Jewel Review: Family vacation with young children 5/29-6/5

[Mommy2Brielle]

We are just off the Jewel. We traveled with two small children (3 and almost 5) It was our fifth cruise, our second with NCL. I know now for our family (at least for the time being while kids are still young), it is NCL or no cruise at all! The JEWEL was perfect for our family. We loved it all, for the most part (small exceptions will be noted below) We love Freestyle. With young children, the Freestyle Dining is Perfect. Also, love that we choose whether or not to Dress Up. We chose to dress up the first Dress Up or Not evening, but the second one, I actually wore jeans (and wore them to the MDR and didn’t feel weird about it, either!.) But then I chose to dress up on another evening instead! And it was all good!

Embarkation: We were leaving NYC during Fleet Week. I think the ship may have been delayed getting into NYC. We got to the pier around 11. I hadn’t read about this previously on CC, but as we were checking in, they were handing out numbered cards and then were letting people board by the numbers we were given. I had read here that sometimes the Latitudes line was longer, so I asked, and the woman directed me to the line for Balconies. She did direct me to the shorter line, BUT…the numbers the latitudes people were getting were before the numbered cards that the balconies were getting, so I should have gotten on the Lattitudes line because we would have been in an earlier group to get on the ship. We went straight to Tzar’s for lunch. Another tip learned from CC. I am assuming we definitely did the right thing: Although service was a bit slow, much easier with two small kids than navigating a crowded buffet with our carry ons.

Cabin: We had a balcony and it worked out just fine. My daughter was happy with her bunk bed. This was a concern of mine prior. Didn’t realize it would be a bunk bed when we booked this room.

Entertainment: Phenomonal! Best by far that we have seen on a cruise ship. Blew away the entertainment on the last Carnival cruise we went on by FAR! We saw: Band on the Run, Cirque, the juggler, Barry. All were so good. The cruise director mentioned that the Cirque show was just reworked that day, so I don’t know what the problems exactly were, but if he didn’t mention it, I wouldn’t have known anything! Also wanted to make a special mention that my husband, who himself has a background in comedy attended the Second City Show and he thought it was hysterical! He then attended the workshop that they did on one of the sea days and thoroughly enjoyed that too.

Spa and Fitness: We took advantage of the first day special: Two passes for $165. I loved it and I loved the relaxation chairs, the thalosopy pool and the whirl pool…but we should have just paid the $20 for a few of the days. We only really used the spa on the sea days (I went in quickly on a port day, just to feel like I was getting my money worth), so although it is a good deal for some…unless you are going to take time on the port days to go to the spa, you might be better off just going for the $20/day day pass on the days you will use it.

Massage: I had a massage and it was good but prefer my spa at home. Because of the mention I have read about on these boards, of the sales push for products at the end, I was so curius what the sales pitch was going to be. She did try to sell me the massage oil she used, but I said no thank you, and that was it. No big deal at all!

Fitness Classes: I took the Stretch and Relax Class several mornings. It was perfect for what it was. There was no fee for this class. My husband took the spin class ($12 plus tax) and he liked it.

Gym: Went to the gym several times. It was adequate for what we needed it to be. Equipment is Lifefitness. The first sea day, there was no treadmills available when I went to go use one, but after waiting a few minutes, I was able to get a treadmill. It seemed like everyone was very considerate about cleaning the equipment with spray.

Kids Club: My kids had a ball. Luckily, my kids were in the same age group.I think that that helped them quickly adjust. My kids attended sometimes during the day for an hour here and there and on most evenings. The counselors were great with the kids and the activities were varied enough that they always had a great time. My kids made a lot of nice friends.

The kids staff also runs family events throughout the week. We attended several of these events as well, and it was good to have something scheduled for us all! IT was another added plus to this cruise.

Nickelodeon at sea: We had no idea that this was on the ship until after we booked the cruise. This was amazing for my family! The Nickelodeon at Sea staff were amazing: Brian and Jen did an outstanding job. My kids attended a Dora Dance Party, Meet and Greets with the characters, the Character Breakfast and the Dora storytime. My kids also got picked to do one of the poolside games which they loved. Someone treated us to the character breakfast, so cost wasn’t a factor to us. The Character breakfast is on the morning of Port Canaveral. MY kids had such a great time at the character breakfast, that if I had to, I would have paid the $ for the breakfast because my kids enjoyed it so much. You definitely are NOT paying for the food at this breakfast, but for the entertainment.

For us, we were the perfect audience for the NICK AT SEA events and these events made the cruise even that much more enjoyable. For those of you, who are concerned: most of the nick events are in a room and you really have to know it is going on to see it happen. The only thing that you would have to “deal’ with is the poolside games that go on during the sea days, But if you are bothered by that, you will probably also be bothered by other poolside activities that typically go on pool side on a cruise. I think that the Nick poolside activities took the place of some other of these poolside activities that usually go on during a cruise.

I do think that the Nickelodeon affiliation will attract many families with young kids in the future so it may impact an increase in the amount of kids on board in general.

Pool: Daughter loved the slide. My son loved the little slide. Kids pool was crowded but not too crowded. I think that it is weird that the kids pool is so deep that even an adult can’t stand. Never found lounge chairs by the pool, but we opted for a table anyway, because it was in the shade and then we were able to eat lunch pool side.

Excursions:

Port Canaveral: We did the shuttle to Cocoa Beach through NCL. We were in Port Canaveral on Memorial Day. So we didn’t want to have such a big day to deal with traffic. The 12:30 shuttle didn’t leave until almost 1:15, so the only thing that I would do differently is take the 1:30 shuttle. We could have eaten lunch on the ship first and then gone down to beach. WE weren’t hungry when we left for our 12:30 shuttle (not realizing it would be delayed) so our kids were hungry when we got down to beach, so the first thing we did was eat lunch. We could have saved $ if we just ate first on the ship. Also, to get off the ship at Port Canaveral, was a little hectic with everyone wanting to get off as soon as possible. I am sure it would have been better if we booked the 1;30 shuttle. We rented an umbrella and two chairs on the beach , Kids loved the beach. I stopped at Walgreens and picked up some more bottled water. The shuttle for us was only a few $’s more than taking a cab and we knew we didn’t have to hassle to find/call a cab when we wanted to go back. It worked out nicely for us.

Great Stirrup Cay: The best thing we did was rent a clam shell (another CC tip) not only did we not have to worry about chairs, we didn’t have to worry about getting a tender ticket. We docked at GSC early, so I wouldn’t have been ready to get a ticket in time. When we got downstairs to take tender over, they were calling tender #4 and we were able to walk right on (clam shell ticket is also good for tender ticket) I asked the man who was giving out tickets where to go so I noticed he was currently giving out tender tickets for 14! So if we didn’t rent the clam shell, we would have been on tender 14 and probably wouldn’t have gotten chairs. Also, it rained a little bit, so the clam shell was our rain shelter. We all had fun there. I am not really into BBQ type food so that was my least favorite food on the trip, but I pretty much figured that would be the case. Just wish they had some salad or something else to eat, but not a bid deal. The rain didn’t last long either. We got on a tender back around 3:30 and didn’t have to wait on line, but I heard the line got long shortly after that.

Nassau: Booked day passed in advance at British Colonial Hilton. Another true CC tip that turned out to be fantastic. We booked it before the increase in price. My kids were free of charge. $80 for my husband and I and it included $60 in food and drink credits. We were able to walk there from the ship. A beautiful hotel, on the beach, nice pool, good food. We were able to feed all four of us lunch, a few drinks for my husband and myself. Only went over the $60 by $2 for all four of us! They provide beach chairs and huts, towels, floats and beach toys for the kids. IT was a great, relaxing, fun way to spend the day. Some of the commenters on the Bahamas boards state that this is “Business Hotel”. Although there are no big water slides, or resort type activities, I found it mostly vacationers not business people. We felt completely comfortable there. There were five ships in port, and although most of the chairs were taken on the beach, it was definitely comfortable, not crowded and I highly recommend it.

Dining: I would rat it okay. Specialty restaurants: We ate at Le Bistro and Tangos. Our coupon book included a coupon for one free cover at Tangos if you bought two cover charges at Le Bistro. We figured, why not: Tangos includes the free Margaritas: Well, We loved Tangos! I think our most fun/favorite meal of the week! Le Bistro atmosphere was nice. Worth the $ for atmosphere. Our food was okay. We ate at Tzar’s for three evenings. I liked the Swordfish and Shrimp Skewers. ( I do not eat red meat). The “always available” Chicken dish was not good at all IMO.

The buffet was okay to good. I thought that there were always some healthy choices. Always steamed vegetables. Found fish most times. Omelettes to order in the morning were good. Loved eating at the great outdoors! So nice!

Disembarkation: A disaster. UGH. Hated it. What a way to end a vacation. L NCL Has got to improve this system!

The ship: LOVED the ship. If I were to do it again, I would choose a cabin near the front of the ship, not the back. Just for where we needed to go most of the time.

Loved hanging out in bar city. I had previously read that this ship did not have a grand atrium, and I agree, but it didn’t detract from the overall experience.

Cruise staff was great. Cruise director was brand new. I didn’t feel that they were over the top trying to upsell at all, Maybe I am just good at ignoring it. There wasn’t enough time in the day to do everyting we wanted to do! This was a perfect vacation for our family. A few minor things I would change, if I were to do it again, But it is confirmed: Love to cruise as a family vacation, leaving from NY continues to be a great way for us to travel with the kids, and I WILL STICK WITH NCL for future cruising.

Meet and Greet: We did have a meet and greet for our roll call, but as suspected my kids were busy in the pool having too much fun to get them out. I thought that might be the case, that I would not able to attend. but appreciate the work that the folks that put it together, and would be curious how it went!

Latitudes party: That was nice and much better than the Carnival Repeat Guest party that I attended on my last cruise.

Some of the tips that I have gotten from Cruise Critic were great, the research I did it advance, definitely made some differences in things to do vs skip

Tips that helped us:

-British Colonial Hilton was the best CC find for us.

-Tzars for lunch when getting on board

-Clam Shell at GSC

-Bringing Bottled water on board (restocked in Florida and again in Bahamas)

-Spa Pass- glad I got it, but I would opt to pay by the day next time

-Cirque show: DO NOT MISS, getting there early for seats and sitting about 15 rows back

-clothes pins for shower to hang wet bathing suits

Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask. We are planning another cruise for Later in the year, so I will still be looking on these message boards!

[billys mom]

Great review...thanks! How much to rent the clamshell in GSC, it sounds like a good idea.

[Halls12]

Hate to sound stupid but what is the clam shell and how much is it? thanks;)

[Mommy2Brielle]

It was $29 to rent.

 

It is basically two beach chairs that are under a covered "hut"

We rented it thinking it would provide shade for the kids, but wound up being shelter for the slight rain we had as well!

 

I remember seeing a picture somewhere of it, if you do a search I am assuming you will be able to find a picture

[*Luv2Cruz*]

Awesome review and glad you had such a good time!:cool: We're planning on heading down the same time next year with a CC Group and can't wait to go!:D Also; thanks for the CC tips!;)

[mjkacmom]

After all of my research, I didn't now about the clamshell and tenders! We're in 3 cabins - do we need to reserve 3 to get the tender tickets? We discovered the CS Atlantis info, and Hilton info, on CC, and those were our last 2 Nassau excursions.

[rosebud513]

I have looked on ncl about renting the clamshells...do you have to wait til you get onboard to rent them? Is 1 rental enough tender tickets for family of 3? Thanks!

[Mommy2Brielle]

One clam shell is definately enough for a family of three...

 

Yes, you can rent it once onboard through the excursion desk. It is listed in the excursion activity booklet. By the clam shell, it says "sells out early" but in fact, there were still some available to rent when you got to GSC (then you would still need a tender ticket however)

 

I am not sure how many they will officially allow with one tender ticket, but the freestyle daily, just said something to the effect of "one person in your group" must get the ticket. But they were defitnaely collecting them to let people on the GSC tenders.

 

I just have to mention that when I was on the Spirit a few years ago, the tendering process was CHAOS. So although this might seem like a silly process, it is so much better than with NO SYSTEM like it was on my prior NCL cruise.

[m2dd's]

Nassau: Booked day passed in advance at British Colonial Hilton. Another true CC tip that turned out to be fantastic. We booked it before the increase in price. My kids were free of charge. $80 for my husband and I and it included $60 in food and drink credits. We were able to walk there from the ship. A beautiful hotel, on the beach, nice pool, good food. We were able to feed all four of us lunch, a few drinks for my husband and myself. Only went over the $60 by $2 for all four of us! They provide beach chairs and huts, towels, floats and beach toys for the kids. IT was a great, relaxing, fun way to spend the day. Some of the commenters on the Bahamas boards state that this is “Business Hotel”. Although there are no big water slides, or resort type activities, I found it mostly vacationers not business people. We felt completely comfortable there. There were five ships in port, and although most of the chairs were taken on the beach, it was definitely comfortable, not crowded and I highly recommend it.

Who/ where did you book this trough? Did u book dirctly with Hilton?

I looked in to a day pass there and is was 115$ with no food included but you did get a room for the day. I would love to do this with my family without the room.

Glad to hear that you had a good time. Were leaving this saturday and our girls our 6 and 9 and most of the reviews I have read didn't mention about the Nick program(which is the main reason we booked)

Were there lots of kids on your crusie?

[Mommy2Brielle]

i booked it through island marketing dotcom. If you read on the bahamas boards, all of the info is there!

Lots of kids. I am sure you will have a fantastic time!

[4 Grateful Cruisers]

I too was on the same cruise.... had a great time.. the disembarkment was not NCL's fault.. it was customs.. they would only let 16 groups of people in at a time.. i do agree that the system needs to be changed.. the "easy walk off opton" was not so easy... waiting in line 2 hours to get off the boat..

Kids hot tub/slide were great but did not like that 8-9 year olds were allowed in there and were splashing and spitting water at each other..

-had to play pool police as my son got caught in the cross fire several times.. that was one gripe i had..

[andmad]

On GSC, DH and I had a relaxing morning first at the gym and then had lunch on the ship. We are not fans of the barbecue either. We did not wait in line for a tender ticket. We got right on a tender and found 2 beach chairs on the far end of the beach.

 

We had an absolutely great cruise, but disembarkation was a zoo. Our color was called and we went down to deck 6 mid. It took us over an hour to get to the front of the ship to get off. I know it was Customs that took so long, but NCL really would have helped by making announcements to let us know that. The line wrapped around the deck. There were elderly people who could not stand for such a long time and could have used some help and a lot of screaming babies. That was the only thing I would complain about. Everything else on our cruise was wonderful!

[happythoughts]

Mommy2brielle- thank you for your great review. Any chance that your recall what was on the menu for lunch in the dining room on embarkation day?

[Mommy2Brielle]

I just remember that I had Tilapia. I do not remember the other choices. Sorry!

[jlondon]

Mommy2Brielle, thanks so much for this review. I'll be leaving on this trip the end of August also with young children so your perspective was really helpful. I have more questions about GSC. How do the clamshells and the tender tickets correlate? How do they go about reserving the clamshell for you? When you got on the island was it waiting for you by cabin number or did you have to show a receipt and then you could set up? Can the clamshells be moved to other parts of the beach or are you locked into where it is set up? Are they set up in a desirable part of the beach or off to a side? Enquiring minds want to know. Thanks.

[andmad]

I had mushroom risotto with brie on the first day and quiche for an appetizer. My husband had tilapia and a salad. I am afraid I don't recall other items on the menu. I had peach and blueberry cobbler for dessert too.

[Mommy2Brielle]

When you book the clamshell, it is like booking an excursion, so you get a ticket. So when you go to take the tender, everyone else was handing in their numbered tender tickets, we just showed our excursion ticket. ( similarly if you book another gsc excursion, i think you could also use the excursion ticket as your tender ticket)

The ticket directs you where to do. There were several NCL workers you were there to help you when you got to theclamshell area. They are not pre-arranged as to which clamshell is actually yours, so you can probably ask for a certain location if you choose. You just have to give your ticket to the NCL emplpyee. They are set up in a way that i think it is supposed to just stay where it is. The clamshells are a bit far from the food but i liked that it was a little less crowded. Great part of the beach for kids to play. We were in the third row and i wish we were in the first row so i could have view of beach, but it was probably much more quiet and relaxing where we were. One more small tip: i brought bottled water, a very small cooler and a small ice pack. I would put tbe water and ice pack in the fridge at night to cool it and then brought it with me. On GSC i was glad i didnt have to bother getting drinks since the food was far away. I dont mind the questions, so feel free to ask away!

[schwamp]

Hi,

 

I am traveling the Jewel on 7/31/10 with my husband, 1.5 year old, plus parents, grandparents, siblings, and 3 other young children. We have no idea what to expect when getting off the ship at GSC....renting a clamshell sounds great - can you rent a family-style one for everyone to have a home base, or just a few individual ones that are hopefully next to each other?

 

Obviously, it will be a bit chaotic if we don't have something pre-arranged!!

 

Thanks! :)

[Mommy2Brielle]

as far as I saw, they were all the same. it was two chairs that were covered by a canopy.

it really depends on how many want/need shade. and the chairs are the long lounge chairs..so you dont need a separate chair for the little kids.

if you get to GSC, you can ask for one near the end of the row, they are close to the far end of beach chairs (and that area seems to be less hectic) so maybe if you have one or two clam shells, the others can sit on chairs near by, if you want.

also, there is probably room to squeeze the small beach chairs around your clamshell.

I did not pre arrange the location of my clamshell (if you are in a suite and can ask a concierge to take care of it)

or if you rent more than one, maybe you can make a special request for them to reserve two next to each other. but i didnt ask for any special requests, so i do not know.

 

your 1.5 year old wont be able to go to the regular kids club, but i did notice that they have a room reserved for under two all day long. When I went on an NCL cruise when my daughter was a baby, it was only during certain hours. Now it seems that the "Under two zoo" is all day long.

also, make sure to get the KIDS club weekly activity sheet... the Kids Club runs "family" activities throughout the week. Your child would probably be able to somewhat participate in some of these activities (with you of course. And of course, pick up the NIckelodeon at Sea schedule as well--those activities will also be great for your child to participate in.

[mymollysue]

Thank you for the great review. We are traveling on the Jewel with our 1 year old this August and reading your post makes me less nervous. The clamshells seem great. And that Nassau excursion sounds good except they have now raised the price....but it is worth considering. How far was the walk to the hotel? I just want to make sure my parents are able to do it without difficulty. Just out of curiosity, did you see any kids in swim diapers in the pool? I have read mixed reports on how much this rule is enforced. We are thinking of bringing an inflatable pool. Did you see any people with those?

[Mommy2Brielle]

The walk to the hotel was about 10-15 minutes. The day we were docked, there were four other cruise ships, and the Jewel just happened to be on the furthest dock from anything. So no matter what you did, there was a walk.

 

Also, others that we met while on board, took one of the Atlantis excursions, and to get the transporation for that excursion, they had to walk to Senior Frogs... which is right near the Hilton.

 

So if walking is a problem for some of your traveling companions, make sure you ask A LOT of questions before booking ANYTHING in Nassau!

 

I did not notice any with swim diapers in the pool...but around the kids pool is a shallow wading area, on two of the sides and I did notice some babies playing in this area. (I dont know if they were techically allowed in this area or not,) There is also a "Kiddie pool" which is really really tiny with a little kiddie slide. I dont know what the rules are for that area either.

When we took my daughter on the NCL Spirit, we DID take the Munckin inflatable Duck tub with us. I didnt see anyone with it on this cruise, but I have used it when my daugther was younger. We used it as a bathtub in the cabin iand we even brought it to GSC to use as a float in the ocean! If you take it out of the box and just pack in in the suitcase (uninflated of course!) ...it doesnt take up that much extra room.

[Datalla]

Thanks for the great review! I'll be sailing on the Jewel on the 26th with my husband, 2 kids, and in-laws. Your tips are much appreciated! : )

[katkritic]

Great review! We were on the same cruise and we had a wonderful time as well.

 

We booked a clamshell on the ship and I'm glad we did. It was money well spent. To a pp, if you want to get a few clamshells together in the same row, I would advise getting there early. We got one near the end b/c ds was at the beach and dd was having fun on the hippo slide (which we booked in advance online). We also rented a large float which my kids loved, especially when they pretended it was a tender docking ashore. Our day was cloudy with a little rain but the sun was still just as strong so make sure you have your sunscreen.