podgeandrodge

Thank you both for those ideas!

We arrive LA for 3 nights before cruise from San Pedro.  We have a hotel booked in Santa Monica, but not clear on best way to transport to the cruise?  Appreciate thoughts.  Or whether we should just go to San Pedro from LAX and stay there for 3 nights, but I think that we would miss out a lot, not having been to LA before.

thanks.!

Logged in - can't see Future Cruise Credits on 'my account' - just my latitude points.  Anyone else with this problem?  I rang NCL and they say they can see them on my account, just not displaying on 'my account'.

Thanks.

Question on Pireaus Port for welcome pickups -  they have an option of "Pireaus Port - cruises and ferries" which gives a price of €31 to my hotel in Athens, but also "Pireaus Port Akti Miaouli 10" for €26 which, according to google maps appears to be nearer Terminal A.  Anyone know which one is the valid one?

thanks LaCal, will ring them!

3 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

You have to remove your glasses for passport photos as well.  And, yes, this has to do with facial recognition.

Not in Ireland anyway, which covers EU requirements.  And biometric.  Perhaps that is it then, the difference between EU and US in terms of these rules.

"

• Do wear your glasses (if you normally wear them) but make sure there's no reflection on the lenses and the frames don't obscure your eyes
• Don't wear sunglasses or glasses with tinted lenses, unless they're prescription"

12 minutes ago, blueslily said:

Yes, I've removed glasses then before as well. It was easy peasy to do. Enjoy your cruise. 

Yes, it's not that it is difficult.  I was debating the reasons.  Easy to do though.  When you removed glasses before was it NCL security staff asking you to do so, and since the new rule for security photo without glasses?  It would strike me as slowing things down if they had to ask all people with glasses to "de-glass" first when going on and off the ship - and if they don't, then they aren't (arguably) doing as good of a visual check, perhaps!

Just now, blueslily said:

I've worn prescription glasses for years. I've had to take them off at different times for different photos. It doesn't really bother me. Takes seconds to do so I'm ok with it at this point. I will be submitting a photo next week for my next cruise. 

Sure.  agreed.  Not an issue, was just curious.  As a security photo, it struck me that without glasses in the photo you can look quite different, so I thought it would have required security personnel to ask you to take your glasses off when embarking/disembarking to make sure it was you vs. the photo !

Have 2 'free at sea' meals and 2 'Platinum'  - can't book Cagney's or La Cucina twice - saying "conflict on that date" - anyone know if this is an ongoing problem or do you have to ring guest services?  

Speaking of which - for the 2 free at sea - can you do 2 Cagney's or only 1?

Was it always a requirement to take your glasses off (prescription) for the security photo - I don't recall this before.  Seems over the top if that's what you are going to be wearing all the time, not like sun glasses.

Sorry if already asked, but with the 2 free meals, can you visit the same restaurant twice e.g. Cagneys?

i see a few litres of water now included in the beverage package (used not be?  don't recall it anyway!)

I agree with TrumpyNor. 

here is what i posted recently elsewhere.  NCL could be wording policy a lot better!

ORIGINATING from Greece - (ignoring recovery certs etc.)

1) Up to date Vaccination proof - this MUST include a booster if the original (1 or 2 course) vaccine is more than 270 days prior to departure.  However, even if the booster is more than 270 days since departure (which many are now) THAT BOOSTER does not have to be followed by a second booster - only 1 booster is required to be up to date.

2)  PLUS negative test. 

If you are UNVACCINATED, OR not "up to date" as outlined above - you need a negative test + potential  random tests.

VISITING Greece - 

You don't actually have to prove vaccination status (unless embarking country requires it), but may be subject to occasional tests.  Highly unlikely but that's the upshot of my reading of the text on NCL.

It seems that if cruisers that have had the original vaccination, and not a booster, could find themselves technically failing at the embarkation desk, and being designated as "unvaccinated", alongside the folk that simply said they were unvaccinated in the first place.  You're either fully or zero.  Happy to hear other opinions on whether the above is accurate or not.  Screenshot of requirements below.

Doesn't seem to concern them, you'd think they would like to sell cruises!

On 9/18/2022 at 5:40 PM, Analog187 said:

I'd appreciate some feedback on these plans for any/all of our plans for these ports.  It's going to be a very busy cruise with no sea days.  We really enjoy history and old cities so that's how I planned all of this out. 

 

-Saint Tropez - walk around, browse shops, possibly take the ferry over to Grimaud

 

-Livorno - take the train to Lucca, take the train to Pisa and then back to Livorno

 

-Naples - we've been to this area before so we are just gonna grab some pizza.  Otherwise will relax

 

-Messina - take the train to Taormina

 

-Corfu - hop on/hop off bus

 

-Katakolon - train to Olympia

 

Santorini - boat and then bus to Oia

 

Kusadasi - take a cruise excursion to Ephesus since this is a short port day and the prices are cheap

 

Istanbul - we want to take a tour of the city but still up in the air as to how we are doing it.  NCL has not released any excursions of this port yet so I can't evaluate them

 

Volos - We are going to Meteora and will almost certainly go through NCL.  They just haven't released these excursions yet.  

 

Whew, that's gonna be a lot but I'd appreciate any feedback on these plans.  Thanks.

If it's the cruise on 5th November, they are showing excursions for Istanbul for me anyway, I booked

18 hours ago, Nclgetawaymenhoney said:

The one ive used since 2018 and has helped me with upgrade advantage, just google cruise travel agencies on NH the one with the city starting with M is the that shows up to 100 per sub category, Happy Sailing

Still too cryptic for me anyway.  You live in Manchester by any chance 🙂  

searching for cruise travel agencies in NH has lots of results, and for me, no obvious city starting with M...

On 9/18/2022 at 11:25 PM, krittykat said:

Unfortunately, that doesn't work. It no longer gives the ability to choose a cabin in any category. Only treats  it like a guarantee cabin. So no way to tell.

On 9/19/2022 at 12:05 AM, cruiserbear55 said:

 

  Didn't realize NCL wasn't showing open cabins any longer. Last time I did a mock booking, three months or so ago, open cabins were still listed. Av8torcrj is correct in the site they mention still shows available cabins. Don't know why NCL would stop showing them. We've always enjoyed the selection process. Picking a cabin from the list and then going to Cruise Decks.com and seeing what is above and below the recommended cabin, then making a decision as to whether it would be a good cabin "fit" or not. Obviously, will now have to win the lottery and just book the Garden Villa!!

Can't you normally click on (in very small lettering) when it has assigned you a cabin, "I need a different stateroom" - that normally then brings you to cabin selection.  Awful design.

Thanks TrumpyNor.  I rang them to explain, but all they wanted to do was help me do a booking on the phone.  Weren't interested in passing on the technical issue preventing people booking cruises with them online!

When I select a cruise from my phone/desktop pc/laptop, and try to select a cabin category, it brings me to ncl.com/fr/en/booking but only a blank page.

anyone else with this issue?  (Europe/Ireland website)

So...my understanding is (for over 18s):

ORIGINATING from Greece - (ignoring recovery certs etc.)

1) Up to date Vaccination proof - this MUST include a booster if the original (1 or 2 course) vaccine is more than 270 days prior to departure.  However, even if the booster is more than 270 days since departure (which many are now) THAT BOOSTER does not have to be followed by a second booster - only 1 booster is required to be up to date.

2)  PLUS negative test. 

If you are UNVACCINATED, OR not "up to date" as outlined above - you need a negative test + potential  random tests.

VISITING Greece - 

You don't actually have to prove vaccination status (unless embarking country requires it), but may be subject to occasional tests.  Highly unlikely but that's the upshot of my reading of the text on NCL.

It seems that if cruisers that have had the original vaccination, and not a booster, could find themselves technically failing at the embarkation desk, and being designated as "unvaccinated", alongside the folk that simply said they were unvaccinated in the first place.  You're either fully or zero.  Happy to hear other opinions on whether the above is accurate or not.  Screenshot of requirements below.

1 hour ago, LGinPA said:

 

 

Thank you for posting the link. 

 

The first line states that these rules are for "For cruises originating from a Greece port (i.e. Piraeus and Crete):"

 

So, from what I understand from this, if you are not starting your cruise in Greece but have a Greek port in your itinerary these rules do not apply. If you are embarking in Greece these rules do apply.

Yes, indeed.  However, later, under booster rules it states "

Booster Requirement

• To be considered fully vaccinated on itineraries that include Greece, guests age 18 and over must have a booster if their original vaccine was received 270 days or more prior to embarkation.

Not sure if they still mean originating in Greece or whether they are expanding it to anything including Greece, from that wording, which suggests the latter.

30 minutes ago, julig22 said:

You are leaving out the part that says unvaccinated may be required to test, as determined by the Greek authorities.

 

That's just a may be tested. I'm talking about embarkation requirements.

Per NCL:

Vaccinated:

Proof of up-to-date vaccination regimen, including booster***, at embarkation.

And

Provide proof of one of the following:

Negative COVID-19 antigen test within two days of the embarkation date 

UNVACCINATED

Provide proof of one of the following:

Negative COVID-19 antigen test within two days of the embarkation date 

Why would anyone say they were vaccinated? How is this possible, or am I misunderstanding?

https://www.ncl.com/fr/en/travel-requirements-by-country

16 hours ago, hal2008 said:

Friends are lover of ocean brezze/sound and use ship as floating hotel and custom ordered room service dinning - have been cruising since restart last year (almost as much time on sailings as on land)  No covid so far. 

16 hours ago, hal2008 said:

If you avoid things on cruise ships which are easily available on the land (theater, bars, fine dinning, bus trips, hot tubs, elevators), probability is greatly reduced and you can still enjoy parts of cruising not available on land.

Aren't these statements akin to removing the whole point of a cruise, for most people though? 

On 6/2/2022 at 11:11 PM, podgeandrodge said:

Covid is everywhere now, and thankfully "mild" for most that have no underlying conditions, once vaccinated/boosted.  I think you just have to assume that any cruise you go on now has covid on board - but is that any different than going to any bar or restaurant on land?  People gonna get covid and hopefully mild, and hopefully not get it again for a decent amount of time!  But it would be silly to go on a cruise intending to avoid getting covid, I think.  You have to be prepared that it might well happen.

15 hours ago, hal2008 said:

 

why is it silly?

Even "mild" cases are no fun.

 

If you avoid things on cruise ships which are easily available on the land (theater, bars, fine dinning, bus trips, hot tubs, elevators), probability is greatly reduced and you can still enjoy parts of cruising not available on land.

I mean "silly" if people think it will be easy to avoid - if you get on a ship, you are likely as well off assuming you'll get it.  I don't mean go off kissing strangers, but enjoy your cruise, because many get it despite taking strong precautions, and they'd have been better off just enjoying themselves.