KeithJenner

Sorry, you’re correct. I misread that yesterday and thought it was saying that you only got two vouchers if there were more than two platinums.

I’ve heard some ridiculous things that NCL reps have told people but that may be the worst. Just keep that as a story you can share with others about how rubbish they are and go ahead and book yourself a hotel in Rome.

Here’s an example from todays daily.

Just turn off automatic update and set the time manually. People seem to just be buying watches to do what your phone will do with a quick setting change. If you all want to make life hard for yourself then go ahead but this all sounds like a lot of hard work to me. Subject to issues like mentioned above if an app won’t deal with this of course.

I can’t check these things as the website isn’t working properly on my phone, but that looks like the original wording before they changed things when people started complaining after the latitudes update in around 2017z

A little update. We were talking to someone today who was in Granada and did experience the rain. However they couldn’t see any reason why it would have delayed anything. Their bus left during the storm and there was no problem.

Barcelona today. We have sailed out of Barcelona 7 times before and this is the second time we’ve been here as a port of call, so we know the city fairly well. We walked into the city and spent some time walking around the area near the cathedral for a while. Spend a few hours just wandering round some areas that we’ve not been to much before. Also got some more very nice Iberico ham. No photos today as we already have plenty from Barcelona. For people who are new to Barcelona you can’t really go wrong whatever you choose. We have never done any tours or anything here as it’s a very easy place to get around. All the obvious things (Sagrada Familia, other Gaudi buildings etc) are well worth seeing, but it’s also a great city to just wander around.

I do like wine but I am also not a connoisseur. There are a couple of wines that I tend to go for at the bars. However the restaurants have a larger selection and I quite like to let the wine waiter recommend one to go with my meal. In Le Bistro I specifically said that I would appreciate a recommendation when it came to the entree, but in the end I just took another glass of Veuve. Not a great hardship but a bit of a disappointment. Yesterday in Cagneys it was just topping up our glasses, but we did spend about 10 minutes with empty glasses when eating our entrees. It is the one area where the cutbacks have affected us. They are trying to deal with too many people. I don’t particularly blame the waiters themselves (except maybe the Le Bistro one), but it’s still disappointing as the customer.

We were late leaving Lisbon because the port were so slow in checking passports before letting people into the terminal building and then getting the luggage onboard. I didn’t notice us being particularly late to leave either Gibraltar or Cádiz. Of course, if they have been on 30 cruises then they shouldn’t have needed those two ports to know that ships don’t always leave on time. The strangest bit of the story for me is their bus getting caught up for an hour due to the weather. If it was any sort of excursion bus then why were they the only ones to miss the ship. In addition I have talked to a few people who went into Granada and nobody has mentioned anything about any weather problems. Not saying they are lying, but it doesnt quite tie in with what I have seen or heard. It could also be inaccurate reporting by the journalist.

We went to Cagneys last night. Recently we have found it a bit hit and miss there but yesterday it was very good. Probably our best Cagneys meal for a few years. However, once again the wine waiter went awol after he introduced himself at the start of the meal. Once again we were reliant on our server to refresh our wine but they had been empty for a while. That’s Le Bistro, Onda and Cagneys where the wine waiters have been absolutely useless.

You actually do get more if there are more than two platinums in a cabin.

If they come back to the ship one hour before sail away they will absolutely be allowed on the ship, as will those for the next 30 minutes (and probably later). If it is a tender port then there could be an issue, but I don’t think that was the scenario discussed.

True, but then you have to change a manual watch all those times too, and if you have an linked watch then this fixes both devices. I look at my phone as often as my watch to see the time.

Yes they added a table during the dry dock in early 2020.

Sorry, I meant to say we couldn’t prebook on some smaller ships, not newer. These were Spirit (when it only had one table) and either Star or Dawn that have two I believe.

Here’s a picture of a sign at the gangway showing all aboard times. We leave at 7pm.

Back onboard now, after a nice day in Palma. As mentioned previously we got the hop on hop off bus, which was free after the latitudes and free at sea discounts. We basically used it as a transfer into town and back, but did the full loop so we could see everything from the bus. The centre itself is quite compact so was easy to walk around without needing to use the bus. Palma itself is quite nice, especially the area around the Cathedral. Not a favourite, but pleasant enough. We spent a few hours exploring before heading back. One thing to be aware of, if you take the Hop on Hop off, the bus collects people who have booked through the ship from the pier and then goes direct to the cathedral. After that the port stop is outside the port gates. We were expecting most people to get off when we returned but not many did. Some were probably heading back into town, but I wonder whether some may have been expecting if to go all the way to the ship. Here’s some pictures from Palma: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6bOo1OIpM6/?igsh=MjdjZDVqNjhvNXg0

Yes you can. A while ago we were unable to prebook on a couple of the newer ships that have limited space, and I’m not sure if that’s still the case, but we’ve not had any problem recently.

Managed to change our second Onda booking to Food Republic. Restaurant reservations desk is at Hazuki in the mornings.

I just turn the time zone setting on my phone to Manual and then whenever there is a time change I change the location myself. Simple.

Whilst talking about ports I should mention that at Motril you can’t walk through the port itself but there is a free shuttle bus into town.

I enjoyed Onda yesterday. We like Italian, and have always enjoyed La Cucina on other ships. However, we have two reservations there this cruise but are going to see if we can change the second one to Food Republic as we enjoyed that so much. I wouldn’t put you off of Onda though. As I mentioned in my last post we didn’t go into Ibiza today but I did have a quick look at the transport options. There is a shuttle bus into town that I believe has a small charge (a few Euros) and there were a few taxis there when I looked. You should be able to get into town.

I could claim that I’ve not been on here for a while as I’ve been so busy, but that would be a lie. After a heavy night in the Local yesterday we had a lie in and then spent most of the day reading. We went back to Indulge for dinner today. We were still in port at the time and it was once again very quiet in there. After three days of tours we had decided to have a quiet day onboard the ship today, and that is certainly what we achieved, it was just a shame that the weather was a little colder than was ideal for much of the day. We have the Hop on hop off bus booked tomorrow in Palma so hopefully we should have a good day.

They don’t allow you to take any drinks onboard except for wine where there is a corkage fee (which is waived if you have the beverage package). We did see people buying water at the port in Cádiz and they weren’t checking what people were carrying on very much, so maybe those people got it through, but if you do take some then be prepared for it to be confiscated, The main dining room menus are posted at the restaurant during the day, and I have heard that you can ask to see them earlier in the cruise (but have never heard tried that myself). Googling will show you what the menus are like but there are about 20 MDR menus that they can choose between so you won’t know which will be used on which day. The Icons show doesn’t appear to be reservable and nor does the comedy show. The comedy venue looks fairly small so you may have to get there early for a good seat.

Another quick check in. Today was Motril and we did the Caves of Nerja excursion. I would certainly recommend this one. The caves themselves were spectacular. I have a link to photos but it is very difficult to show the scale in photos. We have been to a few caves around the world and there are some near our home, but I can’t think of any that we have been to that are on this scale. The rooms were massive and the formations are huge. After the caves we had about 90 minutes in Nerja town, which was very nice. We decided not to do much so just found a bar for a couple of drinks. I also got a baguette with Iberico ham for lunch which was fantastic. Today was the first day when the weather was warm enough to sit outside comfortably, so we spent a few hours in Vibe. A fun afternoon with a few shots thrown in. It’s been fun. Just going to get ready for Onda tonight. Then we will probably be in the Local if anyone wants us. 🙂 Cave pictures here: https://www.instagram.com/p/C6VvjdDoEts/?igsh=MTZlcGl3Y3VoajhtaQ==