Live from Singapore to HK on the Jewel-March 10th 2018

Boarding the Jewel today!!!

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Boarding the Jewel today!!!

 

 

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Good luck. We are leaving today and are glad to get off. Are really considering no longer sailing NCL. 29 days of frustration and running out of food throughout.

Good luck. We are leaving today and are glad to get off. Are really considering no longer sailing NCL. 29 days of frustration and running out of food throughout.

Please explain

Day 11 (yesterday) - Sea Day

Super lazy day at sea - slept in, missed breakfast but for the first time had lunch on the ship - went to the “suite lunch” in moderno’s.

The mushroom fettuccini is very good

My husband had the swordfish burger and also enjoyed it.

None of the stores were opened until 4p - and the casino opened around 530p - we were too close to shore until late afternoon. Filled the day with going to the thermal spa and having a pedicure.

Hung out in the casino in the evening (did not do well). Ate very late at O’sheehans for dinner - fish n chips for hubby, I had the burger with fries. In the past I have been underwhelmed with O’Sheehan’s. This time it was quite tasty. It came really hot - I wonder if that’s what the difference is.

The night before on our bed was general instructions about leaving your luggage out etc.....

Instructions for suite guests are arrive anytime between 7am & 930am in Chin Chin’s restaurant to collect your passport & be escorted off.

Freestyle Daily - Day 11

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Good luck. We are leaving today and are glad to get off. Are really considering no longer sailing NCL. 29 days of frustration and running out of food throughout.

Please do expand. We never had the experience when ordering food that they had “run out” - was it one restaurant in particular.? We had an amazing 11 day experience but I think I would find 29 days too long even if everything was perfect. But everyone is different - I ran into a lady in the spa that said she has done many cruises longer than 40 days and is always disappointed when the cruise comes to an end!

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Boarding the Jewel today!!!

 

 

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Have an amazing time! we did - I am watching you at present from our hotel room in HK as I type this, view from our room in the Habour Grand Kowloon

That’s the jewel - maybe hard to see because of the distance and the windows are tinted.

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Disembarkation Day in Hong Kong

The cruise has come to and end. We do not have breakfast today as we are still full because we ate so late last night.

View from our balcony this morning

We left 2 of our suitcases outside the room yesterday before midnight as the instructions directed. We carry one off with us today. We head to Chin Chins to meet Bruno for our priority disembarkation - arrive at Chin Chin’s at 845am and are outside looking for our tour guide at 9am. 15 minutes total from start to finish.

We collect our passports at Chin Chin’s & are escorted off to have our room keys swiped for the last time - we approached from the other side so could not tell how long the line for general disembarkation was.

After the gangway there is an escalator going down to the customs area- we are not allowed to bring our roll on luggage on the escalator, we are directed to the one (and only) elevator - my husband took it with our suitcase (he had to wait 2 elevators) - I imagine this bottleneck could cause major delays.

I take the escalator (that’s Bruno at the bottom)

At the bottom you turn right to go in to a large area/customs hall

Here you pick up your luggage

Bruno says goodbye to us at this point.

Then you proceed to the end of the large room and turn right again and just walk out through the customs area. They would not let me take any photos in this area.

Basically if you have nothing to declare you just walk out. I guess those landing cards that we filled out a few days ago are all that was needed.

You walk out on the level where the general taxi’s are. If you have a private car/tour guide meeting you, on the right is the elevator to take you up one floor - again would not allow me to take a photo of the signage as technically we are still in the customs area. The signs are easy to follow but it would have been nice if I could have taken a photo for you. Darn rules!

You get off the elevator and this is the platform where we find our tour guide.

We are in HK for 2 days - will post photos of our room etc in a bit. Enough for now!

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Boarding the Jewel today!!!

 

 

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And now you are on your way! Bon Voyage!

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Day 9- Chan May Port (we go to Hoi An)

 

We do not paddle the boats, they have “paddlers” assigned - we stop and our “paddler” (I don’t know the proper name for this position) pulls off a leaf and starts to fold it

......the before

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......the after (she made about 6 different ones)

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We decided to take a few of them home, we are hoping they dry out nicely and will use them as decorations on our Xmas tree.

 

You have lovely manicure - your nails are similar to mine and I wonder if the manicure was done while on the ship. If so, I'll go for one on the ship next month as my birthday treat!

GREAT review - thank you!! We are booked on the Jewel's SIN to SYD in Nov this year.

Thank you for your review and the wonderful pictures.

The Jewel is by far my favorite Norwegian ship and this particular staff is amazing. I hope someday to do be able to join them on this cruise.

My late husband served with the Air Force in Vietnam in 1966-67. I would love to see Vietnam.

Mandy

And now you are on your way! Bon Voyage!

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Thank you ... what a wonderful live blog - review. Those pictures of Halong Bay & the land tour are what I am looking for, going to show/share them - quite a few in the extended family will be very interested in doing this itinerary, once all the early retirees get their acts together and can go as a group. The food pictures look excellent and how did you like those Vietnamese coffee ... now, those Starbucks won't even taste the same, me think.

Same with those few pictures of the arrival into HK and disembarkation ... very helpful to others, I am 100% sure. Suffice to say, would you agree that the process is quite efficient, organized and quick - and, even the taxi lines were moving and managed well by the terminal staff (or dispatcher ??)

Excellent "reporting" and job well done, much obliged & useful to many on CC. Enjoying your post-cruise stay in HK ...

Good luck. We are leaving today and are glad to get off. Are really considering no longer sailing NCL. 29 days of frustration and running out of food throughout.

We did 18 days Sydney to Singapore the tendering was useless they ran out of rose wine not that I drink it I would rather lick my own armpit just 2 days after sailing from Sydney.

Have loved this but have not been able to view the photos

You have lovely manicure - your nails are similar to mine and I wonder if the manicure was done while on the ship. If so, I'll go for one on the ship next month as my birthday treat!

 

GREAT review - thank you!! We are booked on the Jewel's SIN to SYD in Nov this year.

Yes done on the ship, if you’re on the Jewel ask for Latoya. Happy birthday!

Thank you ... what a wonderful live blog - review. Those pictures of Halong Bay & the land tour are what I am looking for, going to show/share them - quite a few in the extended family will be very interested in doing this itinerary, once all the early retirees get their acts together and can go as a group. The food pictures look excellent and how did you like those Vietnamese coffee ... now, those Starbucks won't even taste the same, me think.

 

Same with those few pictures of the arrival into HK and disembarkation ... very helpful to others, I am 100% sure. Suffice to say, would you agree that the process is quite efficient, organized and quick - and, even the taxi lines were moving and managed well by the terminal staff (or dispatcher ??)

 

Excellent "reporting" and job well done, much obliged & useful to many on CC. Enjoying your post-cruise stay in HK ...

I really enjoyed the coffee in Vietnam. Strong and has a Carmel twinge to it, but not flavored. I ended up buying some beans to take home and enjoy at a later date. Thanks for the suggestion!

The disembarkation in HK was very smooth. The only bottleneck could be that elevator they made my husband take, if a lot of people carry off their bags, there could be a long line.

I didn’t notice a line for the taxi. My guess is that they have this down to a fine art as well.

Really enjoyed your review, brought back lots of memories. Have fun in Hong Kong! Can't wait for our turn on the Jewel in May.

Please do expand. We never had the experience when ordering food that they had “run out” - was it one restaurant in particular.? We had an amazing 11 day experience but I think I would find 29 days too long even if everything was perfect. But everyone is different - I ran into a lady in the spa that said she has done many cruises longer than 40 days and is always disappointed when the cruise comes to an end!

 

 

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We did 57 days on The Star last year and didn't want to get off.

Have loved this but have not been able to view the photos

That happened to me once, I tried on another device and could see the pictures. If that doesn’t work I am no help - frankly I am technically challenged- the fact that I figured out how to post pictures at all still amazes me :)

Day 1 in Hong Kong

We customized a tour for HK, Xi’an & Beijing with a company called China Discovery. Our coordinator is Johnson and he was super easy to work with via email. It’s too early to rate the experience as we are only into day 2 of a 9 day adventure. We are pleased with our tour guide in HK. If you consider this company just be aware there is another company with a very similar name but that one is in California, this one is in China.

The tour guide picks us up at the airport, we go to the hotel and check-in. We are staying at the Harbour Grand Kowloon, in a harbour view room.

The lobby in under renovation, what we can see is nice and simple

Room is nice (our tour operator said this was a 5 star, I would say 4)-the view is a 5 star!

Again instant coffee

The pool is on the roof, lots of loungers around the pool and on the lower level

Again the view....

and the hot tub

After a quick check in we head off lead by Cecilia our tour guide to the Po Lin Monastery (on Lantau Island). We take the “crystal” cable car to the top of the mountain to visit this site - you can also hike up the trail - it takes about 3 hours - that’s why are butts are in the cable car.

The “crystal” car has a glass bottom

When you first exit the cable car you are in a “shopping” section, you can get a coffee (at Starbucks) and then start your touring.

Once at the top we stroll around many different buildings and temples including the room of 10000 Buddha’s- not sure what happened to that photo.

We see the largest seated outdoor Buddha. This photo is a little more than the 1/2 way point, if I remember correctly it’s 268 steps to get to the top (we made it but took a couple of breaks!)

If you are going to visit this site on your own - you can save about 45minutes (or more) if you buy your ticket online ahead of time. This was the line to buy your ticket....

The guide gets our ticket in a minute - then there is the second line to actually get on the cable car. We waited about 20 minutes and we were in the “tourists with guide” line which was significantly shorter than the other line. An advantage to having a tour guide.

We get back to the hotel around 3p - have a rest, refresh and head out again for the evening. Our hotel has a shuttle that runs every 20 minutes to Hankow Road (very close to where the laser light show is every night). We pan on taking in the show on Day 2.

We go to the Temple Street Night Market

Did not buy anything but had fun wandering around, ate dinner at

which is a restaurant at the market.

Lemon chicken (interesting but good)

Beef & Black bean noodle (really good)

Rice with chicken & mushroom in a clay pot (not my thing, but like trying new things)

The meal with a beer & Diet Coke was $270HKD (around $34USD).

The metro system is very easy to use - like in Singapore you just touch your destination point on the screen, select the number of tickets and insert your money. This is the actual screen on the ticket machine

1st day in HK is over.

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Day 2 - HK

Breakfast buffet is included with our room - I will post photos & get cost tomorrow. It was very good.

We meet our tour guide in the lobby and start our day by going to Victoria Peak. You can drive up the mountain or go by tram.

The picture does not demonstrate how steep the climb is - I believe Cecelia said it was at a 27 degree angle.

The view from the top

Hope this guy gets danger pay!

We then head to visit the Aberdeen Fishing Village - Cecelia says the village one day will no longer exist as the new generation no longer wants to live and fish on a boat.

There is the only floating restaurant in HK in this area and Cecelia says they have good dim sum. We pass as we are not hungry. But if you want to check it out it’s called Jumbo Restaurant.

We then go to Stanley Market. We walk around, again don’t buy anything

We do stop and have a water and beer at one of the seaside cafe’s.

We then head to repulse bay - HK’s largest beach.

There are many statues of gods/Buddha’s to take in.

We are currently in our hotel room getting ready for the evening. Plan on catching the light show. I will report back tomorrow and then will be done - we fly to Xi’an tomorrow.

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What a fun trip report to follow along with! We will likely never get to visit this area of the world, so I am thoroughly enjoying your photographs and stories. :)

Fantastic review and pictures. We are looking at the same itinerary on the Jewel next March.

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Leaving HK today

Last night we caught our hotel shuttle, it runs every 20 minutes

It drops us off across the street from the cultural center and behind that building is the laser light show - right on the waterfront

The show lasts 10 minutes - starts night at 8pm with music. We initially considered taking a cruise to watch the light show but our guide told us it’s better to be on the waterfront so you can hear the music

It’s basically the buildings being lit up with lasers to music. I took a short video but cannot figure out how to post it. I am glad we went to say we saw it, it was nice, but wasn’t blown away.

For dinner my husband found a Japanese hot pot restaurant. We’ve never had hot pot before and what a blast we had. First off, all locals in the restaurant, no English what so ever on the menu. So we use the pictures and some of the other customers speak English and help us out.

For those who never been to hot pot - you basically cook the meal in the pot in front of you, eat that - then add broth and order other ingredients like noodles, veggies, - you add that to the pot, cook and eat. It was a lot of fun and quite tasty.

This morning we get up, quickly pack up and go for the breakfast buffet. Regular price $240HKD (about $30usd) pp.

It has a lot of asian & western options

A fresh juice section

We are waiting to be picked up to go to the airport to continue our adventure on land in China.

It’s been a pleasure sharing our trip experience with everyone. Please let me know if you have any questions. For those who will be reading this next year after you do a “search” on cc for information - feel free to leave me a question - if I am still hanging around i will answer!

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Hong Kong Airport Experience

We are flying domestically (to Xi’an) if you are flying internationally your experience may be different.

Our guide takes charge, I feel like a kid and mom is in control - totally happy to let her march us around. But if she was not with us - the English of the check in crew is sufficient.

Bag trolleys are free - even though our bags are on rollers we use them - makes it easier. You have to leave them outside security but more are available once you are inside going to your gate if you have heavy carry ons.

We are flying China Eastern Airlines - only allowed 40kg total check in for the both of us - I have, as usual, packed too much - we are 16kg over between the 3 bags - cost is $6usd per/kg - maybe this will motivate me to become a better packer! Credit card comes out and payment is made.

We then go through security - shoes do not need to come off. Laptops need to be in a separate bin.

Then we go through customs - this is an automated area. You just scan you passport - the gates open and you go through. You do not need to see a customs officer. Then we find our gate - signage is also in English - easy.

Again, may be different if you are flying internationally.

Some people were having trouble having their passports read by the scanner - there are people walking around to help trouble shoot - but is seemed the trick was to make sure that your passport was fully flattened when being scanned.

Free Wifi at the airport, and hour to kill before our flight, so the thread gets another tidbit of info.