littlelulu01

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2727265-mediterranean-ship-excursions-review/page/2/#replyForm Not Bird travels but I posted reviews of about 14 Mediterranean ncl excursions on this review. It was just prior to the pandemic but same excursions still on offer through ncl so you might get some ideas.

Important notification emails are not typically cause for a laugh. Wonder if the writer just had a good sense of humor or if the removal of the milking demo is a meaningful loss.

Interesting.

Great job op and remaining calm. Such good advice! Wonder if a duel citizen could get by using the additional passport. I have US and Italian passports. I have never used the Italian passport to exit or enter countries and always list my US passport but wondering if US passport was lost if the Italian passport could be used to get on ship and flight back into the states and then deal with replacement after home from vacation.

Thank you. Walking seems the easiest option. If ncl transfer is allowed off at 7 we might be able to self assist off a little before 7:30. Will probably spend the $ for refundable tickets just in case we miss the train and need to take Trenitalia instead of Italo.

We end our NCL Viva cruise in Trieste arriving in port at 6am. I know it takes a while for the ship to clear and passengers ok’d to debark. I’m guessing if we have early self debark/carry luggage we could get off ship at 7:30. Is this estimate reasonable? I want to book an 8am Italo train from Trieste to Florence. It’s the only daily nonstop fast train option. Thoughts on booking this option? Every minute will count if we only have a half hour so I want to have a solid plan. Sounds like a bus to train every 10 minutes. The taxi sounds like a faster option but idk about lines for taxi at 7:30 am and are they willing to take a fare to train station or are they waiting for the longer fares. Walking depends on where the ship berths. We’re capable of brisk walking and will only have one small wheeled bag each and happy to do that if it’s the best way. Thank you for advice.

If you have any pre paid shore excursions the cn staff can exchange with the shareholder $.

This pic was taken May 20, 2023. Still quite a bit of snow at the summit but we were able to do our train up to Canada and then bike down excursion. Have also done the train/bike excursion in September too and it was breathtaking with fall foliage.

Hot tub was plenty warm. I’ve had issues with hot tub temperatures on some of their other ships including not able to keep it warm enough in our balcony hot tub on the brand new Prima in Norway. We sailed the Spirit Alaska in May. In comparison to other refurbished ships, they really outdid themselves with the Spirit. I understand the work was extensive and not just surface aesthetics.

We sailed in 10186 last aft stateroom. I think your location might be better suited for less noise from above. We had issues with power washing/deck cleaning and dragging chairs above our stateroom at night. I think your room is tucked back far enough that u will avoid that power wash middle of night chore action above. otherwise the location is absolutely perfect. We had a great balcony but I ended up using spice h20 area more often. The door to spice is at the end of hallway- the deck plans don’t show it but there’s a door right next to 10186 to enter Spice deck. Those inside staterooms looked really small but with the deck right outside the room I think I’d be fine. The Spirit is by far my favorite in the fleet. So easy to get anywhere onboard. I got a Starbucks every morning and then would sit in spice h20 and watch the wake. Felt a lot more luxurious with padded loungers, a hot tub and panoramic views compared with our balcony. Probably more key for Alaska but the other bonus is how easy to do a quick check on how busy hot tubs are before putting swimsuit on.

Haven passengers pay higher dsc because of the dedicated staff in the Haven. I just went back and read through ncl website. crew that don’t participate in dsc are; any bartenders anywhere on the ship, spa services, youth club staff, concierge and butler. Youth club staff, butler and concierge is paid depending upon how much we use so their grats are discretionary which makes sense. Spa staff and bartenders provide us products that have specific $ value so are assigned the 20% grats. So yes all bartenders onboard the ship are not benefiting from the dsc grats but they are most certainly benefiting from the gratuities we pay on the beverages and beverage packages. When I don’t have a beverage package and order a drink from the Haven bar the bill has the same 20% gratuities as all ship venues do. My understanding is the bartenders are not actually receiving all of the 20% charges on the drinks. If they did they’d be making more than the captain. There’s a formula of compensation and the compensation goes up the more $ is made onboard each sailing. If a sailing is making $$$ then more will go to servers and bartenders. Ncl says we are squaring crew away with our 20% on beverage, specialty dinners, spa and the dsc and We need to tip extra to kids club, butler and concierge as we see fit. Ncl has thousands of employees many of whom are long term. They know a thing or two on how to retain employees so I trust they’re capable of dispersing my gratuities/dsc in a manner that is retaining their incredible crew. Outside butler and concierge we always have standout crew such as room stewards, the hostess or breakfast server, Starbucks barista … who goes out of their way to make our vacation better and we recognize the standouts with something additional towards the end of a sailing but otherwise I trust I’ve taken care of everyone onboard just as ncl says I have. Most people don’t want to walk around on vacation with wads of bulging cash to throw at everyone. I also don’t want to worry that I’m stiffing my servers if I don’t carry around wads of cash to every meal. Ncl thankfully has a compensation system in place to take the hassle out of it for me. I’m afraid Whoever is saying haven bartenders aren’t benefiting from the beverage gratuity/service charges and haven dining room wait staff don’t get any of the dsc is full of it. If someone said that to me I’d tell them I’ll make sure and talk to the hotel director and mention that my bartender, “name” says he is not paid any of my 20% beverage gratuity/service fees and my haven waitress xxxx said she doesn’t get any of my dsc.

Gary- I appreciate your views and although I don’t post much, I do read quite a bit. I’m very interested in your take on Oceania. As a NCL Haven loyalist looking to branch out, I appreciate the details of your posts and hope you continue that detail with this review. Here’s hoping you have a fantastic vacation. Excited to read about it. Kim

I’m so sorry about the hot tub. We did the ta and sailing before the ta last fall and had a deck 12 H4 for our ta. we had quite a few power outages in our stateroom on the ta. In hindsight I wonder if this is a wiring problem that needs fixed.

I booked the post cruise late flight ncl tour last fall after the Prima TA and it was a surprisingly decent tour. The $50 shore excursion credits are valid for post cruise tours like this one. I think the ncl airfare tacks on the pre and post cruise transfer which is just a transfer and not a tour. Pretty sure you’re able to get a refund for post cruise transfer and then book the late flight tour with airport drop off. We had a great tour guide, got to keep luggage onboard the bus and they gave us a city tour and let us get off a few places. It was an inexpensive no hassle end to vacation. I think we got dropped off at lga around 3pm and still had some time to kill before flight. Delta just recently opened a nice sky club there so check to see how you can get entry. Delta reserve credit card offers complementary entry but there’s a few other ways to gain entry for a comfortable place to hang out and grab a meal before flight.

Comfortable for two person to lay in and soak although the way ours was installed one person will face the balcony door vs the ocean. Can have around 4 adults seated.