lakeliving501 Posted May 14, 2018 #1 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Husband and I are new to NCL, but have cruised Celebrity twice and have 2 upcoming cruises booked with them. We love the itinerary of the 10/24/19 Med cruise and I checked out the super active roll call which is exciting! Questions I have - how does internet work? It appears to be very costly-we will use it more than 250 minutes over the course of 14 days, I’m sure. Could someone please break down the gratuity protocol for me? This is a port intensive cruise and the balcony cabin looks great to me. Is there any advantage to booking mini suite? Thanks so much for any advice!!! Ellen Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare fabnfortysomething Posted May 14, 2018 #2 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Husband and I are new to NCL, but have cruised Celebrity twice and have 2 upcoming cruises booked with them. We love the itinerary of the 10/24/19 Med cruise and I checked out the super active roll call which is exciting! Questions I have - how does internet work? It appears to be very costly-we will use it more than 250 minutes over the course of 14 days, I’m sure. Could someone please break down the gratuity protocol for me? This is a port intensive cruise and the balcony cabin looks great to me. Is there any advantage to booking mini suite? Thanks so much for any advice!!! Ellen Sent from my iPad using Forums the internet is not only costly it is very slow If you are going to send emails compose them offline and just connect to send and receive-otherwise your minutes will go rapidly gratuity is made simple the DSC which covers cabin stewards waiters and behind scenes staff is automatically added to your account each day so no need for envelopes to give out on last night -you can prepay before cruise if you want to a drinks gratuity is also included in price of drink and similar with spa treatments mini suite has slightly bigger bathroom not a true suite as no perks included hope that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VideoTech Posted May 14, 2018 #3 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Husband and I are new to NCL, but have cruised Celebrity twice and have 2 upcoming cruises booked with them. We love the itinerary of the 10/24/19 Med cruise and I checked out the super active roll call which is exciting! Questions I have - how does internet work? It appears to be very costly-we will use it more than 250 minutes over the course of 14 days, I’m sure. Could someone please break down the gratuity protocol for me? This is a port intensive cruise and the balcony cabin looks great to me. Is there any advantage to booking mini suite? Thanks so much for any advice!!! Ellen Sent from my iPad using Forums The internet isn't that complicated. You buy a package of internet minutes, anything from by-the-minute to an unlimited minutes package. If you are using your cell phone, you make sure the phone is in Airplane mode. Then turn on just the wifi on your phone. Connect to the NCL wifi, establish your sign on and password, then you can do most of what you normally do on the internet. It will be slower than you are used to, however. Remember to SIGN OFF the NCL internet when you are done if you have a limited number of minutes. Only one device can be signed into your account at a time, but you can use any number of devices..your phone, tablet, laptop, whatever. Just sign each one on, and then off again. If all you're doing is grabbing email and responding, you may find 250 minutes is fine for 14 days. You can always add minutes or just buy the unlimited plan. I don't know if the Jade has been upgraded with the new NCL internet services yet. The new services have packages that are sold for high volume use, such as streaming video. Also remember that you can often find a cafe or restaurant with internet at your port stops...just buy a coffee or a drink and spend a few minutes on their internet service. Finally, you will see a lot of discussion about whether or not you can text to your family and friends ashore. The answer is yes, but only with services that use the internet for texting, such as Facebook Messenger. Standard cell phone texting (SMS messaging) does not work with the phone in airplane mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakeliving501 Posted May 14, 2018 Author #4 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Thanks for for the explanations! Any thoughts on cabin selection? Choices are BA midship on 9 or 10. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VideoTech Posted May 14, 2018 #5 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Thanks for for the explanations! Any thoughts on cabin selection? Choices are BA midship on 9 or 10. Sent from my iPhone using Forums I would take deck 10 so you have cabins above and below you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakeliving501 Posted May 14, 2018 Author #6 Share Posted May 14, 2018 That is exactly what I will do. This is a very friendly forum. Any other advice is appreciated! Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakeliving501 Posted May 14, 2018 Author #7 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Just got word from agent that room on 9 has king bed, room on 10 queen and sleeps 4. Does this mean size difference? Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sauer-kraut Posted May 14, 2018 #8 Share Posted May 14, 2018 Just jumping in here .... leave your fancy clothes at home!! NCL is very casual, shorts allowed in most venues. Have a great cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlelulu01 Posted May 15, 2018 #9 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Hi. Just a thought but have you contemplated booking a suite for this sailing? The lowest category full suite hasn’t had a pricing increase on this sailing. Suites receive full compliments of all of the free at sea perks. They also have their own dining venue available for breakfast and lunch and access to a butler and concierge and a very nice Nespresso maker in your room. They still have one non handicap room available on deck 8 aft. It’s about $900 pp more than the mini suites. They had the suites priced pretty low for this sailing. As a result almost all are gone. On the other hand a suite might not interest you on such a port intensive sailing. Just thought id mention it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare fabnfortysomething Posted May 15, 2018 #10 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Just got word from agent that room on 9 has king bed, room on 10 queen and sleeps 4. Does this mean size difference? Sent from my iPhone using Forums questioning the knowledge of your agent all the main beds on NCL are twin type that can be separated or zipped together to create 1 large bed according to who is sharing cabin so no Queen /King type as may find in hotels the couch can be made up as a sofa bed for 3 in cabin for 4 people there will be a Pullman type which pulls down from ceiling cabin steward will make these up each night and put away next day so have room to move around cabin so balcony cabins are all same size but bed configuration can be adjusted minisuites as mentioned have a larger bathroom-on Jade I think its a shower above bathtub and a curtain to separate sofa bed from main bed so more privacy for a family however the price difference can be a bit and as mentioned no suite perks my criteria for balcony cabins are based on what is surrounding area that could cause noise issues especially look to have cabins above and below you eg being below pool deck will be woken by deck chairs being scraped into place early morning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Turtles06 Posted May 15, 2018 #11 Share Posted May 15, 2018 OP: we've sailed on the Jade (in the Med, in the winter, one of our best cruises ever) as well as on a number of her sister Jewel-class ships. We are also fans of Celebrity. I think you'll enjoy the Jade. My thoughts on cabins: we never book a mini-suite on the Jewel-class ships. They are on Deck 11, under public spaces that have the potential to be noisy. We like to have cabins above and below us. In addition, the bathroom in the mini-suites has a tub/shower combo, not a freestanding shower. That means a pretty high climb over the side of the tub in order to take a shower. If anyone in your party is short, or has bad knees or other mobility issues, or the ship is rockin and rollin, this is no fun. And, as others have said, the minis are not "suites" in terms of perks. No perks. It's really a deluxe balcony. We typically book a balcony cabin on Deck 10 of the Jade/other Jewel class ships. Cabins above and below. A BA would be fine, but often you'll find a better value by booking a BB. And if you can get one around 10040 (or 10540), it's an excellent location near the forward elevators. If there really is an aft-facing non-handicap penthouse suite left as noted in a comment above, and you can afford it, you might splurge there. NCL does treat its suite passengers very well. And I agree that your TA does not know what he/she is talking about in terms of the beds. The beds in NCL's balcony cabins can be set up as two twins or put together as a queen. If you have more questions, please ask! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakeliving501 Posted May 15, 2018 Author #12 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Since this is such a port intensive cruise, we are not considering suites (guess I would if we got a great price). We got the BA offer for. $100 more than the forward balcony. Our price for this on deck 9 or 10 is about 1500 less than mini suite. I pulled the room data from NCL site and misinterpreted it myself [emoji23] before I sent note to ta. Do the balcony rooms have nightstands? I can’t tell from video. Also, is coffee provided for the in room maker? Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sauer-kraut Posted May 15, 2018 #13 Share Posted May 15, 2018 Coffee filter/coffee combo is indeed included. It will be replenished when used. I think there is a small (tiny) bedside table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakeliving501 Posted May 16, 2018 Author #14 Share Posted May 16, 2018 Thanks for all your help. We booked today. Signed up on roll call-this will be a fun time for sure! Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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