it’s integral to his personality. But little things count here.

Our final day in Cadiz (gateway to Seville) is thwarted by a port strike in Lisbon. The captain announces we’ll head straight to Lisbon, our final destination, to make it in time before port services are suspended. That’s why, with an unexpected sea day, I hit the go-kart speedway.

The beginners’ round it may be, but – cue red face – I’m there to win. It’s a staggered start against a gentleman from China, also a novice. We give each other the universal thumbs-up. Then we race against the clock, whizzing around the circuit (OK, so it’s a mere crawl as central control presets drivers to one of a number of variable speeds).

On the first lap, I’m distracted by the ocean views. Several laps in, I warm up and glance at the times on the overhead screen. I floor it over the last lap and trickle over the line in 86 seconds (the leaders do it in 48 seconds). That unplanned item ticked off, I’ve other things to do, like deal with my friends who were sceptical about the big ship experience.

My response to them? The ship’s size is half the appeal. As are the choices. You mix (or not) with a range of global citizens, consume (or not) a wide range of good cuisine, opt in (or not) for learning opportunities and onshore outings. And have plenty of fun (or relaxation) besides.

The chequered flag says it all: everyone’s a winner.

DETAILS

CRUISE
A same-class Mediterranean cruise in 2026 is a nine-day Greek isles to Rome tour that costs from $5417 a person for the Free at Sea package (includes beverages, Wi-Fi and shore excursion credits). See ncl.com or call 1300 255 200.

MORE
italia.it, atout-france.fr, spain.info, visitportugal.com

The writer was a guest of Norwegian Cruise Line.