Travelling2Some

Glad to see you resolved it. NCL was clueless when I called them and we have a very nice PCC we've used for years. She got it removed for us but I only figured out what had happened a few days later on my own because the math lined up with the shore excursion discounts.

We had that happen and it was caused by something my DH unwittingly did on the app. I'm the one who books our travel and he did not know (or realize the significance of) his Latitudes No. So, unbeknownst to me, he got a new number. This "demoted" him from Platinum to newbie. The small extra charge was caused by him loosing his Platinum discount on already purchased shore excursions. Ask your traveling companions if they (teens?) if they have been playing around in the app.

Ick. I think it would give me chemotherapy flashbacks!

I would really like to see more overnights/2 days in ports. That would really entice me to book. It's much easier to put together B2B2B's and longer if you consider all cruise lines but then, of course you have to be willing to switch ships and spend the occasional day or two in hotels.

We had the opposite thing happen. Looked at my booking just before we left for Europe and, very strangely, it showed Premium Plus (to the tune of $500+ each) as a "purchased item". I never purchased it, never paid for it, never put it in my cart, never looked at it twice. What the heck? I remembered the recent incident where a woman put something in her cart but the never actually purchased it and then had her reservation cancelled without notice. When she showed up at the pier she was denied boarding. So I was concerned. Caused us a considerable amount of anxiety since we did not have time to sort it out before leaving and were going to be at sea on a 12 day Celebrity cruise right up until the day before we were to embark on our NCL cruise so it would not be possible for NCL to contact us on the other ship. We have a good PCC so left it in her hands, brought plenty of paperwork showing "payment complete" and hoped for the best. All okay at the pier but the stress it caused was not nice.

We have done NY to Bermuda a few times over the years and are booked again this fall. The crossing can be rough or calm or somewhere in between. It is the open Atlantic so not possible to predict. Ya pays ya money and ya takes ya Dramamine!

We took the bus ride up Mt. Dalsnibba and thought it was very worthwhile. (I booked it ahead of time on the local website but it has been a few years so I don't remember the details on that.) The scenery up on the mountain was very different, especially when you get up high enough for everything to be snow covered. The bus stopped at several overlooks and then we had some time at the top before re-boarding the bus. I still remember the fun we had with a large family group that was from a tropical country and had never seen snow before. We showed them how to pack a snowball. I think saying that cruising the fjord is "better" is accurate simply because fjord scenery is pretty impossible to beat! But the bus up the mountain was also beautiful and well worth doing.

If you want to actually get into the Statue of Liberty without a huge line plan to be on the first boat over in the morning.

That is what we almost always do too. The $90 snack I was remembering in my earlier post was a very little town on a Norwegian fjord cruise. Might have been Flam or Geiranger. There were very few options and no convenience stores. (I would be willing to bet the prices were lower on days when there was no ship in port too.) If we walked a few blocks away in that town we would have been in the forest, lol. But I totally agree with the point you are making.

We did find it accurate overall. I think their intention is to give a fix on what tourists would be paying for things, which could differ from "cost of living" if you were a resident? Agree that Japan is far less expensive than it was years ago. Have not been to South Africa so can't have an opinion on that.

Veering back to the actual subject . . . When we were off the ship at a port stop in Norway (the second most expensive country in the world after Switzerland) we were getting hungry. Walked by a few restaurants and perused the posted menus outside their doors. A cheese board with a couple of glasses of ordinary wine would be $90 USD. We looked at each other and said, "well, I'm not THAT hungry, lol!" Did we wish we had snagged a couple of sandwiches off the buffet before we left the ship? YES! Bear in mind that Scandinavian food is not one of your great cuisines. Being hungry for a couple of hours never killed anyone so we waited until it was time to go back on the ship and assault the buffet.

Since we are now completely off the subject and have somehow landed at McDonalds, I thought I'd ask my "Fellow Travelers" (a la Wotters World) if you are familiar with The Big Mac Index? It's an informal measure of how expensive various countries are to visit. We've found it pretty accurate. https://www.statista.com/statistics/274326/big-mac-index-global-prices-for-a-big-mac/

Just making a guess about the older man filling his Pringles can with rolls at dinner. Looks like an established habit since he came prepared. I'm guessing he has a medical condition requiring bland food and he may have to eat smaller amounts frequently or need a bit of something bland in the middle of the night. As for the butter, he could just put it in his cabin fridge.

Here's another factor some may not consider: When you have been away traveling in foreign countries for a LONG time you do start to miss some familiar foods from home. After being in Europe for a month on one trip we wanted the kind of big dinner salads that were (back then) just not available in Italy so we went to the Venice Hard Rock Cafe. I also stopped into a McDonald's on our first trip to Paris one morning hoping to get an adequate amount of coffee instead of those tiny cups. I saw they were using the same size coffee cups we have in America so I got excited and went in. Nope - they gave me a cup that was only half full, lol. I had to order 3 more cups of coffee to get my usual fix.

Have to add to my post above that I ALWAYS make it a point to drink the local wine because frequently they have very nice wine that is not exported or, if it is exported, it has been "molested" by our FDA so as to be unrecognizable. Why does the FDA imagine that wine needs to have preservatives added? Hello! It's WINE - it is alcoholic and carries no germs.

I think some of this may depend on where you live. I can get virtually any kind of really good ethnic cuisine in New York City. (Frankly, the pizza here is much better than I've had in Rome and I like the American version of Carbonara better, but that's one's just personal choice.) However, sampling the local cuisine would be a much higher priority if I moved to a rural area that was short on good and varied ethnic restaurants.

We were on the Viva recently. In Dubrovnik a shuttle was provided ($15 r/t I think?) and dropped off and picked up right in front of the gate to the old city - very convenient and right where you would want to be. Our port stop was in Salerno, not Naples on the recent Viva Cruise. I can say from previous cruises that, if you actually dock in Naples, you would not need any kind of shuttle. You can walk directly into Naples from the pier and, if you want to go to Capri, the ferry is right next to the ship (so no need to pay NCL for an excursion to Capri).

I would totally agree with this post. I think the OP would like the Bliss or the Viva. Personally, I also have a soft spot for the little Spirit.

This has been our experience as well. Flying into places known for scrutiny (New Zealand/Australia) or draconian law enforcement (China, Singapore) I have brought them in the original bottles and not brought any obscure herbal supplements just to be on the safe side. Never any problem at all anywhere in Europe.

Spain is a very popular vacation spot for northern Europeans, particularly the English. I would check the dates of the UK half term breaks.

Specialty dining reservations can be made 125 before your sail date if you are in a club balcony or Platinum Latitudes or above. 120 days otherwise. Entertainment can be booked 21 days in advance.

Maybe some confusion is because Amsterdam has had trouble docking cruise ships due to low water levels. Apparently they had to turn large ships away but it seemed to be a separate issue from imposing limits going forward.

We had comedians on our recent Med cruise on the Viva. Surprised me (pleasantly) as it has not been the norm on European sailings for the reasons that Julig22 explained. I think it was because the cruise lines are leaning into less expensive entertainers now. We also had a couple of main theater shows that were just one vocalist.

Yes, the list is growing. And cruisers are particularly unwelcome because we don't spend as much as land tourists and the environmentalists hate cruise ships. As you say, the size of the newer ships doesn't help. I want to think that this is just a surge in post-pandemic demand since people couldn't travel for a couple of years. But there are more permanent factors too. Large numbers of folks are able to work remotely and there are a lot of travelers from newly prosperous nations that have jumped into the market. I don't see a solution but (selfishly) I am grateful that I was able to see these places before they became overtouristed. We were even fortunate to spend some time in the Cinque Terra before it was discovered. (Yeah, I'm pretty old, lol.)

Yes, peak foliage in NYC is usually right around Halloween. It would be a week or so before that in most of New England, so second half of October is the time I would pick. Weather here is usually quite nice in October and it is usually one of our drier periods. Weather can never be guaranteed though.