Turtles06

There’s not much around the dock. Coming and going from the ship you walk through a large tented area where vendors are selling all sorts of local wares and souvenirs. Perhaps there was more going on that didn’t register with us, as we went to Antigua both times we called at Puerto Quetzal. I highly recommend doing so, even if there were/are some bars near the dock. It’s a scenic drive to Antigua, and Antigua is well worth seeing.

Just to add another benefit of not waiting until the last minute to book is that you’ll very likely have a much better choice of cabins. Some folks don’t care about that, others do.

We visited Holyrood Palace last fall, and absolutely loved it. Their multi-media guide (audio, video, and photos), which you use for the self-guided tour, is incredibly well done. Typically, we don’t have the patience to listen to such things all the way through, but this was different because it was just so excellent. What we found very useful was to listen to the guide before going into a specific room, and listen again as we went through that room and stopped at each thing that was being described. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

And the problem isn’t limited to small towns. Some years ago, on a port call to Barcelona, a few of us from our Roll Call had a private shore excursion with Spain Day Tours. Our fabulous guide was a Barcelona native, and she told us that so many stores and other commercial establishments that supported residential communities were being replaced by souvenir shops and other shops catering to tourists that it was becoming a real problem for local residents in some parts of the city.

If you don’t want to deal with the traffic, you can stay in San Pedro and walk from the cruise terminal to the Los Angeles Maritime Museum as well as the Battleship USS Iowa. Fascinating to tour that ship.

I totally agree with you. I trust the official port web site schedule more than what a cruise line is saying. It’s not just NCL. Cruise lines are often slow to notify guests of itinerary changes, but the ports know what ships are going to dock there and when.

I hear you on that “free at sea” marketing language. But does anyone really think that when other cruise lines give out an included (“free”) beverage package without breaking out a cost for gratuities that some amount for them hasn’t been factored in by the cruise line? For someone looking to book a cruise, it all comes down to the bottom line.

Colombia has its own Port of Call forum at the link below, where Cartagena and the questions you are asking are discussed. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/391-colombia/ Tip re excursions: get a small group together from your Roll Call and do a private tour with Dora de Zubiria: http://www.cartagenatour.com The cruise terminal is outside the walled city, there’s nothing really around it. But within the terminal complex is a wonderful (and free) small zoo and aviary that should not be missed. Leave time to walk through it before you return to the ship.

Perhaps she’s been putting family first forever. Maybe the OP hasn’t put her first.

Exactly. Some of the descriptions of the wife’s business have had a belittling tone to them. Maybe the wife would prefer to stay home and put more time into her expanding business.

I posted live from the Silhouette in December 2021 about this dinner, see link below. It was a fabulous experience that I would happily do again. Yes, there is good Indian food in the buffet, but this was a whole different experience than the buffet, as you’ll see from my comments in the thread below.

You really should be asking this question in the British Isles port of call forum, where I suspect you will be told it’s far too risky. (And since your ship will not be docking in London, you should identify the actual disembarkation port, which I assume is Southampton.)

I hate to see cruise lines do this to ships. Build a beautiful public space, often the only indoor forward-facing lounge open to all guests, a great place to sit and watch the water, and then tear it up like this. New builds and doing things like this to existing ships disconnect guests from the water more and more. If I want to be in a hotel for my vacation, I wouldn’t book a cruise.

I had the same thought. 😊

No. It could happen that there aren’t enough Red Caps down there. Just speak to one. If you ever think you’re waiting too long, you can just head out on your own.

Not even remotely comparable. The Bliss Lounge is a dark, interior, sterile space.

Get a Red Cap to assist you on arrival in NY. (When you are in the train, tell the person who takes your ticket that you’ll need a Red Cap in NY. They will call ahead and arrange it.) The Red Cap will meet you on the platform, take your luggage up to the street and put you into a cab. Well worth a good tip. Sometimes you might have to wait for the Red Cap. Just keep an eye out on the platform and speak to the first Red Cap you see.

I love the Gem (and her Jewel-class sisters). They are a very comfortable size, with a traditional promenade deck (missing from lots of new builds) and the wonderful Great Outdoors. This past winter, we spent 23 days on the Gem, taking B2B cruises from NY to Panama City and the return. And in early 2020, in what turned out to be our last cruise before the pandemic, we were aboard for a 20-day cruise from NY to San Francisco. We were in suites for those cruises, which I know enhanced our overall experience, but the Gem is still a wonderful ship.

No “but” needed. In the part of my comment that you didn’t quote, I recognized that it was closed for the entire cruise and said it was wrong.

It’s called the Spinnaker Lounge on the Pearl and her Jewel-class sisters. It’s the only forward-facing indoor lounge on those ships and, as such, it’s a great place for people to sit and read, look at the water, relax, etc. It’s also used for entertainment at night, and things like trivia during the day. It’s one thing for a large public venue like that to be closed temporarily now and then for a private function, but quite another for it to be closed for an entire cruise and given over to the exclusive use of a single group. That’s just wrong and NCL should not do it. @pete_coach is well-justified in being ticked off by this.

Yes, those are the eGates to which @capriccio referred. We encountered them for the first time at LHR last fall. They were “brilliant” as the Brits would say. We breezed through immigration in seconds, while the lines for people who could not use them were insanely long. We were very grateful that the UK allows American passport holders to use the eGates.

Looking at published statistics of smoking by age group, I’m not sure that’s the reason. I think they may be trying to attract a younger demographic: “Current cigarette smoking was highest among people aged 25–44 years and 45–64 years. Current cigarette smoking was lowest among people aged 18-24 years. About 5 of every 100 adults aged 18–24 years (5.3%) Nearly 13 of every 100 adults aged 25–44 years (12.6%) Nearly 15 of every 100 adults aged 45–64 years (14.9%) About 8 of every 100 adults aged 65 years and older (8.3%)” https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/index.htm

It absolutely amazes me that HAL would build these beautiful new ships and then allow people to smoke in the casinos. Talk about a step backwards.

A good CD definitely can make a cruise better. Much of what they do is behind the scenes — they have a role in selecting the entertainers and of course setting up the daily activities and supervising the staff running them. When a port is missed (e.g. because of weather), they scramble to add on-board activities for the day. And then of course is their own outward-facing role, interacting with guests, introducing the nightly entertainers, maybe even performing themselves. For years, over in the Celebrity forum, I’d read about CD Sue Denning and how incredible she is. She had an almost mythical status, it was hard to believe any CD could be that good. And then she was the CD on one of our cruises, and we saw for ourselves that all the praise was justified. She’s incredible. Mostly, though, I have no idea who the CD is. But when there’s a really top notch one, you know it.

I had the same thought. With a full day, I would not hang around Reykjavik, jet lag or not. The spectacular beauty of Iceland is outside the cities/towns. @skatie the Golden Circle tour is shorter than the South Coast tour (which is a really full day but well worth it), so perhaps that might work better for you. Enjoy your trip!