It’s Fixed!
May 21, 2008
is fixed and up and running. Please replace this URL with that one!
Thanks! Click on the sentence above to get to the new link.
James
www.shipblogger.com
The Future
May 13, 2008
Aloha everyone,
I’m in las Vegas enjoying the last two weeks of my vacation before I return to the ship. I have some very important questions for you. I need to figure out a few things before I go back to the ship.
1. Would you like me to continue the blog about working on the cruise ship?
2. Would you like me to continue answering things on cruise critic and emails?
PLEASE leave a comment with your thoughts so I can decide what I should do.
Thanks,
James
NCL’s White Hot Nights Party
May 9, 2008
Freestyle 2.0 has some new parties. They are the White Hot Nights party and the Monte Carlo nights. The White Hot nights party was amazing. Loud music, people dancing, glow sticks and……..SNOW! I think people will love the new entertainment and these two parties. I was bored so put together a commercial I made for it. Enjoy
James
Amazing!
May 9, 2008
Aloha everyone,
I thought I would post a story that just made my month. I posted on Cruise Critic on the Royal Caribbean forum about a dvd that I was trying to get. Someone around my age said they wanted the dvd and he put on his aol instant messenger screen name. He was clearly an expert on Royal Caribbean and a huge cruise industry buff so I wanted to ask him some questions about Royal Caribbean. We started talking about the company and I said I had a blog and this is where our aim convo continued below. It just made me feel so special I had to post it!
me: I’m going to put some more videos online from the keel laying
Chris: HOLD THE PHONE! are u that guy on you tube?
me: yeah
Chris: NO WAY!
NO WAY
NO WAY!
me: www.youtube.com/user/cruiseshipcrew
if thats who you are thinking of
Chris: are u kidding me! OMG THIS IS SO COOL!
Me: lol so you have seen it before?
Chris: YES!
Chris: omg why didnt u tell me!
Me: haha i didnt know u watched it!!!
Chris: lol yeah i loved the one where u did cruise ship jokes and the one about the ice cream!
me: like 75% of the website isnt working and is off line now but my site is www.shipblogger.com
haha
thanks
Chris: get out! this is too cool!
i’ve been to your website before!
lol this is to cool!
me: would you be ok if i post part of that online? i love it haha
Chris: lol i am still flipping out! i cant believe your that guy! yeah go right ahead!
Anyway Thanks for those nice comments Chris..glad I made another friend whos as crazy about this industry as I am!
James
New Menus
May 6, 2008
Aloha,
I’m going to be posting the new Freestyle 2.0 menus for all the restaurants. To kick things off, here is the new room service one.
New Video
May 6, 2008
Greetings everyone,
I posted a new video with some pictures and random video clips from my last contract. Hope you enjoy!
Bad internet and no time
April 27, 2008
Greetings,
I arrived home at 9 pm and left the next morning to NYC. I’m getting on the Norwegian Dawn tomorrow and taking a week off. I have all the menus so im going to do some work during the cruise to get everything ready. The bad news is I didn’t have time to write stuff and edit photos in my few hours at home. The good news is I have a week of nothing but plenty of time to get stuff done. Im going to take the week off from posting and answering emails. If its urgent please mark the subject line as urgent.
Just over three weeks till I’m back on the ship.
James
Some F3 keel laying photos
April 25, 2008
Greetings,
I’m about to head to the airport but wanted to post a few quick photos.
First let me say the new cabins are great. We couldn’t take any photos from the cabin factory but we got to walk through them. They are a nice refreshing change from traditional cruise ship crew cabins. They are hot! More about those later. Check out f3.ncl.com for more details.
The keel laying was amazing. They had music playing and everyone was excited. After the top 5 executives placed their coin onto the keel I was the second to place mine in so 7th place! Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure till I get home so I can post more.
James
AnneMarie Mathews the Director of Public Relations
Jennifer one of the journalists.
Susan Robison the VP of F3 PR, shes the one that came out to talk to me and invite me to Miami!
Goodbye Jade :-(
April 22, 2008
Greetings everyone,
I have lots to post when I get home. I couldn’t post several things such as menus, photos etc because of the slow internet connection so this will continue when I get home. Tomorrow I will get off the Jade and fly to France to go to the F3 keel laying. The F3 is the largest ship on order in the history of NCL and im honored to be the only ship crew member going to the ceremony.
So I’m sorry for the delay in getting everything online but ship internet can be bad at times. More updates from France though!
James
Some more Jade and 2.0 updates
April 21, 2008
Greetings everyone,
When I get home and have more time to write and upload photos and videos I will go into more detail on these topics but I wanted to tell you a little now about some Freestyle 2.0 upgrades and general Norwegian Jade info.
Improved bedding:
This is HUGE! I must say the new bedding on the ships is wonderful. My favorite hotel is the Hilton Hawaiian Village and the main reason is because of their great beds but NCL has tied them. Every cabin, EVERY cabin from inside to mini suite has new bedding and pillows. Suites and above have new beds and bedding. They also have a pillow menu where you can select what pillows you want. I know everyone will notice the improvements. The shore excursion desk will probably see a few last minute cancellations due to not wanting to get out of them in the morning.
Latitudes lounge:
They are adding lounges for latitude members on the ships. These are located near the card rooms, meeting rooms and the library. It’s a space where people can sit down, read a book or play a game. They are stocked with coffee and tea.
Improved Library:
The libraries now have a honor system place. Instead of having to show up when the librarian was working to check out books you can now sign them out anytime. The libraries now also have coffee and tea products.
Action station restaurant:
These were formally known as the buffets. I really am impressed with the restaurant. For starters, during dinner you will notice every table has a table cloth and a candle. This really adds to the atmosphere at night. The restaurant also has a wider range of foods but also has more made to order items (stir fry station, pasta station, salad station, sandwiches made to order, wrap station, omelets station etc). In the morning they also had a station for customized blended fruit and vegetable juices. Overall great improvements.
Pool deck area:
When live music isn’t being played they have a new soundtrack of a very relaxing sounding music. It’s hard to describe the music but its not obnoxious but sounds fun but still feels relaxing. You can take a nice nap to it! Each deck chair now has a drink flag. It’s a simple flag that you can raise when you want bar service. Very convenient for those who want a drink and those who don’t and don’t want to be bothered by the bar staff.
Brunches in the Bistro:
NCL now offers brunches in the Bistro restaurant featuring different types of music for each one. This cruise they had the gospel and jazz brunch. The setting is in the Bistro restaurant so it has a upscale feeling which is nice. They offer a buffet line with items from Caesar salads to pastries and eggs. In addition to the buffet they have a full menu that you can order from. I went to the jazz one and had a great time. Can’t beat great food with great live music.
IMPROVED! Entertainment:
I must say I have been very happy with the new improved entertainment on the ship. NCL has great new shows and two new parties that are a blast! The first one was the white hot nights party. They promote this very well and all the crew wears their shirts during the day for the show. The party has signature drinks, great dancers, new modern music and it even snows! I took some video clips from the party that I will post when I get home but overall it was excellent! Their second featured party is the “Monte Carlo Night” in the casino. This party is very exciting with champagne fountains, dancers and music in the buffet. Both shows grew a very large crowd so they were exciting. I have also been very impressed with the shows in the theater this week. My favorite so far has been Shout! It’s about five girls during the 60s in England. They do all the popular songs and have comedy involved also. At the end of the show everyone was standing and really enjoying themselves. The Norwegian Jade also has a 6-8 member second city group that performs for 4 hours 6 nights of the week in the Spinnaker lounge. I have found myself laughing at every skit and considering they are doing 24 hours a week of improve its quite impressive.
Teen club:
The clubs have new and improved hours. The teen clubs are now open all day and teens can stop over anytime they want. The teen areas now have some added games such as xbox, Nintendo Wii, Guitar hero, dance dance revolution etc. The teen club now also has a bar serving non alcoholic drinks and sports drinks as well as soda. The teen club has a supervisor at all times. The teen/kids club area share a movie viewing room but the age groups will never mix.
Here are a few examples of the activities on this week’s schedule. Wii guitar hero challenge, dodge ball, celebrity, glow in the dark basketball, matinee movie, white hot teen dinner-show off your whites, lazy morning breakfast, teen murder mystery dinner, farewell dance party etc.
Kids Club:
The kids club also has improved hours. When the ships are at sea, the clubs are open from 9 am-10:30 pm. Extended service is offered till 1:30 am for a charge of $5 for the first kid then $3 for extras. When the ship is in port, kids club is open from 9 am-6pm but at the extended service rates. After 6 pm the club is free. Also for parents with kids under 2, some ships offer a “under 2 zoo.” This is a play room full of toys for kids under 2 but parents must remain with their kids.
Here are a few examples of some activities for the 6-9 year olds. Spy night, undersea adventures, camp night, the great egg drop, acting up, speed ball, friendly amazing race, carnival at sea, pajama party etc.
Tweens 10-12 years old: fantasy island fiesta, kids crew dinner, computer, x-box and wii challenge, white hot un-birthday party, scene it challenge etc.
Suites max capacity:
Each suite has a new pull out sofa bed so you can now hold two more people. I believe once all the ships are complete you can book a reservation showing the higher number of guests per room.
Self service laundry:
The Jade doesn’t offer self service laundry but they do run specials sometimes with the laundry service. Great deals.
All the cabins now have a mini bar. If you want to use it for something else just ask your cabin steward to empty it for you.
I have been asked if the names of the restaurants have changed and the décor of the ship. The only thing that has changed was the hull art and the added casino. The décor and the names of the public rooms have stayed the same. The only one that has changed was the name of the action station restaurant. It went from the Aloha Café to the Garden cafe and the great outdoors.
The ship offers wireless internet in certain hot spots in various spots around the ship but each cabin has a connection dock.
