Jewel 7/16-7/23 Review

[Tagoladad]

NCL Jewel Review 7/16 sailing

Before I begin my review of our trip to Europe aboard the NCL Jewel, I want to thank everyone on this board for all of their help. We were able to get so much more enjoyment from our trip due to the advice, recommendations, counsel and suggestions of all of the members. To let you know a little bit about us, my DW and I are 44 years old (we have 2 kids in sleep away camp), celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary, taking our 4th cruise (twice on Royal Caribbean and once on Disney) and our first trip to Europe. We booked this trip about 10 months ago through our TA. We did our own air and transfers, our own pre-cruise hotel.

Ok…here we go…We left JFK airport on Thursday afternoon July 13. We had a 5:40 PM flight that arrived in Barcelona at 7:45 AM on Friday. Although JFK was a little disorganized, Delta was just great. The flight was smooth as can be. When we arrived at BCN (Barcelona airport) we waited on a very short line (maybe five minutes) to pass through customs and immigration. Our bags were waiting on the carousel and we grabbed a luggage cart (there are no sky caps at the Barcelona airport and the luggage carts are free to use, just walk to the side of the carousel and grab one) and proceeded to the taxi stand. There was a long line of taxis waiting. We knew from these boards that the fare for the cab to the Majestic Hotel should have been around 25 Euros and it was exactly that price. We arrived at the Majestic about 9:00 AM. Great Hotel. As this was our first time in Europe we had nothing to compare it to, but we have stayed in the Plaza Hotel (not so great) the Waldorf Astoria (very nice) The United Nation Plaza (very nice) in New York, The Fairmont in San Francisco (best bed we ever slept in) as well The Princess in Acapulco (beautiful grounds) so even though we’ve never been to Europe we’ve been to a couple of nice hotels and the Majestic was certainly nice. We had room #701, a junior suite overlooking the Passeig De Gracia, the hotel is situated between two Gaudi buildings, the Batllo and La Pedrera. The hotel is just a few blocks from the top of Las Ramblas (there are definitely hotels a lot closer to Las Ramblas) and Is on both the RED and BLUE line of Bus Turistic. The staff and concierge at the hotel were excellent. Everyone speaks English, the hotel was immaculate, the staff very friendly, and the room huge.

We freshened up and hit the streets. When my DW and I talked about jet lag with our friends, everyone advised us “not to go to sleep” so we didn’t. Even though we hadn’t slept the entire evening (save for a few winks on the plane) we forged ahead and went for a walk and breakfast on the Passeig De Gracia. After a nice omlette at an outdoor café we bought tickets for the Bus Turistic and made the Sagrada familia our first stop. The church is quite impressive from the outside so we decided to go inside as well. The line in front of the bus stop was huge so my DW and I figured that we would just walk around the church, see the whole thing take a few pictures and get back on the bus. As we circled the block we found another ticket window around the corner that had absolutely no line, so we bought tickets and went inside. There is an elevator that goes to the top, but the line was very long and we didn’t want to wait. We asked if there were stairs but we were told that there weren’t, so we just walked around for a little bit and left. My DW then walked through the small, limited gift shop but didn’t get anything. Across the street from the church was a great gift shop that had some really beautiful things. We went to a local supermarket in the neighborhood, walked around a little bit and then got back on the bus and made the Parc Guell our next stop. The bus stops on at the bottom of the hill several blocks from the parc. It is a long uphill climb on a very narrow street to get up to Parc Guell. It was very hot (the middle of the afternoon in the middle of July) but the views from the Parc were well worth it. The parc has a beautiful entrance (mosaic dragons and lizards line the steps) and the columns, corridors, open spaces and buildings are really incredible. The panorama overlooks all of Barcelona. Just an incredible view. There is a small snack stand with shaded umbrellas at the top where we enjoyed some ices. We then took the outside path of the parc down to the main street, which led us back down the hill to the bus stop. By now it was about 4:30 or 5:00 PM. We took the bus back to the Hotel Majestic (seeing quite a bit of the city along the way) and took a short nap and got ready for dinner at 9:00. The concierge recommended a restaurant called Botafumiero. It is a seafood restaurant that had great fish and Paella. With wine and tip, dinner for 2 was 100 Euros. Certainly not cheap, but we loved it. When we arrived at the restaurant at 9:00 PM we were one of the only diners in the restaurant. When we left at about 11:30 the place was packed. We took a cab back to the hotel to get ready for tomorrow. We woke up Saturday morning and my wife asked me to look at her watch to see what time it was. I asked her if she had changed her watch to Barcelona time. She said she had, and I said “well, then it’s 12:15 PM. She made some comment about my age and my ability to see small numbers so I checked her cell phone and sure enough, it was 12:15. We felt great but we had slept for about 11 hours. We thought it was a small concession to the travel and the time change, went down to the internet café at the hotel (20 Euros for the duration of your stay), did our business and then I went out to get us some coffee and rolls. We are both big coffee drinkers so we didn’t mind the espresso that they serve in Spain. Got dressed and then took a cab down to the Plaza Catalunya, so that we could walk down Las Ramblas. After a few blocks of the human statues, the bird salesman and postcard kiosks, we took a left hand turn and entered the Barri Gotic (the Gothic Quarter). We found ourselves in front of a beautiful church and sat down at a café (Estruch) for pizza and salad. The plaza was a beautiful place to have lunch and watch the action. After lunch we began our search for the Picasso Museum. We only had the map from the Bus turistic (and because the museum is not one of their stops, it’s not on the map) so we really wasn’t sure where it was. We saw some signs pointing in the general direction of the museum and we gladly followed. The time that we spent lost (there is no other word for it. We didn’t know where we were or where we were going) in the Barri Gotic was magical. We loved it. We found wine shops (you can bring wine on the ship, but I’ll talk about that later), alleyways, incredible architecture, friendly people and eventually the Picasso Museum. The line was about 25 minutes and the entrance fee about 8 or 10 Euros. My wife loved the museum and all of Picasso’s works. I’m not as sophisticated as she is, so she tolerated my opinions for the 45 minutes we toured the museum. After we left we walked toward Port Vell. It was a pretty good walk to the port, but we were there to see Barcelona so we didn’t mind. The port is fantastic. I’m not sure which part was old and which parts were built for the 1992 Olympics, but the cool breeze, open space and views of the Marina were beautiful. We walked all the way down (and it was a pretty long walk) to the bus stop for the Bus Turistic. By now it was 8:00 PM(although it seemed like themiddle of the day ) so we Took the bus back to the Batllo (the stop closest to our hotel) and got ready for dinner. We wanted to visit an aquaitance in Barcelona so we asked the concierge to change our dinner reservation at Aqua to 10:30 PM. By the time we finished our visit and got down to Agua (a great restaurant on the beach) it was after 11:00 PM. The hostess wasn’t too happy that we were so late for our reservation so she made us wait till 11:30 for our table. We sat at the table closest to the Mediterranean and settled in. By the time our food came it was midnight and the restaurant was still packed. I guess it’s true…they have dinner at midnight in Barcelona. Food was very good (service just OK). Wife had fish, I had chicken. With wine and tip, about 65 Euros. Grabbed a cab back to the hotel about 1:30 AM to get ready to board the Jewel in the morning. I guess that since we were doing a pre-cruise, we should have packed our luggage with that in mind. I would definitely recommend packing a bag for your pre-cruise and then packing bags for your cruise. We spent a lot of time on Sunday morning having to repack all of our luggage. On Sunday morning, again, I went down to the Fresh and Ready (that was the name) to get coffee and croissants. After breakfast and packing we left our bags with the hotel to do a little last minut sight-seeing. We stopped in the Casa Batllo ( a famous Gaudi building on the Passeig De Gracia)for only a moment. From the brief glimpse we had it was great. We bought a few souvineers, took a stroll around the neighborhood (everything was closed on Sunday morning. The streets were deserted) and then went back to the hotel. Grabbed a cab to the port ( I don’t remember exactly, but I’m going to say it was about 15 Euros)

We left the hotel at 1:00 and arrived at the ship at 1:15. A porter took our bags from the cab, took them to the conveyor belt and directed us to the passenger side of the terminal. We had cabin 11026 an AF Minisuite. A day or two before we left for Barcelona we called the telephone number on the cruise documents and the woman on the phone told us to go to the Lattitudes line to check in. We went to the Lattitudes section and there was only one party on line in front of us. There was plenty of staff to move the lines along and direct you where to go. We spent less than three minutes showing our documents, getting our picture taken and receiving instructions. We then proceeded to the ship. There are a ton of duty free shops in the terminal. Selling liquor water, soda, etc. We brought wine in our carry-on bag and NCL never said a word. We did pay the corkage fee (15 dollars) to have them open the wine on the ship. If you’re a big soda drinker, I would definitely wait to get to the ship and then buy what you like. My DW and I bought a 6 pack of 1.5 liter water for 8 Euros. There were plenty of people on the ship that brought their empty water bottles to the Garden Café to refill their bottles, but we didn’t. After passing through the mini mall in the terminal we took an escalator up to the gangway. There was absolutely no line to board the ship. We did see a hand sanitizer at the gangway and were worried that the ship had recently encountered a problem, but apparently that is now NCL’s policy. At almost every doorway and entranceway on the ship there was an automatic hand sanitizing machine. When we got onboard and went to the buffet and saw that there were tongs in all of the serving dishes, we felt better. I had heard that if there are crew members behind the buffet doing the serving that there is reason for concern on the part of the passengers. I am not a nervous Nellie, a neat freak or anything like that but this was an important trip for my wife and I and we were relieved not to have any “viral” concerns. We boarded the ship and grabbed an elevator to the 11th floor. Immediately we could see that the ship was brand new and in immaculate condition. We have sailed on the Disney Wonder (great ship) and Royal Caribbean’s Majesty of the Seas (fun, but just fair) but the NCL Jewel far outshines these ships. After seeing our cabin, my DW and I went upstairs to the Garden Café for lunch. Instead of having one long line for everyone the Jewel’s buffet consists of several different clearly marked stations. If you want fresh fruit, you go to the station marked FRESH FRUIT. If you want carved meat you go to the station marked CARVED MEAT. There was never a line at any of the stations, the trays were always full, hot and clean. If you want, you can take your food and proceed to the back of the ship (aft) and sit outside in “the Great Outdoors”. There is a shaded area and a sunny area. After lunch we went to Tangos on the 7th floor and made our reservations for dinner for the entire week. We ate in Cagney’s twice, Mama’s twice and Tsars, Azura, Le Bistro each once. After making reservations we went to the internet café and signed up for the 100 minute plan ($55.00 and they give you 15 free minutes). There are 8 PC’s in the “café”. The internet speed was OK. It is not as fast as our cable connection at home, but when you think that you are in the middle of the sea, you realize that it’s pretty good. We went to the café everyday (at different times of the day) and did sometimes had to wait a few minutes before a PC was free. There were times when several passengers were waiting for a terminal, but if there was a wait, we either left and came back, or waited. We then went to the spa to get an appointment for my wife’s massage, and I signed up for the “cruise duration spa package”. For $70.00 I was allowed entrance to the men’s changing room. There was a steam room, a sauna, an ice plunge pool, plenty of showers a relaxation area and a whirlpool. There were several whirlpools (hot tubs) around the pool area, but they were always crowded, full of chlorine and not really hot. In the men’s locker room the whirlpool was set against the forward window and I felt as if I were floating in a hot tub high above the Mediterranean. There are two flat screen TVs in the relaxation room and several recliners. We unpacked, we walked around the ship, went to the Muster Drill (our muster station was in the Stardust theater), attended the sail away party (the cruise director and some of the crew jump into the pool with all of their clothes on. It was fun) showered and got dressed for dinner at Cagneys. Not a particularly decorated restaurant. Dark with very little ornamentation. The food, on the other hand, was very well presented and very good to excellent. That night I had a T-Bone steak, crab cakes, potato wedges and garlic mashed potatoes. My wife had soup, a filet Mignon. Desert was very good too. With wine the bill was $55.00.

No show on the first night. We went to the casino and played some roulette. Casino is nice and big with plenty of tables and slots. We’re not big gamblers so I can’t tell you too much about the casino, but we went almost every night and played for 15-30 at the roulette table.

The next morning (Monday) was our sea day. I got up, went to the gym. I’m not a gym rat so I’m not too familiar, but this ship appeared to have everything. There were plenty of treadmills, ellipticals and bikes. The gym has a picture window that goes the length of the room and TVs on several of the machines. There was always someone on staff at the gym. After my short workout, I went to the internet café and spent about thirty minutes online. As I returned to my room I realized that I didn’t have my room card (this is the part of the review that I’m embarrassed about). I traced my steps back to the gym and internet café, but I didn’t find my card. My DW and I went to the reception desk and they issued both my DW and me a new card immediately. We went back up to the spa and I was given a new tag for my spa pass as well. The whole thing took less than 5 minutes and the crew was wonderful. When everything was squared away, we went up for brunch. As I mentioned before (my wife is very modest, c so please don’t think that I’m bragging) we have visited some nice hotels and some very nice restaurants in New York. So we have something to compare it to, and we thought the food in the Garden Cafe was very good.

After brunch we walked around the ship, took some pictures and looked for some lounge chairs. There were nonme available on deck 12 by the pool, so we went to deck 13, but we still couldn’t find 2 chairs. We went higher to deck 14, where we found several chairs available. Even though we were two decks removed from the pool, it was a pleasant place to sit. If you’re not interested in all the noise (the band, the kids on the water slide, the buffet) you might find deck 14 as the nicest place to sit. It did get very windy late in the afternoon, and I moved down to deck 12 (the pool deck). My wife took a massage (she said it was very nice), I hit some golf balls in the “driving range” and went for a steam.

On Monday night we had reservations at Le Bistro. We arrived on time for our reservation and were told that our table would be ready in 10-15 minutes. This was the only time on the ship that we felt we got even the slightest bit of “attitude” from any of the crew (maybe Le Bistro was trying for the authentic French atmosphere). It was well worth the wait. The staff was excellent and they give you a huge and very good meal. I had the escargot, a caesar salad, the french onion soup, A filet mignon with Bernaise sauce and a cheesecake for desert. It was a great meal. That night we went into the theater to see “the band on the run”. My wife loved it, but I thought it was just OK. The Jean Ann Ryan company sings the greatest hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s. After dinner we went to the casino and then back to our room to prepare for our first tour with NCL in Sicily.

My wife ordered a wake up call every day (you set the time on the phone)and room service for 6:40 (just rolls and coffee. They call you on the phone about 2 minutes before they come, so you’ll be ready and they won’t have to wait). I went up to the gym, exercised for a few minutes then showered, grabbed our day bag (we always carried a water bottle, eye glasses, band aids, extra pair of shoes, extra camera, etc. nothing that we would care about if it was stolen, but just some things we thought we might need) and headed fro the Stardust theater (this is where all of the tours “meet”). It was more organized than I ever imagined. I thought we would be sitting there till everyone arrived then have to sit through an orientation, then show our tickets, etc. We arrived at the Stardust theater at 7:55 and were on our bus to Taormina by 8:10. When everyone was seated on the bus (we did the Taormina/Mt Etna excursion) the guide introduced himself, explained a little bit about what we were going to do and we were off. The tour starts out in the town of Messina (the town we were docked in) and proceeds to taormina (probably a 45 minute ride). Nice comfortable air-conditioned bus (no bathroom on the bus). When we arrived in Taormoina, we parked the bus and took and elevator seven stories up to the town. Beautiful view. We proceeded to walk through the town on the Corso Umberto till we reached the Greco Roman theater. The guide gave a 15 minute talk about the theater and then we were on our town for the next 45 minutes. My wife did some shopping (ceramics, wine, etc) and we all met our guide in the square at the appointed time, took the elevator back down and went to a nice restaurant for lunch (bruchetta, great pasta, salad, veal, desert, wine, water and bread). Make sure that you use the rest room at the restaurant, because at the next stop (Mt. Etna) there was a very long line for the restroom. The trip to Mt. Etna winds up the mountain. As we drove the guide gave a little speech and then let everyone rest, for the rest of the trip to the Crater Silvisteri. When you arrive on Mt. Etna it is probably about 30 or 40 degrees colder than it was in Taormina (altitude change) so bring a sweater, if you feel you’ll be cold. We were only given a short time to walk amongst the craters (you can even walk into them if you want), pick up some hardened lava to take home, and enjoy the landscape. Some people on our tour even climbed the mountain higher to see a different crater, but my DW and I (this being our first volcano and all) were content with the craters nearby. We were all back on the bus and at the ship in plenty of time. That night my DW and I decided to see the 8:00 show and have dinner after. That night was a manipulator/magician named “Edge”. He was pretty good (played a lot with the audience) and after the show we went to Tsars palace fro dinner. I didn’t love the menu that night, so I just had some pasta from the “cooking light” section and a steak (not even in the same class as Cagneys). My wife had salad and fish. The service was OK and the restaurant decor was nice. Of all the restaurants we visited this was our least favorite. It was OK, but nothing special.

Went back to the room to prepare ourselves for Pompeii and Naples. Next morning’s tour procedure was just as good as the first days. We were on our bus very quickly and although we were taken to a “cameo factory” first, we were soon at Pompeii to see the ruins. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we would never have enjoyed the site or realized what we were seeing were it not for our guide, Antonio. Although it was very hot and there were many tours going on that morning, he made the place come alive. You could fell what life was like during that period. We were given 20 minutes to but some souvineers outside the site and then met to get the bus back to the ship. My wife and I went back on the ship, had lunch in the great outdoors, with the view of Mt. Vesuvius as our lunch partner, and then headed back off the ship to spend a few hours in Naples. My wife had opurchased the Fodors Italy book before we left and we decided that we would take a cab to Scapanapoli ( a neighborhood in Naples)to walk the streets and see the city. We’re from New York (lived in Manhattan for 10 years) and we were amazed at the pace of lifestyle in Naples. We thought New York was fast-paced, crowded, rude and full of lunatic drivers, but we soon found that New York has a sister city in Naples. We bought some wine, vinegars, pasta. Tried some pizza (I like our local pizzeria better) had some gelato (my DW said that Carvel is better) and headed back to the ship. We went swimming, took a steam, relaxed by the pool, and got ready for dinner at mama’s. I had heard that this was the most difficult reservation on the ship and that it was packed every night. When we arrived (8:00 PM) we were amongst only a handful of diners. We got a table by the window and enjoyed a great meal. My DW had the antipasto trolley brough to the table so she could select her appetizers and I had the caesar salad (excellent). For our main course I had the chicken over pasta and my wife had the fish. I must say that the service and the food were both excellent. That night there was a magician/dancer Charles Bach (also very entertaining). After dinner and before the show on Tuesday night, make sure that you go out on Deck 7 (starboard side) to see Stromboli. It is an active volcano, situated between Naples and Rome, that gave quite a show. It was only “smoking” the night that we passed, but I’ve read from other cruisers that some night there is a lava flow.

I hope to get part 2 of the review up soon (as well as all of the "Freestyle Dailies" from the cruise). In the meantime if you have any questions, you can email me at Tagoladad@aol.com. Just put Jewel Question in the subject line

[Dorothy]

Two Jewel reviews from the same cruise and both with fantastic experiences. Looking forward to the rest of your review. Thanks for writing.

[xander]

Great review , thanks ! Looking forward to the 2nd part :)

The 27th Aug is coming along fast now ....

[Tagoladad]

Went back to the room to prepare ourselves for Pompeii and Naples. Next morning’s tour procedure was just as good as the first days. We were on our bus very quickly and although we were taken to a “cameo factory” first, we were soon at Pompeii to see the ruins. There was no factory, just a jewelry showroom. It was a blatant attempt to get us to buy some cameos. We were only there a short time, and were soon on our way to see the ruins at Pompeii. Even though it was still pretty early in the morning, it was very hot. We arrived at Pompeii (lots and lots of tours going through the site on that day) and began our tour. Our guide explained what happened in 79 AD and how the site was discovered and excavated. He showed us what life was like in the city in 79AD and tried his best to tell us what was “original” and what was rebuilt over the centuries. Very interesting tour. Our guide was very knowledgeable and we would never have enjoyed the site or realized what we were seeing were it not for our guide, Antonio. Although it was very hot and there were many tours going on that morning, he made the place come alive. You could feel what life was like during that period. We were given 20 minutes to buy some souvenirs outside the site and then meet to get the bus back to the ship. My wife and I went back on the ship, had lunch in the great outdoors, with the view of Mt. Vesuvius as our lunch partner, and then headed back off the ship to spend a few hours in Naples. My wife had purchased the Fodor’s Italy book before we left and we decided that we would take a cab to Scapanapoli (a neighborhood in Naples) to walk the streets and see the city. We arrived at the Piazza de Gesu and started our walk. We’re from New York (lived in Manhattan for 10 years) and we were amazed at the pace of lifestyle in Naples. We thought New York was fast-paced, crowded, rude and full of lunatic drivers, but we soon found that New York has a sister city in Naples. We bought some wine, vinegars, and pasta, and then we set out to find some pizza (I know I said that we already had lunch on the ship, but I was in Naples and I was definitely going to get some pizza). My DW was not at all happy walking around Naples so we just stopped at the closest pizzeria. Pizza was just OK (we never did see the famous “Da Michele”). had some gelato (my DW said that Carvel is better) and headed back to the ship. We live in New York and never think twice about it, but we did not feel comfortable in Naples. Maybe it was due to the fact that our guide warned us about the dangerous streets and advised us to leave all of our rings and valuables on the ship. Perhaps that warning (from a native Neapolitan) made us wary. We then proceeded to the main commercial street Via Toledo. Tons of stores, shops, gelato, office buildings, banks…just what you would expect to find in the third largest city in Italy. The streets are narrow and crowded, and the people could be described as “indifferent” at best. We walked around the Via Toledo for an hour or two and then took a cab back to the ship. Every time that someone comes back from Europe they always tell you a story about a crazy cab ride that they experienced. Well, this is ours. When I returned back to the US someone asked me, “What side of the road do they drive on in Naples?” I said “either”. Not only did the cab driver not know where the port was (how hard could it be to find the port?), but he didn’t seem particularly learned about the traffic laws of Italy. When we were finally in view of the ship and he had exhausted all possible routes, he asked us if he could just drop us off. My DW said, “please do”. She couldn’t wait to get out of the cab and out of Naples. We went swimming, took a steam, relaxed by the pool, and got ready for dinner at mama’s. I had heard that this was the most difficult reservation on the ship and that it was packed every night. When we arrived (8:00 PM) we were amongst only a handful of diners (I’m not sure why it always shows up as a “long wait” on the NCL Jewel Restaurant board). We got a table by the window and enjoyed a great meal. My DW had the antipasto trolley (huge selection- anchovies, smoked salmon, hams, cheeses, etc.) brought to the table so she could select her appetizers and I had the Caesar salad (excellent). For our main course I had the chicken over pasta and my wife had the fish. We ordered a bottle of wine and had a very enjoyable evening. I must say that the service and the food were both excellent. That night we went to see Charles Bach a magician/dancer perform in the Stardust Theater. Nice show. Nothing we haven’t seen before, but still very enjoyable. A few minutes in the casino and then back to the room to prepare for Rome.

After the show we went to the casino for a few minutes and then to the Spinnaker lounge to dance. The Spinnaker can “rock” or can be rather docile, depending on the crowd. There were nights that the dance floor was filled and other nights when my wife and I were the sole dancers. The house band, “The Ironics”, were pretty good. Played a lot of 80s disco music. For the next day’s tour my DW and I hired a private guide. We got the guide from Claudio Caponera http://www.limoinrome.com claudio@limoinrome.com His name was Fabio. We paid 450 Euros for the private tour plus 150 Euros for a private tour of the Vatican. 580 Euros=725 US dollars, so it was quite an expensive day, but he came with a driver so we had our own driver and our own guide. They were very prompt and met us at the dock at exactly 8:00 AM. After pointing out and visiting a few highlights (St. Paul’s and the statue of Moses), we stopped at the Vitorio Emanuelle Monument. It is a monument to the last King of a unified Italy and is also the Italian monument to the Unknown Soldier. It is a beautiful building and has great views of the coliseum (go all the way to the top on the left side for the best view). Our next stop was the coliseum. There is a huge line, and I don’t believe you can buy tickets in advance. Our guide told us to go through the metal detectors and wait for him. After 10 minutes he appeared and said, “lets go up”. I don’t know how, but he got inside and had three tickets in his hand. We took an elevator up to the top and he gave us a half hour tour of the coliseum. It wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would be (judging form the lines outside) so we were able to walk around and take pictures pretty freely. It was really impressive. After the coliseum, we went to the Arch of Titus. Visited for a few minutes while Fabio explained about the Arch and then back in the car and onto the Trevi Fountain. Having such a short stay in Rome we were only able to spend a very short time in each location. We felt that by hiring the private guide, we could see what we wanted to see and spend as much time there as we wanted. We threw our obligatory coin into the fountain and then headed to the Spanish Steps. We had lunch on the Via Veneto and my DW did some shopping and then back in the car and headed over to the Vatican. I changed into long pants in the car and by the time that we arrived at the Vatican (around 2:00 PM) there was absolutely no line. We bought our tickets and headed inside. Our guide, Fabio, was an art historian and gave us way too much information (there was no air-conditioning) about all of the frescoes in the Sistine chapel. As we proceeded to the Sistine Chapel, we passed through many magnificent halls. When we finally arrived in the Sistine Chapel, it was somewhat disappointing. The frescoes viewed online at the Vatican Museum site are better to look at. It was rather dark in the Sistine chapel and although as a whole it was very impressive, Michelangelo’s frescoes can be more thoroughly enjoyed viewed on your PC. We walked through St. Peters square on our way out if the Vatican and made our way to the car. There was some traffic on the way from Rome to Civitavecchia, but we made it back to the ship in plenty of time. As far as our guide is concerned, it was a very expensive day, but we felt that we were only in Rome for a few hours and we wanted to make the most if it. We wanted to eat where and when we wanted to eat, we wanted to see what we wanted to see. We could have shared the excursion with some other passengers, but my DW preferred to do it by ourselves. The best part about having a private driver and a guide was that the car always dropped us off at the site and was waiting there (with the air-conditioning on) as soon as we walked out. We never had to deal with parking or meeting the car. As soon as we arrived at the site (coliseum, Trevi fountain, Vatican) the door was opened for us on the van and we proceeded in. As soon as we left the site Alfredo (our driver), was waiting for us. The other great thing about our guide in Rome was never waiting for anything. The line in the Coliseum stretched for quite a distance, but we walked right in. His knowledge of the streets, the sites and the best times for visiting made his services worth the money. This is not such a big deal to the men, but he also was able to direct my wife to the “highest quality facilities” in Rome. When it was time to leave the Vatican my wife and I decided we should use the rest room before we got in the car for the long ride back to the ship. The line at the Vatican was very long and the facilities looked like something you would see at the ballpark. Our guide waved his hand as we passed the Vatican restroom and directed my wife to the Philippine Embassy. He took her in and a few minutes later they emerged. We would never have known to go there, so for all the little things that he did and showed us, it made our day that much more special.

We got back to the ship and I took a steam and got ready for dinner. We decided that we would try Azura for dinner. It is one of the two main restaurants and is designed in a modern theme. The service and the food were excellent. I ordered a main dish, the lasagna, as an appetizer and it was great, I then had a chicken dish as my main dish (also very good) and a chocolate soufflé as a desert. That night was the second City improv Show, and after dinner we went to the internet café (we passed on the show) and did a little shopping in the gift shop. Compared to the other ships that we’ve been on, this gift shop is huge. Big selection, clothes, toiletries, food, watches, clocks, perfumes, etc)

The next day we had hired a private guide, benvenutolimos.com , to take us to Pisa and Florence. Our driver, Savario, met us on the dock in Livorno, right on time in a brand new Mercedes Sedan. He introduced himself, we spoke a little bit about our plans for the day and we were off first to Pisa.We made our reservations to climb the Tower of Pisa online at http://www.opapisa.it (you must make your reservation at least 14 days before your vist and not more than 45 days before your visit) and Savario took us right to the ticket office. We picked up our tickets for the 9:00 AM climb, and strolled around for a few minutes till 9:00 AM. Absolutely no crowds at this time of the morning. The climb up the tower was great (maybe the highlight of the trip). No handrails, no lights, but an incredible sense of history. To walk the steps that Galileo had walked was just amazing. The view from the top was equally awesome. You read about all the red tile roofs of Tuscany, but to see the entire sight unfold before your eyes was just beautiful. The climb from the bell tower to the top of the tower was a little tricky and I would not reccommend it for everyone. Great little souvineer stands all along the “Field of Miracles” and a beautiful church and baptistery. We got back in the car and started the drive to Florence. As I understand it, large buses and most cars are not allowed in the city center of Florence. Our guide explained that he had a special pass that would allow him to enter the city center. His company had made our reservations for us to see “The David”. When we arrived he simply walked us to the head of the line, said something in Italian to the guard. The guard lifted the rope, we walked right into thje Galleria D’academia, went up to the ticket window, paid for our tickets and in less than five minutes were standing in front of the great David. I expected a much larger crowd and was very surprised at how close we were able to get to the statue. We spent a long time taking in this enormous sculpture. It really was amazing. There really is not much else of interest in the Galleria D’Accademia and we left. Our guide then took us to the main square in Florence and said that everything we wanted to see was right there. The Duomo, the Pontevecchio and all the “great” shops of Florence were all very close by. We walked to the Duomo and were mesmerized by the beauty, scope and grandeur of the church. On the outside, the green and pink marble structure is still dazzling today. I can only imagine how it appeared to the Italians so many centuries ago.The doors of the baptistery across from the church did not disappoint either. They are marvelous. Each relief tells a different story and the detail of each panel is more intricate than I could believe. It’s hard to believe that the craftsmen of that era could produce such incredible work without any of the tools at our disposal today. After circling the Duomo, my DW made her visit to Gucci #1 (she knew there was another Guscci in Florence as well as Fendi, Louis Vuiton, etc so I guess that she felt she still had other chances to buy) right next to the Duomo. After about 20 minutes she left emptyhanded. We then had lunch at Gilli in the town square. Although it was early for lunch and very hot, there were still plenty of coffee drinking, wine sipping, smoking Florentines at the restaurant to give it some atmosphere. A glass of wine, a bottle of water, a small bowl of pasta, a salad for my wife came to 50 Euros. Not cheap, but very good and just what we wanted. We then walked to the Pontevecchio (we were in Florence and felt that we had to). Lots of Jewelry shops and great views of the city from across the Arno River. I was touristy enough to get stuck with and an 8 EuroGelato. When the woman said “ 8 Euros” I almost put it down, but it was so hot, I said “OK” and swallowed my pride, along with the gelato.

My DW found some ceramic pottery that she bought for our friends and family back home. She bought some wine, and we headed to the Via Tourabouni (sp) so that my wife could fulfill her dream of shopping in Florence. She went to Fendi and Louis Vuiton but came up empty, she then headed to the “other” Gucci that our guide had told us about and she struck gold. She found a Gucci wallet that she loved. Mission accomplished.! After Gucci we headed to Santa Maria Croce (the church that houses Michelangelo’s remains). I had seen pictures of the church before that looked very interesting, but was a little disappointed with our visit. After the church, we told the driver that we wanted to go to the Piazza Michelangelo. The drive from the city center across the Arno up to the Piazza was definitely worth seeing. It is where Florence’s rich and famous reside. Big villas that overlook the city. When we arrived at the Piazza Michelangelo (this piazza contains the copy of the statue of David) we were blown away by the view. It overlooks the entire city and is a photo opportunity that is not to be missed. I know that we did not see the Uffizi Gallery but we had such a limited amount of time in Florence. Between the trip from Livorno to Pisa, Pisa to Florence and then Florence back to Livorno, we did a lot of travelling and could not afford to be late getting back to the ship. Hopefully on our next trip to Florence we’ll see the Uffizi. We then left Florence for our trip back to Livorno. We left Florence early, as our driver said that there is sometimes traffic getting out of the city on Friday afternoon (I guess it’s that way everywhere). We hit no traffic at all and were back on the ship in plenty of time. We went swimming, had something to eat at the buffet, enjoyed the ship and got ready for dinner. That night we went back to Cagney’s and once again it was excellent. I had the shrimp cocktail (nothing special) boneless ribeye, frech fries and a very nice bottle of wine. Cheesecake for desert.

After dinner we got seats for the often-hyped Cirque Bijou show in the Stardust theater. Great performers. Bungee jumping from the ceiling, gyrating acrobats, very original performance. Went back to the room to get ready for Villefrance (Nice).

If you are not on an NCL scheduled tour you will have to get a tender ticket on Friday if you want to leave the ship early. I think that by 9:00 there was no longer a need for a tender ticket and it was “first come, first served” boarding on the tender. We had planned to take a cab from the port at Villefrance to the Negresco Hotel in Nice. We figured it was a major landmark and a good spot to begin our walk on the Promenade Des Anglais. We got a coffee and a croisant and sat for a few minutes at a spot overlooking the beach. It was still very early in the morning, but there were already plenty of people on the beach. We made a big mistake by not bringing bathing suits. We didn’t realize that we could spend the day on the beach in Nice. I guess that we had conditioned ourselves so much that we were “sight-seers”, that we didn’t think of ourselves as “vacationers”. At some of the beaches in Nice, you could walk right on (actually down) and lay down on a towel and enjoy the day. At others you could rent a chaise lounge and umbrella. We walked pretty far on the promenade Des Anglais, but there was really nothing to see and the beach itself was rocky. I mean like big rocks. We live on Long Island in New York and the beaches are beautiful sandy beaches. I was expecting an incredible beach, after all it’s the French Riviera, but it was really nothing special at all. Nice is a pretty big city and perhaps if we had explored the whole city, we would have felt differently, but overall it was pretty disappointing. We grabbed a cab (25 Euros) back to Villefrance and had a pretty nice lunch at the Calypso Cafe near the port. We then walked around the crescent shaped beach town of Villefrance. Much nicer than Nice. There were plenty of people enjoying themselves in the surf. Nice cafes, souviner shops, beautifully colored apartments (like a postcard) and houses built onto the cliffs surrounding the beach. This is what we had always imagined when we thought of a charming French seaside village. We loved Villefrance and wished that the ship had stayed in port longer. I’m not sure why the ship has to leave Villefrance so early in the afternoon. The ship is docked out at sea, so it’s not taking away a dock space from another ship and the trip from Nice to Barcelona is reltively short so I’m not sure why the ship departs so early in the day (2:30 PM). Once back on the ship you can get colored luggage tickets for the disembarkation. We packed most of our luggage and spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. Nice band playing, a stupendous “underwater escape” by Charles Bach (the magician), a steam, a good soaking in the men’s whirlpool and a cheeseburger cooked to perfection highlighted our last afternoon on the ship. That night we decided that we would try to get into Mama’s Kitchen for our last dinner. We didn’t have reservations, but we “tipped” the Maitre’D and we got right in. The restaurant connects to “the great outdoors” in the aft section of the ship and we asked if we could sit outside and have our dinner served to us there (we had seen other diners doing this earlier on the cruise), and they were very accomodating. Again, just a very good meal. We loved sitting outside having our dinner overlooking the Mediterranean Sea as we cruised from Nice to Barcelona. That night in “the great outdoors” we met the Captain. He was very gracious. After dinner we went to the casino to try to lose the money we had won so far (we felt it was only right to give it back, since it didn’t belong to us anyway), but of course, my DW kept winning at the Roulette table. We are very small time gamblers and usually just bet the minimum ($3.00). When 12:30 AM came (all the bags have to be outside of your room by 1:00 AM) we took our small winnings and went back to the room to put the bags outside. We had an early wakeup call for the next day, ordered a few rolls and some coffee from room service and we were out of our room by 7:15 AM. No line at all to get off the ship. We just swiped our card, walked off and right into the terminal. NCL offers “express disembarkation” which just means that you can carry your own bags off the ship by yourself. My wife got us dark blue tags that indicated an early departure flight. We were supposed to leave Barcelona at 10:40 AM. Our bags were on the carousel in the NCL termianl wating for us. There was plenty of people to direct you in the terminal and plenty of red caps to help you with your bags. We walked out of the terminal and saw a huge line of taxis waiting. From the time we left our stateroom till the time we got to into the airport terminal was about 45 minutes.

 

Ok, so to give a little bit more information about the ship…

We were in Cabin 11026 an AF minisuite on the starboard side. I thought that since the ship’s starboard side faced the land (due to the itinerary) that we would get a better views on the starboard side. In Messina we did face the city (the port side looked onto the sea), in Naples the ship pulls in to the dock and both sides of the ship have a view of the city. In Civitavecchia and Livorno the ports were industrial ports, so there was not really anything to see from either side of the ship. In Villefrance, the ship was docked at sea and there were great views from both sides of the ship. The room was very nice (not incredible, but very nice), The bathroom is split into three sections. The shower is separate, the toilet area is separate, and the sink-vanity area is separate (all three areas are separated by stenciled, sliding glass doors). Depending on the modesty of the passengers involved, it is possible that one person could shower, one could use the toilet and one could brush their teeth at the same time. Our luggage easily fit underneath the bed. Nice amount of drawer and closet space for me and my DW. If you want, you can take the life jackets and put them under the bed on put them on the top of the closet. There is a hairdryer and it is stored and permanently plugged into one of the drawers in the “suite area”. The safe is excellent. It needs to be reset with the password each time it is opened and closed, but it is very easy to use and we never had a problem. The bed was pretty comfortable and two chairs and a table were provided on the balcony. There weren’t as many TV channels as we would have liked, but they did have CNN and Fox News so we were able to keep up with the news. We were only two people in the minisuite so we did not have a need for the over the door shoe holder to keep our toiletries. There was plenty of room on the vanity and the shelves. There are two plugs in the minisuite area so I brought a few surge protectors and extension cords to plug in all of my cameras battery chargers, phones, walkie-talkies, etc.

We thought the food was very good to excellent (I already covered most of the meals that we had). We never had breakfast in the Garden Café, so I can’t tell you what they had. The shows were good (not great, but good). The ship was immaculate. The ship is less than one year old and it shows. We have only traveled on ships that were at least 7 years old and the difference is striking. From the elevators to the buffet station configuration to the hand sanitizers, the ship showed its modern design. The pool deck was crowded from the time that all of the excursions returned until dinnertime, but not to the point that you could not enjoy them. The whirlpools were always crowded and were too cold and too chlorinated for me. The shore excursions were extremely well organized. I don’t know if anyone else noticed this but the captain made an announcement over the ships loud speaker every morning between 7:30 and 8:00 AM. We were up so it didn’t wake us, but I wonder if other passengers were awoken by these announcements. The room was certainly big enough for two people, and might be serviceable for three or even four. There was only one time that we felt the ship move (Monday night in the Stardust Theater, during the Band on the Run show) otherwise it was “smooth sailing”. I have written about the food, our cabin, the shore excursions, the embarkation and disembarkation process, the entertainment, the health club, but the one area that I haven’t critiqued was the crew. This was the most outstanding part of the cruise. There was never a moment that we had to wait (except in the internet café. They have far to few terminals for the number of passengers that want to use them), felt that they weren’t interested, met with and “exasperated” crew member, or received any sort of attitude from anyone in the crew. As a matter of fact there were times when I saw the ships officers flipping burgers or assisting passengers if the need arose. Our stewards were fantastic. As we walked through the ship (the fish in the carpet always face the FRONT of the ship) every crewmember greeted us heartily. We spoke at length to quite a few crewmembers and they certainly made us feel welcome.

Overall, the whole experience was excellent. We would definitely recommend the NCL Jewel.

If you have any questions, please email me at Tagoladad@aol.com and put JEWEL QUESTION in the subject line

[LadyHill]

If you have your dailies from this cruise can you tell me who your hotel director was?

 

Thanks