MeHeartCruising

I, for one, enjoy looking at a bunch of rocks. Geology is fascinating. I also have thoroughly researched the timing and costs involved for the trek to see them on my cruise starting next week. I also chose to not try and cram the Titanic Experience into this as a combined excursion. I knew the timing would be too tight. So I will just have to come back another time to see that. I will enjoy a more leisurely tour focused on one major site. I'm sorry that the OP was disappointed.

Ah, yes. I recall coming down that ramp to the station the last time when I was coming from Centraal Station. Thanks for the reminder, since I will be going from Ship to Station this time around.

Even if this is not a policy across the fleet, I see absolutely nothing wrong with individual crews not attending. Perhaps due to ship-specific instructions from their captain. I also see nothing wrong with individual crew members choosing to not participate in this optional event in order to minimize their interactions with a large number of people. There is nothing wrong here. Time to move on.

Thanks. I thought that might be the case. When I was there, construction was being done. I looked at some YouTube videos of the station and it looks like that side is nicely done now.

Yes. And an Apple Watch then synchronizes that data back to the iPhone Fitness (and Health?) apps, where it usually is looked at on the larger screen of the phone. Apple Watches will do this synchronization via Bluetooth when the 2 devices are back close to each other (and powered on). No need for WiFi or cellular service on either device. So best to leave in Airplane mode and ensure Bluetooth is still on.

Honestly, I would not recommend the night tour for your first night in Rome. Unless you think you will get enough sleep on the plane over. I don’t sleep much. So I’m usually cratering by 6pm or so.

Royal Caribbean has a history of allowing these type of changes to a Guarantee assignment. NCL does not have that history.

What "case" are you hoping to plead while on board? You got your cabin that you bought. Please don't bother the crew about what you happened to get because you chose to buy the cheaper guarantee cabin. You got what you paid for. They have bigger issues to deal with.

Generally, they say to keep active upon arrival as long as you can and then try to sleep near normal bed time. However, one option might be to ride the Hop-on-Hop-Off bus (perhaps without even getting off) so that you can get a feel for the city as a whole. I would consider that low key. Of course, you might risk falling asleep on the upper deck and end up riding the loop 5 times. A more active activity, which maybe you already have scheduled, would be to ride the cable cars up Mont Juic and enjoy the views and walk around the fort. Then walk back down.

I’ve seen it. I prefer to focus on the thousands of people who successfully book and get guarantee cabin assignments. You and I have booked weeks prior to the cruise. Not hours. And they got their cabin..

I’m also awaiting balcony cabin assignment for my cruise departing Southampton on September 5th. My edocs also indicate cabin 99999. Im pretty sure this is standard until they do the assignments. As I alluded to above, I’m not concerned. Once I see my assignment, I will print edocs. I have looked at mine, but not printed them yet. They will be making final assignments somewhere during the time they are also deciding on who gets the paid upgrades. Lots will happen in these final 2 weeks. If I have to wait until I get to the pier, so be it. They will have a cabin for me. Concerning what you wrote in your other post, I have never heard of anyone showing up at the port and having a say in what cabin they want. Usually its already assigned so the porters can look it up when you drop off luggage. They then put a handwritten room tag on it so the luggage can be delivered.

Relaaaaaaaax. Plenty of time. I’d bet $500 that your cabin is assigned before you fly. edocs get updated as time goes on. Once they assign a cabin, download a new copy.

The last time I was there it was a hot July day — 98 degrees. The Vatican and St. Peter’s was only part of the plans for the day. I wore pants that had removable leg sections, converting them into shorts. They just zip on and off. I think they were some form of camping pants. Khaki color. They were perfect for my church visits. And then cooler in other places.

I'm not the one you asked, but I would think that using tender boats in this manner in Venice would be one reason you should feel totally free to not do a ship excursion unless you might want to visit one of the other islands in the area. Once the tender drops you off most of what you want to do in Venice is accomplished by walking to it. There may be a few places you want to go where it might be quicker (or required) to hop on their boat "bus" network (called vaporettas), but there is so much to see without doing that. Assuming the tenders drop you off at St. Marks Square as the articles seem to say, you could visit the Basilica, Doge's Palace, the Square with only a few feet of walking. You can visit Rialto bridge by walking a short distance (5-10 minutes or so). You will immediately see gondolas for hire in the area. As long as you know when the last tender is and you keep track of where you are and know how long it will take you to walk back to the tender, I see no need for a ship excursion here. If you want to visit Murano or Burano islands, then perhaps an excursion makes sense. But even these can be reached via the vaporetta network.

Royal Caribbean prefers you to purchase passage on the cruise first. If you just show up, they may not let you on. Har Har Har. Sorry. I couldn't pass up on this one.

Here are a few more articles that I found on the topic. None of them seem to be updated to include anything more than the testing of the program using the NCL Gem earlier in the year, but it would seem they were granted additional approvals for upcoming cruises given the OP's cruise. Or NCL is being optimistic at this time. The articles indicate the ship docks off the cost of Lido. Not the shortest of tender rides. https://maritime-executive.com/article/venice-tests-tendering-cruise-passengers-to-permit-large-ships-in-port https://www.cruisemapper.com/news/10665-ncl-norwegian-gem-passengers-ferried-into-venice https://www.corfubarbati.com/2022/07/26/venice-tests-cruise-passenger-tender-to-allow-large-ships-into-port/

I'm pretty certain you can buy CruiseNexts while on ANY NCL cruise. They are NOT usable on the current cruise, so there'd be no reason to not sell them to you. There will be flyers in your cabin and they will be happy to sell them to you at the Latitudes desk.

As you may know, there is currently an FCC Kicker promotion which offers $100 OBC if you use up a Future Cruise Credit (FCC) at the time of booking a new cruise. I successfully received this when I booked a Mediterranean cruise for May 2023. I booked online and was able to link the FCC at the time of booking. At the time of booking, the FCC didn't show up in the amount paid for the cruise, but it showed up shortly after. Maybe a day or two later. Per the terms of the Promotion, it took about one more week for the OBC to show up on the cruise. Perfect. However, when I booked a second cruise a few days later to make this a B2B, there was an error when I booked the cruise when I tried to link to another FCC. It told me to try applying the FCC after finishing the booking. I finished the booking and then used the regular page that Royal provides to request an FCC credit to a cruise. This time, it said the FCC certificate ID I entered was acceptable and I assumed it was linked to the cruise. But, So far, it has been one week and the FCC is still not reflected on my cruise -- the amount due has not been reduced. I'm now a little concerned that 1) have they actually received my request to apply the FCC to the cruise and 2) if they do, will they recognize it as being requested at the time of booking so that I would qualify for the $100 OBC? Does anyone know if I call an agent and ask them to cancel/rebook the cruise (the price hasn't changed and I have booked a refundable deposit and it's way outside final payment dates), would they be able to apply the FCC at time of booking? or do they still make you submit an online request to do this after the fact? Thoughts?

Haha. I didn't even read the article that far. Can you imagine ships parking and unloading right at the Square. My goodness what a mess that would be. And how much it would destroy the views at that location. Lordy.

Tendering into Venice is a controversial move that NCL is trying out with the blessing of Venice port officials, but not the blessing of local politicians. Details can be found in the article linked below. https://www.cruisehive.com/norwegian-cruise-ship-tenders-guests-into-venice-to-dodge-ban/77385 According to the article, the tenders are dropping passengers off right at St. Marks Square. Here is the Basilica's website with visit (and worship details) http://www.basilicasanmarco.it/informazioni-per-i-turisti/orari-di-apertura/?lang=en

I also agree with the above that generally you just want to get the foreign currency you need from an ATM upon arrival in that country. Notify your bank in advance where you will be traveling to ensure they don't think it is a fraudulent attempt. ATMs offer the ability to view the screens in English. You may need to make a selection on the screen to make it use English language. IF you will need foreign currency before you can access an ATM, your home bank can also usually get them for you prior to your trip. Most of the time, you will need to order it in advance and then go pick it up a few days or a week later. You may choose to do this if you have booked tour(s) that require cash payment and it is a large amount. Some ATMs (or your own bank) may limit how much cash you can withdraw at a time (or per day). If possible, use a credit card (one with no international transaction fees) for purchases. If the credit card machine or merchant asks if you wish the transaction to be processed in the foreign currency or US dollars, pick the foreign currency. The other way means the merchant will use their own conversion rate first, which will be higher than the credit card company. It is a way for merchants to make more money from you. There are ATMs in the airports, so you can get the currency there, but the exchange rates may be higher than ATMs found in the towns/cities.

One time, on a ship and cruise line I really don’t recall, they had taken on some supplies for the upcoming dry dock. There were some covered up piles of “stuff” on the exterior decks in areas that were out of the way. There were also more obvious maintenance type crew wandering about in public spaces more often. You’d see them doing measurements and digging into electric/wiring boxes/etc. more often than you usually see. That was the only impact I saw. No venues were closed on that cruise. But they were clearly doing prep where they could in advance.

Thank you Ine. I appreciate the fast response. Hopefully the weather is good on the day I want to do my walk.

After my cruise ends in Amsterdam, I plan on walking to Central Station to catch the EuroStar to London. Years ago, I walked the reverse direction from the station to the ship and was able to exit the station at the rear entrance by the water and use a nice sidewalk to the cruise ship. Is that walking route still in place so that I can walk along the water and enter the station on there back side?

I hate to start a new thread for this simple confirmation, so I will post here and see if anyone sees it. A question for the UK train savvy travelers.... I've booked a South Western Railway train from London Waterloo to Southampton Central on the morning of my cruise. I tried booking directly on the South Western web site, but it wasn't pleased that I live in the US, so I booked it via thetrainline.com per the advice of the Man in Seat 61. No issues with the booking. Great price of just over $12 total. On the South Western website, it let me partially do the booking before it found out I lived in the US. During that partial booking, it first said "A seat reservation is required for this journey" and allowed me to specify my seat preferences (aisle, forward facing, etc.). The when I clicked on the Confirm Seat button, it came back and said "A seat reservation is not required for this journey, sit in any open seat". And it appears to show that I had finished the seat reservation process. On the trainline.com website, it also asked for seating preferences but when the ticket was paid and confirmed, it says "sit in any open seat" on the screen and "no specific seat" on the ticket. I assume this is normal? and I'm ok for the trip? I was just thrown off by first being told a seat reservation was required, then told it was not required after requesting it.