Travelling2Some

My take is that you might be overthinking it. Just be yourself and walk away from anything you encounter that you don't care for. Longer is always better because a very short cruise is hardly worth the packing and unpacking. Time to leave before you even feel settled and relaxed.

Yes, I was very pleasantly surprised to get the email and see it is good for 2 years. Not sure two years from what date but not going to "look a gift horse in the mouth".

Haha, true enough! But the "nervous" part generally kicks in when trying to get back on time! I must be mellowing out and getting old cause I just canned an excursion I wanted to take because there was too much potential drama.

The odd thing was that they seemed to be well-traveled. However, they went hours away from the port with a completely unvetted, fly-by-night tour guide and they did this in a very chancy country that rarely sees a cruise ship. Very foolish on several counts. Anyone who cruises regularly knows that the media coverage was very unfair to the cruise line.

There always seems to be a "great divide" between cruisers that go just to cruise and those that are primarily sight seers. The first group are happy to float around anywhere (usually the Caribbean) and just relax. They repeat itineraries over and over and they enjoy all-inclusive resorts too. If ports are skipped on one cruise its no biggie to them because they figure they will see it next time (if they wake up in time). Our very best friends are like that. We love 'em but we don't travel with them, lol. Cruisers to whom the itinerary is very important have signed on to see the world - or at least the sights in those ports. Our favorite thing is exploring so We pick places of historic and cultural interest that we have never been to. We avoid duplicating trips because we have done our research and saw what we wanted to the first time. We are retired and don't travel to relax since we do that at home for free. Sight-seeing types are not "nervous" simply because they want to get off the boat promptly. I don't call people who want to sleep late and eat breakfast on vacation "lazy gluttons" even though it's not my preference. There are different kinds of cruisers. Nothing wrong with either group.

That has been the "new way" That seems to be the new norm as long as you don't book basic economy.

Thanks very much. That is a very convenient drop off point for Seville sightseeing. Anybody have experience with the Granada drop off?

We have booked NCL's "On Your Own" shore excursions to both Seville and Grenada. Would love to know what the drop off/pick up point will be so we can better plan our sightseeing. Has anyone who has taken these NCL excursions advise? TIA

We just got $1,000 ($500 each) in FCC to be used on a future cruise in the next two years. I called our PCP at NCL to ask if we could move up to a better cabin. That math didn't actualy work out (my mistake) but she very helpfully offered to make an email request for FCC since the price of our inside cabin had dropped considerably. She said it could take a week or so to hear from them but we got the email approving the FCC the same day. Very happy as I wasn't expecting much since we were well past final payment.

I got it too. The information could be a tad more specific, lol. "Europe" is a pretty big place and they are not really telling us what the real problem is. Big surprise there, of course, lol. Historically, the only place I remember being very prone to mosquitos on previous trips was Florence. Screens never really caught on in Europe though, so if you are staying at a B&B or charming inn, that is good to know.

This is a very annoying NCL thing. I understand they don't want people booking overlapping excursions (are we really that dumb?) but there must be a better way. On the one hand, you feel pressure to book a popular excursion well in advance but I think most of us still want to be able to see if something we would have preferred pops up later.

Agree! We enjoyed Warnemunde so much that we didn't even bother going into Rostock. Lovely little seaside town and you just walk off the ship into it so no stress. Given the breathtaking price of NCL's excursion to Berlin (and the prospect of most of the day wasted in transit) I would rather take that money and use it for a couple of nights in a Berlin hotel either before or after the cruise as Traveling Man suggested.

"Small Group Hiking in Paklenica National Park" is offered by Celebrity from the port of Zadar, Croatia. Has anyone done this excursion or heard comments about it from fellow passengers? I can't find anything definite about it. Specifically, how strenuous is it? Thanks for any info. I booked it but having second thoughts.

"Small Group Hiking in Paklenica National Park" is offered by Celebrity from the port of Zadar, Croatia. Has anyone done this excursion? I can't find anything definite about it. Specifically, how strenuous is it? Thanks for any info. I booked it but having second thoughts.

We had one of those last time and, unfortunately, they kept late hours. I think many new cruisers do not realize that cabin doors are heavy and naturally slam hard enough to shake the cabins next door if you don't hold back on them. Might be a good idea for the cruise lines to publish this in the dailies or make a few announcements about it in the first day or two of the cruise.