Norwegian Jewel live 1/5/18 - 1/21/18

Hello everyone. Sailing from Sydney to New Zealand aboard the lovely Norwegian Jewel in a BA cabin deck 9.

Happy to answer any questions.

Andrew

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To start with here are some photos of the TV connections in our balcony room. I connected my computer to the hdmi port and used the buttons on top of the TV to select the input menu (the remote control does not allow the selection of hdmi).

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Enjoy! We love the Jewel.

Enjoy! We love the Jewel.

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Looking forward to this, thanks!

Hello everyone. Sailing from Sydney to New Zealand aboard the lovely Norwegian Jewel in a BA cabin deck 9.

Happy to answer any questions.

 

Andrew

 

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Enjoy your cruise! We recently sailed on her for 35 days. The lovely Jewel is our favorite and sailed 10 times on her.

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Just a few notes about the cruise so far.

Check in was scheduled for midday, so we dropped our luggage at around 12:30 pm and went for lunch on the balcony overlooking the pier at Wild Ginger Thai restaurant. I highly recommend the tom yum cocktail :-) We checked in after lunch at around 2pm and were on board within fifteen minutes, since by that time there was no queue.

Our BA category cabin on deck 9 was ready so we settled in quickly. The only hiccup was my suitcase being held due to my electric coffee grinder being confiscated. I had anticipated this and fortunately had my hand grinder for back up. I use the grinder for the coffee beans I brought (along with 4 cup dripolator filters) to use with the coffee machine in the room.

Dinner on the first day was at Tsar's. The food was excellent. Highlights for me were the delicious bread rolls with president demi-sel butter and a very tasty shrimp brioche burger.

The evening was spent at magnums lounge drinking martinis and listening to the fantastic piano player Taylor.

Saturday was a sea day and started with our meet and greet hosted in the Fyzz lounge. The captain was there and introduced the service team. This was my first meet and greet and had a great time meeting everyone.

Lunch was at Chin Chin. Service was great but the food was a mixed bag. Pot stickers and spring rolls were ok but the two stir fry noodle dishes were not good. I did like the fried rice and sake :-)

In the evening we dined at Le Bistro. It was wonderful. Excellent lamb, delicious swordfish and my partner had the chocolate fondue for two all to himself (the waiter told us that we could not order three desserts on the dining package but acquiesced with the "I'll let it slide this time" comment lol). We really enjoyed the dinner and highly recommend Le Bistro.

After dinner once again we went to magnums for martinis and piano music. Taylor is a great entertainer and we just sat there all night.

Sunday was Melbourne my home town. Not wanting to stay on the ship, I had booked the tram car restaurant. It was a great lunch, only $90 aud for a three course meal including all alcohol served in a converted Melbourne vintage tramcar that trundles around the streets of Melbourne.

Other passengers gave glowing reviews of the Healesville sanctuary and puffing Billy tour.

Dinner was a delicious light salad at O'sheehan's. Every night they have a special dish. Friday was spare ribs, Saturday prime rib and Sunday was roasted chicken.

The ship has 2400 passengers and is looking great. Everything is clean and in good condition.

It doesn't feel crowded at all and the only queues I have seen have been at guest services in peak times.

More updates to come.

Andrew

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More pics please if you can! Some version of this cruise itinerary is a bucket list item for me - but probably not for a few years yet. I'd love to live vicariously though you!

What's the mix of people (age groups, ethnicity, etc.)?

Thanks for your comments.

Some random photos.

More to come once I get a better internet connection.

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More pics please if you can! Some version of this cruise itinerary is a bucket list item for me - but probably not for a few years yet. I'd love to live vicariously though you!

What's the mix of people (age groups, ethnicity, etc.)?

Posted some photos for you.

Passengers are predominantly Australian, American and Canadian. Quite a good mixture of ages but seems to be more people above 45. A few families with children as well.

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Following thanks

Thanks! Keep the pics coming as you are able, please. I'm betting this itinerary will be a congrats-the-kids-are-flown-the-coop thing, which means it will be a few years before I can entertain it. That flight time... Any thoughts as to if the itinerary gives a decent fly-by of the area? I want to visit Australia/New Zealand/everywhere but am trying to be realistic. Cruises might be the best way to check many boxes off the list... with a few days before and after port of course due to OMGLONGFLIGHTS.

Anyway. Hope you're enjoying your cruise!

Enjoy! We love the Jewel.

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Day 5

Lazy day at sea started with eggs benedict from the bain marie at the buffet. I tried these on a whim, not expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised. The eggs were perfectly poached and sat on tasty ham and a great muffin.

Afterwards enjoyed trivia with our friends from the roll call at the spinnaker lounge.

Lunch at O'sheehan's today. Hot dog, burger and a serving of buffalo wings. Dessert was apple pie and cheese cake. All the food was great. Stand out dish was the apple pie which had beautiful home made pastry and the filling had been flavoured with cinnamon.

After a couple of trivia sessions and a game of left right centre with our cruise critic friends we met the LGBTI group for dinner at Tsar's. Everybody on the table agreed the food was great. Beef sliders, home made mushroom ravioli and nutella creme brulee was my choice and they did not disappoint.

Special note about the LGBTI group. Ncl has appointed Hector (a member of the cruise director's team) as host who has been great so far.

Once again the rest of the evening was spent at magnums lounge listening to Taylor the piano guy.

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Andrew, Your reviews are just great. Thank you so much for adding pics to your comments.

You are doing us a great service. It is helping us form our “game plan” for our cruise.

We are sailing the Jewel next month for the 29 day Sydney to Hong Kong. Some on our RC are doing the 40 day by continuing on to Tokyo!

Yes, this is a once in a lifetime trip and many months of planning.

Keep your fabulous reviews coming!

Thanks! Keep the pics coming as you are able, please. I'm betting this itinerary will be a congrats-the-kids-are-flown-the-coop thing, which means it will be a few years before I can entertain it. That flight time... Any thoughts as to if the itinerary gives a decent fly-by of the area? I want to visit Australia/New Zealand/everywhere but am trying to be realistic. Cruises might be the best way to check many boxes off the list... with a few days before and after port of course due to OMGLONGFLIGHTS.

 

Anyway. Hope you're enjoying your cruise!

Your thoughts mirror ours. For years thought this would be nice, someday. Now , in our 60’s, realizing someday should be now.

Yes, long flights. We are flying SEA to SYD. Longest leg is LAX to SYD , 13 hours.

This is why we are in Sydney 5 days before cruise and 5 days in Hong Kong. With ports along coast of Australia then north with stops in Indonesia , including Bali, Komodo and Singapore. Then Thailand and Vietnam stops . So, unpacking once and being able to see all these cities makes it “worth the long flights”. Looking forward to reading more from the Jewel.

Andrew, Your reviews are just great. Thank you so much for adding pics to your comments.

........

Keep your fabulous reviews coming!

You are welcome. :-)

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Enjoy your cruise! We recently sailed on her for 35 days. The lovely Jewel is our favorite and sailed 10 times on her.

 

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Thank you.

35 days, wow!

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Day 6

Today we toured fiordland. The captain opened the crew only area at the bow of the ship. Was amazing sailing in these beautiful fiords watching waterfalls and wildlife.

To be continued.....

The broken link...

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Day 6 lunch was at Tsar's. Food was great except for the fried chicken which was average but still ok. Stand out dish was the philly cheese steak hoagie roll. Service was excellent as always.

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Beautiful!

Dinner day 6 was teppanyaki. Another excellent dining experience. The food was delicious thanks to the garlic butter smothered on everything (I loved this but purists might not) and the servings were very generous. Stand out dish was the tender melt in the mouth beef fillet.

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Day 4 daily

Day 5 daily

Apologies for not having dailies for days 1,2 and 3.

Hi we get on in Sydney on the 20th February for 18 nights to Singapore. We have 3 nights in Sydney pre cruise and 2 nights Singapore post cruise.

We fly in from Manchester UK. first leg to Doha 7.5 hours and then Doha to Sydney 13 hours around 27 hours total with check ins etc.

Can't wait now following avidly