It's Never Too Early To Make Plans Or Reservations

In September of 2012, Veronica and I will be going on another adventure.

We will be on the Norwegian Cruise Line(NCL) Sun for a 14-Day Norway, Iceland & Faroe Islands Round-trip from/to Copenhagen cruise.

Hard to believe that our cruise will begin in 11 months and 15 days. When I really think about it, it does seem like a long ways off still but it is not too early to book certain aspects of the adventure.

Although we still are a couple of weeks out from starting to shop for a reasonable flight to Copenhagen...if such a thing actually exist, it isn't too early to book a pre-cruise hotel room at the Copenhagen Marriott or one of the many ports of call excursions that are already being offered for this cruise.

Upon landing in Copenhagen and a full day before our cruise sets sail, Veronica and I will have to find our way to the Copenhagen Marriott. Hopefully we will be somewhat well rested from our long flight especially since we will be trying to sleep during most of the flight.

we definitely do not want to have the same jet lag problems that we had after our very first international flight to Heathrow. After landing in Heathrow, those heading for the cruise terminal had to board a bus for about an 1 1/2 hour bus ride. Then we had to go through the check in process and get aboard the ship. We were on the NCL Sun for that cruise too....a 12 day Baltic Capitals cruise.

Without realizing it jet lag had kicked in and we ended up sleeping for the first 23 hours or so of our cruise. Luckily that first day was a day at sea, with no ports of call scheduled.

We don't want to do that again because we want to go out and about once we get checked into the hotel.

We have plans to go visit Tivoli Gardens during the late afternoon and throughout the evening. I have read that it really looks different and nice at night when they have all of the lights on.

Another thing that I have done is make reservations for one of the shore excursions being offered for Reykjavik, Iceland.

Veronica and I have decided to do our own thing in all of the other ports of call. We have done this many times before and have always enjoyed ourselves and found many beautiful and interesting things to see wherever we have gone and had a port of call.

Because there are so many different things to see in Iceland, we could have chose one shore excursion and spent our day mainly seeing one site in depth or we could walk around the city on our own and utilize their public transportation to get wherever we wanted to go or we could do what we ended up choosing for our shore excursion.

We chose to do the excursion called "Iceland Through The Photo Lens". This excursion will take us to many of the known sites and other sites that most people would not normally be able to see, much less photograph.

Here is the shore excursion description as it is written on NCL web site:

Iceland Through The Photo Lens

Discover one of the best kept secrets in the world of photography – Iceland! Whether you consider yourself a keen amateur or a dedicated professional, there is no doubt that Iceland's fascinating photographic terrain will set your pulse racing. If you are an enthusiastic nature and landscape photographer, you know that there are precious few places left in the world that offer a dramatic and accessible landscape that has not been over exposed. Iceland is a visually exciting place for those photographers seeking inspiration for a new and challenging location to explore. You'll be able to take in some of the best photographic locations in the region. Through your photo lens, discover wonderful panoramic views over vast lava fields, hot springs, mountain ranges, lakes, unspoiled nature, bird life and picturesque fishing villages. Enjoy a buffet lunch at the famous Blue Lagoon complex. Note: Participants must be 16 years of age and be in good health. Most venues are not wheelchair accessible. Guests must be able to step in and out of the vehicle rather quickly to take advantage of the photographic opportunities. This is a special interest tour for photography enthusiasts - no equipment is provided.

This excursion will give me an excellent opportunity to put that new camera through it's paces. I should be able to get some remarkable photos, movies and even some panoramic photos during this day full of seeing what Iceland has to offer.

I booked this excursion earlier than I normally would book one because I wanted to make sure that we would not is out on signing up for this one.

It will be one of the many highlights of our cruise I am sure.

Now if only I can find that "reasonable" airfare from the States to Copenhagen.

A Change In New Adventure Plans

Veronica and I have decided to change our cruise plans. Originally we had made plans to take a 12 day Grand Mediterranean Cruise, on the NCL Spirit in September of 2012.
That cruise departed from Barcelona and ended in Venice. In between those two points the ship would have ports of call in a couple of places in Greece, Italy and Turkey. Some of those ports of call weren't ones that really interested us. Plus there was the fact that it was going to be more expensive flying into one location and out of a different location, rather that going each way through the same location.
Veronica really wanted to see Venice Italy, and the Greek Islands had been mentioned  as a place that she also wanted to see.
So after looking over many cruise itineraries, we decided on doing a 7 day Eastern Mediterranean With Greek Islands cruise. This cruise departs and returns in Venice. Since we really would not be having much time to actually see Venice at the beginning or end of the actual cruise, we decided that we would fly to Venice several days before the cruise began. Because the cruise date is so far out, we can't make any hotel or airline reservations yet but we plan on spending 4 nights in a Venetian hotel that is right in the heart of historic Venice.
We will purchase transfer services from Norwegian Cruise Line so that we can easily get from the airport to our hotel in Venice and then from the hotel to the cruise ship. Transfers will also include going from the ship to the airport when our cruise is over.
We will actually have approximately 3 1/2 - 4 days to explore Venice and maybe take in a couple of islands such as Murano and Burano.
One of the hotels that NCL is showing on their web site is right in the heart of the historic district of Venice and it is also right on one of Venices many canals.
There is so much to see and do in Venice, that we could spend months there but unfortunately that isn't possible. But we will sure try to put a dent in all that there is to see and do in Venice.
During the cruise, we will have ports of call in Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos and Katakolon. There will be a couple of sea days in there also, which will allow us to relax just a bit.
This cruise is on the NCL Jade, which is the sister ship of the NCL Pearl. We have been on the Pearl a couple of times and really enjoyed being on that ship.
In order to make this all happen, we decided to go with an Inside Cabin, which are usually the least expensive category of cabins on a cruise ship. Our cabin will have the usual amenities that are in cabins along with two beds that form a queen sized bed.
Our cabin will be much smaller than the balcony and mini suite that we have previously had on past cruises but we don't plan on being in the cabin that much. Our cabijn is on the 10th deck.
There are plenty of things to do on this ship during our sea days plus they have a great observation area where you can kick back in a comfy chair and watch the beautiful coast drift by or get lost in a book.
Actually Veronica will most likely get lost in her new Kindle.
Below is the itinerary for our cruise:

Dates         Port          Arrival           Departure

Sat           Venice                            5:00 PM
Sun          At Sea
Mon         Corfu         8:00 AM        3:00 PM
Tue          Santorini     1:00 PM       10:00 PM
Wed         Mykonos    8:00 AM       6:00 PM
Thu          Katakolon   9:00 AM       6:00 PM
Fri            At Sea
Sat           Venice        8:00 AM



Here is a link for additional information about the NCL Jade
Future trips and locations that we are interested in seeing are Paris, Scotland, London, Ireland, Iceland, Norway and a bunch of other more inland locations that we will have   possibly see doing either an escorted tour and maybe one of those river cruises. Plus we also are going to be doing a "mulligan" on the Baltic Capitals Cruise that we previously enjoyed so much.