Jewel to Mexico: Review, Photos, and Video tour of ship

[Sheebah]

Great Review. We will be going on the same cruise in a few weeks.

 

Question: Did you try the Spa Services? If so, how were they?

 

Also, we like to do the "Spa Pass" on other lines, but @ $149 per person per week, it sounds a bit pricey. Do they offer a daily spa pass option, like on Port days? Or any other discounts?

 

Thanks in Advance - Curtis.

 

Curtis, I found some of the spa specials from the freestyle daily. I believe this one is for the Mazatlan port day:

 

 

And this one is for the last day, at sea:

 

 

Hope this helps. Progressively, they get cheaper, which makes sense.

[Sheebah]

Thank you for your wonderful video tour, and all the tips!

 

 

Question about disembarking. Our flight out of LAX is at 11:30 Sunday morning. I was thinking we should self disembark until I read someone else's suggestion not to. What are your thoughts?

 

I realized I didn't answer your disembarkation question. There are so many factors to consider, like, are you taking your own taxi or a ship sponsored shuttle to the airport? Will your bags be heavy? Are you traveling with little ones that will make it tough to manage your bags? Do you want to sleep in?

 

I will say that the self debark on this cruise was the absolute best, quickest and least crowded we've EVER experienced. It wasn't easy wrestling a 60 lb bag and a 6 year old kid, and a heavy carry on, but it was worth being in my car to drive home by 8:30am.

 

If you are in no rush and don't want to deal with your bags, I say stay on the ship as long as you can. You can enjoy a lovely omelet at the Great Outdoors, and chill for a while until you are called off.

 

Entirely a matter of preference. If you have any questions about this, let me know.

[Sheebah]

Great Review. We will be going on the same cruise in a few weeks.

 

Question: Did you try the Spa Services? If so, how were they?

 

Also, we like to do the "Spa Pass" on other lines, but @ $149 per person per week, it sounds a bit pricey. Do they offer a daily spa pass option, like on Port days? Or any other discounts?

 

Thanks in Advance - Curtis.

 

Curtis, I found one more, found on the last day program, next to the 20/20/20, for Men only. I have a feeling this service would be performed in the salon, not the spa, but that is just a guess:

 

[GoAndHaveFun]

I will be on the Jewel in a month for the NYE cruise. How were the Cruise Director and his/her staff? I attend a lot of activities onboard so I am definitely curious to know! Thanks!

[Sheebah]

I will be on the Jewel in a month for the NYE cruise. How were the Cruise Director and his/her staff? I attend a lot of activities onboard so I am definitely curious to know! Thanks!

 

Great, as far as we observed! I believe the cd's name was Sin.

[Blizzard54]

Thank you for a great video tour. I am looking forward to see the one with the specialty food. We will be adding the Jewel to our "list of ships" in January.

 

I also enjoyed you video of the Freedom OTS. We will be adding that one later in 2016.

[Sheebah]

Thank you for a great video tour. I am looking forward to see the one with the specialty food. We will be adding the Jewel to our "list of ships" in January.

 

I also enjoyed you video of the Freedom OTS. We will be adding that one later in 2016.

 

I'm glad you liked it. Sounds like u have s great year of cruising planned.

 

You're referring to Liberty, right? I've never sailed on freedom. Liberty OTS is quite the (giant) ship. Unlike anything we'd experienced, to be sure. We loved ice skating at sea!

[curtdesilets]

Curtis, I found one more, found on the last day program, next to the 20/20/20, for Men only. I have a feeling this service would be performed in the salon, not the spa, but that is just a guess:

 

 

Thanks for this and the previous response. I'll probably wait until a port day or the last sea day and do one of these. Very cool. - Curtis

[Blizzard54]

I'm glad you liked it. Sounds like u have s great year of cruising planned.

 

You're referring to Liberty, right? I've never sailed on freedom. Liberty OTS is quite the (giant) ship. Unlike anything we'd experienced, to be sure. We loved ice skating at sea!

 

You are correct, I did mean Liberty OTS.

 

Compared to when we started every ship is a giant. In those days most ships were about 18,000 to 22,000 grts. (The Love Boat was 20,000.

 

We have a very big year+ planned. My DW retired a couple months ago and I will be retiring in March. We have a week on the Norwegian Jewel in January, 35 days on the Explorer OTS in April, another 14 on Explorer in September, 21 days on the Liberty OTS Nov-Dec, mid January 2017 we have 33 days on the Grandeur OTS.

[Sheebah]

You are correct, I did mean Liberty OTS.

 

Compared to when we started every ship is a giant. In those days most ships were about 18,000 to 22,000 grts. (The Love Boat was 20,000.

 

We have a very big year+ planned. My DW retired a couple months ago and I will be retiring in March. We have a week on the Norwegian Jewel in January, 35 days on the Explorer OTS in April, another 14 on Explorer in September, 21 days on the Liberty OTS Nov-Dec, mid January 2017 we have 33 days on the Grandeur OTS.

 

My GOODNESS! THAT is one amazing cruise schedule. Congratulations on your and your wife's upcoming retirement. That explorer trip will be quite the kickoff to your new life.

[GoAndHaveFun]

Any chance you can upload the Freestyle Dailies? Thanks a ton!

[Sheebah]

Any chance you can upload the Freestyle Dailies? Thanks a ton!

 

They're in comments 33-41 of this thread as images. Let me know if you have trouble finding them :-)

[GoAndHaveFun]

They're in comments 33-41 of this thread as images. Let me know if you have trouble finding them :-)

 

AWESOME..thanks a lot!

[Sheebah]

After dinner we fully intended to see cirque bijou, however the 7:30 show booked entirely and we didn't want to battle for seats. Karaoke in a private room was something we thought cost $ the entire week, but learned today was free. So we headed to Fyzz and tried to nab a room. Sadly, all rooms were occupied except the blue room which had a malfunction. So we parked it in Fyzz and waited and just as we were about to give up at 8:30, the green room opened up. The people before us warned it was painfully slow and they were right. The machines need major attention and the microphones would only work one at a time. We made the best of it and introduced our son to prince, the Beatles and another 10 or so songs before calling it a night. TIP: if you want to do karaoke- try to get there early and snag the red room, the largest and best functioning. The equipment actually works and you'll save frustration.

 

I don’t have any good photos, but we got killer video which you can see in the ship video tour.

[Sheebah]

Our last day:

 

The chilly morning air returned on the final sea day, kind of like the slap of a Monday morning. That "yah, the vacay is almost over feeling" hadn't quite set in yet around the ship though because the pool was packed by 10am despite the return of November California weather. The clocks were set back fully last night to CA time, so we loved that extra hour of sleep.

 

Today's plan was:

 

8:30 Zumba

Noon Teppanyaki

4:30 Karaoke (if we could get the right room this time)

5:00- mojito flight at sugar cane bar

6:30 Moderno - yum!

 

I again started my morning with 8:30am Zumba, again with “first day Zumba Christian” who revealed he's pretty much a professional ballroom dancer. He went a little easier on us than day 1 which I was thankful for because I was wearing swim wear, a cover up and flip flops...not exactly workout wear. The class was great and boosted my mood.

 

By the pool it was sunny, yet cool, though up one deck on the jogging track the weather was harsh, windy and cool, and I ended up wearing jeans and a sweater all day. PS- The chair hogging was in full effect again with some parties taking blocks of 10-15 chairs and disappearing for hours.

 

By our noon Teppanyaki reservation I was fiercely hungry so the miso soup and seaweed salad starters hit the spot. Being our third trip to this spot, I was craving a change and requested a combo of tofu and shrimp. They are super flexible with the combos and honored the request with no questions asked. The food and performance were again great, but you gotta feel bad for the chefs who all use the same jokes every meal. Sometimes with all 4 chefs cooking at once, you'll hear them telling the same egg and rice jokes at the same time. Poor guys!

 

The fresh fruit dessert was tasty and with full tummies, we headed out to roam the ship. Hubby and son played life sized chess on the jogging deck and quickly got cold. We walked through the buffet for the boys afternoon ice cream and noticed the buffet was paaaacked! The weather aft in this area was warmer than most other outdoor spots so we settled in to a table and soaked up some sun. The afternoon flew by. I packed for a while (boo), then we decided to hit Fyzz again for a chance at karaoke. We scored the red room (50 shades fans, don't get any ideas) and it was SO much better like the bar staff promised. The songs cued up quickly and played back to back like they should and we stayed there until 6pm called and we had to dress for dinner. Our favorite karaoke songs were:

 

From Russia with love

Ticket to Ride (and loads of Beatles songs)

Float on (modest mouse)

Fields of gold (sting)

 

The boys chased the lights on the dance floor outside the karaoke rooms at fyzz…they weren’t still long enough to get a non blurry shot:

 

 

After karaoke, we dressed and headed to Moderno, excited for the unique salad bar. The food was once again amazing, and our son gobbled the grilled pineapple. The staff here we’d miss the most, as we saw them around the ship all week. We took some time to fill out about a dozen “service hero” comment cards, and after dinner, dropped them in the lobby box.

 

Here are a few more photos of the magnificent salad bar at Moderno. Photos don’t do it justice:

 

 

[Sheebah]

Wow, hats off ncl. At 7:30 a.m., well before the scheduled 8am self assist debark call, the cruise director came on the overhead and announced that we could leave the ship. We fall into the "get off the ship early" type, to lessen LA traffic and to get home in time to bust out 5 loads of laundry and prepare for work the next day.

 

My omelet was still cooking and my son fast asleep, so I wasn't going to rush back to the room. Instead, I stood in front of the uncrowded (shhh) omelet station at the great outdoors and daydreamt about the trip and what I'd miss- morning poolside zumba, filet mignon and lobster, karaoke & being fully present with my husband and son, without the pressures of emails pouring in, bills to pay, a commute, and of course, cooking and cleaning.

 

Then reality set in, we were off the ship and in our car at 8:30 a.m. for our 3 hour ride home. This had to be the smoothest and most hassle-free self assist debark we'd ever experienced and it left a great taste in our mouth for NCL as a whole.

We loved this trip, and the differences it brought to our cruise experiences. We were never bored, even on sea days. We feasted like royalty. We met nice people. We enjoyed the staff and crew...and we didn't break the bank.

 

In closing, I put together some thumbs up and thumbs down elements of our trip in my NEXT post!

[Sheebah]

Things we loved:

*Ultimate dining package! We had no issues with reservations (all made on day 1 and day 2- tip! Reserve early!) and because we feel main dining on ncl isn't the best, this really added value to this cruise and was a reason we booked. All 3 of us were included, even passenger #3, our 6 yo son. This was a pleasant surprise. I was surprised to learn midway through the cruise that you can also eat upgrade items (usually something involving lobster) at no charge! We did this at Le Bistro.

 

*Mini suites. I just love the in room coffee pot and bathtub and the hair dryer was really nice. Bathing, vs showering a kid is my preference.

 

*Tendering in cabo was the fastest ever. The staff and crew did a great job, and made it less of a traffic jam feel:

 

 

*The soft cozy beach towels. Compared to other lines, they are wonderful and the honor system towel process is SO nice:

 

 

*The digital photo gallery is SO nice compared to the old hunt for your printed photo that goes to waste routine:

 

 

O'Sheehans became our "I'm just not in the mood to battle the buffet" dining choice. Simple. Predictable. Cozy. And, leas likely to overeat there...buffets are dangerous for me. The great outdoors was equally as uncrowded and awesome, as buffets go.

The fried cheese is good, and the portion won’t clog the arteries:

 

 

The burger is also surprisingly good;

 

 

And the fruit plate is terrific;

 

[Sheebah]

Things we loved, continued:

 

In the buffet the silverware and napkins are on the tables so you don't have to tuck them under your arm and carry them, like some lines. It looks like this:

 

The Great Outdoors:

 

It was always the less crowded buffet area, and while there was less selection, the ambiance made up for it:

 

 

The children's corner in the main buffet is adorable and we loved those little tables and stools. Even my 6 foot husband liked it there. There's a sign reserving the area for families, but it's not enforced. The food was “meh” (typical kid stuff), but we liked the seating. It was kind of funny how often adults popped in from the main bufet to take a scoop of the kid mac and cheese! It must be good. We didn’t take any photos of this area, but will show it in our ship video tour.

 

The buffet nightly dessert crepe station. Sweet Jeepers those crepes were GOOD.

Formal nights are not a thing on this ship. I don't know if this is a plus or minus, but it was interesting and we dressed up anyway on one night. It was relaxing not to worry about what to wear - the freestyle concept is cool, and makes cruising less restrictive. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for cruise tradition. I just enjoyed the change.

The staff: while our day 1 staff experience was lacking, we connected with many wonderful staff members through the week, like Zin and Cherry in Moderno and Vadim in Fyzz. It's hard to get to know the Staff and crew when you rotate restaurants but they went out of their way to make it happen.

 

Our lovely friend Zin at Moderno:

 

 

The bridge viewing room. What a cool idea…on the port side of Deck 11, walk all the way forward and watch the captains do their thing:

 

[sternfanla]

Very nice.

[Husky1987]

This has to be one of my favorite reviews ever! And not just because I'm stepping aboard the Jewel in 4 days. Thank you again (for like the 3rd time!) :)

[Socalev]

Thanks so much for the great detailed report. I appreciated the fact that you uploaded the dailies. We'll be on the Jewel in February so now I have some planning to do!

 

Socalev:)

[Sheebah]

This has to be one of my favorite reviews ever! And not just because I'm stepping aboard the Jewel in 4 days. Thank you again (for like the 3rd time!) :)

 

Really!!?? Thank you. I'm so glad you are enjoying it. You better start packing!!

[Sheebah]

Thanks so much for the great detailed report. I appreciated the fact that you uploaded the dailies. We'll be on the Jewel in February so now I have some planning to do!

 

Socalev:)

 

My pleasure. I'm glad it's helping you. We have some more videos coming soon- one of our stateroom, and one with additional food footage.

[curleyjane]

Thanks so much! Love the review and pictures!

[Sheebah]

Hey everyone, sorry this took so long. Here is a video tour of our mini suite cabin, 11106. It was on Deck 11, starboard, aft-ish. It was a GREAT room as it was so convenient to the pool and buffet area, just ONE deck up.

 

Edited December 4, 2015 by Sheebah
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