UandMe4Ever

Hi all,

Thanks to all of you who wrote about the Gem....It's reassuring to see so many positives....Nice to know....We've been on the Dawn and 2x on the Jewel and were pretty much pleased, especially on the Jewel for a 17 Night -- NY to LA through the Panama Canal and on to the Mexican Riveria....Nothing bad at all in all those 17 nights.

I did notice that the base price for the 9 night Gem in Oct. went from $1,109 to $1,249 cheapest balcony p/p...We'll see. The 11 night is $1,279...$30 more 2 extra nights. We'll be monitoring prices.

If we book through NCL, are there any cancellation fees or charge for booking? We might consider that and then switch to a TA (Our T/A charges $35 p/p cancel fee, but they include free insurance and sometimes a perk of OBC and/or wine....We see.

Thanks again and if anyone remembers anything we should know, please share here. I check frequently.

Safe travels always.

I did that itinerary in April - review is in my signature :)

Thanks for a great review! I had been reading a bunch of negatives about the Gem and wanted some more info. You and all answered lots of questions.

Thanks to all.

Safe sails always.

Hi,

We are thinking about a cruise next Oct. (2014) on the Gem.. Eastern Carib from NYC. We've been on the Jewel 2x and the Dawn 1x. We prefer the Jewel...

We would greatly appreciate any and all input, pro's and/or cons with regard to this Ship/Itinerary, including food, entertainment, balcony cabins, etc.

One cruise is for 9 Nights and the other, 11 Nights.

Thank you all in advance! I know I can count on CC'ers to come through and be fair (and honest).

Safe sails always and many thanks again:)

I'm starting to miss it too! I hope we can cruise together again in the future :)

Hi, I thought only NCL did the "White Hot Party". Never heard of them on RCI...Maybe I'm missing something?????

68 Days.. I cant wait!!! :):):)

4 days to Sailaway from NJ :)~ Bermuda, here we come :D :cool:

Thanks for the update.

Hi: We called C&A and RCI today to confirm. Neither one could absolutely tell me if there will or will NOT be coupons on our Oct. 6th sailing on EX to Bermuda ~ They just were not sure in spite of the new information.....:confused::confused: Wish they would get all their information correct before publishing an article.

Just thought I'd add this. Guess we'll be surprised next Sunday;)

9 days and counting down to being on RCI EX to Bermuda:D

Hugo is not a CD he is the HD

oops, my bad:mad:

I believe Brian Walters from the Jewel is going to the Sun or the Dawn? Can't remember which ship he mentioned.

We are told that "Hugo" is the CD on our 4/21/13 Jewel Cruise, and is one of the best...(Probably as good as Matt Baker or better):)

We don't interact all that much w/ the CD, but it's great when they are fun.

Have a gOOd day;)

bumping up for any updates:)

Hi,

Anyone know who the Captain and Staff will be on the NCL Jewel starting April 21st?

Thanks...

Looks like this is something very new. Up until now, one of the few places one could get high tea was at the Fairmont Hamilton or Fairmont Southampton Hotels. Definitely cheaper at Sweet P's. Will be anxious to hear any feedback.

 

Someone posted that tea is also being served at a place at Dockyard.

:)

Thanks for your replies. I should have said I meant "High Tea" (as they do on Princess - mid-later afternoon). I know we can get tea WJ or Prom....

We may check into SweetP's....Maybe there is something at the dockyard now. Will keep checking.

Safe sails all.

I always pack quart and gallon ziploc bags on every trip, cruise or otherwise. Someone always find a need for one.

 

Roll them up and put a rubberband around them.

Hi: In addition to the ziploc, we also take a larger white "garbage bag" for dirty clothes to keep in the closet.

I also ALWAYS bring plastic coated medium size, clothes pins, for securing small items on the line in the shower, i.e. bathing suit, undies, etc.

Also, travel size of Lysol spray, hand sanitizer, band aids, bacatracin, aloe vera (after sunburn), stick-ums and pen for notes in cabin, aspirins, etc...

If I forgot anything important, I'm sure another poster will help out:D

Safe sails!!!

It's okay, I don't take offense. I have seen donaldsc's venomous posts in many other threads. He's just a loser that likes to troll the boards and should be ignored accordingly. :eek:

 

I'm glad the folks that count enjoyed the pics! ;)

Grady, great pictures of the Star...You definitely did not go overboard! They are jealous they didn't take all those great pictures:) We're contemplating the 14 Night Star Repo in Oct. 2012....Good photos of eateries, etc.

Any other valuable info you'd like to share, I'd love to read it. How was the food most times in the MDR? Buffet? Shows?

Thanks again and in advance.

Safe sails always and keep taking lots of pictures;)

your email account is a different issue altogether so you can each have your own account (and every couple should IMHO) OR continue to share..it won't impact the fact that you EACH have platinum minutes.

 

thus you would log on to the Princess internet site, and it asks for your name and cabin number ie.

LAST Name - Smith

First Name- Mary

Cabin Number - A234

Password- you use your birthdate to get started.

Then it comes back after verifying your account (and calculates how many free mins you get based on length of cruise) and says you have a credit of X minutes and then you change your password to whatever you want.

 

Next time YOU log in you fill in the boxes as above and use your new password to access YOUR 100 mins.

 

Hubby would do the same but instead, he'd enter Princess internet site (they give you a piece of paper in your cabin outlining all the steps) and type in

Last name-Smith

First name -Harry

Cabin - A234

Password -HIS birthdate, then he'd change it later to whatever he wanted.

 

Thus you'd have your password and your 100 mins and he'd have his password and his 100 mins.

 

Even if you both use the same yahoo email account, it has no bearing on your individual 100 mins.

Thank you for your valuable information regarding our minutes for the internet.:D I printed it out for reference, should I not remember it in 5 months! We have a "joint" email, and yahoo one is basically mine.;) DH rarely emails anyone! He says that's my "department"..He uses the shared one if he needs to email or whatever.

However, our "optonline.net" email cannot be accessed from ships. Only a yahoo, hotmail gmail and maybe a few others, so we use my Yahoo when cruising other lines if we need to.

Thanks again and safe sails always:)

Just off the Ruby and it worked great. gail

Hi: All this new information is wonderful! We are platinum members and we each have 100 minutes. I login most times on my Yahoo account. My DH DOES NOT have his own yahoo email account...Question: Should he start his own yahoo account so we can utilize his 100 minutes OR can I use mine and just use his birthday, etc?:confused: This is much different then when we were on the Crown in 2006..

We are sailing on the Island Princess, 10 day Panama Canal Transit on 10-10. Any information is greatly appreciated. Would hate losing 100 minutes..This way we can keep in touch with the kids and grandkids while onboard.

Thanks very much in advance:)

I've followed all the responses to this post hoping MY question would be answered also but I didn't see it.

 

Is there a fee for MTD? We're traveling the Serenade of the Seas 10/10/10 & have chosen the late dining time because hubby & I, although travelling alone - and yes, we DO enjoy each others company ;)- would like to mingle at dinner with other guests.

 

With MTD do you always get seated alone? Or do they have you join other folks already seated?

 

Just wondering.....

 

Thanks!

Joan

[/b]Hi: Everything the above poster said is accurate! The only "fee", is the prepaid daily gratutity on RCCI....I presume you would tip anyway at the end of the cruise.

We have chosen MTD for our 11/7/10 Explorer Cruise, 12 Nights. When asked if we want to 'share' a table, we say no thank you, table for 2, please. No problems....The beauty of it is if we want to see an earlier show (9:00) we will go in around 7ish, and have plenty of time to eat, as a two top takes less time than waiting for 8-10 people to arrive). We are usually out in a little over an hour without rushing and having time for coffee and dessert!

If we had a very busy day, we may go a little later, and if we want to see the show that night, we'll catch the 10:45 time. So simple.

If we don't plan on a show, we usually will go around 7:45 - 8:00...Have a longer, relaxing dinner, go to one of the bars for an after dinner cocktail and head for the casino....(my fave)!!!

All in all, I think you will be pleased with MTD....You need not make a reservation, unless you know you definitely want to eat a certain time and that can change daily. There isn't much of a wait at all...You can make one for tthe evening after you review the Daily Planner at night so you might decide what you feel like doing that day/evening.

Have a great cruise!

We LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE My time Dining. We never make reservations, just go when we feel like it. We have never had any problems just showing up and dining when we want. Would never go back to any other type of dining.

[/b]Hi: We're on the Explorer 11/7 for 12 Nights. This is a first time MTD on RCCI. We reserved only the first night (sail day) and second night, as we figured they would be the most busy. The rest of the time, we see what we want to do in the evenings and then decide. Dinner is just one part of cruising. We like to eat between 7-15 - 7:45. We are truly the former traditional late diners, but have had enough! We loved Freestyle on NCL Jewel this past November and now I think we are 'hooked' to that type of dining.

We had Traditional on RCCI 11/08, Table for 2. Our same waiters were just ok. The assistant waiter was terrible. Never remembered to check break, water, etc., or come around after we were served to see if we needed or wanted anything else. Never remembered 1 piece of lemon until the 11th Night (out of 12)..We still tipped, although for sure, she wasn't worth it....

So after the saga of "I like the same waiters every night", we said no more. We were very happy w/ Freestyle and they couldn't have been nicer, no matter who waited on us, if they were everynight waiters. The were terrific.!

Table for 2, NCL Dawn 8/29 AND MTD on Explorer, 11/7 here we come! Look for us. We are very nice and well dressed (LOL) :-)

Safe sails.

PAULNJILL, and others:

We would be happy to be in your company in any dining venue, especially the MDR!! Great attitude from you as well as several others!

Our feelings exactly :-)

Safe sails and happy times always!!

Posters have said the shopping is good in St. Thomas. I have never been there so I dont know what I would be shopping for. A friend went & told me to buy the Larimar jewelry as it is very pretty. I have no idea where to get the best bang for my buck. Any suggestions on anything to buy & where to get it?

Hi: They have wonderful stores for gold/silver jewelry. The liquor and cigarettes are a good deal there as well. Pretty much anything you want/need is on St. Thomas, followed by St. Maaten...I can't remember the stores by name, but you can get a feel for the "honesty" once you are in there.

There are many merchants from the NYC area and they know their stuff!!!! Negotiations are expected, so don't settle for the first price they offer. They don't expect you to accept it (mostly in the jewelry stores). The others are pretty much what they say, but you can certainly try once.

Safe sails. Let us know how well you do!

Thanks very much!

Hi sailingnut! We're going on the Explorer in November for the 12 Night Southern! Can't wait to be back on the Explorer!

Welcome home, Radio! You deserve a standing ovation for the wonderful job you did with the pictures and updates. Glad you had a wonderful time. Felt we were sailing with you. (We love Bermuda and have been there via ships a few times and can't wait to go again - just don't know when!

We look forward to your next "Radio Show" in June.

Stay well, safe and happy!

Thanks for the update on the buses. I'm sure it was still a fact, but thought I'd ask!

Safe sails.

What great pictures RADIO!! We were on her 11/08 and can't wait to be back on her 11/7/10 for a 12 nighter to So. Caribbean!!! (Do we still need the 'quick bus ride' over to the Ship? So many changes, so I thought I'd ask!!!

Have a wonderful cruise and keep up the good work with the great pictures.

Safe sails!!

They had the different days on the carpeting on RCCL Explorer! It was fun to see them changed. We took a picture every one of our 12 days, just didn't duplicate a day. Pretty neat!