morrisretired

You can call the Captain's Club and preregister your husband with your booking number and information. The phone number is 800-760-0654 and they are open 8am to 8pm EST. My wife and I have sailed with Celebrity on 2 previous cruises, but this will be our daughter's first. I called and preregistered her, and they gave me a new number for her right away. You can always go to the Captain's Club and get him registered after you board.

Glad to see that NCL is giving you back 1/7 of the cost of your cruise fare. That seems like a fair resolution. It should go back on your account as refundable OBC, and will be refundable to you, if not used. I just hope that the NCL refund process is now faster, than ours was for the OBC, on the Pride of America one day delay, on 03/15/2016. It took months for some of us to receive refunds. Just be prepared for delays. The NCL phone hot line gets very busy, and you get placed on hold frequently. NCL does not have very many agents working in the refund department. Maybe NCL learned from our cruise, and you will get your refunds a lot sooner. "The check is in the mail!"

Our TA called Celebrity when we were booking our cruise, to verify that we could use the $300 OBC, toward the gratuities. He noted the person's name from Celebrity on our reservation, in case there was a problem later. Norwegian is one that will not let use the OBC, to apply toward the gratuities. We had to get their OBC through the NCL Casino.

You might want to check out Roberts Hawaii Shore Excursions. They are about half the price, when compared to the what the POA charges. The more you book through Roberts, then prices decrease accordingly. We used them on our cruise in March.

Only 7 days until boarding the Pride of America in San Francisco, and sailing to Hawaii on our 11 night cruise.

JustThinking23, will you be writing a review of your POA Cruise, before the scheduled dry dock in San Francisco? We originally booked that last cruise and cancelled it. (They say not to book a cruise right before or after a dry dock.) A few weeks later we decided to take a chance, and book the first cruise after the dry dock because of a great sale price. Also, we only had to fly one way back to the mainland. Just wondering how your cruise was. Thanks.

39 days until boarding in San Francisco and sailing to Hawaii.

I was drafted into the Army on Dec. 7, 1970. You are right Arzeena, I wasn't thinking about trivial things, like discounts on cruises way back then. It is nice to be recognized now, with a cruise discount or an OBC, though. I proudly served 1 year 8 months and 29 days for our great country. It was not a very popular time, to be in any of the branches of the service then.

Princess Cruise Lines gives a $50 OBC for less tan 7 day cruise, $100 OBC for 7-13 days, and $250 OBC for 14 days are longer. That is a good deal when compared to other cruise lines. You just need to send them a copy of your DD 214 once, and they keep if on file for future cruises. Also, if you are a Disabled Veteran, the two ports in Texas (Galveston & Houston) let you park there for free. You just show them your Disabled Veteran's Card, issued by the VA, when entering the port's parking lot.

We use a TA from a large agency in Houston. They have always had a cheaper price than booking directly with the cruise lines. Except our last booking, on a 11 night cruise from San Francisco to Hawaii, on the Pride of America. She was surprised to find out their price was the same. We still got the regular $100 OBC and a bottle of wine, she has given us on previous bookings. So we still did better, than going through NCL.

Moderno is like a Brazilian Steak House. They bring meat on skewers around to the restaurant tables. You flip a card back and forth to let them know if you want more, or have had enough. There are all kinds of meat to try. There is a small self serve salad bar to fix your own salad. You can also order a couple side dishes with your meal. My wife and I didn't really like it. We weren't interested in trying some of the meats, and felt some were kind of dry and tough. Our son and daughter-in law enjoyed it so much they ate there twice. They go to the Brazilian Steak houses in the larger towns around here.

Sorry that I didn't read the whole post. I can't help you with the other part to your question. We don't have kids traveling with us, and no grandchildren. I think I read some where that they have to order off the adult menu, too. Though not sure about that.

We had the UDP and got to eat free at all of them Our favorite was Teppanyaki, which was Japanese. The chef prepares the meal right in front of you. He was very entertaining and the food was great. Second choice was Cagney's Steak House. It was good but the service was slow. Third would be Le Bistro a French restaurant. Not as many choices on the menu as Cagney's, but the food was good.

The menus are exactly the same every night. There is one side of the menu that remains the same, and the other half changes daily. The only difference is that you can wear shorts at night in the Azura, and Tsar's requires long pants. It is ok to wear shorts in Tsar's during the day, though.

We have ordered appetizers as a entrée instead of what was listed on the meal menus. Some times even more than one.

Three cruises on Norwegian Cruise Lines. Norwegian Dream on Western Caribbean 12/17/2005 out of (La Porte) Houston, Norwegian Jewel 9/25/2014 from Los Angeles through Panama Canal to Houston, and Norwegian Jewel on Western Caribbean on 2/28/2015 from Houston (Bayport). The others were 2 Royal Caribbean, 2 Carnival, 2 Celebrity, 1 Princess, and 1 Commodore Enchanted Seas. The last one we booked was a penthouse suite on the Jewel less than 30 days out. We got a great price, UBP, UDP, $300 OBC and VTG gave us another $100 OBC. That was a nice deal!

Voted unsure. We are 2 1/2 hour drives from the Galveston and Houston cruise ports, offering 5 cruises for our next cruise in February. Also, New Orleans is 7 1/2 hours away and has 3 cruises to chose from. We are both retired and flexible, so we wait until 30 days before our anniversary to check prices. This year the Norwegian Jewel won out with their UBP, UDP, and OBC in a Penthouse Suite. Last year it was the Caribbean Princess with their mini suite, priced cheaper than a balcony all the others.

We had a $300 OBC to use up from Norwegian, for our Western Caribbean cruise on the Jewel out of Houston, back in March. We went to the casino cage and signed a $100 room charge 3 times. They charged us 3% ($3) each time. We hesitated to get it all at once. You get the cash, and just walk off with it. We already had the free Ultimate Dining and Ultimate Beverage Packages, from a promotion when we booked at the last minute. It worked out for us.

Just off the Norwegian Jewel last week. You have to be careful at the specialty restaurants, when ordering drinks with your meal. We ate at Le Bistro (French Restaurant) and we each ordered a $7 glass of champagne, because of a card recommending it on our table. On all the drinks ordered previously on our cruise, they charged for them on the slip you signed, then it was zeroed out later. We had our bill printed out each day to check it, since we had free specialty dining and free drinks. A charge showed up and we questioned the $7charge for each of us. We asked why a $7 charge - when you can get a drink up to $11. We were told that some restaurants had a special drink that was not included in the UDP. It is down in the fine print! We told the manager the waitress didn't tell us there would be a charge. So it was removed from our accounts. After that we asked before ordering a drink at meals.

Thank you for the information and pictures posted on your Norwegian Jewel cruise. Enjoyed reading about everything. We leave on the same cruise in 3 days. Thanks again.

The Norwegian Dream out of Morgan's Point (La Porte, Tx.) in December 2005. It was for 7 nights and went to Cozumel, Roatan, and Belize. It only took 3 hours to drive there from our home.

We were on a repositioning cruise 09/25 to 10/11 from Los Angeles thru the Panama Canal to Bayport (Houston.) We always check our bags with the porters when you get to the port, and use a carryon bag for our medicine, passports, important papers, etc. Your checked baggage usually makes it to your room within a few hours. It would be hard to carry big suitcases thru the check in line, up escalators, thru crowded hallways, trying to eat somewhere with them, then to your cabin, etc. You have to have a suite for your butler to bring snacks to your room. The balcony cabins and up have coffee makers in your room. If you need a snack in your room order from the room service menu. They only charge for this service is in the early morning hours. You can order a $5 pizza and get it delivered anywhere on the ship. We always went to O'Sheehan's when we wanted a light meal or snack. Great service and fast. We enjoyed all the shows on our cruise, which were much better than our past cruises. The dress code is pretty lax on this anytime dining cruise. I don't remember them having any "formal nights" on any of the 16 nights. At Tsar's you have to wear long pants (jeans acceptable) at the evening meal, but you can wear shorts at Azula (same menus.) I brought 3 pair of slacks - and never wore them! On vacation and enjoyed not having to dress up every night. There were people that dressed up, though. Usually for pictures. Most people ate early on our cruise. We (8 in our group) usually ate around 8 pm and only had to wait a couple of times. They give you a pager and coupons for a glass of champagne at a bar close by. Usually got a table (both times) within 15 minutes or less. (I think most people ate early because it was crowded then, to get the free drinks.) We ate breakfast and lunch most days at Tsar's. The buffets were always crowded and your food got cold on the tray looking for a vacant table. They serve food around the pool area, but again you have to find a table here or back in the buffet area or at the outdoors at back of the ship. Most people camp at the tables after eating. If this is your first cruise get your diagram of the ship and go exploring. Drop your carryon bag at your cabin. Your room steward will probably be near your room to welcome you aboard. If you board before 2 pm, you can go eat at Tsar's, which won't be as crowded as the buffet. There are giveaways at various places (spa, casino, shops, etc.), just look at the flyers they hand out. There is always something going on, but you can't make all of them. Don't wear yourself out the first day or two. You can just relax, too. Ben Kitchen is the Cruise Director and he does a great job. You will see him everywhere - and he always asks how you like the cruise. Ben is an Aussie - kind of hard to understand sometimes -but don't hold that against him. Steven Jacobsen is the hotel director and you also see him all over the ship, checking on things. He would welcome us back to the ship when we returned from our shore excursions. They had cold towels, cold drinks, and cookies waiting for everyone. This was our 10th cruise - and a first for this kind of service! Messiah Ritzinger was the food and beverage director. He was also all over the ship checking on everything, too. You will get to know these three men! One other person to mention, is the washy-washy man you meet entering the buffet. This man loves his job! He also sang a song and played guitar at the Jewel employee talent show. A lot of future entertainers working at other jobs! We only ate at the free restaurants, except one night our son took us to the Moderno? (Brazilian Steak House) for my birthday. It was ok, but not worth the extra charge and tip, in my opinion. We did see some of the same evening menus in Tsar's and Azula on this 16 night cruise, but always found something we liked. The embarkation at Los Angeles was fast and easy! There were some people that carried their luggage off at the end of the cruise, which would be easier (downhill) than brining it onboard. We always let them take it the night before and pick it up just before going thru customs. The disembarkation at Bayport was slow and disorganized, though. Maybe because it was the first ship of the year in to the Bayport cruise terminal? Hope they improve on this problem! The cruisers that got a porter to take their bags, did make it thru customs faster than those of us taking our own luggage. The porters had a shorter line to go thru than the rest of us. I will use them the next time here! If brining liquor back you have to pay the usual federal tax - plus a tax now charged by Texas. So, that bottle purchased in a port really isn't that cheap any more. One other note, your luggage is x-rayed coming back into the United States. One couple had packed silverware from the ship, and customs was waiting for them to claim their luggage. They were hauled off! I hope this answers your questions - with some extra stuff added in.

I read somewhere where Norwegian was now letting you make reservations at the free dining rooms now. I was wondering if you chose this option, will you have the same table and the same servers every night. Maybe someone who recently sailed on a Norwegian Cruise can answer my question. Four of our group has done their anytime dining, but for the other four this is their first cruise with Norwegian. They liked having the same personnel every night on our past 7 day cruises together, and this will be a 16 day cruise thru the Panama Canal.

We were on the Caribbean Princess out of Bayport (Houston) back in February, to the Western Caribbean for our anniversary. This was our first cruise with the Princess Cruise Line. Hector impressed all of us with his beautiful voice. That was the highlight of our cruise!

They usually clean the mini fridge out or lock it up, when the cabin person cleans your room the final time, while you eat dinner the last night. No way to get a free drink from it in the morning before disembarking. I lost a couple cans of Dr. Pepper, bought in port on an Alaskan cruise, a few years back.