DCGuy64

Me, too! I first experienced the Japanese bidet when we were in Hawai'i (which sees lots of Japanese tourists). That thing saved us $$ on toilet paper during the pandemic.

That Google Lens feature is great. We used that a lot last year in Japan. Hmm, you live in Arlington and you speak other languages? We need to become friends IRL. I'm a language buff myself and I live in Fairfax County. Keep enjoying your trip. My wife loved getting onigiri from a convenience store when we were there.

We aren't the pool types, I understand others might be, but we spend 20 minutes by the pool for a 7-day cruise, tops. We cruise for the ports and excursions mostly. I wonder if Virgin made a strategic decision to emphasize onboard activities versus big swimming pools like other lines do.

Thanks for your great review and for taking the time to post it!

That's correct. It's primarily onsens that cater to Westerners that allow them. Personally, I think tattoos are disgusting and trashy-looking. No offense to anyone who has them, but I was glad I didn't have to see any of them when we visited an onsen last April. I am so glad you are having this opportunity to visit Japan. Your pictures are stunning and gorgeous. Thank you so much for posting these and sharing them with us. I speak Japanese and it was incredibly gratifying to be there last year and speak the language with the locals. They were so kind. I found the food to be mouthwatering. Make sure (if you haven't already) to get some karaage, some ramen, and some yakiniku. I don't eat sushi, but I found Japan to have tons of other things to eat that were delicious. Keep enjoying your vacation. I'd be interested to know if you ever have performers show up at the pier to send you off. During our cruise in April 2023, we regularly had dancers, drummers and high school bands perform for us during our sailaways. What an unforgettable memory that was! EDIT: I'm also interested to hear what you think of 7-11's over there. Very different from the USA, that's for sure! They have "konbini" (convenience stores) everywhere, not just 7-11, but Family Mart and Lawson seemingly on every street.

Just one? LOL. It's hanging, on me. I'm looking at my cruise for 2025 and the site is moving slowly.

Agreed, @Daniel A. If people have the time to talk to the media, they have time to refer to the actual incident that caused the delay, especially given the amount of attention this story is getting. Was it a mechanical issue, a medical emergency, a security situation, etc.? I think they're being deliberately evasive and vague because they know that'll sink the whole "poor, pitiful me" narrative they're pushing.

Thank you for taking us along on your journey. Have you ever been to Japan before? We cruised there last year and had a fantastic time. I hope you do, too!

We've only done NCL's air once, and it was great. No problems whatsoever, and it was cheaper than we could have done on our own. I don't know where you live (you say west coast but that could be Los Angeles or a small town in WA or OR). That matters, because I have read on here people who aren't well served by airlines, who got great deals through NCL that they couldn't on their own. But people who live in or near large cities can often do better by booking themselves. And then there are people who want to be in control of their own arrangements, even if that costs them more money. $1800 r/t from the west coast to Reykjavik for 3 people sounds pretty good. One thing you can do is go to airfare booking websites and do dummy bookings to see how many stops the average airline does. In our case, we flew nonstop from DC to Miami. We had one stop on the way home, but it was only an hour layover. Depending on where you live, 2-3 stops might be the norm, for instance. I have a good friend who flies a lot, but she lives in a small town in MT. Any place she goes involves (usually) at least 2 stops on the way to Europe, for instance. So it just depends. One thing to note is that if you end up booked on an airline with whom you have status (like we do on AA), you can upgrade your seats and get checked baggage for free. However, you typically won't know who you're flying with until 45 days before the cruise.

I think the person you were replying to doesn't realize that the percentage doesn't even have to be that high to be perceived as a threat. Even if crime rates have declined relative to the 1980's in NYC, for example, the fact that people have cellphones and social media now (which were absent in the 80's) makes these occurrences more real, graphic, and, seemingly, more frequent. Perception becomes reality.

We don't book ANY independent excursions unless there's a guarantee that they will deliver us back to the port in good time to make our departure. (Or house and feed us at their expense and pay to have us catch up). It's never happened in 14 cruises.

Unless there was some reason that wasn't the guests' fault, I'm going with "the rules don't apply to me, I'm on vacation." 🤣🙄

Nice. NCL cancelled our cruise booked for June 2025 due to a charter. Was I bummed out? Maybe for a few minutes. But I know they're a business and it's their prerogative. We ended up booking an Alaska cruise the same day as we received word of the cancellation. Now I'm super stoked about the new cruise. I only wish I knew what the charter was for, in case I wanted to a part of it, LOL! I'd love to hear your impressions of the Joy, especially since the dry dock earlier this year.

Glad we agree!

FB has its pluses and minuses, but the comparison is a poor one since they aren't in the cruise industry, which is the topic of both this thread and my reply to it.

If I have the choice to believe a multibillion dollar company that ferries 1,000s of passengers all over the world every single day and has to abide by multiple sets of maritime and landbased laws and regulations, and a group of irresponsible adults who are trying to have their 15 minutes of fame, I'll choose the corporation Every. Single. Time. Others are free to do differently. EDIT: People here are probably familiar with how a newspaper can print a "scoop" kind of story on page 1 in large font and then, when errors in the story are discovered, they print a retraction on page 28 in small type. Reminds me how often people can paint a cruise line (ANY cruise line, mind you, not just NCL) of ripping people off, stranding them, etc. and then when the full details emerge and the cruise line didn't do anything wrong, the haters are nowhere to be found to say they jumped to conclusions and were wrong.

If NCL elects to reimburse passengers, even though it has no liability whatsoever and is in no way required to, I'm sure that won't stop the haters on here who will still somehow say NCL is evil and should be boycotted, sued or burned at the stake. 🤣🤣

100% agree. Typically entitled, "I'm the victim," 0% responsibility passengers. NCL did nothing wrong and I hope those people get zilch.

I can see why. My TA cruises a lot, but I don't think he's done VV yet. When we sail with them next January, and the offer is still good (and assuming we have a good time, which I anticipate we will), I could easily see us opting for this.

Wow, no kidding. That's quite a generous incentive!

Absolutely. You can see quite a bit in 15 hours. In fact, in 2021, we disembarked from a cruise in Trieste, took the train to Chiusi to meet friends who live in Citta' della Pieve, had dinner, breakfast and a snack with them and were there less than 24 hours. You could do a ton of stuff in Rome with 15 hours.

Thank you, I knew about the bar tab but wasn't sure if something similar could be done for sailor loot. Thanks for the explanation! Oh yes, I understand that. The 'benefit' to me is that I sometimes like to have money saved that I then put towards onboard expenses rather than spending that money on other stuff before the cruise and then having a massive credit card bill later. Same principle (to me, anyway) of paying down my cruise over time versus a big chunk to be paid at final payment time. That's all. Thanks.

Just a question since we are new to VV: Can sailor loot be loaded prior to the cruise by the sailor, or is it only available as the result of a promotion? I know with other lines, OBC is typically a perk offered either by the cruise line or a travel agent. Is that true of Sailor Loot, too?

YMMV, for sure. We've had everything from a missed connection (same airline) to weather delays to a COVID issue, most of the time the airline took appropriate action. We did have to pay $50 to rebook an international trip, but that was in business class so $50 was no biggie. It's always worth talking with the airline and asking "what if." I usually don't like to schedule flights too close to disembarkation, but you might be surprised to see how often I build in the extra time, only to be stuck at the airport for hours and I'm thinking "you know, I should have taken that earlier flight after all." But then there's Murphy's Law, so....

Thanks so much! Really appreciate your review. My first-ever cruise, I ditched my family and hung out with two other guys closer in age. I'm glad you had a nice cruise!