Jewel Review 2/19-2/26 LOVED IT!!!!

[Coastalbreezes]

I think I am mentally still on the beautiful Jewel even though we've been home for nearly 5 days. Our group consisted of myself, two teens (15 and 16) and my mother. Here are my overall impressions:

EMBARKATION: A breeze! We arrived around 12:45 p.m. and didn't stand in line at all. We had pre-registered online and everything was in order and we were checked in immediately. One note: I was fully prepared traveling as a single parent with my notarized "Permission to Travel" document as well as 2 other docs provided by NCL allowing the kids' father to grant permission for medical treatment in an emergency. No one asked for these very important papers -- I still have them in my travel portfolio. Our last 2 cruises, that was the first thing I was asked for. It was a rather long walk for my mother along the gangway to the ship, but once onboard, we were close to the elevators and our cabins.

CABINS: My kids and I shared mini-suite #11558 and it was spacious as could be for 3 people. Full bath with tub and shower, large sink, 3 shelves for toiletries and a toilet that could be made separate via a sliding door. Plenty of closet/drawer space throughout! Balcony was big enough with 2 comfy chairs and a table. TV got CNN, 2 movie channels, ESPN, and TNT in addition to the ship's channels. Great water pressure in the shower.

DINING: We had a very nice lunch in the Garden Cafe after checking out our cabins (by the way, our luggage was in the cabin around 2:30 which

was nice). We heeded info from these boards and made reservations for the week within an hour of embarking. Very easy to do -- just called our concierge and a few hours after, a hand written confirmation was delivered to our door. We ate in every restaurant except for Tango's and Azura (both free). Every specialty restaurant except Teppanyaki and the a la carte items were 1/2 price every night between 5:30-6:30. Teppanyaki was so great that we ate there twice. Le Bistro: excellent food AND service especially from our waitress Elena -- she was a consummate professional and was one of our favorite staff members! Chin Chin was divine -- I highly recommend the mussels, peking duck and spring rolls --yum! Tsar's Palace was just magnificent -- and the food and service, again excellent. The "Chocoholic Buffet" although crowded was worth the wait to get it -- a wonderful experience. Cagney's had your basic steakhouse menu and, while the food was excellent, I would probably not return. We felt rather rushed and the service there was not as good, IMHO, as the other specialty restaurants onboard. You can't beat the Garden Cafe for breakfast and lunch. Every morning, I had poached eggs -- head over to where they are making omelets against the station on the back wall and just ask for poached --they were perfect. We utilized breakfast room service on our last morning and it was delivered right on time -- just continental, but nevertheless good. Overall, and despite what I had read on these boards, the food overall was excellent.

SHOWS: Band on the Run -- just a great time if you love songs from the 70s -- we really enjoyed this one! Cirque Bijou was wonderful also. The kids loved the Second City show, but my mother walked out because she "didn't get it". Heard the passenger talent show was wonderful.

BINGO: I have to mention Bingo because it was probably my biggest complaint about the trip. For the first 1/2 hour all they did was continuously hard-sell the more expensive hand-held electronic bingo cards (try $55!); then for those that bought them, they seemed to be constantly malfunctioning, making the caller keep stopping the game. When I say Bingo was EXCRUCIATING, I really mean it. Seemed like 10 minutes in between numbers and really corny jokes. Just awful, and I am a patient person. Could not wait for it to end and never returned. An even bigger complaint: not only were children allowed to play, but also allowed to win and collect the $ !! -- Never before have I seen that on a cruise. It IS gambling isn't it?

PORTS: We purchased the shore excursion for Roatan's Tabyana Beach Party at $52/pp and we all piled onto a school bus for the long ride to the beach. We had a local woman give us a history of the island and some personal anecdotes and stories which was interesting. The bus broke down (maybe overheated?) on the way but we were soon on our way. The ride was scenic and we were glad to eventually get there. Lunch was so-so and I felt overall the price for the day wasn't worth it. Would I do the same excursion again? No. Cayman was great -- had a wonderful time walking around and exploring and shopping. Didn't get off in Ocho Rios -- heard many negative stories from people afterwards about being hassled just about everywhere they walked (locals trying to sell them drugs and demanding money). Can't tell you about the shore excursions except we heard from others that Dunn's River Falls was nice although crowded.

CASINO: I love slots and in general thought the slots weren't as "loose" as advertised. Wasn't all that impressed with the selection of video slots and I was on Princess and HAL.

STAFF: Our cabin stewards were the team of Francisco and Emerson. They made us towel animals every night (for those that are interested) and were very nice people. The only thing -- and I noticed this throughout the ship -- despite being told our names, they never once called us by them. Seems that everyone though my name was "Madam" which bugged me after awhile. My favorite bartender was Candelaria aka Candy -- sweet and pleasant. Speaking of which...

BARS: My mother and I enjoyed cocktails every evening at "Bar Central" -- just a beautiful landscape of 3 connected bars -- Maltings, Martini, and Champagne. We enjoyed sitting there every evening before going to dinner. The martinis were excellent (around $9 but equivalent to about 2 drinks). The price of a single glass of wine was out of this world however! Cheapest Pino Grigio was $8.25 (+ that notorious 15% gratuity) and they "ran out" out of the inexpensive ($7.75) Pinot Noir by the 2nd night! Believe me when I say they pour only a few ounces of wine -- barely a 1/4 of a glass! For those prices, shame on them! They tried to upsell us to bottles, but when you did the math, it was actually cheaper by the glass. So we stuck to regular cocktails (generally $5.50) and several nights ordered a bottle of wine with dinner (in the $20-30 range, but those wines were not available at Bar Central). Enjoyed Topsiders & Sky High once or twice during the week, but I get annoyed when I am sitting at the bar and someone would come along and plunk their 4 year old on the barstool next to mine! Staff members never said a word.

ONBOARD ACTIVITIES:Chair savers-- enough said. One woman asked a staff member (at 6:30 a.m. no less it it was "too early to save chairs?" His response: "No, go right ahead." So, if the staff isn't enforcing the rules, why should anyone abide by them? We did enjoy cooking demos, putting contests, and silly stuff like Pictionary contests. The kids signed up for the Teen Center activities and hooked up with a bunch of other teens the first night, but felt that the activities in general weren't as good as Princess. They hung by the pool and loved the video arcade and played Scrabble and cards with fellow teens -- in general, they had a ball! The onboard shops had plenty of merch to choose from, in all price ranges.

THE SHIP: I saved this for last because it was the ship itself that I personally fell in love with. One thing I would say is don't stop looking up, down, and all around you. The splendor is in the details that abound everywhere you look on this gorgeous ship -- from the beautiful shell sconce in our bathroom to the floor tiles that looked like blades of grass in the Sky High Bar to the champagne bubbles bubbling along the back bar and across the foot of the Champagne Bar to the faux flowers dangling above you in the Garden Cafe to the fish on the carpets in the hallways that all swim forward so you never get lost to the incredible lighting and ceiling tiles that change from area to area. I cannot wait to sail NCL again -- it was one of the best vacations I have ever had.

I am sure I am leaving many things out, but I have saved every Freestyle Daily. If anyone has any questions, I would be most happy to answer anything I can.

TracyE

 

P.S. to Carol and all the others from our Roll Call -- I did get to meet Shari and her hubby and kids after muster on Sunday and am so very sorry that we didn't meet after all of these months of chatting on these boards. The SkyHigh was so crowded that day and after 1/2 hour of asking everyone around me if they were from Cruise Critic with all-around anwers of "no", I was mighty disappointed not to have met you. Hope you all had as great a time as we did...hopefully we will all sail again!

[NoName]

Hi Tracye,

 

I am getting ready to cruise on the Dawn on 3/16/06 and we are taking our nephew with us. I have asked my travel agent what paperwork we need to take with us and was only told about 2 forms. Your post:

 

"I was fully prepared traveling as a single parent with my notarized "Permission to Travel" document as well as 2 other docs provided by NCL allowing the kids' father to grant permission for medical treatment in an emergency. No one asked for these very important papers"

 

If I am reading this correctly, you had 3 documents? Can you describe the three documents? I have one from NCL and then I have one that gives us permission to take him out of the country and to consent to any medical care he may need.

 

What am I missing?

 

Thanks,

Kim

[Coastalbreezes]

Hi Kim -- Sorry for the confusion; since I was traveling with my two children, I brought 2 of the NCL forms along with one family permission letter -- didn't mean to make it sound like there were 3 separate forms.

Have a wonderful trip!

Tracy

[2boyzmom]

I was looking for you sll at SKy High. I too was asking if they were from Cruise Critic and finally gave up! I think this was our favorite cruise of all time. We are going on a Princess Cruise next year and don't know how it could possibly comapre to this :)

[wibeachbum]

Thank you for your detailed review. We are soooo excited. Sailing 3/19, also with two teenagers.

 

The only thing that worries me a little is not being able to find deck chairs.

[Cruisin' Patty]

Thanks for the wonderful review! We can't wait.

[Coastalbreezes]

Beachbum, the chair hogs were definitely out in full force, but you shouldn't have a problem finding a chair...there seemed to be plenty of them on both decks 12 and 13 (more available on port days)...enjoy your trip! Wish I was going again...

Tracy

P.S. Another thing I forgot to mention that I thought was especially nice was that if you went to dinner and were wearing black/dark pants or skirt, they would automatically swap out the white dinner napkin and give you a black one so no "fuzzies" on your clothes. And if they don't, just ask. It's the little details like that that have now hooked me on NCL and I am already planning next year's trip!

[Carol D.]

Hey Tracy-- Awesome review!We also had a fantastic time! I so wish I could have met you. We were at the SkyHigh bar after muster until 5:30. I kept looking for our group.

We were in cabin 11656 aft. I, too, so loved the details! Thank goodness for those fish showing me which way to go! Another great detail was in Tango's-- shoe prints in the carpeting teaching you the steps of the tango (we could't resist) :).

I did meet Shari ,her husband and 2 sons,and Sandy and her husband. They were on the Phil Lafayette tour with us. I asked her if she met you and she said she did.

Bar central was fun. Jim and I would stop by each evening after dinner. The last two nights,we went to the Star bar:small, quiet, with a great piano player.I totally agree about the wines! I appreciate a nice glass of wine, but the bar by-the-glass offerings were low pours for a high price.The mixed drinks were pretty good.I loved the Mojito's, authentically prepared and delicious!!!

So here we are, back to normal life,but wishing I was on my balcony enjoying warm caribbean breezes and wondering just how can the sea be that incredible shade of blue... so what are your plans for next time? I'm looking into President's week/February school vacation. On the flight home from Miami, we gave up our seats, got flight credits to pay for our next trip, and flew out on Monday,instead. We have to use the flight vouchers within one year. I am really interested on your thoughts comparing your Caribbean Princess voyage to the Jewel. We are considering the new Crown Princess for 2/17/07, but still exploring other options.I believe NCL Pearl won't be completed by then. Regards, Carol

[newmexicoNita]

I think I am mentally still on the beautiful Jewel even though we've been home for nearly 5 days. Our group consisted of myself, two teens (15 and 16) and my mother. Here are my overall impressions:

EMBARKATION: A breeze! We arrived around 12:45 p.m. and didn't stand in line at all. We had pre-registered online and everything was in order and we were checked in immediately. One note: I was fully prepared traveling as a single parent with my notarized "Permission to Travel" document as well as 2 other docs provided by NCL allowing the kids' father to grant permission for medical treatment in an emergency. No one asked for these very important papers -- I still have them in my travel portfolio. Our last 2 cruises, that was the first thing I was asked for. It was a rather long walk for my mother along the gangway to the ship, but once onboard, we were close to the elevators and our cabins.

CABINS: My kids and I shared mini-suite #11558 and it was spacious as could be for 3 people. Full bath with tub and shower, large sink, 3 shelves for toiletries and a toilet that could be made separate via a sliding door. Plenty of closet/drawer space throughout! Balcony was big enough with 2 comfy chairs and a table. TV got CNN, 2 movie channels, ESPN, and TNT in addition to the ship's channels. Great water pressure in the shower.

DINING: We had a very nice lunch in the Garden Cafe after checking out our cabins (by the way, our luggage was in the cabin around 2:30 which

was nice). We heeded info from these boards and made reservations for the week within an hour of embarking. Very easy to do -- just called our concierge and a few hours after, a hand written confirmation was delivered to our door. We ate in every restaurant except for Tango's and Azura (both free). Every specialty restaurant except Teppanyaki and the a la carte items were 1/2 price every night between 5:30-6:30. Teppanyaki was so great that we ate there twice. Le Bistro: excellent food AND service especially from our waitress Elena -- she was a consummate professional and was one of our favorite staff members! Chin Chin was divine -- I highly recommend the mussels, peking duck and spring rolls --yum! Tsar's Palace was just magnificent -- and the food and service, again excellent. The "Chocoholic Buffet" although crowded was worth the wait to get it -- a wonderful experience. Cagney's had your basic steakhouse menu and, while the food was excellent, I would probably not return. We felt rather rushed and the service there was not as good, IMHO, as the other specialty restaurants onboard. You can't beat the Garden Cafe for breakfast and lunch. Every morning, I had poached eggs -- head over to where they are making omelets against the station on the back wall and just ask for poached --they were perfect. We utilized breakfast room service on our last morning and it was delivered right on time -- just continental, but nevertheless good. Overall, and despite what I had read on these boards, the food overall was excellent.

SHOWS: Band on the Run -- just a great time if you love songs from the 70s -- we really enjoyed this one! Cirque Bijou was wonderful also. The kids loved the Second City show, but my mother walked out because she "didn't get it". Heard the passenger talent show was wonderful.

BINGO: I have to mention Bingo because it was probably my biggest complaint about the trip. For the first 1/2 hour all they did was continuously hard-sell the more expensive hand-held electronic bingo cards (try $55!); then for those that bought them, they seemed to be constantly malfunctioning, making the caller keep stopping the game. When I say Bingo was EXCRUCIATING, I really mean it. Seemed like 10 minutes in between numbers and really corny jokes. Just awful, and I am a patient person. Could not wait for it to end and never returned. An even bigger complaint: not only were children allowed to play, but also allowed to win and collect the $ !! -- Never before have I seen that on a cruise. It IS gambling isn't it?

PORTS: We purchased the shore excursion for Roatan's Tabyana Beach Party at $52/pp and we all piled onto a school bus for the long ride to the beach. We had a local woman give us a history of the island and some personal anecdotes and stories which was interesting. The bus broke down (maybe overheated?) on the way but we were soon on our way. The ride was scenic and we were glad to eventually get there. Lunch was so-so and I felt overall the price for the day wasn't worth it. Would I do the same excursion again? No. Cayman was great -- had a wonderful time walking around and exploring and shopping. Didn't get off in Ocho Rios -- heard many negative stories from people afterwards about being hassled just about everywhere they walked (locals trying to sell them drugs and demanding money). Can't tell you about the shore excursions except we heard from others that Dunn's River Falls was nice although crowded.

CASINO: I love slots and in general thought the slots weren't as "loose" as advertised. Wasn't all that impressed with the selection of video slots and I was on Princess and HAL.

STAFF: Our cabin stewards were the team of Francisco and Emerson. They made us towel animals every night (for those that are interested) and were very nice people. The only thing -- and I noticed this throughout the ship -- despite being told our names, they never once called us by them. Seems that everyone though my name was "Madam" which bugged me after awhile. My favorite bartender was Candelaria aka Candy -- sweet and pleasant. Speaking of which...

BARS: My mother and I enjoyed cocktails every evening at "Bar Central" -- just a beautiful landscape of 3 connected bars -- Maltings, Martini, and Champagne. We enjoyed sitting there every evening before going to dinner. The martinis were excellent (around $9 but equivalent to about 2 drinks). The price of a single glass of wine was out of this world however! Cheapest Pino Grigio was $8.25 (+ that notorious 15% gratuity) and they "ran out" out of the inexpensive ($7.75) Pinot Noir by the 2nd night! Believe me when I say they pour only a few ounces of wine -- barely a 1/4 of a glass! For those prices, shame on them! They tried to upsell us to bottles, but when you did the math, it was actually cheaper by the glass. So we stuck to regular cocktails (generally $5.50) and several nights ordered a bottle of wine with dinner (in the $20-30 range, but those wines were not available at Bar Central). Enjoyed Topsiders & Sky High once or twice during the week, but I get annoyed when I am sitting at the bar and someone would come along and plunk their 4 year old on the barstool next to mine! Staff members never said a word.

ONBOARD ACTIVITIES:Chair savers-- enough said. One woman asked a staff member (at 6:30 a.m. no less it it was "too early to save chairs?" His response: "No, go right ahead." So, if the staff isn't enforcing the rules, why should anyone abide by them? We did enjoy cooking demos, putting contests, and silly stuff like Pictionary contests. The kids signed up for the Teen Center activities and hooked up with a bunch of other teens the first night, but felt that the activities in general weren't as good as Princess. They hung by the pool and loved the video arcade and played Scrabble and cards with fellow teens -- in general, they had a ball! The onboard shops had plenty of merch to choose from, in all price ranges.

THE SHIP: I saved this for last because it was the ship itself that I personally fell in love with. One thing I would say is don't stop looking up, down, and all around you. The splendor is in the details that abound everywhere you look on this gorgeous ship -- from the beautiful shell sconce in our bathroom to the floor tiles that looked like blades of grass in the Sky High Bar to the champagne bubbles bubbling along the back bar and across the foot of the Champagne Bar to the faux flowers dangling above you in the Garden Cafe to the fish on the carpets in the hallways that all swim forward so you never get lost to the incredible lighting and ceiling tiles that change from area to area. I cannot wait to sail NCL again -- it was one of the best vacations I have ever had.

I am sure I am leaving many things out, but I have saved every Freestyle Daily. If anyone has any questions, I would be most happy to answer anything I can.

TracyE

 

P.S. to Carol and all the others from our Roll Call -- I did get to meet Shari and her hubby and kids after muster on Sunday and am so very sorry that we didn't meet after all of these months of chatting on these boards. The SkyHigh was so crowded that day and after 1/2 hour of asking everyone around me if they were from Cruise Critic with all-around anwers of "no", I was mighty disappointed not to have met you. Hope you all had as great a time as we did...hopefully we will all sail again!

WE too loved this ship which we sailed in Sept. Although we don't usually play bingo, I have heard enough complaints to agree with you on this; hopefully you made referrance to this on your comment card. As for Cagney's it was my husband's favorite and my least. The food was good, service good, but it just didn't have the WOW factor I always find when dining at Le Bistro. The fish swim forward was one of our favorites; there was no way to get lost, very clever! As for the casino, I found it pretty good: we were on a 10 day cruise with 4 days on the water due to weather: the casino became by second home. While I certainly did not bring any of their money home with me, I did have a couple of good days and enjoyed some of the slots, ones I haven't seen before. Again, it is so nice to read reviews that bring back wonderful memories. When I read negatives about this ship, although not everyone likes the same things I am always shocked. NMnita

[newmexicoNita]

Hi Tracye,

 

I am getting ready to cruise on the Dawn on 3/16/06 and we are taking our nephew with us. I have asked my travel agent what paperwork we need to take with us and was only told about 2 forms. Your post:

 

"I was fully prepared traveling as a single parent with my notarized "Permission to Travel" document as well as 2 other docs provided by NCL allowing the kids' father to grant permission for medical treatment in an emergency. No one asked for these very important papers"

 

If I am reading this correctly, you had 3 documents? Can you describe the three documents? I have one from NCL and then I have one that gives us permission to take him out of the country and to consent to any medical care he may need.

Thanks,

Kim

Kim, to protect yourself and make certain your nephew has no problems with embarkation you should have: the notorized letter allowing him to travel out of the country with you: a medical release form: his passport or birth certificate and a picture ID depending on his age. Hope this helps: have a wonderful cruise. NMnita

[Coastalbreezes]

NMNita, Yes, I did write up my feelings about bingo and hope someone will listen, but considering how many of those hand-held electronic bingo devices they sold, I somehow doubt it. If they could have just speeded things up a bit (i.e., calling numbers faster and holding off on the small talk), I would have enjoyed it far more!

 

Carol -- One of my biggest regrets of the entire trip was not meeting you and your family. I truly am sorry we didn't get together. I kep asking my daughter if she met your daughter and she said no. Would have been nice if they had gotten together, but guess the fates conspired against it. I plan to definitely sail NCL again next year although I will probably go with a group of friends next time(no kids) and not on a school vacation week. I just loved the whole "freestyle" concept -- Princess cannot compare to that at all and I would say that is the main difference for me personally. Although we had a great time on the Caribbean Princess, it doesn't even come close to the Jewel and I also found that most of the onboard activities (on CP) were geared to couples (it IS known as the Love Boat!) and I was alone a great deal of the time. Take care...

Tracy

[krsw44]

Hi all , especially all you New Englanders,

We had airline problems, "sat on tarmac 2+ hours in Charlotte NC" Airfare thru NCL I don't think so any more" We did not get on board until the muster was to start. We had to go freshen up and by the time we got to the sky High Bar it was crowded. We wish we could have met you all especially you from RI! We also had a great time (anytime you get away is a great time)! The ship was beautiful but, after taking several other NCL cruises we felt that their was a drop in food and drink. NCL dropping alot of their drink incentives, then jacking up the price on drinks and changing their menus has caused us to look into cruising on the Crown Princess next year. We love cruising, know what the cost should be and just want to feel we are treated well. The shore excursions we did were great, I booked everything on line and I would highly recommend the following: Victor Booden Roatan Canapy Tour, Capt. Bryan Sting Ray City (10 people on the trimaran) and finally A-Z tours, booze cruise, stop at Dunn's Falls and snorkeling. It's amazing how you look forward to taking these cruises, plan the things you want to do and then how fast the week goes, leaving youto start planning for next year. Even though it is a year away the thread for our next cruise has started on Princess. Hope to see some of you in the future. Keep in touch. Happy Cruising!! Kim

[newmexicoNita]

Hi all , especially all you New Englanders,

We had airline problems, "sat on tarmac 2+ hours in Charlotte NC" Airfare thru NCL I don't think so any more" We did not get on board until the muster was to start. We had to go freshen up and by the time we got to the sky High Bar it was crowded. We wish we could have met you all especially you from RI! We also had a great time (anytime you get away is a great time)! The ship was beautiful but, after taking several other NCL cruises we felt that their was a drop in food and drink. NCL dropping alot of their drink incentives, then jacking up the price on drinks and changing their menus has caused us to look into cruising on the Crown Princess next year. We love cruising, know what the cost should be and just want to feel we are treated well. The shore excursions we did were great, I booked everything on line and I would highly recommend the following: Victor Booden Roatan Canapy Tour, Capt. Bryan Sting Ray City (10 people on the trimaran) and finally A-Z tours, booze cruise, stop at Dunn's Falls and snorkeling. It's amazing how you look forward to taking these cruises, plan the things you want to do and then how fast the week goes, leaving youto start planning for next year. Even though it is a year away the thread for our next cruise has started on Princess. Hope to see some of you in the future. Keep in touch. Happy Cruising!! Kim

Boy isn't that true: it is amazing, we spend weeks or months counting down til the magic day arrives and then puff: the vacation is gone: cry, cry: right now I have exactly 6 weeks before we cruise the Sun, then 10 days after DH and I take off for our annual 10 trip to Vegas. This has been planned for 2 plus months: I count the time but as you say, suddenly it is all over. NMNita