bluesea777

June is better month than July!

When's your cruise? If it's not until next week, you should be good to go.

We love love love 💕 Iceland! We have been there several times and never get tired of going there. Bucket list here: drive the circle ⭕️ of Iceland (aka road 1) with a detour in middle - a week long side trip to Faroes Islands and back by car ferry. May happen in 2025 ….

Joy is another of the newer ships, couch is built-in. What cabin are you in? I might be able to advise.

Please see post # 10. The couch is built in and cannot be removed. Which ship are you going on?

But for the Spirit it’s 6pm as she leaves at 8pm. Happy about the 10am ….

We checked in online for our May 31 cruise out of Seward (on the Spirit) and the first check in slot is 11:00-11:30 so we picked that (we're staying in Seward 2 nights pre-cruise). They stated boarding will start at "noon". Keep these in mind that the first train arrives in Seward from Anchorage at 11:20am, the coaches arrive from Anchorage during the afternoon, and finally the NCL chartered train arrives at about 5:30ish. You might want to decide when to check-in .... once you check in and board the ship (to leave hand luggage) you should be able to leave ship to spend time in Seward before reboarding the ship 2 hours before departure.

It's on our list ... we missed going to Greenland (diverted to Norway) last July on the Star due to some bad storm brewing up at sea between Iceland and Greenland. we got 25% of cruise fare back.

After reading today's posts, I think the September Norway/Iceland cruise (14 days) is better suited for you. Smaller ship, but good. And the ports of calls will be less crowded as your ship will be the only ship in most of them. The Star's September Norway/Iceland cruise (14 days) is now cheaper than the Breakaway's Oct/Nov Greek Isles cruise (10 days). If you're using NCL air try to get at least 2 days deviation outbound so you can spend some time in the fantastic city of Reykjavik.

Going up or down?

In July? Peak travel period.

It's the major UK airport (LGW) and OP is flying to the US, therefore it's an international flight, so 3 hours is advisable to check-in. I think they close 1 1/2 to 2 hours before - due to long security lines and walk to gate. This would be cutting a bit too close. Check-ins for the UK Domestic and European flights open 2 hours before flight.

You will never make it to the check in desks in time AT ALL if travelling on the 8:30 train!! There is a lengthy walk from the station to the check in desks. What time does the ship get in? You need to start the journey from ship to Gatwick no less than 6 hours before your flight time. Order a taxi to meet you off the ship - but it will need to be earlier as you are supposed to be checking in at least 3 hours before if it’s an international flight … and the security lines are often long. It would be easier still to change your flight to a later one. I have flown out of LHR and LGW back to either JFK or Bermuda dozens of times and have always had to get to the airport at least 3 hours before.

Thank you @mking8288! We will be flying one way from JFK to Lisbon, so we should be okay. When our son returns home at the weekend we will press him for his opinions on TAP and LIS - they were flying between Heathrow and Lisbon. We have flown in and out of JFK many many times, from various terminals, and international.

Thanks @mking8288 for the informative review on your return journey. We're on the Viva TA - westbound - from Lisbon to Miami in Nov this year and I have been eyeing TAP for the flight from JFK to Lisbon. Our son, with his gf and her brother, just ended their 4 days city break in Lisbon and they have said it's a fantastic city to visit, sightsee, eat, etc and they felt safe. I have enjoyed reading this thread of yours and seeing the fabulous photos!

As for CC .... NCL doesn't like our Bermuda issued CCs even that they are US$, so for the last decade or so we always select CASH when we check-in online. When we get to port and check-in we hand over our CCs for them to link to our ship account. Not an issue when selecting CASH whatsoever. As for photo, a simple mug shot will do, plain light background, no glasses. It doesn't have to be a perfect looking picture - it's fine if you have a bad hair day. The Port agents will take new mug shots of you anyway to link photo to your cruise card.

Mind boggling when you say you wouldn't upgrade tour booze package, don't you realize the booze pkg Plus include the premium wines that you are allowed to drink while ported in Livorno!

Any pictures of Aan? Really really enjoying reading your very informative reviews, thank you! Enjoy the rest of the cruise with your dear grumpy Dad!

The air conditioning …. do not press the ‘snowflake’ button! I read somewhere that pressing that causes the a/c to be ice cold. Before you write off the NCL, can you try another cruise on a different ship? We have been on all the NCL ships except Sky and Prima and have enjoyed our cruises. We don’t really have a favorite ship (but we’re thinking Spirit is our new favorite … this will be determined when we board her for our Alaskan cruises at the end of this month) as each ship has its own pros and cons.

Try that. It has happened to us when one USB outlet wasn't working but another one was working.

$89 on the Spirit. Our buddy just booked his - his first proper cruise and NCL too. We're Sapphire and are giving this a miss as we have been on a few BTS tours before over the years.

Ship departed a few mins ago - no smoke 🙃 DH says they must have changed the fuel injector or something.

Huh? Not really, as I said in my post that it's the first we've seen a ship coming in to Bermuda bellowing with smoke like that. We receive a lot of cruise ships but none come in bellowing like the LotS. The ship is leaving in an hour's time - I'll check ...

^^^^^ Amen to @wil e coyote’s post

Glad to hear you’re enjoying the cruise.