Norwegian Viva in Lisbon during her first call on Aug. 19, 2023. Photo / Norwegian Cruise Line
Alison Fox provides the ultimate guide to Norwegian Cruise Line’s brand-new Norwegian Viva ship, from the rooms to the food, the endless activities and non-stop entertainment.
I zipped around a corner, the Mediterranean sea opening up before me, an endless vision of deep blue. I hit the gas, accelerating down the track.
I was driving in loops around the coolest go-kart track I’d ever been on. And as I rounded the corner, my need for speed growing with each metre, I couldn’t quite believe I was sitting atop a giant cruise ship surrounded by nothing but water.
The track spanned three levels on the top decks of the brand-new Norwegian Viva, a 3099-guest ship that offered boundless entertainment from interactive mini golf and pickleball to 10-storey slides, a relaxing spa, and beloved cruise ship classics like bingo.
The Viva is designed much like its sister ship, the Norwegian Prima, but with a few important upgrades here and there for a more modern, and more user-friendly, ship.
“My goal is having guests on board come in and say ‘wow, [there are] so many things that I don’t know what to do,’” Marzena Slodyczka, the cruise director for the Viva, said, adding Norwegian’s “freestyle cruising” motto is “actually here and it’s elevated.”
The Norwegian Viva is spread across 20 decks so travellers never feel crowded even during a sea day when everyone is out and about at the same time. The ship’s bright and airy design helps, using natural woods and hidden lighting to make it feel more open. Common spaces like bars and shops are also integrated into one flowing floor plan.
A highlight is the 16m-long artwork by digital artist Dominic Harris, which begs passengers to run their fingers over it as they walk through the central Metropolitan Bar. The piece, titled “Every Wing Has a Silver Lining,” is brand-new for the Viva and features silver butterflies sparkling like the sun hitting rippling water, which start flapping their wings and flying away when touched.
As nice as the Viva’s indoor spaces are, the ship was built to really shine when the weather is nice. There was no better place to bask than from one of the ship’s multiple infinity pools overlooking the endless ocean. Walking over the glass-floor Oceanwalk made for a cool experience as we sailed through the Mediterranean, and a stroll through the outdoor sculpture garden felt like a unique way to go from one end of the ship to the other.
The Norwegian Viva features five complimentary restaurants, including two main dining rooms, a buffet, and (my personal favourite) the Indulge Food Hall where you use a tablet to order from several international stations — like a buffet for the 21st century where all the food is brought to your table. The space also featured both indoor and outdoor seating from which I enjoyed rich bowls of palak paneer, creamy tortilla espanolas, a spicy and tangy pad Thai, and more.
The ship also has eight speciality dining restaurants — plus a Starbucks — so you never have to eat the same thing twice. The spaghetti with tomato and basil at Onda by Scarpetta was simply done right with slightly chewy al dente pasta and a creamy sauce that clung to each strand, as was the guacamole prepared tableside (with extra cilantro, please) at the colourful Los Lobos restaurant.
The one drawback was the limited options the ship offered for a late afternoon snack — something long after lunch had finished but before dinner was served — when we got back from a busy day exploring Europe’s ports. For that, your best bet was the always-open The Local Bar & Grill, a complimentary sit-down pub-style restaurant, which, to its credit, offered very large screens in the bar area for watching live sports.
The Viva always had a bar nearby with a dozen or so on offer, but none cooler than the Metropolitan Bar, which crafts “zero-waste” cocktails made with “ugly” croissants and food scraps. Don’t miss the “el padrino” cocktail made with pineapple skin leftover from the galley for a tart and refreshing libation.
The Viva has so much going on we would have needed multiple days to do it all. On the top deck, the three-level Viva Speedway was great for thrill seekers, while the nearby complimentary sports deck featured everything from shuffleboard to pickleball and even a beer pong-style game.
I took my turn spiralling down one of the three 10-storeydry slides (though chickened out when it came to “The Drop,” in which the floor literally drops out from under you), and watched as passengers beat the heat on the tidal wave water slide.
But my favourite activity was the Tee Time mini golf course, which offered nine holes made even more interactive for this ship with trackers in the balls so the machine knew who was playing and how many strokes you hit (no cheating here). The games along the way, like the jukebox-shaped music trivia hole, made it even more fun.
At night, we sang along to 90s boy band music during a performance in the three-storey Viva Theater while comedy shows delighted passengers just steps away in The Improv at Sea.
Norwegian has also rolled out a sea-worthy performance of the Broadway hit Beetlejuice: The Musical, which debuted on the Viva.
Like most large cruise ships, there are a variety of different stateroom categories on the Viva from inside rooms to large suites. We stayed in a balcony room, and contrary to its actual size (between 21 and 33sq m), it felt like one of the larger cruise ship rooms I’d been in. I was blown away by the size of the bathroom in particular, which included a full-size glass-enclosed shower and a wide sink, as well as the stateroom’s large couch that could easily sit three.
Our room had ample storage, including three closets and extra space under the bed.
The room also included modern touches like USB and USB-C charging ports in each bedside lamp as well as curtains that slid all the way into an indent in the wall to really block out the light (a welcome touch on any holiday).
There’s something heady about sitting in a large thermal pool under a soaring double height ceiling knowing you’re in the belly of a ship in the middle of the sea. But it was from that pool, calmed by the sound of water cascading from the two-storey waterfall, where I decompressed after hours of exploring Ibiza, still talking about my harbour-side paella and march up to the city’s ancient walls.
Beyond its two pools (one hot and the other cold), the spa features several different saunas, including a charcoal sauna known for its detoxifying properties, as well as a steam room, a salt room, and an ice room. I ended the experience relaxing on one of the many heated lounge chairs, sipping orange-infused water and recharging before getting back to the adventure.
For more information, see ncl.com/nz/en
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