vtgumby

We just got off the GEM a few days ago and it had a very nicely stocked library including children’s books. A fairly good selection of adult fiction including multi lingual books with their usual strange hours of being open for one hour late afternoon. In any case, hopefully they won’t change anything after dry dock which is where the GEM is right now.

On the bus transportation note, today we are in Corfu on another gorgeous low 70s day and we walked to town along with some cool markets but coming back we happen to walk out at the right place of the old city and there was the number 16 bus that takes you directly to the cruise port and you can pay on board and it was a €1.70 per person, a well spent €3.40! NCL also provided a free shuttle from the bus to the cruise terminal which was just a five minute walk but if you wanna jump on the free shuttle bus it’s there for you.

We are on the same cruise and we did Dubrovnik yesterday, the bus lines were 1A, 1B, and 3, there is a ticket office right next to the stop which is right outside the old city gate and it cost $1.60 per ticket bought at the ticket booth and if you paid on the bus it was two euro. We walked down to the old city but it was pretty nice to grab the bus to come back and the walk was longer than I remember, more like 40 minutes from the ship to the city gates. I would absolutely not do the NCL shuttle for $15, when you can do the city bus for $1.60 or €2 on the bus AND you can use your debit card or credit card to buy the bus ticket at the ticket booth so you don’t have to exchange any money if you don’t wish to do so. By the way, Croatia goes to the euro mid January 2023 so that will make everything a lot easier for travelers.

Thanks for informing, good luck with vino, I would think that would be entirely in the parameters. Plus you’re not changing cabins or even if you are you don’t have to go through the NCL two bottles of wine limit at check-in so it sounds like this is shaping up to be a fine adventure, enjoy spending the free money and have a great time Ken!

I say yes to OBC for laundry payment and a big NO to rollover OBC, it’s applied to specific cruises so perhaps that $700 got split between your cruises in some manner. Educate us Ken!

We bid the minimum amt on a cruise in Alaska in September, the ship was less than half full, had a gazillion balcony cabins available and we were not upgraded. I’m assuming they kept these balconies open for C 19 cases but I have to admit we were surprised and I also must say that we were pretty happy with our very spacious inside cabin, we slept like babies! Still, surprised and we’re Sapphire members.

Edibles?

We are in it on a TA from Lisbon in November so if your cruise is after that I will give a full report if you’d like. Otherwise, hope it turned out to be a great cabin for both of us! 😉

Does anyone know which cruise terminal Hurtigruten uses in Hamburg? I’ve searched everywhere including sending an email to the company with no response yet so I thought I’d go to the informed folks hanging out on cruise critic, esp you Hallasm! 😉

YES for the PC! I sat on the very sturdy table with my arms leaning on the railing for most of the crossing, it was the ideal place albeit hot and sunny but yay for you and I hope you get to see one of the Supermax ships going into the still new wider canal. I had to put the binoculars down because the ship was so wide that it wouldn’t even fit into our super magnifying binoculars, absolutely amazing to see that cargo ship, I’m still grinning in delight. YAY!

With a wonderfully selfish post, your concern and stress over your test for your holiday clearly supersedes the health of an island. I have no doubt beautiful Bermuda will be glad you’re not coming and frankly I’d be happy to not have you on my TA ship. Newsflash folks, we’re still in the middle of a pandemic and how lucky we are to be able to cruise which means testing which protects not only the passengers and crew on the ship but also the people of the islands we are visiting. Yay for Bermuda for being smart about their citizens and if tourists can’t be bothered to follow their health protocol then stay away. There are so many other destinations and so many other TA itineraries for you to do if you don’t like a port stop so vote with your feet, Carnival awaits you.

We do. I can make my own bed and reuse my towels just like I do at home. We have always given them the night off on any cruise and frequently get service every third day so I’m more than happy as a mask wearer to give my cabin stew the week off. We also do a wipe down of surfaces when we get into our cabin, 60 seconds of reassurance.

We are cruising Tuesday to Alaska, I’ll keep my eye out on this and report back. As others have mentioned, however, NCL has sent us multiple emails in regards to this and I mean FOUR just last week so if people ignore those emails and believe me, I’m tempted to do it when I’m sent the same information, then they have only themselves to blame. I want to say I’m amazed but I’m not, people wing it all the time and sometimes those wings get clipped. We flew in today to Seattle and they were 14 people on our plane that did not make their cruise which was leaving today and why? Our plane was delayed for over four hours, brought back to the gate and these people must’ve been freaking out…we arrived when they were supposed to already be on the ship so a poor choice cost them plenty but hopefully they’ve learned to fly in the day before!

We love the aft suites and luckily have never had soot but we’ve also done the penthouse forward and my only thought with that is to consider the cruise you are on. Our forward penthouse was for the Panama Canal and it was perfect but we usually do transatlantic’s and the people that were in the forward penthouses never used their balcony because the wind was so brisk, a couple of the women said they couldn’t even push the door open. So just a consideration.

I have to chime in on this thought because I just arrived in Seattle today for our cruise on Tuesday and guess what, there were 14 people on the plane that didn’t make their cruise because our flight got brought back to the gate for maintenance issues and we cooled our heels for four hours at the airport. Bye bye Alaska for them. Never ever take a chance on the airlines for important events like a major trip, a wedding, a funeral, etc. etc. etc. There are simply no guarantees and it’s insane to think about taking an international flight and arriving on the day of your cruise not to mention Rome is spectacular, you should go and spend a week there before the cruise!

We just did a home test that was proctored via Zoom and cost $19. The eMed proctor tests are now running $35 each but I was unaware that we needed to have a test and we cruise on Tuesday so I hit Google and Google hit me back with this fabulous testing service called Onpoint testing. Fast, easy, and cheap. We have used the eMed tests before and completely loved them but I love this even more because we just used our free government provided home C19 test and we were good to go 15 minutes after, test results emailed within an hour after we took the test so it’s a very viable option and I would recommend it.

Excellent suggestion, thanks! As you say, all they can say is no.

Last question…if you book on board is it coming off NO pricing vs US or the global pricing? Prices vary quite a bit on these different sites so I’d rather book off the cheapest site (fully aware of different rules applying) rather than wait for my 5% onboard but I’d assume NO pricing for a NO line. Frugal expeditioner! 😎

Follow up question: considering the no refund rules associated with the NO site, would there be any advantage for me to book these expeditions now and then, after I achieve ambassador level in March, would I be able to rebook them for a potentially lesser cost? The more I think about these expeditions I’d rather be assured that we have secured a spot but I also like the idea of saving money, who am I kidding?! 😜 So if you have any thoughts please share. Thanks!

Hallasm, you are the best. A few years ago I read your advice to check the different sites and you saved us thousands and thousands of dollars so finally the cruise we booked (well before Covid) will be happening and we are psyched! We come from snow country and love the cold so March is going to be perfect…spring skiing/riding to follow! Do they have someone on board to book future expeditions? This is the first time I would be coming onboard a ship knowing exactly what trips I want to do because these are so not like normal cruises I guess, truly expeditions. Looking forward to sailing with Hurtigruten and Hallasm,, I am grateful for all your words of wisdom regarding Hurt, you are very appreciated here!

We are booked on a Norwegian fjord trip in March, our first with Hurtigruten and I was looking to book a Greenland trip and then Antarctica trip but I wondered if Hurtigruten offers up discounts to repeat customers? Considering the $$ these H cruises are it would be great and I’ll just hold off booking but if not then no need to wait! Any input from experienced H cruisers is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Cash goes directly into servers pocket..and we also tip the assistant waiter.

Yes to water at the ports as long as it isn’t a case. Yes to getting off in Seward as long as you are back on board before sailing which is normally 30 minutes before. LeBistro is wonderful, highly recommend and Teppanyaki is just OK in our minds, it’s fun if you have a fun and active table or you’re with a group but we’ve done it with less than enthused diners and it sucked, it’s more about the entertainment then the high quality of food.

Early disembarkation is possible with certain cruise lines so check with your travel agent, they will be able to tell you. You will be able to make a flight from Keflavík at 11:40 AM with getting off at 8 AM, assuming you have your own luggage handled so don’t worry.

Exactly how I read it, a joking comment which made me laugh!