🛳️ℹ️ CRUISE TRAVEL NEWS
Fans of Star Trek unite! 🖖
Get ready for the 10th Star Trek #cruise on board The Cruise X which is set to sail Feb. 20-27, 2027 (great dates) from New Orleans on board Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas!
I'm tempted - really tempted! 😁
The frozen grape juice - icy balls shaped like the grapes - are my favorites. I seek them out when I'm in Japan.
🛳️ℹ️ CRUISE TRAVEL INFO
If you're interested in seeing what new ships are on order or will be delivered in the coming years by most cruise operators, check out this informational page for the #cruise ship orderbook.
You can look at the #ship size, cost, for who, and where it's being built.
Just a reminder why we're in the middle of another war!
Oil profits that make its way to Trump and his supporters in so many ways.
✈️ℹ️ TRAVEL INFO
It's nothing salacious - on most commercial airplanes at least - but it's a good article written by a captain on what goes on behind the reinforced cockpit doors.
I've never been invited up front while the plane was in flight but I've glimpsed many cockpits walking by them. 😁
🛳️📰 CRUISE NEWS
Not that the past CEOs and management had no blame in NCLH performance, I doubt this change will help.
Activist investor Elliott is not in it to help but as a power grab at more companies to be under its thumb. Per usual, new CEO and NCL board caved.
I hope I'm wrong. But unlikely.
I'll end with a nice note.
I loved my huge Oceanview cabin - the best yet! - but I'm unlikely to sail the Viva or perhaps even NCL again because of all their cutbacks.
Which is ironic since I just turned Ambassador, NCL's top loyalty tier. OK, maybe 1 more - the 7-day "free" cruise.
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More cons:
⁘ I even got tired of the Indulge Food Hall - nice variety but average food
⁘ Un-inspired alcohol drink beverage - heard more excuses why they can't make certain cocktails than I cared for.
⁘ Once a day room cleaning, fewer (overworked) crew while charging highest daily tips.
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Cons:
⁘ Food quality and variety has continued to go down due to cutbacks
⁘ Other than Beetlejuice the Musical, entertainment was awful - too many game shows and boring guest entertainers.
BTW, Beetlejuice has been discontinued. Glad to have seen the production before NCL ended it.
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🛳️ NCL Viva Cruise Review
🗓️ 2025 Dec.
While I enjoyed the NCL Viva ship with its up-scale, well designed and luxurious touches, I came away with mixed feelings.
Pros:
⁘ A nice variety of specialty restaurants
⁘ Saw "Beetlejuice the Musical"
⁘ Good crew
A long list of cons are next ⤵️
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🧳 Recent Travels
🌎 Houston, TX, USA
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 13
And with flights from IAH airport to SJC via PHX, this concludes my trip to France to visit a dear friend followed by the 15-day NCL Viva cruise from Lisbon to Galveston. 😊
📸 Houston's IAH airport in the later afternoon and sunset.
🧳 Recent Travels
🌎 Houston, TX, USA
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 13
Last set of photos from the Space Center Houston.
Since I was only there for 2 hours, I didn't check out the popular tram tours of which there are 4 different tours.
Looks like I'll have to return for a longer visit next time. 👩🚀😁
🧳 Recent Travels
🌎 Houston, TX, USA
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 13
Here are more items on display at the sprawling Space Center Houston which has welcomed over 22 million visitors since 1992.
FYI, this non-profit is not owned by NASA but rather operated by the Manned Space Flight Education Foundation.
🧳 Recent Travels
🌎 Houston, TX, USA
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 13
Let's take a few look around this official visitor center of NASA's Johnson Space Center which features over 400 space artifacts.
Opened in 1992, this 250,000 square-foot educational complex hosts over 1 million visitors annually.
At the Space Center, I took my luggage from the bus with me and paid to store it at the Space Center for 2 hours while I checked it out.
I then Ubered to IAH airport to ensure I caught my flight in time.
On that Saturday, traffic was minimal with a fast, easy airport check-in and security check. 👍
This was a pricey NCL shore excursion from the port of Galveston where I disembarked and took this tour.
So, the tour was a bus ride with your luggage from port to the Space Center with an entry ticket. After that, an onward ride to IAH airport.
However, I took an Uber because of an early flight.
🧳 Recent Travels
🌎 Houston, TX, USA
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 13
Does it count that I visited Houston if only for a few hours at 1 of its main attractions? I've transited through IAH airport many times but that doesn't count.
I was just happy to spend 2 short hours at the Space Center Houston. 🚀🪐😁
More… ⤵️
🌎 Port of Galveston, TX, USA
🛳️ NCL Viva
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 13
"This is Houston" as someone would say at NASA - referring to NASA's Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center in Texas.
And that was the NCL shore excursion I took off the ship at Galveston port with a drop-off at Houston's IAH airport.
🌎 Port of Galveston, TX, USA
🛳️ NCL Viva
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 13
Finished my breakfast and I was ready to disembark from the Viva ship.
But first, a few shots of the port of #Galveston - an up and coming port for the Texas cruising market.
Not a convenient port as it's far from major cities and airports.
🧳 Recent Travels
🛳️ NCL Viva
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 13
Good early morning on disembarkation day at Galveston, Texas!
After a 15-day #cruise across the #Atlantic ocean from Lisbon, Portugal, I was ready to get off the ship and be back on terra firma.
Now... off to my last breakfast on board! 😋
🧳 Recent Travels
🛳️ NCL Viva
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 12
After dinner, I took in the last #sunset of my 15-day Trans-Atlantic cruise from Lisbon, Portugal to Galveston, Texas.
My favorite memories of this cruise were my spacious oceanview cabin and the Beetlejuice musical - NCL's last big Broadway production.
I remember that shopping center! Took these photos.
🧳 Recent Travels
🛳️ NCL Viva
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 12
My last dinner on the Viva was at the Nama Sushi and Sashimi restaurant. This is a specialty restaurant unique to the Prima class ships and so, I had not tried it yet.
I ordered 4 items but wasn't blown away by the quality or creativity. It was just OK. 😒
🧳 Recent Travels
🛳️ NCL Viva
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 12
Don't be like me and procrastinate about doing something until it's too late. Because of a busy last day on the NCL Speedway on board the Viva, I never got to test the track out.
Since this attraction requires a lot of space, it won't be on any new ships.
🛳️📰 CRUISE NEWS
Sneaky NCLH just made a disappointing change - not widely reported - to their Loyalty Program Matching across its 3 cruise brands and it's 1 that affected me.
As a new Ambassador member with NCL i.e. their highest tier, I'm no longer matched to the top tiers on Oceania or Regent.
Kudos to this blog (not associated with Royal Caribbean despite its name) for spelling out what went wrong with NCL.
Unless Royal Caribbean changes its loyalty program, I've shifted my loyalty from NCL to RC. Just did 1 RC cruise with none booked with NCL despite just hitting NCL's top tier.
🧳 Recent Travels
🛳️ NCL Viva
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 12
Since it was the last sea day before the cruise ended the next day, many procrastinators - including myself - waited until the last day to try the go-karts on the triple-decker Viva Speedway.
Alas… it was too busy and crowded that I decided to skip it. ☹️
🧳 Recent Travels
🛳️ NCL Viva
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 12
This was the last sea day of our 15-day Trans-Atlantic cruise.
These are also the #food I had for #lunch at the Indulge Food Hall. Funny how I'm now no longer a huge fan of this complimentary dining option. It's still quite good but I got bored.
🧳 Recent Travels
🛳️ NCL Viva
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 11
It was Glow Party night on Day 14.
Since the evening's weather was nice and warm enough outside, they held the party at the main pool instead of inside the main theatre/club.
Stayed for a while before I went back in and called it a night. 😊
🧳 Recent Travels
🛳️ NCL Viva
🗓️ 2025 Dec. 11
It's the 2nd to last sea day i.e. day 14, before we arrive at the disembarkation port of Galveston, Texas.
We'll skip over breakfast and lunch, and go straight to dinner at Palomar for Mediterranean seafood - 1 of my favorite specialty restaurants on NCL.