blan2

We are just starting to plan this cruise.  Looking forward to reading your review.

On 6/9/2019 at 4:57 PM, scottca075 said:

Uber and Lyft pick up in the parking garage where the shuttles and individual pick-up and drop-off is.

Thank you.  We will grab a ride share instead of organizing a shuttle service.

Cheers, Nadine 

Thank you all for the feedback.

I was most interested in knowing if the ride share companies were given access to the port but that part sounds promising.  I didn’t know if we would have to walk out somewhere or to a remote corner in the port.  Sounds like they can come right up to the curb when disembarking.😊

Hello,

We will be disembarking from the NCL Bliss on a Sunday morning in October.  We are booked at a hotel on Harbour Blvd across from Disney.  We are just wondering if getting Uber or Lyft at the terminal is easy and roughly what the cost would be.

Thank you.

Whiļe some say Lisbon has no 'centre' as such, the Alfama and Baixa/Chiado areas seem to be the 'older' part and more touristy. However, transport is good and cheap, look into day passes and the Zapping card, so area may not be so important. There is loads of information on Tripadvisor Lisbon forum https://www.tripadvisor.ie/ShowForum-g189158-i203-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html

Thank you for the info about the zapping card.....will definitely look into that.

Cheers,

Nadine

We have some American friends who have been vacationing in Portugal for over thirty years. They have never stayed in Lisbon (and according to them they never will). Why? When they are near Lisbon they always stay in Sintra. As my friend (Bill) says..."why would we stay in Lisbon when Sintra is nearby?" Personally, we disagree and are happy to spend a few nights in Lisbon. Our proximity to public transit (Metro or Tram) is a more important then the specific neighborhood.

Hank

Hi Hank,

Thank you for the info. We are really just looking for some suggestions at this point and your info will help. We went to Brcelona last year and had such a fantastic experience with our vacation apartment rental, that I am just hoping to find a location as favourable in Lisbon. I totally agree that proximity to transit is important.

Thanks again,

Nadine

We have just returned from a two night stay in Lisbon. We had a hotel on Avenida da Liberdade (Turim) we walked back at night and did not feel it was too far. Nearer the bottom end - look for the Hard Rock Cafe on a map would be better. We loved Lisbon, lots of walking up hills. You have to be very good at clutch control to drive there. We never used them but there appeared to be a great set of HoHo buses that took you as far out as Cascais.

 

The highlight of the trip for me was not Lisbon it was Sintra where we visited the Pena Palace. If you like buildings it is a real treat.

Thank you for your reply. We do have Sintra on our list of day trips...looking forward to exploring there.

Happy travels!

We are just in the 'dreaming' early planning stage of our trip and are looking at apartment rentals for Lisbon. We are travelling as a group of six so we know we want an apartment instead of hotel. What neighbourhood do you recommend to stay in Lisbon, likely for a 5 night stay? We range in age from early 40s to late 50s, enjoy walking/wondering the city, casual restaurants and people watching from cafes. We do not necessarily need to be in the centre of the night life area....but wouldn't mind being 10-15 minute walk away. Thank you for any suggestions.

Went back and found these pictures on the NCL site seating for the Teppanyaki

on the SUN STAR and the DAWN*:

 

Corrected seating:

 

Photo 1 is on Deck 13 - SUN is setting for 15

Photo 2 is on Deck 7 - STAR is setting for 12

Photo 3 is on Deck 7 - DAWN was setting for 20 *

*is now 40 additional 2nd section opened aft of orig 20 (after dry-dock renov no pix)

The SPIRIT can be added to this list also. It only has one table, and from what I recall it only seats 10. Reservations were never opened prior to embarkation. We made ours the first afternoon on board.

Happy cruising!

Oh my goodness, I'm about the worst "live" blogger ever, yikes! We are on the last week of our trip right now, hiding from the end of hurricane Nicole as it hits Iceland (as a tropical depression, but we are camping in a van, so it's bad enough!). I'll be picking this up full steam when we get home....hopefully it ends up useful to someone on the Spirit in the next year or so.

Hi Dani,

I am enjoying reliving our trip, thank you for sharing. It was great meeting you on the Spirit!

Stay safe and hopefully you are able to enjoy some of your time in Iceland.

Cheers,

Nadine

We just returned from a 12-night Barcelona to Venice sailing on the Spirit. This was my 10th cruise and first in a Penthouse suite (thanks to a last minute upsell).

Well as others have mentioned it is really going to be hard to not be in a suite for any future cruises. The suites are wonderful, lots of extra space that just makes your time in your room extremely enjoyable. The tub was fantastic as was the large bed with extremely comfortable luxury mattress, pillows and duvet. In the past I often said 'I don't know why anyone would spend all the extra money for a suite. You aren't in your room a lot (especially on this port intensive cruise), really only need a place to shower and sleep.' Well I now understand why people book suites......total comfort. With all the extra perks you really do feel spoiled. I don't know if I will ever be lucky enough to enjoy a suite again in the future due to the cost.....but if someone has the opportunity I would say go for it!

I was in a forward suite - 10518, butler was Clinton and concierge was Florentina.

Enjoy your cruise whatever you decide, the Spirit is a great ship.

You've browsed over the specialty menus and you are ready to recite your order to the waiter!

We live in the North East of England and for some strange reason our usual low cost airline cancelled Newcastle to Venice flights and the nearest airport for Barcelona is Reus 60 mile South.

Our daughters fiancé works for British Airways and could get 10% friends and family discount so we decided to fly out from London Gatwick which would also give us the opportunity to meet up with her as she lives and works in London.

 

6 got a disabled persons railcard for £20 a year which gives third off for self and a companion so splurged on first class tickets for a bit more comfort.

 

We got a lift to the station from our son as payback for all the Mam and Dad taxi services over the years but he wasn’t too keen on helping us lift our luggage into the back of his car-he might damage his guitar playing fingers!

Mind that was practice for getting our cases onto the train and the shoulder height luggage rack[well it’s shoulder height for a short woman and with 6 unable to fully straighten his elbows it was a bit of a struggle. We had a 24 inch suitcase each so just as well tried to pack light and not take any bigger cases.

 

Darling daughter met us at Kings Cross station and kindly allowed us to buy her lunch and to pass over some designer sunglasses I had decided to treat myself to and which she could get 40% discount.

 

We had researched the best way to get to Gatwick as the tube is anything but disabled friendly even when you don’t have luggage. We walked over to St Pancras immediately opposite and caught a Thameslink train to Gatwick. There were lifts/elevators and a low platform so found it easier to board the train than Virgin East coast. It was a commuter train so no luggage storage but mid afternoon on a Saturday it was half empty and able to keep our cases next to us

 

However it had taken 2 ½ hours to get from North East England to London Kings Cross and it took 1 ¼ hours to cover the relatively short distance from St Pancras to Gatwick on this slow train which had frequent stops. Overall though it was relatively easy disability wise.

 

We had booked into the Hilton Gatwick airport hotel which is at North terminal and the train station is at South. That meant a long walk with the moving walkways not operating and then another long walk from hotel reception to our room in the newest wing of the hotel .By this time 6 had had enough walking for one day and rested his feet up on the bed.

 

However he revived enough to limp along to the Executive lounge for the aperitifs served between 18.30-20.30.Translate free snacks and booze!

It got very busy and it’s worth upgrading to an executive room for the access even if you don’t drink alcohol as it includes sodas and coffee as well as breakfast the next morning if your flight isn’t too early.

 

We were booked on the 06.40 flight so an early night and alarm set for 3am-it had been a long day

Looking forward to reading your review....thank you for sharing!

Thank you. I will check before we make our plans.;)

I did my research and it is until 11pm.

Thank you.

I think until 11pm, but you should double-check that.

Thank you. I will check before we make our plans.;)

Let's see if I can wrap this review up. Better late than never, right?

 

Wednesday, May 17, 2016 - Venice, Italy

 

We didn't arrive in Venice until close to 2pm, so we packed up this morning to get it out of the way. The sail in to Venice is really amazing and not to be missed. Our balcony was on the wrong side of the ship, so I went down to the promenade deck to watch. I'm guessing a lot of people were on the top deck, because it wasn't crowded at all. Venice is just beautiful.

 

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We had decided not to stay any extra time in Venice, so we only had the afternoon and evening. It was the right decision for us, but it really wasn't enough time. I definitely hope to go back one day!

 

We got off the ship as soon as possible and headed for the people mover with a group of cruise critic friends. It was really easy but I was glad to be with other people to help find my way. We took the people mover to Piazza Roma and purchased a day pass for the vaporettos. We then boarded the vaporetto to St. Marks square. I really think I could spend all day just riding the vaporetto up and down the Grand Canal. Because we were short on time we took the faster vaporetto, so it took us about 25 minutes to get to St. Mark's square.

 

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St. Mark's Square was crowded. Really really crowded! It was a little overwhelming - kind of like Times Square during a holiday weekend. We had tickets to enter St. Mark's cathedral at 3:35. It is free to go in but you need tickets, and the lines to get tickets can be long. So we bought tickets online in advance for 2 euros each to avoid standing in line. We weren't sure if we'd even use them, but they were so inexpensive it was worth having them, and as it turned out, we were there at the designated time, so we went in. You are only allowed 10 minutes in the church, but it was enough unless you do some of the other rooms, which cost extra. It was beautiful and worth the time to see, so I'm glad we did it.

 

Afterwards we went to a little shop for Tracy to get a mask, and then we caught the vaporetto back to Rialto Bridge, where we were meeting up for a tour at 4:30. We took a walking tour and pub crawl with Allessando Schezzini, who is recommended by Rick Steve's. I really can't recommend this highly enough. It was so much fun and such a great way to end the vacation. First he took us on a walking tour, which took us away from the crowds and gave us a glimpse of Venice aside from the tourist attractions.

 

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At 6pm the pub crawl began. We went to three different pubs for wine and appetizers. I was expecting maybe a glass of wine at each of the stops, but no. This is Italy and the wine flowed freely. Whenever a glass was empty it would be filled. Needless to say, a grand time was had by all. We went on this tour with several people we had met on these boards so by now we already knew them. It was really fun. The first pub we were inside, but the other two we were outside. So there we were, hanging out on the streets of Venice drinking wine and relaxing with friends. It was a perfect way to end the cruise, and we hung out talking for quite a while after Alessandro left us to go home to his wife. Eventually we headed back so we grabbed a vaporetto. By now it was getting dark and the lights were coming on, so we got to see the Grand Canal from a different perspective. It was beautiful at night too.

 

Finally we hopped on the people mover, where Tracy led an impromptu sing along, which pretty much everyone on the people mover joined in on. I did mention the wine was flowing, didn't I? This had been a fabulous vacation, but we had an early flight, so we grabbed a snack and headed to bed.

 

Because of port rules, we either had to exit the ship at 6:30 am, or wait and disembark later with everyone else. Our flight was at 10:55 am and we couldn't risk not getting off in time. Fortunately when I found this out I was able to call and have the driver pick us up at 7:00 am instead of 8:00. I had been told to allow time to clear customs. Well, apparently 6:30 in the morning is too early for people to go to work in Italy... or something. We walked off the ship at 6:30 and did not go through security, customs or anything. At 6:32 we were standing at the curb waiting for our driver. Easy peasy. Our driver showed up a few minutes before 7:00 and we headed off to the airport. The check in counter wasn't open yet when we got there, so we got in line. But it opened within 15 minutes and we checked in and found our gate. We did have to wait a while for the gate to open, which I found odd, but we had no problems. I had heard horror stories about the Venice airport, but we had no issues.

 

All in all, this was a vacation of a lifetime. I'm sorry it took so long to finish this review, but I hope it's been helpful to those of you still in the planning phase.

Thank you very much for sharing your review. We are just a couple months from taking this cruise and you helped me confirm some of our choices for how we would like to spend our days in port.

Do you happen to recall what time the people mover runs until in the evening?

Showtimes were 7pm and 9:30pm in Stardust Theater.

White Hot party was at 10:30 or 11pm in Galaxy Lounge.

Galaxy is also where they did trivia, I think that was during the day on Sea days.

 

For the outlets. Sad to report only one 110v & one 220 by the desk. We had two cabins inside and balcony and same for both. There is also one in bathroom thru the hairdryer that says for shavers only. We took and used surge strips to provide more charging options for our various devices. Had them in plain sight and never a problem with either room steward.

Thank you jrpjk! Do you recall which evening the White Hot party was? Also was the Norwegian night out on a sea day? I am trying to figure out our options and are looking at pre booking some of our dining at the 90 day mark....which is coming up this week!

What questions do you have I can help. I was on the 5/31 sailing Barcelona to Venice. I think mama planes was not on the grand Mediterranean as the first one was out May 7th so she may not know answers specific to the one you are taking.

Hi jrpjk - did you happen to keep any of the dailies? I am looking for info on shows, trivia and white hot party times.

Also, do you happen to remember how many electrical outlets were in our cabin?

Thank you.

Do you happen to remember how many electrical outlets you had in your cabin and bathroom? Were they a combination of 220V and 110V?

Also, do you happen to have any copies of the dailies or any menus you are able to share? Have the specialty restaurants switched to the new ala carte menus? There are few different style of menus floating around, but I can't seem to find any recent ones from the Spirit.

Thank you.

No Sorry I didn't keep them.

No problem. Thanks for the suggestion about the Show.

Nadine

First show 7:30. Just back from 5/31 cruise

 

and be sure not to miss the Elements show, it was a great finale to the entertainment.

Hi Jen,

Do you happen to have any of the Dailies from your 5/31 cruise? We aren't going until 9/30, but I love seeing all the info....builds the excitement.

Nadine

We will be taking this cruise and are wondering if anyone is booking a private tour of the Amalfi coast while in Naples. It seems as though sharing would be the most economical way.

As mentioned you will find some info on the roll call. Here is the link http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2150932

Looking forward to chatting with you and hearing about your plans.

Nadine

We are on the May 31 Cruise. We were notified this week that we will not arrive in Venice until 9pm. We will report back and give a review. I read that there will be 5 ships in port that day so we got the short end of the stick with less time in Venice. Bummer.:(

Racingraysswimmom -

That is a bummer.....I am hoping this doesn't happen to our sailing also. Did NCL give you any reason for the change in time? Is it beacause they can't accommodate 5 ships? I am lucky to have previously spent time in Venice, but really hope to have the extra time there.....hopefully if ours changes we find out with more warning. Enjoy your trip........it will be wonderful!

Hi cardbucfan!

I am hoping you can help clarify some discussion we are having on our roll call for this same cruise in September. When NCL cancelled the stops in Turkey and added Dubrovnik and Kotor, how much time did they give you in each port and in what order were your stops. We have been given a sea day following Athens, then Dubrovnik for a full day until 8pm, followed by a day in Kotor leaving at 5pm. We have conflicting information about our arrival time in Venice the following day - we have info stating 2pm and 9pm??? Can you please let us know what changes were made to your itinerary and what time you arrived in Venice. We are all hoping it is 2pm!

Thank you.

Yes, it was Naples day which was Wednesday for us. The insert was in the Dailies when we got back from dinner Rome night (Tuesday). It said the laundry had to be in the bag in your room before noon and would be returned by Saturday evening. I took it to mean have it ready for the sea day since we got the notice so late in the day and were leaving so early in the morning. Somebody on our Naples tour clarified it for me and when we got back to the ship I called Guest Services about it. Katya gave us approval to still use the special as long as we got it to our steward before turn down service. So we delayed dinner and got those bags loaded up! We didn't get it back until LATE Saturday night either.

 

I took some small woolite packs and did handwashing of my delicates. Ask your steward for extra hangers. You get regular hangers instead of those wooden ones that hook into the metal frames in the closet. I brought some clothes pins and used those extra hangers to hang all my things in the bathroom and on the balcony to dry.

We have always taken advantage of the laundry specials. I was really hoping there were two 'laundry' days for this itinerary. I am just wondering if anyone knows if you can ask to have your laundry done at a 'regular' rate if we want some pieces washed again closer to the end of the cruise? We will still have 12 days before we fly home following our Naples day........that is a long time to wait to do laundry!