MeHeartCruising

When I booked a cruise a few months ago, their web interface let me apply a $250 Cruise Next certificate AND a $300 Cruise First certificate. Since it let me try it, I did it. And it actually processed the transaction accurately. A couple weeks later, they sent me an email indicating this was not permitted and they removed one of them. I can't recall which one they removed. But at least they notified me about it.

Nothing has changed in that regard. Drink your wine anywhere you wish.

The Terrace Houses are an optional (and additionally priced) location at Ephesus. They are an excavated area that is enclosed in a modern structure off to the side from the Main Street of Ephesus that protects it from the elements. It is located on a sloping hillside. You enter the structure at the bottom of the hill and walk along raised metal walkways that look down into the archeological excavations below. You walk up metal steps between the various levels. This gradually takes you up the hill. At the top, you exit the structure and walk down a path back into the Main Street of Ephesus. And then continue thru the rest of your walKing tour. The Terrace Houses are considered the crown jewel of Ephesus. You should try to include them if your plans permit. They are very interesting. it is interesting that the tour with the Houses is shorter than the other tour. I would wonder if that is actually accurate. You will likely spend 30-45-60 minutes in the enclosed structure unless they are rushing you. Is NCL still only doing 1/2 day in Kusadasi? That would explain the short durations of both tours. And it’s barely enough time. But it’s better than not going at all, I suppose.

Worst case, I would taxi to the airport and then ride the transit train to the rental car center and pick up your car. The taxi may be able to take you directly to the rental car center, but I'm not sure. Should be about a $30 taxi ride.

Note that all the free drinks mentioned above are pretty much only available in the buffet and in restaurants. About all you can get from a bar is a glass of water.

In my experience, IF they are properly staffed, security will notice the bottle as you go through the screening process in the terminal. They will ask you to take your bottle over to a table at the side. A person at that table will inspect the bottle and determine wether it is permitted on board and if the corkage fee applies. If it does apply, they will write up a slip of paper with your name and cabin number on it. They will put a sticker on the bottle to indicate corkage has been paid. You then proceed on to the ship with your bottle. If the bottle is not permitted, they will likely confiscated it and you will get it back at the end of your cruise. A day or 2 into your cruise (it has varied for us), a charge for the corkage will appear on your on-board account. It usually shows as coming from a particular bar or a specialty restaurant. So sometimes you might wonder what that charge is for. But it should match the amount of the corkage fee. They seem to process all the corkage receipts at one time in one of the bar/restaurant locations and then run the charges through that location. IF they are NOT staffed properly at security, they may not even care to check your bottle out, in which case you just proceed onward to the ship with it. Don't bring it up if they don't.