KeithJenner

Taking an NCL excursion avoids the cable car at the start as they tender you to the other port where the buses are. That is the reason why we took the excursion to be honest. Coming back they leave you in Thira with a cable car ticket. Because of the cable car situation we aren’t hanging around and have gone straight to the queue. I was expecting the worst, after hearing stories of 2 hour queues but it doesn’t look too bad. 10 minutes now and we are at the entrance to the building. I’ll report back on how long it takes later.

We took the Oia excursion in Santorini (on the bus back to Thira now). With so many ships in port there was always going to be a long queue for the cable cars, and it looked like the queue was indeed very long as we went past the old port. It is the cable car that is the issue here rather than the tenders. They use local boats for tendering rather than lifeboats so they are more comfortable. They seemed to be getting through the tender groups fairly quickly. As for the bar service etc, there were no restrictions that I saw in Rome, including for people without the packages. I will check for restrictions here later. We don’t sail away until 10pm so it’s the one that would potentially be a problem if anyone can’t get a drink onboard.

Mykonos is one of those ports where it can be either. We have been on cruises where they didn’t know the previous evening whether we would dock or tender. It actually doesn’t matter much. If you tender then you are dropped off in town. If you dock then you are a short distance away but it isn’t an easy walk so you have to take a shuttle (bus or water taxi) into town. We walked it once and it isn’t fun as you have to walk in the road.

We tend not to hang around in the busier places. We have still only gone higher than deck 9 once so far and it was very busy around the pool and in the buffet. On decks 6,7 and 8 it hasn’t appeared too busy to me, Bar service has been quick (we tend to sit at the bar rather than wait for a server to come round). The atrium and o’Sheehans are fairly busy but not noticeably different to previous cruises. There was a bit of a queue to get into Manhattan yesterday (maybe 5 minutes) and I think they were giving our pagers when we left. Service was fairly good for a MDR.

Joy is showing doing Bermuda cruises during those months for me on the NCL website.

Day 3 dailies. It’s going to be busy in Santorini today as we are one of 5 ships there.

Just another quick observation. I love Howl.

Some quick observations. Whilst there are some obvious cutbacks, they are not having much impact on our experience. We upgraded to free at sea plus and obviously the champagne selection is more limited than last year, but the rose champagne was good. Moderno was very good as usual. We had lunch in o’Sheehans yesterday and my wife’s burger could have been hotter, but overall not bad. We did the latitudes behind the scenes tour this morning and it was very good. This is my first larger ship since 2019 and I’m enjoying it. The bar on the Waterfront outside Shakers is a great place. We spent a lot of the day there yesterday. Staff all appear happy and friendly.

Day 2 dailies. Howl tonight. 🙂

I just checked the notification for my taxi payment and it was 11.22 We were in o’Sheehans by 11.50 after checking in at our Muster Station.

That is usually our experience. This time we took a transfer straight from the airport (we stayed at the Hilton there), so got dropped off at the ship. Walked into the terminal, dropped off luggage, checked in and walked straight on to the ship. Took less than 30 minutes.

Just the two of us Mandy. Yes, I’ll get the officers details for you.

The aft balconies on deck 9 are indeed huge. I know cruise critic well enough to know there is no point trying to get all pictures the right way up. You’ll all just have to turn your computer over.

This isn’t a live trip report. I’ve done a few of them in the past, and I don’t think another one will particularly add much. instead I am starting this thread to answer any questions anyone may have and to post any observations I have as I go. Feel free to ask anything that you would like me to try to answer Embarkation today was very smooth and efficient. The ship hasn’t seemed particularly busy (we haven’t been any higher than deck 9). We have been drinking at the outside Shakers bar which was very nice. Dailies are attached. No Howl tonight. I don’t know whether that means they aren’t on this cruise at all.

Not wanting to put a damper on things, but that list is a bit outdated. For example, with Champagne, people with the premium plus beverage package can’t now get Moet or Veuve. The only option is a rose champagne (a quite decent one). I believe you may be able to get Veuve in Le Bistro. The selection of reds and whites does vary depending on supply, but it will be more a case of seeing what they have than looking through the menu. We have found that they often don’t have items that are on the menu (and sometimes have alternatives). If you don’t upgrade to premium plus then the wine selection is fairly limited unless you pay extra per glass. With the upgrade there are a lot more options, but not as many as that list suggests, in my experience.

You can book for as many people as you like (subject to availability). Just get the people in the Haven to book a table for 5. It will probably actually have to be for 6 as bookings for odd numbers are rarely (these days it seems to be never) available. Book for 6 and it will be fine when 5 of you arrive.

OK, I know that you get a free bottle of wine with one of the latitudes meals. This can be taken in any restaurant now (except the few that have special wine menus, such as Palomar). The wine would be available for Latitudes Platinum or above in any speciality restaurant on the Joy, including both Le Bistro and Teppanyaki. However, there is nothing to suggest that the OP is platinum latitudes. In fact their question rather suggests that they may well be fairly new to NCL, so the availability of a free bottle of wine that they may not qualify for and would actually be available in any off the other restaurants seems an odd reason to recommend Le Bistro.

Why do you get a free bottle of wine?

Done believe stuff just because someone on the internet makes a sweeping statement like that. Chances are (as in this case) that doing so could potentially cost you a lot of money. Depending on your circumstances, the best time to book is somewhere between a few years out and last minute. Over the years we have saved thousands by booking early. As an example, our cruise next week which was booked 18 months ago is currently sold out for most cabin categories and has been over £1000 more than we are paying for about the last year.

Southampton is a small airport with flights to a few places, mainly domestic or holiday destinations in France or Spain. I suppose it is portable that NCL could fly you from there to Paris or Amsterdam for a connection, but I’d say it is unlikely. I don’t recall ever hearing of anyone who has booked an NCL flight going to SOU. If they don’t use Heathrow then Gatwick is a more likely alternative.

The question was answered previously. You certainly can. I drink red and my wife drinks white. We always get two bottles.

Dining package meals, including free at sea and FAS+, are non transferable. As always on NCL actual experience can vary dependant on staff, but this one is an almost certain no.

You’ve been more often than me, so your experience is probably more representative. Maybe we’ve been lucky in not arriving at busy times, but I certainly haven’t noticed any particular extra time to get through.

NCL have worked out that adults are able to decide for themselves how to dress, rather than being told what to wear and when (with some very basic requirements in some restaurants). If you want to dress up then you can, if you don’t want to then you don’t have to. It’s your decision. Enjoy it, and decide for yourself what to wear. 🙂

How is it a pain in the backside? I’ve travelled to Europe a few times in the last couple of years and it hasn’t been noticeably different to previously. Maybe a bit busier due to covid restrictions and staffing issues. Certainly not a pain in my experience. Without Brexit we wouldn’t have needed to apply for ETIAS, but I’ve not seen anything to suggest that it will be a problem. A few minutes and a few quid, which we’d all rather not have to deal with, I agree, but really nothing major.