So cool to see ya both sharing the Rest. And glad to find Ben channel through you. He has a very friendly energy like you so yes will love to see ya both in more future cruises. Loved his feedback on the Rest experience!!
Thank you, it was so much fun to see him experience a specialty dining for the first time! Glad he and I have such a similar perspective and attitude about things; hopefully more future cruises together!
Hey Mer, wow this vlog has been soooo informative and cool at the same time, enjoying the comments as much as im enjoying the videos! That just speaks volumes of the cool community supporting you!! Looking forward to more videos!
So glad to see you and Ben having such a wonderful time together on the cruise. Such great proof that you can travel solo and not be alone and still be with friends. I also enjoyed seeing the 2 different perspectives of the excursion and the cruise from each of your videos. Loved your dress for Christmas eve and your Christmas tree earrings!
Thank you, Brenda! I agree, it was so nice to have someone to spend time with on excursions and around the ship but still do our own thing when we felt like it. Such a great cruise! ☺
Hi Meredith. Thanks for creating this content. I always enjoy your view as a solo traveler. I’ve been looking at cruises in Asia. This one looks fun. Going on NCL Gem in March on a music cruise. This may be a good cruise for next December.
Thank you for sharing your cruise experiences on NCL Spirit. I’m booked for a southern pacific 12 day cruise in Spring of 2026 on Spirit. I think I’ll enjoy the ship.
When I was on Spirit for 2022 Christmas, in Australia, the crew did a special Christmas show in the theater, which was a nice peak into the crew's world. For New Year's Eve, there were 3 parties on the ship, and it was strongly recommended that the crew go to the party on the pool deck. They had an ice sculpture for the year where the last number was changed out at midnight. Only about 50 passengers showed up for this party but the crew members made it a memorable party, and my hard-working cabin steward said he partied until 3am. I was on the ship for 6 weeks and am looking forward to going back in November. These smaller ships get the best itineraries.
@@gwenmarshall587 we had a very similar experience on the Spirit! You’ll have to watch the upcoming video of New Years Eve to see where we ended up for the official countdown 😄 but it was amazing and such a fun time!! The crew were all so fantastic!
i was so surprised of Bens reaction about special dining - great job and really fun to see you both together and maybe we viewers need to vote where the both of you go on next adventure. Watching from Weed Califonia
I'm so glad he enjoyed it so much! I'm always unsure the first time I recommend Teppanyaki to people if they will like the whole show and dinner experience, but he did! Great idea on the viewers vote! 😄
@@gwenmarshall587 I believe the earthquake happened near the port of Hualien which is much further north, and was actually originally on our itinerary but got changed to the overnight in Kaohsiung. As far as I know there hasn’t been a recent earthquake affecting Kaohsiung - it definitely appeared to be general construction and maintenance around the second dragons pagoda!
Muy interesante este vídeo, la excursión valió la pena con el descuento. Qué tal ? Hanía muchos pasajeros asiáticos? Tengo curiosidad...En los del Mediterráneo, somos mayoría los locales
Yes I thought the excursion was definitely worth it with the discount! There were a lot of Asian passengers on this cruise, not sure of the exact demographics on the ship but fewer Americans and Europeans compared to every cruise I’ve been on prior!
Thanks for posting these videos of NCL Spirit. We are scheduled to go on NCL Sky in March 2025 through a similar itinerary. I would like to know more about how NCL handles the passport and Visa at the various ports. I do know it has to do with your country of origin and each are different. How and where do they collect the passports, do they handle the visas and the costs and when do they return the passports to you?
I have a US Passport and needed a Vietnam Visa which I applied for and received prior to the cruise (it was cheaper for me to do it myself), they asked for it during check-in while boarding the ship. I believe they will also obtain one on your behalf depending on the itinerary, definitely check the NCL website though to confirm exactly what documentation and Visa requirements apply for your itinerary. Almost all of the other countries required an e-arrival form that needed to be filled out online within 3 days of arrival, and those websites were free and available through the NCL WiFi! They made it easy with plenty of communication delivered to the stateroom. They did take our passports after leaving Taiwan but I believe that was to simplify the process of stamping every passenger’s passport at every single port/country. It would have really complicated things to have all of us dealing with immigration each time, so this way was simpler!
@@MerCruisesSolo Thank you so much for your detailed response. I have read the NCL details and they state that they obtain the visas for the passengers for a cost of $100 each. At that cost, I would just prefer to get my own. Its so confusing but your experience at least helps me to understand some possible options. Thank you again for your help.
@@MerCruisesSolowow Mer thank you for this… so far all my cruises from the Caribbean so no idea about the process. Video suggestion, a video that talks about the logistics with international destinations.
I don't know if it's the same in Taiwan, but have a look at how the roofs of temples are built in China. They can resist to a magnitude 10+ Earthquake. ua-cam.com/video/w78Yb_aotH0/v-deo.html
Such a fun day! Great excursion and amazing dinner! A Christmas Eve I won’t forget 😁
@@TravelWithBen121 same! So glad you enjoyed Teppanyaki, such a fun and delicious experience 😄
So cool to see ya both sharing the Rest. And glad to find Ben channel through you. He has a very friendly energy like you so yes will love to see ya both in more future cruises. Loved his feedback on the Rest experience!!
Thank you, it was so much fun to see him experience a specialty dining for the first time! Glad he and I have such a similar perspective and attitude about things; hopefully more future cruises together!
Hey Mer, wow this vlog has been soooo informative and cool at the same time, enjoying the comments as much as im enjoying the videos! That just speaks volumes of the cool community supporting you!! Looking forward to more videos!
Thanks for being such an engaging and active part of my subscriber community, I appreciate you and all of your feedback and comments!! :)
@ aww thank you so much for your kind words Mer!!!
So glad to see you and Ben having such a wonderful time together on the cruise. Such great proof that you can travel solo and not be alone and still be with friends. I also enjoyed seeing the 2 different perspectives of the excursion and the cruise from each of your videos. Loved your dress for Christmas eve and your Christmas tree earrings!
Thank you, Brenda! I agree, it was so nice to have someone to spend time with on excursions and around the ship but still do our own thing when we felt like it. Such a great cruise! ☺
There are 4 rich countries in Asia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. When you come to Asia, you must visit them.
I visited two of them on this cruise!
Those temples look more like art museums. They are beautiful.
@@carolleiter6027 they really do, so beautiful!
Hi Meredith. Thanks for creating this content. I always enjoy your view as a solo traveler. I’ve been looking at cruises in Asia. This one looks fun. Going on NCL Gem in March on a music cruise. This may be a good cruise for next December.
I love the Gem, I hope you have an amazing time! Definitely recommend an Asia cruise, it was fantastic 😊
What a wonderful cruise and I’m having so much fun tagging along!
Thank you, Paul! It was amazing! 😊
Wow what an amazing cruise so far.
@@kerryharder2416 absolutely! So much fun 😄
Thank you for sharing your cruise experiences on NCL Spirit. I’m booked for a southern pacific 12 day cruise in Spring of 2026 on Spirit. I think I’ll enjoy the ship.
The ship is amazing! Thank you for watching 😊
Happy cruising!!
Nice presentation and love your voice
@@rosauraluna6920 thanks so much! 😊
When I was on Spirit for 2022 Christmas, in Australia, the crew did a special Christmas show in the theater, which was a nice peak into the crew's world. For New Year's Eve, there were 3 parties on the ship, and it was strongly recommended that the crew go to the party on the pool deck. They had an ice sculpture for the year where the last number was changed out at midnight. Only about 50 passengers showed up for this party but the crew members made it a memorable party, and my hard-working cabin steward said he partied until 3am. I was on the ship for 6 weeks and am looking forward to going back in November. These smaller ships get the best itineraries.
@@gwenmarshall587 we had a very similar experience on the Spirit! You’ll have to watch the upcoming video of New Years Eve to see where we ended up for the official countdown 😄 but it was amazing and such a fun time!! The crew were all so fantastic!
i was so surprised of Bens reaction about special dining - great job and really fun to see you both together and maybe we viewers need to vote where the both of you go on next adventure. Watching from Weed Califonia
I'm so glad he enjoyed it so much! I'm always unsure the first time I recommend Teppanyaki to people if they will like the whole show and dinner experience, but he did! Great idea on the viewers vote! 😄
@@MerCruisesSolo i support this idea!
Fabulous video as always ! Taiwan looks fascinating..looking forward to the rest of the cruise ! 😊
@@markilott4475 really enjoyed Taiwan, the whole itinerary was fantastic! Thanks for watching! 😊
Teppanyaki is always a must, I agree!
My favorite! 😋
Awesome excursion...the temples were beautiful! Cheers! 🙂
Thanks John!
24:57 Meredidith 😂
@@kevincrary6327 it takes practice to pronounce my name right! 😆
I love your videos,
@@MrCristian12332 thanks so much!
I wonder if all of the "construction " is related to the earthquake they had last winter a couple of weeks after we were there on NCL Jewel.
@@gwenmarshall587 I believe the earthquake happened near the port of Hualien which is much further north, and was actually originally on our itinerary but got changed to the overnight in Kaohsiung. As far as I know there hasn’t been a recent earthquake affecting Kaohsiung - it definitely appeared to be general construction and maintenance around the second dragons pagoda!
I'm going out on a limb here, I know: I think the specialty dining must be higher quality!
@@oldgadfly8398 spot on! 😂
Muy interesante este vídeo, la excursión valió la pena con el descuento. Qué tal ? Hanía muchos pasajeros asiáticos? Tengo curiosidad...En los del Mediterráneo, somos mayoría los locales
Yes I thought the excursion was definitely worth it with the discount! There were a lot of Asian passengers on this cruise, not sure of the exact demographics on the ship but fewer Americans and Europeans compared to every cruise I’ve been on prior!
@@MerCruisesSoloyeah i was wondering the same about demographics; I expected due the destinations and cultural influence!
Thanks for posting these videos of NCL Spirit. We are scheduled to go on NCL Sky in March 2025 through a similar itinerary. I would like to know more about how NCL handles the passport and Visa at the various ports. I do know it has to do with your country of origin and each are different. How and where do they collect the passports, do they handle the visas and the costs and when do they return the passports to you?
I have a US Passport and needed a Vietnam Visa which I applied for and received prior to the cruise (it was cheaper for me to do it myself), they asked for it during check-in while boarding the ship. I believe they will also obtain one on your behalf depending on the itinerary, definitely check the NCL website though to confirm exactly what documentation and Visa requirements apply for your itinerary. Almost all of the other countries required an e-arrival form that needed to be filled out online within 3 days of arrival, and those websites were free and available through the NCL WiFi! They made it easy with plenty of communication delivered to the stateroom. They did take our passports after leaving Taiwan but I believe that was to simplify the process of stamping every passenger’s passport at every single port/country. It would have really complicated things to have all of us dealing with immigration each time, so this way was simpler!
@@MerCruisesSolo Thank you so much for your detailed response. I have read the NCL details and they state that they obtain the visas for the passengers for a cost of $100 each. At that cost, I would just prefer to get my own. Its so confusing but your experience at least helps me to understand some possible options. Thank you again for your help.
@@MerCruisesSolowow Mer thank you for this… so far all my cruises from the Caribbean so no idea about the process. Video suggestion, a video that talks about the logistics with international destinations.
I don't know if it's the same in Taiwan, but have a look at how the roofs of temples are built in China. They can resist to a magnitude 10+ Earthquake.
ua-cam.com/video/w78Yb_aotH0/v-deo.html
@@JRTurgeon13 wow, that’s incredible! I learned something new, very cool! 😄
This was coool!