August Escape Prep Work

With the Dolomiti the more imminent of the two ‘escape the heat’ trips we’ve got on the calendar, it took us awhile to get back to logistics planning for our August voyages.

📌 AIRFARE … First and foremost … check for posted August transportation strikes in Italy. That’s not to say that a last minute “sciopero” won’t rear its ugly head, but worth checking anyway. Sadly, the calendar only goes out to the end of July, so we’re going to have to pay Russian roulette with at least our outbound flight.

* Bologna - Bergen … Lufthansa with a connection in Frankfurt.

* Bergen - Copenhagen … SAS nonstop

* Helsinki - Bologna … FinnAir nonstop

📌 LODGING … Apartments with laundry facilities booked for both Bergen and Copenhagen. OMG the prices!!!!

📌 TRAVEL INSURANCE … Havila Kystruten requires trip cancelation/interruption and medical/evacuation coverage. This was a bit of a challenge since we are already outside the USA, but Mui managed to find a suitable policy through IMG.

📌 NCL CABIN ASSIGNED … We wanted a balcony cabin. The only way to get it was to accept a guarantee … i.e. let NCL assign one. It took just two days for them to assign us to a BB cabin on deck 8; sandwiched between other passenger decks; midship. We done good it seems.

📌 NCLH STATUS HONORING PROGRAM … The NCLH family — NCL, Oceania, and Regent — now recognize a passenger’s status on any of the sister cruise lines.

We are Gold in NCL’s Latitudes Rewards; Diamond in Oceania’s Club. I sent an email to the powers-that-be to request the status match. Received a response within two days granting it. What this means is that we will have a few additional perks to enjoy.

📌 EXCURSIONS … Port planning has yet to commence.Read more