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I think many are motivated to give it a try 😃 What are the costs to start up? And any additional monthly costs? Lastly, is there a deadline for a starting travel agent to achieve a certain amount of revenue?

Fwiw, no one at the Israel port asked us for any proof. We had it with us though.

As far as I know, this is a requirement of the Israeli government. NCL, for example, is silent on the topic. I think the port topic here is the right place to ask... 🙂

I presume the cruise happened already. Any update on what happened at the port? 🙂

We too are uncomfortable with too much attention. We have stayed at fine white glove hotels a couple of times, but it creeps us out that they know our names when we pass through the lobby. Clearly, that makes us mass market hotel customers 🙂 Is there a "rower" designation for land hotels? We'll wear the badge proudly 🙂 By the way, if I may ask, which premium credit card do you use that provides travel insurance?

Wonderverse has been broken for over a week running, starting from about the 3rd day of the sweepstakes. I think it was swamped with users. Someone noticed a serious flaw- there is no apparent way to logout or leave the wonderverse. So people just close their browsers, but the servers remain assigned. No wonder it is swamped, it thinks many more people are using it than in reality. Wow.

I'm surprised. I would have thought Jewel is old enough to still have a wide promenade deck where they would do the "under lifeboat" muster.

Bundle handing out tender tickets along with the muster and voila! Problem solved 😀

Hmmm does that suggest that there are people hanging around there trying to charge for the free showers? Thanks for your posts, a lot of great info.

Thanks for this info, very enlightening! Yes, we're with GTI but I didn't assemble a group for this cruise. Just purchased GTI excursions for two. So not exactly a GTI private group then. Would the head of customer service still make accomodations for this? Also, the head is the manager of the "front desk" / customer service counter, right?

How long did it take before you were free to meet with GTI? There is apparently a face to face passport check in Israel.

Just to confirm- does your deviation give you 3 days on the ground in Rio? Or departs 3 days prior to embark?

I know this is an old thread, and pre-pandemic, but are you sure European embarkation can have up to a 30-day deviation? I literally just got off the phone for a Portugal cruise, and the max is 2 days embark and/or debark deviation. This is NCL USA.

That would have been a better use of those seats. Nearly the entire row ended up unused, and it was in a prime location. Unfortunately, the hogger will likely continue hogging in the future despite the unused wasted seats.

Agreed, the app is a poor replacement. It's like reading with tunnel vision since the screen is so small compared with a 8.5x11 sheet of paper.

Sounds like a good idea for lido deck. But chair hogs also do their thing in the theater too. They'll need a different idea in the theater. I once saw someone reserve an entire row. Many people tried to sit, only to be shooed away. As it turned out, only a few of her party showed up. Wow.

I read this and many other threads about the Free At Sea BOGO air offer. Here is what I've learned 😀 There is a big difference between using NCL to book air, and using the Free At Sea BOGO offer. They are Very Different. Some people post about the wrong one in the wrong thread. You can select seats by working directly with the airline. Or maybe not You can pay to upgrade your seats. Or maybe not Checked in luggage is included. Or maybe not You will be booked on a regular Economy fare (okay). Or maybe Basic Economy (yikes). In the event of a canceled flight, you will make it to your cruise. Or maybe not You can request a paid deviation to arrive a day or two early. They will honor it. Or maybe not.

We sailed with Captain Marek last month and he was great! Personable at the Q&A, and bridge announcements were precise, informative, and enjoyable. It's odd, but I looked forward to the bridge announcements on that sailing. I usually do not.

How about hiking boots? I take them on trips with mud and rain, and they're too big for luggage. So I wear them on the plane...

That would be nice. I'm worried about getting off the ship in a timely manner. I've read that Israel requires in person review of passport and traveler. This lengthy process can take hours to clear people... seems difficult to meet a tour guide at a stated time. Did you experience this? We're used to ports where everyone turns in their passports the night before, and they are processed en masse without the traveler being there. 😀

Was on Radiance this summer and had a blast. Ship was well maintained, but had a 2000s look to it. Not that it is necessarily a bad look.

Ouch, one way car rental fee for that far of a drive is $$$. I guess still better than missing the boat.

On my last Royal cruise last month, on line check wasn't available. So I had to check in using the app. One advantage of app check in is that it can use your phone's camera to scan your passport and take your security photo.

That I've experienced before. Turn in the passports overnight, and you them back. Pretty easy. But what is happening lately is more than that, apparently. They want to individually examine each cruiser in person, at which time you present your passport for inspection. Hence the long lines and missed excursions.

So no more virus delays when getting off the ship at Ashdod and Haifa. How about passports, I've read on other older threads here that Israel wants to examine each person with passport, which takes hours to process a ship full of people.