Short Review of Jewel Cruise in February

[riddle]

I would like to start by saying we are seasoned "mostly" NCL cruisers who think NCl provides a very good product for the price.

 

We cruised on the Jewel the last week in February. This was a "free" cruise from "Total Rewards" with us paying taxes and port fees. We opted for an inside room as this allows us to cruise more often and we spend little time in the room. More on that later.

 

Embarkation went pretty well (fine with NCL part). New Orleans is not set up as well as for instance Miami but it is not as big either. We stayed Saturday night in the Wyndham Riverfront and we could see the ship from our room and eventually left our car for the week right across the street! Hotel was good but getting there was a nightmare due to road closures because of parades.

 

Before boarding, we signed up for the spa package which we always do. The spa on the Jewel is not as large as the ones on the Epic (which we love by the way) but it was a nice place to be.

 

We ate in the main dining room for lunch and I think rooms were ready shortly after 1:00. We received our luggage shortly thereafter.

 

Fast foward to the first night. Our cabin was 11079. There was a lot of noise overhead but we thought it would calm down. It did not. Till late at night (1:00 a.m. or so) there was constant noise of what sounded like large rolling carts, banging and dropping of large items, even sounded like some construction noise. We awoke several times during the night. This continued each night till the 3rd night where it was even worse and kept us up most of the night. We went on vacation to rest, not be exhausted.

 

I had the list of phone numbers from the Meet N Greet so I called the hotel manager to discuss the situation. He was quite personable and told me we would hear back shortly after he investigated. We heard back from Elsie who I believe is in charge of the staterooms and reviewed the situation with us again. Elsie called again and said there was a room on 9 where we could either move to or just use it to sleep and keep both rooms since we would not have to move all of our stuff. I looked at the room and said ok it would work for sleeping. Called Elsie back and she told us she may have a better option in the afternoon as someone was supposed to be disembarking. True to form, Elsie called back later and said there was a balcony on 9 that we could have. We decided that was worth the work of moving everything and with the help of a room steward we got moved. Thank you Elsie for so graciously taking care of the problem. You were the star of our cruise! Thanks for the chocolate covered strawberries as well.

 

Life on 9600 was quite nice. We were directly at the elevator and sleep was uninterrupted. I give kudos to NCL for fixing our problem but in our opinion 11079 is not an inhabitable room if this noise is customary. We later discerned we were probably below a dishwashing area on 12 and that caused at least some of the noise.

 

I won't go into a lot of details of the rest of the week as we only took one excursion and spent a lot of time in the spa and the casino. We only saw one show, Band on the Run, and it was good. As Platinum and Total Rewards we received 3 free dinners. We ate at Cagneys for the Total Rewards one as there was no limit on fee. It was outstanding as always. The best steaks around. The second one was Moderno. It did not specify Moderno on our free voucher but since it was the same price as LeBistro we were allowed to use it. We had to get permission from restaurant reservations to do this. This meal was "good" but not great. We lastly had a meal at LeBistro. French is not our favorite food but our filet was delicious as was the rest of the meal. Only thing I can say is that I think there should be a bit more variety in the deserts in the specialty restaurants.

 

We ate the rest of our meals at the main dining rooms or buffet. Breakfasts were good, lunch good and dinner just ok. Guess we missed the specialty restaurants.

 

Casino was tight but I expected that. Did an excursion on Roatan to a private island. Was a nice excursion, but over priced. However, I was bitten all over by what was probably sand fleas or sand flies. I woke up the next morning and the spots had become about the size of dimes and were extremely itchy. I bought benadryl and itch cream in the store and it helped some. I was plagued with this the rest of the trip and beyond. I chose to avoid the sun and heat after that as it aggravated the itching. I am certainly not blaming anyone but mother nature for this but it was a bummer.

 

Disembarkation was pretty smooth. We hit the road about 9:00 and all went fine till we hit the major snow storm in Kentucky. Suffice it to say our trip home almost doubled in time. Again, thank you mother nature.

 

Aside from the room problem, it was a very good cruise. I would say that the Jewel had the most courteous, friendly staff we have ever encountered on a cruise ship. Everyone was at the top of their game. Can't say enough good about both our room stewards, Raymond and Ishmael. The management of the Jewel runs a very nice ship.

 

Any questions, please ask.

[che5904]

Thanks for your review.

 

Wow sounds like it was fate that you waited for the 3rd night to address this concern, since then you got to move to a balcony.

 

Sorry to hear you lost sleep those nights though. Did they ever tell you what all this noise was from. It looks like that cabin is under the kitchen for the buffet. I've heard under the buffet kitchen on ships can be quite noisy.

[kkbplb]

I will be o the Jewel April 20th and have been trying to book the Spa package Before boarding, I was told I had to wait till I got on board. Any help would be appreciated

[deladypilot]

Thank you for taking the time to review your cruise. Nice to know that NCL will do what they can to make things right.

[gooch47]

Except for using our platinum perks to enjoy four visits to the specialty restaurants, our experience (except for your noisy cabin) was pretty much the same in early February.

 

Any reason you didn't stay at Harrah's? Or one of their partner hotels? We get comped rooms and if you are a Diamond level, free parking, too.

Edited March 8, 2014 by gooch47

[riddle]

Unfortunately, by the time I booked Harrah's was full due to Mardi Gras. We did get the Total Rewards rate at Wyndham and it was pretty cheap. Did not know we could park for free if at Harrahs (for whole week). Thanks for letting me know.

 

We never found out conclusively what the noise was but am certain it was below part of the cooking or cleaning area of the buffet. Also on some port days there was the same sort of noise coming from behind the elevators (which was where our first room was also).

 

As for the spa package. We booked it in the terminal before boarding. The spa was never very busy so I doubt they were fully booked this cruise.

[riddle]

Sorry I missed the comment about Diamond for the parking. We are not diamond.

 

How did you get 4 nights of specialty restaurants?

[Disfan5]

We had a great time on the Jewel in November. We were also on deck 9 by the elevators and Ishmael was our steward. He was great.

[DDMau]

Thanks for the review, we have family sailing on April 6th. Not close to cabin 11079 so should be quiet for them.

Edited March 8, 2014 by DDMau

[mousy56]

question about the perks..are you using Harrah's platinum perks to get the free dining? or is that with NCL?

I didn't know you could use your Harrah's perks (I'm Seven Star) to dine in the fee dining areas. We are doing this cruise in 3 weeks..staying at the Harrah's too (free) and our cruise is free too..(except taxes and port cost). Suppose to be able to get drinks in casino for no charge as well..Did you find that true? We are also flying free (NCL credit cards points)

Thanks for the info :-)

Edited March 8, 2014 by mousy56

[riddle]

The one free dinner for 2 was in any restaurant we wanted and was from Total Rewards (Casinos at Sea). The letter was in our room on arrival. It also included a bottle of wine.

[jdvmd]

Glad that you had a nice time and that NCL was so responsive with the noise problem in your original cabin. Pays to go to Meet and Greets!

[gooch47]

We did a b2b, two dinners for two each week.

 

The platinum was our NCL status, not our Total Rewards status.

 

We never gamble on board enough to get much more than a few bucks off our bill.

 

Except for getting the free cruise from the Caesar's casino(s) in the first place, your Total Rewards status doesn't mean anything on the ship. We did get free drink cards since we we're technically CAS guests.

[rvsullivan]

I will be o the Jewel April 20th and have been trying to book the Spa package Before boarding, I was told I had to wait till I got on board. Any help would be appreciated

 

Board as early as you can and then head straight to the desk and book. On most cruises it sells out early in the boarding process. If your in a suite, the concierge can do it from the dock while your waiting to board.

Edited March 8, 2014 by rvsullivan

[gelo7]

Thanks, for sharing your thoughts.

[JWestShuh]

Could you tell me how much the spa pass was either per person or for a couple? Thank in advance!