austinetc

I'm booked on the Epic, mostly (95%) for the ports. First time Norwegian cruiser and first time on a megaship. That the ship holds 4,100+ passengers and the most recent (largely negative) reviews fixate on crowds, I wonder if anyone could give me heads up on the least attended locations on board. Also on when some of the more popular spots are least crowded. Thank you.

I plan to make daily posts, Internet willing. I have maintained a blog for all my adventures since my retirement in November, 2015. Some were with my wife, some not. Her adventurous spirit has limits. As with many of you, this cruise was long in coming. Originally booked to be a Russian River Cruise in April, 2020. Then it became this cruise, set for April, 2021. After another year of Covid, here it is at last. We did the Douro River cruise last August (for the second time), so we’re accustomed to spitting. That we won’t have to wear a mask on this cruise is sort of a good news/bad news situation. I intend to wear one in certain circumstances, such as in elevators. My wife, being native to Japan, is more comfortable with masks, so she will probably wear one all the time. We booked the two-day pre-cruise extension so we will arrive in Venice on the 21st. This is fortunate, since the Sky isn’t docking in Venice, or even across the bay in Fusina. The harbor is closed temporarily for a “pending Environment Study”, whatever that is. We will have all day Friday to visit Venice, then on Saturday we’ll be transported 90 miles (three hours?) south to Ravenna. New excursion options await. (Viking has compensated everyone with some on board credit and a partial discount for a future cruise.) Anyway, we have done our two boosters, VERIFLY, Antigen test, EU locator documentation, and Lufthansa paperwork. We have our boarding passes. The flights are relatively painless; Lufthansa still has a mask policy, which is actually our preference. The consequences of testing positive, with or without symptoms, is too significant. Since I was 14 (no joke, I remember the moment), my retirement plans were to travel. The pandemic threw a huge wrench into those dreams. But this will be my third (our second) post pandemic adventure. We’re back on track! http://dlajourney.net/Wordpress/