The Alaskan Jewel! Welcome Aboard….You don’t Exist!

[bonvoyagie]

10164 -nice cabin - we were next door in 10166 on our last AK cruise back in 2012 - loved the huge balcony. On our next cruise we are stepping up to a 2bdr family suite for the three of us - mainly because it is 14 days and my MIL, while she did not complain, was a bit uneasy sharing one big room with us. Now she can have her own room and can come and go as she pleases. And we will have our own space as well - plus an area where we can all be together.

 

There used to be a separate Suite and VIP check-in to the right of the baggage check in - from there you went to the front of the security line and were escorted to the suites lounge. We also bypassed the photo booth. But it would have also been possible that your name would not have been on that list either.:D

 

Did you get the luggage tags and all of the other Suites stuff in the mail.

 

If you didn't then that would have been my first clue that something was amiss.

 

I hope the concierge got everything worked out for you.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Thank you for bringing us your report of the Jewel. Your category is my favorite including the aft deck 10 location :) We will be in our favorite aft deck 10 Jewel cabin in November.

Giving you kudos for continuing on your time on your your report. I have done many Live From and after cruise reports over the years and it takes lots of time especially when also uploading and posting photos and after one gets home from a cruise just getting back to normal life and work can be a chore but to sit down and upload photos and write reports is hard. For a very long time I did LIVE From's but after getting many a snarky comments from our Jewel cruise March 2014 I just stopped and only posted on Facebook for my past two cruises. We had returned to the Jewel in November 2014 and that time we were in the Haven but basically did not want to have negatives added to the fun I usually would have reporting LIVE. :o If I thought that it would not happen again I would do a Live from on the Mexican Riviera but I know that it will so why waste my money buying internet.

 

If you could be so kind when you get a chance and you may tell it in your reports but I will be curious who the Concierge is and if it is the same one we had last November on the Jewel. And if it will be the same one for our upcoming cruise.

Thanks so much for reporting and posting your pictures. :)

[jenseib]

Thanks for taking the time to put up your report.

 

Didn't know about the Chihuly Museum; amazing photos of his work. You must have gone nuts to get on the Jewel and see that Norwegian commissioned his work. Did you know that in advance?!

 

Too early to know if you'll be sailing NCL again but' date=' if you do, you can see more of his work on the Jade, Pearl and Gem! On Jade there are those flowers near the elevators like you showed from the Persian Ceiling room at the museum.

 

Also to the poster who said his work is featured at the Bellagio, if you go to the Borgata in Atlantic City you can see some nice pieces there, too.[/quote']

 

I did come across that info on Chihuly on some ships in my research but I wasn't sure which ships till after I got home.

We aren't opposed to sailing NCL again..this was my 3rd and Skip's 2nd on that line, but it may be a few years with my current plans. Next year so probably going to be a DCL year. I have 1 booked and another possible one.

 

I'm really enjoying your trip report and I'm hoping that the concierge stepped up to the plate and straightened out this entire situation for you so you never had to worry about NCL's mistake again for the rest of your cruise.

 

I used to live in Seattle and took many of my co-workers to various places up there when they came in for training courses that I was running. I would always take them to Ye Old Curiosity Shop to see the Petrified Man and Dehydrated Woman and buy inexpensive souvenirs (Space Needle pens) before taking them to dinner at The Crab Pot.

http://www.thecrabpotseattle.com/index#food-menu

Their eyes would bug out when the waiters would dump a massive heap of dungeons crab, snow crab, shrimp, mussels, clams, andouille sausage, corn and potatoes on the middle of the table for everyone to chow down on! Amazing how fast that fresh seafood disappears!

 

Did you see the "Mount St. Helens Emeralds?" It's just a created gem - hellennite:

http://www.pioneerjewelers.com/catalog/mt-st-helens-helenite-obsidionite

I bought a massive one set in a ring for $60 at the gift store at the base of the Space Needle. It's just something fun to have as a souvenir of Seattle and Mt. St. Helens.

 

Btw, this is the "Great Northern Lodge" from Twin Peaks:

http://www.salishlodge.com

It actually is a real resort with one of the best spas in America. It is about 40 minutes outside of Seattle in Snoqualmie. It has one of the best spa restaurants as well. We stayed there before an Alaska cruise and had an amazing dinner one night of vanilla and butter poached lobster (a special). Their artisinal cheese cart was AMAZING! In the morning I opted for their Washington take on Eggs Benedict, which included eggs on artichoke bottoms with dungeoness crab meat and Bernaise sauce. It was absolutely wonderful!

 

If you can go out there you can still see many of the locations from "Twin Peaks." But the Salish Lodge is definitely worthy of being a destination in and of itself!

 

It was definitely NCL's fault and issue though they really didn't want to take credit for it. I sent emails out as soon as I got home....I didn't want this to happen to anyone else in the future....and if it does, I want it dealt with much better....as you will see later! ;)

 

I'll have to check out those sites. Maybe if we ever go back to Seattle and spend more time there I can look and doing some of those destinations.

[jenseib]

I hope so, too, but I have a feeling that more problems cropped up during the cruise.

 

I've been waiting to see what "You don't exist!" meant, because I, "Mary Smith," went on a Celebrity cruise and shared a cabin with my friend, "Jane Jones." Both of our names were on the boarding papers, there was absolutely no problem at boarding, and we were each given our own keycard.

 

However, one time, when I was in the bathroom, Guest Services called our room, and Jane answered the phone. When they asked for me, she told them that I was in the bathroom and offered to take a message. They asked her who she was, and she said, "Mary's roommate, Jane Jones." They told her that they had absolutely no record of anyone besides me being in my cabin.

 

A few days later, Guest Services sent a note to our cabin, addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Jones. So someone from Guest Services thought that I had the cabin all to myself, while someone else was convinced that Jane was sharing the cabin with her husband. FWIW Jane's late husband never sailed with Celebrity, and there was nothing in our paperwork that suggested that Jane was cruising with a man.

 

We just laughed and laughed about it, and we wondered if anyone went looking for Mr. Jones when he didn't swipe his keycard when he disembarked from the ship, but it seems that there were ongoing problems with NCL, and for that, I am truly sorry.

 

You would be correct!;)

 

That's too funny about your situation.

I always swear that Disney has the worst system for technical glitches but I am now a believer that NCL is right up there with them!

 

Oh my gosh - my dh would have been flipping out.

Hope everything else goes smoother

 

He was pretty calm, but mostly because he didn't know any better. I was keeping a more calm front, but I knew things were right and it was driving me crazy!!!!

[soaringfalcon]

I love your style. Makes me feel like I'm there!

 

I'm intrigued about how they handled and the follow up afterwards.

[Freespir8]

Loving your review and can't wait to see the pictures of your suite. We are booked on the Jewel in the same suite next April.

 

Regarding the negative comments, I have seen so much of it on CC. I used to read the forum regularly but tired of the constant bickering and mean comments. It all seemed so unnecessary and some people were downright rude.

 

Thank you for taking the time to entertain us with your review. You didn't have to do all of this work but I am grateful that you have.

[bearette]

I'm enjoying your review and pre- cruise plans.

People will say things on the internet they would never say in person. You can't pleas them all so do what you like.

[timmo44]

Great review. You can't have too many photos IMO. The NCL cards are always printed while you are at the checkin desk because they take your photo to go on them. We had missing UBP and UDP stickers on ours last time but the concierge fixed that as soon as we got into the Haven lounge. Minor hiccups never bother us, life is too short etc...

[jenseib]

I love your style. Makes me feel like I'm there!

 

I'm intrigued about how they handled and the follow up afterwards.

 

thanks! I will give a little glimpse of the future....they didn't really handle it well in my opinion at all. :rolleyes:

 

Loving your review and can't wait to see the pictures of your suite. We are booked on the Jewel in the same suite next April.

 

Regarding the negative comments, I have seen so much of it on CC. I used to read the forum regularly but tired of the constant bickering and mean comments. It all seemed so unnecessary and some people were downright rude.

 

Thank you for taking the time to entertain us with your review. You didn't have to do all of this work but I am grateful that you have.

 

It's really a great room. Nice and roomy and I just loved the balcony on the back of the ship. So neat to see both sides as you pass by. Skip spent a lot of time out there, which made me happy.

[jenseib]

I'm enjoying your review and pre- cruise plans.

People will say things on the internet they would never say in person. You can't pleas them all so do what you like.

 

thanks...and you are very right on that point.

 

Great review. You can't have too many photos IMO. The NCL cards are always printed while you are at the checkin desk because they take your photo to go on them. We had missing UBP and UDP stickers on ours last time but the concierge fixed that as soon as we got into the Haven lounge. Minor hiccups never bother us, life is too short etc...

 

Everyone elses cards were already printed and in envelopes. They did take our picture, but the picture is just connected to the card, not actually on the card. They had to go out and get our cards printed since they weren't ready. I am assuming because we were concierge the perk was to have them pre-printed to go faster? Maybe it was just that port? And you know what, I really do try to roll with the punches. This was a bit extreme this time, but I was able to bounce back and have a good time.

[jenseib]

After the photos, Mr. Gnat led us to the ship. He kind of weaved in and out of people and was leaving us behind. The other family had a member in a wheel chair and I kind of felt bad for them.

port22 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

port23 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

At one point he did stop and wait for everyone to catch back up.

port24 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

port25 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

port26 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

port27 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

It really did seem odd to be getting on a ship this way…but at the same time it was kind of neat too.

port28 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

A guy was handing out cold towels and Skip asked if he should get one. I told him he could if he wanted to….but none of us did.

Mr. Gnat just kind of mumbled that we should get in one of the 2 lines to scan on the ship and he waited off to the side.

port29 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

port30 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

port31 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

It should be really exciting to see this sign.

port32 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

And it was, but I admit, I was worried and fuming a bit about the whole “You don’t exist” incident.

port33 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

I was really trying to let those issues go and get excited about our adventure and kept trying to reassure myself that once on the ship everything was going to be put right. But of course it was constantly nagging me and until all was put right I just couldn’t relax.

port34 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

Once both families were all scanned on, Mr. Gnat led us through the doors to the atrium….where I failed to take a picture…and we were met by a butler to take us to Moderno for lunch. He whizzed us to an elevator and this is the only picture I took as we boarded.

board1 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

Once up on the 13th floor we were pointed to the Moderno/Cagneys check in desk where Florentina, our Concierge person and another gal were standing.

She asked our room numbers and I told her our issue. She looked confused. And then she said, “Well, sometimes that happens when you upgrade last minute.” Once again I told her this was not a last minute upgrade. She asked when I booked and I actually said June….I think my mind was just all over the place. In reality I booked in April and upgraded in early May. Then she said…. “Most likely your travel agent made a mistake.” Nope, she didn’t. I happen to know my travel agent personally…..I look at her in the mirror every day…..and I told Florentina just that! Now she had a very worried look on her face. I knew then she wasn’t sure what to do and that made me nervous. She did say we would get this all taken care of.

She handed out packets to the other family and told us she didn’t have one for us…surprise..surprise! But one would come to our room later. We did get something later, but it was not the WHOLE packet.

After she told us her services and explained a few things we were led into Moderno for lunch.

board2 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

board3 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

A few quick pictures around the place.

board4 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

board5 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

board7 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

During this whole ordeal I had been messaging with my friends Deb and Brook…who are also co-workers. Of course they wanted a minute by minute update and so far I wasn’t able to give them much other than we made it on the ship.

Florentina came over and asked what package promos we had booked with and I told her and she asked for proof. She gave me a “I don’t believe you one bit look”. I had just about everything under the sun in my folder except my Amenities sheet….which I found on my desk when I got home.

I told her how I had been in contact with Concierge prior to the cruise and everything was in my NCL account..even just that morning when I looked. She said she needed the amenities shown so she could add them….And then she said..”you can pull them up on your phone right? You still have service?” yes I did, but it was slow and also at this point I got really annoyed. They should be contacting someone off shore to get my stuff sent…I shouldn’t have to waste my vacation time to do this. And there was never an offer of free wifi to access this or a laptop or computer.

I pulled up my stuff and Florentina said that showing her wasn’t any good, she needed it all emailed to her. Since the connection was so slow I messaged my friends and they went into the reservation and emailed EVERYTHING they could find directly to her. Skip did mention to her that if she didn’t believe us he would be happy to show her his credit card bill. LOL!

In the meantime, we ordered our lunch.

food1 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

Claire and Skip got the clam chowder and I tasted it. It was pretty good.

food2 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

I got the shrimp.

food3 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

shrimp by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

Skip asked why we were not eating at the buffet. I told him eating here is a perk for concierge guests. We can eat here for breakfast and lunch every day. He said he wasn’t, he was going to the buffet daily! LOL! That’s perfectly fine, but Claire and I may come here again.

We had been told by the guy on the bus that the Blue Angels were in town and were performing tomorrow, but we may see them today practicing. Right then we saw them go by and I tried for a quick shot.

blue angels by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

Our main courses had arrived now.

Claire and I both got a steak. Claire is a big steak eater and she had it for most of her meals on this trip.

food4 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

They had the most wonderful truffle fries!

food5 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

Skip got a turkey burger and after he ordered it he said “why the heck did I order that?” No clue dear!

food6 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

One thing to note, unless you actually make an effort to ask for something other than water, that’s all you are going to get. Never at one single meal did the server ask if we would like something to drink. We just automatically got water. Sometimes they would offer an alcoholic special, but that was it. We learned fast to remember to ask for what we wanted to drink.

Skip was more amused about everything than anything else…..and I guess I am glad for that. He kept saying “You and that lady are going to bump heads soon. I can see you taking her down.” At least he was in good spirits!

We ordered dessert and as we waited I ran over to Florentina (she has a little desk set up right in Moderno) and told her that one of my co-workers emailed her everything. She said that won’t work, it has to be directly from NCL. Yes, it is….she went into NCL and forwarded it all to her email. Sure enough she opened her email and had several emails with my reservation # on it. She started opening them to look it over and then the one with amenities wouldn’t open. I was watching and she was clicking the wrong button to open it and it took all I had to not grab that laptop and open it up the right way. Finally she got it open and said she would get everything fixed and would have new key cards printed up later. We can order any drinks we want and they will be taken off, so no worries! That made Skip a happy camper!

I asked about our dining and excursions. She said those are all most likely in the system. If we don’t have our tickets when we arrive in the room, let her know and she would take care of it.

Ok, I was starting to feel a bit better now and relaxed just slightly as I enjoyed my dessert.

Skip got the carrot cake.

food7 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

I got vanilla ice-cream…..which was heavenly good.

food8 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

icecream by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

[jenseib]

Claire had asked for strawberry ice-cream, but our server came back and said they currently didn’t have any and would have to run to another area to get some. Claire went with raspberry instead.

food9 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

Once we were done with the dessert, we walked out to get a breath of fresh air.

seattle space needle by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

I was starting to relax now and was sure things would get better.

board6 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

board8 by Jennifer Dowling, on Flickr

Up next….Can we really relax with no worries now?

[InTheWASide]

TREMENDOUS restraint with all of the "prove it" mentality when they just as easily could have summoned your booking information.

 

I've been on over 30 cruises, used to work for a cruise line and AM a TA now... and even with all of that which makes me a lot more understanding about flubs, mixups, etc I would have probably been borderline pi$$ed at about this point.

 

Really hope it gets a lot better for you from that point forward... already MORE than enough stress for a whole trip

[fabnfortysomething]

we've learned to take printouts of everything with us after being stuck at guest services the last morning because the UBP we had pre purchased wasn't showing up and they were double charging each drink.This is despite the sticker showing on our card.It took 30 minutes with the girl coming back at intervals and basically saying you didn't purchase it! In the end I passed over our whole holiday file showing every transaction and she eventually sorted it.Unfortunately there seems to be a communication problem sometimes between NCL head office and the ship and it does tend to affect that holiday glow when you are having to prove you're not trying it on!

[caribill]

we've learned to take printouts of everything with us after being stuck at guest services the last morning because the UBP we had pre purchased wasn't showing up and they were double charging each drink.This is despite the sticker showing on our card.It took 30 minutes with the girl coming back at intervals and basically saying you didn't purchase it! In the end I passed over our whole holiday file showing every transaction and she eventually sorted it.Unfortunately there seems to be a communication problem sometimes between NCL head office and the ship and it does tend to affect that holiday glow when you are having to prove you're not trying it on!

 

Had you checked your on board account during the cruise?

 

If so, could you see they were charging you for the drinks that should have been free before the end of the cruise?

[fabnfortysomething]

Had you checked your on board account during the cruise?

 

If so, could you see they were charging you for the drinks that should have been free before the end of the cruise?

 

yes I did and when I queried with guest services they said they were there for invoicing purposes and would be cancelled out on last night of cruise-WRONG

[Vacationdreamer<><]

Oh my stars.

I do not do well in situations like that. I wouldn't have been able to eat. WTG Jen.

 

Boy - I hope this got straightened out quickly!!!!! :(

[jenseib]

TREMENDOUS restraint with all of the "prove it" mentality when they just as easily could have summoned your booking information.

 

I've been on over 30 cruises, used to work for a cruise line and AM a TA now... and even with all of that which makes me a lot more understanding about flubs, mixups, etc I would have probably been borderline pi$$ed at about this point.

 

Really hope it gets a lot better for you from that point forward... already MORE than enough stress for a whole trip

 

Yes, I was using a lot of restraint...and you would think when I told her my profession that she might have done a little more to get it fixed immediately...more so because I told her from the moment I stepped on board I was going to be sending emails as soon as I got home.

But you are right, I do understand that mix ups and things can and do happen with no one at fault. The thing is how it is handled, and how quickly it is fixed really will reflect on the company.

 

we've learned to take printouts of everything with us after being stuck at guest services the last morning because the UBP we had pre purchased wasn't showing up and they were double charging each drink.This is despite the sticker showing on our card.It took 30 minutes with the girl coming back at intervals and basically saying you didn't purchase it! In the end I passed over our whole holiday file showing every transaction and she eventually sorted it.Unfortunately there seems to be a communication problem sometimes between NCL head office and the ship and it does tend to affect that holiday glow when you are having to prove you're not trying it on!

 

I always have everything with me...it just was one of those I had all but 1 sheet that I accidently left on my desk at home and it was that 1 sheet I needed.....however had I had it it wasn't going to make a difference as she wanted emailed proof.

[jenseib]

Oh my stars.

I do not do well in situations like that. I wouldn't have been able to eat. WTG Jen.

 

Boy - I hope this got straightened out quickly!!!!! :(

 

It was hard to enjoy the meal and worry about this...and mainly working nonstop while eating as well. Not how I pictured my first meal onboard.

[soaringfalcon]

The prove it would have send me right over the edge! I would have asked for the HD right then and there. Amazing restraint!

[NLH Arizona]

You have me at the edge of my seat waiting for your next update. I hope the cruise goes a lot better than it started out. I must say, you are one very patience person.