Cmdr Cody

 Anywhere else to eat  breakfast besides the buffet and the main dining room ? Bimini bar & grill .....Topsider bar & grill ?
 

On 4/5/2019 at 8:49 AM, Sailing12Away said:

Pre-cruise Haven concierge on the Jade. Our Butler was useless.

Always talk to the actual Concierge and Hotel Director on the ship.  They tend to take care of you much better since they get tips and actually control what happens on the ship.  Pre-cruise Concierge is a joke since most you order through them never gets communicated to the ship.

On 4/6/2019 at 5:45 PM, alreadypacked said:

 

Just to add to Janice's post...

 

I emailed the Access department about a week ago to get the form for my shellfish allergy 😞  and DH's distilled water for his CPAP. They responded within 24 hours and told me the form is no longer required; that the information in my email correspondence would suffice and that they had noted the information in their system and that dining and medical staff would be advised.

 

Anyone else have this experience?

 

 

I've never had a problem with my shellfish allergy or my wife's low sodium diet.  The Concierge and Maitre D always set up our meal orders a day in advance.  Nice part is you know the MDR specials for the next day.

On 4/6/2019 at 11:12 AM, YANKEES75 said:

I apologize to not have been clearer. How I understand it. A double occupancy balcony suite is only $30 more than a a solo suite. 

 

Yes. I’m cruising on my birthday 4/28. 

Your problem is you paid final payment so they won't let you change it.  But if you have a bid for an upgrade option when you log into "My NCL" onm NCL dot com, you could bid for the room.  That may cost you more though.  

On 2/17/2019 at 4:25 PM, Sailing12Away said:

I'm sailing on the 24th in a DOS on the Jade. We were only allowed 1 bottle (short 5 night cruise), and no substitutions allowed at all for anything. I was told that if I wanted peppermint tea I should bring it myself from home. 🤔

 

I'll report back after we get home on March 1st if they replace the bottle once used up, or if it's just a one and done despite paying a fortune for the cabin and the 'perks' of a Haven DOS.

We were in 15000 on the Jade and even a 4 day cruise got three bottles of spirits.  This was in 2017, but I never heard of what you posted here.  We've pretty always been in a DOS on NCL.

Did you notice? Tunis, Tunisia is reporting 3 Days of protests- rock throwing, etc. Just off the Star today in Barcelona. Thank God we did not stop there. I am glad that Viking has access to intelligence to keep us safe.

 

 

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I’m assuming you weren’t aboard when the ferry ran into the Viking Star in Barcelona as the news video shows.

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We told them at booking we wouldn’t book unless it wasn’t due until six month before the cruise. After a delay our cruise consultant said it was approved. So we didn’t have to pay off our cruise next April until this past October. I guess it could have also been due to us doing and explorer suite, but it’s far easier to get a better final payment day before you agree to the booking, because that’s when you have the most clout.

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I just came back from the Jade cruising ABC from NY to Miami. Stayed in the Black Diamond. Ask me anything!

What’s the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

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Traditional. I had this cabin on April 9th right after the drydock.

We had it the cruise before drydock. We’re in it again for a Norway and Northcape cruise in June. Loved the two balconies.

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I’d wear the baseball cap with my tux. [emoji41]

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We won progressive trivia on a NCL transatlantic cruise. As the top team we won a bottle of champagne, to go with a trophy. [emoji41][emoji898][emoji322][emoji925]

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I wore solid color polo shirts with my sport coat on some of the informal nights. The other gentlemen at our table in Queens Grill did the same, we weren’t out of place with most the others there. Some dressed formally every night though.

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Let’s see,

Your butler has more than one suite to take care of, on our last cruise he had ten suites. Remember that, because they won’t get there as soon as, you snap your fingers.

They will not iron your dress, but can take it for dry cleaning which you will pay for.

The cabin steward/stewardess will clean you cabin.

We’ve only been on QM2, but for breakfast you hang your request on the door before you go to bed.

You can actually ask for dinner in your room from QG.

You can ask for something special for you meal 24 hours in advance and they will do it.

Do they have boxes in the theater, I never noticed any.

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We have done a 15 day round trip crossing (for my last birthday), and found that the six formal nights felt a bit much, so on one of the nights we slummed it and went to the buffet, but we actually chose the Chefs Galley on the starboard aft side of Kings Court. We found the pasta at The Galley was great and the made to order pizza was the best we’ve had at sea. You sat down and ordered your food and drink if desired there and then you could get what you desired at the buffet.

The Queens Grill maitre D told us we could have ordered food from there or they would have made it to order, but it was nice to spend an evening in khakis and a polo instead of a Sport coat or tuxedo. The wife then did order some past on one of the next evenings.

We did see people in the theater wearing t shirts for a comedian on one of the formal nights, so I guess they didn’t need to meet dress code, which the daily did list as one of the places that required the dress code.

We are doing a transatlantic in the fall of 2018 crossing on the QM2 to Southampton, flying to Rome and the traveling back on the Norwegian Star to Miami. The cost is just slightly more than the cost for first class air, but the cruise on QM2is far more fun with no jet lag.

Several things:

When is the cruise, a few weeks from now or in a year or so?

Did you purchase air through Cunard?

Is the cruise paid for already, as has final payment been sent?

I've found I can save quite a bit over what cruise lines charge and can use my miles with my airlines to even save more.

Scroll down the page on that link into the "explore our ..." section. Pretty clear that the items you mention only apply the the GV and DOS. It is listed in the narrative in those descriptions and not for any of the other categories.

 

This is consistent (albeit with different number of bottles) with my experience on he Breakaway. When I'm in the DOS I get champagne, unlimited water (still and sparkling), soda and mixers and 3 bottles of alcohol. In the OS it is essentially they same except only 1 bottle of booze. I think for the ships with GV and DOS those numbers are 6 and 3.

 

If you otherwise have a suite or travel in the Haven I think you just get sparkling wine (like

prosecco), but none of the other things included.

 

 

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I don't believe it is prosecco, only a less expensive French sparkling wine that's not from Champagne France so it can't be called champagne.

OS and DOS get champagne and three 1 liter bottles of liquor, GV get 6 bottles which sounds great, but I've seen three separate couple in a GV so that can be less than per person and for GV the specials are for the first listed couple and the rest have to pay for the special offerings. It's what if seen since we are normally in a DOS on all our NCL cruises.

Only owners suites, deluxe owners suites, and garden villas get free soft drinks and bottles of alcohol.

If you take anything from the mini bar it WILL be charged to your onboard account. On the Breakaway in the haven, (last time we weren't in OS or above), we asked the steward to empty the mini bar since we had UBP. It was done and it will help you not get charged for Mini bar use.

You will have a butler and concierge. The concierge is who you call for dining reservations etc. For anything cabin related, call the butler.

If you want to eat en suite notify your butler, but also remember they may have all the other suites in the area, so if everyone wants room service dinner, it could be real slow. Expect it to be setup and then delivery of meals. The butler won't be standing by for split second service.

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The possible downside is NCL offered free drinks package (up to $15) on our TA in 2016 on the Spirit. The passenger breakdown was about 50% Brits 30% US/Canadian, 20% elsewhere. We ran out of canned/bottle Beer three days away from Barcelona, I found that out when I wanted a beer instead of my usual drink. Made me laugh at the time.[emoji41]

Also for a strong pour they call it a double and charge for two single drinks.

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I looked at the fine print on the drinks package and see that it only covers drinks up to $12. If a drink is more expensive, it will not be compensated and no partial payment will be allowed.

 

I looked at the Commodore Club menu and see that MANY items, including most, if not all, martinis and US-sized shots of call vodkas, are priced at $12.95 or $12.50 and are not covered. Similar shenanigans in the wine pricing. (Although in some cases two sizes of pour are available and the smaller ones fall within the guidelines)

 

The details http://www.cunard.com/settings/terms-and-conditions/us-fare-features/?page=17825&mg=0&lead=1

 

Menu http://www.cunard.com/Global/Images/Ships/QM2/refit/Commodore_Club_bar_menu_2016.pdf

Mark, the only drinks that expensive are specialty or with top shelf liquor. We had the package as Queens Grill in May when we did the roundtrip and never paid out of pocket for a drink the whole cruise. If I want the top shelf stuff, it's at home in my bar setup.

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One more thing. You'll receive multiple internet credits for the voyage segments. On our last crossing, we received them at the start of each crossing, but not for a 2 day segment between (no surprise there). It appears that the internet system looks at voyage numbers not the booking. So you may get three credits per person. Check with the internet person in Connexions on Deck 2.

 

(Note - the Cunard operators often give misinformation about this. For most CWC benefits, it's a single voyage, but the internet benefit uses a different system currently. Of course that could change)

Mark, one that voyage we had no credits as being new to Cunard, but the purchase covered all three segments of our booking.

Also to the OP the Queens Grill was about 95% Tuxes, but we also noticed that at the shows on formal nights there were about 20-25% of the people who showed up in dress less than the required for informal nights, as in no jacket or collared shirt. There were even people in t shirts visible from the balcony when we sat there.

Also in the balcony of the theater there is a harmonic vibration that is noticeable. I'm assuming it was due to the design of the balcony as we were in the first row center.

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What you have run into is part of the EU Shengen Visa policy.

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/schengen-agreement/

The ship normally keeps non shegen passports for stamping by EU customs and then you get it back after you leave the last port. They normally supply you a photocopy.

This was very uncomfortable for us the first time, but we've never had a problem with it.

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Not sure what homework would have revealed the bad service piece or why a staff made up of mostly Americans would be a bad thing.

I've read similar posts about POA before, and I'm a NCL fan. But if there are numerous negative posts there's something there.

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If you had done your homework, you would have known POA is mainly American staffed and they don't have the same service you find on the rest of NCL. That's why we canceled our scheduled POA cruise and changed to Princess out of LA for our Hawaiian cruise this November. For similar cost we have 15 days of cruise.

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My wife and I are doing the Viking Homelands on the Viking Sky April 28, 2018. We are only doing it for our 25th anniversary on May 1st. We too like the small ship and what you have said drove your selection.

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