bccanadamom

15 hours ago, LVinTennessee said:

I admit, I’ve only been booked on this cruise for 2-3 weeks, but I have seen no other excursions since booking other than the ones I’ve already mentioned. I don’t even see a clamshell rental.  I made sure I don’t have any filters set, and I clicked “see all excursions,” but still nothing new. 
Do you mind to check your app, Greenspout, to see if you see something that I’m not?

We are on this cruise as well along with the one prior...   I've been checking for excursions since early December and there have been no excursions other than the cabanas and add-ons that are currently listed.   Same with the recently added Freeport stop.  There are also no HMC excursions for the stop (except sold out villas) the prior week either.   Hoping they pop up soon!

We paid for priority plus for our recent Mexico cruise on the Joy as we were unable to upgrade so added on a few perks (premium beverage package as well).

After doing this once, we wouldn't do it again.   We got to the terminal early (10am) - there's no separate line for the security screening - we walked right up to the regular check in that we were directed to (after saying we had priority boarding).    I couldn't see any specific check-in area for priority boarding - the security staff told us to go down "to the end" towards the concierge checkin but the regular checkin had no line so we ended up there.  The check in staff identified that we had the priority package and told us to wait with the rest of the group and that priority would be called up to board early-on.

I asked about a separate waiting area as I'd seen pictures on a previous board about that - there doesn't seem to be anything in San Pedro - the concierge area was packed, I think that's where they would have sent us if there was room (it was nothing special at all just a cordoned off area with the same seats) - the lady I asked told me to go to guest services once I was on if there wasn't a designated area but I didn't bother.

We were called to board after concierge, before platinum/platinum plus...  then groups one, two etc.  In the end groups one and two were pretty much all in the same line to go up escalators and I suspect we would have been in an early group given our early arrival anyways.   Maybe would have been worth it if we'd arrived later as the lineup seemed to stay quite long throughout the day for at least a couple of hours after we boarded.

Canapes on 2nd day were nothing special at all.   We didn't have to get tickets for the cabo tender and just went when we were ready, so that was nice.  I was most worried about disembarking but we carried off our own luggage anyways so were off super early regardless of priority boarding.

We didn't use the spa credit - and as others have said it's only for regular price and only on port days (and there were lots of specials that I think might have been almost as good a value anyways).

Live and learn 🙂 

Hope that helps for future folks - was hard to find much info on this as I think it's pretty new.

3 minutes ago, Two Wheels Only said:

 

In addition to the courtyard lower level, there is an upper level that is still indoors (under the glass roof) but has plenty of seating/lounge chairs. That area is for all ages. By the sliding glass door that leads to outside, there will be a sign that states 16 and older beyond that point (the outside sun deck). The concierge can sometimes "bend" the rules and allow youngsters up on the sundeck such as during sailaway. 

Thank you for the info!

2 hours ago, Greenpea2 said:

Well the pool area is open to children. When the roof is open, that is like being outdoors (more or less). The top deck (sun deck) is 16 or older so he can't hang out there, But that's the only place he can't go ... the observation lounge is open to him as is the outdoor seating at the restaurant. Does that help?

Yes, thank you!   I didn't realize the roof opened on the pool area - that's great news and will work for us!

We are booked on a Mexican riviera cruise with our 10 year old son.   Have done the same itinerary on the Sun and the Jewel but excited to try a newer ship.   I am very seriously considering upgrading to the Haven but am unclear about whether there are restricted areas - has anyone been on the Joy with kids that can clarify if there are areas he can't accompany us to?   Particularly the sun deck which I think I read somewhere was adults only.   I'm hoping there's some outdoor space within the haven where we can relax quietly - He's very polite and wouldn't be noticed but we also are not rule-breakers so if there's no outdoor deck space we may reconsider.... appreciate your experience, thanks group!

Saketinis in the silk den lounge at tamarind

Happy retirement!!! Congratulations and I hope you have an awesome celebration cruise! We actually had 2 dinners in tamarind. We went the first night (specialty restaurants were 25 percent off the first night) and then another night as well. It is very lovely the views are spectacular from up there. Food was very good and service was great - maybe a little too enthusiastic at times for us but I would never fault someone for trying too hard! The night you are getting on is the night we found service in the dining room really really poor and the head waiter actually came around apologizing and explaining they had picked up new passengers in Skagway and were struggling a bit... that might be a night you chose to do specialty... also the lounge at tamarind is just beautiful we had a great time there the first night!

Also - for parents out there... it was difficult to find info regarding kids in the specialty dining. Our son didn't come to Tamarind but did come with us both times to the Pinnacle. I had prepaid for him online to get a table for 3 (same price as adults), however he didn't order from the menu, just had something from the kids menu which they were happy to provide when I asked... the staff were very accommodating of him and we had no issues taking him and would again. Because he didn't order they ended up refunding the charge for his entrees back to our account. We would have paid if necessary to have him with us but appreciated that gesture.

I also should have mentioned how much we liked the interactive TVs - my son was so excited with the movie options (so many to chose from) and we spent more time than usual in our stateroom with snacks from the buffet enjoying a movie - the tv size & picture quality is great!

As always I find the info on these boards so helpful in planning cruise holidays - especially when trying a new cruise line for the first time! Housework suffers with all the poring I do over threads, however I feel so much more prepared with all the great information shared here - so thank you for making our first HAL experience a terrific one!

We have sailed recently with Princess and Norwegian, usually with my parents. This trip was just my husband, my 8 yo son and I and since we live in Vancouver the Alaska itinerary from home port was so easy we couldn't resist - and there were some super-great prices about a month before departure.

Overall, we very much enjoyed HAL. My husband and I both agreed the common areas were lovely -nicer than either of the Princess ships we've been on, and as mentioned in several threads, with the exception of the Lido a few times, the ship really was spacious and we never felt crowded.

Boarding was very easy and quick - we arrived at port about 1145 and were on the boat in our stateroom in under 45 minutes. Disembarking was even faster - breakfast in the Lido about 830 and then a very short lineup off the boat (maybe 5 minutes) and no delays whatsoever with customs (no lineup, hand the declaration forms and we were out!).

Our stateroom was great - we had a veranda with the solid wall - it was fine, if we could have changed to a glass wall we would have but it didn't affect us. We were located forward - we would opt for aft next time if it was available, but we also like to walk so it wasn't a big deal.

After much deliberation we purchased the elite beverage package. I'm sure we ended up ahead as we started with mimosas for breakfast and had what we wanted throughout the day - I was glad we went with the elite as we were able to chose from the wines we wanted (I think the only one above $15 was Veuve Cliquot)... wine by the glass options were adequate - we missed the Vines wine bar on the Princess ships though and would have preferred a few more choices. We ended up with one bar charge on our last day at sea (not sure why) but a quick trip to the front desk to inquire and they assured it would be adjusted. Bar service was awesome all over the ship - in the Lido, at the pool, in the lounges - there were always staff available and ready to help everywhere we went.

We are probably in the minority on the dining room - we didn't love it. We ended up at Tamarind the first night and had 2 bookings in advance at the Pinnacle Grill so only had 4 nights planned in the dining room. Our first experience (night 2 Gala) seemed very rushed and not at all like other Gala nights - it just didn't feel much like a dining room (way too bright for our liking) - and there was absolutely nothing special at all about the service. Our second night was the opposite - slow and again, very little attention (the head waiter did apologize and say they had a bunch of new passengers as we picked up in Skagway and they were having some issues). The food was great, so if that's all that matters it'd be fine, but we enjoy dining for the service and the ambiance, and we found it seriously lacking in the dining room. However, the specialty restaurants were awesome. We agreed next time we would just splurge and book specialty or else perhaps do room service as that would have been preferable to our experience. Very personal what's important to one cruiser vs another though so this is totally subjective as I have seen many rave reviews for the dining room on this forum. I don't love buffets but I do have to say we all agreed we preferred the HAL practice of serving from the buffets. The food was great at the Lido - there were tons of options at breakfast, however for us it would have been nice to see some new things from day to day but nothing to complain about! We migrated for lunch from pizza (good) to the Dive in (fair) but often had the salads from the Lido - I'm surprised I hadn't come across nods to this here as we loved this - they make the salads to order for you from a ton of options and then dress/toss them for you - they were awesome! So were the soups for the most part. We only tried room service for snacks/desserts and it was fine but they take forever to come get the trays (one night we waited for an hour and then gave up - they never did come... I don't leave them in the hallways after reading on here how hard it is for people with scooters to get by)

As for things to do - we are pretty good at entertaining ourselves and my husband and son always spend a LOT of time at the sports courts, ping pong etc This cruise was no exception - the court was just fine for what they wanted, maybe a little smaller than others but perfectly fine. We enjoyed the EXC/crows nest for games (although it is a VERY busy space on days at sea and was a bit hard to find a table, we did make room and it is a lovely place to relax and spend a couple of hours. I really enjoyed the kitchen demos and wished I'd made time to go to more of them. My son loves the bingo so we went a couple of times - there was virtually no one there (for the free cruise one I think there were 4 people playing!!!) so good odds of winning :) Hands down, our favourite experiences were at the piano bar and BB Kings for the jazz band - all 3 of us had such a terrific time at these venues. We went to the first showings and always found a seat at the piano or a booth at the lounge, it gets busier as the evening goes on. For these 2 venues alone we would book HAL again, we have not found anything comparable on NCL or Princess and for us, live music is so much fun after dinner. We didn't go to any of the shows except the end of the illusionist - the theatre was very nice and even at the end of the first show there were still seats available if you wanted them. The pool area was beautiful!!! (again the nicest pool areas on a cruise ship we've seen) I was so glad they opened the roof on port days - we never had trouble finding a seat but wonder how busy it would be on a caribbean trip - I think we would book the retreat cabanas on a hot itinerary to ensure seats. We also went to a couple of the EXC talks and enjoyed them very much as well - the gentleman that was speaking was highly entertaining and knowledgeable about Alaska. My son went to the kids club for an hour or two most evenings - it was fine, the staff were great but it wasn't the highlight of the trip for him - nice for a diversion... they do x-box from 7-8 and that was what he was most keen to get to for a bit of a break.

As for the destination - it's gorgeous! Living in Vancouver I think we take for granted how beautiful our scenery is - quite honestly I feel the inside passage is an extension of what we see every day (yes, we are lucky!). But the glassy waters, glaciers, and mountains really are so peaceful and we couldn't help but relax and decompress with the scenery.

It didn't hurt that we had the most spectacular weather - gorgeous, bright sunny and warm/hot every port day as well as our day in Glacier bay - we know how lucky that is! We have been to Alaska before so were familiar with the ports. We only booked on excursion - the helicopter and glacier sled dog in Juneau. It was awesome - but definitely a once in a lifetime we booked solely for the special memories with our son. Seeing the glaciers from the sky is awesome (I keep using that word I know - it's intentional there really isn't another one to capture it). Last trip we did the Misty Fjords seaplane which was equally breathtaking. I love Ketchikan and we just wandered the town and had a great lunch on the pier there. In Skagway we just went for a hike down main street - we stopped in at the visitors centre and watched the free 35 minute movie on the Klondike rush - it was great and very informative. Glacier bay was very special - we spent most of the morning on the promenade deck in the comfy teak chairs... had several glasses of bubbly to celebrate a beautiful day! We should have taken binoculars - I would recommend packing at least one pair.

Overall we both agreed we would definitely do HAL again - I loved this ship and would be reluctant to try a different one as there was so little we found issue with!

Hi there jumping in as we just got off this same cruise - the navigator chat worked however I think the internet issues (we didn't purchase a plan) possibly affected the intranet as well as the navigator app was inconsistent several times for us throughout the week... If that was a temporary issue then the chat was super easy to use, and the navigator app was also really useful for planning your itinerary each day from the activities available :) I only used chat with my husband's account in the same stateroom however I'm fairly sure you can add other users in other staterooms quite easily.

BUU - This may not be a great question given the Internet difficulties onboard, but 9 of us are on the Nieuw Amsterdam next week (same itinerary as yours), and we would like to be able to all text each other w/o having to pay for Internet access (much less cellular). Anyway, I know other cruise lines have provided the ability to chat via their onboard apps for a while now (w/o Internet access...it is IntTRAnet only), and I just stumbled upon a thread on here stating that the HAL app (Navigator) now has this capability too.

As luck would have it, I see in your screenshot of the Navigator app there is a "Chat" Icon in the upper left. Have you actually tried that out by any chance to see if it works? Worst case, I can post a separate thread, but since you happened to show this, I figured I would start with you!

Our plan would be to buy a bottle of wine at the table for them (actually 2 bottles as my mom drinks white and my dad drinks red), probably on 2 or 3 nights. That's why I was unclear whether it would be okay - we drink different wines so we would likely order by the glass for ourselves, but I would like to buy their wine for them at the 25% discount if we can, otherwise we will buy their wine before hand and take it on and pay the $15 corkage. Either way costs us about the same - it's just much easier if we can skip having to shop & carry on...

Hi there, hoping someone can confirm something I read on several different threads about purchasing wine at the discounted price with the bev package.

We bought the AIBP package for the two of us for our November Mexico cruise the day before the prices went up (yay! It's expensive yes but we fall in the group that finds it much more convenient to not worry about bar charges at the end of the cruise and pay upfront).

We are travelling with my parents (in separate mini-suite staterooms) - they did not purchase the bev package. I have read several times that it's okay to purchase wine with the bev package discount (yes I know it's 25% now versus 40%) for others that don't have the package - we will be dining together, for instance so I would be fine buying their wine on our cards with the discount and settling up later with them.

I'm not trying to share or cheat on the package (they will purchase their own individual drinks) but if it's okay for us to purchase bottles for them, we will skip buying wine to take on as the assortment I've seen on here looks just fine for them, and at 25% off it's not much more than we'd pay if we bought and paid the $15 corkage.

If others have encountered problems with this it'd be great to know in advance and we will do the carry-on option instead.

Thanks very much in advance for your experience.

We just did this in November - picked up the car at LAX, went to Carlsbad for a few days then dropped the car at Enterprise in San Pedro (on a Sunday) - I think the hours were limited, did you call them? - they were open on Sunday in November. They didn't offer a shuttle, but cabs were easy to get right next door at the hotel (can't remember the name but if you google you'll see it it's right next door) - or they also offered to call us a cab - I think it was under $20 for the cab ride, less than 10 minutes away. Worked perfectly for us. They weren't super-speedy at return (maybe 10 minutes) - short staffed...

Hi - here they are!

 

http://mrose.org/cc/jewel-mex-riv-dailies-10-02-2016/

 

Sorry, I missed the e-mail a couple days ago.

 

Cheers!

 

/M

Thanks very much for taking the time to post these - greatly appreciated!

Hi just wondering if you received the dailies for the Jewel Mexican Riviera and if so if you could post or email them if you have the time - would be greatly appreciated! Thanks very much!

Thanks so much for this review bccanadamom! It was so nice to hear some positive things about the Sun. Also to hear about a southbound voyage. Very encouraging and really making me look forward to our Panama Canal trip this fall.

You're welcome! Hope your trip is awesome - we are doing another Mexican one in November, this time on the Jewel :)

thanks for the advice - I think if we risk losing the perks we'll probably just book the balcony straight off - I am going to book direct this time, last time I found going the TA a bit of a hassle.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide...

I am looking at booking on the Jewel in November - we definitely want a balcony.

Wondering about booking a window view right now (the price gap is almost $600 for the 3 of us in a balcony vs window).

I've read lots about paid upgrades and wonder how NCL handles them - is it correct that if I book the window view with the 2 promos - and then the spread between the balcony and window view cost comes down I can pay the difference for the balcony and keep the 2 promos?

I know I can also book & then cancel and rebook - but I believe I lose the promo then?

With the a'la carte it's harder to put a value to the dining plan - I'm thinking it's now worth more than the original $25/pp the rate used to be? Looking at the menu prices it looks like probably that promo should be valued more like $35-$40pp now when evaluating costs?

Thanks again for any help - I've always just booked and paid for the room we wanted but it's a fairly big cost for the balcony and I figure the cost will come down - just not sure if it's still applicable for a paid upgrade if the perks are not the same?

Thanks for the tip!

Enjoying your review very much and your pictures are just beautiful - may inspire me to do some research & self-teaching myself!

We were on the same itinerary on the Sun in November and are considering a repeat on the Jewel so it's really great to be able to follow along... thanks for all the work you're putting into your review :)

They have ALL size putters, if they have mini-golf. No need to bring a club!

Thank you!

The Grand class has the mini golf/putting green up behind the MUTS screen. Really have to know where it is to see it.

thanks!

They have ALL size putters, if they have mini-golf. No need to bring a club!

Thank you!

I love Princess for many things they do well, but their mini golf courses are not good in my opinion. We were on the Crown last year which is almost identical to the Ruby, and the course was just awful. I've heard they've removed it from the crown since then. But, don't set your sons expectations too high...it could be pretty bad.

 

I also love the fresh water pools and the high number of them on the grand class ships, but another thing Princess does poorly is keeping them at a decent temperature. We've done mostly west coast cruises and the pools are always so cold. We like princess, but these two things always irk me a little. Have a great time though.

Thanks for the reply - I'd heard the courses weren't great, fortunately my 6 year old doesn't have high expectations - as long as there's a club and a hole he'll be happy :)