gaabbee

I’ve never done it but I believe if you go to the internet manager day 1 or 2 you can upgrade the package and use the unlimited WiFi as a credit. If you do it before the cruise I don’t think the plus package wifi will count as a credit. I could be wrong on this. 

If you win a bid to a larger room can you call up and add people to your trip? I heard that they may cancel your upgrade if you make any changes. 

1 hour ago, RocketMan275 said:

Is POA staffed by US citizens and all crew are union?

Yes 80% has to be American 20% international. Yes we had a union. 

Great review so far. I’ll be boarding on Sunday! We did the haven spa suite so it’s nice to get familiar before hand. I’ll leave this here as an ex server on the POA tipping extra is super rare. We did get a portion of the added gratuities but then some were also kept for crew “enhancements”. We would get discounted drinks or crew parties etc.
 

A lot of these people work their butts off and make decent money. They also live in a lot lower cost of living areas. I remember one lady would tell her guests she had 3 kids back home that she would see every 8 months. She would however forget to mention that she bought them all houses and cars from working there. Again some of the hard workers deserve to be compensated above and beyond and those are the ones I focus on. 
 

disclaimer POA was the highest compensated ship in the fleet. 

Just off the Dawn last week. I booked a SE penthouse (forward facing) and called 3 weeks prior to sailing and asked about moving up to 1 of the 3 open DOS. They said no problem and no charge! If they feel they can sell/upgrade your current room faster then selling a higher end room I think they would do it. 

I was standing on pier 60 getting on a wedding cruise as she sailed by! I'll be on the Dawn Saturday and can't wait.

Besides the obvious extras included with the dos has anyone noticed better treatment from staff or the bulter/concierge while staying in the dos vs a regular suite or Haven room?

I upgraded from SE to SA and kept all my obc. I guess it depends on what ncl wants to do.

Booked SE on the dawn. Noticed the DOS suites were all open and SE was sold out 3 weeks from sailing. Called and asked how much to switch rooms. They gave me the DOS for no extra charge. Kept all my obc. They listed my old room for more then I paid and was sold out again 1 day later. I booked through a travel agent. Still can't believe it worked!

Thank you all! I think I will try to search for a list of the included bottles. Good to know about the lights! Hoping for working ac as I remember how hot the spinnaker lounge was on the jewel.

Booked a fwd facing balcony (SE) on the Dawn out of NY. Thought I got a pretty good deal with $200 obc and an extra latitude point per day. Saw the prices drop yesterday but still more then I paid and decided to call and ask. My travel agent called me back and said that NCL is going to upgrade you at no extra charge and you get to keep all the OBC and perks! 

I loose out on the huge balcony but I get to wake up to that amazing view. Tell me I made the right choice! Hope this helps anyone. Now do I tell my wife or surprise her? This is our 1 year wedding anniversary gift!

I'm going to throw a wrench into this conversation because why not. I worked for NCL 8 years ago. Lets say the service charge was $13 pppd. For a full cruise on my ship that's about $191,000. We had 900 crew. That's $212 per week per person. (not everyone gets the DSC) In my paychecks the DSC averaged around $120-150 every 2 weeks. Now they did throw us parties and extra activities but I never thought the math added up.....

1 hour ago, richg35 said:

Agree, I don't get it either, but I suppose different strokes and etc.....

So I live 15 mins from a beach. Why go on vacation and do something that I can do at home? The villas makes it way more interesting to me. I understand some people don't get to go to a real ocean beach very often and the normal lounge chairs or cabanas would be fine. I just see the villas as an opportunity to have a different type of experience then what I am used to at home.

My wife and I did our honeymoon on the jewel NB last year! We did the same research as you are right now and had a great time. It's all about the itinerary! We were so tired that most nights we stayed in the room and relaxed. I 100% suggest getting the balcony. We didn't have to fight to see any of the glaciers and had the extra money to spend on excursions. Do the jewel, you will have a great time!

Not sure if it's available to you (suites and haven only) but I get the whole "hate the beach day" thing and that's why we booked a villa at great stirrup cay. AC, TV, private bathroom, special buffet, drink service, and if you want you can still go in the water!

58 minutes ago, Aldeya said:

gaabee, I can't thank you enough! With 4 days until our cruise I was getting really frustrated that I couldn't get any answers to our request. I called the number you provided and OBC was applied to our onboard account immediately and we already received a confirmation.

I let the rep know that there are a lot of shareholders that are not getting replies to their requests. She said they are overloaded with requests and are working on solving the problem. Well, I think it might have something more to do with the current changes to the shareholder benefits but that's the answer I got.

Anyway, gaabee, thank you so much again for your help!

No problem! I got that phone number from the lady listed above so I figured I'd update this so she doesn't get her phone blown up by all of us. Enjoy your cruise!

Call 1-800-456-7298 for the cruise benefits department. Explain that you submitted and have not received the benefit yet and they will fix it for you!

If one group has the app can they make a call to a room phone?

15 hours ago, amygutman said:

Yes you pre-pay...and book as soon as you can!

That is a wonderful price for what will be an outstanding day - I am already counting the days until our next villa!

Have a wonderful trip - Amy

If you call into the shore excursion line you don't have to prepay! If you book online you will prepay.

My wife and I took this exact cruise almost exactly a year ago. We also stayed in the Haven and had a great time! If you don't have plans for Juneau you need to book a whale watch tour. We went with Harv and Marv's 6 person boat and it was amazing! Orka came right up to the boat. Still can't believe some of the pictures we took. 

Great review thank you! We leave on Monday! Do you remember by any chance in the boarding process seeing signs for haven guests? I'm reading that Vancouver is a mess for priority/haven and just wanted to be prepared on where to go. Some agents are forcing them into regular boarding apparently. Thanks!

Thank you so much for the quick reply!

I'm boarding the Jewel in less then a week with priority boarding in Vancouver. Can you advise of any tips or where to go to actually find the right place to be? Thanks!

Just to through my booking appearance in. I'm booked on the NCL Jewel in July and based on the points from others in this thread I'm surprised it's not as popular of a pick. We leave from Vancouver and sail the inside passage (not the west side or ocean side of Vancouver Island). Stop at Ketch,Juneau, and Skagway. Skagway is a long stop from 8am-8pm. Then do Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glaciers before finishing in Seward. I felt like this itinerary hit on most of the must do's. I was very close to booking the Bliss but was blown away by the Jewel's itinerary and also lower price!

So some rough numbers. The Pride of America has 18 life boats. 6 tender boats that carry 250 pax plus 12 regular boats at 150 pax. This equals 3300. The capacity if POA is 2500. This equals 132%.

This is not including crew