MeHeartCruising

Our Baltic days were very calm. However our day crossing the North Sea from the UK was quite rough. But well within the standards of "to-be-expected" seas.

Your 9:15 arrival actually isn't all that early to go directly to the port. We landed at 8:30 and went directly there by taxi. We arrived around 9:30 after we got luggage and the taxi. By 10:00 they took our luggage. By 10:30 we were in the building waiting to board. By 11:30 or so, we were on board.

But, you could probably drop your bags off and go back into town to sightsee some. That was our plan. However, we found ourselves tired from the overnight flight and did not have the energy to venture back out that morning (it was very hot in July).

Even when I don't care to purchase my excursions from the cruise line, I still read all of their offerings and usually use that as a basis for starting my research about what I might want to do. They generally cover most of the things that cruisers would like to do when in port. Then I do internet search on the topics/locations/places and sometimes find alternative sources of the same offering or I put together the details on how to do it myself. If I still don't find the comfort level I'm looking for, then I might reconsider using the cruise line's excursion after all for the convenience factor.

I'm still trying to find out where the Ostiense and Tiburtina stations in Rome are located

You can see them visually, by searching in Google Maps for "Roma Ostiense" and "Roma Tiburtina".

Tiburtina is slightly Northeast of Termini station, and Ostiense is slightly Southwest of Termini.

Good. I would certainly call them back and ask what your current add-on's are. They can send you an amenities confirmation for your records that will tell you what you should be getting (OBC or dinner or whatever).

Up until the time that your final payment is due (varies based on whether you are in a suite or not and whether a holiday is involved) or when you enter cancellation policy limitations, you can take advantage of any drop in base price. That is because, you are totally free to cancel and re-book the cruise to take advantage of current promotional pricing. But there are often a few things to consider -- and you mention one of them. They may no longer honor your earlier incentive (free dinner/wine), since it may no longer be part of the deal. In all likelihood, they are now offering $50 OBC as the incentive. So you need to look at the big picture and decide what works best for you. Also, since you mention using a TA, be aware that some TAs have their own rules on how often they will help you change reservations and/or whether they will charge you for the pleasure of doing that change. If those apply, you factor them into the equation. If your TA has no issue making changes, you can do this game right up until there might be a penalty for cancellation. In some instances, NCL will even offer you some credit/OBC AFTER final payment, but they are not obligated to do so and it may or may not happen. It often seems to be based on your own (or TA) persistence. Actually, now that i re-read you posting, it sounds like you probably actually booked directly with NCL, since they processed the change when you called. I'm not sure why the TA is involved, unless you're referring to the NCL agent as a TA. I hope I didn't miss anything in my summary.

We will be stopping in Valletta on Oct 1st from 8AM to 6PM on our Celebrity Adriatic cruise. It sounds as if there is a lot to see in Valletta; I think we would like to walk around that city on our own. But reading this post, others have said that Mdina is not to be missed. That city sounds intriguing, and I know we can get there by city bus, and the HOHO, but I am concerned about making the return connection; others have said the bus can be full and not stop, and that there is not a designated bus stop and you just have to wait and follow the crowd. We have looked at the ship's tour to Mdina, but I really think we would rather do it at our own pace. A private tour is another option. We would appreciate any advice and suggestions.

I think I might have posted earlier in this thread. But like the above poster just said, you can easily arrange for a taxi to take you to Mdina (and whatever else you want to see). You arrange for it by the hour at the kiosk as you exit the ship. They write it up on paper and you pay them at the kiosk. You then take a slip of paper to the first taxi in the line. He will stay with you for whatever duration you paid for. We paid for 3 hours (50 or 60 euros, if i recall) and went to Mdina, Rabat, Moste, and then back to Valletta (up on the hill). At each stop, the driver dropped us off at the location and told us where he would wait for us. It was up to us to spend as much time as we wanted walking around each location. The driver is not a guide, and your mileage may vary, but ours was quite talkative and interested in answering any questions we asked him. Back in Valletta, we tipped the driver for a great 3 hours and walked around town for a couple hours before walking down hill to the ship.

I'd probably ask... how is it packaged and labeled? Depending on how picky the person is that checks it when you board, the may have concern that it really is wine if it's not obviously labeled and believable. It wouldn't take much effort for someone to bring on stronger alcohol that is not permitted and try and pass it off as homemade wine.

I gladly pay my DSC. I rarely add an additional tip in a specialty restaurant (or any dining venue). However, I have a couple times when the staff did something that I felt was above and beyond what they needed to do or that I had asked them to do. It's a personal decision and you should not feel obligated to add an additional tip on top of the DSC. But if you want to, it will be appreciated.

It is pricey, but the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb remains one of my favorite vacation activities in my lifetime. If you can afford it and are physically able, do it!

Hi fellow cruisers.

 

Booked a 14 nighter on Norwegian Spirit from Barcelona to Venice from July 6 to July 20, 2015. Just wondering what the weather should be like including the sea conditions.

 

Cheers Bob & Chris.:):):)

Hot

Well, a couple things. With NCL, price drops are NEVER automatically given to you and you are not notified of them. You need to follow the current price and take action yourselves if you expect anything. If you discover a price drop BEFORE final payment is due on the sailing, you can call and request the lower price. They will essentially cancel your existing booking and rebook it at the lower price. However, be aware any incentives such as an on-board credit bonus that was in place during the original booking may no longer be offered at the new time, so you need to be sure you will actually come out ahead to make the change. There may actually be a different OBC offer in place at that time too. AFTER final payment date, NCL does not have specific rules that they always follow. They are under no obligation to do anything for you, since the price drops are usually an incentive to get NEW bookings and are not intended for existing passengers already booked. However, many people have called and found that if the price drop is large enough, NCL will sometimes work to upgrade you (sometimes for a reasonable fee) or to give you some level of OBC to your account. However, it does not always happen. But it never hurts to call them (or have your travel agent do it on your behalf).

I'll pretty much agree with Laszlo on his review. It was a fun, long day if you're fit enough and dressed properly for the effort. Here is a video I made from the trip. Note the speed of the boat (and the likely breeze in your face). There was an elderly lady near me who spent most of the boat trip with her hands over her face because the wind was too much for her. I've also include a link to my pictures from the trip. If I recall, the buffet was chicken and rice and maybe a salad of some sort. Not fancy, but edible. For us, there was plenty of time to eat. And shop. They of course have trinkets for sale at the restaurant/inn that you are fed at.

Video:

Pictures: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjCrWy8B

When I did B2B on the Mariner here's what happened. I have seen that it varies some by ship and itinerary -- mine was in Europe, so it could easily be different for you). I spoke with my cabin steward about it before the first cruise ended. He asked that I pack up all my stuff (including the hanging clothes) and just leave it with him on the last day. He notified the steward for the 2nd cabin that I was a through passenger. He also made sure my bags were put in the new cabin that morning. The ship had left me instructions on what to do the day before. In my case, they had all B2B passengers meet in a lounge at 9am on the last day of the 1st cruise. This part took longer than I would have liked, but they kept us together until all other passengers were off the ship that were supposed to be. Then they took us down to the gangway and processed us off one cruise and on to the next one, including giving us new sea pass cards. I think in the States, they also process you thru Customs/Immigration. We did not do that in Europe, however. At that point, we were told we could either return to the ship (our cabins were not yet ready, however) or we could go ashore and return later in the day. I left the ship. Upon return, I did not have to go thru checkin, but still needed to go thru security. I just showed my sea pass card and told them I was a through passenger. I then found my new cabin ready to go and my luggage already in the room ready for me to unpack

I agree with the others. The one time that I had noticeably noisy neighbors, I was hearing them thru the walls and not a connecting door. I've never had a noisy neighbor when I had a connecting door in my cabin. But it could happen, I suppose.

Additionally, due to the port intensive nature of the European itineraries, they tend to not be party ships in my experience. On my Royal Caribbean and NCL cruises, most evenings seem to die down by 10-11pm for the most part. There's plenty to do, but I think most people seem to go to dinner and a show and then maybe have a few drinks or gamble before calling it a night so you can get up at 6am the next morning to do it all over again in another amazing port.

I realize the information here is from 2011. Can anyone update me on the current price difference between booking online vs. onboard. We will be cruising on the NCL Sun on January 22,

Generally, there is no price difference across the board when booked online in advance. However, every now and then, a few excursions will have a discount offer if you book it in advance. But not all of them. And at any point in time, maybe none of them will be discounted. You really just need to look at your sailing and the offered excursions and see if any are discounted at that point in time. If they appeal to you enough, then it might be worth grabbing and paying in advance.

We will be on the Jewel out of NOLA in one week (YEAH)!

 

I am asking this question on behalf of my daughter who will be in an inside cabin, but I will be in a balcony. Am I understanding that there are no drawers in a balcony room?

I believe the comment about the balcony was a bit tongue-in-cheek meaning that outside, on the balcony, you will not find drawers. They are all "inside" the cabin. :-)

Configurations vary by ship and cabins. But there will be clothes storage in all cabins. Often the drawers are hidden inside of a closet door or appear as part of the closet. For two people, depending on how much clothes you have, the drawers can be a tight fit, in my experience. But we always manage to figure out how to make it work.

I'm not a female. I've also never been to Kiel. But based on how my experiences were for the other ports on your list, I think you should not expect any issues in any of them as long as you use the normal common sense one should use in any large city. I did my Scandinavian/Russia cruise solo. I did tours in St. Petersburgh, but in the other cities, I did my own thing (walking from the ship and using public transit or walking where I wanted to go). In all cases, I never found myself in any neighborhoods that I considered unsafe to be in. Not that I tried to find them. But if you're out to explore the common sightseeing areas in these cities, you should be just fine. There will be other people around you in almost all areas.

 

Regarding the New Acropolis Museum, I put it in the afternoon simply because it might be nice to be there in the heat of the day. It's hard for me to get a feel for the distance between these places, though…would it make sense to go from the Acropolis, to museum, to Agora, to Plaka, and then Syntagma Square for changing of guard and the metro?

Starting at the Acropolis, the next logical stop is either the Museum OR the Agora, since both are closest to the Acropolis. However, they are on opposite sides of the Acropolis. So going from the Museum directly to the Agora would mean either walking partially back up the Acropolis hill you already navigated down from and then back down into the Agora on the other side. Or you could navigate around the east side of the Acropolis hill to get to the Agora. Either way is an option. If you go back up the hill and down into the Agora, the uphill portion is very manageable if you're in decent shape. You've already climbed it once to get up the Acropolis from your taxi, so you'll know what you're in store for if you take this route. You would not be going all the way up to the highest part of the Acropolis, just up to the entrance area and then back down the path on the other side into the Agora. It's probably a 15-20 minute walk from the Museum to the Agora entrance via this direction. If you go around the east side of the Acropolis, you might as well make a quick stop at Hadrians Arch and at least look at the Temple of Olympian Zeus from outside the fence. Personally, I enjoyed walking close up to it to get a better feel for the size of the remaining columns. I would think you'd need to allow 45-60 minutes to get from the Museum to the Agora via this route with a quick swing by the Arch and Zeus. Also, if I'm not mistaken, if you go the east route, you'll pretty much have to pass thru the Plaka to get to the Agora. Or thru some residential areas that hug the foot of the Acropolis. I'd probably suggest going back up and over the Acropolis if you have decided on the stops you mention above.

I've sailed both and find them more similar than different. You'll probably find the crew and their relationship to you to be quite similar. I have not been on the Oasis, but based on what I've read, you'll find it full of things to do (some free and some up charge, just like NCL). The food and drink offerings and quality are very similar in my opinion. The cabins are of similar size, quality and decor style, although this varies with the ship. Royal does still have a "formal" night, but I found that wearing a jacket and nice slacks was just fine for that -- or I just eat in the buffet that night. After dinner, it's fine to go to other events/locations on the ship in less formal clothes. In summary, I love NCL. But I also like Royal Caribbean and would not hesitate to sail them again. I'm sure I will.

I'm a big fan of DIY and have done so twice in Athens on a cruise day. I think either of your plans will work nicely. It really be a matter of choosing whether you want to see the Agora/Forum or Syntagma Square. Whichever one you choose, I would bring details about the other items on your list with you. You may find you have enough time to adjust your itinerary on the fly and fit something else in. Bring maps and know the basic layout before you arrive and then go for it.

The only concern I've ever seen is that they don't want you directly refilling your reusable bottles from the various beverage dispensers in the food areas. This can contribute to the spread of germs. If you fill your bottle in other ways, you should have no problem.

Well, the mid-ship balcony cabins on Deck 9 appear to be Category BB. The mid-ship balcony cabins on Deck 10 appear to be Category BA. So in NCL's mind, Deck 10 is an upgrade to Deck 9. Generally, cruise lines consider the higher decks to be higher in demand and therefore higher in category for comparable rooms. It's their definition that counts in their marketing. I personally also prefer higher decks, so I agree that it can be counted as a higher category. I'm not sure why one would think they should offer OBC instead, if that's not a current marketing promotion they want to offer.