Turtles06

Huge thanks, that worked!! (Love the photos of your feet. 😂)

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Exactly. It would be bad enough to have a bank card stolen or lost in your own community, but it would be a whole extra hassle when you are traveling.

I've posted many photos here on CC over the years, generally by copying and pasting from a third party site like Shutterfly. When I do that, I can create a space between each image, so they don't all run together vertically, and I can easily add captions if I want to. I've noticed that when folks are inserting images into a post directly from the phone or other device they are using to post here on CC, the images all run together vertically. I just tried this as a test using my iPhone, and I had the same issue: Is there any way to keep this from happening? Say you are posting here using your phone, and you want to post several photos from a shore excursion -- how do you post them so there's a space between each of them? Thanks!

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We’ve stayed at that Embassy Suites a couple of times when we’ve driven to the port. At least prior to the pandemic, they had a shuttle to Cape Liberty, but I believe there was a charge. You can call them and ask what’s going on now. As a hotel, I think it’s better than the typical Embassy Suites, since there’s no atrium. Regular hallways. Some rooms have nice views of Newark Airport or Manhattan. The major drawback is that the food options for dinner are really limited. There’s a Ruby Tuesday’s across the way that is one of the worst places we’ve ever been to. There’s also a nearby IHOP. There’s a Mall that’s a further walk, but it didn’t do much for us. Ymmv.

Based on what? That’s a serious question, I have no grounding in what they are using. Do you not think it’s AIS?

I agree that it's not totally reliable in terms of future port schedules, but do you think its tracker showing a ship's position is unreliable?

Real time position on cruisemapper.com showed the Encore in Taino Bay and the Dawn at Amber Cove.

In addition to the things noted above, you will also need the name and contact info for an emergency contact (someone not traveling with you), as well as the credit card information for the card you want linked to your on board account. And you'll be asked to watch a very short safety drill video for each person you are checking in. Enjoy your cruise!

We had two days in Reykjavik on HAL a few years ago. We decided to spend the first day on a private tour of the South Coast (mini-vans of about 16-18 people), since the South Coast tour is longer than the Golden Circle tour, and took a HAL tour of the Golden Circle the next day. My thoughts: although the Golden Circle is perhaps more famous, and while I enjoyed what we saw (but not the guide, see below), I thought the South Coast was really spectacular, from start to finish. Beauty all around; waterfalls, a glacier, the black sand beach, etc. We toured with GeoIceland, a partner of Saga Travel. They were fabulous to deal with, and the guide was one of the best ever. It was a fantastic day. The companies went bankrupt during the pandemic, and the owner I believe was bought out by the employees, who have restarted the business. I think folks have used them recently; do a search. https://geoiceland.is/ https://sagatravel.is/ As I mentioned, our Golden Circle tour the next day was through HAL. We did that (rather than a private tour) because our time in port was limited, and our next port was in Greenland. Just did not want to risk missing the ship. Unfortunately, the guide on the HAL tour was one of the worst guides we've ever had. Those are the breaks of ship-sponsored tours. Some folks on our Roll Call who had more risk-tolerance and who'd also done the South Coast tour the prior day with GeoIceland, used them as well on day 2 for the Golden Circle and had a much better day and did get back to the ship in time. 🙂 Good luck with whatever you choose, and have a great time!

Welcome to Cruise Critic! Apart from other replies you may get here, please do a search in this forum for each of your ports, as most if not all of them have been discussed in other threads. (Lots of info to be found here, for example, on Belfast, Cork, and Dover.) BTW, from Invergordon, you could visit the Battlefield of Culloden, which is not far from Inverness. Enjoy your trip!

Exactly. And I want to strongly recommend to the OP @KaDarr something that doesn't get discussed much: the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. This is the 700-year-old nightly locking up of the Tower (from 9:30pm till about 10pm) by the Yeoman Warders. Only 50 tickets are made available to the public each night (nominal fee of £5.00 per ticket) and they are snapped up quickly when released (generally on the first working day of the month for the entire following month, i.e., in May for June). See link below. We saw the Ceremony this fall and it was a fantastic experience. Incredible simply to be in the Tower at night with no one else there, and then Ceremony on top of that. All that history. Kind of made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/ceremony-of-the-keys/#gs.ntgrni

Well, there's your long-awaited answer to the DR. 🙂 Sorry you're losing St. Lucia... Have a great time wherever you are, and thanks again for sharing your trip!

Love that place! Conch fritters, yum! Hope you make it to GSC; have a great day, wherever you are! Thanks for all the photos. Nice to see the Bridge Viewing Room is still open.

I was about to tell you that we just walked right up, but since it was back in 2018, I just checked my file (and recollection!) and we in fact bought tickets in advance. 🙂 However, it doesn't seem as though you can buy them in advance now, but I could be wrong.

I'm not sure what you are looking at, but here's a screenshot from cruisemapper earlier this morning showing the Dawn at Amber Cove and the Encore at Taino Bay. (Looking at cruisemapper now, it also shows that the Celebrity Constellation is docked at Taino Bay as well.)

And, oddly, the Dawn was sent to Amber Cove today, although she has been showing on the Taino Bay schedule since it was posted for January. Note that the Dawn now shows up on the Amber Cove schedule not only for today, but also for January 31. https://ambercove.com/Port-Schedule.aspx

Well, this is weird. For today, Jan. 20, two ships had been shown on the Taino Bay port schedule: the Dawn and the Celebrity Constellation. Oddly, though, the Dawn has just shown up on the port schedule for Amber Cove today (as well as for Jan. 31). I just checked cruisemapper.com, which shows the current position of the Dawn in Amber Cove, and of the Encore in Taino Bay (!) (Screenshot below.) If this is all correct, I think it's the first time a big NCL ship has been back in Taino Bay in a very long time. And how strange that the Dawn has been sent to Amber Cove.

@mking8288 have a safe and fun trip!

I agree, @travelgip, the Escape is not on either of the official port web sites for 1/23. (If it's showing on a third-party site, I would not rely on that.) https://www.porttainobay.com/es/arrivals https://www.ambercove.com/Port-Schedule.aspx

If you have an NCL excursion and the ship skips the port, you will be refunded.

American here. If I were on a trip that had me in London on May 6, I wouldn’t leave. This is an historic event that hasn’t happened in 70 years. Just speaking for myself.

There is of course a certain convenience to that, but, as a traveler, I would not want to have a credit or debit card as readily accessible in public (especially crowded public places) as it would need to be for this purpose (touching in and out on each trip). And that's not even considering foreign conversion fees, though I hope anyone traveling internationally has a credit card that does not charge such fees. My wife and I have found the Oyster Card to be a good choice for several days in London. We generally load it with £20, and can also add more if need be. Also, if you wind up with money left on the card at the end of your visit, and don't think you'll ever be returning to London, you can get a refund of up to £10. (If you think you'll be back, keep the card, it doesn't expire. 🙂) https://www.visitlondon.com/traveller-information/getting-around-london/oyster-faqs/how-to-get-a-refund Have a great trip!

I'm glad to read the replies to the OP, as we are booked on this itinerary as well, although sailing in July and preceded by a HAL cruise that goes to, among other places, Skolden, Stavanger, Trondheim, and Honningsvag (North Cape). And also Bergen, which will give us two days in this city (one on each leg of our B2B). I'm not the OP, but I wanted to thank you for posting those tips. We're already booked in Eidfjord for a tour to the waterfall, and in Alesund (which is lovely and which we've visited before), we have booked a tour going to the islands of Giske and Godoy, and then a visit to the Sunnmore Museum. Bergen (which we'll visit twice) I think will be DIY days for us, and I'd already been thinking that a walking tour would be great, so thanks for that. Any guide or company you'd recommend? Thanks again.