Newbie couple more questions (sorry)

[DYKWIA]

Hi sorry to be a pest, neither my wife or I have cruised before and are just trying to work things out ahead of our cruise to the western med on Eclipse on the 7th September.

 

(1) Mrs DYKWIA doesn't drink - she's adamant she'll be happy with the basic soda package, if on occaision she wants a slightly different soft drink (one off the classic or preimum list) do you pay the full amount or a reduced amount?

 

(2) If Mrs DYKWIA decides on board that she'd rather drink the better drinks presumably she can upgrade the package on board?

 

(3) Hopefully not a daft question - on sea days on a western med cruise from Southampton can you see land - how far out at sea do you typically cruise (I know this will vary - particularly by bay of biscay) - just wondered if you typically can see land on sea days around the Western Med?

 

(4) Passports - obviously we will have them but are they required for all port excusrsions? I know tourists are easy prey for pickpockets and hoped to leave our passports in the safe. We wondered if another form of photo ID (Driving licence) would surfice for port excusrsions

[Gracie115]

Hi sorry to be a pest, neither my wife or I have cruised before and are just trying to work things out ahead of our cruise to the western med on Eclipse on the 7th September.

 

(1) Mrs DYKWIA doesn't drink - she's adamant she'll be happy with the basic soda package, if on occaision she wants a slightly different soft drink (one off the classic or preimum list) do you pay the full amount or a reduced amount?

Pretty sure you would pay the full amount

 

(2) If Mrs DYKWIA decides on board that she'd rather drink the better drinks presumably she can upgrade the package on board? Yes, you can upgrade on board

(3) Hopefully not a daft question - on sea days on a western med cruise from Southampton can you see land - how far out at sea do you typically cruise (I know this will vary - particularly by bay of biscay) - just wondered if you typically can see land on sea days around the Western Med? Don't know about Western Med, but you couldn't see land on our Eastern Med most of the time, with some exception around the southern tip of Italy

(4) Passports - obviously we will have them but are they required for all port excusrsions? I know tourists are easy prey for pickpockets and hoped to leave our passports in the safe. We wondered if another form of photo ID (Driving licence) would surfice for port excusrsions

Not sure, but suspect you need your passports.

[bobnjeff]

Make several copies of your passports, the main page with your photo, leave the real one in the safe and carry a copy each of your own plus have a copy of your better half so that if one of you loses yours you are safe. Also carry a drivers license. Never bring your real passport unless the ship tells you that you must have it.

 

 

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[WestLakeGirl]

With the Classic non alcohol package if you order something not on the list you pay the full amount.

 

You can upgrade on board up until a certain day (maybe three days from the end of the cruise?)

 

They try to get the ship far enough from land to be able to open the casinos, so you won't see land as you are cruising between ports for the most part

 

In the Med they are not required for excursions, in other places they are

[blindrid]

Re: passports

 

The Greek / Turkey cruise, the ship actually held the pp's.

 

In med, you don't take off board.

[itsjb1]

Make several copies of your passports, the main page with your photo, leave the real one in the safe and carry a copy each of your own plus have a copy of your better half so that if one of you loses yours you are safe. Also carry a drivers license. Never bring your real passport unless the ship tells you that you must have it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Excellent advice. Also a very good idea to take the contact info for the ship's agent in port(you can find the information in the daily info sheet) in case you run into any problems while ashore and you are not on a ship tour.

[jkgourmet]

Re: passports

 

The Greek / Turkey cruise, the ship actually held the pp's.

 

In med, you don't take off board.

 

Not when we did it on the NCL Jade in January 2014! Even when we visited Tunisia! (Which has been removed from all NCL itineraries because the Tunisian government refused entry to passengers who held passports from Israel.)

 

NCL did collect passports for certain passengers from certain countries, like Russia, and I forget where else. US, Canadian and EC countries were not included.

Edited June 20, 2014 by jkgourmet