2:20 GLOWING 😊 wow, that church with the bamboo organ was so cool! 16:20 amazing view from up there, such a clear day! Looks like a great day overall! I think you had a better day than me 😂
Hi Meredith! Came across your videos on your NCL Spirit cruise, really enjoyed the couple of videos I’ve seen already. These videos caught my eye, as we will be on the Spirit on 1/30/25, but going from Singapore to Taiwan, but with very different ports of calls. Thank you for giving us a nice preview of what’s to come onboard the Spirit! 😎 BTW, saw that you took the excursion to Tagaytay in the Philippines. Turns out that’s where we live now. We retired to Tagaytay from the US, and love it here. Glad you enjoyed this excursion to Tagaytay, even though the bus travel was long. Trust me, the police escort was a life saver! Without them, your tour could have easily been 2-3 hours longer! 😱 Thank you again for your very enjoyable and informative videos. I’m looking forward to seeing them all! 😊
Thank you so much, David! Tagaytay was incredible, such a beautiful place - it must be amazing to live there! I hope your cruise on the Spirit is fantastic, I enjoyed mine so much! Thanks for watching 😊
Hi Meredith We hope you are well. We saw you first when you were on the same cruise with Ben. ( we have subscribed to your channel 😜 ). It’s nice that you are going on a long trip round Manilla!! We are glad you did a meeting before you started your excursion. Just sorry that these supposed organised excursions are just problem after problem, like your Christmas Day journey plan. Well done for coping with it!! The hotel you went through looked nice. Stunning views 😮. The buffet looks so nice too. The walk through the Rosal park looked awesome. It looks so nice lit up, in the dark. We are so glad your day was safe and successful. Thank you for sharing Meredith. We loved it. Take care, and see you on your next adventure ☺️ All the best David & Angela xx
Thank you both so much! It was a bit frustrating that the organization for excursions was lacking, but the tour itself was really great and I enjoyed it thoroughly! Such a wonderful view and delicious food 😊
Wow, that was great. Looks like you had a great day. The scenery at the hotel was amazing. The buffet looked great. The roadside fruit stand was really cool also. For me if I was on the bus that long I would have been happy to pull over and get off and stretch my legs and look at all of that. And I’m glad the weather held out. Look forward to your next video.
Thanks for another excellent video, Meredith. You tip about TP is true for many foreign public restrooms. It is common to see paper for sale at the entrance. Bringing some of your own, whenever you leave the ship, is a good idea.
Great musical choice during intro segments! Organizational chaos two days in a row? IDK if the day was too long and far for lunch and a view. However, after watching earlier Meredith videos, we booked our first NCL cruise for November! Hope to enjoy Japanese efficiency during our experience. Look forward to each edition of your trips. Take care and safe travels.
Great insightful video. Love your outfit-comfortable and pretty. I don't understand the reason for the confusion with getting off the ship; but more than that, I don't understand the lack of communication. Most of us are rather tolerant if we understand what is going on. I almost always take the NCL tours (1) because I've had good experiences and (2) for security reasons.
Thank you so much, Linda! I also don't understand the lack of communication, it would have been very easy to make an announcement! I've had mostly good experiences with NCL excursions with a few exceptions - most of my complaints with the cruise line excursions are just the wasted time waiting around and the disorganization, but hopefully this was a ship specific issue and not widespread.
Besides the chaotic start and the long bus drive, I'm glad the views and the food came out great! Just a clarification: "The Philippine Revolution began in 1896, and became entwined with the 1898 Spanish-American War. Spain ceded the territory to the United States, and Filipino revolutionaries declared the First Philippine Republic. The ensuing Philippine-American War ended with the United States controlling the territory until the Japanese invasion of the islands during World War II. After the United States retook the Philippines from the Japanese, the Philippines became independent in 1946." They were ceded; not purchased, same as Puerto Rico.
Yes, the tour was great! I did confirm the information about the US purchasing the Philippines from Spain for $20M as part of the Treaty of Paris in 1898 to be accurate info, based on independent research as well our tour guide informing us of this fact during the tour. Thanks for watching!
As you are an experienced NCL cruiser, is it the ship or the itinerary port stops that are causing problems with excursions. Doing my first NCL in Sept so a bit worried,
In this case it was really the communication from the ship to us passengers, as Donald mentioned. If we had known that the arrival time was delayed by an hour, we could have planned to arrive at the meeting point for the excursion later, but we all ended up just sitting around for a long time unnecessarily. There was no reason they couldn't have made an announcement letting us know what was going on.
We went on the WRONG excursion on the NCL Viva in Mallorca! We couldn't figure out why it was so much better than what we booked and their Spanish is different than Western Hemisphere.... It was wild.
@MerCruisesSolo We got lucky that it was better than what we booked. We took a bus to this village called Valldemossa (I never could understand our guide.) We stopped to see a vineyard and then arrived in this beautiful village. When we got back & NCL was "concerned" for us. We told them that we went with the group that they gave us stickers for. They ended up refunding us for both the accidental excursion and the one we missed. 😄
Have you been to Thailand? Because the Asian countries that Europeans and Americans love most for travel and vacation are Thailand, Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.
2:20 GLOWING 😊 wow, that church with the bamboo organ was so cool! 16:20 amazing view from up there, such a clear day! Looks like a great day overall! I think you had a better day than me 😂
Thanks, Ben! 😊It ended up being a great day despite the time on the bus; the view was totally worth it!
16:20 Yes, however a camera with a zoom would show it closer.
Hi Meredith! Came across your videos on your NCL Spirit cruise, really enjoyed the couple of videos I’ve seen already.
These videos caught my eye, as we will be on the Spirit on 1/30/25, but going from Singapore to Taiwan, but with very different ports of calls. Thank you for giving us a nice preview of what’s to come onboard the Spirit! 😎
BTW, saw that you took the excursion to Tagaytay in the Philippines. Turns out that’s where we live now. We retired to Tagaytay from the US, and love it here. Glad you enjoyed this excursion to Tagaytay, even though the bus travel was long. Trust me, the police escort was a life saver! Without them, your tour could have easily been 2-3 hours longer! 😱
Thank you again for your very enjoyable and informative videos. I’m looking forward to seeing them all! 😊
Thank you so much, David! Tagaytay was incredible, such a beautiful place - it must be amazing to live there! I hope your cruise on the Spirit is fantastic, I enjoyed mine so much! Thanks for watching 😊
Hi Meredith
We hope you are well. We saw you first when you were on the same cruise with Ben. ( we have subscribed to your channel 😜 ). It’s nice that you are going on a long trip round Manilla!!
We are glad you did a meeting before you started your excursion.
Just sorry that these supposed organised excursions are just problem after problem, like your Christmas Day journey plan. Well done for coping with it!! The hotel you went through looked nice. Stunning views 😮. The buffet looks so nice too. The walk through the Rosal park looked awesome. It looks so nice lit up, in the dark. We are so glad your day was safe and successful.
Thank you for sharing Meredith.
We loved it.
Take care, and see you on your next adventure ☺️
All the best
David & Angela xx
Thank you both so much! It was a bit frustrating that the organization for excursions was lacking, but the tour itself was really great and I enjoyed it thoroughly! Such a wonderful view and delicious food 😊
Great video Meredith. Sorry the day got off to a rocky start. Glad the day turned out well though...beautiful view on the ridge. 🙂
Thanks, John! I agree, the view was beautiful and worth it in my opinion! Had a great day even with the rough start 😊
Hello from the chilly suburbs of Philly. Love to see your videos, you are such a natural media personality. Thanks for doing Philly proud!
@@shepgreenberg7659 that is SO kind, thank you so much!! 💚
Wow, that was great. Looks like you had a great day. The scenery at the hotel was amazing. The buffet looked great. The roadside fruit stand was really cool also. For me if I was on the bus that long I would have been happy to pull over and get off and stretch my legs and look at all of that. And I’m glad the weather held out. Look forward to your next video.
I agree, it was great to have a stretch break even if I didn't intend to purchase anything! So grateful for good weather. Thank you!
Thanks for another excellent video, Meredith. You tip about TP is true for many foreign public restrooms. It is common to see paper for sale at the entrance. Bringing some of your own, whenever you leave the ship, is a good idea.
@@gnrands50 it’s definitely a great tip to remember, I am usually pretty well prepared but will keep this one in mind for future travels!
Great musical choice during intro segments! Organizational chaos two days in a row? IDK if the day was too long and far for lunch and a view. However, after watching earlier Meredith videos, we booked our first NCL cruise for November! Hope to enjoy Japanese efficiency during our experience. Look forward to each edition of your trips. Take care and safe travels.
Thank you so much! The view was pretty incredible. Hope you have an amazing cruise in November - so excited for you!!
Great insightful video. Love your outfit-comfortable and pretty. I don't understand the reason for the confusion with getting off the ship; but more than that, I don't understand the lack of communication. Most of us are rather tolerant if we understand what is going on. I almost always take the NCL tours (1) because I've had good experiences and (2) for security reasons.
Thank you so much, Linda! I also don't understand the lack of communication, it would have been very easy to make an announcement! I've had mostly good experiences with NCL excursions with a few exceptions - most of my complaints with the cruise line excursions are just the wasted time waiting around and the disorganization, but hopefully this was a ship specific issue and not widespread.
Besides the chaotic start and the long bus drive, I'm glad the views and the food came out great! Just a clarification: "The Philippine Revolution began in 1896, and became entwined with the 1898 Spanish-American War. Spain ceded the territory to the United States, and Filipino revolutionaries declared the First Philippine Republic. The ensuing Philippine-American War ended with the United States controlling the territory until the Japanese invasion of the islands during World War II. After the United States retook the Philippines from the Japanese, the Philippines became independent in 1946." They were ceded; not purchased, same as Puerto Rico.
Yes, the tour was great! I did confirm the information about the US purchasing the Philippines from Spain for $20M as part of the Treaty of Paris in 1898 to be accurate info, based on independent research as well our tour guide informing us of this fact during the tour. Thanks for watching!
Tagaytay during the Holiday season is traffic hell hahaha.
@@randyv8232 absolutely! 😆
@ hopefully you get to go back and visit the many beautiful islands and beaches here. May your youtube channel have a 10x growth this year! ☺️
We had a singing guide in Vietnam 😂
As you are an experienced NCL cruiser, is it the ship or the itinerary port stops that are causing problems with excursions. Doing my first NCL in Sept so a bit worried,
The cruise line fault is not communicating port problems to the passengers.
In this case it was really the communication from the ship to us passengers, as Donald mentioned. If we had known that the arrival time was delayed by an hour, we could have planned to arrive at the meeting point for the excursion later, but we all ended up just sitting around for a long time unnecessarily. There was no reason they couldn't have made an announcement letting us know what was going on.
We went on the WRONG excursion on the NCL Viva in Mallorca! We couldn't figure out why it was so much better than what we booked and their Spanish is different than Western Hemisphere.... It was wild.
Wow, that is wild! I hope you had an amazing time even if it was the wrong tour! I loved Mallorca! 😄
@MerCruisesSolo We got lucky that it was better than what we booked. We took a bus to this village called Valldemossa (I never could understand our guide.) We stopped to see a vineyard and then arrived in this beautiful village. When we got back & NCL was "concerned" for us. We told them that we went with the group that they gave us stickers for. They ended up refunding us for both the accidental excursion and the one we missed. 😄
@@shannyrenee17 Wow! Sounds like it turned out alright in the end, a happy accident 😄
Have you been to Thailand? Because the Asian countries that Europeans and Americans love most for travel and vacation are Thailand, Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.
No, I haven't been to Thailand yet. Maybe someday!