sofmall

Angelle is on vacation, replaced on Ovation on 8 March by Christopher Turdo as you have already noted. Angelle will be back in May but I don't know what date or if it will be back to Ovation or elsewhere.

That might have been when the CD conference was on, and the CD's were all away in Miami. We were on a cruise 2-14 February and unfortunately didn't have the regular CD but the activities manager took the role. Many many people on the ship didn't even know she was not the regular CD. 

Does anyone know who will be CD on the Ovation between 30 March and 17 April?

Isn't Joff debarking on March 30th?

20 hours ago, ShellsDH said:

Sofmall, 

Yes I do.. Its not common knowledge yet, but its going to be our Australian CD, Chris Brown. He is definitely going to be our CD on the Ovation Transpacific cruise on the 17th April.. I heard this first hand btw..  

Thank you! I'm relieved to know it's not Angelle .... I tried very hard to like her on the cruise we just disembarked, where she was acting CD in Joff's absence. But by the last few days I had to admit she just isn't my cup of tea.

It's odd, someone at the Guest Services phoned Joff's wife to ask about the early April cruises... whether Joff would be on... and she said they'd be going on vacation on the 17th April. `Looks like we'll miss out on Joff yet again, but hoping that Chris Brown is good.

Does anyone know who will be CD on the Ovation from 30 March to 17 April? The list here says Joff will be on till the 30th, his wife said they'll be on vacation from 17 April.... so that leaves a gap of 17 days. Hopefully the CD won't be Angelle.

We're on the Ovation at present, cruise ends tomorrow. 

I'm on the Ovation now, day 3 of cruise, and was very disappointed to find no Joff! Rotten timing, with the Miami CD conference going on! Even two members of staff told us upon boarding that the CD for this cruise was Joff. Wrong... it's Angelle, who is lovely but I guess that means I won't get to experience all the fun things I'm told she does in her usual role.

I'm Australian, relate to the British, enjoy the sense of humour, and have loved what I've seen of Joff on Youtube videos. I've been anticipating for months both the ship and Joff as the CD. So seems we'll have to book on the Ovation again. 

6 hours ago, CruisingJoe09 said:

Joff is on OV until March 30th so he will be your CD. 

Excellent news, can't wait! Thanks!

1 hour ago, katidid213 said:

Any idea if Joff Eaton will return to the Caribbean at some point. I had him on Indy years ago and is by far my favorite CD.

I'm excited to hear he is a favourite, because we're cruising in Australia in early Feb. and I'm hoping against hope that he will still be here at that stage. I've read a lot of good things about him so am looking forward to having a good cruise director after a run of very weak ones (on NCL).

It's easy to have them removed. If you haven't pre-paid the service charges (I don't regard them as tips and doubt that much of it goes to the staff, but rather goes into NCL's coffers) just go to the front desk and ask for them to be removed. Usually they tell you to come back on the second last day and it will be done. We go back then, make the request, and it's fine. No stress. Easy.

And yes, service charges are charged over and above the cost of a drink. But that doesn't affect us as we always have the unlimited beverage "Free at Sea" perk, and for Australians there's no service charge added. Americans who have the "Free at Sea" are still charged service charges on their drinks.

The bed would be by the balcony in 7244

Ken, thank you, that's what I wanted to hear. I'd thought it might be after reading forum threads and examining deckplans but still wasn't too confident. :)

We're looking at cabin 7244 on Ovation of the Seas. We'd like a cabin with the bed by the balcony.

Does anyone know if 7244 fits the bill please?

It will interesting to follow what is going to happen having spent 48 days on the Jewel in those areas this year and 40 days between Honolulu and Sydney last year.

We were shipmates on the Jewel coming into Sydney last year, though we only did the Papeete to Sydney leg, having flown into Papeete and spent a few days, then joined the Jewel to cruise home. Great cruise!

We'd really wanted to be on the trip from Japan to Seattle that's just completed but it clashed with a cruise we'd already booked. As it turned out, our recent cruise was magic so no regrets, but I do hope they repeat that Japan to Seattle or Vancouver itinerary in 2019. I'm looking forward to reading reviews on it.

I'm still unable to grasp what bearing the ship chosen for the Australian/NZ 2019/2020 sailings will have on what the Jewel does in April/early May this year.... unless the aim is to have different routes for the Jewel going north and the ??? ship coming south later in 2019. But you've obviously got a good handle on what all the issues are; all I can do is cross my fingers and keep checking the NCL site for new sailings.

I feel it's a shame that NCL have chosen to have the Jewel mainly cruising NZ (already extensively covered by the other cruiselines) and the occasional "S. Pacific" cruise to have been half S Pacific ports and half hugging the Australian coast. As an Australian I wouldn't bother booking on a ship that is going to take me to a disgraceful Brisbane port and a couple of Australian ports in areas I've been to anyway. With the main market probably being Australians, I'd think this would put many off. I wonder if this could make NCL's Sydney based cruises less popular than they hoped.

NCL would, I think, have done better offering some decent South Pacific ports, or ports not so often visited, eg Champagne Bay, Mare, Mystery Island, and definitely some appealing Fijian ports such as Dravuni Island rather than unappealing Suva, Lautoka.

Tonga and Samoa, too, are not common on present Australian based cruise ship itineraries. They could have made a positive point of difference between them and Australia's Carnival and RCI S. Pacific itineraries. But I suppose there's good logistical reasons why some of the more beautiful and pristine ports aren't so often visited.

We loved Cagney's and La Cucina.

I was really looking forward to Teppanyaki but was disappointed. It was fun, but the food... no! He cooked, and cooked, and cooked, and cooked the chicken breast and I knew it would be ruined... chicken breast loses its moistness very quickly. It was like eating squares of leather. But I'd give it a second chance because perhaps it was the chef we had.

Until NCL decided which ship is going to be in the Southern Hemisphere for the 2019/2020 summer season the whereabouts of the Jewel is in limbo.

Yes, but the Jewel is in Asia in March, having left Australia after our Summer season, and is in Alaska in May. I'm wondering when we'll know what it's doing in April. Surely the 2019/2020 Summer season wouldn't have any bearing on what the Jewel is doing in April 2019? It has to get from Asia to Alaska somehow.

I agree, I've been waiting for the Jewel's re-positioning itinerary for April 2019 for months. I'm at the point now of browsing other cruise lines to see what they have to offer.

I am interested in the Jewel schedule for transpacific to Vancouver in 2019 too. Following this post.

 

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Me too! We definitely want to book it in 2019 if it happens. We've been waiting since late last year for the 2019 April itineraries.

That makes sort of sense.....Mar4 to Mar 16....Asia and then the next one shows up as May 20 Alaska.....lots of time between to do what????? strange!!!!.....hope they do the Tokyo to Vancover or Seattle in spring 2019......May 6th this year is being really sold off.....so may be a great deal again next year.....

Thanks....

I too am waiting for the April 2019 itineraries on the Jewel to be released. We've known since late last year that we want to do the same cruise as you mention out of Tokyo. We would have booked it for this year but it clashes with one we'd already booked.

It's now April and I check daily on the NCL site to see if April 2019 is still greyed out. It is. Jewel has cruises there for every month up till April and from May to September. I've messaged NCL a couple of times but my message only goes to the Australian NCL agent and they don't know.

I'm seeing other cruises on other lines we'd like to do, but only if the NCL Tokyo to Seattle/Vancouver itinerary doesn't happen. I've by passed other appealing cruises, missed out on promos too, whilst I wait for NCL to get their act together. No way would we do a re-location via Hawaii as we've done that twice and we want something different.

I hear you. I just wanted to point out the existence of that flight since you didn't mention EWR, only JFK or LGA. I'm certainly one who's more than willing to add connections if it is cheaper or gets me a better flying experience - which is why I'm flying to Barcelona in 2 weeks' time via Warsaw :D

 

Great location - this is the road that links Upper Town and Lower Town. Depending on how much luggage you have, you could actually walk to the cruise terminal, it's that close. And lots of great restaurants in that area, just read menus until you see one you like.

I thought I'd chosen well, but not THAT well! We paid a little more than for some AirBnb's available, but I sensed from reading a bit about Quebec that the location would be good. I wasn't aware of how close the cruise terminal is either.

Yes we'll be over-nighting in Quebec. I've already booked an AirBnB which is in a guesthouse in a 17th century building in the old city, located Côte de la Montagne.

I just took a look at your hotel and it looks beautiful... the type of decor, brick walls etc remind me of the place I booked.

We board the next day but the ship overnights in Quebec so we get 2 full days, plus what's left of the day we arrive.

You should easily be able to make a 12:55 flight out of La Guardia. You would want to be at airport by 10:55ish. On a Sunday morning, it should not take much more than 30 minutes to get there by Uber or taxi. Even if you get into port at 8, you would certainly be off before 10.

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That's really helpful and reassuring, thank you. I've booked us with Air Canada on a 12.45 flight out of La Guardia. We'll carry our own bags off the ship and head straight to the airport.

Twickenham, the non stop flight sounded great but turned out to be just too expensive, especially with currency conversion factored in too. The one we booked isn't too bad; it will be in Quebec at about 3.45.

Due to NCL cancelling our round trip cruise, originally starting in New York but now changed to a one-way cruise (on Norwegian Gem) from Quebec to NY, we need to book a flight from New York to Quebec to pick up our cruise.

We're in Australia but the reason we need a flight out of New York is that we'll be on a different NCL cruise out of NY from 30 Sept. to 7 Oct. Originally our two cruises were almost back to backs - the reason we chose them! - since we were to board the second cruise ship in NY on the 8th. But since the itinerary was changed we need to disembark on the 7th, head straight to an airport, and fly to Quebec. So our almost-back-to-back has become one cruise out of the States followed by the other out of a different country!

So my questions...

1. Our first cruise is, according to the itinerary, docking in NY at 8am. This is later than any cruise we've been on so far... usually they get in earlier but we have never cruised into New York. If anyone's familiar with NCL's cruises into NY (the ship will be Norwegian Escape) is that 8am possibly going to be earlier or do they stick strictly to the given times? I don't know what time we'd even be off the ship, though we will definitely be up bright and early and happy to carry our own luggage off.

2. How long would it take us to get from the Manhattan cruise terminal to an airport? I'm guessing La Guardia but maybe JFK International. I need to figure out what time flight to book, allowing us wiggle room and avoiding stress, whilst trying to make sure we get to Quebec not so late that we miss out on valuable sightseeing time.

I can see a flight out of La Guardia at 12.55 pm and am wondering if we'd realistically make that one in time?

3. Would we be best pre-booking a shuttle to the airport (maybe not, since it would be shared and therefore could take longer), grabbing a taxi, taking an Uber... ?

I'd really appreciate input from anyone who's on the spot, or with experience of cruises and flights in and out of New York. Thanks! It's really hard to even imagine the logistics from here in Australia.

I was booked on the Sept 8 cruise round trip to Quebec. (I received an email yesterday that that cruise was cancelled and turned into two one way cruises that repeat the itineraries. They offer to rebook on one of these or cancel completely. They also claim that they would pay air fare to or from Quebec. I called the special number and they said it was probably refundable AFTER the cruise was over. They were no help. I have until Jan 22 to make up my mind.

I'm interested in what NCL said they'd do about your airfare. I see you live in New York so mustn't have needed airfares originally? In that case, have NCL simply indicated they'll cover your airfare ($300 pp max.) to Quebec since you originally weren't going to need airfare?

We're in Australia. We MUST travel to New York as we're on the Bermuda cruise on the Escape, 30 September. We disembark on the 7th so had at the same time booked the Gem for the 8th as an almost-back-to-back. Our TA, who after 2 days still hasn't managed to get our option 1 re-booking organised, said that NCL told her the $300 wasn't available to us as its compensation for an airfare change fee.

I've just written an email to NCL head office for consideration.... we're locked into flying Australia to New York return for our first NCL cruise, and now we will need to buy extra flights to embark on our cruise that was supposed to leave from the same terminal as our first. So if they've told you they will cover your airfare to Quebec, I'm encouraged.

I've been feeling pretty stressed about all this, but then I think that at least the sailing on the 8th HAS options; there are others so much more disadvantaged by all the cancellations and I'm really feeling for them.

The Dawn also has Canada/New England itineraries. I'm wondering why its cruises wouldn't also be affected if it was due to the whale issue.

We're booked on the Oct. 8th Canada/New England cruise. I've been trying to get some information about what's happening but haven't had success. Our travel agent is on holiday but left a message replying to my call, saying our bookings are all in place! She obviously has missed the point.

I haven't been able to get a response from NCL.

I'm now seeing online travel sites either not listing the Gem October cruises, or saying "Sold Out".

We're flying from Australia, cruising to Bermuda on the Escape, Sept 30 - Oct. 7, then a day after that cruise we are supposed to board the Gem.