just in off the jewel

[wsurfk]

we just got back from the 1/14 sailing of the jewel. all in all, it was a very nice trip. we were travelling with my wife's parents and her brother and his family. just my personal opinion, but i really think there is no better way to vacation with family than to take a cruise.

 

highlights were the food (the quality and variety, expecially the dinners) and the ship itself, once underway. we ate at cagney's, asura twice, tsar's, le bistro, teppenyaki, and tango's. we also really enjoyed the spa and its services, (if your are looking for a great deep tissue massage, go to the spa and ask for lisa.) my wife did several different services (facial, etc) and enjoyed them very much. we had a balcony room on deck 10, and i thought it was very nice. i spent a lot of the cruise just sitting on the balcony, enjoying the breeze and reading a book. the ports were ok. old san juan is very beautiful and interesting, and easy to walk to from the port. it is no more than a 15-20 minute walk to el morro from the pier. and to get there, you walk right through the old town. in hindsight, i would just get a taxi to take me to a nice beach in antigua. we did an island "tour" and, while it was good to see the island, with the limited time you are there, my preference would have been to go to one of the many beautiful beaches we saw and just hang out. we did this in st. thomas and it was wonderful. great stirrup cay was fun, albeit a little crowded. but as people have said on here in the past, if you take the time, you can get away from the crowds. we had a nice day there. the shows we went to were very good (i thought "band on the run" was the best.) there is russian olympic gymnist that is part of the performance for this and for cirque bijou who is absolutely phenomenol. 6 feet tall, strikingly beautiful, and able to contort and flex her body in ways that are unreal. it's worth going to the shows just to see her.

 

ok, negatives. the embarkation at miami was a nightmare. our sailing was the first one to use the temprorary tent and it was complete chaos. nearly 3 hours of standing in line, from the time we got there to the time we got into our rooms. i won't go into the details, but suffice it to say that ncl can certainly do better. the port of miami is hopeless, i am afraid. if you are one of the trips that leave from the tent, my only advice is to get there early, or just be prepared and patient. the pool deck and sun decks always seemed to be very crowded. there were times when we couldn't get a chair anywhere. we did have a full ship, so the space was maxed out. other than that, i thought it was a nice experience, and i would go on ncl again, mainly for the variety and quality of the restaurants and the spa.

 

i do want to say that the info i gathered from this sight was immensely helpful in planning the trip.

[chill243]

I have a question, what day is lobster night?

[harveysalva]

Thanks for the review. I'm so glad you posted! I've been looking for more info on the Jewel. Did you by any chance bring home menus or freestyle dailies? I'd love to check them out. I know that there are Dawn menus posted and everyone says they are the same, just want to see for sure!

 

I just found out that the itinerary for my sailing (April 8) will stop in Samana, Dominican republic instead of GSC. I guess it's not so bad since I have heard a lot of sailings can't tender to GSC anyways. I just wish there was more info on Samana. I checked the Dominican Republic boards and it doesn't sound encouraging. Does anyone know anything about Samana? Again, thanks for posting.

Shelly

[wsurfk]

re lobster night, i'm actually not sure. i am guessing it was monday night b/c my wife had lobster and steak at cagneys. but i don't ever remember seeing a formal lobster night. to tell you the truth, the menus were so varied and so interesting that i never really even noticed if there was one. btw, the avocado soup i had the night we ate in tsar's was one of the best cold soups i have had.

 

i do have the dailies but i am not sure how to post them. if i can figure that out, i will. however, i do think one of the fun things of a cruise is getting back to your room at night and reading the daily to see what is going on the next day.

[Stillfloatin']

What temporary tent? This is the first I've heard of it. Are any other cruise lines using it? What is it based on - ship dock location, ship line, sailing time? Thanks for your info. I leave in a little over 5 weeks for a cruise out of Miami so I better be prepared.:eek:

[tr3907]

could you please tell me what beach you took a taxi to in st. thomas and what the cost was and did they come back for you thanks

[benelana]

wsurfk- We were on the same sailing as you. We also found embarkation to be a nightmare. We were there early and it still took at least 2 hours. But overall had a great time.

 

chill243 - lobster night is Monday night in the main dining rooms.

 

stillfloatin'- my understanding with the embarkation is that every two weeks when the Pearl is also docking on Sunday the Jewel will postioned by the tent area. It was very chaotic and disorganized. Give yourself lots of time and patience. Maybe they will work out some of the kinks in the weeks to come.

 

Adine

[sundy]

Hi, Mum and I were also on this sailing. I must admit that when I saw the line-ups in the tent at embarkation I was floored and thought we would be there at least 2 hours but as we went to join the chaos, an official noticed Mum uses a walking stick so quickly ordered her a wheelchair and we were fast-tracked through and in our cabin in no time at all. So no compaints from us.

This being our first time with NCL, we thoroughly enjoyed it. I have to say that even though we didn't use any of the specialty restaurants we thought the food in the main retaurants to be wonderful, both in quality and presentation. The waiters were great, always attentive and smiling. The buffet was laid out really well and even at busy times at lunch we were able to get around all the stations easily, there was always a plentiful selection of both hot and cold choices. This is where we would come in the evening after the show to get a latte.

We saw all the shows, hard to pick a favourite, we liked them all for different reasons, though 'Fountains' put on by the crew was a scream!

As someone stated earlier the ship was full so it was hard to get a lounger at times especially with all the towel reserving but we always managed after a bit of scouting around, usually on the sun deck.

We bought a tour on the pier in San Juan for $20 each, that was wonderful in an air-conditioned mini bus. At Antigua we did Nelson's Dockyard, Shirley Heights and then lunch and rum punch at Millers by the Sea with 2 hours on the beach, lounge chairs included, it was a pleasant couple of hours. In St. Thomas we did Megan's Bay and back in time for lunch, both of these were cruise trips that we booked whilst onboard, both were good, though I was pleased to have gone to Megan's Bay in the morning as it soon became very crammed. Lounge chairs there were $22 for 2 with $10 refund when you took your stamped receipt back.

We took the tender over to Great Stirrup Cay got off but found in our section just very low chairs to sit on the beach, very awkward for Mum and I especially like to lay out, so we took the tender back to the ship and were by the pool by 10.30am with the choice of almost any lounger we wanted!!...we had a lovely day.

Our only other cruise before this was with P&O last year and was quite formal, so the two cannot be compared. I have heard people say that your first cruise is always special but I have to say that we loved them both.

[sundy]

Hi, Mum and I were also on this sailing. I must admit that when I saw the line-ups in the tent at embarkation I was floored and thought we would be there at least 2 hours but as we went to join the chaos, an official noticed Mum uses a walking stick so quickly ordered her a wheelchair and we were fast-tracked through and in our cabin in no time at all. So no compaints from us.

This being our first time with NCL, we thoroughly enjoyed it. I have to say that even though we didn't use any of the specialty restaurants we thought the food in the main retaurants to be wonderful, both in quality and presentation. The waiters were great, always attentive and smiling. The buffet was laid out really well and even at busy times at lunch we were able to get around all the stations easily, there was always a plentiful selection of both hot and cold choices. This is where we would come in the evening after the show to get a latte.

We saw all the shows, hard to pick a favourite, we liked them all for different reasons, though 'Fountains' put on by the crew was a scream!

As someone stated earlier the ship was full so it was hard to get a lounger at times especially with all the towel reserving but we always managed after a bit of scouting around, usually on the sun deck.

We bought a tour on the pier in San Juan for $20 each, that was wonderful in an air-conditioned mini bus. At Antigua we did Nelson's Dockyard, Shirley Heights and then lunch and rum punch at Millers by the Sea with 2 hours on the beach, lounge chairs included, it was a pleasant couple of hours. In St. Thomas we did Megan's Bay and back in time for lunch, both of these were cruise trips that we booked whilst onboard, both were good, though I was pleased to have gone to Megan's Bay in the morning as it soon became very crammed. Lounge chairs there were $22 for 2 with $10 refund when you took your stamped receipt back.

We took the tender over to Great Stirrup Cay got off but found in our section just very low chairs to sit on the beach, very awkward for Mum and I especially like to lay out, so we took the tender back to the ship and were by the pool by 10.30am with the choice of almost any lounger we wanted!!...we had a lovely day.

Our only other cruise before this was with P&O last year and was quite formal, so the two cannot be compared. I have heard people say that your first cruise is always special but I have to say that we loved them both.

[sundy]

oops!...sorry for double post!

[wsurfk]

tr3907

 

we took a cab to secret harbor in st. thomas. a very quiet little beach on the east end of the island, with decent snorkelling around the rocks at the right end of the beach. it was $10 per person each way. you can arrange for the taxi driver who takes you to pick you up, although there were a lot of taxis there waiting to take people back to town in the afternoon. on the way we dropped some folks at megan's bay so we got to see a good portion of the island. there is also a great little beach restaurant there, with bathrooms that you can use to change in. i got the biggest hamburger i have had in a long time, served to me right on the beach. it was a very relaxing day.

[Jim and Monika]

Wsurfk, thank you so much for posting. I enjoyed your review. I have three questions, please.

1. I understand one side of the open deck is smoking and non-smoking. Would you remember which is which?

2. My DH really enjoyed the pool side BBQ with the ribs. Do they still offer this.

3. What time did you arrive at the port?

Thanks again,

Monika

[wsurfk]

monika

 

i am pretty sure starboard is smoking. we ate at the great outdoors each morning, and the tables on the port side all had non-smoking signs on them.

 

i didn't eat at the poolside bbq, but did walk by it a lot and also saw what people around the pool were eating and i don't remember ever seeing any ribs. just burgers, dogs, and chicken.

 

we got to the port around 12:45. to answer the question, yes, the ship was late pulling out of port due to the fiasco of embarkation. i think we were at least an hour late, if not more. i remember it was almost too dark to see as we exited government cut into the atlantic. this and the headwind we faced made us about an hour late getting into san juan, as well.

[kimdave68]

I have a question, what day is lobster night?

 

That reminds me of "lobsters overboard day"

 

 

:D:D:D

[packercruising]

Monika I am looking forward to meeting you and Jim. Boy, beer and BBQ, that's life! I don't suppose you are Packer fans too? :)

[Jim and Monika]

Sorry to say Jim is a Dallas fan. (I tend not to offer that information) ;) I am a New York girl and still am true to the Buffalo Bills. Hockey is our true love - We follow the NY Rangers.

Monika

[packercruising]

Well you will probably be pleased to know that Don Beebe will be on this cruise. Jim will probably be less thrilled to know that there will be about 80 Packer fans plus other players from SB XXXI :)

 

Sorry to break in there wsurfk. Review away! :) :)

[wsurfk]

Well you will probably be pleased to know that Don Beebe will be on this cruise. Jim will probably be less thrilled to know that there will be about 80 Packer fans plus other players from SB XXXI :)

 

Sorry to break in there wsurfk. Review away! :) :)

 

 

No problem. Unless anyone had any other questions, I was pretty much done. The only other small thing I would add that might be helpful is that, if you like coffee, I would take a big travel mug with you. I thought the coffee out of the machines in the buffets was really very good, but the cups they have onboard are pretty tiny. Hence, if you like to drink a few cups in the am, you might need to make a few trips back and forth to the coffee machine. On second thought, if you eat as many desserts as I did, having to make the extra trisp might not be bad after all. Have a great time!:)

[winner1965]

Hi, Mum and I were also on this sailing. I must admit that when I saw the line-ups in the tent at embarkation I was floored and thought we would be there at least 2 hours but as we went to join the chaos, an official noticed Mum uses a walking stick so quickly ordered her a wheelchair and we were fast-tracked through and in our cabin in no time at all. So no compaints from us.

This being our first time with NCL, we thoroughly enjoyed it. I have to say that even though we didn't use any of the specialty restaurants we thought the food in the main retaurants to be wonderful, both in quality and presentation. The waiters were great, always attentive and smiling. The buffet was laid out really well and even at busy times at lunch we were able to get around all the stations easily, there was always a plentiful selection of both hot and cold choices. This is where we would come in the evening after the show to get a latte.

We saw all the shows, hard to pick a favourite, we liked them all for different reasons, though 'Fountains' put on by the crew was a scream!

As someone stated earlier the ship was full so it was hard to get a lounger at times especially with all the towel reserving but we always managed after a bit of scouting around, usually on the sun deck.

We bought a tour on the pier in San Juan for $20 each, that was wonderful in an air-conditioned mini bus. At Antigua we did Nelson's Dockyard, Shirley Heights and then lunch and rum punch at Millers by the Sea with 2 hours on the beach, lounge chairs included, it was a pleasant couple of hours. In St. Thomas we did Megan's Bay and back in time for lunch, both of these were cruise trips that we booked whilst onboard, both were good, though I was pleased to have gone to Megan's Bay in the morning as it soon became very crammed. Lounge chairs there were $22 for 2 with $10 refund when you took your stamped receipt back.

We took the tender over to Great Stirrup Cay got off but found in our section just very low chairs to sit on the beach, very awkward for Mum and I especially like to lay out, so we took the tender back to the ship and were by the pool by 10.30am with the choice of almost any lounger we wanted!!...we had a lovely day.

Our only other cruise before this was with P&O last year and was quite formal, so the two cannot be compared. I have heard people say that your first cruise is always special but I have to say that we loved them both.

Hi, I will be sailing with the Jewel in March and thinking of taking the same tour you took in Antigua. Do you know which beach that the tour took you to, and did you stop anywhere else other than Nelson's dockyard and Shirley Heights, and what times did the tour end?

 

thanks

[winner1965]

Hi, Mum and I were also on this sailing. I must admit that when I saw the line-ups in the tent at embarkation I was floored and thought we would be there at least 2 hours but as we went to join the chaos, an official noticed Mum uses a walking stick so quickly ordered her a wheelchair and we were fast-tracked through and in our cabin in no time at all. So no compaints from us.

This being our first time with NCL, we thoroughly enjoyed it. I have to say that even though we didn't use any of the specialty restaurants we thought the food in the main retaurants to be wonderful, both in quality and presentation. The waiters were great, always attentive and smiling. The buffet was laid out really well and even at busy times at lunch we were able to get around all the stations easily, there was always a plentiful selection of both hot and cold choices. This is where we would come in the evening after the show to get a latte.

We saw all the shows, hard to pick a favourite, we liked them all for different reasons, though 'Fountains' put on by the crew was a scream!

As someone stated earlier the ship was full so it was hard to get a lounger at times especially with all the towel reserving but we always managed after a bit of scouting around, usually on the sun deck.

We bought a tour on the pier in San Juan for $20 each, that was wonderful in an air-conditioned mini bus. At Antigua we did Nelson's Dockyard, Shirley Heights and then lunch and rum punch at Millers by the Sea with 2 hours on the beach, lounge chairs included, it was a pleasant couple of hours. In St. Thomas we did Megan's Bay and back in time for lunch, both of these were cruise trips that we booked whilst onboard, both were good, though I was pleased to have gone to Megan's Bay in the morning as it soon became very crammed. Lounge chairs there were $22 for 2 with $10 refund when you took your stamped receipt back.

We took the tender over to Great Stirrup Cay got off but found in our section just very low chairs to sit on the beach, very awkward for Mum and I especially like to lay out, so we took the tender back to the ship and were by the pool by 10.30am with the choice of almost any lounger we wanted!!...we had a lovely day.

Our only other cruise before this was with P&O last year and was quite formal, so the two cannot be compared. I have heard people say that your first cruise is always special but I have to say that we loved them both.

Hi, I will be sailing with the Jewel in March and thinking of taking the same tour you took in Antigua. Do you know which beach that the tour took you to, and did you stop anywhere else other than Nelson's dockyard and Shirley Heights, and what times did the tour end?

 

thanks

[wsurfk]

winner 1965

 

i'm not sure if sundy is still checking this post, but it says they went to miller's beach. we went there as well. it's pretty much the closest beach to town. there is a nice beach bar restaurant there, changing rooms, etc, but, compared to the other beaches we saw on our tour, it's not really very pretty, and somewhat touristy. but it is convenient, only a $3 taxi ride back to the pier. i would have rather had the taxi driver drop us at darkwood (it was a beautiful beach we passed) beach.

[packercruising]

Did you ever answer the question about lobster night? Probably Monday night, right?

 

We will be deck 10 aft so I expect we will be spending some time at the Great Outdoors. Glad to know they serve breakfast!

[Cosmopolitan]

monika

 

i am pretty sure starboard is smoking. we ate at the great outdoors each morning, and the tables on the port side all had non-smoking signs on them.

 

Heretofore....smoking was portside:confused:

[winner1965]

Thanks very much! Is Miller's beach the same as Fort James Beach? I believe the "Fort James Beach Combo" is the only tour being offer by the ship combining a islander tour plus times at the beach. Is this the same tour that you took? How did you like it? I am also consider hiring one of the private tour company at Antigua which seem that they will visit more places and will go to a better beach.

[wsurfk]

Thanks very much! Is Miller's beach the same as Fort James Beach? I believe the "Fort James Beach Combo" is the only tour being offer by the ship combining a islander tour plus times at the beach. Is this the same tour that you took? How did you like it? I am also consider hiring one of the private tour company at Antigua which seem that they will visit more places and will go to a better beach.

 

i would guess that it is, but don't know for sure. we didn't book through the ship, but just walked off the ship and hired a driver and van to take us on a tour. there will be dozens of people on the dock waiting to give you a tour, if you haven't already pre-booked. the going rate is $25 per person. for that you will go to nelson's dockyard and shirley heights and back through the "rainforest." it's about 2.5 hours. but beware, the cost does not include admission to nelson's dockyard or shirley heights. it's an additional $5 per person for that. they will then drop you at a beach on the way back. like i said, darkwoods looked really nice and i wish we had gone there.