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Embarkation: Like I said, embarkation was fairly easy except for the waiting part, but we were seated so it wasn’t that bad. As usual, they began boarding those handicapped first, then by boarding times. We were in the first boarding group after those handicapped, so we were on board pretty early. With our carry-on in the cabin, we went to the Cosmopolitan Restaurant for our Concierge lunch. Unfortunately, they were taking so long to get the food out, we left there and went to the buffet, which of course was a mad house. Neither of us got anything from the buffet, so we left hungry to explore the ship. Our Cabin: We were in Cabin 12164, Concierge Class, Infinite Veranda. We were under the Magic Carpet so we had an obstruction from the structure that the magic carpet is on. Also, we did not like the Infinite Veranda. Our folding doors wouldn’t work, so when you lowered the window, the entire cabin – walls, mirrors, everything – would fog up with moisture from the humidity outside. A downside. The cabin creaked and popped all night. I don’t mean we heard noises from the hangers in the closet, it was the walls and the ceiling making that noise. All night, part of the day, every day. Some nights it was quieter and not as much, but when it was loud, you couldn’t sleep. I wear ear plugs with a NRF of 30 and it kept me awake. Everyone we talked to mentioned this about their cabins as well, and many on our Facebook roll call also complained about it…another The Ship: After lunch (or in our case, no lunch) we checked out the ship. It is very pretty, modern, and very clean. The restroom doors open like those at hospitals by waving your hand across the sensor. The sinks of course have touchless soap dispensers and faucets. I did miss the white and red indicators on the stall doors that let you know if it is occupied or not. Guess it takes away from the aesthetics. Insert pics of ship Eden Eden is very pretty, but I think the Eden Bar is too small for the number of passengers. In fact, all the bars looked to be too small. Compared to past cruises on Celebrity, the Eden Bar only had seating for 8-10 around the bar counter where our favorites on other

Thank you everyone...we will stay on the ship!

Thank you. That's kind of what we thought. We've stopped there lots of times before and never left the ship, but were thinking about it this time, but most likely not.

Yes you are correct.

That is what we are thinking.

What excursions, ship's or private, have you done in Falmouth that you really enjoyed?

It was in Fira, Santorini. Here are a few more pics of it.

Thank you so much! You will love it!

Depends on who the comedian is as to how raunchy or not they get.

A notary can just type or write in what is needed. Do not have parties sign it until you are all before the notary. The notary's signature is saying he/she saw you sign it. It is illegal to notarize something that is already signed.

My husband says it was at Oia, but I'm still thinking it was in Fira on the way to the cable car in Santorini. I'll look back through my pictures and see if I can figure it out for you.

Sorry, I don't remember exactly. It may have been in Oia Village, but I'm thinking it was in Santorini, just don't remember where. We saw so many things.

I hope you get there! It's one of my favorites now.

Thank you!

Thank you!

Yes we do like it cold to sleep. It's good for my asthma.

Trains, Planes, Automobiles – Monorails, and a Ship! AKA: My Birthday Cruise Ship: NCL Gem Dates: June 9, 2023 – June 19, 2023 Itinerary: Trieste, Italy; Koper, Slovenia; Hvar, Croatia; Kotor, Montenegro; Corfu, Greece; Santorini, Greece; Mykonos, Greece; Dubrovnik, Croatia Our Cruising History: Three NCL ships; 52 cruises total Disclaimer: I apologize in advance for the long review, but it cannot be reviewed with a few words. Each place needs to be reviewed with the respect it deserves. I also want to apologize for so many pictures, but I took thousands and just couldn't pick a few. My reviews are written in sections so you can read what you want and skip over what you don’t care about. This review includes my observations and are strictly my personal opinions. Hopefully, you will find this review helpful to you and gain information in the process. First Travel Day: We began our journey on June 7, with around 12 other couples from our 55+ neighborhood. Most of us have cruised before, but for some, it was their first cruise…what a great itinerary for a first cruise! The first travel day was exhausting to say the least. We flew from Charlotte to Munich, then with a short layover, flew from Munich to Bologna. In Bologna, we boarded the monorail which took us to the train station. Your train ticket does not tell you where to go to board, or where you’re going. I asked the lady at the stand where tickets are purchased and she told me something and a train number. We had to figure out that we needed to cross under the street, and then come back upstairs to be on the correct side of the street to catch the train. Whew! I’m just glad we were traveling with some smart people! I think we walked 50 miles that entire day, maybe more. The train is full of people and luggage, with nowhere to store your luggage. Everyone has to find a seat or stand and hold on to your luggage as best you can! We had a medical emergency on the train and after sometime sitting still, it had to back up to let this person off, I guess. We sat on the train for a good hour total. Back on our way, we finally got to Ravenna, Italy, got off the train – again dragging our luggage on and off as quickly as possible. I must say here, you really need to be able to manage yourself and your luggage as quickly as possible without holding anyone up. If you can’t handle all of your luggage getting onto and off of monorails and trains, this is not a trip for you. There is a lot of excessive walking up and down high hills and steps, and on uneven cobblestone/pavers in every port, as well. It can be grueling if you are not in somewhat decent shape. Coming out of the station, we then walked with our luggage about two blocks, maybe more, to our hotel, NH Ravenna. We were all tired and hungry and it had been a long day. We left home at 4:30 p.m. and Ravenna is six hours ahead of us, and somewhere in flight, we lost a day, I don’t know…I just know it was a loooonnnnngggg day! NH Ravenna Hotel Cruise Day: We shared a van with one couple from our group, to the cruise terminal. We were able to board right away and were at the buffet by 10:30 having lunch. The buffet is quite small compared to the larger, newer ships we’ve become accustomed to, but it was adequate. I ate mostly linguine with a spicy sauce every day because I just couldn’t find anything else I wanted. It was good and I loved the sauce! Embarkation was so quick and easy! We were on the ship in no time and at the buffet by 10:30! We were able to drop off our carry-ons after check-in, so after lunch, we explored the ship and went back to our cabin for a long awaited nap, but yes, you guessed it, the Cabin Steward came a-knocking! Our Cabin Steward was Mark. He was very sweet and took care of all my requests. The Ship: The ship is older and smaller, but a good size and we liked it. It has quite a few free restaurants, and several specialty restaurants. The pool area is nice, but is crowded on sea day. There is a small buffet of hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. at the pool. There are several bars and lounges all over the ship and some shops. O'Sheehan's Pre-dinner Bar: We chose Magnum’s Champagne and Wine bar on deck 6, which is connected to Shaker’s Martini Bar, because it is close to the Magenta restaurant. We would meet our friends here before dinner for drinks. They don’t have a blender at this bar, so they can’t make frozen drinks. Our favorite bartender is Bennie and she is excellent! Unfortunately, she left at the end of our cruise for a well deserved vacation with her children in the Philippines. I’m sorry you will miss her because she can make THE best margaritas I’ve ever tasted! Ask for JaJa (prounced HaHa) Tequila. Hopefully someone else can make it for you with the smooth, flavor like Bennie. I hope she has a great time home before coming back. All of the bartenders/bar waiters seemed happy and I asked one if he enjoyed his job, and he said, “Yes, all of my customers are happy!” I guess so, haha! While talking to them and other crew as well, we found that they all felt NCL is a good company to work for and they all seemed happy to be there. Bennie Our Cabin: We booked cabin 11070, which is a category MA Balcony Suite (more like a mini suite) right at the elevator. It is nice with a queen bed and a pull out sofa bed. The bed was comfortable. The desk was nice and the bathroom was also nice with a sliding door to close off the toilet area. The bathtub/shower has a sliding door as well. A word of caution about the bathtub, it is quite a high step to get into and out of if you are short; my husband had a hard time and he is 6’2”. Also, be careful because the bottom is slippery even when dry. The bed was comfortable and you have your choice of different pillows, all rather comfortable as well. There is plenty of storage space, which I loved because the newer, larger ships don’t seem to have enough storage. The lighting was adequate, but not very good over the vanity/desk area. It needs one more recessed light over the desk; it was not bright enough to put on makeup there. The cabin has two thermostats and we were able to get the temperature down to 66 during the day and 64 during the night, which we loved. The last three to four nights of the cruise, however, the cabin got very warm during the night around 2:00 a.m. and reached 68 degrees. I believe they must have turned the A/C off or up like other cruise lines we’ve been on, as others in our group mentioned the same thing. On the third night of not being able to sleep, I woke up around 3:00 a.m. and took my email confirmation saying they would provide a fan, to Guest Services and demanded a fan. The lady behind the counter gave me the one they had after calling someone who said they didn’t have any. I carried it back to my cabin and was fine for the last four nights. It was a big box fan, and did help with sleeping. This cabin category gave us one complimentary bag of laundry. We got it back folded and wrapped nicely wrapped in tissue paper and placed in a basket! The balcony was very nice with two chairs and a small table. I actually sat on that balcony more than any other balcony we’ve had. Maybe it was the itinerary… Food: Okay, I’m no foodie, but I was underwhelmed with the quality/cooking of the food. The first night I ordered a fish dish in the Grand Pacific restaurant. It was overcooked and dry; I did not finish it. My French onion soup was not very tasty either, having no crouton, no cheese, and very little onions. Our friends ordered a shrimp alfredo and a roasted chicken; they were not impressed either. My husband liked his BBQ ribs and lava cake, so there’s a plus! I ordered French onion soup another night and it was tasty with the crouton and cheese! Most of the fish dishes I ordered were dry and overcooked. I had a beef ragout one night that had more noodles than meat. I could go on about the food not being good and inconsistent, but I can say good things about the desserts. Usually the desserts look better than they taste, but on this ship, the desserts were excellent and all had a great flavor with the exception of a lava cake that was so over cooked there was no lava. After the first night in Grand Pacific, we and our friends started going to Magenta for dinner. We liked it better for its ambiance. The best food we had in Magenta was actually prime rib. It was cooked perfectly for both of us, and was actually better than the prime rib my husband had in Cagney’s. Food was still somewhat underwhelming during the cruise, but we managed to not go hungry. The buffet is small, but has a good selection of food. It does get quite crowded and sometimes there are no tables available. If you walk through to the back, you can find some tables outside. For lunch the next day we went to O’Sheehan’s and we got the fish and chips which was very tasty and hot! For dessert we ordered carrot walnut cake and apple pie. Both were huge and scrumptious! My taste buds are still dancing from that wonderful flavor of the carrot walnut cake! My husband got an apple pie that he loved, as well. On the night before departure, we went here and ordered fish and chips, but this time the fish was cold and chewy, and the fries were cold and so hard that we couldn’t even bite into them. I’m guessing they sat in the window for a while before being brought to our table. For snacks late night at O’Sheehan’s, I would order the pretzel bites and my husband got the chili. O’Sheehan’s also has a good, quick breakfast, but it is not open for breakfast on departure day. Fish & Chips from O'Sheehan's Cagney’s Steakhouse: We had reservations for Cagney’s on the second night as it was the only night available when I reserved. Food was not good. My petite filet mignon was gray in color, which concerned me, and was over cooked. I ordered medium but it was medium well, and my husband’s rib eye was overcooked as well from a medium well as ordered, to very well done. Mine tasted okay, but it was not what I was expecting. We did mention it to the waiter and Maitre ‘d, but did not want to wait for another order. The crab cake, wedge salad, lobster bisque, warm blueberry oatmeal crumble and seven layer cake were all good, however. I’m convinced that the food continues to cook under the cloche while being brought from the kitchen to the table…maybe they should cook it just a little less and then it will be perfect when it reaches your table…maybe? I’m not a chef, but doesn’t that make sense? On another night, we had a group dinner in Cagney’s with most of our neighbors who went on this cruise. This time, my husband ordered prime rib, which again, was overcooked, and I ordered the steel head trout, that I swore was salmon, along with others who ordered it. It looked like salmon, but didn’t taste like it, and it was the best tasting dish I had the entire cruise. The flavor was very smooth, and well cooked. My taste buds devoured the explosion of flavor, begging for more of that wonderfully cooked trout! We Googled steel head trout later and discovered that it actually can be confused with salmon. I guess those of us who ordered it had the trout after all! By the title of my review, you can see that this was my birthday cruise, and it was nice having many of our neighbors with us. After dinner some of us were sitting around talking and all of a sudden, a cake was placed in front of me and people were singing happy birthday behind me! It was a very nice surprise, even though I knew it had been ordered for this day. Ports of Call Our itinerary had changed a couple of times before we left, taking two ports off – Venice, and Rijeka, Croatia, and adding Koper, Slovenia. They even changed it around some after we boarded. We had booked a day tour for Venice with an evening gondola ride, but after reading so many other posts about Venice not being on the itinerary, we canceled it. We instead went to Trieste, which was added at the last minute when they took away Venice. Ravenna, Italy: This was boarding day. Koper, Slovenia: We had an NCL excursion for Koper which was Hop and Taste of Slovenia. We took a bus to our first stop and were given a booklet with coupons for each stop for a free taste of a food item. Our stops were Piran, Portoroz, Izola and Koper. Our guide took us on a walking tour around the first stop, Piran, and then left us to explore on our own while she boarded another bus for another stop. The buses ran every hour and you could get on and go to the next stop after an hour, or stay as long as you wanted and catch the next bus. Most everyone got on the first bus to the next location…BUT, our driver got lost! We sat at a street corner for around 20 minutes while he called someone for directions, we assumed. After he hopped back on the bus we were on our way; however, we ended up in a hotel parking lot. He went inside while we all sat on the bus for what seemed like another 30 minutes. Finally, we were headed to the next stop, but no one wanted to get off because it just didn’t look right, so we all decided we wanted to go back to the ship and asked him, sorry...told him to take us to the ship. I did ask for a partial refund for this excursion and I was given an OBC for the partial amount. You always get a no if you don’t ask, right? So always ask. Trieste, Italy: Trieste is beautiful with all the old world architecture. What things happened in the plaza? Where did all these streets lead to in the very early years? Who was Lloyd Triestino? Was he a great Governor, or another government official? I loved walking around here looking at all the old buildings and seeing the canal with boats. Everywhere you walked, there was an outdoor restaurant. I can only imagine the history of this city since I didn’t do any research on it. A Grocery Store Hvar, Croatia: Here we walked around on our own. Again, I was amazed at the beauty of the old world; Hvar was founded in 385 bc. You will see me repeat this over and over in this review, but everywhere we went was truly breathtaking, and Hvar was no exception from the buildings, to the scenery, I just kept saying over and over, “this is so beautiful”. Kotor, Montenegro: Ohmigosh! Kotor, founded in the 5th century, in my opinion, is the most breathtaking with its beautiful navy blue and turquoise waters! Here we booked an excursion through Viator that was an absolute best! It was the Our Lady of the Rocks Church and Blue Cave Tour. We boarded a speed boat and stopped first at Our Lady of the Rocks Church. It is a very small church built on a small island. I was in awe at the beauty of this little church and wondered who had worshipped here…was it old world sailors passing by? Was it current day residents? Maybe mermaids from long ago sea tales… It is a pretty little church surrounded by indescribable scenery! It was busy with tourists all around, but at the same time, there was a holiness about it once you stepped inside. From here we skirted off to the Blue Cave. Along the way we saw other caves that had once been used by submarines to hide from the enemy. We made our way to the Blue Cave and again, my only adjective to describe it is breathtaking. The cave is small, but beautiful with water so blue. When we came out of the cave we anchored for a while so those who wanted to could swim in those gorgeous waters that beckoned you to jump in. Once back in town, we walked around just enjoying the many yachts and sail boats that were docked and the park with its flowers in full bloom and people bustling about. I wondered if they realized what they had here, or did they just take it for granted. I hope they could see this place through a tourist’s eyes. When we went back to the tender, there was an extremely long line. Our friend who went with us asked a guard if that was the only line, and sure enough, this was the line for another ship…our line was short, so be sure to look for the tent for your ship. You don’t want to get on the wrong tender! Note: After reading about tender times and ticket numbers, we were afraid we would not make a tender in time for our 9:00 a.m. tour so we moved it to 12:00 before leaving home. Once on board, however, and learning how quickly the people with tickets got off, we decided to go at 9:00 and see if they could take us. There were three of us, and luckily, they had gotten four cancellations! The Greek gods were shining down on us! Our Lady of the Rocks Church Corfu, Croatia: Unfortunately, I was rushing around after breakfast to get ready to leave the ship, and forgot to take our money and passports out of the safe. I realized it once we got to the Port Authority. We sat there for awhile checking email with the port’s free wifi, and I noticed a cat walking around. It came over to me and as I was talking to her, she jumped right in my lap and began kneading on my leg! I learned that she is the Port Authority’s resident cat and her name is Fifi. Look for her if you have time while passing through the port. The only pictures I have of Corfu are of coming into port from our balcony and of course Fifi. Santorini, Greece: I cannot stress enough how breathtakingly beautiful Santorini is. When we saw it coming in, I actually teared up at the magnificent beauty of this huge rock. The natural carvings and colors of this mountain is indescribable and I hope my pictures can relay that. This day we booked an NCL excursion, Charming Oia Village. We learned from our guide that Oia is pronounced Eah, with oi together making an “e” sound. The domed blue roofs are painted blue in reference to the blue sky and water, and because blue is a color in the country’s flag. If the blue domed roof has a cross on it, that signifies that it is a private church and tourists are not allowed inside. The buildings are painted white to help keep the inside cool in the hot summer heat. We also learned that pumice is mixed into the concrete for homes and buildings under construction to keep it stronger against earthquakes. We reached our first stop, Oia, and we were given some time to explore on our own. We spent quite a while in Oia and charming it was! Again, my only adjectives to describe it are breathtaking and beautiful, and I couldn’t get enough pictures! The streets are narrow and very crowded with so many tourists, but I still found places where I could capture the quaintness of the village and beauty that surrounds it. Perfectly painted white buildings and churches with the blue domed tops gave me chills. It was the picture perfect brochure! Again, I hoped the locals never take for granted this gorgeous place God has given them to live in. Next we were taken to another village, where we could stay as long as we wanted and then we had to take the cable car back down to the tender. After seeing all of the village and buying some souvenirs, we decided to head back to the tender. The line was very long for the cable cars and I think we may have stood in line close to an hour. We were exhausted after walking and climbing up steep steps that our guide said is “uphill, but easy”. Yeah, right! She does this every day, so it is easy for her, but not for an old lady! I didn’t think I’d make it, but I did and it was well worth it. Back onboard, we took a nap before getting ready for dinner. Be sure you allow enough time to wait for the cable car so you can at least make the last tender. Mykonos: We walked around on our own and Mykonos, founded in the 11th century, is another beautiful place that is picture perfect for a brochure. The water is crystal clear and a perfect shade of navy blue. I loved sitting and looking at the light blue sky against the dark blue water with boats and sail boats, and I was in my own heaven! I love the ocean and am so drawn to it, I just can’t get enough of it! We walked around for a few hours before heading back to the ship. Dubrovnik: Another picturesque place! We took the city bus out of town, purchasing round trip tickets and went to Old Town. We spent a few hours here walking around in the plaza taking pictures of the old world architecture and loving every minute of it. As we walked around the plaza, I again found myself trying to imagine what it must have been like in those very early days of civilization of the 7h century. Had there been philosophers in this plaza? Markets? Explorers? What was it like for the very young children growing up here? What kind of work did the men do? There were shops all along the way and I’m sure some of the women may have worked in them. We found a church, and outside there were some feral cats napping in the sun…what a peaceful place for them. In each place we visited, there were feral cats that were fed by the villages. We saw baskets of food for them in Santorini and here as well. They were taken care of by the shop owners and locals, I’m sure, as well. This touched my heart because I have rescued so many feral cats from my former neighborhood and miss them. After we had seen all we could, we caught the bus back to the port. We missed the stop for the port, so we rode all around the island getting a “free” tour. It is a neat place and one I will not forget. Tender Ports and Process: The tender ports are Hvar, Kotor, Santorini, and Mykonos. If you have an NCL excursion, you go to the main theater and wait until your excursion is called to get a tender. If you don’t have an NCL excursion, you can pick up tender tickets at several places around the ship. After all the NCL excursions have been called as well as the ticket numbers, then there is free call so everyone else can get off. This took forever the first day and that’s why we had changed the time on our Kotor excursion. Thankfully, we were able to get off earlier on our day in Kotor. Entertainment: I was underwhelmed with the guest entertainment on this ship. We are accustomed to another line that has great guest singers, magicians, and comedians, but this ship did not have a good magician or a comedian. They did have a magician/comedian who was terrible and we actually walked out of the first show; he was scheduled two more nights. We did really like the production shows that we watched especially Blazing Boots. After the first night, we opted to go to Spinnaker Lounge and participate in and/or watch the shorter games taking place there. I have some great videos, but I’m not sure I can add them here as they are a little bit risqué… We enjoyed Spinnaker Lounge and especially the band, Ice Bucket, that played there every night. They are so good and if you are on this ship, please check them out in Spinnaker every night. They did a Motown show one night, Queen one night, and can sing literally ANYTHING! Pre-cruise Stay: We stayed at the NH Ravenna Hotel the night before our cruise. It was a nice hotel with a small restaurant. For dinner we ate in the hotel’s restaurant. Food was good, and we were tired so we went to bed after dinner since we had an early start to the next day. The hotel does have a breakfast buffet. We had prepaid for this and I’m not sure of the cost if you didn’t prepay. It was a decent breakfast and held us over until lunch on the ship. Debarkation: Debarkation was also a breeze as we walked off with our luggage. We shared a car from the cruise terminal to our hotel in Bologna, with two other couples from our group. We walked off so we would be ready for our car which was supposed to be there at 8:00. We waited and waited as everyone else’s cars came and left. Our neghbor who reserved it finally got in touch with Viator and was told the car was on the way, but it was held up in traffic because of an accident. When it finally arrived and we were packed in, we made our way to Bologna. Post-cruise Hotel: The hotel for our post cruise stay was the Hotel Airport Bologna. I thought it was a little nicer than the NH Ravenna. It has a very nice, large restaurant and it was full for dinner. We went back later to order French fries to take to our room; they are good, but not your typical French fries. They only take a credit card at the restaurant, so no worries with Euros. Everyone here from the front desk to our server at dinner, to the bartender were all so very nice and helpful. They never acted like we had bothered them, unlike those at the NH Ravenna. The hotel is very close to the airport and the check in person ordered a taxi the next morning to take us and our friends to the airport. For some reason, we thought we should be there by 3:00 a.m. to check in so we checked out at 2:30 that morning and our taxi arrived shortly after. The hotel’s first shuttle leaves at 4:00 a.m. and we could have waited for it. The airport doesn’t open until 4:00 a.m., we discovered upon arrival. Our flight left at 6:30 a.m. for Munich. In the Munich airport we went through passport control once again (we had to do this in Munich when we arrived from Charlotte). With a five hour layover, here, we found a sandwich stand near our gate and bought some sandwiches for lunch. Others in our group found restaurants closer to security and ate there. We boarded our final airplane for home around 12:30 p.m. First it had been delayed, but somehow it arrived on time and we boarded on time. We sat on the plane, however, and did not pull out of the gate until close to 2:00…not sure why. Finally on our way, we arrived in Charlotte only about 30 minutes late. The time change helped us to make up time. They did change the gate as well, so check the marquee or your app often for any changes. We flew Lufthansa to Munich and Charlotte. We booked premium economy seats and others in our group were scattered about from first class throughout the airplane’s cabin. As soon as we boarded, our section was handed a juice both times. Then we got a menu for lunch. After that we got cookies and something else to drink. There are two bottles of water at your seats, and each seat has a small bag of toiletries, a mask for sleeping, and earplugs. You may order wine if you like. I listened to music most of the way going home, which helped me to sleep some without the noise from talking, crying children, etc. After my lunch and well deserved nap, I decided to watch a movie called Guilty Conscience. It was a very good movie, but was in Japanese so I had to watch the subtitles… Tips and Suggestions: 1. You do need to take Euros with you or get them once at the airport. We were able to get change for some of our Euros on board the ship at Guest Services’ Finance Dept. I’m not sure what all can be done there, but I was able to get change, just not coins. Check the sign or your Freestyle Daily for times that it is open. 2. Most of the public restrooms in port do cost between 50 cents to one Euro. They have stands outside the restrooms to pay and get change before going inside. 3. Credit cards are accepted most everywhere, so you really don’t need a lot of Euros. We don’t shop a lot in ports, but did here, so we took 300 Euros and came home with around 25 Euros. We used our credit card at the hotels and the monorail, which is required to ride it. We tipped our favorite bartender the last night and along the way, as well as our cabin steward extra with Euros the last night. I ordered our Euros through our Credit Union, and I’m sure you can get them from your bank as well. Mine came within a day or two, but check with your bank to see how long it will take before ordering them. 4. Pre arrange your transportation from the hotel to the airport. Pre arrange your transportation from the hotel to the cruise terminal and from the cruise terminal to the airport or your hotel. The other couple we were with the most booked our shuttle to the cruise terminal when they arrived before us. Leaving the cruise terminal, we shared a van with two other couples who had arranged a van through Viator to our hotel in Bologna. The others in our group had pre arranged transportation from the terminal to the hotel, but I’m not sure what company they used. Having this all worked out before you leave home is a big stress reliever and you’ll be glad you did. 5. These are some of the most beautiful and amazing ports of call, so take as many pictures as you want (I took thousands!), but do take time to look at all that beauty around you and just absorb it so you will have those memories in your mind. 6. This is a trip of a lifetime, but as stated earlier, this trip is not for those in bad or even semi-bad physical condition, or with compromised health issues. Think about all the walking, carrying luggage, the uneven cobblestone streets and many steps you’ll be walking and climbing with many steps up hill. Think about standing in a long line for the cable car in hot temperatures. This trip has been on my bucket list for a long time and even though I did pretty well, I wish we’d had the time and money when we were younger and had no trouble with steps, and pavers. Nevertheless, if you decide to take this cruise, no matter your age or health, I promise you will love it. You will be in awe at the beauty of these places…go and enjoy! 7. Try everything, eat everything, make a fool of yourself (you won’t see these people ever again), don’t worry about the small stuff and enjoy your home for the next 10 days. Αντίο for now!

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Ship: NCL Gem Dates: June 9, 2023 – June 19, 2023 Itinerary: Trieste, Italy; Koper, Slovenia; Hvar, Croatia; Kotor, Montenegro; Corfu, Greece; Santorini, Greece; Mykonos, Greece; Dubrovnik, Croatia Our Cruising History: Three NCL ships; 53 cruises total Disclaimer: I apologize in advance for the long review, but it cannot be reviewed with a few words. Each place needs to be reviewed with the respect it deserves. My reviews are written in sections so you can read what you want and skip over what you don’t care about. This review includes my observations and are strictly my personal opinions. Hopefully, you will find this review helpful to you and gain information in the process. First Travel Day: We began our journey on June 7, with around 12 other couples from our 55+ neighborhood. Most of us have cruised before, but for some, it was their first cruise…what a great itinerary for a first cruise!