kidstwo2

1 hour ago, Buffettfan 225 said:

just off & posted balcony divider answer  update 

Thank you so much for the update Buffettfan 225!  At least we know it CAN be done.  If you don't mind me asking what was your itinerary?  Or length of cruise?  I am wondering if they just don't want to bother on shorter cruises?? We will be on the 15 day cruise to Hawaii so hopefully they won't try to use safety.  We were on the Carnival Pride for 21 days in Europe this past summer and they opened ours for the entire time.  It is so helpful to hear others experience.  

On 2/11/2023 at 9:36 PM, Buffettfan 225 said:

Thank you- must be new for them, last year they refused. We sail in a few weeks can verify and hope get “right answer” lol. 

Thanks for taking time to post. Smooth Sailing All. 

I look forward to your update.  Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you ObstructedView2.  

1 hour ago, groundloop said:

So you want to make sure your friends get their view blocked by the balcony divider and not you?  😁

 

I've never seen that kind of detail available online, unless you get lucky and stumble across a review someone did for the specific cabins you're interested in.

Actually since our friends had theirs blocked the last cruise I wanted to return the favor and make sure we booked the blocked room.  I thought perhaps someone knew of a "standard" sequence based upon room numbers, even/odd, etc....

Is there a way to tell which way connecting balcony dividers open?  I know you can google goccl and type in ship name and determine which rooms have connecting balconies but I am trying to determine which way the balcony dividers open.  We travelled with friends this summer on Pride (rooms 5230 and 5232) and the divider opened toward 5232.  Thanks.

1 hour ago, raynvic said:

We did the Carnival excursion.  They did tour us around and then at the end they dropped us near Notre Dame and we had free time.  I will tell you it was a good thing we did the Carnival excursion as most all of the Carnival buses we late returning to the ship.

Thank you so much-this is very helpful.  Do you happen to remember approx. how much time free time you had?  I have been fortunate to have been to Paris multiple times but this is first time for our friends-in particular they would like to at least see the Pyramid at the Louvre-I am wondering if we would have time to grab Metro and run see it during our free time?  Did they do a photo stop anywhere besides the Eiffel tower?  That is the only photo stop mentioned in their description.  I appreciate your help!

On 6/17/2022 at 3:49 PM, raynvic said:

My DH and I did this Carnival excursion a few years ago.  We knew we would likely never get to Paris again, just not high on the bucket list.  It was worth the long bus trip there and back.  We actually arrived back at the ship late, but it was a Carnival excursion.  We had an amazing experience at a small cafe across from the Notre Dame, we opted to view from outside versus standing in a long line to enter.  At this small cafe we met an America couple on vacation and staying in Paris and a family from Peru whom we were able to converse with in Spanish.  We did get to see the highlights and walk under the Eiffel Tower.  My vote is do it!

Did you do the Carnival excursion where they provided the transportation only and you were on your own or the one they tour you around?  Thank you.

I agree, in the past, we could certainly purchase alcohol in every port and take directly to our cabins-hopefully someone fortunate enough to be on the early May European cruises will provide recent update.  We are out of Dover and Rome later this year so hope to hear lots of "boots on the ground"-or better yet "bottles on the ship" reports.  Cheers to all!

27 minutes ago, mdin said:

Thank you for sharing!

18 hours ago, rocklinmom said:

Looking at staying at the Hilton Athens precruise, how far would it be from there to the port? 

We stayed here precruise and loved the hotel-hopefully you will have access to the executive lounge-beautiful views from there of the city, sea and the Acropolis/Parthenon. We took public transportation to the port.  We had used the public transportation system for our stay in Athens and found it easy, clean and reliable.  The nearest Metro station to the Hilton is maybe a 10 minute walk. The only issue was that once you get off the metro at the port you either have to find the bus (we never did find it), take a taxi (which we did) or walk a very, very,, very  long way to your ship.  The port is huge and very industrial.  Next time we will definitely stay at the Hilton again, use public transportation for the stay in Athens, but we will  take a taxi directly to the port.

14 hours ago, mdsgu said:

 

It was Agia Anna. 

Great!  Thank you.

On 6/10/2019 at 11:25 AM, mdsgu said:

Next up: Mykonos.

 

We walked out of the cruise ship terminal and almost ran right over our little tour guide (again, ToursbyLocals), Ervin.  He gives tours of his home island, works in the Mayor's office with tourism, and plays semi-professional soccer.  He had a little van that fit all of us and we drove a short distance from the port before we stopped to walk through Little Venice.  It is similar to Venice, but not quite.  We could have walked back, but due to my mother-in-law's poor knees, he left us to get the van and picked us up from the other end.  There are little chapels dotted all over; Ervin says there are over 700 on the island.  Apparently, there is a law that if you build one on your property that can hold at least 4 people, you get a 70% reduction in your property taxes.  We did some sight-seeing (there are a few old windmills at the end of Little Venice) and visited a small monastery with absolutely gorgeous icons.  We went to the lighthouse for some photos and picturesque views of the sea.

 

Then, it was beach time.  He gave us a choice between two beach clubs.  The first looked nice and so did the second.  Since we were already at the second, we decided to stay there.  The loungers were a bit pricey, as was the alcohol, but the service was outstanding.  My wife ordered white wine, and the server literally stood there and swirled an ice cube in her wine glass to chill it!  There is a restaurant there, in a cave overlooking the sea, that he recommended.  We called and got reservations, and, when we were done on the beach, we strolled over.  It has some tasty dishes and some rather high prices -- lobster was 190 euros per kilo.  Needless to say, we didn't have lobster, but we did have fresh sea urchin, grilled octopus, prawns, oysters, wine, beer -- it was fabulous.

 

Afterward, Ervin showed up exactly on time and dropped us back to the ship.  Another nap, and another late dinner!

 

Tomorrow -- Crete.  Our only island without a pre-planned excursion.

Do you happen to remember the name of the two beach clubs or at least the one you ended up staying with?  Thanks again for the review and info!

On 6/10/2019 at 11:26 AM, mdsgu said:

 

We used PK Travel.  I highly recommend them both for their prices and their professionalism.

Great to hear.  We do this cruise on June 20 and we are using PK in Athens!  Loving your review and you are my kind of traveler-see and do and enjoy as much as you can!

On 5/4/2019 at 3:34 PM, bluesea777 said:

We have purchased and brought wine and liquor onboard during the European cruises on NCL. You have a choice of paying the corkage if you want to drink it onboard, or turn the booze over to them to keep until end of cruise. 

Thanks! I appreciate hearing from another who has actually done it.

On 5/4/2019 at 2:19 PM, millie8 said:

We had no difficulty bringing wine onboard at ports in Europe. You will be charged the corkage fee for each bottle.

Good to hear.  I was hoping to hear from someone that had actual experience with it. Thanks for the reply.

My first time on NCL.  Doing a European cruise in June on the Jade.  We have done European cruise on Carnival (ports included Italy, Greece, France, Spain) and they too have a strict policy on bringing wine aboard only at embarkation HOWEVER, on the European cruise we could freely and openly bring bottles of wine back onboard at every port.  Everything was scanned through in open sight at all ports, not just us but almost every other passenger as well, so I am curious if anyone has had experience on NCL European cruises and the ability to bring wine onboard at ports?  Thanks.

CONGRATULATIONS!  I watched the show and how fun to hear from one of the winners!  Cheers and Bon voyage!!

I have and you can read my reviews located in my expanded signature line.

I cannot see your pictures in the Vista Mediterranean review. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated - Thanks!

For anyone still worried about the fascination, I know that she has left St. Croix. Have a lineman in the family that has been staying there while working, and the ship left Wednesday night. Hope everyone enjoys their cruises that are scheduled.

Thank you for the update! I logged onto this site just to see if there was any news on this. We are on the March 18th cruise.

As a Platinum member I have always used my free drink coupon in the Alchemy bar (and paid the small excess) no one has ever denied accepting it and insisted it was only valid during the brunch period although I realize that is the official redemption period.

Is there any news expected soon to confirm a third order?

We were on the Vista June 21st sailing (Athens-Barcelona) and our cruise director, Matt Mr. Hottie Mitchum, announced at the platinum/diamond party (and maybe elsewhere as well) a third ship was official for 2020.

Thanks to all. I appreciate the link from the Carnival website.

What is the daily maximum casino cash you can charge to your Sail & Sign card? Also is there any daily maximum you can cash out?

I found an old post from back in 2011 that said the daily maximum you could charge was $1200.

When I laid out the agenda for this day, working with Joe Bananas, I had wanted to include a lunch somewhere appropriate and price the excursion to include the lunch. They responded quickly with a recommendation that I accepted based upon their expertise. I cannot find the name of the place now (I do have it somewhere but cannot put my hands on it), but the plans were to spend some time in Positano then go to lunch and then go to Revello.

 

As we did this the group grew hungry and we start climbing through the hills. Saying it was tight and narrow roads would be an understatement and twice we had to backup for other traffic but we finally made our way to the lunch stop. Here are some pics of a look back down to Positano......

 

 

 

 

 

The name of the restaurant is La Tagliata. We did this same excursion with Joe Bananas on the 6/21 Athens-Barcelona cruise. Yes it was wonderful!

After wandering a bit, we found a cute little street off of Socrates street called Menekleous. This street was full of little outdoor tavernas and restaurants, and we decided to sit and eat lunch at Romeo Restaurant. I'll be honest: I chose it solely based on the ambiance and the big beautiful trees hanging over the tables. I didn't even really look at the menu! Ha!

 

 

 

 

 

The food was good. Nothing spectacular, but very good value and fresh. We had some local house wine which was delicious, and they had special kids meals which were a bargain! 6E for a pasta dish, milkshake and ice cream. And they were so thoughtful and brought out some little toys for both of the kids. And of course, lightening fast Wi-Fi, which is always a treat while traveling!

 

Overall, we loved our afternoon on Rhodes! With such a port-intensive cruise, we had kind of decided in advance which stops we wanted to take it easy in, and which we were going to hit hard. Rhodes was a "take it easy" stop for us, and the perfect place to do that.

 

On the walk back to the ship, my son and I jumped in the water, and it was so warm and crystal clear!

 

(It was really really windy as you can see by my hair!)

 

I would definitely return to Rhodes!

We were on this cruise and I am enjoying it all over again through your review and then i had to stop and do a double take - that is my husband in the water in your picture of the beach with the ship in the background - how funny-I thought that guy looks familiar!!