Asawi

I have not done this tour and it's a long time since I was in Paris. The things we wanted to see were not in easily walking distance between each other. We used public transport. I do believe there is a Hop-on-hop-off bus in Paris though that might fit you. But looking at the tour you don't seen to get a lot of time in Paris considering the long drive from-to port. Drop-off should be somewhere central, like Place de la Concorde or similar. Then at least Louvre is nearby!

I have been experiencing the same lately! Annoying!

When VAT is added, does it show up realtively right away (same/next day) on the onboard account? My daughter boarded the Getaway i Rome yesterday and they have not been given any info about VAT (that she has noticed anyway), and her account shows 0.

It's supposes to be down for another 2 or so hours. The announced this yesterday.

But that was around Easter wasn't it. Should make quite a difference! Easter 2024 is (I think) one week earlier.

Reminding you! (And hoping you had a wonderful time!)

I don't think it's just UK. I suspect it's EU. There is a cancellation fee of 20% from the start. And then it goes up in a couple of stages that I don't recall off hand (On the other hand, final payment for me (Sweden) is just 30 day from sailing.)

3 violins in the Atrium... I think I'll try Band on the run. 😉 Thanks!

Agree! What I did with the Senseo (so called) Extra Strong when I really craved a strong cup was I didn't let the machine dispense all the water it wanted too. Most of the time I settled for the "not at all extra strong, but still OK". 😄

I have been given espressos from a similar one. It was good, but I wasn't tempted to get the machine anyway. It needs (near)boiling water, and personally I can just as well use my single cup pourover filter holder if I've got access to hot water. But I'm equally fonf of (strong) drip coffee and espresso. If espresso is your poison of choice this could very well be for you!

I cannot comment on the ship stuff since I haven't been on Star yet. But I'd like to comment on land prices: Iceland and Norway are EXPENSIVE countries! Yes, NCL makes them even more expensive, but still... I live in Sweden, near the Norwegian border, and you wouldn't believe the number of Norwegians we have coming over just to shop food and what have you whenever there's a long weekend or something like that. And it's not like Sweden is a particularly "budget friendly" country either. I do agree that som "excursions" are kind of, for lack of a better word, ridicilous. You do need to read up and use common sense (as it seems like you did when NOT doing the NCL "walking tours"). Entertainment... Did you see Band on the run? If so, how was it?

Exactly! As much as I love my coffees <taking another sip>, it's not the end of the world to go without or have some bad ones. If all else fails, drop a shot of Kahlua or rum or whatever in the buffet coffee and hey, it still may not be great but at least more fun! 😄

Oh! Another nerd! 96 degrees Celcius, right? 😉 My water kettle at home has adjustable temperature, and OF COURSE I have also measured it to know it's correct. 😄 Just went through a pack of Senseo Extra Strong in my summer house. I found it to be OK, but didn't agree on the "extra strong" bit. Still nice though!

Black coffee drinker as well. On my recent Spirit cruise I thought the buffet coffee was at least drinkable. A bit weak, but drinkable. At least it had caffeine in it.. 😮 But if you're used to Nespresso I think the French press could be good idea.

At the time of that posting all Epic cruises were canceled. Your cruise was posted after that.

Originally Epic was meant to be cruising out of Lisbon Portugal around that time. With me on it!

In the origininal itinerary for my Star Cruise July 23 it's listed as dock. I don't think there were any tenders in that itinerary, but there will probably be a few more.

You will not have to collect luggage. You will however probably have go through a passport check in Paris. Should not delay you much though. It's been while since I travelled via CDG, but I remember a lot of walking and elevators going between gates. 90 minutes probably is enough, but (also probably) not a lot to spare if you're unlucky with gate locations. Remember that since your bags are checked through they will wait as long as possible for you before having to find your bags and unload them. Having said that, it IS stressful rushing through an airport hearing your name in the speakers because they are holding the gate open for you...

This! I shake my head at all the "coffee lovers" who talk about Starbucks package etc. If they are such coffee lovers why don't they drink COFFEE instead of the sweet milky Starbucks drinks with a hint of coffee? Be honest, you are milky drinks lovers! <Phew. Seems I needed to get that off my chest,>

OMG! I'm guessing this is a joke. It has me laughing out loud anyway! 😄

I like strong coffee. Or rather, I hate weak coffee... But I don't think Nespresso is ideal for "regular coffee". So not a great choice for the cabins! Keurig, Tassimo, Senseo, Dolce Gusto... All of them would be better for that.

Basically an espresso and a lungo use the same amount of coffe powder (approx 5-7 gram), but a lungo water it out a little bit more. 5 g coffee in lungo size cup would still be pretty strong! Dark or light is a matter of roast and should not be controlled with water amount. For a Capuccino you add steamed milk to espresso. (For European drip coffee we typically use 7 gram coffee/cup, same as USA. The difference is that European size "cup" is 125 ml and US cup is 225-250 ml. So we typically drink our coffe twice as strong as USA.)

If you don't like espresso you could try to use the Lungo setting on the Nespresso. I do that a lot at home or in Spanish Airbnb where Nespresso compatibles are more or less standard if I want a trong coffee but not an espresso. (I have no idea how NCL's Nespresso compatible machines are set up, but there should be a cup size option).

Borrowing this thread since it seems the OP's questions has pretty much been answered with "no, you probably won't make it" I will disembark from Star in Southampton Oct 23 and my flight out of Gatwick (to Sweden) is 13.15. Should be enough time, but I still got worried reading here. I plan to handle my own small bag, walk to the train station (10-15 minutes) and grab a train (around 2 hours).If I get off the ship at 7-7.30 (or earlier!) I'd have plenty of time. I wasn't worried at all until I saw mentions of 8-9 am in this thread. I know there is no garantee and sometimes sh.. happens. But would that 8-9 time be a common ocurrence or more of an exception? Maybe booking an NCL transfer would be a better idea? (I suspect it's way overpriced, but sometimes spending some €£$ for peace of mind is worth it...)

I agree, it sounds tight! I still think NCL will get you there. They will have you this embark early and then there be some sort of transfer. I mean, THEY booked it. They will have to get you there!