LegalCat

I've been told numerous times that Uber/Lyft cannot pick up at the Airport ? Also people in my roll call say that they ended up paying around the same with Uber for other trips (from hotel to port) that they would have paid with a taxi..... So for those of you who are saying to use Uber, do you know for a fact that they are allowed to pick up inside the airport in NJ?

NOT uber/lyft

Is there a taxi stand for a regular taxi? Is it a flat fee?

Other options if I haven't pre booked?

Shuttle?

We are 2 people. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Yes they do however the screens are so "tight" against the wall it is very hard to get your hands behind the set.

Thanks!

I have a game I want to bring, so I guess I'll bring it and maybe I can plug it in lol

Does anyone happen to know if the TVs in the cabins have HDMI ports? If it matters, a regular cabin not a suite...

The Harmony TA is being held by a large group, hopefully once the group hold expires a bunch of rooms will be released, fingers crossed... I really want to go on the TA

Still trying to get on LOL... there is a group holding all of the space... I'm on a wait list so hopefully I will be joining you guys!

I was trying to book the transatlantic and was VERY surprised to see it listed as fully sold out after being recently assured by numerous people who work at RCCL that transatlantic cruises usually are half empty and never sell out and there will be no problem booking hrmmmm I wonder what is going on... I find it hard to believe that EVERY sailing is 100% sold out.. thats crazy...

Hi everyone... I was trying to book on this sailing and it is now showing FULLY sold out on the website... I've heard a rumor it was chartered... I figured I would check with you guys to see if you had heard anything... :/

We are on the Brilliance right now. We are with a group of 22 and did our sail-a-way in the Viking Crowne (Starquest). It is forward facing. We set sail at 4:00 pm and go under the bridge at about 6:00 PM. You will want to go outside for going under the bridge. There is a door at the rear of the lounge that will take you out on the deck. Stay there until you pass under the bridge so you can look back at the bridge. It is a site to see.

 

One other tip, the bar in the lounge was not open. We had to get another bar to call the manager to get the bar opened so we could have drinks.

Thanks... I have 250+ in my group so I'll email them now and see if they can just open the bar in the Viking for us.. that looks like a great place for us to meet.... We actually have dinner at Chops at 6 .... I wonder if we'll be able to see anything good from there....

I found them from November 2015 if anyone else can use them here is a link:

http://issuu.com/hochmania/docs/merged_3feb303435c09d?e=2025714%2F31455461

Viking Crown might also work.

Thanks I'll check that out as well :)

Schooner Bar! It's one of our favorite places on Brilliance!

Thank you! :)

Thanks I'll check that out !

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good place to meet up after the safety drill to get some drinks and enjoy the sail away.. I think there is a sail away party on the pool deck but I'm looking maybe for something a little quieter inside maybe? We have 20-30 people at least... Is there perhaps a forward facing lounge that is open or something along those lines?

Does anyone have daily papers from the Brilliance that are NEWER than January 2015 for the Thursday to Monday cruise? I would GREATLY appreciate it if anyone could point me to some :)

What everyone who is familiar with NCL's suite designations and privileges is saying is that your experience was an aberration and did not conform to the NCL norm.

I'm not disagreeing with you I am simply reporting what was said by numerous employees of NCL *on* the ship. And as someone who has sailed more than half of my NCL cruises in suites of various levels, I'm quite familiar with suite perks and designations - that doesn't change the information that was provided on this cruise. I'm not saying its correct, I'm not saying NCL changed their policies, I'm not saying anything other than repeating what I was told on this ship by numerous customer service employees on the ship including the regular concierge on this particular ship. Feel free to make yourself heard saying it's wrong, all I'm doing is reporting my personal experience.

Category SF staterooms are suites and enjoy ALL of the suite perks with the EXCEPTION of Haven access and free booze.

Exactly as I have said since the beginning. I'm not the one who said I should have had access to the Haven and I'm not the one who said I should have had the free bottles of booze.

The only thing I have said that wasn't the norm is the fact that numerous employees ON the ship said that the cabin is considered an owners suite and not by my prompting.

You were given incorrect information. Period. Or the Beverage Package went to your head. Whatever. There is no "Pearl specific" anything happening here.

Next time I'll be sure to get the names of all the people I interacted with on the ship so you can follow up with them to since you clearly know it all :)

Also just to clarify when I said "woman at the door" I mean the woman at the door to the priority lounge with a clipboard wearing an NCL shirt who was checking to ensure that only suite guests came into the lounge....

It's possible the person you were talking to was a port employee and not NCL employee that could explain the confusion.

I don't know if the person who mans the door at the suite lounge or VIP lounge or priority lounge or whatever it is called is an NCL employee or a port employee... or if the people who actually check you in at the counter are NCL employees or port employees...

But I can only assume that the woman at the customer service desk ON the ship in the atrium AND the woman at the restaurant reservation desk ON the ship in the atrium AND the Concierge who we dealt with two or three times a day on the ship were NCL employees ...

I was in 9170, AFT penthouse... but as I started my experience above, called an owners suite by pretty much everyone we encountered.. their words, not mine.

There are no "Owner's Suite" cabins that are "regular suites" listed on the website... only Haven Owner's Suites....

The Jewel Class Ships have both Haven and non haven access if your suite category is "if they still uses this classification" GV- Garden Villa, S1- Deluxe Owners Suite, S2- Owners Suite, or any other category with a number after the "S" you have full access to the haven. If you have a letter after the "S" for your category you would not have access to the haven perks i.e Cagneys breakfeast and lunch.

On the Star class ships you would have access to Cagneys in any suite class except for mini suite still going by the "S or GV" in the category.

The newer ships have an "H" designation the identifies that you have Haven perks.

This is how it was explained to me on several of the Sailings I have been on.

My cabin on the Pearl was an "SF Aft Facing Penthouse" and we DID have access to the breakfast and lunch at Cagneys - we ate breakfast and lunch there every day of our cruise last week.

I don't know if Pearl has a Haven Restaurant specifically... we did see Haven guests (because their key cards are very specific in that they say HAVEN in huge letters) in Cagneys/Moderno for lunch and/or breakfast... they do have a Haven sun deck and a Haven floor where you can't get in unless you have a Haven key card.... the website says the Pearl has a Haven Courtyard although the only thing I see on the map (which I am looking at right now) is the Haven Sundeck and The Haven floor which is 14... there is nothing else indicated on the floor other than "The Haven" so I don't know if its rooms only or if there is a restaurant or bar or anything there as well....

Perhaps... and actually there was confusion at check in as well... we've sailed in suites before and so we knew to go to that priority check in room... but when we got there, the woman at the door stopped us and told us that we had to go to the regular check in... I even told her look we have a suite... and she said no you have to go to the gold/platinum line to check in... so... I didn't really push the issue since I wasn't sure what was going on with Haven - I actually didn't even realize they had added Haven suites to the Pearl - so, we went to the Gold/Platinum line and after standing there in line when we got up to the front the woman pulled us up and specifically said "oh no you are in an owners suite you are supposed to be in the lounge" - I told her we had gone there and had been turned away and told to come here and she said oh no thats definitely not right and she escorted us back to the lounge... when we got back to the lounge again the woman at the door tried to stop us again and the women who had escorted us over told her she was wrong and complained to the more senior woman at the desk inside the lounge.. they were very apologetic and as we were checking in another couple was escorted in who had also been turned away at the door and went to regular check in and had been brought back... so there definitely seemed to be a lot of confusion...

Again, I never originally thought I had booked an "owners suite"... I booked over a year ago and mostly just wanted an AFT balcony and the cabin was available at a great price... I don't recall that Haven was listed when I booked, maybe it was and the price was just a lot higher so I ignored it... I went in a few weeks ago to see if there was anything I might be interested in and saw the Haven cabins at that time but they were all sold out...

It was really once I got on the ship and that several crew in the atrium customer service areas started saying that it WAS an owners suite and that I should stop selling myself short that I was like hmm okay... I mean literally that's what they said "you are in an owners suite, stop selling yourself short"...

Regardless, the point of this whole thing was to state what perks we had even though we were not in Haven :)

Sounds like you spoke to a bunch of totally clueless crew members. It doesn't surprise me that someone at guest services wouldn't know what they're talking about, but for the concierge to say that is just mind boggling. I wonder if the concierge was someone who was a temporary fill in rather than one of the regulars.

 

Technically you shouldn't have had access to the special seating area in the theater either , but some concierges let any suite guest sit there as long as it isn't crowded...which it usually isn't because the seats aren't very good.

 

I've never seen a sign at Cagney's similar to the one at the theater, but I've never been on the Pearl.

Well don't lose any sleep over it we didn't go to any shows in the theater so we didn't take up any valuable seats that you might think we weren't entitled to :). The exact same sign was in front of the restaurant each day for lunch and breakfast and it specifically said Owners, Villa and Haven... Next time I'll be sure to get the name of all the countless clueless staff so you can be sure to follow up with them and correct them... Regardless of your experience, this was ours. Oh and no it wasn't a temporary concierge either it was the regular one who was delightful and from what I've heard from others experience, is a really great one.

"THEY" had no idea what they were talking about. Who was "THEY"? You had a category SF aft penthouse suite, not an owner's suite. All suites with Haven access have a category code that starts with the letter "H". Suites without Haven access such as yours have category codes that start with "S".

 

And your category suite doesn't get the free bottles of liquor that were mentioned.

Yes I never claimed I had or expected access to the Haven as I wasn't in a Haven suite.

"They" started with the woman at the customer service desk as I had an inquiry about something. I told her I had a "regular suite" and she seemed confused. She asked me for my cabin number and she pulled it up and said "That is an owner's suite so yes you do have _________".... Several minutes later, I went to the restaurant counter in the atrium and said "As a suite guest, is there somewhere particular we can have lunch aside from the regular options?" Her response "Only if you are in an owner's suite, villa or haven suite"... My response: "I'm just in a regular aft suite, but I thought all suite guests could have lunch in Cagneys?" Her response "Only for owner's suite, villa or haven... let me have your room number..."... I gave her the room number and she said "That room is an owner's suite, don't sell yourself short, you are in an owner's suite".... Additionally, the sign at Cagneys for lunch and breakfast and the priority seating area in the theater said the benefit was for "Owners, Villa and Haven Suites Only".... We also had drinks with the concierge on evening and talked about the difference between Haven etc and she said that the AFT Suites are considered owner's suites for their purposes on the ship... You may notice that there are no "Owner's Suites" listed under "Suites" to book on the pearl, only under Haven....

I've sailed 30+ times, I know the difference between an owner's suite and a regular suite and a regular cabin, I'm simply repeating what was my experience during the entire length of my voyage on the pearl.... We were told on more than 6+ occasions that the cabin is an Owner's Suite even though it isn't titled that way on the website....