emilygrace

Absolute favorite: Jewel of the Seas

followed by the rest of the Radiance class

Least favorite: Allure, Explorer

We are also on that May 1st NA sailing and got our cabin assignment yesterday. Booked a cat. G gty and got exactly that. I am very happy with the location and glad we got the G because I wanted the wall of glass instead of a window.

We had the same time frame when we stopped in Le Havre and decided that the hours on the bus were not worth the hours spent in Paris. We did a tour to Honfleur and were so glad we did. Beautiful town and a lot of history there too.

I don't think room service is available on that last morning.

I use packing cubes for underwear, tee shirts, electrical, etc. Anything that I don't hang up stays in the packing cube, either on one of the shelves or in a drawer. You can stack 2 or 3 packing cubes on one shelf and just pull out the one you need each time. I use different color ones for DH so I'm not grabbing his stuff. As for bathroom stuff, DH has a toiletry kit that hangs on a hook on the door and I stow everything in mine and put it under the counter when I'm not using it.

I did the east bound TA on Allure in 2015 and it was not what I had expected, after doing a west bound a few years earlier on the Jewel. There were about 5 kids on the cruise yet almost every activity in the promenade was geared toward the kids. There were 3 activities (other than trivia) held twice a day every day and all 3 were scheduled at the same time, 10 am and 1 pm. So you had to pick which activity you wanted to do (card making, learning bridge or knitting). Although I now could probably play bridge, since the classes for that were held in the dining room right next to where we were doing card making and I think I absorbed the instructions through osmosis.

Not a lot of places to sit and read (my favorite activity on a cruise). We tried the library but a group had been assigned that for their daily meetings, tried Dazzles but there was some sort of memorial service being held in there, and my favorite place, the Viking Crown lounge, was closed for the whole cruise because they were doing construction in there. I guess I could have gone to the Diamond lounge, but this was pre-refurb and the D lounge was very small and not really quiet because it opened onto the promenade below.

I fault the activities director for the lack of things to do. He basically just took the schedule from the regular 7 day itinerary and ran through it twice. He did not take into consideration the demographics of this much longer cruise or the 10 sea days in a row, which was quite different from the regular itinerary with 3 ports each week.

Thanks for your answers! I thought it would be Victoria but I wondered what others had experienced.

I know we will do the immigration in Canada, I'm just wondering if it will be in Victoria (our first Canadian port) or Vancouver (disembarkation)?

The bus picks up at Canada Place. Very convenient way to get to the Seattle airport.

We are booked on the NA for the 4 night segment from San Diego to Vancouver. We will have only carry ons so will be able to do walk off departure in Vancouver. We are taking QuickShuttle to SEA, and need to be through customs and immigration by 9 am in order to make the bus.

There is one other ship in port that day but it is just a port stop for them, not a disembarkation stop. So my question is, will we do cust/imm when we arrive in Victoria (first Canadian port after leaving San Diego) or at the end of the cruise in Vancouver?

Thanks for any and all help!

I'm just curious how you can get RT airfare San Diego to Shanghai for $500 pp???

I have been on both ships (the Jewel numerous times, including a Transatlantic) and I would definitely go with the Jewel. The Star is fine, but since they added cabins there doesn't seem to be anywhere to just sit and read or people watch, a good activity on a TA. The Jewel has many, many places for this.

The Jewel is a few years newer and IMO the cabins on NCL are small, even the balcony ones.

I got a $10 watch 11 years ago on the Jewel and it still works. I have had to replace the battery once. When I bought it and mentioned it at our dinner table that night one guy said "that won't last you 'til the end of the cruise". Boy, was he wrong!

Just wondering if there is a BB King Blues Band on the Zaandam? We really enjoyed them on the Nieuw Amsterdam and are looking at a cruise on the Zaandam next year.

Please don't use a lanyard.

It is a very bad look.

Use a small keychain and keep it in your pocket.

Some of us have no choice....I cannot put my card in my pocket as it will demagnetize and I will have to replace it. Discovered this on my very first cruise when I had to replace my card 3 times in 2 days. Finally the person at GS asked if I was keeping it in my pocket and I said yes and he said some people cannot do that. So I have it on a lanyard during the day and put it in my small clutch in the evening. Also have to keep it away from any magnets on the clutch.

ps. So once I discovered this I realized why I was constantly having to replace my work ID badge, and started using a lanyard there too.

Be glad you get something. We usually don't. Have to go asking for them, and many times have encountered a "why are you bothering me with this" attitude.

Exactly my experience too. You would have thought I was asking for their firstborn child!

Every cruise I have been on since they started providing the bottled water in the cabin upon embarkation I have had to ask the Loyalty Ambassador for it. Several times, each cruise. They look at me as if I am speaking Martian and then I show them the email I received pre-cruise saying there would be "welcome aboard" bottled water in our cabin. It still takes at least two days for the water to show up. I realize it is a trivial item, but I try to minimize drinking the ship's water (my ankles swell up), so I appreciate them giving us a couple of bottles of water. BTW, the water is not our selected beverage in our preferences, we usually get those ok.

Now if they would just stop adding those mini bar fees to our bill after we have left the ship! Another trivial thing, but it's the principle of it all.

I have done 2 transatlantic, one northern westbound and a southern eastbound. Definitely preferred the northern one as we had a port every 3 days (at the most) as opposed to 10 straight days at sea on the southern. Westbound was in early September from Harwich, England to Boston, southern was in April from FLL to Barcelona. Used Sea2Air both times for the US-London and Barcelona-US portions. Cost was 1/3 of airline websites. We booked the Boston-home and home-FLL on our own.

Along with many, many other people I emailed Mr. Bayley yesterday about this "surprise". My main point was that it was so sudden, with very little lead time, especially for those of us with paid in full cruises. I told him that we are not fortunate enough to afford booking suites, and I did say that perhaps they could consider some sort of C&A perk for this charge.

So this morning at 7 am (!!!) I get a call from Kevin something and he launches into his explanation about how this is a done deal, it is not going away, yes it is unfair to guests paid in full and they are considering some modifications to the policy. Not pushing the date further out, not changing the amount, but perhaps offering some sort of discount to loyal cruisers. I'm sure they are drowning in angry calls and emails (serves them right for springing this on us) and he definitely had his patter down, barely taking a breath so I couldn't get a word in. I guess I should appreciate that they did acknowledge my email and they are aware that this was a bit abrupt.

I would not hesitate to book that OAK-LGB flight. Will the Ruby Princess be in San Pedro or Long Beach? Either way, you should be fine.

I'd be a little nervous about the return flight. I assume you are flying Jet Blue. You could always look at flying JB down and maybe Southwest back, out of LAX? They have many more flights per day between LAX and OAK.

I have always wondered about US boats being based in Australia for the summer. Does everyone get paid more because they know they aint getting an extra dime out of anyone. Or does the crew fight not to sail on Australian based itineraries?

The gratuities are automatically charged to the passenger's onboard account daily, so the ship being in Australia has no impact on the crew. Some people will tip beyond this amount, some not.

I love HAL and have sailed with them 4 times, the most recent being on the Nieuw Amsterdam. That was a beautiful ship! The food and service is excellent, the cabins spacious, and my favorite thing is that all oceanview and above cabins have a bathtub. The libraries on board are excellent, and the movie theater is quite nice, AND they serve popcorn!

Thanks Blizzard! How was your Australia and trans-Pacific adventure last year? We totally loved Australia and New Zealand and would go back in a heartbeat if it wasn't a 15 hour flight to get there!

Do Diamond members still get two complimentary bottles of water upon arrival, in addition to the "welcome back gift" with your beverage of choice?

It actually says what category is offered at those prices.

I did see that all the balcony categories were listed, and that is what made me think it the price might be for a gty. If it had different pricing for the different balcony categories I would assume it was not a gty.

I just looked at that sale flyer for next week and the cruise I am considering (I actually have a hold on a cabin right now, but it expires later today) is on there. They have all the balcony categories listed at one price (better than my hold), but I am wondering if that price is for a gty or not. Any ideas?