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Fall & Winter 2024

syyskuuta - joulukuuta 2024
Combo trip journal ... including time with family in Türkiye; a Viking river cruise (Eastern European Capitals); more family time in Türkiye; and a TransAtlantic Cruise back home on NCL Encore. Lue lisää
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Uusin ensin
  • Fall & Winter 2024

    Pre-T/A Logistics ✓

    18. toukokuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    Flight … bus … hotel!

    All of the logistics for our pre-cruise overnight before embarking NCL Encore on 3 December are complete.

    We didn't want to take more time away from our family visit. So, no pre-cruise this time. Not that we will be flying in on embarkation day. That would be way too stressful.

    Instead, with our departure from İzmir set for 2 December; we will have an overnight in Southampton.

    Familiarity with our destination helped speed up the required bookings … even though we won’t be flying into Heathrow as we usually do.

    Rather, we will be flying SunExpress nonstop from İzmir to London Stansted Airport [STN] ... a former US base ... now the fourth largest airport in England.

    Next, I moved onto getting us from Stansted to Southampton.

    We always take the National Express bus service when we fly into Heathrow. So, we're going the same route from STN ... with a connection at Victoria Station in London. I booked the 3:25p departure. The good news is that airport pick-up passengers are allowed to board any bus within three hours on either side of the purchased ticket … at no extra cost. Of course, that’s on a space available basis. 🤞🏻 all will go like clockwork.

    Our accommodations in Southampton are sorted out as well.

    The Holiday Inn on Herbert Walker Avenue may not be the most luxurious of accommodations. But we have stayed there before and it is the closest hotel to the port. Walking distance if the weather cooperates and we feel like rolling our bags to the terminal. If not, hopping in an Uber will be easy enough.    Lue lisää

    Katso käännös
  • Fall & Winter 2024

    NCL Re-Fared

    1. kesäkuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F

    Was it worth it?

    Maybe. Maybe not. But it is a done deal. And I was on the phone no more than 5 minutes to get our fare reduced based on the current promo.

    Who cares if this re-faring falls into the small change category. Any amount of savings is a good one!Lue lisää

    Katso käännös
  • Fall & Winter 2024

    Cha-Ching: NCL Paid in Full

    2. elokuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 84 °F

    With final payment for our Encore TransAtlantic due on Monday, I did the deed today.

    I've also completed my sightseeing research for the three ports of call on this cruise. We will DIY it all the way. The stories will unfold when we call on the cities in question.

    Pre-cruise logistics ... ✓
    Final payment ... ✓
    Sightseeing plans ... ✓

    Now we just need to wait for the final documents to be issued. But that won't happen until 21-days prior to embarkation.    Lue lisää

    Katso käännös
  • Fall & Winter 2024

    NCL Itinerary Change #1

    5. elokuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    An NCLH company after all!

    So, no surprise that we got an itinerary change right after the final payment deadline yesterday … while we were on our way to Denver for some sightseeing.

    Yeah, yeah. I know this happens with all cruise lines. But it seems like it has become a habit with the NCLH lines in the last few years. We’ve experienced it on Oceania. And now on NCL.

    I had to laugh at the paragraph that said, in part, “… pleased to share that we have preserved the amount of time originally scheduled for our visit to Ponta Delgada, Portugal.” True, but we did lose an hour each in Vigo and Lisbon, and another hour in Southampton … the latter because the sailaway has been moved up from 5:00p to 4:00p.

    Technically, I don’t mind the changes. This cruise is transportation for us. Any sightseeing we do will be DIY, so no plans to re-jigger. Plus, we will be arriving earlier ... which is a good thing. After all, we are sailing in December and it will get dark early anyway.

    I titled this itinerary change #1. With only three ports of call, I would think that there would be no other changes. But we shall see! There is always the possibility that more's to come.    Lue lisää

    Katso käännös
  • Fall & Winter 2024

    NCL Upgrade Bid Game

    15. elokuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

    Isn’t that what they say? So, when we received an email from NCL today to bid for an upgrade for our TransAtlantic cruise, we decided to play the game ... especially since we won't be charged for the bid unless it is accepted.

    I was surprised that all of the eligible categories — except one — were in The Haven ... NCL's "ship-within-a-ship" class of staterooms. The one exception was the Club Balcony. The differences between this category and the veranda we have booked isn't worth a bid IMHO. So, we crossed that one off the list and focused on the others.

    Some of The Haven cabins were simply out of our price range — like the deluxe owner’s suite. Others were way too big for our needs — like the two-bedroom family villas. Yet others were not suitably located — like the courtyard or forward-facing penthouses. That left the aft-facing penthouses with large balconies — perfect!

    This TransAtlantic cruise is simply transportation for us. And at our current fare, it is inexpensive transportation at that. Keeping that in mind, we decided to submit the minimum bid amount.

    We might well miss out on an upgrade at the rates we submitted. NCL’s upgrade tool even rated our bids as such by showing them as being "poor." No matter. We really don’t want to spend too much more for this cruise. As nice as it would be to have the extra indoor space for what promises to be a cold-weather crossing, we’ll be satisfied with what we have booked if the upgrade bid is not accepted.

    When will we find out if one of our bids is successful? Anytime between now and just before sailaway on 3 December.    Lue lisää

    Katso käännös
  • Fall & Winter 2024

    🚘 & Driver to DEN … ✔️

    16. elokuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

    Uber. Private driver. One-way car rental. These have always been options for us when past trips required us to get to or from DEN.

    Often, the car rental rates have been less than the cost of a car service. Sometimes a few dollars more perhaps. But renting a car was worth it regardless … for not having to rely on someone else to get us to DEN … especially for an early morning departure when an unexpected snag could wreak havoc on the trip.

    Our last few trips, however, have seen the rental rates going sky high. Our upcoming trip in September has been no exception in this regard. Believe me … I’ve been checking on and off since January.

    I finally gave in and made a reservation with Avis in July … just to have something in our back pocket. I’ve been monitoring the rates since making the booking … even submitting a couple of requests through AutoSlash in the hopes of finding a better rate. No can do.

    So, I turned to one of the two private drivers I have in my contacts app to get us to DEN for our evening flight on 8 September.

    When I called April, she quoted $90 for the drive … best rate I’ve seen … ever. Definitely a ‘big-chunk-of-change’ savings over the car rental rate.

    I have since confirmed the arrangements with April and canceled the Avis rental.

    One last logistics ✓ on the to-do list.

    Now, to the worst part of travel IMHO … packing. But I have some time before I have to get cracking on that.    Lue lisää

    Katso käännös
  • Fall & Winter 2024

    MIA-DEN Logistics ✓

    28. elokuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☁️ 82 °F

    After many months of checking for a reasonably-priced flight to return us to Colorado Springs at the end of our fall-winter trip, today we made a decision and took the plunge.

    Since the fares on 15 December — the day we disembark NCL's Encore in Miami — were higher than we wanted to pay, Mui agreed to postpone his 12/16 appointment. Thus allowing us to book award tickets on the 16th instead ... on the 8:00a non-stop flight on United ... for a very reasonable number of miles.

    True, flying out on the 16th means having to stay overnight in Miami on the 15th. But we knew that we could do so for less than the cost of the airfare we'd have to shell out to fly out on disembarkation day. So, we now have a hotel reservation near the Miami Airport ... booked through United's hotel portal.

    Both the airfare and the hotel are fully refundable. If we find a better deal, we can cancel and rebook. In the meantime, it's nice to have these logistics checked off the to-do list.    Lue lisää

    Katso käännös
  • Fall & Winter 2024

    Xmas in September?

    2. syyskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    No. Not celebrating Christmas in September.

    Just doing a little early prep work.

    You see, we don't return home until mid-December. So, we figured that we would put up the tree and a few decorations before we left on our trip.

    This way, we can begin enjoying the holiday cheer immediately upon returning home. Plus, there will be that much less decorating to do in December.    Lue lisää

    Katso käännös
  • Fall & Winter 2024

    At DEN

    8. syyskuuta 2024, Yhdysvallat ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F

    With bags packed yesterday, and a flight departure not until this evening, we had a relaxing start to our travel day.

    The car service picked us up on time. No traffic to hinder our progress … we arrived at DEN at 2:30p … well ahead of schedule.

    The Turkish Airlines (THY) check-in counter was already open with no one queued up … the TSA Pre✔️line was long, but moving steadily. All good omens for our travel day.

    We whiled away a couple of hours at the United Club before coming to our gate. The A350 aircraft that will be taking us across the Atlantic to İstanbul is being prepped. Boarding to commence in 20 minutes.

    Ready to get this trip rolling.    Lue lisää

    Katso käännös
  • Fall & Winter 2024

    Welcome to IST

    9. syyskuuta 2024, Turkki ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    Have landed in İstanbul … one more flight to go to reach our destination later today.

    Katso käännös
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