THE MA'AMs SWEET JEWEL SUITE review and pictoral

[Planmaam]

OK, here goes another attempt at uploading a resized photo that I could not upload previously because it told me the file was too big.

 

This is a picture of the Whale Lot where we parked; if this works, I'll tell you a story of the last time we parked here. I actually took the picture for my daughter to show to my granddaughter. Let's see if my attempt works.........

[Planmaam]

Again only a thumbnail. !@#$%^&*()

 

Well, my IT specialist is on the way home, so maybe he has the patience to see what I'm doing wrong.

 

Anyway, to the story. BTW, this is the view from just outside the waiting area in the cruise port.

 

On our last cruise out of NOLA, there were about 6 cars of us caravanning to the port, and Medicalma'am was trying to get us into the Whale Lot for parking. It's not easy unless you know exactly where you can enter, and we kept being waved on, not being allowed to enter (which was understandable, as it was the exit.) Medicalma'am was getting quite frustrated, as she was in the lead car, and we were all following her on this wild goose chase. I was in the car with my daughter and granddaughter, who at the time was only 5.

 

To relieve some of the tension, I started talking to my granddaughter, explaining why they called it the Whale Lot, and asked if she had seen the wall painted with the whales. Her response "Uh, 3 times!"

 

I was in stitches; she hadn't missed a thing!!!!

 

Anyway, I digress.

 

Sunday morning after breakfast at the hotel, we gathered all our luggage (including BIL's 5 bags!) and brought the car around then began the attempt to get all the luggage as well as 4 passengers into the car. It was an engineering feat, but amongst the 4 of us, we managed to find a place to squeeze everything in, then all pile into the car for the short ride to the port.

 

This is after the bill for the room had arrived, Medicalma'am, you have to add that portion to the review.

 

We drove there without any trouble, dropped off the luggage and the ma'ams, then the DHs took the car to the infamous Whale Lot. I already posted the picture we took of ourselves while awaiting their return. The feeling in the air was one of anticipation, and I took a picture of the ship from the waiting area.....or a portion of the ship:

[mitsugirly]

 

...was trying to get us into the Whale Lot for parking.

 

To relieve some of the tension' date=' I started talking to my granddaughter, explaining why they called it the [b']Whale Lot[/b], and asked if she had seen the wall painted with the whales. Her response "Uh, 3 times!"

 

 

Oh my gosh!!! I just now got it! I'm so dense. I always thought when people talked about the "Whale Lot", they were calling it the whale lot because it was for the Carnival cruisers....whale tail=wale lot. I do remember seeing the Whales several times on the building, but I thought that was just painted there because of the aquarium. NOW I GET IT. (hitting self in forehead).

[medicalma'am]

Ok, while she is trying to figure out the picture situation, I'm going ahead with my ghost story.

 

I had heard that often old buildings are haunted. I don't remember if I had read anything about this particular hotel, but it was on my mind. We went to bed really late and still I was unable to go to sleep quickly. Anyone ever had the 'before cruise can't sleep' syndrome? I tossed and turned for what seemed like hours. I finally went to sleep about 3:00 in the morning.

 

Our bed was situated just under a window and an outside door to the balcony/porch was to the right of the bed. There was only one set of stairs outside to get up to our rooms. The balcony wrapped around two sides of our suite. At 4:45 I woke up to the sound of heavy boots walking (clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp) outside our room, and then a sound of our door knob being giggled. YIKES I was fully awake and jumped out of bed to look out the window. I saw no one and went into the living room to look out those windows.....nothing. No more footsteps, no one out there and just silence. I made sure the two doors were locked and went back to bed. WIDE AWAKE ...... I lay there thinking about what I had heard. I was so bothered about not seeing anyone and not hearing anyone go back down, until about 5:30 a.m. I just kept thinking that I would sleep so well the first night in our cabin on the ship!

 

We got up the next morning and my DH dressed for breakfast.He again brought breakfast back for me. When he went out, he handed me a piece of paper that had been between our door knob and the molding.......our bill.

 

All I can say is that whoever takes the bills to each room in the wee hours of the morning needs to do so more quietly. I probably got about 2 hours of sleep, off and on.

 

So, my 'ghost' was not in reality a ghost, and my picture is just an example of being a bad photographer!

[medicalma'am]

We packed up and brought our luggage downstairs. I went to get the car across the street and drove up to see all that luggage. WOW Now this was going to be a feat getting it all in my car! The hubbies started putting the biggest bags in first and trying them this way and that way. We had bags between us in the back seat and on the floor at our feet, but we got it all in! Now for one last stop for distilled water and we were off to the port.

 

We arrived and checked the bags. The porter asked to see our paperwork before we went inside. He said to make sure we had it, because when those bags are gone, it is too late! I thought this was a very valuable service because I had nightmares of just that! Passports and paperwork in hand, the guys went to park in the whale lot, and we ma'ams went into the terminal. We were waiting and were told we couldn't wait there. Go over to the seats and wait there. Really, what were we hurting? We were just standing there letting other people go in front of us.

 

When the guys arrived we went in, and after some "go here....go there....Oh you are in suites....you need to go there" we found the right line and were in the VIP reception area in no time.

 

The wonderful Elvina was there and I was able to make my reservations for the Chef's Table and pay for it on the spot. We also made reservations for Le Bistro for that night. She told us to just let her know of any requests and she would make it happen.

 

We had been in suites in January on the Star but had eaten our first meal in the main dining room because others in our HUGE family group did not have access. This was a great treat today to be able have lunch in Cagney's!

 

I snapped this picture as we went to board.

 

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Edited January 7, 2014 by medicalma'am

[gardiner41]

So, my 'ghost' was not in reality a ghost, and my picture is just an example of being a bad photographer![/size][/font]

 

hahahaha LOVE this story thanks for sharing :D

[medicalma'am]

This is Cagney's lunch menu.

 

Her are the DHs in Cagney's that day. Aren't they cute?

 

 

Edited January 7, 2014 by medicalma'am

[medicalma'am]

I had the grilled asparagus as an appetizer and the flounder entree. It was all wonderful. Before we finished eating our rooms were ready. We had several carry on bags with us so we headed there next.

 

This is Planma'ams room

 

 

Their balcony

 

Now their balcony was smaller than ours as they were on the corner. Our room was the next one, 8132 and our balcony was a bit deeper. We had aft suites.

 

Our view out the back

 

 

This view just got better as we were underway. Looking out at the wake of the ship is mesmerizing to me.

 

Our suite

 

[medicalma'am]

This is another pic of our suite.

 

 

There is a table in the corner by the sliding glass door with three chairs. There is another chair pulled up at the desk, so there are four. This table can be pulled away from the wall so all four chairs can be used to have a meal in the suite.

 

 

The picture being covered up by the fake tree really bothered me. I wanted to move one of them the whole week!

[medicalma'am]

Well, I am off to work. I loaded most of these pics today from Planma'am's Photobucket, so the problem must be with her computer and not the sites. Maybe she will get some done while I am working.

 

More tonight from me after 11:00 p.m. Central time!

[IluvZ]

I am really enjoying your review.

[BritChickBN1]

The flowers in your suite were gorgeous!

[rowdyrosie]

Can't wait for more. This is perfect being able to read Mitsugirley and the Ma'ams!

[Planmaam]

I have a few minutes during lunch, so thought I'd try getting pics from this computer.

 

See the picture of my suite in post #33? Notice that the slipper chair is leaning up against the window, you can tell because it's smushing the curtains. Well I loved this chair on our last cruise, and was really looking forward to it on this one. I could turn it to look out the window or towards the TV, or I could sit and enjoy my morning cup of espresso or a glass of wine before dinner.

 

Well, this slipper chair was broken; the back "reclined" instead of staying up straight. I did not try to see how far back it reclined for fear of breaking it. I lived with it for a couple days, then kept repeating to myself how the Hotel Director told us in the CC M & G to let them know of any problems, questions, or concerns because he didn't want to hear about them for the first time on Cruise Critic! So I told our room steward, and before long the chair was gone. The next day it was returned, fixed, and I had my favorite chair back for my enjoyment! Way to go, NCL! So glad I spoke up.

 

I'm going to back up a bit to say a few things that took place in the Suite room at the port prior to embarkation. I had called the pre-cruise concierge with just a couple of requests: cleaning out the fridge, we like both regular coffee & decaf, don't drink much tea, but like Splenda and lots of half & half for our coffee. I had also mentioned that we were interested in attending the Chef's Table. Well, when the concierge, Elvina introduced herself, she told me our requests had been met, and she already had us signed up for the Chef's Table. Prior to this I didn't know whether you could actually sign up with the pre-cruise concierge, or just let them know you were interested, but was pleased to know that the "reservation" was finalized.

 

As Medicalma'am said, we also made reservations for Le Bistro for later that evening, and we also signed up for our Spa Pass at a table right there outside the lounge; all before getting on the ship! That made it so we could go directly to Cagney's for lunch instead of having to go to the spa first; yes!

 

Cagney's was good; I think I had a cheeseburger without the bun or french fries. I know, not fun, but I was determined not to put too much of the weight I had just lost before the cruise.

 

I don't like much seafood, but I was determined to try some things in hopes of liking them. My DH got the Flounder Milanese, and gave me a taste. I discovered it was delightful, and made a mental note to have it for myself on another day for lunch in Cagney's. Alas, we never went back to Cagney's for lunch again!

 

We had our waiter take a picture of the 4 of us in Cagney's, but since we were sitting next to a window, it did not come out. This was the case with several pictures, so I missed a few that I would like to have had.[/img]

 

OMG, it worked! Mitsugirly e-mailed me another way to get images in the review, and it worked! THAN YOU MITSUGIRLY! I feel like I'm not such a tech idiot anymore!!!!:D

 

Lunch is over; more tonight.

[Planmaam]

Oh, the picture I posted is Medicalma'am in my suite; we are enjoying my bottle of sparkling wine mixed with orange juice and cranberry juice, which our butler kept supplied in our fridge throughout the week.

[Planmaam]

Thank you to all who are joining our review. Please feel free to ask any questions or add if you were with us.

 

Yes, those flowers are beautiful, BritChickBN1, and they stayed fresh all week!

[Grams2011]

We will be in 8630, another aft penthouse, on the 2/2/14 cruise. Really enjoying your review and photos! Can't wait to get out of the cold. Was wind chill -18 deg. F this morning. Even our dog didn't want to stay outside!

[Planmaam]

We will be in 8630, another aft penthouse, on the 2/2/14 cruise. Really enjoying your review and photos! Can't wait to get out of the cold. Was wind chill -18 deg. F this morning. Even our dog didn't want to stay outside!

 

Hope you can stay warm until your cruise, Grams2011. And hope you don't have trouble getting to the cruise port, either.

[Planmaam]

I'm still having trouble getting full-sized pictures to upload from my laptop at home. I'm sending e-mails to work and I will go in early in order to continue my review from there since I can upload from my work computer. So hang on, more is coming, but it will just be the morning before I can post it with pictures; thanks for your patience!

:o

[medicalma'am]

I wanted to share more tidbits about the suites. The lighting was perplexing the whole week to me. How do you turn out such and such light we would ask each other. DH would try switches and I would let him know...no, that's not it. We never did get some of them down.

 

Then there are some really ingenious lights. There is a light in the closet. To the right of it is the switch.

 

 

 

The switch

 

Then there is the night stand light. It is underneath it and the switch is on the wall above it.

 

 

 

With the light on

 

 

This makes a great night light when you need to get up without awaking anyone else.

 

[medicalma'am]

We were perplexed as to why our room wasn't as cool as Planma'am's room was. I had our temp set as cool as it would go by the third day and was still hot in the middle of the night.

 

Then Planma'am told me that there were TWO a/c controls in the room! The second one was in the entrance hallway. I had only seen the one in the dressing area. When I adjusted them both at the same setting, our room became very comfortable!

 

The one in the dressing hallway

 

 

The one in the entrance hallway.

 

 

One other thing I liked was that the inner curtains could be drawn to enclose the bed. The room steward did this each night when he made up the room. This made it cozy to me, but DH opened them every night when we returned to the room.

 

 

 

It would be great if you have someone sleeping on the pull out couch bed, or if one wants to stay up reading without bothering the other.

 

You can also compare how much bigger our balcony was, being more toward the center of the ship aft.

 

Edited January 8, 2014 by medicalma'am

[Planmaam]

We were still in our rooms after lunch, not being time for the muster drill yet.

Robin and I toasted the upcoming week with our drinks.

 

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Each of our suites had a box of Godiva chocolates, which has replaced the fruit bowl. Quite a welcome change, in my opinion!

 

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Then I took my obligatory picture looking down at the name of the ship from our aft balcony:

 

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I believe we've taken one of these pictures on the Pearl, Star, and now Jewel.

 

All too soon it was time for the muster drill, and I took a picture down the long hallway on the way, though not a clear view.

 

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Our muster location was in Tsar's Main Dining Room, so I took a couple of pictures while we were there waiting.

 

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Then I took a picture of the main atrium area on the way back to the room.

 

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[Planmaam]

We took a walk through the spa prior to going back to our room to see what it was like; it was different than any other spa we had been in before, but quite pleasant, and many hours were spent here during the week.

 

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We could see to the back of the ship from the ladies sitting area. This is the area over the flying bridge.

 

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We could also see to the bow, and the Carnival Sunshine docked in front of the Jewel in NOLA.

 

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You can see the steam room to the right in this photo, and the cold plunge pool to the left, but I never plunged. I never saw anyone else in there, or for that matter ever in any of the spas on the cruises I've been on. One time this cruise I did get some water to splash on my face between the steam room and sauna visits.

 

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Here is a peak into the sauna.

 

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Here is the thelosotherapy pool where we spent a good share of time during the week, also.

 

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[Planmaam]

Here is a video I took from the balcony as we started our rotation away from the dock to head down the Mississippi.

 

 

 

We later moved to the Star Bar, and at sail-away I went outside and took some videos.

[Planmaam]

Sail away video:

 

[/img]

 

We went to the Star Bar for a drink before dinner, and for some reason I felt impelled to take a picture of this table. On it is the bowl-type glass they are now offering with the Rebellious Fish drink, which I went ahead and paid for. It is plastic, not glass, and I used it to put my jewelry in during the week; a perfect container on the dressing table! Unfortunately it is not the one with one fish swimming the opposite direction in a school of fish, but it is what it is. A souvenir none the less.

 

[/img]

 

Though we started out in the Star Bar, when Mitsugirly and friends arrived, there was not enough room for them to join us, so we decided to go to Spinnaker.

 

There were not that many people there, and we enjoyed getting to know each other.

 

I was on a quest for what I considered the perfect chocolate martini. On my first cruise on the Sun, I spent afternoons with my laptop writing. A couple sat a couple seats down from me, and the woman had a drink delivered that looked interesting, so I asked her what it was, and that is when I met the chocolate martini. She suggested I got one, which I did, and had a new favorite drink. I have never been able to get one like that since, as everyone seems to "adulterate" it, in my opinion. That original was simply regular, unflavored vodka, 2 parts, and Original Godiva Chocolate dark liquor, one part.

 

So as I entered the Spinnaker, I went to the bar and asked the bartender to make me one, giving him the exact recipe I wanted. He said yes, he would; have a seat and the waitress would bring it to us. But when it arrived, it had Hershey's syrup squirted around the inside of the glass. Don't know about you, but Hershey's syrup with Godiva Chocolate is like putting a Pinto next to a Mercedes in my opinion! But I drank it. I had my camera around my neck, and as I got up for some reason or another, my camera hit the glass, and I spilled half of it. DARN!

 

-The waitress came by soon and asked me how I liked it, and I told her OK, but I had spilled half of it. Here was my chance to say OK but I didn't want the Hershey's syrup, but I didn't. She told me she'd get me another one, and she did, not charging me! Now that's customer service; rack another one up to NCL!

In Spinnaker I didn't take many pictures, but I did get a video of the kiddos there having a great time on the dance floor. You may recognize one or more of them.