2bc cruisers

It was an option in February. 

La cucina is our favorite specialty restaurant lately.  I really like their menu from start to dessert.
my hubs won’t step foot in moderno.  I really liked the salad bar, meats were meh, but it’s been years.  We had a poor experience there, that was the final straw for DH.  To be fair, the manager, I have no idea who it was anymore, tried very hard to make it right.  Sent a treat to our room, refunded our meal voucher.  Still, it’s a no go for us.  Plenty of other options.  
and I’m not an Olive Garden fan. 
 

Try clicking on this symbol in your app.for the daily. 

So many wonderful beach islands to choose from, you can’t really go wrong, if the ship has one stop you don’t care for, enjoy the ship while others are on shore.  my personal favorite islands include Saint Maarten- great beaches close to the pier,  Aruba nice soft sand, large beach, easy to get around independently, St Thomas, beautiful beaches, and if you can get to the National park on St. John, do it!  Grand Cayman, another easy island for independent plans, great stirrup Cay (GSC) everything is RIGHT there!  I like Cozumel too, shopping, & beaches.  Keep in mind the tender ports (grand cayman, GSC) get cancelled more often than docked ports r/t wind causing safety tendering issues.  And tendering can be a PITA. 
Me personally, I’ve never had a bad cruise.  I’ve missed ports, had excursions cancelled, but never a bad cruise.  Do your research, know what costs extra, what needs reservations, as above, read the reviews, watch the YouTube videos and manage expectations.  Sounds like a wonderful time going with family, happy planning. 

That looks like a great itinerary!    Enjoy. 

Wow.  
OP, I’m enjoying your review.  Thank you for giving a glimpse of your vacation experiences.  We are trying msc for our first time in 2 weeks so I’ve been reading all I can to get a perspective. 

Nice!  

In a couple of weeks we are trying MSC then booked back with NCL  We’ve (not recently), tried HAL👍👍👎, celebrity 👍, CCL👎, RCCL👍, we come back to NCL.  I am hoping to cheat on ncl with the icon after the prices come out of the stratosphere.  That ship I won’t even care where it’s going.  Not sure the other half will appreciate it, but looks fun. 

Early summer will have more waterfalls, ie snowmelt visible.  Spring and early fall are potential northern lights viewing.  I’ve only been in Sept. was stunningly beautiful, did see northern lights. I’d love to go in early June to see more of the waterfall type views. 
 

I really enjoy the salmon at LaCucina.  I’d take salmon over beef any day.  
 

we do cagneys for a small filet with yummy mushrooms, chocolate cake which is always way too rich to finish, but so yummy.

and la cucina for whatever sounds good, but mostly the salmon. 
 

My stomach likes simple. 

Nice looking pool!  Sigh….

Very nice review all the way through.  Thank you.  I really enjoyed your pictures. 

21 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

The weather has been pretty amazing! It rained in Olden pretty much all day and it rained in Tórshavn where I wasn’t dressed warmly enough. I still loved that port and we got to see those three stunning rainbows.  There were a couple of drops of rain in Ísafjordur but they were inconsequential. 
 

I’m really grateful that we only missed one port and that we made it to Svalbard. 
 

Which ports are on your itinerary?

 

I love that cake buying is a top priority! You’re doing it right! The coffee has been wonderful too.

 

Just a little tip: it’s so windy that an umbrella likely wouldn’t be useful. Pack a waterproof rain jacket with a hood that tightens around your face and make sure you have waterproof footwear.  The lightweight hiking boots I bought for this trip have been excellent. 
 

I wish I had packed a lightweight Merino wool long sleeve base layer shirt. 

Thank you for affirming my shopping list 😉 A base layer merino is the one item I am lacking.  I believe all the other essentials are within my closets (I am a hiker) I will give our rain jackets a good look to be sure they have drawstrings on the hood.  
The ports:  embark in Reykjavik, Isafjordur, Akureyri, Seydisfjordur, Djupivogur, Tromso, Harstad, Alesund, Bergen, Lerwick, Edinburgh, Southhampton.  I am the planner. I’ve booked 4 shore excursions, I have some notes and plans for the other ports. Yes, I’m excited for the adventure. Oh and on my shopping list I have chocolates, licorice, something of wool for me, and a troll of some sort for my daughter. 

I just have to chime in here…YVRteacher, You have had some wonderful weather…yeah, yeah, I saw the sideways rain pics and the swells.  But Geez, the sun peeking out in so many places looks wonderful.!  I am with the 9/7 sailing, following along looking for tips and hints.  You’ve shared many I hope to take advantage of.  Honestly, cake buying in port is top in my list.  😂. Thank you for your many reviews.

Another vote…Love your pictures!  
I am getting a tad nervous about the food situation.  Hubs has early dementia, each trip I book is… hope this goes well, it might be our last one.  But…. Forewarned is forearmed, right?  On the bright side, Iceland looks so beautiful!  
I WILL be prepared to purchase treats at ports.  
 

Is there a crepe station in the buffet at dinner?  

OP thank you for this post, I’ve gained some good insights for our Sept visit.  We will be adding the Princess street gardens to our plans. 

I’d like to hear more about your reindeer plans.  What port, ncl or private tour? 

I had to google the brain hemorrhage recipe… that’s a hard nope.  “Until it begins to clump and curdle”  

https://www.ncl.com/about/accessible-cruising-tender-ports

im cruising 9/9-23/2023, I’ll be happy to give an updated list of our stops dock/tender after we return.
 

I’m saddened by this.  One of our fav things is after show dessert and coffee/tea. 
darn you ncl, don’t ruin a great thing.  
I will stock my room with fruit and cookies.  for my convenience of course. 

Appetizer from MDR  - spicy cornbread!  Yum, yum.  

Is there a free shuttle from city center to the cruise port?  

I’ve done one. I’d go again tomorrow.  ✌️  November from Copenhagen, several stops, then headed across from Ireland, missed Azores due to winds, made our crossing to Bermuda 7 sea days. 5 was the plan if we’d been able to make azores.  Point being… it might be more sea days in a row than you think. November northern crossing was cold, windy, rainy until about Bermuda, then it was nice weather the rest of the journey to New Orleans.  
My take away… northern route is chilly.  We had wind, waves and rain several days.  Buy the spa pass!  I’d like to try a Mediterranean to Florida crossing.  I’d think the southern route would be warmer, if not dryer and smoother.  

4 hours ago, ski ww said:

Thank you. We are staying at the Best Western Hebron which looks like it's a very short walk from the train station.

Walk wasn’t too bad, we managed w it’s small rollerbags and backpacks. We stayed there in 2019.  Nice hotel, great breakfast. 

That’s a fun site. Thanks for the dreaming link