Newbee wants to know

[RANCHOVISTA]

Will be sailing on NCL for the first time (Jewel 8-24-13 to Alaska). Are the speciality restaurants worth the extra money? Thinking about doing each one of them. Also, we have a mini-suite on deck 11, under Mama's restaurant. Any commenrs or suggestions. Were an older couple, and have cruised with HAL and RCI. Thanks in advance.

:rolleyes:

[roger001]

Great ship, great cruise. We like the mini suites (older couple). Food is so subjective and there are so many opinions, frequently no two even close in opinion. We like Le Bistro and the Italian restaurants. Don't care that much for the steak house because I cook a good steak at home. Try them all and you will know next time what your favorite/s are.

[hladygirl]

We usually go to lebistro , cagneys and Italian restaurant. The rest of the nights we mix it up between main dining room, blue lagoon and Buffett. We take 2week cruises and I frankly get tired of eating after a while.

[pattydifer]

You will love the Jewel, and we are on the same itinerary 2 weeks after you. We always do LeBistro and we love Moderno and Teppanaki. Blue Lagoon, although not an extra charge speciality, is a great "anytime " casual dining experience. Have fun and just enjoy your vacation!

Patty

 

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[DMH15]

Here is my opionion. Whatever the cost think of it as an upgrade in THREE AREAS. Food, service and embience. For instance, consider a fee of $30 with $10 each attributable to each of those aspects. So, YES so worth it, for me at least.

[garycarla]

Based on capacity and use, I would say about half the folks think it is worth it. The free MDR's seem to keep very busy.

 

Word of note - the Mini-Suite is NOT A SUITE, but a deluxe balcony. It is fine, but just a word of note.

[Demonyte]

Also, we have a mini-suite on deck 11, under Mama's restaurant.

 

If your cabin number is 11622 or bigger, you should be fine, anything smaller and you have a risk of wee hours noise from the galley above.

[bonvoyagie]

While this is a wee bit off topic - I would like to make an excursion suggestion- take the Tracy Arm Explorer tour out of Juneau. The Jewel's itinerary is great for this tour as you still get the full time in Juneau and you get to see Tracy Arm from both water level and cruise ship level.

 

As for the eateries - I love the Italian one - was not too impressed with the Blue Lagoon on the Pearl poor service and I never got the right order - the Jewel could be different. Have not tried the others as we always liked the MDRs and the buffet.

[puggsie]

We did all the specialty restaurants except Moderno on our cruise and we definitely think each one of them was worth the cover charge. I plan on budgeting for it every time going forward because it was so nice to do them over MDR or buffet. The only one we needed reservations for was Teppanyaki. Otherwise we just made the decision based on what type of food we felt like eating that night and were able to get a seat without waiting. It was great. Have fun!

 

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[Cruzn Bills Fan]

We didn't care for Teppenyaki but we loved LaCucina.

[RANCHOVISTA]

:)Your comments and suggestions are much appreciated and helpful. Another question please..what's the entertainment like on this cruise?

Again, thanks in advance.

[meaclasact2]

She got us across the Atlantic from Dover to NY in rather rough seas...I have nothing but fond memories of this ship!

 

On every cruise we always go to Le Bistro...it's a beautiful setting and the food is very very good. Going to Cagney's is great...but we can go to steakhouses here at home -it's a personal choice...if a friend were to ask me if they should go, I would say "try it at least once!"

 

Teppanyaki is always a lot of fun...it's becomes a show and we have always enjoyed ourselves there. Nice way to meet fellow cruisers as well. You will have to make reservations for this one restaurant - it has always been full (or very close to it) on every ship we've sailed.

 

Regarding your room location...I don't think you will have a noise problem at all...we've even had cabins under the gym and never experienced any issues.

 

And now one big suggestion...do not miss having at least a few meals in the Great Outdoors...this is the open air area in the back of the ship...prepare your tray from the buffet and then go outside...this is a signature spot for us...the jewel class ships all have it and we absolutely love it.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[kayhil3]

We are on the same cruise as you. I have been on 3 different NCL ships and have eaten in all the specialty restaurants except Merderno and La Bistro, and the food has been great. The free dinning has also been good . The buffet is fine for breakfast and lunch or snacks but I did not care for it for dinner. Looking forward to a great cruise.

[terrydtx]

Will be sailing on NCL for the first time (Jewel 8-24-13 to Alaska). Are the speciality restaurants worth the extra money? Thinking about doing each one of them. Also, we have a mini-suite on deck 11, under Mama's restaurant. Any commenrs or suggestions. Were an older couple, and have cruised with HAL and RCI. Thanks in advance.

:rolleyes:

 

Like you we are also HAL past cruisers (8) and we are doing our first NCL cruise on the Jewel in December from NOLA. A couple of days ago there was a thread discussing the food quality on the Jewel this summer in Alaska. In case you missed it I will post the link. When you get back I will be interested in how you compare the food to HAL. In this thread you will see my comments on our last couple of HAL cruises and how we thought the MDR food quality had gone down from past cruises for us.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1887943

[hamrag]

Will be sailing on NCL for the first time (Jewel 8-24-13 to Alaska). Are the speciality restaurants worth the extra money? Thinking about doing each one of them. Also, we have a mini-suite on deck 11, under Mama's restaurant. Any commenrs or suggestions. Were an older couple, and have cruised with HAL and RCI. Thanks in advance.

:rolleyes:

 

In my opinion they are, especially when comparing MDR's to HAL and RCI which are much better than NCL....enjoy!