TrumpyNor

Instead of using the people mover, it is actually possible to walk from the pier and up to Piazzale Roma in just 15-20 minutes. Or just take a regular taxi - I believe the fixed price is €20 for up to 4 persons. Yes, the taxi is expensive, but still may be worth it if it gives you one extra hour to explore Venice.... 😉

I have used both, and the main difference to me was that CruiseFirst could be purchased online 8and CruiseNext can only be purcased on board), so my PCC suggested to purchase a CruiseFirst as deposit at a time where I had already used my original CruiseNext vouchers as deposits on other cruises. (At that time I believe that I paid $250 and got $500 paid off on the cruise I booked. At a later time I purchased one CruiseFirst for $150 and got $300 paid off on the cruise. So both time I used it as I did not have any CruiseNext vouchers left.). So based on what I have written above, it is actually a better deal to get the extra credit added to the future cruise (as you do with CruiseFirst) instead of as OBC (as you do with CruiseNext).

Yes you can. 😊

I received an Diamond upgrade last year that I was not happy with (from inside on deck 9 to oceanview on deck 5), so I asked to change to an ocean view cabin on a higher deck. I was then told "no, not possible". So I just said "no thank you", and kept the "one time upgrade" for a cruise I had booked for this year instead. And the cruise where I declined their "free upgrade offer" had a significant pricedrop on club balcony cabins after final payment date, and I ended up just paying $100 per person for an upgrade from a regular inside cabin to a club balcony cabin on a 10 days cruise. Just to avoid any misunderstandings: I just purchased a regular upgrade and just paid the difference between what I had already paid and the current club balcony price. It was not through the "upgrade advantage program".

We have been in connecting rooms on several occasions in the past - except for a door being "visible" on one of the walls, we have not noticed any difference to a non-connectiong room. Never heard more from neighbouring cabins if the room was of the "connecting type".

This has actually been our experience as well - all of it, allthough we "only" have Diamond status with close to 600 points (so slowly climbing towards Ambassador... 😉 ).

I believe that the "live ugrade bidding" is only for Haven suites and that bidding from eg. inside to oceanview, balcony or club balcony is still "the old way" with the "old" upgrade advantage program.....?

Thank you for the link. This means that I learned something new today as well! 😊 To the OP: I am sorry if my first post caused any confusion, that was not my intention.

I have been on the Epic a few times in the past, and I have NEVER heard about any "solo balconies" on the ship. For solo travellers they have the studio cabins, that are all located "inside" the ship. They have only "regular" balcony cabins, that are of course possible to book also if you are only one person travelling. Depending on whenever you book the cruise, you could be lucky and "score" a balcony cabin at a very good rate for one person - but that is it. There are no "solo balcony cabins" on the Epic that I know of.....

Regarding being allowed to bring a drone on a cruise or not: It is important to note that in some countries it is not allowed to fly a drone in some areas. I live in Norway myself, and in all of Norway It is not permitted to fly closer than 5 km from an airport without permission from the air traffic service, ie. the tower at the airport. And even the entire Oslo city centre is a "no-drone-zone" because of Almost every day there are tourists with drones who are stopped by the police, fined and the drone often confiscated. I am pretty certain Norway is not the only country that have these restrictions. And a "no-drone-zone" five km (3 miles) in all directions from an airport, is a larger area than most people would think...

It seems like what I first wrote, still is current - that you can cancel up to 48 hours before arriving in the port where the shore excursion is booked for....? I cancelled a tour on board on my last cruise in August 2023, and received the money as OBC. It is my understanding that when cancelling before the cruise starts, then the refund would go back to your original credit card. https://www.ncl.com/fr/en/cruise-faq/what-cancellation-policy-tours-and-where-do-i-cancel

I have a cruise booked for next year, that I am thinking about cancelling because of the high price I currently have on the booked inside cabin. And instead wait until 1-2 months after the final payment date (currently 120 days before sailing date) to re-book it. I have almost $2000 in FCC from a price-drop on a cruise we did this year, that I plan on using to pay at least parts of the 2024 cruise. Lets say I cancel the 2024 cruise now and re-book it about 2 months before the sailing date (so 2 months after the official final payment date), at a price that is probably more "acceptable" to my wallet at the time (😊), and there happens to be a price-drop after I have booked and paid for the cruise but before the "16-day-FCC-deadline". Would I then be able to receive a new "price-drop-FCC" even though the cruise is already paid mainly with price-drop-FCC from last year? 🤞🤞 Hoping to hear from someone who has done (or tried to do) just that. 🙂🙃

It will cost you more to order it through room service, as you then would have to pay 20% gratuity AND the fixed room service fee of $9,95 on top of the drink price. If you get it from one of the bars yourself, you would "only" be charged the 20% gratuity on top of the drink price.

Could the explanation be that your assigned cabin is a "HC type" cabin, and therefore not yet guaranteed from NCL just in case someone with special needs decides to book the same cabin category?

I have been on many NCL cruises, and have never experienced them to announce cabins ready "deck by deck" - it has always been the entire ship announced "ready" at the same time.

I just print ours and put them in these that I purchased from CruiseCritic a looooong time ago (the wide type fits the NCL "DIY" printed luggage tags: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/ccstore/luggage-tag/ PS: I don't attach them to our suitcases until we are ready to go to the pier.

If I remember correctly from our cruise on the Escape in August, it was $25. Didn't try it myself.

I may be wrong, but I believe that when they say "third and fourth person free" (as you would pay the same base price for three or four persons as for two persons during that promotion), the total price is actually divided by three in the NCL system. Meaning that when you want to cancel the third person, then the base price for the remaining two persons on the reservation goes up (so in your case $1800+ divided by two instead of three = $900 p.p. instead of $600 p.p.). I agree with others - go for the "no-show" option instead.

My walk was actually from Kirkjufell and back in to town... 😉 Btw, a great and wide walking path the whole way... Definitely nice surroundings for a walk - if you look closely you can probably spot me in the photo below (photo taken by my "lazy" husband as his busride back to town passed by me on the road below). 😄 And yes, that walking path goes right by the towns stables. 😍 Luckily this beauty was very happy to pose as my "model of the day". But some of his "friends" really couldn't care less about me trying to get some good photos...

Grundarfjordur, Iceland. We had originally plans on just walking towards the Kirkjufell mountain and Kirkjufellfoss waterfalls as it is less than 3 km (about 2 miles), but when we stepped off the tenderboat, we saw a small yellow bus that had «Kirkjufell Express» written on the side. It had departures every 30 minutes and we catched the first departure of the day, so it was not as crowded at the Kirkjufell lookout-point as it probably was later in the day. Ticket was 10 Euros per person, and included return – but I chose to walk back to town instead, as the weather was beautiful that day. I will just leave out photos from that walk, as @YVRteacher walked along the same route and has already posted beautiful photos. Kirkjufell mountain seen from the seaside: And then seen from the other, more famous side: Kirkjufellfoss waterfalls: And «all -in-one»….

Isafjordur, Iceland After walking through town we went towards the Urdarvegur viewpoint and the Utsynisstadur observation deck that offered some great views of both the town and the surrounding area. On our way back to town, we passed by the beach (note, only one way in/out to the beach – and that was through some narrow stairs at one end of the beach).

Seydisfjordur, Iceland GPS map showing our walk first through the town towards the blue church and after that heading for the Tvisöngur sound sculpture for some great views and good photo opportunities. Parts of town: Wide walking path towards Tvisöngur: The Norwegian Star seen fromTvisöngur:

Djupivogur, Iceland I had originally plans of visiting both the Black Sands beach and the 34 egg sculptures called Eggs of Merry Bay (Eggin in Gledivik in Icelandic), without really having a look at the map in advance. Turned out those two "destinations" were in opposite directions of eachother, so then we decided on a "nature experience instead of an art experience". The Black Sands beach is loated by the local airport (small airport strip) – only about 30 min walk from the village. Followed the small road there and took a slightly different path through some "wetlands" back to the village, where we passed the Bondavarda viewpoint that is located very close to the harbour – that was actually a brilliant place to make photos of the ship anchoring in the fjord.

Yes, you do. I remember you saying that Olden was one of the few places that you didn't enjoy - and that I suspect was mainly because of the bad weather...

Torshavn, Faroe Islands In Torshavn the only thing we had planned in advance, was to walk up to an Obelisk that was located at 19, Hoyviksvegurat to get a nice view over parts of the town. Other than that we just walked through various residential neighbourshoods – a nice walk with lots to see along the way, and just outside of the towncenter there were many properties that actually kept beautiful "viking type" sheep in their backyard. When we came back to the harbour, we turned right instead of going back to the ship. And we are very happy that we did just that, because that led us to Torshavn old town – and it was definitely our favorite part of town, with old very colourful houses that were all well kept.