benel204

Thanks, that's good to know!

Hi Alan, We have no difficulty walking, in fact walk 20+ miles a week. Its the lifting of luggage repeatedly that we want to avoid. Thanks for the heads up about water taxis and will discuss with the hotel the best option when we head to the airport.

Hello, We have spent quite bit of time researching this same question (and have the same desire NOT to handle luggage too much) and here is what we are doing: We have booked a private van through Viator to get from Trieste port to Venice. It is ~$415 for up to 7 people. As we get closer to our cruise date (in May) I will post on cruise critic and see if anyone else wants to join and spit the cost. The transport will take us to Venice central as far as a vehicle can go. One drop off option would be Piazzale Roma, and another drop off option is the San Basilio Terminal. I have tentatively booked 2 hotels, both of which are within 5 min walk of of those stops respectively (one walk would be without bridges). One hotel has offered to arrange a porter to meet us and I believe the cost was EU10 per bag. Both hotels are also nicely located to access the central part of Venice. To get to the airport from the hotel after out stay in Venice, the options are to either take a taxi from Piazzle Roma or San Basilio Terminal (takes about 45-60 minutes we are told), or water taxi directly from the hotels ~EU130 (25-30 minutes). We will probably opt for the water taxi just for one last fun experience of Venice.

Thanks for your reply. Forgive my ignorance, but what does the ship "do" during the 4 days or 2 days they are "cruising the big A"? Are they cruising back and forth in a particular spot? What can you see or experience from the ship, assuming no one is getting off?

What a wonderful trip report -- thank you for posting so many impressions and photos. Really has inspired us to seriously consider a South America cruise + Antarctica. I see that some ship itineraries include 2-4 days docked (?) at Antarctica peninsula. Are there several excursions one can do from there? That wasn't clear in reading through your posts. Or perhaps others know. We are looking at HAL or possibly NCL Star. Just starting the research for a cruise in Dec or January.

Our TA is a wholesaler that also sells tires, wine, and hot dogs..... 🙂 Turns out that booking our NCL cruise through them meant we could not be in the 'bid to upgrade' thing (an agreement they made with NCL).

Thanks for that perspective. As I mentioned earlier, we were not able to participate in the upgrade bid because our TA does not, so we went ahead and paid for the difference between what we'd already paid in full for CB and the Haven suite we are now confirmed. I'm just wondering though, if the fares for higher category Haven suites drop, can we can pay the difference again between our current (lowest category Haven) to a higher Haven category? Not sure how many times NCL allows passengers to do a cabin switch (to higher category) assuming we are willing to pay the difference. Right now there are still plenty of Haven cabins available (97 days from sailing).

Thanks for this information. Do you know: can the 100 shares be in a mutual fund or ETF?

This is such helpful information, thank you for posting the pics. We booked through a TA where we are NOT able to participate in the bid to upgrade. We ended up just calling our TA after final payment and paying for the difference between our Club Balcony and the lowest Haven suite. We may try to upgrade again (paying the difference) to a larger of the Haven suites (if NCL will allow), but only if the Haven prices come down some (99 days to sailing and no change in Haven fares, whereas big drops in Club Balcony).

Thanks -- I'll start looking into that.

Thanks for that information. I'm curious from whom you were able to select your tours. Was it through the ship? Or private. I would like to do some more research on the overall costs including the tours. Your experience is really so helpful --- again, thank you for taking the time to chronicle everything.

Oh wow, very interesting. Looks like we would want to factor that in. In looking at the maps, we were wondering if we could somehow manage a flight to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Did you consider that? Perhaps out of Saigon/Ho-chi-min City?

Thanks for the input regarding heat. That is great to hear it was pleasant. Another question: I see that you had an overnight in a Hanoi hotel. And that some people did an overnight at another port as well. Was that because of the distance to the sites you wanted to see with Hanoi as your base? I'm curious about the distances to travel from the ports in order to see sites. It looks like your party covered a lot (with the help of the tour guides).

Thanks kebrown, I don't think I noticed that.

Thanks, that's what I was thinking. Another question I had about doing this cruise was: heat. I am not a fan of hot and humid and was concerned I would wilt doing any tours. I was inspired to see your photos and everyone not wilting. I've researched the average temps and humidity and thought Dec or January would be tolerable. If I can handle Hawaii temps/humidity, so how much worse is it in these port stops? Was heat and humidity a damper for you?

I was searching today on Celebrity boards to see if anyone had done Celebrity's Singapore to Hong Kong -- and wow, I hit the mother lode with this fantastic trip report!! Thank you @Miaminice for answering so many of the questions I had, and several I never thought of. I have saved your report for more detailed study. We are looking at this same itinerary in December 2024 or January 2025. I would appreciate your (and anyone's) thoughts on selecting the Singapore to Hong Kong route, vs the reverse. I've always wanted to tour Singapore, so when we see (before or after the cruise) is still up in the air.

To offer additional feedback..... we've done 3 Alaska cruises (we live in Seattle and all 3 were "last minute). I could easily do an Alaskan cruise every year (maybe twice!). To add to the excellent suggestions, I would recommend these excursions: a) Yes a whale watch boat tour in Juneau While you will probably see a whale or two from the big cruise ship, just about any boat that takes you out in Juneau will offer more up close viewing. Some days are better than others but still fun. These tours often combine with a visit to Mendenhall Glacier, which is receding, but still a great one-hour visit (and excellent visitor center). b) We loved the helicopter ride to a glacier from Skagway. And I'd never been on a helicopter. They prepare you with safety videos, outer-wear and glacier boots. You're on the glacier about 45 minutes .... very interesting and well organized. c) We also enjoyed the small float plane to fly over the Misty Fjords from Ketchican. On other visits we did: Train ride in Skagway --beautiful, the only thing it's the same scenery going up as down. So a nice nap down. The town itself is pretty much just 30+ jewelry shops (not kidding) owned by the cruise lines. Hike (more of a nature walk) and river float in Skagway -- that was fun, very easy activity day. In Ketchican a very fun e-bike and lite hike -- particularly enjoyable when dozens of salmon are hopping upstream, and eagles everywhere. But it depends on time of summer. I also heartily vote for any cruise that will go to Glacier Bay, you'll get your "glacier money's worth." If you do fly to Anchorage, you might also see if there is local vessel that will take you to Whittier and College Fjords. On our HOA cruise, they did Glacier Bay, and then the next day College Fjords, which was multiple glaciers --- amazing! Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks for that information and for sharing your experience.

Thank you for posing your question about the Vibe. We will be on Escape in May in the Mediterranean, our first NCL cruise. This is a very port-intensive itinerary. I know I would never go the main pool/hot tub area precisely because of crowds, but do like the idea of a quiet place to relax in the evening after a day of sightseeing. I'm curious, how late is the Vibe accessible, and are the servers/bartenders available in the Vibe in the evening? And how about morning (don't need a bartender, but breakfast pastries and tea would be nice)? There are some ports that we want to see from a forward viewing spot as the ship is arriving (e.g. Amalfi coast, Malta). In addition to alcohol, what else is available, drink and food-wise?

We have a whirlpool tub at home as well, which we use at most 3x a year. Not tub people.😅

Thanks for sharing Laszlo. While I don't anticipate we'll do much swimming on this Med cruise (too cool in May for the ports), that's a great idea.

On the deck plan that would be the non-Vibe, non-haven area looks like. Ok will make note of that. Thank you!

I understand we would not be able to enter Thermal suite unless we had a pass, correct?

Thanks CaptainBazz, Noted

Thanks gizfish, for your thoughts. I was thinking that we could go up to the Haven lounge for seating on a sofa or chair to read. I wonder about the 2 chairs in the room. They don't look like they'd be too comfortable. Regarding how to use the tub space, at a minimum we will use it to store dirty clothes I guess. It's a lot of wasted space for us.