Philly NCL Cruise Trip Briefing

Cruising From Philadelphia: A Week Aboard the Norwegian Jewel

When I took the cruise most of the check in process took place at the Clairon hotel, except for the passport procedure which took place at the terminal. Now everything will be done at the terminal, but you can park your car at the hotel, or other long term parking spots in the area who shuttle you to the terminal. This is a shot I took last Thursday when we returned from the cruise.

The Philaport website just updated their cruise information for the upcoming sailing tomorrow. They list all the information prior to embarkation and they also list how embarkation and disembarkation will take place at the terminal. In terms of parking, there will be off site parking at the Clarion hotel. It’s $16 per day, per vehicle if you are arriving independently. Once you park your car at the hotel, they will offer shuttle buses to the terminal and they store your luggage at the bottom of the bus. You can visit their website for more information but I hope this helps too.

After many years away from cruising, Mike and I finally returned to the high seas, and this time we didn’t even have to fly anywhere to do it.

We sailed aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Jewel right out of Philadelphia, which was probably one of the biggest attractions for me. There’s something pretty amazing about leaving your house in Philadelphia and, before you know it, you’re on a cruise ship heading down the Delaware River toward the Atlantic Ocean.

Mike and I have sailed 4 times before, 3 times in an Inside Cabin and the 4th time with a balcony, to Alaska!

I called our friend Rob Saxon, Travel Consultant with Simple Luxuries, because I like to use a travel agent every once in a while, especially since it had been a few years since we’d taken a cruise. We really didn’t know which cabin to choose for sailing on the Atlantic. It can get rough out there, and we both sometimes get seasick.

Rob did a great job picking out our cabin. We were midship, which meant less rocking, and he found us a balcony cabin where I could capture those sunrises and sunsets I love. Best of all, neither one of us got seasick. Yeah!!

Plus these dates included the Perseids Meteor shower, I saw 4, but didn’t get a photo of them.

We slept in twin beds for the first time in our life. Now, I know you can ask the cabin steward to push them together and secure them into a queen size. Who knew…

The room was adorable and very similar to an inside cabin, except we had a balcony. Spacious enough too, with a TV that showed the ships location, and replayed fun ship board events.

Unfortunately, the power situation was a bit of a problem, but thankfully I had already read about it on the Jewel Cruise Facebook group, where I learned so much about cruising. Things have really changed in the six years since I last cruised!

I didn’t realize there were only two outlets in the room. You can bring a multi-plug adapter like this, but it cannot have a surge protector or an extension cord. And here’s something important I learned: unplug it whenever you leave your room. If the stateroom attendant comes in and sees it plugged in, they’ll unplug it for you. If it happens repeatedly, they may even confiscate it and return it at the end of the cruise.

Everything you could possibly want to know can be found online, including answers to questions you wouldn’t even know to ask. There’s an overall Facebook group for cruising out of Philadelphia, as well as groups dedicated to specific ships and cruises.

In all the years I cruised, I didn’t know that most of the walls,

and the stateroom door, was metal. Magnets make your life so easy.

I bought this magnetic toothbrush holder for the bathroom on Amazon, along with that hook, to hold my toothbrush.

Mike and I are not really pool people, so the crowds didn’t bother us. The adult pool is to the right, which means no kids. But the real adults-only area is up on the balcony to the left, called The Vibe, and it costs additional. There are lounge chairs, servers and a hot tub.

One thing that has certainly changed since the last time I cruised is how important internet access has become for my work. Years ago, going on a cruise meant disconnecting. That’s nearly impossible for me now since so much of my work and PhillyChitChat happens online, and Mike also needed to be in touch with his office daily.

There are three different levels of internet service aboard the ship, and I quickly discovered that social media can require a higher level of service than simply checking email or browsing the web. Apparently Instagram counts as streaming. Who knew?

The internet package we finally settled on, after it took us a day to figure everything out, was the stateroom package: $240 for the first person and $120 for the second person. We actually changed our service a few times while trying to determine what worked best for us, and I have to give credit to the staff at the Internet Café as they were very accommodating each time.

It would have been helpful, though, if someone there had explained from the beginning that only one person in the cabin needed to sign up, since the package included two sign-ins. Once we figured that out, they were great about making the adjustment and refunding what we didn’t need.

One of the most important things we didn’t do until nearly too late was download the cruise app as soon as we booked and paid for the trip in May. Rob kept reminding me to download it because so much of the information would be there, but I was so busy that I didn’t get around to it until after FIFA ended. By then, a lot of the excursions and dining reservations were already taken. So download that APP as soon as you can.

I also think there is something to be said for having a travel agent. It’s reassuring to have someone on land you can contact if a question or problem comes up while you’re traveling, and I would probably use a travel agent again for that reason alone. At one point, I had a question about the gratuities NCL had billed us as people in our friend group were discussing it, so I reached out to Rob Saxon. He was able to pull up our original statement and send it to me.

NCL does pre-bill gratuities, which are pooled among the crew. We still gave cash tips to some of the people who took care of us personally during the cruise. For us, that felt like the right thing to do.

And finally, check your statement! Check it during the cruise, again the day before you leave the ship, and then once more about a week after you get home. Almost everything on ours was correct, except we discovered that we had somehow been charged for cruise insurance for three people, even though there were only two of us.

All in all it was a great cruise, we met great people and I can’t wait to cruise out of Philly again, soon. If you have any questions send me an email hughe@phillychitchat.com