MeHeartCruising

Google says https://www.tcd.ie/visitors/book-of-kells/

Sorry the OP experienced this. No idea what the problem was. When we disembarked in February from the Joy, we got off the ship around 8:30 and walked continuously (no delays) thru the lengthy route to baggage claim. We quickly found our bags and entered a short and fairly rapidly moving line up to the immigration checkpoint. They had about 4 facial recognition stations set up and one person was guiding each person to a station as they reached the front of the line. The facial recognition was very quick and there was a second person guiding people along on their way very efficiently. The total time spent in the baggage claim/immigration building was probably 8 minutes or so. It sounds like the facial recognition was down and they were understaffed to deal with it.

Be sure to understand that some OBC is granted as refundable. Some OBC is granted as non-refundable. You should ask which type you have if it's not clearly stated in your paperwork. If it came from the cruise line, it's probably non-refundable. If it came from a travel agency, it may be either. Refundable OBC can be used to pay for anything on the ship, including the cruise line's Daily Service Charge. If you don't spend all the OBC, it will be refunded to you at the end of the cruise. I don't recall how they pay you, but they either cut you a check at the end of the cruise or send you one in the mail, I think. Non-refundable OBC is probably more common since a lot of people get it from the cruise line itself. NCL does not permit non-refundable OBC to pay for the Daily Service Charge. You can use it to pay for excursions, buy drinks, buy meals, buy t-shirts, buy candy, etc. If you don't use it all up by the end of the cruise, you lose it. It goes away. You can view your account balance on your cabin's TV on most ships. However, the listing on the TV does NOT do a good job of showing how non-refundable OBC affects the overall balance, especially if they are adding the Daily Service Charge (which it won't offset) to your account every day. If you have both types of OBC (which is possible), it is nearly impossible to figure out your true balance via the TV. Go to the service desk and ask for a print out of your account balance during your cruise. They will gladly give it to you multiple times. This is the best way to truly understand if the OBC is being properly credited to your account purchases.

And only 45 minutes back down! I will say that these numbers are on the low end from the various posts I've found about the hike. Most seem to say "allow 4-5 hours" for the hike itself. They must be the type of people that sit on the edge with their legs hanging over taking selfies of each other for 2 hours. 😀

Also, not all credit card companies show the interim charges to you. I've used various cards with NCL and some show me the early charges and some do not. And, one more thing. This is why you often hear it is bad to use a Debit Card for cruises (and rental cars). For a debit card, you will actually be tying up CASH in your checking account until YOUR BANK drops these interim charges. Some banks can take days or a week, so I've heard. So if you charge $1200 of stuff during the cruise, the cruise line puts $1200 of "holds" on your bank account. Then on the last day, they process another $1200 for the full actual final bill. That means your bank account gets deducted $2400 until the original $1200 in interim charges drop back off.

The cruise line may process a transaction that shows up as a pending charge on your credit card multiple times during your cruise. They sometimes seem to do $300 when you check in. If you make a significant purchase on board, they may submit a pending charge for $495 for that gold watch you just bought, for example. They are verifying that your card actually has enough credit on it to pay for these purchases. If there are not sufficient funds on the card for these purchases, there will be a problem at the time of purchase that you will need to address. However, these charges eventually drop off and never get fully processed by the credit card company. Instead, NCL will run a final charge on your card for the entire amount of your purchases. For example, this would be for the $495 watch plus any other purchase you made -- t-shirts, candy, daily service charges (if not pre-paid), dinners outside of your pre-purchased package, etc. So they may run a final charge for $612. That is the only charge that will eventually fully post to your credit card. The other intermediate pending charges will fall off your card -- but this does not always happen right away. Mine are usually gone by the time I get home from my cruise. But I've seen a couple times where they lingered for several days. This will vary based upon the rules of your own card. NCL doesn't do anything to cancel them. They just fall off your card because they were not submitted as final charges, they were "test the balance" transactions. And yes, as posted above, you don't choose when to use your OBC or not. It will just be used as a positive entry into your account balance. Any purchase that is valid for that type of OBC (refundable or non-refundable) will subtract from it before increasing the amount you will have to pay in cash.

I'm sure you've probably read online reviews, but just in case, here's a great site with lots of info from their own personal experiences. They even took their kids. https://www.earthtrekkers.com/hiking-pulpit-rock-kids/

For what it's worth, this is from the "Terms of Use" page of the Royal Caribbean website. The link to it can be found at the bottom of the page throughout the site. This is from Section 18 - Purchases. "We reserve the right to refuse or cancel any order prior to delivery. Some situations that may result in your order being cancelled include system or typographical errors, inaccuracies in product or pricing information or product availability, fairness among customers where supplies are limited, or problems identified by our credit or fraud departments. We also may require additional verification or information before accepting an order. We will contact you if any portion of your order is cancelled or if additional information is required to accept your order." This is pretty standard for most all e-commerce websites. I'd be surprised if this does not apply to their App as well. The terms refer to their entire "digital platform".

Put Google Maps into "Street View" mode. It works best on a computer. Then you can literally "walk" the entire route and see the various terrain, sidewalks, lights, etc. I took a taxi and while there wasn't one waiting when I got off the train, one did arrive within 5 minutes. There were a few of them basically doing back and forth trips to the port because a cruise ship was in town. I do not know if the port actually permits pedestrians to enter. Hopefully someone can answer that for you. I don't recall discussion of walking to the ship here on CC previously.

What else do you plan on doing while there? If it were me, I'd book a time around 11:00 am which would allow plenty of time (barring any unforeseen circumstances). Or even in the afternoon after you've done other things. If you get off the DART in Dublin a lot earlier than that, you can always explore other things first. If you truly want to do this first, then I would probably book a 10:00 am time slot. You should be there by 9:00 or even earlier. But I'd do 10:00 to pad the time a little.

What are the hours in port at Ravenna? Perhaps the ship is not there long enough to accommodate travel times to/from Venice plus a reasonable tour.

Some poor crew member is going to be doing a heck of a lot of Access Tours. Yikes.

In my opinion, Bergen is easily enjoyed on foot including the funicular. Unless you have mobility issues, I suppose. However, ships can dock at a pier that is a little further walk than a pier that is closer to the touristy area. When that happens, there is usually a shuttle that takes you part of the way to the touristy area and then you need to walk some more. However, perhaps things will be different this cruise season. Looking at the HoHo Bus route map, it takes care of picking up at that more distant cruise port. So you would not need to do much walking if you used it.

He probably is no longer employed by NCL, then. Hence no replies from his email. Call the main number. In my opinion, if a PCC doesn't return an email within a day, then it's fair game to just call the main NCL number. They could be gone or on vacation.

In the app, tap on the little icon of a person at the top of the screen. It is up there with an icon of a ship and a calendar. Tap on the person, and it shows you the currently selected cruise and link below that says "Select a different cruise >" Tapping on that should show a list of your upcoming cruises.

Since you mention YouTube videos, watch a few of them and you will get a better idea of the site. This one is a great tour and if you focus on how the roads/paths look and how long they are, you can get an idea to the large size of this site. These are the distances that must be walked. Do note that he does the tour in the opposite direction that the tour buses will take you. He mentions that at the beginning. Also, as I was watching this, I was noting where people were, or might sit during the walk. There don't really seem to be any benches designed for sitting, but people do sit down on the many, many rocks and/or steps you see along the way. But as cruisemom mentions, the Terrace Houses are pretty much in the middle of the site. You have to walk quite a ways, maybe 1/4 mile or so before you reach the Terrace Houses.

My only caution on this approach might be…that due to NCL’s cabin Upgrade bidding that now takes place, passengers on that second cruise will be moving into those balcony cabins from their current inside and ocean view cabins. I would expect less balconies to be available by the time you get on board the first cruise. But perhaps there will still be some available.

Here’s the Google Streetview of the major canal tour starting point on the Damrak street I mentioned earlier. I think the tours start at regular departures (like “on the hour”, etc. but there are multiple companies to choose from. As the previous post indicates, there are other possible starting locations. If your ship docks right In Amsterdam, you could walk to this location in about 15-20 minutes of a nice walk. If you dock in IJmuiden, then you will need some other transport. I’m not up to speed on the best options there, I’m afraid.

Are you looking for a small, personal tour? If not, I would not pre-book anything. Just decide when the right time to go is based upon weather and timing when you are exploring the city on foot. There are multiple boats selling tours constantly along the Main Street in front of the train station.

Amsterdam has 2 locations for cruise ports. One is the city-center one that you already know about. The other one is located in IJmuiden, which is a port location very close to the North Sea -- probably 45 minutes or so from central Amsterdam. Essentially, with IJmuiden, you skip most of the canal portion of your departure. You will enter the North Sea very soon after the ship leaves shore. I believe IJmuiden is located outside the locks that stop the ocean water from rushing into the canal. So it is probably less expensive to dock there since they don't have to pay any fees to use the locks or the canal into the city center. I do not know which ships are using which port however. You will need to ask the cruise line if it's not included in your confirmation.

I would think with a guided tour, you will be listening to your guide during the tour and not the phone app. And, I'm sure the guide's narration will not be identical to the recorded audio. They will have their own "spin" on everything, I'm sure. However, you may choose to visit longer than your tour. So you might choose to use the app's audio guide for additional information either before or after your guided tour starts.

I frequently nap on sea days in my cabin. I try to doze off in a shaded lounge chair, but I get too distracted by people watching.

The Joy didn't distribute any special time change notices on a separate piece of paper. It was mentioned in the Daily the day before. It was mentioned in ship announcements if you listened to them. In the past, on some ships (not sure which cruiselines), a separate slip of paper with the time change was included with the daily, but not on the Joy in February.

Honestly, I'd call NCL back 2 or 3 times to speak with different agents to make certain you were given accurate information on your first attempts. I would think since they are selling these cruises as departing from "Venice (Ravenna)" they should be providing transportation from Venice Airport (and/or somewhere nearer the city center) to the ship. Perhaps ask about "transfers" instead of "shuttles". I know that Royal Caribbean's call center staff is proving to be untrained on this topic right now. So I won't be surprised if NCL's is as well. It took me 2 calls to get a Royal Caribbean agent to know what I was talking about.

In February, on the Joy, we experienced the once-a-day service. But, our Freestyle Daily would still appear in early evening on the bed, usually while we were out to dinner. However, I noticed that many cabins on our floor had them stuck on the wall outside the room. I guess our steward would only take the time to put them inside for people who took the time to change the room status lights so that it was obvious we were not in our cabin. Either way, we had them the evening before to browse what was happening the next day.