old nutter

There has been a big discussion on this site quite recently covering this so a search should help.

In the meantime the answer is:

Power strip - yes as long as it has NOT got surge protectors - they are a major fire risk to users and others on the ship and will probably be confiscated on sight. Nothing allowed to be plugged in unless you are in the cabin at the time. Staff will remove any chargers if plugged in if the cabin is unoccupied at the time, including any devices plugged into the new USB sockets in re-furbished ships.

Standalone Surge Protectors - No - same reason.

I want to hear your thoughts of the trip . We are going in june . Nice photo . Looks like we can walk to town from the ship . Is that true for Humberg and the other stops

Yes you certainly can in Bergen. Assuming she docks where she did today, you can walk round the old castle fort and along the fantastic buildings of the Bryggen (a UNESCO protected area). These old wooden buildings are along the old dockside and are superb. You can see both the fort and the Bryggen on the front page of the web site here:https://en.visitbergen.com/things-to-do/bryggen-in-bergen-p878553

You will need to walk round the dock enclosure security but you then head across the grounds of the fort for around 5-10 minutes. The Bryggen is another five minutes or so on the left. As you walk along, the old fishing dockside is on your right and there are usually a few fishing boats moored up there.

At the end of the buildings you come across roads with some shops in each direction. It you turn left and walk up the slope for another 5 or so minutes you will come to the base of the funicular that will take you up the Floyen mountain where you will get some wonderful views across the whole of Bergen (as long as the weather approves!!!) The return ticket is about $12.

If you turn right at the dock you will head for the town centre proper where there are some great historic buildings and a large concert hall. There is also usually a very interesting fish market at the end of the dock.

Finally, from memory, I think there is a ho-ho bus stop just by the castle fort. As is usual in most European cities, the ho-ho is a great way to do a morning trip and then decide exactly where you want to go in the afternoon. You will get a very good idea of what the buildings are and of the historic connections of them that you will not get if you walk round on foot.

Hope that helps. I will add a final thought that all of this relies on the weather cooperating. Last time I went around midsummer it rained a bit, but all of Norway has the advantage that you can experience all four seasons in a day, so if you keep an eye on the sky and the way the wind is blowing the weather in you can plan where to go next!

Just looked at the webcam in Geiranger and it is showing that the Jade is using the floating dock and not having to use tenders - good news for this and future trips there assuming it will always be used.:):)

Did it twice on Cunard a few years ago and there were times when there was no satellite access for anything. I remember it being particularly bad when we were docked/anchored in Flamm and Geiranger. The ship is moored with huge cliffs and mountains to the south. Access was variable when underway in the fjords and by late evening when we were out to sea on those days, all was fine. Norway is pretty advanced telecomms-wise, because they are used to those big lumps of rock so local wifi might be available now when in sight of land. Also, I don't know if the new-ish system on Jade is able to use ground-based data support when available, so that problem might have gone by now. Don't forget though that mobile phone data will be very expensive in Norway so be careful with your phone's data options to avoid hidden data access charges. Probably worth asking the Internet manager on the ship before you buy any big data packages.

Hope that helps.

Most if not all shows on the non-mega ships are around 50-60 minutes.

The live channels will be quite unreliable over the summer when she is inside the Norwegian fjords. That far north the sat dish will be pointing very low trying to see the satellite. Most of the fjords have high sheer cliffs and mountains on the south side and that will shield the signal. The films will be OK because they are already on the ship system.

The fabulous sights should compensate and the tv should stay off most of the time. And it will stay light for most of the time as well so plenty to see all of the time the satellite is hidden by those snow-capped mountains.

It is important that these lifeguards have the authority and command to enforce any age or infant dress rules as well as waiting for something to go wrong. If the lifeguard sees an unaccompanied under-age child, they must have the authority to remove them and get security to find the parents who left them there. Otherwise, as others have said, I feel that there are some parent/guardians who will assume that the lifeguard is there to protect their children and will just leave them there. Unfortunately, with crowded pools these lifeguards can only be a second layer of protection and a means of providing life support in case of accidents. This protection must have a discipline purpose as well as a safety one.

It looks like there is a small error on the plans. They are listing La Cucina Italian Restaurant wrongly as on Deck 13. The Deck 12 plan has it in the correct place but it is not listed. I seem to remember that the entrance is off the Garden Cafe by the aft set of lifts.

Actually, due to the differences in wiring between ships and homes, use of a surge protector can cause a fire, as noted in this USCG Safety Notice:

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi-2s6l76TTAhVQJ1AKHRTLCwsQFggiMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ficefloe.net%2Ffiles%2FSurge_Suppressors_USCG_Safety_Alert_April_2013.pdf&usg=AFQjCNFTdM9t3zHyzee0z3Q5ezpVGkIBVg&bvm=bv.152479541,d.ZWM

 

 

As a professional engineer I fully support the conclusion above that normal terrestrial surge protectors on power strips represent a fire hazzard on board ships. However the explanation in the USCG Safety Notice is a little confusing.

 

The main electrical difference between a ship and a house is that a ship is a highly conductive metal box whereas bricks and mortar in a house surrounded by air is nowhere the same chemical mix. The electrical systems in houses are predominately configured so that there are two conducting power wires and a safety "Earth" connector. If everything is OK, there should be no current in the earth conductor so some safety devices rely on that so will open the whole circuit if they detect small currents in the earth lead. Others will check that the current in the two conductors are identical and none is leaking away to earth and will also break the whole circuit if there is a fault. Both of these systems are designed to protect the humans when there is an insulation failure and are nothing to do with surge protection from sudden short overvoltage pulses.

 

Ship electrical systems do not have any power connections to safety earths and rely only on power being provided via the main power conductors. This has to do with the fact that the ship exists in a very effective electrolyte (salt water) and if current flows around the ship's hull, it can create chemical reactions that can increase hull/prop corrosion. To make sure, this doesn't happen, the hull is not used as any part of electrical safety system.

 

Surge protectors are devices that montitor for overvoltages on the two power conductors. They normally do this by dumping excess current from the higher voltage to earth. Each time they do this, they tend to deteriorate a bit and eventually will fail all together and can catch fire. The other problem is that because an earth connected to the device is not a connected part of the power system and the voltage can wander a bit, particularly if there is a fault somewhere else on the ship that connects the third wire "earth" system to one of the main power lines. When this happens, the voltage monitored by the protector can go and stay too high for safety and a lot of current can be accidently diverted into the protector device - result another way of catching fire!.

 

The final type of power strip fire danger is one where there are inbuilt USB connectors. These systems can be deadly in themselves. I know of at least one example where one of these connectors suddenly exploded because of an internal component failure.

 

Leaving aside the well known issue of batteries catching fire while being charged, the bottom line is never leave a portable device charging when you are out and never ever use a power strip that has a surge protector or built-in USB onboard a ship.

 

Happy and safe cruising.

I dare say that NCL must be looking towards a point where their forward currency contracts will start to run out of the time before all the European rates crashed last summer because of the political turmoil caused by Brexit. Those forward contracts probably insulated the company for a while, but the more permanent re-structuring of currencies that we are now in will eventually need new ways of doing international business to keep making profits. They probably need to find a way to generate more revenue from their GBP customers so have found this new pricing structure. It is largely smoke and mirrors with a real healthy amount of spin that covers the fact that they want to still sell to GBP customers who are paying with a currency that seems to have permanently fallen in value the best part of 25%.

The Euro customers have also seen their currency drop something like 10% relative to the dollar over the same period, so there is the same need to find ways to make them pay more without actually feeling it. This realignment should not really come as a surprise. It is known over here as "making the best of a bad job".

It's not a UK thing because it works fine for me. The online system doesn't apply it for the booking made before the change, as expected, but does do it for the two cruises booked after the change.

Thanks for that - explains what is happening, but not why. The cruise booking date should not have anything to do with straight shore excursion purchase if the latter is done after the new discount was implemented and that is what the Ts and Cs and FAQs effectively show. Why not tell the truth up front and trade in accordance with the facts of having a bad IT system instead of just ignoring it and messing up their most loyal customers? Situation normal for NCL, not just ignore their customer service ops, ignore everything they print on the web site as well now then.

The Latitudes Ts and Cs and the FAQs show that you should get the discount on pre-ordered Shore Excursions on myNCL but I tried it and it didn't work for one of our summer 2017 cruises. I am curious if it just a UK thing or if it is broken for everyone. If it is not working for all then it is a lot of money to be outstanding while they sort it out away from the computers - assuming there is a manual workaround for this issue. Obviously this is only a real problem if you ordered the excursion after the 3 Feb implementation of the changes. I normally check the Ts and Cs for everything with NCL because of their habit of taking bits away from the headline splash in the small print. In this case it looks like even the small print doesn't tell you what is going to happen.

How is it that the company IT can't follow what the Ts and Cs say should happen - yet again.

It's not funny really is it?

Problem for me is that I don't have an abbreviation for "Pathetic"

The choice depends what you value most.

There is a "dedicated" Haven restaurant for breakfast and lunch in both ships. In the past the Jade used Cagney's for both but there is no dedicated dinner venue. After the Jade comes out of dry dock it is most likely going to be the new Moderno across the hallway from Cagney's, but it will almost certainly be the same menu. Comparing breakfast and lunch between the two, there is very little difference in the offerings between the two ships. The Epic Haven restaurant effectively gives you another special dinner venue that is not available in the Jade. The Epic also has an excellent small dedicated Haven bar area with a lounge and a small grill area with some deck rails open to the air. Not too sure the Haven was an afterthought in the Jewel class ships, it was just a more select and relaxed facility. In expanding because of the popularity of the concept of a "ship-within-a-ship" some of the original benefits have been exchanged for more facilities and space and having experienced the larger Havens on the Getaway as well, it has lost a bit of it's "specialness" (if there is such a word :-) " Like I said at the start if depends what you value for your cruise.

Clearly there is a vast difference in the numbers of guests on each of the ships and there is a corresponding difference in the available space. We found that the concierge and butlers have less guests to deal with on the Jade. Although there are only the 8 H4 and 2 H5 suites plus the three large ones on the Jade, the concierge and butlers have to deal with several other H6 penthouse suites both at the front and back of the ship. The Epic has Haven suites on two floors round the courtyard with 42 H4, 5 H5 and 6 large H2. There are also H6 aft penthouses on decks 10, 11, 12 and 13. These numbers highlight the scale difference between the two ships in terms of workload and availability of the concierge. On the Epic, the concierge and deputy tend to be more static at their desk, whereas the concierge on the Jade has no dedicated desk and tends to be more mobile, being able to make "house calls" to the suites and turning up in most of the restaurants in the evening.

So we come to the choices - the Jade courtyard tends to have a much more relaxed atmosphere than the big space in the Epic, Neither have much by way of swimming pools. The Jade has a single hot tub plus a very small gym with only an exercise bicycle and a walk track whilst the Epic has a very well appointed gym. However, because of the big difference in numbers, there is little difference in availability of them. Therefore, the difference is truly governed by whether you feel more "Haven-like" in Jade by virtue of the small number of guests or you like the more "hustle and bustle" of the larger but more expansive facilities in the Epic.

Which do we like best? Probably the Jade by a whisker. We feel that there is more personal space on the Jade and, on a final note, there is the huge sundeck over the port suites that give more "over the rail" views of the sea than is available anywhere on the Epic. The somewhat haphazard layout of the Epic Haven area makes it look as though there was some chopping a changing during the building of that ship that was created by the success of the Haven concept on the earlier ships. Having been on the Getaway as well, it seems as though the Havens on the later megaships are much more together. Very much a personal choice.

NCL is currently the perfect example of "Lions led by donkeys" - a phrase popularly used to describe the British Army in World One and to blame the generals who led them into so much trouble and danger.

Changes seem to be made by the top management that just cannot be made to work with the computer systems and designers who try to keep them working.

We can see all these problems from the outside so why can't those on the inside see them before being launched and get a grip to use a bit of lateral thinking before they switch the mud-covered fan on. If the computers can't do what they need to, why not publish a failure mode spreadsheet with the various combinations of failure in either the Ts and Cs or some temporary FAQs.

Constantly hacking customers of by behaving like those fabled donkeys must be sole destroying for all of those professionals on board the ships who face the customers all of the time and dig the system out of the holes dug by the management.

I guess you are right in the end. I think we have just got used to NCL hiding major elements of offers in the small print and it is worrying to find that even the small print is no longer to be relied on.

That phrase "onboard discounts on shore excursions" doesn't actually appear anywhere in the Ts and Cs and that bit at the end of the shore excursion section that says: If a guest pre-booked shore excursion before embarking on the cruise, the applicable discount will have already been applied to the price." seems to indicate that the final discounted price should have been sorted out at the time the excursion was purchased beforehand. This implies that If it hasn't been applied when you pre-booked you will not get anything back on board and getting money back once on board is never an easy matter, even if you have proof that you are entitled.

End of rant.

This is very different from the local supermarket trying things on.

 

Remember that for people who are effected by this, this is an additional benefit that they were unaware of when booking (except for those who rushed to book a cruise between the announcement and the start of the new program I suppose. They are getting more than they expected when they booked.

 

Also, NCL isn't advertising a lower price and then charging something higher. The system, or details you are given onboard,. shows the full price, even for those who booked after Feb. The difference is that if you booked after that date then the discount is automatically applied at checkout.

 

All you have to do to get your discount is ask for it onboard. If you don't know about the discount then you won't ask for it, but also you will have paid the advertised price. I can't see any legal issues at all.

Sorry, but I may not have been clear. I was not referring to any kind of retrospective discount before the changes and I think my use of the word "booking" may have been confusing. The situation I was suggesting may be an issue, refers to those who have fully paid for their cruise but not yet boarded and want to purchase shore excursions before they depart. At that point, the time they booked for the cruise is largely irrelevant (except maybe to the NCL computer systems of course for other reasons!). The excursion would be a new purchase and the latitudes status of the person should be whatever it is at the time of that purchase and any benefit accorded to that status should be applied just before payment.

According to the Latitude Ts and Cs, if purchasing an excursion ahead of departure using myNCL (ie pre-paid), the price shown when the purchase is started would be the full price and the relevant discount according to their latitudes status would be applied at the checkout. Therefore, the final price would be either 10 or 15% lower than the price shown at the start when it is paid for if booked by someone who is Platinum or Platinum Plus at the time of that item purchase. NCL would be advertising a price and according to their relevant Ts and Cs, this price should be reduced by 10 or 15% when paid for by either Platinum or Platinum Plus people. Anyone who is Platinum or Platinum Plus buying that excursion before boarding the ship would have expected the final price to be 10 or 15% lower than the one shown at the start of the purchase process, so IF that discount is not actually applied, the price paid would be higher than that advertised by combining price and discount. If the relevant discount is applied there is clearly no problem. However, it appears from previous posters that the discount is not being applied by the computer systems for pre-paid excursions as described in the Ts and Cs and some sort of manual kludge involving OBC is having to be made on-board for those who ask for the correction.

While chatting as he did this he said that it would happen automatically for cruises booked after the programme changed but cruises booked earlier would have to be done on board manually. So something for some people to keep a look out on.

So are they not working the shore excursion charging processes in line with the benefit Ts and Cs - Oops - not sure that is legal trading??? Or are we only talking about some sort of grandfathering of benefit for shore excursions booked before Feb 3 - big difference in the population affected for each of these scenarios.

It's bad enough that all sorts of stuff is always hidden in the ad-speak and you have to scratch around the Ts and Cs to find the real details - even very significant exceptions such as the "per cabin/per person" stuff for the meals. If we can't trust the small print as well things could get a bit juicy. Not sure how non-CC members (most passengers, I suspect) would ever know that they were due discounts so wouldn't even know to chase round the ship to get what was due to them. This could be quite a lot of cash for the NCL back pocket until it settles down to cruises booked after Feb 3 - if that is what is meant, not just for any shore excursions booked before the change!!! It would be very easy to sort if the local supermarket tried this sort of stuff on, but who monitors potential sharp practices involving cruise companies?

From what I heard once when we were departing Civitavecchia and some containers got held up in Livorno on the way from the US, I understand that all meat and seafood is shipped in refrigerated containers from the US. The beef in Europe is not as tender as from the US because of the much lower hormone use and big US-style steaks sourced in Europe would not be as easy to eat unless cooked differently. The ability to use standard cooking methods for meat and seafood really does need consistent processes and so a controlled sourcing is probably essential.

Done both. The actual suite is very similar. The furniture is arranged a bit differently and the bathroom in the small bedroom is near the door rather than at the far end.

The courtyard is very different because it is so much smaller. Having said that, there are a lot less suites round it. Probably the biggest difference is that the Jewel Class ships do not have a dedicated restaurant. Breakfast and lunch were in Cagneys, but may be switched to the new Moderna location across from Cagney's where the Star Bar was if that change is made in dry dock. There were always a few small tables at the front end of the courtyard where the courtyard buttler will serve breakfast and lunch if you do not want to go downstairs.

There is a huge sundeck on Jade a deck above and it has great views from the rail. The big ships don't seem to have so much space where you can see off the ship.

We were on Getaway in the Southern Caribbean and had quite a lot of rain so with no roof on the courtyard (unlike the rest of the big ships) there were not many days when we could laze around in the actual courtyard space. All of the Jewel Class ships have a moveable roof that can be rolled over quite quickly from the bridge.

Hope that helps

You probably need to search by cabin number. They are two bedroom suites numbered 14006, 14008, 14010 and 14012 on the starboard side and 14506, 14508, 14510 and 14512. Try this page to see the plan and some photos: https://www.ncl.com/uk/en/cruise-ship/jade/deck-plans#JADE_HAVEN_2_BEDROOM_FAMILY_VILLA_W_BALCONY_S4_R-gallery

If you search for "2-bedroom suite" or one of the suite numbers on Jade you should see several videos. The internal decor will probably be different after she comes out of the current dry dock. They will be the same size but probably less bright.

I think the only thing not mentioned about the Jewel Class ship courtyards that we have cruised in is is the area at the end where you can get a variety of treats during the day. You can get hot water to make speciality teas that are supplied, orange juice, cold water, M&Ms, gummy bears, various cookies, and even cold towels that are kept in a chiller cabinet.

I would agree that the huge spaces and peace you have in the Haven and upstairs on the sundeck make a real difference to our cruises. That sundeck is almost like having a gigantic balcony. However, putting a price on those "soft" benefits is virtually impossible. It is also impossible for anyone who has not experienced it to make meaningful comments about it, so it is great that some contributors who have had the Haven experience have added their view on whether it is worthwile the uplift or not.

If you are making numbers up you should be able to buy the UBP. We have the full UBP offer on our 2-bed on Jade later this year. Our adult daughter does not drink alcohol and we have bought the soft drink package for her without any problem.

It's a bedroom with toilet, hanging clothes room and shower. The bed is certainly usable for two and the facilities are more comprehensive than many bedrooms on land. It's not a living room because that is what the main part of the suite is for. It is certainly small, but you can get round it all. If the adults have used a bed in an RV I guess they will feel at home in there at night.

The main issue surrounds perks and offers. As full Haven guests they would be able to make the most of all Haven facilities and the space in the courtyard more than makes up for the small bedroom if the alternative is a non-Haven cabin. The limits on the offers work the other way in that they only cover two in each suite. The Haven restaurant on the Epic makes up a little for not getting the specialist meals so it depends what the parents want.

We were on a Jade cruise a couple of years ago when we were delayed on a southbound departure from Civitavecchia because of an incident at Livorno that meant that most of the containers with incoming supplies were being held in the port while the incident was cleared. The captain made an announcement about the delay and we got a bit more information at a Town Hall later in the trip.

We were told that most of the food and drink supplies, except for fresh veg and fruit are container shipped from the US and then road hauled down to Civi from the freight terminal at Livorno and obviously the captain did not want to sail with most of that stuff missing. We gathered that senior staff were sent out to local suppliers to see what could be bought locally to add to what they managed to get from the road shipments that did get in.

It would have been great to see these guys turning up at a local store with their credit cards and a list with the likes of 10,000 litres of milk and 5,000 kgs of chicken on it, not to mention the 10,000 Kg of steak. I guess there might have been a simpler way, but getting enough provisions for over 3,500 people for a week in a couple of hours or so when the Miami lifeline was broken would be quite a challenge.

Fortunately, a number of the containers did manage to get through to us after only a couple of hours delay but I would say that the steaks in Cagney's were a bit less tender than the usual fare and some menu items did actually run out on the last couple of days. I guess the officers' credit cards would have been pretty maxed out though but the galley teams certainly did a great job on that cruise with what they had despite the problem anyway.