littlelulu01

Thanks so much for doing this. Will be following along.

Really interested in how the car rental goes for the various ports and what you do for touring on these car rental days. We also have many car rental days for our September cruise.

Enjoy your vacation! I know I'm in the minority but I think I'll miss the Hawaiian theme. The stateroom refurb look really good though. Good luck finding a favorite bar. If I was some type of mega star or had some clout with NCL I'd have called ahead and told them to make sure to give aft mini suite Keith who helps everyone on cc a bunch of extra love.

14 night Jade Iceland, U.K., Scotland, Norway $179 pp advance purchase. Priced $40 pp more if purchased onboard.

You do not get to drink the minibar. There are 3 bottles of liquor included with soft drinks and mixers. Also water

 

But if you eat the snacks and drink the little bottles of liquor and beer in the mini bar you will be charged. No need to drink them as the butler will replenish the soft drinks and such.

The H4 has the minibar setup and taking from it incurs a fee so no canned soda, water bottles... unless you pay.

The H3 H2 and H1 come with a choice of bottled liquor from a list and then any canned sodas, mixers and waters you want. My mini bar in the GV bedroom only had water bottles in it. They didn't stock it with the traditional tiny alcoholic bottles or snacks. Never checked the others but the butler will keep you stocked with the traditional mini bar type items (minus the little bottles of alcohol), in areas and fridges and coolers where you are taking them from. In the H4 the mini bar has a traditional setup and it's clear that what you consume will be charged. I like to drink sparkling water, have water bottles by bed, drink canned Diet Pepsi. I figured I pay about $400-$800 extra for this and although I don't like the extra fees It makes my vacation nicer so I pay it. Id rather pay for mini bar type items as I go and have the Haven outside my door instead of getting those items included and have an os halfway across the ship.

Thanks for responding. They did have an offer for the Garden Villa. We bid on that, but not very much (and I'm not expecting we'll get it), as all that space would be a waste in our minds. We've done the Penthouse on Celebrity, and although very nice, we found the space was a bit of a waste and would've been just as happy in the Royal suite or even Celebrity suite.

You never know. Figure the balcony or an s suite will get your room and so the amount you need to bid to get the GV is much less than theirs. Your low bid beats out their fair or even good bid because someone is willing to pay a good price for your room. You are in a great position if GV is actually available. Good luck. The GV is a class all it's own and doesn't compare to experience in the H4.

I've never been on this ship and we have a 2 bedroom in the Haven area with 4 traveling, including 2 kids ages 2 and 5. I got the email to bid, but I don't know if it would even be worth it given that the Owners suite is 1) Not in the Haven proper and 2) does not have a second bedroom.

 

I do like that it includes a minibar, which we'd make use of, but other than that I don't know if it would be worth bidding at all and just stay where we are. Can anyone help advise what they would do?

With two kids I don't think I'd give up the 2nd bedroom and direct access to Haven right outside my room for basically a little nicer room and minibar access. Did they offer a bid for the garden villa.? If they give you a chance to bid on the GV I'd definitely put a low bid on that. The Haven is a nice place to reside. it's a long walk from the os with a 2 and 5 year old just to take a dip in the small pool. I'd easily see not making use of the Haven courtyard if in an os.

I love the Pearl spa. Purchase in advance gives a discount that you don't get should you wait to board. If you plan on using the obc for something else such as a FCC then I'd go ahead and buy in advance. If not planning on using the obc then you can sign up for passes upon embarking.

The coed area of the spa on the pearl is Very nice. Great loungers overlooking sea, ( the heated tile loungers don't overlook sea.) A hot tub and a thasotherapy pool that is awesome along with hot tub. Men's and women's specific areas each have a great sauna overlooking sea, hot tubs, cold plunge pool and steam rooms. They also have nice showers.

Typically quiet and just a great place to enjoy for a couple hours a day. I don't think I'd cruise in the pearl without a pass where as the Jade and Jewel I could pass on -their coed areas aren't as nice.

Booking treatments does not give you access to the thermal suite area. You can pay extra for access after a massage though. But if looking to save $ the massage prices are high and I think the biggest bang for your buck is the thermal pass. Google videos of the Pearl thermal suites to get an idea. Make sure you watch for Pearl specific because other jewel class ships are set up different.

The obc you have can't be used for advance purchase of spa passes so if you wait use obc you will need to purchase onboard and pay more $.

Thanks for your review. Funny how the little things that are penny pinching on cruise lines part are the things I remember. I have sailed NCL for the past few years and every year the cuts of meat get a little stranger. Some steak cuts I've never even seen for sale in the stores (Europe or the us). Bottom of the barrel cut of steaks in an up charge dining venue is my idea of extreme cost cutting. Now that it's just a service fee if taking as a perk the quality has been subpar or average at best.

That whole water bottle thing is a bit much as well. I can see them only letting you drink their bottles and appreciate them reducing the rates for bulk purchasing but last year I just thought it was terribly poor decision to send out garbage pails and extra staff to tender dock just to confiscate the water from the very hot and exhausted passengers in line for tenders. All the confiscated potentially dangerous water was then hauled back to the ship because they certainly had nowhere at santorini tender spot to throw it away. People were furious and overheated. Taking away the water that NCL sold them to begin gave me a bad taste.

Sounds like overall your vacation was a success. I think knowing these things are standard procedure are key to having a great vacation. If the steak turns out better than expected it's a welcome surprise but if you end up with an unrecognizable hunk of meat it's not going to ruin your vacation.

Knowing there's a water police in full force to ensure you aren't standing in a hot tender line with one of their waters isn't going to piss you off so much if known in advance.

NCL's doing a little Data Mining :evilsmile:

You can bet they are. It's a new process for them as well and it will pay for them to find out how long to hold out on awards in order to get the most return for upsell. On one hand when they get a great bid offer they'll probably take it much sooner than 30 days out before the bidder decides to back down their offer. But on the other hand they're collecting data to find out what bidders willing to up offer at last minute for future.

I'd like to see reports of actual upgrades to suites on sailings that are showing all suites sold out. I suspect some suites are listed as sold out but they aren't actually. If they hold them out of the bookable pool they can take the $ all the way from inside to Haven upgrade advantage process and get more $ than just offering the suite to a new booking.

Keeping those suites out of available rooms last minute may very well not encourage a higher bid. Example- someone sees a GV or dos available they're more likely to put in a higher bid. If all suites show sold out people probably won't offer their top dollar because they figure there's no hope anyways unless a fluke last minute cancel so they bid low knowing there's not much hope in getting anyways.

Btw upgrade advantage offer is available for gt staterooms. I was offered for a ms gt booking. Offered to bid on every category of s-h suites even though all H suites have been sold out for months and S category sold out a month ago. The offers I received put pricing at outright paying more than the going rate with marker just touching the good range. The high poor and low fair range put cabin price at going rate. This was compared to what I paid for my room minus what the cabins were selling for prior to selling out. So in essence there was zero good deals available... unless the GV is somehow available but just not showing up on site as bookable. That is the only variable I don't know. Sailing 14 nights Jade September.

As stated before, my issue is that even though I am now in a Oceanview cabin rather than an Inside cabin. I don't understand how they can call a cabin that is over $300 LESS per person than the inside cabin I was orginally assigned an upgrade.

Price you paid for your stateroom was a bid you thought was a good deal. There's going to be many people who paid a lot more for the same type of stateroom on the sailing and many who paid about what you paid and some who paid less. It's always that way. Doesn't matter what line you are sailing. Pricing fluctuations are a given, especially close to sail date. You are past final payment, agreed to bid on an ocean view gt, got what you wanted and had agreed to pay for. There's not much that can be done at this point except to go and enjoy a wonderful vacation. You didn't get taken for a ride. if a balcony is truly all you want- why you bid on an ov gt at a price you were not happy about is not worth hashing out at this point but certainly call cas and just pay for the balcony room you want before they are all sold out. Either that or keep what you have. Deck 4 is typically quiet and also convenient for getting off ship in ports. The stairs to upper decks can burn a few extra calories. the elevator only takes a few seconds longer than the original stateroom location you had.

I'm sorry that happened. I don't necessarily think you've been takefor a ride- it's just the cruise line (any cruise line) is going to try and make as much as possible on every room. The upgrade advantage process isn't necessarily a way to get a great deal. NCL outlines conditions pretty clearly too so it's kinda buyer be aware and don't put a bid in on a room category and price you aren't comfortable with. I'm fairly convinced the new system is not all that great for most sailings.

One thing you may be able to do is watch the available rooms closely and a balcony may come up in your price range. I've recently seen sail away rates a good chunk less at last minute (30-40 days prior). If you won't benefit much from the free at sea perks this might be an option. You can upgrade after an award- just can't probably take it back nor go back into the upgrade advantage pool.

Casinos at sea may be able to get you a balcony for not much more than your upgrade advantage award. Good luck and if you stay put in the ocean view room it'll at least have some daylight and a chance for you to see outside.

I really like deck 7. There are some lounge chairs set up and on a nice day it's very relaxing to sit and read a book, listen to and watch the sea. Pool deck usually more bustling with bands, music and pool activities. Activities can vary depending on what's going on so some bars and restaurants may be closed here and there for a private function or group activities. The Jade is pretty easy to find way around and since it's not terribly large one can find a peaceful area to sit and relax without too much trouble. I've seen people playing cards and reading in the garden cafe between meals.

How do the butlers in The Haven work? Is there one that specifically works the courtyard area and then a separate ones for the staterooms? Do you remember the name of the awesome one?

The butlers change every two weeks. For the Haven on the Jade there's two. Each side of Haven rooms has a butler. So one butler for one of the garden villas and the other Haven suites on that side of the ship. There's also a Haven steward. He sets up the common areas of the Haven and also the deck areas of the garden villas. There's also a night shift butler on call. This is a different person than the two Haven butlers. The night shift butler is the butler for all the suites Haven and non Haven. I was told by a butler that this is the easiest rotation because there's not much guests need in the middle of the night.

It's easiest to let your butler know ahead of time what you want and the time you want it. For example if you have a standard desire for breakfast, juice... then he can just work this into his routine. Even if you get him the order the night prior it makes things simpler and you'll get what you want on time. There's room service cards in the rooms. Easier just to hand write what you want. Of course you can order whenever but figure that if you place an order right after he just finished collecting other breakfast orders and is busy attempting to get them to the staterooms while hot that you are going to be waiting until he's done prior to gathering your stuff. They prefer to know in advance as much as possible so they can budget their time more effectively.

As far as set up in the actual Haven area: that just depends. Sometimes there's stuff like cookies, ice water, coffee, perhaps some sweet rolls or fruit in the morning and sometimes it's just a clean counter. nothing that a person would be too bummed about not having available- fake m&m's is about as good as it gets and once people figure out they are a really off brand they don't bother with them.

The Jade courtyard area is more of just a really nice area to sit, relax, take a hot tub right outside your room. Perhaps play cards, some say they can get food and drinks in the area but I've not seen that happening. Probably just easier to walk down a few stairs to breakfast or lunch.

Thank you everyone for the replies

Wanted to make sure we have the 2 balconies for our Panama canal trip- don't know which side will have the better view

If you take a look at the Jade deck plan it'll give you a clear idea of what your balconies are overlooking. You can certainly look out to sea but wont be looking from balcony down to water. The garden villas massive decks take up that real estate. I think it would not detract from the GV if they took away a little of that upper deck area and gave it to the dos. You do have the Haven sundeck to use if you want to see down to the water from the ship while going through the locks.

I have booked smiths for airports. It's roughly twice the price of national express. I think 71 gbp each way with a few pounds extra for parking. This is for a salon car (just the two of us.) driver will wait for us At lhr arrivals hall with a sign. I figured it was worth the extra to arrive with no hassles especially factoring in jet lag, to just get a ride straight to hotel in Southampton. They have excellent reviews and were the lowest quoted pricing for private transportation of everyone else I checked with. There's also a 3 pound charge for cc payments. Can be paid in advance or to driver.

I've seen the dos on the Jade just prior to dry dock. It has two balconies and no hot tub. We were in the garden villa and part of an upper portion of our deck connected to one of the balconies of the dos.

If you look at the Jade post dry dock thread there's a poster who posted a video of the Jade- I think it's, "honest cruises" A portion of his video shows the dos post dry dock.

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a very nice vacation!

As far as prices go for my upcoming cruise almost every category of suite pricing on the new upgrade system -high low to mid fair range bids put the cabin cost to above the original price. Perhaps a very slight savings over current inflated prices? This may not be the case with all sailings but I suspect that the majority of suite upgrade advantage offers are not a reasonable bargain. Your ta may be able to call NCL and get you a least some extra obc to just outright get the cabin you want. The upgrade advantage system essentially cut out great deals on suites. Perhaps a good deal for those booked an inside or ocean view looking to move to a balcony or mini suite? I certainly wouldn't feel bad about not being able to participate in this new program. Odds a person would get a suite upgrade with a minimum bid are low but in comparison to just booking outright, minimum bid was all they were worth.

You're not paying for alcohol. You're paying for the gratuity. Which in my own humble opinion is not that huge of a cost. On a 7 day sailing it works out to $99. I'm sure if a non alcoholic UBP was introduced the cost would not be that significantly different from what one pays now. A non alcoholic strawberry daiquiri is approximately $6. If they were to offer that option if pretty sure it would be like $50 per day plus the added gratuity. So again maybe a savings of $40-50. Not a huge difference.

 

 

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That sounds good IF all you want for the vacation is soda from a gun and the super sugary drinks.

I assume MANY people want bottled water, canned soda AND there's money for NCL to be selling these items/banning passengers from bringing onboard. they even hauled out staff and garbage pails from ship to shore in the scorching heat to confiscate them from passengers standing in tender lines to get back on the ship in Santorini. They go to great lengths to make sure the cans of soda and bottles of water on their ships are purchased from NCL.

The UBP has many options for a drinker. They can pay a corkage fee and supplement the wine choices for not that much extra cost. They can pay an up charge for premium liquor brands. They have several brands of beer, wine, hard alcohol... to choose from and as a perk it's not much cost even for a lite drinker or only one in the cabin drinker.

For a non alcoholic beverage drinker the choices are severely limited. Example on my upcoming cruise I'm in a suite. I get a bottle of sparkling alcoholic wine and another bottle for latitudes perk. I may or may not be able to trade it out but I will plan on not being able per 50/50 odds in the past.

I'm not paying the grats on the UBP because it doesn't cover anything I want. I want soda cans from my mini bar. I want the pelligrino water, water bottles, the specialty coffee in the morning... if I was an anomaly in this regard NCL would not be going to all the trouble they do to ban these items from being brought aboard.

So why in the world would they not offer a non alcoholic premium package of any sort for a non drinker? It only creates animosity. I see the need for them to make as much as possible but this could easily be accomplished by creating some sort of non alcoholic premium inclusive package, additional premium charge on the UBP... there's an arsenal of choices available on other lines NCL could borrow from or improvise on to make more money than the competition. I'd easily pay even the fees that celebrity charges for their premium non alcoholic package.

We did a Christmas cruise with about 30 on another line. My brother in law planned it with a ta and all our cabins were near each other. The only specific things we had planned were dinners and a Christmas gift exchange in a bar he reserved.

The upside was that we all got together at dinner each night and got to visit. It was easier just because there was set dining time so same time same table, same servers every day. Downside was dressing up every night. Guys did suit and tie, woman dressed up. Had to also dress up the kids.

There was a little drama here and there but nothing bad. Key to success is an outline and clear understanding what is group and what everyone is in their own for. It made Christmas easy because we drew names, had a $ amount and only had one person to buy for. It was basically like a Christmas dinner every night for a week except someone else did dishes, cooking, laundry and cleaning.

The cruise itself was very expensive but we had fun- well except for husband who was NOT happy about dressing up every night while on vacation and having to sit around waiting for the girls to get all fancied up....He swore off cruising for a few years after and it wasn't until I dragged him onto the pearl Haven Alaska that he said he liked cruising again.

I'd do it again just because you can include all ages, but not sure if NCL freestyle dining would work with such a big crowd. It was much easier just to show up at a designated table each night where the servers knew exactly what everyone wanted after the first night. Perhaps in the Haven but that is a lot to expect a large varied group to spend unless a ta could get some great rate.

I can just imagine the sharing if they had a tiered program. One person would purchase the top tier and the other the bottom tier and then share the alcohol.

If they mandate everyone in the cabin upgrade they would avoid this and make even more $.

Sharing with a cabin mate who's underage or in a different stateroom would be treated same as it is now.

Thanks so much for posting this! We have booked a rental car for most of the ports as well. We're sailing two week Southampton in September.

I appreciate the details very much.

I would really be interested in a non alcoholic beverage package. The problem with just swapping out a soda package instead of UBP is that the soda package really doesn't cost much to begin with and it's only fountain soda. The, "grats" on the package probably don't make it worth it to NCL either.

I could see it being mutually beneficial if they sold tiered packages. Some sort of true ultimate beverage package that they collect an upgraded fee for those who wanted; alcoholic beverages, canned soda, water bottles and specialty coffee. Ideally if a person didn't want any alcohol they could have this package minus the alcohol for a lower rate. Ncl would collect a lot more $ and a non alcoholic beverage drinker would be happy. This would be quite possibly a great profit for NCL because they could mandate that if one in the cabin took the upgrade then all had to.

A non alcoholic beverage drinker taking the UBP as is with the fees being higher than a soda from a gun package isn't practical for most.

I would never dream of cruising on one of their AI sailings. Their ai sailings still don't include any beverage I want and it would be a deal breaker to have an UBP in current form rolled into my fare yet still have an immense bar tab because all my drinks aren't included in their UBP.

I have never had a bad NCL cruise and love the line but their beverage package structure is a big thorn in my side.

I would certainly be willing to pay more than the current soda package cost for a non alcoholic beverage package that included water bottles, canned soda and specialty coffee even if it wasn't offered as a free at sea perk.

Do you have some excursions booked already? I noticed that when I booked a full day excursion in a port the options for other excursions on that day disappeared. I subsequently canceled the excursion and all available excursions for that day reappeared.

Following along as well. We're doing the 14 night with Iceland in September so a couple of the same ports. Ended up renting a car in many ports for the day. Was a little late with decisions and the smaller non ship group tours were all full. Purchased Bergen funicular tickets ahead of time. Interested in reading about your travels. Have a wonderful cruise. We purchased the spa passes for a slightly discounted price ahead of time and the unlimited internet just because husband has to do some work. I guess a little less painful to pay now instead of seeing a big bill at the end of vacation.

A couple years ago when they started charging 18% on the specialty dinners, there was a bit of a backlash. Then the suites had an increase in dsc above non suites. Not sure if the NCL site still mentions but it used to say the reason for the higher dsc was due to suites having dedicated wait staff... anyways figure that your dsc and grats on dining and beverages packages or orders cover your tips for your room stewards, wait staff and whatever incentive programs for staff. Feel free but certainly not obligated to go above with a cash tip for service above and beyond but needing to bring $ to every Haven breakfast or lunch is simply not necessary or expected. If I have a server or Haven staff that stands out I tip them towards the end of cruise. You will get to know them over the course of the cruise. The butler and concierge aren't included in dsc. They should be tipped separately at the end depending on use and how much you feel like. Many say a starting point is $5 pp per day for concierge and $10pp pd for butler and adjust up depending on service. I don't give my room stewards more than the butler. It's nice to give steward something above the dsc though.

Tipping is personal. I'm just not a fan of bringing $1 and $5 wads of cash on cruises but the last few we've taken have been longer cruises and abroad. There's enough to worry about getting off the ship in the morning or coming back for lunch without having to also remember to have a wad of cash to dole out whenever I'm wanting to eat or drink or interact with anyone who gives me service. That is what the dsc is for - so that I can relax and vacation and not think much about it.