Wayback Machine DCL website

[insureman]

I miss this port.

 

[auntlynne]

It can be a part of your fun if you are willing to mix up your cruising company.

This was our first stop out of Tampa on the NCL Jade in November.



First time I have seen chickens getting into a tree to nest for the night:

 

[insureman]

I noticed on the Port Adventures they have Tunisia listed. Wasn't there some sort of conflict in the area and they canceled that port?

 

[auntlynne]

They did have the “Arab Spring” upheaval. It started in Tunisia! Mid 2012. A pro-democracy uprising. Like most things foreign events, we don’t have follow-up coverage since then. (Although I think I saw a TLC show filmed there in the last 5 years. There was nothing seemingly troublesome then).

 

[o&smom]

There was a terrorist attack at the Bardo museum a few years after we were there. So sad!

 

[insureman]

There was a terrorist attack at the Bardo museum a few years after we were there. So sad!

Yeah I forgot about that. Evidently 17 passengers were killed from 2 cruise ships. CNN link below.
https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/19/africa/tunisia-museum-attack/index.html

 

[o&smom]

It was so sad. Many of them never got off of the tour busses. I could remember the exitement we felt as we arrived and imagined them feeling the same way.

 

[auntlynne]

Yeah I forgot about that. Evidently 17 passengers were killed from 2 cruise ships. CNN link below.
https://www.cnn.com/2015/03/19/africa/tunisia-museum-attack/index.html

Wow. I guess the pro-democracy movement had a backlash by ISIS jihadists. And foreign visitors who could easily be linked to the concept of democracy.

What I read is that Tunisians made up a significant chunk of people going to Syria to join ISIS.

So sad for all who died or were injured in the attack.

The US State Department only lists Tunisia as Level 2 Travel Advisory. I think we have seen worse for the Bahamas and Haiti. And the list for Level 3 (Reconsider Travel) us for many if the Central American/ Northern S American countries. And yet the Travel Advisory states:

“Country Summary: Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in Tunisia. Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, museums, resorts, hotels, festivals, nightclubs, restaurants, religious sites, markets/shopping malls, government facilities and security forces. A country-wide state of emergency, which grants security forces more authority to maintain civil order and enables the government to focus on combating terrorism, is in effect.”

This makes current protesters against cruise ships seem relatively tame - but also disconcerting. They are expressing a rise in housing costs and economics, rather than infidels. If that changes, it would definitely be time to drop ports. As it is, maybe it is time to pull away from places where there is tourism opposition and let the locals come to agreement on whether they can and want to welcome outsiders.

… Thanks for that link.

 

[Becx N Gav]

Yes, we did the Bardo museum tour. So glad we got to see all of the amazing mosaics before the tragedy a few years later. We did a full day tour of Rome through DCL. We got to spend three days there before our cruise last summer, and were very impressed with all that was packed into our original Disney tour. Our son had just tuned 7 before the 2010 cruise and he remembered Pisa from The Little Einstein’s. We went there out of La Spezia with Disney. We returned again last summer on our own so that we could climb the tower. It was DD’s favorite day. I think because it was the simplest. We stopped at Ajaccio, Corsica and our DD tasted her first real food at 3 months old by gumming some authentic French bread. She now loves Paris! The sail into the bay in Malta with the sun rising was so beautiful with the sun bringing the stone buildings to life. We visited a museum in downtown Naples and had pizza on our own, then raced back to the ship to visit Herculaneum with DCL. We were able to tour Pompeii on our recent cruise. In Ville Franche sur Mer we took the train to Monaco on our own and spent time at the Jacques Cousteau Oceanographic museum and aquarium. The cruise was an amazing way to explore so many places with kids and make it enjoyable for everyone. I especially loved the “Welcome Home” banner that they used to put out above the gangway.

This sounds like the 10 night we did - was it the one with the big storm? That sticks in my head

 

[o&smom]

Oops

 

[o&smom]

This sounds like the 10 night we did - was it the one with the big storm? That sticks in my head

It was the beginning of September. I believe it left the day after Labor Day. We were in Tunis on September 11.

 

[Becx N Gav]

It was the beginning of September. I believe it left the day after Labor Day. We were in Tunis on September 11.

We sailed in April/ May in 2010. Apparently the captain had tried to go around the storm but went right into it! The ship was tipping side to side - on deck 4 you could only see the sea one side and the sky the other! The pools were overflowing and water was coming down the elevators! It was fun but I did eventually start to feel seasick and had to lay down!

 

[o&smom]

We sailed in April/ May in 2010. Apparently the captain had tried to go around the storm but went right into it! The ship was tipping side to side - on deck 4 you could only see the sea one side and the sky the other! The pools were overflowing and water was coming down the elevators! It was fun but I did eventually start to feel seasick and had to lay down!

I think some of the crew told us about that. We had one day that was a little choppy after all the others were pretty much glass. They told us that it was quite the experience.

 

[Snowwhyt]

We sailed in April/ May in 2010. Apparently the captain had tried to go around the storm but went right into it! The ship was tipping side to side - on deck 4 you could only see the sea one side and the sky the other! The pools were overflowing and water was coming down the elevators! It was fun but I did eventually start to feel seasick and had to lay down!

We heard about your experience and were on the 11/2011 cruise. We had less tilting problems but it was fun to see people walking middle hallway then left, then right, then left, repeat!
We also had water coming through the chandelier in the atrium.
I loved watching the waves crashing onto the deck 4 windows. We had little time outside because of the waves. Decks were closed.

 

[CamColt]

Wow! Thanks for the memories!

 

[auntlynne]

We sailed in April/ May in 2010. Apparently the captain had tried to go around the storm but went right into it! The ship was tipping side to side - on deck 4 you could only see the sea one side and the sky the other! The pools were overflowing and water was coming down the elevators! It was fun but I did eventually start to feel seasick and had to lay down!

That was the 11-night Med. First sailing of the season after the EBTA. Captain Thord’s parents were onboard. And the storm from nowhere appeared. They closed off all access to outside.

It was fun?! You and my niece. She never got seasick. Just skipped down the Promenade. I was miserable. But it was an adventure.

And afterward, our flights were cancelled due to volcanic eruption in Iceland (10K flights affected).

You’re our British (or Scottish) cruisers?

 

[CastawayCayLover]

The ESPN Skybox!

 

[insureman]

The ESPN Skybox!

View attachment 889735

That didn't last too long

 

[Becx N Gav]

That was the 11-night Med. First sailing of the season after the EBTA. Captain Thord’s parents were onboard. And the storm from nowhere appeared. They closed off all access to outside.

It was fun?! You and my niece. She never got seasick. Just skipped down the Promenade. I was miserable. But it was an adventure.

And afterward, our flights were cancelled due to volcanic eruption in Iceland (10K flights affected).

You’re our British (or Scottish) cruisers?

It was fun! I doubt we'll every have a sailing like that again! And we survived
I just got home after a 4 night on the Dream to La Coruna in Spain, first sea day crossing the Bay of Biscay actually made me feel worse than the Med cruise! I felt better after eating some lunch - apparently that helps your stomach!

Yes, we're from the UK! Our flight to Barcelona was almost affected by the ash cloud - they allowed flights on the day of departure (we flew in that day), are you sure it was afterwards? That was worse than the storm - really thought we were going to miss the boat!!

 

[auntlynne]

It was fun! I doubt we'll every have a sailing like that again! And we survived
I just got home after a 4 night on the Dream to La Coruna in Spain, first sea day crossing the Bay of Biscay actually made me feel worse than the Med cruise! I felt better after eating some lunch - apparently that helps your stomach!

Yes, we're from the UK! Our flight to Barcelona was almost affected by the ash cloud - they allowed flights on the day of departure (we flew in that day), are you sure it was afterwards? That was worse than the storm - really thought we were going to miss the boat!!

I think we both remember correctly, based on when we were trying to fly.

Were you heading to the cruise around the dates of the initial shutdown (15-23 April)?

“After an initial uninterrupted shutdown over much of northern Europe from 15 to 23 April, airspace was closed intermittently in different parts of Europe in the following weeks, as the path of the ash cloud was tracked. The ash cloud caused further disruptions to air travel operations in Scotland and Ireland on 4 and 5 May[7] and in Spain, Portugal, northern Italy, Austria, and southern Germany on 9 May.[8] Irish and UK airspace closed again on 16 May and reopened on 17 May.[9]” - Wikipedia

Our affected flights were after the Med part of our B2B TA & Med trip. So we got off the ship and were going to fly AerLingus through Ireland. And that was going to put us in the ash cloud. May 5.

We spent the night in Barcelona after sitting around the airport most of the day. Then we flew to Düsseldorf and onward to Southern Florida (on now-defunct Air Berlin). We rented a car for the 14-hour drive home. It was yet another memory to impressed into my brain.

…You are quite the adventurer to book a cruise that goes through the Bay of Biscay. I only hear bad stories about that area. Nice that recovery was achieved by something as simple as lunch.