monzmom79

6 minutes ago, aryavibhu said:

Thank you @Vitrbt1103. Will Norwegian arrange for Visa at Alexandria even if we go on our own tour i.e. not on with Norwegian arranged tour?

 

Also, I read somewhere that Istanbul has 'Visa on arrival' for US citizens which is a bit cheaper than online eVisa. Is it the correct information?

 

Thanks!    

@aryavibhu from what I understand you can get the Turkey visas on arrival. People warned about late arrivals where you might not be able to get them on site. I went ahead and got ours for $52 each. I figured that after travelling from Northern California, we wouldn't be in any state to deal with it upon landing. 

20 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I just posted this on another thread:

We arrived at 8:15 and needed to wait off to the side till exactly 8:45.  Then my DH was told his backpack needed to be checked, even though the two ticket takers had seen us and his backpack at 8:15 and didn't say a word about it.  When my DH asked why they didn't tell him to check it then, they said didn't notice it.  We were 2 of 4 people at that time.  My DH ran back and checked it at the cloakroom (free) and ran back.  Huge tour groups were starting to come in and he was able to enter.

By the way, the ticket takers are arbitrary on what size of backpack they will allow through, so I would suggest checking anything backpack-like. In addition, I noticed many backpacks were allowed that were the same size as my DH's so there is no standard that is used.

Thanks for the update. I don’t remember seeing any bag storage at the Acropolis. Makes me want to rethink my bag choice for this excursion. 

@BatterySam Looks like it's been fixed. 🙂 Hopefully this is true for your cruise as well. 

@BatterySam I'm on the 11/22 Istanbul - Rome cruise on the Gem. Our Heraklion and Limassol stops have disappeared from this summary too. But, they're still on the bar across the top (2nd & 3rd pictures). So I'm thinking they're still updating the website?

41 minutes ago, BatterySam said:

Overnight in Alexandria, Limassol, Heraklion:

 

Day	Land Tours And Cruise Ports	Arrive	Depart	Booked
Sat	Athens (Piraeus), Greece	---	8:00 PM	0
Sun	At Sea	---	---	0
Mon	Alexandria, Egypt	6:00 AM	8:00 PM	1
Tue	At Sea	6:30 AM	9:00 PM	0
Wed	At Sea	7:00 AM	11:00 PM	0
Thu	At Sea	6:00 AM	8:00 PM	1
Fri	Larnaca, Cyprus	8:00 AM	4:00 PM	0
Sat	Alanya, Turkey	7:00 AM	6:00 PM	0
Sun	Rhodes, Greece	8:00 AM	6:00 PM	0
Mon	Kusadasi, Turkey	7:30 AM	3:00 PM	0
Tue	Istanbul, Turkey	11:00 AM	Overnight	1
Wed	Istanbul, Turkey (Flight Departure)

Oh no, that's not ok.

5 minutes ago, BatterySam said:

Anybody else notice that there has apparently been another change to the itinerary? While I haven't received an email notice from NCL my online itinerary shows a change now with 4 "at sea" days....

What was removed?

Thank you for your detailed review! We are sailing on the Norwegian Gem and Limassol has replaced one of our Israel stops. I've visited Limassol on a cruise in 2009, so I have vague memories. But I too have found very little information on shore excursions available. I will definitely check out Spanos Buses for our excursion. 

I took this one with me in 2019. It was fine on the Acropolis, but I did have to bag check it at the Acropolis Museum. 

17 hours ago, Cruising Lynne said:

I liked having the movable table in the room. You can put it at the foot of the bed to put your room service breakfast on. If you are in a balcony you can pull it in front of the couch. I missed having it on Pearl. They put more modern furniture that I do not think you can move.

I wouldn't mind it in a bigger cabin, but we're doing a 12-night med cruise that is port intensive (11 ports). Because we'll be constantly on the move, we went for the interior cabin. I probably wouldn't mind the table in a bigger space, but since you can't get to the bed on either side without having to dodge the fixed and the movable table, I was hoping it could be removed. As everyone has said, I can ask and the worst that could happen is they say no. If they do say no, moving it to the edge of the bed might be a good idea. I'll keep it in mind. Thanks!

3 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

If they don't remove it...you could toss it overboard. You might get tossed overboard too....but ya know. 

 

For real though, when you meet your steward, just ask. Be prepared for the steward to say no. Maybe you could move the table somewhere not quite so awkward? 

 

Good luck! I'm used to wandering into all sorts of things at night. I'm just used to it now haha

That would be a lot of effort. I'll be in an interior cabin on Deck 10. I'd either have to drag that sucker to another deck or I'd have to somehow get access to one of the balcony cabins near by to do that. I'm too lazy for all of that! LOL

But in all seriousness, I'll beg on the first day and keep my fingers crossed that they say yes!

1 hour ago, www3traveler said:

Another thought would be to have the bed split into two beds.  They are put up against the wall, so you would have a space in the middle to move around.  It makes getting to the bed room easier.

I'm traveling with my husband and neither of us sleep well apart. My MIL and Aunt-in-Law's cabin will be set up that way though so it won't be as dicey for them.

Hey guys in this video, she moves the table I'm referring to! It's definitely moveable. Will NCL allow me to have it removed from the cabin?

I was wondering about the one under the TV on the left. I see the one on the right is fixed, but from the picture I didn't realize the one on the left is fixed too. If it is, I should just get used to bruised hips. LOL. I did buy some lights for the cabin and will do what you suggest. Thanks for responding. 

Here's a weird question...has anyone been able to request the removal of the square table in the cabin? We are doing a 12-night cruise from Istanbul to Rome on the Gem in November-December 2023. Our itinerary is incredibly port heavy (9 ports excluding Istanbul and Civitavecchia), so we didn't take NCL up on the chance to upgrade our room as we probably will just be sleeping getting ready for the next long day in a new port. 

I've watched some videos of cabins on the ship and that small square table makes a small space even more difficult to navigate. I know I'm going to hurt myself trying to get to the restroom at night with that table in place. Has anyone ever asked if that could be removed? 

I will be on the NCL Gem November 22-December 4. The ship is scheduled to spend 2 days docked at Alexandria. We have booked Ramses' Tours Cairo Overnight 1 from Alexandria and made the required deposit for our 11/29/23 overnight. Sarah has been great to work with to book the overnight excursion. We're looking forward to this excursion with Ramses Tours.

On 7/6/2023 at 1:04 PM, ladylurkalot said:

Ah, OK ! 

Thanks for replying 😊

I'm on the same cruise @ladylurkalot. My party of 4 and two other parties of 2 have booked the overnight. At this point, I know my party of 4 is doing the overnight and will be back to Alexandria in time for the ship to depart on the 30th.