KeithJenner

I bet you all thought I'd given up with this. To be honest, I was struggling posting pictures, as cruise critic insists on posting them upside down when I post from my phone. I could post them correctly when using a different device, but that was a pain, so I gave up. I'm back home now (got home in time for lunch yesterday 🙂 ) and am catching up with things now. I will try to get this finished in the next day or so.

There are no priority tender passes for latitudes. All the benefit means is that you can join the queue whenever you want without having to collect a timed ticket first. You just show your keycard if they ask to see your ticket.

On the Dawn last week the Veuve was flowing at Cellars. We never asked for it at any other bars though. Only Cellars and with dinner.

I have occasionally seen some seats showing as being reserved for latitudes, but it has always just been a couple of part rows. This is on smaller ships. For example for a few cruises on the Spirit the front row on one side was marked as being for platinum latitudes. I doubt very much whether it would mean you don’t have to reserve though, even if there was such a section on the larger ships. It just gives you an area you could select. I would also mention that the times I have seen such an area it has never been policed as far as I could see, so it could easily be filled anyway. I would ignore that perk to be honest. It is very likely not to exist and if it does then it just means that you may be able to sit in a certain area that you may not see as beneficial anyway.

It works with all categories up to club suite. However, it only applies to room types that end with a letter, so they can’t upgrade you to things like aft rooms or large balconies

I have booked a few cruises onboard with the CruiseNext rep, including on the Dawn earlier this week.

In the a la carte restaurants you can use a dining credit for appetisers, one entree, sides (where appropriate) and desserts. Apparently people get told that you are restricted to just one app and dessert, but this is incorrect. Just order your meal and enjoy.

Once on a European cruise I asked a bartender whether he preferred tips in Euros or Dollars. He said it made little difference to him, but at the time he preferred Euros as one Euro was worth more than one Dollar. There is less of a difference at the moment. I currently have dollars and euros in my wallet and I intend to use both for tips when we get off tomorrow.

On to Invergorden. Again, we have done this port in the past and last time we hired a car and went to Loch Ness, Urauhart Castle and then Glenmorangie distillery. I would recommend all three, especially the distillery. We had hired the car from a local garage, who apparently aren’t doing it this year, so instead we decided to make this a quiet day. So instead we just walked into town for a while. It’s a small town, but not bad for a short wander around. There are a few murals on the side of buildings which are good. If we had wanted to explore further without a car then we would have caught a train into Inverness. The station is about a 10 minute walk from the ship. This is actually a great port with plenty to see nearby, so don’t be put off by us not doing much. We like to have a few off days on cruises, especially when we have done things previously, but with the Highlands scenery, Loch Ness and the Distillery’s and castles nearby it is easy to find things of interest. We are in La Cucina in the evening. This is another place that I like despite the often less than glowing reports, but I have to say that it was not as good as usual. On our last cruise it was probably the best meal we had, but this time it was just ok. After that we went to the Cellars just for a couple of drinks but ended up spending the whole evening there. The sunrise was very nice in the morning.

Wine starts at about $9 per glass (plus gratuity obviously).

Available on the Dawn.

Then, on to Scara Brae, which is a 5,000 year old Neolithic village, which was discovered in the 19th century after being uncovered by a storm. One of the huts is still covered by a roof, but most are open to the elements. There is also a reconstructed hut that you can go into. It is only a small site, but is incredible to see. I would recommend it to anyone who visits Orkney. We then returned to the ship via a different route, along Scapa Flow. Overall a very good tour. If you are touring independently then there is a free shuttle into Kirkwall. It is not a long distance anyway, and last time we walked in rather than queue. In the evening we went into Aqua, which I didn't think was as good as Venetian. Still not a bad meal though. As I mentioned earlier they brought my wife Prosecco rather than Champagne. By this point in the cruise we were after a quiet night, so stayed in the cabin rather than spend the night in Cellars.

Next day was Kirkwall, which is a really underrated cruise stop. When we were there previously we hired a car for the day and saw much of the main Island (called Mainland). However, as with Belfast we found that an NCL tour was considerably cheaper than hiring a car, so we went with the "Ancient Treasures of Orkney" excursion, which visits Scara Brae, one of my favourite places. First stop was a couple of henges of standing stones (Ring of Brodgar and Stones of Stromness). These are older than Stonehenge, but not as complete. We didn't stop there last time, so this was nice to see. I'll see if I can get any pictures to post:

Back to the review. Next day was Dublin. This was probably the port most affected by the itinerary change, as we were only there from 7am-2pm. Being a tender port this caused considerable issues as they took all the shore excursion people off first. Being in a suite, we had priority tendering, but the concierge was struggling to get independant people on the tenders with the excursions. It was almost 8pm when we got ashore and tempers were fraying onboard as we left. We spoke to a couple later in the day who said that despite having an early tender ticket they still didn't get ashore until nearly 9am. We got the train to Tara Street station (just a few Euros return and an easy journey). We had booked the Guiness Storehouse on the original itinerary and were able to change the time online, so didn't lose anything. However, it was all fairly rushed as we needed to be there for 10am and once we had finished we had to head back to the train station. We have been to Dublin before, so it wasn't a great problem that we didn't have time to see the city better, but I'm sure there were a lot of disappointed people. The Guinness Storehouse is worth going to. It is interesting and you get a pint of Guinness at the end (it was a bit early, but apparently its never too early for a Guinness). Once back to the port we joined the very long queue for tenders back to the ship. After sailaway we did the latitudes Wine Tasting. There are 4 stations set up around the bar (it was held at Cellars), each representing a country (France, Italy, US and Argentina/Chile). At each station there was a red and a white wine to try. We quite enjoyed it, although I suspect we will only do it occasionally in the future. After that it was Cagneys, which was very good. I know that Cagneys can get bad reports from some people, but we generally find it to be good. I had the Prime Rib, which was excellent. Another couple had recommended we try the Chateuneuf de Pape (included with the plus beverage package) and it was good. Then back to the Cellars again for the evening. I took a few pictures in Dublin, but they aren't uploading at the moment. You aren't really missing much.

Yes, I assumed you had missed Edinburgh, and also Zebrugge when we saw the ship in port on Wednesday. An unfortunate end to the cruise, as they are two highlights. I guess that your Ireland experience was probably better than ours though. Sorry to hear about the Covid. No signs of it on here at the moment. To be honest, I'm not too worried if we were to catch it anyway. Had it earlier this year and symptoms were very mild.

Yes, Alain is the GM. There was a meet and greet, but I missed it due to the change in itinerary. I ended up forgetting it when it happened. Latitudes, there was the party on the first day and we also did the Wines Around The World tasting on Monday. The CruiseNext rep is keeps trying to talk me into the Mixology tasting, but I don't think that I could face that. No behind the scenes tour though, or dinner with officers. Also no OBC offered.

I’ve not got that far yet (the cruise isn’t until next September), but I saw the train mentioned in a port guide and found it on the train timetables. I haven’t looked at the locations of the stations yet though.

By the glass you get Veuve Yellow Label, and by the bottle is Moët. We have generally been drinking at cellars where they have a stock that is pretty well just for us and another couple who have the package. We have generally stuck to ordering it by the glass at meals and it has arrived quickly everywhere. The only problem we have had was at Aqua where they brought a glass of Prosecco. We didn’t say anything. Whilst Veuve is only available by the glass with the package, if you have it with a meal then you tend to have a bottle to yourself anyway. Yesterday in La Cucina they just let us take the bottle with us afterwards, which was handy as we then had it in the cabin. Overall the package has worked better on this cruise than on the Jade at Easter where it was sometimes a struggle to get champagne rather than Prosecco. We have tried anything silly like asking for it in o’Sheehans or the pool bar though.

Yes you can. We have it planned for our cruise next year.

I’m sure you could, but there wouldn’t be much room to move around.

Next day was Belfast, which involved sailing North past Dublin and returning the next day. I assume that this was to avoid being in the UK on Monday, but it did have a significant impact the next day. Our plans had long been to go to Giants Causeway when in Belfast. Usually we would have booked a car, but the NCL excursion worked out considerably cheaper so we booked that instead. It hadn't been clear over the previous few days whether this would be rearranged or cancelled, and we only got final confirmation the previous day. I had looked into alternatives, but in the end we decided to stay in Belfast instead. We docked at 11am, and there was a free shuttle into town (I had heard conflicting rumours as to whether it was chargeable beforehand). However, the shuttle didn't start running until 11.30 by which time there was a long queue for it, so we decided to walk instead. It is about 2.5 miles to the Titanic Museum from the port so we headed there first. We hadn't and specific plans what we were going to do, but when we got there we decided to go into the Titanic Museum, which was excellent and well worth the £21 entrance fee. We spent a couple of hours there before heading into the city centre. We spent some time there before heading back to the shuttle bus (which drops off near the City Hall). Overall, the cancellation of our tour meant that our time in Belfast wasn't as good as it could have been. We never really worked our alternative plans, so just had to make do. It's a nice little city and we will certainly be back. My wife still wants to get to Giants Causeway, and I can see us visiting again soon, whether on a cruise or a long weekend. We went to Venitian for dinner. We haven't eaten in the MDR all that much lately, as our son tended to prefer the buffet or o'Sheehans when not eating at one of the speciality restaurants, but will do so more in the future. I was impressed by the quality, but the service wasn't quite as good as we are used to in the speciality restaurants. The next day I found that we had been charged for the bottle of wine that should have been covered by the Premium Plus package. A quick visit to guest services got that sorted, but it shows it is always worth checking your bill. I didn't take many pictures in Belfast, but here are a small selection.

Sorry, I've just noticed that I got my meals mixed up. On Cobh day we actually went to o'Sheehans for lunch (the Cottage Pie Potato Skins are very good) and Le Bistro for dinner. My wife isn't fussed about Le Bistro, but I like it, so we tend to go there every other cruise. I love the Escargot and the Coq Au Vin was very good too. The service was exceptional, and overall it was a very good meal.

It’s not as deep as many aft balconies, but plenty big enough.

This is basically the answer to this whole thread.

I've got a bit of catching up to do, so I will try to cover a few days here now. Day three was Cobh (for Cork, Ireland). Whilst NCL did a good job of rearranging the cruise, the port times in Ireland were not ideal, and we were in Cobh from 3.30pm to 8pm. This meant that many peoples plans for visiting places like Cork or Blarney Castle were not possible due to the short time in port. We had already decided to stay in Cobh and go into the Titanic Museum followed by finding a pub, but we had to drop the Titanic Museum so just went for a walk around the town and then had a couple of pints in the Rob Roy, which for a while was like an extension of o'Sheehans on land. The beer was very good. Cobh was a nice little town, but if we return we will certainly head elsewhere for the day. Beforehand we had enjoyed the better weather by spending some time walking round the promenade deck, where we saw a couple of dolphins swimming along with the ship for a while, which was a nice treat. We ate breakfast at Moderno again, and also went there for lunch as we didn't have any particular plans in the evening. We ended up going to Bamboo in the evening, which we both really enjoyed. In the evening we spent some time in the Cellars again, which has become our go to place. It is often very quiet there and the wine selection is about as good as it gets on an NCL ship. I have been working my way through the different wines that would be an uncharge if we didn't have the plus beverage package. The staff are excellent in there as well. It really deserves to be busier, but I suppose that the limited menu means that it doesn't appeal to many people. Anyway, here are a few pictures from Cobh.