bluesea777

Tel Aviv. Haifa isn’t that far from Tel Aviv.

see post #535

Did you lock the bags before setting them out in the corridor?

Nice, but you get some 23 hour days ... we prefer westbound TAs with several 25 hour days 😁 We're on the Viva for WB TA this coming November.

When you check in you’re at the port authority’s mercy, not NCL.

Since your daddy has the same as yours, they need to differentiate you from him, hence all bookings, credit cards, etc need to match the name on your passport with the suffix. Fraud is getting so widespread now so the credit card companies are clamping down fraud by using stricter authorization methods. NCL possibly tried to put your CC through using your booking name without the suffix, but the CC company saw that there is a suffix on the card, so they rejected it. We already are noticing an increase of CC authorizations in the past year or two, since the C-pandemic started and the online shopping increased many-fold. Sorry about your experience. Hope the cruise itself and Bermuda were lovely.

Thanks for correcting that Bliss doesn't have Galaxy Pavilion, however, the Joy had it built in as new-built, not during refurb.

No forward Observation/Spinnaker lounge: Dawn, Star, Epic, Breakaway, Getaway, Escape. No aft Spice H2O (Adults only during day): Sky, Sun, Dawn, Jewel, Jade, Pearl, Gem, Encore. Ropes Courses: Breakaway, Getaway, Escape. Race Track (pay): Joy, Bliss, Encore, Prima. Laser Tag (pay): Joy, Bliss, Encore (hence no Spice H2O). Galaxy Pavilion (pay): Joy, Bliss, Encore, Prima. Vibe Club (pay): Breakaway, Getaway, Escape, Joy, Bliss, Encore, Prima, Epic (Posh Club). Note: Encore's Vibe Club has unpadded loungers! Haven Courtyard: Jewel, Jade, Pearl, Gem Haven Proper: Epic, Breakaway, Getaway, Escape, Joy, Bliss, Encore, Prima. Studio cabins for Solo guests: Epic, Breakaway, Getaway, Escape, Bliss, Encore, Prima. Spirit is the winner as she is not listed in any of the above. Plus her Spice H2O has padded loungers!😁😄

Whenever we check in we always select Cash, and hand over our credit card when we check in at the terminal. NCL doesn’t like our credit cards when checking in online because they weren’t issued in the US (even they’re in US$). It’s fine that you select Cash - even for all of you.

Were you on the Spirit in Feb 2020 from Rome to Dubai? She went to Haifa. We were on that cruise!

@ConnieTact Great review and photos! And to answer to your topic question ... NO! Not your last time on a smaller ship! We have been on all NCL ships, except the Sky and Prima. We have enjoyed all our cruises, however, each ship has its own pros and cons. For port intensive cruises we prefer smaller ships, Spirit being our favourite (you gotta try her sometime!), and for longer cruises with several sea days (like transatlantic) we prefer the larger ships. Remember very large ships cannot get to the ports where the smaller ships can, so when you book cruises you need to decide: itinerary vs ship. For this reason we chose Spirit for our upcoming two back to back Alaskan cruises and chose the new Viva for our transatlantic in Nov. Enjoy planning your future cruises!

No problem, you're welcome. May I add, I like to research which major airport hubs that have cheaper hotels near that we can stay overnight when making connections. ORD just under $200; SEA, JFK, BOS $300-350 and up; YYZ pretty okay but YVR so expensive! I see you're on the Viva TA from San Juan to Lisbon .... if this helps, TAP air does non-stop LIS to ORD!! We're doing TAP from JFK to LIS for our Viva TA from Lisbon to Miami this November.

Spirit June 7-14 is from Vancouver to Seward. We're on Spirit May 31-June 7 Seward-Vancouver and June 7-14 Vancouver-Seward. We booked our own air. Getting to Anchorage 3 days before cruise. P.S. Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Not sure, haven't decided whether to do a live review. We'll see. We go down to Seward two days before the cruise.

I have never been on a floatplane, but have been in a helicopter and up in a balloon (twice). We're taking a regular train, not the NCL chartered train (that goes directly to the pier). We reserved GoldStar Dome seats and the train will stop at Seward Train Depot, closer to hotel, lol.

We're on the Spirit B2B Alaska later on this month, starting from Seward. We chose to book our own air .... we're in Bermuda so need to hop over to one of the getaway apirports (JFK, BOS, CLT, PHL, EWR) before making connection to ANC. Found a great route - BDA to JFK to ORD same afternoon/early evening, overnight in an ORD hotel (that comes out much cheaper than New York or Seattle), then early the following morning non-stop flight from ORD to ANC, arriving there at noon! If that flight is cancelled we have ORD-SEA-ANC as backup. We've booked a floatplane flightseeing tour over Anchorage with Rust's Flying Service later in that afternoon!! We travel to Seward by train early the next morning for 2 night before embarking the Spirit. We're beyond excited!

Great review and photos! Can you please take pictures of Pinchos and its menu? Thanks!

@nimbex1970 thought you might be interested … there are non-stop Alaska Air flights between ANC and Chicago ORD and hotels near ORD are a lot cheaper than Seattle!! That’s why I researched and booked our own flights. I think you should be able to find nonstop flights from ORD to SJU.

“…beginning in October…” ? It’s been in existence for about a decade or so, it’s not new.

Nope, it's 2024. The topic header says so. 2024 season. And the Paris Olympics is in Summer 2024.

We prefer to book all our own flights and hotels (pre-cruise & post-cruise). I have been lucky to find good deals on one-way and open-jaw flights as well as round trips on highly rated airlines.

@Clay Clayton excellent reviews and photos! I have enjoyed this thread, and am sorry that it's ending. We have been on the Epic 3 times, two of them were WB Transatlantic with 1/2-2/3 full ship, and they were good, but it was before the Breakaway & Breakaway+ class ships were built. I notice in your signature you have not been on the Spirit, perhaps you should give her a try. We're on her at end of this month for B2B Alaska.

The Epic (NCL's first mega ship, built in 2010) has only 2 MDRs - Manhattan (more formal of the 2) and Taste. All the mega ships built after Epic have 3 MDRs.

Thanks for the advice re:hotels. What about the AirBnB near Keflavik that you spent the first night in?

Fantastic photos and reviews on the driving along the South Iceland including hotels! I've noted down the places and hotels you visited. At lunch today (at our fave Italian, La Trattoria) I mentioned to DH that we need to do 2 NCL cruises in 2014 to use up our two CNs AND our two Diamond upgrades, and then plan the Iceland Circle and the side Faroes sojourn in 2025. Last July we stopped in Akureyri and I hired a car for the day - I thought driving up there would be more difficult nowadays that it's been 10 years ago but it was so easy driving in Iceland as the traffic was still so light. Keep it up! By the way, at Keflavik as we discovered, the check-in desks do not open for any flights until at the 3 hours mark (to our dismay!). Once you've checked in, make a bee line through security to the departure lounge via the Duty Free shopping area, and have a really nice (late) lunch in the Nord restaurant (13 on level 2). Then as soon as you've finished lunch you need to proceed toward your gate .... this is where you'll need to go through the Border Control (as you'll be leaving the Schengen area going to the USA) on your way to your gate. When we were there back in July the lines for the Border Control were so long, but luckily DH had broken toes and was on cane and received wheelchair assistance. Maps of the Airport | Keflavik Airport (isavia.is) Have a safe journey home to RDU.