AusQueen

The website says the Spirit was refurbished in 2017. What kind of work did they do on it? Anyone been on it recently?

Wow. I’m surprised by this announcement after they were touting how well it was doing in China and how it had the highest occupancy in the fleet.

 

I wonder if that was all just smoke and mirrors...

 

Something must’ve seriously gone downhill for them to move it out of the Chinese market so quickly. Especially considering that they will have to put an additional $50 mil into converting it for the North American market.

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That is what I have been trying to say here and in another thread. I heard a few months back that the Joy has never been on full capacity. The Chinese people want to see the world and not get stuck in their own backyard. Assigning a new and expensive ship like Joy solely dedicated to the Chinese market was a bad move.

It also did not help that they designed the internal part of the ship based on the taste of the Chinese market. These people want to see how the outside world is ! Also, considering how much they smoke ( Chinese people are heavy smokers) -- you can imagine what the smell would be like.

Their running costs were also higher. NCL had non Chinese speaking staff members working alongside their interpreters when serving the customers. I have spoken to a couple of those that were assigned to Joy and they said it was so stressful. The worst part is that they yanked off a lot of the senior staff restaurant members from the other ships for Joy.

Oh well - at least we will get to see the new Joy soon.

Seeing the Holy Land and other parts of the Middle East that we have given up on ever visiting due to the conditions of the region. A miracle happened and NCL offered one in 2016. It has not happened again in their itineraries. Am glad for the wonderful experience.

 

As far as NCL vs. Celebrity, there is no contest for us. Celebrity wins by a mile as being desirable for us. But NCL does have the edge with their wide choice of dining venues (even though Celebrity’s food is superior), having The Haven concept (which Celebrity will start to mirror with The Retreat on Edge) and their entertainment choices. But we prefer Celebrity’s much more calm (but not stuffy) atmosphere.

 

 

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Totally agree. Celebrity wins by a mile. It is sad because NCL was good.

The over all survey of the top 10 cruise liners for 2018 has come out here on Cruise Critic. Celebrity was consistently on it - on all the categories ( always within the top 10). The only time Norwegian came up was for entertainment amongst the top 10...surprise surprise - with the Jewel. Here is the link.

https://www.cruisecritic.com.au/memberreviews/cruiserschoice_index.cfm?Category=Overall

I know this is a novel idea, but wouldn’t it be great if Celebrity could just put a banner on their website saying in advance of website maintenance / downtime so that people could know or at least plan accordingly when they’re on the site?

 

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You would think they would adopt this right? I wish I did as I kept on getting all sorts of unavailable cabin messages. Anyway, all sorted - we finally completed our booking.

Just wished they planned beforehand.

We have been to Dubai and Oman before with Norwegian on a Holy Land cruise. After the cruise, we stayed at the Oberoi in Dubai ( very close to the Burj Khalifa). The airport in Dubai is one of the best I have seen in the world. Flying with Emirates on a very very good seat at the pointiest is priceless ! Anyway, since our Celebrity cruise will be ending at Dubai, we were thinking of going to Abu Dhabi and visit the new Louvre there. Is it safe to travel by land all the way to Abu Dhabi and back? Any recommendations on where to stay and what else to see at Abu Dhabi?

It has been down for nearly 12 hours in Sydney :(

I thought something went wrong because it just "died" on us when we were trying to book a cruise :(

Has anyone done the India and Sri Lanka cruise? Can you give us a bit of feedback about it?

The website of Celebrity has been down for over 10 hours. Whats going on?

Thru the years I have spoken with the staff during our cruises. The one thing that I always hear is how worried they are about getting older in this industry. Shipping lines have a tendency not to want to re-hire staff members who are nearing their mid 40s. And this is why the good staff members just disappear or are forced to retire. No matter how good they are, their contracts become harder to re-negotiate once they hit their 40s. It is a pity because the really good butlers come with years of experience.

Joseph at the Star was the one who spoiled us rotten. He was like our shadow...always there when we had to go to the restaurants.

Hanno - hands down was the best concierge. He looked intimidating because he was like a giant. However, he was very efficient and professional. Always had the right answers.

Have sailed the Jewel three times (a fourth this May) and have enjoyed all of the speciality restaurants except Moderno's! Don't know what it is but the meal there has always been consistently poor. Have enjoyed Moderno on other ships (Breakaway, Pearl).

 

My favorite restaurant on the Jewel is Le Bistro.

 

 

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I have to agree Moderno's is really bad at Star and Pearl. We did not bother trying it out at the Jewel as we were already disappointed with its La Cucina and Le Bistro. Cagneys and Teppanyaki are always good everywhere.

Star is our favorite. The suites are pretty decent on the 12th. We will gladly go back to the Star but she is now based in Europe most of the time. The service we got aboard the Star was superb.

They are starting to offer this on the ships which have been upgraded to also potentially have the Ocean Medallion. But so far the Regal is the only one with this unlimited Internet option

When did the Regal have this? We were on the Regal late 2015 - and they still had the minute packages. Norwegian offers packages - minutes or the unlimited one for the entire cruise. It works better because you can use it when you want to without stressing if you have enough credits. It also works out cheaper in the long run. I hope Princess would offer this too.

Why can't Princess have an unlimited internet package for the entire cruise? It works with one person being online at a time within the cabin. This would be a better option. Norwegian has this and it worked better for us.

Those Laundry rooms are great. I hope they never get rid of them. It is great when you are in a long cruise.

Not sure why we never heard of it at the Regal or Royal. But then again, am glad I didn't - LOL

Unfortunately, how Customer service treats their passengers often depends on what cabin you are occupying. The policy between companies differ but they always tell you they try and be fair.

Based on our experience, we have been treated very well when we were in a suite. Refunds for unused shore excursions are recognized even if I changed my mind on the very morning of the tour. Once you are in a cabin, the rules suddenly change.

It is sad but it is the truth.

It varies. If you want to speed things up, you could email customer service just to check on the status. This may or may not help. We are in Sydney and refunds take about 2 to 3 weeks without emailing them.

No one ever wants to be in cruise from hell. Moreso if you have spent time and resources planning for it.

In varying degrees, we all have experienced a trip or a vacation we wish we have not taken.

I don't think it is right to question the anger and frustration one has gone through.

It is always easier to belittle someone else's feelings when they go through it.

It becomes a different story when it happens to you.

That was about the only thing we liked about it.

 

In the last year we have done 68 days on the Jewel and have loved every one and looking forward to the next 20 starting on Sunday even with the change. The crew are fantastic, nothing is too much trouble; treat them well and they treat you likewise.

We did and that was why we felt their morale was so low. Never in a cruise did I ever meet staff members wanting/requesting to be transferred elsewhere. It was sad really since most of them were in the supervisory level but were stressed out and lost without much supervision.

I am happy you enjoyed your cruise. I wish we could say the same. Our experience in the Jewel was so different as compared to our cruises aboard the Star and the Pearl with NCL and miles away from our experiences aboard Princess and Celebrity. The Jewel experience was the closest to home, the shortest and unfortunately for us, the worst. I do hope they improve and the management of the ship wakes up for everyone's sake.

FYI, last minute change.

 

But I guess that will be a bad start for some guests with special plans in Shimizu and extra stress again for the staff. We will see how that works out and what the reviews for the cruise will say.

Based on our experience and on Jewel's record per most of the reviews here in CC, NOT sure if their staff can handle this additional stress. Maintenance issues were about the only thing that was NOT our concern when we were aboard the Jewel. The ship was always clean and never had any delays or mechanical issues. That was about the only thing we liked about it. Full Stop.

“It is not worth it at all, when that same extra cost could be used to take longer and more frequent vacations.”

 

 

But some of us don’t want longer or more vacations. I know it’s hard for non-homebodies to understand but for people like me, longer sounds like torture and more frequent unappealing.

I think because of the traveling time and the cost of airfares from /to Australia- these are the main reasons why a lot of Australians are into those long or back to back cruises. Traveling from Europe is at least 23 hours and to America about 14 hours. That's how my husband and I think when we join cruises outside our region/continent.

We always try and book ourselves in a suite when undertaking a cruise that is more than 15 days. It can be claustrophobic to be confined in a really tight space for an extended period. The abundance of the space is great especially for the odd time that you would rather be inside your cabin for some peace - LOL. Depending on the suite you get into, you also can have access to the Haven which is good if you want to be able to stay around a pool without trying to fight for a chair. If you book a suite, you have a separate /special dining area for your breakfast and lunch. Ala Carte and all included. You dont have to be in the buffet if you don't want to. Room service has no surcharges. Aside from the space and private dining facilities, the service you receive is heaps better. You have a butler and a concierge that could help you with your reservations - meals ( MDR and specialty dining), entertainment, tours, etc. This is particularly quite evident in Norwegian. Not much with Princess or Celebrity based on our experience. Once you have tried the suites at Norwegian, you will be cursing yourself once you travel the mini-suites or the balcony. The difference is huge.

Also, if you are into Latitudes ( which everyone is into ) - you will earn double points for your stay. Making it quicker to achieve Platinum status, etc etc.

You need to weigh if these things matter you as the cost is tripled. In the same token, NCL does offer 50% on some suites with some of their promos. They get snapped up real quick though.