MeHeartCruising

I'm not going to say the next paragraph with the intention of changing anyone's mind about using their credit card or phone for the Tube payment. I get it and I respect you decision. Separately from that... I would like to suggest that anyone traveling abroad take at least 1 backup credit card and perhaps 2 in case there is a loss, damage, malfunction, etc. to your primary payment card. I travel with 3 credit cards. Two are in my wallet. The third I hide somewhere in my luggage/backpack in case it's needed. You never know. All 3 of my cards are ones that have no international travel fees on transactions. 2 of these 3 cards are never used except for international travel. I also carry 2 debit cards for the same reason. ATM's have been known to eat debit cards and I don't want to be left without a backup.

Regarding the food... There isn't anyone who is going to stop you from bringing food into the country. There is no bag/luggage inspection or X-ray devices where someone will look through your belongings and there is no customs barrier you will need to walk thru and declare items. You will just walk off the ship and walk to wherever you are meeting your tour group. Having said that, I don't know whether Scotland has any laws prohibiting you from bringing food off the ship. Your possessions WILL be X-rayed when you return to the ship, but that is done on the ship by ship security personnel.

This is also called a "Guarantee" balcony. Search for that on the forum and you'll find lots of discussions. You may or may not get a great cabin. You won't know when it will be assigned to you until it gets assigned to you. It varies. You may not even find out the exact cabin number until you arrive at the pier, although this is not common. NCL, and other cruise lines now have an automated "upgrade bidding" process. So as that process takes place, cabins in the lower levels will open up as people pay to upgrade to a better class of cabin. Once that settles down, it is a perfect time for them to assign the cabins to those who only paid for a Sailaway/Guarantee cabin. But they also may assign them prior to the upgrade processing. There is no way of knowing for sure.

I edited out my previous post after researching a little more. It looks like they have built a new, larger dedicated terminal building since I was last there. I would guess it's large enough to handle 2 ships embarking as a new cruise at the same time. So you may be in good shape. Hopefully someone who knows more about this current situation will update this thread soon. Good luck!

I'm Going to retract my posting. I'm not sure what I posted is accurate any more.

We saw this reported on a current live-report thread for the Bliss, but this article appears to confirm pre-Covid style muster drills will now be fleet wide. https://cruiseradio.net/norwegian-cruise-line-muster-drill-process/

Yes, some of the excursions may not be available for your cruise due to any number of reasons, but at least you can get an idea of what there is to do in the ports that might visit. To name a few... https://www.ncl.com/shore-excursions https://www.carnival.com/shore-excursions https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/shore-excursions.html Celebrity (owned by Royal Caribbean's parent company) makes it a little more challenging because I think you have to first drill into a destination, then find the link to view excursions, but it works. https://www.celebritycruises.com/ports/santorini/shore-excursions

It really is annoying that they removed that feature from their website. And they didn't do it very cleanly. You can find links to "Browse all of our Excursions", but they have been set up to take you back to a worthless page on their train wreck of a web site. Part of my decision making on whether to book a cruise is to see what Royal offers for shore excursions for the ports on cruise. Irritating to not be able to easily do this.

Yes you can do that. But most would ride the funicular or take a taxi up to Capri Town. The lower level where the ferries dock is primarily a marina port with a few businesses. Up in Capri town is where you want to be walking around and enjoying the views (and shopping, etc. if so inclined).

Guarantee cabins have been around longer than dirt. On all cruise lines, I think. SeaShark describes very well the 2 common situations when they appear. On popular itineraries, on short notice, it might be all that is available.

I got rather fond of Rebellious Fish on my last NCL cruise. I don’t recall what was in it, but it was tasty.

Yes, it takes about that long to exit the long fjord. Look at it on a map. And it's narrow, so they go pretty slow. After you pass the 7 Sisters Waterfalls, some might consider the rest of the trip a bit redundant. Beautiful, but a lot of the same scenery. I would plan a late dinner and see as much of the fjord as you desire.

Here is the Stockholm port website page for visiting ships. Change the pull-down menu to "Expected" to see future visits in your time frame. It has some ships already loaded for the upcoming season. https://www.portsofstockholm.com/vessel-calls/ Here is the corresponding page for Copenhagen. Again, change the date range to include your cruise date. https://www.cmport.com/terminals/ships-in-port/ FYI, I found both of these by Googling "Port of XYZ" where XYZ is your desired city. Then navigate around until you find the page listing upcoming visits.

The offer is for good pricing, but not much beyond that. You need to understanding and accepting of all the fine print terms and conditions. Read thru the many posts on this forum about people's satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the flights they were assigned and the occasional issues along the way. If it all looks acceptable to you, go for it. Lots of people do. Lots don't. I prefer to be in total control of my flights and skip this part of the current promotions.

Yes. Your package’s specialty restaurants are free and you have pre-paid the gratuity. Be aware that there are usually a few high-price options on the menu that require an up charge. But plenty to eat without needing to do that.

Based on what you said, I think you should not be facing any additional required expenses. You might hand a couple dollars to a bag handler who will take your luggage when you arrive at the pier. When you bought the free at sea plus, part of that fee was to prepay gratuities for the drinks and meals. So you don’t need to tip more. SOME people do. I don’t usually, but sometimes I do if impressed with the service. The daily service charge it sounds like you paid would cover gratuities for everyone else who does things for you. SOME people may give an added cash tip to their cabin steward if the feel they were looked after nicely. I tend to give a $20 to the steward on the last day if I was impressed. If I’m not impressed, I don’t give anything additional. If you use the spa services, I don’t think those employees have been included in the ship wide gratuity/service charge pre-payment. I think most people tip the spa staff directly. I could be wrong on that.

I would take a taxi directly from the ship. You would want to take a taxi or the port bus to a Metro station anyway. It's not a short walk from the ship. You would be able to be there for the 9:45 tour if you truly can get off the ship at 9am. But, I would pick the 10:30 tour just in case of delays such as lines for the taxis or bus. You can always walk all around the outside of the cathedral and take all your exterior pictures and then go inside when it is time. There's plenty to look at outside.

No idea for sure. If you're referring to this excursion: https://www.ncl.com/shore-excursions/VCT_70/A-Walk-through-the-Heart-of-Venice-Gondola-Ride?destination=Mediterranean+Cruises&port=VCT&priceRange=0+2000&sort=searchWeight&sortOrder=asc&perPage=12 it does not have a description on NCL's website. But from the title, I would suspect that it does not include the insides of any buildings. If it did, they would probably say that. It sounds like a walk around Venice and a gondola ride to me. I would expect more excursions to be posted as the cruising season gets closer.

Right. And the Platinum "Behind the Scenes" tour (which I believe are still currently discontinued due to Covid) are also only for the Platinum member. The demand was high enough that they would rarely, if ever, extend the tour to non-Platinum companions.

It partially depends on your ability/desire to walk. I have been to Athens 3 times (all on day-long cruise stops). On my first visit, I took a ship excursion which was a bus ride followed by guided walking tour of the Acropolis site (we also went to Cape Sounion). The next 2 visits, I rode the metro (subway) from the port into central Athens and then walked all over the place. Lots of walking, but I love doing that in a new location. I have visited most of the major sites walking in this manner -- The Acropolis, The Agora, The Roman Agora, The Plaka district, The Acropolis Museum, Temple of Olympian Zeus, Panathenaic Olympic Stadium, Syntagma Square, etc.

Yes. Here's how it should work. Specifically, the transit agency needs to support "Express Transit Mode". Transport for London (the agency behind The Tube) supports this. I believe if they don't support Express Transit Mode, then you have to unlock the phone and select a card first. The FAQ at the bottom of the page lists agencies that support the mode. Although, it doesn't appear to be an exhaustive list since I also used it on the Chicago L trains and they don't seem to be on the FAQ list. https://www.apple.com/uk/apple-pay/transport/ Here is the TfL site that discusses it, but it doesn't go into details as to how the phone works. They point you to the Apple site above. https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/pay-as-you-go/contactless-and-mobile-pay-as-you-go Also, note that you must specify one of your cards for Express Transit Mode inside the iOS Wallet settings. If you didn't do that prior to trying in Singapore, that could also explain why it didn't work for you.

This is the Port of Helsinki’s cruise ship website page. It usually shows a list of ships and where they dock. It shows empty now, which I assume is due to winter. You might check back here as cruise season approaches. https://www.portofhelsinki.fi/en/passengers/international-cruise-ships

What I did was to leverage the current technology of a smart phone. In my case, my iPhone. As mentioned above, The London Tube supports contactless credit cards. The iPhone supports registering that card into its wallet app. In the iPhone settings, You then designate that card as your primary transit card. I use a Capital One card with zero international fees. Then you simply tap your phone on the contactless sensors as you enter/exit the trains — just like you would do with an Oyster card. Easy peasy. Your card will be charged for that particular journey. You can find full details on this on the London transit website. Many cities now support this functionality. I had this all set up in advance of my trip. I exited immigration and went directly to a train at Heathrow, tapped my phone, and got on a train into London. Subsequent Tube journeys worked fine as well. I never had to guess in advance how much I needed to load on to my card.

I had zero interest in blue and white ceramics when I visited. 🙂 I saw it in a few storefronts but that was all. I’m sure I could have found more of it if I wanted though.

I took the train from Amsterdam to Delft last September for a day trip. I thought it was a very nice place to spend the day. There is a bit of a canal city feel to it. The 2 cathedrals are great to check out (both included in a single ticket). You'd have time to do that for sure. It would be a short train ride from Rotterdam.