luv-2-travel

Hey there...nice to see another FOD joining our rollcall....I was wondering if my friend traveling with me and I were the only 2!!!

Hi my fellow friend - is the only board for this cruise? I was just being snoopy to see what all the scoop that was going on - our board for the South America Panama is very quiet at this time - not too long before you go

JoAnn

Did you text while at sea?

If so, did the ship charge you for that?

Thanks

Yes I did text while at sea and the ship did not charge

However there are sometimes at sea where you will not get a signal - just be patient and keep trying

Thanks to all the contributors for your various tips.

 

If any of you had taken your own phone or bought an international one for the trip, or just got a SIM card over there, did it work for you?

For anyone who got a SIM card in Barcelona, did you have any issues in other countries like Greece and Turkey?

 

Would love to hear how each one managed. Thanks!

I took my cell phone and the only call I made was in Barcelona and I did not have any issues - it was not my intention for calls but for text messages

I purchased an unlimited package from my cell provider which did all the zones we were travelling except Turkey for that I had to purchase another zone package - it worked great - only a few times during sailing did we lose satellite service but not enough for any inconvenience

The internet on the ship was very good

Hope this helps - I did not buy any additional sim cards

It was so nice to hang out with you, JoAnn! Love the idea of a Castaway Canal Cruise!

Keep me posted as to what month and year would be in your budget for this cruise - we are open to any time

Love your pictures!! Thank you for posting the link to them. We will be on the Spirit next summer and your pictures make the wait even harder! Did you enjoy the cruise in general? I will have two teenagers and a 10 year-old, so am hoping that they will enjoy seeing Europe for the first time. I didn't know that the ship keeps our passports -- that is a good detail to know ahead of time. Not thrilled about handing it over (can't imagine having to replace it to be able to fly home to the USA!).

Thank you - I will be posting more - check back in a month

The cruise was amazing. Thanks to all our great new Sunshine Castaway and Spirit Cruiser friends that we meet along the way. We also booked this cruise last minute as Carnival cancelled ours three weeks prior to sailing -

We only took 3 tours (Cinque Terre, Naples/Almafi Coast and Izmir) and the balance of the cities we did on our own - (quite easy to do) might be worth considering as the tours can get very long especially in the hot summer - that way you can go back to the ship at your own leisure

I am sure the kids will enjoy Europe - so different than home

I did not have an issue with the cruise ship keeping our passports - we have done this before - we took a copy of the first two pages, had them laminated and carried them with us at all times for identification - we also kept a copy in the room safe

:):D - I'm still smiling when I talk about this trip

I wrote a little review of the Spirit on my blog and included a couple pics. You may find it helpful, or not at all helpful.

 

http://www.budgetfairytale.com/2013/05/all-aboard-norwegian-spirit.html

Great Blog Mindy - really enjoyed our time with you and Tim and hope we will meet on future vacations - we are interested in the Panama Canal as well - possible Castaway future cruise?

JoAnn

Wow.

 

I'm working on 2015, your photos are making me wish I had done this route for 2014. LOL. Your shots are amazing. I'd have a hard time picking which ones to blow up & frame.

I took over 2000 shots and had great difficulty narrowing it down to what I posted

I will be adding a few more albums from our trip in the near future -

I'm stumped, how do I look at the pics???

http://bobandjoannstravel.shutterfly.com

that should work

Thank you for this!

Did the pigeons scare/hurt that little boy in Athens?

No - not at all - they were feeding them - I would have freaked out - do not like flying things -

Well hi there neighbor, looking forward to those pics. We're actually leaving on July 13 for 5 nights in London then 3 nights in Barcelona, the 12 Day Med. on the Spirit and just in case we're not tired or worn out, the same day we dock in Venice with Spirit, we hop on the Jade for the 7 day Greek Isles and then fly home from Venice. Going to need a break after this one lol.

As this is our first time in Europe, any tips or tricks would be helpful, thanks for the best wishes.

 

cheers...the Ump...:D

I have now finished the pictures - you can view them at bobandjoannstravel.shutterfly.com

Awesome! This is the only excursion we're doing with the ship -- it's a bit pricey, so I'm glad to hear it's worth it! :D

We also just returned from the Spirit sailing and did the Cinque Terre through the cruise line - yes it was pricey but really enjoyed it - unfortunately the Walk of Love is closed due to a mud slide so you will be ferried to the next village

If you are able to get 4 couples together that are interesed in this tour you can get a better rate from "Joe Banana Tours"

as you are travelling in the bus you will be able to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa -

From kapitman: "Chef's Table - AMAZING...9 courses 5 wines (all you can drink) almost 4 hour experience and the service and food were OUT OF THIS WORLD! $89 for the experience which includes service charge and an after dinner drink at Champagne Charlie's. I would do this dinner again in a second! (If you have to, skip the other three, do this one and then just eat in the MDR) You can not book this ahead of time. This was our first task as soon as we boarded the ship, but I do know they had availability up to day 2 of the cruise as they had 2 Chef's Table on our 12 day itinerary."

 

We're definitely going to book the Chef's Table as soon as we board, do you or anyone else recall what 2 nights they were held. Rome will probably be our busiest port day and I just can't see us properly enjoying what the chef's table has to offer when exhausted.

Hopefully they will be held on a "sea day" evening.

 

cheers...the Ump...:D

From your close neighbour enjoy your trip. It was very tiring but well worth it.

I am sure you posted in a previous thread but when do you leave. I will be posting some pictures in the next couple of days of our journeys

Enjoy and safe and happy travels