Jewel Transatlantic Review

[megacruiser]

Embarkation

Arrived at the Port of Miami at around 12.20 and was on board within 45 minutes.

Muster Drill

 

My Muster Station was in Tsar’s Palace restaurant, which was much better than being herded like cattle on deck, as is so often the case. One thing that seemed inappropriate though was that the tables were fully laid for dinner. I would have thought this could be a hygiene risk.

 

Norovirus Outbreak

 

On the afternoon of Day 3 (Tuesday) it was apparent there was a problem, as suddenly passengers could no longer help themselves to ANYTHING in the buffet area. Staff members served up all food and drinks. Hand sanitizers appeared outside every public room and on every stair landing beside the elevators. I understand those affected were given free medical treatment and along with their cabin mates were confined to their cabins for 24 hours and given a $200 credit for the inconvenience and their cooperation. They monitor the movements of those involved on the ship’s closed circuit cameras. The Captain spoke to one affected passenger when a companion had been observed leaving the cabin to get bananas from the buffet, which Room Service had refused to provide.

Ship Interiors

 

Generally a very warm feel with lots of bold colours and rich wood effects, most of which worked better than you would imagine from the photos on the NCL website. Crystal Atrium is pleasant but more like a hotel lobby than a ship atrium - certainly no wow factor here. In fact the only interior space that struck me as really impressive was the Stardust Theatre.

The Fyzz “ultra-lounge” has to be the most ugly and tasteless lounge on any ship on which I have sailed. Likewise I found Tsar’s Palace main restaurant to be badly designed and the décor gaudy and rather vulgar. It is a shame because it has a high ceiling and nice windows at the back and along part of the sides, but the central area is like a cavernous dining hall with too many square tables. It would be better if this area were broken up into smaller more intimate sections with the large floor area having split-levels. The Azura main restaurant was much more to my liking with a contemporary feel and great atmosphere.

Maltings Beer and Whiskey Bar had 8 draft beers and the most impressive range of bottled beers I have found on any ship, including a delicious German wheat beer called Franziskaner. A large contingent of German passengers aboard meant this ran out before we reached the first port but was restocked later when we got to Italy.

There were many complaints about the cost of alcoholic beverages and it was interesting to see so many passengers sitting without drinks in lounges that had live music. I think NCL would boost their revenue if they had some more reasonably priced drinks of the day. Instead they have “Drinks Promotions”, which are really just highlighted drinks priced exactly the same as the normal price in the bar list.

Was delighted to get the chance to buy a Spa Pass for the full 14 days for $60 (+ 15% service charge). This was a big saving on the daily rate of $15. (Was not so lucky with the unlimited Soda Package wrongly advertised in the Freestyle Daily at $40.25 for the whole cruise. It should have been $80.50 because it was a two-week cruise instead of one.)

If you pay for a Spa treatment you are entitled to use all the facilities for half an hour before and up to an hour after the treatment.

There is a central communal area which has a Hydrotherapy Pool and heated relaxation benches overlooking the bow. To each side there are separate male and female changing areas each with sauna, steam room, full-size Jacuzzi and rest area also overlooking the bow. I can’t understand why there weren’t connecting doors to the changing rooms rather than having to use the corridor running past the treatment rooms.

Dining

 

Having read about recent changes to the menus I was a bit concerned that the food would be a disappointment. To my surprise the food was very good in the main restaurants for Breakfast and Dinner. Breakfast had a very good selection of dishes with a few specialities that were rotated over 3 or 4 days. In particular I liked the Fresh Fruit Plate with melon and pineapple. Lunch menus were rather limited in choice but adequate.

I made a point of booking alternative dining for Caribbean Dinner and Chef’s Dinner, which to me seemed to be the least appealing menus. I had pork and lamb a couple of times but mainly had beef, which was of excellent quality and always correctly cooked to my request. I found the portions to be quite ample.

Soups were very good although a little salty. The sweets were generally disappointing. However one night there was “Crepe Soufflé” with chocolate sauce that was absolutely superb.

There is a problem with queuing for Breakfast and Lunch at Tsar’s Palace, even when the restaurant was more than half empty. There just didn’t seem to be enough waiters on duty to deal with the number of passengers using the restaurant.

I dined at Le Bistro and Cagneys. Both were disappointing. Although the service was more formal, the actual food was no better than the main restaurants. The Caesar Salad was exactly as in the main restaurants and not prepared tableside. The steaks are bigger but were not any better than the main restaurants and in Cagneys in particular, where they make a big thing about the sourcing of their beef, the New York Strip was very disappointing, being rather tough. I have had many excellent meals in Le Bistro restaurants on other NCL ships in the past but the food on this occasion was not special. Even the Chocolate Fondue was very thin and ordinary. So unless you like the décor and want to be fussed over by the waiters, I can’t recommend either of these restaurants.

The Garden Buffet is really an NCL weak point. The layout is bad. The décor is drab. The area feels more like a school canteen. There are no trays so dining here can mean walking some distance back and forth. There is a good chance your table place will be cleared before you get back. The food is unappealing and as service goes on the food gets dried out and discoloured. The only food I found to be okay was the freshly made to order food, like omelettes and waffles. Due to the Norovirus outbreak, all food had to be served by staff and the design of the serveries is such that it was impossible to make direct eye contact with the servers. This made a bad set up even worse.

However, one big bonus for me was the availability of excellent coffee from three Espresso Machines in the buffet area. In fact I was so spoiled by this I started ordering double espressos in the dining rooms too, as the standard coffee varied from mediocre to undrinkable. I love good coffee and it really was fantastic to be able to get it on a cruise at no extra cost.

Staff

 

Had a problem with my cabin steward who, when I first met him just before 10pm on the first day, was a bit off hand when I asked him to make the bed into twins. He seemed to feel that I should have left a note requesting this.

On returning to the cabin at 6.00pm on Day 2, he had just delivered a bucket of ice as requested. I thought he was making a fresh start. One minute later he knocked the door and asked if there was anything else I needed. When I said “no” he handed me a card notifying the clock change that night and two chocolates and said “see you tomorrow”. The room had not been turned down for the night, nor towels changed. He said he had 35 cabins to do and it was too much. A very helpful Assistant Housekeeper sorted out a new steward who was excellent.

The dining room staff were very inconsistent with an even spread ranging from very good to poor.

Cabin

 

I liked the layout and warm, cosy feel of my aft BA cabin on deck 10. The balcony is much bigger than standard BA category cabins. It is deeper and wider too and comes with a recliner as well as an upright chair. The shower was probably one of the best I have had on ship. The TV was rather small and old fashioned looking.

 

Entertainment

 

The Jean Ann Ryan performers were very good and the Cirque Bijou show was spectacular. A tenor called Chris Riggins was pretty good. The shows were at 7.30pm and 9.30pm and there really wasn’t much else going on later. There was no late night venue with any atmosphere, which was disappointing. The cruise director Paul Baya had a great sense of humour and was not overpowering, although I wish he wouldn’t use the word “excellent” so often. There were also too many unnecessary announcements.

Disembarkation

 

This operated smoothly in terms of getting off the ship. However the organisation of transfers to the airport at Barcelona could be improved.

Conclusion

 

A really enjoyable cruise with more good points than bad. The ship is very comfortable but not as impressive as Royal Caribbean’s nor as luxurious as Celebrity’s.

Good food is probably the most important part of a cruise for me. I like Freestyle Dining. The food on the Jewel is significantly better than Holland America and Royal Caribbean and probably has the edge over Princess too but not as good as Celebrity. The buffet however is by far the worst of any of these lines.

I think most average cruisers would have a good experience on the Jewel unless for some reason “Traditional” fixed dining or formal nights are of major importance to them. I will cruise with NCL again but will also cruise with other lines too, as variety is the spice of life.

[jaxon41]

Thank you for the excellent review! I like knowing what is good and not so good as I find it more helpful.

[garycarla]

Great review. Thanks so much.

 

Since there is already a thread going with other reviews from this trip, I will place a link to this one over there.