Andros

On 4/13/2024 at 3:09 PM, schmoopie17 said:

I seem to recall when he disembarked in NY after our TA in 2022, we got our bags, waved at the customs guy, he waved back, and we were on our way. 

Certainly easier than getting on the airport transfer bus for sure!  😏

Enjoy your cruise!  We'll be on the west bound trip after you.  Hope you have joined the roll call for your sailing.  Seems that group is quite active. 

May I suggest joining your Roll Call for this sailing....

You can also look at Europe ports of call for help/suggestions for things to do and how to get around. 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/8-europe/ 

Enjoy your cruise..  🙂

Thanks to the OP for this question.  It helped answer plenty of questions about an upcoming flight in the late fall.  Though I booked through AA the flight is operated by BA.  We will be sticking with our economy seats but elated to have a non-stop flight(8 vs 16-20 hours).  Gone are the days of multiple flights/connections to reduce cost,or because our airport was not International at the time. Enjoy your time in Venice. 

The only way I am aware of is a 6 day or more cruise.  It is the only way to acquire latitude points. 

5 hours ago, UKstages said:

REFCC-25 = 25% off 2024 transatlantic and transpacific sailings 

 

book by 3/22/24

 

sail through 12/31/24

 

can't be certain about the "re," but my best guess is that it stands for "repositioning."

Yes, this is the promotion I booked under. 

3 hours ago, 7Contraveler said:

How did you get this code?

Not totally sure of your question or who it was for?  All the codes/promotions you get with your booking are at the top of the confirmation invoice(PDF) they email you.  Hope this helps.

Did not see this one on list....  REFCC-25   Anyone know what it is?  I know we got 25%off transatlantic sailings. Also had a 10% off credit for a canceled sailing in the fall of 2022.  It was getting ready to expire at the end of February.  It was really hard to say no to this offer. 

Thanks for keeping the list updated.  I have referenced it several times over the last 6 years. 

3 hours ago, Island2Dweller said:

If you just want a view across London, the viewing deck on a new building in the City (financial district) is much higher.  And free.  Search Horizon22 if that appeals

Thanks for this suggestion as we will be returning to London for a pre-cruise stay in late November.  One of the reasons I found this thread.

Globaliser, I agree.  I can't remember how much we paid in 05' but it certainly wasn't that much.  Thanks for your wealth of info in some of the other threads I have been following for transportation info.  It is greatly appreciated. 

This had lots of views(no responses) so I checked to see what the difference was.  It has been about 18 years since we were in London and I booked the regular tickets for a specific time(At night and it was pretty spectacular). 

After just looking at the Eye website/ticket options it seems there are far more choices now.  Fast track seems to be a way of extracting more $ from you IMO.  Advance ticket 30 pounds, walk-up 42 pounds, Fast track 50 pounds.  Show up anytime and have a dedicated line to get on quicker I guess.  Seems pretty much the same as walk-up because that too would be anytime.  Only difference is go to front of line? So no, I don't think it would be worth it.  You have to choose what works best for you.  Only factor would be weather?  Rainy or not.

Anyhow, I can only imagine you have made some choice by now.  I wish you well.  Enjoy your time in London and mostly on your Eye ride.  🙂

44 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

My math is different?

16x$25 is $400.

Trade in for 300 min is $200.

 

So 16day upgrade to unlimited should be $200.

 

$200/16 is $12.50 per day

Just posting our current experience(we sail in 17 days).  I only know what I paid for one upgrade to unlimited via their offer on our account.  We had option to upgrade one or two.  I got the upgrade as an anniversary gift for my partner of 25 years.  I like to unplug and will be fine with my 300 minutes. 

So for our current sailing of 16 days they want $336 for unlimited for the duration.  Upgrade price was 254 and some odd change.  Difference $81.  So in the question you posted, how much is the trade-in value toward unlimited?  In our case it is only $81.  Should you wait until you board( or second day as some suggest) your savings or trade-in amount may be different. 

I was only giving you an honest answer to your question.  Hope it has been helpful.  🙂

For our upcoming cruise we both have the 300 minutes.  I upgraded one to unlimited thru their upgrade offer.  $336 regular price for 16 days.  Upgrade price was for just shy of$255.  A difference of $81 or $5 a day.  So in our case it would have been worth $162 if we both gave up our 300 minutes for the upgrade.   This is a prepaid upgrade offer on my NCL account. It ends up being about $16 a day for unlimited use for duration of cruise.  

I ran into an issue.  You are fully vaccinated if you have had your initial vaccination(s) and one booster.  No further boosters needed.  If you have not had a booster within 270 days of your initial vaccination you will need to get a booster.  The link I provided gives this info.  You should be able to find a Farmacia to do a covid test and provide you the results within an hour.  Inconvenient, yes. At this time, required.  Not sure when you are sailing but it could change by then. 

These are requirement if your cruise originates in Greece. 

Now I am confused.🙄  I am only trying to help. I promise. 🤗

1 hour ago, Szt said:

HELP!  We are so confused. While NCL no longer requires vaccinations, several of our stops are in Greece. We are told that Greece considers you vaccinated if you got your booster within 270 days,  If not, you have to be tested within 72 hrs. 
My husband had his 4th shot in January, which is more than 270 days. My daughter got her only booster last Oct. she was told, under 50, they would not give an additional booster. So the question is, do they check passengers as they get off the ship in Greece? Do they offer testing on the ship? 
We will be in Italy for about a week before our cruise so can’t get them tested before we go. I’d hate to try to find a place to get tests while touring Italy. 

So, should we risk it? Are they being that strict?

https://www.ncl.com/travel-requirements-by-country#greece

Sorry, long winded.  I let the air out. 

Thanks so much for posting!  We are heading to Venice in a month.  Will certainly watch it to gain some insight on the city's island system. I'm so excited!  I do hope we don't experience to much flooding during our stay. 

12 hours ago, Ixtoras said:

Hello All,

 

We're sailing on the Escape November 1st for the TA voyage from Rome to New York.   Curious if any of you knowledgeable folks know where the Escape will be spending her 4 week drydock starting next week? Also, does anyone know of a way to unofficially keep tabs / find updates while a ship is in drydock?  

 

Thanks

Jeff

 

We'll be joining you on this cruise.  My best bet would be to check out the marine traffic to maybe be able to see where she is. 

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-12.0/centery:25.0/zoom:4 

Just put Norwegian Escape in the search box.  She's on her way to Malta right now. 

We may get lucky and get some updates via crew on that other site that shall not be named. 

I think Fanny Brice is her name.  She's quite a funny girl. 🤩 

1 hour ago, njhorseman said:

It's outdated information....not #10, but other items on testing and vaccination requirements changed effective August 22.

Thank you for clarifying this.  I was most interested in #10 but noticed after I posted link the date on the document itself. 

I found this PDF of frequently asked questions via Bermudas website.  I found # 10 to be especially helpful information for the cruisers. 

https://www.gov.bm/sites/default/files/Bermuda Travel Authorisation FAQs_5.pdf

Of course we should all know by now things can change again before future sailings. 

I should note it is dated May 2022...

5 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

Having to be tested in Rome for our 16 day TA is senseless, for two reasons. NCL does not require testing in Rome. But Bermuda does?? Also, since you have to have a test two days before landing in Bermuda, that  makes any embarkation testing useless. Bermuda is causing a lot of stress for us, because we run the risk of flying all the way to Rome, only to be stranded there, due to Bermuda's rule. And we can't test before flying to Rome because we fly out five days before embarking (Bermuda's rule is no more than four days).

Yes, I worried about this when NCL had the pre-cruise testing requirement.  Then they dropped it from European sailings(for most ports) and we sighed a sigh of relief.  Now only to have Bermuda dictate that we must test to even embark on our journey.  NCL is caught in a catch 22 with Bermuda and IMO Bermuda is taking advantage of it.  I would hate to pay for the travel authorization, get tested to embark, and never even make it to Bermuda.  It is a tricky port to navigate and weather conditions can easily abort a port stop here.  Escape was several hours late on the East bound TA earlier this year for exactly this reason.  We'll keep our fingers crossed that NCL cancels this port well in advance of us starting our hoop jumping.  Cancellation is not an option for us at this point.  

See you in a couple of months.  🙂

We went to Leonetti when we were in Rome 5 years ago.  I really liked it and we were the only ones there other than a couple that finished up shortly after we got there.  It was holiday for most Italians (early November) and football playoffs were on.  Great service and really enjoyed the food.  Would you consider this to be a tourist trap type restaurant?  It was just a couple blocks south of Termini station. 

To me this was more traditional style.  We also went to another restaurant that was more Tuscan style.  It was called Restorante Alfredo.  Being it was our first time to Rome we had no idea where to eat.  I liked the traditional style and my partner liked the Tuscan. 

We will be here for a day and a half at the end of Oct.  Will definitely try a couple of the other suggestions here.  Thanks for everyone's time and suggestions on this thread, they are greatly appreciated. 

Thanks for taking the time for your review.  It is greatly appreciated.  We'll sail in Nov.  Glad you were able to enjoy yourselves despite the port changes. 

18 hours ago, casofilia said:

I have come across CHITN10D.

 

Anyone any idea what that one is please.

 

Thanks

 

Mike

I have this on our reservation.  I thought it was due to our 10% discount but related to our state of residence.  LOL  We did have a cancelled cruise where we received the 10% discount on our sailing.  So your PCC's explanation is right on the money.  

Phiilygwm, it is on my online account through the NCL website.  I have my trip summary and it shows any of my free things(Free at Sea) and the offer is there.  Before I got rid of the drink package I also had an upgrade price for the premium plus drink package.  If you don't have an account on NCL then sign up, it's free.  Then you just simply put in your reservation number if needed.  Most of the specialty dining meals are more than $40, even ordering a la carte.  Hope this helps.

5 hours ago, phillygwm said:

That's bizarre.  I sail on the Joy, Oct 12.  The 2 dinner package is $106.80.  I wasn't aware that meal packages on different ships had different pricing.

No, the meal packages will be the same price for the NCL fleet as a whole.  This is just an upgrade offer on our reservation right now.  To be honest, it is the first time I have ever seen an option for upgrade.  Was just sharing our experience on any kind of discounted( "sale" ) pricing.  

Good luck finding the extra meals you seek.   

Not sure if you can see your reservation on NCL website but they usually have an upgrade option for specialty dining.  I have one right now for 2 dinners, $70pp including grats.  That's $35pp per meal. 

We have always declined drink packages.  We just don't drink enough to justify the cost.  I actually talked myself into adding it to our upcoming sailing this fall.  I figured $20 a day pp was reasonable and would do away with the hassle of signing a slip.  Fast forward 5 weeks and I came to my senses. I realized there is no way we would spend $630 on drinks( even for a 16 day TA).  Partner doesn't drink(maybe a sail away drink) and I don't drink much either.  Another huge factor is Pepsi products.  I just can't imagine a Jack Daniels and Pepsi would even taste good.  🤢  You will see me on board with my Coke attire.  🙃