LisaandMike

7 hours ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

 

Is this the trip from Civitavecchia-NY? We have cruise next and FCC from a canceled sailing of the Jade in Southeast Asia in February, and considered booking, but have not. We live in NYC so this would have been an amazing, inexpensive, and easy trip, but it seems almost entirely unlikely to sail for two reasons

Yes. We too were supposed to go on Jade from Hong Kong to Singapore in February but cancelled before final payment because we didn't want to fly into Hong Kong during a protest. Would have made 25% on that cruise when it got cancelled. You make some good points about NYC and NYS not opening the port. They're saying on the news now all major lines have cancelled until September 15th, for now. 

10 hours ago, SeaHunt said:

 

The only thing I can point to is that "list" posted on various threads here (the list that might/might not be true) that shows the Jade starting back on November 22 - but AFAIK nobody really knows. 🙃😀

 

Wow, where did this come from. Shows the Jade relaunch about 3 weeks after the scheduled TA on Oct. 31. Jade is currently at a dock in Naples according to marinetraffic.com. Just not going to know before final payment date. It was going to be such an incredible cruise and a great price, booked last year sometime, way ahead.

We paid for a cruise Aug 31, 2020 out of Miami: canceled. Just canceled Flights from Indianapolis to Miami and back on Southwest. The charges are still showing as "pending" on my credit card. No refund from Southwest. Shows we have travel funds available. Funny how a few days ago we got the last 2 seats in category "want to get away" then yesterday there were 2 more seats in that category for $10.00 more one way and $20.00 ore the other. Wonder if they'll only have 4 seats left now. Like someone else said. It's not going to break us. We were really starting to get excited about getting back to traveling. Maybe after first of year.

P.S. We're booked on the Jade TA at the end of October with a final payment date of July 3rd. Haven't cancelled yet. Any one with any insight as to weather they think it will sail? Good luck all, Stay safe!

I’ve been looking into another line and they have mini suites and club class mini suites. Their minis are larger than balconies and include a curtain between the sleeping area and sitting area and a tub with shower. Club class gives embarkation and debarkation perks like platinum, some wine and a separate area of the MDR with expanded menu options and no line. Oh, and fruit and/or canapés every night upon request. For the same price or less. Less now that NCL’s prices are going up.

Last October we stayed in an owner’s suite on the Sky for a five day sailing. We received the regular sparkling wine for being platinum and a better quality bottle for the suite. Both were in the room when we got there. BTW, we got two meals for the dinning package and two for being platinum. Now only one on five day for dinning package.

Sorry, didn’t take a tape measure. All I said was “is maybe 6 inches wider” and “about the only difference we noticed”. According to NCL site the size difference is 31 Square feet. Don’t know if they’re deeper, wider or more likely a combination of both.

We were told that “some” have tubs and they would try to get us into a cabin that had one. Don’t remember who or when. We were on the poker cruise out of New Orleans December 1^st. 2019. What would be ideal is if we, the members of CC, could compile a list of mini suite cabins that have tubs. You see, my wife really prefers a tub. Since we didn’t get one of the unknown numbers of mini suites with a tub, she spent the first day or two trying to get us moved to one of the ones that does.  Eventually she was told the cruise was sold out but that if anyone left the cruise we would be put on the list of people that, like us, wanted one of the ones with a tub.

11 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

 

i think of mini-suites as a deluxe balcony in that it has a bathtub and/or double sinks.

 

'Club suite' would NOT make it less confusing.

in fact, i say it would make it MORE confusing.

 

at least with mini-suite, people will get the gist that it's not as good as a suite/Haven.

I used to think that a mini suite was a slightly larger balcony cabin with a bath tub too, until we stayed in a mini suite on the Getaway. That’s when we found out that the bath tub perk only applies to smaller ships. A mini suite on the Getaway is maybe 6 inches wider than a balcony. And a spa mini suite has a couple extra nozzles in the shower about belly and knee high. That’s about the only difference we noticed.  I also noticed that NCL is selling what were once called Haven Spa Suites without spa access. So now you can book a Haven suite with a corner whirlpool tub, in the room/cabin, without the spa access and not in the Haven but with butler and concierge service and Haven access.

I know what you’re saying. We’ve been looking for a cruise that goes to St. Marten next winter.  Norwegian only has one that I’ve found so far. Looking into Princess Cruise line. They have several seven day cruises in both January and February that go there. I don’t know how they pick their ports but, Norwegian doesn’t go to St. Marten very often for some reason.  We’re Platinum, almost Platinum Plus, and if we go on it, it’ll be our first cruise with a line besides Norwegian. Maybe it’s time to try another line?

Really good list. Do you have their Hurricane recipe? Trying to find it. No luck so far.

We've never won an online bid before but, we did call and get an upgrade from a suite to the owners suite for $300.00 on the Sky about ten days  out for a five day cruise. The guys in the suite next door told us they bid $800.00 online for the same suite. We started in a similar category. We booked last minute, about three weeks out, after cancelling a ten or eleven day February 2020 cruise from Hong Kong to Singapore. 

We were on Bliss last January. In a spa mini-suite. That's when we learned that most mini-suites on the larger ships don't have tubs. Just a shower with extra jets about chest high and knee high. And those may only be in the spa ones. I really thought that a tub was what differentiated a mini-suite from a balcony.

Does anyone know the blind structure for main event?

We departed from Miami last November. When we got to the pier, we droppedoff our bags, and headed for the line. Seeing the room for suite guest westopped someone from the cruise line and asked if that was for us, being in asuite. We were told in was for the Haven only. Later we found out the Stardoesn't have a Haven. When we finally got through the line and checked in,someone quickly came over and took us back the Haven/suite check-in room. Wewere in the last group of suite guest to check in and almost didn't get anyfood in the suite dining room. I can't remember the name of the restaurant.Suzanne took us there from the waiting room. We are going on the same cruisethis November, to the southern Caribbean, just after the TA, and we'llknow where to go this time. I'm going to miss the hour waiting in line,not really although like most things in life, attitude determines if it's agood experience or not. The suite waiting room in Miami had cool drinksand some snacks while waiting for Suzann, the concierge, to take us in groupsto the dining room, Moderno maybe, next to Cagney's, on deck 12 or so. That'swhere they had breakfast and lunch. We only made it there a few times as welike to stay up late, missing most breakfasts and being on excursions duringlunch.

One of the posts mentioned that they seemed to be treatedbetter when the staff saw the suite designation on their key card. We noticedthis too, or at least it seemed so. In the theater, the port side upper tierseating is reserved for suite guests. There is a dedicated sever for that area.Suzann was always there greeting each guest, and checking key cards until sherecognized them, usually after the first time. Actually, I think there wassomeone else checking key cards but she greeted us with a friendly smileletting them know we belonged there. How's that for special service, gettinginto the reserved area without having to show key card for access. We had theUBP and ordered a drink as soon as we walked in and had it in hand oftentimes as soon as we choose our seat. This was also when we would ask Suzannabout reservations, excursions and other things since this was our first suiteexperience. She was always helpful, friendly and kind. Last time we were in aforward facing suite. This time we are in an aft facing suite, deck 10.

Last time there was a nice couple in the owners suite with twobalconies next to us that let us look inside. That would be the one to be inbut, cost almost twice what ours did. We were in a mini suite on the Gem out ofNew York this last spring. It was nice and comfortable but nowhere nearthe level of service that we had on the Star, in a suite. On embarkationnight our butler brought some snacks into our room and a bottle ofChampaign. We opened it, each had a drink, went and did something, showprobably, and came back finding the rest of the first bottle and a secondbottle on ice as well. We found afternoon snacks in our room every day.

Lisa here now...I enjoyed our butler, Jamal I think. After one shore trip I really got my shoes too dirty to wear and within a couple of hours, clean shoes. He was very good with waiting on us. This trip spoiled us and it might be hard to get me back into any other type of cabin.

We were on the Star last November and got one bag of laundry done for free. I think we were silver for that cruise and I think our butler just hooked us up. First time in suite and thought maybe it was just a suite perk but, according to what I'm seeing on web site it's not. We're going on the same cruise again this year and will be gold and according to website should get one bag for 1/2 price. As a gold latitude we should receive one bottle of water. How generous. Everyone in suite category got to sit in the reserved seating area for the shows but, they saved the best seats for the ones in the garden villa until the last minute unless the concierge knew they weren't coming.

Does anyone have any guidance on how much to tip the butler and concierge?