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Oddly enough, La Cucina on the Jewel had a better filet than the one I had at Cagney's. NCL has several menus for MDR, 14 I think. They rotate them based on what's available. They always have the classics, the other things change. With specialty dining thrown in, it's not bad. I've never had a problem. If you like Indian food, the buffet station for that is highly recommended by many.

Yep, I get it. I get twisted around sometimes too. But, I love me a good observation lounge on NCL. That's one of my favorite things.

I could have sworn the Jewel had the fish. Darn it! By any chance do those pointy pieces on the right point forward? It's unlike NCL to not have a visual. I saw some other carpet on what I think was a new ship and it had triangles.

I can tell you what we did, but this may not align with what you want to do. We flew in 2 days early and stayed at the Radisson Amador. We booked a taxi service called Amber Moon Taxi Service online before we left. They were waiting for us outside customs and took us directly to the hotel. This was more like an Uber and not like a Yellow Cab. The car you get may not be super great, but you'll get there and our driver was great. Not very expensive from what I remember. Highly rated service. I found them on Viator but booked with them directly online. The next day we booked the half day City and Panama Canal Tour on Viator. We toured the city and they took us to the Panama Canal Visitor Center. This turned out to be the best thing we could have done. At the visitor center, they have a 3D movie of the making of the canal. Do not miss it. That movie greatly enhanced our experience going through the canal. We knew so much about it. Wonderful! That night we took a taxi down to Fuerte Amador for dinner at a really nice seafood restaurant recommended by the hotel. So good! Expensive, but worth the splurge. There are plenty of places to eat, so don't worry about that. The Radisson had a shuttle that took us to the cruise port the next day. And that's it! Everything worked out great!

Does it itch? Yikes! This is why I travel with Off Wipes and AfterBite.

Hey Greg, have you noticed the fish on the carpet in the hallway where your room is? The fish always swim toward the front of the ship. Just a little fun fact.

It's not that hard. Just like hotels there are plaques that show which rooms are which way.

By default, Harry is CEO of all 3 of NCL Holding's companies...NCL, Regent, Oceana. The executive team below him are Vice Presidents and Presidents and such. Nobody but Harry holds the title of CEO. https://www.nclhltd.com/investors/company-information/executive-team

That open space behind your cabin is most likely housekeeping. They may even have a crew elevator that brings up luggage and room service and the like. See where it opens to the hall on the other side? I was in a balcony across from one once and they were dragging luggage out from there on embarkation day. It had to get there somehow and they definitely didn't get those big luggage carts through that little doorway.

It appears from the info on the Port of Tampa website that Carnival and RCCL will both dock tomorrow morning 9/1/23. Both companies are doing shortened cruises to nowhere. RCCL has already put out a compensation letter. Wonder what Carnival is doing?

That article is ridiculous. It works people into a frenzy and then it says this: "Even with these findings, plant-based straws are still better for the environment than straight-up plastics." And I know people with short attention spans won't read the whole thing, they'll just cherry pick. UGH!

I'm not sure if you want them open or not, but if you don't, you can just ask them not to and they won't. I do it all the time when I have a balcony and take some back to my room to have later while I watch the sea go by.

It's a great deal! I love that NCL offers it. I mean, who doesn't like free money? 😉

Do they still have the stipulation that the cruise you book must be 6 months in advance? I remember that being a thing when I bought them last year. It's fine, but I just want him to know you can't use them for last minute bookings. There are also CruiseFirst certificates which can be purchased any time on the website. Spend $150 get $300. Cruise must be at least 4 months out. I just bought one of these for my next cruise when they had the special to spend $250 get $500, so basically the same as CruiseNext. As a matter of fact, I booked the exact cruise Greg is on now but next year. It's part of our 25 day great Alaska adventure.

You found it! The shades are drawn whenever the ship is in port. It's a pretty cool view into the bridge and outside when you are at sea.

That tram ride is no joke. It's all good until it goes straight up. We actually zip lined down. I don't know what gets into me sometimes. lol

I have a small travel fan (usb/battery powered) that I travel with just for this reason. It really helps to give the wet clothes some air.

I wish you had a bright, sunny day for your excursion but I hope you had fun anyway. Looks interesting. Did the ship ever get closer?

Say what??? Oh, no, no, no. Status on NCL "entitles" you to exactly what is given to you under the terms of the Latitude program. It does not entitle you to trounce on others for your benefit. You don't get to cut in line or anything else because you think you deserve it. Just sad. Everybody paid to be on the ship and everybody deserves to be treated as such. It doesn't matter if it's your first cruise or hundreth. Be kind. If for some reason she was the spouse of an officer or something like that, I still believe that doesn't entitle her to special treatment over the guests. That's a bad look for NCL. She's a guest like everybody else and should know better than anyone how hard they are working to try to please everyone. Just my opinion. I do not care for the culture of entitlement going around lately.

NCL has an app and the Freestyle should be accessible from there.

See the back side of the Freestyle, upper right corner, Bar Services? It tells you what opens when and where.

The Jewel has a bridge observation room. They are posted on the wall there. It's a cool place, you should check it out. Deck 11, port side, forward (obviously.)

So. Much. Junk Mail. It baffles me coming from the environmentally friendly cruise line. Also, you can find the Freestyle on the NCL app, just like Carnival. You don't need the paper, although it is easier to read in paper form.

She was on the Jewel in February also. Now that I do the math, I realize it wasn't that long ago. I believe they do 8 month contracts. I thought the bartender extended, but both he and Tahani may have a month or 2 to go.

He must have extended his contract. He was one of the bartenders in the casino when we were on the Jewel in February for the Panama Canal.