rsachek

Sorry, it looks like I transposed the blue and green colors, but Line 3 is what you want from Dimotiko Theatro, the closest metro station to the cruise terminals. It's a fairly new station, so older maps may not reflect. You can transfer at Syntagma to Line 2 and get off at Akropoli if you don't want to walk to the Acropolis from Syntagma or Monastiraki station, but everything is so nearby, it might not be worth the hassle to transfer trains.

The operation of the X80 bus will be announced here. For what it's worth, the 2023 service started on June 3 and was announced on June 2.

You can also take the green line metro (Line 3) from Dimotiko Theatro station. Depending on whether your ship docks at Terminal A, B, or C, the walk is approximately 1-2 miles to the station.

I have no idea whatsoever about the HOHO buses. Hope this helps.

^^ I can't speak for every situation, but on our recent Journey trip, we were tendered the old port/cable car area. Perhaps when Celestyal was operating the much smaller Crystal (pre-Journey), that allowed more flexibility.

4 hours ago, Wink the Cop said:

Or are you able to post any more daily programs as these would be really valuable to a pre planner like myself.

Here's a link to all of the daily programs. Beware that there's a million ads on the hosting site but hey, it's a free site that I didn't have to register for.

https://postimg.cc/gallery/S4JhBG3

I posted an image of one of the daily programs from our recent Celestyal Journey Idyllic Aegean cruise on another subforum and someone asked if I could post them all. Well, here you go! It's 7 days x 4 pages each = 28 images. 

https://postimg.cc/gallery/S4JhBG3

Sorry for all of the ads but it's a free hosting site that I didn't have to register for lol!

My wife and I were surrounded by some pretty sick passengers on our transatlantic flight back home, and now we're feeling under the weather ourselves. Once I feel up to it, I'll add a full review to the other helpful reviews on this site. In the meantime, if there's anything you'd like to know, fire away! 

Note from the dailies that the drink packages are sold at a discount during the first day onboard, if you're considering one.

^^ I do have all the daily programs, but it's 28 pages to photograph and upload (7 days x 4 pages each). I'll see if I can squeeze this task in.

The formal night (captain's night) is on Monday, following Kusadasi. There's also a Greek-themed night on Wednesday (Santorini). 

My wife and I were just in Santorini on the Journey on May 1. We did the walk from Fira to Oia and took the public bus back. It would seem from the Santorini buses website and comments from other cruisers that the bus stops in Imerovigli, but I wouldn’t count on it.

I can’t comment on whether that stop happens on the way from Fira to Oia because we didn’t take the bus in that direction but I can tell you that on the way back from Oia to Fira, it definitely does not stop anywhere in between. The return bus takes a route along the eastern flat part of the island.

We took the bus back to Fira at around 4 pm and it was perhaps half full, although I’ve heard there can be long waits after sunset. If you wanted to walk between Fira and Imerovigli, I’d call it about 1.5 miles each way.

As far as the tendering process, check out the image below (click to enlarge). The ship uses large tenders from shore, not the tenders/lifeboats stored onboard, so the process goes quickly. Tender tickets are numbered 1-5 and groups 1&2 (called together) were off by 9:00am, with groups 3-5 (also called together) maybe 30 minutes later. Later in the day, no tender tickets are required. We were lucky and hit the cable car with no wait to ride up, despite two other medium-size ships in port. 

On 4/15/2024 at 7:34 AM, Philly Steve said:

The judge in the SS United States eviction case urges a compromise by both parties while threatening to impose "a decision no one will like."

That was a few months ago. Presumably, no compromise was reached or perhaps none was even attempted. A verdict should be expected literally any day now, given that we're nearly at the end of April.

There is speculation that even in a best case scenrio — the conservancy prevails and the ship is allowed to dock indefinitely at the old rent rate — the conservancy doesn't have the funds to sustain. RXR has been chipping in to cover expenses for several years and I believe that relationship is now over, leaving the conservancy to pay the full cost.

One has to imagine that donations are dwindling gives how many years this saga has dragged on.

Thanks for the replies, all. Very helpful. I would actually prefer to book directly with NCL, but some TAs are offering considerable onboard credit and one is even willing to discount the price of the cruise in the amount of the onboard credit instead and I'm too cheap to pass that up.

Can anyone comment on the logistics of using the CruiseFirst certificate if booking through a travel agent? Do you still pay a deposit at the time of booking with the travel agent? Then once the cruise is linked to your Lattitudes account, can you apply the certificate and the cerifiticate amount is then deducted from the final payment balance? Does this sound correct? I have tried contacting NCL and two different travel agents and nobody seems to have a confident answer.

^^ 

Yeah, the rent dispute trial started last Wednesday (January 24^th) and was only expected to last a day or two, I believe. I was expecting to have heard a verdict by now, but apparently the relevant parties will be notified in writing at later date, which could be as late as March or April. 

The conservancy is hanging its hat on a lease that was re-negotiated in 2011 after the ship was acquired from NCL. The lease spells out an $850 daily rate “continuing until upon removal of the vessel from its current location.” On the other hand, the landlord’s defense is that the lease wasn’t intended to be in perpetuity and nobody expected the ship to remain there for so long after the lease was signed. 

The judge in the trial recommended that the two sides try to work something out via negotiation, rather than a court ruling. In my opinion, a good compromise might be to keep the old rent rate until the end of 2024, then the ship has to either begin paying the higher rate or move. 

Honestly, it is silly keeping this rusted out, gutted hulk around any longer. If it was ever going to be repurposed, it would have already happened. New York firmly doesn't want the ship there, anyway. They're saying it won't even fit at Pier 76 and would require dredging. See:

RXR's Ship-to-Hotel Conversion is in Deep Trouble

The conservancy has fought a good fight, but it's over for the Big U.

On 11/20/2023 at 11:48 AM, zdcatc12 said:

I read an article recently about her being moved to Manhattan as part of an entertainment complex. Has anyone else heard about this?

It is still sad every time that I drive over the Whitman Bridge and look over and see her rusting away.

At this point, I think the conservancy is willing to donate the ship to any city that's willing to accept her. They might have a slick set of drawings for the mixed-use plan, but no lender or investor is ever going to piss away $500 million on this pipe dream.

How would that investment ever be recovered? $500 million is literally how much professional sports stadiums cost to build. The United States is not that historically significant, either. It had a short, boring career and there's nothing original to see inside because it's all been gutted. Plus, modern society doesn't care about old-timey ocean liners.

The Queen Mary in Long Beach has been a financial disaster for anyone foolish enough to invest. And that ship was fully intact and well known by the public at the time of it's hotel/exhibit conversion. 

The SS United States is in a rent dispute that could leave it without a berth.

Time to throw in the towel, methinks.

Hi Julie! If you could post a couple photos of your cabin, that would be outstanding. I have been searching high and low for post-drydock cabin decor.

1 hour ago, EllieinNJ said:

We have an Amex platinum business card which is free.  Does this count for the above benefits?

The current annual fee for the Business Platinum Card is $450 annually so I would be pretty shocked if you're getting it for free? Perhaps you have it confused with another card?

9 minutes ago, jpcdds6 said:

One app, entree, and dessert. Sometimes the server will let the one app rule slide.

Thanks for the info!

We are taking advantage of this promotion on an upcoming cruise on the Jewel. We have already received the $100 credit (inside cabin) in our account and as I understand it, the vouchers for Le Bistro will be waiting in our cabin upon arrival? Is that still how it works? 

Also, now that Le Bistro has moved to a'la carte pricing, what constitutes a "free dinner" anyway? Is it a set dollar amount or something like one appetizer, one entree, and one desert per person?

The generators were all diesel powered, separate from the main steam propulsion system. When the ship was first converted from France to Norway, the original steam generators were retained and proved to be extremely troublesome. The ship had several embarrassing breakdowns and interruptions. So at the first refit (1982, I believe), modern diesel generators were installed.

Is this true? I was just about to purchase tickets online for my May 2018 cruise. How bad is it?

We were there on March 5, 2018. I have no idea whether conditions will be better by your cruise in May. I tried not to photograph the construction, but a few photos snuck in there anyway! You can't tell in the photos, but the Hypostyle Room was almost completely blocked off with opaque plastic sheeting.

We might take the bus to Soller and then the train back.

Biris

Unless your cruise is after November, you will have to do it the other way around. Did you look at the train schedule? Soller to Palma trains are at 18:00 and 18:30 which would put you back in downtown Palma at 19:00 or 19:30 which is cutting it close for a 20:00 sailing time.

http://trendesoller.com/en/timetable/

Thank you for your step by--step guide.How long does it take to ride the train from Palma to Soller? Looking at the schedules, it appears that time isn't on our side :loudcry:as our ship docks from 1-8 PM.

The train ride itself takes exactly 1 hour. You certainly don't have an abundance of time, but it's doable. I'd ride the 15:10 train to Soller (arriving 16:10) and take the Route 211 bus back. The bus schedule varies depending on day of the week. But even in the worst case, the bus runs more frequently than the train. The bus schedule can be viewed at https://www.tib.org/documents/30683/312772/L211%2C%20des%20de%202018.04.01.pdf

And last but not least, our inside cabin, number 9589. If you read my review, you know we had some issues with our cabin to be sure! But overall, it was adequate for such a port intensive itinerary.

Here is a random collection of the Spirit's hallways and stair towers.

Almost finished! Here is the aft bar/dining area outside Raffles buffet.

And the Bier Garten.

We were also on the Spirit 15th March cruise out of Barcelona.

 

From Freestyle Daily DAY 1 Thursday March 15

 

"SPANISH VAT

Spanish tax regulations stipulate that VAT will apply once the ship is in 12 Nautical Miles of Spanish waters. 10% will be assessed on all Food and Beverages excluding Beverage Package consumptions (my italics). Note: There is no tax applicable on Spa Service/Shore Excursions/Casino Gaming/Art/Telecom. Tax on roughly at 3.00a and off at 7.45p."

 

We had the UBP and were never charged the Spanish VAT on this cruise.

Does anyone else find this incredibly inequitable how the policy changes so frequently? What the heck?!? Really sours me on NCL.

I'll add a data point to this thread.

We were on the Spirit February 23 - March 5, 2018 with an UBP and most certainly did pay the VAT. It was 10% of the menu price of your "free" drink. In fact, it was a bit of a double whammy because our cruise had a massive itinerary change that resulted in additional time in Spanish waters. Beside the money aspect, it was also a nuisance because the servers/bartenders had to print a receipt with the VAT amount for you to sign instead of just a quick card swipe.