Gizmosmum

John

DHgroup tours had different transfer day availabilities (to International Friends) and sent me an email. I'm pretty sure despite the same language being used in their spiel I think is coincidental and they are two separate companies.

Thanks for the recommendations/suggestions for walking around Southampton.

Julie

Abridged version of my planned Historical Southampton walk

Walk the Medieval City Walls -The best views of Southampton's 14th-century medieval walls are obtained from the Western Esplanade, also the site of Wind Whistle Tower. The only remaining medieval church in Southampton is St. Michael's on Castle Way.

Follow the walls south to Mayflower Park, which lies opposite the Mayflower Memorial to the Pilgrim Fathers, and Wool House, a 14th-century warehouse. Also nearby is the God's House Tower on Winkle Street, a 12th-century hospital dedicated to St. Julian.

Tudor House and Garden -displays exhibits from the Victorian and Edwardian eras, as well as periodic exhibitions encompassing more than 900 years of local history.

The Medieval Merchant's House

Stroll the Titanic Trail

Titanic Engineers' Memorial

Titanic Musicians' Memorial

Explore Old Town and Bargate Bargate marks the entrance to the Old Town.

Visit the SeaCity Museum ??? (visiting Titanic museums in Cobh & Belfast)

Hi John 

The companies that do the transfers from London to Southampton via Winchester are

https://dhgrouptours.com/tour/london-winchester-southampton/

https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/london-heathrow-to-southampton-via-winchester.html

My original plan was a transfer that included a stop in Winchester on the way to Southampton. If the two companies I found that offer this option one has no vacancies and the other isn’t running on that day. 
The new plan is a direct transfer from London to Southampton. 
25/7 check in, visit Solent Sky

9/8 & 25/8 we will be back in Southampton 

One of these days we intend to catch the ferry to Hythe and visit the motor car museum

The other walk around the historical area of Southampton +/- go to Winchester 

35 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

Are you referring here to 26 July, after you get to Southampton at about 11 am? If so, then with a 5 pm sailing (Island Princess?) I think that visiting Winchester that day is too ambitious, and you can't easily catch up with the ship if it sails without you.

No plans to go to Winchester on embarkation day. It would be going to Solent Sky for a few hours.

My DH & I have a B2B2B cruise booked out of Southampton starting 26th July. I am looking at a London to Southampton transfer with National Express which will get us to the port at approximately 11am. Unfortunately my preferred transfer via Winchester is unavailable.

I really want to maximise our time in Southampton.

I presume once we are on the ship we won't be able to disembark to have a look around for a couple of hours?

Alternatively can we do ALL the check in right up until embarkation(ie. not actually boarding) and then have a look around Southampton?

I have plans on the two other days we are in port. If we could manage to do some things prior to boarding I may still get the opportunity to go to Winchester.

TIA J

Breakfast and lunch for Haven guests on the Jewel is in Moderno, midship on Deck 13. There is a bar inside Moderno called Mojito.

2 hours ago, TT81 said:

Add a .au to the end of the website and it should take you to the Australian page

I tried to access the Australian NCL website on my cruise to NZ and it automatically defaulted to the NZ website even though I put in the au at the end.

I've just booked an 8 day cruise in a mini suite on the Pacific Adventure. 

On 10/7/2019 at 3:48 PM, GUT2407 said:

We split a taxi with another couple to the airport to pick ours up cost about $20 between us.

Hey Geoffery

Mark said we paid $48 for the share taxi to the airport.

My DH & I drove out to Cradle Mountain. The road was narrow and windy. We arrived a little after midday, way to fast given the weather conditions (raining).  Whilst we ate lunch in the very small cafe the rain stopped and sthe sun came out. We then caught the shuttle to Dove Lake. In retrospect I would have driven into the park instead.

As previously mentioned there are plenty of other places to visit that are closer unless you really want to see Cradle Mountain NP which I did.

On 1/11/2020 at 1:50 PM, Budget Queen said:

I’d say if it does not specify it sails the Na Pali -  then it does not.   

 

On the POA itinerary (which I’m on again tomorrow). It’s clearly stated on the itinerary.   

I sailed on the Jewel Vancouver to Honolulu in October and it didn't mention on the itinerary sailing past the Na Pali coast but we spent hours sailing the Na Pali coast.

My DH & I sailed on the Jewel 10 day to NZ in December. This was my fourth time on the Jewel. I love the size of the Jewel (approx. 2400 pax). The crew were great, very friendly and helpful. 

The ports in NZ are excellent. 

1.  How was the service? Excellent

2.  How was the food quality & variety? We enjoyed all our meals. The only negative is my DH ordered two courses to my one and twice they were brought out almost simultaneously.  

3.  How's the entertainment? I really enjoyed the shows especially Rock you Tonight and Velvet. The band is from Columbia. I also really enjoyed the pianist.

4  Are there any dance class during the day? Yes. They had two or three dance classes in Spinnaker Lounge

5. Would you recommend this particular ship? Absolutely

We had one on our recent Jewel sailing with the card showing the time change leaning against it.

I booked a cruise to New England 2020 on my cruise. I was able to use two cruise next certificates for our inside cabin and received an upgrade which enabled us to receive a free at sea offer. The cruise booking was transferred to my TA and I received a further discount through them.

I purchased 3 USD$100 gift cards which I used as my onboard credit on my cruise last month. The exchange rate was better than if I had paid later using my C/C.

10 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

How is the return time determined?  Do you get to pick it, or is it based on a set amount of time?

My DH used the ferry to the mainland. He obtained his ticket on the island near where the boat leaves from. He was pre-allocated a return time. If he had chosen to take a later boat there was no guarantee he could get on the boat as the people allocated to that hours boat were given priority.

He caught a 10am boat and returned at 2pm. The ferry trip is 30mins each way. There were a few shops and a couple of women selling souvenirs. He found a really good coffee shop(turn right after getting off the boat, then left) with good coffee and had free wifi.

On 8/13/2019 at 7:06 AM, Prnsessmoi said:

 

I'm really worried now that they changed our itinerary, that we won't be able to interact with the sloths.  We won't be into port until 10:00am, and I heard that sloth hugs end at 11:00am.

 

Checking with them now.

I had the same concern with Daniel's Sloth Hangout as our ship also didn't arrive into port until 10am. When I contacted them they guaranteed we would still get to hold a sloth as were were a private tour. Hopefully Bodden will be the same.

My DH used the ferry in April. He bought the ticket 10m from where the boats depart to Placencia. When he purchased his ticket he was told which boat he had to return to the island on. Not everyone stuck to their allocated return time which made things a little bit tricky.

3 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Log OUT of NCL on whatever device you are using and do a mock booking, and you’ll see the non-sale prices. 

Hi Turtle06

I finally found a way to permanently log out so I could do a mock booking so I could see the savings. As I mentioned when I tried to do a mock booking before I was pretty happy with the price, AUD$4590 per cabin with the drinks package(NCL had automatically applied the 20% discount on the booking). When I did the booking without the login it showed I would have saved AUD$500pp on an inside. Unfortunately my DH has kyboshed any bookings for next year at the moment. 

Thanks for taking the time to walk me through the process. Enjoy your cruise.

16 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

 

Okay, I've done this carefully on a desktop.  Unless the issue is that you are in Australia, you are not following the correct steps to see the sale prices:

 

1. Go to NCL.com, scroll down, and click on Past Guest Exclusive Rates.

2.  On the next screen, click on the Log In button, and log in

3.  On the next screen, filter the cruises by Ship (Jade) and then Destination (Transatlantic).

4.  This will bring up only ONE cruise: the Jade's Oct. 31, 2020 TA from Civitavecchia.

5. Click Book, then continue with a mock booking.  You MUST click on a stateroom price and get to  where you click Continue to Stateroom Options to see the sales prices.

 

I checked the prices of this cruise doing a regular mock booking on NCL.com NOT logged in, and got the following for a BA and BB cabin: $2799 pp and $2789 pp.   Going through the special sale steps, those prices drop to: $2239 and $2231.    The SF Penthouse suites without the sale are $4999 pp and on sale are $3999 pp.

 

You must follow the steps carefully to see the sale prices.

 

 

Hi Turtles06

I followed the exact directions as posted. I also did a mock booking without the 20% by just logging in as usual and the prices were exactly the same . Then I noticed with both bookings it says because you are a Latitudes member we have reduced your fare by 20%. I have no idea how much the discount actually is as I can't see the original price. I tried to use my phone but apparently that is also linked to NCL.

17 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

 

That’s possible. Do you mind telling us the cruise you are trying to check?

I was looking at the Jade repositioning cruise from Barcelona to New York October 2020. I  made sure I didn't use the sailaway price but the price didn't change :(.

On 8/2/2019 at 9:03 AM, Turtles06 said:

 

I'm sorry, but if you are actually looking at cruises covered by this sale, you are doing something wrong.  Click on the "Past Guests Exclusive Rates" block on the home page of NCL.com, log in, and look at a cruise.  The first screen you will see has the non-sale prices for each of the stateroom categories.  Click on a cabin category, and then on the next page, Dates & Stateroom, you will see that the prices for the stateroom categories have dropped to the sales prices.

I followed everything you said to do exactly and the price didn't change on two separate bookings. Maybe we don't qualify for the 20% discount Down Under. The cost of cruises on Australian websites are very different to the US sites.

I love the music at night. I'm too old to go to a club. Hotwire on the Jewel to NZ were amazing and Dave McHugh on the Jade to Pananma were amazing.

No negatives so far.

My DH & I did the partial transit on the Jade in April. We spent approx 1-1 1/2hrs at the new lock then did a wildlife tour of Gatun Lake. We were dropped back at Colon for a late lunch. Most people looked at the souvenir shops and/or sat at one of the cafe's using the free wifi.

We did a tour through Daniel's Sloth Hangout which included an island tour and a snorkel. I enjoyed the snorkel but no colourful corals. The sloth was cute 2yrs old. Watch out for the monkeys if you go in their enclosure. My DH didn't remove a piece of paper from his pocket but they did and made confetti. I also held a 2 month old sloth USD$10 in Cartagena port.