Ken the cruiser

OK, our bags are packed, and we have checked into our flight heading to Quito tomorrow morning by way of Atlanta. So without further to do, I think it's time for Freddie to get this party started! 🕺💃

??? My DW and I buy up to $5000 of AARP gift cards per month to help pay for our PCL cruises. She purchases hers, five $500 gift cards, using her AARP account, and I buy five $500 gift cards using my free AARP Rewards account (even though I'm also a member of my DW's AARP account).

FWIW here is an enhanced timetable for our "northern loop" itinerary which now includes whether a landing will be "wet" or "dry", or zodiac excursions only in the case of Elizabeth Bay. Date Itinerary Arrive Depart 8-Dec Transfer to hotel 8:45 PM 8-Dec JW Marriott Quito 10:00 PM 9-Dec Quito City Tour 9:00 AM 4:00 PM 10-Dec Transfer to pier 11:00 AM Date Port Location Arrive Depart 10-Dec Baltra Island 2:30 PM 10-Dec Daphne Island (no) 5:00 PM 6:00 PM 11-Dec Egas Port (wet) 7:00 AM 12:00 PM 11-Dec Rábida Island (wet) 3:00 PM 7:00 PM 12-Dec Elizabeth Bay (zodiac) 7:00 AM 12:00 PM 12-Dec Tagus Cove (dry) 3:00 PM 7:00 PM 13-Dec Sullivan Bay (dry) 7:00 AM 12:00 PM 13-Dec Bartolomé Island (wet/dry) 1:00 PM 7:00 PM 14-Dec Las Bachas (wet) 7:00 AM 12:00 PM 14-Dec North Seymour Island (dry) 1:00 PM 9:30 PM 15-Dec Puerto Baquerizo (dry) 7:00 AM 12:00 PM 15-Dec Punta Pitt (wet) 3:30 PM 6:00 PM 16-Dec Puerto Ayora (dry) 7:00 AM 7:00 PM 17-Dec Baltra Island 7:00 AM Date Itinerary Arrive Depart 17-Dec Transfer pier to hotel 8:00 AM 17-Dec JW Marriott Quito 3:00 PM 18-Dec Antisana Reserve Tour 8:30 AM 4:30 PM 18-Dec Transfer to airport 6:00 PM 18-Dec Fly back home 11:45 PM

Wow! What an awesome video!!

Thanks again! Using the below link I was able to confirm our 2 stops at San Cristobal Island will be one wet and one dry landing. Punta Pitt will be a wet landing while the stop at Puerto Baquerizo will be a dry landing. https://www.galapagosislands.com/cruises/ship/celebrity-flora

Great!! You are going to have an awesome time!!

We've cruised through the Panama Canal 3 times, once on the HAL Veendam in 2016, then on the Island Princess in 2020, and then on the Caribbean Princess in 2022, and we're currently booked on the HAL Eurodam to go through it again in April 2025, and always in an aft-facing cabin. If there are some available on the itineraries you are currently considering, I would not hesitate to book one of them. Although you might not want to wait too long as they book up quickly. Starting at Page 18 starting at post #440 are some of the views we experienced from our aft-facing cabin on the Caribbean Princess in May 2022 going through the Panama Canal from west to east.

Congratulations! Did you book an aft-facing veranda? For us that's the only way to cruise through the Panama Canal. 😉 Update: Sorry, I just noticed you later mentioned you were on the Nieuw Amsterdam and there isn't any left. We're trying HAL again as well and booked an aft-facing cabin on a PC cruise in Apr 2025 on the Eurodam which there are some left on Deck 6.

Just curious, have you tried booking a PCL Reserve Collection mini suite yet, which includes access to the "any time dining" Reserve Dining Room? We have cruised quite a few times in both Aqua and RC mini-suites, and much prefer dining in the Reserve Dining Room over Blu, whether it's during breakfast, lunch on sea days (which is not available with Blu), or dinner.

And now it's time to start the transition to "cruise mode" as we wait for Freddie to start the show day after tomorrow! 😀

What an awesome video! Thanks for allowing us to come along on your adventure.

Thanks!! That list is super helpful!! 😁

Our Iberian/Iceland TA is a 22-day B2B in July 2025. Thanks @prmssk for answering the Keen question, as we just bought ours and haven't used them yet.

Thanks! Do you by chance remember which stops were the wet landings on your Northern Loop itinerary?

OK, back to Galapagos stuff. After looking back on my photos from 2015, I realized I researched the names of the animals we took pictures of after we got home. So I decided that approach is not going to work with this thread while we are on the Flora. To help with this effort, I found this Wildlife in Galápagos webpage that has most animals found in the Galapagos on one page!

The FAS "Plus" option is an add-on to the regular FAS and is not listed anywhere during the initial booking process. Norwegian's Free at Sea Plus - 1/18/23 (ncl.com) For us paying in US$, it is an extra $49 pp/day on top of the gratuities charge you pay for the FAS Beverage and Dining packages when you book the cruise.

We wear prescription glasses with "clear to dark" transition lens, and they worked just fine when we were there on a HAL cruise back in 2018. No need for snow goggles IMHO.

Sounds great! We're doing the B2B from Reykjavik so we can go to Longyearbyen twice, which hopefully will double our chances of seeing polar bears, at least from the ship that is!! As I mentioned on my Africa thread, we started appreciating what NCL had to offer once we stopped comparing them to X and PCL. If you do decide to book it, don't forget to check out NCL's FAS Plus option. For us it's well worth the extra funds with the inclusion of 2 more specialty dinners for a total of 4, unlimited internet, the extra $50 excursion allotment for the second guest, and all beverages, to include water and Starbucks beverages, which are not included with the regular FAS. The only negative I can think of is that their daily gratuities (DSC) is not included in the FAS and you cannot pay for it with nonrefundable OBC your TA might give you. In our case we got our TA to give us a rebate check instead of the NR OBC they were going to give us for booking the cruise through them.

We do. We’re booked on the NCL Star on a 22-day B2B round trip from Reykjavik to Tromso and back starting the end of May 2025. It’s been on the bucket list for quite a while. We booked it so early we were able to get an aft-facing cabin as well. 😁

Probably not, especially with all those morning and afternoon excursions walks every day! 😁

I have to admit, one reason we enjoyed dining in Blu was because we very seldom, if ever, got heartburn after a meal. We also usually never gained any weight on a cruise dining in Blu, even on ones 30-days or longer. That definitely wasn't the case when we were in a Sky Suite and ate in Lumnae, especially after cruising started back up. But that's just us.

Glad to hear the Blu menu is now including the MDR menu's Classic desserts, such as cheesecake and chocolate cake, on their dessert menu. But then the last time we cruised in Blu was on the Eclipse for 30-days back in April.

Whelp, since I'm not seeing any Moscato or German Riesling on any of the various wine packages, I guess we will stick with the Plus Package for now. But thanks for letting us know!

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For us finding places to cruise where you can see wildlife in their natural habitat can be an awesome experience. In January after this cruise we will continue to get our penguin fix on a 30-day SA cruise with 4 days cruising around the Antarctica Peninsula, where we will hopefully be able to visit the Falkland Islands twice as well as a variety of stops in Argentina and Chile where various types of penguins roam free! 😁 I see you have been to Madagascar. If you look in my below expanded Signature area, you’ll see a Live From thread covering our 38-day B2B on the NCL Jade from Athens to Cape Town by way of Dubai we did last year. We had a fun time on the second leg checking out the Lemurs in Madagascar as well as going on 3 safaris in South Africa, ending in Cape Town with a visit to see some of their penguins.