MeHeartCruising

Nice that your TA would do this. I got $100 OBC from NCL on my recent cruise due to a couple port cancellations. It couldn’t offset the DSC. It couldn’t be used in the casino. I already had the drink, dining and unlimited internet packages. I was able to use $40 of it giving additional tips on my specialty dining meals. But with the final $60 I had to buy 2 tshirts I didn’t want and that won’t fit me, and 2 way overpriced chocolate bars and 2 packages of M&Ms. I still had $9 left and was going to buy more candy with it on the last night, but was surprised that the shops were closed because we were overnighting in Amsterdam. What a wasted $60 to me.

I'm not the one you asked, but I'll offer my comments. I find Rick Steve's books to be helpful. He generally offers useful and accurate information (and time/money-saving advice). I almost always buy a copy of one for any European destination that I visit and read it thoroughly when I am making my plans for the trip. It helps me pick locations to stay and even specific hotels if I choose to use his advice. I view it as a starting point for further research. When he supplies a small "walking tour" map in the book, I find those very helpful in finding my way around a particular area and seeing the important things. But Rick Steves has a certain "style" to his work. Some people may not like it. You won't know until you read one and see what you think. Are you able to buy and read electronic books? All of is books are available for download into Apple's Books app, for example. I download them to my iPad and read them there usually. They may be available on a Kindle -- I'm not sure. The downside is you don't have a paper copy to bring with you. Sometimes I do purchase a paper copy and bring it. You can often find some of them in a book store's travel section (if you can still find an actual book store). Rick actually urges you to tear out the relevant pages from the book and only bring them with you on your trip, which is what I did for my most recent trip to the UK and Ireland.

There are many ATMs where you can withdraw Lira. When I was there, I found one within 500 feet of leaving the port gate (I was walking). Since then, they have built a new cruise terminal building, so I would think they may have put in an ATM in the terminal. Notify your bank of your travel plans in advance.

I'll agree with cruisemom42. I went DIY when I visited Istanbul in 2010 (things could have changed) and had no problems with the overnight stay. I walked or took the tram wherever I needed to go. I walked a ton. I never felt unsafe. I got local currency from an ATM and used my credit card where I could. I was approached by a LOT of "salesmen" on the sidewalks who wanted to take me back to their store to have some tea and to see what they were sure I wanted. They usually started off by saying something like "Where are you from?" or "I have a cousin in Nashville, are you from near there?" or some other innocent conversation. If you're not interested (I wasn't), you just politely say "No thank you". They don't always accept that right away, but keep saying it and they will leave you alone. Other than that, I had no issues walking the tourist areas or the business area between the Port and Taksim Square. At one point, near Taksim, the street I was on cleared out quickly when a group of riot-gear-wearing police/military came marching through. I was a little unsure about the situation, but they marched off in another direction from where I wanted to go, so I kept going.

The wait will entirely depend on the number of ships in port that day and the timing of their time in port. If several arrive at nearly the same time and/or leave at the same time, then there will be lines. If not, then the line can be quite minimal. My backup plan on the return to the ship is to leave enough time to walk down the donkey path -- which I did one time. Not ideal, but a valid backup plan if you can physically do the walk.

I started experiencing Covid symptoms yesterday on the plane ride back across the Atlantic after my 10 British Isles cruise. I tested positive this morning using 2 home tests. The last couple nights of my cruise, I could hear people in the cabins on both side of me coughing during the night. This was on the Dawn. At the start of the cruise, customer-facing crew were in masks, but that was lifted on about day 3. I’m not doing any speculation. Just stating what I experienced. My symptoms are currently minor.

I would assume they expect you to use all the social media dedicated apps on your device and that they have a away to stop all http://www.xyz.com type web addresses you would use from a web browser. I doubt they throttle back the already slow band width.

I am currently on a cruise booked 2 weeks prior to sailing. The only balcony cabins available were Free at Sea Guarantee Balconies and Sail Away (minimal perks) Balcony Guarantees. I booked a Free at Sea Balcony Guarantee and was immediately offered the ability to bid in the upgrade program. I chose not to, but it was offered. I got my nice cabin assignment about a week later and was still offered the upgrade option. I do not know if Sail Away Guarantees get the offer or not.

The Netherlands always seems to be the oddity for me. 12 years ago, they would not take my US credit card at all to buy a train ticket at the counter in a train station. I had to go to a nearby ATM and get Euros. Today, I tried to use my contactless Visa (that has worked flawlessly on this trip in England, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland) to buy some stroopwafels in Delft and the card was not working with the store’s reader. She asked where I was from. I told her the US. She said we have to use a different reader and it will cost 60 cents more. Since I badly needed stroopwafels, I agreed. The second contactless reader worked fine. Weird. Later, at a convenience store in Amsterdam, the contactless would not work in the self-serve register, but inserting the chip card in did work. The display also asked me to sign the receipt and then asked if I wanted a receipt. I said no to the receipt and it finished the transaction. There was nothing to sign after all. I had none of these issues in other countries on my trip. Although, these were, indeed very minor issues. In the end, the card was always accepted.

Ok. And what is a sensory pack?

Just an update that this issue is still happening with ships in Amsterdam. Our British Isles cruise on Norwegian Dawn is actually now arriving in Amsterdam a day earlier than originally scheduled due to the waterway authorities changing our entry time into the canal. We will skip our stop in Zee Bruge, Belgium entirely in order to make the canal appointment. We will then arrive in Amsterdam at 9:00 am. We will overnight in Amsterdam and disembark the next morning.

My guess would be that only $93 of her on board charges were from things like drinks, shop purchases, excursions, restaurants, extra gratuities given in restaurants, etc. Non-refundable credit CANNOT be used to offset the $16 per day Daily Service Charge (DSC) which will be the largest expense of many people. Especially if they have the Free At Sea perks. Any of that $250 that wasn’t applied to valid expenses, would be lost at the end of the cruise.

I now will have ample time to see how the path goes. Our ship is returning a day early to Amsterdam because the authorities moved our canal entry time up a day. We must now skip our stop at Zee Bruge, Belgium entirely. We will now overnight in Amsterdam after our arrival and disembark the next day. So I get an extra day in Amsterdam. I am thinking I will take the train to Delft on the day we arrive rather than stay in Amsterdam, which I have already visited in a previous trip.

I’m currently on the Dawn. Crew unmasking appears to have been done in phases. When we boarded on September 5th, the food and drink services staff and room steward personnel were all still masked. Pretty much all customer-facing crew. Entertainment staff was not, however. About day 3, the rest of the crew started going maskless. I asked a waiter about it and he said they were told they all could remove the masks if they want to. He said there was loud applause from the crew quarters upon hearing the announcement. Since then, I have only seen about 3 crew members in a mask.

On the Dawn now. And we are still on Pepsi products unfortunately. One bartender I asked said he didn’t know when they would be switching.

Sigh.

CruiseNext's have an expiration date. It does not change (unless they decide to do it due to a major calamity or something). If you apply them to a cruise and then that cruise gets cancelled by YOU or by NCL, the CruiseNext goes back into your account with the same expiration date it originally had. Unless they had to use those funds as part of a cancellation penalty. NCL doesn't let you "move" reservations. You have to cancel and rebook. The cancellation will return the certificate to your account. You can use it on a new booking. It takes a day or 2 for it to show back up in your account. I'm not sure if an agent can access it for a new booking before then or not.

Unless they have changed things YES, it is POSSIBLE to do the walk. However, NO, it is not advisable. When I last departed from Barcelona on a cruise, there were people doing the walk. It's up and over a long bridge. Further than it looks on the maps. It was HOT. They looked miserable. And it only gets worse if your ship happens to be one at the end of the long line of ships boarding that day. Do yourself a favor and take a taxi.

A Sail Away Balcony is always a Guarantee and does NOT include 3 of the Free-at-Sea Perks (beverage package, dining package, internet minutes). It does include $50 of shore excursions per day. A Balcony Guarantee would include all 4 of the Free-at-Sea perks. It is generally sold if the ship is filling up with not too many balconies left. So not only is it price higher, but you will also have to pay the gratuities on the drink and dining packages. However, you can select this type of cabin and decline the drink and/or dining packages if you don't want them. In that case, you won't pay the gratuities for them.

I, for one, enjoy looking at a bunch of rocks. Geology is fascinating. I also have thoroughly researched the timing and costs involved for the trek to see them on my cruise starting next week. I also chose to not try and cram the Titanic Experience into this as a combined excursion. I knew the timing would be too tight. So I will just have to come back another time to see that. I will enjoy a more leisurely tour focused on one major site. I'm sorry that the OP was disappointed.

Ah, yes. I recall coming down that ramp to the station the last time when I was coming from Centraal Station. Thanks for the reminder, since I will be going from Ship to Station this time around.

Even if this is not a policy across the fleet, I see absolutely nothing wrong with individual crews not attending. Perhaps due to ship-specific instructions from their captain. I also see nothing wrong with individual crew members choosing to not participate in this optional event in order to minimize their interactions with a large number of people. There is nothing wrong here. Time to move on.

Thanks. I thought that might be the case. When I was there, construction was being done. I looked at some YouTube videos of the station and it looks like that side is nicely done now.

Yes. And an Apple Watch then synchronizes that data back to the iPhone Fitness (and Health?) apps, where it usually is looked at on the larger screen of the phone. Apple Watches will do this synchronization via Bluetooth when the 2 devices are back close to each other (and powered on). No need for WiFi or cellular service on either device. So best to leave in Airplane mode and ensure Bluetooth is still on.

Honestly, I would not recommend the night tour for your first night in Rome. Unless you think you will get enough sleep on the plane over. I don’t sleep much. So I’m usually cratering by 6pm or so.