Showing posts with label 2012 NCL Cruise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2012 NCL Cruise. Show all posts

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.

Our Planned Adventure For 2012

A while back I had reported that Veronica and I were going to take a cruise that included Venice and several Greek isles.
Since that time our plans have changed. Actually there were a couple of cruise changes before we settled into one that we really wanted.
On 9/16/2012, Veronica and I will be sailing on the NCL Sun for a 14 day cruise that takes us to several different locations.
We will be flying into Copenhagen a day before we embark on the ship. That first day and night in Copenhagen we will be visiting the Tivoli Gardens. This is a place that we had not seen the last time we were in Copenhagen...this was when we were on our Baltic Capitals cruise last year.
Veronica and I enjoyed our last visit to Copenhagen, so we decided to spend a day there before the actual cruise.
We will be staying at a hotel that is within walking distance of Tivoli Gardens.
We had heard that Tivoli Gardens is especially nice at night when everything is all lit up.
Here is a link to the TripAdvisor web site that has a lot of information about Tivoli Gardens. There are also a lot of photos that you can view... Tivoli Gardens and here is another Google site that has nothing but photos of Tivoli Gardens... Photos
The following day, we will be boarding the Norwegian Cruise Line Sun to start our adventure.
If you remember, the NCL Sun is the same ship that we were on when we went on our Baltic Capitals Cruise last year.
While we were on the ship last year, we took the opportunity to look at a couple of inside staterooms and found them to be rather spacious...all things consider. Definitely big enough for Veronica and I.
The interior staterooms are also less expensive than most other cabin categories.
Although I will miss having a balcony or even a window to look out of, we couldn't beat the price that I was able to get this cabin for.
Also by getting a less expensive cabin it allows us to go on more cruises. We have a fantastic adventure and cruise in mind for 2014. There will be more on that one in the future, once I get things a little more formalized.
Plus we aren't in our cabin that much during the cruise...mainly to sleep.
If we want to watch the sights go by, we can just go up to the observation deck and hang out up there...plenty of comfy seats to lounge in.
I was able to get a military veterans discount. All I need to do is bring a copy of my DD214...my military discharge form and show it to them when we initially check in for our cruise.
Below is the itinerary that we have during this cruise:
Day Port Arrive Depart
Sun: Copenhagen ---- 5:00 PM
Mon: At Sea ---- ----
Tue: Bergen, Norway 8:00 AM 7:00 PM
Wed: Alesund, Norway 8:00 AM 5:00 PM
Thu: Lerwick, Shetland Islands 10:00 AM 5:00 PM
Fri: Thorshavn, Faroe Islands 4:00 AM 5:00 PM
Sat: At Sea ---- ----
Sun: Reykjavik, Iceland 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
Mon: At Sea ---- ----
Tue: At Sea ---- ----
Wed: Glasgow Scotland 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
Thu: Dublin Ireland 8:00 AM 5:30 PM
Fri: At Sea ---- ----
Sat: At Sea ---- ----
Sun: Copenhagen 7:00 AM ----

NCL has already started listing excursions for each port of call.
Veronica and I have gone over all of the excursions that are currently listed and for the most part we will be venturing out on our own and not taking any formal excursions except for one.
While we are in Reykjavik, there is an excursion that is geared towards photographers. This excursion is day long one and they will be taking us to many different locations that stand out for their photogenic beauty and interest. They will be taking us to places that most of the tourist never see. This will probably be one of the many highlights of this trip.
I will have more info on this adventure as we get closer to the sailing date.

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