Paperwork Necessary for Boarding

[Cruiser32333]

Hello Everyone. I'm new to this board, but you all seem to be very knowlegable on cruising Norwegian so i'm hoping you can help me out. I'm cruising Norwegian for the very first time on the Jewel leaving Miami on January 7. I have only cruised Carnival in the past so I am not very familiar with all the paperwork Norwegian requires in order to board and Norwegian hasn't been very helpful in clarifying this for me. Can someone possibly help me in figuring out what paperwork I need? And, does Norwegian provide luggage tags when I arrive at the Pier? Carnival sent them to me way before the cruise in the past, and as I am leaving in 2 days for this cruise, I am assuming that Norwegian waits til the pier to distribute. Thanks!

[bigtrigger]

Go to NCL.com and on the homepage you will see "booked and ready to cruise" on the lower right corner. Click this and on the next page bottom left click register online now. With this they will send e-docs, luggage tags to print out, shore excursions booked, etc. Hope this helps.:)

 

 

 

NCL Jewel 03-04-07:D

[heelfan94]

Did you register online? It's too late to do it if you haven't already. But if you did register then you really just need your passport, or birth certificate and driver's license.

[tray]

Cruiser: we just got home from our 12/24 Jewel cruise. As bigtrigger says, you need to go online to ncl.com and fill out the advance registration forms available under the booked and ready to cruise area. After you fill these out, I would recommend printing them in case there are any questions at time of embarkation. NCL then sent me everything via email. We received a complete 'sailing' package with all the information we needed regarding cruising, shore excursions, guidelines, etc. At the beginning of this packet is your reservation/confirmation numbers and pertinent information. They did ask for this form when checking in. They also provided our luggage tags in this packet that they ask that you print off, fill out and place on your luggage prior to getting onboard. Because these would be printed on flimsy printing paper, I took the copies to Office Depot, copied them on colored paper (I chose red simply b/c we were on the Christmas cruise!), then had Office Depot laminate them for me. Then I punched a hole in both ends and secured them on our luggage with string I took along. Hope this makes sense. It worked very well. I'm not sure I like the idea of luggage tags being emailed, but I guess it's all part of new 'technology', I don't know?

 

Good Luck and Happy Cruising! Let me know if you have any other questions about the Jewel and I'll try to help!

 

Tracey

[mbisson]

As was said, you will want to preregister at their website BUT-it should have already been done! So you may need to fax them into NCL. You'll need your booking number to fill out the forms. Even if the site won't let you submit the form electronically (I think they want it 14 days in advance) DO CHECK THE SITE ANYWAY! ENTER THE INFO YOU CAN AND MAKE SURE A CABIN NUMBER COMES UP (or at least gty). Then I'd print out the form & bring a copy with me.

 

Most importantly is to bring proper ID (since you've cruised b4 I'm sure you're aware of this). Since your cruise is coming so soon, even if you don't get your documents, if everything is in order, other paperwork isn't "necessary",but to be on the safe side, I would bring any proof of booking/payment that you might have.

 

If you booked with a TA, I'd check with them to see if they have your documents. The NCL document pack normally is much like those you are familiar with from Carnival. NCL does both a hard copy mailing of the pack and an electronic document. You (or your TA) should have received one or the other.

 

Yes, the porters will have luggage tags at the pier for those who need them

 

Have fun, Don't panic-if everything is in order you really won't need anything other than that ID/passport

 

-Monte

[Cruiser32333]

Thanks for the help everyone...We did pre-register on the ncl website and are all paid up, but then we never received the email from ncl with the necessary forms to print, luggage tags, etc. and had to call our TA and ncl to question this. We were sent another email with attachments, but nothing seemed to be the printable luggage tags. Planning to call our TA/ncl again today just to confirm that what they emailed us was all we will need.

 

Tray: Thanks for the tip on laminating the printed luggage tags. As long as we get them via email before we leave i'll definitely use your advice!

What restaurants do you recommend eating in on the Jewel? I'm having a hard time decided on which to choose!

 

Anyone know what time is best to arrive at the pier so as to not wait in long check-in lines? One member of my party has back and neck problems and cannot stand/walk for long periods of time so we would like to get through the lines as fast as possible.

 

Thanks!

[mbisson]

Sounds like you're set then. :) (life is good)

 

I've heard that to really avoid lines if you get there after 2 most will have already boarded. I can't swear to the truth of that statement as we usually show up between 11-12 for a 5pm sailing (in Miami-NCL). Even though the lines can be somewhat long then, we usually are on board in 45 minutes or less as they move fairly quickly.

 

-Monte

[tray]

This was our first time to try specialty restaurants, and we LOVED them!! I think my personal favorite was Cagneys. The steak (I got mine medium) was simply perfect and MELTED in my mouth. Yum.........wish I was back there!! We also loved Teppanyaki; I especially loved the edamame served before the 'show' started on the grill! I even asked for extra bowls of it for me and my nieces/nephews! Le Bistro was also very good, but very rich food. The staff in all the specialty restaurants where we dined were superb (actually they were awesome in the dining rooms for the most part, too!). I will tell you this: even though many have complained about having to make reservations early, do it! We had reservations in Mamas one night then canceled the adults' reservations because we decided we wanted to go to the Murder Mystery Dinner in the Main Dining Room that same night. The kids kept their reservations and loved it. We tried to get reservations on another night in Mamas and they were booked solid. Alex, our concierge, worked hard on that one but it was just tough (mostly b/c we had a large group of 13!). He was able to get us our Le Bistro reservation on the same day for 7 of us, but that was just luck I think! We had fun at the Murder Mystery Dinner, by the way!

 

As far as lines go, I've heard either show up really early or later to avoid the worst of the lines. I can tell you that we showed up at approximately 1:15 (family crisis of delayed flights and possible missed cruise had us arriving to pier later) this time and the lines were pretty long. Of course, it was a Christmas cruise and packed full. Having said that, we did move fairly quickly through the lines. Maybe you can ask NCL for a wheelchair?

[shoreguy]

Go to NCL.com and on the homepage you will see "booked and ready to cruise" on the lower right corner. Click this and on the next page bottom left click register online now. With this they will send e-docs, luggage tags to print out, shore excursions booked, etc. Hope this helps.:)

 

 

 

NCL Jewel 03-04-07:D

 

Registration as nothing to do with documents. For most getting the docs is the first they find out they need to register.

[Toyz711]

some get tags, some don't. we didn't..but others in our family who booked the same way we did..got theirs. i was going to write the room # on a sticky label, but didn't want to lose it in flight. they had boxes of tags you can fill out when you get there. not a problem at all.

[mbisson]

Registration as nothing to do with documents. For most getting the docs is the first they find out they need to register.

 

I meant to say that also, but in my haste forgot. As usual, it's shoreguy to the rescue!

 

-Monte

[Katy P.]

Questions please ... what happens if you don't decide to fill out the online advanced registration form? Can you just rely on the package/ documents that NCL will send to your TA? Are the same forms also in this package for you to fill out and hand out to them when you embark the ship? Is it a must to do the online registration form or do you still have to do both 'hard copy' form from TA and online form? Thank you everybody! :)

[Arwenmark]

I booked this morning for a Feb 3 sailing and was told that they no longer send ANY documents it is all by computer. If you don't pre-register you just show up at the dock with your identification, passport and such. it may take a bit longer to get through with it but you will be in the computer.

[Tressacruise845]

Best suggestion I've seen is to print out your info on labels so when you get to dock and porter presents you with tags all you have to do is stick label w/info onto the tags!

[mikeythemars]

When does NCL gerenally send the e-docs? We sail on the Spirit in six weeks, and I pre-registered my party on the NCL website back last March (we book early!) I haven't received any e-docs though - how far in advance are these generally sent?