maren91

Can confirm I paid $299 for thermal suite on Joy for next weeks cruise to Bermuda.

Bought an Apple Watch aboard Ascent after a slot machine gave me the funds, zero regrets.

One glass of premium champagne a day + one Starbucks + one Evian + one bottle of Pellegrino with dinner makes it real easy for me to make that decision worth it to me.

If you pay extra for the premium beverage package (not free at sea) you can get bottles of Pellegrino and/or Evian water. That's what I did and then hoarded them in my mini fridge that I had the room steward clear out.

My last massage on the Ascent for some reason was shorted time from what I paid for. By the time I realized she was already trying to sell me stuff. The massages I've had have generally been good but my relaxation ends when I realize I should have had a longer massage and I'm being sold oil for my tension.

Just purchased the brand new Apple Watch (that has all the original features) on my Ascent cruise. I had been eyeing it and came with a cool band and said well.... if I win in the casino I will buy the watch. Walked over to the casino, put $20 in Wheel of Fortune machine and did the max spin ($10), won $800. Hit cash out, back to iLounge. Enjoying my new watch very much! Comes with the same Apple warranty as well so feel very good about the purchase.

Hi there, arriving here in August on Celebrity from 7am-6pm and wondering if anyone could give me some experience on fun/interesting things to do in this port. Currently there are no listed excursions for this port from Celebrity so looking for a DIY plan if that's possible. TIA!

Hi! New to Azamara but not new to cruising. Booked for December 2024 South Africa and eager to see availability for shore excursions. How long until these typically populate? Thanks in advance!

Hi All- Huge thread and tried to go through it but I apologize if I missed this. Looking at Viking Polaris and wondering if they allow for a polar plunge and if they have any sort of arctic crossing ceremony? Thanks!

Hi there. Looking at three trips in December 2025, I'm in my early 40s and enjoy adventure and some luxury. I'm hoping someone can chime in on these three trips. The Viking Polaris is coming up the cheapest. Silver Endeavor (15 Days) Departs Puerto Williams, Chile Stops: - South Georgia & Sandwich Islands - Elephant Island - South Shetland Islands Viking Polaris (19 Days) Departs Buenos Aires, Argentina Stops: - Ushuaia, Argentina - West Point Island, Falkland Islands - Port Stanley, Falkland Islands - South Georgia Seabourn Venture (11 Days) Departs Buenos Aires, Argentina Goes to Antartica only via Ushuaia * Ship looks amazing but I would only be able to afford the shorter trip and would have to plan another trip back for South George and Falkland Thanks in advance!

Yikes, bad typo that I can't figure out how to edit. Sorry! Yes, LeVoyage was a fabulous dining experience.

I'm not in love with the dinner menu in Luminae so on Beyond I spent quite a few nights at speciality restaurants and thought Luminae was a fabulous dining experience, just wish it had some windows to the outside as it's kind of located in an awkward spot on Beyond. Recommend you book!

Never had an issue finding a lounger in Retreat. Breakfast and lunch were good in Luminae but service was slow. Dinner wasn't great, service was so slow and the menu was lacking in things that appeal to me and ended up going to Blu most nights where the service and food were great.

Leaving in December with a friend and got a Magic Carpet Sky Suite. I understand that the bed is a King, but as much as I love my friend snuggling is not on our cruise itinerary. I'm wondering if anyone anyone else has traveled with a friend in a Sky Suite and how they've handled it?

Hey there, I had the streaming package and it was horrid. I didn't actually try and stream, just used for email and work related stuff. I couldn't even load some websites it was so bad. It worked best very early in the morning or very late at night presumably due to less people using. I had to work some days so I ended up just using my phone as a personal hotspot and connecting to local cell towers when we were in port. For some reason downloading and sending emails on my phone worked better than using my computer to login to Gmail though.

This made me so happy!! Thank you, I wish them nothing but the best. Such lovely people and really made my vacation special.

While I'm not doubting these regulations, I watched the Chef pay for ingredients in the markets we stopped at in Italy and we had those ingredients at dinner.

Did this trip in Sorrento off Celebrity Beyond and it was hands down top five excursions I've taken in 20 years of cruising. The chef was so excited to show us the markets and the food was so fresh!. We got a tour of the kitchen before dinner which was so neat! Loved everyone on the tour, such a fabulous day! I've already booked this tour for August 2024, countdown has begun.

Hi! Just did this, super neat! It felt like you could just hop over the rail and be on land, that's how close we were on the Prima.

Hi just wanted to give some feedback as I just did this. I arrived on Sunday morning to Southampton off the Prima and scheduled an 830am pick-up but didn't end up finding the driver until almost 850am. I arrived at Heathrow at 1010am for my 1245pm flight and had enough time for snacks and two drinks in the lounge. As others have said, day of the week is super important. I also choose to do a private car through Blackberry so I wasn't waiting on others.

Friday, August 25th -> Amsterdam, Netherlands I hadn't been to Amsterdam since I was 19 years old and I think I was more interested in the drinking culture than anything else but I do remember how beautiful it was and knowing that I'd return here one day. I did take the sober time to go through the Anne Frank house back then and was so glad I did. Since Amsterdam is pretty easy to navigate yourself and the ship docks in town I decided to do one of my favorite activities today, a food tour. While there are many companies that do these I've had great success with Secret Food Tours and booked this during a sale awhile back and it included a free alcoholic drinks updgrade. We met at 11am at the Anne Frank statute. Since I was there a little early, I enjoyed the tiniest cheese shop right near here. Since I couldn't sleep in the day prior I took my sweet time getting off the ship and realized that if I decided to walk this or take the train I would be late. There was a taxi stand immediately outside of the cruise terminal and got scammed out of 20 Euro to take me into town, but I made it on time so it was well spent. From our first stop to our last, I had a blast!! The food was great, the company of strangers was great and the guide was a blast. All the food was included and Amsterdam has such great snacks! We also got a great overview of the Jordaan neighborhood. We started at the Amsterdam Pancakes Amsterdam for Poffertjes, WOW. Can't recommend this place enough! Our next stop was a cheese shop with some great views along the way. We had five food stops today, our last stop was at one of the oldest bars in the city for a beer and some apple pie. I had pre-booked a ship tour to do a canal cruise which ended up being free because of the $50 excursion credit. It was scheduled for 245pm but again the time I booked and the time given to me on the ticket was different and the meeting point was way back at the ship. Given that I had to hustle all the way back to the ship and finished around 2pm I decided to be a now show. There were so many beautiful canal cruises that you could easily walk up to and hop on, this was not worth the trek back to the ship. I hopped on Viator (I usually always book direct with the vendor but needed to book immediately) and booked the #1 canal boat in the city leaving 15min from now. No regrets. Open bar and great commentary. So much fun! It was so nice planning my own adventure today. I was feeling a bit under the weather at this point and the idea of being shoved back onto a bus with 50 others and sitting in that theater again waiting was awful. I did have another ship tour scheduled for tomorrow and debated on cancelling but didn't have it in me to do the planning with the horrid ship wifi situation. By the time we were finished it was definitely time to get back to the ship, I could have walked back or taken the train but again I would have been cutting it close. I flagged down a taxi and this time was told it was 25 Euro to get back to the ship =/ Well at least I'd be back in plenty of time so I paid. Small price to pay to be back to the ship with minimal effort. I had wanted to stop at Van Stapele for cookies but was pretty full this point. Tonight I was told it would be an awesome sail away so I was ready. I've never been through the Panama Canal (yet) and an imagine this might be similar as we went through the locks. Such a neat experience, don't miss it! There was almost no clearance between the ship and the lock. It felt like you could have stepped right onto the dock. Tonights dinner was in Haven. Since I don't love the dinner menu I had pre-ordered my meal from the lunch menu during breakfast the day before. I felt like a pasta dish but didn't like the one they offered so I subbed the fish out for chicken I got a chicken pasta along with my prosciutto and cheese that I love so much. Saturday, August 26th -> Zeebrugge (Brussels/Bruges) I was so excited for this day, though it was my last and would be receiving an eviction notice in the morning. I booked Bruges in a Day through the ship as I thought it provided the best overview (at the time). I really debated on cancelling this but wouldn't have been able to give enough notice and didn't have time to plan myself. In hindsight, this is a very walkable city and you can absolutely do your own thing once you work out the transportation and I believe there was a shuttle offered for a small fee. Back to the theatre for the great waiting game. Again I was on time and again they were not. At least the wait wasn't as bad as the past few tours. We piled onto buses for the short trip into Bruges where we proceeded to have a 2+ hour walking tour of the city. It was PACKED here. Like PACKED. We were given headsets to hear the information but it was easy to get lost in the crowd and have to catch back up. This tour, while informative for me was way too long on my last day. The city was awesome though just as I imagined though very crowded. The best part of the day was the canal cruise which was obviously set up in advance and the lines for the general public to get on a canal boat were insane! So for this reason, perhaps this tour was worth it. From here we had about 2.5hrs of free time to do whatever we pleased. I hadn't really planned out free time and wasn't feeling 100% nor did I love the extreme crowding. First stop was the old pharmacy that was almost untouched, it was 3 Euro entrance and pretty empty. It was a quick walk through but thought it was pretty neat to be in a pharmacy that was over 300 years old. I was definitely hungry for lunch. I walked around trying to find a good spot and saw a long line at a sandwich shop that seemed to only have workers and locals in the line so into the line I went. It was a decent sandwich and I ate it sitting on the steps of the church in the shade which was nice. I wish I would have planned out a good lunch spot in advance or had the energy to Google something fabulous as I'm sure it was there. My next goal, obviously, was to have a Belgium beer and a Belgium waffle in Belgium. I tried to get off of the main tourist streets and found a bar off a side street with a nice outdoor seating situation and achieved my goal. The waffle was fabulous! Unfortunately the cigarette smoking here is massive and while I would have loved another beer I had to leave from all the smoking. I walked around a bit more and then met the group back at the meeting spot. Note that I dropped a pin on my maps on my phone originally so I could make it back to the meeting point and was soooo glad I did this as I walked all of the place and would have been so lost getting back there if I didn't do that. We were easily back to the ship for our final night. I had one dinner voucher still left and really debated on how to use this. People had said that they had good experiences at Onda but my meal in this spot on my last cruise was pretty bad and I also didn't really want to change into nice clothes. I spoke with the concierge about this and he said why don't you just go to Hasuki. I had already been here but the steak was fabulous so I felt this was a good move. Again the meal was very good, not the best but very good. The rice still tasted a bit off from other Tepenyaki ship experiences. I asked for extra garlic for my steak and that was a great call! We also had a fun group, great last dinner experience. Back up to the Haven bar to say goodbye to the amazing folks who made some of the best drinks of my life. Left them a nice tip and wished them the best. I don't think I really ever made it to any other bars on the ship unless it was a place I was eating at, there was really no reason as it was obvious there would be no better bartenders. I thought about if I really needed to be in the Haven. I'm not one of those folks who say once you go Haven you'll never go back. I think the Haven is nice, but so is the rest of the ship. That said, this bar might be worth paying for Haven alone lol. Tonight my plan was to see the Donna Summer Show at 10pm. I had originally booked this for earlier in the cruise and it was canceled and rebooked to a night I was just too tired to go. Having a show like this at 10pm on the final night of the cruise was a little weird and it wasn't well attended and felt a little bad for the cast. I was easily able to find a seat, fifth row center and enjoyed the show. Very talented singers and good production. I let the casino take the last of my cash (note that it did this every time I went there all cruise). Back to the room to repack =( Sunday, August 27th -> Eviction notice I started school on the Monday so needed to hightail it back to Los Angeles and had a 1245pm flight on Virgin Atlantic out of LHR. Since I needed to not wait for a train or bus, I pre-booked a car through Blackberry Cars for an 845am pick-up. Since it was a Sunday and I was flying upper class I was confident that I would be at the airport in plenty of time. I got up for breakfast in the Haven restaurant and had brought all my luggage up with me to make sure I gave my wonderful stateroom attendant as much time to clean my room for the next guests. After breakfast, I told the staff I was ready to go and they took me in a special elevator and I was out of the ship in about 15 minutes. Super easy! Since we had already been through UK customs and I had all my bags with me, there was really no wait. My driver from Blackberry had sent me an email with his contact information and vehicle information. Annoyingly, the security team was only allowing a few cars at a time to do pick-ups but they were just waiting as their passengers weren't there yet. It wasn't a great system. My driver called and said he was there, just waiting in the giant line to be able to pick me up. I finally got into the car around 915am and was to the airport in the Virgin Atlantic private upper class check-in by 1030am and in the lounge with a mimosa by 1050am. Overall, this was a really great trip. Ultimately the coughing and sickness of the ship became really bad towards the end and I would estimate 50% (no joke) of the passengers were coughing by the end. I was hoping it was just a cold because while I didn't feel great, I also was able to function. Here's my biggest notes for future travelers: * I should have brought a COVID test. I realize I had COVID now but didn't have a cough, just congestion so I didn't think much of it. * I should have packed an N95 for the bus tours, shows and casino. For sure it was one of these spots that I caught it. * I also bring a small medical kit with me with a supply of medicines but didn't bring enough Dayquil with me and rationed it at the end of the trip. Recommend bringing at least a five days supply of cold medication both daytime and nighttime. * I was so glad I decided to bring my big waterproof hiking boots. I wore them almost everyday in Iceland and Norway. * I had a full set of rain gear and needed it, don't leave home without it. Carrying an umbrella is not practical given the wind. * If you're traveling to Akureyi, make sure you bring a fly net * Condition the crap out of your hair if you're going to a thermal spa like Blue Lagoon and make sure you have a hair tie. My hair was TRASHED for a week. Consider bringing along some special products to deal with this. * Have a good packable jacket that's also waterproof. I brought my Arc'teryx which was a great call * Try and book with local tour operators at all the ports of call. I didn't really have any good experiences booking direct with NCL on this trip and know there are better options out there. * I didn't bring ANY foreign currency on this trip as I had read everywhere that credit cards were accepted everywhere. I did run into some issues needing some coins for bathrooms in both Amsterdam and Bruges and I also thought some of my tour guides really deserved a tip and I didn't have the money to be able to do this and felt like an ass. I know that tipping is a personal thing but I regretted not having anything to give because some of them really deserved it. * I didn't love my cabin. It was so dark in there even with the lights on, I would have seen what other options I could have found that didn't have a wall blocking part of the balcony. Ultimately, I wished I would have had that aft cabin but still don't think it would have been worth the cost as I really didn't spend much time on my balcony. Thanks for following along on my adventure!

Wednesday, August 23rd -> Bergen, Norway Today, like most days of this tour was forecasted to be rather rainy. The captain had told us the night before we'd be going under a bridge in the morning around 7am that we'd have very little clearance and the smoke stacks would lower to allow us under. Almost missed it and wanted to be on the highest deck so that was my goal for sail out. Today was an NCL tour called Norway in a Nutshell. Again, the timing when I booked it versus the timing told to me onboard were different. Decided for breakfast I would just run up to 16 and grab some Buffett items and eat them in the room while enjoying a Nespresso, it was a good choice. Me along with 1000 others met in the theatre at 730am and then after a 20-25 minute wait (annoyed face, why tell us to be somewhere if you're not ready for us at that time) we were told we could exit. The line going through the hall way was not moving with people hacking coughing. This is where my COVID was born. My days on NCL tours are done with unless it's a small group excursion doing something fabulous I can't do on own. There were again around five buses all tailing each other on the same tour and I lucked out with the rental bus that had some issues. This tour was a VERY long day and if I would have truly taken the time to understand what that meant, I would have never booked it. We were on the bus for over five hours then on a train for another three hours. The entire thing involved rushing from one place to the next with Flam to be our big stop but because we were running so behind we were almost running to catch the train when we got off the bus. NCL ended up refunding us about $37 for our troubles (eye roll). Our first stop was at a huge water fall and it was PACKED with people and pouring rain. It was pretty but by this point in the trip, I had seen a lot of impressive waterfalls and it took us about 80 minutes to reach this spot. Next stop was lunch which I didn't even realize was included but again there were about 300+ people in a hostel trying eat with about five total restroom stalls. You can imagine how this went. The view outside was nice though with the clouds! After lunch we had fun trying to get the bus started with the driver yelling at it, it did finally start. Another 40 minutes later we arrived in Flam which I was most looking forward to.... as I was running to get on the train. The Flam Railway was just fabulous but it should be done on a trip to Flam when you're ported there or on a land tour or if you time the trains right and get yourself out there which is completely possible. The train took us through some of the most gorgeous scenery and I loved all of it. Highly recommend this train just not done this way. The station area seemed like it was a lot of fun with shops and restaurants and bars but alas no time for that. The train made one stop to see a waterfall, we got off the train and there was some music playing. Train views, spectacular. Norway is so green! The railway leads into the regular train station where we hopped on a passenger train back to Bergen which took almost two full hours! Thankfully I fell asleep most of the time but kept thinking about all the other things I could have chosen for today rather than to live on a bus and train. The Flam railway took about an hour total. Once back to Bergen our originally bus picked us up and we quickly hustled back to the ship that was thankfully waiting for us as we were about 30 minutes passed the all aboard time. No time for shopping or a beer on my last stop in Norway, disappointed. My butler brought me pretzel rolls and cheese for a snack, winning. Note that I did request this in my note at the beginning of the trip. The weather cleared up nicely and I enjoyed a dip in the hot tubs and watched us sail under the bridge before dinner. Dinner tonight was at Cagney's which I've had on many ships. I overheard a conversation talking about how good the Prime Rib was and since I always tend to order the filet at Cagney's, I decided to try something new. I used one of my platinum coupons so got a bottle of wine with dinner which was nice. They corked it and I took it back to my room what I didn't finish. Note that the waiter only wanted to allow me to get one side dish which I thought was weird as I'm used to not being limited on sides. I asked him politely for two considering my platinum coupon was a dinner for two and he reluctantly agreed. The Prime Rib was good, better than the Haven one I had a few nights ago for sure and it was cooked to my requested temperature. Desert was the cheesecake but it was really rich and I couldn't eat more than a few bites. Thursday, August 24th -> At Sea I was very much looking forward to sleeping in today, I badly needed it after these crazy busy and early last few days but alas, that would not be a thing because I was given a letter the night before stating that I had to be present in the observation lounge to meet with UK customs MANDATORY between 730am-830am. Seriously?!? That's so early, I was very annoyed but I made it up there about 820am and I was done pretty quickly. You had to bring your passport with you. They asked my plans and then put a yellow sticker on my key card and then I headed to breakfast at Haven. I ordered the eggs Benedict minus the super strong truffle and it was very good. I enjoy the breakfast potatoes up there. Again, the coffee was really weak so I headed to Starbucks post breakfast. I had some work to do today and the internet on this ship despite me paying for unlimited streaming was painful. Like AOL dial up painful and I couldn't get some sites to load. Getting text messages and simple emails on my phone worked fairly well but trying to do payroll at sea proved to be a challenge. It just stinks that the internet is still so bad in today's world. I want to live in a world where I can "work from home" on a cruise ship. 😃 It is nice doing payroll with a view though! Tonight I had plans to see Price is Right which I was pretty excited for. I started feeling a little blah yesterday evening but figured it was just a cold coming on like everyone else. I should also note that I had was playing in the casino and had a dealer coughing pretty badly, I asked her if she was okay and she went on break about 20 minutes later. I never saw her again and the next day, the entire casino staff was masked up. Since I had so many dinning vouchers and my meal was so good I decided to head back to Food Republic for dinner tonight and try some new items but did get the spicy chicken again because it was just so good. I was hanging out in the Haven bar and the staff took a giant group of us at once down to the theatre, many of us were slightly intoxicated and it honestly made for a really fun journey to the theatre and we had a blast at Price is Right. Tomorrow I had my own adventure planned (kind of) and got to finally sleep in a bit, thankful for this! Amsterdam here I come!

Tuesday, August 22nd -> Geiranger, Norway Today was the day I was looking forward to the most. I've seen photos of this town and nothing does it justice. Seeing it in person was a magical experience that I will forever be thankful for. If you're ever thinking about visiting this part of the world, please find an itinerary that includes Geiranger. The sail out was spectacular (as was the sail in I'm sure, but 5am is too early for me!) I had two adventures booked for today. The first was a trip to Mt. Dalsnibba and Eagle Road with Noway Excursions AS and then I had originally booked a RIB boat tour through NCL for 3pm but I randomly found it scheduled for 11am the week before sailing even though I had a 3pm confirmation. NCL says they should have sent me a notification. I promptly cancelled that and booked direct through RIB Geiranger for about $70 cheaper for 2pm. Should have just done that in the first place (I hope you're sensing a theme here). The first tour was a short one 8am-12pm. I was quickly off the ship and was again easily able to find the tour bus. It was on this day I started noticing all the coughing, on the bus and around the ship and I really regretting not bringing an N95 with me for the bus. I was pretty stuck. The tour up Eagle Road was NOT for the faint of heart. I found a space to sit where I could easily see out of the front bus window so I did fine. I'll let the photos tell the story now. After Eagle Road we heading back down the mountain and up to Mt. Dalsnibba. It's really high up there and it was COLD. That was the only time I wished I had a gloves and beanie. They had a small food and gift shop at the top but it was packed in there so I didn't stay long. That view up there was epic. Back down the mountain we said goodbye to our lovely driver and guide. I had originally planned on just going back to the ship for lunch and while it wasn't that long of a walk, the town was just so pretty! I saw quite a few folks lined up to enter a brewery restaurant so to the back of the line I went, no regrets. That said, the beer was better than the burger. The view from the back patio was perfect. Felt bad for the first few folks who sat straight away inside the restaurant, I could tell there was an outside. Be like me. At this point, I was pretty exhausted so I headed back to the ship to catch a 30 min nap and do a Starbucks break before heading to my RIB boat tour. It was located almost next to the brewery so super easy to find. They equipped us with some warm weather gear and I thought we might get a bit wet but not a drop. The boat was super stable and WOW so much fun!! Cruising past the ship and close to epic waterfalls was a life experience I'll never forget. Put this on your bucket list for sure. I was sad to walk back to the ship after such a perfect day and decided it was obviously espresso martini o'clock. Rommel at the Haven bar decided to do a a portrait. I'll let you judge his work. I love the view from the aft of the ship but ultimately decided to save the $2,000 it would have cost me to get an aft room and that was a good call. I enjoyed hanging out on Deck 8 aft, great bartender back there and nice furniture though I was very careful on where I sat as there was a lot of soot on the cushions. Tonights dinner was at Los Lobos. It's honestly a specialty restaurant I've avoided all but once and that was only to order some guacamole. Living in Los Angeles I'm blessed with having amazing Mexican food and salsa is by far my favorite food. I'm here to tell you, I have no idea why I waited so long. The outside seating area was opened and it had heaters! This was a candidate for best meal of the trip and the service was phenomenal. I started with guacamole and tortilla soup and a spicy margarita. For dinner I had the carne asada that came with warm tortillas and plantains which I loved. I debated on coming back here a second time during the trip, it was that good. ^^ Dinner with a view!

Yes, this was for sure a thing. The first night all I wanted was an Indian feast so this worked out perfectly to sit and watch them cook the food, it was pretty fun. The second dinner I had there I had to walk around a bit before I found a spot but it didn't take more than five minutes. If you showed up at open or towards the end of the night there was always room as well.

First off, buy a fly hat like this one off Amazon before you go. Trust me. It's terrible, like will ruin your day terrible. This will help like 70%: https://www.amazon.com/EVEN-NATURALS-Mosquito-Protection-Chemicals/dp/B01EKFQFDG/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=GKK5R2MLY90U&keywords=fly+hat&qid=1693537574&sprefix=fly+hat%2Caps%2C269&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1 I brought a regular hat just to keep the sun off my face, it wasn't cold enough to need a beanie type hat or gloves. It rained almost every day I was on this trip so what I recommend is some rain pants or hiking pants that are waterproof and comfortable and a rain jacket. I have an expensive Arc'teryx jacket that I adore. It packs down super small and it's very warm and water proof. In some spots it would start out freezing and then become almost hot as the day went on so recommended you have a t-shirt on as your base layer unless it's forecasted to be cold and rainy all day. Hope this helps!