I Braved 5 of The SCARIEST Activities at Sea

On my last cruise, I conquered my fear of heights by plunging down a 10-storey slide!

I challenged the fear of speed racing around a three-story Go-Kart track in the middle of the ocean.

Some of the things I did were both very high AND very fast!

As soon as I embarked Norwegian Prima I noticed the slides on the side of the ship.

It’s hard to miss the slides, they twist around each other and go down 10 decks off the side of the ship.

The slides themselves are almost 95 ft or 29 Metres high – and that is on top of however high up deck 8 is above sea level! They are SERIOUSLY high!

Standing at the bottom looking up made it feel even higher, but I knew I had to give it a go during this cruise!

I waited until our ship reached Bermuda before I decided to brave the slides.

I was relieved to see that this slide was the type where you slide down inside a bag.

I don’t go on slides very often, but I remember going on them as a kid and the ones in the bag were always more comfortable. 

Pulling myself into the slide and into a wall of darkness was scary, but the part at the top was probably the fastest.

It’s impossible to really work out where you are in the slide so I just laid back and watched the top of the slide go by, it was quite peaceful really, and didn’t take too long.

The idea is that you would race somebody else who was sliding down the other slide at the same time as you. I went on the slides alone, so I’m going to say that I won that race! 

This slide had given me some confidence, but I knew this was the easiest slide on the ship – which was why I had decided to start here.

On my slide “to-do” list was a drop slide where the floor falls out below you! There was also a huge waterslide called “The Wave.”

Right beside the entrance to the rush slide that I’d just completed was the entrance to the Go-Kart track.

I honestly wasn’t too nervous, I thought to myself, how scary can it be to go on Go-Karts on a cruise ship?

I thought they must be like bumper cars, going round and round in circles. Spoiler alert- they were not!

I wandered up to the viewing platform and realised just how big the race track was.

The Go Kart track is split over 3 storeys and is definitely not for the faint-hearted!

Norwegian Prima has the biggest race track at sea, and from sea level, it’s 166ft up. That is actually quite terrifying!

There were hairpin bends, hills, everything! I sat in the little demonstration car and watched the other guests racing around me.

It looked like a lot of fun so I decided to give it a go!

I was worried that I’d be holding everybody else up with how slow I was, but I’d heard that the speeds are limited when you’re doing a group race, so that was reassuring.

I was hoping that if I was slow, I could just blame it on the Go-Karts but that wasn’t exactly what happened!

When we arrived for our Go-Kart timeslot we watched a safety video and were weighed to make sure that we were under the maximum weight of 265 lbs.

The video showed us how the Go-Karts worked, which was pretty easy – it was just one peddle for go and one for stop.

They also showed us what the flags would mean – and told us that we shouldn’t bump into each other because this was Go-Karting – not bumper cars!

Once I sat in the car I was given a helmet, and then we were strapped in.

Very soon we were let loose, one by one on to the race track!

It wasn’t really a race because you don’t all start at the same time, but the speed of your laps is tracked so you can tell who was the fastest.

I had seen quite a lot of the track from land and from the viewing platform but I still had no idea which way the track would turn next. I couldn’t get my head around it at all!

I don’t remember exactly how many laps we had but I think it was around 8, I was having too much fun to count and I knew they’d let me know with a flag when we were on our last lap.

It was so much better than I could have imagined because we were so close to the ground it really felt fast. After a couple of laps, I felt like I’d got the hang of the track.

I actually liked it so much that I went back again later in the cruise and did what is called “You and the track.”

This is where you race around the track with nobody else there, and try to get the best speed possible.

A regular go on the go-karts with everybody else cost $15. The “You and the Track” experience where you get the track to yourself is only an extra $5, coming in at $20 in total.

I definitely had $20 worth of fun, so I don’t think that’s too bad!

I knew that I wouldn’t be the fastest but all I wanted was not to be last!

Amazingly I wasn’t last – I did come in a solid 18th place – out of 19!

Our cruise was sailing to Bermuda which meant that we were very lucky with the weather.

We sailed in April and the temperatures reached 77F, 25C – which for me, being from the UK, is like a glorious summer’s day.

We decided to head out to the pool and it was here I noticed a massive waterslide just off to the side.

Heading up a deck I had a great view of the other guests giving it a go, and realised just how high up it was. 

I also noticed there was a see-through bit of the tube, and could see people going through on rubber rings, which looked like fun!

Getting into the ring at the top was a bit tricky, but once that was done the person operating the ride pushed me down – and then I noticed the big drop.

The drop came at me so fast and even though I knew it was coming, I wasn’t expecting it!

The rubber ring I had to sit on had handles – which were very helpful because I was hanging onto those for dear life!

You have to have that big drop at the start to get up to speed so that you can slide right up to the bit at the end. I just hoped that I wouldn’t go backwards at any point, as I saw some people doing that.

Luckily I stayed the right way and the first time I really noticed the speed was when I entered the bit at the end of the slide with all the water. 

It was so much fun and I would have done it again, but I knew I still had the scariest slide to come!

After all that outside excitement I decided that I’d try something inside the ship instead.

Norwegian Prima has a huge area called the “Galaxy Pavilion.” It’s a virtual reality arcade! It’s like walking into another world when you go in there.

Walking around the room, I knew I had to give something a try.

There were lots to choose from, and you pay for each on your cruise card, you can either just pay for the games as you play or you can buy a pass that lets you have unlimited goes.

The “Galaxy Pavilion” Is like the modern version of an arcade. On my first Norwegian cruises, I spent a lot of my time playing Pac-Man in the arcade, but this was very different from that!

I’ve always avoided VR in the past because I do get motion sick on occasion and thought it might make me feel unwell. I decided that this was the perfect time to give it a go.

I spotted a rollercoaster simulator that looked like fun, and the ladies who were on it before me were screaming away – which for some reason tempted me to go on it more, I’m not sure why!

I figured how could it be too scary, it wasn’t real. Right? 

The ladies in the front row decided to stay on and ride another rollercoaster, which I thought was a good sign.

I could hear them making noises when I was inside the VR headset which actually made it more realistic in a strange way. 

The game that I was playing was a snowy rollercoaster ride and it really did feel like you were on a rollercoaster.

The rollercoaster in the game did defy all laws of science though – it would go into the clouds and then all of a sudden would just break off and the track would end leaving the rollercoaster heading towards the ground!

The whole ride simulator shakes and vibrates. As much as you tell yourself it isn’t real, there’s definitely some part of your brain that thinks that it is!

I didn’t feel unwell though, so that was good. 

Afterwards, I decided to have a little go on the “Beat Saber” VR game, which was much less scary!

I knew that it was time to give the scariest slide of all a go!

Throughout the cruise, I’d heard other people dropping on the slide – and usually screaming. I had no idea what my reaction would be when the floor dropped away – but I hoped that I would stay in the right position and drop all the way down.

I wasn’t sure how the slide would slow me down enough before I got to the bottom and I really really didn’t want to get stuck in the see-through bit in the middle!

Make sure you bring somebody else with you who can film you dropping, and hold your things for you as you can’t take anything down the slide – for obvious reasons.

I’d also recommend agreeing if you’re going to meet at the top or the bottom of the slide before you go down. Because we didn’t do that, and because I didn’t have my phone or anything I felt a little bit lost for a moment.

I say lost, I just sat on the lovely area on the promenade deck and waited, but still, communication is always good!

Standing in the tube waiting for the countdown was SO terrifying!

The voice said “THREE…TWO…ONE!” I was so nervous! The floor underneath me dropped back which made me fall down onto the back of the slide and I screamed!

From there it was like a regular slide, but it certainly took me a few seconds to work out what was really going on.

I don’t think the human body is designed for such sharp drops. My internal organs were like what? I used to be down here and now I’m at the top, I am confused! It was so much fun though, my brain loved it! 

The rest of the slide did slow me down, and I did slow down a lot going through the see-through tube.

My heart was pounding by the time I got out of the slide at the bottom, but for some reason, I decided that I wanted to do it all over again! I definitely didn’t predict that!

I thought I’d just give the drop slide a go once so that I could bravely tell you I tried it – but I actually really enjoyed it! 

Walking into the ship to go back to the top of the slide I walked in and past “The Local.” This is a bar venue onboard that serves fantastic food until late at night.

 To see more of the bars and restaurants, check out this video next: