eileeshb

I used to work for an American multi national and my first day of work was flying to San Francisco from Ireland, a full 24hours of travel including a lengthy layover in JFK. I’ve plenty of practise at long haul travel, I don’t sleep on planes so I always get an aisle seat so I can get up and move around easily.

Has to be faster than tenders though surely?

I was very glad I’d booked to arrive a couple of days early as there was a big storm across the northern states that caused quite a few flight cancellations the day before and day of embarkation. The roll call was filled with stories of folks driving to the airport that was originally supposed to be their connection hub. That trip was in late February. JFK terminal 5 is vastly improved over the terminal Aer Lingus used to use but the food options are a bit weird, however a lot of the covid restrictions were still in place and on the return there was the usual thing of most things airside in the terminal closing hours before the Dublin flight boards. basically the outbound to San Juan is a full day of travel and arriving late evening so make sure your accommodation allows check-in after midnight just in case of delays. I found a B&B that had key code entry for the gate and front door so self check-in no problem. However the airport taxi stand will only take cash so make sure you’ve dollars with you. Yes I would do it again, there are more ports that appear on those itineraries and with different amounts of time in port. I’ll be choosing between Hawaiian cruise or southern Caribbean out of San Juan for my next roundy birthday.

I have no clue, and it’s not always offered either. You can definitely call them to make a partial payment over the phone. I get the added lottery of the partial payment box when it appears is showing $ instead of € which is my local currency.

We’re you paying in full or just a partial amount? The website and app tends to croak if you try to make a partial payment rather than pay in full. I was surprised that it accepted a cruise next credit on mine last week, I usually have to phone the customer tech support line.

Any word on Skagway? Tendering, bus or normal gangway to shore?

Also keep an eye on the original cost of your fare, I noticed mine had gone up €200 euro when I was making a payment last week. I’ve got a follow up on my to-do list but my final payment is due in September so plenty of time yet.

I can’t do the sitting in a sun lounger all day thing at all so a cruise to warmth with something different everyday is right up my alley. Btw on length of flight I’ll raise you Shannon, Ireland to Seattle via Boston in October, I went to San Juan Puerto Rico from Dublin, Ireland via JFK last year for my southern Caribbean cruise. I’m not expecting to do many Alaska cruises as the weather’s likely to be a bit too much like home.

If you want to go a little off the beaten track try a matador, maltings bar usually have it on their menu.

The NCL excursions should have their own transport. I actually suspect that’s why the general shuttle finishes so early.

I lost 5kg (11pounds) on a Mediterranean cruise because of all the walking on excursions and on the ship. I tend to eat way better on the ship than I do at home as I don’t have to do any of the prep. yep I’m a freak that loses weight on a cruise!

There’s usually 10% off when the ship is in port but if you’re eligible for a latitudes discount you don’t get a double discount. I also noticed the latitudes discount only applies in port as well.

Anyone that’s lived by the coast in northern latitudes will recommend against umbrellas, the wind makes mincemeat of them. Wind has a tendency to make rain drive sideways, there’s a reason Irish golfers are prone to surfers ear.

Was that through your cruiseline or independent?

Contract dates likely differ from ship to ship. When the margaritaville relationship ended the conversion to American diner happened at different times on different ships. Syds to the cavern club would likely be a much easier conversion than the margaritaville changeover was. But if Cavern Club involves a license too they may not switch to that so they can save on licensing fees.

When I looked into it previously they were closed last year due to staff shortages, if the website hasn’t been updated it’s not a good sign for this year.

I’m kinda surprised at the timing for the whale watching, my cruise will also arrive at 1.30pm and there are a couple of whale watching options at 2pm. There is one company - Gastineau guiding that run a couple of excursions for the cruiselines, it might be worth checking with them for your cruise. Their one with NCL for my cruise is Discover Alaska’s Whales which is a more interactive small boat based excursion but it is more expensive. I actually wasn’t considering it based on NCLs description but Gastineau gave me more info on which completely changed my understanding of the excursion. Earlier in the season they also do a photo safari version which includes Mendenhall glacier if your teens are interested in photography. Unfortunately my sailing is October so there isn’t enough daylight for that one.

I’ve been in studio cabins numerous times and tried a regular inside cabin on Epic. I think the studio cabin is a better setup, there’s more sockets in useful locations and despite it being smaller it doesn’t feel that way because the interior is all white whereas the interior cabins have dark fittings. The studios don’t have a mini fridge or decent desk/table if you wanted to work on a laptop or get room service . You can always use the lounge for desk space as it tends to be pretty quiet in there except for the daily meet-ups. You can also turn the tv in the cabins to be the view from the bridge camera if you want a view of the sea while in the cabin. The newer ships have a virtual porthole but it’s still just a tv showing a view from a camera.

First ship of the season will be Norwegian Bliss next Tuesday which is scheduled to dock at railroad Aft which seems to be the pier at highest risk of disruption. I’m not sure if anyone is doing a live review on that sailing but there’s definitely one for the week afterwards.

I think it runs from coral world which is an aquarium on St Thomas, I did the snuba excursion there and I saw the boss group at the same location.

On my first cruise I did a snorkel excursion out of Nassau and a local entrepreneur came out to our boat with fresh water coconuts for $4 and if you gave him $5 in payment he’d give you a conch shell as the change. There are plenty of jars of sand, processed shells, or sea glass jewellery to purchase in local souvenir stores if you want to bring that sort of thing home with you.

I’m checking the exchange rates daily for € to $ and that’s already caused a€20 change in the excursion prices for me. So I’ll probably pull the trigger on the 2 main excursions once the exchange rate hits $1.10 unless it looks likely to continue to improve.

I was lucky enough to be at a couple of truly historical matches in Irish rugby. The most significant was when the Irish women beat their New Zealand counterparts at the World Cup in 2014, oddly from the players perspective their favourite of the pictures I took was the Irish try scorer hugging her fiancée at the end of the game. I also turned down a pitchside spot for the Munster v New Zealand match in 2008 because I knew it would be a war zone and I had a front row seat in the stand so I got the best shot of the Munster Haka pre match as I wasn’t having to battle with all the other photographers or tv crew. That picture went out to all the supporters club members as one of the members gifts the following season.

I have a different reactions to different types of peppers, I get sick for sweet peppers and break out from chilis. There’s also some mystery herb out there that causes an immediate reaction but I don’t know what it is. First time I had the reaction was a mussel dish with a cream sauce in New Zealand the next time was tomato based pasta sauce at a function here in Ireland.

In the buffet they don’t really do modifications unless it’s something like the egg station at breakfast or the pasta station for lunch/dinner. The reason they prefer to know in advance in the MDR is that that kitchen/galley is serving 2 or 3 dining rooms and also does all the pastry and breads for the entire ship. In order to get 3,000 plates out at each meal a lot of stuff is pre-plated otherwise it would take far too long. You’ve probably got a better chance at modifications at the specialty restaurants as they’re serving far smaller numbers. I have texture issues so generally try to avoid cooked veg or slabs of red meat, I also have intolerances with corn, sweet peppers and hot peppers. Trying to explain the pepper one to restaurant staff is fun as I’m okay with peppercorn and powdered peppers. What absolutely wrecks me is red bell peppers mixed in with tomato based dishes without it being mentioned in the menu.