Jewel to Mexico: Review, Photos, and Video tour of ship

Hey everyone,

We’re back from a wonderful experience onboard the Jewel and will be completing a full video tour of the ship in 1-2 weeks. I’ll start my review in day by day fashion (with photos) and post the video tour as soon as my hubby finished editing it, in 1-2 weeks.

The Details:

We drove to port as we normally do as we live on the CA coast a few hours from San Pedro. Cruising is the best value for our family in most cases because we can avoid flight costs. We also love to unplug and put our cell phones in the safe for a week (I love my day job but a break soothes the soul). We also love resort vacations, but dollar for dollar, it makes more sense to cruise most of the time, especially with a little one. We cruise often from the West Coast and this was my 42nd birthday cruise. We booked early (7 months) during wave season and nabbed both the kids sail free and ultimate dining package promos, or UDP, as we'll now call it (and how it's printed on the cruise card). It is also our hobby to film cruise ships, so we try to get onboard every ship we can afford. We've sailed Holland America, Carnival, NCL, and Royal Caribbean, and Princess. This was our first experience on Jewel and we'd read good things about the refurbishments. We expected the ship to resemble the Star, which it did in some ways though it still took me days to navigate the ship comfortably.

Our cabin: we booked mini suite 11106, situated starboard, toward the aft on Deck 11. It was right under the buffet cocktail station but we never heard a sound from above. We liked this cabin because it was conveniently located one deck below the pool and we knew Deck 12 would be a popular one on this voyage. It was easy to visit the pool and buffet for a quick swim or cup of coffee or lemonade.

Disclaimer #1

I'm sorry to report we did not attend any shows on this trip. The only one that was appealing was Cirque Bijou, as we're getting to the point where we feel like we've seen them all. However it was full by the time we arrived, so we never saw it.

Disclaimer #2

We did not set foot in Azura or Tsars, the main dining rooms, for any meal on the entire cruise, so I can't report on those either.

Disclaimer #3

I catch myself comparing lines at times. I'll try to minimize that in this review except where it applied to our direct experience.

So, let's get to the fun stuff!

Day 1 & Embarkation:

We arrived to the port of San Pedro by 10:45am and were onboard by 11:45am (wow!). The port was a bit chaotic and unorganized in some ways, as if they weren't expecting people on one side of the inside of the terminal but regardless, check in was smooth and the staff was friendly.

Once onboard, my husband ventured off to film areas of the ship that are less hectic on embarkation day, like the pool, dining rooms and gym. My son and I headed for the pool and slide area, since it was 80 degrees (of course, it's November!) and we wanted to try to beat the pool crowds. Embarkation day swimming has recently become our little cruise secret during warmer months so we were prepared! I had brought swimwear in our carry-ons but didn't want to change in a public restroom so we opted to have lunch at the buffet and wait for our room to be ready to change in the comfort of our room. The embarkation day buffet madness was setting in and the lines were growing so quickly grabbed some light food and seated ourselves at the more peaceful “great outdoors”, situated at the back of the ship. This area was recommended to us by fellow cc cruisers and I'm so glad we knew to head here on day 1. Shh….don’t tell anybody.

So by now it was 1pm and our stateroom was ready so we changed there and headed back up one convenient flight of stairs to deck 12 Yay, we were ready to swim! My son hit the slide.

Then, we thought we’d hit the pools, but…uh oh…. The saltwater pools were unswimmably FREEZING, likely having been filled with LA ocean water that day (brrr) and it was both sad and funny to watch kids attempt to enter the pool and fly out before their tummy even hit the chilly water. So, the few brave souls that took the pool plunge ultimately ended up in the hot tubs which seemed clean and we'll maintained. We enjoyed our uncrowded hot tub time until muster drill prep called our name, then headed indoors for my son's second ice cream cone of the day. He loved the sprinkles and coconut topping and later exclaimed to my husband "dad the ice cream has toppings!" (this is not something we’ve found on every cruise line). Back at the room, my son bathed off the pool germs, and we mustered in Tsars quickly and efficiently (thank u Ncl for not lining us up to muster on the outside decks in blaring sun). This was by far my favorite muster drill of all time.

Post-muster we enjoyed sailaway from our cabin balcony and loved that all the restaurants in the channel greeted us over loudspeakers. “Hey NCL Jewel, greetings from the Ports of Call restaurant”! That was cool. We watched sunset and grabbed this shot as we left the channel for the open sea:

Stay tuned for more to come...

Looking forward to your review -- and great shot!

After a wonderful sailaway, we were growing weary and HANGRY, yes I'm one of those "gimme protein now" people, and reluctantly headed to O'Sheehans for a very small snack around 5. Small because our Teppanyaki reservation was at 7, and we could easily ruin our appetites with a well intended snack. AND Wanting not to overindulge on this cruise, we challenged ourselves to a no weight gain cruise philosophy. So we ordered two appetizers, chicken strips and spinach dip between the three of us at O’Sheehans.

They were very small, teaser portions and my hangry turned to Happy (so did my 6 year olds!).

Here's the chicken tenders with honey mustard dip. Delicious:

The service wasn't the happiest in O'Sheehans that afternoon but I think it's key to be forgiving on embarkation day right? So we nibbled and headed to our room to bathe and prep for Teppanyaki but alas, no luggage! Eek! It was 6pm and we were not feeling fresh like daisies for our first nice dinner! What to do? My reaction? Call the front desk. I was told "ma'am, luggage will be to all rooms by 8pm". My husbands reaction? Investigation on foot, lol! He had apparently overheard fellow deck 11 passengers in droves complaining of late luggage so he ventured out and sure enough encountered a guy saying "i found my bag just sitting in a stairwell way down there".

So, hubby set off and returned a long 10 minutes later with our badly dented suitcase. Apparently the process just wasn't on its game today. We try never to blame the staff because we don't know the circumstances surrounding these one-off incidents. We opened the suitcase, located our dress clothes, pounded the dent out of the suitcase (hubby is pretty much a superhero today), and quickly dressed for dinner. Once at Teppanyaki check in we were told to wait until the 7pm seating, so I sat at the sake bar and asked about the wasabi martini I'd read about. "It's good ma'am but it has no wasabi. It has sake and lychee liqueur"...okay then, no wasabi???? I asked the bartender to surprise mix me something else "but not too sweet"..and I ended up with a fabulous gin, grapefruit juice martini that was right up my alley.

The Teppanyaki room was ready right on schedule and the entire group of us was escorted back together (it must seat 50??).

We had UDP so we had to get used to how that worked tonight. after a few questions, we placed our orders (shrimp and filet mignon for me, chicken and noodles for my son, and chicken and shrimp for my hubby). The service was fast and attentive and I ended up ordering that faux wasabi martini after all. It was too sweet for my liking and they should rename it a “lychee martini” but oh well, it was pretty and I got to eat a Lychee for the first time, which was placed on a toothpick across the drink.

More food photos coming soon in the next post:

Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. Sorry you missed the best Le Cirque show I've ever seen on a cruise ship.

So far so good. Looking forward to the rest of your review. I'm on the same cruise next month!

Great review! Keep it up!

Very nice review so far! Love the Jewel.

Everyone was brought salad, edamame and miso soup for starters:

Our son loved the experience except the part where the chef hucks egg into everyone's mouth - he didn't want to do it but he finally gave in to the chef and let the egg go over his head! He hates egg, and hates being pressured even more!!

Anyway, the food was scrumptious…. The shrimp jumbo and buttery and the experience was the perfect cruise kick off!

Here's the chicken and shrimp:

And the garlic fried rice (everyone gets this):

I recommend the “fruit sushi” dessert, the green tea cake and ice cream was too strong and inedible. When my son tasted the green tea cake, he looked like he’d eaten a lemon, and he has a pretty adventurous palette.

Here's a shot of the fruit "sashimi"- the sauces are coconut and mango and are mild and nice:

In search of a good dessert, hubby requested a trip to the buffet where he found the crepe station....aaah..heaven! I don't have a photo, but later on, we will post some video of it in our food videos. Anyway, a little bit of our Paris trips brought to our cruise. He was so happy and it was the perfect end to an exhausting day of travel, acclimation and fun. After a post dinner walk to see a few areas of the ship, We retired to our cabin, unpacked a bit more and settled into our cozy beds for some much needed rest.

Could this towel mouse be any more adorable? It was the perfect end to a long but wonderful embarkation day:

Good night all! I will try to post more tomorrow night after work. Happy cruise dreams to all.

Glad to hear the crepes are there :) Did you also have the chocoholic night on Friday?

Loving your review so far! Thanks for posting O'Sheehan's menu. We will be on this ship in 3 weeks and I was so happy to see they still have a couple of the dishes we enjoy. :)

Looking forward to the rest of your review and if you have any dailies I'd love to see those also. Thanks!

Mike

Hey everyone,

We’re back from a wonderful experience onboard the Jewel and will be completing a full video tour of the ship in 1-2 weeks. I’ll start my review in day by day fashion (with photos) and post the video tour as soon as my hubby finished editing it, in 1-2 weeks.

 

The Details:

We drove to port as we normally do as we live on the CA coast a few hours from San Pedro. Cruising is the best value for our family in most cases because we can avoid flight costs. We also love to unplug and put our cell phones in the safe for a week (I love my day job but a break soothes the soul). We also love resort vacations, but dollar for dollar, it makes more sense to cruise most of the time, especially with a little one. We cruise often from the West Coast and this was my 42nd birthday cruise. We booked early (7 months) during wave season and nabbed both the kids sail free and ultimate dining package promos, or UDP, as we'll now call it (and how it's printed on the cruise card). It is also our hobby to film cruise ships, so we try to get onboard every ship we can afford. We've sailed Holland America, Carnival, NCL, and Royal Caribbean, and Princess. This was our first experience on Jewel and we'd read good things about the refurbishments. We expected the ship to resemble the Star, which it did in some ways though it still took me days to navigate the ship comfortably.

Our cabin: we booked mini suite 11106, situated starboard, toward the aft on Deck 11. It was right under the buffet cocktail station but we never heard a sound from above. We liked this cabin because it was conveniently located one deck below the pool and we knew Deck 12 would be a popular one on this voyage. It was easy to visit the pool and buffet for a quick swim or cup of coffee or lemonade.

Disclaimer #1

I'm sorry to report we did not attend any shows on this trip. The only one that was appealing was Cirque Bijou, as we're getting to the point where we feel like we've seen them all. However it was full by the time we arrived, so we never saw it.

Disclaimer #2

We did not set foot in Azura or Tsars, the main dining rooms, for any meal on the entire cruise, so I can't report on those either.

Disclaimer #3

I catch myself comparing lines at times. I'll try to minimize that in this review except where it applied to our direct experience.

 

So, let's get to the fun stuff!

 

Day 1 & Embarkation:

We arrived to the port of San Pedro by 10:45am and were onboard by 11:45am (wow!). The port was a bit chaotic and unorganized in some ways, as if they weren't expecting people on one side of the inside of the terminal but regardless, check in was smooth and the staff was friendly.

Once onboard, my husband ventured off to film areas of the ship that are less hectic on embarkation day, like the pool, dining rooms and gym. My son and I headed for the pool and slide area, since it was 80 degrees (of course, it's November!) and we wanted to try to beat the pool crowds. Embarkation day swimming has recently become our little cruise secret during warmer months so we were prepared! I had brought swimwear in our carry-ons but didn't want to change in a public restroom so we opted to have lunch at the buffet and wait for our room to be ready to change in the comfort of our room. The embarkation day buffet madness was setting in and the lines were growing so quickly grabbed some light food and seated ourselves at the more peaceful “great outdoors”, situated at the back of the ship. This area was recommended to us by fellow cc cruisers and I'm so glad we knew to head here on day 1. Shh….don’t tell anybody.

So by now it was 1pm and our stateroom was ready so we changed there and headed back up one convenient flight of stairs to deck 12 Yay, we were ready to swim! My son hit the slide.

 

Then, we thought we’d hit the pools, but…uh oh…. The saltwater pools were unswimmably FREEZING, likely having been filled with LA ocean water that day (brrr) and it was both sad and funny to watch kids attempt to enter the pool and fly out before their tummy even hit the chilly water. So, the few brave souls that took the pool plunge ultimately ended up in the hot tubs which seemed clean and we'll maintained. We enjoyed our uncrowded hot tub time until muster drill prep called our name, then headed indoors for my son's second ice cream cone of the day. He loved the sprinkles and coconut topping and later exclaimed to my husband "dad the ice cream has toppings!" (this is not something we’ve found on every cruise line). Back at the room, my son bathed off the pool germs, and we mustered in Tsars quickly and efficiently (thank u Ncl for not lining us up to muster on the outside decks in blaring sun). This was by far my favorite muster drill of all time.

Post-muster we enjoyed sailaway from our cabin balcony and loved that all the restaurants in the channel greeted us over loudspeakers. “Hey NCL Jewel, greetings from the Ports of Call restaurant”! That was cool. We watched sunset and grabbed this shot as we left the channel for the open sea:

 

Stay tuned for more to come...

Thanks for taking the time to report and review your experience. I agree wiht a couple of your comments: 1-the pools are freezing on NCL and yes, salt water, but the salt water part doesn't bother us; it is pretty well filtered. I agree with the show as well. We didn't do a single show when we cruised the Jewel a couple of weeks ago. We have seen so many through the years. We are enjoying the other entertainment around the ship more these days.

Now, as for comparing ship and experiences: all the years we have been cruising, we still do and you probaby will as well, but as you say, pointing out the differences from one cruise to another isn't necessary unless there is a real reason.

Thanks for taking the time to report and review your experience. I agree wiht a couple of your comments: 1-the pools are freezing on NCL and yes, salt water, but the salt water part doesn't bother us; it is pretty well filtered. I agree with the show as well. We didn't do a single show when we cruised the Jewel a couple of weeks ago. We have seen so many through the years. We are enjoying the other entertainment around the ship more these days.

 

Now, as for comparing ship and experiences: all the years we have been cruising, we still do and you probaby will as well, but as you say, pointing out the differences from one cruise to another isn't necessary unless there is a real reason.

Thank u! I wonder if we were both on the 11/1 sailing?

I like the salt water too, I perceive it to be cleaner.

Looking forward to the rest of your review and if you have any dailies I'd love to see those also. Thanks!

 

Mike

Mike, I will try to get those scanned in and put into some type of easy-to-navigate format.

Great review. It helps me prepare for my trip.

How's the sushi?

Thank u! I wonder if we were both on the 11/1 sailing?

I like the salt water too, I perceive it to be cleaner.

No, we were just ahead of you. We wanted to make sure we left enough booze and food for you to enjoy.

Great review. It helps me prepare for my trip.

 

How's the sushi?

Sorry, we didn't try the Sushi, but I hear that Chin Chin and the sushi restaurant were great. There was always a line on the days they were open for lunch, of people waiting for them to OPEN.

Loving your review so far! Thanks for posting O'Sheehan's menu. We will be on this ship in 3 weeks and I was so happy to see they still have a couple of the dishes we enjoy. :)

Thanks for the kind words. I love O'Sheehans. The fish and chips and burger were great and so was breakfast.

Have a wonderful cruise!

Glad to hear the crepes are there :) Did you also have the chocoholic night on Friday?

Yes, the crepes were divine! Such a surprise!

I didn't make chocolate night, sorry :-(

The chocolate fountain Still lives permanently next to the crepe station and is plastic protected and operated by a crew member for food safety reasons....pretty decadent.

Beware, its going to seem like all we did day 2 was EAT....but it's not really the case- it’s just that is what I took the most photos of! Being the early riser in my family, I donned workout gear at 7:15 and headed to the gym while my family slept. Here are some photos from the gym taken on another, uncrowded day. It’s the smallest gym I’ve ever seen at sea, and it wasn’t super welcoming.

Oh well, so the gym was small and packed…that’s not why I cruise…so I grabbed a treadmill, quickly got bored and left to stretch in the spinnaker lounge which happened to be nearly empty, filled with lovely morning sun and playing some kind of tranquil music perfect for a few minutes of chill time.

The spinnaker is so quiet in the morning, and one could easily nap in one of the cozy seats:

After a quick breakfast, and spin around the jogging track for sightseeing (I still hadn't seen half the ship) I fetched hubby some coffee for a quick room stop before 9am "latin inspired dance poolside", hopefully code for Zumba, my favorite form of calorie burning. I should mention on my morning walk an entire family was in the pool in wetsuits, dad included. What does this tell you ncl? Jeepers, heat the pools please. Here is a photo of the pool area pre-crowd and the wet-suited family….brrr:

So 9am rolled around and I headed poolside for Zumba with Christian, the clearly-dance-trained instructor who had us all panting during the first song. I don't think he believes in warmups. His class was awesome, lasted 40 minutes and was akin to a professional Zumba class at home.The class was held poolside, with the instructor on the raised gazebo thingy, and us crazy people down on the deck.

Thirsty, I made my way back to my room, grabbed my boys and headed for breakfast in the buffet. I was glad we'd discovered the kids area the night before because seating was uncrowded there. My husband had some best-cruise-waffles he's every tried, although he was disappointed not to see the crepe machine back for breakfast.

We had no interest in the pools because of the crowds and freezing temperature, so most of our time was spent walking the ship. One of our missions was to find myself some shorts I could wear to swim at the beach. Why? On embarkation day I turned the bathtub on to prep my son' bath but the shower came on instead. It soaked me, but also soaked the bathroom floor which I immediately slipped on trying to turn the shower head off and gave myself an 8 inch raspberry of a bruise on my upper leg. It was so bad that my poor son looked away in fear every time he saw it so I thought covering it at the beaches and pools we planned to visit would be best for everyone. No dice though, the store onboard carried no shorts (and only one swimsuit), so I decided to try shopping in Cabo instead. My son bought a plush dog, to add to his cruise stuffed animal family and we continued our wandering until we, guess what….got hungry again! Our next post, lunch! Stay tuned...

Wow, sorry about the temp of the pools!!! We sailed on the Jewel to Alaska in mid-May and my daughter was able to swim twice, and would have swam the 1st day but as 1st time cruiser didn't think to pack in carryon and our luggage didn't show until after 9pm.

We've booked her again for next Oct on the same cruise you are on. This time with almost my whole family as well as my niece's fiance's family. Hmmmm, we might even have a wedding!!! Hope NCL learns by then to warm up their pools!!! I have a dream of an adult beverage while watching my daughter and her cousins get some swim time in!!!

Keep up the wonderful report!!! Loving all of your pictures!!! Your family is beautiful!!!!

Michelle

Wow, sorry about the temp of the pools!!! We sailed on the Jewel to Alaska in mid-May and my daughter was able to swim twice, and would have swam the 1st day but as 1st time cruiser didn't think to pack in carryon and our luggage didn't show until after 9pm.

 

We've booked her again for next Oct on the same cruise you are on. This time with almost my whole family as well as my niece's fiance's family. Hmmmm, we might even have a wedding!!! Hope NCL learns by then to warm up their pools!!! I have a dream of an adult beverage while watching my daughter and her cousins get some swim time in!!!

 

Keep up the wonderful report!!! Loving all of your pictures!!! Your family is beautiful!!!!

 

Michelle

We have always found the pools on NCL ships really cold. After a few minutes they do seem to warm up. The only one that has never been freezing was the Sun. The Jewel class ships are the worst, why that would be I have no idea.

Wow, sorry about the temp of the pools!!! We sailed on the Jewel to Alaska in mid-May and my daughter was able to swim twice, and would have swam the 1st day but as 1st time cruiser didn't think to pack in carryon and our luggage didn't show until after 9pm.

 

We've booked her again for next Oct on the same cruise you are on. This time with almost my whole family as well as my niece's fiance's family. Hmmmm, we might even have a wedding!!! Hope NCL learns by then to warm up their pools!!! I have a dream of an adult beverage while watching my daughter and her cousins get some swim time in!!!

 

Keep up the wonderful report!!! Loving all of your pictures!!! Your family is beautiful!!!!

 

Michelle

Your dream will come true! Love it!

The pools got warmer as the week went on, but they also grew crowded.

So, it sounds like they heated the pools for the Alaska itinerary? I would think they'd have to since it's pumped on ocean water.

Mike, I will try to get those scanned in and put into some type of easy-to-navigate format.

Very kind of you. Thank you!