lepidoptera

I feel like NCL usually has the Epic spend the summer in the Med, then spends the winter doing the Southern Caribbean runs from San Juan. However, next winter the Viva will be in San Juan. NCL must have decided it made sense to keep the Epic over in Europe, I know very many American’s really hate her bathroom set up and maybe they are hoping to do better with her being in Europe. Even though the Canaries are not a frequent cruise port on NCL or other cruise lines marketing to Americans, they are a very popular destination in Europe. I believe cruise lines like P&O sail there frequently, there are ferries and car ferries from the Spanish mainland and they are a frequent stop on transatlantic cruises. So it is very possible that the other cruise lines have agreements that favor them and that is when NCL could get in both in the Canaries or in other ports. Also NCL is competing against both package holidays and the other cruise lines, they might feel like they won’t be able to fill the ship the whole winter. Also I think NCL is tending to push more and more into the shoulder season for the seasonal cruises. My TA on her (cancelled by the cruise line) was supposed to be in December, which is very late for a ship to be crossing the Atlantic. I am sure NCL has her stopping Med cruises comparatively late and starting up early compared to the other cruise lines, especially since they won’t have to reposition her to Europe. I did stop in the Canaries on my RCL TA this year. We weren’t going there originally, but deserted due to weather. I did like them a lot, and would go back.

For me it depends. The club balcony suite is bigger than a balcony-but mostly bigger in the bathroom. I believe the Jade has tubs in the clubs-which I despise. Not a bath person and since my eyesight is so poor without my glasses it is hard for me to navigate getting over the lip of the bath especially in rough seas. Also on your ship the clubs are on deck 11. Deck 12 is the pool, buffet etc. I prefer being between passenger floors, if I had to choose a room above or below a public space, I would want to be able to choose which room (for example choose a room below the spa vs under the pool) you can’t do with the upgrade. However, you may love taking baths, or think the extra sinks to have 2 people getting ready is worth it. You may decide being 1 floor away from the action is plus.

I stayed at Hyatt Place Seattle Downtown pre-cruise. An easy walk to the Space Needle. Cruise day I also walked to the cruise port, it was less than a mile and no uphill. After the cruise I stayed at Cedarbrooke lodge, which is near the airport. Lovely hotel, with fantastic rooms and a very good restaurant on site. Only downside is if you are doing things in Seattle the ride in and back gets expensive.

Lactaid and other tummy meds to deal with the rich food. Bobby pins and small hair ties. I ended up putting some in my travel toiletries bag cause I was always forgetting them/not bringing enough. My hair is curly and down to mid thigh, and I really have to make sure I have it under control with the wind on a cruise ship. Floaty security straps for your glasses/sunglasses.

I am glad you are enjoying your first transit. The weather looks fantastic and I am happy they adjusted so you are still transiting during daylight.

No. Transport is airport to cruise ship to airport. Unless you specifically request otherwise NCL will schedule you to fly in day of cruise and out the day the cruise ends, no hotel needed.

Oh no! I hope they get it fixed soon!

Following! This sounds like such a fantastic cruise. I had a longish itinerary that I was very much looking forward to on the Sun that was canceled in the dark days of cruise shutdown and I really want to cruise the locks. I am always especially interested in other solo cruisers reviews of things.

Just adding my thoughts to everyone else’s: In my opinion the layout is better than an inside cabin. Since the bed is off to the side instead of in the middle of the cabin you can move around easily versus having to shuffle around. The bed does not have the crack down the middle of mattress since it cannot separate. I know some people think they are too small to cruise in but I find them incredibly well designed and preferable to a regular inside or ocean view. I like that people have to key card into the studio area. It keeps it quieter since there aren’t as many people passing through and having drunken conversations at 2 am. Depending on what ship you are sailing on they may have a virtual porthole. I thought that was a little nicer than tuning the tv to the bridge cam since it was a side view. When comparing pricing make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Whenever I have booked a studio, free at sea is selected automatically where for the inside it is not automatically so initially it looks cheaper. Once you add on free as sea it on to an inside, often it become more expensive than the studio fare. Studio lounge. I generally do not spend a ton of time here. It does have a nice coffee machine that can make lattes etc. On my pre-covid cruise very often the officers on the ship came and made their coffee there. Also has nice snacks. On early port days I would just grab food from the lounge instead of fighting my way through the buffet.

I was also on the NCL Star Iceland and Greenland sailing. I did catch covid so I missed the Iceland ports, so can only speak to Greenland. Greenland was beautiful and I did enjoy it very much. However, 2 of the Greenland ports that we were scheduled to go to were very, very small. I feel like the did not have the infrastructure to have that many people there. I did luck out in Nanortalik and got to go on the fantastic Tasermiut Fjord tour that NCL had as an excursion-there was 5 seats in the boat and 2 trips-so 10 people total. There were many people who hadn’t been able to book anything, and were trying to book things on land but those sold out very quickly as well. If you say I will book something independently, people did that but then lost the reservations when NCL bought everything out. In Nuuk I was scheduled to do a boat tour, however the company that NCL contracted with had a broken boat. So they ended up having to kick people off of that excursion all day. I again was lucky and got on a walking tour of Nuuk. Even though I was happy to get on a tour I wasn’t impressed with the guide. The cruise before our was also supposed to be a Greenland tour, however ended up going to Norway due to weather. We missed 2 out of 6 ports, due to weather. I am not saying don’t go, just wanted to bring up some of the difficulties specific to the itinerary. I would however recommend if you go to book an inside or oceanview. It was way too cold to spend time on my balcony. There was no scenery due to being in fog all the way over to Greenland and back. The curtains do not do a good job of blocking out the light, mine had several holes that let light in. Also I could here the fog horn in my room constantly. All in all I slept poorly until I got moved to an oceanview isolation cabin.

Deck 9 is where it is at! I’m in 9594, I’m out and about for pre dinner drinks but here is a photo I took earlier of my balcony. If this is your cabin I would be happy to take more pictures on a sea day. I was nervous being this close to the Centrum, but no noise or smoke in my room (caveat very laid back, relaxed cruise). It is just what I hoped for balcony wise. Being on the back side of the hump protects from the wind and on the shade side for the transatlantic.

I will be on this sailing as well. I just got my negative test. I had tested at home outside the 2 days just for my own sake before flying. Had to wait for my hotel room to be ready, and didn’t want to be that person taking a test online in the lobby. Went for a walk, room was ready when I came back. Then I had a bit of a hard time getting into my navica account but all set now.

I got an email from the airline exactly 30 days out, which was 28 days before I left. I missed the email, and only got the info when I called NCL about 25 ish days out. I never got an email from NCL and it only showed up in my cruise documents after I won my upgrade. I was very happy tho-direct flights from Boston to Reykjavik.

I think the photo is quite zoomed in (or possibly taken from a drone) and that might be affecting things. This is the Skarfabakki cruise port in Reykjavik, and the islands are much further out than they look in this photo and there isn’t anything super high nearby. The colors of the scenery and other things in the photo look correct compared to when I was there a few weeks ago, so I don’t think it is super edified.

Thanks that is super helpful. So many hoops to jump through-I am in the process of submitting to my health insurance company for the paxlovid, so I can get denied and get the travel insurance to cover that.

I was just (released and flew home yesterday) isolated with COVID on my Iceland and Greenland trip on the Star. Did you have to submit something to your insurance before you can submit to NCL? I looked at my insurance (booked with NCL this time, normally I go independent) and it didn’t look like the policy would provide anything for being isolated.

NCL does have less than 200% sometimes and no supplement rarely. It all depends on how well the cruise is selling. Usually if I have seen the supplement come off a cruise it is after final payment. Some times there is a cruise before final payment that isn’t selling well that they will have discounted supplement.

I had priced it out and decided to book it for my cruise next week. The customer service person said that my booking wasn’t eligible 🤷‍♀️. I did complete my main objective-getting a confirmation for my flights on Friday. Not sure if I want to play agent roulette right now or just leave it and see what happens on the cruise.

If you want to be physically active- I recommend booking tour(s) with Ketchikan kayak company. I took a kayaking tour with them last year and it was fantastic. I know they also have a bike excursion and depending on timing you may be able to do both. For Juneau I would probably go to the Mendenhall glacier and go hiking there. If you look on independent websites you may be able to find guided hikes or canoe/kayak trips. I had a hard time with availability last year, and wasn’t booking a week out. ISP doesn’t have a ton of outside tours at it, it is a port specifically developed for the cruise lines and not a town, so their isn’t a ton there. I did whale watching there and then took a walk. You can look for excursions in Hoonah, Alaska. That is the nearest town and some companies would pick you up to take you on excursions.

I’ve not sailed the Epic yet (had 2 cancelled cruises on her) but internet has worked in all the studio rooms I have sailed in.

I swear I’ve seen posts saying that NCL charterers planes to Papeete when they are have it as the start/end of a cruise. But I’ve never done it myself so I might be imagining things.

I booked a red eye for my Alaska cruise last year for the same reason. Then AA changed my flights around so it left an hour and half later out of Seattle, which meant I would miss the 6 am connecting flight so they switched me to a later one. That change meant I ended up getting home at 2 pm instead of 8 am. I would still do it again though.

Hoping against hope others are getting the dreaded cruise is on hold and time is running out message. I’ve been worrying about the transpacific cruise for a few months since it stops in Russia but was hoping since it isn’t until 2024 that they would leave it until things got closer. Crossing fingers for IT problems not a cancellation.

I agree I wasn’t impressed with the sides at Cagney’s on my last cruise (September on the Encore). I had the truffle mashed potatoes and I thought they were horrible and even smelled unappetising. The appetisers (shrimp cocktail and tomato bisque), lamb and crème brûlée I had were all very good though. Next time I won’t order any sides I think.

For most restaurants booking for 2 works-it doesn’t work at Teppanyaki and any restaurants where they charge per diner. Every specialty that charges a la carte you can book for 2 and there won’t be any issues. There aren’t any tables for 1 anyhow.