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Jewel Maiden Voyage - another review!

KathyW

By KathyW,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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KathyW

KathyW

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I am adding our thoughts on the Maiden Voyage of the Norwegian Jewel from the point of English, first time cruisers and a family of three (one daughter aged 12).

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise overall. We obviously did not know what to expect but the holiday lived up to our expectations. The ship was beautiful and there was a feeling of spaciousness everywhere you went.

 

Colmil's comments re the noise above cabins on Deck 11 from children running up and down the Garden Cafe as well as the basketball court I can appreciate. We certainly noticed the noise in Mamma's Kitchen on Deck 12 of the activity on the basketball court above!

 

Our cabin was on Deck 9 inside at the front port side of the ship -very comfortable and well maintained by our excellent room stewards Benjie A and Dana C. My daughter loved the bunk bed in the room and slept like a log on it. Enough wardrobe space for the three of us for 13 days surprisingly since it was a very compact room! Very quiet location overall apart from rehearsal times in the afternoon in the Stardust Theatre 2 floors below so not the best time to have a little afternoon nap!

 

There was a launderette on every other floor (one on the 9th) with three front loading washing machines, three tumble dryers and two iron and ironing boards and detergent was available at reception.

 

As Colmil said, the first couple of days did seem to be very busy in getting into the restaurants. One thing that did annoy me was witnessing only having one person in Reception who handled bookings for restaurants during the day. There could be a queue of 10 or more people all trying to book reservations for every evening of their cruise so you can imagine how long the booking process might take. However, you could also book from 5.30 p.m. onwards at the particular restaurant you wanted. This idid seem to take the "free" out of freestyle but I can see why people felt they needed to book tables so far in advance.

 

Food was excellent overall on ship with a few hiccups! We tried Chin Chin on the first night - my daughter loved the sushi but we were disappointed with the selection of dishes - I think they were trying to feature dishes from all parts of Asia when they may have been better off just offering dishes from India or China. Tsars was an excellent dining room offering good choices for lunch and dinner and we found on the last three days an outstanding breakfast served very promptly! Service could be patchy at very busy times of the evening but I have to say that staff were very pleasant and efficient as they could be. You could say that the cuisine would possibly be on the bland side, according to European tastes, but it was still good. The Azura offered the same menus in a modern and less grand environment. We tried the Teppinayki restaurant which was excellent with very tasty food indeed. Mamma's Kitchen was a bit of disappointment - food pretty bland though my daughter enjoyed her pasta. Please note that it was hard to get a table there unless you arrived by 6.00 p.m. The Blue Lagoon offered a tasty selection at breakfast and other times of the day or night and had open views out to sea! The Garden Cafe was enjoyed by my daughter who loved the evening meals on her way to the Kids' Club with her friends. We tried Cagneys on the last evening and had an excellent meal with attentive service.

 

I do agree with Colmil re prices for drinks with 15% gratuity on everything even if you ordered at the counter. Wine was very expensive and popular lower price wines seem to disappear off the menu. Draught beer was a great disappointment in that the beer was almost always flat and I did complain about it but staff said there were intermittent problems with the pumps. The price of a pint of draught beer was cheaper than a bottle of "domestic" (US) beer. The cocktails were nicely made. My daughter loved her soda card.

 

There were a lot of children on board ship and I have to say that they did dominate the pool deck and all the jacuzzis (forgive spelling!). Following numerous complaints by adults, two of the jacuzzis were assigned to adults only. My daughter loved the Kids' Club (10-12) and it seemed to be well run with lots of activities going on.

 

We enjoyed visiting all the ports and undertook two private excursions in Pisa and Rome with fellow cruise critic members (thank you Tracey!).

 

I have run out of things to say but if there are questions out there, I will try and answer!

 

Regards.

 

KathyW

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Dolphins

Dolphins

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Kathy W- thank you for your informative review. Surprised there was only one person taking dinner reservations in the atrium. On the Dawn, there were usually two. Hopefully, that shortcoming will be noted and corrected.

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KathyW

KathyW

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Dear Mafig

 

I think you would have to book for Mamma's Kitchen. We just happened to turn up at 6.00 p.m. and a reservation had not turned up - thus we got in. The reservation staff at the restaurant advised that you would have to book in advance for this particular restaurant.

 

Hope this is helpful to you.

 

Regards.

 

Kathy W

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KathyW

KathyW

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Dear Mafig

 

The large screens were indeed helpful and were positioned throughout the ship. We were either a party of 2 or 3 depending on my daughter's attendance and generally did not find it difficult to get a table. We tended to eat and then go to the late shows in the Stardust Theatre so we were turning up at around, say, 7.30 to 8.00 at Tsars or the Azura and never waited long at all. We only pre booked for Cagneys, Chin Chin and the Teppinayki and once for Tsars (not sure why for that one - can't remember). By the way, the shows were, on the whole, excellent. Thoroughly enjoyed the Band on the Run, Country Awards Show and Cirque de Bijou shows by the Jean Ryan Company and loved the pianist Juan Pablo as well as the American comedian David Nascar (?). I tried Bingo in the Spinnaker Lounge (spectacular views) for the first time in my life and thoroughly enjoyed it but alas no winnings!

 

Kind regards.

 

Kathy W

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gdries

gdries

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We did enjoy the cruise. We found many folks from the Dawn and the Sun on board in lead service positions. We were on the first Dawn cruise from MIA in 2002 and this was much smoother than that was from a crew perspective. We will post some web shots in a couple of days. It is time to get back to reality and back on the correct time zones. It is a great ship and the crews will rival the Sun and the Dawn very soon. At least that is my opinion.

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mbisson

mbisson

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Thanks so much for the review Kathy. I especially appreciate the info and insight you gave about the various dining rooms and the showroom entertainment. Your review sounds pretty much as I was hoping it would.

 

Come on December-

-Monte

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Haze

Haze

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Thank-you so much for your review. We are on The jewel Sept 18 out of New York. Thanks for mentioning the laundrette. We assumed that there were no laundrette services on board and we prefer to do our own laundry. We are pleased to hear this.

WE have an inside cabin booked also and it was good to read your comments about the inside cabins.

WWe are liooking forward to the cruise and your review has just fuelled our anticipation!

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MIDWEST-CRUISER

MIDWEST-CRUISER

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I have a 12 yr old also. We are on the Dec 4th cruise.

Did the 10-12 yr olds get to use the teen club earlier in eve. or did they have to share the kids club with the 3-9yr olds?

 

What were some of the activies this age group did?

 

My son is a joiner so I don't worry that he wont go but would like to let him know. We have only sailed on Majesty before and this age group met in a closed bar three decks down from pool so am looking forward to a closer pick up spot. Thanks for your review and answering my questions.

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KathyW

KathyW

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Dear Midwest Cruiser

 

Thanks for your question re Kids' Club. From what I remember, they seemed to use the Teens Club most of the time - mornings, afternoons and evenings. There was a note posted on the door telling the Teen Club to meet at such and such a place at a certain time so they never seem to be there! A typical day at sea's activities (according to my daughter's kid crew sheet included the folllowing: 9.00 a.m. Morning Walk a mile, 10.00 a.m. to Noon Secret Agent Training, 2.00-5.00 p.m. Scavenger Hunt Afternoon, 7.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m. Farewell Pajama Jam (please take your pillow!). She attended quite a lot of sessions and made a lot of new friends. The club would also attend some of the early shows in the Stardust Theatre which they seemed to like. Lots of sports activities and board games as well included in the sessions. The Kids Club was situated on 12th Floor next to the Garden Cafe which was a convenient location for all parents, I think.

 

Hope this is of some help to you.

 

Kind regards.

 

Kathy W

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micheleg

micheleg

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Hi Kathy,

 

Thanks for your review!!! Glad to hear so many positive things. Makes me less nervous on our decision to have our wedding and honeymoon on board.

 

Did you have a chance to see any of the Romance Suites on Deck 10 aft?

 

Thanks again and glad you had such time!!

 

Michele :)

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micheleg

micheleg

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Hiya Shoreguy!

 

Yup...I saw those pics...I'm very excited. That suite will give us more than enough room for a very enjoyable honeymoon transatlantic. I was going to look into upgrading, but I really don't think there's a reason too. Nice suite...aft view, friends on board..and a new husband...what more could girl want? :)

 

Thanks!

Michele

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shoreguy

shoreguy

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Hiya Shoreguy!

 

Yup...I saw those pics...I'm very excited. That suite will give us more than enough room for a very enjoyable honeymoon transatlantic. I was going to look into upgrading, but I really don't think there's a reason too. Nice suite...aft view, friends on board..and a new husband...what more could girl want? :)

 

Thanks!

Michele

 

I don't think you could do any better for the Transatlantic. I am in an AE and turned down an upsell to AC that was dirt cheap. Aft facing, out of the wind. For you every night a great sunset in the western sky. Not sure it gets any better then that.

 

Now if the offer us a Villa we will need to think about it :rolleyes:

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KathyW

KathyW

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Dear Michele

 

Dear Micheleg

 

Thanks for your kind words. I am sorry but I didn't see any of the Romance suites but, from Shoreguy's photos, they look lovely. The only rooms we did get a sneaky view of was on the day of disembarkation. Our room was opposite the "White Diamond" Suite on the front of Deck 9. The suite was absolutely enormous with a living room, a bathroom with a flat screen TV in it, a large bedroom and two balconies. There was another suite next door which was lovely but not nearly as large. Sorry I can't help any more on this!

 

Regards.

 

Kathy W

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UKDeb

UKDeb

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Kathy,

 

Thanks so much for your review - extremely helpful and articulate.

 

Having convinced myself that those pictures are of the Romance Suite, I managed to persuade my husband to upgrade from a mini-suite and he sorted it all out today! We have 10666. Yaay! I've spent the past couple of hours searching the internet trying to convince myself that I'm right about it. I can't tell you how much of a relief it is to have Shoreguy confirm it - I figure if he doesn't know, who's going to? Have a great trip Shoreguy - I can't wait to hear all about it and to see the photos of your AE. :)

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micheleg

micheleg

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Mushy, mushy

 

 

Larry

 

I'll mushy, mushy you Mr. Larry..lol (betcha Nancy doesn't think that's mushy)...wait til we get on board and start doing shots (but you'll have to wait until the day after the wedding!)

 

LOL..everyone has 10666! Good thing we're all not cruising at the same time!!! Talk about overbooking!! :)

 

Shoreguy...yup...I'd take one of those Villas in a heartbeat...but...you can't beat the price and location on the AE and AD's.

 

Michele :) (aka..we're a little wet down here...but we're all ok...just a little rain and a little wind...what's one more Hurricane?)

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