bluesea777

@llgator If you are on May 31 cruise, you're in luck! Olden, Norway was one of my fave ports. I went on this tour - got the tickets off the ship in the building on the right side of the car park as you exit the ship .... Guided Troll Car Tour in Briksdal | Olden Cruise It was one of the best excursions I have ever been on, really delightful and the troll cars were fun! Make sure you find a tour to Briksdal WITH the Troll cars, as there are other Briksdal tours but no Troll cars and it's a long hike to the glacier. The Troll cars truly helped make our hiking time much shorter. Beautiful place!

@kitkat343 I think you meant Antarctica not Arctic. NCL has been doing South America & Falklands cruises since 2000's, but they hit Antarctica for the first time this past season (late 2022-early 2023, just finished the season). We did the 14 days South America & Falklands over Xmas 2009-New Year 2010 on NCL Sun and it was great. We did stop at Falklands.

Not so sure about the "express" part - yeah to walk off ship, but ... due to the defection of several passengers in Bermuda, the cruise may have gone from "closed-loop" to an "open-loop" which means CBP not being so breezy. Let's hope to hear from @Broons77 again how his disembarkation went. I may be wrong.

Well said, @complawyer, lol, we feel the same thing! We're more or less your age and have been a bit more NCL cruises than you. Only two NCL ships we have yet to go on are the Sky and Prima.

We have been on the Star twice. Both times we had great cruises, but unfortunately the Star (along with sister ship Dawn) isn't amongst our fave ships in the NCL fleet. No forward Observation lounge and the Spinnaker lounge (oops! It's now called Ultra Bliss Lounge) is on deck 7 aft. We were on the Star last July for the Iceland & Greenland - we booked it two years prior when the new itinerary first came out and the fare was pretty good (low). Then a year later prices started going up a lot .... so in the end it was dependent of the itinerary rather than the ship for us. Closer to the cruise we were invited to bid for an upgrade, so we bid and won the Family Suite (SJ) - we were so happy! No balcony but very large room with floor to ceiling windows all along one side. Two bad things happened on the cruise that made us really glad we got that suite: the Greenland portion got cancelled (due to bad storm brewing up between Iceland & Greenland) so Norway was substituted (and unfortunately we'd been there 3 times before!) ... and ... my DH slipped/fell down the stairs leading down to the Versailles MDR and broke the middle toe - on the FIRST evening. So painful and had to keep his foot up. Medical was helpful but couldn't provide him with a wheelchair to use (so I could push him around) for the remainder of the 11 days cruise! So DH was stuck in that fabulous cabin, sitting on comfy chair/couch by the window, propping his foot up, gazing out of window with his binoculars while I got off ship to tour and took loads of pictures for him to see. A butler came with the Suite and he was a real gem - he helped DH and brought him lunch and goodies. The suite steward was also so good to him as well. We tipped both very well and I brought some Norwegian goodies from a supermarket for them to enjoy with their coffee in their down time. On Star we had great meals in Specialty restaurants; the staff provided excellent service. We both had Booze Plus package and really enjoyed that. There was a Dream team behind Gatsby's as well as the "regulars" and we had fun. So ...... we'd go back on the Star sometime in the future if the itinerary and price are good. Oh, by the way, the swimming pool is heated!!

When you board and meet your cabin steward, ask for egg-crate mattress topper. They have some. Or you can bring your own (buy one already vacuum wrapped) and then leave it behind. We have done either several times.

We always book own flights and hotels. And we do not use NCL transfers. We always fly into the port city 3 days before cruise. Our preferred hotel chain is Bonvoy, so that is how I found Courtyard Singapore Novena. The metro below the hotel (the lobby is on 22nd floor - hotel is 22nd floor and up, the infinity pool is rooftop) has very clean trains and will take you anywhere. We used it quite a bit. Enjoy your researching and planning - these are part of the fun travelling.

I would suggest you pack a pair of shorts anyway. Here when the sun is out people go out wearing shorts. It might be cold the same week last year but it might be warm this year. It's crapshoot.

I would suggest no earlier than noon-1pm. Sorry @hallux but 10am is still cutting too close!

Welcome to Cruise Critic! Looks like NCL doesn't have designated hotels in Asia. Cruise Packages and Hotel | Norwegian Cruise Line (ncl.com) I just had a look in NCL.com and saw that there is a "Tokyo Cruisetour" for your sailing that gets you to arrive in Tokyo a few days prior, have 2 full days, hotel for 3 nights, and transfers, etc. Your cruise, right?: CruiseTour: Can you check with NCL to see how easy it is for you to switch your booking to the Cruisetour one, and pay the difference? As for Singapore at end of your cruise .... we were there in Singapore for 5 days pre-cruise in Nov 2018 and stayed at Courtyard Singapore Novena. It's a fantastic hotel - the ever best Courtyard hotel we have even stayed in all around the world. It's not in Singapore proper but in the north and is situated right above a mall AND a Metro station! It is half the price of the city centre hotels but the metro was so handy for us to travel around Singapore. Highlights of the hotel include an infinity pool overlooking the city, sunset happy hours by the pool, night swims in pool - beautiful! The restaurant in hotel is excellent, and there are some restaurants in the mall below the hotel. Any questions, feel free to ask!

Welcome to Bermuda! Enjoy your two days here!

Thanks for letting me know! Sigh … groan 😩!

We do not take any of the NCL transfers from/to airport anywhere. In Miami the taxis have fixed fare to airport from port so it makes more sense to use cabs if there are 2 or more people in the party. We do not do NCL air anywhere either as we prefer to fly into port city 2 or 3 days prior to cruise and book hotel somewhere and then take taxi from hotel to ship on cruise day. At our own (and quicker) pace! I’ve usually found good air deals which didn’t even bust our budgets.

Yes, they do hold back for onboard sales - there are people who do not have the abilities to use computer to go online to book excursions.

We were on the Iceland and Norway cruise on the Star last year July. Were supposed to go to Greenland, but switched to Norway due to some bad weather brewing up at sea between Iceland and Greenland. Our pre-booked and pre-paid Greenland excursions (NCL) got cancelled and refunded (automatically). The Shore Excursion desk was so busy selling the new Norwegian excursions they managed to round up, but by the time we got there they all were sold out. BUT, all is not lost! There are HOHO buses outside the ship's dock area in Alesund, Bergen and Trondheim, and there is a couple or so places to go to buy excursions when you exit the ship in Olden. I went on a coach excursion in Olden and it turned out to be one of the best excursions I've ever been on and NCL isn't selling this kind of excursion! Akureyri has a gift shop with an excursions desk in the dock area as you exit the ship. Another thing, they (NCL) do not sell 100% of the excursions on-line. They sell only a fraction (I think 1/3) online and sell the rest on board. So you might want to make a beeline to the Shore Excursion desk when you embark the ship.

Only restaurant I'm not able to book is Onda on the Spirit ... with 67 days to go. Anyone know why? It says "Not available to book. Please check back later or once on board."

Great to hear! I was afraid you might be suffering a Burnt Out from too many cruises .... but happy to know that the issues you had have been resolved. Really love reading your reviews and about your dad. I don't know if you missed my post with photo - it's #137 on this thread. I'll go ahead and give you a hint - the place is mentioned in your posts #133 and #134. Enjoy the rest of the cruise!

GEM coming in to dock …..

@Lex1 you are correct …. and have not lost your mind …. Pearl is staying here 3 overnights, leaving at 7am on the Wednesday. I had a look in the Bermuda 2023 cruise schedule …. Pearl has 3 overnights here 4 times in April and revert to 2 overnights thereafter.

Not correct .... Jan 2023: 4 out of 6 (NCL: 3 out of 5) Feb 2023: 1 out of 4 (NCL: 0 out of 3) so far March 2023: 1 out of 6 (NCL: 0 out of 3) The GEM is coming in tomorrow! Definitely!

We do have fantastic weather usually in the winter time but not always on cruise ships days 🤷‍♀️ Today it’s sunny, no winds and 70°F.

Weather related, that’s all. Rough seas surrounding Bermuda that is surrounded with reefs, and high winds that make entry and docking difficult. ‘WC ’ means Weather cancelled.

Loving your review, as always. I thought you might like a teaser … Here is a close-up photo I took on the Bliss - can you find the big art picture? Enjoy!!!!

LHR is London Heathrow, LGW is London Gatwick. As @dexddd says, look in your record locator for the airport code.

A bit harsh, and with larger and bold font it's shouting. There are 5 ships that do not have forward observation lounge: Getaway, Breakaway, Star, Dawn, Escape ... you can avoid these and try others. I think you'll enjoy the Spirit - it's small but has a lot of things including places to sit and relax. Also, try to cruise off season: avoid holidays (like Christmas/New Year, Thanksgiving), times that the schools are out (summer) , "college weeks", etc.