ollienbertsmum

Oh and I forgot to say that we left two people behind in Rijeka. We had waited for 15 minutes when they turned up. I suspect that they had not adjusted their watches correctly. The next port of Dubrovnik was 6 hr drive away - or 12hr public transport journey away. I felt for them. The next day there were announcements for 3 missing passengers at sailaway time. Getting to the next port would take a 5 hour bus, a ferry from Split and then a bus ride from Stari Grad to Hvar. OK so these are not calamities but they do spoil the smooth running of a trip.

So my DH and i have just done a 5-day cruise from Trieste. Getting to Trieste itself seemed like a mission. I will write about it in the Italy port board. This was our first cruise since the pandemic. I chose just 5 days because I was worried we might not like the post pandemic changes. I should not have worried. There were a few crew wearing masks, not really any other way we would have known that there was a pandemic. I also chose 5 days because I was trying out an internal. I have just retired and thought that if we did like internals we might increase the number of cheap last minute offers. I actually did not like it. I found it disorientating to wake up not knowing the temperature and amount of light. I am glad I tried but won’t repeat. I like spring as a time to travel. I can go to the beach and sit in the sun at home during June to September. I prefer to travel in less busy times. This did mean that we risked rain. We got it twice but i had my rain coat with me. comfortable shoes were important. Getting to the ship We stayed in Trieste overnight in an AirBnB. I always wake early on embarkation days. I had time to look around the attractive city centre. I walked along the seafront to work out where we would go and where the bag drop was for when we came off the ship. There were not many taxis for the fairly long queue at about 7.30 am. It was a Sunday morning so was that an issue? Someone in the queue asked me about getting to the train station. I said that for me it was easy and walkable (It was 1 km and flat). Later I saw a number of passengers doing the walk. Those who had large suitcases and a few extra bags looked as if they were puffing and panting. So although I am fine dragging my 2 wheeled bag with a small back pack, those who have spinner wheels that are heavy might prefer to wait for a taxi. I got back to the accommodation, We left at exactly 10 am. We now had to negotiate around a 21 k run that ended in the main square but that gave the sea front of Trieste a real buzz on the Sunday morning. There was not much of a wait at the port. Maybe this is one of the benefits of a smaller ship. We were on the ship by about 11.30 am and having skipped breakfast went straight to the buffet and waited for rooms to open at 2.15 pm. They were exactly on time. My thoughts on the ship The crew was lovely. I was expecting that cabins would only get cleaned once a day. Really that is enough for us. The big disadvantage is that you might find that you are already back from the port and the room has not yet been cleaned. When that happened to us I just asked for one clean towel. We can make our own bed. The food was fine for me. Did I notice a lower quality?? I think that there may have been a few things missing e.g. I don’t recall seeing smoked salmon at the breakfast buffet. I don’t eat meat so I cannot comment on the quality. I was not able to get a vegetarian sausage or burger so I felt a bit cheated at the grill area. I am sure I have had one on a ship before. May not have been NCL. There seemed to be occasional moments when bar and restaurants seemed short of staff, but we never had to wait very long. So now crew are not working for tips, it would seem that we are free to just enjoy and say thank you for their good service Not so fast ……. Now we have the feedback cards and vacation hero cards to fill in. DH said it felt like he was being a schoolteacher again writing report cards. A couple of times we had the cards pushed into our hands. The pushy crew are going to get more feedback. I do like the smaller ships for less queuing and that I can find my way around. There was never much of a wait for anything. We choose to avoid the lifts but occasionally, if we wanted to go from level 5 up to level 12 we took a ride. We never waited. There were a few small children on board, but they were all a credit to their parents. There was a mix of passengers. There was a much bigger percentage of europeans, especially Spanish and Italian which is not much of a surprise. For five days you would not want to travel long distances and then only have Dubrovnik as the big attraction. Adding on a week in Italy would of course make it wothwhile. Ports According to one of our waiters NCL are testing out this route. We went to Rijeka, Dubrovnik and Hvar in Croatia and Koper in Slovenia. Rijeka - A bit similar to Trieste. Looking over my photos I can’t really tell which port is which. I think it was the best shopping centre (Hvar had beautiful shops but they were expensive). I was not cruising to shop, but I had already realised that I was cold on the ship so I bought some warmish leggings to go under my tops. In Rijeka there was a staircase of 561 steps to get up to Trsat castle. It was not really that difficult and worth the climb. We have to find ways of working off the big breakfasts. Views were lovely. Dubrovnik - We had been to Dubrovnik before so I was less excited about this port. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Our last visit had been in hotter weather (September) and it was more crowded. I felt that we could better appreciate the beauty of the city. We went up the cable car for more views, there was a bit of a queue but not a deal breaker. It was lovely. We could easily have walked back down, DH was not keen. Back in Dubrovnik I walked down to the little beach where they do kayaking. That was attractive and peaceful. In the old town DH was cross when we got charged 10 euro for two small cans of beer (take out). I pointed out to him that the absence of prices should have been a red flag. Bars beside were charging less for beer. We were ‘tricked’. Hvar - I don’t know what I expected but this was much better. It was expensive, our dirnks were less expensive than our hole in the wall bar in Dubrovnik, but you can tell that this attracts the rich crowd. Lovely weather helped. We walked along the sea front. All of the beaches were rocky. I fancied dipping my feet in to see the temperature of the water. I just felt that a wave might dampen my shoes and so the day. I found some more stairs, fewer than in Rijeka, and climbed up to a castle where I wrote some postcards while admiring the views. Buying cards, finding stamps and finding postboxes is always a little mission when I visit new places. I managed to do this in Hvar. I’m always nervous that I have posted my cards in a private mail box. I got shown yellow Croatian boxes. I passed by a monastery that had a lace museum. I knew that lace making is a symbol of Hvar. I would have liked to go and see but they didn’t accept cards. I think it was only 5 euro but I only had a few coins left so I made do with a post card! Koper (Slovenia) - We woke to rain, but it mostly stopped by the time we went ashore. Here I had planned further walking around. When we walked out of the port there were some kiosks selling tours. For only 25 euro we could go on a scenic drive and spend two hours in the town of Piran. So I booked for the last tour at 1 pm. We had time to wander round the highlights of the town. I bought another card because we were in a different country. It was a really good value tour. The guide talked non-stop. The two hours was enough time to see around. Another good view from a castle. I had about 40 minutes to spare and noticed an aquarium. It was tiny but I needed a toilet break before getting back on the bus. For 7 euro I could kill time and the call of nature. So all in all a good set of ports, there was more to interest me than I expected. We could have visited Lake Bled and Ljubljana from Koper. Were I to go again I would look up ‘istranka tours’ and arrange ahead. In reality I think I would prefer Ljubljana as a whole weekend destination. I don’t use the gym but wore my apple watch almost all of the time to motivate me to exercise. I recorded 65 kilometres and climbing 162 flights of stairs. Is there anything more specific anyone wants to know???? I am happy to answer.

I feel the complaints. i had significant problems prior to my Gem cruise last week. My credit card would not connect, then I could not attach my husbands to my card. He does not have an NCL account to check in himself. I phoned up NCL and emailed my NCL consultant. Both said to turn up and we could check in there. It was not an issue. I had taken photos of both of us. That process was not difficult for me. When we got to port they asked me for another photo. Not difficult. All of the check in agents had tablets to work with. So I got miffed that I wasted about 3 afternoons stressing over the checkin process. All we really needed was the reservation number and our passport. They did not even ask me for my credit card. They said I needed to do that on board. I did not do that until port 3 when we wanted to buy shuttle tickets. So to anyone else trying to check in - don't stress. If you cannot do it online you CAN do it at the port.

So it was slightly different in Trieste last week. Trieste is also an Italian port !!!!

As I said to Keith I do not know the NCL policy. My gripe is that the cruiseline does not warn people ahead of time. Of course they would not want to - it just seems so ‘meh’ to get on to a ship and be told ‘sorry no drinks this evening’.

Ah Keith I only saw bottles being taken for storage on embarkation and at several ports. I actually didn’t know that you could take your own wine on board on a NCL ship. I did have a package - I meant that IF you had no package it would have been good to have warning. I think it is poor of NCL to get into this situation.

I have just come off the Gem. This was a new route from Trieste to Croatia and Slovenia. There were restrictions in Trieste after Sailaway. One more evening as I think we were in Italian waters we had to wait until 10.30 pm to get play in the Casino. The sign was the same as shown in previous posts. It stated ‘local restrictions’. If you already had a package they would serve you. Most people seemed to have packages so few were affected, but I do think that you should be told ahead of time. If it really were local laws, rather than NCL not wanting to pay out taxes etc, they should perhaps allow people without a package to bring on their own bottle and charge a corkage. Yeah they are not going to, but heck what is it new about local laws. One day soon I am going to get round to ask a lawyer.

We were back at 2 am. I have spent the day catching up with the Eurovision semis to settle my favourites before the final. I cannot get below a top 6!! I have been on Star, Epic and now Gem. Gem has been my favourite ship of the three, I seemed to find my way around. We had some brilliant trips on the Epic but I never thought that it was easy to get around. I have to say that I was a bit apprehensive about any post pandemic changes. I think we timed it perfectly. There were several staff still wearing masks but no other social distancing etc. All we did was answer a few questions about Covid along with stomach bugs and we were good to go. We went from Trieste, getting there (like Ravenna) was a bit of a faff, but I am glad that we went. I am now a fan of Croatia, although not their Euro entry. We don’t have any more cruises planned. DH keeps pushing me to plan some driving trips. There are so many cool trips ahead in Portugal and Spain.

Oh yum. That table is set out for a King. I have just climbed a 498 step tower in Bologna (and hate heights, but DD always says ‘face your fears’). I wonder if Charles said that to himself this morning. It is a big deal after all.

I was sorry to miss this at home. Charles chose the day after I booked the cruise. I am also missing the first two Eurovision semi finals. I would have booked the week later had I known the way the dates worked out.

Finally on our way cruise bound. We will stay one night in Bologna, one night in Trieste and then board NCL Gem for five days on Croatian coast. First cruise since September 2019. Feels odd, like I am on a first ever cruise. 🥳🥳🥳🥳

I thought I was the only one to go from Barcelona multiple times. 🤣🤣 I love it, so easy to plan, and even if the ports are repetitive, most are ports that offer numerous different days out. Just setting off for a cruise from Trieste, I think it seems just as much a faff as Ravenna, I doubt I would do it again.

I can answer the Cannes part of this. In a previous post I wrote about going to Antibes which we eventually did by bus. Monaco is further down the line. In Cannes It is (according to Google maps) 17 mins walking between the tender drop off point and the train station. (It gives 12 minutes by car so it does not seem worth finding a taxi to take you to the train station). To find the drop off search for ‘embarcadere Ile Sainte Marguerite’. This is right in front of where you get off the tender. You wii have to try and secure an early tender ticket. Ask about it the day you board or look on the ‘entertainment’ section of the app. Even with an early tender ticket You may be pushing it to catch the 9 am train. it is not so difficult to buy train tickets. There are machines that I think will translate into English. In your position I would not reserve train tickets ahead of time. If you genuinely would prefer a ship tour, it would be wise to put your name down for a cancellation, they do sometimes appear last minute. I cant help you with Monte Carlo. It is on my bucket list.

I have just answered a post about this ‘help me decide on a tour from Cannes’ it might help you

It woud be interesting to know what the OP did in the end.

Edinburgher explained it well. Probably no different in Cannes than anywhere else. We have tendered in Cannes a few times. I have always wanted to go to Monaco but always found something else to do. I know that it would be better visited as a land tour and so postpone it. I actually like Cannes as a cruise stop. In the middle of August you can visit the old town, go shopping and go to the beach. Lots of posh cars to keep you entertained. There are hand prints outside the building where they hold the film festival. I Looked at my diary of the day we did Antibes and Cannes from NCL. Epic April 2016. On reading it I recall we had a lovely day, we just had not checked the transport timetables and so wasted time at the bus and train station. With four people I think it would have been worth doing at least one leg by taxi. The diary was not very well written, but kept to plan subsequent cruises. We had a 9.05 tender ticket. (On NCL Book as soon as you get on board, it is under entertainment I think). We went down ten minutes early as suggested but found that they had not called the 8:45 yet. It seemed a bit frantic but they maybe should not encourage people to be early. When we did have to leave no one actually checked the time but maybe they would. They said anyone without tickets would have to wait until 11 am. Anyway we were on the tender at about 9.20 but had to wait for some tours to board. Getting off in Cannes is easy.. We asked where the Nice bus (the 200) went, were misguided and then redirected to the train station. We had to watch a bus leave (about 10.10) because I could not reach my purse, the next one was ages coming and then the driver got off for a coffee. By the time he got back there were three 200s in a row waiting to leave. We were on our way by about 10.30. Were not sure where to get off and missed the town centre ending up at the train station. It was an easy walk into town and at least we did now know where transport left from. Antibes is lovely .We found the Provençal market. The fruit and veg looked very nice but it was really expensive. I did buy some bags of herbs and some lavender bags. . I had not expected such expensive boats at the marina though. We wandered around, saw the walls, the beach and the cathedral. We got back to the train station by about 1.15 pm and should have compared the time of the train to the bus times. The trains were not as regular as I had thought so we had to wait until two pm having watched two buses leave. A quick toilet stop and coffee and eventually the train arrived. It was busy but there were plenty of seats where we got on. Mid summer I am sure it is much more hectic. It would have been better to go there and back by bus, since the bus and train station are actually right next to each other there is some deciding. The train also went to Grasse and to Nice and Monte Carlo. Looking at the train times there would have been time for about four hours in Monte Carlo/Monaco if you use the train and leave on the earliest tender if like today the ship arrives at 8 am and leaves at 6pm ( putting the last tender at 5 pm) I suppose the question is how long does the ship tour stay in Monte Carlo. Nice is certainly doAble. I wonder what there is to see in Grasse. I think the train went to Eze too so consider that another time. We wandered along the shopping street and found something for the girls. Back along la croisette and past the building that hosts the Cannes film festival. I looked at the handprints made by the stars. Sylvester Stallone's hands are huge! I hope that helps.

We were stuck there in 2018 because storms cancelled our stop in Naples. We did not find anything exciting to do. If you are stopping in Civi and don’t want to go into Rome I would recommend Tarquinia as a nice low-key day out. Having looked online for places nearby and having seen lots of train passengers clearly on the way to the beach, you might find more of interest taking the short train ride to Santa Marinella. I wish that we had thought about there when the storms scuppered the Amalfi drive for us.

Oh Hank, such wise words. You probably know that I am a keen DiYer on my cruises, however I am also a keen overplanner to avoid all of those worst case scenarios. Despite this, in 17 years of cruising I have never had any worst case scenarios. Not even any pestilence. I did however avoid a measles epidemic in Cascais near Lisbon after seeing it on the news the day before. “What is the worst that can happen?” Is the best question to ask.

John Bull is on the money as usual. Good info about taxis. I think the taxi plus entry to nature reserve is around 35 pounds. The Tower of Homage is usually missed out from the tours. I think it is just too hard to park and then pick up customers. If you have plenty of time and don’t mind walking an extra 15 miinutes, it is worth asking your taxi driver to drop you off at the tower and to let you use the Upper Rock ticket to visit the Tower. You then go down through the oldest part of the old town on to Main Street. A flat walk back to the ship.

Strikes are announced ahead of time. There is a website that gives this information. Someone might be able to direct you to it. I have always gone by train and had no problems apart from playing sardines on one of our trips. The most crowded times are in the middle of summer - and when lots of ships are in port. If you are going by train at peak times i would recommend boarding the train at Termini rather than one of the subsequent stops. We have usually got off at St Peters because the journey from there to Termini is a little tedious, we then do what we had planned for the day (so much to choose from) and then get on at Termini to try and get our seat.

We have been to Palma numerous times with NCL. There is a shuttle for a fee. Maybe it was about $5 in 2018. Could have been more for a return. We like walking so have usually walked into town. When we went in July it was very hot. April and November have been more pleasant strolls. There is a public bus right outside the port, i think that if you don’t time it right there are queues. Palma is lovely, we like that you can go to the beach on the way back to the ship.

You have to understand the stubbornness of not wanting to do something that hurts. Then as you walk less it hurts more. My father reluctantly bought a rollator which has made walking easier. The seat is helpful when you need a rest. I think these lightweight ones look so trendy. I promise my kids i will use one when walking gets hard. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lightweight-Rollator-Adjustable-Transportation-Mobility/dp/B008CFML16/ref=sr_1_15_sspa?keywords=Rollator+Walker&qid=1682323241&sr=8-15-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&psc=1

Aah, so it would have to be the first Schengen port, not them coming from a cruise that has been non-Schengen. I find it so confusing even though I cross into and out of a Schengen area multiple times a year.

it is about where the ship has been. So if it has stayed in the Schengen area then you should be ok (but I am willing to accept someone who has more current info due to Brexit as you are flying to Uk) . However, you are only going to Gatwick. You are not rushing for a transatlantic flight. Back to my question - what is the worst that can happen? Have you enough on your credit card to cover a short flight if your insurance will not cover ????

I really do get the dilemma. If you get off as soon as you can, you are 95% certain to catch the flight - if you are cruising from Schengen area. I just think you need to think through the “what is the worst that could happen?” question. Can you go via Madrid??