bluesea777

Not the Verrazano or Statue of Liberty, but the ‘Golden Gate’ bridge and the ‘Christ the Redeemer’ … Welcome to Lisbon! I’m looking at CruiseMapper …..

7:01am seems highly unlikely … they end their strike at 7:00am and leave land to get out to the ship …. We already chose the 2:00-2:30 pm as our check in time - we have 11 days to explore the ship, but want to have one more meal and a bottle of nice Portuguese wine.

The answer is B I think …. lol

https://mykn.kuehne-nagel.com/news/article/25ff3381-d77c-4d63-971b-4bcbbecd8146 Strike ends at 7am tomorrow …. Viva will not be receiving the pilot until after 7am.

A tip, please .... when you start your day's review with photos, please state what port ... I have had to look up cruisemapper to see what port you were reviewing with pictures. 😉 FYI (to the others), the latest is Barcelona.

When's your flight? Ours is also with TAP from JFK to LIS, on the 12th (this coming Sunday). Come on over and join the Roll Call:

What’s the cabin number/category?

Tender from Trieste to Venice? No, it’s a tender from Marghera to Venice. Marghera is a port on mainland Venice and that’s where the ships go when making a call at Venice.

Most times I have asked for egg-crate mattress topper to be put on my bed on the FIRST day (as soon as we board), with success. Otherwise, I buy a cheapo egg-crate mattress on Amazon and lug it aboard and then leave it behind for NCL to reuse it.

The cruise terminals in Venice proper are now no longer in use to large ships, and the ships no longer can cruise along the canal between Lido and Venice proper. So, you can forget about cruising to/from Venice, embarking/disembarking in Venice, enjoying the sail away from/in to Venice like the days up to covid. The ships now can only go to port somewhere in Marghera via the Santa Maria del Mare canal/pass. Venice port has changed. As for the ship's excursions to Venice, think hard before submitting yourself to one, your ship will port in Marghera and the tenders are long and you'll have little time in Venice proper. Not worth the time and expense. Best to do a few days in Venice proper (there'll be less people, no doubt) pre- or post-cruise and travel to/from Trieste on embarkation/disembarkation days. P.S. I have heard Trieste itself is very nice place to stay a day or two pre- or post-cruise.

@JIMESOPUS great to see and know about Livorno and that we're able to take NCL shuttle for 7 euros. We have been to Florence (via cruise once and we stayed there 4 days another time) and Pisa so we'll be happy to stay in Livorno next time we hit the port. Single digit before we see/meet you on ship Viva - 9 days to go!

NCL will do the visas on board for you for Egypt. We have been to Egypt twice on cruises and NCL handled the visas for us. But check if you need one for Turkey as you’re flying into Turkey pre-cruise.

Thanks.

@OrcaGirl What time is the sail away today?

BERMUDA !!!!

I don't know if you realize this ... no less than 5 out of the 6 newest NCL megaships each has a race track. The only exception is Escape ... this ship has 3 storey high ropes course plus a miniature one for small kids. This attracted families with young kids. This is free, no charge. The race tracks aren't suitable for young kids, and they incur a charge. For many people who went on one have said it's fun but slow (if there are slow drivers in your group) and won't do it again. Aside the Escape, Breakaway and Getaway do have ropes course but they are 2 storey high.

Loved Halloween on NCL ships!! We have memories of that on 4 ships. Fantastic costumes by the passengers and crew.

Yipee! No more race tracks!

Pumpkin Pie !!

These are best for certain cruises like port intensive ones, and they go to ports that larger ships cannot. So it depends on the itinerary…. For longer cruise with many sea days, like Transatlantic, we prefer the larger and newer ships. Least fave smaller ships are the Dawn/Star - no forward observation lounge and their Garden Cafe (buffet) is the queuing kind. Next is the Sun/Sky (and also POA) due to the shower (one meter round with curtain that sticks to you!). But we will go on any ship if the itinerary is good!

Thanks, I went with a friend to Dockyard to watch the two ships being cast off and leaving.

Hey 👋🏻. What time is the sail away from Bermuda?

Spirit, hands down. We’ve been on the Jewel class ships (Jewel, Jade, Pearl and Gem) and they are also good.

Still loving your daily write-ups about the ports of call … any photos would be welcomed.

Gem leaves from Boston on the Friday and gets to Bermuda on the Sunday late morning, right? That’s one full and a bit sea days. If Gem had 2 sea days down, she’d make it here early Monday morning.