Lexi03

So we stayed at the RIU for about a week 5 years ago. They have a really small beach and pool area - I wouldn't recommend it as a day pass TBH. I would get the day pass for Atlantis.

You would have to take a taxi. There is a water taxi and a regular taxi. I wouldn't recommend the water taxi for a cruise stop - it takes too much of your precious time.

I bought mine through AAA (I also got a small amount of turkish lira). They charged $1.16 per euro, today's rate is 1.11. My debit card was going to charge $6 plus 4% plus whatever fee the foreign ATM machine charged, so I thought this would at least be a fixed fee and I won't have to worry whether they will take my chipless ATM card. That and I got to charge it on my credit card, and I have more than enough reward points on the card to pay for the whole shebang, so it's like free euros :p

In other news, I need to use the reward points on my credit card more often.

We are going in 4 weeks!!! :)

I really hope they fix the laundry machines.

Kind of disappointing about the food, but I wasn't impressed with the food on our last NCL cruise either so I'm not surprised - we picked this one for the interary and the price!

Did you see if there was a chef's table on this cruise?

I would just like to add my name to the chorus of Americans that have their passports in her maiden name. I have booked all my international travel in my maiden name since I got married in 2008. Never had ANY trouble in that regard. If you have your passport, people don't ask for other forms of ID.

Here is a link to something from US Border Patrol about the issue:

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1209/kw/travelling%20passport%20maiden%20name/session/L3RpbWUvMTQzMTgxMTEzMi9zaWQvTWk4Z1J2bW0%3D/suggested/1

check out airbnb.com they have tons of apartments available - we are staying in the gothic quarter for three nights for like 150 euros. :p Plus you get to meet locals who will give you advice on where to go.

Our first experience with NCL was on the Dawn and we weren't thrilled about the food overall either. The worst was the steak house which we had super high expectations. I did like Le Bistro however the duck was delicious. We are going to Europe on the Spirit in August and we picked her for the itinerary with low food expectations but here's to hoping that the Dawn is just an anomaly! :)

I loved our aft balcony at first. Tons of space and great views! It is so fun to watch the ocean seeping away. But then we did have some issues with movement, and from the engines waking us up. Try not to be right under the deck because we were also awakened by the staff moving the deck chairs around for cleaning at the crack of dawn. Also, there is no air back there - so it gets really hot! Not a huge soot problem for us, but there were smokers. Now that there is no smoking on balconies I would expect it to be much better. (Stale air + cigarette smoke = :( )

In all, I'm glad we booked the aft, but I'm not sure I would book it again - the biggest issue for me getting good sleep and I like to be out and about on the ship anyway.

I just saw that promotion but of course missed out because I've already booked and paid for our next trip. Honestly, on our last cruise with NCL I wasn't very impressed by the specialty restaurants to begin with. The French one was good, but the rest were just OK, and the Brazilian steakhouse was just flat out disappointing. IMHO the food in the main dining room was much better (although I wasn't impressed by the food overall, thought that RC and Carnival have better food). I am ready to give NCL a second chance because the itinerary we booked is solid.