littlelulu01

The problem with starting those meds a couple days prior to cruise is that they have side effects. I'd bring along and take if you started to get woozy. Also bring some ginger candy- Trader Joe's has some. If you plan on the medicine then you're not supposed to drink.

Recently on a sailing that had rougher seas than anything I've experienced and we were high and forward. We didn't need medicine and did fine with ginger candy. Cabin steward said we were the only cabin in his section that wasn't sea sick. Even steward was sick. I think it was the ginger candy that saved us.

Does anyone have information on the Vancouver, B.C. to Tokyo portion of this grand adventure?

The itineraries are now posted on NCL website. Looks like Jewel arrives in Singapore on 10/22/18. Leaving Vancouver to Yokohama on 9/17-10/6/18. Then Yokohama to Singapore 10/6-10/22.

I would also easily feel comfortable with your departure flight time. The light rail is not traffic dependent. You can always just plan on taking light rail if worries about traffic. You can also get tsa pre check if worried about airport security. most likely will be easier to just take Uber or taxi from ship to airport but if traffic snarl just plan on getting to light rail from ship and then onto airport.

I'd second the Edgewater. It's level ground from where ships dock. The W is up a few blocks and if you have luggage it's a pain. If set on the W then take a taxi to ship for embarking.

I would not stay at an airport hotel pre cruise. They are far from anywhere you'd want to sight see. They are basically good for very early flight home.

What did they do with charter this year? I looked at the schedule and it's obviously out of service for charters and ends in NOLA but just wondering if you looked up how it got to San Diego to start your charter for 10/17?

For 2018 it looks like the Pearl does coastal cruise to Los angles, then has 14 nights of charters, I'm assuming out of la and not San Diego, and then starts the la - Tampa sailing on 10/20/18. I'm booked on the 10/20/18 sailing and haven't received anything about a cancellation or change of dates. Perhaps they are working on an additional charter or ?

Airfare will be available for purchase in the next couple months so I would think they will let us know here fairly soon.

I looked on the Atlantis website and didn't see anything about a charter on the Pearl in 2018. Where is your charter even advertised for booking?

After having been on this cruise I'd recommend that if you want to get deep into the fjords then book a fjord specific cruise. Both Alesund and Bergen were beautiful towns and we ended up just doing walks from port. In Alesund you can book a fjord cruise - they're available in port and time coincides with port times. Sorry, I didn't get any specifics.

The issue I had with prebooking was that I wasn't sure I'd want to actually go if bad weather.

We ended up walking up the stairs to the view point in Alesund. It's not that bad a climb. If you can walk without difficulty it's easily done and views up top were spectacular. From there I didn't want to walk back down the stairs so we went on a beautiful walk on some well marked trails. Ended up back in town and explored the architecture and shops. That pretty much took up the day and there was little stress and cost- besides what we purchased shopping.

Bergen- we took the tram up to viewing point. I'd only purchase a one way in advance because it's a really nice walk down if you decided to do it. Once at the top there's many trails and a little lake. Also very well marked and you'll have plenty of time. With just using our own two feet we still saw beautiful towns, views and got away from the crowds and no waiting on busses... I spent the $ on Dale sweaters which we were able to get in Bergen for less than 1/2 cost in the us.

For lerwick we again walked. If looking at the town from the sea; walk to the left along the waterfront. It's a lovely path and you end up at some ruins across from the grocery store on a little pond. Also a chance for Shetland pony photo ops. The walk takes a while but it's not bad and all flat. We shopped in town for stuff we'd forgot to bring along. Store shops in town quaint and people friendly. Pricing not bad at all. Sorry if I'm not being specific on names of sites.. but I'm sure you will have fun looking up a little history prior to going so you will know what you see along the way.

Kirkwall- we rented a car and I wasn't to keen on it. There's a bus that will take you around the island. The volunteers in port will point you to it. May also be a good place to take an organized ship tour.

Edinburgh- there's a city bus that'll take you to princess street and from there the sites are easily walked. If you prefer a taxi it's about 10 pounds each way. There's also the hop on bus but we found it easy to take city bus and then walk till we wanted to go back to ship and then caught a cab. Edinburgh was my favorite stop.

Iceland- very easy to rent a car and self guide your days. Tip- the Europe car rental is at the dock. If you schedule rental from say 2:30-2:30 you only pay for one day rental. Have a easy morning on the ship and then go to town or blue lagoon on first afternoon. Free parking at the ship. Second morning we got off ship by 7:30 am and easily did the golden circle without the crowds. We made it back in plenty of time. prices are insane here! I'd recommend paying the extra few dollars for the gps. Its simple to just push the button and be on way here, there, back to ship... the coffee shop at geyser was reasonable prices (well for Iceland) and they had free restrooms.

Invergordon: there's tours bookable at port. I'd recommend the wow tour. We didn't get it because we had 1200 Chinese on our sailing and they had the wow charters all booked up.

We took the first city bus to Inverness and purchased a Jacobite Loch Ness tour from the bus station. It was a wonderful day and great tour guide. If you want to do this make sure you are off ship first thing. There was only one other couple from the Jade that made the Jacobite tour.

So we are in Japan on 10/6, looking to get to Singapore. I would have preferred a southern route, Hawaii etc, but Japan to Singapore has possibilitie.

That is what I was hoping for. Got excited the other day when I saw the 19 night sailing from Vancouver and really decent pricing for suites. Called pcc and he lost me somewhere after international dateline. It also being the last sailing prior to dry dock doesn't have as much appeal.

I suspect the itinerary may change to the 16 night Vancouver to Singapore that is posted now vs the 19 night to Yokohama that was previously posted.

Thanks for the info, getting closer to happening. Still gotta get to Singapore from Japan.

Actually, the itinerary is now up on C... site. It's now a 16 night instead of 19 and Vancouver to Singapore.

The Jewel currently has a bookable sailing from Vancouver Canada September, 2018. Its 19 nights. If you go to the big box C website it's available but no details. If you call NCL they have ports. It's something like Alaska, Russia, Japan. Pricing not bad but I assume it's the last sailing prior to a dry dock. Afterwards it looks like the Jewel is bookable again in November, 2018.

NCL and DCL were very proactive with the situation in Turkey last year and travel warnings. They were first to drop Turkey and NCL was able to procure good replacement ports. Other lines including Celebrity, Carnival and HAL waited a considerable amount of time and if I recall at least Carnival ended up just having sea days instead. At the time people were up in arms about flying all that way for sea days when they could have jumped on a boat in Florida for a fraction of costs.... but there's not much you can do when things like this happen. There was direct warnings of targeted areas including cruise ports, tourist areas.. with the Turkey situation and I found it alarming that Celibrity and HAL hadn't reworked their itineraries. I would find some solace in the fact that if past behavior and reputation is any indication of future success, NCL has a great reputation when it comes to working on port procurement and risk assessment. I'm sure they will be delivering the best possible itineraries. In this case, I'd trust that NCL is doing what is in passengers best interest and go with the flow.

Sorry I didn't. I'm really bad with names but I've sailed the Jade three years in a row and recognized many of the same staff in fact many of the same servers for suite breakfast and lunch too. I thought they traded out ships and venues fairly often but for some reason we had many the same. Have no idea on spelling but captain was Kim Karlson, HD was Mirsed Beuck, concierge who I think may have only did our sailing was Cholette, and our butlers were Aries and Putu. The guest services manager was Humberto. Almost all staff we came across were positive and helpful and went above and beyond.

Edit to add: Pretty sure we didn't even have a meet and greet. The ship had three large separate charter groups and sold out almost a year in advance. Most in the charter groups didn't speak any English and I highly doubt they had any knowledge of cc.

I don't mind knowing who the HD and concierge is because they definitely can make a sailing better. Of course officers change out but it is a little like reading a weather report knowing what vibe to expect. With the great hd's you really notice a difference onboard. The vibe of the staff, the service, the quality of meals... I have never gotten to know anyone senior on any level other than hello or help me with this problem sort of thing but if you have an issue as I recently did, it sure was helpful the hd was always visible and I knew him by face enough to approach him. He fixed our problem immediately and it turned around our vacation. I only knew who to approach because he was the same hd last year and was always visible then. Had he not been standing out in the open right at the exact moment that my husband was ready to pack his bags and debark our sailing in Reykjavik, we'd have lost out on the 2nd half of our cruise, which the hd made perfect. Otherwise, I could care less who the staff are in advance. We've always had really good luck with most staff onboard being great, which is one of the main reasons we continue to cruise NCL. I suppose many would like to know who the cd is because some of them are particularly funny. I remember some that were hysterical but couldn't tell you their names now.

We debarked on Monday. I vaguely remember hearing, "this is your cruise director, Paquito?" We didn't do shows... but that's the name I think he was saying on the loudspeaker.

JADE

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just found out that Hanno will be concierge on Oct. 6th sailing. (seems like a lot of frequent changovers??)

 

Don't know any other staff.....any updates.....???

Yes! I wonder if Cholette left the ship after the one sailing we were on. She was not around on morning of debarkation last day. She had left instructions that she was doing the walk off /assist off on last day but she was mia. Butlers wished everyone goodbye instead. She was very nice but seemed overwhelmed and I overheard more than one suite passenger yelling at her.

We ended up with two butlers; putu and Aries. They were both excellent. Also the Haven courtyard butler was superb. He really hustled the area and did full service dining...

We needed assistance from the HD Mirsed and he and the assistant hd were extremely responsive and helpful.

We had no noise issues except for four young girls next door. After a couple nights I called security and they had them quiet down. That could happen in any location. No noise from above or below. mini suites with public deck above would be a concern with me too. The midship location and a couple decks lower than 11 are also ideal in case of rough seas. The ship isn't that big that anything is really too far a walk but midship 8 was a great spot. The lifeboats don't obstruct that much. You can easily see out. I'd say probably 1/4 bottom half window obstruction. The window is large and has a nice shelf space. The person who has a bed against this wall has a great extra storage space. Worst part of room is that it's handicap accessible and we didn't need that so it was a little institutional feeling compared to non handicap. I think they mostly are assigned as gt obstruction category rooms and assigned later just in case a handicap person needs them. Seems like mostly they were filled with groups of 3 or 4.

I'm pretty sure they have a way to set up beds so that fold down bed can use ladder. I know it's hard to tell from pictures but there was quite a bit of space between the two beds. 3rd bed that we didn't have set up probably has to squish up to one of the twins and then there's ladder room. The room itself is bigger than a regular balcony room. The closest is also good size, and so is the bathroom. Location is great. The guys next to our room had four in the room and they seemed to do just fine. I guess biggest issue would be storage. There is also a television not showing in pictures and the stand it's on has the safe, mini fridge and some drawers. You may have to use a suitcase for a storage and that person just slides suitcase from under bed to get out clothes. They may configure beds a little different if 4 in the room in a manner that fold down can get in and out and use ladder. Just know it'll be tight but will work out. They can put for in an inside non accessible at probably half the size of the room you have.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2212965

not sure if this link will work but I posted pics in a review i did of the same type of room on the Jade- sister ship that two daughters and I stayed in back in 2015.

It had plenty of room for 3. 4 would be tough. Daughter who is 5'8" took top bunk and was very comfortable. daughters had to be careful they didn't bonk their heads.

Basically if 4 in room there's three twins across and one fold down. Plus some floor space to access closet and a mirror/ stool to get ready. Plus the roomy but accessible bathroom.

Wow, so sorry this was your experience. I can't imagine the problems you would have encountered. We were on a cruise when there seemed to be a very high volume of Orientals around and there were times it seemed difficult to move around the ship.

 

I wonder if it will become the norm too.

 

Cheers

It was not the ethnicity of the folks who had partial charter at all. Many were very polite and I've seen just as many rude Americans.... it was the group charter mentality and just cultural differences. they were accustomed to cramming as many as possible inside an elevator. Their traffic patterns were just overwhelming and we just were not used to the pushing and shoving where as I think that was their norm. I think they were also concerned about sticking with their group and so pushing and shoving to stay with their groups became a critical part of their days. Food was like a grab fest and it was simply overwhelming to try and eat in the buffet, stand in a line for dinner with hundreds shoving past. In the end we got used to it. They were very early risers and early to bed. When they were out it was in mass but adjusting our schedules around theirs helped or perhaps we just got used to it. It wasn't an ideal situation and not one I would intentionally put myself into willingly and pay so dearly for but it could have been worse. They weren't drunk and obnoxious. Just oblivious to western culture. I think the Chinese market is growing exponentially and so I suspect we will all be on similar vacations in the near future. If on a ship with only so much room it is impossible to escape so it would be great if we all had a little notice and perhaps some pointers to make each other's vacations a little less invasive.

It's nice to see they sorted this out. Newhaven was the one downside of our Iceland/Norway cruise. I guess we were the test case, being the first to do the cruise in July. It was really quite bad, but it's good to know that NCL is responsive to these sorts of things.

Yes! The day before they distributed tender tickets. Some People waiting hours for this in spiniker. We didn't bother with the tender ticket process because we had a suite but listened to a little grumbling about the process. Then the next morning first tender was scheduled for 8am. Our instructions for suites was to meet concierge at 7:45-8:15. At about 7:30 they announced that anyone who wanted to could get off. We were just eating so didn't try to get off till 7:45 and the big hired boat was just about full and took a very quick narrated trip ashore. They reportedly had long lines in the afternoon to get back onboard but we got back on prior to any lines or waits. They did have a separate line for suites to get back onboard so those people didn't have the long wait either. First I've seen a Haven reboard process. In the end, although there was a little grumbling about the tender ticket process that was essentially not necessary, I think everyone really enjoyed the Edinburgh day. It was excellent weather and everyone was talking about what a fabulous day they had. The city is stunning and we loved it. The return ship tenders were running back and forth later than all aboard. I think I saw three additional runs past the last announced time. Really the only snafu I noticed was that some had waited for tickets needlessly the day prior. MUCH easier day than reports from your sailing.

I also want to thank you. Returned yesterday as well. Can't say I'm rested from the trip but we sure saw a lot. Just in case anyone is researching for next year here's a few observations. Car rental was just as you described. We found driving in Iceland extremely easy. We rented the car in Reykjavik Europe car at the dock for 3pm-3pm. This essentially gave us two days for one day price. We did the golden circle route leaving quite early on day two and had no traffic once out of town. They let us park the car right at the ship so 7:30 am start time for day two golden circle and Easily made it back by sail away. I was shocked at pricing of everything in Iceland.

We decided against car rental for invergordon and in hindsight am thankful. Too much stress with unknown roads and opposite side. We had a, "test" driving day in Kirkwall after which we canceled our invergordon rental. We took the first city bus of the day to Inverness and did the Jacobite boat/bus tour. It worked out fine IF you are able to get off first thing but we cut it very close getting back to the ship. Our sailing had a large percentage of Chinese passengers and lines for busses etc were not for the faint of heart. Friends who did the ships tours had a wonderful time. I'm not for ship excursions and didn't sign up for any but would recommend just for a no hassle factor and in hindsight would have gone on a few of the more expensive ones offered, especially for invergordon. It worked out fine for us with Jacobite tour but we got lucky.

On Edinburgh day NCL had a large ferry hired for morning tender. Only took 15 minutes but we got on after the boat was almost loaded. They also provided a free shuttle to Leith where you could take a hop on bus. the city bus right at tender drop off was only 3.80 for two. Took us right to Princess street. Return taxi fare was only 10 pounds from hollyrood house to ship tender. tender back to ship was 30 minutes but they ran continuously. Lines for the castle were too long for our taste but there were zero lines for Holyrood house and we enjoyed that.

Found the speciality dining very good. Also really enjoyed O'Sheahans and jasmine garden if timed right. Service and staff were excellent in all venues but we didn't have much luck with the food and experience in mdr and buffet.

I think we had better weather than you guys did. Seas were a little rough until we reached Iceland but we didn't get seasick or need to take any medicine. We seemed to skirt rain just in time for various ports. The only day we got soaked was in Southampton day before we got on the ship. Thanks again for your extremely helpful review. It made our vacation much easier.

This is after the fact but we just got off the Jade 14 night sailing September 11-25. The majority of passengers were Chinese. 800 in one group and then two others for a total of 1400 out of 2800 total passengers onboard. It made dining and getting about the ship quite difficult as they went places in mass and so even walking into an elevator or getting off an elevator was not easy. I suspected the ship was partially chartered almost a year ago when it sold out but was reassured that it wasn't. Needless to say it did affect our ability to use the ship for a relaxing vacation. Pretty much a push and shove every day and we ended up retreating to our cabin when onboard and ordered room service often. Not sure if this is the future of the cruise industry but if it is we're not sure we'll be spending our vacation dollars and time on such an exhaustive process. Witnessed people melting down and fighting daily.

Thanks ! Alas..this time we will not be in a suite :(...but interested in other officers if you have them...;)

Sorry I don't have many of the names but the captain is Kim and hotel director is from Croatia. Very friendly tall guy. He was hotel director on the Jade last year.

Had probably best meal at sea ever tonight at le bistro. Food and beverage service is good. Staff generally good.

Hi,

 

I am looking for names of Officers and Concierge on the SUN right now.

I have relatives on the SUN right now.

Lucky them!!!!

I know that Brian Walters is on vacation :( as is

Restaurant Manager, Micky. :(

They are two of the very best!!

 

ALSO - looking for list of Officers and Concierge for the JADE

for September 25 TransAtlantic.

I've heard that Vesna Campos :hearteyes: will be there as F & B - love her!!

I have heard that Mustafa :hearteyes: will also be there. Yea!

I have good friends sailing for the first time.

Thanks for any information!!

Judy

Regarding the Jade; currently onboard. Cholette Hayag is the concierge. She replaced Omar who has left starting with our sailing.

Our butler is Aries. I think the butlers are new too but our butler is very good so far.

Biggest percentage of passengers I'm guessing is non English speaking Chinese.

One of our daughters lives in Alaska. She works in the field during the summers and is often delayed days on end getting into and out of various remote locations due to weather this year. Other summers can be better but nothing predictable.

I don't think I'd plan anything around an Alaskan cruise weather wise. The only thing I'd plan on is what I'd rather see. We've done both sides of shoulder season sailings. May was breathtaking beauty. Snow covered mountain tops and glacier bay with dramatic chunks of ice. August with more whales- got to witness bubble feeding from the Pearl spa. But August and September definitely not the dramatic glacier views we saw in May.

I'd plan an Alaska cruise around the time that best suited my schedule knowing that regardless I'd be able to see some incredible beauty and wildlife.

I purchase trip insurance at the time of deposit. The travel guard gold plan kicks in some additional coverage along with the pre existing condition waiver. Pre existing conditions aren't just for elderly or those in poor health. Best not to have to prove there was no preexisting condition. Should something go terribly wrong on vacation the last thing I'd want to hassle with is insurance company trying to deny a claim and having the right to do so based on my burden of proof and their interpretation of my medical records.

the last cruise I insured I ended up canceling prior to purchase of anything non refundable. Travel guard gave me a credit to use on a future vacation Which was easily applied on my subsequent cruise.

I'd pick the Pearl and Glacier Bay. The Bliss will have more dining options but the Pearl has some nice speciality options too. Missing out on the glacier bay day is an Alaska cruise deal breaker for me.

The Pearl has an absolutely wonderful spa (extra fee that is worth it) although the Bliss spa will undoubtedly be nicer and more expensive. The Pearl is a large ship with plenty of viewing areas indoors and on deck. The ease of getting off the ship in ports without twice the passengers onboard is also a big bonus.

Pearl will have activities such as trivia and production shows worth seeing and you can just show up take a seat no pre planning needed. Bliss will probably have a notch higher caliber of shows but many will require advance reservations. Certainly the Bliss is bigger, newer and will have more to do onboard. I'd like to try out a big new ship like the Bliss on a pacific coastal sailing where you are out at sea, don't have the same jaw dropping beauty to watch so have time to take in more of what the Bliss has to offer.

We have been on one of Royal Caribbean's mega ships and it was simply too big for our taste. My husband swore off cruises afterwards and it wasn't until we sailed on the Pearl to Alaska and glacier bay that he became a fan again. The Pearl was just right for us and is my favorite ship of any I've sailed. Not sure if the Bliss will have a full promenade deck but the Pearl has one on deck 7.