Lvbhappy

Mykonos was beautiful. Thankful I am latitudes gold, and priority tender. This port was listed as dock but changed to a tender, not sure why. 
 

boats seemed limited, and we got in line at 1, were seated in the theater for priority tendering at 115, and we did not leave the shop until after 2. The people next to us tracked the breakaway, and said it was scheduled to leave at 3, and theorized that perhaps we were splitting the tender boats with them, for the people coming back and needing to be on board and us trying to get off. It was slow going but once we made it, very worth it and beautiful. I feel bad for those whose tender numbers weren’t until 30+. 
 

Can easily walk to little Venice and the church and windmills, gorgeous day in the 70s. Shop people were nice, restaurant was yummy, views were amazing. You CAN swim at the little beach there so if that’s your jam, do it!
 

made it back on board just before sunset which we saw in the Obs lounge. Sad our cruise is ending but miss home, the pups, and our families. Cheers to the last night! 

Daily!

Le bistro and beetlejuice!

le bistro was amazing. Very high quality, service was amazing. Ysmeal the waiter was excellent, went above and beyond to take care of us. This is the only place to get that champagne everyone seems to love—by the glass. Veuve clicquot. 
 

after dinner waited around for a bit then got in line for beetlejuice! Theater is good, really don’t think there are bad seats in there. Show was very fun. I hadn’t actually seen the movie, so this was all new to me. Everyone enjoyed it thoroughly. A couple of the actors are in both icons and beetlejuice, so you’ll see them again. I though the lighting and background was well done for being on a ship. Actors/singers did an excellent job. Worth going to for sure! It doesn’t win my favorite show of all time though—that award is still held by Choir of Man on the encore. 

7 hours ago, boxman52 said:

Istanbul is one of the finest cities in the world to visit

Turkey as a whole has some superb places

Food is brilliant (and bar scene), people are very friendly and transport easy and modern.

There are an endless number of very reasonable priced tours you can book on a number of well known sites and reviews can be checked. Istanbul has some of the world's most iconic sites.

Thought for balance this would be useful to post

 

And I appreciate this! My brother in law travels extensively and had talked up Istanbul, similarly to you. Hopefully our experience is just a one off, and not typical.  

Istanbul!

I have to admit, I was not looking forward to the turkey parts of the stops and I feel like this was warranted. Happily would have never set foot in this port and didn’t feel like I would have been missing anything. 
 

we got off the ship and ate in the little touristy area. Finally decided we’d go see the grand bazaar, felt like itd be safe enough, didn’t look like it was that far away. Ordered an Uber. Says it’s a yellow taxi but an Uber. Okay. 70-90 lira or $4-5 usd. We fend off other taxis and get into ours. He pulls out and then kind off pulls off saying something. We don’t understand so he asks for my phone. I say sure. He canceled the Uber ride and says 20€. 
 

the heck are we going to do. Say okay. 
 

ride the 30-35min ride, terrible and scary traffic, and get there and i hand him my card. He said cash only. I said that’s why I booked the UBER, so I could use card. Demands cash. I end up giving him $20 usd and 6€ coins. I’m livid. Still have to walk 8min to the bazaar. 
 

underwhelmed by the whole experience, and to be honest, want nothing to do with turkey in the future. We looked at google maps and opted to walk 2 miles back versus interact with any more Turkish transportation. It was faster than the Uber/taxi. There are some pretty things and sailing away the city looked beautiful in instanbul but on the whole my impression of turkey has been : aggressive sales, dishonest transport, and unsure safety. Honestly wish we’d just spent an extra night in Santorini. 
 

Caveat: this is just my opinion. Others may have a different experience and that’s great. There is a lot of history here, beautiful landmarks, but I didn’t want to pay hundreds usd excursions to go through ncl, and I didn’t feel remotely safe going through outside vendors. 

2 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

Oh, so it wasn't the big pax ferry that carries 75 or so people.  It was more like a small private boat ?

It said taxi on the top. But in my opinion, max would be 20 ppl

1 hour ago, sun_lovin!1 said:

 

Did you find the pizza in the buffet?  I am going to be traveling with a pizza lover but already have Cagney's booked for our specialty restaurant.

Pizza daily in the buffet! Usually at least cheese and pepperoni and then one or two specialities. 
 

if you missed it, my post from the day we ate at onda, we had an AMAZING pizza there. Little knotted crust with cheese and a spicy bite inside. 
 

And in fira, we ate at a rooftop restaurant that had gyro pizza!! Ask for a side of tzatziki sauce. 

31 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

 

How did you know that the pax ferry was an option?

It's a long walk down the hill at Oia so you must have known you could get a ride.

It has been a one-way ride for years.  Maybe because it's off-season?

 

BTW, thx for the trip report !

We just got lucky. Our plan was to hoof it back up the stairs, and take an Uber or taxi from the top. We had 3h left once we got down the stairs. On the way down I started wondering if a water taxi would be available because it would be fun! Talked to the guy at the bottom and 10min later had it booked!

12 hours ago, SullytheBFG said:

Are restaurant’s available to book when you get onboard (speciality) as we have a couple we could not book. We are on board in three days, have placed a cheeky bid for a room with spa access have not been told no or yes yet.

 

very excited for new ship and your posts are excellent!

Yes they are. As soon as you get on board you can go to deck 6 and book dinner and entertainment. 

3 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

Interesting that the water taxi was running from Oia.  In the past it was only one way; Fira to Oia.  

Still 30E ?

It was 20€ per person. Loved it. 

19 minutes ago, Alatraveler1 said:

Do you recall the cost of the Uber, and if it was reserved in advance or upon your arrival?  I wonder if this is typical or you just lucked out with a great driver.

It was 47€ split between 3 couples. The Uber alone was 36€. 
 

we had planned on a taxi but asked our waiter and he’s the one that turned us on to the Uber. Goes “absolutely not. No taxi. Get an Uber, much cheaper, will be good.”

I DO think we lucked out with a good Uber guy though, he did not have to do the tour. He very much said okay first time? We’ll take the mountain way. And if we can, take you to good picture spot. But will have to be fast bc big brother is watching (Uber meter). Needless to say, he got a big tip!

1 hour ago, cruiseny4life said:

Did you notice any different items on the menu that American McDonald's don't have? I guess I'm a bad tourist, but I enjoy scouring the fast food menus in other lands to see what all changes. 

Definitely different! They had staples like the Big Mac, chicken nuggets, and fries. But at least half the menu is turkey specific. I got a picture of some of it! There’s a lamb one and I don’t know what the daba daba is but it was there. 
 

We drove right by one on our wine tour in Italy, and that’s what got me thinking about it—they had things like pistachio crossiants! 

We have le bistro tonight, and….BEETLEJUICE!! Stay tuned:). 

Random food buffet and seaside cafe pics!

I have the unlimited internet, but not the premium one. 
 

speed is slow but consistent

More pictures bc they wouldn’t add to ge last one. 
 

anyone have questions I’m not answering? 
 

Gosh I had this whole long thing posted for Santorini and it deleted. So painful! 
 

got off with our haven friends on the first tender, that was amazing! Cable car to the top 6€ each. Ate at an amazing Fira rooftop restaurant and had my first gyro!

ubered (6 people van) from firs to Oia. He was amazing, was essentially a tour guide. Took us to a secret stop at the top for pictures.  Then did the long OIA stair case down—fair warning, this took a while between the shops and stops and we were going slower for the older people with us. Amazing though. Saw the donkeys. Took the water taxi back from the bottom of Oia to the port. Highly recommend. Book in advance though, we had to leave early than we liked bc the 7&8pm were booked and full. Got an impromptu sunset cruise out of it!

16 hours ago, R4zb3rry said:

Could you post who is bar-tending at the Belvedere Bar if you are passing by?

I was there the other night and I think it was Nikolas? From Serbia and another fellow but I didn’t catch his name, we weren’t there long! 

19 hours ago, txstarla said:

Any word today on whether or not you are doing the stops in Turkey?

We did do the kudasi stop, and thus far it seems we are on for Istanbul tomorrow. We did not venture far off the ship, too nervous, just to the shops…and a Turkish MCD!

did stop in a pharmacy to pick up some cough syrup for a friend on board. 

5 hours ago, txstarla said:

Any word today on whether or not you are doing the stops in Turkey?

We got back on the ship and have heard nothing so as of now I’m assuming we are going to Turkey. Jury is still out if I get off the ship. 

Rouvas tavern

9 hours ago, M&JfromSDL said:

Thank you for live blogging your cruise.  I've done it in the past and it's a bit of work.  We will be aboard for the TA next month.  Really enjoy your food photos!  Thank you again for sharing.

It actually is! I didn’t think it would be—sometimes I forget to take pictures or talk about what may interest people but hey it’s something at least! 
 

I realized yesterday I’ve been forgetting to post the dailies!

and I’ve been doing speed tests randomly so people can have an idea of what the internet is like on board. We got the unlimited Wi-Fi but not the premium one. 
 
I tried out the gym too, with all the food I was eating I feel like I needed to get a run in! Very nice set up but the pulse fitness center on this ship is actually IN THE SPA, not just by it so I had a confusing time looking for it until I asked. 
 

corfu was cool! We didn’t realize it was a short stop until the day of, so my bad. All aboard time was 230pm. We got off the ship at 12 and walked through the bus station/security and beelined it to the taxis. The blue Mercedes ones will cost you 15€ and they were very nice. I basically pointed at an area in Corfu town and asked if he could take us somewhere to have a gyro and a beer! 😂

he was accommodating but said it was too early for a gyro most likely but he would try! It was 1230pm—I very much did not know these were more later in the day foods. Called his friend that had a restaurant to ask if it was ready and the friend said not yet. He took us down to the main area and pointed out 3 spots that may have them and the 2nd one he said this is my friend’s, it’s very good! So we walked around there and then ate at his friend’s Rouvas Tavern. Delicious. And the owner clearly saw we didn’t know what we were doing and helped us order and it was a great experience. Took a taxi back,15€. 
 

ate at cagneys, amazing as always. We had some questions about the wine and drink package so the waiter brought over the main wine guy so don’t be afraid to ask! 

Dubrovnik! 
 

This was far more beautiful than I had expected. I am so glad we got to make this stop. Our (non NCL) excursion to the blue caves was cancelled the night before due to the weather, so we went on viator and booked a game of thrones walking tour. Have to take a shuttle bus ($20 round trip) to the downtown area. Met up with the tour at 11 for a 2h walking tour. Again I cannot stress enough how pretty this place is. The tour was fun for my hubs and the people I was with as they are big game of thrones fans, the tour guide had a book made up of tons of the scenes from the movie and toured us all through where they were filmed. So many steps though so take that into account when you go. 
 

We found a little restaurant afterwards and ate all the food. It was delicious. I was pumped because I’ve heard that Croatia has great olive oil and I was able to get some at the market they had there—note though that most shops are only open Monday-Saturday so a lot of shops were closed including the olive oil shop I had heard was good. 
 

The walking wiped us our so we changed our dinner reservation to later at 845 and napped for a couple hours. Onda was great, I loved the little mezzalune pasta, and the pizza was amazing. 
 

For the first time, we upgraded to the premium drink package so we’ve been taking advantage of that—more my hubs with the whiskey than me, but I do enjoy my daily green tea from Starbucks and he’s trying all the yummy drinks. We did ask today about how to get water bottles for our room as our steward did not know—you can go to any bar and ask for water and bring it back to the room. 
 

Booked our tender to Santorini but we have a priority boarding because of being gold latitudes—apparently we can meet in the theater about an hour before official off board time and then we’ll get off the ship first. Never done that before so I’ll let ya know! 
 

tried the Vidal inskillin icewine—yum!

I will say as to the staff and crew on board, for the most part it’s been extremely pleasant, people seem happy and helpful. 

yesterday was a lazy day…we were supposed to be in Split but the port was cancelled due to bad weather and being unable to dock. Had a sea day instead, got to see a thunderstorm in the Adriatic Sea!

Ate dinner in the Hudson, wow that’s a pretty venue. Food was good—finally tried the Veuve Cliquot champagne I’ve read so much about on some threads here 😂. It was good, had to buy it by the bottle, couldn’t get it by the glass. 

Had Icons at 930pm. Very fun show! Performers were excellent, but the guys in the show really just looked like they were having the time of their lives which made it that much more fun! 
 

went to a dance party after icons in the improv theater. Danced the night away and then ended up at the bar close to the casino, and listened to the live music in there. The bartenders here were so fun, busting out moves from Cocktail Tom cruise style.