WanderlustJourney

Question about debarking in Rome... our itinerary says we arrive at like 6 am... I am used to Miami, and yeah, I think we get in that early, but we usually have breakfast and try to be in the last batch or so off the ship... around 10 am... trying to plan ahead, and if we purchase our train tickets in advance, can we still plan on breakfast and a leisurely morning? I know the process of getting off the ship can take some time, and can adjust for that... or should I not plan on pre-purchasing our train tickets? FYI... we cruise in July.

Yes, definitely possible! I left the ship around 9:30am in Civitavecchia and caught the train back to Rome. You can also do a commuter train which instead of €16 per direction is about €5 per direction, makes a couple more stops than the express, but is only 15 mins slower overall. The Civitavecchia station is very small too, so even if you just purchased your ticket when you get back to the station for the return back to Rome, not a big deal :)

Thanks for reading! :)

This was the best explanation that I could find in my paperwork:

"Passports are collected by the ship's staff upon embarkation in order to facilitate the ship's customs clearance in each port and to maximize guest's time ashore. Passports will be in the care of the ship's Chief Purser and will be returned prior to disembarkation. When a port requires that visitors have their passport in their possession to go ashore, they are redistributed to guests and then collected once they are board. We provide Passport receipts which guests hand back for passport collection. However, if guest does not want to surrender their passport at embarkation, they have to advise the staff and be made aware of the following:

1) They would be required to be back on board at least 2 hours before departure (which may then negate their tour and time in port) just in case immigration want to inspect passports. Some ports may want to do departure clearance at 1pm when we sail at 9 pm, in this case then the guest will be kept on board until we were clear outbound.

2) Arrival - same procedure, if we pull in at 6 am - we would expect the guest to be waiting in the lobby at 5:45am just in case immigration want to inspect. Generally, passports are collected in order to avoid having the guests queue up at every port for clearance (similar to what they have to do at an airport). The ship's Purser and staff takes care of the clearance and the guests can maximize their time at each port conveniently."

For my itinerary I did not need my passport off the ship as they pre-cleared us at every port. Also, we were in EU waters the entire cruise, that being said, I had a photocopy of my photo page of my passport and a photo of that page and also my page where my EU entry stamp was. I guess if you got into trouble, any official can follow you back to the ship and get your actual passport...

Hope this helps :)

Thank you! Actually that is the same company I was going to book with (first time), and she did tell me they offer their own excursions and gave me this site. So I'm glad that you recommended it also. A cruise seems like a great deal (all inclusive) until you get your bill at the end and realize there are a lot of extra costs you didn't add up before-hand.

I have used them several times and will be for most of my cruises to come. Really good pricing and the tours are great!

For instance, in Naples I did this one: https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com/tour/explore-amalfi-coast-naples/EUNPAMALFI - LOVED this tour!

Next May I'll be doing this one in Naples doing the Amalfi Coast again! - https://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com/tour/the-amalfi-coasts-big-three/EUNPTHREE

There are some places that I did just wander on my own (Santorini, Crete, Sardinia), but all other stops I used them with no issues :)

I usually dress up when going out to dinner (I do that here at home when I go out too). So I always dress up, not down... Yes it's freestyle, that's the beauty of NCL, I just prefer to wear something nice that's all.

Shore Excursions Group is great - http://www.shoreexcursionsgroup.com/

I used them a few times on my Mediterranean cruise this past summer. They also do have a guarantee that they will get you back to the ship on time. :)

Thanks for your comments!

Thank for reading! :)

Just posted my "day at sea" blog post, has a few more photos of the Spirit and around the ship:

http://wanderlustjourney.ca/2018/04/04/cruise-review-11-day-mediterranean-cruise-norwegian-spirit-day-4/

Good to know. We will be on the Spirit in13 days.

Enjoy and safe travels! :)

So sad... My thoughts are with the family :(

Boo... I was hoping for an installation of heated thermal loungers in the spa :(

Still crossing my fingers!

Ok, so I'm a little late on posting a review... Better late than never...

Honestly, I had a great time on this cruise (11 Day Mediterranean Cruise - round trip Rome (Civitavecchia)) and loved the Spirit. She's an older ship, but she was perfect for the itinerary, did not find her overcrowded and had really no complaints whatsoever about anything onboard. Food was good, the entertainment I saw was fantastic and the staff was amazing.

I hope you enjoy my review, it's on my blog - I've currently posted Days 1 and 2.

I've also posted my NCL Spirit Dailies as well :)

Day 1 - https://wanderlustjourney.ca/2018/04/01/cruise-review-11-day-mediterranean-cruise-norwegian-spirit-day-1/

Day 2 - https://wanderlustjourney.ca/2018/04/02/cruise-review-11-day-mediterranean-cruise-norwegian-spirit-day-2/

I think we will find out the definite answer in a couple weeks once NCL takes possession of the ship, however most ships do have heated pools that do the Alaska run. NCL made it clear that she was built for Alaska, so hopefully they designed the pools to be heated.

There is an indoor pool in the Thermal Suite, however it's more of a hydrotherapy pool I believe.

I actually hope there will always be some smaller ships with NCL as I really enjoy sailing them. The mega ships have never appealed to me as I'm a solo traveller (I know that sounds weird as the smaller ships don't have studios). I also mostly pick my cruises based on itinerary, not necessarily by activities/amenities on the ship.

Thank you again for your review! Really enjoyed reading along and can't wait to be onboard myself in May 2019 :)

Oh no! So sorry to hear :(

Like Biris mentioned, hopefully your dash cam caught a glimpse of the license plate!

Thanks for posting your review, really enjoying it so far! :)

Thank you so much for sharing your review!

I know there has been a lot of hit and miss reviews on the Epic recently, however I just booked her for a Western Mediterranean cruise in May 2019! Your photos are getting me quite excited :)

My issue is that these are the only real "activities" aside from the pool (at least that I've seen). If there were other things to do, like mini golf, a ropes course, climbing wall, etc. than have a couple things for an upcharge wouldn't be a big deal. But, on an AK cruise, having an open air pool isn't necessarily going to be usable. Perhaps there are other activities on the ship and I just haven't seen them yet? I'd also say that with 3 kids, a 7 day cruise, $20 per day per kid is a LOT of money for something that should feel mostly all inclusive.

On the last two Alaska cruises I've done, the outdoor pools were definitely usable. HAL had a retractable roof over the pool, however it was open most of the time during our sailing.

I know it's to be seen if the pools are actually heated, but if the weather isn't going to be good (raining, etc), I'm doubtful the go carts and laser tag would be open anyways in that case. They supposedly built this ship with Alaska in mind, so they would be crazy not to have designed the pools to be unusable.

So beautiful! :hearteyes:

I can assure you that wasn’t a problem today. :)

 

 

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Have a great cruise! :)

When I was on the Spirit in August, it was so hot outside on the promenade that they made an exception that some could do the drill during muster in air conditioned comfort in the theatre. Some were quite late and were overheard mentioning they had fallen asleep in their cabin.

I'm super excited to hear what changes come out of this dry dock. I know some of the seating in the theatre and dining rooms need to be replaced in reading other's reviews, but I'm also hoping they update the thermal suite with heated loungers.

I really enjoyed my 11 day cruise on the Spirit this past August. She is older, however the ship looked in great shape after the update last Spring. I had only one day at sea on our itinerary, however enjoyed all the activities and shows onboard. Food was good as well, service could be slow at times, but to me that's what cruising is all about. Staff was also very friendly and attentive.

Thanks for letting us know, I've heard of many instances of them being confiscated...

Line up looks amazing!

I think it's a very reasonable price for the laser tag and go carts...

Forza Ferrari... just saying... Melbourne is this Sunday!! ;)