kdzkatz

Bridge block in place .

 

I can't wait until these are pics of the Bliss! :D

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I used to really enjoy the anticipation part of a cruise. We usually book way in advance and I come on here to learn new things and in the past it was pretty much learning positives.

Since Del Rio took over more than have of the things I have learned have been negatives. They are negatives to me and that is all that matters as this is my vacation.

So we will be looking at other types of vacations or maybe another cruise line. We have 2 cruse rewards to use and after that we will see if we cruise with NCL again.

Del Rio, you will be getting far less than an extra 5 bucks a day from this couple. I don't mind getting nickeled and dimed if the base fare is low but when prices have gone up and then you want to pull that, no thanks. I'm not mad but it is a shame.

Harriet, I agree with you. The officers are kind enough to attend the meet and greets (the Captain on almost most of my cruises) and the last thing they want is to be blindsided or put on the spot with questions they might not be able to answer. The Captain and/or officers don't choose the itinerary, sans some problem, nor do they edit the website. To me, this is an issue to be taken up with NCL corporate.

The officers on the ship want to know of ANY issues you have with your cruise experience. You don't have to make a scene about it and if you are not comfortable discussing it in front of the other passengers you can do it one on one. I think showing them a physical copy of what is being sold to us as the advertised route would help them. There is NO intent on going on the east side of Vancouver island. Why advertise it in any way, shape or form? It is such an easy fix but the crew can't fix what they don't know is broken.

I do hope that enough people on here bring up the fact that NCL corporate is making the captain look bad to the officer onboard. I think it is equally unfair to the captain and crew as it is to the passengers that have paid good money for a particular experience. I know they have the right to change the route and itinerary but the advertised route was never intended to be taken. That is a very poor business practice. Thank goodness it is such an easy thing to fix....albeit we need to remind them again and again until they fix it.

I will be contacting corporate and see if I can get them to quit misleading us. I hope to report some sort of good news on this front so this thread because a moot point. :)

mbisson, I respect your decision. For others out there considering bringing it up but on the fence about it, it doesn't have to be done in anger or in a negative fashion. I think it is important to let the crew on the ship know what corporate is advertising.

I think if NCL is made aware from several passengers and realize it is becoming a common discussion on here that they could do the very simple thing and just show the proper route on the map. It is not like it is an unreasonable request.

I've done this itinerary several times, including on the Jewel...past few years our sailings have been west side, both directions. That was not always the case :(

 

Leaving again on the Jewel in a few days. Wish it was east side going up, but I'd be surprised if it is

I encourage you to inquire why they are showing a route they have no intention on taking. I think bringing this up at the Meet & Greet in front of other cruisers is a great forum. I wish I had been more proactive on it during the cruise but I was giving the explanation I was told the benefit of the doubt (which ended up being incorrect info). That is why I wanted to bring this problem up so others can speak their opinion on this unethical sales tactic. You can share this post with them. It is the advertised route from the NCL website I screen captured just a few days ago:

What time did you depart Seattle in 2010? What time of year was it? What was the itinerary? All the same ports? Tracy Arm in there, too?

 

Sounds like they could have slow-played SEA up toward YVR overnight, then did the transit during the day?

 

I'm sure its wonderful going that way. The more I think about it, the more I wish they advertised the route correctly. I am starting to agree with you more.

It was a standard 7 day cruise with the ports of call being Ketchikan, Juneau/Tracy Arm same day, Skagway and Prince Rupert. It started and ended in Seattle. It left Seattle at 4pm. All of our cruises to Alaska have been in May.

I think you are correct with a slow play for a daytime transit. We did not even know we were going to take this route and when we woke up the first sea day we thought maybe we slept through the whole sea day and were going to be arriving in Ketchikan. We were very confused until we turned on the tv and saw the map.

It was definitely one of the top highlights of our 8 cruises to Alaska.

In 2010 we sailed round trip from Seattle to Alaska and took the east side of Vancouver island. We had a full day of land viewing going up the east side. It was not night time. The experience is way different than the normal west side. It is much more scenic. It is so much different I am very disappointed they advertised a route they had no intention of taking that is so superior to the one that was taken.

I do appreciate the value you were wanting to add but I am coming from the first person perspective. I have done both routes and I, first hand, know the difference.

Had I not done this route I would have thought you were correct in that you would think by first daylight of our sea day had begun we would have already traveled past Vancouver island. It is quite the contrary and a beautiful route on the east side.

If indeed the theory of "Sea Day" = west side of Vancouver island and "Inside Passage" = east side then should NCL not be able to easily make an accurate map? I consider it false advertising as it looks to be that the route shown on their website is not the intended route at all. I believe that is considered a "bait and switch" tactic.

Their fine print may legally protect them but I am hoping that enough of us on here can get them to realize what they are doing is morally wrong. It is a simple fix on their behalf.

I did email our pre concierge and they gave me the guest relations post cruise phone number. I will be calling it tomorrow. I will let you all know what happens. I hope they rectify this soon as I am willing to go to the upcoming roll calls and ask as many people as possible to bring up this concern at their Meet & Greet. I will ask them to say, "Mark wanted me to ask you why we are going on the west side of Vancouver island when you advertised it would be the east side".

Hopefully they will get sick of hearing that to the point of fixing this issue.

The captain on the NCL Jewel announced an upcoming 170 day cruise on the NCL Star departing Copenhagen in September and eventually ending up in Australia. There will be over 80 ports of call. He announced it at the end of the acrobat show in the theater.

I did not inquire more about it but when I tried to find anything on it online there was nothing. I'm not sure if it is for 2016 or 2017. Has anyone heard anything about this? There is no way I can go but I am curious what the pricing will be.

How much is a Garden Villa for a 170 day cruise! :eek:

That officer clearly told you a whopper. There is no way an officer on a large cruise ship would think the Jewel is 'too' big to travel that route. He/she just basically gave you an answer to shut you up knowing you will be gone in a week and that's the last they will hear from you. The staff on NCL ships do this 'pass the buck' strategy constantly.

 

On the other hand, NCL has knowingly been advertising this false route for years and uses legal language to evade any responsibility and maintain deniable plausibility. Disgraceful.

Legal and ethical are very different in the eyes of the law but if enough of the public express their concern we can get them to change their ways. i.e. no more food was supposed to leave the restaurants and that was very short lived.

It would be nice if NCL could take the time to advertise what they are selling with more accuracy and not rely on the small print to cover their backsides.

I am going on the Jewel leaving September 23, 2017 10 day ultimate Alaska cruise leaving from Seattle.

Are you saying I won't be traveling the inside passage?? It does end in Vancouver. I just don't see anywhere in MyNcl where it says Inside passage". I wanted a longer Alaska cruise - more than 7 days but do want to sail the inside passage.

 

Thanks

 

Harriet

I am not sure anymore....:(:confused: We are also booked on the same cruise as you and a big bonus for this cruise was it showing us doing the east side of Vancouver Island coming and going.

If I cannot get verification that we will be doing this (unless of course there is a valid reason to deviate) I will more than likely be cancelling this cruise. I will also begin to investigate how much other cruise lines deviate from their advertised route without just cause. The map counts as a valid sales example of what you should expect as far as I am concerned. If I find another line that is more transparent in this area I will be giving them much more consideration on giving them my business.

I do hope NCL reads this thread and sees the negative light they put themselves in. I know they can't fix it if they don't know it's broken and this website offers a chance to let them know something isn't right.

We have been on the Pearl to Glacier Bay many times. We have never once traveled up the east side of Vancouver island.

 

Is the Jewel to big for that channel? No, since Jewel class ships have done this. However, many portions of the inside passage are very restricted waters, and it is ultimately up to the ship's captain to decide on the route the ship will take. Their may have been other issues affecting the choice of route. Since there are no port stops on the east side of Vancouver island on any itinerary, the captain or NCL could have chosen to go west about at their discretion without affecting the itinerary. None the less, the officer should not have told you this if it was not true...although I will say that if the "officer" was from the ships hotel staff, he may not really have been familiar with navigational issues.

 

Finally, if you look on the NCL website today, you'll see two different route maps for the Jewel on her Alaska runs. The Glacier bay run shows out and back on the west side of the island. The Sawyer bay run shows outbound via the east side, return via the west side. You did not specify which itinerary you were on...if you were on the Glacier Bay itinerary, then the west side route is as advertised.

We did the Sawyer Glacier itinerary (which ended up doing the Endicott Arm alternate route due to heavy ice in Tracy Arm)

OP sorry that you were disappointed in the route that the captain choose to sail, but I am not sure that I see an issue. I have never known a cruise line to publish the actual map of the route that they are going to take to a particular port. (The map on the b ooking page is just an approximation of where the ship is going.) Experienced cruisers know that cruises from Seattle to AK go to the west of Vancouver Island. As far as falsely advertising an itinerary you went to the ports that were scheduled, that is all that they are required to do. The specific route you take to get there is not part of the itinerary. Most Caribbean itineraries vary from what the little lines on the maps show. The map though is not part of the itinerary.

I consider myself an experienced cruiser and I am aware of the liberties cruise lines have taken with the flexibility of itineraries and the routes to get to port.

We need to let the cruise lines that it is not alright to post a map or itinerary if there is no intent on taking that route or itinerary. If they were to deviate for a valid reason such as extremely low tides, that is completely different.

I do know first hand that NCL has taken the east side of Vancouver Island out of Seattle but I did figure it was fairly rare.

It makes absolutely no sense and I consider it unethical to intentionally make a map showing a route if there is no intent to take that path. They were able to show the accurate path of the Pearl so why could/would they not do the same for the Jewel. I called NCL prior to our cruise and they could not confirm the route to be taken on our cruise. I checked the location of the Jewel for this week and it has also taken the outside of Vancouver Island.

Cruise Critic carries a good amount of cache with NCL (I can't speak for other cruise lines) and I think it is a valid concern that they take the time to accurately show the intended path the ship will be taking.

Comparing the Alaska Inside Passage route to a Caribbean route is ridiculous. I am guessing you are not an experienced Alaska cruiser otherwise you would know the difference in the experience and see how my concern is valid.

I do hope other cruisers express their concern at the Meet & Greet on the Jewel about this misrepresentation. All that NCL has to do is change the map and no one could complain about this.

If there is a deviation from the route or ports I expect an explanation to accompany it. I do not believe the reason given to me on the ship was accurate and I intend to follow up with the person that told us that. We were told the Jewel was too big to travel through the lower inside passage (east side of Vancouver Island). I am hoping to confirm that the Jewel class ship can indeed travel this route and so far there is one person that has confirmed the Pearl traveled the inside passage so it looks like I will be following up to find out why I was given a fictitious reason. They should have told me they don't know but they will find out and then get back to me.

I compared the currently listed Alaska itineraries for the Jewel and the Sun, and as you said, the "map" itinerary does show the inside passage for the Jewel. The difference I see, and this was so for our Sun cruise out of Vancouver, is that the "printed" itinerary clearly states, "Cruising Inside Passage" for those particular days on the Sun, but not on the Jewel.

 

Now I agree that if you did not know to look for that, you might assume that you would be on the inside passage, and that itinerary "map" is clearly misleading. As a general rule, I don't think any of the NCL ships which leave from Seattle go via Inside Passage, only the ones which leave from Vancouver.

So if it is the general rule to go on the outside they should have the map show that like they do for the Pearl. I do know it can happen as our 2010 on the Star to Alaska left Seattle and took the inside passage.

It makes no sense to advertise the Jewel going on the east side of Vancouver Island as it can only upset passengers when they don't take that route. The Pearl shows it going on the outside both ways so why not show both ships going on the outside both ways. That way, if either ship happens to go on the inside it is a bonus instead of an unfulfilled expectation.

I agree that NCL needs to show the correct itinerary/sailing course on their website. From reading reviews I knew at the time I booked our June 4th cruise on the Jewel that it would actually be going on the west side of Vancouver Island instead of the Inside Passage. We have done the Inside Passage out of Vancouver and it was pretty amazing. Pretty sure there are a lot of upset people aboard the Jewel when they find out they are not doing the Inside Passage.

 

The Pearl shows the correct itinerary/sailing course.

 

As noted from the NCL website: "Itineraries are subject to change at any time without notice." That does not make it right but it relieves NCL of responsibility for changing their "stated" itinerary. I personally do not buy the story that the Jewel is too large to sail the Inside Passage. There are some pretty large cruise ships that sail out of Vancouver that all take the inside passage.

I do understand the itineraries are subject to change but with the good 'ol internet they are subject to being exposed for falsely advertising a route if it is determined there was never intent to use that route. It would be no different than posting a Seattle to Vancouver cruise that will go around the entire globe to get from point A to point B but then deciding to just take the direct path.

NCL and any other cruise line does a great job to legally cover their backsides but with sites like Cruise Critic we can let each other know about these situations and the cruise lines can deal with a possible backlash from such practices.

For now I am trying to determine if we were misinformed while on the ship at the Meet & Greet or if NCL falsely posted a fictitious route on their website.

People that have cruised both sides of Vancouver Island know the difference is night and day for the view and overall experience.

Are you planning on attending the Meet & Greet? I may see if we can private message on here (I'm not sure how that is done) and I can ask you if you can give my contact info to the person who I spoke to at the Meet & Greet.

Calling tomorrow if the shore side Concierge is open and changing our Monderno reservation to Le Bistro. Lots of positive feedback on Le Bistro and not so many on Monderno.

 

Glad to hear that from your perspective the food quality has improved.

Request to be in Emilia's area. They are all great wait staff but she is our favorite. If you get her tell her Katie & Mark say hi (we gave here a wall magnet with the Jewel on it a couple days ago at the end of our cruise, that might remind her of who you are talking about as they all work with so many passengers) My parents, DW and myself had dinner in Le Bistro on Friday night and she definitely impressed my parents (we were already impressed with her :D )

P.S. if you are torn on what dessert to try, ask her for one of each. My DW joked about it to her the first time we ate there and we weren't even in her station, lo and behold, that was what we got, one of each dessert. It was great :D

We had a great time on our May 21-28 2016 Alaska cruise on the Jewel but there was one thing that was really disappointing. On the NCL website it showed us going on the east side of Vancouver Island on our northbound leg. If you have ever done this you know it is MUCH more scenic than a traditional sea day where you only see water and sky.

We inquired about this at the Meet & Greet and we were told the Jewel is too big to go up the east side of the island. If that is the case then how come NCL knowingly deceived us and advertised it as the route we would take?

Has anyone ever traveled up the east side of Vancouver Island in a Jewel class ship? In 2010 we went up the east side on the Star and it was beautiful.

The fact is either NCL is falsely advertising a route with no intention of ever taking it or a highly ranking officer on the ship fabricated the story to us. Neither one is acceptable and I plan on following up with NCL but I am hoping others on here can educate me with their experiences traveling or not traveling on the east side of Vancouver Island on the Pearl or Jewel (these are the only 2 jewel class ships that may take this route).

Thank you in advance for your input. :)

Welcome back, hope you had a good time.

 

So did they end up having the new menus? Between the bedroom and living room, they only have a curtain or do they have a curtain and drape? I think only the Star/Dawn OS have both and on Jewel class they just have the curtain.

We had a great time and really enjoyed the room. They did not have the new menus but there were improvements in the food IMO.

In the suite restaurant for breakfast and lunch: The french dip uses a new roll and the meat is thin sliced. The hamburger is better and the steak we had for breakfast was great all week long. In the past it seemed like the quality of the steak in the morning dropped off. The brownie at lunch was amazing, much better than we remember.

The creme brûlée in Le Bistro was much much better than we remember. The chicken pot pie in O'Sheehan's was much bigger and very good and we did not feel there was a drop off in quality as the week progressed. If you get the apple pie in O'Sheehan's you need to ask for it to be warm if that is how you want it (we got it A la mode and warm...yum!)

Darn it on not showing the curtain i better detail. :o I wish I would have put the in the video as I was trying to show things other videos seemed to miss. It is a heavy curtain that you pull shut from both sides. It would work wonderful for keeping out light but not nearly as well with sound. This is one reason, if we were traveling in a group of more than just my DW and me that we would opt for the 2 bedroom.

Thanks! That was fun. I have been on the Jewel twice. Last year in an aft PH. So, after a few aft PHs we booked a fwd PH on the Jade, which was cancelled. So now, booked aft PH on Epic.

 

Your 2 balconies look great. One sunny and windy and one secluded??? How were they? Would you choose this room or 2 bdrm in Haven? For my niece's college grad trip. Just us. She loved the concierge and butler last year.

 

Thanks for sharing.

Our front balcony was a little windy this year but only because the weather was windy and not because of the location. It was very nice having the second balcony on the side as it was very secluded.

The bathroom was great and we really liked the shower.

As far as the OS vs the 2 bdrm it would depend. If there is more than 2 of us traveling together we would definitely rather have the 2 bdrm. If there are other friends and family cruising with you but not in the same room and they are not in a Haven room then I would take the OS as there is a bunch of room in there. We went to the Haven several times and we did not find the distance away to be much of an inconvenience but others may.

If your cruise is to Alaska I think the OS beats out the 2 bdrm as we feel the front of the ship is the best view on the ship. If your cruise is a less scenic itinerary then I think the 2 bdrm may beat out the OS as the Haven is so convenient. There are pros and cons with either room but they are both incredible.

Being a Haven guest is amazing. We feel fortunate to be able to experience it.

Thanks for the video. You mentioned prior to the cruise that you would also shoot a video of 9002. Did you happen to do that? I've been calling to try and get an Upsell for Deck 9 or 10 Owners Suite but nothing has opened up. :( Also, satisfied with the service the Butler provided along with the Room Steward and Concierge?

Before I could get over there my parents were all unpacked and settled in. I didn't want to invade their Nirvana so I am sorry I was not able to get a video of the room. The video online of 9502 on the Jewel is a great example of the mirror image of the room. I will see if there are any pics I can get up of the room and/or the balcony.

The room steward Christopher was great! He was always very much on his game and whatever we asked of him he did quickly and with a smile. Bruno took amazing care of my parents in 9002. We did not utilize him much but he was very available and I am very happy with how well he took care of my parents with anything they needed. Putu was our butler and he is very friendly and made sure our vacation was special. We also had a chance to say hello to Roland who was our butler a couple years ago. He was on deck 10 but came down a couple times including our last evening to say goodbye and chat for a bit.

There is an incredible waiteress Emilia who has been on our last 3 cruises. She was working in Le Bistro this last week. If you have an opportunity to have her as your waitress she is very fun.

We also felt the HD Steven Jacobsen very much wanted your cruise to be special. They really do value feedback from CC members. If you attend your Meet & Greet I think you will find it informative and a great way to maybe meet others with similar interests.

We just got back from our May 21st to the 28th 2016 Alaska cruise aboard the NCL Jewel. Here is a video of our amazing room:

Forget the train in Skagway and look into the Emerald Lake tour by Dyea Dave Tours. It's half the price and you see way more than you could ever hope to see on the train. The train doesn't stop for wildlife photo ops as well as photo ops by the "Welcome to Alaska" and "Welcome to the Yukon" signs. He has a website and we highly recommend it.

If you just have to do the train you can do a half and half tour but I would save my money personally and do the whole tour with Dyea Dave.

It is a bone-in rib eye steak with the whole rib bone still attached. It looks like a big tomahawk when you hold it up by the bone. If I remember correctly, the one on the Jewel was 29oz. It's a nice piece of meat if you're a steak lover. Very flavorful.

Thank you very much for the description. That is right up my dad's alley! I'm sure it will be one of the first steaks he has on the ship. :D