CAS sailor, how did this happen? WOW!

[cuterlmt]

I've been cruising for about 4 years with NCL as a Casino at Seas player. We have been on several great cruises on NCL, always an inside cabin offered to us, and we have chosen not to upgrade. We have three local casinos that provide us with Casino certificates, but none since March. Hopefully we'll get one soon.

We did one cruise this March, right before the pandemic closed everything down and people got stranded, and the other three we had scheduled this year have already cancelled, and we've received our FCC. Our October Venice inside cabin was cancelled last week. So we called our NCL PCC to schedule our new cruise. So we had an Alaska cruise this summer scheduled, cancelled, and used the FCC to schedule NCL Jewel Vancouver to Seward and decided to wait to see if we would get any offers. Since we know we won't, we decided to use our recent Venice cruise FCC.

We decided to make the trip a back to back So Vancouver-Seward-Vancouver. He gave us an Aft Balcony Penthouse Suite cabin, and we only had to use our FCC and another $96 for a cabin that is thousands of dollars. I have never an Aft balcony, or a suite on NCL. I am just amazed that we got that offer, with $600 on board credit. To upgrade our first week to that cabin would have cost us close to $7000!

I don't understand how we got so lucky.

And I'm looking forward to reading about the perks for this kind of cabin.

Although over a year away, I don't think I've been more exited!

 

So my big question is do we have the same kind of benefits of a Haven cabin? I've seen that we get a butler and concierge, and help with things.

Also, we are not in the same cabin for both trips. Will the steward or someone help us move our stuff and when? We want to go explore Seward, but want to make sure we get moved.

Any other advice to make the most of this experience is much appreciated!

 

 

[TSUmom]

7 hours ago, cuterlmt said:

I've been cruising for about 4 years with NCL as a Casino at Seas player. We have been on several great cruises on NCL, always an inside cabin offered to us, and we have chosen not to upgrade. We have three local casinos that provide us with Casino certificates, but none since March. Hopefully we'll get one soon.

We did one cruise this March, right before the pandemic closed everything down and people got stranded, and the other three we had scheduled this year have already cancelled, and we've received our FCC. Our October Venice inside cabin was cancelled last week. So we called our NCL PCC to schedule our new cruise. So we had an Alaska cruise this summer scheduled, cancelled, and used the FCC to schedule NCL Jewel Vancouver to Seward and decided to wait to see if we would get any offers. Since we know we won't, we decided to use our recent Venice cruise FCC.

We decided to make the trip a back to back So Vancouver-Seward-Vancouver. He gave us an Aft Balcony Penthouse Suite cabin, and we only had to use our FCC and another $96 for a cabin that is thousands of dollars. I have never an Aft balcony, or a suite on NCL. I am just amazed that we got that offer, with $600 on board credit. To upgrade our first week to that cabin would have cost us close to $7000!

I don't understand how we got so lucky.

And I'm looking forward to reading about the perks for this kind of cabin.

Although over a year away, I don't think I've been more exited!

 

So my big question is do we have the same kind of benefits of a Haven cabin? I've seen that we get a butler and concierge, and help with things.

Also, we are not in the same cabin for both trips. Will the steward or someone help us move our stuff and when? We want to go explore Seward, but want to make sure we get moved.

Any other advice to make the most of this experience is much appreciated!

 

 

You will love having an aft PH.  In an aft PH you will have butler and concierge services but we never really used the concierge.  The butler will bring you snacks.  As far as B2B I have my first one booked and have done a bit of research.  We have the same cabin on both of ours but I have read that your luggage will be moved to your next cabin.  Not sure if you need to pack everything or if they will just move your hanging clothes to the next cabin.  Talk to the butler on day one to find out.  

 

As a suite guest you will be able to have breakfast in Cagneys and that is a great perk.  

 

Congratulations on the fabulous deal on your suite!  Oh and just a warning....you will find it hard to not cruise in a suite again.

[Travelling2Some]

Congrats!  We once got a crazy upgrade from Celebrity from an inside to one of their best suites, including all the perks.  I think it happened because that cruise included a huge number of church groups (two ports in Israel).  Many of the participants were first time cruisers.  (You could tell by all the ladies still carrying big purses around 4 days into the cruise, lol.)  I'm sure we got moved because Celebrity realized that most people would not appreciate being separated from their groups.  It was fun but not something I'd pay a lot of money for to be honest.  We were fine with going back to steerage on subsequent cruises.

[Sam Ting]

9 hours ago, cuterlmt said:

I've been cruising for about 4 years with NCL as a Casino at Seas player. We have been on several great cruises on NCL, always an inside cabin offered to us, and we have chosen not to upgrade. We have three local casinos that provide us with Casino certificates, but none since March. Hopefully we'll get one soon.

We did one cruise this March, right before the pandemic closed everything down and people got stranded, and the other three we had scheduled this year have already cancelled, and we've received our FCC. Our October Venice inside cabin was cancelled last week. So we called our NCL PCC to schedule our new cruise. So we had an Alaska cruise this summer scheduled, cancelled, and used the FCC to schedule NCL Jewel Vancouver to Seward and decided to wait to see if we would get any offers. Since we know we won't, we decided to use our recent Venice cruise FCC.

We decided to make the trip a back to back So Vancouver-Seward-Vancouver. He gave us an Aft Balcony Penthouse Suite cabin, and we only had to use our FCC and another $96 for a cabin that is thousands of dollars. I have never an Aft balcony, or a suite on NCL. I am just amazed that we got that offer, with $600 on board credit. To upgrade our first week to that cabin would have cost us close to $7000!

I don't understand how we got so lucky.

And I'm looking forward to reading about the perks for this kind of cabin.

Although over a year away, I don't think I've been more exited!

 

So my big question is do we have the same kind of benefits of a Haven cabin? I've seen that we get a butler and concierge, and help with things.

Also, we are not in the same cabin for both trips. Will the steward or someone help us move our stuff and when? We want to go explore Seward, but want to make sure we get moved.

Any other advice to make the most of this experience is much appreciated!

 

 

Great news, if the ship actually sails and if it does you don’t end up getting it, or being stuck in the cabin for a few weeks.

[cuterlmt]

23 minutes ago, Sam Ting said:

Great news, if the ship actually sails and if it does you don’t end up getting it, or being stuck in the cabin for a few weeks.

 

Well I'm hopeful. It is a year away. And if it gets cancelled, so be it. And maybe our next FCC for that one will be a comparable package. I would think it would be, We've already had 3 cruises cancelled this year, so I'll always be hopeful.

As far as being stuck in that cabin for a few weeks, it would be much better than our inside cabin. I imagine it would get old, but hopeful things will be fine. Life is an adventure! 

Edited August 5, 2020 by cuterlmt

[Turtles06]

2 hours ago, TSUmom said:

You will love having an aft PH.  In an aft PH you will have butler and concierge services but we never really used the concierge. 

 

Sad to say, this is not necessarily true any longer.  NCL is changing the categories of a number of the non-Haven suites on the Jewel-class ships, breaking out, for example, the Deck 10 aft-facing penthouses (the ones with the very large balconies) into their own category (and for more money), and eliminating some of the suite amenities from some of the new categories.   

 

I have no idea what deck the OP is booked on, but looking at some Jewel Alaska cruises for summer 2021, the Deck 10 aft-facing penthouses (new category SM) say they have "butler and concierge," but the ones on Deck 8 and 9 (new category SN) say: "Butler and concierge service in select cabins."   Until this change, all of the aft-facing penthouses on the Jewel-class ships have been in the same SF category, all with butler and concierge services.

 

@cuterlmt congratulations on getting an aft-facing penthouse.  We've sailed in them and love them.  If you are lucky enough to be on Deck 10, you'll have a very large (deep) balcony, larger than the ones on Decks 8 and 9.   You will not have access to the Haven area but, imho, that's not a big loss on the Jewel-class ships, since there's no dedicated Haven restaurant.  All the suite guests (Haven or not) can have breakfast and lunch in the space used for Moderno (or Cagney's) for dinner.  Breakfast  there in particular is a great perk.   (The lunch menu is too limited imho.)  But who knows what cruising will be like in 2021 anyway.    

 

As I note above, whether you will have butler and concierge services depends on what Deck and stateroom. 

 

I hope your cruise is a go!

[Turtles06]

Here is a thread from 2019 that I started, collecting all the info that was known at the time about the changes in the SE and SF (front and aft-facing) penthouse suite categories and amenities on the Jewel class ships, scheduled at that point to start this fall.   For those booking, or booked in, these categories for 2021 and later, you should nail down with NCL what amenities you have. 

 

 

[cuterlmt]

Thanks for all your comments, they are helpful.

We are on Deck 10. I've been having dreams of gummy bears. =0)

Do you automatically get all the perks (dining, wifi, shore excursion?)? We never do the alcohol as we get enough alcohol in the casino and don't drink much. But the perk is not showing on our NCL page. But the OBC is.

 

[pcakes122]

19 hours ago, cuterlmt said:

We are on Deck 10. I've been having dreams of gummy bears.

Congrats on your comp! I just booked a comp back to back on the Gem in an Aft Penthouse so I think CAS is just really anxious to get us all back! 😊

 

I don't want to dash your gummy bear dreams, but I really wouldn't recommend them considering Covid.  I know people go on and on about NCL gummy bears and M&Ms, but I've never understood that. I'm not really that much of a germaphobe, but bowls of unwrapped candy never appealed to me - especially since I have no idea whose hands were rummaging in those bowls before mine.  Now with Covid, NCL can definitely keep their unwrapped candy!  (Plus gummy bears and M&M's are super cheap at the grocery store and are exactly the same as the ones that NCL serves.)

[Budget Queen]

On 8/5/2020 at 12:28 AM, cuterlmt said:

I've been cruising for about 4 years with NCL as a Casino at Seas player. We have been on several great cruises on NCL, always an inside cabin offered to us, and we have chosen not to upgrade. We have three local casinos that provide us with Casino certificates, but none since March. Hopefully we'll get one soon.

We did one cruise this March, right before the pandemic closed everything down and people got stranded, and the other three we had scheduled this year have already cancelled, and we've received our FCC. Our October Venice inside cabin was cancelled last week. So we called our NCL PCC to schedule our new cruise. So we had an Alaska cruise this summer scheduled, cancelled, and used the FCC to schedule NCL Jewel Vancouver to Seward and decided to wait to see if we would get any offers. Since we know we won't, we decided to use our recent Venice cruise FCC.

We decided to make the trip a back to back So Vancouver-Seward-Vancouver. He gave us an Aft Balcony Penthouse Suite cabin, and we only had to use our FCC and another $96 for a cabin that is thousands of dollars. I have never an Aft balcony, or a suite on NCL. I am just amazed that we got that offer, with $600 on board credit. To upgrade our first week to that cabin would have cost us close to $7000!

I don't understand how we got so lucky.

And I'm looking forward to reading about the perks for this kind of cabin.

Although over a year away, I don't think I've been more exited!

 

So my big question is do we have the same kind of benefits of a Haven cabin? I've seen that we get a butler and concierge, and help with things.

Also, we are not in the same cabin for both trips. Will the steward or someone help us move our stuff and when? We want to go explore Seward, but want to make sure we get moved.

Any other advice to make the most of this experience is much appreciated!

 

 

You have to pack up your stuff.    Written instructions will be given prior to your first cruise ending.    You'll put tags on your bags and keep them in your room.     

 

I've done this multiple times on the Jewel in Alaska (stayed on for 5 weeks last season.)   I usually  leave the ship early in Seward and simply just get my  new room key when I returned.    Otherwise,   on those written instructions,   the time will be posted when the new keys will be ready for pick up.    Of course the prior passenger has to have vacated and possibly the ship cleared.  

[Budget Queen]

20 hours ago, cuterlmt said:

Thanks for all your comments, they are helpful.

We are on Deck 10. I've been having dreams of gummy bears. =0)

Do you automatically get all the perks (dining, wifi, shore excursion?)? We never do the alcohol as we get enough alcohol in the casino and don't drink much. But the perk is not showing on our NCL page. But the OBC is.

 

You need to refer to the terms of YOUR booking.   Alcohol and dining perks would have involved you paying the gratuities.   Is that on your invoice?????  

[cuterlmt]

53 minutes ago, pcakes122 said:

Congrats on your comp! I just booked a comp back to back on the Gem in an Aft Penthouse so I think CAS is just really anxious to get us all back! 😊

 

I don't want to dash your gummy bear dreams, but I really wouldn't recommend them considering Covid.  I know people go on and on about NCL gummy bears and M&Ms, but I've never understood that. I'm not really that much of a germaphobe, but bowls of unwrapped candy never appealed to me - especially since I have no idea whose hands were rummaging in those bowls before mine.  Now with Covid, NCL can definitely keep their unwrapped candy!  (Plus gummy bears and M&M's are super cheap at the grocery store and are exactly the same as the ones that NCL serves.)

Oh yeah, I probably wouldn't have ordered them before Covid; it's just a wonderful dream. Glad to hear you got a nice upgrade!!! We tried to book the week before in the same aft penthouse but it was about $7000 and I just couldn't do it.

[cuterlmt]

23 minutes ago, Budget Queen said:

You need to refer to the terms of YOUR booking.   Alcohol and dining perks would have involved you paying the gratuities.   Is that on your invoice?????  

Thank you, thank you. I emailed my NCL PCC after I got the confirmation about it because I didn't see that, but thought I'd check here to be sure. He hadn't responded so I emailed him again and he told me he thought he had added them - I'm pretty sure he didn't. I will say this - before all this, I never rebooked or tried to get a better deal or thought anything of getting those kinds of perks, I wasn't very savvy about that. I had called one time to get the perks within the last 6 months, and the NCL rep said I had to get all of them. I didn't want the alcohol, partly because of the gratuity and partly because it makes no sense for us. We sometimes maybe have a drink in the casino and we get free drink cards, so why pay that gratuity for a drink a day??? So I thought what she said was true and just took it for what it was worth.

When I using my FCC to reschedule a cruise, the PCC told me that I could book what I wanted, and didn't have to get the alcohol, so I've been getting a bit more savvy about it. Since then, I try to get the perks I can! We have never sailed with anything but the single perk of the specialty dining. But all of our cruises coming up, FCC paid, have all the perks but the alcohol!

 

After your email I went back and checked my reservation and on my NCL page. I compared my other reservations, and they do look quite different, without the dining gratuity. I was reading a lot about the suite, and thought it might be just included with that, but obviously not.

 

Thank you for all your help. I read your posts often - they are very helpful.

[BirdTravels]

5 hours ago, pcakes122 said:

Congrats on your comp! I just booked a comp back to back on the Gem in an Aft Penthouse so I think CAS is just really anxious to get us all back! 😊

 

I don't want to dash your gummy bear dreams, but I really wouldn't recommend them considering Covid.  I know people go on and on about NCL gummy bears and M&Ms, but I've never understood that. I'm not really that much of a germaphobe, but bowls of unwrapped candy never appealed to me - especially since I have no idea whose hands were rummaging in those bowls before mine.  Now with Covid, NCL can definitely keep their unwrapped candy!  (Plus gummy bears and M&M's are super cheap at the grocery store and are exactly the same as the ones that NCL serves.)

Well,, no. You have your own private bowls, filled from a package daily, in your room (depending on the ship/room, the butler leaves the bag in the butler cupboard in your room). We have M&Ms (peanut or plain), gummy bears, and bar mix filled by our butler daily. Along with water and tea in the refrigerator. 

[BirdTravels]

 

On 8/5/2020 at 8:03 PM, cuterlmt said:

Thanks for all your comments, they are helpful. We are on Deck 10. I've been having dreams of gummy bears. =0) Do you automatically get all the perks (dining, wifi, shore excursion?)? We never do the alcohol as we get enough alcohol in the casino and don't drink much. But the perk is not showing on our NCL page. But the OBC is.

You can order all perks. ShoreEx and WiFI credit is free and added to all reservations. If you want to pay the gratuities for the Dining and Drinks package, you can add them to your reservation.  

 

BTW: Congrats on the beautiful room!  They are really great and we spend hours each day on our balcony watching the sea life (whales, dolphin, seals). 

 

You get all of the benefits of being in a Haven room, except for access to the very tiny Haven courtyard. You eat with the Haven guests for breakfast and lunch, no one gets dinner, you're on your own. You get butler service (yes bowls of gummy bears, and M&Ms (peanut or plain), and we ask for some bar mix - for us, most of the gummies end up in a zip lock for future consumption and are refilled daily). 

 

In the past, on Alaska cruises, they would invite Suites guests into the Haven for officer cocktail parties and for glacier watching (warm mulled red wine and spectacular views). 

 

You can order white tablecloth breakfast service for those early shore days. There are tick-box cards in the room (standard room service menu). Ignore the tick boxes and write whatever you want from the MDR or suites Restaurant. Fried eggs, egg white omelet with spinach and tomatoes, filet steak from cagneys, ham, bacon, sausage, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, breakfast potatoes, hash browns, fresh fruits, fresh breads, juices, and a Diet Pepsi. 

 

 

Your butler will bring you the default afternoon snack of the day. If you have special requests, just ask (us big kids like a PB&J or BLT sandwich in the afternoon after a day of trekking across Alaska). 🙂  Some will even recognize the third photo below from a Jewel Forward Facing Balcony room when you used to get Godiva chocolates and ship pins (both long gone). 

 

 

[pcakes122]

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Well,, no. You have your own private bowls, filled from a package daily, in your room (depending on the ship/room, the butler leaves the bag in the butler cupboard in your room). We have M&Ms (peanut or plain), gummy bears, and bar mix filled by our butler daily. Along with water and tea in the refrigerator. 

I've traveled in the Haven many, many times and the first day there is usually filled bowls of these candies in our suite (which we have removed.) One time there was a broken potato chip and some potato chip crumbs mixed in with the M&M's, so definitely not a fresh bag opened for our suite.  At no point have I ever seen an actual unopened bag, but I have seen many open bowls of gummy bears and M&Ms at various places throughout the Haven common areas, so there is no policy that each passenger only eats from a fresh bag.

 

As I mentioned earlier, I'm not sure why people get so excited over cheap "penny" candy lol.  I do like the handmade chocolates that the casino, hotel director or the captain sends - those are nice!