neighbour_lady44

Wire coat hangers. There are never enough hangers in the closet. I pack a dozen or more and leave them on the ship when the cruise is over.

I think you were the only person that mentioned hangers. Before we cruise, I always hit a local store and buy 6-8 plastic hangers as I have never found enough hangers in the room. I always leave them behind too.

I always take that mesh laundry container too, which folds up easily in the suitcase. They are super handy. We always bring an extension cord as DH has a breathing machine at night and the only outlet is on the desk...it can be very handy.

Great ideas everyone. Our next cruise on RCL South Pacific is coming up in a few days...can't wait... ~ Kari ~ :D

Getting ready to book a cruise to the med. On the Spirit. I am having an issue with the cabins. Normally we would book an aft balcony. But now I am not sure if we should book the aft or a BA in the middle or a BC or B3 Family. A little larger cabin would be nice, but the balcony is what we enjoy. Can anyone give me some inside? I'd like to book while the specials are still going.

We stayed in 9556 balcony cabin - it was central and great. No noises overnight or during the day. There are rooms above and very quiet!

As a local resident of Vancouver area - WE do have freeways and Sky train service which is above ground in most parts. Travelling from the cruise terminal to YVR Airport - the earlier writer was correct, there are no freeways to take and you have to go thru busy Downtown Vancouver, over several bridges to get there.

Skytrain will take you right out to the airport if that is an option or a Taxi service too.

Rush hour starts early in Vancouver and with all our bridges, trying to get out to the airport I would definitely allow more time.

I would suggest taking a later afternoon flight as YVR Airport is out in Richmond and you need to take some intersections, bridges to get out there....

Why not hang around our beautiful city and tour a bit seeing Stanley Park, beaches and our sunshine!

Hi we are cruising in April on NCL Jewel. Is there a charge for taking classes Yoga, Zumba or any other? Do you have to pay to use the fitness room equipment?

Thanks

We have done a few Carnival cruises and tried NCL and loved it. We have a second NCL booked for April. (Can't wait).

We like the casual dress code. No lugging all the fancy stuff to wear one night...

You don't sit with the same people every night - but if you like a waiter in the dining room, you can request their section. if there is room. We found a great server gal last cruise and sat in her section every night. She started saving us tables knowing we would be there soon.

We like the way NCL does the last day of leaving the ship. You pick when you want to leave, there is never line ups on NCL.

For Excursions thru NCL you all gather at the theatre and your groups leave from there - no waiting game either.

The muster drill is in the theatre and not on the deck with the ugly float thing. You don't even bring it with you.

I didn't find the towel hoggers as bad on NCL either...or was I just lucky?

Is there a tennis court lines/net within the Sports Court?

........

the pass allows unlimited access to the spa area.Havent been on the Jewel but have been on sister ship Jade and enjoyed their spa area

 

another poster asked if you get discounts on massages etc with the spa pass-the answer is no but if you are a lattitudes member that entitles you to a discount and they also offer special offers on port days

 

Also if you just book a treatment that doesn't entitle you to access to the spa area

Thanks for the info. Does anyone know if the Jewel has a hot tub in the spa area with the steam/saunas? My DH loves all of this and would really enjoy it. Thanks!

bump

By purchasing the spa pass, does it allow you to book massages at a discounted rate?

 

 

 

 

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What are you entitled with a Spa Pass. We will be on the Jewel in April... do they offer it? Thanks!!

Another quick point we have found we have sailed on both Carnival and NCL.

When leaving the ship on the final day, you pick when you want to leave on NCL. There are no huge line ups. It shocked us as we were always jammed into an elevator trying to get off a Carnival ship...not NCL. You have the choice of taking your own luggage or leaving it out the night before to pick up on the pier.

The Excursions process is very quick and easy when you have booked through NCL. They sure have this no waiting thing organized vs Carnival.

Just my thoughts

We were on the Grand Med. Cruise last spring on NCL Spirit. We really enjoyed the Dining room (Windows). yes it's larger and not so cramped. Mistakenly my husband wore his good shorts to dinner one night in the Windows room and was refused entrance. (Yeah). Garden Restaurant was fine for the shorts. We didn't like the atmosphere in the Garden.

We never made any reservations at either Windows or Garden Restaurants. Only the special restaurants you pay you will need reservations.

We liked the Windows mainly because we found such a great waitress and her staff went over and above for our table nightly. She was a fantastic!

I think part of the problem is that we have been invaded by some internet trolls who are really ruining the camaraderie of these boards. They get into roll calls and try to cause problems and I hate all the fighting and nasty posts they cause. It is complete out of place with the purpose of these boards. We have to be able to trust each other in order to book private excursions together at foreign ports but the trolls are interfering with that at times. It's really not a good situation and I hope the moderators will do something about this.

This is so true. We did an NCL Spirit trip last spring Grand Med Cruise and we were a very active group of chatters on here. We had one bad apple that caused so many problems, issues, comments were degrading on and on. Most of us had to block him as he was emailing us personally as well....it turned out he was NEVER on our cruise to start with. I followed him on here and he was doing the same thing to another cruise going to the Baltics... what a lesson that was. He posted a picture of himself and it was some charming dude in a tux - that looked photo shopped and fake...

Now our latest upcoming cruise thru the Panama in April started out pretty good with chat and now since Jan 1st there hasn't been one post. Very quiet and odd but yes declining posts for sure. I do like the meet and greets, posting but obviously it's a dying art...bummer!:rolleyes:

We did the high speed train from Rome to Venice. We made a stop in Florence and stayed there overnight and carried onto Venice.

The first part Rome to Florence there is hardly any stops but Florence to Venice there is many many stops. No problem though. Its beautiful scenery along the way. We were travelling close to 300 kms/hr.

I would upgrade your ticket so you are not sitting with all the rift raft and pick pocketers in the regular class. We were in a very nice car not many people and we were served snacks/drinks there.

Also, there is storage for your luggage under/behind your seat. Don't leave it in the stowaway close to doors as it can be easily picked up and taken off without you knowing it.

Watch your luggage, carry-on at Rome main train station. It's so busy there. I was spied by some gypsies trying to get our luggage and there were five cheap looking chaps starring at me all in different directions, and two moving in to sit closer and closer to me. It was very scary at the moment, I did not remove my hands from my Heys luggage, but I was fully onto them knowing what they were trying to do, and they quickly disappeared to check out the next available purse/luggage they could get their hands on...

The Spirit is my favorite ship. She is so different, small and classic. I stayed in one of the suites, and the Asian decor was just amazing.

 

I would sail her again in a heartbeat.

I agree totally with this post. We sailed last spring on the Grand Med. Cruise for 12 days Venice to Barcelona.

We were in a balcony on the 9th floor and our stateroom was fine. No issues. The carpeting around the ship was fine. Loved the Asian influence of statues, gardens, art work throughout the ship - it was really different. She's a great ship and nothing to worry about NCL is taking care of this ship well!

Enjoy your cruise!!

Personally, I would pass on Pisa. You will really enjoy Cinque Terra.

I totally agree too. Pisa is just a massive tourist grab, but Cinque Terra is such an unique area and fun. Be ready for steep terrain but worth the walks down and up again. If you have walking sticks, take them for this, it sure helps! Have Fun!

Thanks - I will make sure there is a white shirt and such packed for the trip ... Appreciated your answers so quickly!!:)

We are on NCL Jewel in April ~ Houston to Seattle (Panama Cruise).

Do they have a "White Night" on this cruise? We had one last year on the Grand Mediterranean Cruise and it was so much fun...

If so, what night is it on? Thanks ~ Kari:)

I'm a first-time cruiser with my family of four leaving this Saturday on the Jewel to Alaska. I'd love to hear advice from others on how to avoid the crowds while dining on Jewel. I have no idea how dining even works. We have the basic dining package.

 

Any tricks to share?

I haven't been on the Jewel, but yes I have been on NCL. We always eat early around 5:30 or 6:00 pm when the dining room opens. We ended up liking a certain waitress and asked for her table every night and she ended up reserving for us knowing the time we came, plus we brought other friends we met up over the 12 days of cruising!! We really didn't have any issues on the 12 days of cruising with crowds. Have fun, you'll love Alaska - it's a "must see" !! Enjoy!

Great post! I was on this cruise too and I agree it was a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful (well, I could stand for it to have been a degree or two warmer ;) ) and the sea was so calm most days, you didn't even know the ship was moving.

 

Except that one morning coming into Naples...

 

My family was one of the groups of people who got confused by the 1:00am departure time from Venice. We thought it would be 1:00am the NEXT day, and that we would have more time in Venice on "Day 1". Instead, "Day 1" was an extra sea day for all intents and purposes. It meant we had to scramble on "Day 0" (embarkation day) to see as much of Venice as we could before we left.

 

The 1:00am sailaway was quietly beautiful, I think. All those old stone buildings, lit up at night, as we silently passed by. There were many nights like it where one could watch the building lights go by quietly in the night.

 

I wrote up some of my summary notes on the last page of our May 6 2014 roll call. Sadly I joined the roll call too late to have had time to connect with fellow cruisers, nor did I manage to get to the Meet and Greet. Oh well, next time!

 

This was my first NCL cruise as well as my first trip to Europe. I can't wait to do it again!

Great notes Jay, We were on the trip with you and had a blast. Like you, we would have liked it a tad warmer. I sat at the pool several afternoons after being in port. The gale force winds were strong while sitting there. Thank god for the hot tub to warm you up. It was a great trip. Enjoyed seeing all the ports, and we did three excursions thru NCL which were all good. We did two private tours in Rome and Florence. In Rome we did a private tour.

In Florence we went to Cinque Terre, which is a "must see" if you can swing it.

We were in Italy 10 days ahead of the cruise so we saw lots before getting on the ship and wasn't so stressed to see everything while on the ship via the ports. While in Rome we did a long day trip to Almafi Coast.. Wow, loved it! there is just so much to see and enjoy.

Do what's important to you, and relax and enjoy your holiday. We spent 5 days in Barcelona when we got off the ship. Great city to explore, walk, and have fun. I'd go back to Barcelona in a heartbeat...

I have to say, we have cruised 8 times now, and by far we found such friendly ship mates on this trip. Never have we found such friendly people as we did on this trip. It was a joy, and lots of email addresses were shared when we departed.... Great trip if you have the time and a must see as all the ports were all so different.... Final note There were so many times, you wonder if the ship is actually moving, as it was so smooth. (Only one time near Naples we were rocking/rolling but it didn't last long)... Then the backing the ship into some of the ports, docking you never felt the dock - the Captain was amazing!!!

And in Vancouver who happens to be out of the playoffs (sniff sniff) but we lucked out today acquiring Trevor Linden as our President and ousted Gillis (thank god)...

The city is so happy to see Captain Canuck #16 back with us!!!

I would hope so, but we just got off Breakaway and had nearly 7 full days of Sri Lanka cricket. Only got a taste of March Madness on Saturday!

 

On another note, we watched the Bs win the cup from the hot tubs on the big screen outdoors on a Carnival cruise as the ship sailed into Halifax harbor - quite the memory!

Sri Lanka Cricket? OMG, never watched a second of that sport ever. Were they on horses.....it wouldn't cut it for me even with a hot tub.. ...Go NHL!! Who do I cheer for now our Nucks are out? Grrrrr.

St Louis Blues win it all, finally. Cardinals win World Series. Rams win the Super Bowl.

 

Okay, even I can't keep a straight face on that last one. :D

 

To address your concern though, I have found that NCL is pretty good about showing the major sporting events when I have been on board.

And Vancouver is out of the playoffs, and they fired Gillis the G/M today...Yeah!

In the past our excursion tickets were in our cabin.

LuLu

~~~

I have just booked 4 excursions with NCL for the Grand Mediterranean and one dining room reservation and it was printed it will be in our cabin waiting for us when we arrive!. Woot Woot, can't wait!!

Try this http://www.rei.com/product/830442/leki-wanderfreund-antishock-walking-staff

 

Or similar

Thanks for the link Firestation 46. That picture of the pole is more of a telescopic cane. Note the handle vs the Walking poles style of handles - it really makes a difference.... picture of mine are attached as my handles have shock absorbers inside the pole that sure helps!

http://www.urbanpoling.com