NCL Jewel April 7, 2013 NY to Bahamas

seira83 · #1 January 25th, 2013, 02:05 PM

Hi. Anyone going out of New York on the Jewel on April 7? This will be my first cruise ever. Very excited.

msmoger · #2 February 17th, 2013, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seira83

Hi. Anyone going out of New York on the Jewel on April 7? This will be my first cruise ever. Very excited.

Hey Seira83...I just checked out this roll call. We're also on the NCL Jewel Roll Call and I recognized your screen name. I'll be traveling with my partner Anthony. This is our first time on NCL (5 on Princess with another booked for September). Who are you traveling with? Also, where in NJ do you live? We're in Clifton. "Frankwoman" (Barbara) is trying to organize a meet and greet but as you know, we need 25 people. You should head on over to that roll call and officially add your names to the list.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showt...1673836&page=6

Hope to see you onboard. It should be fun!!

seira83 · #3 February 17th, 2013, 09:14 PM

Hi there, thanks for checking in! I actually did put my headcount in on page 4 of that thread when member "bahama2" had a count started. (I copied and pasted the message from page 4 below)
It will be me and my partner Kevin. We live in Hillsborough, NJ. This will be our first cruise ever! It will be in celebration of my 30th birthday!

I'm hoping there will be a FOD meeting as well. I hear NCL is very friendly towards us.

--Copied from other thread--

Quote:

We need to start a headcount to find out how many people in each group if we want to have a M&G. Just add the amount of people in your group and I bet we have enough for a M&G and I know people sign up the last week or so.

Headcount - 13

4 - Hilo7
1 - Bahama2
2 - happycruiser1414
2 - mlogan
2 - msmoger
2- Seira83

? - NausetBeachBum
? - kitkatt
? - Frankwoman
? - BirdinJersey

chelseaguy · #4 February 20th, 2013, 12:17 PM

Partner and I just booked this cruise. We look forward to meeeting you.
My 42nd cruise, but first time on the Jewel. We were on the Gem three years ago and it was very friendly. I believe there was a nightly FOD--about 6:30 or 7:00 in the Star Bar which was announced in the daily bulletin--a nice change from RCL which makes you go to the Pursers office to find the listing and schedules them the same time as the show. (Needless to say, it didn't work.)

At the time the Star Bar was a remote intimate space, had a great piano player and was conducive to conversation--also an improvement over Explorer which we were on in January. That ship had a very overamped female piano player/singer who drove everyone away in the first ten minutes the first night. Not not only could not talk, you could not think. A screamer to say the least! Painful.

It should be a great trip. For first timers, be sure to catch sailing under the Verrazano Bridge from one of the upper decks. Amazing.

Will sign up for the M&G when we do the online booking.

Fred and Bill

seira83 · #5 February 21st, 2013, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chelseaguy

Partner and I just booked this cruise. We look forward to meeeting you.
My 42nd cruise, but first time on the Jewel. We were on the Gem three years ago and it was very friendly. I believe there was a nightly FOD--about 6:30 or 7:00 in the Star Bar which was announced in the daily bulletin--a nice change from RCL which makes you go to the Pursers office to find the listing and schedules them the same time as the show. (Needless to say, it didn't work.)

At the time the Star Bar was a remote intimate space, had a great piano player and was conducive to conversation--also an improvement over Explorer which we were on in January. That ship had a very overamped female piano player/singer who drove everyone away in the first ten minutes the first night. Not not only could not talk, you could not think. A screamer to say the least! Painful.

It should be a great trip. For first timers, be sure to catch sailing under the Verrazano Bridge from one of the upper decks. Amazing.

Will sign up for the M&G when we do the online booking.

Fred and Bill

Thanks for all the tips! An FOD meeting every night? Wow. I will definitely check out the Star bar and hope to have a pleasant pianist. And it sounds awesome sailing under the bridge. Can't wait to see!

.

chelseaguy · #6 February 22nd, 2013, 05:11 PM

It was nightly on the Norwegian Gem (a sister to the Jewel)and also on most of the ships we've been on in the last seven years. Sometimes the time differs. The first night may or may not be well attended. Depends on people watching the sailaway and how tired they are from traveling to the ship, etc. Probably the most important FOD will be the first sea day. Participation after that depends on the group, although the ship may continue to post gatherings--as they have in the past. Unfortunately NCL does not provide anyone to faciliate introductions. Assuming there is one Sunday Fred and I plan to be there, and will certainly be at the one on Monday.

We look forward to meeting you.

Bill

seira83 · #7 February 24th, 2013, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chelseaguy

It was nightly on the Norwegian Gem (a sister to the Jewel)and also on most of the ships we've been on in the last seven years. Sometimes the time differs. The first night may or may not be well attended. Depends on people watching the sailaway and how tired they are from traveling to the ship, etc. Probably the most important FOD will be the first sea day. Participation after that depends on the group, although the ship may continue to post gatherings--as they have in the past. Unfortunately NCL does not provide anyone to faciliate introductions. Assuming there is one Sunday Fred and I plan to be there, and will certainly be at the one on Monday.

We look forward to meeting you.

Bill

Hi Bill,
We are on the other Roll Call forum setting up a Cruise Critic M&G. Don't know if you would be interested but you can find it here:
http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showt...1673836&page=7
We need more people to sign up!

Nick

chelseaguy · #8 February 26th, 2013, 11:24 AM

Signed up for the M&G. Hope that will help make the target.

Interesting that the %age of FOD is so high. Could be a good sign. The Explorer Meet and Greet was huge--a couple hundred. I did not see any FOD at that meeting and not many outgoing ones later on. Of course RCL doesn't promote FOD so that may be part of the reason.

I responded to some of your concerns on the other site. The thing I most like about cruises--aside from not dealing with airports, packing and unpacking--is that once you leave the pier you really are away. Anything you were concerned about seems distant. No one will call or expect you to because it's too expensive And with Internet around 75 cents a minute, one doesn't use that much either. It's a whole separate world in which to meet new people, do whatever or nothing, and regain perspective.

Finally, it's great to have a few drinks and not have to travel, to eat as much as you want and not get a check, to be in comfortable surroundings and not be hounded to buy drinks if you don't want them, and to go a show without buying tickets--admittedly not Broadway, but entertaining nonetheless.

Bill

seira83 · #9 February 26th, 2013, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chelseaguy

Signed up for the M&G. Hope that will help make the target.

Interesting that the %age of FOD is so high. Could be a good sign. The Explorer Meet and Greet was huge--a couple hundred. I did not see any FOD at that meeting and not many outgoing ones later on. Of course RCL doesn't promote FOD so that may be part of the reason.

I responded to some of your concerns on the other site. The thing I most like about cruises--aside from not dealing with airports, packing and unpacking--is that once you leave the pier you really are away. Anything you were concerned about seems distant. No one will call or expect you to because it's too expensive And with Internet around 75 cents a minute, one doesn't use that much either. It's a whole separate world in which to meet new people, do whatever or nothing, and regain perspective.

Finally, it's great to have a few drinks and not have to travel, to eat as much as you want and not get a check, to be in comfortable surroundings and not be hounded to buy drinks if you don't want them, and to go a show without buying tickets--admittedly not Broadway, but entertaining nonetheless.

Bill

Thank you Bill for signing up to the other Roll Call thread. Also I appreciate your detailed response to my concerns. I know not to take the reviews too seriously, but some of them just sounded reasonably justified. I try to keep in mind that you just can't please everyone. Some people will always complain about something. This will be my first cruise, so I have nothing to go off of and was just curious what others have said. Either way, I still plan to have a great time, and hope this is my first of many cruises.

Nick

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msmoger · #10 February 26th, 2013, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seira83

Thank you Bill for signing up to the other Roll Call thread. Also I appreciate your detailed response to my concerns. I know not to take the reviews too seriously, but some of them just sounded reasonably justified. I try to keep in mind that you just can't please everyone. Some people will always complain about something. This will be my first cruise, so I have nothing to go off of and was just curious what others have said. Either way, I still plan to have a great time, and hope this is my first of many cruises.

Nick
.

Nick,

You have nothing to worry about. You guys are going to have a blast!! It's vacation and you have nothing to think about except where should I eat next, what's my next drink and don't get sun burned.

There's always people on cruises and on cruise critic that approach it like they're theater critics. This will be our sixth cruise and I can't remember anything bad on any of them.