14 and 10 Nights - Norwegian Cruise Line (Southampton, UK to Lisbon, Portugal)

Sept. 2026: Back to back cruises
14 day North Europe (Great Britian, Scotland, Iceland, Norway, Great Britian) Sept. 13-Sept. 27
10 day London to Lisbon (Great Britian, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal) Sept. 27-Oct. 7

While on our 2024 Asia cruises we bought eight future cruise credits. The future cruise credits cost $125 each but give you $250 each in future cruise credits. The credits do not expire so we are confident we will use them.

We first booked Norwegian cruises to the British Isles and North Europe and transferred them to Costco, but then Norwegian leased the Norwegian Sky before our cruise and cancelled our British Isle cruise. So, we had two 10% off vouchers for future cruises on Norwegian, due to the cancelled cruise and an itinerary change on a past cruise, so we rebooked with Norwegian for a little better price and included airfare through Norwegian. We put down $500 on each cruise, we used our future cruise credits (2 each per cruise) that cost us $125 each. So, we will still owed around $9,000. This is about what we owed before but airfare and transfers are now included.

We booked these two new cruises while they had a sale going onboard and were also allowing you to use two credits per cruise, for any catagory of room. We booked an inside room and got a catagory upgrade due to the sale. The cost for the first cruise was $6,355.62 (including Fare, Taxes/Fees/Port Exp, Air w/taxes going and transfers). We put $3k deposit on Lynns United CC on 2-4-26, so $2,855.62 to go. The second cruise was $3698.06 including the same with air back. We put $3k add'l deposit on my Delta CC on 2-12-26, so $198.06 to go. We made final payments May 1, 2026.

I applied for and got our stockholders perks May 11th; $100 onboard credit per cruise.

Ship

Norwegian Star was built in 2001 and last refurbished in 2021. It holds 2,298 passengers, 1,031 crew, and we are booked in an inside room, 10593

September 13 - September 27, 2026,
North Europe itinerary

September 27 - October 7, 2026 (new itinerary 10-28-25, lose Oporto, Portugal, gain three extra days/stops for free, Norwegian rescheduling)
Europe itinerary map1

Ship excursion, Internet

The excursions are generally good as you have a guide who shares local knowledge and they don't require a lot of planning effort. The downsides can be cost, as they usually range between $79 to $250 per person, per excursion and sometimes you feel like cattle being herded along. We do get a 15% discount on excursions, one of the perks of being Sapphire latitude members. We usually try to explore cruise critic information and other resources before the trip, to decide what to do at the stops, balancing cost, effort and safety.

On this cruise we get 300 minutes of internet on the first cruise and 150 on the second.

Insurance

Lynn purchased another year for $396 with AEGIS travel (Go Ready Annual/Multi-Trip Primary Plan by Aegis General) on 2-11-26 to start March 14, 2026 - March 14, 2027.

Travel day from Detroit to Southampton, England, Great Britian, Sunday Sept. 13

Airfare was included in our booking through Norwegian, $594 total for both of us, times to be determined. Transfers $159 ($79.50 each) are also included in the bookiing price.

July 1st we got our flight confirmations. Norwegian booked us on Westjets Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane, which turns out to be Canada's second largest economy airline. Everything is extra, pick your seat, extra, take a suitcase, extra. So we booked one suitcase each ($90 total if you prepay) and did not upgrade from economy but it cost $122 to pick our seats on the two flights in economy. We are in seats 12C & 12D (aisle seats) from Detroit to Halifax, then seats 8F & 8C from Halifax to London (Gatwick), I wanted a window, lynn an aisle.

Still waiting our return flight info...