MeHeartCruising

You need to go to the Latitudes desk soon after you board and get on their list for this Platinum Behind the Scenes Tour. They sometimes limit the number of people that can go on the tour. If there are a LOT of Platinum (or higher) passengers on the ship, it could fill up. Also, if there are 2 in your party and only 1 is Platinum, then only the Platinum member can go on the tour. You can ask to get a non-Platinum partner on the tour, but it is usually rejected.

Every hotel that I have ever arrived at early (even super early) will hold your luggage for you until check-in. I've never been to Iceland, but I'd be shocked if that were not the case there too. You could certainly contact them and confirm this. Airbnb's will not typically offer this, although you can ask what they might be able to do for you. You could always book it for the previous day in addition to your arrival day. Whether a hotel will let you check in that early is almost always dependent on whether they have an available room to give you. If they are full with guests, they will need to clean rooms after those guests check out before they could give it to you. Some hotels will let you check in early for free (if they have a room) and some will charge an added fee. You could ask the hotel what their policy is in advance. They probably won't be able to guarantee you an early check-in unless you pay for the previous night as well. Also, I would suggest you try to skip the nap and just power on with your day. Get out in the fresh air. I have found the secret to jet lag is to do this so that your body starts acclimating to the local time as soon as possible. Try to make it until early evening at least before heading to bed. But, if you are lucky enough to get a room, a quick shower before going back out to see the sights that morning will help you stay awake longer.

No hotel is going to have single rooms for 5 people. The above suggestions are the way to go.

I would take a taxi, if you aren't doing the HOHO bus for other reasons. I would not walk there. I actually did walk to the Storehouse. But I was staying in Dublin for 3 days so I had ample time. But for a day visit, doing the walk takes up too much of your time, in my opinion.

This video of the museum popped up in my YouTube feed today. This looks like a great place to visit.

My visit was also on a Sunday. Nothing was open in Mdina that morning, so it really was just a walk thru the streets to a nice viewpoint and then head back to the taxi. I believe we went in the local cathedral there, but I can’t be sure. I have pictures of the outside, but not the inside. So either we did not go in, mass may have been going on, or they just didn’t allow photos. I can’t recall. So one hour was about right. We would have taken longer if more was open. I will add that I regret not going to the Hypogeum. I would try to fit it in if you can.

Very minimal wait. Minutes. No real line anywhere in the process. HOWEVER, I was with my senior citizen parents at the time. We likely were not in the initial rush off the ship. But there was still a line of taxis waiting too. I don’t recall if you could skip the tent and just approach the taxis yourself and zoom off more quickly. I rather liked getting payment negotiated and paid up front.

When I was in Malta, taxis were available at the port that could be booked by the number hours you wanted them. I think we paid 65 euros or so for 3 hours, but that was many years ago. You paid for this at a tent that was set up along the walk toward the taxis. You paid and the person discussed with you where you wanted to go. They wrote it all on a slip of paper and you handed the slip to the first driver in the taxi line and off you went. We went to Mdina and Rabbat and Moste. Our driver waited for us as we walked around seeing what we wanted. Mdina was the longest stop. Probably 45-60 minutes. He then took us back to Valletta where we tipped him a little (he was very personable, spoke English, and talked freely with us — he did not have to as we had not purchased a tour guide). We then explored Valletta on foot before heading back to the ship on foot. I can’t help with Birgu. Based on how we were treated, I would think a driver would wait for you while in the Hypogeum. It was a great day. Enjoy Malta. I’d love to go back and explore more.

Royal offered this shuttle in May 2023 when I was there on the Explorer. I don’t know if you could book in advance, but I would think so since you could purchase transfer to Venice in advance. I know you could purchase it on the ship. It was a couple (few?) buses that ran fairly continuously to the Ravenna train station and back. It was also picking up passengers who had arrived by train for the cruise just starting and bringing them to the ship.

I agree with euro cruiser. Try for that earlier ferry. You'll appreciate that extra 90 minutes of fewer crowds on Capri.

Google Maps shows it as about a 40 minute (1.8 miles) walk. It would be a pleasant walk along any number of different routes. Through the central core area of Amsterdam.

A few thoughts… Valletta, Malta Kotor, Montenegro Santorini, Greece Istanbul, Turkey Venice, Italy (but you can only do that on small ships now)

Yes. A CruiseFirst Credit never changes value. And, no, you do not need to cancel and rebook in order to take advantage of a price reduction prior to final payment. You just call and ask them to reprice it to the currently offered price. They can do this in seconds and you retain the same Booking Number. HOWEVER, when you do this, you are also going to get the current promotion benefits/perks offer/terms. They may be different from the offer/terms in place at the time of your original booking. So be sure you know what the current promotions are when repricing. I also always ask them to confirm the CruiseFirst (or CruiseNext) credit is still applied.

Amsterdam cruise port is very close (walkable) to the central city area where you likely want to explore. It is probably a 10-20 minute walk for most people. However, if you prefer, there are public transit trams that you can hop on (with a ticket) if you don't want to do the walk. You might also want to hop in a taxi if your destination is far enough away. The ship will dock beside the Movenpic Hotel if you want to look for it on Google Maps. Note: Sometimes cruise lines say they are stopping in Amsterdam but actually they dock in the town of Ijmuiden. This is usually shown as "Amsterdam (Ijmuiden)" or similar in the cruise documentation. For of like they say "Rome (Civitavecchia)" or "Florence (Livorno)". If you are truly in Ijmuiden, then this is not walkable to Amsterdam. You will need to arrange transportation of some sort and from what I have read, public transit is not really an option.

The Junior Suite perk is "priority boarding". Not priority check-in. Check-in refers to getting into the check-in area and finalizing all your cruise information with the agent. Boarding refers to physically getting on the ship. If you are in the waiting area, when the boarding process begins, you will be one of the first to board due to your Junior Suite status. IF they decide to enforce check-in times, you will not be in the waiting area until after 2:30. By that time, you will likely be able to walk directly on the ship after checking in. As mentioned above, they don't always enforce the checkin time. Go early and hopefully they will let you in the doors to check-in area upon your arrival. If you do this early enough to get in the waiting area prior to the boarding processing starting, you will then be one of the first to board the ship due to your Junior Suite status. If they won't let you in the doors early, then you won't be boarding early.

@Eno In 2022, I purchased my London Waterloo to Southampton Central train ticket using trainline.com. I believe I purchased it on the web, but they also have a phone app where I was able to see and use my ticket (barcode). They may charge a little more (I'm not sure), but for a £9.20 ticket it was minimal. I created an account on trainline.

I just purchased one as well. I'm on an NCL cruise in one week and could have just bought CruiseNexts, but decided since this matched that deal financially, I'd just buy one now so I won't have to fill out paperwork on the ship or deal with a salesperson (who usually speaks in circles as they try to upsell you). It showed up in my account in about 5 minutes. Just make sure you notice it must be used for a cruise that is at least 120 days in the future.

I guess the other thing I'll add is that for almost all my cruises, when the itinerary says the port arrival time is 8:00, that is when the ship literally pulls up to the dock. Sometimes a few minutes early. Rarely later than that. But they still need to then tie the ship to the pier, lower the gangway, set up security, get the photographer off the ship to take pictures of you, etc. I would not expect anyone to be getting off the ship until at least 8:15 - 8:30. So I'm not sure what the excursions will do.

Here is the distance. This is a picture I took as I was getting off the train and walking back toward the ship at the end of the ride.

The distance is indeed a matter of a couple hundred yards, if that. So not far at all. From the bottom of the gangway to boarding the train could take 5 minutes or less I would think depending on your walking speed. The question will be how quickly you can get to that bottom of the gangway. And would you need to stop at the ticket office to pick up any tickets first or would you have them already in hand? It's going to be tight. Isn't there a train later in the morning that you could also take? I'd probably do that if possible.

Thanks for sharing! I would love to see the map (schooled geographer/cartographer here). I will put it on my list for my next trip to Rome.

I'm not familiar with the HOHOs in London, although you see them all over the city, so they are popular. My only comment is that I would suggest not resting at the hotel upon arrival. It will be better for your jet lag if you just continue on with your day and try to power on until as late as you can tolerate it. Then go to bed. You'll wake up the next morning mostly adjusted to the new time zone that way. If your room is actually ready for checkin upon arrival, I would recommend a quick shower and then head back out on to the streets of London for your sightseeing. If your room is not ready for checkin (sometimes you can't check in until 2 or 3 in the afternoon), you can always leave your luggage with the hotel and then go out sightseeing until later in the day. Perhaps you're not new to all this and you know what works best for you. But if you are new to this, I think you'll find that a lot of us do as I describe above quite successfully. Enjoy London. It's one of my favorite cities to visit.

I love stew! and the Windjammer. I can always find something that I like to eat. Every meal that I'm there.

OP, the letter indicates you "can lock in the specific flights detailed below". But I don't see specific flights detailed in the letter. Did they include specific flight information? If they didn't, then I too would pass or at least call and ask them where the specific flight details are. However, for me, starting at the Pittsburgh or Cleveland Airports, I might be very happy to pay $300 to get a direct flight to some locations. But I'd have to see those flight details first.

You say "to secure these flights" and then say "it's not even 100% guaranteed". How did NCL word it? What are they saying "secure" means. If you're asking about seat assignments, it will depend on the rules of the actual airline that NCL purchases the tickets from. Different Airlines have different rules for the different classes of tickets they sell. Especially with economy seats. If NCL buys you a ticket class that permits seat selection and/or paid upgrades to better seats, you can call the airline and get those. Sometimes even on the website. If your ticket class does not permit that then you won't be able to. Not all airlines do this the same way.