Turtles06

If 100 or so people really do show up to a Meet & Greet, it's a pretty unwieldy number imho. Not really conducive to "meeting" people.

I don’t care about the “refreshments.” For me, the purpose of a Meet & Greet is to meet some of the folks from our Roll call, and, if Officers/Staff also show up, to have them introduce themselves as well. On NCL, the latter will typically give out their business cards/extension numbers, which can sometimes come in handy. It’s become pretty well known that many folks who sign up for a M&G don’t show up, so I don’t blame NCL for declining to go to the trouble of setting up refreshments, many of which will likely go to waste.

The cruise of course is not going to Paris (nor to London, either). Paris is hours away from the port of Le Havre. The best way to see the extraordinary city of Paris is a land trip, with as many days there as you can spend.

We've been on the Jade, the Gem, and the Jewel. Love that class of ship. Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks for the info. I suppose it's not the first time a deck plan was incorrect!

No bridge viewing room on the deck plan

Recent comments are that there’s no audible (or vibrating) notification of a new message. You have to check the app periodically.

Don’t count on that in the future. It’s the result of a tech loophole that NCL has been closing, according to many comments in this forum.

OP, you’re welcome.

I've stayed in non-Haven suites on the Jade, Gem, and Jewel, most recently on the Gem in early 2023. All real suites, Haven and non-Haven (I'm not talking about Club Balcony "suites") had priority embarkation and disembarkation. I can't say I recall what the listed amenities were for those cruises, but I would find it odd that on the Jewel-class ships NCL has carved out the Haven suites for priority embarkation and disembarkation and denied that to the other suites. Hopefully someone who has sailed recently can comment. I wouldn't pay $5,000 more for a Haven suite on the Jewel-class ships, but YMMV.

Got it, thanks so much!

Thanks so much for the great tutorial and advice! One question about the above — when you say “everyone is assigned a unique onboard number which you will find under Contacts,” who is the “everyone” to whom you refer? All guests on the ship? Only people whose onboard numbers you have permission (some how) to see? Sorry to be confused here.

Thank you SO much for all of your information. It's exactly what I was looking for. We'll be traveling with a mixed group of cruising vets and newbies, I suspect some will have unlimited WiFi, some won't, and I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for us all to stay in touch, make plans for meals as you mentioned, etc. The app sounds like the way to go, especially with the chat feature. (Is that different from having a group text? In other words, can you send a text to all of the members of the group, or is that the same as the chat?) When getting ready to use the app, is it difficult to differentiate between the ship's INTRAnet used for the app, and the INTERnet used for FAS WiFi minutes and additional paid-for minutes? (We'll probably have some folks not as "comfortable" with tech as others. 🙂 ) Thanks for mentioning the closed loophole for iPhone to iPhone texting. I've read that elsewhere and won't plan on it (especially since I suspect some of our group won't have Apple devices). Thanks again! And @mking8288, Henry, thank you for tagging @Sugar Magnolia for the assist! Judith

Huge thanks, Henry. Much appreciated! We’ll be traveling with a bunch of friends next year and I’m starting to look into the best way for everyone to be able to keep in touch on board. Thanks again, Judith

When using the texting feature, does the recipient of the text get any sort of alert that a new text has come in? (I know on some cruise line apps there’s no alert, you have to check periodically to see if you’ve received any messages.) Also, can you text more than one person at the same time (assuming of course that they’ve paid for and activated the messaging app)? Thanks!