Heronymous

Back in 2008 or 2009, my very first cruise ever and I was offered the deluxe owners suite on the Gem for $750 more per person. It was an incredible experience. We were treated like royalty. 

In the past when a family member had an issue with us on this ship, it was booked solid but had a few no shows. They had to wait until the end of the first stop to ensure the missed travelers weren’t  going to fly to the destination and join the cruise at that point until they’d release the room to swap for room issues like this. This is what they told us 2 years ago anyway.

1 hour ago, schadeck said:

 

I picked up a RAVPower FileHub Plus Wireless Travel Router last month, and am currently using it to post to this message board from a NCL cruise. The hub works just fine for sharing a connection, but to be honest, the speed is terribly slow just for a single user.  That being said, I am able to share a connection between my laptop, my phone, and partner's phone.

And are you connected to multiple devices at the same time and able to use them at the exact same time? I was able to do what you're doing with the ravpower and as soon as I switched to my second device, I could no longer use the internet on the first..

On 11/29/2018 at 9:30 AM, rtkenmore said:

Oh, thank god someone else brought up how the "free" stuff isn't really free again.  I missed that topic the last 14,589 times it was brought up.

 

😕 

And thanks God there was another member who felt required to post a negative comment insulting the OP instead of just moving on. 

 

I have never seen an ethernet connection in the staterooms, from balcony to haven.

 

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Thanks for all of the replies. All I do are away class ships, so I'll make sure I'm prepared for the fight to use my perks then. How unfortunate.

 

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I've done The Haven several times in the past and always valued the service from the concierge, but due to multiple bad butler experiences we've decided to forgo the Haven and just stick to regular rooms and add the spa. We did reach platinum level on our last sailing which I see includes concierge service. How does that service compare to the concierge you access via the Haven and how do you access them? Is there a walk-up location or is it by phone only?

 

The haven concierge went above and beyond and treated you like a VIP typically getting you in to places you might not otherwise be able to... Or watching out for cancellations and slipping you in... Does the platinum Concierge provide the same level of service as the haven concierge?

 

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Thank you so much for this info. Exactly the answer I was looking for.

 

I currently have the RAVPower FileHub Plus Wireless Travel Router and have used it at hotels with great results. I know the Getaway's WiFi will not be the same as a hotel's, and that's why I wanted to find out if anyone has had the experience of using a travel router.

 

I will try it on our cruise in November.

I have that travel router as well as the discontinued DLink travel router, both used to work however due to their use of cookies that they place in your browser now when you log in, they can now tell when you use a different device connecting via a shared travel router connection. It does not work any longer. It used to.. But doesn't now.

 

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This used to work as I used to do it. However they have caught on and use cookies placed on your devices to determine your device identity. Because of this, there is no way to share internet using those travel wifi sharing routers.

 

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It isn't common but it can happen. A family member booked a solo cabin on the getaway and wasn't prepared for just how tiny it was. On the first sea day he was able to coordinate an upgrade via Amex who worked with Miami and then the ship to get him moved. It was a monumental effort on his behalf and it was not free or discounted.

 

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I made the mistake of buying water on board this past cruise and wound up not drinking most of it because I brought along two insulated travel mugs and just had them filled with ice water or soda. The water is filtered and just as good as bottled on the ship and free.

 

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I have brought steamers and travel irons. 50% of the time they catch the iron and take it out of the suitcase and leave a note in its place telling me to pick it up on the last day. I noticed the times I booked the Haven they left my iron alone. Not sure if that's coincidence or not.

 

Steamers I will never ever bring again. The steamer created so much steam it set off the smoke alarm which was not a good experience.

 

If you try to bring an iron, just be smart about it and don't leave it plugged in. Common sense.

 

I stopped bringing irons because when I learned about Downy wrinkle release and tested it out, it really worked quite well.. and less hassle plus much safer for everyone on board.

 

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My PCC barely returned my calls last year. It was like pulling teeth just to book a reservation.. this year after multiple calls and emails trying to get in contact to book two cruises I finally gave up and went through Costco instead. I paid the same prices that NCL and the PCC would have charged but got extra perks plus $550 in Costco Cash gift cards when I returned home.

 

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All of the menus on our July 2018 Getaway sailing actually said "Escape dinner day X" on them, so in this case that ship appears to be using the Escape menus.

 

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Can someone explain to me the texting capabilities and cost?

 

Does anyone find that app useful?

 

 

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It is completely worthless and mostly unusable. I have purchased the messaging and calling feature on 4 of my cruises and the feature is very undependable and doesn't work more often than it does. It's at the point where the internet manager himself told me just last week on my recent cruise that he doesn't advise purchasing the option and if you do, be prepared to go to guest services and ask for a refund after a few days. He also said that due to the horrible functionality and complaints from guests they are introducing a new app from a new company in a month or two as they were forced to ride out the contract with their current provider which is ending very soon.

 

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Haven't sailed yet, but have heard rumours that even though we have been upgraded to spa mini suite through the bidding process, we may not be entitled to spa access.

Has anyone else heard about this?

Was really looking forward to resting my weary limbs after full day excursions.

 

Recently read a rather positive review (jj227) on the Breakaway, the 9-day Baltic itinerary, same as we'll be going on, same upgrade via bidding, and they didn't seem to have any issues.

Just seems crazy to me that they wouldn't allow you to use the spa if you were in a spa mini suite.

Any further comments jj227?

 

Ozecat

That sounds crazy to me. That would be like winning a bid on a Haven suite but not having access to the Haven amenities. What makes a Spa Balcony or Spa Minisuite is the access to the Spa amenities. I would find it very hard to believe that winning a spa room would not include the spa access. It wouldn't be a spa minisuite then, it would just be a minisuite.

 

Now if you purchased a spa minisuite outright and then won a bid for a different non-spa type room, you would loose the spa access at that point.

 

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We just got off the Getaway on deck 14 and two doors down from me the balcony door was open the entire cruise.

 

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There is a post I made on here back in 2009 about call recordings with NCL if it's still available. They do record them, and if you reach the right person they will even listen to them, but they will definitely not send you a copy or transcript.

 

Due to an extremely rude and unprofessional PCC I had back in 2009, I always record my calls with them when I book since I live in a 1-party consent state for call recording. Doing so helped me tremendously with NCL back in 2009.

 

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We heard two code alpha pages earlier for what sounded like deck 4 which I know is their staff deck. I'm hoping this person is ok. I couldn't hear the entire page since it was noisy where I was. Anyone else know if at least this person is ok?

 

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I've read that the Internet Packages can only be utilized one device at a time.

 

Is it possible for one phone to connect to the ship's internet through this plan, and if the phone has the capability, to be used as a hot spot for other devices to connect?

 

I know our phones can be utilized for this while on land.

 

Please let me know if anyone has tried this and been successful.

 

Also, is there cell service on the Escape?

There are portable travel routers which are made for the purpose of connecting to wifi in hotels and share that wifi with other devices by creating a new wifi network. They worked great for me in the past and I did use it on the Getaway in the past, however it looks like they may have caught on and figured out how to disrupt them from working as they did not work for me on the Escape.

 

I am on the getaway again this weekend so I will be seeing if they still work there and I'll report back.

 

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I purchase 8 bottles of liquor on my last cruise from NY knowing I'd have to pay taxes when I return on 6 of them. Customs had an attitude at first when they read my declaration saying "you know you're only allowed 2 bottles right?"

I responded "I know I have to pay the tax on the others which is why I made sure to declare them, they're gifts for my coworkers"

 

He suddenly became nice, thanked me for being honest since most people aren't according to him, and told me to go ahead and isn't going to charge me the extra duty. I was amazed and delighted, he made my day.

 

Milage will vary, but I prefer honesty over lying and getting caught.

 

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I use cruise fish . Net ; free to browse and costs $1 per itinerary for them to monitor for you. Have gotten some great price drops that way.

 

 

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I used to use that site but would get erroneous emails every other day saying my room went up $300, then down $300, rinse and repeat.... when I checked NCL's site every day the price never even changed.. so I lost faith and trust in them.

 

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Hi All,

 

Bit disappointed about our first experience of “Suite Life” on Jade.

We were really looking forward to this and researched a lot on CC.

 

Check in was fine and quick because due to traffic we were later than we hoped.

 

Very nice gentleman even referred to us a VIP’s [emoji1] then handed us over to our concierge who explained that as we were late nothing was available food wise as it was 4pm and muster would be at five. Not a problem as we have reservations at 2130 at Le Bistro.

He then told some young guy to escort us to our Suite. Got to the escalators and they were sealed off and someone said board down here. This involved steep steps carrying our luggage which my husband had to carry for both of us as I have health issues.

No offer of any assistance from said young man who took us to the lift and said this is the lift you take and disappeared!

Now it was only 4pm for a cruise departing at 8pm.

 

Second disappointment just now when our Butler called.

After much excitement and research on CC we were very much looking forward to a nice breakfast from Cagneys on our balcony in the morning especially due to the great weather. Also to having dinner in our Suite tomorrow night.

Butler signed deeply when I said we’d like cooked breakfast from Cagneys or as it turns out Modernos and said something like he couldn’t come very early!

 

We said we didn’t want early but what time would best suit him? He just said mark down your time - maybe it’s language difficulty. I asked if we could have a menu for the cooked items and he said “it’s nothing really just eggs benedict or waffles or scrambled eggs”.

I said no problem we’ll swing by Modernos and look at the menu.

I then said we’d like dinner in suite tomorrow night since our welcome letter even suggested it.

He said I have 14 Suites to take care of and can only do 7pm as 8 and 8.30 is taken. I said could we go later like nine and he said no it’s too late restaurant is closed but we’re eating in Le Bistro tonight at nine thirty and it’s open till ten.

After all I’ve read online I’m disappointed. This is only a short cruise but we were interested in booking a Suite in future if we felt it was worth it but that’s looking less likely.

I don’t think we’re being demanding - haven’t asked him to unpack or draw a bath etc just two meals served in our Suite.

Have we lucked out with a bad butler?

Is it that we’re not American so he thinks we won’t tip?

Actually we changed money into dollars especially to tip him but he’s not going to get much if he’s so unhelpful.

 

Thankfully our room steward seems very nice though he has taken away our cushions for the balcony furniture and we were hoping to sit in comfort as we sailed away.

 

Trying Royal Caribbean in August but up till now Norwegian was our favourite. We were so excited reading other people’s experiences of having a Suite and now I wish we’d just gone for our regular aft balcony.

I've done the haven four times out of seven, but after my last time I decided I will no longer do it. It used to be that we were treated like rock stars with VIP treatment which was an absolutely amazing experience and well worth the money. Just the fact that they remembered our names and greeted us by them every time we walked into the Haven, and knew us by name without even having to look us up at the Haven restaurant made us feel special.

 

Last year on the Breakaway we did the Haven and it was extremely disappointing. They never greeted us by name once when walking through the Haven or Haven restaurant. The few requests I made to the butler were either forgotten and never carried out, or I was just just told plainly "no." When I asked if we could get chocolate covered strawberries instead of the seafood plates they bring as snacks I was told "no, we do strawberries on Wednesday". When I asked for boxes to carry my liquor bottles out for disembarkation, I was told yes but they never came. Whenever I spoke to the butler it was like I was interrupting him and he couldn't be bothered.

 

I paid the extra money for access to the Haven and to feel special, instead we felt ripped off and ignored. We enjoyed the spa facilities more than the Haven due to the large group of children left in the Haven daily that cruise who were frequently left unattended and were rambunctious. That plus the other things I mentioned.

 

We decided this cruise (we're doing two back to back) we'll forego the Haven and just stick to the spa. It'll be half the price and I'll go buy my own plate of chocolate covered strawberries if I want them.

 

We did have absolutely amazing experience once on the Escape when Virginia was the Concierge and Arnie our butler. They were absolutely incredible in every way... The only way I would ever do Haven again is if I knew they would be there.

 

So I feel your disappointment...

 

 

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Not sure if anyone posted this but Costco sells a bucket of Twizzlers which are actually designed to be straws. They're stiff and work great and are individually wrapped... we bought a container for the next cruise.

 

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I've brought my laptop and iPad on every cruise and have never had an issue. I usually leave it in a bag on the chair in the room or inside my suitcase which is always left locked, not that it isnt simple to pop those open anyway. If you're that concerned, I would do what another person suggested and just leave it in your suitcase and shove it under the bed.

 

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