wvfrogg

I had the second bedroom on the Jewel and loved it. I Graciously let my daughter have the master bedroom (ah - she paid for the trip!!). I loved the quiet, darkness, separate bath and the bed was fine. I kept it as a bed rather than making it back into the sofa. The mattress was fine, and I slept like a log the whole time. Did not have a mattress topper. Favorite suite/room ever!

I had 14052 on the Epic (last minute upgrade from mid-ship balcony to the mini-suite). I was leery when I found out it was next to the "kiddie play rooms", but I never heard a peep. There was dead space between the children's center and my room, and it was very quiet the whole time.

I was on the Epic 12/12. Mini-suite on the 12th (or 13th? - right under the buffet). It was very rocky for that trip. They even had to drain the pool a couple of times because the water was all spilling out. They said it was just rough seas, but a lot of people thought it was because the ship was so "tall and square". I don't know, but it was the only cruise where I have even been a little seasick, although it really only lasted about 12 hours. I asked one of the engineers on a later Pearl cruise about the rocking on the Epic, and he said it must have been the seas, as the ship does not have any more movement than any other ship. Who knows??

I was on the Dawn last year the week after Thanksgiving. The ship was being decorated, but Christmas Carols and music were played non-stop the entire trip. I would have been happy with just a few holiday music interludes, but ....

Whatever, have a great time! I certainly did, and found that I could sort of tune out Jingle Bells after the 47th time it was played.:cool:

"Ain't" nobody gonna win this battle! And there are two legitimate sides to the question. When I smoked, my daughter would sigh and cough if I smoked on "her" balcony, so I went upstairs to the smoking area. I quit smoking 5 years ago -- while on the Pearl. I made the vow to always take the stairs and we were on the 14th deck. Thought I was going to die walking up from the 6th with my smoker's lungs. So I quit. Am still not sure how I "stayed quit" as I had tried quitting a hundred times. But I did.

That said, however, even on the cruises since then the only time smoke bothered me, really bothered me, was on the Epic in the Casino. I couldn't even stay long enough to really lose some money! Smokers have been on the balcony next to mine, and while I could catch a whiff of the smoke every once in awhile, it never really bothered me. I still enjoyed my balcony everyday.

I am just glad that all of the nastiness that we see here on the board doesn't carry over to the people on the ship. 99% of the cruisers are pleasant to be around. (I'm not always this nice as I am one of those people who will move things off the chair hogs chairs if they don't come back in 30 minutes -- and if they come back in an hour or two, I obviously have no idea who moved their stuff!)

If we can, let's just enjoy the luxury of being able to cruise. I guess I see this as a "luxury problem", one that most of the world would love to have!

Happy sailing.

Fran:)

I am often a "solo" cruiser and find what NCL has to offer me as a solo cruiser is great. (Not so great is the double cost of the cruise.) But, with anytime dining, I can either choose to ask to share a table, or to eat by myself. On the one "fancier" night, I usually stay away from the MDR as that tends to be for couples. I tend to be rather social, so meeting people is not hard for me. I usually meet some very nice folks at the Meet and Greet, and often join them for dinners (if I want). My two non NCL cruises weren't really a good sample of those lines. My Carnival was when my daughter was 13 and I was newly widowed. We did not have a good time, but I am not sure it was Carnival's fault. My daughter and I also went on Celebrity, but were very disappointed with the food and entertainment. It was an Alaskan cruise, and I am a "warm weather gal", so perhaps that played into my disappointment.

So, I'll stick with NCL. I love the wonderful staff, compared with the other lines. And I am fine with the food -- usually have one or two "fee" dinners, but the rest in the MDR or buffet for breakfast.

But enjoy anyone of the cruises you can go on!!

Have eaten at LaCucina twice was disappointed both times....

I always eat at LaCucina, and get the same thing every time -- the seared salmon and white beans. It is wonderful. I've never tried the pasta dishes, although once I did have the osso bucco and it was also very good.

:)

The Pearl

St. Maartens

Nice video. We love the Jewel and have sailed her to Alaska. Magnificent trip! We'll also be sailing her to Mexico in 2015. We actually prefer the Jewel class over the Breakaway class. That may sound odd but it's true.

The Pearl has been my favorite ship so far, but have not been on any other of the Jewel Class. I hope the Jewel pleases me as much as the Pearl does! Can't wait to try out the Jewel in November.

La Cucina - seared salmon w/ white beans

Le Bistro - lamb and the escargot

Buffet - omelet station (they make a fantastic egg white omelet), pretzel rolls and the crepe station for dessert.

Grilled Pineapple

 

1/2 - 3/4 Spiced Rum (if regular Rum, add 1 tsp. cinnamon)

2 T. melted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar.

 

Mix in small sauce pan and heat over low heat until sugar is melted. Pour into a big, sealable plastic bag and add 1 pineapple - peeled and sliced into 1 " slices.

 

Marinate for 2 or 3 hours.

 

Grill the pineapple. Put the marinade back into the pan and slowly heat.

 

To serve: Top pineapple slice with cinnamon ice cream and drizzle some of the rum mix over it.

 

Enjoy!

that's 1/2 - 3/4 cup of Rum! (although I guess you could use 1/2 of a bottle if you want!!).

I think we may try this as it sounds good. What are the measurements (approx.)?:)

Grilled Pineapple

1/2 - 3/4 Spiced Rum (if regular Rum, add 1 tsp. cinnamon)

2 T. melted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar.

Mix in small sauce pan and heat over low heat until sugar is melted. Pour into a big, sealable plastic bag and add 1 pineapple - peeled and sliced into 1 " slices.

Marinate for 2 or 3 hours.

Grill the pineapple. Put the marinade back into the pan and slowly heat.

To serve: Top pineapple slice with cinnamon ice cream and drizzle some of the rum mix over it.

Enjoy!

I never had it anywhere else. But it was coated in brown sugar and cinnamon. I plan on making it at home for the 4th though.

At home I marinate my pineapple slices (1" thick) in a plastic bag with brown sugar, cinnamon and RUM! Then grill and they are fantastic. :)

Thanks for the help! I'm flying into Houston Hobby, but you all have given me some good ideas.

Fran

Hi everyone!

I am on the Jewel in November, going out of Houston. Does anyone has a suggestions of Hotels near the port they they could recommend? Thanks.

Fran

I was also on the 14th deck, but have to say that I felt the motion much more than on other ships. This was the only cruise where I have experienced motion sickness -- never before or afterwards. However, when I talked with the captain on the Pearl on a later cruise and asked him about it, he said there should be no more movement than on any other cruise, and was very surprised that I mentioned it. We had some rough seas on the Epic cruise, and they had to drain the pools on one night. So maybe it was just the rough seas that caused the problems. But a lot of people on that cruise were complaining about it. I was in 14052, so perhaps the location of my cabin was part of the problem.

Haha, thanks for the lecture on how a ship works. When you have as many NCL cruises as I do, give me a call. You asked if all the crew contributed to MY enjoyment. I said I don't think they all do. Not sure how you could possibly think they would.

 

P.S. I usually do the platinum behind the scenes tour on my sailings so I do see all those crewmembers you claim I don't.

And I think it is safe to say that not all passengers make the ship a nice place to work for the crew!

One the one cruise where I had a balcony, it would be going up to the buffet getting some cheese, those pretzel buns, bread, some grapes or other fruit. Then head back to the balcony with a nice glass on wine. Otherwise it is find a quite seat somewhere.

This is exactly what I do! In fact, I take some "sandwich baggies" to keep in the room, and then put the cheese and pretzel rolls in them when I get back to the room to save for a snack. The fruit doesn't really need "bagged". I felt the variety of cheeses, etc. was pretty good.

Here is what happened with us with a different cruiseline.

 

I called 5 different reps at the 800 number. They all told me I could cancel at anytime I wanted. No reasons needed. Turns out we missed the ship. And we called them a week later to get our money.

 

The cruise line said no.

 

Since 5 people said we were okay, we will sue and probably get free cruising for life.

 

So there. Don't mess with us!

I can only hope that the above post was done "tongue in cheek". But ...

I think it is sad that my generation (yep - I'm old) has raised a group of people who take true delight in screwing companies, people out of everything they can. It seems as if they wear their "fraud" and "me first, always" as a badge of honor. As far as I am concerned, this includes sneaking booze on board, trying to "blackmail" the cruise lines into undeserved comps, chair hogging and especially refusing to pay the DSC just because they don't want to. They seem to refuse to take responsibility for their own actions or inactions. And, unfortunately, it isn't confined to just the younger people -- old farts are doing it too.

Instead of appreciating the "al a carte" Freestyle cruising for what it offers (a wonderful cruise at a reasonable price where I am at liberty to upgrade wherever and whenever I can or want), it seems as if all we hear on here is how people aren't satisfied with any part of the vacation. They don't like the food, they don't like the service, they don't like the excursions, they don't like embarkation, or disembarkation. You name it, they don't like it.

OK - I'll get off my soap box. But I hate to think that NCL will increase the fares so that these complainers can get the luxury food and service they feel they deserve. Because I can almost ensure them that these complainers will still be complaining, no matter what.

Thanks for writing such a great review. We're thinking of booking the Pearl for March so it's nice reading such positive things about her :)

Enjoy!

Thanks Jayne and Artemis! It was a great cruise, and I appreciate the kudo's for the M&G, although it was really easy work. And Artemis, your review is wonderful. My camera never seems to be where I am on a cruise, so I usually come home with 3 of my cabin and that's about it.:D

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I literally loved every moment of my cruise.

Pre-cruise. I went to Miami for two days prior to the cruise. Stayed in a "recently rehabbed" hotel, B2. Spotless, white, great bedding, fantastic location -- but it takes minimization to a new level. The bathroom was smaller than the one I had on the ship. Not a drawer in the room, nor was there a box of tissues. But the location and the price were great. I did a Hop-on, Hop-off tour of the city and a boat trip throughout Biscayne Bay. Okay, now, for a little TMI that started off my vacation with a funny note. On Saturday morning, after my shower, when I started to get dressed I found out that my "undies" had not made the trip. I had changed luggage after I started to pack, and not everything made the change. Whoa. Luckily I found a Marshall's close to the hotel which was a great relief! :o

Embarkation. I arrived at the dock at 11:30 a.m. and was onboard by noon. My stateroom was also ready for me. Ken, my steward, met me upon boarding, and he was a real gem. My cabin was kept extremely clean, it was always "made up" within 30 minutes of my leaving the cabin, and he was always gracious and friendly. He made cute animals every night!

Weather: We truly lucked out -- had perfect, and I mean perfect, weather every day. Nice job, NCL!:)

Stateroom. I had 11590. A mini-suite. Loads of storage space and closet space. Bed, pillows and bedding were wonderful. A bathtub came with the suite. At first I was disappointed that there was an over-hang over my balcony, but came to appreciate it a great deal. It never got direct sun, so it was never to hot to sit out there and enjoy the ocean. One of only 2 disappointments, however, was the fact that the kids play area and teen rec area were directly above my cabin. It got a little noisy in the evenings! I was offered a switch of rooms, but I decided that it wasn't worth the hassle. (Plus I liked Ken, the steward.) But it was wonderful that they offered to switch me. I really hadn't complained about the noise, but had been making a "funny" comment at the meet and greet and apparently someone heard and offered the switch.

Food. I thought that the food on this trip was greatly improved over my NCL cruise last February. First and foremost, the coffee they were using this year was much, much better. The throw-weight must have been increased. I can honestly say I did not have a single bad meal. The only specialty restaurant I used was La Cacina. There I had the seared salmon and white beans, plus the carpaccio for an appetizer. Both were excellent. Service was great.

The Buffet. I had breakfast and lunch here everyday. There wasn't a huge change of day-to-day variety, but there were always plenty of choices. I tried to be a little "good" during these meals, although the chocolate croissant and sticky buns did jump onto my plate a couple of times. That could explain the extra 3 pounds I came home with (although the crepes in the evening probably didn't help).

The MDR's. I ate in Summer Palace (the more formal of the two) only once, but ate most of my meals at Indigo. My food and service was always good. The first night in Indigo, my steak portion of the Surf and Turf was overdone, but the server brought out a rare steak immediately to switch. My other MDR meals included tilapia, prime rib, salmon, mahi mahi and shrimp & filet. All were very good. My food was hot when served and plated very nicely. I talked with a couple of other people who were not as happy with the meals as I was, citing lukewarm food, but I never found that to be the case. I also never had to wait long to be seated or wait huge amounts of time between courses. Most dinners seemed to take around an hour. My second complaint came in the MDR. I was asked if I wanted to share a table or get a table for one. I said it didn't make any difference, so they seated me at a table for 6. No one else ever showed up. So ... I sat there, 1 person at a table for 6, while others were waiting to get a table. After about 5 minutes I just told my server that I wanted to go ahead an order. That meal only took about 30 minutes!

The crew. This is where the Pearl really shines. I never met a single "grumpy crew" on the entire cruise. Smiles everywhere. The servers always seemed to spend a little extra time talking with me, probably because I was eating by myself. (To be honest, I don't mind eating by myself!). The front desk people were friendly and extremely competent. Couldn't ask for anything or anyone better.

Entertainment. I loved "Oh What A Night" and the Juggler. They were fantastic. Also enjoyed the last night's show. The piano player was also enjoyable (although to be honest I usually caught him while I was going to or coming from the casino). Don't know if the casino is entertainment or not - guess it depend whether you win or lose (and I lost). But I did have fun there too.

Excursions and Ports. This was my 3rd visit to these ports, so to be honest all I did was wander around the ports, buy t-shirts for people and get back onboard and enjoy a quiet ship.

Spa. I had a facial. Nice, but sadly I didn't look any different than before I had it. ;)

Chair Hogs. I saw very, very little of this. Once, though, on our second sea day, there was a man who had staked out 6 chairs with plates and napkins and towels on them. He was by himself for almost an hour when a huge wind blew water all over the towels, plates, etc. that he was saving. Pretty hard for me to feel too sorry for him! But I never really had any trouble finding a chair.

Meet & Greet. We had a nice turn out and a lot of the officers came. We also got invited to do the Bridge Tour that afternoon. Had a Slot Pull and also a Cabin Crawl. Good group of people!

The Pearl is absolutely the perfect ship for me! So now I have to check out where I want the Pearl to take me next time!

The only time I felt that someone was "pressuring" me to buy anything was at the spa -- they always have "product" that will make me oh so much more beautiful and younger looking. (If I want to drop an extra $100 for it -- and truth be told, I have gobs of "product" at home that hasn't helped much!). But it is easy to say no thanks.

Regarding the food, I usually use my OBC for a specialty restaurant once or twice. They are fun, and I enjoy them. On my last two cruises (Dawn and Epic) I had the salmon at LaCucina, the MDR and the buffet. The first two were terrific, the buffet was a little drier, but still pretty good. The buffet gives great choices for my breakfasts and lunches, and if I can keep my hands off the great chocolate croissants, sticky buns and pretzel rolls:o:o, I am able to have good, healthy meals!

Try NCL -- I think you will love it!

Sad really, and so I find myself repeating: no respect for self, no respect for others, no respect deserved!

Amen to that one. This whole thread has become as tasteless as wearing pj's to the buffet. If you want to wear them, feel free - but just don't sit at my table for breakfast.