fmigali

We are sailing in December and I would love to know as well.

 

Fmigali, will you post from your trip?

 

Thanks so much!

Yes, I will post for sure. Was hopeful someone had pictures but it doesn't seem that way.

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Bump

We will be cruising the 4-Day Carnival Inspiration Itinerary, from Long Beach, in October. I have done a ton of searching/reading on these boards as well as general google search and I cannot find recent 4-Day menus for the Inspiration. The most recent I have found is from 2014 and I know the menus have changed (even slightly) since then.

Any one have copies or a link to copies?

Do you know if lobster is available in the main dining room

 

 

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For purchase, yes.

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Both of our teens got ready in the 2nd bath and used that toilet but one of them loved to shower in the master shower :D She liked the jets and view of the ocean!

Yes! The shower view was AMAZING! I feel like I showered four times a day just for the view. [emoji23]

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That is great! I guess your other bathroom will never get used? It really is a fabulous room and masterbath.

Even with four people in our suite, our second bathroom was only used twice, the entire week. Those two times were when we had been at the beach and were covered in sand. We used the second bathroom to get all the sand off of us and the kids, then used the master bath to get clean/ready, etc.

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Bruno really does deserve EVERY CENT of his tips. I couldn't have been happier with his service, demeanor, etc. I can't even imagine anyone stiffing him.

We were a last minute upsell into the penthouse suite so Bruno didn't end up doing much for us throughout the week. We still tipped him because of his service and demeanor and always calling our kids by name and making them feel special.

What time was the captain's reception in the Haven?

I believe it was 5:45-6:30, if I remember correctly. We had forgotten about it and were on our way to Cagney's for dinner, when Bruno grabbed the kids and took them up to the Haven to meet the Captain.

Precruise:

 

After lunch, we went to our suite and our room steward was there. He eagerly introduced himself and was super friendly. His name was Roberto. He would greet us everyday by name and was always happy and outgoing.

Our room steward, in our suite, the week before you was OUTSTANDING as well. Raymundo, consistently went out of his way to make sure our room was clean and always did something extra special for my two young kids.

On your Jewel cruise, was the suite breakfast and lunch held in Cagneys or Moderno? You mentioned having lunch the first day in Moderno....

The suite restaurant was Moderno for breakfast and lunch all days. :-) It was SUPER good.

 

Quick question, since you mentioned the long lines after disembarkation: did you wait to get off with suite passengers as part of your priority disembarkation, or did you go later (or maybe even earlier, as a self-walkoff)?

 

The instructions we received from concierge was that we could leave at any time between 8-930. We left our stateroom at 8:20 and were in line at customs at 8:35. We ended up waiting about 25 minutes for customs. Longest we've ever waited.

A little bit about us, we are a family of four. Mom and Dad in their 30’s, with a five year old daughter and two year old son (will be three in January). For the adults, this was our 10th cruise. However, this was our first cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line. This was our daughter’s second cruise and our son’s first cruise.

Thanks to fellow cruise critic member KiaOra, I am stealing your review format. I like it a lot and allows me to compile my thoughts more succinctly.

Pre-Cruise

We live in Phoenix so we drove to the Los Angeles area the day before embarkation and stayed at an Embassy Suites in Santa Ana. The next morning we had an easy drive to the port. I will say of all the ports I have been to, this port had the least signage and we wandered aimlessly to figure out how to drop bags and then park in the surface lot. If you are driving to San Pedro, parking is currently $17 per day in the surface lot.

Embarkation

Due to upgrading/upselling to the two-bedroom family penthouse suite, our embarkation process was very simple. I was attempting to surprise my wife with the upgrade and managed to keep it a secret until we went into the “priority” check-in line. Word of caution, similar to TSA security, you are not allowed to bring liquids through security. This was a bit of a surprise as we had filled our reusable water bottles and had to suck them down while in line. There was an option to get out of line and dump in water fountain but we didn’t want to do that. After getting through security I took us to the priority line and we were checked-in within about 10 minutes and headed over to the “Lounge” area to enjoy snacks and drinks prior to boarding. About 30 minutes later we were escorted onboard by a butler who took us to our room to drop off our carry-on luggage and then off to Moderno Suite lunch.

Stateroom

As I mentioned, I upgraded to the two-bedroom family penthouse suite, as a surprise for my wife’s birthday. This upgrade came just four days before our departure. We were in Ruby Penthouse Suite 11506. This two bedroom family suite was amazing for our family of four. The kids had their own room and mom and dad had their own room. Our butler, Rodney, was amazing and really treated our family amazing. Took the time to get to know us, our likes and acted upon those likes throughout the week. He brought us sweet and salty snacks every afternoon and kept candy bowls of M&Ms and Gummy bears in our suite at all times. We also had room service several times throughout the week. Rodney would bring the food, setup the dining room table with a tablecloth, napkins, etc. and set our food out. Bruno the Concierge was also great. We did not really need to use him a whole lot because we had already pre-booked everything prior to boarding but he was always around, very friendly and did help us with a couple of small items throughout the week. Our room Steward Raymundo was probably the best room steward I have ever experienced in my, now, 10 cruises. Our room was always clean and he always left something special for the kids. When making up the beds, he always laid out the kids stuffed animals in a special way on their pillows. The kids loved to come back to the room to find out what Raymundo had done with their stuffed animals that day. I do know one of the questions I had about the suite prior to departing was how many power outlets there were. Before leaving the last morning, I went through and counted. There are two outlets in the family room, three in the "kids" bedroom, two outlets in the "master" bath vanity and one on one of the night stands in the "master" bedroom. There are also USB outlets in the lights next to the master bed. I am sure many of you can imagine the amount of charging needed with our electronics these days. We never had an issue with charging anything. If anyone has any questions on the suite, please don’t hesitate to ask. I am happy to help!

Ports

Puerto Vallarta – we had a great time. This was the day of my wife’s birthday and she really wanted to swim with the dolphins. We booked outside of the ship and went to Dolphin Discovery and Aquaventures water park. We booked outside of the ship and saved a few bucks. Just a fair warning, they take LOTS of pictures and those pictures are expensive. We purchased the “main” package and it was about $132 US, the nice thing was that we got all the pictures electronically. The water park was AWESOME and my kids had a great time. I would highly recommend this excursion.

Mazatlan – We did a Stone Island excursion, also booked outside the ship. This was a nice relaxing day on the beach with lunch, drinks and shopping.

Cabo – We did not have an excursion here. We took the tender to the harbor and hired a water taxi to take us to Medano Beach. This was another relaxing day on the beach. At the beach there were lots of vendors with the normal arts/crafts and an occasional food vendor.

Dining & Drinking

Overall, we found the food in all of the restaurants to be good to outstanding. We had three nights of specialty dining. We ate at Cagney’s, Teppenyaki and Le Bistro. The food in these three restaurants was outstanding! We ate in Tsar’s three nights and found most of the food to be very good. We ate in Chin Chin one night and this food was ok. Not the best and not the worst Chinese food we’ve eaten. We pretty much steered away from the buffet. Mom and Dad have never really enjoyed buffets. With that said the Crepe station was amazing and we had crepes multiple times! Our kids really liked the kid’s area buffet. They thought it was really neat to be able to get their own food. Although, they “don’t like” most of what was there. Additionally, we had the Unlimited Beverage Package and we USED it. We never had a problem getting a drink from a server or bartender. Every once in awhile they would want to see both of our cards but that was not a big deal. We never ended up ordering a drink over $15 and we tried lots of different drinks.

Entertainment

We attended three of the evening shows and found them to all be very good. Both of the kids really enjoyed the acrobatic shows and we enjoyed the comedy show. You can always find music on the ship, some better than others but the music was plentiful. On our sea days we spent most of our time at the pool enjoying the hot tubs and the kids loved the big slide!

Disembarkation

Overall this process went very smoothly. However, the customs line was very long but the port staff did a great job of keeping it moving. We collected our bags, hired a porter, retrieved the car, loaded up and hit the road for Phoenix.

wen always bring power strips

We do too but knowing the suite has more, made life much easier. Especially with kids and their electronics.

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Glad you enjoyed your suite! How did you manage with the surprise for DW? Were you able to keep it from her or did you have to tell her about your upsell?

I was able to keep it from her until check-in, basically. She knew something was up because of the priority check-in but she knew nothing about the room until we got there. But the room was incredible!!!!!

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We just disembarked this morning from our two bedroom penthouse suite! First, what an incredible room!

To answer my original question...

There are two outlets in the family room, three in the "kids" bedroom, two outlets in the "master" bath vanity and one on one of the night stands in the "master" bedroom.

There are also USB outlets in the lights next to the master bed.

DH and I are 9 days away embarking on a 14 day Panama Canal cruise on Jewel. It seems there's less info and comments about this NCL ship. Could mean "no news is good news". Just wondering.

We literally just disembarked from Jewel this morning. Do you have any specific questions? We had an AMAZING week!

We are literally driving home to Phoenix now. I am hoping to write my review in the next couple of days but if any of you have questions on the Jewel Suite 11506, please let me know. I know some of you are sailing soon.

Let me tell you this room is INCREDIBLE!!!

Please realize that you will get a special Haven welcome letter about 6 weeks before your cruise. This will include your Haven luggage tags. So be aware that you may need to intercept that as well!

We were upsold on Tuesday so we don't get that stuff.

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One of the nice benefits of a suite is the check-in process.

 

 

 

After you get through the initial port security line, sometimes there is a person directing you to the check-in lines. Your suite cabin is recognized by the S* code in front of your cabin number, or a similar code.

 

The suites check-in is usually at the far end of the check in lines. We informed the person we were in a suite and they took us to the Latitudes check in line, when we noticed the sign for the suite check-in line, we have had suites before, so make sure you are in the Suites check-in line. There will usually be no waiting to get checked in.

 

 

 

After the initial paper work, you will be escorted to the Suite Lounge, here you will likely meet your butler and concierge, they will have your cabin cards waiting for you. There will also be food and refreshments for you.

 

 

 

When you are ready to go to your cabin, you will be escorted to either your cabin, or to Cagney's for lunch, the afternoon lunch is great. You will bypass all lines, sometimes using special elevators to get on board. Usually your butler will show you how to use the coffee makers in the cabin, DVD movie lists, suite room menus, Cagney's breakfast and lunch hours, give you additional information for how to contact them, etc.

 

 

 

I understand wanting to surprise the family, and the initial check-in will surprise and impress them, I guarantee you this.

 

 

 

On our cruise last week, I heard a suite couple complain to the concierge they were directed to the regular line, waited 30 minutes to check-in, did not get escorted, etc. The check-in is one of the perks you are paying for, take advantage of it, you should be spoiled, and will really appreciate the benefits of the suite.

 

Enjoy.:)

Thank You you for the advice!

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What marelind said. Some ports there is separate security line, separate and quick check-in line, suite waiting area, one of first groups escorted onto ship. If you get there much before 1 p.m. you may or may not be able to drop stuff off in room.

 

 

 

Just tell her you are VIP or paid some type of faster to the fun like Carnival has and then you can spring the room on her whenever you get there.

Thank you. I think this is exactly what I will do!

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When we checked in for the Haven in San Pedro in October the cards were not held in the VIP suites lounge/area, they were behind the check-in counter. It might be difficult unless you handed the person at the counter a note that explained the situation, and then they could go get the cards from the suites card holder.

 

 

 

If it was my spouse who made me stand in the long, long, long check-in line for 45 minutes when we could have walked up to the suites check-in, and then didn't let me enjoy the VIP suites area and lunch in the suites restaurant, just so I could be surprised at the room, I'd be :mad: Just sayin'....

I know! I keep going back and forth on this. Maybe, I'll just tell her I purchased "priority" check-in since we have the kids?

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I have a two bedroom suite on the jewel in February. What is your cabin number? Please post pics if possible.

 

 

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We are in 11506 and I do plan to do a thorough review of the room because there is not a lot of info on that specific room.

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Let me ask this, I am trying to surprise my wife and would really like to do it when she walks in the room. Any chance we can check-in at the regular counter?

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New to NCL and even newer to the upsell to the suite process.

We sail on Sunday

I upsold to a 2-bedroom family suite, Tuesday.

I reprinted my documents today, they show the correct suite number.

However, there is no indication on the paperwork that I have a suite.

How does the staff at the pier know I have a suite and allow me to suite check-in?

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This food looks amazing. Thanks again for sharing.

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